Obama: Playing the War Card

From AZRainman: Photoshop Satire

Not many cards left to play...

Obama's Iran war card -Pittsburg Tribunes

How to Save the Obama Presidency: Bomb Iran -Daniel Pipes

Osama Alert: Get Ready for Spin

Question is: what major story is getting covered up by Osamamania?


Bin Laden wording 'indicator' of upcoming attack AFP

Osama bin Laden's word choice in the latest audio message attributed to him is seen as a "possible indicator" of an upcoming attack by his Al-Qaeda network, a US monitoring group warned Sunday.

IntelCenter, a US group that monitors Islamist websites, also said that manner of the release and the content of the message showed it was "credible" that it was a new release from the Saudi extremist.

"The Osama bin Laden audio message released to Al-Jazeera on 24 January 2010 contains specific language used by bin Laden in his statements in advance of attacks," IntelCenter said in a statement.

The threat level in the airline sector is High or Orange. Read more.

Hong Kong is Freest Economy

From AZRainman: Photoshop Satire

The standard of freedom is dropping by leaps and bounds.

Hong Kong remains world's freest economy AFP

Hong Kong remains the world's freest place to do business while the United States has lost its claim to an unrestricted economy, according to an annual report published Wednesday.

Hong Kong, a former British colony which was returned to China in 1997, edged out rival Singapore to claim top spot for the sixteenth consecutive year in the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom.

China becomes World's Leader in Exports

From AZRainman: Photoshop Satire

China 'overtakes Germany as world's largest exporter' -BBC News

China's exports rose 17.7% in December, state media has reported, suggesting the country has overtaken Germany as the world's largest exporter.

Fear of the Dragon -Economist

China takes an even bigger slice of America’s market. In the first ten months of 2009 America imported 15% less from China than in the same period of 2008, but its imports from the rest of the world fell by 33%, lifting China’s market share to a record 19%. So although America’s trade deficit with China narrowed, China now accounts for almost half of America’s total deficit, up from less than one-third in 2008.

US Slaps Tariff on China; Gold Price Jumps -Seeking Alpha

Back in September, I wrote a commentary in which I linked U.S. tariffs against Chinese pipe imports to the surge in the price of gold (“Has Trade-War Started Between U.S. and China?”). At that time, gold had just (impressively) broken above $1000/oz – smashing through resistance levels which had restrained it for most of the year. Days later the U.S. announced large duties against those Chinese imports.

Skip ahead four months. Gold started the year marching higher, and on Tuesday, January 5th the U.S. announced additional duties on those Chinese steel products. In this game of tit-for-tat, it is difficult to say which of the two parties is instigating these actions and which is “retaliating”. The causality issue is especially difficult in this situation since applying duties is a process which takes many weeks – and certainly the Chinese government would have been aware of “rumblings” that additional, punitive duties would be applied. On the other hand, pushing up the price of gold (and silver) through buying-up supplies is a tactic which can be commenced instantaneously.