Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 15/04/08 - 26/08/08

Jordan king set to visit Iraq in first by Arab leader since war

Jordan's King Abdullah II will visit Iraq soon, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Wednesday, in what would be the first trip by an Arab head of state since the 2003 war.

No date has been set for the visit, which follow's Jordan's appointment of an ambassador to Baghdad on Monday, Zebari said at a press briefing.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Economy Minister Michael Glos are also expected to visit Iraq.

"These visits will take place soon," Zebari said, without providing further details.

Washington has been pushing its Arab allies, notably regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, to send ambassadors and high-level officials to Baghdad to help shore up support for the country's Shiite leadership.

Jordan had announced on Monday it had appointed an ambassador to Iraq where its embassy has been run by a charge d'affaires since it came under a deadly attack in 2003.

"Nayef Zeidan, who has served as a consul in the United Arab Emirates for two years, was sworn in today by King Abdullah II and will leave for Iraq as soon as possible," a foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The move came after Baghdad agreed last month during a visit to Amman by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to to renew a 2006 deal to sell discounted oil to its neighbour, which relies on Iraq for most of its fuel needs.

Jordan has kept its embassy open in Baghdad even after the mission came under attack in August 2003, five months after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Jordan is currently sheltering hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees.

Last month, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, both US allies, also announced plans to appoint ambassadors to Baghdad while Saudi Arabia said in April it would reopen its embassy in Iraq only when security is restored.

The Sunni-ruled Arab monarchies of the region have been reluctant to upgrade ties with Iraq, not just because of insecurity in the country but also because of its Shiite-led government's perceived tilt toward non-Arab Shiite Iran.

The United States hopes that these countries will also offer financial support to Iraq and counterbalance the influence of Iran, which US President George W. Bush has accused of negative interference in Iraqi affairs.

Jordan king set to visit Iraq in first by Arab leader since war - Middle East News

Fortis Bank predicts US Financial market meltdown within weeks

Posted by sakerfa on June 28, 2008

Fortis expects bankruptcies amongst 6000 American banks which have a small coverage currently. But also Citigroup, General Motors, there is starting a complete meltdown in the US”

Fortis Bank predicts US Financial market meltdown within weeks…
Fortis is a large bank and insurer in the Netherlands and Belgium. It took over ABN Amro last year, together with RBS and another bank. Last Thursday, its share lost 17% because Fortis attracted foreign capital.

I was shocked when I read the following, which was brought out 4hours ago:

American ‘meltdown’ reason for money injection Fortis.
28th of June, 9:10
BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM - Fortis expects a complete collapse of the US financial markets within a few days to weeks. That explains, according to Fortis, the series of interventions of last Thursday to retrieve € 8 billion. “We have been saved just in time. The situation in the US is much worse than we thought”, says Fortis chairman Maurice Lippens. Fortis expects bankruptcies amongst 6000 American banks which have a small coverage currently. But also Citigroup, General Motors, there is starting a complete meltdown in the US”

This fits in the picture, with the other press releases last week, like the short advise of Goldman Sachs and some other of the same messages last week.

Although gold has rallied a lot lost week: first thing monday morning: short Dow, long Gold?

Or will there be a rate cut, which undermines (delays) everything?

Original press release:




Seaview how do you read this?

Originally Posted by maceman

Fortis Bank predicts US Financial market meltdown within weeks

Posted by sakerfa on June 28, 2008

Fortis expects bankruptcies amongst 6000 American banks which have a small coverage currently. But also Citigroup, General Motors, there is starting a complete meltdown in the US”

Fortis Bank predicts US Financial market meltdown within weeks…
Fortis is a large bank and insurer in the Netherlands and Belgium. It took over ABN Amro last year, together with RBS and another bank. Last Thursday, its share lost 17% because Fortis attracted foreign capital.

I was shocked when I read the following, which was brought out 4hours ago:

American ‘meltdown’ reason for money injection Fortis.
28th of June, 9:10
BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM - Fortis expects a complete collapse of the US financial markets within a few days to weeks. That explains, according to Fortis, the series of interventions of last Thursday to retrieve € 8 billion. “We have been saved just in time. The situation in the US is much worse than we thought”, says Fortis chairman Maurice Lippens. Fortis expects bankruptcies amongst 6000 American banks which have a small coverage currently. But also Citigroup, General Motors, there is starting a complete meltdown in the US”

This fits in the picture, with the other press releases last week, like the short advise of Goldman Sachs and some other of the same messages last week.

Although gold has rallied a lot lost week: first thing monday morning: short Dow, long Gold?

Or will there be a rate cut, which undermines (delays) everything?

Original press release:




Seaview how do you read this?

Not likely. Everything will work out ok. The government along with the Federal Reserve can always put things into action very quickly. The American economy is too big for a meltdown.

Bulgaria settle their debts with Iraq

The Bulgarian Finance Minister L. Ayryceracki that his country is the first country in the world reach agreement with Iraq to settle debt in full through the receipt of the remaining amount in cash.

Bulgaria announced Wednesday as it took over from Iraq's $ 360 million dollars in one go or 20 per cent of the debts Iraq since the former communist era and after agreeing to write off 80 per cent of the amount originally estimated one billion and 860 million dollars.

A statement by the Bulgarian Finance Minister Ayryceracki convinced that his country's commitment to Iraq's Paris Club agreement that was concluded in 2004 to alleviate the debt burden of Iraq, which provided for the write-off of 80 per cent against the payment of the remaining amount in installments for 23 years.

Translated version of http://www.aljeeran.net/economic.html

Originally Posted by livefree

Not likely. Everything will work out ok. The government along with the Federal Reserve can always put things into action very quickly. The American economy is too big for a meltdown.

Interesting,

Although you may not believe it, the U.S. economy is already in a slow meltdown, and the reports I have seen do indeed indicate a few major banks will be going out of business, just like Bear Stearns did. Yes, Feds had to step in to avoid the look of bank failure, so it was dumped on Chase who is one of the banks that control the Fed to begin with, so never say never, we are all in unchartered territory, and when the facts come out, it will indeed create a run on banks, just what the Fed was trying to prevent.

You have to realize that America is technically bankrupt, so how much funny money do you think they can keep pumping into the system without the value dropping everytime they do. The dollar is at all time lows for one reason, the Fed, or should I say, lack of faith in Federal Reserve. If China and others remove trillions from our economy, it will be all over, so we are no longer the strong and mighty economic power we once were, so again, never say never. Hold onto your dinars folks, the dollar has lower to go. Do not rely on FDIC if you have U.S. dollar savings in any bank, none are safe, and FDIC can not even cover 1% of total deposits, so don't be so sure of any safety any longer for your savings. Hold gold, silver, platinum, not dollars.

Good luck to all, Mike

Originally Posted by maceman

Seaview how do you read this?

Hi Maceman,

I am not American, so I watch with bated breath along with the rest of the World to see what happens to your Economy as it will have rebounds on the rest of us one way or another.

I have to be honest, I think what offshoremike mentions in the above post sounds worryingly true.

I have started to split my money up into different Banks, and I am not even in America. Just to be safe. You never know which banks will be hit and when.

Demand for the dollar drops in daily auction

Demand for the dollar went down in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Thursday, reaching $104.125 million compared to $121.770 million on Wednesday.

"The demand hit $34.575 million in cash and $69.550 million in foreign transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,195 Iraqi dinars per dollar," according to the central bank's daily bulletin, which was received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

None of the 16 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell dollars.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Aswat Aliraq

Oil Price Hits Record High

WORLD oil prices hit a new record high above $US145 per barrel today, as the market was energised by Middle East tensions, falling US crude reserves and the weak dollar, traders said.

Brent North Sea oil for August delivery surged to a life-time peak of 145.75 dollars at about 5am GMT (3pm AEST). The contract later stood at 145.33, up 1.07 dollars from the close yesterday.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, also touched a record high at 144.61 dollars a barrel today. It later traded at 144.59 dollars, up 1.02 dollars from yesterday.

The latest record-breaking price surge came after Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari had said yesterday that the key oil producer would react fiercely to any attack against it.

"Iran, if there were any kind of activity of any sort, is not going to be quiet and would react fiercely," he said on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid.

He said oil prices, which have been driven to record levels partly because of fears about the loss of Iranian output, would rise radically if Israel or the US launched a military strike.

Crude futures, which have doubled in value over the past year, were also driven by news that American crude stockpiles fell by 2.0 million barrels in the week to June 27.

The oil market also found solid support from the struggling US currency, which makes dollar-priced commodities cheaper for foreign buyers and tends to encourage demand, analysts said.

The European single currency rose as high as 1.5892 dollars in early morning trade today ahead of a widely-expected eurozone interest rate hike from the European Central Bank.

PUKmedia :: English - Oil Price Hits Record High

Overlooking Kurdistan oil contracts contradicts U.S. policy- paper

U.S. administration officials condoned oil contracts made between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign companies, despite a declared stance rejecting all contracts prior to a parliamentary approval of the hydrocarbon law, the Washington Post said on Thursday.

"Bush administration official told Hunt Oil last summer that they did not object to its efforts to reach an oil deal with the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, even while the State Department was publicly expressing concern that such contracts could undermine a national Iraqi petroleum law, according to documents obtained by a House committee," read a report published by the newspaper.

"Last fall, after the deal was announced, the State Department said that it had tried to dissuade Hunt Oil from signing the contract with Kurdish regional authorities but that the company had proceeded 'regardless of our advice.' Although Hunt Oil's chief ****utive has been a major fundraiser for President Bush, the president said he knew nothing about the deal," the report noted.

"Wednesday, however, Henry A. Waxman (D-California), chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released documents and e-mails showing that for nearly four months, State and Commerce department official knew about Hunt Oil's negotiations and had told company officials that there were no objections."

"State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Wednesday that 'we continue to stand by our previous statements that the U.S. government made its objections to this arrangement known both to the company as well as to the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government]'," the report added.

"In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Waxman said documents his committee had obtained "tell a different story about the role of Administration officials," according to the paper.

"The documents show that as early as June 12, 2007, Hunt Oil officials met with members of the State Department's Regional Reconstruction Team for the Kurdistan region in Erbil and on June 15 specifically asked whether there was a policy about companies entering contracts with Kurdish authorities. According to notes taken by Hunt Oil officials, they were told that the 'U.S. has no policy, for nor against'."

Aswat Aliraq

Senior US General in Turkey for Talks on Kurdish Rebels: Official

senior US general arrived here Thursday on a one-day visit for talks with his Turkish counterparts on efforts to root out Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, a US embassy official said.

General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will "discuss standard issues that concern both militaries, including the ongoing struggle against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and ongoing intelligence sharing," an embassy spokeswoman told AFP.

Cartwright would meet with the head of the Turkish army, General Yasar Buyukanit, and his number two, General Ergin Saygun, she said.

The United States has been supplying Turkey with intelligence to counter the PKK which uses rear bases in Kurdish-populated northern Iraq for attacks on Turkish targets.

With US assistance, the Turkish military has stepped up its campaign against the PKK since December, carrying out several air raids on rebel targets in Iraq as well as a week-long cross-border ground operation targeting a major PKK base.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK started an armed campaign for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-populated east and southeast.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.

PUKmedia :: English - Senior US General in Turkey for Talks on Kurdish Rebels: Official