The former U.S. president confirmed he had no evidence the plant Syria was building was a nuclear weapons facility. He wrote in his book, "Decision Points," he had received an intelligence report about a "suspicious, well-hidden facility in the eastern desert of Syria." Bush said he telephoned Olmert to tell him of the report, and it was then that the Israeli prime minister urged the U.S. president to bomb the facility.
Bush said he discussed various options with his national security team, including a bombing mission, "but bombing a sovereign country with no warning or announced justification would create severe blowback."
In an extraordinary admission the former president said a covert raid was also discussed but was considered too risky to slip a team in and out of Syria undetected. A covert raid many would describe as a terrorist attack.
The book also reveals for the first time that the CIA which had "high confidence," that the Syrian plan contained a nuclear reaction, had "low confidence" that it was part of a nuclear weapons program. The assessment was delivered to Bush directly by then-CIA Director Mike Hayden.
Bush also revealed he told Olmert, "I cannot justify an attack on a sovereign nation unless my intelligence agencies stand up and say it’s a weapons program."
Bush offered to address the Syrian issue by diplomacy with a threat of military action. Olmert, says Bush, told him, "Your strategy is very disturbing to me."
Israel subsequently bombed the Syrian facility using its own resources. Bush wrote he did not authorise the bombing or give Israel a "green light." Israel refused to acknowledge it had carried out the strike and prohibited Israeli media from covering the attack.
The U.S. also refused to comment on the raid. When asked on Fox News Sunday on September 16 2007, Defense Secretary Robert Gates would not respond to questions on the attack. Neither would he confirm the veracity of leaked intelligence reports suggesting that North Korea may have been assisting Syria build a nuclear weapons facility. "But all I will say is we are watching the North Koreans very carefully. We watch the Syrians very carefully," he said.
It was not until October 2 2007 that the Israel Defense Forces admitted it had carried out the September 6 2007 attack. On October 28 2007 Olmert told his cabinet he had apologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo
The U.S.A Must Sell More to China and Inde to Rebuild Economy
November 06, 2010, 1:07 AM
The U.S. must sell more to Asia to help rebuild an economy recovering from its worst recession since the Great Depression, President Barack Obama said in an opinion piece published yesterday in the New York Times.
U.S. companies will announce contracts worth “billions of dollars” in India, said Obama, who said he aims to double exports in five years. The president also said he’ll work to complete a trade agreement with South Korea during his 10-day, four-nation swing through Asia.
Obama’s trip begins days after U.S. voters in midterm elections turned control of the House of Representatives over to Republicans and narrowed the Democratic Party’s Senate majority. The sluggish U.S. economy, a national jobless rate at or above 9.5 percent for 14 consecutive months and a federal budget deficit forecast by the administration to hit $1.4 trillion this year were top issues in the campaign.
“We need to find new customers in new markets for American-made goods,” Obama wrote in the New York Times. “Our government, together with American businesses and workers, must take steps to promote and sell our goods and services abroad — particularly in Asia.”
Obama is visiting India and Indonesia before heading to the G-20 summit in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, and the APEC meeting in Yokohama, Japan. He is joined on his trip in India by a group of chief executives including Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric Co. and Jim McNerney of Boeing Co.
“It is hard to overstate the importance of Asia to our economic future,” Obama wrote. “We want to expand our trade relationships in the region, including through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to make sure that we’re not ceding markets, exports and the jobs they support to other nations.”
Losing Market Share
The U.S., once the top exporter to South Korea, has dropped to fourth place, the president wrote.
Exports of American goods to Indonesia jumped 47 percent in the first eight months of 2010 from the same period a year ago, he said. Every $1 billion the U.S. exports support more than 5,000 jobs in the nation, he said.
Obama said he will seek to reduce barriers to U.S. exports in India. His three-day stay in that nation will be the longest in a foreign country of his presidency.
India offers a rapidly growing market for U.S. companies, including Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, power-plant turbines and locomotives.
India is the U.S.’s 12th-largest trading partner and commerce between the two countries more than doubled to $37 billion in 2009 compared with 2003, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. In the first eight months of 2010, total trade topped $32 billion.
Hu’s on first
Forbes bumps Obama on power list
By OGV| 11/04/10 2:34 PM Updated: 11/04/10 6:55 PM
Chinese president Hu Jintao is at the top of Forbes’ ‘Most Powerful People’ list. Close
Here’s another blow to President Obama’s ego: Forbes has bumped him from the top of its “Most Powerful People” list.
The new top dog isn’t John Boehner, though — or anyone from the United States: It’s China’s president, Hu Jintao.
The list, published Wednesday, moved Hu up from last year’s spot at No. 2. Obama now sits in second place.
No Republican lawmakers are anywhere on the list of power brokers, most of whom are world leaders or the heads of companies and organizations.
The rankings are determined by seven Forbes editors who filter through an initial group of 75 candidates on four areas: the degree of the person’s influence on people, their financial resources, whether they are powerful in multiple spheres and how actively they wield their power.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ranked No. 20, followed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at No. 23 and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at No. 28.
De plus en plus de pays d’Asie et d’Amérique Latine se plaignent de la politique monétaire américaine qui fait chuter le dollar et alimente l’inflation chez eux. A une semaine du G20, certains n’hésitent pas à brandir la menace de représailles.
Ben Bernanke, le patron de la Banque centrale américaine, la Fed.
La banque centrale américaine va racheter d’ici la mi-2011
pour 600 milliards de dollars d’emprunts d’Etat, créant ainsi une masse monétaire équivalente sur les marchés internationaux.
Quel est l’effet de la décision de la Fed sur les pays émergents ?
La création monétaire américaine fait baisser le dollar par rapport à monnaie des économies émergentes, ce qui porte préjudice à leurs exportations. Sur ce point, les pays asiatiques sont particulièrement mal lotis : comme Pékin garde fermement le contrôle de son taux de changes, les devises des autres pays asiatiques s’apprécient plus que le yuan face au dollar, ce qui rend leurs exportations moins compétitives que les chinoises. Par ailleurs, les matières premières en particulier peuvent flamber puisqu’elles jouent le rôle de valeur refuge contre la baisse du dollar, ce qui contribue à alimenter les pressions inflationnistes dans ces pays. Surtout, en inondant les marchés de dollars à bas prix, la Réserve fédérale permet aux spéculateurs d’emprunter à bon compte aux Etats-Unis et de réinvestir ces billets verts dans les pays à forte croissance. "Un montant énorme de capitaux va probablement se diriger vers les économies émergentes", a affirmé un conseiller de la banque centrale chinoise, Xia Bin. Les investisseurs cherchent en effet à tirer parti à la fois de l’écart de devises et de taux d’intérêt. C’est ce qu’on appelle le carry trade. Or ces capitaux favorisent les bulles, notamment sur l’immobilier, la bourse et la dette souveraine. Le risque étant que ces investissements volatils et spéculatifs se retirent brusquement en cas de stress financier, et que la bulle éclate.
Comment peuvent-ils se défendre ?
Ils sont coincés. "La politique monétaire des pays émergents est principalement orientée sur le ciblage de l’inflation, explique François Faure, économiste à BNP Paribas. Les Banques centrales sont donc censées augmenter les taux d’intérêt pour freiner l’inflation. Or cela ne fait qu’accroître l’écart de taux entre les deux pays, ce qui stimule l’investissement de portefeuille, fait grimper la monnaie locale et justifie d’autant plus la position du carry trade".
Face à ce dilemme, il y a deux types de réactions. Les pays comme le Chili et la Colombie ont compris qu’il était vain de lutter. Ils laissent leur monnaie s’apprécier et se contentent de respecter leur objectifs d’inflation, quitte à augmenter leur taux d’intérêt. Quant aux pays comme le Brésil et la Thaïlande, mais aussi l’Indonésie, la Corée et Taiwan, ils cherchent à résister à la hausse de leur devise en mettant en place des mesures de contrôle de capitaux. Une arme à double tranchant puisque des contrôles trop sévères risquent de faire paniquer les investisseurs, provoquer un retrait massif des capitaux et in fine accroître la volatilité que ces mesures devaient justement combattre. Mais "le but est moins de limiter le niveau absolu des entrées de capitaux que de canaliser ces flux, explique dans une note l’économiste d’Axa IM Hervé Liévore. En cela, on retrouve la philosophie de la taxe sur les investissements étrangers du Brésil, dont le durcissement de 2% à 6% exclut les investissements directs et les actions". De fait, les investissements de long terme restent eux les bienvenus.
Les contrôles de capitaux exacerbent-ils la "guerre des devises"?
La réaction défensive de certains pays émergents augure mal d’un accord au G20 en faveur d’une réduction contraignante des déséquilibres des comptes courants qui permettrait d’éviter une guerre des monnaies. Le secrétaire au Trésor américain Timothy Geithner souhaite en effet que les pays du G20 s’engagent à limiter à 4% du PIB leur excédent ou déficit de la balance des comptes courants. Or l’Allemagne, la Chine et l’Inde se sont d’ores et déjà dits défavorables à la proposition américaine. S’ils attendent quelque chose de la réunion du 11 et 12 novembre c’est des "explications" de la part des Etats-Unis. "Il semblerait normal que quelqu’un vienne nous donner une explication, a ainsi averti Cui Tiankai, vice-ministre chinois des Affaires étrangères. Sinon, la confiance internationale dans la reprise et la croissance de l’économie mondiale pourraient s’en ressentir". Du point de vue du FMI, il est plutôt de la responsabilité des pays émergents d’arrêter de résister à l’appréciation de leur monnaie. "Dans le cas du Brésil, étant donné les circonstances actuelles, ces flux ont des chances d’être plutôt permanents, a estimé en octobre l’économiste en chef du FMI, Olivier Blanchard, donc essayer de les combattre par une accumulation de réserves est probablement autodestructeur".
Le vote Latino-Américain est crucial pour les Républicains !
El voto hispano es crucial para los Republicanos en EE.UU.
Los electores hispanos fueron cruciales en la elección del martes de legisladores y gobernadores en Estados Unidos, creando un bastión para los candidatos en problemas en el Oeste.
Los republicanos, sin embargo, dicen que también han avanzado en este frente, con la elección de varios hispanoamericanos en cargos de alto perfil.
La pregunta para los dos partidos es la siguiente: ¿pueden sus líderes construir sobre estas ganancias pensando en las elecciones de 2012, en medio de lo que probablemente sea otro áspero debate sobre la inmigración?.
Los hispanos dieron un apoyo vital a los demócratas en las elecciones del martes de senadores en Nevada, Colorado y California, de acuerdo con los analistas. En el caso del líder de la mayoría demócrata en el Senado, Harry Reid, aproximadamente el 90% de los votantes latinos lo apoyaron, de acuerdo con un sondeo de Latino Decisions, un grupo independiente. La encuesta fue co-patrocinada por el Consejo Nacional de La Raza, un grupo hispano de derecho civiles, la Service Employees International Union y Voz de América, un grupo de defensa de los inmigrantes. El voto hispano "fue absolutamente la razón por la que Harry Reid ganó", dijo el encuestador de Latino Decisions, Matt Barreto.
![[Hispanos]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-BI889_HISPAN_E_20101103185146.jpg)
Celebración de la victoria del senador Harry Reid, demócrata por Nevada, contra Sharron Angle.
Los republicanos, sin embargo, resaltaron sus propios avances entre los hispanos, incluyendo la victoria Susana Martínez, electa gobernadora de Nuevo México y de Marco Rubio que fue electo senador por Florida. En Nevada, el ex juez Brian Sandoval derrotó a Rori Reid, el hijo del senador Reid, y se transformó en el primer gobernador latino del estado.
En Texas, hogar de la mayor cantidad de latinos en EE.UU. después de California, los electores eligieron a dos latinos republicanos como sus representantes en la cámara baja. Bill Flores, un ex ejecutivo de la industria del petróleo y del gas y un recién llegado a la política, derrotó ampliamente al demócrata Chet Edwards, quien había sido legislador durante 20 años. Los hispanos representan más del 15% de la población en el distrito Central de Texas.
Otro republicano hispano, Francisco "Quico" Canseco, desplazó al demócrata Ciro Rodríguez en el extendido distrito 23, que incluye parte de San Antonio. Más de la mitad de los residentes del distrito son latinos y Rodríguez contó con su respaldo durante su período, pero terminó con solamente el 45% de los votos y fue superado por el 49% de Canseco.
Buena parte del respaldo hispano a los demócratas parece ser una respuesta al intenso debate sobre la inmigración en los estados del Oeste, fundamentalmente Arizona, donde los legisladores aprobaron este año una controvertida ley que establece que la policía puede interrogar a las personas si hay alguna razón para sospechar que están ilegalmente en Estados Unidos.
Si se toma en cuenta la áspera retórica de algunos republicanos en los temas de inmigración, la elección del martes fue "una daga para las probabilidades republicanas en 2012 en los estados del Oeste que votan en forma variable a menos que logren presentar un candidato presidencial que tenga la capacidad de conectarse con los electores latinos y no hacerlos sentir alienados", opinó Barreto.
Los republicanos tienen la esperanza de que promover candidatos hispanos conservadores los ayudará a captar una mayor porporción del creciente electorado latino. Los tres ganadores, Martínez, Rubio y Sandoval, han tomado posiciones estrictas pero mesuradas respecto a la inmigración, combinando llamados a reforzar la seguridad en la frontera con lo que Sandoval llama "respeto" a los inmigrantes legales.
La pregunta de qué hacer con los alrededor de 11 millones de indocumentados en EE.UU. acechará a los dos partidos en los próximos dos años. Los demócratas arriesgan irritar a algunos votantes no hispanos si aprueban una reforma amplia pero podrían decepcionar a los latinos si no lo hacen. Los republicanos enfrentan un debate interno respecto a cómo dar cabida a su ala anti-imigración y, al mismo tiempo, acercarse de manera efectiva a los hispanos.
"Hemos comenzado por la elección de líderes latinos y latinas", dice Ed Gillespie, un estratega republicano y ex presidente del Comité Nacional Republicano. "Esto ayuda, es un impacto positivo de esta elección. Sin perjuicio de lo anterior, tenemos que hacer un mejor trabajo en el partido para obtener una participación más grande de este creciente porcentaje del electorado".
Go to POLITICO.com: http://www.politico.com
What to watch tonight
By: Alexander Burns
POLITICO’s guide to the most important results on election night – and what they mean.
more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44530.html
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Parties to battle over deficit cuts
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
A new wave of Republicans could create conditions for a classic Washington standoff.
more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44528.html
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Spin cycle: What will top Dems say?
By: Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin
They’ll have to signal quickly whether they’re going to be combative or conciliatory toward new Congress.
more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44519.html
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Third Way fights for role in party
By: James Hohmann
As liberals and moderates fight, Third Way prepares to take on a central role in the Democratic Party.
more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44523.html
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Veteran pols will head rookie class
By: Marin Cogan
Of the 70 potential GOP freshmen, two-thirds will come to Washington with political experience.
more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44527.html
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Boehner not ready to proclaim victory
By: Jake Sherman
He promises a ‘great night’ for candidates.
more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44536.html
Related Stories:
– Obama preempts Boehner salvo – http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44508.html
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Stocks rally on manufacturing data
Click chart for more of today’s market action. By CNNMoney.com staffNovember 1, 2010: 10:37 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — U.S. stocks started November with a bang. The Dow soared more than 100 points following a better-than-expected report on manufacturing, with the buying spilling over into the broader market.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) jumped 117 points, or 1.1%, less than an hour into the session. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 12 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq (COMP) rose 23 points, or 0.9%.
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The Dow is coming off its best October since 2006, although stocks ended mixed on Friday after government estimates showed the U.S. economy grew at a sluggish 2% annual rate in the third quarter.
Stocks have been climbing since late August on expectations of additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve and bets that Tuesday’s Congressional elections will favor the Republicans.
But the tone has been more cautious recently, with stocks mostly moving sideways over the last week, as investors take a wait-and-see attitude ahead of ahead of the week’s big events — the election Tuesday, the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday and the October jobs report due Friday.
"All that really matters now is the Fed coming in with a boat-load of money," said Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading. "The only reason the market has been going higher for the past two months is because of these expectations of Fed money-pumping."
But a reading showing stronger-than-expected manufacturing growth in October managed to tide investors over on Monday.
Chinese stocks also moved higher overnight on strong manufacturing numbers from the world’s second-biggest economy.
Economy: The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index jumped to 56.9 in October from 54.4 in September. That easily beat the reading of 54 expected by economists. Any reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector.
A report on personal income and spending before the bell showed that personal income decreased 0.1% while personal spending increased 0.2% in September.
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Economists had expected the Commerce Department to report that spending by individuals rose 0.4% in September, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com. Personal income was expected to have risen 0.2% in the month.
Separately, government data showed that construction spending unexpectedly rose 0.5% in September, while economists had expected a 0.7% drop.
Companies: AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) announced early Monday that it has raised nearly $37 billion by selling off one insurance subsidiary, and the initial public offering of a second, AIA Group Ltd. AIG’s stock edged up modestly.
Before the bell, Loews (L, Fortune 500) reported that its net income dropped in the third quarter to $36 million, compared to $468 million in 2009. That included a one-time charge of $328 million stemming from CNA Financial Corporation, a subsidiary. Excluding that charge, Loews reported earnings of 13 cents per share, topping analyst expectations. Shares were little changed.
Shares of Wilmington Trust (WL) sank more than 5% on news of a bigger-than-expected third quarter loss. The bank also agreed to be bought by M&T (MTB).
Companies scheduled to post results this week include BP (BP), MasterCard (MA, Fortune 500), Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500), CVS Caremark (CVS, Fortune 500) and WellPoint (WLP, Fortune 500).
World markets: European shares were higher in midday trading. The CAC 40 in France was up 0.2%, the DAX in Germany rose 0.4% and Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.6%.
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Asian markets ended mixed. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index dropped 0.5%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 2.4%. The Shanghai Composite ticked up 2.5%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the euro and the Japanese yen, but fell against the British pound.
Oil futures for December delivery rallied, gaining $2.31, or 2.5%, to $83.64 a barrel.
Gold for December delivery fell $4.50 to $1353.10 an ounce.
Bonds: Prices on U.S. Treasuries rose Monday, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year note down to 2.60% from 2.61% late Friday. 
Les Democrates seront balayés !
One of the Democrats’ great turnaround stories is Jerry Brown in California. | AP Photo Close
By
MIKE ALLEN | 11/1/10 9:23 AM EDT
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Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, is a boxing fan who says his candidates are “in the 12th round, because we’ve been fighting all year.”
“The Republicans have got a huge wind at their back,” Daschle said in an interview for the POLITICO video series, “Countdown to 2010.”
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“They’ve got a lot of things going for them, but they haven’t been able to knock us out. I think we’ve shown we’ve got a great chin. We’ve shown we can take a punch. … If this is a matter of heart, which a lot of boxing matches are, I think we’ll win.”
Daschle has been telling audiences that if Democrats have a bright spot on election night, it’ll be the statehouse races. And he calls this “the election of a generation in gubernatorial politics.”
“You have three things going on,” he said. “One is we have 37 gubernatorial races, 24 of which are open. Two is that a number of these run through important 2012 battlegrounds. And three is that this falls on the eve of congressional redistricting. So it’s not a stretch to say that the gubernatorial elections this year is going to shape the political landscape for the next decade.”
What will constitute victory?
“If we can end the night short of where the Republicans project — having picked up some big states like California, Florida, maybe holding onto Ohio — we’re going to end the night with about the same number, if not more, Americans having a Democratic governor as we have now and possibly more electoral votes than we have now, and more than the Republicans have. If that’s the case, then there’s no question it was a win for us.”
One of the Democrats’ great turnaround stories is Jerry Brown in California, who held off on campaign advertising until Labor Day.
“He got a lot of criticism,” Daschle said. “There a number of people — I know here in D.C., and elsewhere — who were criticizing him. They were saying, ‘Jerry Brown needs to get active. It’s a much too sedentary campaign.’ And his team was saying, ‘No. Just wait. We knew the most important time for us to be spending money is post-Labor Day. Now, Meg Whitman spent about a hundred million dollars up until Labor Day, and she could not close this race.’”
Daschle also takes heart from his party’s ability to stay competitive in Rust Belt races.
“Ohio’s closing,” he said. “We’re stronger in Pennsylvania than we were … just a couple of weeks ago. I think we’re going to pick up Minnesota. We’re still very, very competitive in Wisconsin. … Voters there, like they are everywhere, are still looking for change.”
Daschle said a hurdle for the party has been “a long-term, unsatisfied appetite for change in this nation.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44484.html#ixzz142TWPgLA
