 |  | | Debt Crisis & West |
 YOU may recall the Latin
American debt crisis of 1982,
the Asian debt crisis of 1997,
the Russian debt crisis of 1998
- and you´ll certainly remember
the US sub-prime debt crisis of 2008.
Now we have a European debt crisis
and, horror of horrors, a US government
debt crisis.
That´s the word to keep hold of: debt.
Ignore the financiers´ jargon - bond
yields, credit default swaps, hedge
funds - which make finance sound like
quantum physics, a fearfully abstruse
subject beyond the grasp of ordinary
mortals. Financial crises occur when
people (or governments or companies)
can´t repay their debts. Or more precisely
when their creditors (or shareholders)
decide they aren´t likely to get
their money... |
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| |  | | US GRIPPED BY GREAT
CONTRACTION |
| IN the wake of the hugely disappointing
budget deal and
the S&P´s debt downgrade,
maybe we need to hang a new
sign in the immigration arrival
halls at all US ports and airports. It
could simply read: "Welcome. You
are entering the United States of
America. Past performance is not
necessarily indicative of future
returns."
Because our country is now finding
itself in the worst kind of
decline - a slow decline, just slow
enough for us to keep deluding ourselves
that nothing really fundamental
needs to change if our
future is to match our past.
Our slow decline is a product of
two inter-related problems. First,
we´ve let our five basic pillars of
growth erode since the end of the
Cold War - education, infrastructure,
immigration... |
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Qadhafi forces renew offensive against rebels
AFP
BENGHAZI MOAMER Qadhafi’s troops were on Monday on the offensive against rebels in key western towns but the insurgents clung on to strategic Bir Ghanam despite claims it had been retaken by loyalists. The rebels admitted they were running low on ammunition as they struggled to hold off an assault by the Libyan leader’s forces in the town of Zliten, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of the capital Tripoli. Abdul Wahab Melitan, a rebel spokesman in the port city of Misrata near Zliten, said forces loyal to strongman Qadhafi had on Sunday launched an assault on their positions in the Souk Telat area, killing three and wounding 15. “The rebels lack ammunition to advance and we do not want to risk losing any ground,” Melitan said. The rebels on Tuesday punched into the centre of Zliten, sparking fierce clashes but later pulled back to the edge of the city. In Tripoli, Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi told reporters that government troops had recaptured the strategic town of Bir Ghanam, southwest of the capital, from insurgents. “Life is back to normal in Bir Ghanam, and today it is under the full control of the regime,” Mahmudi said. But rebels were in control of the town early Monday, a journalist said. “The rebels are controlling the checkpoints. There are no shots,” the journalist said, adding that NATO warplanes were flying overhead. Rebels from the Berberdominated Nafusa mountain range south of Tripoli claimed the capture of Bir Ghanam just 80 kilometres from the capital on Saturday, as they pushed further east. The rebels have been using the Nafusa as a springboard to advance on Tripoli but have encountered strong resistance from fighters loyal to Qadhafi. Mahmudi also condemned the intensification of NATO raids on Tripoli and other cities, claiming that the alliance no longer “differentiates between civilian and military sites.” Mahmudi criticised the National Transitional Council (NTC), the rebels’ de facto government, and the security situation in the rebel-controlled east, especially after last month’s assassination of General Abdel Fatah Yunis, a longtime Qadhafi ally before he defected. The premier claimed that the “decision-making and the real forces in the field are in the hands of Islamist extremist groups.” Since the beginning of the revolt, the Qadhafi regime has portrayed the fivemonth- old uprising as an Al Qaeda plot.
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