The Kensington Review

13 July 2007

Latest Commentary: Volume VI, Number 84
Intelligence Community Debunks Rosy White House Report -- Yesterday, President Bush held a news conference to coincide with an interim White House report to Congress on the war in Iraq-Nam. His headline was that the Iraq-namese are showing signs of progress toward meeting 8 of the 18 benchmarks set. He found this grounds for optimism. Oddly, in Wednesday’s testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Thomas Fingar, the chairman of the National Intelligence Council, the intelligence community's top analytical body, said things were much worse. Odder still, the press didn’t call on Mr. Bush to account for the discrepancies.

US Government Analysts Say al Qaeda Strength at Post-9/11 High -- A classified report has leaked to the press that says al Qaeda has recovered from the pounding it received after the 9/11 murders in New York, Northern Virginia, and rural Pennsylvania. The report also says that the group has found a safe haven in tribal parts of western Pakistan. Meanwhile, the US has boosted its military and intelligence assets in Iraq-Nam to prop up a pro-Iranian government. The Busheviks are still not focused on the real problem

Rio Tinto Makes Bid for Alcan -- A while back, American aluminum producer Alcoa made a $33 billion hostile bid for its Canadian counterpart Alcan. Yesterday, London-based Rio Tinto made a recommended bid worth $38.1 billion, about $101 per share. Throw in the debt that Rio Tinto will assume, and the transaction is around $44 billion. This is a significant premium, about 65%, above Alcan’s May trading high of $89.60. Yet, this is a good deal not only for Alcan shareholders but Rio Tinto’s as well.

Malaysia to Clone Endangered Leatherback Turtles -- The leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, has seen its population drop radically since the 1960s and is near the brink of extinction. Indigenous to Malaysia, they are about to have a last-ditch effort made on their behalf. The Malaysian government is about to spend $9 million on a cloning program to boost the population. If it succeeds, it will provide a model for the use of cloning to save other at-risk species. The trouble, though, is not with the science or ethics of such cloning but rather with the factors that caused the decline in the leatherback numbers in the first place.



© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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