Stoking the Furnace of the War Machine

Since World War ii, building up large-scale defense companies has been taboo in Germany. But that taboo is now largely history.
Two of Germany’s top military manufacturers—Rheinmetall and man Group—have announced their intention to merge their military vehicle production. The resulting combine will produce a new national champion and leading supplier for wheeled military vehicles in Europe.

This amalgamation, which has been in the works for a year, has been pushed by the political class. The German government is a big supporter of bulking up German military industry. MarketWatch columnist David Marsh said it “has been providing behind-the-scenes assistance to make sure industry goes in the right direction.” The new combine “meets the long-held German desire to build industrial companies with world scale in the defense field” (January 18).

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Germany Worries About Its Gold Reserves

Philipp Missfelder, member of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union, tried to inspect German gold reserves stored in New York, but was not given access.
(Getty Images) 

German politicians and accounting bodies want more guarantees concerning the security of Germany’s gold reserves, with Germany’s federal audit office due to report to the finance committee of the German Parliament on the matter.

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Germany’s Gold Hoard by Ron Fraser and Andrew Miller

Germany’s gold reserves may prove a powerful weapon in the troubled world economy.
(Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

Gold skyrocketed to over us$1,800 an ounce on Tuesday. One nation gained powerfully as a result: Germany.

As the markets fixate on Europe, seeking to understand the complexities involved in Franco-German moves to stabilize the eurozone and hence the global economy, little attention has been paid to a crucial component of German power in this whole equation—Germany’s gold hoard.

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Did the Holy Roman Empire Plan the Greek Crisis? by Gerald Flurry

The Greek riots are a sign of a far greater upheaval that is threatening to engulf much of Europe.
(Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

I’d like to add my thoughts to a critical article written by Richard Palmer, titled “Who Will Stop the Greece Fires?” It was placed on our website Dec. 16, 2008.

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Italy Calls in the Army to Protect Tax Collectors

Italy’s Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri announced May 13 that Equitalia, the private company that collects taxes, and Finmeccanica, an aerospace and defense conglomerate, may receive military protection after they were attacked by anarchists.

Cancellieri warned that the army may also need to protect Italy’s high-speed rail network. 

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Somewhere In Nigeria by Faith Abiodun

Twitter. Trends. Nigeria

#somewhereinNigeria

In one sudden flash, young Nigerians have taken to Twitter like an army of vultures on post-World War II Japan. The last couple of months have witnessed such an influx of opinion makers and shameless attention-seekers to the Twittersphere, that one wouldn’t be surprised if the elderly ones start to challenge the younger ones thus: “Don’t you know I started using Twitter before you?” A daily dose of Twittercetamol always leaves one energized with entertaining contributions from ALIBABAGCFR, Denrele Edun, Don Jazzy, Eggheader, Ogundamisi, Tolu Ogunlesi, Chinedu Ekeke, MrFixNigeria and several others. No day is complete without the endless list of people begging D’banj and Darey for a retweet; no day is complete without ALIBABA’s knock-knock jokes; no day is complete without MrFixNigeria making new enemies with occasional provocative tweets, and you can trust Chinedu Ekeke and co to take him to the cleaners within seconds. Twitter is always fun, but today things are getting serious.

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Omojuwa interviews Senator Bukola Saraki

Senator Bukola Saraki spoke to Omojuwa.com’s Japh and Fiyinfoluwa Elegbede. We spoke on issues ranging from his current travails with the police, the Senate and it’s allowances, the competence (or otherwise of president Jonathan), his tenure as Kwara State Governor and the issues around the N21 billion loan saga amongst others.

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Still on Failing State & Fading Peacekeepers by Nasir El-Rufai

Last week’s column on our nation’s peacekeeping failures ruffled more than a few feathers both within the defence establishment and corridors of executive power. That was expected, because when those wasting our resources in the name of our defence become exposed in the way our peacekeeping capacity has rapidly deteriorated, all kinds of motives will be imputed to divert attention from the wanton looting of the defence and security budgets going on between the presidency and the agencies concerned.

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Between Terrorism and Corruption – Implications For Nigeria : Paper Presented by Nasir El-Rufai

Between Terrorism and Corruption – Implications for Nigeria
(Draft for Discussion)
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai
Protocols
Introduction
I am pleased to be with the Silver Knights this afternoon to share my thoughts about two issues that confront our nation – terrorism and corruption. As a well-known opposition figure, I want to state clearly that the views expressed here are mine, and not of the political party I belong to – the Congress for Progressive Change. Secondly, my opinions are based on my interpretation of facts on the ground and research done by others, and not driven by politics.

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To Your Tents, O Nigerians! By Faith Abiodun

Why is everyone tired of Nigeria? Rather, why shouldn’t they be tired of Nigeria? 


It was about 8:30am and I needed to make a quick stop on my 4-hour drive from Syracuse to the United Nations headquarters in New York City. I pulled over at the closest gas station somewhere around Philadelphia and went into the store to conduct quick business. Ten minutes later, I emerged with my breakfast and set about resuming my trip, but wait, I needed to grab an extra bottle of water. I went back into the store and returned with a bottle but noticed someone tailing me as I exited. I swung around and came face to face with a young man who was smiling intently at me. Wait a minute, what’s this about?

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