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The Financial World Meets Robert Fisk
This would be really funny if it were not so serious. After Robert Fisk -- whose very name has long been a verb meaning to viciously fact-check -- wrote a very thinly sourced article in the Independent on how the end was neigh for the dollar, traders and speculators made and lost billions as the dollar weakened. Now a search has begun to discover Mister Robert's source. (Hint: probably his driver Abed.)
On behalf of all those who have lived in, worked in or studied the Middle East for the past decade, let me spare you the effort. At this point in Fisk's career, it is increasingly hard to tell when Fisk is even sober let alone actually reporting a story. It's really sad, too, because once upon a time (as I discovered while searching through the newspaper archives on Lebanon from the 1980s) Robert Fisk was a great reporter. Now he's a punch line, despised by his fellow journalists for the way he stopped real reporting years ago yet makes himself seem in his articles as if he -- and he alone -- has the courage to really report the news in muddy boots. I once challenged him to his face about an article he wrote about Margaret Hassan in which he suggested the U.S. military was behind her murder. He got angry and let me know that such was his reputation that his editor at the Independent never feels the need to check his sources. And that's exactly the problem, I replied. Some people only buy the Independent for Robert Fisk, so the newspaper -- which is never in the best of health -- has a strong financial incentive to let him do whatever the hell he wants.
That wouldn't have anything
That wouldn't have anything to do with the ME being the primary in the intentional destruction of the dollar would it?
Why don't you just stand up
Why don't you just stand up and say........ I AM FOR A WORLD GOVERNMENT RULED BY SHARIA LAW?
Wow. That is some takedown.
Wow. That is some takedown. I agree....
"Although I guess getting
"Although I guess getting wasted by two in the afternoon on bottles of Ksara isn't a bad way to spend one's later years..."
Amen to that, though I think Ksara's a little overrated. Kefraya or Musar would make better choices...
The problem is that the
The problem is that the scenario outlined in the article is not unreasonable. Even if he did make it up, the world wants to get off the dollar. China's Yuan, once pegged to the dollar, has been slowly moving away for the past decade and is now more loosely tied to a "basket" of other currencies. I wouldn't bet on the dollar.
http://www.newamerica.net/eve
http://www.newamerica.net/events/2009/superfusion
even tho the china american economies have fused, the endless printing of paper has the gulfies, nipponese, and chicoms anxious. When Saddam Hussein announced switching his petro sales to Euros, his country quickly was invaded and his personage thereafter hanged. This is serious business.
As the U.S. seeks to monetize its debt w/ paper & ink & electronics, the debt holders seek to shore up the value of their notes & diversify.
However honorably you served, and I thank you for your service, you have to remember who else served as civilians in the Pentagon. Rumsfeld, Wolfwitz, Feith. People who purposefully undermanned and under-ocuppied Irak, disbanded their Army so chaos wold prevail.
tell us how you really feel
tell us how you really feel andrew, stop beating around the bush. . .
I found Robert Fisk's book,
I found Robert Fisk's book, “The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East” interesting because it provided a perspective critical of the West that many in the Middle East seem to hold; but as you point out, I did notice some inaccuracies in his writing indicated a lack of professional diligence and fact checking. For example, he describes an Apache attack helicopter as having an internal cargo capacity for carrying troops, which it does not. Although a minor error that is easily verified, he repeated it multiple times. Additionally, he makes a case for depleted uranium residue from the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq caused widespread cancer and other health problems; however, multiple studies indicate nothing to support this claim.
I agree with your analysis that Mr. Fisk has provided much; but since it is difficult to separate the facts from the inaccuracies in his writing, I do not know what to accept as true. However, I do believe that a Western journalist of his considerable clout can influence a large number of people by publishing a partially inaccurate and mostly anti-Western narrative. I know such an introspective can be helpful for exposing an alternate view, but only if it is accurate. Unfortunately it is not, and his dubious assertions tend to confuse more than illuminate.
Major Bill Jakola
I am not sure what is worse,
I am not sure what is worse, never having had respect for someone's work, or in the case of Fisk, slowly loosing the great respect that you once had. Not the first newspaper man to go down that particular path, certainly not going to be the last.
Major, the problem with
Major, the problem with poorly sourced 'alternate views' is that they are only convincing to those who are already predisposed to believe in them, while assuring those who hold the 'orthodox view' that their opponents are a bunch of conspirazoid loons. Therefore, instead of stimulating debate, the likes of Fisk end up reinforcing previously-held biases.
PS: I remember 'Who killed Margareth Hassan'. Disgusting innuendo-filled, fact-free hackerism, which Fisk probably hallucinated from his hotel room during a hangover. But his dispatches from Theran during the last elections were good stuff (assuming he didn't just make things up; some of his anecdotes were a bit too neat); and he also writies cogent stuff about Lebannon from time to time.
And yeah, he used to be very good.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me the decline of the dollar had more to do with austrailia being the first country to raise interest rates, which predictably triggered a shift away from the us dollar. Europe is in better shape ATM, so the US is likely to lag on raising interest rates. The dollar is not on the verge of collapse in any case.
With all due respect, that
With all due respect, that post seems as if it is nothing more than an ad hominem attack.
Sharia Law? That explains
Sharia Law? That explains the beard.
Which Islamists? Anti-HAMAS
Which Islamists?
Anti-HAMAS Media Campaign Launched by Transnational Jihadis
let's be honest here, you
let's be honest here, you just don't like him because you're a hard-core right-wing Zionist terrorist sympathizer. :-)
"let's be honest here, you
"let's be honest here, you just don't like him because you're a hard-core right-wing Zionist terrorist sympathizer. :-)"
I know, right? If he could just find a way to make Hezb'allah zionist haters of Israel and the West he'd marry Nasrallah tomorrow.
:)
Wait a minute Exum is a
Wait a minute Exum is a Zionist? That could explain the beard as well. As a Zionist supporter of Sharia Law I wonder how he feels about the Israeli/Palestinian issue.
While I don't see any reason
While I don't see any reason the dollar would be on the verge of imminent collapse, the problem with such things is that we never see it until it happens. If there is no collapse, it will be because there will either be an orderly, managed transition to a less dollar-centric world or because we (and our creditors) get our profligate government under control in a hurry. I'd bet on the former before the latter, with some mix of both being likely. If there's a collapse, it'll be because a bunch of people get scared at one and we have a stampede sell off.
I don't think the odds of that are zero, but they seem relatively low because the folks who are most able to cause it are the Chinese government. And they have little reason to see a generation's worth of savings valued in dollars to disappear overnight.
Arab oil states have been
Arab oil states have been raising the idea of abandoning the dollar for oil pricing from time to time for thirty years or more, and they've done absolutely nothing about it. I remember stories like this when I was reporting the Gulf for Reuters in the 1980s - they do it when they're peeved with the Americans and want to tell Washington how important they are. So someone may well have floated this story to Fisk, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Robert has been an amazing eyewitness reporter over the years because he goes places other people don't, or won't, and notices things other people ignore. But he's not a finance or business reporter. More fool markets for paying attention to this story.
Are we suggesting that
Are we suggesting that Fisk's article has anything to do with the depreciation of the dollar? Puh-lease. The US needs the dollar to depreciate and I'm sure that the Obama admin is working hard behind the scenes to ensure that it does. It doesn't need Robert Fisk's help on this. The USD/AUD carry trade, per Adifferenttake above, is also probably having an effect.
And frankly the idea that
And frankly the idea that states with large USD foreign exchange holdings are going to do something that knocks the value of their dollar investments is... ludicrous. Big excitement on the internets for nothing.
I guess we were wrong about
I guess we were wrong about Sharia Law. it's just misunderstood.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6...
This is, indeed, just a
This is, indeed, just a fairly thin ad hominem, innit?
Also, "fisking". Can someone remind me of the brilliant field reporting Mark Steyn, the originator of the term, contributed from Afghanistan in 2001 at extensive risk to life and limb? *crickets* I recommend you go back and read Steyn's original piece, in which he mocks Fisk for - horrors - going out reporting in the field and getting beaten up, and then reflect on how fucking embarrassing the last eight or so years have been.
I'm just not sure I see the
I'm just not sure I see the end of the dollar's primacy being a real problem. If it is a fast change, dollar holder will be forced to buy up even more to avoid losing out. So bad, but no global financial collapse. A slow sell off would have an ultimately positive result for everyone, except maybe China in the event they face a financial crisis after ridding themselves of their reserves or can't generate enough domestic demand.
I don't think it is really going to happen though. If the dollar was close to the end of its primacy when it experienced shocks people would rush to another currency, like the euro, not gold. Gold's strength just shows that the markets are jittery about every and all currency's right now.
All thoughts of Fisk aside,
All thoughts of Fisk aside, this is not an idea that has simply been launched off the top of his head. It's been around for quite a while.
"In 1999, Iran mooted pricing its oil in euros, and in late 2000 Saddam made the switch for Iraqi oil. In early 2002 Bush placed Iran and Iraq in the axis of evil. If the other Opec countries had followed Saddam's move to euros, the consequences for Bush could have been huge. Worldwide switches out of the dollar, on top of the already huge deficit, would have led to a plummeting dollar, a runaway from US markets and dramatic upheavals in the US"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jul/28/iraq.usa
Here is the man himself with
Here is the man himself with some background explanation - and looking quite sober.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFi1KlUh5PI
Fisk also has a habit of
Fisk also has a habit of hitting on expats in the Bou Khalil in Qoreitem.
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