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Date Posted: 16:25:44 11/22/07 Thu
Author: part 2
Subject: Re: November 22, 2007
In reply to: part 1 's message, "November 22, 2007" on 16:24:03 11/22/07 Thu

ECO-FIN

BANK PANIC: BIG EUROPEAN INTER-BANK BOND MARKET SHUT DOWN!

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--"Covered bonds" are very much uncovered
this afternoon in the worsening dollar crash, and the entire
European market for trading these asset-backed securities among
banks, has been shut down for a week, in another grave sign of a
gathering bank panic.
European banks were ordered by the European Covered Bond
Council to cease trying to market these bonds to each other, at
least until Nov. 26. Reuters reports that this action became
necessary after the price of buying derivatives contracts to
insure these securities against default, shot upwards, in
extremely volatile conditions. "In light of the current market
situation and in order to avoid undue over-acceleration in the
widening of [default] spreads," the Bond Council said it had to
act.
This is a big escalation in the global financial crisis
which is also causing the dollar to collapse. The covered-bond
suspension hits Europe's banks in particular, because this
trillion-dollar market is dominated by German banks such as
Deutsche Bank. Covered bonds are one of the oldest, largest, and
supposed-to-be safest parts of the bond market, even considered
"surrogates for government bonds." Yet now, they cannot even be
traded by banks -- because "anybody would be crazy to buy them
now," economist Lyndon LaRouche noted.
Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) says that covered
bonds are asset-backed securities created from either mortgage
loans, or municipal and state loans; but unlike the notorious
mortgage-backed securities (MBS), the bank that owns these loan
assets doesn't sell them, but rather issues its own bonds with
the loans as collateral.
So covered bonds are bank debt -- bonds of banks, on their
own credit -- and now the banks of Europe are unable to sell
their own bonds, even to each other. The interbank-lending
"freeze-up" in deadly effect since August, has just gotten worse.
As for issuing debt, based on "assets" which are really
other, superinflated debts, in mortgage bubbles of debt, and
calling that "safe" -- well, that's where the "crazy" came in, in
LaRouche's pointed characterization. [pbg]

STOP THE BAIL-OUTS: PROTECT NORTHERN ROCK BANK, OR CLOSE IT!

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--The leader of the Liberal Democrats in the
British Parliament called on Nov. 20 for the British government
to stop endless bail-outs of the stricken Northern Rock Bank's
mortgage investments, and either take temporary control of the
bank to stabilize it, or close it down. His public letter
reflects the same reality as Lyndon LaRouche's Homeowners and
Bank Protection Act in the United States mortgage meltdown and
bank crisis.
Liberal Democratic leader Vince Cable recommends the option
of government protection of the bank under temporary government
control. But he says that even closing it down would be better
than continuing the attempted bail-out of its mortgage-backed
assets, which has already reached at least $48 billion and
perhaps more, and has had no effect. This $48 billion is entirely
separate from the $36 billion, which has been necessary to insure
Northern Rock's deposits after a mass run on the bank developed.
Cable points out that the various "offers" of interest to
buy the large, failing bank, from other banks and private equity
funds, have been "the stuff of fantasy," but the Gordon Brown
government has kept pouring in more and more short-term loans to
Northern Rock just to try to attract a private buyer. Cerberus
Capital Partners is the latest "buyer" to walk away. [pbg]

KINGS COUNTY'S LOST $100 MILLION IN FINANCIAL CRASH; WHAT STATE
IS NEXT?

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Attempting to investigate the dangers and
losses looming for state and county investment agencies in the
current financial blowout, journalists for Bloomberg News Service
have found the trail difficult to follow; states' investment
officers often don't understand the mortgage-bubble securities
they invested in, and they don't want to talk about it for fear
of what's coming.
But what's clear is that one major county, Kings County in
Washington, has already sustained a significant loss of $100
million of its agencies' money -- $50 million in the defaults of
the structured investment vehicle (SIV) of London-based Cheyne
(pronounced "Cheney") Capital, and $50 million in the default of
another London pirate's SIV, Mainsail Partners. These SIVs are
set up by banks, off their own books, strictly on the Enron
business model, and they've generated a cool $320 billion of
{illiquidity} in the ongoing crash.
Some states, Bloomberg has found so far, are heavily into
these SIVs and the subprime mortgage-based collateralized debt
obligations (CDOs), often without really knowing it. Montana has
19% of its state agencies' investment pool in such sinkholes;
Florida has 5% of its much larger, $27 billion pool in them;
Vermont and Connecticut are also much exposed.
States use these investment pools to park their agencies'
collected revenue funds in short-term investments -- supposed to
be both safe and liquid -- until the revenues must be used. Now
the financial crisis is resulting in the downgrading of some of
the pools' investments to junk, and the losses are beginning.
Since the states and counties are also losing real estate tax and
related revenue {before} they collected, they're being hit with a
double whammy by the mortgage bubble collapse.
It's going to get much worse in 2008, and the states are
going to need to participate in Federal investments in new
economic infrastructure, and employment programs, to recover from
it. [pbg]

700 HOMELESS TURNED AWAY FROM SHELTER AT 'GROUND ZERO'

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Already this year, Loundoun County's Good
Shepherd Alliance, a non-profit group providing shelter for the
homeless, was forced to turn away over 700 men, women and
children for lack of space. A Loudoun internal political dispute
saw the County Board of Supervisors vote yesterday to take over a
center for homeless in Leesburg, VA, to prevent it from being
moved to the Ashburn VA, according to the Washington Post.
Ashburn residents had protested against plans to moved the
shelter there.
Andy Johnston, executive director of Loudoun Cares, a
service organization, said to the WAPO, "finding a place for a
homeless shelter has become virtually impossible amid dense,
well-heeled subdivisions." Asked why Ashburn didn't want the
shelter, a homeless man named Jerry said, "I guess it's because
they've got all those big houses going up there. I guess they
think it makes the place look bad." Little does Jerry know that
unless Congress passes LaRouche's Homeowners and Bank Protection
Act, a lot of those "well-heeled" Ashburn residents will be
joining him, sooner rather than later. [ddp]

DANISH PANIC OVER CONTINUED DOLLAR CRISES

COPENHAGEN, Nov. 21, 2007--The two major Danish dailies {Jyllands
Posten} (JP) and {Berlingske Tidende} both have editorials today
on the dollar crises, reflecting a justified panic over the fact
that the U.S. Federal Reserve is not protecting the value of the
dollar, and that we are on the verge of a global financial
breakdown crisis. They also show that without LaRouche's
Homeowners and Bank Protection Act of 2007 and a New Bretton
Woods, there is no way out of the present monetary dilemma.
Under the headline "The Dollar Crises" JP writes in its
editorial that if nothing is done, the dollar will soon reach its
record low value from 1978, and states, "It is an unavoidable
signal of danger when the world's most important reserve currency
falls like a rock and U.S. officialdom only shrug their
shoulders. The Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. central bank, is in
reality powerless; even though the responsibility lies with the
bank's board of directors and its chairman Ben Bernanke, since
they alone decide the amount of dollars circulating the world."
JP describes the paradox they are confronted with: To defend
the dollar, the Fed has to raise interest rates which, in present
times with falling housing prices and a credit crises, might
create an economic recession, but the present loose monetary
policy will for sure get people to flee the dollar. This monetary
dilemma increases by the day, since the low dollar increases
inflation. JP notes that, of the two evils, the Federal Reserve
has chosen the risk of inflation over that of economic recession,
but states that the Federal Reserve cannot solely act on basis of
domestic American affairs. Around the world, central banks have
billions of dollars in currency reserves and a big chunk of the
world trade, including in energy, is traded in dollars.
"The sliding dollar's devaluation that has gone on for some
years, automatically raises a debate [over] whether it's a good
idea to base such a great part of the world economy on one
currency." The European business community is losing its
competitiveness due to the falling dollar, which might lead to
pressures on the European Central Bank to devaluate the euro. The
JP is against such a step, but the only alternative is to
convince the Americans, that it is not in their interest to have
a falling dollar. "It testifies to a fatal lack of global
responsibility at the top of the American central bank to risk a
world economic crisis due to a bungled handling of years of loose
credit given for housing in the U.S.," JP ends its editorial.
Under the headline "The Decline of the Dollar Creates Fear,"
the foreign editor of {Berlingske Tidende}, Kristian Mouritzen,
also strikes alarm. He starts with reporting the lack of
confidence in the dollar, the recent discussions in OPEC of
abandoning the dollar, and the Chinese warning against letting
the dollar fall. The editorial has no clue of what to do, except
to state wistfully in the end, "The fact that the dollar's
weakness now is evident might be what can save it from a serious
crash downwards with all the serious consequences that would have
for the world economy." [tg]

SUMMERS: STICK TO THE SINKING DOLLAR

Nov. 21, 2007 -- Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers was
in Dubai to explain to Arab investors that there is no
alternative to the dollar. Summers correctly dismissed currencies
such as the yen, the yuan, or the euro as credible alternatives
as a world reserve currency; on the other side, he offered
nothing but faith in a magical future recovery.
In reporting Summers' statements, the Italian daily {Il Sole
24 Ore} quotes a knowledgeable source who says that although
Saudi Arabia is sticking to the dollar, not so the other Gulf
states, which are increasingly moving their capital towards Asia.
"In the Gulf, capital was split almost equally among West, Gulf,
and Asia. Today, the Asia part is approaching 40% and the West,
especially through the decrease of the U.S., has gone down to
30%." [ccc]

SCI-TECH

NUCLEAR DESALINATION: THE ANSWER TO WATER SHORTAGES

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Nuclear power has the energy flux density
necessary for the large-scale desalination to provide the
freshwater that a growing world population will need, without
depleting fossil energy sources, concluded scientists at the
Trombay, India, Symposium on Desalination and Water Re-Use. The
proceedings of this conference appear in a just-released special
issue of the International Journal of Nuclear Desalination.
B.M. Misra, the co-editor of the Journal, notes that the
supposedly cost-effective solar, wind, and wave power appoaches
to desalination "are not viable" for the large-scale freshwater
production needed to supply the 3.5 billion people who are
predicted to face severe water shortages by the year 2025.
In his preface to the issue, P.K. Terawi from the Bhabha
Atomic Research Centre (BARC) reports that 2 million children now
die a year from water-borne diseases, and that more than half of
the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients with these
diseases. "Water-borne diseases cost the Indian economy 73
million working days a year," he wrote, and "many of these
diseases can be prevented by safe drinking water."
S.S. Verma, of the Department of Physics at SLIET in Punjab,
reported that small floating nuclear plants could be sited
off-shore near densely populated coastal areas, to provide cheap
electricity while powering a desalination plant with their excess
heat. "Companies are already in the process of developing a
special desalination platform for attachment to Floating Nuclear
Power Plants," he said.
Another new approach reported by A. Raha and colleagues at
the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Trombay, is to use
Low-Temperature Evaporation for desalination, which could make
use of low-pressure steam or low-quality waste heat from a
nuclear power plant. Safety, reliability, and viable economics
have already been demonstrated, Raha said, and BARC recently
commissioned a low-temperature desalination plant to produce 50
tons per day of freshwater. [mmh]

UNITED STATES

SCHWARZENEGGER ANNOUNCES "FREEZE" ON SOME INTEREST HIKES;
LAROUCHE SUGGESTS HE REJOIN HUMAN RACE

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--In a move that surprised some observers,
George Shultz's Golem, the Governor of California, announced on
Tuesday that he has reached a voluntary agreement with four
leading mortgage lenders to "freeze" adjustable interest rates
for high-risk borrowers. Schwarzenegger identified GMAC Mortgage,
Countrywide Financial, Litton Loan Servicing, and HomeEq
Servicing as participants in the agreement, which he claimed
would cover 25% of homeowners threatened with foreclosure. This
agreement would not benefit any homeowner who has already missed
a payment. There have already been 52,560 home foreclosures in
California from January through September of this year, according
to DataQuick.
The {Sacramento Bee} reports that Schwarzenegger's deal is
modelled on a proposal made by FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Blair that
asks lenders to freeze rates of those with teaser loans set to
increase monthly costs. While some advocates for homeowners are
praising this action, Lyndon LaRouche has emphasized that any
effort to stop foreclosures which does not address the
reverse-leveraged chain-reaction collapse of the banking system
which is underway, is doomed to fail. The Homeowner and Bank
Protection Act of LaRouche was drafted to put up a firewall, to
protect state and federal-chartered banks from such a collapse.
One economist contacted by this news agency was quite
skeptical of this plan, pointing out that many banks and lending
agencies have already pledged the increased income expected from
higher interest rates, to cover their own increased borrowing. A
freeze, he said, which doesn't take this into account, could lead
to a chain-reaction collapse of Mortgage-Backed Securities, which
would have "a dramatic effect on the nation's investors,
especially pension funds," which were sold these and related
financial packages.
Schwarzenegger's proposal -- which undoubtedly came from the
fascist Shultz -- appears to be a time-buying gimmick at best,
but one crafted to enhance his appeal as a "man of the people."
On being briefed on this latest script read by Arnie, LaRouche
commented that, "If he wants to be a man of the people, he should
join the human race." (hcs)

"COLLATERAL DAMAGE" FROM ANTI-IMMIGRANT RAIDS:
100,000 ABANDONED CHILDREN

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Nearly 100,000 children of Mexican workers
deported from the United States, have been left behind without
their parents, Mexican Congressman Jose Nicolas Morales Ramos
revealed Nov. 2. Morales Ramos is president of the Chamber of
Deputies' Migratory and Border Affairs Committee. He reports
that these are the children of the 400,000 Mexicans who have been
arrested in anti-immigrant workplace raids and then deported in
the recent period. Often they have not even been able to advise
their children of what happened to them.
Many of these workers had worked in the United States for
years, and their children are U.S. citizens, the Congressman
pointed out. After Nov. 5, under a new "repeat offender" measure,
parents who try to return to the United States to retrieve their
children, face a one to six month jail sentence if caught.
Unweaned, nursing babies are being handed over to social
workers, when their undocumented mothers are jailed. Children
whose parents have been detained or deported, are being left to
be cared for by other family members, or, for those less
fortunate, by changing babysitters or by going from home to home
of friends. Entire families of those related to deportees are
hiding out in basements or closets for days or weeks on end, for
fear of being split apart.
This is the "human face" of the intensifying raids being
carried out against undocumented immigrants in the United States,
reported in the study, "Paying the Price: The Impact of
Immigration Raids on America's Children," issued last Oct. 31 by
the National Council of La Raza and the Urban Institute.
There are approximately five million children in the United
States with at least one undocumented parent, according to the
study, and 3.1 million of them are U.S. citizens. On average, one
child is likely to be affected for every two workers arrested,
the study found. A large majority of those children are under the
age of five: infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers.
The study found what any human being would know: "After the
arrest or disappearance of their parents, children experienced
feelings of abandonment, and showed symptoms of emotional trauma,
psychological duress, and mental health problems.... The
combination of fear, isolation, and economic hardship induced
mental health problems such as depression, separation anxiety
disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts."
[ggs]

HISPANIC CAUCUS BLASTS REPUBLICAN SCARE TACTICS AND THE DEMOCRATS
WHO VOTE FOR THEM

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--The Republican strategy of using wedge
issues, such as immigration, to split the Democrats has been
drawing fire from, in particular, the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus. The caucus has already rebelled against House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on at least one occasion for allowing a vote,
on Nov. 9, on a Republican non-binding motion expressing support
for a Senate-passed provision prohibiting the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission from suing employers that require only
English to be spoken in the work place. Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA), the
chairman of the caucus, told the {Houston Chronicle} that the
"Republicans are continuing to bring up racist issues to try to
use them as a political wedge. The threat has got so many people
scared and they think they have to vote one way when they don't
have to." After the November 9 revolt, Baca said that he and his
allies will be monitoring Democrats who vote for such measures.
"We are going to have conversations with every one of them," he
said.
As for the English-only provision, which is attached to an
appropriations bill that includes funding for the EEOC,
Hispanicbusiness.com reports that the Hispanic Caucus sent a
letter to Democratic leaders calling it "dangerous and wrong."
"English only policies that do not relate to job performance are
inherently discriminatory and are a major source of workplace
discrimination against the nation's large and growing population
of Hispanic, Asian-American, and other minority workers," the
letter says. [cjo]

RUDY GIULIANI'S DOPE LOBBY

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Purdue Frederick Co. (also known as Purdue
Pharma) pleaded guilty on May 10, 2007, to federal charges of
misrepresenting the addictive nature of its narcotic, Oxycontin.
Abuse of the drug has led to many deaths, and many crimes by
desperate addicts. The company and three of its top executives
were ordered to pay a total of $634,515,475 in fines. Evidence
presented at the trial showed that the company's own internal
research reports warned about the "abuse potential," but the firm
attempted to play down or cover up the problem.
In May 2002, when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
and the Food and Drug Administration began probing overdose
deaths attributed to Oxycontin, Purdue hired Giuliani Partners,
the private lobbying firm of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani,
to run interference on the matter. At that time, Giuliani
publicly praised the firm, saying "Purdue has demonstrated its
commitment to fighting this problem" of Oxycontin abuse.
Giluiani met repeatedly with DEA leaders, including DEA
Administrator Asa Hutchinson. Giuliani raised thousands of
dollars for a new DEA Museum, and posed for photographs with
Hutchinson and others at the museum's ribbon-cutting ceremony.
According to the 2006 book {Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of
Rudy Giuliani and 9/11}, by Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins,
Giuliani also got himself onto a panel created by the DEA to
decide whether to allow only physicians specializing in pain
control to prescribe Oxycontin, and that the DEA decided in favor
of Giuliani's client, NOT to restrict the drug.
Rudy Giuliani's partner, former New York Police Commissioner
Bernard Kerik, also met with DEA chief Hutchinson while lobbying
for Oxycontin. Kerik was assigned to security for Oxycontin
manufacturing, as federal investigators found Purdue was not
following record-keeping laws designed to prevent leakage to dope
trafickers. Kerik left Giuliani Partners in 2005 when he came
under criminal investigation, and was indicted Nov. 8, 2007 on
federal charges of tax fraud, obstruction of justice, and lying
to government officials checking his background.
In addition to lobbying for Purdue Pharma, Rudy Giuliani
also became the firm's chief attorney and spokesman: he was hired
by Purdue's Bush-connected Texas law firm, Bracewell and
Patterson, which changed its name to Bracewell and Giuliani.
Giluiani led Purdue's negotiations with federal prosecutors,
resulting in a plea bargain and the fines. [ahc]

IBERO-AMERICA

"The Worst is Yet to Come" in Tabasco Health Crisis

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Mexico's Health Secretary Jose Angel
Cordova Villalobos warned Nov. 19 that an epidemic outbreak in
the southern state of Tabasco "could occur at any moment," as a
result of the unsanitary conditions created by the massive
flooding that hit this state and neighboring Chiapas in late
October.
Conditions in the state cry out for the massive cross-border
infrastructure projects statesman Lyndon LaRouche is calling for.
For decades, Lyndon LaRouche has championed The PLHINO and PLIGO
water projects in Mexico, as part of the overall North American
Water and Power Alliance linking the three nations of North
America. In Mexico, these projects will bring water from areas
which have too much, like Tabasco and its neighboring states, to
areas which need it for agriculture. At the same time, they will
create thousands of urgently needed jobs.
"Very complicated weeks and months lie ahead of us,"
Villalobos said, during a Nov. 19 tour of a section of the
capital of Villahermosa. Despite efforts to provide adequate
medical supplies, and launch innoculation and fumigation
operations, "the worst is yet to come," he said. Garbage-strewn
streets and houses, contaminated water, and rotting carcasses of
dead animals are factors that pose a serious health risk to the
residents of the capital. State authorities are on the alert for
possible outbreaks of cholera, malaria, and dengue, among other
diseases.
In a status report to the media the same day, Tabasco
Governor Andres Granier described the dire conditions faced by
many residents, whose garbage-filled homes are not inhabitable,
and who have no means of earning money. "Even if there is no
water in their houses, there is hunger ... they need to eat. How
can they get the money to buy food, when the majority of them
worked in the `informal' economy, and lost their jobs?"
The Governor also gave a detailed report on the status of
local water infrastructure, and underscored that the rainy
season is not over, as it often extends into January. "The
emergency is not over." [crr]

WESTERN EUROPE

FRANCE ON STRIKE, CHEMINADE STRIKES BACK

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Mass strike ferment continued Nov. 20 in
France, as about half of the nation's civil servants went on
strike. More than 500,000 demonstrators took to the streets of
the nation's big cities, including 40,000 youth from universities
and high schools, reports Nouvelle Solidarite in Paris. As
media-government propaganda continued painting a picture of
"privileged workers" on strike, the mobilization is aimed at
purchasing power, since food and energy prices have increased by
double digits from January on.
Jacques Cheminade, leader of Solidarite et Progres, warned
in October against an accelerated destruction of standards of
living. Some 45,000 copies of his call for an "economic firewall"
to protect the population, have been circulated by the French
LaRouche Youth Movement into the ongoing national ferment.
Acting to stop the strikes, sophist French President
Nicholas Sarkozy quoted a 1930's Communist leader to preach a
"wise return to work," and announced that he will speak up in the
coming days on solutions to the purchasing power issue.
Meanwhile, Trotskyist-Guevarist leader Besancenot has been
launched, to radicalize the movement and be the "symbol" of the
social protest. Besancenot's youth are participating in
radical-violent blockades of universities and trying to ignite
protest in high schools.
A hard nucleus of workers, mainly among railway employees,
have said they will never go back to work until Sarkozy's pension
"reforms" are stopped, and there is a lot of tension among
unions. The CFDT union confederation leader was kicked out of the
Paris demonstration by other demonstrators. [bb]

SABOTAGE AGAINST FRANCE'S HIGH SPEED TRACKS

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--In what appears to be a pure "permanent
revolution" provocation, all four of France's TGV high-speed
railroads were found to have been sabotaged around dawn this
morning. Signal boxes and cables had been burned to prevent TGV
traffic.
This coordinated action happened on the eighth day of
railway workers strikes against President Nicolas Sarkozy's
gutting of government pension. Trade union leaders condemned the
action as harmful to their cause, and main railroad union leader
asked, "who has an interest in such actions?"
This was a coordinated operation, as it was carried out
simultaneously at four different sites around the country between
6:00 and 6:20 a.m. Because the sabotage tends to discredit
strikers in the eyes of popular opinion, at the very time when
negotiations between the government and unions started today, the
first suspicions are aimed at a set-up/police operation. Another
lead could be extreme left provocateurs, which were already
warmed up last spring during Sarkozy's election campaign. Some
serious people tend to consider these two possibilities as one.
(bb)

GERMANY'S ANGELA MERKEL AND ITALY'S ROMANO PRODI:
NO TO TONY BLAIR!

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian
Premier Romano Prodi do not want Tony Blair to become "European
Chairman" next year. Italian media report that the two heads of
government agreed on this in the Italian-German bilateral meeting
yesterday near Berlin. Blair's candidacy had been pushed
especially by France's Nicolas Sarkozy.
The Italian-German bilateral meeting has apparently brought
the two countries closer, as they agreed also on Kosovo and
Afghanistan policies. Both countries are against the unilateral
independence of Kosovo.
The issue of upgrading the north-south logistical and
infrastructure corridors was also discussed. Italian Development
Minister Bersani said: "Our [Italian] ports can represent a
transit node for German goods travelling to Asia, and become an
alternative to northern [ports]." Cooperation agreements in
aerospace and railways were signed, and cooperation in scientfic
research projects was discussed. [ccc]

HOUSE OF SAVOY WANTS REPARATIONS FROM ITALIAN STATE

Nov. 21, 2007 -- The Savoy family has filed a request for $260
million reparations from the Italian state, for material damages
caused by its exile. Victor Emmanuel, the current head of the
House of Savoy, was exiled for 54 years, and he and his sons
could enter the country only after a Constitutional provision was
changed, a few years ago.
The secretary general of the Italian government, Carlo
Malinconico, stated on Raitre yesterday that the Italian state
owes nothing to the Savoy: "Nothing shall be paid; it is the
state that should demand damages from the Savoy for their
responsibilities linked to past historic events."
The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy, was the
head of state who first appointed Mussolini in 1922 as head of
government, was crowned Emperor through Mussolini's colonial
wars, and was commander-in-chief when Italy entered the war on
the side of Adolf Hitler in 1940. He eventually dismissed
Mussolini in 1943 when the war was lost, and signed a truce with
the Allies, but left the whole Italian Army without orders and
abandoned Rome Sept. 8, 1943. As a result, the Armed Forces
disbanded, Italy was invaded and occupied by the Wehrmacht and
suffered two more years of war devastations. [ccc]

RUSSIA

PUTIN HITS NATO "MUSCLE PUMPING" AND
U.S. STONEWALLING ON MISSILE-DEFENSE COOPERATION

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday
took the occasion of his annual meeting with the top officers of
the Russian Armed Forces, to criticize current NATO behavior in
the vicinity of Russia's borders. He also expressed regret at
the absence of an adequate response from the United States to his
ground-breaking proposal for cooperation between the two biggest
nuclear powers on anti-missile defense.
Putin said that the unstable situation in many regions of
the world and the simmering of "hot spots near Russia's borders"
leave no choice, but to build up all areas of defense. In
particular, Putin cited NATO and the USA: "We see that, in
violation of agreements reached earlier, members of NATO are
building up their military assets. At the same time, Russia's
proposals, such as for creation of a unified anti-missile defense
system with equal -- I want to stress that -- equal access for
all participants to manage it, remain, unfortunately, without an
answer. Of course, we cannot allow ourselves to be indifferent to
obvious muscle-pumping."
In October, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reportedly made verbal
proposals to further the missile defense cooperation agenda, but
Russian Foreign Ministry officials have stressed that no formal,
written response followed.
Putin said that Russia's formal halt to its adherence to the
Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which NATO-member
signers have not ratified, was "a forced and necessary measure"
in this situation, since "we are not going to adhere to anything
unilaterally."
The Russian President went on to say that "one of the most
important tasks" is the ongoing program to upgrade Russia's
strategic nuclear forces. "They should be able," said Putin, "to
inflict a rapid and adequate response to any aggressor."
In a Parliamentary election campaign speech today in Moscow,
Putin struck similar tones. He accused foreign interests of
attempting to destabilize during the run-up to the State Duma
elections, which will take place Dec. 2, by backing opposition
parties. Putin is heading the candidates slate of the United
Russia party. [RBD]

COMBAT READINESS OF RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES INCREASED

Nov. 21, 2007 -- In his opening remarks at a meeting with the
Armed Forces Senior Command, yesterday, Russian President
Vladimir Putin said (as reported by the presidential news
service): "We see that some members of the NATO alliance are
building up their military potential close to our borders, in
violation of previous areements. At the same time, Russian
proposals -- for example, the proposal to develop a common
missile defence system, which, I especially want to stress, would
give all participants an equal part in its command -- are
unfortunately left without response. Of course, we cannot remain
indifferent to what is a clear case of muscle-flexing. This
situation obliges us to take adequate measures, one of which is
the Russian Federation's decision to suspend its participation in
the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe."
"I stress that this is a necessary measure we have been
obliged to take. We will take no unilateral action. Our partners
in this treaty have not ratified the treaty's adapted version,
and some countries have not even signed it yet. A fine picture it
makes: How many years are we to continue unilaterally fulfilling
our treaty commitments while others look on? As soon as our
partners ratify the adapted version of the treaty, Russia will
review the possibility of resuming compliance with its
commitments. But we cannot simply continue the current situation
forever. We cannot wait who knows how long.
"Increasing the combat readiness of our strategic nuclear
forces is one of our biggest tasks. These forces must be able to
deliver a rapid and adequate response to any aggressor. The
general purpose forces, for their part, have the mission of
looking for new ways to neutralize security threats to our
country at an early stage." (rap)

AFRICA

Zimbabwe to Take 51% Interest in All Mining Companies.

Nov. 21, 2007 (LPAC)--Zimbabwe has passed a law, the Mines and
Minerals Amendment Bill, that allows the government to take a 51%
interest in companies mining strategic minerals, reports the
London Times. The government will pay nothing for the first 25%.
The remaining 26% will be paid for with the dividends earned from
the state's shares in the companies. This payment will be spread
over seven years.

The bill stipulates the right of the government to do this "in
virtue of its original ownership of all useful minerals in its
subsoil."

This obviously has some mining interests freaked out. The
biggest is the platinum miner, Zimplats, the local subsidiary of
South Africa's Impala Platinum. The company produces $10 billion
work of platinum a year, and is planning an expansion. Another
is the Queen of England's own Rio Tinto Zinc, and its Murowa
diamond mine. [dea]

SOUTHWEST ASIA

TURKEY, IRAN SIGN POWER PROJECT DEALS

Nov. 21, 2007 (EIRNS)--Turkey and Iran on Tuesday signed an
agreement with Iran for joint power-production projects, despite
criticism from the United States.
Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler played down US
criticism, saying more agreements would be concluded in the
coming days. "The signing [of agreements] will continue. Our
efforts are continuing," Guler told a joint news conference with
his Iranian counterpart Parviz Fattah, reported AFP.
Fattah said, "Our improving ties may annoy some circles, but
they will harm no one. They have to accept that."
The agreement calls for the joint construction of three
thermal power plants -- two in Iran and one in Turkey -- with a
capacity of 2,000 megawatts each, as well as several
hydroelectric plants in Iran with a total capacity of 10,000
megawatts, the Anatolia news agency reported. Under the deal,
transmission lines between Iran and Turkey will be upgraded and
expanded within a year.[dea]

*** END OF BRIEFING ***

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