The Treasury says the bonds are forgeries. It's a common scam in Asia. They try to get someone to lend against the bonds as collateral, or even do a 419 with them. Much Internet speculation speculation going on whether it's Filipino gangsters or the North Korean government behind it.
$ to doughnuts it's the NorKs.
I suspect Bloomberg has misreported the story. I cannot believe that the Treasury prints Bills, Notes, and Bonds in denominations large enough that $134 bn thereof could fit in a suitcase.
Yeah, it's impossible that the certificates were genuine. Still, forgery on that scale is worrisome in itself.
We really must do something about North Korea.
Hi, Mr. Stirling. The way Barry is dithering about IRAN gives me no confidence he will ever do ANYTHING decisive about North Korea. Especially if doing something effective risks angering his hard line leftist liberal base.
Sincerely,
Obama "doing" anything about Iran would be the absolute worst thing for the people protesting. Khamenei and Ahamademijad are already trying to portray this as "foreign interference." The more evidence people in Iran have that there's any kernel of truth about that, the more will believe it and rally 'round the flag.
And those of us in the voted for Kucinich in primary hard line leftist liberal base are already pretty mad at Obama about his waffling on getting rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, his staffing the treasury with foxes, continuing Bush policies on secrecy, torture and indefinite detention. He's probably smart enough to know that we're not likely to go Nader again in significant numbers after how that worked the last time.
Depends on what you mean by "doing something." Making it clear that we will not deal with the regime if it tries to pull a Tiananmen would be sufficient at the statement end. As to aid, something along the lines of making sure Twitter/the telecoms keep the regime from blacking out the country would also be useful, and subtle.
Even so, the mullahs and RG/Basij hardliners are already blaming it on the Great Satan. Making sure they can't do their repression in the dark is essential.
Dear Dale,
Actually I agree with you. I most certainly did not have Barry taking MILITARY action. I also had in mind Barry saying something similar to Reagan's famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," when the late president visted the Berlin wall. That was INSPIRING to the victims of Communism in both Eastern Europe and the USSR itself.
Sadly, I don't expect Barry to do what either of us suggested. He seems far more interested in cozying up to anti American tyrants than in subtly undermining them.
Sincerely,
Dear witless chum:
But I did not have Obama taking anything like MILITARY action in the crisis convulsing Iran. I was simply expressing my UNsurprised disappointment at Barry's tepid response.
And while Barry certainly has angered many libs by carrying over so many Bush policies, he has also pleased them in many other ways. Such as his breakneck expansion of the Leviathan state, his colossal multi trillion dollar deficits, pandering to the pro abort crowd, etc.
Sincerely,
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