News for today's 2018

ICELAND opposed successfully prevailing economic orthodoxies of the American, European and IMF model

5:51 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALyG0bkVP2PWjp3P0sOhhU3xOJBbMForfGipcm1SuyrC3NDcmrN0rwElfpr9yjwDDkZAQiGTIr0FGD03RVIZDT8wMh_Bn7qefz3aiALpPHzoc-S2fp1CHQU1ui6Wmkk3dE6xLs86FJIZg/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALyG0bkVP2PWjp3P0sOhhU3xOJBbMForfGipcm1SuyrC3NDcmrN0rwElfpr9yjwDDkZAQiGTIr0FGD03RVIZDT8wMh_Bn7qefz3aiALpPHzoc-S2fp1CHQU1ui6Wmkk3dE6xLs86FJIZg/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE PRESIDENT OF ICELAND TELLS HOW HE HAD THE BALLS TO STAND UP TO BRITAIN</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Adam Taylor</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Via Business Insider</span></i><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The president of Iceland sits in his study drinking tea from an immaculate china set.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“If a collapse in the financial sector can bring one of the most stable and secure democracies and political structures to his knees as happened in Iceland,” Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson says to me, “then what could it do in countries that have less stable democratic and political history?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The tiny country is unique not only in its stunning geography but also in its open democracy. This democracy was pivotal in the choice to let three giant banks fail during the financial crisis.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For Ólafur, the crisis of 2008 was personal. Once the darling of the left wing, he worked as finance minister for several years before he became president of the country in 1996, a largely ceremonial role that he’s inhabited ever since. Like many in the country he was once a cheerleader for Iceland’s financial sector, privatized at the start of the 21st century — and the sudden collapse was a painful reminder that Iceland was a small, isolated place.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, of course, most headlines we see about Iceland seem positive. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iceland-imf-loan-2012-3"><span style="color: blue;">Iceland is repaying its IMF loans early</span></a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-iceland-is-seeing-a-really-quick-recovery-2012-1"><span style="color: blue;">unemployment is down</span></a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/another-awesome-fact-from-icelands-banking-recovery-2012-2"><span style="color: blue;">growth is above average</span></a>. The streets of Reykjavik seem calm and happy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Other countries, of course, haven’t been so lucky. The crisis remains front page news in Greece, Italy and Spain — countries that followed a very different response from Iceland’s.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ólafur argues that his country’s strength came from recognizing the problem was not just an “economic and financial challenge”, but a “profound social, political, and even judicial” challenge.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the crisis, the country held a full judicial investigation, and went against “the prevailing economic orthodoxies of the American, European and IMF model</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.” Ólafur says that he likes to think that the IMF learned more from Iceland during this time than vice versa.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A key example of this approach is Iceland’s refusal to pump money into failed banks. The decision was controversial at the time, but now looks increasingly wise. “I have never understood the argument — why a private bank or financial fund is somehow better for the well being and future of the economy than the industrial sector, the IT sector, the creative sector, or the manufacturing sector”.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is, of course, another aspect. A tricky situation arose when the U.K. and Holland demanded money for their citizens’ depleted Icesave accounts, and Iceland refused. The incident sparked a major diplomatic scuffle, with Iceland refusing to pay out and the U.K. even using “anti-terrorism legislation” against the state.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For Ólafur, it’s also a personal aspect. He was head of state, though he did not control the government — in effect his position was more like being an elected Queen of England than being Barack Obama. But constitutionally he had the right to veto government legislation — though it had never been used by his office previously.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ólafur decided to block government legislation to pay back the U.K. <i>Twice</i>. Both times the legislation went to a nationwide vote, and failed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It was absolutely very tough indeed,” Ólafur says. “Every big financial institution, both in Europe and in my own country was against me, and there were powerful forces, both in Iceland and Europe, that thought my decision was absolutely crazy.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The decision was hugely controversial, and remains a sore spot in relations. For him, it was a matter of history. “What is our primary legacy to countries and nations in modern times?” He says, “Europe is and should be more about democracy than about financial markets. Based with this choice, it was in the end, clear that I had to choose democracy.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He also blames the British for their role, specifically Gordon Brown, by whom he believes Iceland is owed an apology. Ólafur likens the situation to the Falklands war, adding it was a “great offense” that “one of the most peace-loving countries in the world, a founding member of NATO, a strong ally of Britain during the Second World War was put together with al-Qaeda and the Taliban on the official list of terrorist organizations.”</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Iceland essentially had no choice, Ólafur says.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“If you take the relative size of the Icelandic economy and the British economy,” he explains, “and you transfer over to the British economy the sum that the British government was asking the Icelandic taxpayers to be responsible for due to the failure of this private bank, it would have been equal [...] to asking the British taxpayer to be responsible for an £800 billion bill [$1,275 billion] for a failed British bank in Spain and Italy and Greece.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To Ólafur’s credit, the Icesave debts are likely to be settled soon, using money from the estate of Landsbanki. He believes that if the U.K. and Holland had waited a while longer there would have been no conflict.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After 2008, Icelandic relations with Europe may have been strained. It was during a dinner with foreign diplomats that year that Ólafur reportedly said <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cms/posts/edit?id=4f86060b6bb3f7c15d000006"><span style="color: blue;">“The North Atlantic is important to Scandinavia, the U.S. and Britain. This is a fact these countries now seem to ignore. Then, Iceland should rather get some new friends.”</span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ólafur dismisses the quote, going on to say that his problem isn’t Europe, but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the European and American banking system.</b> He says Iceland’s lesson is that “If you want your economy to excel in the 21st century <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a big banking sector, even a very successful banking sector, is bad news.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You could even argue that the bigger the banking sector is, the worse the news is for your economy,” he adds, later blaming the huge growth of Iceland’s banking sector on the prevailing European banking philosophy and incompetent rating agencies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Instead, the country is hoping to use not only its creative and intellectual capital, now freed from the finance industry, but also its unique geographical situation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The Arctic has become one of the most crucial regions for the future of the world, both in terms of economy, trade and climate and health,” he says, adding that he feels Iceland, a member of the Arctic Council, has a ten year head-start on the issue, which is now attracting the interest of the EU, China and South Korea — countries with no geographical claim on the area.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This future is something that Ólafur clearly sees himself as a part of. He had originally told the country that he would not run for president again — he had been in office for 16 years and felt he could work better without the day-to-day stress.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, <a href="http://www.goiceland.is/2012/03/olafur-ragnar-grimsson-runs-for-a-fifth-term-as-president/"><span style="color: blue;">after an online petition circulating managed to get 30,000 signatures</span></a> last month, Ólafur decided to run for a fifth term. The elections will be held in June.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While other candidates have come forward, that 15 percent of the population who have already signed up would likely give Ólafur reason to believe he will win. He says it was the “public will” of Iceland that caused him to change his mind. “If a large part of the nation wants me to continue, I will bow to that public will,” he says.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But if that turns out to not be the case, that’s also fine with me.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

ICELAND opposed successfully prevailing economic orthodoxies of the American, European and IMF model

THE PRESIDENT OF ICELAND TELLS HOW HE HAD THE BALLS TO STAND UP TO BRITAIN By Adam Taylor Via Business Insider The president of Iceland sit...

take it outside

5:41 AM Anonymous 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Happy Monday! I hope that everyone survived the weekend and there is no storm damage outside your window today. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now that the pollen has finally stopped falling from our big old Oak trees in the backyard, we can get started on one of the projects I have on <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-goals.html" target="_blank">my 2012 list</a> - the deck.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While there is a lot of unsexy things that need to be done to the deck - new stairs, railings and replacing several boards - there is also a decision to make.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Is our outdoor space going to be a place for dining?<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytQjX4s3eQzouTAjTlsq8BNlRxWdaaPoFMQYV7ICaHgYf-n2fdKOlXyttWU86vxCgi1Y-uiNAKA8tqhPHaji0qskw7dpOu9orEMrDDv4VTywXeCAIrASkNGR8hMerbewxCKPqCzv1JT9Z/s1600/7299919771.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytQjX4s3eQzouTAjTlsq8BNlRxWdaaPoFMQYV7ICaHgYf-n2fdKOlXyttWU86vxCgi1Y-uiNAKA8tqhPHaji0qskw7dpOu9orEMrDDv4VTywXeCAIrASkNGR8hMerbewxCKPqCzv1JT9Z/s640/7299919771.jpeg" width="424" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://buddhainteriors.tumblr.com/post/7299919771" target="_blank">Buddha Interiors</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649608191/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5l9syk1MmBDJZXjF6HHOdVkgYZ5OCyEzYZFLhBIs5hUAghPCL60Y-t2BtAZnwxI6ptg4kivHOUD4XW-0yZ2AGWDtx0IHRyE1fQ9v7SmCqS1KCqANcXSIIgngAyxUiXlYpjC4XqESuSbYH/s1600/sunniestpatio35pse2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5l9syk1MmBDJZXjF6HHOdVkgYZ5OCyEzYZFLhBIs5hUAghPCL60Y-t2BtAZnwxI6ptg4kivHOUD4XW-0yZ2AGWDtx0IHRyE1fQ9v7SmCqS1KCqANcXSIIgngAyxUiXlYpjC4XqESuSbYH/s640/sunniestpatio35pse2.jpeg" width="448" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649608233/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4RjGKzKOT6uYDvhOX-nQFycgiTfublH44NE2i6yiW5iCklH86rzZN0872WrW6TcnfvMhai7qBAFC7zp9kg0R72vv4LYHhFFtH9ake9YzubI5y-pyBYqxkKprguYH_ZKmw2vQvz7Cz0JvH/s1600/backyard-retreat-l.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4RjGKzKOT6uYDvhOX-nQFycgiTfublH44NE2i6yiW5iCklH86rzZN0872WrW6TcnfvMhai7qBAFC7zp9kg0R72vv4LYHhFFtH9ake9YzubI5y-pyBYqxkKprguYH_ZKmw2vQvz7Cz0JvH/s640/backyard-retreat-l.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/front-back-screen-porch-patio-00417000071944/page39.html" target="_blank">Southern Living</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649610367/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Or, will it be for lounging?<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-AcXunOfPBoSIKfWWK2Ad0LpYr-0fUPTks746Q1MQEVcwnoG8w0nCiKPUOuHF3vkAA6NidER-s4yQoYYbDzwVi-RqafbGQAPP9syfUtToL6YrEsP3TU-x3roy4VLORLg6KL97ZmEzxyt/s1600/home-tour-cape-cod-style-cottage-in.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-AcXunOfPBoSIKfWWK2Ad0LpYr-0fUPTks746Q1MQEVcwnoG8w0nCiKPUOuHF3vkAA6NidER-s4yQoYYbDzwVi-RqafbGQAPP9syfUtToL6YrEsP3TU-x3roy4VLORLg6KL97ZmEzxyt/s640/home-tour-cape-cod-style-cottage-in.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/decorating/cape-cod-cottage-makeover-decorating-ideas-00417000072851/page18.html" target="_blank">Southern Living</a> via <a href="http://www.mixandchic.com/" target="_blank">Mix and Chic</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649454493/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4U14J0xiQN8ICRdOK4sgYfmfKQDj-bTsTDWyZ6kj7EGYp4tK_JvzeNfcZbmuP-ILymJrtz5t5qXVa8VG3TFvcMz3wxQXIa5Y2I9anILZkuEBuxZeUVXk_tWWb1B3miuUMNTnfRUgNOihA/s1600/outdoor+living.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4U14J0xiQN8ICRdOK4sgYfmfKQDj-bTsTDWyZ6kj7EGYp4tK_JvzeNfcZbmuP-ILymJrtz5t5qXVa8VG3TFvcMz3wxQXIa5Y2I9anILZkuEBuxZeUVXk_tWWb1B3miuUMNTnfRUgNOihA/s640/outdoor+living.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649113503/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWpCZ1ddpIZprLE-krOacaBieblhqZmdHN7DazOimdczIlDwK2iwTrZxu0DGzTFKFga5iOhNZoqW7fYYoU0aYjYar_VqCRq08jeYeNzOUaHrqhIB17ECeLp4_nPmLVrQbG5bBp_vIOXRA/s1600/updated-traditional-design.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWpCZ1ddpIZprLE-krOacaBieblhqZmdHN7DazOimdczIlDwK2iwTrZxu0DGzTFKFga5iOhNZoqW7fYYoU0aYjYar_VqCRq08jeYeNzOUaHrqhIB17ECeLp4_nPmLVrQbG5bBp_vIOXRA/s640/updated-traditional-design.jpeg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House Beautiful via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649113502/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table>Do you have an outdoor space? Do you use it for hanging out? For eating? Eating while you hang out?

take it outside

Happy Monday! I hope that everyone survived the weekend and there is no storm damage outside your window today. Now that the pollen has fin...

A quick, free way to run meetings

12:46 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal </i></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Today I came across this meeting site which said. “Meet Face to Face Online, hang out with co-workers and teams, run as many meetings as you want, no software or signups needed. Best of all, it's free”. This sounded great – almost like a free group Skype but maybe with video? The site is called ‘<i>meetings.io</i>’ and the address is <a href="http://meetings.io/">http://meetings.io/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuN2Rp6e8OQnZF2bSFQFo-3Jr2k28C4GVLYlNyT19R1o9ECXvERKJDwtUeikrCAMgtjkU2gIavgEewMo6UwQYQzQe5L9zsGQlhRgpECRFOTH00dGyKXIETJVAHCfTJ8kAfM8MMV1fMON0/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5uoQTJ8l7bz5FDRfFBamJ6PDb8i6_RZGBlbJbY9I1AiY038PAPR2Xa7ScVBUGFxByjhkW4Gw8YhyPneEiLlmeQ3C2Asp5U50gr6qYJk5PV_cl3tczBUNVM71bMiOTb2QfRHzaXj8sBk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Step 1</u>: To start off you click on ‘Get a meeting room’.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_bfyg66ivmQu_LdFUs7CskGu6janK6s_wiC_mzMmwkNRi4CUhVaLWAbDXdZtBOxwHWMQRuGVth7WV22oDasRErB1KbbjB8hj21b5glQDvKH3Ot39dFGfcaNSOM1vF9KLXfMHAhyphenhyphenEhvs/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFO8Fc4gZZtUTb6I9132mojqbRJJx3_P4Hbx_RxS0yl6097U2hdBeeioZgAxEKVcqeIO5tgZ4KHp3phfcHeBddPcYysaZHZ4KMTM4j97A_EhG-Nbo_DLjS25WHJrFHNXm5rlStvNu08Y4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Step 2</u>: This takes you to a meeting room number that you can enter at any time.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyt2Uujt7HyY6xhiICIr886TPhzH0fNjWm4cS3vvhHy-zsOzohkLK9XAFhdZKroPKxguoe8RxJzG0jiHfnqcuXYYfMIZdz2kDAPo0P2AM-zEiJQPcVHd4gV34vm8XIc6p50CcudmXOV74/s1600-h/image%25255B13%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivq8gicIu8miDRmQO7UTQiL6e7oelskHOmPKDv-RyD4u0giqm5Lze2Ee8AzVe1amHsuYbSg819ihZ427e3ylJ6QX0vqdDVZEaiVyIzvJqY1zUCMuszefC1cpR6hiJcu8cKHsJdVfp70VY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Step 3:</u> You now enter the meeting room with your name.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikl9CxxFfyYBkPPyzM-PIqrwwFjMj9p6ouFi9zsdw68k5VqPrVRMfJSAabq-bm1H8D2C-ESxP-771KJCOIl79mhr38LqpWhQVoGJQ8PMMbOSLPyKddpevHevPqyizJJmwPUIGb0-sf1fo/s1600-h/image%25255B16%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlaijrH0o-U_ip2oobB4wIsx5gbnvND8AzpPLKU0vHWUeMjuhh6uklBJqslMYrtbjmIuO_MEZcrbLpSQNdgnK_rREnmvKy_ZXUqFkOFQsXI8za5F3lTEiRA0rBvLiCV9oAXL2DbO7fhjQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Step 4</u>: You are asked a question about your bandwidth.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGcuEKpb321krNKwiP3U3qBmP2SZ4kmDnQ1-WJt8TEMIyeumSdRQbz_-o7NQQQde7ZYot8ouRHL02r47kkzosxSyvgJZJqUCTESOohFwhPwoVduJB2ev_TC-QMp9K-TOOMilFJ8UoCGN8/s1600-h/image%25255B19%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJJlEgmH-Uk1r4gyvLNFEiy_3VWoq1l8tCRYzXOg23re9MpgEKTJmJdXnCRbFtfRezcZexjmz8MrjjPIYvaRapv6QbdqYbenXrH7A6FUZYrgeoC5wuZitjTGSePAAe0VbHm-NFq8KCgL0/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Step 5</u>: It asks if you want to allow meetings.io to access your cameras and microphone</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8UqxdpgOqlGwKNnhDt3qFE1WHTVfYtTp0tnDvPfIqj_k6drVs4BZfQVLL_qihBgN8kL6ZSXTvYwbbuuUcv9CX0-WcIOka671QvBsIZkcNPGq4rot_jWI-4T27S7bFg4Nh1mF01-uRI1w/s1600-h/image%25255B22%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqF5-eYpR9syrKiFYZLofDSxzKTYYp6hinLwWq_AgylkkRF1tje7OYKLDI7V91FEmI_ZkccxODOC6Uu0WfLbWsGBFNcOhZhRtxhTU9uBrY24welNNas97rJxXAcDOMXQxH6IdGJtxnwyg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="173" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I didn’t go any further than that, but this looks good! I think I’ll try it out on some colleagues later.Another look at the site shows amazing features.  This site looks well worth exploring.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Application for schools</u>:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Groups could use this to discuss and plan group projects at home.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. If you are in a collaborative global project this site could be used for discussions.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. Teachers could have a quick meeting from home when time for a meeting doesn't fit into the school day. <br /></span></div></div>

Web tools Website reviews A quick, free way to run meetings

Submitted by Fiona Beal Today I came across this meeting site which said. “Meet Face to Face Online, hang out with co-workers and teams, run...

Break out the champagne (again), the '55 Hitchcock...

6:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmeB90vTS5bppAvlRUUmZQzJ0ZU62CAw8bcFRkvcpgBUnzDHqFD8eop3YcqGfOZ9jp0SN68BnhfcvWhe-7m8q1ZzQg4N5wAU8d-iPSm5G-rgii8mSgUjf7OcTQeqGJcw46mCf4ELDibB4T/s1600/to-catch-a-thief-hitchcock-fritz-von-runte+poster++2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmeB90vTS5bppAvlRUUmZQzJ0ZU62CAw8bcFRkvcpgBUnzDHqFD8eop3YcqGfOZ9jp0SN68BnhfcvWhe-7m8q1ZzQg4N5wAU8d-iPSm5G-rgii8mSgUjf7OcTQeqGJcw46mCf4ELDibB4T/s1600/to-catch-a-thief-hitchcock-fritz-von-runte+poster++2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><i><span style="font-size: small;">Alfred Hitchcock’s </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">To Catch a Thief</span><i><span style="font-size: small;"> screens today at the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival. In celebration of the third annual greatest-classic-film-festival-in-the-world, I’m posting this new and improved version of a piece on </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">To Catch a Thief</span><i><span style="font-size: small;"> that first appeared here on New Year’s Day 2011.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Traditionally, champagne is the drink <i>du jour</i> (or <i>nuit</i>) at New Year’s, and so champagne it shall be now. A bottle of ‘96 </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Dom Pérignon Ros</span><span style="font-size: small;">é</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"> would be fitting, but I’m in the mood for something really special…an old favorite… Hitchcock’s distinctive ’55 vintage from the Cote d'Azur. <i>To Catch a Thief</i> (1955), a delectable “Hitchcock champagne,” boasts a rare combination of elegance and flair. Light-bodied with a smooth finish that lingers, it remains unmatched, though it has been imitated far and wide for decades.</span></div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7Bji7gSXs0Q-kAUD6HU7MuxKxznY-R753bqG2R6uH8kElwg6fVoQKP_JhwQWAKUYV2t8W6JixBBz2kDlepfwlEYVLB4HLXr-ddyzlFJcNP0iL__fy0_gsr6x0TsYpokPev7cnH7zXvcM/s1600/cote+d+azur+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7Bji7gSXs0Q-kAUD6HU7MuxKxznY-R753bqG2R6uH8kElwg6fVoQKP_JhwQWAKUYV2t8W6JixBBz2kDlepfwlEYVLB4HLXr-ddyzlFJcNP0iL__fy0_gsr6x0TsYpokPev7cnH7zXvcM/s320/cote+d+azur+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"the azure coast" of France</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">A jaunty score sets the tone as opening credits roll over a shot of an international travel service with a poster in the window, “If you like life, you’ll love France.” The tinkling keys of a grand piano hint at continental sophistication and adventure long before the first scream bemoaning stolen jewelry issues from a Riviera hotel balcony.</span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Quickly the action picks up speed with a colorful cruise through the Cote d'Azur as French police race to the village of Sainte-Jeannet and the hillside villa of retired jewel thief and prime suspect, John Robie (Cary Grant). From these early sequences and throughout the film, cinematographer Robert Burks displays VistaVision/Technicolor to full effect; it was Hitchcock's first use of the widescreen/color process that would become a signature of his color films for the rest of the 1950s.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmdbwh1cpxzMsbI3MU2c6IEtNAZUKyH2f2bo5ZAte0xH1QQpvsFVVrGnnlFrqtlZQD0cK4-U_1NdlWuJI1URtu9Jo_nvNi4QjgL2v2noPelRHNvuoxTUlM_ISQ4nr1OEv67NrsvHuXdVOF/s1600/robert+burks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmdbwh1cpxzMsbI3MU2c6IEtNAZUKyH2f2bo5ZAte0xH1QQpvsFVVrGnnlFrqtlZQD0cK4-U_1NdlWuJI1URtu9Jo_nvNi4QjgL2v2noPelRHNvuoxTUlM_ISQ4nr1OEv67NrsvHuXdVOF/s1600/robert+burks.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cinematographer Robert Burks</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Burks had initially worked together five years earlier following the director’s return to the U.S. after making two films in England. Hitchcock was beginning production on <i>Strangers on a Train</i> for Warner Bros. and the studio cinematographer assigned to the project was 40-year-old Burks. It would be the beginning of a fabled partnership. Burks began his career at 19 in the Warner Bros. special effects lab when Hal Wallis, who favored shadows and high contrast on the screen, was in charge of production. Burks apprenticed under James Wong Howe, worked his way up to DP and, by 1948, had risen to cinematographer.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">The early influence of German expressionism on Hitchcock corresponded nicely with the influences Burks absorbed at Warner Bros. and the two would collaborate on 12 films from 1951 – 1964, every picture Hitchcock made during that period except <i>Psycho</i>. Like Burks, Hitchcock had intimate knowledge of special effects and had an affinity for scenes of complex imagery. One of the most memorable in the Hitchcock/Burks canon came in <i>Strangers on a Train</i> with the scene in which Robert Walker’s murder of Laura Elliott is reflected in the lens of her fallen eyeglasses. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRImOIG_rk45IZY2kfJ0S-65SAKjHmgHNMxdeF6i99gpOFrc4-ZXZ0KDa8KBiMsam8EBH5P0jr8SlDLJqQD0Iv40A2KusFhnWNxyTOH0VdonewgLxfCOzzGRsLDRzgsmZ2wE43Q6Sfkcq/s1600/filming+TCat+in+VV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRImOIG_rk45IZY2kfJ0S-65SAKjHmgHNMxdeF6i99gpOFrc4-ZXZ0KDa8KBiMsam8EBH5P0jr8SlDLJqQD0Iv40A2KusFhnWNxyTOH0VdonewgLxfCOzzGRsLDRzgsmZ2wE43Q6Sfkcq/s1600/filming+TCat+in+VV.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hitchcock (top center) beside the VistaVision camera</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Robert Burks was Oscar-nominated for <i>Strangers</i> and again for <i>Rear Window</i>. With <i>To Catch a Thief</i>, he finally won an Academy Award for cinematography. From 1955 – 1958, Burks shot five Hitchcock films in VistaVision/ Technicolor; four of the five were for Paramount Pictures. Paramount had been the only major film studio to balk at the widescreen CinemaScope system when it came on the scene in 1953. The studio set out to develop a process of its own and worked with Eastman Kodak to develop VistaVision, a method that delivered a higher resolution widescreen version of 35 mm. The VistaVision process printed down large format negatives to standard 35 mm, creating a finer-grained print and improved image. The use of Technicolor's dye transfer process was key to VistaVision color image quality. For his first foray into VistaVision/Technicolor, Hitchcock devised a stylish romantic thriller infused with dazzling starpower.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span id="goog_1252722499"></span><span id="goog_1252722500"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">When he introduced a recent screening of <i>To Catch a Thief</i>, TCM’s Robert Osborne remarked that it had “the best asset any film could have...Cary Grant.” Good point. This was the third of Grant’s four Hitchcock pictures and it came nearly ten years after their last collaboration, <i>Notorious</i> (1946), one of the best films in either man’s illustrious filmography. In the interim, Hitchcock’s career had gone into and dramatically come out of a slump. During the same period, Grant had continued to make popular films, but had begun to move away from the kind of part he had trademarked – the dapper, self-effacing man of the world. Following <i>Dream Wife</i><b> </b>(1953) Grant retired, dissatisfied with the parts and films he was being offered. But then he was approached by Alfred Hitchcock who had a project in mind with the requisite amount of elegance and humor to attract him. In <i>To Catch a Thief</i> Cary Grant returned to type; John Robie, “The Cat,” is a dashing charmer, “a man of obvious good taste” very few could or would want to resist. Grant seldom departed from type during the remaining years of his career.</span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN">To Catch a Thief</span></i><b><span lang="EN"> </span></b></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">was the third and final film Grace Kelly would make with Hitchcock, who would have worked with her for the rest of his career had she not left movies to become Princess of Monaco. Hitchcock’s breathtaking onscreen vision of Kelly brings to mind Josef von Sternberg’s ravishing cinematic glorification of Marlene Dietrich 20 years earlier. Kelly was a beautiful woman but among the handful of films she made, it was in her films for Hitchcock that her image as a screen goddess achieved perfection. In <i>To Catch a Thief</i> she plays a spoiled rich girl, the ultimate "snow covered volcano" and "Hitchcock blonde."</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikUDzrHfipmeyoDmjbsJtyBPcAxhaN8aOhc0x6TPLtvYtcWI0dY1aq5-m5Yr2FU6KgNGtk8Za7P2-1J4XJ4NhZbLz8TuaiHQfAvNg479VlFcmU-wqWbj8Fy7idDMacNeoXBUxIyBqQKp_i/s1600/Kelly+and+Grant+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikUDzrHfipmeyoDmjbsJtyBPcAxhaN8aOhc0x6TPLtvYtcWI0dY1aq5-m5Yr2FU6KgNGtk8Za7P2-1J4XJ4NhZbLz8TuaiHQfAvNg479VlFcmU-wqWbj8Fy7idDMacNeoXBUxIyBqQKp_i/s400/Kelly+and+Grant+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grace Kelly and Cary Grant</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Grant and Kelly are captivating together onscreen and both deliver iconic characterizations with ease - Grant as a debonair retired thief/innocent man, and she as a haughty/hot debutante. The pair literally generates fireworks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnOshRfPe_U96fJAzoK4DKsBfOCRsZ6l0nG268p-cOkPTv8lEk6iNkXKyg_kHzho8HQxwOLjpUdSm-6Db76iBGPoonyZjlF4lZlXMeA0NvEUkMGTZyjPjs3BlC6zgO8jiuuTUijHxNTF9/s1600/Jessie+Royce+Landis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnOshRfPe_U96fJAzoK4DKsBfOCRsZ6l0nG268p-cOkPTv8lEk6iNkXKyg_kHzho8HQxwOLjpUdSm-6Db76iBGPoonyZjlF4lZlXMeA0NvEUkMGTZyjPjs3BlC6zgO8jiuuTUijHxNTF9/s1600/Jessie+Royce+Landis.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jessie Royce Landis</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"></div><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">In her first Hitchcock outing, Jessie Royce Landis portrays Kelly’s insouciant and earthy, bourbon-sipping mother. Hitchcock liked to include colorful women as supporting characters in his films, ranging from the ridiculous (Florence Bates in <i>Rebecca</i>) and the oblivious (Patricia Collinge in <i>Shadow of a Doubt</i>), to the observant and wisecracking (Thelma Ritter in <i>Rear Window</i>, Barbara Bel Geddes in <i>Vertigo</i>). Royce Landis portrayed two of the most appealing of the latter type in this film and <i>North by Northwest</i>.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Actor John Williams made his third appearance in a Hitchcock film with <i>To Catch a Thief</i>, this time as an insurance agent helping Robie track down the real jewel thief. His H.H. Hughson is a fine foil for Grant’s Robie. Their early scenes provide Hitchcock the opportunity to have some fun with a favorite theme, the ambiguity of guilt and innocence. Robie tells Hughson flatly that though he “only stole from those who wouldn’t go hungry,” he “kept everything myself.” Chiding Hughson for stealing hotel sundries and cheating on his expense account, Robie comments, “I was an out and out thief…like you.” Robie emphasizes his point with the throwaway line, “I wish I’d known someone in the insurance racket when I went into the burglary business.” Hitchcock toys with subject again when Robie refers to the sensitive hands and delicate touch of his cook and housekeeper, Germaine, who bakes a quiche as "light as air" and who, during the war, “strangled a German general once…without a sound.”</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMGGRLIgTGrM5k6S-MP7mqJziokgnGlbK26vbc3ALJo7jUXCQj46ukcLZ8VfG3CA7J0277WzcAEwEAOjb4hOK9RslL9E0iCKJ_c0NKhf9eU6agV4dG4oHptfE0vmU2oo1Tojaelk7Tm5f/s1600/john+williams+grace+kelly+rene+blancard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMGGRLIgTGrM5k6S-MP7mqJziokgnGlbK26vbc3ALJo7jUXCQj46ukcLZ8VfG3CA7J0277WzcAEwEAOjb4hOK9RslL9E0iCKJ_c0NKhf9eU6agV4dG4oHptfE0vmU2oo1Tojaelk7Tm5f/s400/john+williams+grace+kelly+rene+blancard.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Williams, Grace Kelly, Rene Blancard...costumes by Edith Head</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While some dismiss <i>To Catch a Thief</i> for lack of substance, there's no question that it is a solid film of its genre. With meticulous craftsmanship and tremendous style, Hitchcock delivered exactly what he intended - a voluptuous romantic thriller. All elements blend in harmony, from the John Michael Hayes screenplay to Robert Burks' VistaVision/ Technicolor photography, Lyn Murray’s score, Edith Head’s eyeball-popping costumes, two scintillating stars and the Cote d’Azur setting.<i> </i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>To Catch a Thief</i></span><span style="font-size: small;"> was successful and influential, and many later films bear its earmarks...most prominently Stanley Donen’s <i>Charade</i>, as well as his <i>Arabesque,</i> William Wyler's <i>How to Steal a Million</i>, Blake Edwards' <i>The Pink Panther</i> and countless romance/thriller romps ever since.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">~</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="color: #cc0000; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">One of the principal  themes of this year's 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival is </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">Style in the Movies</span><i><span style="font-size: small;">. Kimberly Truhler of <a href="http://glamamor.com/" style="color: #0b5394;">GlamAmor.com</a>, who is attending and blogging on the festival, produced and hosts the following video, </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">Cinema Style File - Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief</span><i><span style="font-size: small;">: </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JFL8npiVibU" width="560"></iframe></div><br /><br /></div>

Break out the champagne (again), the '55 Hitchcock...

Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief screens today at the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival. In celebration of the third annual greatest-classi...

SYRIA, IRAN, NORTH KOREA and ISTANBUL

6:37 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGaU146WveeHqUvI7tZ188aP9KIR1GIlqcxjWx6S-YmMbm08_oUT8_V5uPBWytN4QZg25qJRyOuiEOjeW4kmXoovSWpYMC_DLc-bANRzEezgfT4jw0cIRXTpVaEgikV3AMRDyVybZjKP0z/s1600/chessboard20animation_global.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGaU146WveeHqUvI7tZ188aP9KIR1GIlqcxjWx6S-YmMbm08_oUT8_V5uPBWytN4QZg25qJRyOuiEOjeW4kmXoovSWpYMC_DLc-bANRzEezgfT4jw0cIRXTpVaEgikV3AMRDyVybZjKP0z/s1600/chessboard20animation_global.gif" /></a></div><b><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><span class="s1mainStoryHeadline"> </span></span></b><br /><b><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><span class="s1mainStoryHeadline">Obama’s election politics empowers Iran, North Korea, Syria before Istanbul talks</span>         </span></b><br />                     <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="articleDescription">via DEBKA<em>file</em></span> </span><span class="articleDescription red italic"></span><br /><div class="articleBodyWrapper">       <div class="photoContainer" id="photoContainer" style="width: 150px;">         <div class="photoContainerPhoto" id="photo">           <a href=""><br />                     </a>        </div><div class="photoContainerCaption" id="caption"><br /></div></div><span class="articleBody"> <span style="font-size: large;">In their different ways, the rulers of Iran, North Korea and Syria this  week tried to throw US President Barack Obama off balance by exploiting  the foreign policy balls he is juggling to win the November election – a  combination of tough talk and  maneuvers to avoiding military  confrontation.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Wednesday, April 11, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  chose Abu  Musa island near the Strait of Hormuz to offer the Arab Gulf rulers a  piece of advance:  “…they should take a look at the map of Iran so that  they understand about which great and powerful country they are  talking.”<br /> Turning to threats, he said: “Some of these countries give their oil  money to the arrogant powers so that it can be used against another  country. But they must be aware that their days are numbers and one day,  the oil money will be used against themselves.”  </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Was he setting the tone for the resumed nuclear talks opening in  Istanbul Saturday, April 14, between his government and six world powers  (US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany)?<br /> Or reminding them that when sanctions were first imposed on Iran to  counter its nuclear program oil sold at $25 the barrel whereas it has  since soared to $110?</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> As for Iran’s Arab neighbors across the Gulf, Ahmadinejad was giving  them an ominous geostrategic lesson:  Saudi Arabia was 1,034 kilometers  away from Abu Musa and the Hormuz waterway which carried their oil to  market, whereas Abu Musa was only 183.5 kilometers and bristling with a  profusion of Iranian military hardware, notably sea-mines,  explosives-packed speedboats and shore-to-sea missiles. They are all in  position to block the Strait of Hormuz and strike at the lifelines of  Gulf oil producers, their wells and infrastructure. No need to wage  full-blown war on Saudi Arabia to bring disaster down on the world’s key  oil-producing region.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Therefore, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remark Thursday,  April 12, that Tehran has sent “mixed signals, hinting toward a  compromise” hardly connects with reality, unless she was referring to  signals filtered</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> through secret channels.<br /> The Iranian president was obviously crowing over Tehran’s success in  preserving Syrian President Bashar Assad in power and vowing to make  Gulf nations pay for backing his enemies.   </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> A large Saudi delegation headed by Defense Minister Prince Salman  visited London and Washington this week. In addition to their top-level  talks with President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron and their  heads of defense, they also talked to British and US army chiefs dealing  with the military side of the Persian Gulf. In London, Prince Salman  had a long conversation with Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant and  later in Washington with Gen. James Mattis and the president’s adviser  on terror John O. Brennan.<br /> Their focus of concern appeared to have shifted from a possible US or  Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program and its consequences over to a  potential clash between Iran and Saudi Arabia.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> On Syria, Obama and Saudi King Abdullah are at odds. The former stands  solidly against US military intervention against the Assad regime,  whereas the latter is pressing for heightened Western and Arab military  involvement in Syria including a supply of heavy weapons for the rebels  fighting government forces. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was in  Riyadh Wednesday but failed to convince the king to line up behind the  Washington-Ankara policy on Syria.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> With Iranian and Russian support, Assad has managed to turn the tables on Turkey. Friday’s Saudi newspaper <em>Shawq al</em>-<em>Awsat </em>mocked  Ankara and its oft-repeated, never-fulfilled proposal to set up a  buffer zone in Syria for refugees with a sarcastic headline: “Did  al-Assad set up a buffer zone in Turkey?”<br /> The first two days of the Syrian ceasefire, which was declared as part  of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan, were  encouraging in that the number of deaths from violence declined from the  horrendous norm. At the same time, outbreaks here and there were still  current and Syrian troops and heavy weapons remained in the cities.</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> The UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon and peace envoy Kofi Annan are convinced  that rushing UN observers into Syria and getting them on the ground will  stabilize the ceasefire. But most Syria watchers are skeptical. Assad  is firm in the saddle.<br /> As for the Istanbul talks, <span class="debka">debka</span><span class="file">file</span>’s  military sources report the conviction in the State Department that  Iran is not coming to the table to resolve its nuclear dispute with the  world, but rather as a toe in the water to gauge the strength of Obama’s  resolve to terminate its nuclear program.  Iran’s resolve is  unquestioned. As Ahmadinejad put it, “Iran will not retreat one iota  from its nuclear rights.”</span><br />  <span style="font-size: large;"> Like Syria and North Korea, Iran is gambling on Obama dropping back in  time to avoid real confrontation with the Tehran-Moscow-Beijing line-up.<span class="debka"> Debka</span><span class="file">file</span>’s  military sources report that North Korea is playing on the same pitch.  Despite the breakup of the Unha-3 carrier rocket, supposedly to boost a  satellite into orbit, shortly after takeoff from Sohae Satellite  Launching Station in Tongchang-ri Thursday, April 13, North Korea has  established four facts:</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> 1. It is very close to the capacity for building multistage  intercontinental ballistic missiles and will keep on conducting tests  until the technology is fully mastered:</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> 2.  Pyongyang is set for its third nuclear test;</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> 3. It is well on the way to an ICBM with a nuclear warhead capable of reaching Washington and not just Tokyo;</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> 4.   As it forges ahead, North Korea displays extreme indifference to  the threats of world powers, United Nations censure or even the  cancellation of US food aid just announced.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> Its rulers are bucked up by the information reaching them about the  mood in Washington - not from Chinese intelligence but American  mainstream media. They agree that President Obama aims to woo the  American voter by sounding tough but staying clear of military  confrontations with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Bashar Assad and Kim  Jong-un.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> This posture was summed up succinctly by Leslie H. Gelb in the Daily  Beast: “Typically, Mr. Obama is reacting like almost all his  predecessors in presidential-election years: he is trying to  simultaneously show strength and avoid war. He is walking the familiar  tightrope…”</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"> Going into critical talks in Istanbul Saturday with a tough customer  like Iran on a tightrope, the US president wobbles over dangerous  waters, say DEBKAfle’s sources:  A misjudgment could suddenly make him  lose his balance; Iran, Syria or North Korea may push him off-balance;  in his anxiety to avoid war, he may, as is often the case, cause one -  maybe without American involvement but most certainly one that sets up  high turbulence across the entire Middle East. </span><br /> </span>           </div><span style="font-size: large;"><ins style="border: medium none; display: inline-table; height: 60px; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 468px;"><ins id="aswift_2_anchor" style="border: medium none; display: block; height: 60px; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 468px;"></ins></ins></span>

SYRIA, IRAN, NORTH KOREA and ISTANBUL

Obama’s election politics empowers Iran, North Korea, Syria before Istanbul talks via DEBKA file ...

KOSOVO

6:09 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDElxI6QixsmqA7HSlkoi5Kz4KaZMXYL6b_Dpj0OHr3kcQbs0Qw0hxbUiuWRzv8reKL5YEYdm_djyVYR2dA7jhaexpl1p8Wsxju8BXk_QRgu7PDLfgG65sFYSsWJ8NL7mc7jgQjkKYfqq5/s1600/kosovo-flag1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDElxI6QixsmqA7HSlkoi5Kz4KaZMXYL6b_Dpj0OHr3kcQbs0Qw0hxbUiuWRzv8reKL5YEYdm_djyVYR2dA7jhaexpl1p8Wsxju8BXk_QRgu7PDLfgG65sFYSsWJ8NL7mc7jgQjkKYfqq5/s320/kosovo-flag1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Washington’s Kosovo Strategy </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b>By F. William Engdahl </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In one of the more bizarre foreign policy announcements of the Obama Administration, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that Washington will “help” Kosovo to join NATO as well as the European Union. She made the pledge after a recent Washington meeting with Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci in Washington where she praised the progress of the Thaci government in its progress in “European integration and economic development.”<sup> </sup></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Her announcement no doubt caused serious gas pains among government and military officials in the various capitals of European NATO. Few people  appreciate just how mad Clinton’s plan to push Kosovo into NATO and the EU is. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Basic Kosovo geopolitics</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The controversial piece of real estate today called Kosovo was a part of Yugoslavia and tied to Serbia until the NATO bombing campaign in 1999 demolished what remained of Milosevic’s Serbia and  opened the way for the United States, with the dubious assist of EU nations, above all Germany, to carve up the former Yugoslavia into tiny, dependent pseudo states. Kosovo became one, as did Macedonia. Slovenia and Croatia had earlier split off from Yugoslavia with a strong assist from the German Foreign Ministry.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7gC-AA11xvQX9crAsXZpeGxmxqo0OLOeXpWiq5K8lkngAuiEWpL5EU1Af-UgbBooRAmH9hTQOfnxJNzlviaNcCaI-gR4IgbMoYRlFNWEUI-FG3XdpxJjItm2yKr6zDyJ_duAJ43MAYTu/s1600/timthumb.333php.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7gC-AA11xvQX9crAsXZpeGxmxqo0OLOeXpWiq5K8lkngAuiEWpL5EU1Af-UgbBooRAmH9hTQOfnxJNzlviaNcCaI-gR4IgbMoYRlFNWEUI-FG3XdpxJjItm2yKr6zDyJ_duAJ43MAYTu/s320/timthumb.333php.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Some brief review of the circumstances leading to the secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia will help locate how risky a NATO membership or EU membership would be for the future of Europe. Hashim Thaci the current Kosovo Prime Minister, got his job, so to speak, through the US State Department and not via free democratic Kosovo elections. Kosovo is not recognized as a legitimate state by either Russia or Serbia or over one hundred other nations. However, it was immediately recognized when it declared independence in 2008 by the Bush Administration and by Berlin.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Membership into the EU for Kosovo would be welcoming another failed state, something which may not bother US Secretary Clinton, but which the EU at this juncture definitely can do without. Best estimates place unemployment in the country at as much as 60%. That is not just Third World level. The economy was always the poorest in Yugoslavia and today it is worse. Yet the real issue in terms of the future of EU peace and security is the nature of the Kosovo state that has been created by Washington since the late 1990’s.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Mafia State and Camp Bondsteel </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Kosovo is a tiny parcel of land in one of the most strategic locations in all Europe from a geopolitical standpoint of the US military objective of controlling oil flows and political developments from the oil-rich Middle East to Russia and Western Europe. The current US-led recognition of the self-declared Republic of Kosovo is a continuation of US policy for the Balkans since the 1999 US-led NATO bombing of Serbia—a NATO “out-of-area” deployment never approved by the UN Security Council, allegedly on the premise that Milosevic’s army was on the verge of carrying out a genocidal massacre of Kosovo Albanians. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLJ5SSkeEl1aMCgRlQAhlKRWUYcc2MOeJR2o5ih_igqqtrHa4Wj8K_ry0otKxJ4ld3O2PD40nhxt-UiPyVkeycHrV_5wEEmgVvh3N42FO8Ha5SsbVz-F3-62-c9WORhzE7yaIUs_VyJDq/s1600/Pogled_na_Bondstil_iz_vazduha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLJ5SSkeEl1aMCgRlQAhlKRWUYcc2MOeJR2o5ih_igqqtrHa4Wj8K_ry0otKxJ4ld3O2PD40nhxt-UiPyVkeycHrV_5wEEmgVvh3N42FO8Ha5SsbVz-F3-62-c9WORhzE7yaIUs_VyJDq/s400/Pogled_na_Bondstil_iz_vazduha.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Some months before the US-led bombing of Serbian targets, one of the heaviest bombings since World War II, a senior US intelligence official in private conversation told Croatian senior army officers in Zagreb about Washington’s strategy for former Yugoslavia. According to these reports, communicated privately to this author, the Pentagon goal already in late 1998 was to take control of Kosovo in order to secure a military base to control the entire southeast European region down to the Middle East oil lands. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Since June 1999 when the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) entered Kosovo, then an integral part of then-Yugoslavia, Kosovo was technically under a United Nations mandate, UN Security Council Resolution 1244. Russia and China also agreed to that mandate, which specifies the role of KFOR to ensure an end to inter-ethnic fighting and atrocities between the Serb minority population, others and the Kosovo Albanian Islamic majority. Under 1244 Kosovo would remain part of Serbia pending a peaceful resolution of its status. That UN Resolution was blatantly ignored by the US, German and other EU parties in 2008. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Germany’s and Washington’s prompt recognition of Kosovo’s independence in February 2008, significantly, came days after elections for President in Serbia confirmed pro-Washington Boris Tadic had won a second four year term. With Tadic’s post secured, Washington could count on a compliant Serbian reaction to its support for Kosovo.   </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Immediately after the bombing of Serbia in 1999 the Pentagon seized a 1000 acre large parcel of land in Kosovo at Uresevic near the border to Macedonia, and awarded a contract to <b>Halliburton when Dick Cheney was CEO there, to build one of the largest US overseas military bases in the world, Camp Bondsteel, with more than 7000 troops today.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The Pentagon has already secured seven new military bases in Bulgaria and Romania on the Black Sea in the Northern Balkans, including the Graf Ignatievo and Bezmer airbases in Bulgaria and Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania, which are used for "downrange" military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Romanian installation hosts the Pentagon's Joint Task Force–East. The US's colossal Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and the use and upgrading of Croatian and Montenegrin Adriatic harbors for US Navy deployments complete the militarization of the Balkans.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6896989063397229776#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"></span></a></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The US strategic agenda for Kosovo is primarily military, secondarily, it seems, narcotics trafficking. Its prime focus is against Russia and for control of oil flows from the Caspian Sea to the Middle East into Western Europe. By declaring its independence, Washington gains a weak state which it can fully control. So long as it remained a part of Serbia, that NATO military control would be politically insecure. Today Kosovo is controlled by NATO, whose KFOR has 16,000 troops there for a tiny population of 2 million. Its Camp Bondsteel is one of a string of so-called forward operating bases and "lily pads" as Donald Rumsfeld called them, for military action to the east and south. Now formally bringing Kosovo into the EU and to NATO will solidify that military base now that the Republic of Georgia under US protégé Saakashvili failed so miserably in 2008 to fill that NATO role. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Heroin Transport Corridor</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">US-NATO military control of Kosovo serves several purposes for Washington’s greater geo-strategic agenda. First it enables greater US control over potential oil and gas pipeline routes into the EU from the Caspian and Middle East as well as control of the transport corridors linking the EU to the Black Sea. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It also protects the multi-billion dollar heroin trade, which, significantly, has grown to record dimensions in Afghanistan according to UN narcotics officials, since the US occupation. Kosovo and Albania are major heroin transit routes into Europe. According to a 2008 US State Department annual report on international narcotics traffic, several key drug trafficking routes pass through the Balkans. Kosovo is mentioned as a key point for the transfer of heroin from Turkey and Afghanistan to Western Europe. Those drugs flow under the watchful eye of the Thaci government. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Since its dealings with the Meo tribesmen in Laos during the Vietnam era, the CIA has protected narcotics traffic in key locations in order partly to finance its covert operations. The scale of international narcotics traffic today is such that major US banks such as Citigroup are reported to derive a significant share of their profits from laundering the proceeds.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">One of the notable features of the indecent rush by Washington and other states to immediately recognize the independence of Kosovo is the fact that they well knew its government and both major political parties were in fact run by Kosovo Albanian organized crime. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisc-1nnQlawT0zKUb4IlfiGi4HZlpeplkNBZHjVCiPjxXMkXVCKZ3AIW0WZBGQPOTmKgYhc1GaXkfvOMo-8foZB96djCmeM5iZ70qQ0RvaIIJh79UvHqW1RL38RWripbEcgqcJmr2M6Ok2/s1600/uck-memorial-sharr-1_JPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisc-1nnQlawT0zKUb4IlfiGi4HZlpeplkNBZHjVCiPjxXMkXVCKZ3AIW0WZBGQPOTmKgYhc1GaXkfvOMo-8foZB96djCmeM5iZ70qQ0RvaIIJh79UvHqW1RL38RWripbEcgqcJmr2M6Ok2/s320/uck-memorial-sharr-1_JPG.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister of Kosovo and head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, is the former leader of the terrorist organization which the US and NATO trained and called the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, or in Albanian, UCK. In Kosovo crime circles he is known as Hashim “The Snake” for his personal ruthlessness against opponents. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In 1997, President Clinton’s Special Balkans Envoy, Robert Gelbard described the KLA as, “without any question a terrorist group.” It was far more. It was a klan-based mafia, impossible therefore to infiltrate, which controlled the underground black economy of Kosovo. Today the Democratic Party of Thaci, according to European police sources, retains its links to organized crime. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A February 22, 2005 German BND report, labeled Top Secret, which has since been leaked, stated, <i style="color: blue;">“Über die Key-Player (wie z. B. Haliti, Thaci, Haradinaj) bestehen engste Verflechtungen zwischen Politik, Wirtschaft und international operierenden OK-Strukturen im Kosovo. Die dahinter stehenden kriminellen Netzwerke fördern dort die politische Instabilität. Sie haben kein Interesse am Aufbau einer funktionierenden staatlichen Ordnung, durch die ihre florierenden Geschäfte beeinträchtigt werden können.“ </i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><i style="color: blue;">(OK=Organized Kriminalität)</i>. (Translation: “Through the key players—for example Thaci, Haliti, Haradinaj—there is the closest interlink between politics, the economy and international organized crime in Kosovo. The criminal organizations in the background there foster political instability. They have no interest at all in the building of a functioning orderly state that could be detrimental to their booming business.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The KLA began action in 1996 with the bombing of refugee camps housing Serbian refugees from the wars in Bosnia and Croatia. The KLA repeatedly called for the “liberation” of areas of Montenegro, Macedonia and parts of Northern Greece. Thaci is hardly a figure of regional stability to put it mildly.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The 44 year old Thaci was a personal protégé of Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the 1990s, when he was a mere 30-year old gangster. The KLA was supported from the outset by the CIA and the German BND. During the 1999 war the KLA was directly supported by NATO. At the time he was picked up by the USA in the mid-1990s, Thaci was founder of the Drenica Group, a criminal syndicate in Kosovo with ties to Albanian, Macedonian and Italian organized mafias.  A classified January 2007 report prepared for the EU Commission, labeled “VS-Nur für den Dienstgebrauch” was leaked to the media. It detailed the organized criminal activity of KLA and its successor Democratic Party under Thaci. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A December 2010 Council of Europe report, released a day after Kosovo's election commission said Mr Thaci's party won the first post-independence election, accused Western powers of complicity in ignoring the activities of the crime ring headed by Thaci: "Thaci and these other 'Drenica Group' members are consistently named as 'key players' in intelligence reports on Kosovo's mafia-like structures of organised crime," the report said. "We found that the 'Drenica Group' had as its chief – or, to use the terminology of organised crime networks, its 'boss' – the renowned political operator ... Hashim Thaci."</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The report stated that Thaci exerted "violent control" over the heroin trade. Dick Marty, the European Union investigator, presented the report to European diplomats from all member states. The response was silence. Washington was behind Thaci.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The same Council of Europe report on Kosovo organized crime accused Thaci’s mafia organization of dealing in trade in human organs. Figures from Thaçi's inner circle were accused of taking captives across the border into Albania after the war, where a number of Serbs are said to have been murdered for their kidneys that were sold on the black market. In one case revealed in legal proceedings in a Pristina district court in 2008 organs were said to have been taken from impoverished victims at a clinic known as Medicus – linked to Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) organ harvesting in 2000.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The question then becomes, why are Washington, NATO, the EU and inclusive and importantly, the German Government, so eager to legitimize the breakaway Kosovo? A Kosovo run internally by organized criminal networks is easy for NATO to control. It insures a weak state which is far easier to bring under NATO domination. Combined with NATO control over Afghanistan where the Kosovo heroin controlled by Prime Minister Thaci originates, the Pentagon is building a web of encirclement around Russia that is anything but peaceful.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-large; line-height: 115%;">The Thaci dependence on US and NATO good graces insures Thaci’s government will do what it is asked. That, in turn, assures the US a major military gain consolidating its permanent presence in the strategically vital southeast Europe. It is a major step in consolidating NATO control of Eurasia, and gives the US a large swing its way in the European balance of power. Little wonder Moscow has not welcomed the development, nor have numerous other states. The US is literally playing with dynamite, potentially as well with nuclear war in the Balkans.     <br /><br /><i></i><b></b></span> <br /><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><br /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;"><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div></div>

KOSOVO

Washington’s Kosovo Strategy By F. William Engdahl In one of the more bizarre foreign policy announcements of the Obama Administration, ...