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Sunday, April 01, 2012

The New Caliphate

SEARCH BLOG: ISLAM

About 6 weeks ago, I wrote about the dangers inherent in the so-called Arab Spring.  I've had this post in reserve for a few weeks and expected to see more about the subject in the press, but it hasn't happened.  So, as a follow-up to this earlier post, I offer this.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012


Arab Spring, Dignity Revolutions, Or New Tyrannies?


It's getting worse.
CHP [Republican People's Party] Sivas deputy Malik Ejder Özdemir said in protest that the proposal is contrary to the principle of secularism in the Constitution and added: “Today is a historic day: now they can say we [the AK Party and the MHP] abolished the republic and declared Turkey a caliphate again.” [source]
and...
According to a 2010 report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, some leading Muslim groups in Europe are loosely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt, including the Union of French Islamic Organisations, Muslim Association of Britain, Islamic Community in Germany and Intercultural Islamic League of Belgium, the Turkish group Milli Gorus and the Pakistan-based Jamaat-i-Islami. They all have similar Islamist roots. In quite a few public occasions members and officials from Milli Gorus have been criticized for extremist rhetoric, and the German counterintelligence is researching their connections for the past 15 years, according to various journalistic commentaries from Germany. It is no secret that this particular organization is strongly linked with the current Islamist government of Turkey and the apparatus of the Turkish Premier Erdogan.[source]
 and...
Islam does not believe in the whimsical idea of freedom, where a handful of men decide which thoughts and behaviours are legally beyond censure, and which thoughts and practices are subject to criticism and can be tried in a court of law. Islam stipulates that life, honour, blood, property, belief, race and the mind are to be protected by the Islamic State. All the citizens of the Caliphate are guaranteed these rights, irrespective of whether they are Muslim or non-Muslims.[source]
One day, perhaps in the very near future, the West will wake up one morning and learn that the "New Caliphate" ... the successor to the Soviet Union... has become our greatest nightmare.  A Caliphate that does not believe in the "whimsical idea of freedom"... rather "where a handful of clerics decide which thoughts and behaviors are legally beyond censure."

And our own government is enabling that:
US helping to train and arm Islamic mercenaries to fight in Syria  Examiner.com - Mar 9, 2012 Unmarked cargo planes landing in waves at air bases in Turkey were quietly ... in freshly printed "crisp" brand new American $100 dollar bills…leading some ...
Obama proposes $800 million in aid for Arab Spring | Reuters
Feb 13, 2012 – WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House announced plans on Monday to help Arab Spring countries swept by revolutions with more than ...
Thanks, again, President Obama.

Recommended reading:
The realization isn't new, but the mainstream media won't touch this.  The warnings are there, but it is much easier to just ignore them.

2012 IS HERE

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There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.
Henry Louis Mencken (1880–1956)
“The Divine Afflatus,” A Mencken Chrestomathy, chapter 25, p. 443 (1949)
... and one could add "not all human problems really are."
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Tracking Interest Rates

Tracking Interest Rates

FEDERAL RESERVE & HOUSING

SEARCH BLOG: FEDERAL RESERVE for full versions... or use the Blog Archive pulldown menu.

February 3, 2006 Go back to 1999-2000 and see what the Fed did. They are following the same pattern for 2005-06. If it ain't broke, the Fed will fix it... and good!
August 29, 2006 The Federal Reserve always acts on old information... and is the only cause of U.S. recessions.
December 5, 2006 Last spring I wrote about what I saw to be a sharp downturn in the economy in the "rustbelt" states, particularly Michigan.
March 28, 2007
The Federal Reserve sees no need to cut interest rates in the light of adverse recent economic data, Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.
The Fed chairman said ”to date, the incoming data have supported the view that the current stance of policy is likely to foster sustainable economic growth and a gradual ebbing in core inflation”.

July 21, 2007 My guess is that if there is an interest rate change, a cut is more likely than an increase. The key variables to be watching at this point are real estate prices and the inventory of unsold homes.
August 11, 2007 I suspect that within 6 months the Federal Reserve will be forced to lower interest rates before housing becomes a black hole.
September 11, 2007 It only means that the overall process has flaws guaranteeing it will be slow in responding to changes in the economy... and tend to over-react as a result.
September 18, 2007 I think a 4% rate is really what is needed to turn the economy back on the right course. The rate may not get there, but more cuts will be needed with employment rates down and foreclosure rates up.
October 25, 2007 How long will it be before I will be able to write: "The Federal Reserve lowered its lending rate to 4% in response to the collapse of the U.S. housing market and massive numbers of foreclosures that threaten the banking and mortgage sectors."
November 28, 2007 FED VICE CHAIRMAN DONALD KOHN
"Should the elevated turbulence persist, it would increase the possibility of further tightening in financial conditions for households and businesses," he said.

"Uncertainties about the economic outlook are unusually high right now," he said. "These uncertainties require flexible and pragmatic policymaking -- nimble is the adjective I used a few weeks ago."
http://www.reuters.com/

December 11, 2007 Somehow the Fed misses the obvious.
fed_rate_moves_425_small.gif
[Image from: CNNMoney.com]
December 13, 2007 [from The Christian Science Monitor]
"The odds of a recession are now above 50 percent," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "We are right on the edge of a recession in part because of the Fed's reluctance to reduce interest rates more aggressively." [see my comments of September 11]
January 7, 2008 The real problem now is that consumers can't rescue the economy and manufacturing, which is already weakening, will continue to weaken. We've gutted the forces that could avoid a downturn. The question is not whether there will be a recession, but can it be dampened sufficiently so that it is very short.
January 11, 2008 This is death by a thousand cuts.
January 13, 2008 [N.Y. Times]
“The question is not whether we will have a recession, but how deep and prolonged it will be,” said David Rosenberg, the chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch. “Even if the Fed’s moves are going to work, it will not show up until the later part of 2008 or 2009.”
January 17, 2008 A few days ago, Anna Schwartz, nonagenarian economist, implicated the Federal Reserve as the cause of the present lending crisis [from the Telegraph - UK]:
The high priestess of US monetarism - a revered figure at the Fed - says the central bank is itself the chief cause of the credit bubble, and now seems stunned as the consequences of its own actions engulf the financial system. "The new group at the Fed is not equal to the problem that faces it," she says, daring to utter a thought that fellow critics mostly utter sotto voce.
January 22, 2008 The cut has become infected and a limb is in danger. Ben Bernanke is panicking and the Fed has its emergency triage team cutting rates... this time by 3/4%. ...

What should the Federal Reserve do now? Step back... and don't be so anxious to raise rates at the first sign of economic improvement.
Individuals and businesses need stability in their financial cost structures so that they can plan effectively and keep their ships afloat. Wildly fluctuating rates... regardless of what the absolute levels are... create problems. Either too much spending or too much fear. It's just not that difficult to comprehend. Why has it been so difficult for the Fed?

About Me

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Michigan, United States
Air Force (SAC) captain 1968-72. Retired after 35 years of business and logistical planning, including running a small business. Two sons with advanced degrees; one with a business and pre-law degree. Beautiful wife who has put up with me for 4 decades. Education: B.A. (Sociology major; minors in philosopy, English literature, and German) M.S. Operations Management (like a mixture of an MBA with logistical planning)