Uwe Ohse
Sendedatum 2010-11-27 18:31:01
Ausgabe 95
Hallo,

hier eine weitere Ausgabe des beliebten Newsletters für Masochisten und Weltuntergangssekten. Je nach Newsreader kann die Darstellung weniger als perfekt befriedigend sein, daher könnte sich ein Blick auf die Onlineversion lohnen, die außerdem verschlagwortet ist.

Was nicht zurückgezahlt werden kann, wird nicht zurückgezahlt werden.

Links: Blog und Digest

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Welt, Politik

Welt, Rohstoffe

Welt, Umwelt

Welt, Verschiedenes

Welt, Wirtschaft

Europa

Deutschland

Ägypten

Afghanistan

Aserbaidschan

Australien

Belgien

China

Irak

Iran

Irland

Kanada

Mexiko

Mosambik

Norwegen

Portugal

Südafrika

USA

Inhalt:

Welt, Politik

https://docs.google.com/present/view?pli=1&id=dtxqwqr_76dcp7bxcr:
Dimitri Orlov, Autor von Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects über die Stufen eines gesellschaftlichen Kollapses.

Zitat von Stage 1: Financial collapse:
Faith in "business as usual" is lost. The future can no longer be assumed to resemble the past. Risk can no longer be assessed and financial assets to be guaranteed. Financial institutions become insolvent. Savings are wiped out, and access to capital is lost.

Zitat von Stage 2: Commercial collapse:
Faith that "the market shall provide" is lost. Commodities are hoarded. Import and retail chains break down. Widespread shortages of survival necessities become the norm.

Zitat von Stage 3: Political collapse:
Faith that "your government will take care of you" is lost. Government interventions fail to make a difference. Political establishment loses legitimacy and relevance.”

Zitat von Stage 4: Social collapse:
Faith that "your people will take care of you" is lost. Local social institutions, be they charities or other groups that rush in to fill the power vacuum, run out of resources or fail through internal conflict.

Zitat von Stage 5: Cultural collapse:
Faith in the goodness of humanity is lost. People lose their capacity for "kindness, generosity, consideration, affection, honesty, hospitality, compassion, charity"

Ich halte es nicht für undenkbar, daß all diese Entwicklungen parallel auftreten.

http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/pressroom/pressrelease/1257.html:
Zitat:The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and ARC International are deeply disappointed with yesterday’s vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The resolution urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling on states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. For the past 10 years, the resolution has included sexual orientation in the list of discriminatory grounds on which killings are often based.

Die Vollversammlung der vereinten Nationen verurteilt Todesurteile wegen sexueller Orientierung nicht mehr.

Welt, Rohstoffe

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7091:
Das Beste auf 5 Jahren "The Oil Drum". Must bookmark.

http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3184:uranium-reserves-to-be-over-by-2050&catid=102:mailbox&Itemid=279
Zitat:Energy experts warn that an acute shortage of uranium is going to hit the nuclear energy industry. Dr Yogi Goswami, co-director of the Clean Energy Research Centre at the University of Florida warns that “the proven reserves of uranium will last less than 30 years.”

Current nuclear plants consume around 67,000 tonnes of high-grade uranium per year. With present uranium deposits in the planet having been estimated at 4-5 million tones, this means the present resources would last 42 years.

But if there is going to be a stepping up of nuclear energy plants, as seems to be the case, then the likelihood is that that the time span is going to be considerably reduced. Dr Goswami who is the inventor of the a new thermodynamic cycle for solar thermal power now called the Goswami Thermodynamic cycle, says, “by 2050, all proven and undiscovered reserves of uranium will be over.”


Die Quelle ist etwas suspekt, und andere Quellen habe ich nicht gefunden.

Allerdings hat Goswami im Jahr 2005 folgende Rechnung aufgestellt:

http://cisbat.epfl.ch/download/goswami_presentation.pdf

Zitat:Known Reserves of Uranium 2.3 to 3.2 M tonnes
Present World Nuclear Capacity 368 GW
Uranium Needed for 1 TWh 22 tonnes
At 2% Annual Growth All the Known Uranium
Reserves will last until 2030 to 2037 *
If all (discovered and undiscovered) reserves of 5.1
Mt are considered, they will be finished by 2050
* Reprocessing the spent fuel will increase this time period.

Welt, Umwelt

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7980954/Bee-decline-already-having-dramatic-effect-on-pollination-of-plants.html
Zitat:Researchers have found that pollination levels of some plants have dropped by up to 50 per cent in the last two decades.

The "pollination deficit" could see a dramatic reduction in the yield from crops.
[...]
"Bee numbers may have declined at our research site, but we suspect that a climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor."

According to a previous study, England's bees are vanishing faster than anywhere else in Europe, with more than half of hives dying out over the last 20 years.

Butterflies and other insects are also in decline due to habitat loss and climate change.


Im Grunde genommen nicht überraschend...

Zitat:The situation is so serious that the government has launched a £10 million project to find out what is causing bees and other insects to disappear.

It is estimated bees are responsible for one in three mouthfuls of our food, and that insect pollinators contribute £440 million to the British economy through their role in fertilising crops.


Ich bin sicher, 440 Mio. Pfund sind nicht die ganze Rechnung.

Zitat:For the latest study, Prof Thomson carried out a 17-year examination of the wild lily in the Rocky Mountains.

Ich wünschte, so eine Studie würde mal unter seriöseren Umständen gemacht.

CO2 auf der Welt
Quelle: http://climate.nasa.gov/images/evidence_CO2.jpg
*Garantiert* kein Grund zur Beunruhigung. Garantiert?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/24/greenhouse-gas-concentrat_n_787959.html:
Zitat:A report by the U.N. weather agency has found that greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere reached record levels in 2009.
[...]
The Geneva-based agency says concentrations of carbon dioxide rose in 2009 by 1.6 parts per million, to 386.8 parts per million.

Alles wird gut. In Millionen Jahren wahrscheinlich.

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page68?oid=110784&sn=Detail
Zitat:The MV Nordic Barents is lugging 40,000 tonnes of iron ore from Norway to China on an Arctic Ocean shortcut through melting ice -- and making a little history in the process.

Steaming east along Russia's desolate northern coast, the ship departed on Saturday as the first non-Russian commercial vessel to attempt a non-stop crossing of a route that skirts the receding Arctic ice cap.

"We're pretty much going over the top," said John Sanderson, the Australian CEO of the Norwegian mine where the iron ore comes from.

By using the northern route from Europe to Asia, the Nordic Barents could save eight days and 5,000 nautical miles of travel thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the owners of its cargo.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/26/global-warming-met-office:
Zitat:The Met Office report includes a new study which shows that sea surface temperatures were higher than initially thought because of a change in the way the temperatures were measured after 2000. The new analysis significantly increases the warming scientists think was seen globally over the past decade.

The work is significant because the rate of global warming from 2000-2009 is lower than the 0.16C per decade trend seen since the late 1970s, a fact climate scientists have been keen to explain. Including the new sea surface temperatures, which push up global temperatures by 0.03C, the warming rate for the past 10 years is estimated at 0.08-0.16C. The new analysis of sea surface temperatures adjusts underestimates which arose from the change from predominantly ship-based temperature measurements before 2000 to moThe global average temperature for 2010 could be the highest since records began in the 1850s, Pope said. Of the three major independent records of global temperature, one puts 2010 on track to exceed the previous peaks in 1998 and 2005, while the other two appear set to run those records very close. The records, from the Met Office, NOAA and Nasa, have small differences due to how they deal with gaps in data from remote parts of the world, in particular the Arctic where warming is faster than at lower latitudes.stly buoy-based measurements afterwards.


[...]

Welt, Verschiedenes

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-16/pink-diamond-bought-by-graff-for-record-46-million-in-geneva.html:
Zitat:Laurence Graff, a London jewelry dealer, last night bought a diamond in a Swiss sale for 45.4 million francs ($45.6 million), a record for any gem at auction.
[...]
The jewelry auction raised a record 103 million francs, Sotheby’s said. Demand for rare gems as a portable form of wealth has pushed up prices.

The 24.78-carat emerald-cut stone was graded “Fancy Intense Pink” by the Gemological Institute of America. It was sold by a private collector and hadn’t been seen on the open market since being bought from Harry Winston about 60 years ago, the New York-based auction house said.
/blockquote]
Frage: Woran könnte es liegen, daß bewegliche Formen von Reichtum gefragt sind?

Welt, Wirtschaft

http://dailyreckoning.com/debt-delenda-est/:
Zitat:And soon, the bailers will be in trouble too. According to The Wall Street Journal, a combination of 15 major national governments will have to borrow a total of more than $10 trillion next year, to finance deficits and repay maturing bonds. That’s 27% of their total economic output. It also is equal to about twice the entire world’s annual savings.

Wie in aller Welt soll das funktionieren, ohne die Notenpressen zu überanstrengen?

Oh, war das schön, als Geld noch wenigstens den Wert des Papieres hatte...

Europa

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/0,1518,731509,00.html:
Zitat:750 Millionen Euro reichen womöglich nicht aus: Die EU-Kommission plädiert nach Informationen des SPIEGEL für eine Verdoppelung des EU-Rettungsschirms auf insgesamt 1,5 Billionen Euro. Damit könnten Kredite für krisengeplagte Länder wie Portugal oder Spanien finanziert werden.

Hamburg - In der EU mehren sich die Stimmen, die eine Aufstockung des Hilfsprogramms befürworten. Einer der wichtigsten Beamten der EU-Kommission hat nach SPIEGEL-Informationen dafür plädiert, die Mittel des europäischen Rettungsschirms zu verdoppeln. Marco Buti, Generaldirektor von Währungskommissar Olli Rehn, habe diese Maßnahme kürzlich vor Spitzenbeamten aus den Finanzministerien der Euro-Länder vorgeschlagen.


Aber sicher doch. Weil die Lösung so klasse "funktioniert" hat, werfen wir noch mehr Geld auf das Problem.

Größere Kreditlinien mögen das unvermeidliche herauszögern, mehr nicht.


http://mpettis.com/2010/11/chinese-inflation-and-european-defaults/:
Michael Pettis in Hochform, hier allerdings gekürzt:
Zitat:I think it is pretty safe to make the following predictions:
  1. Greece will be forced to default and restructure its debt, and the restructuring will come with a significant amount of debt forgiveness. The idea that it can grow its way out of the current debt burden is a fantasy. Remember that when countries are in conditions of financial distress, they face systematic disinvestment and capital flight, and as a consequence are never able to grow at anywhere close to the necessary rates – especially since any growth they do manage to achieve generally comes from additional fiscal spending, which simply runs up debt further.
  2. Greece will not be the only defaulter. Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and much of Eastern Europe will also face severe financial distress and possible default.[...]
  3. Political radicalism in these countries will rise inexorably as a consequence of rising class conflict. As Keynes pointed out as far back as 1922, the process of adjusting the currency and debt will primarily be one of assigning the costs to different economic groups, and this is never an easy or conflict-free exercise. Of course the less stable a government becomes as a consequence of this adjustment, the more likely it is to prefer very short-term solutions.[...]
  4. So why not bite the bullet and just get it over with? Because the European banking system would not survive even the best-case restructuring scenario. As a consequence we are fated to witness several years of difficult economic adjustment while everyone pretends that these countries, under the right policies, can work their way through their debt burdens. What will really be happening is that European banks will aggressively rebuild their capital bases, with the unwilling help of the poor household sector, until they are sufficiently well capitalized to begin taking the write-offs. Only then will we recognize that some countries cannot repay their debts.
  5. As an aside the European junk-bond market might take off. With banks crippled in their lending activities, Europe’s financial markets will probably go through a process much like that which the US experienced in the 1980s.[...]
  6. Several countries, most notably Spain, will be forced to choose between giving up sovereignty to Germany, suffering extremely high rates of unemployment for several years, or giving up the euro. They will almost certainly choose the third option. There are still a lot of people who say giving up the euro is “unimaginable”, but that just shows a weak imagination.[...]

This has been said before, but in a way this crisis is the European equivalence of the American Civil War. Once the dust finally settles Europe will either be a unified country with fiscal sovereignty firmly established in Berlin or Brussels, or it will be fragmented with little chance of reunion.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8146842/IMF-chief-Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-urges-leaders-to-cede-more-sovereignty-to-EU.html:
Zitat:In what are likely to prove controversial proposals, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF managing director, called on the European Union to move responsibility for fiscal discipline and structural reform to a central body that is free from the influences of member states.

Weil es gerade mit der EU so gut klappt, sollen die Staaten der EU die Zuständigkeit für Haushaltsdisziplin und Strukturreformen an einen zentrale Körperschaft abgeben, die unabhängig von den Einflüssen der Länder ist.

Das ist schon geradezu absurd - die Unabhängigkeit der EZB ist ausgesprochen fraglich, die EU ist noch nicht mal in der Lage, selbst eine Spur von Haushaltsdisziplin zu zeigen, sondern erzwingt vor dem europäischen Gerichtshof auch noch höhere Gehälter für ihre Mitarbeiter, und überhaupt sind die Völker der EU momentan ja *so* begeistert davon, Brüssel noch mehr ihrer Rechte abzutreten.


http://www.eurointelligence.com/index.php?id=581&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2964&tx_ttnews[backPid]=901&cHash=4b85eee65c:
Cross-Country Debt
Schulden von Irland, Portugal und Griechenland bei Banken aus Deutschland, Spanien, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Niederlanden, Belgien und Italien.

Zitat:The eurozone’s core – not just Germany – is hostile to what they call “a transfer union”. That’s Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland. You would not get majorities for such a transfer. Nor would it be politically possible, and in Germany’s case not constitutional either, to establish a fully-fledged fiscal union. Of the various inconsistent constraints, default is the one that will be accepted.

The wider ramifications of all this are utterly underestimated by Europe’s political leadership. I leave you to draw the conclusions.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,730578,00.html
Leider finde ich das mal wieder nicht auf den deutschen Seiten des Spiegels:
Risiken deutscher Banken in Griechenland, Portugal, Irland und Spanien.

Defizite der 4 Länder

Zitat:Germany will be the largest guarantor of the bonds that the European Union rescue fund, which was set up in the spring, will likely issue to borrow money to help stabilize Ireland. Unofficially, there is talk of guarantees worth an estimated €90 billion ($122 billion), with Germany's share possibly amounting to around €25 billion.

Ach, wie günstig - da können wir ja für "nur" 25 Mrd. € die 144 Mrd. € absichern...
Oder erhöhen wir nur das Risiko von 144 auf 169 Mrd?

Der Rest des Artikels ist eher nicht lesenswert.

Deutschland

http://www.faz.net/s/Rub594835B672714A1DB1A121534F010EE1/Doc~EABD1ADF793F14CFE94935951CED1B95E~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html:
Zitat:Bereits im Vorfeld der Vernehmung von Rüttgers hatten sich die Mitglieder des Asse-Ausschusses im nicht-öffentlichen Teil der Sitzung einstimmig darauf geeinigt, das Bundeskanzleramt in Berlin auf die Herausgabe von Akten zur Asse zu verklagen. Das Kanzleramt verweigert die Vorlage von Akten seit einem Jahr. Nach Informationen der Nachrichtenagentur dpa wird der Landtag die entsprechenden Schreiben für eine Klage jetzt vorbereiten. Hintergrund für die Entscheidung ist ein Gutachten des Braunschweiger Staatsrechtlers Prof. Edmund Brandt. Er hatte im Auftrag der Landtags-Grünen in seiner Expertise festgestellt, dass das Kanzleramt die Arbeit des Untersuchungsausschusses behindert. „Jetzt muss Frau Merkel liefern“, sagte Stefan Wenzel, Fraktionschef der Grünen.

Eigentlich muß eine Bundeskanzlerin, die die Arbeit eines parlamentarischen Untersuchungsausschusses behindert, nicht liefern, sondern liefern und zurücktreten. Am selben Tag. Also vor einem Jahr, ungefähr.

http://www.ndr.de/regional/niedersachsen/harz/asse533.html:
Zitat:Nach Angaben des Niedersächsischen Sozialministeriums gegenüber dem NDR Regionalmagazin "Hallo Niedersachsen" liegt bei Männern die Zahl der Neuerkrankungen im Untersuchungszeitraum bei zwölf - statistisch erwartbar wären 5,2. Die Erkrankungsrate für Schilddrüsenkrebs bei Frauen hat sich laut der Untersuchung des Epidemiologischen Krebsregisters Niedersachsen (EKN) sogar verdreifacht. Die Erkrankungshäufigkeit für Leukämien bei Frauen ist ebenfalls erhöht, allerdings nicht signifikant, wie das Ministerium mitteilte. Die gesamte Anzahl der Krebserkrankungen sei für Männer und Frauen im Erwartungsbereich, erklärte ein Sprecher.

Was mich daran fasziniert sind weniger die Krebsfälle als die Aufregung deswegen (ganz ungeachtet der Ursache): Gibt es irgendjemanden, der angesichts der Bilder der Schlampereien in Asse nicht etwas in dieser Art für gegeben gehalten hat?

http://www.ndr.de/regional/niedersachsen/harz/asse531.html:
Zitat:Der ehemalige Bundesforschungsminister Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU) kann sich nur noch rudimentär daran erinnern, was in seiner Amtszeit im Atommülllager Asse passiert ist. "Die Vorgänge sind zwischen 12 und 16 Jahren her", sagte Rüttgers am Donnerstag als Zeuge im Asse-Untersuchungsausschuss des niedersächsischen Landtags in Hannover. Insgesamt sei er nur drei Mal mit Vorgängen aus der Asse befasst gewesen, sagte Rüttgers.
[...]
Er konnte sich auch nicht daran erinnern, ob er bei seinem Amtsantritt 1994 über die Existenz der 126.000 Fässer in der maroden Schachtanlage informiert wurde.

100000 Fässer Atommüll sind eine Zahl, die man bestimmt leichter vergißt als "3 mal mit Vorgängen aus der Asse" befaßt zu sein.

Offenbar muß man, um in der CDU nach oben zu kommen, bestimmte Arten von Gedächtnisdefekten haben.


http://www.querschuesse.de/leiharbeit-im-september-auf-rekord/:
Zitat:BZA-Präsident Volker Enkerts meinte zu den Zahlen: „Zeitarbeit ist eine tragende Säule des Aufschwungs auf dem Arbeitsmarkt und der Konjunkturentwicklung geworden.”

Ich möchte das mal anders formulieren: Es gab keinen Aufschwung auf dem Arbeitsmarkt, sondern nur mehr Billigarbeit. Was, im Grunde genommen, auch nicht anders zu erwarten war.

http://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/aufmacher/berliner_buero/Saarbruecken-Terror-Warnung-Presse-Pressefreiheit-Reischstag;art182516,3517995:
Zitat:In der Unionsfraktion gibt es offenbar erste Überlegungen, angesichts der terroristischen Bedrohung die Pressefreiheit in Deutschland einzuschränken.

Saarbrücken. Der Vorsitzende des Rechtausschusses des Bundestages, Siegfried Kauder (CDU), sagte der Saarbrücker Zeitung: „Wenn die Presse darüber berichtet, welche Orte besonders gefährdet sind, dann kann das unter Umständen ein Anreiz für Terroristen sein.“


Kann man diese verfassungsfeindliche Organisation (CDU) nicht langsam verbieten?

Ägypten

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/power-and-water-cuts-across-egypt-provoke-anger
Zitat:Power outages in several governorates have led to water cuts, forcing residents to depend on manual pumps for water.
[...]
In Luxor, water pumping and sanitary drainage stations have stopped working due to a weak power supply.
[...]
In Gharbiya, dozens of residents from Bassioun--a village which has been out of electricity for 15 days--filed complaints with the Minister of Electricity and the governor. Additionally, they threatened to organize a protest tomorrow in front of the headquarters of the governorate if the power cut continues.

Khaled Allam, a resident of another village in Gharbiya, said residents will file 12 reports with the attorney general to complain about the policies of the electricity company. Allam added that the two-week blackout has ruined electric equipment and spoiled stored food.

Afghanistan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11818583:
Zitat:An impostor posing as a leading Taliban negotiator held secret talks with Afghan officials, report US media.

The Afghans thought they were dealing with Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Mansour, a top Taliban commander.
[...]
He was paid "a lot of money", then he disappeared, say diplomatic sources. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has denied reports he met the impersonator.


Ein Krimineller beklaut andere Kriminelle. Das heißt wohl nur, daß jeden Tag ein dummer aufsteht, um beklaut zu werden.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111806856.html:
Zitat:The U.S. military is sending a contingent of heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, defense officials said, a shift that signals a further escalation in the aggressive tactics that have been employed by American forces this fall to attack the Taliban.

Heißt das, Afghanistan ist jetzt sicher genug, um schwere Panzer einzusetzen, oder heißt das, die Taliban haben endlich genug Ziele für starke Kampfpanzer bereitgestellt?

Aserbaidschan

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-eu-russia-azerbaijan-gas,0,6399995.story
Zitat:Russia's Gazprom on Friday clinched a deal to double supplies from Azerbaijan in a bid to expand its control over gas produced by former Soviet republics.

Gazprom and the State Oil and Gas Company of Azerbaijan signed an agreement to boost Azerbaijan's gas supplies to Russia to 2 million cubic meters next year, Gazprom said in a statement. The Azeri company also committed to sell over 2 million cubic meters of gas in 2012, Gazprom said. This will be four times as much as the amount Russia contracted in the first big gas deal with Azerbaijan in June last year.


Alles klar?

Zitat:The European Union was planning to use Azerbaijan's vast energy resources as a key source of gas for a major pipeline project, Nabucco, to bring Caspian and Central Asian gas to Europe, bypassing Russia.

Moscow, meanwhile, has been lobbying for a pipeline via Russia named South Stream, which would tunnel under the Black Sea to reach southern Europe.

Friday's deal casts fresh doubts over Nabucco's ability to get enough gas to make it worthwile.


Jetzt klarer?

Australien

http://www.claytonutz.com/publications/news/201011/25/new_foreign_takeover_controls_on_farms.page:
Zitat:Foreign acquisitions of Australian farms and agricultural companies are the target of a new Bill before Parliament.
[...]
If passed, this Bill would:

* require Federal Treasurer approval for the acquisition of an interest in farms of more than 5 hectares;
* require the Treasurer to consult a statutory checklist of "national interest" issues before approving such an acquisition;
* require the Treasurer to publish details of all agricultural land applications.


Das dürfte die australisch-chinesischen Beziehungen nicht gerade fördern.

Belgien

http://baselinescenario.com/2010/11/25/will-ireland-default-ask-belgium/:
Zitat:Jacob Kirkegaard, my colleague at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, points out that the claims of foreign banks (in the 24 countries reporting to the Bank for International Settlements) on Ireland “are at over $500 billion — three times the scale of total claims against Greece.” (The underlying BIS data he uses can be seen here: http://www.bis.org/statistics/provbstats.pdf#page=90; start on p.90.)

Das ist eine fürchterlich hohe Zahl: Ein Risiko von $113000 pro irischem Kopf.

Zitat:German banks are owed $139 billion, which is 4.2 percent of German G.D.P. British banks are owed $131 billion, or about 5 percent of Britain’s G.D.P. French banks are owed $43.5 billion, which is approaching 2 percent of French G.D.P. But the eye-catching numbers are for Belgium, which is owed $29 billion – in the relatively small Belgian economy, this accounts for around 5 percent of G.D.P.

Zitat:Given the prevalence of off-shore banking in Ireland, these numbers may overstate the true liabilities. But still, Belgium is already on the hook, according to the Bank for International Settlements, for 18.3 percent of G.D.P. as a result of “general government contingent liabilities arising from ‘crisis assistance’ to financial institutions” (again, see Jacob’s note.) The last thing it – or the rest of the euro-zone – needs is a fiscal crisis arising from commitments to support its banks after an Irish default.

Zitat:
Belgium’s overall fiscal picture is not good, its political stability is far from assured and its underlying social fissures would surely not be helped by a further dose of severe austerity. (According to Eurostat’s latest numbers, the Belgian budget deficit was 6 percent of G.D.P. in 2009 and its debt was 96.2 percent of G.D.P. at the end of last year; to be fair, Belgium has an established tradition of being able to survive with high debt levels.)

Für Belgien könnte das wirklich gefährlich werden.

China

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia-china/2010/11/26/281368/China-diesel.htm:
Zitat:China's refined oil products reserves have witnessed a dramatic decline since August. The stock of diesel dropped 8.6 percent in September month-on-month and 10.7 percent in October. In addition, the stock of refined oil products has plunged to 14 million tons as of the end of October, while the normal level is about 17 million tons, said Liao Kaishun, an analyst at C1 Energy. Diesel storage has dropped to about 6.25 million tons versus a normal level of 9 million tons, Liao added.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90861/7130358.html
Zitat:After over a decade of negotiation and two years of construction, China will be able to tap directly into Russia's gas output with the completion of a pipeline next month.
[...]
"The pipeline will provide 15 million tons of crude oil to China each year when it starts operation, and then its transport capacity will rise sharply," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Lv Jicheng, project manager of Mohe-Daqing part of the program, as saying Friday.
[...]
"The oil pipeline will help increase China's oil supply and enhance China's international energy structure," said Wang Haiyun, senior advisor with the China Institute for International Strategic Studies.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703374304575622350604500556.html:
Zitat:Western defense officials and experts were surprised to see more than 25 different Chinese models of the unmanned aircraft, known as UAVs, on display at this week's Zhuhai air show in this southern Chinese city. It was a record number for a country that unveiled its first concept UAVs at the same air show only four years ago, and put a handful on display at the last one in 2008.

Wovon braucht die Welt mehr
  1. Projekte zur Rückwandlung von Wüsten in fruchtbare Regionen
  2. Dronen

?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/02/tibetan-plateau-climate-change
Zitat:Like generations of Tibetan nomads before him, Phuntsok Dorje makes a living raising yaks and other livestock on the vast alpine grasslands that provide a thatch on the roof of the world.

But in recent years the vegetation around his home, the Tibetan plateau, has been destroyed by rising temperatures, excess livestock and plagues of insects and rodents.


Zitat:"The grass used to be up to here," Phuntsok says, indicating a point on his leg a little below the knee. "Twenty years ago, we had to scythe it down. But now, well, you can see for yourself. It's so short it looks like moss."

Zitat:Scientists say the desertification of the mountain grasslands is accelerating climate change. Without its thatch the roof of the world is less able to absorb moisture and more likely to radiate heat.

Partly because of this the Tibetan mountains have warmed two to three times faster than the global average; the permafrost and glaciers of the "Third Pole" are melting.


Zitat:Phuntsok Dorje (name has been changed) is among the last of the nomads scratching a living in one of the worst affected areas. "There used to be five families on this plain. Now we are the only one left and there is not enough grass even for us," he says. "It's getting drier and drier and there are more and more rats every year."

Zitat:"This all used to be a lake. There wasn't a road here then. Even a Jeep couldn't have made it through," said a Tibetan guide, Dalang Jiri, as we drove through the area. By one estimate, 70% of the former rangeland is now desert.

Irak

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/break-promise-leave-iraq/:
Zitat:The United States is open to the idea of keeping troops in Iraq past a deadline to leave next year if Iraq asks for it, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.

Nun ja, die Sache mit dem Rückzug hatte ja hoffentlich sowieso niemand zu ernst genommen, aber... wie in aller Welt soll der Irak die Amis danach fragen, da zu blieben, wenn der Irak seit 9 Monaten keine Regierung hat?

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/21/1936449/little-expected-from-new-iraqi.html:
Zitat:Iraq has run out of money to pay for widows' benefits, farm crops and other programs for the poor, the parliament leader told lawmakers, who have collected nearly $180,000 so far this year in one of the world's most oil-rich nations.

In only their fourth session since being elected in March, members of Iraq's parliament on Sunday demanded to know what happened to the estimated $1 billion allocated for welfare funding by the Finance Ministry for 2010.

"We should ask the government where these allocations for widows' aid have gone," demanded Sadrist lawmaker Maha Adouri of Baghdad, one of the women who make up a quarter of the legislature's 325 members. "There are thousands of widows who did not receive financial aid for months."

Another legislator said farmers have not been paid for wheat and other crops they supplied the government for at least five months.


Das scheint mir die passende Vorzeigedemokratie für die Bush-Junta zu sein.

Iran

http://www.kippreport.com/2010/09/iran-stores-abundant-fuel-oil-on-supertankers/
Zitat:Iran has been storing straight-run fuel oil on supertankers for at least three months, in an unprecedented move prompted by China’s poor feedstock demand and financing difficulties faced by buyers due to Western sanctions, industry sources said on Friday.

At least 550,000-600,000 tonnes, two full VLCC loads, are being held at sea at any one time, traders said.

So far, two cargoes have been sold and delivered into Singapore on board Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), a shift from its normal practice of using 80,000-tonne aframaxes.

Irland

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/25/donegal-property-development-auction-bid-5000:
Zitat:It was the story of Ireland's boom and bust in a nutshell: a newly built apartment block near the windswept coast of far-flung Donegal, once value
Zitat:d at €9.5m, was selling for €500,000 (£425,000).

But now, it seems, it's not even worth that. Navenny Place, a 47-apartment complex, was withdrawn from auction this week after just one token bid of €5,000 – and that was after the auctioneer reduced the starting price to €300,000, or €6,383 per flat.


Das ist etwas weniger schlimm als es auf den ersten Blick aussieht, weil der Komplex noch nicht fertig war, und wohl so rund €1.5 Mio Investitionsbedarf war.
Zitat:
But the signs are not propitious: "You just won't get funds to complete buildings from any bank because nothing is selling," said an executive who heads up the recovery unit in an accountancy practice in Dublin.

aber *das* ist schlimm.

http://www.ftd.de/unternehmen/finanzdienstleister/:folgen-der-finanzkrise-anglo-irish-gefaehrdet-irland/50165925.html
Zitat:Galt Irland aufgrund eines früh eingeschlagenen strikten Sparkurses zunächst als Vorbild für andere krisengeplagte EU-Staaten, wächst nun unter Investoren die Sorge, die Sanierung des Bankensektors - allen voran die von Anglo Irish - könne das Land überfordern. Die Ratingagentur Standard & Poor's (S&P) stufte die Bonitätsnote Irlands vorletzte Woche um eine Stufe auf AA- herab - mit Verweis auf die kostspielige Rettung der Geldhäuser. Allein die Rekapitalisierung von Anglo Irish könnte nach Einschätzung der S&P-Analysten 39 Mrd. Euro verschlingen.

Die Bank und die Regierung in Dublin weisen diese Zahl zwar zurück, sie gehen derzeit von 25 Mrd. Euro aus.
[...]
Seit Monaten sind die Geldhäuser des Landes zudem von den Anleihemärkten praktisch ausgeschlossen.
[...]
Das schiere Ausmaß der Rettung von Anglo Irish sticht dabei heraus. Knapp 22 Mrd. Euro hat die Regierung bisher in das im Januar 2009 verstaatlichte Geldhaus gepumpt. Selbst wenn es bei einer Gesamtsumme von 25 Mrd. Euro bleiben sollte, würde das mehr als elf Prozent des irischen Bruttoinlandprodukts (BIP) ausmachen. Zum Vergleich: Die Rekapitalisierung der Royal Bank of Scotland macht gerade einmal etwas mehr als drei Prozent des britischen BIP aus, die der UBS rund ein Prozent der Schweizer Wirtschaftsleistung.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/opinion/26krugman.html:
Zitat:Before the bank bust, Ireland had little public debt. But with taxpayers suddenly on the hook for gigantic bank losses, even as revenues plunged, the nation’s creditworthiness was put in doubt. So Ireland tried to reassure the markets with a harsh program of spending cuts.

Step back for a minute and think about that. These debts were incurred, not to pay for public programs, but by private wheeler-dealers seeking nothing but their own profit. Yet ordinary Irish citizens are now bearing the burden of those debts.

Or to be more accurate, they’re bearing a burden much larger than the debt — because those spending cuts have caused a severe recession so that in addition to taking on the banks’ debts, the Irish are suffering from plunging incomes and high unemployment.

But there is no alternative, say the serious people: all of this is necessary to restore confidence.

Strange to say, however, confidence is not improving. On the contrary: investors have noticed that all those austerity measures are depressing the Irish economy — and are fleeing Irish debt because of that economic weakness.

Now what? Last weekend Ireland and its neighbors put together what has been widely described as a “bailout.” But what really happened was that the Irish government promised to impose even more pain, in return for a credit line — a credit line that would presumably give Ireland more time to, um, restore confidence. Markets, understandably, were not impressed: interest rates on Irish bonds have risen even further.

Ireland is now in its third year of austerity, and confidence just keeps draining away. And you have to wonder what it will take for serious people to realize that punishing the populace for the bankers’ sins is worse than a crime; it’s a mistake.


Das faßt es ganz gut zusammen. Der Bailout war kein Bailout, sondern eine Kreditlinie, und deswegen geht das Vertrauen in die irischen Staatsfinanzen in den Keller.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/economic-crash-to-drive-100000-out-of-ireland-2137109.html:
Zitat:The government expects as many as 100,000 people to leave over the next four years. In most cases, it is a decision taken with the utmost reluctance. Mr Lynch said he would be leaving his wife and six-month-old son behind initially while he secured a job.

Das sind 2.2% der Bevölkerung. Die Zahl mag nicht groß aussehen, sie ist aber für die irische Volkswirtschaft verheerend.

http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/how-much-of-a-bailout-will-we-need-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Cyou-can-work-it-out-yourselves%E2%80%9D-says-minister-for-finance-brian-lenihan-here-are-my-workings/:
Wieviel Bailout braucht Irland?

http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/ kommt zu dieser Zahl:

Zitat:So by working it out myself like Brian Lenihan suggested, I come to €207bn approximately for the period up to the end of 2014 (perhaps I should be looking at a shorter period?). Of course we have some €10bn of funding already (the “fully funded to the middle of next year” funds) and we have €14bn or so available from the National Pension Reserve Fund (€25bn less commitments to AIB/BoI).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8157210/Ireland-unveils-austere-15bn-budget-to-cut-deficit.html:
Zitat:The Irish people will begin to feel the pain next year when 40pc - or €6bn - of the €10bn in spending cuts and €5bn in tax increases will happen.

The effect of the measures - required as the precondition for an EU-IMF bailout - will mean the average Irish household will have to pay up £3,000 in extra taxes.


Frage: Wie können Arbeitslose mehr Steuern zahlen?

http://www.eurointelligence.com/index.php?id=581&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2964&tx_ttnews[backPid]=901&cHash=4b85eee65c:
Ist Irland solvent?
Schuldenentwicklung Irlands
Wenn es den Iren gelingt, 2% Wachstum zu erzielen, dann nicht.
Zitat:Under the assumption of 2% growth, Ireland debt will stabilise, only just depending on your assumptions on deficit reduction. But if it is anything less, debt will explode. That’s the reality of Ireland’s solvency. It is entirely contingent on future economic growth of 2% nominal or more. Where this should be coming from is not clear to me.

Tja. Eben.

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/0,1518,730403,00.html:
Zitat:Doch das ist nicht alles. Das Immobilien- und Schulden-Desaster hat eine bisher kaum beachtete Folge: Mehr als 20.000 Pferde, so schätzen Tierschützer, sind auf der Kriseninsel überflüssig geworden.

Manche von ihnen irren frei umher in der Landschaft, ausgesetzt von ihren Besitzern. Mitunter sind selbst Vollblüter darunter, die noch vor kurzem für die Galoppbahn ausgebildet wurden. Viele Tiere sind bei Leuten gelandet, denen es an Kompetenz, Platz und Geld fehlt. Andere stehen auf Weiden und sind viel zu mager für die Jahreszeit. Im kommenden Winter, so fürchten Tierschützer, droht eine Rekordzahl von ihnen zu verhungern.


Nun sind Pferde üblicherweise nicht die Tiere derjenigen gewesen, bei denen Geld wirklich knapp war - Pferde sind ein deutlich teurerer Luxus als Hunde und Katzen.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/1126/1224284180165.html:
Zitat:MANY SERIOUS people, in Ireland and elsewhere, have reached the conclusion that the Irish State cannot support the debt burden it has taken on.

Flowing from this conclusion comes the view that a portion of that debt must be defaulted on. The most obvious and frequently mentioned portion of that debt that advocates of default point to are monies lent to Irish banks, including senior bonds.

There are very powerful arguments to support the default view, and the strongest argument against it, from Ireland’s perspective, evaporated last week – that argument was that any default on bank bonds would cause lenders to stop giving money to the Government to fund its deficit. That has now happened anyway.


Tja. So kann man das sehen.

Kanada

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Calgary+housing+sales+tumble/3472287/story.html
Zitat:An increase in active listings, combined with a cooling in housing demand, has started to push prices down in Calgary's residential real estate market.

Data released Wednesday by the Calgary Real Estate Board show single-family home sales fell by just over 32 per cent in August compared with a year ago while condominium transactions plunged by more than 42 per cent.

http://www.straight.com/articl [verkürzt] -down-36-percent-august-report

Zitat:The number of home sales in the region dropped by 36 percent in August compared with the same period last year, reports the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Last month, there were just over 2,200 sales of residential property, while there were a record-setting 3,441 sales for the same month in 2009. The August housing figures were also down 2.4 percent from July.


So weit, so schlecht.
Zitat:But sales last month were up by over 40 percent from the more than 1,500 sales in August 2008, according a news release the board issued today (September 2).

und es geht also noch schlechter.
Zitat:Meanwhile, the benchmark price for residential property in August was down 2.8 percent from April 2010 when the benchmark was more than $593,400.

und die Preise fallen.

http://toreal.blogs.com/toronto/2010/09/toronto-real-estate-market-slips-22.html

Zitat:Greater Toronto Realtors® reported 6,232 sales through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in August 2010. This represented a 22 per cent decrease compared to the 8,035 sales recorded during the same period in 2009. New listings decreased by 1% year-over-year to 10,488.

http://cigm.qc.ca/en/nouvelles_comm.aspx?id=643

Zitat:Although sales in the Montréal Metropolitan Area decreased by 26 per cent in July 2010 compared to July 2009, year-to-date sales increased by 10 per cent according to the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board's (GMREB) MLS® statistics. Property prices in the Montréal area also continued to increase.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/08/17/ottawa-home-sales.html

Zitat:The new harmonized sales tax (HST) introduced in Ontario last month is being blamed for the decline of housing sales in Ottawa.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said July sales in the city plunged 27.1 per cent from the previous month.

http://edmontonrealestateblog. [verkürzt] e-market-sleepy-in-august.html

Zitat:The average sale price for single family homes was down 1.96% and sold for $372,253 in August. Condominiums dropped in price for the fourth consecutive month and sold on average for $232,230 in August.

Residential sales in August were down from the previous month at 1,195 as were listings at 2,700. The sales-to-listing ratio was 44% and the inventory increased to 8,822 units at the end of the month. The average days-on-market was up six at 57 days.


Das leise Geräusch aus Richtung Westen war das Platzen der Träume kanadischer Immobilienbesitzer. Es wird ohne jeden Zweifeln von verzweifelten Schmerzensschreien gefolgt werden.

http://www.theprovince.com/business/Vancouver+taxpayers+hook+billion+most+Olympic+Village+units+unsold/3491634/story.html
Überraschenderweise verkauft sich das Olympic Village nicht besonders gut. OK, wer Kanada: Olympic Sized Depression Hitting Vancouver gelesen hat, wird vielleicht nicht so überrascht sein Bild: Lächelndes Gesicht
Zitat:Sixty-six per cent of Vancouver’s pricey Olympic Village condos remain unsold — a total of 483 units at the massive False Creek development that served as athletes’ housing during the two-week 2010 Games.

Zitat:BY THE NUMBERS:

The City of Vancouver is owed $170 million for the land on which the Olympic Village sits.

The city holds a $750-million loan for the village and is currenty paying interest on the loan.

The city’s affordable-housing component of the project cost $110 million, $45 million over budget.

Total: $1.03 billion

NUMBER OF UNITS

254 condos sold so far.
483 condos remaining to be sold.
61 units being rented (as of June).
Another 58 units available for rent.
252 affordable-housing units available.

Total: 1,108 units


Und hat die Realität schon in den Köpfen der Verantwortlichen Einzug gehalten?

Zitat:Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, whose city remains on the hook for more than $1.03 billion of the cost of the project, predicts it will take a “full two-year term” to sell the remaining units.

“There is some concern we’re going into another [economic] dip,” Robertson said last week. “[But] I have full confidence in the developer and the marketing taking place.

“I hope the market kicks in and they get sold. I’d like to see it fill up sooner rather than later.”


Nein, der Bürgermeister hofft, während der Häusermarkt in Kanada und insbesondere Vancouver sowieso gerade einbricht, die Einheiten verkaufen zu können.
Schön zu sehen, daß Realitätsverlust keine rein deutsche Krankheit ist Bild: Lächelndes Gesicht

Ein paar Zitate aus dem Rest des Artikels:
the village resembles a ghost town, it was hard to find anyone actually living in the $1.2-billion former Olympic Village am Samstag nachmittag, It’s almost living in a futuristic police state, This place is spooky, I don’t see any patio furniture and there’s nothing on the balconies, its new, $36-million, 45,000-square-foot community centre seemed almost deserted Saturday, with just a handful of people inside its enormous gym.

Und wird nun alles besser?

Zitat:Meanwhile, lawyer Bryan Baynham said she has 11 clients who want to get deposits back on 13 suites in the village.

Hm, vielleicht nicht.

Zitat:“It’s too early to say how we’ve succeeded, and a lot depends on the pace of sales,” he said. “It shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody that the risk remains.

“I have no doubt that, down the road, this will be seen as a successful project ­— but we’re in strange economic times.”


Successful project, haha.

Und das ist nur die Bilanz des Olympic Village.

Mexiko

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-pemex-20100906,0,4996948.story
Zitat:In May, gunmen wearing camouflage and tennis shoes kidnapped five Pemex workers as they rode to the front gate of the Gigante No. 1 natural gas plant in the Burgos Basin. One man was a mechanic, another specialized in pumps. All were dressed in their crisp khaki uniforms with the Pemex logo, ready for long shifts. They have not been heard from since.

The kidnappings, plus the reported disappearance of at least 30 other employees of subcontractors in the same region, have terrorized a community where jobs on the oil rigs and at the gas wells are handed down, father to son, for generations.

Zitat:"In the Burgos project, there are areas we cannot access," Carlos Morales Gil, director of exploration and production for Pemex, said during a news conference in the Tabasco city of Villahermosa in July. It was a startling admission.

"We are not going to enter any area where security is at risk," he added, calling for increased army and navy protection for oil and gas installations.


Die Serie unerfreulicher Nachrichten aus Mexiko setzt sich fort.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101125-706855.html:
Zitat:Mexican state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said Thursday that it produced 2.571 million barrels a day of crude oil in October, unchanged from September but down from 2.602 million barrels a day in the year-ago month. ...

Nur 1.2% weniger über das Jahr gerechnet.

Leider braucht Mexiko, wenn ich mich recht erinnere, so 5 bis 10% mehr, um dieselbe Menge exportieren zu können.


http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN2421472920101124:
Zitat:Mexico took a major step towards opening up its jealously-guarded oil sector to foreign companies on Wednesday with the approval of a new contracting model that lets private companies operate oil fields.

Das könnte bereits zu spät sein.
Zitat:
The first operating deals offered under the new contract are likely to be modest. Pemex plans to auction three contracts to operate mature onshore oil fields by mid-2011 with subsequent rounds proposed for more mature fields as well as exploration blocks in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

"Mature" fields. Traut sich Pemex die Entwicklung neuer Felder also selbst zu, oder traut sich niemand sonst die Entwicklung *dieser* Felder zu?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1921959420101119:
Zitat:The National Hydrocarbons Commission ordered Pemex to produce more evidence to back up its claims of probable and possible oil and gas reserves in its northern region, in a ruling dated Sept. 30 but published on its website on Friday

The commission, known by its Spanish acronym CNH, cited wide differences between what Pemex said it could recover from the area and studies by independent reserves auditors.

Pemex estimated in March that the possible and probable reserves in the northern region, mainly at the controversial Chicontepec project, were more than 17 billion barrels of oil equivalent, more than 40 percent of the country's total.
[...]
Industry sources told Reuters in April that Pemex's auditors urged the company to reduce its estimate of probable and possible reserves at Chicontepec by nearly half, which would chop the country's total reserves by 17 percent.


Da hat wohl irgendjemand in Mexiko noch Bodenkontakt zur Realität?

Mosambik

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-03/wheat-in-chicago-gains-as-russian-extends-export-ban-as-much-as-11-months.html
Zitat:Wheat climbed after Russia, the third-largest grower last year, extended a ban on exports into next year after a drought destroyed crops, tightening global supplies. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization called a special meeting to address the global grains situation.

Zitat:Russia will extend the ban on grain and flour exports at least until next year’s crop is harvested, Prime Minister Putin said yesterday. The initial ban, announced on Aug. 5, was implemented from Aug. 15 and had been set to lapse on Dec. 31. Its announcement drove wheat futures to $8.68 a bushel the next day, the highest price in 23 months.

Zitat:Residents of Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, continued a strike yesterday for a second day over higher food and utility prices. Protests began after the government announced plans to raise water and electricity rates by 30 percent from Sept. 1, and the price of bread by 25 percent on Sept. 6.

Norwegen

http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1488098:
Zitat von Unkritisch, aber interessant:The Norwegian economy contracted unexpectedly in the third quarter due to a substantial slowdown in oil and gas extraction.

Gross domestic product slipped 1.6% sequentially in the third quarter, following a 0.2% drop in the prior quarter, Statistics Norway reported Tuesday. Economists were expecting the economy to recover this quarter, by expanding 0.5%.

Planned maintenance on several oil fields reduced oil and gas extraction in the third quarter. Data showed that petroleum activities and ocean transport plunged 10.2%, following a 2.4% drop in the second quarter.

On the other hand, Mainland Norway expanded at a faster pace of 0.9% compared to an increase of 0.5% in the two previous quarters. The growth rate matched economists' expectations. The latest 0.9% expansion was led by increased final consumption expenditure by households and general government as well as increased exports excluding crude oil and natural gas.


Frage: Wieso in aller Welt war "geplante Wartung" nicht in die BIP-Vorhersagen der Ökonomen eingerechnet?

Portugal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11785613:
Zitat:The head of Portugal's intelligence agency has resigned over budget cuts which would see the closure of most of its offices abroad.

The resignation of Jorge Silva Carvalho, director of the Defence Strategic Intelligence Service (Sied), was accepted, Portuguese media report.

Budget cuts planned for 2011 would mean the closure of seven of the service's 11 foreign offices.


Ernst gemeinte Frage: Gibt es irgendeinen Grund zu glauben, daß es Portugal mit weniger Geheimdienst schlechter geht?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/24/general-strike-in-portugal:
Zitat:Trades unions brought parts of Portugal to a grinding halt as a general strike shut down most public transport in protest at cuts being introduced to stave off an Irish-style debt crisis.

Most flights in and out of Portugal were cancelled, ferries across the River Tagus remained at their berths, metro stations were closed and only a handful of trams ran as Lisbonites sought other ways to get to work. Angry British tourists were among those left stranded at airports.

"It is like a Sunday here," said newspaper salesman Francisco Amaral outside Lisbon's Cais do Sodré transport interchange, where the metro and ferry stations were closed and only a handful of overland trains ran.

Trade unions claimed 80% of workers stayed at home, while the government put the figure at around 20%. "This may not change the budget plans, but they know now how the workers feel about taking the biggest part of the cuts," said local Lisbon union organiser Libério Domingues.

Südafrika

http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFLDE6AM08K20101123:
Zitat: * Eskom has a total net maximum capacity of nearly 41,000
megawatts
(MW).
[...]
* Eskom, established in 1923, generates 95 percent of South
Africa's electricity and 45 percent of Africa's electricity.
[...]
* Eskom plans to invest 440 billion rand ($62.56 billion) in
new power plants over seven years. Some plans had been delayed
as the utility struggled to find all the funds needed.
[...]
* Eskom said South Africa would need to add 50,000 MW of new
supply to meet rising demand and to replace ageing plants
.

* Eskom has said South Africa's power supply is expected to
be tight until 2015, and especially between 2011-12
.


Das klingt nach weiteren Produktionsausfällen in den Minen.

USA

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/11/lps-over-43-million-loans-90-days-or-in_23.html:
Nicht wirklich Neues vom US-Immobilienmarkt:
Zitat:• The average number of days delinquent for loans in foreclosure is a record 492 days
• Over 4.3 million loans are 90 days or more delinquent or in foreclosure
• Foreclosure sales plummeted by 35% in October (as a result of the widespread moratoria)
• Nearly 20% of loans that have been delinquent more than two years are still not in foreclosure

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/cantor-dismisses-budget-fixing-proposal-because-it-sounds-too-european.php:
Zitat:Eric Cantor, incoming House Majority Leader, [...] according to the Journal, said lawmakers "wouldn't support VAT-type tax because its ties to Europe might make it politically poisonous in Washington."

"I don't think any of us want us to go the direction of the social welfare states around the world," Cantor said.


Mehrwertsteuern klingen europäisch, und man will ja schließlich kein Sozialstaat werden...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/19/city-to-cut-more-than-100_n_785907.html:
Zitat:Mayor Bloomberg announced plans on Thursday to lay off thousands of city workers, in one of the most visible signs yet of the recession's toll. In presenting their annual November budget update, mayoral aides noted that a total of 6,201 city employees would be laid off in between the current and following fiscal year (which starts next July) and that another 4,165 jobs would be lost through attrition.

Nunja, irgendwie muß man die Rekordarbeitslosigkeit ja noch etwas ankurbeln.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2010-11-21-senior-debt_N.htm:
Zitat:Retired Americans are racking up credit-card debt like never before, be it for vacations or medical expenses, and a surprising number have no intention of paying it off before they die.

Nearly 40% of retired Americans said they've accumulated credit-card debt in their twilight years — and aren't worried about paying it off in their lifetime, according to a survey released by CESI Debt Solutions.

"At the end of the day, some people of a certain age say, 'It's too late in the game for me to do anything about it. I can't win. So I'm just going to stop playing the game,'" said Neil Ellington, executive vice president at CESI.


Diese Leute haben verstanden.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/130675-interior-department-finalizes-critical-habitat-for-polar-bears-threatened-by-climate-change
Zitat:The Interior Department is establishing large regions in northern Alaska as “critical habitat” for polar bears that are threatened by melting sea ice linked to climate change — a decision that could affect oil-and-gas development.

Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a final decision Wednesday to designate 187,000 square miles of “on-shore barrier islands, denning areas and offshore sea-ice,” for the bears, which were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2008 in response to a lawsuit by environmental groups.


Ein Naturschutzgebiet in Alaska - für Eisbären.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/130711-alaska-gov-interiors-polar-bear-decision-hinders-oil-drilling-:

Zitat:Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) is slamming the Interior Department’s designation of large Arctic regions as “critical habitat” for polar bears threatened by climate change, alleging the decision will slow oil-and-gas drilling.
[...]
The state does not believe the decision was supported by “sound science,” and may mount a legal challenge, according to Parnell’s office.

Der Gouverneur von Alaska befürchtet, daß das Öl/Gasbohrungen verlangsamt, und möchte dagegen klagen.

Das Problem ist: Eisbären zahlen keine Bestechungsgelder.


http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/888472--god-will-save-us-from-climate-change-u-s-representative:
Zitat:U.S. Representative John Shimkus, possible future chairman of the Congressional committee that deals with energy and its attendant environmental concerns, believes that climate change should not concern us since God has already promised not to destroy the Earth.
[...]
Zitat von Bible:“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

“As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.”

“I believe that’s the infallible word of God, and that’s the way it’s going to be for his creation,” Shimkus said.

Then he quoted Matthew 24:31.

“And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other.”

“The Earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood,” Shimkus asserted. “I do believe that God’s word is infallible, unchanging, perfect.”


Fragen:
  1. Wie in aller Welt können diese Leute den Mond erreicht haben?
  2. Wie schaffen es die Republikaner bloß, eine derartige große Truppe an Idioten aufzutreiben?
  3. Mit welcher Berechtigung hat dieses Land Atomwaffen?

http://www.ftd.de/politik/international/:erster-zivilprozess-um-gefangenenlager-guantanamo-insasse-schuldig-in-1-von-285-anklagepunkten/50195770.html:
Zitat:Im ersten Prozess gegen einen Häftling des Gefangenenlagers auf Kuba vor einem US-Zivilgericht ist der Angeklagte mit einer einzigen Ausnahme in allen Punkten freigesprochen worden. Eine Jury befand Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani nach fünftägiger Beratung am Mittwoch lediglich für schuldig, an einer Verschwörung zur Zerstörung von US-Eigentum beteiligt gewesen zu sein.

285 Anklagepunkte? Behinderung der Justiz nennt man das.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-to-honor-buffett-with-medal-of-freedom-2010-11-17?siteid=bnbh:
Zitat:President Barack Obama will honor billionaire investor Warren Buffett with the presidential medal of freedom, the White House announced Wednesday. Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will be one of 15 people to be awarded the medal, which is the country's highest civilian honor. It is given to people who have made "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to the White House. Buffett is a longtime supporter of Obama's.

Eine Freiheitsmedallie für Warren Buffet. Ich bin sicher, er kann sie nicht weniger verdient haben als Obama den Friedensnobelpreis.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15275630.htm:
Zitat:It said more than 50 million people, including at least 17 million children, lived in households uncertain of having or getting enough food at some point because of insufficient money or other material resources.

Foodsecurity in the US

The 14.7 percent of households without food security at some time in 2009 was up from 14.6 percent in 2008 and 11.1 in 2007, and was the highest since data-keeping on the subject began in 1995, according to the ERS report. (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodSecurity/)


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704282504575472220284412674.html?KEYWORDS=stuyvesant

Zitat:The complex -- developed after World War II as a bastion for the middle class -- has been up for grabs ever since a group led by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Inc. said early this year that it was giving up the property to creditors. The Tishman group, which purchased the complex in 2006 for $5.4 billion in a highly leveraged transaction, ran out of cash to pay debt service.

Zitat:The battle over Manhattan's giant Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex intensified Saturday as the banks overseeing the $3 billion first-mortgage debt on the property moved to foreclose.

The banks, including Bank of America Corp. and U.S. Bancorp, has set a public auction for the 56-building complex for Oct. 4, according to a foreclosure notice viewed by The Wall Street Journal.


Diese Geschichte geht langsam zu Ende.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-03/u-s-affirms-17-climate-target-envoys-cite-progress-on-green-fund-.html
Zitat:The U.S. failure to pass cap-and- trade legislation won’t change its target for 2020 to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by roughly 17 percent, climate negotiator Todd Stern said today.

The House approved a bill last year to set limits on carbon dioxide linked to global warming and create a market in pollution allowances. The bill, supported by President Barack Obama, stalled in the Senate. Without new cap-and-trade legislation, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency plans to use existing laws to regulate some sources of carbon pollution.


Obwohl Obama das Gesetz zur Begrenzung des Kohlendioxidausstoßes nicht durch den Senat bekommen hat, sagt der Klimaunterhändler zu, daß die USA ihr Ziel, 2020 17% weniger CO2 auszustoßen, beibehalten werden.

Ist das eine Prognose, daß die Wirtschaftskrise so lange anhalten und noch viel, viel schlimmer verlaufen wird als bisher?


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/opinion/07kristof.html?_r=4:
Zitat:In my reporting, I regularly travel to banana republics notorious for their inequality. In some of these plutocracies, the richest 1 percent of the population gobbles up 20 percent of the national pie.

But guess what? You no longer need to travel to distant and dangerous countries to observe such rapacious inequality. We now have it right here at home — and in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, it may get worse.

The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana.


USA, die Bananenrepublik.
Gruß, Uwe

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