In what may be one of the finest five minute presentations by Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX-14), he summarizes how US sanctions are equivalent to a declaration of war, and goes on to review how we are spending one trillion dollars a year (that we borrow) to militarize the world, in the process driving everyone into the hands of the Chinese.
This does not appear to be a prepared speech–it appears to be statesmanlike common-sense. Phenomenal.
SANYA, Hainan, April 14 (Xinhua) — Leaders of five BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, released on Thursday a joint document, Sanya Declaration, at the BRICS Leaders Meeting in south China's resort city of Sanya.
The following is the full text of the document.
Sanya Declaration
(BRICS Leaders Meeting, Sanya, Hainan, China, 14 April 2011)
EXTRACT: The executive order makes the customary reference to the new appointee's worthy credentials as “an experienced diplomat and Orientalist”. And then, out of the blue, it adds that Kabulov “repeatedly held talks on the release of Russian pilots with the leadership of the Taliban in Kandahar, including [Taliban leader] Mohammed Omar”. There was no real need to have said that. It almost seems jarring to single out one mission in a distinguished diplomat's checkered career. But it said all that needed to be said.
By the language of the sport of cricket, one would shout from the crease in the heat of the moment: “Howzaat!” Is there an umpire nearby who could annotate the trajectory of Russian thinking? Not much ingenuity is needed to comprehend that Moscow is opening a line to the Taliban leadership and sending into the Hindu Kush someone who can meaningfully converse with the Quetta shura (council). Pakistanis know Kabulov, Iranians know him and Mullah Omar knows him. Afghan President Hamid Karzai knows him, too.
EXTRACT: Kabulov's mind is an open book – as far as a diplomat's mind can be. While serving in Kabul, he was an easily accessible ambassador and even American military commanders used to drop by to pick his brains. Kabulov's main complaint, though, was that the Americans were good listeners, but not good learners.
He kept harping on that the United States was repeating the same mistakes that the Soviet Union made in Afghanistan during its occupation in the 1980s, and to complicate matters, American policies have been innovating on Soviet mistakes by inventing original mistakes of their own for which as he once told John Burns of the New York Times, “We [Russia] do not own the copyright.”
Provocatively entitled “The Fight for Reality” Russian Television (a very effective counterpart to Voice of America) is on the air in a very pro-Gaddafi series that accuses Western media of lying and hyping the situation with blatant mis-information.
Press Lying About Libya and Gaddafi- Removed from YouTube Russia Confirms NO LIBYAN AIR ATTACKS Have Taken Place At All
In other news, one of Gaddafi's sons is saying that Libya financed the election of the “clown” that is now President and they want their money back.
The Top Ten Foreign Holders of U.s. Debt in November 2009:
Country Amount
China, Mainland $789.6 billion
Japan $757.3 billion
U.K. $277.5 billion
Oil Exporters $187.7 billion
(including Ecuador,
Venezuela, Indonesia,
Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait,
Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates,
Algeria, Gabon, Libya,
and Nigeria)
Caribbean Banking Centers $179.8 billion
(includes the Bahamas,
Bermuda, Cayman Islands,
Netherlands Antilles,
Panama, and British Virgin Islands)
Brazil $157.1 billion
Hong Kong $146.2 billion
Russia $128.1 billion
Luxembourg $91.7 billion
Taiwan $78.4 billion
Source: Department of the Treasury/Federal Reserve Board as reported in CRS report The Federal Government Debt: Its Size and Economic Signifcance, Feb. 3, 2010. http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL31590_20100203.pdf.
Full text of Sanya Declaration of the BRICS Leaders Meeting
