April 15, 2007
20070415_enwo.mp3
April 8, 2007
20070408_enwo_easter.mp3
February 26, 2007
Daniel Pipes at the Embassy of the New World Order
Opening of the Show and interview with Daniel Pipes. As it is his way, Pipes only stayed for about 15 minutes. Nonetheless, he did not at all sound an "islamophobe" to the contrary, he came across as caring for the people. And he did sound optimistic - Islam, he said, does not have to be the way it is now. And now is not the best of times for Islam.
February 18, 2007
Putin, Friedman, NATO and Cold War II.
Opening is a short comment on the previous week broadcast where a challenge was made that this show’s audience is too small and too intelligent, meaning this show’s content is way over most people’s heads.
Moving on to apparent exception to the first law of dialectics: Thomas L. Freidman and his syndicated column about Putin’s speech in Munich. I do not for the life of me, understand how is it possible that Thomas L. Friedman still has no clue about Russia its policies and goals. He takes a cue from Putin, complaining about expansion of NATO and tries to sell it as his own conclusion. How pathetically transparent! Then he insults people that suffered long and hard behind the iron curtain:
Nice going Mr. Friedman, duh, very funny indeed. Have you no shame dishing out this condescending spite towards the country twice before betrayed by the West? We in the West must support and protect those that want to join our club of democratic capitalism. If and when Russia wants to join, we should invite it as well. Friedman clearly does not get it. He also makes absolutely clueless claims like:
How can a person that travels around the globe think that the world is flat? How can someone with that kind of experience and knowledge not understand that it is not in Russia’s interests to resolve the situation with Iran? Just look at the map and ponder the importance of the Caspian Sea, Central Asian Oil and Gas, Russia’s desire to keep its virtual monopoly on access to Central Asia. It is clear as day to me and I wonder why is it not clear as day to Thomas L. Friedman that it is completely futile to expect Putin’s Russia Inc. to help. This issue also later comes up during my conversation with caller Kenny who also inquired about Putin’s personal oil and gas interests and ambition. Take a listen.
The bottom line is if Russia wants to be a petro-cartel then the status quo is in its interests, nothing else.
This is equally silly. How confident and stable is Chavez, or Ahmadinejad who constantly snipe at the US. Obviously, Krauthammer he is not.
How similar are the 2007 and 1994 North Korea agreements? Have a listen as well.
I can not disagree most. My experience in this country and abroad tells me, borrowing Peggy Noonan’s words, this is the country of sophisticates. And there is no surprise for me in this. The amount of information, of different positions that this country is exposed to, vs. unanimity of media in other countries is the key to understand why United States is a country of sophisticates. And I am not talking about Russia some other country where a huge portion of the media is controlled by the government one way or another. How about UK, and its puny radio industry: BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4 and so on simulcasting both in FM and AM!
I will state this again: if there is something most valuable I brought with me from the USSR, something I learned because of my experiences there – that will be the conclusion that unanimity is not a good thing. Unanimity is dangerous, it is stagnating, it is bad for society.
Plurality of ideas is what makes this country great and sophisticated. The free market of ideas, just like the free market of anything else: Coke vs. Pepsi, Left vs. Right, Nike vs. Reebok. The best will survive and the looser will die.
To those that called last week and supported this show, thank you, but I am not surprised – sophisticates need intellectual stimulation and this is once again the reason. We in this country get so much intellectual stimulation by being exposed to plurality of ideas that our mind bandwidth expands. The first law of dialectics at play: accumulation of quantity and transformation of accumulated quantity into new quality.
The media, however is somewhat a different story. Last week Mr. Putin made a speech in Munich that some treated as a declaration of the new Cold War. Unfortunately for Putin, a bimbo died in the US and the US media went into a carrion feeding frenzy of 24/7 dead bimbo coverage. Cold War? Who cares… Here is a good assessment of the situation by Ariel Cohen.
Putin waxed nostalgic about the bi-polar world in which the U.S. and the USSR checked each other's ambition through a balance of nuclear terror known as Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). Many Russian and Western experts perceive Putin's speech as a declaration of a new Cold War.
Moving on to apparent exception to the first law of dialectics: Thomas L. Freidman and his syndicated column about Putin’s speech in Munich. I do not for the life of me, understand how is it possible that Thomas L. Friedman still has no clue about Russia its policies and goals. He takes a cue from Putin, complaining about expansion of NATO and tries to sell it as his own conclusion. How pathetically transparent! Then he insults people that suffered long and hard behind the iron curtain:
OK, fine, we were ready to enrage Russia to expand NATO, but what have we gotten out of it? The Czech navy?
Nice going Mr. Friedman, duh, very funny indeed. Have you no shame dishing out this condescending spite towards the country twice before betrayed by the West? We in the West must support and protect those that want to join our club of democratic capitalism. If and when Russia wants to join, we should invite it as well. Friedman clearly does not get it. He also makes absolutely clueless claims like:
For those of us who opposed NATO expansion, the point was simple: There is no major geopolitical issue, especially one like Iran, that we can resolve without Russia's help.
How can a person that travels around the globe think that the world is flat? How can someone with that kind of experience and knowledge not understand that it is not in Russia’s interests to resolve the situation with Iran? Just look at the map and ponder the importance of the Caspian Sea, Central Asian Oil and Gas, Russia’s desire to keep its virtual monopoly on access to Central Asia. It is clear as day to me and I wonder why is it not clear as day to Thomas L. Friedman that it is completely futile to expect Putin’s Russia Inc. to help. This issue also later comes up during my conversation with caller Kenny who also inquired about Putin’s personal oil and gas interests and ambition. Take a listen.
The bottom line is if Russia wants to be a petro-cartel then the status quo is in its interests, nothing else.
Then there is David Ignatius
Russia is back. That's the real lesson I take from Putin's blunt comments. A country that was near collapse after the fall of Soviet communism has regained enough confidence and stability to take a verbal shot at its old rival.
This is equally silly. How confident and stable is Chavez, or Ahmadinejad who constantly snipe at the US. Obviously, Krauthammer he is not.
How similar are the 2007 and 1994 North Korea agreements? Have a listen as well.
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February 4, 2007
Catching UP. Feb 4th Show writeup
If there is one world one could apply to my views and most of my shows across the board that would most likely be optimism. This show takes it further. Optimism is the main thread of it. And it was not planned. It just went on and developed ad lib.
There were also several calls that I took and I stayed with them for quite a while today. Lots been said about the creeping left and how dangerous it might be to the cohesion of the developed world that needs something to rally around. Still, I think general notions of free market and freedom of speech are these rallying issues. It is when I talk to callers where my optimism comes out the strongest. Heck, look at Nicaragua – some might thin oh no, Daniel Ortega is back and it is bad. Well, while it is not really that great, Ortega is no longer a commie-pinko. He is a liberal democrat, which means the country has moved forward.
Do I like the current state of affairs in Russia and its current policies? NO. But it is still much better then it was under communists. Do I like the saber rattling from Iran? No, but I still see most of it is for internal consumption. I do not see Hugo Chavez invading Columbia or the US with the help of Obrador as one of the callers suggested. Nor do I see Iran actually attacking Israel.
There was some talk about dictators and more benevolent leaders of Petro-states. What is Hugo Chavez is doing with his oil money? He is buying Russian military jets, missiles and military helicopters.
The result? Not enough investment, falling oil and gas production, reduced revenues, raiding of emergency funds, etc.
As usual, there is much more in the broadcast, since this is not a transcript.
Mentioning of Senator Webb and John Edwards and Jim Hightower and their vision of soup kitchen America took me to the simple statement – this country never had it as good. Which lead to the Economist article about the state of Great Britain, subtitled “You've never had it so good”
The place is enjoying a period of extraordinary prosperity. Fourteen years of stable growth have kept unemployment down. There have been social gains as well as economic ones: fewer children and pensioners live in poverty than ten years ago. Crime is broadly lower. And with prosperity has come renewed political clout. Britain has helped to shape aid for Africa, the debate on climate change, European enlargement and, last week, negotiations to restart world trade talks.
All this is especially remarkable in contrast with the recent past. A quarter-century ago, the home of the industrial revolution was closing factories and mines. The class war raged as unions took on the government and business.
Economist does not mince words about the origins of prosperity – globalization and economic growth. Same applies to the US.
There were also several calls that I took and I stayed with them for quite a while today. Lots been said about the creeping left and how dangerous it might be to the cohesion of the developed world that needs something to rally around. Still, I think general notions of free market and freedom of speech are these rallying issues. It is when I talk to callers where my optimism comes out the strongest. Heck, look at Nicaragua – some might thin oh no, Daniel Ortega is back and it is bad. Well, while it is not really that great, Ortega is no longer a commie-pinko. He is a liberal democrat, which means the country has moved forward.
Do I like the current state of affairs in Russia and its current policies? NO. But it is still much better then it was under communists. Do I like the saber rattling from Iran? No, but I still see most of it is for internal consumption. I do not see Hugo Chavez invading Columbia or the US with the help of Obrador as one of the callers suggested. Nor do I see Iran actually attacking Israel.
There was some talk about dictators and more benevolent leaders of Petro-states. What is Hugo Chavez is doing with his oil money? He is buying Russian military jets, missiles and military helicopters.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has confirmed plans to buy missiles from Russia as part of a long-standing weapons upgrade.
In 2006, the country bought from Russia 24 Sukhoi 30 jet fighters, 53 MI-24 military helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Putin is building more nuclear submarines to fight his war in Chechnya.
Ahmadinejad spends hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran's foreign-exchange reserves -- which hold Iran's surplus cash from sales of petroleum.
The result? Not enough investment, falling oil and gas production, reduced revenues, raiding of emergency funds, etc.
And Finally, Nicolas Sarkozy is embracing “les Anglo Saxons” Why?!
A second explanation is that Mr Sarkozy believes that French antipathy to Anglo-Saxons is an elitist indulgence not shared by the French at large. As he told a Washington audience: “The truth is that the French listen to Madonna, just as they used to love listening to Elvis and Sinatra... And all French parents dream of sending their child to an American university.” His conclusion was that “the virulence of the press and a portion of the French elites against the United States reflects a certain envy of your brilliant success.”
As usual, there is much more in the broadcast, since this is not a transcript.
February 1, 2007
Noon Balloon Show discussing the value of US citizenship.
January 18, 2007
UCSC growth, Leftwing Santa Cruz and International Economics.
The January 18th 2007 Noon Balloon radio show on KSCO Am 1080.
Unfortunately Sean Mean could not make it to the broadcast, so it was Noonsly Baloonsky Alonsky. Nonetheless it turned out to be a lively discussion that at one point veered off local subjects into world of international economics.
But first, I continued with the subject very dear to people in Santa Cruz as well as surrounding areas proposed expansion of the UCSC campus. Now, for those that might get this as a podcast and have no immediate knowledge of the tumultuous relationships between the City of Santa Cruz and the City on the Hill, as the campus is often referred to, local left wingers used up the brainwashed studentry to take over the city government and then in essence ran it into the ground for 30 years since there has never been a supply shortage of liberal arts grads that knew nothing of liberties and nothing of arts. It was then. Now that UCSC is trying to advance into science with engineering and bio-med schools, the left that has been safely in control of the city are worried by prospects of changing in demographics of the student voting block that kept them in power.
During one of the breaks a KSCO editorial by Kay Zwerling was played that prompted a shift towards the subject of trade deficits, international trade, protectionism and relationships with China. There wasn't much of an agreement with the editorial, between callers or myself, but the discussion was very much related to the general message I always try to make - growth is good, growth is progress, growth is improvement in standard of living and releasing market forces be it internally or externally is the best way to achieve it.
Finally, a note of great disappointment at California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger heal care proposals. Coming from the same guy that presented himself as a student of Milton Friedman, Arnold is doing everybody a huge disservice. Instead of unleashing market forces via medical savings accounts - a Friedman idea - he is proposing a stealth socialization of health care loaded with mandatory fees, taxes and handouts.
Bad idea and, again, a huge disappointment.
Unfortunately Sean Mean could not make it to the broadcast, so it was Noonsly Baloonsky Alonsky. Nonetheless it turned out to be a lively discussion that at one point veered off local subjects into world of international economics.
But first, I continued with the subject very dear to people in Santa Cruz as well as surrounding areas proposed expansion of the UCSC campus. Now, for those that might get this as a podcast and have no immediate knowledge of the tumultuous relationships between the City of Santa Cruz and the City on the Hill, as the campus is often referred to, local left wingers used up the brainwashed studentry to take over the city government and then in essence ran it into the ground for 30 years since there has never been a supply shortage of liberal arts grads that knew nothing of liberties and nothing of arts. It was then. Now that UCSC is trying to advance into science with engineering and bio-med schools, the left that has been safely in control of the city are worried by prospects of changing in demographics of the student voting block that kept them in power.
During one of the breaks a KSCO editorial by Kay Zwerling was played that prompted a shift towards the subject of trade deficits, international trade, protectionism and relationships with China. There wasn't much of an agreement with the editorial, between callers or myself, but the discussion was very much related to the general message I always try to make - growth is good, growth is progress, growth is improvement in standard of living and releasing market forces be it internally or externally is the best way to achieve it.
Finally, a note of great disappointment at California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger heal care proposals. Coming from the same guy that presented himself as a student of Milton Friedman, Arnold is doing everybody a huge disservice. Instead of unleashing market forces via medical savings accounts - a Friedman idea - he is proposing a stealth socialization of health care loaded with mandatory fees, taxes and handouts.
Bad idea and, again, a huge disappointment.
January 14, 2007
Iraq troop escalation, Iran's oil crisis, Russia vs. Belarus and Hugo Chavez
January 14th broadcast of the Embassy of the New World Order.
Just another installment of utter brilliance... as one of the callers said.
Subjects for this January 14th edition of the Emabssy of the New World Order on KSCO AM 1080 included:
Just another installment of utter brilliance... as one of the callers said.
Subjects for this January 14th edition of the Emabssy of the New World Order on KSCO AM 1080 included:
- Escalation and surge of troops in Iraq. There is at least one aspect that must be considered before any comments are made and way too many armchair admirals and generals do not understand it. I have to admit that I myself foolishly neglected to find out more about numbers and was of the opinion that additional 20,000 are not enough compared to 140,000 already there. Well, it appears that in terms of Baghdad proper, this escalation and surge will more then double US troop contingent. According to Economist, 5 brigades will be added to 4 stationed there. Since Baghdad is the central point for the push, my optimism levels have risen to manageable levels.
- La Patria o la tumba! Hugo Chavez is dropping silly pretense and is calling himself for the communist he is. He is embarking on the path of late Salvadore Allende nationalizing communications, energy and oil industries. Considering records of Communist states or states with nationalized pyramid economies like USSR running out of grain with all the Ukrainian topsoil, the end result will be Venezuela running out of oil, oil money and making its people even more poor.
- Case to the point is a shocking prediction of Iran running out of oil. Not out of oil in the ground, but out of oil available for consumption. Combine this with German Gref's warning that Russia might run out of natural gas for internal use. Oil prices have been on decline for some time now hovering just above $50 per barrel. Iran and Russia whose governments survive because of the petrodollars they rake in, might begin to feel the pinch if the situation continues to deteriorate. Especially if it is true that 70% of Iran's budget is based on oil revenues.
- Quick commentary on yet another PR fiasco the inept Putin Inc administration dragged Russia into - the quarrel with Belarus over oil and gas supplies, Gazprom's stake in Belarusneftegaz as well as another reminder to the Europeans of how reliable as a partner Russia can be.
January 11th 2007 Noon Balloon with Sean Mean and Cyrill Vatomsky.
January 11th 2007 Noon Balloon with Sean Mean and Cyrill Vatomsky.
As usual, a lively foray into many subjects including the proposed surge and escalation of troops in Iraq.
As usual, a lively foray into many subjects including the proposed surge and escalation of troops in Iraq.
December 10, 2006
Waiting For Godot - Baker-Hamilton ISG Report
Arrival of Godot? Baker-Hamilton Iraq S. Group Report.
Mostly theater, really. Since the report is mostly for show anyway.