Burma and North Korea, a dangerous liaison?

As a defiant Burma continues to distance itself from the international community, a dangerous alliance is forming with North Korea.

Senior General Than Shwe, leader of the Burmese military government has defiantly disregarded demands by the United Nation and the international community to allow democratic elections and release over 2,000 political prisoners including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

On 03 July 2009 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon attempted to seek the release of the prisoners and meet with the imprisoned leader, but was denied access. After several other unsuccessful attempts at requesting an open dialogue with General Than Shwe, General Ki-moon expressed his frustration by stating “Burma’s government failed to take the opportunity to show a new era of political openness.” He continued by saying “ how disappointed he was that the government was unwilling to embark on the kind of meaningful engagement that will be essential if the elections in 2010 are to be seen as credible.”

Over the years, the UN has received reports about the brutality the Burmese government shows towards its citizens and the questions of crimes against humanity. However the United Nations has not been willing to impose sanctions on them. This may be due to the fact that China, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, rejects sanctions against Burma.

The United States has played a role in the joining of Burma and North Korea. With North Korea’s continuing defiance toward United States and the UN, and their impending development of nuclear arms, Burmas admiration of Kim Jong II’s insolence toward the international community especially the United States, give Burma the illusion of someday developing its own nuclear arsenal.

Can the United Nation wait for another hostile nation, to build nuclear capable weapons?  It is no secret that North Korea has assisted Burma in creating a survival plan in case of military intervention by the UN security forces. On 01 July 2009 US Navy officials tracked a North Korean cargo ship heading toward Burma. The freight was unknown, however when spotted by the US ship, the cargo ship altered course and returned back to North Korea.

Early Intelligence reports indicated that Burma has sent several “officials” to North Korea as a result; Burma began constructing massive underground tunnels in its capital city of Naypyidaw. The plans are similar to North Korean construction technique.

It is time for the United States and the UN to realize that diplomacy is not working. The United Nation, need to pressure China into taking a stand and vote for sanctions against Burma. They need to make a move to help the people of Burma and to suppress this dangerous liaison between the two hostile countries.

Politics As Usual?

This evening President Obama gave his first White House brief. During his hour long performance, he referred to the Bush administration several times, blaming them for the problems that he faces.

He also tried to blame his poor excuse for a stimulus bill or should I say “spending bill” stalling in congress was because of the GOP’s business as usual agenda. It seemed as if he was running for President again.

Not once did Mr. Obama face responsibility for mistakes that his new administration made just days into his Presidency. Starting with his hand picked White House appointees who failed to pay their taxes and ending with his dishonesty when it comes to his “bipartisan claims”

Mr. Obama should take a page from ARod’s book and come out and tell the truth…He is over his head!

His constant finger pointing at the Bush administration and his continued campaigning will cause his further decline in approval ratings. The American public will finally realize that he is not a politician, but a professional campaigner, someone that will promise anything just to get elected.

The world is starting to realize that, President Obama does not represent change, what he represents is politics as usual.

Mr. Obama had the chance to win over the conservative vote, by creating his own version of a stimulus bill, however he chose to sub-contract the job out to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats on Capital Hill. The bill they came up with was full of pork and earmarks.

They chose to spend money on social issues instead of economic issues. What does educating the public about contraception or changing federal vehicles to electric cars have to do with stimulating the economy?

When questions arose about the pork and earmarks that were added to the bill, critics began to refer to the bill as the “spending bill” Mr. Obama immediately attacked the critics by joking during a House Democratic retreat saying: “So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? “That’s the whole point. No, seriously. That’s the point. “Mr. Obama may find out, he is the only one laughing.

When told by several prominent economists, that tax cuts and less spending would revive the economy, Mr. Obama dismissed any tax cuts, and again referred back to the GOP and Bush administration blaming them saying: “it was the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis.”

The Bush excuse will only last so long until the public realizes that this President does not know how to govern. It will get to the point where the American public will no longer accept excuses and when he loses the confidence of the American public, the world perception will follow.

 

 

Who is really to blame for the financial crisis?

We saw companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac take advantage of the underserved people of the US, by letting them obtain loans that they knew could not be paid. Unlike other fortune 500 companies Fannie and Freddie were not required to report any financial difficulties to the public or its investors. The CEO’s knew that the American taxpayers would be liable for any loss.

Why am I just pointing my finger at Fannie and Freddie? Well if you read the SEC’s recent report on Fannie and Freddie, you would realize that these two companies combined debt is 46 percent of the current national debt. It was the congress and SEC’s job to police these companies, however they failed.

This started with Bill Clinton and his national home ownership agenda he pitched when he was in the oval office. This was geared toward the lower income population. It was designed to assist with helping the lower income obtain housing by paying low down payments and obtaining loans as first time home buyers, even though they had less than acceptable work histories or financial difficulties. Mr. Clinton put demands on these companies to approve these insane lending practices and he shares blame for our current financial crises.

The biggest culprits in this financial mess are Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. Mr. Frank is the Chairman of the house financial services committee. Only a couple of years ago Mr. Frank was praising these companies saying “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not facing any kind of financial crisis.” He added ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

 

It was these inaccurate comments that lead people to invest their money, into these companies that were spiraling down. Mr. Frank was also the beneficiary of thousands of dollars in charitable contributions from these companies. He also had a major conflict of interest when he had a live-in relationship with then assistant director of product initiatives for Fannie Mae; Herb Moses.

Mr. Moses was an executive for Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998. He benefited from laws that his live in boyfriend Mr. Frank wrote and helped pass. Throughout all of the turmoil of the economy and financial crisis, Mr. Frank does not accept any responsibility.

Mr. Dodd is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He was also in charge of regulating Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. With all the titles, it would seem that Mr. Dodd would be on top the financial situation concerning these two companies. Unfortunately Mr. Dodd was too busy accepting the highest amount of contributions from Fannie and Freddie.

He also defended the two badly run organizations by saying” the firms were fundamentally strong.” He continued by saying “they were in a sound situation and were in good shape” and to “suggest they are in major trouble is not accurate.” We now know that he was horribly wrong. So if we accept that Mr. Dodd was just blind to the fact that these companies he was put into charge of overseeing were in trouble, how can he explain the fact that he received preferential treatment from these companies?

Mr. Dodd received a preferential loan from Countrywide with an unbelievably low interest rate. When confronted by this, Mr. Dodd said “he was not aware he was receiving a special rate” He is in charge of the banking committee and he wants us to believe he had no clue that he received a “kick-back” not to mention the conflict of interest to accept this gift from Countrywide, a bank that he is in charge of regulating. Again Mr. Dodd like Barney Frank does not accept any responsibility.

There are several other leaders to blame for this economic mess, including other Democrats and Republicans, however I chose to spotlight these three because they were the ones in charge and failed us. Instead of owning up to the blame, they chose to point fingers at other people and blame them for their own doing. Mr. Frank even had the nerve to go on the O’Reilly Factor and tried to blame John McCain and the Bush administration for the mess. After Mr. O’Reilly played back Mr. Franks own words, he denies he said them.

Even though our leaders failed us, the ultimate blame goes to the people. Yes you and me! We are to blame. Living above our means is an American trait that we must stop! Look at the foreclosure problem, most of the people suffering are people who should not have been in the houses they purchased. I don’t mean to sound insensitive, however if you make less than 30,000 dollars a year and you choose to purchase and get approved for a 200,000 dollar house, chances are you may run into problems paying your mortgage. Yeah you can choose to blame the banking industry, and yes they are to blame, but no one forced you to submit the application.