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POPSObama, Maurice Strong, Al Gore Key Players Cashing In On Chicago Climate Exchange
The nondescript Strong, nonetheless is the big cheese in the underworld of climate change and is one of the main architects of the failing Kyoto Protocol. Full credit for the expose on the business partnership of Strong and Gore in the cap-and-trade reduction scheme should go to the investigative acumen of the Executive Intelligence Review (EIR). The tawdry tale of the top two global warming gurus in the business world goes all the way back to Earth Day, April 17, 1995 when the future author of “An Inconvenient Truth” travelled to Fall River, Massachusetts, to deliver a green sermon at the headquarters of Molten Metal Technology Inc. (MMTI). MMTI was a firm that proclaimed to have invented a process for recycling metals from waste. Gore praised the Molten Metal firm as a pioneer in the kind of innovative technology that can save the environment, and make money for investors at the same time. “Gore left a few facts out of his speech that day,” wrote EIR.
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POPSPhilippines-China Diplomatic Relations In the field of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, trade between the Philippines and China has surpassed the US $2 billion mark in 1998. China is the Philippines' 11th largest trading partner. On 13 September 1999, the Agreement on Agricultural Cooperation was signed, another milestone in the effort to further enhance Philippines-China relations.
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POPS Debacle in Moscow by Charles Krauthammer
And what's come from Obama's single most dramatic foreign policy stroke -- the sudden abrogation of missile defense arrangements with Poland and the Czech Republic that Russia had virulently opposed? For the East Europeans it was a crushing blow, a gratuitous restoration of Russian influence over a region that thought it had regained independence under American protection. But maybe not gratuitous. Some brilliant secret trade-off to get strong Russian support for stopping Iran from going nuclear before it's too late? Just wait and see, said administration officials, who then gleefully played up an oblique statement by President Dmitry Medvedev a week later as vindication of the missile defense betrayal. The Russian statement was so equivocal that such a claim seemed a ridiculous stretch at the time. Well, Clinton went to Moscow this week to nail down the deal. What did she get? "Russia Not Budging On Iran Sanctions: Clinton Unable to Sway Counterpart."
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POPSBan Canadian Imports of Dog and Cat Fur The United States and the European Union already prohibit the import of dog and cat fur. Now it's time for Canada to follow suit! Tell Prime Minister Harper and Agriculture Minister Ritz that you do not support the import of cat and dog fur - or the commercial seal slaughter.
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POPSTobacco Underground
At a time when nations are increasingly trying to crack down on smoking, smugglers put cheap cigarettes into the hands of those most vulnerable — young people and the poor. In addition, the trade is pushing the supply steadily into the black market, selling cut-rate cigarettes of often dubious quality. Of special concern is the advent of a massive counterfeiting industry. Once a minor problem, today underground factories in China, Paraguay, and Eastern Europe manufacture literally billions of fake cigarettes — Marlboros, Camels, 555s, Mild Sevens — an uncontrolled industry that law enforcement is only beginning to grapple with. Many of the smokes are made from the lowest quality tobacco, full of stem and sawdust, and spiked with unusually high levels of nicotine. Other packs contain far worse. Tests reveal that counterfeit cigarettes carry a bevy of products that could further shorten even a heavy smoker’s life: metals such as cadmium, pesticides, arsenic, rat poison, and human feces.
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POPSUN Says New Global Currency Is Needed The 45-year-old UN group, run by former World Trade Organization chief Supachai Panitchpakdi, “promotes integration of developing countries in the world economy,” according to its Web site. Emerging-market nations should consider restricting capital mobility until a new system is in place, the group said. The world body began issuing warnings in 2006 about financial imbalances leading to a global recession.
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POPSHow To Piss Off China & Screw The Consumer All at the same time. More dangerous tires on the road? Also, in timely fashion, seeking out the Dali Lama is not a soothing fact to the Chinese. Timed more strategically, you might be able to say, "Screw 'em." I hear something about needing their support at the U.N.against, Oh..N.Korea,...Iran,..maybe even Chavez.
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POPSChina Bans US Chicken Feet? It is always about the money, it is always about the money, it is always about the money. People, health, environment, and combating disease or job loss? Way down the list. Plus, what kind of great minds do we have in Congress? Avian influenza and cooked chicken - no connection. Food poisoning from E coli, you bet but not avian influenza.
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POPSPolitcs, Profits, Protection US penalizes Chinese tires, infuriating Beijing President Barack Obama's decision to impose trade penalties on Chinese tires has infuriated Beijing at a time when the U.S. badly needs Chinese help on climate change, nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea and the global economy. For the Chinese government, the tire dispute threatens an economic relationship crucial to China's economic growth. There was speculation before the decision that new tariffs could produce public pressure on Beijing to retaliate, potentially leading to a trade war. http://bit.ly/Chinese_trade_war
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POPSUN Wants New Global Currency to Replace Dollar
The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world's monetary system since the Second World War. In essence, the report calls for a new Bretton Woods-style system of managed international exchange rates, meaning central banks would be forced to intervene and either support or push down their currencies depending on how the rest of the world economy is behaving. The proposals would also imply that surplus nations such as China and Germany should stimulate their economies further in order to cut their own imbalances, rather than, as in the present system, deficit nations such as the UK and US having to take the main burden of readjustment. "Replacing the dollar with an artificial currency would solve some of the problems related to the potential of countries running large deficits and would help stability," said Detlef Kotte, one of the report's authors. "But you will also need a system
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POPSUN wants new global currency to replace dollar Add to this the fact that Obama will preside over a UN Security Council meeting...a completely unprecedented move. Like he's doing such a great job in the Oval Office! http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MWNkMWViY2YyZjU5OTY5ZDcyNDQ1MzIwY2NkNWUyOTU=
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POPSChina bubble A Chinese bubble has been deflated. Too bad it’s the wrong one. The main Shanghai stock market index has fallen 23% from its peak at the beginning of August, reversing half of the run-up that started early in 2009. That’s a welcome correction, but it doesn’t mean a return to normality, or address the bigger bubble round the corner.
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POPSDalai Lama embarks on Taiwan trip Despite agreeing to the visit, President Ma has announced he will not meet the Dalai Lama - a move seen as wanting closer economic ties with China which is its biggest trade partner, reports the BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei.
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POPSChina outdoes U.S. in Making Solar Products many worry that Western companies may have fragile prospects when competing with Chinese companies that have cheap loans, electricity and labor, paying recent college graduates in engineering $7,000 a year. “I don’t see Europe or the United States becoming major producers of solar products — they’ll be consumers,” said Thomas M. Zarrella, the chief executive of GT Solar International, a company in Merrimack, N.H., that sells specialized factory equipment to solar panel makers around the world. China’s commitment to solar energy is unlikely to make a difference soon to global warming. China’s energy consumption is growing faster than any other country’s, though the United States consumes more today. Beijing’s aim is to generate 20,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2020 — or less than half the capacity of coal-fired power plants that are built in China each year.
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POPSImages of Abandoned Cities I've always had a fascination with ghost towns of the Old West. There's a rustic, old-world charm about the history they hold. But, there are similar forces at work today. It's hard to see sometimes, because it seems like there are so many people ... everywhere you turn. But it is happening in some places. What's really interesting is seeing images of what these places look like now that they are being discarded. And, even wilder is that some of these will be destroyed to make way for new, more modern improvements. Check out the city in China, for example, just the character of the buildings speak of history. And yet ... they will be gone soon to welcome advancement. But will anyone want to come back? And what makes them come back?
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POPSWhere Have All the Flowers Gone? The flowers of North Korean, Vietnamese, and ? womanhood are being slave-traded to provide wives and concubines in rural China - that's the story that Laura and Euna were following when they were caught up by North Koreans who are part of the new slave trade. So two women reporters will risk all and Sec. Clinton will go out on a limb against army rapes int e Congo - when will you guys stand up with them!?
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POPSCash for Clunkers Video Sparks Outrage Over Wasteful Government Programs
Probably no vehicle as yet since the Cash for Clunkers program ran out of money and the government computers handling these transactions have seized up worse than that Volvo engine. Back to the comments, many of which are from foreigners who can't believe how stupid Americans have become in the Age of Obama: Damn it, I would've been ECSTATIC to own that car! Got a 93 Crown Vic right now with one of those damned AODE transmissions. I'd love to work out a deal with a dealership so I could trade my TRUE clunker in for one of these perfectly good cars, 80% of which are being sold to China of all places for the steel. What a criminal waste of useful cars AND our tax dollars!!! (Actually, not even OUR tax dollars - it's all borrowed!!!) All to please some environmental nutcases who believe The Little People should drive around in tiny little clown cars! What a f----in waste! I know lots of college kids, young professionals and even high school kids that need dependable