The Ugly Canadian

While Harper trumpeted Canada's generosity towards Tanzania, money promised by the previous Liberal Government and still not up to the actual commitment of 20% of the GDP, the real face of Canada was shown by the Mining companies that Harper had in tow with him. The same gang he had in tow with him when he visited Latin America earlier this year. For Harper 'aid' means investment opportunities.

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA — The goal was to leave the image of a benevolent Canada investing in the health of poor Africans, but in the end it was another Canada, that of its globe-hopping mining companies, that stole the day.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent eight hours yesterday in this commercial centre on the Indian Ocean, visiting a school, lunching with Tanzania's President and announcing a $105-million contribution to a new health-care initiative in Africa and Asia.

Yet it was a 45-minute meeting with officials from a dozen Canadian investors, led by mining giant Barrick Gold Corp., that dominated Mr. Harper's news conference with President Jakaya Kikwete.

Thanks in large part to Barrick's three gold mines, Canada has emerged as Tanzania's largest foreign investor, prompting a resource boom that helped Tanzania record a 6.2-per-cent growth rate last year.

Yet the mining success has prompted allegations that royalties are too low and that Tanzania's people, still among the world's poorest, are not sharing adequately in the bonanza.

Adding to this is a nasty labour dispute at Barrick's Bulyanhulu gold mine, where 1,000 of the 1,900 workers have been on what the company calls an illegal strike for the past month.

A court hearing scheduled for yesterday, at which the union hoped to obtain an injunction to stop Barrick from hiring replacement workers, was postponed to today for reasons that were unclear.

Mr. Harper would not comment on the strike other than to say that he expects Canadian companies to "act responsibly within the laws of the land" when they are abroad. He praised Tanzania for creating a stable political and business environment that encourages Canadian companies to invest.

Mr. Kikwete was also diplomatic when the subject turned to Canada's investment in the mining industry and in particular the work of a committee created to advise the Tanzanian government on whether to change the royalty regime.

"We are not blaming the mining companies," the President said, noting that the companies are living within Tanzanian law.

He added that the goal of the review is to achieve a "win-win situation" for the companies and the government.

"We'd like to see more and more Canadian investment," Mr. Kikwete said.

It was the second time in recent months that Mr. Harper had met Barrick officials during an international trip. In July, he stopped off at Barrick's offices in Santiago, Chile, where the company is developing the massive Pascua Lama mining project in the Andes, despite protests from environmentalists.

Joan Kuyek, the national co-ordinator of MiningWatch, a group that critiques what it sees as irresponsible mining practices around the world, says Barrick's Tanzanian operation displaced thousands of small-scale miners and gives little back to Tanzania.

"If Mr. Harper met only with people chosen to have him meet with and didn't meet with the small-scale miners, didn't meet with the people who have to deal with the social and economic and environmental price that these mines are racking up in Tanzania, and didn't meet with their representatives, well I think that's pretty shocking," Ms. Kuyek said.

See:

Cold Gold

Afghanistan or Africa

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Petro Dollars Bail Out The CITI

And here is more news from Dubai Investments Inc. Petro-Dollars from the middle east bail out the sub prime victims of U.S. excess.No not the mortgage holders or home owners, but the greedy capitalists. They can always expect to get bailed out if not by the Federal Reserve than the Oil Reserves in the Middle East.

And who is going raise the specter of American Security interests over this Wall Street take over? Why no-one, well perhaps Lou Dobbs. This is globalization in action. Just what it's proponents predicted, but not as they expected.

Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, will receive a $7.5 billion cash infusion from Abu Dhabi to replenish capital after record mortgage losses.

Citigroup rose 5.7 percent in German trading after acting Chief Executive Officer Win Bischoff said in a statement late yesterday that Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will help ``strengthen our capital base.''

Abu Dhabi will buy securities that convert into stock and yield 11 percent a year, almost double the interest Citigroup offers bond investors, underscoring the New York-based company's need for cash. Citigroup's fourth-quarter profit will be reduced by as much as $7 billion because of losses from subprime mortgages, which led to the departure of CEO Charles O. ``Chuck'' Prince III and a 45 percent slump in the company's stock.

``Clearly, Citi has a problem with capital adequacy after the subprime crisis,'' said Giyas Gokkent, head of research at National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC, Abu Dhabi's biggest bank by market value. ``ADIA has seen an opportunity to get cheaply into a blue-chip stock.''

With the purchase of a 4.9 percent stake, Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates, would rank as Citigroup's largest shareholder ahead of Los Angeles-based Capital Group Cos. and Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Depleted Capital

The investment follows purchases by U.A.E. fund Dubai International Capital LLC in companies including London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, and New York-based hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management LLC. In Abu Dhabi, state-backed Mubadala Development Co. agreed to buy 7.5 percent of Washington-based buyout firm Carlyle Group. ADIA also owns a stake in Leon Black's New York-based buyout firm Apollo Management LP.

While Joe and Jane Consumer in America get no relief, which only will mean even more American retailers will go crash this shopping season as they desperately drop their prices as fast as the U.S. dollar's decline. It is a season full of desperation.

Holiday shoppers spending carefully
Deep discounts lure, but analysts wary

Discounted sweaters, laptops and personal GPS navigation systems drew large crowds during the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, according to several early surveys, but customers also appeared to temper their spending amid concerns over the economy.

Despite positive signs over the weekend, analysts cautioned yesterday that retailers must keep enticing customers with bargains to sustain momentum through the end of the year. Several retailers and economists say this holiday shopping season could be the worst in five years, in part because of the slumping housing market and higher energy costs.

Retail Desperation on Display in Early Hours

Upbeat holiday shopper traffic on Black Friday may prove short lived


Wall St little changed as investors track retail sales

The lackluster start of trading followed a market rally Friday as big retailers unveiled hefty discounts to lure shoppers into the nation's malls.

"So long as consumer spending keeps rising, the economy will stay out of recession," said Dick Green, an analyst at Briefing.com.

Other analysts said retail sales so far appeared to have been relatively robust over the weekend despite a housing market slump and a related credit crunch.

Banking giant Citigroup is meanwhile planning its second round of "large-scale" layoffs in less than 12 months, according to a report by the CNBC business television channel which cited people with knowledge of the matter.

SEE

Bank Smack Down

9/11

U.S. Economy Entering Twilight Zone

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Nitwits

A follow up to yesterday's post on More Silly Censorship....

The British author Philip Pullman has attacked leading American Catholics as "nitwits" after they called for a boycott of The Golden Compass, which has its world premiere in London tonight.

In an escalation of the religious row over the film adaptation of the first of the Pullman trilogy, the north American Catholic League claimed that the movie is being used to pursue his "atheist agenda" and should be banned.

However, Mr Pullman hit back with a furious counter-attack on his detractors, denying that his agenda was anything other than attracting readers and urging people to be allowed to make up their own mind.

"To regard it as this Donohue man has said - that I'm a militant atheist, and my intention is to convert people - how the hell does he know that?" he said, in an interview with Newsweek magazine.

"Why don't we trust readers? Why don't we trust filmgoers? Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world."

Mr Donohue's call for a boycott has already been taken up by some Catholic leaders in the US and Canada, but not so far in Britain.

A school board in Ontario has ordered Northern Lights, the book on which the film is based, to be removed from library shelves in the run-up to the film's launch. Several other Canadian school boards are reported to be considering taking the same action.

Meanwhile, the archdiocese in Philadelphia has urged parents not to take their children to the film when it is released.

Suspicions over Mr Pullman's agenda appear to have partly been prompted by his past comments on religion to American newspapers. In particular, he told the Washington Post that one of his key goals was to "underminethe basis" of Christian belief.

Despite its attempts to boycott The Golden Compass, the Catholic League's has a less-than impressive track record in triggering religious boycotts. Its highest profile recent attempt was to shun The Da Vinci Code, which ended up becoming one of the most popular movies of 2006 in the US.

Yep that boycott of the Gnostic Heresy the Da Vinci Code was a stunning success.


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Not So Free Dubai

Like Halliburton, everyone is moving to Dubai the free enterprise zone of the Middle East. Unfortunately when it comes to a free press Dubai has allowed its commercial and trade interests with Pakistan to dictate policy. After all free speech and free enterprise do not necessarily go together. Capitalism can function without democracy. And visa versa.

Two of Pakistan's leading private television networks, ordered off air during emergency rule, said on Saturday they had been forced to close down altogether after being ordered to halt transmissions via the United Arab Emirates.

Geo, Pakistan's biggest television network, and ARY One World, both have offices and studios in Dubai Media City, from where they broadcast news.

"We have been told by the (Dubai) Media City that our transmission will be shut down," Imran Aslam, president of Geo News, told Reuters. "This is all I can say at the moment." The channel’s web site said it was shut down “

SEE

Musharraf's Coup

Capitalism and Islam

Freedom and Democracy Where?


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