Nicolas Sarkozy has high hopes that with help - the global financial system can be overhauled for the 21st century. And according to this article from France’s Liberation - the reason he’s so hopeful is that George W. Bush - that opponent of global governance - is on his way out, and Barack Obama is on his way in.
“The next American president will find himself in a completely unprecedented situation: elected in the midst of a financial storm the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Roosevelt in 1932, he will for the first time have the European Union as his main partner - coherent, resolute and bent on reforming the international financial system. George Bush, on the other hand, hasn’t hidden his distaste for global regulation. … As the election of his successor will take place several weeks before the expanded G8 meeting [probably late in November], George Bush will fortunately play largely a role limited to protocol. It will be his successor, the president-elect, who will lead the negotiations for the American side. And all the evidence right now points to that successor as being Barack Obama. His victory would be the best chance for these reforms to succeed. ”
“In contrast, Obama is a political descendant of those who created the Bretton Woods Agreement in July, 1944 [a deal to rebuild the financial system after WWII ]. … If Obama wins, a great Europe-United States alliance could be formed to enforce prudent accounting rules, fight tax havens and regulate banks - but also insurance companies and those sophisticated derivatives that have eluded any oversight and all reason, reform the rating agencies and the funds themselves. And finally, give the IMF the means to take its proper role as overseer of financial markets; in brief, put a reasonable, stable and transparent system on its feet.”
“Le Parisien: Are you surprised by the interest in Obama’s candidacy?
Rama Yade: Obama has become a kind of world citizen. In a small way, he belongs to everyone. All of us watch America with a sort of envy - because what they’re doing, we aren’t able to do …
Le Parisien: What aren’t we able to do?
Rama Yade: To allow an to Obama emerge here! For me to enter into the government, it took all of Nicolas Sarkozy’s effort to overcome the reticence of the conservatives. They said: she’s too this, and not enough that. And, believe me, these conservatives are still there. Nicolas Sarkozy - he’s not conservative; that’s what I like about him.
Le Parisien: When you talk about Obama, why do you emphasize his age?
Rama Yade: Because that’s the first thing that strikes me about him! Do you see something else? He has three dominant traits: first, he’s very young; then, he isn’t a descendant of slaves but came, through his father, from very recent African immigration; and finally, his political career began very recently. But that man is in the process of becoming the president of the United States. Here, we have the impression that one must suffer for 40 years, be scarred and dragged through the mud before earning the right to have the highest responsibilities. And, when you get there, you don’t even have the right to be happy! But my governmental fate is in the hands of the President.”
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated and English-language foreign press coverage of the U.S. election
Is there a small group of people controlling global affairs? Millions of people around the world believe there is, and many of those point to a ‘club’ created in The Netherlands to try and knit the world back together after the catastrophe of World War II. It is called the Bilderberg Group.
The topic of this article from Mexico’s La Jornada is whether an offshoot of the Bilderberg Group - known as the North American Forum - is plotting to integrate North America without the consent of the people. While there are many activists in the United States battling this rumored integration, people may not be aware that this is a big issue in Mexico as well - and they are just as against the idea as their American counterparts.
“Every year since 2005, a group of military officers, former CIA directors and current and former officials of Mexico, Canada and the United States have met quietly in some secluded nook of North America to discuss - incredible as this may seem - scenarios to bring about the integration of the three countries. Luxury hotels and exclusive retreats serve as the backdrop for these “integration” outings, about which we know nothing, since the group publishes neither its agenda nor any of its resolutions. … In attendance at these meetings, which bear a resemblance to the conferences of Spectre in James Bond films (with wealthy gentlemen, luxury cars and high-ranking military officials sporting their medals and ribbons), are also the directors of the continent’s most important oil companies. But we shouldn’t give them more credit than they deserve, because in reality, the forum is but a clone of the Bilderberg Club on this side of the Atlantic.”
“What kind of North American ‘integration’ are they speculating about - in private, without public participation, and outside the influence of their respective legislatures? Do they discuss state secrets with former U.S. secretaries of defense and CIA directors? Long Live globalization!”
Now that the crisis over Georgia has subsided, where do things stand? Has Russia ‘won.’ French historian Alexandre Adler thinks not. According to Adler, while Russia has successfully maneuvered Ukraine into swearing off NATO - in almost every other way, things have gone badly for Moscow.
“The relationship between Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union have spectacularly deteriorated … China’s has resoundingly refused to show the slightest solidarity with Moscow … there has been a massive divestment on Russia’s Stock Exchange.”
“Clearly, it’s an opportune time to avenge the strong-arm tactics that have caused such fear around over the world and for the Western alliance to negotiate an end to this crisis with Russia, which would immediately stabilize a large portion of the planet.”
Many of us have gotten used to viewing the Russian press as a kind of tamed animal, for the most part parroting the Kremlin line on all things political. So it was with some surprise that I came upon this article written by a Swiss journalist stationed in Moscow.
“If the Kremlin is comfortable in its [Army] boots, the Russian press is tormented the day after Moscow officially recognized the independence of the two separatist republics of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. … A prime reason for concern: the economic consequences of deteriorating relations with Moscow’s Western partners.” Read the rest of this entry »
As we Americans obsess about the presidential campaign, the Georgia crisis goes on -and is getting worse ‘hour by hour,’ according to French historian Alexandre Adler, aka/France’s foremost neo-con and fan of President George W. Bush.
“The general state of relations between Russia and the West is deteriorating by the hour. While, contrary to the agreement signed by Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitri Medvedev, Russian troops continue to occupy portions of Georgian territory - outside of Abkhazia and Ossetia, rumors of a possible confrontation between Russia and Ukraine are gathering apace. … Yet it’s in the nature of extreme situations to produce effects that are excessively negative or excessively positive, according to the artfulness and ability that politicians bring to them.
“Here begins the careful surgery: the French and the other Europeans in their train must indicate clearly to the Russians that they will not alter their opposition on the presence of Ukraine and Georgia in NATO … at least in its current state. They must also make it known to Moscow that they will not pass a sanctions regime except as a last resort. But at the same time they must make clear to the Kremlin that the E.U. could quickly accept the candidacy of Ukraine or Georgia to the European Union. For reasons that are principled and not tactical, the enlargement of Europe can be carried out only with the consent of Russia; and only if Russia advances along a path as a partner with special status within the European Union, which would be at least on par with that of Ukraine. If Russia agrees to enter into such a mechanism of negotiations, Russians and Western Europeans could then build a continent-wide dialogue that would change the face of the world.”
Russia turned to its fellow members in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (formed to build relations between China and former Soviet republics) for backing in its actions against Georgia and specifically in its recognition of the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.The member states of the SCO are Russia, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. States with “observer” status are India, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia. (Bloomberg) Eurasia.Net predicted that Russia would find “succor” in the East. Didn’t quite go that way. Condemned by its fellow G8 members (BBC 8-27-08) and looking for support from its fellow SCO members, Medvedev seems to have met mainly with shrugs.
“Russia is dying with desire to be what it hates most - a new America. An America which goes to war in Iraq without U.N. backing; An America that punishes Serbia; and an America that is godfather of the new state - Kosovo. ‘Europe is part of the periphery’ said a Russian MP. Russia has begun to imagine itself as a rising superpower confronting a declining America. The Russian media, entirely controlled by the Kremlin, has been feeding its readers with propaganda about new Russian grandeur.
“Russian MP Serguei Markov, a political scientist attached to the Kremlin, said that the signal to begin military operations had been given personally by Dick Cheney, and that Russia was at war against America - the only rival worthy of the new rival Russian power.”
