Saab: 1947-2009? Gavin Green pays tribute to Saab @ carmagazine.co.uk
The Real IRA has said today that it is ‘angered and offended’ that someone who is not the Real IRA has bagged the name on social networking site Twitter. Many celebrities use the word ‘Real’ in front of their name to differentiate from imposters but it would seem that the party using the username ‘Real IRA’ is not the breakaway terrorist cell of that name.
evilsuperstar [newsbiscuit.com]
Résultats 1 – 10 sur un total d’environ 73 300 pour George Bush pire président de l’histoire (0,31 secondes)
Google donne déjà plus de vingt mille réponses à une recherche en anglais associant « George Bush » et « pire président de l’histoire ». De quoi ébranler tous ceux qui prétendent que la politique se porterait mieux si ses responsables maîtrisaient les techniques du management. Car M. Bush possédait un Master of Business Administration (MBA)…
par Ibrahim Warde [monde-diplomatique.fr]
La Russie continue de s’appuyer sur les antennes londoniennes de cabinets du groupe Omnicom pour gérer sa communication d’influence en Europe et aux Etats-Unis.
Selon un véritable jeu de “poupées russes”, les bureaux de Ketchum, Inc. et de Gavin Anderson à Londres coordonnent toutes les activités d’influence privées de la présidence russe et de Gazprom, sous-traitant en cascade à d’autres firmes contrôlées par le groupe de communication Omnicom (voir schéma). Dernier contrat en date, Ketchum vient de signer avec le cabinet de lobbying Alston & Bird basé à Washington, où le Kremlin emploie déjà le Washington Group et Integrated Solutions Group. Au Kremlin, le principal intermédiaire avec ces firmes est Dmitry Peskov, chef du service de presse du premier ministre Vladimir Poutine.
Ces sociétés de lobbying sont des relais indispensables pour défendre les positions russes dans la crise du gaz en Ukraine ; pour promouvoir l’adhésion de Moscou à l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC), pour laquelle la Russie milite depuis 1996 ; ainsi que pour gérer la réputation des dirigeants du Kremlin. Moscou sous-traite également des opérations de séduction pour attirer des investisseurs étrangers.
Noam Chomsky
BBC News, September 19, 2008
Markets have inherent and well-known inefficiencies. One factor is failure to calculate the costs to those who do not participate in transactions. These “externalities” can be huge. That is particularly true for financial institutions.
Their task is to take risks, calculating potential costs for themselves. But they do not take into account the consequences of their losses for the economy as a whole.
Hence the financial market “underprices risk” and is “systematically inefficient,” as John Eatwell and Lance Taylor wrote a decade ago, warning of the extreme dangers of financial liberalization and reviewing the substantial costs already incurred – and also proposing solutions, which have been ignored.
The threat became more severe when the Clinton administration repealed the Glass-Steagall act of 1933, thus freeing financial institutions “to innovate in the new economy,” in Clinton’s words — and also “to self-destruct, taking down with them the general economy and international confidence in the US banking system,” financial analyst Nomi Prins adds.
The unprecedented intervention of the Fed may be justified or not in narrow terms, but it reveals, once again, the profoundly undemocratic character of state capitalist institutions, designed in large measure to socialise cost and risk and privatize profit, without a public voice.
That is, of course, not limited to financial markets. The advanced economy as a whole relies heavily on the dynamic state sector, with much the same consequences with regard to risk, cost, profit, and decisions, crucial features of the economy and political system.
Whatever happens in Congress, the crisis is now global; that means governments must work together…
Some news and not to read about the biggest and the others…
[economist.com]
And then there were none
What the death of the investment bank means for Wall Street
The doctors’ bill
The chairman of the Federal Reserve and the treasury secretary give Congress a gloomy prognosis for the economy, and propose a drastic remedy
The big boys are back
Japan’s big banks put their megabucks to work in the West
[monde-diplomatique.fr]
Comment General Electric a réinventé le capitalisme américain
Qui, aux Etats-Unis, ignore encore que « General Electric nous apporte les bonnes choses de la vie » ? Martelé pendant des décennies par d’innombrables publicités, ce slogan un peu immodeste a précédé bien des films, des séries et des débats politiques parrainés par l’entreprise. Très présente dans la vie quotidienne des 300 millions d’Américains, General Electric n’oublie pas non plus d’intervenir dans la vie électorale du pays.
Par Olivier Vilain
Taking their cue from the CIA, almost every branch of the American intelligence community now has specialists who deal with open source intelligence (OSINT). [intelligenceonline.com]
FINANCE houses set out to be monuments of stone and steel. In the widening gyre the greatest of them have splintered into matchwood. Ten short days saw the nationalisation, failure or rescue of what was once the world’s biggest insurer, with assets of $1 trillion, two of the world’s biggest investment banks, with combined assets of another $1.5 trillion, and two giants of America’s mortgage markets, with assets of $1.8 trillion. The government of the world’s leading capitalist nation has been sucked deep into the maelstrom of its most capitalist industry. And it looks overwhelmed. [economist.com]
Big thanks to M.F.M to remind us how to spend or trade our Alitalia’s MilleMiglia before the day D and to S.E. to remind us how it was good to flight by night with Alitalia…
Here some link i did have found and can help you to manage your Miglia. You can get them, exchange them and even give them away to charity as soon as possible if you do not plan to flight with the company in the next few weeks…
Richiesta miglia
http://www.alitalia.com/IT_IT/MM/Retrocredito.aspx
MilleMiglia Charity Program
http://www.alitalia.com/IT_IT/millemiglia/redeem_miles/charity_program.htm
For facebook user a group was specially created to share Miglia (Miles) with future ex Alitalia’s employees…[Altitalia Charity Program]
A weekend of high drama reshapes American finance.
EVEN by the standards of the worst financial crisis for at least a generation, the events of Sunday September 14th and the day before were extraordinary. The weekend began with hopes that a deal could be struck, with or without government backing, to save Lehman Brothers, America’s fourth-largest investment bank. Early Monday morning Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It has more than $613 billion of debt. [economist.com]
« Humble » enfin ?
En 2000, le candidat républicain George W. Bush protesta contre les interventions à l’étranger de l’administration démocrate sortante – celle du président William Clinton –, souvent expliquées par le désir de défendre la démocratie de marché dans le monde. Et il promit que les Etats-Unis redeviendraient une « nation humble »… A l’époque, le pays avait pourtant les moyens de ses ambitions internationales. Il connaissait l’ère de croissance la plus longue de son histoire, son budget était excédentaire, la généralisation des technologies de l’information lui laissait entrevoir un nouvel âge d’or. [monde-diplomatique.fr]
Paolo Scaroni, PDG de l’ENI – coté italien -, et Saif El Islam Kadhafi – coté libyen -, sont les véritables architectes de l’accord historique de réconciliation signé à Benghazi ce week-end entre l’Italie et la Libye. [africaintelligence.fr]
Italy seals Libya colonial deal
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has signed an agreement to pay Libya $5bn as part of a deal to resolve colonial-era disputes.
Rice set for historic Libya visit
Condoleezza Rice will meet Libya’s Gaddafi in the latest step aimed at improving relations between the former enemies.
Relying on a network of lobbyists operating in leading Western capitals, Tbilisi emerged as the clear victor on the media front in its conflict with Moscow. (for intelligenceonline.com registered user only)
Russian pullout from Georgia ‘followed criticism on Facebook’
Political analysts were still reeling last night following the disclosure by sources within the Kremlin that Russia had only “buckled under pressure” when reviewing group membership statistics on the social networking website Facebook.
Doctors may soon have a new diagnostic tool in their kit bags
Everyone knows industry needs oil. Now people are worrying about water, too
Les « bidouilleurs » de la société de l’information
Défendre les citoyens contre les technologies menaçant leur vie privée, ou protéger la sécurité de systèmes informatiques pour le compte des militaires ? Dans un monde chaque jour plus technique, les compétences des hackers restent rarement inemployées…
Links: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2008/09/MANACH/16226
If you feel like wasting some time: Shrinking the Nissan GT-R
Citing Poor Conditions, China Refuses To Send Delegation To Olympics
BEIJING—In an 11th-hour move that shocked the international athletic and political communities alike, the Chinese Olympic Team announced Wednesday that it will not be attending the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing due to “shocking, shameful, and ultimately dangerous environmental conditions” in the host city.
Russian Team blames poor scores on cheating by Georgia.
Many members of the Russian Georgia Invasion team are still hopeful of medals despite receiving low scores from a panel of International judges on the first day of action after the start of the Olympics. American head of the judges George Bush said; ‘They started well, but see, they put their foot over the line and obviously we have to look real close at that. We expected them to steady themselves, regain their concentration and sort themselves out, but nope, they just kept right on a-goin. And nobody’s gonna give them full marks for that.’
Hello again, I’m Vista
Microsoft hires a hot ad agency in an effort to improve its image
Miracle postponed
Silvio Berlusconi is struggling to put together an Italian solution for Alitalia
Fatale incidente stradale: muore Andrea Pininfarina
E’ morto in un incidente stradale alle porte di Torino Andrea Pininfarina; aveva 51 anni. Pininfarina era presidente e amministratore delegato della storica carrozzeria italiana, autrice di alcune fra le più belle auto di tutti i tempi. Vicepresidente di Confindustria durante la presidenza di Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, attualmente era membro del consiglio direttivo. Nel 2005 era stato nominato Cavaliere del Lavoro. Secondo le prime informazioni sembra che sia stato travolto da un auto nella località di Trofarello mentre viaggiava in moto. Facciamo le nostre più sentite condoglianze alla famiglia per questo tragico evento.
La Chine n’a pas respecté ses engagements
Pour justifier l’attribution des JO à la Chine en 2001, le Comité international olympique (CIO) avait argué d’une ouverture démocratique sans précédent dans ce pays. A quelques heures de l’ouverture de cet événement, une grande partie de la presse internationale ne cache pas sa déception.
Des détails embarrassants sur la libération des otages
La libération d’Ingrid Betancourt et de 14 otages a constitué un succès retentissant pour le gouvernement colombien. Mais la diffusion de certaines images de l’opération militaire réalisée le 2 juillet met en difficulté Bogotá.
1: get the news
Anyone up for a game of … Wordscraper?
On Facebook, an 11-Letter Synonym for Scrabulous Turns Out to Be Wordscraper.
2: have a check
- Play Scrabulous, the coolest word game with your family and friends, right here at Facebook. Games are turn based, so you don’t have to be online at the same time to play. And it’s very easy to start simultaneous games too.
3: keep up to date
- Welcome to Wordscraper. It’s the only game on Facebook that allows you to play the game the way you want to! With Wordscraper you can build your own board and try out whacky combinations with special high value squares.
Thousands of UK Passports Stolen
Anyone in search of a new identity in the coming years might find it easiest to opt for becoming British.
Exxon Breaks Profits Record, but Shares Fall
Buoyed by soaring oil prices, Exxon Mobil Corp. reported $11.7 billion in second-quarter profits, breaking its own record for the highest quarterly earnings in U.S. corporate history.
Energy Wire: PostGlobal at washingtonpost.com
Loan shark spotted off coast of Cornwall
Following a recent survey of marine wildlife off the coast of Cornwall police are investigating reports than an illegal money-lender, or ‘loan shark’, may have been sighted patrolling shallow waters in Newquay bay.
One of the best business around is to sell guns and weapons, but what for ? Simple, in a few years you will can remotely -long distance- destruct everything you want with a shot precision of 1cm. Then -like in the PS3 best seller games- big defence states offices will have surely some fun using the latest technology to blow up some terrorist home or dictator residences around, just for fun ? Is the joypad delivered with the game?
Here some informations on how, what, when and who, and guns, and weapons…and if you use Facebook do not miss What Weapon Are You? and discover what weapon you really are…
Armed and Dangerous? Why buying a gun is not a suicidal act by Steve Chapman
Americans often buy guns for self-defense, a purpose that now has Supreme Court validation. But according to advocates of gun control, those purchasers overlook the people who pose the greatest threat: themselves. Anyone who acquires a firearm, we are told, is inviting a bloody death by suicide. And How Gun Control Lost.
St-Louis (Missouri) – First Laser Gun Trials (intelligenceonline.com registered only)
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has just begun trials of its Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) gun as part of its Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program.
- Laser Blaster Gunships Closer to Flight Test
- Boeing Begins Firing High-Energy Laser Aboard Advanced Tactical Laser Aircraft
- The world’s biggest arms exporters.
- Bossi e Barbarossa la fiction lottizzata
- Adidas: Les chaussures made in China trop chères
- The Big Mac Index: Sandwiched
Britons taught to bow and not to kiss in Indian etiquette lessons
New classes are being launched to teach UK business people about Indian etiquette after a series of “mini-disasters” involving hapless executives.
Sure that UK business people also may enjoy the “Social experience and lifestyle that celebrates the essence of sensual pleasure” called Amora .
Art of spanking at the sex academy
Just popping out to the sex shop …
