Category Archives: International

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Who’s behind high commodity prices? Glencore, ever hear of them? Call them food crisis managers

Glencore is a private company in Switzerland.  The company is valued at $60 billion.  What do they do?  Buy and sell commodities.

Glencore is the world’s biggest commodities trader, buying and selling much of the world’s wheat, corn, rice, sugar and edible oils. They also buy and sell minerals; metals, oil, coal.  In fact they control 3% of the world’s daily oil supply.

Because Glencore is a privately held company, no one has heard of them.  Why are they in the news now?  Glencore wants to become even more powerful, so they are going public, offering public stocks in their company for the first time.  For those of you who think ,”If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”, the public stocks offering will take place at the end of May, in the London and Hong Kong stock markets.

Glencore has on it’s board some controversial people, including people with their hands in the pockets of U.S. politicians, so do your research.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Kraft moving chocolate production to Brazil?

The U.S. doesn’t need to lose anymore jobs, but Kraft just announced they will build a new plant in Brazil.

“Brazil is one of 10 priority developing markets where we’re making big bets. Today, we’re among the fastest growing consumer goods companies in markets like Brazil, India and China. We’re excited to build on what’s working by making our biggest investment in Brazil in more than 10 years!”-Sanjay Khosla, Kraft Foods

Kraft will build an $80 million chocolate factory in Pernambuco, Brazil.  They hope to have it up and running by 2012.

Business/Economics, International

Germany to pump more money into Mexico

Despite the bloody Drugs War, German companies are about to invest more money into Mexico.

German President Christian Wulff wants to increase business relations with Mexico.  Already there are 1,200 German operations in Mexico, employing 130,000 people.  Wulff also implied that Germany will help the Mexican government in their Drugs War.

Germany has historically been interested in relations with Mexico, this could be a sign of the declining influence of the United States.

Business/Economics, International

WalMart business down in U.S., but booming down south of the border

“Our expansion plan will continue to support the socioeconomic development of the Brazilian population. The focus in formats aimed at the emerging middle class will be even stronger in 2011.”-Marcos Samaha, president of WalMart Brazil

Recently WalMart officials expressed their concerns for the poor U.S. retail market.  They blame inflation and lack of jobs.  But, WalMart is spending big money in Brazil, ’cause the economy is boomin’ there.

Brazil is one of the money making members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa).

WalMart is going to open 80 new stores in Brazil, and spend R$ 1.2 billion in the next year (R$ = Real, the Brazilian money).   In the past five years, WalMart has already invested R$ 6 billion, constructing 177 stores and creating 25,000 jobs in Brazil.

International, Technology

Like Bananas? They might become extinct no thanks to Black Sigatoka, more food crisis woes

Ecuadorian scientists want to create a genetically modified Banana.  They say it’s the only way to keep Bananas in their country from going extinct.

“…something that we can be sure of is that the Sigatoka will not lose its battle.  As soon as we can get a new fungicide, the disease becomes more resistance. Replacing the Cavendish banana (dominant variety today) for another type, by genetic engineering, is the only answer.”-Emile Frison, International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain

Apparently the use of fungicides has resulted in a super fungus that is resistant to chemicals.  Ecuadorian officials are warning against using too much fungicide.

Another motivator for a GMO Banana, is competition.  Farmers say they just can’t make enough money on each box of Bananas,  mainly because of the cost of fighting the fungus Black Sigatoka.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Obama administration flip flops on bin Laden raid info, bin Laden’s daughter says he was killed AFTER capture

Ever since the announcement that Osama bin Laden was dead, the Obama administration has been flip flopping on the details.

First they said bin Laden was killed in a fire fight.  Then they said he was resisting, but not armed (how does a sick 54 year old man resist without weapons?).  They said he used a wife as a human shield, they flopped and said she willingly rushed at the U.S. forces.  First they said she was dead, now she was just wounded in the leg.

What’s up Obama?  I thought you guys watched the whole thing live?  You issued a pic of your cabinet supposedly watching the event live?

Now Pakistani officials say Osama bin Laden’s young teen daughter witnessed the whole thing and says her father did not resist, and that U.S. forces killed him AFTER they got him on the helicopter.  Is this the real reason they dumped his body in the ocean, to cover up how he was killed?

“Not a single bullet was fired from the compound at the U.S. forces and their choppers.”-Pakistani security official

Pakistani officials, and locals living in the area, say only the U.S. forces were doing the shooting, no shots came from anyone in the bin Laden compound.

Here are the latest statements from Obama’s officials: “…rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed.” “Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed.” –White House Press Secretary Jay Carney


 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

At least 90% of Americans did NOT watch royal wedding on TV

Many media outlets are claiming that Americans loved the royal wedding because millions watched it.  This is a clear case of the main stream media manipulating data to mislead.  Yes millions did watch, but not anywhere near the majority of the people in the U.S., in fact it was a small minority.

Television ratings company, Nielsen, said only 23 million people (Nielsen used the term “viewers”, not to be confused with “households”) in the United States watched the royal wedding on TV.   That’s only 7.4% of the population, the official U.S. population is about 310 million. To put it another way; at least 90% did NOT watch.

In fact when you look at “viewer” ratings for television in the U.S., you’ll realize that, when compared to the total population of the country, not that many people actually watch TV.

 

International, Technology

Proof the Japanese need to be more social; Japanese scientists build cyber ‘french’ kissing machine

Japanese scientists are working on a cyber ‘french’ kissing machine.  The machine works by sensing the actions of your tongue, then transmitting that to another machine across the internet.

It’s hoped that the machine will help Japanese people to interact more intimately over the internet  (maybe they should get out more?).  Scientists hope to recreate “…the sense of taste, the manner of breathing, and the moistness of the tongue.” At first it sounds pathetic, but wait, there is a profit motive; marketing ideas include getting a kiss from your favorite celebrity.

Why a french kissing machine?  Scientist say it’s still too hard to mimic the movements of lips.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Don’t blame Pakistan. U.S. knew for years where Osama bin Laden was, because “he was your operator”

“Look everybody knew that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda and Taliban have officers with practically, publicly known addresses and that was no secret that the ISI and other factions of the Pakistani military were backing this and this was not secret. That enormous amount of Saudi money was supporting these operations including al-Qaeda.”-Jeff Steinberg, Executive Intelligence Review

There’s growing calls for action against Pakistan for “hiding” Osama bin Laden. But the truth is that the U.S. government knew bin Laden was in Pakistan, or at least being protected by Pakistan, for years, if not decades.

In October 2010, The Guardian published an article in which an unnamed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) officer said bin Laden was in Pakistan and that “Nobody in al-Qaida is living in a cave.”

An NBC interview of current Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (husband of assassinated Benazir Bhutto), aired in May, 2009, in which President Zardari said the U.S. government always knew where bin Laden was in the past, saying “…he was your operator.” He believed bin Laden was now dead because: “I’ve asked my counterparts in the American intelligence agencies and they haven’t heard of him in seven years.”

David Frost interviewed Benazir Bhutto in November 2007, and she said bin Laden was dead.  She was explaining that a failed October 2007 assassination attempt on her life could have been carried out by “…Omar Sheikh, the man who murdered Osama bin Laden.”

ABC news aired a story in February 2007, in which they say the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) said bin Laden was in Pakistan: “…to the best of our knowledge that the senior leadership, No. 1 and No. 2, are there, and they are attempting to re-establish and rebuild and to establish training camps.”-Mike McConnell, Director of National Intelligence

CBS news, in a January 2002 report, not only said bin Laden was in Pakistan, but was near death because of failing kidneys.  According to the reporter, even the President of Pakistan knew: “But it was Pakistan`s President Musharraf who said in public what many suspected, that bin Laden suffers from kidney disease, saying he thinks bin Laden may be near death. His evidence, watching this most recent video, showing a pale and haggard bin Laden, his left hand never moving.”-Barry Petersen, CBS correspondent

On August 22, 2001 (weeks before September 11, 2001) The Asia Times published an article that said the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were in negotiations for the capture of bin Laden, in order to avoid “…the secret deployment of US special forces in northern areas, for an operation inside Afghanistan to apprehend bin Laden ‘dead or alive any time soon’.”

You can go back all the way to the 1980s, when the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan worked together to bring Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan to create what would become the Taliban, and al-Qaeda.  Ahmed Rashid, respected expert on Afghan issues, quotes bin Laden in his book “Taliban” (first published in 2000): “I settled in Pakistan in the Afghan border region. There I received volunteers who came from the Saudi Kingdom and from all over the Arab and Muslim countries.  I set up my first camp where these volunteers were trained by Pakistani and American officers.”-Osama bin Laden

So from the beginning, all the way back to 1980, Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan, by his own words.  The fact that he was supported by not only the Saudis and Pakistanis, but the United States, should cause concern, and doubt about what any of the governments of those countries now say about bin Laden.  There are many more statements by public officials from the U.S. and Pakistan that show, if anything, the public has been lied to from day one.