stream(Pakistan.Tabilan.infiltration)

##1.february.2012
//moved and reposted from Brian//
//Infiltration easy. Psychological impact large. Reminds me of Vietcong infiltration. It is very difficult to stop. Pakistan has a real long-term problem, and the US is asking it to fight the long war. The US is asking Pakistan to fight the war that itself and the Soviet Union could not win.//
//Drone missiles and Pakistan blood//

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12078248

Pakistan has faced growing US pressure to launch a major ground offensive in the nearby tribal region of North Waziristan, considered a haven for Islamist insurgents.
Islamabad has denied accusations that it is not doing enough to fight the Taliban in the north-west, pointing out that more than 2,400 of its soldiers have died fighting militants since 2002.
Pakistan supported the Taliban regime in Afghanistan from 1996-2001, but later became an ally of the US when it led an invasion in 2001.

stream(Pakistan.middle-east.stability)

##.january.2012.bbc-news
//kin-self vs. community.Islam.God
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16567052

In recent years, there have been a number of bomb blasts and shootings targeting the minority Shia community, carried out by Sunni militants.

stream(Iraq.middle-east)

#notes.//

2012015.
>push.news.BBC.//Iraq city of Ramadi hit by attacks on police station

It is early still. Again, like Syria, Muslims killing Muslims. Kin-self vs Community.greater-self.God
query: how to stop the violence with force? Unrealistic?

The AFP news agency quoted two police officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying that two car bombs went off near the Dawlah Kabir Mosque in central Ramadi at around 11:30 local time (08:30 GMT).

A third car bomb also went off in the city centre, and a fourth car bomb detonated near the police building a short while later.

Two suicide bombers then blew themselves up inside the building before armed insurgents moved in.

Clashes were continuing into the afternoon, the officers said.

stream(Syria.2012.middle-east)

##.february.2012
//Business leader says government is in Catch-22 and has about 6 months before collapse, and that sanctions are also destroying the economy. Therefore, when Bashar is gone, the international community is responsible for rebuilding the infrastructure/economy which was collateral damage in this hardball diplomacy. The trick is to help without appearing to influence the eventual choice of the Syrian people, who of course will also be divided.//
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17088270

Faisal al-Qudsi, the son of a former Syrian president, told the BBC the military action could only last six months and then there would be "millions of people on the streets".

Mr Qudsi now chairs a London-based investment banking firm and has been heavily involved in private sector investment in Syria.

He said the military phase against protesters could only last another six months "because the army is getting tired and will go nowhere".

"They will have to sit and talk or at least they have to stop killing. And the minute they stop killing, more millions of people will be on the streets. So they are in a Catch 22."

##.january.2012.bbc-news
//crisis continues. Bashar will not let go.
>query: is outside military invention good? even if Arab?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16565567

On Saturday, the ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, said Arab countries should send troops into Syria to end the bloodshed.

"For such a situation to stop the killing... some troops should go to stop the killing," he told US television channel CBS for a programme to be aired on Sunday.

It is the first time an Arab leader has publicly called for military intervention in Syria.

##
//bbc guide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13855203

//really Bashar?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16483548

President Assad's speech, broadcast live from Damascus University, was his third televised address since protests against his rule began in March, and lasted nearly two hours.
"Regional and international sides have tried to destabilise the country," he said.
"Our priority now is to regain the security in which we basked in for decades, and this can only be achieved by hitting the terrorists with an iron fist.
"We will not be lenient with those who work with outsiders against the country."

Stream(currency.France.China.Iran.Iraq)

##.january.2012.currency
//the Euro will get stronger?
>qeury: Who is Fitch? =>FB.note

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/31/us-euro-noyer-idUSTRE7BU0FO20111231

The euro could become the world's leading currency in the next decade if leaders of the single-currency bloc succeed in tightening fiscal integration, European Central Bank policymaker Christian Noyer

Ratings agency Fitch has said it doubts a comprehensive solution to the crisis can be found and urged more decisive action from the ECB.

>random correlation = Christian Noyer is also governor of the Bank of France

##.january.2012.currency
//prediction(2012.jn): Renminbi floats in five years.
//prediction(2012.jn): It will take more than five years to modernized China's banking system.
//conclusion: dissonance 
>query: what are the odds for the two scenarios?



http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2012/01/01/china-says-yuan-will-be-fully-convertible-soon/ 

##.january.2012.iran.nuclear proliferation.regime-change.diplomacy 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/02/iran-currency-plunges-us-sanction

Reflecting possible fears about liquidity and the flight of hard currency, Iran over the past few months has restricted cash withdrawals and only allows those travelling abroad to take $2,000 a year.US sanctions already forbid imports of Iranian oil. France is pressing the EU to follow suit. Iran sells large volumes to China, India, South Korea and Japan but Italy, Spain and Greece are also big importers and an EU embargo would pile further pressure on the Iranian economy.

//random correlation: France pressuring ->query: Why not Germany?

##.january.2012.India.Iraq
//fake currency in India.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/400-percent-rise-in-fake-currency-circulation-finmin-report/articleshow/11499047.cms

The STRs, which gave rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that the transaction may involve the proceeds of crime or financing of activities related to terrorism or were made in circumstances of unusual complexity, increased three times in 2010-11 as compared to 10,067 in 2009-10 fiscal.

The FIU report, submitted recently to the Finance Ministry, stated that "private Indian banks contributed majority of CCRs".

//currency trading.making money on sanctions.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-12/iraq-deplores-currency-attack-as-dollars-flow-to-syria-iran.html

Iraq’s central bank said it’s under a “currency attack” as traders buy U.S. dollars in daily auctions and resell them on the black market in Syria and Iran, which face hard currency shortages due to sanctions.
Demand for the greenback at the central bank auctions has risen since November to about $200 million to $300 million a day, compared with about $160 million in the prior 12 months, the deputy central bank governor, Mudher Salih, said in an interview in Baghdad Jan. 10.