Soros: It's Not Easy Being God
Robert Slater, in his unauthorized biography of Soros-Soros, The Life, Times & Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor: "Yet, what is one to make of a child who believed he was God?" Slater posits that such grandiose thoughts in childhood, if they were the "fleeting dreams of a small child" might be understandable if Soros had given any indication as an adult that he had outgrown his delusions. "Yet, as an adult, he offered no sign, no dismissive gesture, no footnote signifying that he no longer clung to such wild convictions, but only the suggestion of how difficult it was for someone to believe himself a deity." (Pg. 15). "A passage in his book The Alchemy of Finance, published in 1987, distinguishes Soros from all other financiers, ever. ‘I have always harboured an exaggerated view of my self-importance,' he wrote. ‘To put it bluntly, I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes, or, even better, like Einstein. My sense of reality was strong enough to make me realise that these expectations were excessive, and I kept them hidden as a guilty secret. This was a source of considerable unhappiness through much of my adult life. As I made my way in the world, reality came close enough to my fantasy to allow me to admit my secret, at least to myself. Needless to say, I feel much happier as a result.'" In 2003, Soros figured out that he could force his repugnant ideas on America more efficiently by simply changing the government than by pressing the actual issues: "‘I've come to the conclusion,' Soros told Fortune, ‘that one can do a lot more about the issues I care about by changing the government than by pushing the issues.' In short, he has become the world's angriest billionaire." (Mark Gimein, "George Soros Is Mad As Hell," Fortune, 10/27/03)
Obama to tone down anti-Islam rhetoric in official texts
US President Barack Obama's advisers plan to revise the National Security Strategy, a document currently outlining former President George W Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive (preventative) war. Counterterrorism officials said on condition of anonymity that Obama's advisers plan to remove terms such as "Islamic radicalism" in the new version of the document, which is still being drafted. The US National Security Strategy is a document prepared periodically by the executive branch of the government for Congress. It outlines the major national security concerns and the methods to deal with them. It currently states, "The struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century." According to the officials, the move to rewrite the security strategy is part of an effort by the Obama Administration to send a message to Muslim countries that the US does not link them with terrorism.
However, Muslims are constantly reminded of the savage American conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan -where the indiscriminate killing of Muslim civilians is the norm and often described as collateral damage by the US war machine and media outlets. Then there is unflinching American support for the Jewish state and its military offensives against the Palestinians and the Lebanese which have left deep scars on the psyche of the Muslim ummah. So if Obama thinks by omitting some terms, America's nefarious actions will be forgiven and forgotten then he is gravely mistaken.
China Hu:Yuan Revaluation Can't Solve Trade Imbalances
Chinese President Hu Jintao told his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, during talks Monday that letting the Chinese currency appreciate against the dollar wouldn't solve the trade imbalances between the two countries. At a time when speculation has risen about an imminent revaluation of the yuan, Hu said a yuan revaluation wouldn't solve the unemployment problem in the U.S., either. U.S. lawmakers have blamed China for artificially depressing the value of the yuan to boost Chinese exports in the global market, which has led to job losses in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Still, in a release carried by the state-run Xinhua News Agency, Hu signaled China's intent to improve relationships with the U.S., as both sides have moved to mend ties that have been dented recently by trade friction, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and Obama's visit with the Dalai Lama. "Promoting a healthy and steady development in economic and trade relations between China and the U.S. is beneficial to China, to the U.S. and to the development of the world economy," said Hu. Despite China's strong rebound in the economic output in recent months, Hu cautioned that there is still uncertainty regarding the global economic outlook. Both China and the U.S. face the arduous task of increasing economic growth, increasing jobs and transforming the mode of economic growth. U.S. policymakers have urged China to rely more on domestic consumption rather than exports to address the global trade imbalances. But exports, for now, remain a major engine of economic growth in China, a reason why the government has kept the yuan virtually re-pegged to the dollar since mid-2008 as China's export sector was hit by the worst global economic downturn in decades. The move followed a more than 21% appreciation in the yuan against the dollar between mid-2005 and mid-2008.
Karzai: Afghan elections were rigged by foreigners and I want to join Taleban
Hamid Karzai has threatened to abandon the political process and join the Taleban if he continues to come under outside pressure to reform. Mr Karzai made his statement at a closed-door meeting with selected Afghan MPs - just days after instigating a diplomatic controversy by alleging that foreigners had been behind the fraud in last year's disputed elections.
U.S. military playing expanded role in Pakistan
Despite assurances from Obama, America has increased its role in Pakistan. This week Reuters reported that U.S. Special Operations Forces on a training mission in Pakistan are playing an expanded but largely unseen role in the country's counterinsurgency campaign, working with paramilitary units to "hold and build" tribal areas as militants are cleared out. Special Ops trainers play a bigger role than has been widely disclosed in helping Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, such as surveying and coordinating projects aimed at winning "hearts and minds" and preventing Taliban fighters from returning to areas once they have been pushed out. A Pentagon proposal would deepen that role by creating a special $10 million pool of funds the trainers could spend more quickly on civil affairs and humanitarian projects in the FATA in coordination with their Pakistani counterparts.
US, India military brass discuss China's rising power
Wary as they both are of China's long-term intentions, India and US came together to discuss Beijing's galloping modernisation of its 2.25-million strong armed forces and its strategic moves in the Asia-Pacific region. The ‘Red Dragon', with its spreading wings, was a prominent presence in the room during the talks visiting US chief of naval operations chief Admiral Gary Roughead held with the top Indian military brass, including Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma and Army chief General V K Singh. Both sides, among other things, shared their assessments of China's transborder military capabilities and its increasing presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). China, of course, has also forged extensive maritime links with IOR countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar. Sources said China's ambitious aircraft carrier building programme was of particular interest since this is one arena in which it actually lags behind even India. At present, while China may have as many as 62 submarines, with 10 of them being nuclear-powered and three armed with long-range ballistic missiles, and 75 major warships, it does not have an aircraft carrier.
