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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (20561)	7/28/2007 10:41:35 PM
From: jim black	Respond to of 220217

Well, Jay, I see it that way and have given Ron Paul a $500 check I fear will take him nowhere at all Jim Black

To: TobagoJack who wrote (20561)	7/28/2007 10:58:10 PM
From: Gib Bogle	Respond to of 220217

From everything I've read war fever is much lower among the Democrats. People like Lieberman are on the fringe. Ron Paul has zero chance of getting the Republican nomination, I fear.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (20561)	7/29/2007 3:12:29 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 220217

Bush Urge Arms Sale to S. Arabia, Gulf States may total more than $20 billion. The $20 billion price tag on the package is more than double what officials originally estimated this past spring, The administration also plans to announce a new 10-year military aid package to Israel and Egypt. The steps are part of an effort by the Bush administration to counter Iran's rising influence. ``This is great business for the U.S., and this is a huge amount of money that benefits American corporations.'' TJ, this is another of my xenofobic antionalist posting. Bush to Urge Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia, Gulf States By Holly Rosenkrantz July 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration will ask Congress next week to approve an arms-sale package to Saudi Arabia and five other Persian Gulf countries that may total more than $20 billion, Rebecca Goodrich-Hinton, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said. Included in the package are advanced satellite-guided bombs, fighter-aircraft upgrades and new naval vessels. The administration also plans to announce a new 10-year military aid package to Israel and Egypt. The steps are part of an effort by the Bush administration to counter Iran's rising influence. The administration of President George W. Bush has been seeking help from Iraq's neighbors to quell sectarian violence and keep it from spreading in the region. It's also seeking support in containing Iran's nuclear ambitions and for its new push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement. While there will likely be congressional opposition to the arms sale, ``This deal will go through,'' said Samer Shehata, a Middle East political analyst at Washington-based Georgetown University. ``This is great business for the U.S., and this is a huge amount of money that benefits American corporations.'' Shehata said the potential dissent in Congress will likely come from ``the anti-Saudi group that feels Saudi Arabia is a source of terrorism, and the pro-Israel group who see any arms sales to friendly or moderate Arab regimes as a potential threat to Israel.'' Interests in Region ``These arms deals are a key mechanism for supporting our interests in the region,'' said Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based policy analysis group. ``The basic element, which is to reassure Israel by providing an assured compensation package, has been taken care of.'' The $20 billion price tag on the package is more than double what officials originally estimated this past spring, and would be one of the largest arms deals negotiated by the Bush administration. It would likely include air-to-air missiles and Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which guide bombs to their target. The military assistance agreements would provide $30 billion in new U.S. aid to Israel and $13 billion to Egypt over a decade, Goodrich-Hinton said. In addition to Saudi Arabia, the countries to receive the arms would be the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Iran and Iraq ``The U.S. thinks this will serve as a balance to Iran and Iraq, but the kind of threat that these countries pose is not the kind of threat these weapons will fight,'' Muqtedar Khan, an international relations professor at the University of Delaware, said in a telephone interview. It might take as long as 10 years for the new weaponry to reach the intended countries because U.S. companies are still trying to meet demand for military equipment needed for the conflict in Iraq, Khan said. ``While there is a certain logic to strengthening Saudi Arabia at a time when Iran is rising,'' an arms sale of this size ``sends too strong a signal of closeness'' with the largely Sunni Muslim Saudis, Brookings Institution analyst Michael O'Hanlon said in an e-mail. The sale ``should be contingent on greater Saudi support for the government in Iraq,'' which is dominated by Shiite Muslims, he said. ``It is okay that they watch out for Sunni Iraqi interests, but not to the point of hoping that Prime Minister al-Maliki will fail or fall,'' O'Hanlon said. Iraq's Maliki Saudi officials have suggested Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is an agent of majority Shiite Iran and have offered financial support to Sunni groups and opponents of Maliki in Iraq, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing Bush administration officials. Half of the foreign fighters who enter Iraq each month are from Saudi Arabia, the newspaper said, citing U.S. military and intelligence officials. Plans for the arms sale will be announced Monday ahead of a trip to the Middle East by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. News of the proposed sale was first reported in today's Washington Post and New York Times. To contact the reporter on this story: Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net .

To: TobagoJack who wrote (20561)	7/29/2007 1:24:54 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 220217

Mosques calls for the shooting to stop. Security forces enforced a vehicle ban in an effort to prevent a repeat of car bombings that killed dozens celebrating Iraq's progress to the finals Wednesday. Iraqis won. They welcomed the victory as a chance to show the world they can come together and expressed frustration that their politicians couldn't do the same. "Those heroes have shown the real Iraq. They have done something useful for the people as opposed to the politicians and lawmakers who are stealing or killing each other," said Sabah Shaiyal, a 43-year-old policeman in Baghdad. "The players have made us proud, not the greedy politicians. Once again, our national team has shown that there is only one, united Iraq." The jubilation over the victorious run of the team has given Iraqis a rare respite from the daily sectarian attacks, with men of all ages cheering and dancing in the streets after each win. Commanded by Brazilian Coach Vieira, the Iraqis won the Asian Cup today. For a brief moment since the invasion there was one Iraq and they wanted peace.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (20561)	7/30/2007 4:57:54 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 220217

South Korean Company to Buy Bobcat. Tell Carranza weak dollar makes outsiders come and Buy us compnay. By BLOOMBERG NEWS Published: July 30, 2007 South Korea’s largest maker of construction equipment, the Doosan Infracore Company, agreed yesterday to buy the Bobcat unit and other divisions from the Ingersoll-Rand Company for $4.9 billion, in the biggest overseas acquisition by a South Korean company. Doosan Infracore will buy the Bobcat compact-equipment unit, along with the Utility Equipment and Attachments divisions, Doosan Infracore said in a regulatory filing. Doosan Infracore has been expanding its overseas business by acquiring companies in the United States and China this year to achieve its 2010 goal of becoming one of the world’s five biggest construction-equipment makers. The company competes with Caterpillar of the United States and Komatsu of Japan, the world’s top two makers of construction machinery. Shares of Doosan Infracore were up as much as 5 percent in Seoul.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (20561)	7/30/2007 5:24:54 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 220217

US restore America's "brand image" travel industry eyes $200 mn programme for visitors 29 Jul, 2007, 1133 hrs IST, AGENCIES WASHINGTON: The US travel industry and its allies are pressing Congress for a marketing programme of as much as USD 200 million to help restore America's "brand image" with international visitors. With overseas visits still below levels from before the 2001 terror attacks and America's image battered, the travel industry is pinning its hopes on a new promotional effort led by the federal government. Industry leaders are lobbying for legislation to create a government-led corporation for travel promotion. This would be funded by voluntary business contributions and a ten-dollar fee imposed on visitors from countries qualifying for visa "waivers." "Other countries are spending hundreds of millions of dollars, the US is spending zero" for visitor promotion, said Geoff Freeman, executive director of the Discover America Partnership, a coalition led by the travel industry with other business partners. "The idea is to create a nationally coordinated brand for the country." Some data suggest visits from key markets are still falling, despite sharp declines in the dollar that make US travel a relative bargain. The euro recently hit an all-time high and the pound a 26-year high against the greenback. According to Britain's Office of National Statistics, visits by Britons to North America decreased one per cent to 4.5 million in the 12 months to May 2007, even as travel to other parts of the world rose by nine per cent. "We don't know for sure, but without the weak dollar (the decline in visits) could be even worse," said Freeman.