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Politics : Clinton -- doomed & wagging, Japan collapses, Y2K bug, etc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SOROS who wrote (420)	9/21/1998 9:44:00 PM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

September 21, 1998: 12:10 p.m. ET MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's paralyzed stock market inched even closer to oblivion Monday, setting a new low in a market seen as virtually frozen after investors were spooked by the suspension of ruble-dollar trade earlier in the day. The RTS-Interfax share index closed down 4.62 percent at 47.81 on turnover of just $749,925. The market's previous low of 50.12 was set Friday. Market bellwethers LUKoil and UES both posted significant losses, with UES falling 20 percent to end at 1.7 cents and LUKoil 12 percent to end at $2.90. Ruble-dollar trade on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange's electronic SELT system was suspended for Monday as the central bank compiled a list of banks that hadn't cooperated in a plan to restart the frozen payments system. They will be barred temporarily from foreign exchange trade, the bank said. A spokeswoman for the Russian Trading System said the suspension had brought RTS share trade to a standstill. "Everything is frozen right now while people wait to see what is happening with the ruble," she commented. Forex trade on the SELT system had been started briefly twice earlier in the day. After the second time, the ruble slid sharply to 17.60 to the dollar for today's settlement, down from the central bank's official rate of 16.38 to the dollar. In the absence of a Monday trading session, the central bank said its official rate for Monday will be used again Tuesday. Russia's stock market has fallen some 90 percent since the beginning of the year and has been trading around record lows since a de facto ruble devaluation last month.

To: SOROS who wrote (420)	9/21/1998 9:52:00 PM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

Fox News Democratic Decision \| September 20, 1998 It is now fairly mainstream opinion that President Clinton should leave office. Over 125 newspapers, including The Atlanta Constitution, The Chicago Tribune and The San Jose Mercury News, have called for his resignation. Other papers, including The Boston Globe, have suggested he do so if his effectiveness is any further impaired. These editorial views are echoed by religious leaders across the country, many of whom believe that Clinton's resignation is a moral imperative. Clinton's friends in the clergy are especially upset. The Revered Robert Schuller captured their sense of betrayal when he recounted how Clinton lied to him earlier this year: "He did it with such passion and with his eyes locked on me...He's the third public man to do that - Nixon and Agnew lied to me, and now Clinton." The fact remains, however, that the only people who can make Clinton resign are his fellow Democrats. Republicans, even if they were so inclined (which they are not), can impeach Clinton if they can convince enough Democrats to join them in so doing. But impeachment is a long process for which there is little public appetite. Why roll the rock up the hill if there's a possibility it might just roll back down and crush you? Why not just enjoy the present tactical advantage? A dead duck President Clinton is far more useful and appealing to Republican strategists than a fresh start President Gore. Only the Democratic Party can force Clinton to resign. They have ample reason to do just that. Their once realistic prospects for recapturing control of the House of Representatives have evaporated in the heat generated by Clinton's scandalous misconduct. Most experts now believe Democrats will lose 15-25 Congressional seats this November. Democrats may well lose five seats in the U.S. Senate on election day, which would give the GOP a 60-40 "filibuster free" majority. Democrats may even see their gubernatorial numbers diminish, an almost impossible feat given that four years ago they lost virtually every gubernatorial contest that mattered. Most menacingly, Democrats may lose up to 250 state legislative seats this fall, which when combined with the more than 400 seats lost in previous elections during Clinton's regime, would result in Republican domination of the redistricting process that begins in the year 2001. If the Republicans hold onto the governor's office in California and seize control of both houses of the California legislature, then they will gain 5-6 Congressional seats from California redistricting alone. The country's best political analysts believe the GOP could gain as many as 20 seats from redistricting in the year 2002, if they hold their gubernatorial gains and continue their Sherman-like march through state legislative campaigns. These facts are known to the Democratic leadership, but for some reason, the dam does not break. The political question of the moment is: Why not? Why do all these Democrats - knowing to a virtual certainty what the cost will be - continue to support by their silence a president who is leading them to electoral disaster. They don't need any more evidence of the president's misconduct. They know, in their heart of hearts, that the president perjured himself in both a federal civil case and a federal criminal investigation. They know, in their heart of hearts, that Filegate and Travelgate and Webb Hubbell and Whitewater and the campaign finance scandals are not the work of some "vast right-wing conspiracy" or a crazy special prosecutor, but the underhanded dealings of a dishonest man. And yet they maintain radio silence, in the hope that the whole thing will somehow blow over. It is true that public opinion, as measured by telephone polls, is opposed to impeachment and resignation. But it is also true that almost 80 percent of white people in America, according to a New York Times survey, think the president's moral and ethical compass is dysfunctional. That number renders what remains of Clinton's presidency meaningless. Congressional Democrats at least have the out that they must "weigh all the evidence" and "let the process work." Key Democratic constituencies have no such excuse. Feminists, whose hard work in the face of much derision made possible a whole new world of opportunities for women, now find themselves in the incredible position of defending behavior that they spent their adult lives decrying. Liberals, whose courageous work in the cause of civil rights changed the face of a great nation, now find themselves thinking up ever more elaborate arguments in defense of a moral degenerate. If Clinton is not forced to resign in the next few weeks, the 1998 mid-term elections will be nationalized and the question on the ballot (disguised in the form of candidate choices) will be: Is Clinton's behavior acceptable in a civil society? Republicans and conservative independents, energized by their disgust, will flood the polling booths to answer in the negative. Democrats and more liberal independents, discouraged by recent developments, will be less likely to vote. An electoral blood bath looms if the Democratic Party remains complicit in the crisis of the Clinton regime. This column originally appeared in The Boston Globe John Ellis Columnist, Fox News Online

To: SOROS who wrote (420)	9/21/1998 9:55:00 PM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

tampabayonline.net

To: SOROS who wrote (420)	9/28/1998 9:22:00 AM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

09-28-98 : U.S. Prepared to Send 640,000 Troops If North Korea Invades South Lee Sung-yul Staff reporter Should Communist North Korea attack South Korea, more than 640,000 U.S. enforcement forces from Hawaii and other U.S. bases will arrive to support forces here, the Defense White Paper 1998 released yesterday said. The U.S. enforcement forces will include Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine forces under the Pacific Command'troops in Hawaii and Japan, carrier battle groups, an amphibious ready group, said the annual white paper. They will join the 690,000 South Korean troops and the 37,000 U.S. Forces Korea to expel the invaders. The enforcement troop deployment is based on a ''win-win'' strategy, in which the United States seeks victory in simultaneous wars in the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East. The white paper also said North Korea is believed to be capable of producing one to two nuclear bombs, judging from its capability to extract weapons-grade plutonium. It is not certain whether the North has actually produced a nuclear bomb. But it seems the North has developed much of the technology needed to produce one, said the report. The report came up with the conclusion after noting that Pyongyang in April this year threatened to stop sealing nuclear fuel rods in its facilities, a direct violation of its 1994 agreement to drop its nuclear program. The main thrust of the paper asserted that North Korea has been further developing its surprise attack capability on South Korea, posing a major threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula. Some of the arguments it presented to back up this assertion was that Kim Jong-il's assumption of the North's National Defense Commission early this month is expected to lead to an increase in military strength. In addition, the paper added that North Korea maintains eight facilities capable of mass producing chemical agents and several other facilities to produce biological agents and weapons. The Communist North has already produced and stockpiled thousands of tons of such gas agents as nerve gas, blood agent, blister gas and tear gas. And since the early 1960s, the North has exerted strenuous efforts to enhance its chemical warfare readiness. In February 1992, North Korea distributed gas masks to all its citizens, who receive regular chemical and biological defense drills, the paper asserted. Pyongyang also has developed various systems to deliver the chemical weapons, including Scud-type missiles, Rodong and Frog missiles, multiple-rocket launchers, field artillery, fighters and bombers, according to the paper. If the Communist country develops longer-range missiles, it will be able to deliver chemical and biological payloads further distances, the paper stressed. Pyongyang has produced and exported Scud-C and Rodong missiles, with a range of 500km and 1,000km, respectively, and on Aug. 31 test-fired a Taepodong missiles with a longer range, surprising the world. And North Korea's 240mm multiple-rocket launchers, Frog missiles and 170mm self-propelled artillery deployed near the border are capable of hitting the capital area and the Chunchon-Sokcho region. The paper estimated that North Korea now maintains 1.16-million-strong troops, up 13,000 from last year, compared with 690,000 of South Korea. The country is also producing more Shark-class spy submarines, An-2 infiltration aircraft and amphibious hovercraft for infiltration, and maintains a 100,000-strong special forces, it added.

To: SOROS who wrote (420)	9/28/1998 9:27:00 AM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

By Beth J. Harpaz, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Yasser Arafat refused Sunday to back away from plans for declaring independence next year for Palestinians living on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority, has previously said he would declare statehood next year, regardless of whether a final peace agreement with Israel has been negotiated. "The international community and all peace-loving people must exert every possible effort to ensure the implementation of the agreement before May 4, 1999,'' he reiterated in a 30-minute speech. "This is the date,'' Arafat declared. "It just cannot come and go like any other day. On that day, we hope that our basic choice of reaching an agreement is realized.'' The event was organized by the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation, a private, nonpartisan group. Arafat is scheduled to address the United Nations on Monday. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she hoped he would not use the occasion to make a unilateral declaration of his intention to set up a Palestinian state. After Arafat's speech Sunday, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dori Gold, said the Palestinian leader was making a mistake by sticking to the May 4 deadline. "A declaration of statehood on May 4, 1999, will collapse the process,'' Gold said. Arafat also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of undermining the peace process, including the failure to withdraw Israeli troops from the West Bank by March under the Hebron Accord. "Since the current Israeli government assumed office, hopes for peace began to fade out, replaced by despair and violence,'' he said. "The political platform of Mr. Netanyahu's government is reflected in its intention to set the clock backward, to slow the pace of peace and lower Palestinian expectations.'' Gold said Arafat "missed an opportunity to reach out and create a tone of mutual reconciliation. Unfortunately he used the opportunity to hammer the government of Israel.''