-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Impeachment Watch Sealed Criminal Indictments Against Both Clintons To emerge when Clinton can't grant pardons CRIMINAL indictments that could put Bill and Hillary Clinton in jail have been filed by a grand jury, according to a report in Washington yesterday. The charges have not yet been formalised by Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel, but Whitewater grand jurors reportedly have decided that there is enough evidence to go ahead. The indictments are under seal and would not be disclosed until after Mr Clinton leaves office, either as scheduled in January 2001, or earlier if he is removed after a Senate trial. It means that while Mr Clinton's aides used television interviews yesterday to argue against impeachment, Mr Starr has caught the President in a pincer movement. If he admits lying under oath, coaching witnesses to lie in his defence, and obstructing justice, Republicans might decide that this belated candour is sufficient to forestall impeachment in the historic vote scheduled for Thursday or Friday. However, it would hand prosecutors conclusive evidence against Mr Clinton allowing Mr Starr to pursue him once his second presidential term is over, as prescribed by the constitution. The chance of prosecution is not remote, as had been thought, but a real and present danger. It explains why Mr Clinton still, in most people's view, refuses to tell the obvious truth despite the advice of political aides to "confess and avoid" by making a clean breast of his offences. White House aides told the Washington Times yesterday that sealed indictments were filed recently, and this explains the comment of Gregory Craig, special counsel to the President, who told impeachment hearings last week that criminal prosecution was "very likely". Lawyers familiar with the Office of the Independent Counsel say Mr Starr has not shut down his investigations, even though he sent his impeachment evidence to Congress months ago. His spokesman says it could take "a minimum of one-and-a-half to two years" to end the Whitewater investigation, which has already secured 15 convictions of Mr Clinton's associates. The investigation has expanded beyond its original remit, which was to look into the Clintons' financial dealings in Arkansas, and now includes inquiries into their role in the White House's illegal accumulation of 900 FBI files on Republicans - apparently for an enemies list - and the sacking of White House travel office staff and their replacement with friends. Mr Starr decided that there was insufficient evidence to impeach Mr Clinton over the files and travel office, but the investigations are apparently not "dry holes" as the Democrats say. Mrs Clinton is suspected of being the main force behind both. Already the independent counsel has drafted an indictment of the First Lady for lying about her legal work on a land deal called Castle Grande, which was used to siphon money out of a government-backed thrift, comparable to a building society. The London Telegraph, Dec. 15, 1998 Single Currency Swiss Watch Euro from the Sidelines Hope to profit whether Euro strong or weak BERN - For generations, the Swiss have been raised on a diet of difference. They were taught that Switzerland is an island of neutrality in a continent of strife, a fortress of orderly prosperity in a Europe beset by high taxes, high unemployment and high interest rates. Being out of step with their neighbors was a national virtue and Switzerland's postwar status as one of the richest, most stable countries in the world was proof of it. True to that comforting heritage, and thanks to national plebiscites that decide all important policy changes, Switzerland has repeatedly declined over the years to take part in the march of European unity, just as it has said no to membership in NATO and the United Nations. So come January, when the countries surrounding Switzerland will shed their national currencies and adopt a common currency, the new euro, the 7 million Swiss will keep their precious franc rather than risk its dilution and with it their independence. Georg Moser, who operates a leather-goods stall in an outdoor market here in the capital, recited a litany of reasons why Switzerland is better off on its own than as part of a pan-European morass. ''We've got our troubles, but it's not so bad here,'' Mr. Moser said, stamping his feet against the chill evening. ''Look at the Portuguese and the Spanish - they don't have the same values as we do. I don't trust the Germans. The French can be troublesome, you know. And how can we control what's going on in Brussels?'' But he also surmised that the Swiss exception is in its twilight: ''I don't know if we can go on like this much longer,'' he said. ''Being Swiss doesn't mean what it used to mean. My kids don't know what it means. They shock me sometimes. They think of themselves as Europeans.'' Mr. Moser's pride of place and his misgivings are widely shared in Switzerland. The Swiss may be taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the euro, but there is a dawning sense of inevitability that their future may have to lie in a web of closer attachments to their neighbors. The price of their solitude, which served them so well during World War II and then the Cold War, has lately been steep. It was driven home like a dagger with the serial revelations of Swiss banks' profiting from the accounts of Jews who lost their lives in German gas chambers. The myth of wartime Swiss neutrality was exposed as just that, but the scandal was not just a history lesson. It opened Swiss eyes to their contemporary isolation. By joining the pile-on over Nazi gold, many Swiss say, their European neighbors abandoned them. ''The Swiss learned what it means to be on their own,'' said Walter Kaelin, a law professor at the University of Bern. Little in recent years has unified this trilingual, highly decentralized country as thoroughly as the world's condemnation of its actions during the war. In Vienna on Friday, the Swiss completed four-year negotiations on a bilateral trade deal with the European Union that might have been unnecessary had Swiss voters not rejected an offer of membership in the European Economic Area - a single-market zone linking the EU with the rest of Western Europe - in 1992. ''They're no longer equal partners with their neighbors,'' said Pierre Hazan, author of the unsparing new book ''Le Mal Suisse'' (roughly, ''The Swiss Problem''), in an interview. ''What can the Swiss offer'' at the negotiating table? Not much, any more. ''The future of Switzerland is being decided outside this country,'' he said. The coming of the euro next month as the official currency of 11 countries is being observed in Switzerland with apparent confidence, at least in the short term. If the euro is strong and stable, Swiss businesses expect to benefit from the resulting economic health of Europe. Sixty percent of Swiss exports go to Europe and 80 percent of its imports come from Europe. Because Swiss banks have always been a haven for foreign assets, dealing with 10 fewer currencies may not be a difficult transition. A more ominous scenario would be a euro that founders, possibly because the shakier economies and more indebted governments of Europe cannot sustain it. If the euro becomes weaker, analysts and officials here say, that would drive currency traders to the Swiss franc - not a bad thing for Swiss banks - but exports would become prohibitively expensive to the country's major customers. Swiss industry and work force would suffer. A devaluation of the Swiss franc might ensue. On the horizon in the first decade of the 21st century are a succession of new referendums that could force the issue of Swiss integration into Europe. Swiss leaders have favored it for years. Despite setbacks in referendums, the government continues to tout the idea in glossy pamphlets so enthusiastic they might have been produced by the European Union. The best-known critic of just about every entangling alliance is Christoph Blocher, a nationalist businessman who runs a chemical empire with factories from Taiwan to South Carolina. ''If we join Europe, our interest rates will rise 2 percent, and that would raise housing costs by 30 percent,'' he said in an interview. EU membership would instantly make Switzerland one of its wealthiest members, imposing a significant burden of as much as 4 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) a year in payments to the EU for redistribution to have-not members. That, Mr. Blocher said, would raise Swiss taxes - low by European standards - by 15 percent. He predicted that the unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent the second-lowest in Europe, would rise, as would Switzerland's rock-bottom interest rates. ''It's important that a small country like Switzerland can determine its own fate rather than let a huge bureaucracy do it,'' Mr. Blocher said. Yet he said that he might eventually change his mind - if the euro works and the European system becomes much more decentralized. If Switzerland's most ardent European rejectionist is willing to leave the door ajar, then the Swiss may be closer to walking through it than they realize. International Herald Tribune, Dec. 15, 1998 Deflation in the UK Manufacturer's Prices in Sharpest Fall in 40 Years Global Deflation Continues Manufacturers' prices have seen their sharpest falls for at least 40 years because of competitive pressures and falling raw material prices. The price of finished goods - excluding volatile products such as food, drink, tobacco and petroleum - fell 0.5 per cent in the year to November, the biggest fall since records began in 1958, according to figures released yesterday. Economists said faltering domestic demand was forcing retailers as well as manufacturers to run down stocks of unsold goods, a trend that was likely to continue, leading to further price falls. A sustained period of deflation in manufacturing could severely erode producers' margins. Until now, weak commodity prices and the effects of a strong pound on the value of imported raw materials, while contributing to a fall in output prices, have also provided some relief for UK manufacturers by pushing production costs lower. The Office for National Statistics said the price of all goods - including volatile items - leaving the factory gate for the domestic market rose 0.1 per cent in November compared with 12 months earlier, the same rate of annual growth as in October and the lowest since 1960. Prices for office machinery, computers, TVs and radios have been falling steeply, reflecting increased competition from east Asian exporters. But textiles, leather and wood-based products, feeding markets for clothing, shoes and household furniture, have also declined sharply. John Redwood, shadow trade and industry secretary, said the figures were a warning that the problems in manufacturing were likely to intensify. "It shows that the squeeze on manufacturing is getting worse. We all know that wages are still going up and that the pound continues to put pressure on exporters, so those companies that are managing to stay in business will see their margins eroded further." The Treasury countered that falling raw material costs were "a significant part of the overall picture". Stripping out the more volatile components, input prices fell 4.6 per cent in the year to November. The Engineering Employers' Federation said confirmation of weak inflationary pressures may see the Bank of England's monetary policy committee cut interest rates further. "Confidence has been eroded to the point where capital spending has been reined back," said Alan Armitage, chief economist at the EEF. "Companies are pulling their horns in for tough times." The federation's survey of wage inflation in the engineering sector, published today, will show that increases in pay settlements have begun to slow. Strong wage inflation has been cited as a reason against monetary easing. Michael Hume, economist at Lehman Brothers, said lower factory goods prices would help drive inflationary pressures out of the economy. Official data today are expected to show underlying inflation hitting the government's targeted annual growth rate of 2.5 per cent for the fourth month in succession. The Financial Times, Dec. 15, 1998 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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