Krach boursier mondial: privatisation des bénéfices + mutuellisation des pertes

La crise est énorme, 1929 à la puissance X, car cette fois, tout le système financier mondial est impliqué. Et que fait-on, partout? Les pouvoirs publics, de droite comme de gauche, renflouent en urgence le système bancaire. Et pour ce faire, plongent dans les caisses publiques... qu'on n'a de cesse de dire vides à chaque fois qu'un groupe social ou l'autre explique qu'il est sur la paille et n'en peut plus de la "rage taxatoire"


sans verser dans l'extrême opposé (et philosophiquement frère jumeau), le marxisme et toutes ses sous-divisions, on ne peut que constater que dans les faits, il est indéniable que l'on fait supporter par la population les conséquences de l'aventurisme financier et de la rapacité des "élites" et autres boursicoteurs. C'est ainsi qu'on amène les jacqueries et autres émeutes. Au début de l'année, elles ont eu lieu dans les pays frappés par la famine. Mais dans ces pays-là, il existe encore une certaine capacité à retourner cultiver un lopin de terre. Chez nous, tout a été organisé pour la dépendance totale des populations aux groupes industriels de l'agro-alimentaire et pharmacologiques quant à leur alimentation & soins de santé. Nous sommes bel et bien au tout début du grand choc.

Plongeon historique de Wall Street
http://www.lefigaro.fr/marches/2008/09/30/04003-20080930ARTFIG00359-plongeon-historique-de-wall-street-.php

Pierre-Yves Dugua (à Washington)
30/09/2008

Crédits photo : AP
La Bourse de New York a lourdement chuté, après que les places européennes ont accusé le coup de plusieurs déroutes bancaires.

Le scénario catastrophe se réalise. La Chambre des représentants a rejeté hier le plan Paulson, censé sauver le système bancaire américain de l'implosion. Wall Street, pris par surprise, a très mal réagi. L'indice Dow Jones a connu un plongeon historique (en points). Il a reculé de 6,98 %, le Nasdaq de 9,14 % et le S&P 500 de 8,81 %.

Le plan prévoyait l'octroi au Trésor américain de 700 milliards de dollars pour financer un programme de rachat d'actifs bancaires dévalorisés. Hier matin encore, le président Bush avait imploré les députés américains de surmonter leurs doutes à l'égard de ce plan et de se ranger derrière les leaders des deux partis qui s'y étaient finalement ralliés.

Hier soir, le secrétaire au Trésor, Henry Paulson, visiblement frustré par la fronde des élus, a expliqué qu'il continuerait de « travailler avec les législateurs. L'enjeu est trop important pour que l'on abandonne. Nous cherchons le moyen de faire passer quelque chose le plus vite possible ».

La crainte des autorités américaines est désormais que les marchés de crédit soient paralysés du fait du manque de confiance dans la solidité de banques dont les bilans sont accablés de créances immobilières douteuses. « Les marchés de crédit vont se retrouver encore plus paralysés », estimait à chaud Bill Gross, patron de Pimco, le plus grand fonds obligataire du monde. Un tel scénario perturberait gravement le fonctionnement des systèmes de paiement, provoquerait des faillites de banques et d'entreprises et plongerait vite l'Amérique dans une grave récession.

Défections importantes

En quatre jours déjà, deux grands établissements de dépôt, Washington Mutual et Wachovia, ont frisé la faillite. Ils ont dû être repris en catastrophe par des banques en moins mauvaise santé, respectivement JPMorgan Chase et Citigroup. La contagion a aussi gagné l'Europe, où, après la nationalisation de Fortis dimanche soir, des banques sont tombées en Grande-Bretagne, en Allemagne et au Danemark. La franco-belge Dexia va être recapitalisée en urgence.

À Washington, la rancœur est grande. La Maison-Blanche se dit « très déçue ». C'est un énorme désaveu pour le président Bush. En fin de mandat, décrédibilisé par la chute de sa popularité et la détérioration du climat économique, George W. Bush n'avait guère de prise sur les élus frondeurs de son propre parti. Les démocrates qui se sont battus pour le passage de ce plan, pourtant conçu par le secrétaire républicain au Trésor, accusent les républicains de comportement irresponsable. 228 représentants ont voté contre le projet, alors que seulement 205 l'ont approuvé. Les leaders des deux partis avaient appelé leurs troupes à soutenir ce texte qui suscitait un grand scepticisme dans le pays. « Nous n'avons d'autre choix que de travailler ensemble pour trouver un moyen de sauver notre économie », résumait le leader de la minorité républicaine de la Chambre, John Boehner.

Des défections importantes dans les deux camps expliquent cet échec. Mais les opposants au plan Paulson se comptent surtout dans les rangs républicains. À moins de six semaines des législatives, ils jugent que le texte nationalise à un prix exorbitant les pertes de banques irresponsables. Ils doutent de la capacité du plan à relancer effectivement l'offre de crédit en nettoyant les bilans bancaires.

Le président Bush devait se réunir hier soir avec ses conseillers économiques. Ils devaient discuter avec les leaders du Congrès de la possibilité de soumettre le texte, au besoin amendé, à un second vote. Il faudrait toutefois plusieurs jours pour tenter cette option. L'effondrement de Wall Street causé par le premier échec pourrait peut-être convaincre certains élus de changer d'avis.

House rejects $700B bailout in stunning defeat
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/financial_meltdown;_ylt=AnRsgMebBf8yBN3ahJF8cqqs0NUE

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - In a vote that shook the government, Wall Street and markets around the world, the House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue for the nation's financial system, leaving both parties' lawmakers and the Bush administration scrambling to pick up the pieces. Dismayed investors sent the Dow Jones industrials plunging 777 points, the most ever for a single day.
"We need to put something back together that works," a grim-faced Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said after he and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke joined in an emergency strategy session at the White House. On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders said the House would reconvene Thursday, leaving open the possibility that it could salvage a reworked version.

Senate leaders showed no inclination to try to bring the measure to a vote before they could determine its fate in the House. President Bush, meanwhile, was scheduled to make a statement on the rescue plan Tuesday morning, the White House said.

All sides agreed the effort to bolster beleaguered financial markets, potentially the biggest government intervention since the Great Depression, could not be abandoned.

But in a remarkable display on Monday, a majority of House members slapped aside the best version their leaders and the administration had been able to come up with, bucking presidential speeches, pleading visits from Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and urgent warnings that the economy could nosedive without the legislation.

In the face of thousands of phone calls and e-mails fiercely opposing the measure, many lawmakers were not willing to take the political risk of voting for it just five weeks before the elections.

The bill went down, 228-205.

The House Web site was overwhelmed as millions of people sought information about the measure through the day.

The legislation the administration promoted would have allowed the government to buy bad mortgages and other sour assets held by troubled banks and other financial institutions. Getting those debts off their books should bolster those companies' balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and ease one of the biggest choke points in a national credit crisis. If the plan worked, the thinking went, it would help lift a major weight off the national economy, which is already sputtering.

Hoping to pick up enough GOP votes for the next try, Republicans floated several ideas. One would double the $100,000 ceiling on federal deposit insurance. Another would end rules that require companies to devalue assets on their books to reflect the price they could get in the market.

In the meantime, Paulson said he would work with other regulators "to use all the tools available to protect our financial system and our economy."

"Our tool kit is substantial but insufficient," he said, indicating the government intended to continue piecemeal fixes while pressing Congress for broader action.

Stocks started plummeting on Wall Street even before Monday's vote was over, as traders watched the rescue measure going down on television. Meanwhile, lawmakers were watching them back.

As a digital screen in the House chamber recorded a cascade of "no" votes against the bailout, Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley of New York shouted news of the falling Dow Jones industrials. "Six hundred points!" he yelled, jabbing his thumb downward.

The final stock carnage far surpassed the 684-point drop on the first trading day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

In the House, "no" votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle. More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed the bill. Several Democrats in close election fights waited until the last moment, then went against the bill as it became clear the vast majority of Republicans were opposing it.

Thirteen of the 19 most vulnerable Republicans and Democrats in an Associated Press analysis voted against the bill despite the pleas from Bush and their party leaders to pass it.

In all, 65 Republicans joined 140 Democrats in voting "yes," while 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted "no."

The overriding question was what to do next.

"The legislation may have failed; the crisis is still with us," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a news conference after the defeat. "What happened today cannot stand."

Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, the minority leader, said he and other Republicans were pained to back the measure, but in light of the potential consequences for the economy and all Americans, "We need to renew our efforts to find a solution that Congress can support."

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said there was scant time to reopen legislation that was the product of hard-fought bipartisan negotiations.

"What happened today was not a failure of a bill, it was a failure of will," said Dodd, the Banking Committee chairman. "Our hope is that cooler heads will prevail, people will think about what they did today and recognize that this is not just scare tactics — it's reality."

A brutal round of partisan finger-pointing followed the vote.

Republicans blamed Pelosi's scathing speech near the close of the debate — which assailed Bush's economic policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets — for the defeat. It was not much different from her usual tough words against the president and his party.

"We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," Boehner said.

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi's speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.

That amounted to an appalling accusation by Republicans against Republicans, said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the Financial Services Committee: "Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decide to punish the country."

More than a repudiation of Democrats, Frank said, Republicans' refusal to vote for the bailout was a rejection of their own president.

Indeed, many GOP lawmakers spurned Bush's urgent calls for action. "We have a gun to our head," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., who opposed the bill. "This isn't legislation — it's extortion."

The two men campaigning to replace Bush watched the situation closely — from afar — and demanded action.

In Iowa, Republican John McCain said his rival Barack Obama and congressional Democrats "infused unnecessary partisanship into the process. Now is not the time to fix the blame; it's time to fix the problem."

Obama said, "Democrats, Republicans, step up to the plate, get it done."

Lawmakers were under extraordinary pressure from powerful outside groups, which gave notice they considered the legislation a "key vote" — one they would consider when rating members of Congress.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said opponents of the bailout would pay for their stance.

"Make no mistake: When the aftermath of congressional inaction becomes clear, Americans will not tolerate those who stood by and let the calamity happen," said R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber's top lobbyist, in a letter to members.

The conservative Club for Growth made a similar threat to supporters of the bailout.

"We're all worried about losing our jobs," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declared in an impassioned speech in support of the bill before the vote. "Most of us say, 'I want this thing to pass, but I want you to vote for it — not me.'"

"We're in this moment, and if we fail to do the right thing, Heaven help us," he said.

If Congress doesn't come around on a bailout, more pressure would fall on the Federal Reserve.

The Fed, which has been providing billions in short-term loans to squeezed banks to help them overcome credit stresses, could keep expanding those loans to encourage lending. And, it could keep working with other central banks to inject billions into financial markets overseas.

It also has the power to expand emergency lending to other types of companies and even to individuals if they are unable to secure adequate credit.
___
Associated Press writers Jeannine Aversa, Jim Abrams and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.






A picture of financier J.P. Morgan is seen across he street from the New York Stock Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 in New York. Wall Street's worst fears came to pass Monday, when the government's financial bailout plan failed in Congress and stocks plunged precipitously, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down 777.68, or 6.98 percent to 10,365.45, in their largest one-day point drop ever.(AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)
photos news.yahoo.com

Asia stocks fall after US failure
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7643340.stm

Stock markets across Asia have fallen sharply, with some losing 3% of their value, after a US financial rescue plan failed to gain Congressional backing.

In a shock move, the US House of Representatives rejected a $700bn (£380bn) plan to bail out Wall Street.

Japan's main Nikkei index was down 3% in afternoon trading. It came after the US Dow Jones index saw its biggest one-day points fall, dropping nearly 7%.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said it was vital to get a new deal.

Day of turmoil
President George W Bush is to make a statement on the deadlock over the bail-out plan early on Tuesday morning.

But the president has been wholly ineffectual in the crisis so far and it's difficult to see how that might change, says the BBC's North America correspondent Justin Webb.

Congress will not meet again until Thursday, with another vote unlikely before the weekend, the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says.

The House's rejection of the bail-out plan came after a day of turmoil in the US and Europe, with Wachovia, the fourth-largest US bank, being bought by larger rival Citigroup.

In Europe, Benelux banking giant Fortis being partially nationalised by three governments, and the UK lender Bradford & Bingley taken into state ownership.

Now Asia is reacting to the shock, with the Nikkei down 343 points, or 3%, in late trading, after earlier dropping as much as 5%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 433 points, or 2.4%, while Australia and New Zealand saw similar losses, with the S&P/ASX-200 index shedding 3.5% in Sydney and a 3.4% fall in Wellington.

South Korea, the Philippines and Singapore also lost ground.

In Mumbai, the main Indian share index fell 3.3% in early trading.

'Big impact'

World leaders expressed concern at the effect of the US vote.

"It will have a big impact on the US economy, and it will also greatly affect the global economy," said Japanese Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano.

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he had spoken to his British counterpart Gordon Brown and they agreed to urge the US Congress to reverse Monday's decision.

"The attitude that we will adopt... is to urge the United States Congress to pass this or a similar measure when it is represented to the Congress later this week," said Mr Rudd.

Earlier, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused the US and other wealthy nations of financial irresponsibility that could jeopardise the economic progress made in recent years by developing countries.

Brazil's Ibovespa stock index dropped 9.4% on Monday.

Washington blockade

The US rescue plan, a result of tense talks over several days between the government and lawmakers, was rejected by 228 to 205 votes in the House of Representatives.

About two-thirds of Republican lawmakers refused to back the rescue package, as well as 95 Democrats.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said, after talks with the president, that the government's plan to address the crisis facing the US financial sector was much too important to be allowed to fail.

US regulators would use "all the tools available" to help the US economy, but their powers were "insufficient", he warned.

He added that he would be working with congressional leaders to get something done "as quickly as possible".

Analysts say that without a bail-out plan, the banks will be left to handle all their own bad mortgage debt as best they can and more of them will be in danger of going bust.

But after several hours of impassioned debate, the bill's opponents - the majority of whom were from the Republican Party - got their way.

They had raised concerns about both the content of the plan and the speed with which they were being asked to pass it.

Blame game

The no vote plunged the world of Washington politics into turmoil, reports the BBC's Kevin Connolly from the US capital.

So grave are the consequences of this decision, our correspondent says, that the speaker of the house paused for several long minutes after the vote was taken before declaring it official.

"The legislation has failed, the crisis has not gone away," said Nancy Pelosi, the house's Democratic speaker.

She said that 60% of Democrats had supported the bill, and urged both sides to try again to find a resolution.

"We must work in a bipartisan way in order to have another bite at the apple in terms of some legislation," she said.

Republican leaders, meanwhile, criticised a scathing speech by Ms Pelosi about the Bush administration's economic policies for injecting partisanship into the issue and scuttling the vote.

Republican house leader John Boehner said: "We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House".

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain accused Democrats of infusing the debate with an unhelpful partisan approach.

"Now is not the time to fix the blame, it's time to fix the problem," he added.

He urged members of Congress to go back to the drawing board "immediately" and work out a new deal.

His Democratic rival Barack Obama countered that it was an outrage that ordinary people were being asked to clean up Wall Street's mess.

"If I am president I will review the entire plan on the day I take office to make sure that it is working to save our economy and (that) you get your money back," he said.

He added that he expected Congress to pass a bail-out bill in some form.

Tokyo fell sharply, with the news from Washington still fresh

A présent c'est au tour de la "banque des municipalités et communes", Dexia, produit de la fusion des banques française et belge spécialisées dans le prêt aux collectivités locales, dont le financement est capital pour la vie sociale locale? Il serait intéressant que puissent s'exprimer 2 de ses administrateurs belges, le président du parti socialiste du sud du pays & bourgmestre de Mons, m. Elio di Rupo (gauche), et m. Serge Kubla, un des principaux membres du Mouvement Réformateur, le pendant francophone belge de l'UMP en France (droite). Il ne faut pas tomber dans la complotite aiguë, mais il faut rester réaliste : cela fait des mois et des mois que les difficultés de Dexia sont connues, que la fiabilité/viabilité du groupe est plus que mise en doute. Rien de concret n'a été fait jusqu'à présent. On attendait, nous présumons, que le système financier mondial soit suffisament effondré pour pouvoir "faire passer la pilule" de l'injection d'argent public - les impôts de France, Belgique et Grand-Duché du Luxembourg - dans des banques qui ont été mal gérées, mais pas pour tout le monde. On aimerait connaître la somme que les actionnaires auront à verser...

Plongée catastrophique pour Dexia
http://www.actu24.be/article/belgique/plongee_catastrophique_pour_dexia/194923.aspx

Vent de panique à la bourse de Bruxelles: l'action Dexia a perdu 25% ce lundi suite à la nationalisation de Fortis. Didier Reynders annonce que l'Etat belge est prêt à soutenir également la banque franco-belge Dexia.
Ce lundi matin, vers 9H30, l'action de Dexia a chuté de 24,73 pc (7,62 euros) sur Euronext Bruxelles à l'ouverture de la bourse. Depuis le début de l'année 2008, elle a perdu 55,77 pc de sa valeur.

"L'Etat belge est prêt à soutenir également la banque franco-belge Dexia, comme elle l'a fait avec Fortis, en cas de difficultés", indiqué aujourd'hui le ministre belge des Finances Didier Reynders, alors que le cours en Bourse de Dexia est en très forte baisse.

Dexia a réuni dimanche un conseil d'administration par téléphone afin d'évaluer la situation dans le cadre de la tourmente vécue par le bancassureur belgo-néerlandais Fortis, a confirmé lundi Ulrike Pommée, porte-parole de Dexia.

"Des temps de crise"

Selon le site du quotidien français Le Figaro, qui cite "certaines sources", le groupe bancaire franco-belge pourrait annoncer prochainement une augmentation de capital pour reconstituer ses fonds propres et rassurer les marchés.

"A cet effet, ses principaux actionnaires, des communes belges et la Caisse des dépôts et consignations, côté français, seront sollicités", croit savoir le journal français.

La porte-parole, ne souhaitant pas commenter l'article du Figaro, insiste néanmoins sur le fait que l'activité de Dexia et sa position de capital sont bonnes. "Il est évident qu'en ces temps de crise, nous restons très attentifs à l'évolution de la situation", ajoute-t-elle.

(Avec Belga)

crise financière: 6,4 milliards d'euros pour Dexia
http://www.lalibre.be/economie/actualite/article/449214/64-milliards-d-euros-pour-dexia.html

P.V.C.
Mis en ligne le 30/09/2008
Ni le plan de sauvetage des banques américaines, ni celui de Fortis n'ont rassuré les boursiers. Le titre du groupe belgo-néerlandais a rebondi avant de retomber en Bourse. Dexia s'est enfoncée à son tour en attendant du cash.


S'il fallait d'autres déroutes boursières pour que l'opinion publique comprenne que la crise financière qui a fait trébucher Fortis ne se limite pas en Europe à notre ex-vedette des guichets, on n'en a pas été privés lundi à la reprise des affaires courantes.

Après un week-end de gestion de crise menée par le gouvernement belge avec des représentants des gouvernements voisins, et des huiles de la BCE, et après le sauvetage de Fortis par le biais d'une "sorte" de nationalisation tripartite de la banque qui est imbriquée dans le tissu économique du Benelux, on rêvait d'une pause, et même d'un rallye des actions Fortis en Bourse. Partie remise, apparemment. Hier, l'action Fortis a piqué du nez pour terminer la journée sur une chute de 23,71 pc à 3,97 euros. Mais cette fois, elle a été dépassée à la baisse par le titre du groupe franco-belge Dexia. On soupçonnait, ici, l'annonce imminente d'une augmentation de capital révélée par le "Figaro". Comme d'autres acteurs du monde bancaire l'on fait récemment, le groupe financier réputé pour une communication proactive depuis le début de la crise du subprime ne s'est pas étendu sur la question. En début de journée, il a réfuté tout problème de liquidité et refusé de confirmer les informations de presse. Un conseil d'administration était toutefois convoqué lundi à 18 heures. En attendant une communication plus rassurante, le titre Dexia a passé la journée à évoluer 30 pc sous son cours de vendredi, pour terminer à 7,07 euros, en baisse de 29,65 pc. Une catastrophe pour les actionnaires.

En outre, comme ce fut aussi le cas pour Fortis vendredi, avec l'intervention musclée de Didier Reynders assurant les clients de Fortis du soutien du gouvernement belge, la ministre française de l'Economie Christine Lagarde y est allée de sa déclaration à propos du groupe franco-belge. "La Caisse des dépôts (11 pc du capital de Dexia), bras financier de l'Etat français, prendra ses responsabilités en tant qu'actionnaire" de Dexia, a-t-elle déclaré. "Je suis en contact étroit avec mes collègues belges", a-t-elle encore ajouté. Inquiétant ? Evidemment. D'autant plus que Didier Reynders se disait prêt, dans la foulée, à apporter son aide à Dexia. Pendant ce temps, on apprenait que la banque danoise Roskilde Bank, en faillite à la suite de la crise financière internationale, mise sous tutelle par la banque nationale, était rachetée par trois instituts financiers danois. Le gouvernement islandais a lui aussi volé au secours de la troisième banque du pays, Glitnir, qu'il a nationalisée lundi à 75 pc, une mesure présentée comme provisoire pour aider un secteur vital pour l'économie de l'île nordique. "Le gouvernement, via la Banque centrale d'Islande, fournira 600 millions d'euros (84 milliards de couronnes islandaises) à Glitnir et détiendra 75 pc des actions de Glitnir", a annoncé le bureau du Premier ministre dans un communiqué. Cette mesure est destinée à aider la banque confrontée à "des difficultés temporaires de liquidités" dans un contexte de crise financière internationale, explique-t-il. Un discours qui aurait une fâcheuse tendance à se banaliser... En Allemagne, la banque Hypo Real Estate a pour sa part décroché in extremis une ligne de crédit auprès d'un consortium de banques allemandes, lui permettant d'éviter la faillite.

Aux Etats-Unis, la quatrième banque américaine, Wachovia, a été aussi rayée de la carte lundi, rachetée par Citigroup sur intervention de l'administration Bush. Enfin, toutes les banques centrales importantes ont allongé des liquidités pour tenter d'enrayer la crise qui s'amplifie.

Haro sur les dirigeants de Fortis
http://www.lalibre.be/economie/actualite/article/449165/haro-sur-les-dirigeants-de-fortis.html

Mis en ligne le 30/09/2008
Malgré un certain soulagement, le ressentiment des internautes ne s'est pas relâché tout au long de la journée de lundi.

Vous pouvez désormais faire vos commentaires à propos d'un article dès qu'il est "posté" sur notre site lalibre.be. Inutile de dire que, malgré l'heure tardive dimanche, cela a chauffé. Lundi matin, les commentaires restaient marqués par une vive colère à l'égard des dirigeants de Fortis, alors que certains louaient la réaction des autorités publiques. Revue.

"FORTIS A FLOUÉ L'ÉTAT ET L'ÉTAT RENFLOUE FORTIS. Jusqu'à vendredi : pas de panique voyons ! Nous avons la situation bien en mains. Il est beau le résultat de leurs mensonges, de leurs erreurs monumentales et de leur suffisance. Ces messieurs sont à l'abri et nagent dans leurs millions. Ils ne devront par-dessus le marché jamais rendre de comptes". (MJB)

"PERSONNELLEMENT, JE TROUVE QU'ON DEVRAIT LAISSER TOMBER FORTIS. BNP Paribas a fait une offre "insuffisante", alors bien sûr les actionnaires forts de leur parachute (l'État-providence, c'est-à-dire nous) peuvent se permettre de refuser. On brandit le libéralisme pour dire que les profits individuels (plantureux) sont justifiables, mais dès qu'il s'agit de pertes, alors là, il faut mutualiser.". (Bugger)

"LA BARONNIE FORTIS VOIT SON ARROGANCE INOUÏE sanctionnée par le marché. Désolé, je suis revanchard : Cher JP VOTRON, où êtes-vous avec vos 4 000 000 € de cash de départ, tandis que - déjà - les primes de fin d'année du personnel étaient annulées ! Il faut relire vos déclarations de 2008 à la lumière de ce jour : de la schizophrénie... Votre seule excuse c'est de ne pas avoir été seul : toute la haute direction était dans la même situation. Je vous ai lu parlant de valeurs, citant Johnny Hallyday et Justine Henin, alors, remboursez !" (B. Gracian - Ixelles)

"À RELIRE, À LA LUMIÈRE DE L'ACTUALITÉ DU JOUR, l'interview de Votron justifiant son salaire : "Avec le rachat d'ABN Amro, nous entrons dans un nouveau cycle. C'est une acquisition majeure qui a été reconnue par le monde entier comme exceptionnelle. C'est logique que cela se reflète dans la rémunération." (SGZ)

"LES BANQUIERS NE SONT PAS DES EXPERTS. Ils sont tout simplement cyniques et cupides. Ils savent très bien que toutes les grandes crises financières du XXe siècle ont la même origine. Quand se tarissent les sources d'argent qui reposent sur le travail et les investissements dans les outils de production, il faut trouver d'autres sources et entraîner les petites gens dans l'aventure. Le risque est mieux réparti, mais les petites gens ne sont pas fiables. Ils doivent acheter de l'énergie rendue brutalement trop chère à cause de la spéculation, ils deviennent chômeurs, ils tombent malades, ils font des bébés, ils divorcent. Pour faire court, ils ont chacun une bonne raison de ne plus investir parce qu'ils doivent continuer à vivre".

"COMME TOUJOURS, BEAUCOUP DE COMMENTAIRES CRITIQUES, acerbes et désabusés. Je n'ose pas imaginer ce que ces mêmes personnes auraient dit si l'État avait laissé sombrer Fortis. "Honte d'être belge ?" Ah mais cette fois, les Hollandais et les Luxembourgeois sont dans le coup aussi. Et eux, c'est bien connu, ils ont de bons gouvernements et des ministres compétents..." ( Jojo )

"IMAGINEZ UN INSTANT CE QUE LA GESTION DE CETTE CRISE aurait donné avec un gouvernement démissionnaire... Ceci prouve que Leterme a fait le bon choix en choisissant la gestion du pays plutôt que son cartel. Et ce n'est pas un De Wever qui aurait été à la hauteur. Allez, Messieurs Dames de Leterme 1er, on continue le boulot et prouvez aux indépendantistes étriqués que vous méritez notre confiance !" (Debi)

"EN 1993, LA MOITIÉ DU CAPITAL de la Caisse générale d'épargne et de retraite (CGER) est revendue par l'État belge au groupe FORTIS. En 1998, le solde est également vendu à FORTIS. Une institution publique créée par le libéral Frère-Orban en 1865 était ainsi privatisée. En 1993 et en 1998, M.Maystadt (PSC) était ministre des Finances d'un gouvernement Social-Chrétien/Socialiste. En 1998, M. Di Rupo (PS) était ministre de l'Économie et avait eu durant les années précédentes la charge des entreprises publiques. À l'époque, il refusait le terme de privatisation, lui préférant celui de consolidation !" (D. Rotru - Hyon)

Lundi noir pour les banques européennes
http://www.lalibre.be/economie/actualite/article/449183/lundi-noir-pour-les-banques-europeennes.html

Olivier le Bussy

Mis en ligne le 30/09/2008
Fortis n'est pas un cas isolé. Les gouvernements britanniques et allemands ont aussi sorti les parapluies. Sarkozy convoque une réunion européenne.

Avis de tempête sur les banques européennes. Les répercussions de la crise financière qui a secoué les Etats-Unis commencent à ébranler le Vieux continent, où les banques centrales et les gouvernements sortent les parapluies pour éviter au système bancaire européen d'être à son tour noyé sous les faillites. Les coups de tonnerre se sont en effet multiplié, ce lundi, annonçant l'imminence de l'orage.

Le cas du Belgo-néerlandais Fortis, sauvé par une intervention des pays du Benelux est loin d'être isolé. Après avoir partiellement nationalisé Northern Rock, en février, les autorités britanniques ont remis le couvert, lundi, pour empêcher Bradford et Bingley de mettre la clé sous le paillasson. Londres reprendra les activités des crédits immobiliers de la banque britannique, le réseau de détail étant cédé à l'Espagnol Santander. En Allemagne, un consortium de banques privées a jeté une bouée de sauvetage à Hypo Real Estate, lui accordant une ligne de crédit de 35 milliards d'euros, garanti par l'Etat, pour lui éviter de couler. Au Danemark, enfin, la banque Roskilde, a été rachetée par trois instituts financiers.

Au soir de ce lundi noir, chacun de se demander : à qui le tour ? Après Fortis, c'est à présent le groupe franco-belge Dexia de susciter l'inquiétude (lire p.2). Tandis que la Commerzbank, deuxième banque allemande, a dévissé de 17 pc à Francfort.

Sarkozy bat le rappel

Face aux risques d'effet domino, le président français Sarkozy, qui dirige également le Conseil de l'UE, bat le rappel des troupes. Sur le plan domestique, il a convié les principaux groupes bancaires et d'assurance français à faire le point sur la crise, mardi.

Sur le plan européen, le locataire de l'Elysée a annoncé sa volonté de réunir les quatre pays européens du G8 (France, Royaume-Uni, Allemagne et Italie), le président de la Commission José Manuel Barroso, celui de la Banque centrale européenne Jean-Claude Trichet et le chairman de l'Eurogroupe Jean-Claude Juncker. "La situation appelle des réactions rapides, chacun doit faire preuve de sang-froid et de sens des responsabilités", a déclaré le Français. M. Sarkozy s'est félicité que les pays du Benelux, le Royaume-Uni et l'Allemagne soient "intervenus pour assurer la sécurité et la stabilité des marchés financiers de leur pays et donc de l'Europe. Nous ne devons pas céder devant la déstabilisation, il faut soutenir nos banques". La crise bancaire fera également l'objet de l'attention des dirigeants des Vingt-sept, lors du sommet européen des 15 et 16 octobre.

Au-delà des préoccupations conjoncturelles, il faut répondre "au problème structurel", soutient encore M. Sarkozy. Qui a confirmé l'appel qu'il avait lancé depuis la tribune des Nations unies pour la tenue d'un sommet international dans les prochaines semaines "pour fonder les bases d'un nouveau système financier international".

Avis de tempête sur les banques européennes. Les répercussions de la crise financière qui a secoué les Etats-Unis commencent à faire sentir leurs effets sur le Vieux continent, où les banques centrales et les gouvernements ont sorti les parapluies pour éviter que le système bancaire européen soit à son tour noyé sous les faillites.

Les coups de tonnerre se sont multiplié, ce lundi, annonçant l'imminence de l'orage. Le cas du bancassureur belgo-néerlandais Fortis, sauvé par une intervention des pays du Benelux est loin d'être isolé et c'est à présent au tour du groupe franco-belge Dexia de faire l'objet de sérieuses inquiétudes (lire p.2).

Après avoir partiellement nationalisé Northern Rock, étranglée par la crise américaine du subprime, en février dernier, les autorités britanniques ont remis le couvert, lundi, pour empêcher Bradford et Bingley de mettre la clé sous le paillasson. Londres reprendra les activités des crédits immobiliers de la banque britannique, tandis que son réseau de détail est cédé à une filiale de l'Espagnol Santander.

En Allemagne, un consortium de banques privées a jeté une bouée de sauvetage à Hypo Real Estate, lui accordant une ligne de crédit de 35 milliards d'euros, garanti par l'Etat, pour lui éviter de couler. Au même moment, la Commerzbank, seconde banque allemande a perdu 17 pc à la Bourse de Francfort, après avoir pourtant assuré pouvoir faire face à ses besoins jusqu'à la fin de l'année. Au Danemark, enfin, la banque Roskilde, a été rachetée par trois instituts financiers.

Au soir de ce lundi noir, chacun de se demander : à qui le tour ?

Face aux risques d'effet domino sur le système financier européen, le président français Sarkozy, qui dirige également le Conseil de l'Union européenne, bat le rappel des troupes.

Sur le plan domestique, il a convié les principaux groupes bancaires et d'assurance français à faire le point sur la crise mardi. Sur le plan européen, le locataire de l'Elysée a annoncé sa volonté de réunir les quatre pays européens membres du G8 (France, Royaume-Uni, Allemagne et Italie), le président de la Commission européenne José Manuel Barroso, celui de la Banque centrale européenne Jean-Claude Trichet et le chairman de l'Eurogroupe Jean-Claude Juncker.

"La situation appelle des réactions rapides, chacun doit faire preuve de sang-froid et de sens es responsabilités", a déclaré le Français. M. Sarkozy s'est félicité que les pays du Benelux, le Royaume-Uni et l'Allemagne soient "intervenus pour assurer la sécurité et la stabilité des marchés financiers de leur pays et donc de l'Europe. Nous ne devons pas céder devant la déstabilisation, il faut soutenir nos banques".

'Car sleepers' the new US homeless
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7585696.stm

Car sleepers in California, hard hit by the housing crisis
By Rajesh Mirchandani
BBC News, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara boasts a classic laidback California lifestyle, with uncongested beaches, wholesome cafes and charming Spanish-style architecture.

Of course there's a hefty price tag: nestled between the gentle Santa Ynez mountains and the inviting Pacific Ocean are multi-million dollar homes.

But in this sun-washed haven of wealth, many live far from the American dream.

In a car park across the street from luxury mansions, the evening brings a strange sight.

A few cars arrive and take up spaces in different corners. In each car, a woman, perhaps a few pets, bags of possessions and bedding.

Across the street from homes with bedrooms to spare, these are Santa Barbara's car sleepers.

Homeless within the last year, they are a direct consequence of America's housing market collapse.


Car sleeper Bonnee still works in the real estate business
4x4 homes

In this woman-only parking lot, Bonnee, who gives only her first name, wears a smart blue dress and has a business-like demeanour.

A year ago, she was making a healthy living as, ironically, a real estate agent. But when people stopped buying houses, her commission-based income dried up, and, like many clients, she too was unable to pay her mortgage.

Soon she found herself with nowhere to live but her 4x4.

Piles of blankets are in the back of the vehicle. Personal documents are stuffed into seat pockets. Books litter the back seat. A make-up bag and gym membership card (she washes at the gym) are in the front. With her constantly, are photos of her former life.

She can't quite believe her situation.

"My God, America's heart is bleeding," she tells me.

Tears fill her eyes.

"I know it'll get better. But it feels sad. I really fought hard."

A medium-sized 4x4 pulls into the parking lot and 66-year-old Barbara Harvey gets out.

She opens the back door and two large Golden Retrievers jump out.

Barbara begins her nightly routine. She moves a few bags from the boot to the front seat and takes out pyjamas and a carton of yoghurt (her dinner). She then arranges blankets in the back of the car.

Barbara used to work in housing finance - this is the double whammy of the housing collapse where many who worked in the sector lost their jobs and their homes.

But since April, she and her dogs, Ranger and Phoebe, have spent every night in her car. It's cramped, but she says if they sleep diagonally they can all fit.


New trend?

The car park lets the car sleepers enter from 7pm, local public toilets close at dusk.

As a result, Barbara says she doesn't drink any liquids after she arrives. In the mornings, she showers at a friend's house.

Dressed in clean, comfortable clothes and wearing sunglasses, she is far removed from the stereotypical image of homelessness.

"I don't think I fit into anybody's image," she says.

"There's going to be lots of homeless individuals who are middle-class, there can't be anything but. We're in an awful mess economically. I don't think we've seen half of what's going to happen in this country."

This new phenomenon of middle-class homelessness is hard to quantify, but New Beginnings, an organisation that runs the car park sleeping scheme in Santa Barbara, says they accommodate some 55 people in a dozen parking lots.

Outreach worker Nancy Kapp, once homeless herself, says there is a waiting list for car park spaces and she is getting more and more calls each day from people about to lose their homes.

She identifies it as a new breed of homeless emerging in America.

'American nightmare'

"Being poor is like this cancer, and now this cancer is filtering up to the middle-class," she says. "I don't care how strong you are, it's a breakdown of the human psyche when you start to lose everything you have."

"These people have worked their whole lives to have a house and now it's crumbling and it's in ashes and how devastating is that?" she says.

"It's not an American dream, it's an American nightmare."

California house prices fell by 30% in the year to May. Few parts of America have been hit as hard.

But national housing groups say they have seen a rise in homelessness across the US since the foreclosure crisis began last year.


The Miller family feel "cramped" in their small mobile home

In another car park in Santa Barbara, Craig Miller, his wife Paige and their two children say they feel cramped in the small mobile home where they have been living for several months.

"It's hard to keep things clean," says Paige. "It's hard to feel complete and whole."

Originally from Florida, the family used to own a four-bedroom house with a pool. But when Craig's business failed, they lost it.

Undeterred, the family embarked on a dream to drive across America and make a new start in California. But unable to find full-time work, and unable to afford rent, as Craig puts it "we got stuck".

He says it was like a holiday at first but now it is much harder.

"Getting money for food, it's not something we've had to think about before," says Craig.

"We're definitely looking forward to getting out and getting a place. And we're working hard at getting there. This is just the journey, it's not the destination.'

As darkness falls on Santa Barbara, the car sleepers settle in for the night.

They'll have to be up early: they are not allowed to stay in the car parks beyond 7am. Some work, others spend their days driving from one spot to another.

When evening comes around again, they return to their car park homes.

In comparison to other countries, and indeed America's own long-term homeless, they are still fortunate.

But as America's economic crisis deepens, could there soon be more of them?

It's not an American dream,
it's an American nightmare
Nancy Kapp
Outreach worker for car sleepers

Téléphone : Argent, trop cher!
Prenez un enfant
et faites-en un roi
Couvre-le d'or et de diamants
Cachez-vous en attendant
Vous n'attendrez pas longtemps
Les vautours tournent autour de l'enfant

Le blé a les dents acérées
Et les hyènes vont le dévorer
Le môme deviendra banquier
Ou le môme sera lessivé, lessivé

[Refrain] :
Je dis, argent, trop cher,
trop grand
La vie n'a pas de prix

Prends ton meilleur ami,
fais-en un ennemi
Je t'achète et je te vends
Vautré dans le coma
du commun des mortels
Mon pote, t'es comme un rat,
t'es commun, c'est mortel
Les vautours tournent autour
toujours

Criez NON a l'esclavage
Et payez-leurs
de nouvelles cages
Faites installer des pièges
Là où commence la rage,
la rage

[Refrain]

Un compte bloqué,
l'autre a découvert
Maintenant, banque !

Les vautours tournent autour
de nous maintenant

Tu en as, tu n'en n'as pas
Tu n'as pas vraiment le choix
Un mur de briques devant toi
Il est temps, dépense-toi,
dépense-toi

[Refrain]

Crise alimentaire dans le monde : grâce aux biocarburants, tout va très bien!

le crack boursier mondial n'aura rien changé, les pauvres continueront de crever.
Après tout, c'est bien le rôle qu'on attend qu'ils tiennent, sinon qu'aurait-on à se mettre sous la dent au journal télévisé de 20h? Les sarkozeries font râler ou rire, pas pleurer (quoiqu'on devrait). Là au moins, avec les milliards de crève-la-faim, on a de quoi verser des larmes. Mais pas trop, il ne faut pas gâcher le veau marengo, voyons.






les partis politiques écologistes ont été les premiers à faire la retape pour les bio-carburants. On voit où ça a mené : tout s'est aggravé. Les autres ont plongé sur la solution qui fait bien (il y a le terme "bio" dedans, ça rassure) et les surfaces agricoles, même chez nous, se réduisent comme c'est pas permis pour que les SUV et autres gros 4x4 qui encombrent nos villes puissent continuer à consommer.
génial.

Spiegel/Guerre d'Ossétie: L'Otan a les preuves que les Géorgiens ont menti de A à Z!

Non seulement les Géorgiens ont menti, mais les observateurs Otan présents à Tbilissi des semaines avant le début de la guerre étaient au courant des mouvements de troupe, de la préparation guerrière. Un colonel allemand crache le morceau et dit clairement que les Géorgiens mentaient sur la position de leurs troupes. Le comble du cynisme appartient cependant bien à Washington - qui en eu douté? - où on joue les innocents découvrant avec stupeur que Saakashvili aurait pu leur mentir. En réalité, non, vis-à-vis de Washington il n'a jamais menti. Car seuls nos journalistes et nos dirigeants oublient volontairement les centaines de conseillers militaires US & israéliens qui encadraient les soldats Géorgiens lancés à l'assaut de la république d'Ossétie du Sud. Mais si Washington dit "non" à toute enquête, ou impose sa version des faits contre les faits constatés par les propres observateurs Otan & Osce, ne vous en faites pas, l'indigne m. Sarkozy et son larbin "docteur sacs de riz devant caméras télés" Kouchner, continueront à peser de tout leur poids pour que la Communauté Européenne reste bien ferme accrochée aux USA.
Le plus cocasse dans l'histoire de cette guerre, c'est ce constat donné par le Spiegel : les Géorgiens avaient des difficultés pour utiliser leur matériel militaire. De fabriquation américaine, ils n'y sont pas encore assez habitués. C'est ainsi que bien que l'unique unité russe présente dans le nord de l'Ossétie avant le début du conflit, unité que les observateurs Otan disent ne pas avoir été prête au combat (donc pas de prévision de combat, pas d'attaque planifiée) n'a pas été écrasée par les milliers de soldats Géorgiens envahissant ce pays ami de la Russie et à la population majoritairement d'origine russe.

09/15/2008 12:00 AM

DID SAAKASHVILI LIE?

The West Begins to Doubt Georgian Leader

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,578273,00.html

By SPIEGEL Staff

Five weeks after the war in the Caucasus the mood is shifting against Georgian President Saakashvili. Some Western intelligence reports have undermined Tbilisi's version of events, and there are now calls on both sides of the Atlantic for an independent investigation.

Hillary Clinton looks tired. It is Tuesday of last week as she sits, exhausted, in the United States Senate. Even her outfit, a beige blazer over a black T-shirt, looks washed out.

Gone is the glamour of the Democratic Convention in Denver, where the party nominated Barack Obama as its presidential candidate, and gone is the dream of her own presidential candidacy in 2008. Instead, it's back to business as usual for Clinton. The Senate Armed Service Committee is in session, discussing the conflict between Russia and its tiny neighbor, Georgia.

Clinton speaks late in the debate. Even her voice sounds tired. But politically she is still her old self, and she cuts right to the chase.

"Did we embolden the Georgians in any way" to use military force? she asks the members of the committee. Did the Bush administration really warn Moscow and Georgia sufficiently about the consequences of a war? And how could it be that the United States was so taken by surprise by this outbreak of hostilities? These questions, says Clinton, should be examined by a US commission, which should "in the first place determine the actual facts."

Although Clinton speaks for only a few minutes, her words show that the mood toward Georgia is shifting in the United States.

For Americans, wasn't this war in the faraway Caucasus -- over there in the Old World -- nothing but a struggle between a giant, expansionist country and a small, democratic nation it was seeking to subjugate? And wasn't Georgia attacked merely "because we want to be free," as President Mikhail Saakashvili was saying in front of CNN's cameras almost hourly?

"Today, we are all Georgians," Republican presidential candidate John McCain declared. The neoconservative commentator Robert Kagan compared the Russian action with the Nazis' 1938 invasion of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. And in a meeting with US Vice President Richard Cheney, Saakashvili was assured of Washington's support for his most fervent wish: admission to NATO.

But now, five weeks after the end of the war in the Caucasus, the winds have shifted in America. Even Washington is beginning to suspect that Saakashvili, a friend and ally, could in fact be a gambler -- someone who triggered the bloody five-day war and then told the West bold-faced lies. "The concerns about Russia have remained," says Paul Sanders, an expert on Russia and the director of the conservative Nixon Center in Washington. His words reflect the continuing Western assessment that Russia's military act of revenge against the tiny Caucasus nation Georgia was disproportionate, that Moscow violated international law by recognizing the separatist republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and, finally, that it used Georgia as a vehicle to showcase its imperial renaissance.

But then Saunders qualifies his statement: "More and more people are realizing that there are two sides in this conflict, and that Georgia was not as much a victim as a willing participant." Members of US President George W. Bush's administration, too, are reconsidering their position. Georgia "marched into the South Ossetian capital" after a series of provocations, says Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried.

Does this suggest that America's pronouncements of solidarity with Saakashvili were just as premature as those of the Europeans? British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had called for a "radical" review of relations with Moscow, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt decried what he called a violation of international law, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Georgia that, at some point, it would "become a member of NATO, if it so wishes."

But now the volume is being turned down on the anti-Moscow rhetoric. Last week German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier publicly called for clarification on the question of who is to blame for the Caucasus war. "We do need to know more about who bears what portion of the responsibility for the military escalation and to what extent," Steinmeier told a meeting of Germany's more than 200 ambassadors in Berlin. The European Union, he said, must now "define our relations with the parties to the conflict for the medium and long term," and that the time has come to have concrete information.

Which Side Launched the First Strikes?

Much depends on the clarification of this question of blame. After this war, the West must ask itself whether it truly wants to accept a country like Georgia into NATO, especially if this means having to intervene militarily in the Caucasus if a similar conflict arises. And what sort of partnership should it seek in the future with Russia, which, for the first time, has now become as insistent as the United States on protecting its spheres of influence?

The attempt to reconstruct the five-day war in August continues to revolve around one key question: Which side was the first to launch military strikes? Information coming from NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) now paints a different picture than the one that prevailed during the first days of the battle for the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali -- and is fueling the doubts of Western politicians.

The Georgian government continues to maintain that the war began on Thursday, Aug. 7, at 11:30 p.m. According to its account, it was at this time that it received several intelligence reports that approximately 150 Russian army vehicles had entered Georgian territory, in the separatist republic of South Ossetia, through the Roki Tunnel, which passes under the main Caucasus ridge. Their objective, say the Georgians, was Tskhinvali, and additional military columns followed beginning at 3 a.m.

"We wanted to stop the Russian troops before they could reach Georgian villages," Saakashvili told SPIEGEL recently, explaining the marching orders that were given to his army. "When our tanks moved toward Tskhinvali, the Russians bombed the city. They were the ones -- not us -- who reduced Tskhinvali to rubble." But reports by the OSCE describe a different situation in those critical hours.

The OSCE maintains a mission in South Ossetia, which was caught between the fronts when the war erupted. According to a so-called spot report that OSCE officials wrote at 11 a.m. Georgian time on Aug. 8: "Shortly before midnight, central Tskhinvali came under heavy fire and shelling, with some of it presumably coming from launching pads and artillery stationed outside the conflict zone. The Tskhinvali office of the mission was hit, and the three remaining international employees sought shelter in the basement."

Spot reports are sent regularly to the Vienna offices of the 56 OSCE member states. The Aug. 8 report is kept neutral, a reflection of the fact that both Georgia and Russia are members of the organization, so that the information it contains is initially absent of any value judgments. Instead, it merely identifies where the Russians violated Georgian airspace or where the Georgians occupied South Ossetian villages, for example.

As SPIEGEL has learned, NATO had already hazarded a far more definitive conclusion at the time. Its International Military Staff (IMS), which does the preparatory work for the Military Committee, the highest-ranking military body in the alliance, quickly evaluated the existing material. The Military Committee includes officers from all 26 member states.

At noon on Aug. 8, the NATO experts could not have deduced the full scope of the Russian advance, which Saakashvili later described as an attack, while Moscow called it an operation to "secure the peace." Nevertheless, they were already issuing internal warnings that, in light of initial Russian attacks with warplanes and short-range missiles, Moscow was not expected to remain passive.

Georgia's Calculated Offensive

One thing was already clear to the officers at NATO headquarters in Brussels: They thought that the Georgians had started the conflict and that their actions were more calculated than pure self-defense or a response to Russian provocation. In fact, the NATO officers believed that the Georgian attack was a calculated offensive against South Ossetian positions to create the facts on the ground, and they coolly treated the exchanges of fire in the preceding days as minor events. Even more clearly, NATO officials believed, looking back, that by no means could these skirmishes be seen as justification for Georgian war preparations.

The NATO experts did not question the Georgian claim that the Russians had provoked them by sending their troops through the Roki Tunnel. But their evaluation of the facts was dominated by skepticism that these were the true reasons for Saakashvili's actions.

The details that Western intelligence agencies extracted from their signal intelligence agree with NATO's assessments. According to this intelligence information, the Georgians amassed roughly 12,000 troops on the border with South Ossetia on the morning of Aug. 7. Seventy-five tanks and armored personnel carriers -- a third of the Georgian military's arsenal -- were assembled near Gori. Saakashvili's plan, apparently, was to advance to the Roki Tunnel in a 15-hour blitzkrieg and close the eye of the needle between the northern and southern Caucasus regions, effectively cutting off South Ossetia from Russia.

At 10:35 p.m. on Aug. 7, less than an hour before Russian tanks entered the Roki Tunnel, according to Saakashvili, Georgian forces began their artillery assault on Tskhinvali. The Georgians used 27 rocket launchers, including 152-millimeter guns, as well as cluster bombs. Three brigades began the nighttime assault.

The intelligence agencies were monitoring the Russian calls for help on the airwaves. The 58th Army, part of which was stationed in North Ossetia, was apparently not ready for combat, at least not during that first night.

The Georgian army, on the other hand, consisted primarily of infantry groups, which were forced to travel along major roads. It soon became bogged down and was unable to move past Tskhinvali. Western intelligence learned that the Georgians were experiencing "handling problems" with their weapons. The implication was that the Georgians were not fighting well.

The intelligence agencies conclude that the Russian army did not begin firing until 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, when it launched an SS-21 short-range ballistic missile on the city of Borzhomi, southwest of Gori. The missile apparently hit military and government bunker positions. Russian warplanes began their first attacks on the Georgian army a short time later. Suddenly the airwaves came to life, as did the Russian army.

Russian troops from North Ossetia did not begin marching through the Roki Tunnel until roughly 11 a.m. This sequence of events is now seen as evidence that Moscow did not act offensively, but merely reacted. Additional SS-21s were later moved to the south. The Russians deployed 5,500 troops to Gori and 7,000 to the border between Georgia and its second separatist region, Abkhazia.

Calls in Europe for International Investigation

Wolfgang Richter, a colonel with Germany's General Staff and a senior military advisor to the German OSCE mission, is another expert on the situation. Richter, who was in Tbilisi at the time, confirms that the Georgians had already amassed troops on the border with South Ossetia in July. In a closed-door session in Berlin last Wednesday, he told German Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung and the leading members of the foreign and defense committees in the German parliament that the Georgians had, to some extent, "lied" about troop movements. Richter said that he could find no evidence to support Saakashvili's claims that the Russians had marched into the Roki Tunnel before Tbilisi gave its orders to attack, but that he could not rule them out. For some members of parliament, his statements sounded like an endorsement of the Russian interpretation. "He left no room for interpretation," one of the committee members concluded. "It is clear that there was more responsibility on the Georgian than the Russian side," another committee member said.

On the strength of all these reports, it was clear to Western observers who had ignited the South Ossetian powder keg. In the heat of battle, the analysts understandably did not take into account the background to the conflict, which includes years of Russian provocation of Tbilisi.

But now it is high time for the European Union to address the reasons behind the war. Moscow has been baffled by the Europeans' refusal to condemn Saakashvili's assault on Tskhinvali and the insistence on pointing the finger at Russia instead. The Europeans, a diplomat with the Russian Foreign Ministry complained, apparently lack the "courage to stand up to Washington and its allies in Tbilisi."

At an informal meeting in the southern French city of Avignon two weekends ago, Europe's foreign ministers called for "an international investigation" into the conflict. The logic of that decision was that anyone who hopes to mediate should not be biased in evaluating what happened in the Caucasus. Apparently even the foreign ministers of Great Britain, Sweden, the Baltic States and other Eastern European countries agreed. Before the Avignon meeting, they had advocated a tough stance toward Moscow and more solidarity with Tbilisi -- irrespective of the facts.

The 27 foreign ministers plan to adopt a formal resolution at the beginning of this week calling for an investigation. But the question of who would be in charge of such a delicate mission remains completely unanswered: the United Nations, the OSCE, non-governmental organizations, academics -- or a combination of all of these groups? Only one thing is clear: The EU itself has no intention of taking on the issue. Europeans fear that this would only widen the gap between hardliners and those advocating cautious reconciliation with Moscow.

Saakashvili, the choleric ruler of Tbilisi, is following the shift in opinions in the West with growing unease. He reiterates his version of the attack on Georgia in daily television appearances, an international PR firm is constantly inundating the Western media with carefully selected material, and Tbilisi is already taking its case to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, where it accuses the Russians of "ethnic cleansing."

But Saakashvili is no longer as confident in his allies' support. Ahead of NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer's visit to Tbilisi this week, Saakashvili called upon the Western alliance to show its resolve, noting that a display of weakness toward Moscow would lead to "a never-ending story of Russian aggression."

Is Saakashvili Already Dead Politically?

The Georgian president is also coming under pressure in his own country, as the united front that developed during the Russian invasion crumbles. Those who have long criticized Saakashvili and his senior staff as an "authoritarian regime" are speaking out once again. Back in December 2007, Georgy Khaindrava, a former minister for conflict resolution who was dismissed in 2006, told SPIEGEL that Saakashvili and his circle are people "for whom power is everything." A few weeks earlier, Saakashvili had deployed special police forces in Tbilisi, where the opposition had staged large demonstrations, and declared a state of emergency. At the time, Khaindrava expressed concerns that Saakashvili could soon attempt to bolster his weakened image with a "small, victorious war" -- against South Ossetia.

In May 2006, former Foreign Minister Salomé Surabishvili had already cautioned against her former boss's actions. The "enormous arms buildup" he had engaged in made "no sense," Surabishvili said, adding that it created the impression that he planned to resolve the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia militarily.

Last week, the heads of Georgia's two major political parties called for Saakashvili's resignation and the establishment of a "government that is neither pro-Russian nor pro-American, but pro-Georgian." In Moscow, former Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Temur Khachishzili, who spent years in prison for attempting to assassinate Saakashvili's predecessor, Eduard Shevardnadze, is drumming up support for a change of government back home among the more than one million Georgians living in Russia.

Is Saakashvili, who only five weeks ago had gained the West's sympathy as the victim of a Russian invasion, already dead politically? Last week he received support from an unexpected source, the Red Star, a newspaper published by the Russian Defense Ministry. The paper published remarks by an officer of the 58th Army, which Moscow has since denied. Nevertheless, the officer, ironically enough, fueled doubts as to the conclusion, by Western intelligence agencies and NATO, that Russian army units had not reached Tskhinvali until Aug. 9.

In the Red Star account, Captain Denis Sidristy, the commander of a company of the 135th Motorized Infantry Regiment, describes how he and his unit were already in the Roki Tunnel, on their way to Tskhinvali, in the night preceding Aug. 8. Did Moscow's invasion begin earlier than the Russians have admitted, after all?

Last week, Moscow investigators also conceded, for the first time, that the number of civilian casualties of the Georgian assault on Tskhinvali was not 2,000, as Russian officials have repeatedly claimed, but 134.

When asked about the account in the Red Star, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry told SPIEGEL that it was the result of a technical error. Moreover, the spokesman said, the official in question had been wounded and therefore "could no longer remember the situation clearly."

Last Friday Captain Sidristy, since decorated with the Russian defense ministry's order of bravery, was given a second opportunity to describe his version of the events to the Red Star. His unit, he said in his revised version, had advanced on Tskhinvali somewhat later than he had told the paper the first time.

As it appears, it is still difficult to separate truth and lies about the brief war in the Caucasus.

RALF BESTE, UWE KLUSSMANN, CORDULA MEYER, CHRISTIAN NEEF, MATTHIAS SCHEEP, HANS-JÜRGEN SCHLAMP, HOLGER STARK

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

LEADING GEORGIAN INTELLECTUALS FIRE A BROADSIDE AT PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=32288&cid=87&p=10.09.2008

By David Brian

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has been accused of pushing the country to the brink of a catastrophe.

In an open letter published in a Tbilisi-based newspaper, a group of more than a hundred Georgian human rights activists, scholars and artists demand detailed answers to many questions arising in the wake of the so-called Five Day War in South Ossetia. President Saakashvili said on August 29 that Georgia needed, what he called, a “Patriot Act” to deter possible attempts of government overthrow through foreign intervention. The opposition fears that the President could use the document to temporarily restrict civil freedoms and extend his stay in power. The biggest question asked by the authors of the open letter is why this war started in the first place. To find the truth they want the authorities to stop censoring the mass media, above all television. The signatories also try to answer the questions they ask. They hold Saakashvili and his team fully responsible for the catastrophic consequences of the war and the Russian retaliation.

Mincing no words, the authors say that “with their incompetent, undemocratic and antinational policy” the Georgian authorities had long been preparing the catastrophe and were now saying it was inevitable. “They say everyone is to blame for what happened. The aggressive Russia. The cold-blooded West that allegedly ignored the Georgian warnings. The opposition, whose last year’s protest action allegedly hindered the President’s effort to build up the country’s armed forces. And, of course, the “Russian agents”, the so-called “fifth column”… In a word, it’s everyone’s fault, everyone’s but President Saakashvili’s… Whether there will be any public discussion of the open letter signed, among many others, by political scientists Shalva Pichkhadze and Giya Khukhashvili, film director Rezo Esadze, the five-time world chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili, the Goga Zhvaniya, the brother of the late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvaniya, popular journalists Mamuka Glonti and Vakhtang Komakhidze no one knows. In the meantime, President Saakashvili is trying, with little success, to make everyone believe that he has rallied around himself all of his country’s patriots.

On September 5, six Georgian political parties, prodded by the President, signed the so-called Charter of Politicians of Georgia whose third point reads that internal political processes in Georgia “should always remain within the frames of the Constitution.” The parties, which make up the opposition coalition, as well as some other opposition parties, including the Republican and Labor parties, have refused to sign, saying it is part of the authorities’ propaganda.

And now President Saakashvili is pinning high hopes on the Patriot Act. What it is going to look like no one knows yet. One thing is clear though: it is going to be a carbon copy of a similar document enacted in the US in October 2001…


10.09.2008



Georgian opposition rally last year. It was broken up by Saakashvili’s American-trained secret police

Super Paki, le premier super-héros musulman halal

AVERTISSEMENT: Les propos et dessins qui suivent pourraient heurter la sensibilité de certaines personnes trop politiquement correctes et/ou n'en comprenant pas l'intention humoristique.

Le temps des superhéros anglo-saxons impies à la solde du Grand Satan que sont les Etats-Unis et Israël, ennemis éternels du Coran, et leurs alliés occidentaux engagés dans une croisade sioniste et anti-islamique, est définitivement révolu!

Car voici Super Paki, le premier super-héros musulman halal:

Super Paki

http://desencyclopedie.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Paki

Super Paki est le super-héros officiel de la République islamique du Pakistan et un symbole d'espoir pour l'ensemble du monde musulman. Le slogan de Super Paki est "Truth, Justice and the Islamist Way" (Vérité, Justice et la Voie islamiste.)

« J'atteste qu'il n'y a pas d'autre divinité que Dieu, que Mahomet est son envoyé, et que Super Paki est son botteur de cul!" »

~ Variation de la chahaba en vogue à Islamabad

Super Paki, prenant un moment pour poser pour une fan

Origines

L'origine de Super Paki remonte à 1956, soit l'année même où le Pakistan établit sa propre constitution et cesse d'être un protectorat de l'Empire britannique. Dr. Iskander Mirza, le premier président du Pakistan, et scientifique fou à ses heures, exprima le désir de créer un symbole de la puissance et de l'indépendance du Pakistan, s'inspirant de la bande dessinée américaine Superman. "En d'autres termes, je veux un Super Paki," dit-il à son chef scientifique qui le prend au mot.

Les scientifiques pakistanais s'installent dans les Karakorams, près de Peshawar, et entreprennent d'exposer le plus possible de volontaires à des irradiations massives. Tous finissent par en mourir, excepté un petit garçon Punjab de conviction sunnite, dont le nom a été oublié par l'Histoire. Sur le coup, les scientifiques pakistanais croient qu'il s'agit de simple chance. Plus tard, des oulémas (savants sunnites) croient plutôt que le garçon destiné à devenir Super Paki a réussi à survivre grâce à son grand coeur et à sa foi en Allah.

Aussitôt libéré des laboratoires de Peshawar, Super Paki se dirige à Islamabad, et devient le symbole pakistanais par excellence

Pouvoirs

Super Paki, à l'instar de son cousin américain, possède de nombreux pouvoirs extraordinaires :

• Super-vision : Super Paki peut voir à travers toute substance existante, excepté à travers les hijabs (voiles islamistes.) Les oulémas spéculent qu'Allah lui-même a posé cette limitation au pouvoir de Super Paki pour conserver sa décence.

• Invulnérabilité : Super Paki est quasi-invulnérable, excepté pendant le mois de Ramadan. Super Paki étant un musulman très fidèle, cela l'affecte peu puisqu'il ne travaille pas pendant le jeûne religieux.

• Vol : Super Paki est capable de voler grâce à la simple puissance de son esprit. Cela peut sembler très pratique, mais puisque Super Paki doit prier 5 fois par jour en direction de la Mecque, cette capacité lui pose de nombreux problèmes. En 2000, le Président Musharraf le remercia avec une boussole, facilitant l'orientation en vue de la prière. Malheureusement, le gouvernement pakistanais n'a toujours pas trouvé de façon pour Super Paki de faire ses ablutions en plein vol.

Mais Super Paki a bel et bien un secret conçernant son pouvoir. C'est ce qu'il a affirmé le mois dernier dans une interview pour PakPak TV. En Effet, le secret de sa force islamique surhumaine lui viendrait de sa consommation excéssive de cacahouètes et de marrons chauds, aliments de base au Pakistan.

Faiblesse

La seule substance capable d'affaiblir les grandioses pouvoirs de Super Paki est appelée "christonite". George W. Bush est réputé en conserver un morceau dans ses poches depuis son élection en 2000, ce qui explique que Super Paki n'ait pas encore tenté d'aller exploser la gueule au Président américain.

Super Paki et ben Laden

Il est un fait peu connu à l'extérieur des pays musulmans que Super Paki et Oussama ben Laden sont de grands amis. Super Paki fit la connaissance d'Oussama alors que ce dernier tentait d'entraîner les troupes de Cobra à se battre lors de l'occupation de l'Afghanistan par l'URSS.

Lorsque GI Joe tenta de capturer Oussama ben Laden en 2001, c'est Super Paki lui-même qui vint à sa rescousse, et mit ben Laden à l'abri de ses ennemis dans sa Forteresse d'Islamitude, en banlieue d'Islamabad.

Combats célèbres

Initialement un héros local du Pakistan, Super Paki en vint à représenter l'ensemble de l'Islam suite à une série de combats enlevés dans les années 60 et 70. Voici sa liste de combats les plus célèbres :

• 1956 - vs. scientifiques pakistanais (Victoire)
• 1956 - vs. Elvis Presley (défaite)
• 1959 - vs. Pakizilla (Victoire)
• 1957 - vs. Indiana Jones (défaite: l'un de ses tresors contenait des gemmes en christonnite)
• 1965 - vs. prolifération de la musique des Beatles en Afghanistan (Victoire)
• 1968 - vs. Elvis Presley: Tentative avortée de revanche lors de son comeback spécial. ( donc: défaite.)
• 1969 - vs. le Golem du mont Méron (Victoire)
• 1972 - vs. un paquet de hippies en voyage en Jordanie (Victoire)
• 1973 - vs. Rambo (nulle)
• 1975 - vs. Mecha-Brejnev, (prototype pour combattre les super-heros.) (victoire)
• 1976 - vs. la vierge Marie (défaite)
• 1977 - vs. Jésus (Défaite)
• 1978 - vs. Jésus (Nulle)
• 1979 - vs. Sting (victoire très peu évidente)
• 1980 - vs. une bande de skinheads en voyage en en Irak (victoire)
• 1981 - vs. Armée Rouge (Nulle)
• 1985 - vs. Mecha-Lénine (Victoire)
• 1986 - vs. Mecha-Staline (Victoire)
• 1987 - vs. Mecha-Khrouchtchev (Victoire)
• 1988 - vs. Ultimo-Mecha-Gorbatchev (victoire)
• 1988 - vs. mecha-führer 88 (victoire. Ouf! et c'est un soulagement pour tout le monde.)
• 1990 - vs. Armée américaine (Nulle)
• 1997 - vs. Godzilla (Défaite)
• 2000 - vs. George W. Bush (Nulle)
• 2001 - vs. GI Joe (Victoire)
• 2002 - vs. Ariel Sharon (Nulle)
• 2005 - vs. Benoît XVI (Nulle - ils avaient une alliance secrète!)
• 2006 - vs. William Dunker (Défaite)
• 2006 - vs. Borat Sagdiyev (nulle)
• 40000 - vs. le chapitre ultramarines des space marines (défaite)
• bientôt - vs. Chuck Norris (en réalité ce combat n'a pas eu lieu mais tous les spécialistes et les fans n'attendent que cet évenement qui marquera le début d'une nouvelle ère pour l'humanité, et puis tout le monde connait l'issue de ce combat!)

[un article indiqué par notre lecteur Alexandre T., merci encore]