Mainly because the current slaughters in Syria, Yeman and Libya are dominating news from that region. And the holy month of Ramadan has just begun. I'm sure the news is there, and I will find it, just for shits and giggles though:
A rude Arab awakening
What will happen to the uprisings in Libya, Yemen, and Syria as the ruling governments continue repressive policies?
"How do you explain the fact that since the upheavals erupted several months ago, the Libyan, Yemeni and Syrian regimes have continued their repression unabatedly - while in Egypt and Tunisia the regimes fell quickly?
The transformations in Egypt and Tunisia raised expectations of swift change elsewhere, but when the Arab Spring turned into a hot summer, it led to disappointment and doubt.
In reality, the early Arab Spring was exceptional by all standards when it led to the ousting of a combined 54 years of dictatorship in Tunisia and Egypt within the course of a few weeks.
While the military sided against the dictators in Egypt and Tunisia, the situation in Libya, Yemen and Syria is complicated by the fact that their regimes' militia, special forces and republican guards have been better organised, better armed and better financed -and hence more potent and in control of their national armies..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201181131751785145.htmlNonetheless there is this news:
Markets rise on eurozone's Greece aid deal
World stock markets rise after European agreement on second Greek bailout, to help the country avert financial meltdown.
Last Modified: 22 Jul 2011 10:14
Video Report: Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from Brussels, discusses the details of the second bailout package for Greece
"British, French and German stock markets gain signficantly in early trading on Friday, while Japan's Nikkei closes up 1.2 per cent.
The gains came after eurozone leaders agreed at a crucial summit on Thursday to find a way out for Greece to manage its debt crisis.
Together with the International Monetary Fund, eurozone countries agreed to give Greece a second bailout worth 109bn euros ($156bn).
Banks and other private investors will also contribute about 37bn euros ($53bn) to the rescue package. The new bailout will supplement the $146bn rescue plan for Greece launched in May last year..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/07/201172291420198758.htmlPortugal debt downgraded to junk status
Moody's credit agency warns Portugal may need a second round of rescue funds as it slashes credit rating by four levels.
Last Modified: 05 Jul 2011 23:29
"Portugal's credit standing has been cut to junk by Moody's Investors Service in the first such move by a credit ratings agency.
Moody's also warned on Tuesday that the country may well need a second round of rescue funds before it can return to capital markets.
The agency slashed Portugal's credit rating by four levels, to Ba2, causing the debt-laden Iberian country to follow Greece into junk territory below investment grade. Greece is rated much lower, at Caa1.
Portugal in April became the third eurozone country to request a bailout, after Greece and Ireland..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2011/07/20117522564603444.htmlU.S. taxpayers finance approximately 20% of the IMF's budget.
"Guess what, Ireland. Brian Lenihan and Brian Cowen just sold you down the IMF river. Why? To bail out bank bondholders and giant European banks. Of course! That's what governments are for these days, apparently. And they'll tell you that the bailout policy is all for you own good. And for little old ladies and pensioners and orphans. Just don't tell that to the cancer patients.
Yep, another nation made IMF debt slaves on behalf of the international banking cartels. And Goldman Sachs and Rothschild & Compagnie are on the list.
Check it out below -- Guido Fawkes' blog has acquired the list of Anglo-Irish Bank's bondholders..."
http://dailybail.com/home/rothschild-bank-and-goldman-sachs-are-both-on-the-list-of-bo.htmlSean O'Grady: The rescue package was so warmly received because no one understood it
The UK's unfamiliar experiment with coalition government is delivering better results than the three great economic blocs
Monday, 25 July 2011
That the second rescue package for Greece – and actually new softer terms for Ireland and Portugal's bailouts too – was so warmly received in the markets may have something to do with the fact that no one understands it. I have yet to meet anyone, be it eurocrat, economist or analyst who has been able to give me a comprehensive reconciliation of the numbers produced by the European Council after its emergency summit. Let alone those journalists who have chosen to specialise in economics, and whose paid job it is to translate the esoteric to the colloquial. "No idea, guv" sums up the journalistic consensus. It was probably the most opaque set of financial figures I have ever come across, not excluding PFI.
I think we understand that the "official funding" amounts to €109bn, though how much will be met by the eurozone and how much by the IMF remains unclear. What we have much less of a handle on is what proportion of the rescue fund will effectively be chipped in by the private banks, as organised by a group called the International Institute of Finance, the international "trade union" for the bankers, which, to its credit, has produced plenty of thoughtful and useful analysis throughout the financial crisis (though much of it obviously self-interested).
The numbers on that range from €12.6bn to €135bn over the next decade or so. You pays your money... The consensus seems to be that the banks will take a loss, or "haircut", of about 21 per cent of the face value of their Greek government bonds. Given what might have happened – total wipeout – they got off lightly. When in doubt it is always a good idea to take a quick look at the banks' share prices, and indeed so it came to pass; they started to bounce before the final conclusions of the EU summit were published, as they seeped out of the conference chamber in Brussels.
Weeks before, I had advised anyone who cared to listen to buy Greek government bonds because, contrary to the supposedly inevitable default, that would never be allowed to happen. I was, on the discount I quoted earlier, 79 per cent right. If I knew how to buy Greek bonds, together with their rich yields, I would have done so. The risk of default was mispriced...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/sean-ogrady-the-rescue-package-was-so-warmly-received-because-no-one-understood-it-2320051.htmlVatican accuses Enda Kenny of attacking the Church to divert attention from euro crisis
Vatican officials have accused Enda Kenny, Ireland's prime minister, of diverting attention away from the Irish euro crisis by attacking the Roman Catholic Church over its covering up of sex abuse.
"Giuseppe Leanza, the Vatican's envoy to Ireland, was posted to Prague on Friday, just days after he was recalled to Rome amid a row between the Vatican and Irish government over the sexual abuse of children by priests.
A report into the Irish diocese of Cloyne earlier this month criticised how the church handled hundreds of cases of sexual abuse of children by priests going back over decades.
The findings shocked Ireland, a deeply Catholic country, and prompted Mr Kenny to launch an unprecedented attack on "dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism" at the Vatican.
The Irish leader's speech and the scale of the backlash against the Church has alarmed the Vatican as coming from a country where official and popular defiance of Rome was once unthinkable at a time when Catholic influence is slipping across Europe..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8671645/Vatican-accuses-Enda-Kenny-of-attacking-the-Church-to-divert-attention-from-euro-crisis.html 
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
