Obama's Afghanistan Message: We Must Face Reality

“The Surge”

December 6, 2009 by politicalsnapshots.wordpress.com

“The Surge”

The war in Afghanistan is also a continuation and expansion of the corporate welfare policy of the Bush administration, which interestingly is not only wholly accepted by President Obama, but is raised to a higher level (surge). The more private contractors sent to Afghanistan, the better for the bottom line (surge) (profit). The more the merrier. Bush or Obama, as always, the interest of the corporate elite is paramount.

The decrease in violence in Iraq was not a result of President Bush’s strategy of sending 30,000 more troops to Iraq (surge), that President Obama is so desperately trying to duplicate, but it was mainly a result of the U.S. government’s payment of about $10 a day to about 70,000 Sunni insurgents.

During his speech to the nation explaining his reasons for the Afghanistan “surge”, the president said:

“So, no, I do not make this decision lightly. I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by al Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. … In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror. And this danger will only grow if the region slides backwards, and al Qaeda can operate with impunity. We must keep the pressure on al Qaeda, and to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region.”

I thought I was listening to President Bush. Word for word the same message, but, a different messenger, one who is more articulate. He also used Bush’s tactic of scaring the American public, the danger to America “is no idle danger, no hypothetical threat”. The only thing missing from his speech was that, he didn’t use the threat level colors. It is too early in his presidency; we might still see him use the threat levels in the future.

The president’s troop” surge” in the Afghanistan war has made his Conservative Republican friends temporarily happy, but members of his own political party and the American citizens at large are not supportive of his so-called “surge”. While America is facing a massive unemployment, millions of citizens without health insurance, the country burdened with cumbersome and chocking growing debt, to say the least, the president’s choice of the Afghanistan “surge” at this particular moment, seems to be unwise.

Professor Mekonen Haddis.

Ashley St.Claire of MD 7:58PM December 06, 2009

Kuwait sells Citigroup stake for $4.1 billion

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By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer Adam Schreck, Ap Business Writer – 37 mins ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund said Sunday it booked a profit of $1.1 billion by selling the stake it took in Citigroup Inc. less than two years ago when the banking giant was strapped for cash.

The Kuwait Investment Authority said in a statement it sold the preferred shares after converting them to common stock for $4.1 billion. That works out to a gain of nearly 37 percent on its $3 billion investment.

Calls to the Kuwait fund for further details went unanswered. A Citi spokesman declined to comment.

Gulf Arab nations' sovereign wealth funds have been heavy investors in U.S. and European companies, using their oil wealth to buy large stakes in companies ranging from Citi to Germany's Volkswagen AG and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG.

The KIA joined other big investors — including the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and longtime shareholder Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia — in pumping some $12.5 billion into New York-based Citi in January 2008. At the time, the bank was reeling from a huge drop in the value of its mortgage holdings.

At the same time it made its Citi investment, the fund took a $2 billion stake in Merrill Lynch, which also needed cash as a result of the credit crisis.

Merrill was later bought by Bank of America Corp., which last week surprised investors by paying back $45 billion in federal bailout money.

Analysts say that move puts pressure on Citi and other banks that tapped U.S. government aid to follow suit, even though they still could face further losses as consumers struggle to pay their bills.

The Kuwait fund's move came as a surprise. In September, it said it had no intention of selling its holdings in either Citi or Bank of America in the short term because its investment policies are based "on a long-term vision."

Kuwait took its stake in Citi last year after another Gulf fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, paid $7.5 billion for a 4.9 percent stake in the company. ADIA's holdings, known as "equity units," will begin to convert into ordinary shares starting in March next year.

A spokesman for the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, declined to comment on plans for its Citi stake.

Kuwait's fund is not the first major Gulf investor to cash in on the sharp rebound of Western banks' shares this year.

Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co. made a $2.5 billion profit in June by selling part of a stake it held in London-based Barclays. Then last moth, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the British bank's top shareholder, unloaded a stake worth about $2.25 billion.

Barclays turned to investors from Abu Dhabi and Qatar last November for a total injection of up to 7.3 billion pounds ($12 billion) to shore up its balance sheet rather than take on the British government as a major shareholder.

___

AP Business Writer Tarek El-Tablawy contributed reporting from Cairo.

bank are fallen apart mean more job lost, watch your investment in equipty and pention fund carefuly of CA 1:26PM December 06, 2009