Geopolitical chaos procreating a chaotic leaderless world is sucking the literal life out of human hope. The tentacles of austerity measures and quantitative easing are the primary catalyst of all the madness. One way or another every government financier around the world is determined to cultivate the appearance that the good times are still rolling. The only problem is that the natural rate of failure refuses to participate in the economic facade. Fiat currencies’ purchasing power dwindles, the pounding drum beat of war beckons, and an open ended hegemonic polarity struggle for commodities ensues.

While serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 2002, current U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave the world a glimpse into the past, present, and future all at once. In his speech, entitled “Deflation: Making Sure ‘It’ Doesn’t Happen Here,” Ben Bernanke stated:

“Although a policy of intervening to affect the exchange value of the dollar is nowhere on the horizon today, it’s worth noting that there have been times when exchange rate policy has been an effective weapon against deflation. A striking example from U.S. history is Franklin Roosevelt’s 40 percent devaluation of the dollar against gold in 1933-34, enforced by a program of gold purchases and domestic money creation.”

Today the infamous 40 percent strikes again, as Cyprus agreed to the terms of a European Union bailout in which banks will seize 40 percent of uninsured bank depositors’ wealth.

Moody’s Investors Service was quoted in Bloomberg as saying, “The seizure of larger deposits may spark tensions with Russia, the source of an estimated $31 billion in holdings in Cypriot banks.”

Proxy wars have gone beyond the spectrum of arming rogue militants and allied nations in dispersed pockets of the globe, graduating to the realm of state sponsored economic terrorism. As “Gerald Celente” consistently and aptly states, “Currency wars + Trade Wars = Real Wars.”

All of the economic wheeling and dealing continues on as the “Arab Spring” explodes into a caballing year round inferno engulfing the entire Middle East. Daily at the United Nations, permanent Security Council members China, Russia, France, United Kingdom, and the United States spar over regional influence with each passing veto and resolution.

This is most apparent in Syria where Russia opposes any intervention as it struggles to prop up the government of its last remaining ally in the Mediterranean region. Russian naval forces stationed at Tartus, Syria may be the last line of repellent preventing NATO intervention.

The lines of frienemy engagement get blurrier with every passing engagement.

Simultaneously as the United States prepares to implement its own austerity measure policy that has carefully been repackaged and marketed to the public under the label sequestration, it is arming rebels in Syria. All claims of being in financial dire straits gets immediately lost within the noise of controlling key choke points around the globe.

One cannot forget less than two years after watching the Al Qaeda flag being proudly raised in the Libyan city of Benghazi, that America’s new found ally the Free Syrian Army are the protégés of Al Qaeda.

The life cycle of keyboards do not possess the durability to correctly and fully analyze threats posed by the uncontrollable Kim Jong Un ruled North Korea. The isolated peninsula nation even managed to startle its longtime ally China into voting in favor of U.N. Security Council resolution 2094. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang was quoted as saying;

“China supports the UN Security Council’s necessary and moderate response to the nuclear test of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).”

Barely beyond two weeks later newly appointed Chinese President Xi Jinping, warned the West not to meddle in Syria’s civil war while on his first visit to Russia.

Not even the mythical country of Chimerica can rescue the too big to fail world from the natural rate of failure. Governments around the world are taking sides now under the cloak of every global economic and geopolitical conflict, because nations know that a hegemonic storm is coming with no evacuation routes or shelter in sight. Once more, honesty of time is proving that which cannot last forever won’t.

Image courtesy: European Parliament

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Etihad airway, the national airlines of United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced its plans to have direct, daily nonstop flights from Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, to São Paulo, Brazil starting in June 2013.

São Paulo would be the first South American Destination in Etihad’s list; the new route would be to São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, the main international airport in the city.

According to Business Traveler websites, Mr. James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ President and CEO, said “Brazil is a logical next step for us and will mark the sixth continent we serve and our coming of age as a truly global airline.”

Etihad airlines would be the second UAE airline to have direct flights from the country to a Brazilian city; Emirates airlines was the first.

In 2014, Brazil will be the hosting country of the FIFA World Cup. UAE in general, and especially Abu Dhabi, will be the main hub for the football fans and sports journalists from Asia and the Middle East looking for direct flights to Brazil.

Also, São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport would be a great transit point for the connecting traveler to other destinations in Brazil and other Latin American Countries. The airport is connected to all South American airports directly by different airlines.

Abu Dhabi will be a major connecting point to their original homeland for the large Arab community in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Most Arabs in Brazil are originally from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

Additionally, it will ease the travel for students from Middle Eastern and Asian countries between Brazil and their countries for holidays and after graduation. Brazil is considered an attractive education spot for the scholar who is looking for high quality education with low tuition fees and living costs.

The new flights between the two cities will give a push to the growing business between the two countries. Brazil is considered to be the 4th largest trading partner to the UAE, with trade business valued about 2.85 billion US dollars. Officials in the two countries are hoping to expand the trade relation to 10 billion US dollars in the next 5 years.

According to the National, the official UAE English newspaper, Mr. João de Mendonça Lima Neto, the Brazilian ambassador to UAE, stated “We are witnessing significant growth in the bilateral relations between Brazil and the UAE and we are certain that Etihad Airways flights will create new opportunities for government, trade, tourism and cultural exchanges.”

Image Courtesy of   TBSteve

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Over 800 participants, representing more than 120 countries and civil society campaigners, arrived in Beirut to partake in the Second Meeting of States Parties (2 MSP) to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The conference commenced on Sep. 13 after H.E Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of the Lebanese Republic Adnan Mansour was elected as President of the 2MSP, and was composed of 8 plenary meetings.

Lebanon hosted the conference because it is a strong witness to the devastating effects of cluster munitions that were dropped by the Israelis in the 2006 war. According to the United Nations, Israel fired more than four million cluster bombs over South Lebanon during the last 72 hours of the war. Of those, up to one million cluster munitions failed to explode and continue to pose a deadly threat to civilians to this day. Since the ceasefire on 14 August, 2006, more than 400 people have been killed or injured by cluster munitions. Of those casualties, 90 percent were civilians — one-third being children.

Lebanon’s experience was a significant milestone in the movement to ban cluster munitions. The Israeli use of cluster munitions in Southern Lebanon in 2006 triggered the “Oslo Process,” which resulted in the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.

According to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs: “The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of Cluster Munitions.”

Over the course of four days, delegates of both signatory and non-signatory states came to discuss several key points regarding the convention: universalization of the convention, destruction of stock piles and storages, clearance of contaminated lands, and victim assistance.

During the meeting, countries explained their progress with regards to their commitment to the treaty obligations. According the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) the most important statements at the conference were:

• Slovenia’s announcement that it has fully destroyed its stockpile of cluster munitions under the eight year deadline.
• Colombia expressing that with its first participation in the conference (it was an observer in the 1MSP), it has cleared its cluster munitions stockpiles and is ready to help other countries.
• The UK and Germany announcing that they have destroyed over 60% of their stockpiles.
• The UK announcing that it will raise its 30 million GBP fund dedicated to clearing cluster munitions, and Germany donating 700,000 Euros to Lebanon in 2012 for clearance of contaminated lands.
• Swaziland’s assent to become the 63rd state to ratify the convention.
• States pledging to increase their victim assistance programs.
• Seven countries announcing that steps towards ratifying the convention will be completed soon.

Most notably, several victims of cluster bombs or their family members attended the program and presented the “Victim’s Declaration” in which they expressed their happiness over the progress made towards riding the world of cluster munitions. They also urged governments to commit to their obligations towards the conventions and asked “to take immediate action to make victim assistance services accessible for all” in accordance to the 1st meeting of State Parties in Vientiane.

Swaziland delegate Mr. John Mandla Msibi

On the final day, state parties adopted the “Beirut Declaration” which acknowledged the progress the convention has made in such a short time towards freeing the world from cluster munitions. Furthermore, states agreed that more has to be done with regards to stockpiling, the clearing of contaminated lands, and victim assistance.

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