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91 U.S. Backs Off Court Immunity Demand -- rank: 1000

The first retreat. Chris Burford At 11/07/02 11:36 -0400, you wrote: >U.S. Backs Off Court Immunity Demand >Thu Jul 11, 8:38 AM ET >By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer > >UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Facing worldwide opposition, the United States has >retreated from its demand that American peacekeepers be permanently immune >from the new war crimes tribunal. U.S. diplomats are instead proposing a >yearlong ban on any investigation. > >The compromise proposal made ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Jul 11 17:56:26 PDT 2002

92 Breaking story on "the Cheney question" -- rank: 1000

London 7:30 Local time In appreciation of the robust and critical forum that Doug has fostered on LBO talk, I am forwarding this story for the breakfast contemplation of all left business observers. In well-choreographed newsmanagement on both sides of the Atlantic, BBC2's Newsnight progamme last night was able to go on from discussion of Bush's call for business ethics and executive who falsify accounts to be prosecuted, note that Wall street was underwhelmed, and commented that it now raises & ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Jul 9 23:46:41 PDT 2002

93 Putin vs. the oligarchs -- rank: 1000

Presumably with the dollar as a weak way to store value now, Putin's move is well timed. It is a sort of populist national finance capital initiative initiative, it seems, not accidentally linked with a restriction of bourgeois democratic rights. Chris Burford At 02/07/02 18:30 +0400, you wrote: >Business Week Online >JULY 8, 2002 >Commentary: This Time, Putin May Really Tame the Oligarchs >By Paul Starobin >Starobin covers Russian economics and politics from Moscow. > >It's ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Jul 4 16:54:11 PDT 2002

94 hunted gatherers -- rank: 1000

re the humans as prey thread, it is quite plausible that much earlier, over several millions of years of human evolution, humanoids were much more hunted than hunter gatherers. It is an artefact of 19th century European triumphalism to privilege the particular ascent to that society. Most primate species became extinct. Our own would have had to learn skills of cooperation even more than aggressive dominant skills in order to reach our present glorious position. It is just worth remembering this ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Jul 2 17:10:08 PDT 2002

95 Trent Lott and WorldCom -- rank: 1000

>>> No one has yet suggested that the WorldCom scandal could strike at the heart of the Bush administration quite as starkly as Enron, but there are embarrassing connections that could spiral into a political scandal. Details are emerging of a highly amicable and lucrative relationship between the shamed WorldCom conglomerate and Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, one of Bush's closest confidants on Capitol Hill. The new Trent Lott Leadership Institute received a $1 million d ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Jun 30 12:19:25 PDT 2002

96 management capitalism "under threat" -- rank: 1000

Appearing to draw from the draft report, the BBC tonight quoted the International Corporate Governance Network saying that the "managerial capitalism" that "dominates the world" is "under threat" if inflated salaries for chief executives are not brought under control. Just a sign of falling stock prices, or an indication of the greater socialisation of finance capitalism? After all even these CEO's are workers. It is probably not so much their salary bill but the da ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Jun 24 16:17:00 PDT 2002

97 Conflict between lists and pluralism -- rank: 1000

At 03/06/02 13:55 +0100, I wrote: > It is really a symptom of loss of direction. This was left floating after a bit of hasty editing. It was really intended to refer to arbitrary personal attacks by one list owner on another. Such behaviour should be held up as a sign of weakness, with a carefully sober refutation. At its best this sort of activity may get justified by arguing that opportunism is strategically the most dangerous weakness before the "crisis of leadership" of the i ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Jun 4 23:17:49 PDT 2002

98 Moscow's Shift Forcing China Into a Corner -- rank: 1000

At 03/06/02 10:16 +0400, you quoted a Stratfor report which seemed to be somewhat gleeful in suggesting that China has been displaced by the USA in influencing Russia. This ended >Beijing will continue talking to Moscow, buying Russian weapons and putting >a friendly face on relations. But at the same time, China has seen its >fortunes wane as Moscow's have risen, and it will do whatever it can to >undermine U.S.-Russia relations and regain the strategic high ground. I picked up Bei ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Jun 3 06:23:07 PDT 2002

99 Conflict between lists and pluralism -- rank: 1000

At 02/06/02 15:00 -0400, Doug Henwood wrote: >Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: > >>I don't defend myself and set the record straight about what I say and do >>on when Mine baits me on marxmail > >There's a difference between "baiting" and outright lying, which is what >Proyect does. And it's extremely exasperating to be lied about by a >vicious sect of one (though I guess now the spousal team are a sect of >two). What do you do? Descend into the mud and wrestle ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Jun 3 05:55:15 PDT 2002

100 "Ban business funding of politics" -- rank: 1000

The fruits of New Labour's risky but tactical approach to capitalist influence over the electoral process. Could US business get to this point?? Chris Burford London Ban party funding, says CBI chief By Michael Harrison, Business Editor 20 May 2002 Political donations from companies should be banned and replaced by a system of state funding of parties, the leader of British industry said yesterday. Sir John Egan, the new president of the Confederation of British Industry, said it had become too ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon May 20 00:02:01 PDT 2002

101 UK Private Finance Initiative criticised in BMJ -- rank: 1000

A detailed critical article in this week's British Medical Journal focusses on private or public management of risk in the high profile area of health care. BMJ 2002;324:1205-1209 ( 18 May ) This is a major issue in the performance of the New Labour government. More generally, the management of health risk, not least the USA, is a major issue for finance capitalism. Here is the editorial comment. The government claims that using the private finance initiative (PFI) to build NHS hospitals offers ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun May 19 08:15:36 PDT 2002

102 Merrill Lynch? -- rank: 1000

How big? Just a one off? Just a symptom of how debatable business practices can be brushed over in rising market but get unconvered in one that is not rising? Coupled with Enron, will this weaken the extent to which overseas investors wish to park their cash in the USA? Chris Burford

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue May 14 16:09:55 PDT 2002

103 China "running dog of European imperialism" - US Trade Rep -- rank: 1000

At 27/04/02 18:27 -0400, you wrote: >Quote of the week, for sheer arrogance and hypocrisy, has to go to US Trade >Representative Robert Zoellick who, the Asia Times reports, described China >as a "running dog of European imperialism", after Beijing's move to raise >its first trade dispute at the WTO against the US over the protectionist and >unilateral steel tariffs it imposed. I thought that China's first move on steel was to protest the counter-measures of Europe again ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sat Apr 27 23:52:10 PDT 2002

104 Germany - East gap grows? -- rank: 1000

Interesting exchange on Germany as a whole. How crucial is the stagnation of East Germany in the overall picture? Following the severe losses by the SDP in the regional election in Sachsen-Anhalt in the East, coming in behind the PDS, the International Herald Tribune carried this item on the continued stagnation of the economy in the East. Is it true that this is a main factor dragging German performance down? And if the problem is getting worse, can it be remedied under the present polices inst ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 26 23:11:45 PDT 2002

105 Sensible mainstream commentary on Fr. elections -- rank: 1000

At 23/04/02 10:37 -0700, Brad Mayer wrote: >To staunch the manipulative, self-serving hysterics. While I can agree with some of Brad's points could he please say to what he is referring in this comment? The Brookings Institute article does comment: >The impression of a France in the hands of extremists or on the verge of a >fascist takeover — some French commentators on election night did not >hesitate to make allusions to Germany in 1933 — needs to be put in perspective. But various ...

Document Size:	5946
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Apr 23 23:08:45 PDT 2002