Quito’s Police: CIA breeding ground

Considering today's events, this Machetera post can be classed as more than interesting.

I've been tweeting tonight

Quite a night

Ok, scrub half that last post; this is an attempted coup

And it's being orchestrated by Lucio Guitierrez, the President of Ecuador betwen 2003 and 2005 who was ousted due to a popular uprising. Not only is Lucio Guitierrez an ex-Prez, he's a retired army colonel and the head of the opposition Sociedad Patriotica party. He's also been vociferous in his opposition in the last few days, having blasted him from the cozy surrounding of Miami (where else?) last week.

Today, speaking from Brasilia, Guitierrez called for the dissolution of parliament and a new election "to avoid bloodshed". And thus his tips his hand. Also, his lawyer was spotted as one of the crowd of officers that stormed and cut off the transmission of Ecuador's State TV channel tonight., which is what you call a  dead giveaway in this game. Here below is the translated money quote from Guitierrez, meanwhile Correa has just said he'll either leave the hospital where's he's holed up "as President or as a cadaver". He has a good turn of phrase, gotta be said.

"(New elections) could be the constitutional solution to avoid the possibility of bloodshed in the country", said Guitierrez.

Mo' Ecuador

There's regionwide condemnation of the police protest/insurrection/attempted coup (choose the one you prefer, I'm not sure which one is right at the moment) with the OAS and Unasur members all speaking out against today's troubles in Ecuador. Man, this is so unanimous that even Hillary in the US has said something against it...mind you, she did that when Zelaya got kicked out of Honduras and look how that one ended.

Anyway, it looks like Unasur will convene an emergency meeting in Buenos Aires in the very near future to get the Heads of States together and make an official "stop that right now" communique, much in the same way they did when Evo had his problems back in September 2008 (sidebar; why is September such a popular month for htis kid of malarkey?).

Meanwhile, recent news is that the anti-govt police force members aren't giving up so easily. They have Correa barricaded inside a hospital near the airport where he was taken after the tear gas attack (which refutes clear govt spokespersons' assertions earlier that Correa was back in the Presidential Palace...odd one, that) and the very latest is that police protestors have broken into a TV station (Gama) to either cut transmission or take over the signal for their own ends (conflicting reports on that). Also, there's a seven day state of emergency been declared by Correa from his hospital hideout, so clubs and restaurants in Quito can look forward to a quiet weekend.

The overall feel right now is that bar some sort of violent attack from the rebelling police officers on Correa's hospital wing, this one is in the hands of the government. What's needed now is a way for both sides to back down from the posturing, more than anything else. As for the medium-term future of the country, a snap election is a possibility as Correa may wish to secure a continued mandate from his fellow citizens...though how that will sit with with the "two term only" constitution is anyone's guess.

Ecuador's airport and armed forces rebellion

Interesting stuff. Here's AP in English, but Spanish language readers should check out Comercio

QUITO, Ecuador – Hundreds of soldiers and police protesting a new law that cuts their benefits have seized the main airport in Ecuador's capital and shut off highway access to it.
The rebellious troops fired tear gas and burned tires after taking over bases in Quito, Guayaquil and other cities

The protests do not appear to threaten to topple the government.

President Rafael Correa has gone to speak with a group of protesters.

UPDATE: This is getting big, tense and complicated. Here's a live streaming TV following the story. It's not outright mutiny here (for want of a beter word, perhaps), but it's most definitely a direct defiance of President Correa by the armed forces...that's never good in South America. The whole protest stems from a law Correa wanted to send to Congress that would cut pay and benefits to some areas of the armed forces and the police. There's reports of tear gas, disturbances and "hundreds" of soldiers and police officers in control of the Quito air base, Ecuador's largest barracks.

UPDATE 2: Here's a quote from a defiant Correa to the military protestors; "If you want to kill me, kill me if you're brave enough, instead of being in the crowd, hiding like cowards". There's also talk of Correa dissolving parliament to deal with this situation.

UPDATE 3: 11:07am local time and Ecuador TV is reporting that Correa is meeting with his cabinet in the Presidential Palace.

UPDATE 4: 11:12am Defense Minister Carbajal says that the situation has been caused by disinformation and people who wanted to propagate the falsehood that the new law would cut armed forces and police pay and benefits. He states that he expects the situation to calm and come under control in the very near term today. TV is also reporting that the protests at the barracks are now much calmer.

UPDATE 5: A good observation from a reporter on the scene. He says that the banners being carried and displayed by the police and army personnel protesting the government and the law passed yesterday are very well elaborated and suggest some fairly sophisticated preparation for this protest.

UPDATE 6: It sounds like things are getting worse, not better. Newsflow isn't easy to follow and is rather confused, but it seems that "nearly all barracks" up and down the country have joined the protest, that the Minister of Eduacation has asked all schools and colleges to keep students inside their buildings until the situation is calmer and that Correa was taken to hospital for a while (now discharged) because when he went to talk/negotiate with the police and army members at the Airport he was greeted by teargas and inhaled too much gas. However we reiterate that he's now fine and meetin gwith his cabinet in the Presidential Palace.

UPDATE 7: IMPORTANT. The head of Ecuador's armed forces has just (11:34am local time) expressed his full support for President Rafael Correa and his Government.  A significant declaration and one that is likely to calm things greatly.

UPDATE 8: Ecuador's Vice President Moreno says that the main protest is coming from police officers, with some lesser protests from some army personnel, but the main protest is from the police forces. He says that all high ranking officials have reaffirmed their loyalty to the President and the government. In the live phone covnersation Moreno sounded very calm and relaxed and wa clearly aiming to calm the waters.

UPDATE 9: Interior Minister Carbajal (not defence minister as stated earlier) says that the situation is delicate that has been brought about by a systematic program of disinformation from unknown sources. He affirms that the main protest is from the police force and NOT the army. He says that police officers are being mislead and they will not lose pay or benefits from the law passed yesterday. When asked to identify the destabilizing elements, he pointed at the oligarchy elements of Ecuador who oppose the changes brought about by Correa. He affirms that Correa is not in hospital, he is in the Presidential palace and is being protected by the military. He was keen to emphasize that violent episodes have happened but are relatively minor. Three banks have seen raids in Guayaquil and are getting headlines, but so far looting has been sporadic, despite the lack of police on the streets.

UPDATE 10: A Flash update has been sent to subscribers on today's events and how they might affect Ecuador exposed companies. We're signing off on our updating now, as the mainstrea media now find this interesting. So follow it via the professionals. 

Copernicus was a dumbass

 
UPDATE: yeah i know but it was still funny. No need for any more mails

Peru's dirty little mining secret is getting bigger and dirtier

This, quite honestly, beggars belief. Yesterday's Peru metals production figures bear witness to the ongoing environmental disaster that is the Madre De Dios Amazon Basin region, the wholesale rape of one of the world's most ecologically sensitive regions and the utter tripe and two-faced lies spewed by President Alan Garcia, his lying toady of an Environment Minister Antonio Brack and the total disregard Peru has for anything except genuflexion at the altar of growth and short-term profit.

Here's the updated table, which shows....

...that the Madre De Dios (MDD) region produced 1,618,380 grams (52,038 ounces) of gold in August 2010, a new monthly production all-time record for the region. Production is up 12.7% YoY and at current spot prices that gold is worth some $68m or so....for one month.

Even more telling is this next chart, that shows the percentage of MDD gold to the total produced in Peru every month. Because of the drop in gold production in the big mines in the North of the country (as noted yesterday) Peru's mining industry and exports statistics are evermore dependent on the gold coming out of MDD. Last month the percentage of gold from MDD to the total shot up to a new all-time record of 13.02%, over a full percentage point higher than the previous record and a mile above the typical 10% range.

IKN now directs your attention once again to that April 2010 drop in production at MDD. This is because for just a couple of weeks, world attention (via a couple of reporters and articles) was focussed on this disaster area and the government pretended to clamp down on the illegal and immoral industry. It was the month Minister Brack pretended to wring his hands and do something about the problem, saying things like....

"This is not small or artisanal mining. This is large-scale mining camouflaged as small mining and these dredgers generate destruction in the ecosystems of rivers, impede the reproduction of fish and dump mercury and waste into the rivers."

....as he promised to clean up the MDD region and punish the wrongdoers. So as you see, Brack is fully aware of the problems and the deep damage that's being done to the ecosystems of MDD. But as the current production figures clearly state, he's done absolutely nothing to stop the disaster. On the contrary, it's now even worse...I mean, what do all-time record production figures say to you? Brack is a liar and a scoundrel of the highest order and should hang his head in shame.

As for South America's most unpopular president, the unspeakably bad Twobreakfasts said this to soothe the world and provide "oh yes we care" soundbites at the time:

"We want to stop informal mining from poisoning the rivers of our country, from destroying the environment, from enslaving young people and child labour. (This makes us) look like a backwards nation in the eyes of the world."

"What's happening in Madre De Dios is atrocious, the rivers are the colour of mercury, of arsenic. This is dramatic and this is not only registered in our country but it also reaches Brazil. We may at any moment be judged internationally because of allowing a chaotic activity."

"One day Brazil may organize a protest against us because everything that leaves Madre De Dios ends up in Brazil and finishes in the Amazon River in some way or another. How will be able to defend ourselves for having allowed such savage mining?"

"What we will do with Minister Brack is show that the State wears the pants and can decommission these dredgers to stop them working in the worst of these manners".

As is 100% clear, it was all talk and no action. The hypocrite has turned his back on the problem and just wants to keep counting the filthy lucre that it generates. And yes, I hope Brazil and the world sues you fat lard ass one of these days, you doublespeaking rat.

This is Peru 2010, ladies and gentlemen. Ruining the world for the sake of its desperation for growth. When the subject is "growth at all costs" there really is no better example than this scandalous industry in MDD and the equally scandalous government that allows it to continue.IKN leaves you with a few photos of what used to be Amazon basin jungle:

These two charts related, perchance?

No further commentary.

Argentina passes the "Glacier Law"

 Pascua Lama, Barrick's thing up high there

As expected, last night Argentina's upper house, the Senate, passed by 35 to 33 (one abstention) the so-called "Glacier Law" that will protect glaciers in the upper reaches of the Andes of Argentina from development, aiming particularly at mining companies. It now only needs the Presidential signature to become law and Klishtina has said she's going to sing this one (after vetoing the original law nearly two years ago). La Nacion has a good report of proceedings here, while Reuters covers it in English here. Here's a chunkette from the Reuters report:

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Argentina's Senate passed a law on Thursday that curbs mining on the nation's glaciers, a measure praised by environmentalists but criticized by supporters of the industry as a deterrent to investment.


Senators approved the law with 35 votes in favor and 33 against after hours of debate, eventually agreeing to accept changes made in the lower house that pro-mining provinces had opposed.CONTINUES HERE

As for the repercussions on this, IKN Weekly readers know the opinion of this humble scribe. DYODD, dude.

Biiwii goes Freud

Click on this link to go read a great thinkpiece on markets, inflation, deflation and all sorts of things (including the most basic market subject of them all...how to make money) by Gary Biiwii. We people smart enough to get Gary's subscription service every week are used to the deeper thought element he brings to the table, but it's not so often he puts this strong suit up on the public blog. But today he has, so go read this chunk of trading smarts yourself. Here's a small excerpt as an appetite-whetter:

Meanwhile, the world is not going to end, but it is realigning.  Capital is frightened because much of this capital knows that it has been created out of thin air by a system that depends on the implied confidence zone between the i and d poles to continue the great inflation (there's my big picture view).  Making things all the more intense is the fact that Mr. Bernanke outwardly admits that the Fed is manipulating the treasury bond market, in essence ginning up the safety zone and the perception that "there is no current inflation problem", which the MSM dutifully eats up and feeds back to the herd.  Get it?

CONTINUES HERE

Chart of the day is.....

...the 2010 year-to-date performance of The Cardero Group stocks versus gold (using the GLD ETF as proxy):

Oh dear...not been Henk's year, has it? One too many BS pump in the German markets, methinks...credibility and all that. Frank Gagel says "hi" by the way, Henk ;-).

Problem 523: Tangent Circles, Diameter Perpendicular, Collinearity

Geometry Problem
Level: High School, SAT Prep, College geometry.
Click the figure below to see the complete problem 523 about Tangent Circles, Diameter Perpendicular, Collinearity.

Zoom

Barrick (ABX) in Peru: Where did all the production go?

The Peruvian Mining Ministry (MEM) monthly stats for metals production, August edition, came out today. Of course, Otto the wonk gets stuck into them straight away and notes this-n-that stuff (more tomorrow) but the shocker was Barrick's (ABX) production at its two Peruvian operations, Pierina and Alto Chicama (aka Lagunas Norte). Here's the chart:

 click to enlarge

As you can probably make out, production has fallen off a  veritable cliff. The two mines combined have been good for a typical 3m to 4m grams per month (3m g = 96,463 oz and 4m g = 128,617 oz) with the odd spike to up and over 5m grams. But the last two months?

July 2010= 2,106,735 grams (that's 67,741 ounces)

August 2010= 1,471,530 grams (that's 47,316 ounces)

Now we know there was a slowdown in production planned and expected at the two mines (getting long in the tooth type stuff, esp at Pierina), but nowhere near as sharp as this. I mean, in 2q10 the two mines produced a total of 9,621,095 grams (309,360 oz) and it'd need an incredible month of 6m g or so to catch up in September for that to be matched. Can't be done. Big production hole coming up, folks.

The Barrick ConfCall and results party is set for October 28th and you can bet yer tush that some pointed questions will be asked about the company's Peru operations on that day. DYODD, dude

Adding my signature to this

Sep 29 2010

WASHINGTON DC: Students are delivering an open letter to Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia today, signed by over 150 scholars, urging the university to reconsider its appointment of former president of Colombia Álvaro Uribe as a visiting scholar. Signed by a number of Georgetown professors, leading scholars on Colombia, and many others, the letter objects to Uribe’s ties to paramilitary groups, the “false positives” scandal (in which members of the Colombian military killed civilians and dressed the bodies in the uniforms of guerrillas), corruption and human rights violations in his administration, manipulation of the judiciary, and a notorious wiretapping scandal, as among their concerns over Uribe’s appointment.

“Given the human rights scandals associated with Álvaro Uribe's administration, and the ties between his administration and illegal paramilitary groups, it is disturbing that Georgetown University has chosen to host him this year,” said Lesley Gill, Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University.

Signers of the letter include Joanne Rappaport, a Colombia expert and Professor of Anthropology and Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University; Greg Grandin, Professor of History at New York University and author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist book Fordlandia; Yale University professor Gilbert M. Joseph; and Father Ray Kemp, Senior Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown, among many others.

The full text of the letter follows:

John J. DeGioia
President
Georgetown University

September 27, 2010

Dear Sir,

Concerning former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe’s appointment at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service as “Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership,” we would like to signal our agreement with the basic thrust of the open letter Father Javier Giraldo Moreno, S.J., wrote to peace activist Father John Dear, S.J., on September 6, 2010, and add our support for Father Dear’s efforts to have Mr. Uribe removed from his post.

We reproduce the text of the letter from Father Giraldo to Father Dear:

Dear John,

I send you fraternal, loving greetings.

I write to you with great concern regarding the fact that our Jesuit university, Georgetown, has hired former president of Colombia Álvaro Uribe Vélez, as a professor. I am constantly receiving messages from individuals and groups who have suffered enormously during his term as president. They are protesting and questioning the mindset of our Company, or its lack of ethical judgment in making a decision of this kind.

It is possible that decision makers at Georgetown have received positive appraisals from Colombians in high political or economic positions, but it is difficult to ignore the intense moral disagreements aroused by his government and the investigations and sanctions imposed by international organizations that try to protect human dignity. The mere fact that, during Uribe’s political career, while he was governor of Antioquia Department (1995-1997), he founded and protected so many paramilitary groups, known euphemistically as “Convivir” (“To Live Together”), who murdered and “disappeared” thousands of people and displaced multitudes, committing many other atrocities, would imply a need for moral censure before entrusting him with any future responsibility.

But not only did he continue to sponsor those paramilitary groups, but he defended them and he perfected them into a new pattern of legalized paramilitarism, including networks of informants, networks of collaborators, and the new class of private security companies that involve millions of civilians in military activities related to the internal armed conflict, while at the same time lying to the international community with a phony demobilization of the paramilitaries.

In addition, the scandalous practice of “false positives” took place during Uribe’s administration. The practice consists in murdering civilians, usually peasants, and after killing them, dressing them as combatants in order to justify their deaths. That is the way he tried to demonstrate bogus military victories over the rebels and eliminate the activists in social movements that work for justice.

The corruption during his administration was more than scandalous, not just because of the presence of drug traffickers in public positions, but also because the Congress and many government offices were occupied by criminals. Today more than a hundred members of Congress are involved in criminal proceedings, all of them President Uribe’s closest supporters.

The purchase of consciences in order to manipulate the judicial apparatus was disgraceful. It ended up destroying, at the deepest level, the moral fabric of the country. Another disgrace was the corrupt manner in which the ministers closest to him manipulated agricultural policy in order to favor the very rich with public money, meanwhile impeding and stigmatizing social projects. The corruption of his sons, who enriched themselves by using the advantages of power, scandalized the whole country.

In addition, Uribe used the security agency directly under his control (the Department of Administrative Security) to spy on the courts, opposition politicians, and social and human rights movements, by means of clandestine telephone tapping. The corrupt machinations he used to obtain his re-election as President in 2006 were sordid in the extreme, with the result that ministers and close collaborators have almost been jailed.

He manipulated the coordination between the Army and the paramilitary groups that resulted in 14,000 extrajudicial executions during his term of office. His strategies of impunity for those who, through the government or the “para-government,” committed crimes against humanity will go down in history for their brazenness.

The decision by the Jesuits at Georgetown to offer a professorship to Álvaro Uribe, is not only deeply offensive to those Colombians who still maintain moral principles, but also places at high risk the ethical development of the young people who attend our university in Washington. Where are the ethics of the Company of Jesus?

I am writing these lines to you because I am sure that you will share our concerns and perhaps you can forward them to the Jesuits at Georgetown and to other circles of thoughtful persons you know and to those who are in sympathy with justice.

With a fond embrace,

Javier Giraldo Moreno, S.J.

We hope you will reconsider your decision to appoint Álvaro Uribe at Georgetown in light of the concerns noted above. His presence there is an affront to scholars and their educational mission.

Sincerely,

Osama Abi-Mershed, Assistant Professor of History, Georgetown University

Rodolfo Acuña, Professor of Chicano/a Studies, California State University, Northridge

Sonia E. Alvarez, Leonard J. Horwitz Professor of Latin American Politics and Society, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Mark Anderson, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Tim Anderson, Senior Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Sydney

Juan Manuel Arbona, Associate Professor and Chair, Growth and Structure of Cities Department, Bryn Mawr College

Benjamin Arditi, Professor, Centro de Estudios Politicos, Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales, UNAM, Mexico

Arturo Arias, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Texas, Austin

Robert Austin, Ph.D, Fellow, School of Historical Studies, University of Melbourne
Beth Baker-Cristales, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Acting Director, Latin American Studies Program, California State University, Los Angeles

Teo Ballvé, Former Editor, NACLA Report on the Americas, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography, University of California, Berkeley

David Barkin, Profesor de Economía, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco

Anthony Bebbington, Professor and ESRC Professorial Research Fellow, University of Manchester, UK

Marc Becker, Professor of Latin American History, Truman State University

Ericka Beckman, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese and Program in Comparative and World Literatures, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Susan Besse, Associate Professor of History, City College and The Graduate Center, Director, City College Fellowships Program, City University of New York

John Beverley, Distinguished Professor of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh

Larry Birns, Director, Council on Hemispheric Affairs

John D. Blanco, Professor of Literature, University of California, San Diego

Anthony Bogues, Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science, Brown University

Paola Bohorquez, Ph.D., York University, Toronto

Paul A. Bové, Distinguished Professor of English, University of Pittsburgh

Donald W. Bray, Professor of Political Science Emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles

Marjorie W. Bray, Director of Latin American Studies, retired, California State University, Los Angeles

Renate Bridenthal, Professor Emerita of History, Brooklyn College

Bob Buzzanco, Professor of History, University of Houston

Marisol de la Cadena, Associate Profesor of Anthropology, University of California, Davis

Laura Carlsen, Director, Americas Program/Programa de las Americas

Marc Chernick, Visiting Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University

Ron Chilcote, Professor of Economics, University of California, Riverside

Amy Chazkel, Assistant Professor of History, Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY)

Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

George Ciccariello-Maher, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Drexel University

Christopher Clement, Visiting Professor of Politics, Pomona College

James D. Cockcroft, Ph.D., SUNY online professor

Peter Cole, Assoc. Professor of History, Western Illinois University and Ph.D., Georgetown, 1997

Jaime Concha, Professor of Literature, University of California, San Diego

Christopher Connery, Professor of Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz

Antonia Darder, Distinguished Professor of Education, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Pablo Delano, Professor of Fine Arts, Trinity College

Guillermo Delgado-P., Ph.D., Anthropology Department, Field Studies Director,
University of California, Santa Cruz

Robin Maria DeLugan, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Merced

Mônica Dias Martins, Professor of Political Science, Universidade Estadual do Ceará, Brazil

Arif Dirlik, Liang Qichao Memorial Visiting Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing, Knight Professor of Social Science, University of Oregon

Francisco Dominguez, Ph.D., Program Leader for Spanish and Latin American Studies, Head of Centre For Brazilian and Latin American Studies, Department of English, Languages and Philosophy, Middlesex University, UK

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies, California State University

Luis Duno, Associate Professor of Caribbean Studies and Film, Rice University

Marc Edelman, Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Hunter College, CUNY

Steve Ellner, Profesor of Political Science, Universidad de Oriente, Venezuela

Arturo Escobar, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Daniel Faber, Professor of Sociology, Northeastern University

Sujatha Fernandes, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Queens College, CUNY

Raul Fernandez, Professor, School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine

Bill Fletcher, Jr., BlackCommentator.com editorial board member

Alcira Forero-Peña, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Lehman College, CUNY

Dana Frank, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz

Gavin Fridell, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Politics,
Trent University, Ontario, Canada

Lesley Gill, Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University

Stephen R. Gliessman, Ruth and Alfred Heller Professor Emeritus of Agroecology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Gabriel Ignacio Gómez, Professor, Universidad de Antioquia Law School (Colombia)

Greg Grandin, Professor of History, New York University

Gilbert González, Professor Emeritus of Chicano and Latino Studies, University of
California, Irvine

Todd Gordon, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, York University,
Toronto

Bruce Grant, Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University

Jean Max Guieu, Professor of French, Georgetown University

Bret Gustafson, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Washington University

Edgar Ivan Gutierrez, Associate Professor of History and Ethnic Studies, Riverside City
College

Peter Hallward, Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University, London

John L. Hammond, Professor of Sociology, CUNY

Jim Handy, Professor of History, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Mark Healy, Assistant Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley

Judith Adler Hellman, Professor of Political and Social Science, York University

Doug Hertzler, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Eastern Mennonite University

René Harder Horst, Associate Professor of History, Appalachian State University

Peter James Hudson, Assistant Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

Jean Jackson, Professor of Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Maurice Jackson, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies,
Georgetown University

Dale Johnson, Professor of Sociology (Retired), Rutgers University

Gilbert M. Joseph, Farnam Professor of History and International Studies, Yale University

Alejandro Kaufman, Profesor Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Buenos Aires/Universidad Nacional de Quilmas

Susana Kaiser, Associate Professor of Media Studies, Chair, Latin American Studies, University of San Francisco

Father Ray Kemp, Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University

Robert M. Irwin, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, University of California, Davis

Maria Lagos, Assistant Professor Emerita of Anthropology, CUNY

Mark Lance, Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown University

Sidney Lemelle, Professor of History, Pomona College

Marcia Landy, Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies, University of Pittsburgh

Catherine LeGrand, Associate Professor of History, McGill University, Montreal

Deborah Levenson, Associate Professor of History, Boston College

Kathryne V. Lindberg, Professor of English and Africana Studies, Wayne State University

Peter Linebaugh, Professor of History, University of Toledo

Dr. Gilberto López y Rivas, Profesor Investigador, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Centro Regional Morelos, Mexico

Flora Lu, Assistant Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Sheryl Lutjens, Women’s Studies Department, California State University, San Marcos

Catherine Lutz, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies, Chair of Anthropology, Brown University

Florencia E. Mallon, Julieta Kirkwood Professor and Chair of History, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Patricia Martin, Professor in Human Geography, Université de Montréal

Luis Martín-Cabrera. Assistant Professor, Literature, University of California, San Diego

Peter McLaren, Ph.D., F.R.S.A, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Andrés Medina Hernández, Ph.D., Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Breny Mendoza, Professor, California State University, Northridge

Jim Merod, Professor American Literature, Soka University of America/Aliso Viejo, California

Minoo Moallem, Professor of Gender and Women's Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Elizabeth Monasterios, Associate Professor of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh

Isidoro Moreno-Navarro, Ph.D., Catedrático (Senior Professor) de Antropología, Universidad de Sevilla, Andalucía, España

Frederick B. Mills, Professor of Philosophy, Bowie State University

Lisa L. North, Professor Emerita of Political Science, York University, Toronto
Fellow, Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York
University

Enrique C. Ochoa, Professor of History and Latin American Studies,
California State University, Los Angeles

Daniel T. O'Hara, Professor of English and First Mellon Term Professor of
Humanities, Temple University

Andrew Orta, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Director, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Mark Overmyer-Velázquez, Associate Professor of History, Director, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Connecticut

Rev. Dr. Joseph Palacios, Adjunct Professor, Center for Latin American Studies, Georgetown University

Donald A. Pease, Professor of English, Ted and Helen Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities, Dartmouth College

Ivette Perfecto, George W. Pack Professor of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Hector Perla Jr., Assistant Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

John Pilger, Journalist, UK

Deborah Poole, Professor of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University

Margaret Power, Professor of History, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Georgetown University alumni, College, 1975

Pablo Alejandro Pozzi, History Department, University of Buenos Aires

Vijay Prashad, George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History, Director and Professor of International Studies, Trinity College

Richard Purcell, Assistant Professor of English, Carnegie Mellon University

Peter Ranis, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, CUNY

Joanne Rappaport, Professor of Anthropology and Spanish and Portuguese, Georgetown University

Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History, University of Pittsburgh

Darryl Reed, Associate Professor, Business & Society, Chair, Department of Social Science, York University, Toronto, President, Canadian Association for Studies in Cooperation

Gerardo Renique, Associate Professor of History, City College, CUNY

William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara

Clemencia Rodriguez, Professor of Communication, University of Oklahoma

Victor M. Rodriguez, Professor, Department of Chicano and Latino
Studies, California State University, Long Beach

Cristina Rojas, Professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Nancy Romero, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Brooklyn College

Jan Rus, Latin American Perspectives

Eduardo Sáenz Rovner, Professor, School of Economic Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Rosaura Sanchez, Professor of Literature, University of California, San Diego

Olga Sanmiguel, Professor of Women's Studies, University of Cincinnati

T.M. Scruggs, Professor Emeritus of Music, University of Iowa

Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History, Yeshiva University

Barbara Schroder, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, Center for Advanced Study in Education, CUNY

Sheila M Shannon, Associate Professor of Education and Human Development, University of Colorado-Denver

Victor Silverman, Associate Professor of History, Pomona College

Brad Simpson, Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs, Princeton University, Director, Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project

Julie Skurski, Distinguished Lecture in Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center

Carol A. Smith, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, University of California, Davis

William A. Spanos, Distinguished Professor of English, State University of New York, Binghamton

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

Richard Stahler-Sholk, Professor of Political Science, Eastern Michigan University

Anita Starosta, Rhode Island School of Design

Marcia Stephenson, Associate Professor of Spanish, Purdue University

Pamela Stricker, Associate Professor of Political Science, California State University, San Marcos

Steve Striffler, Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Doris Zemurray Stone Chair in Latin American Studies, University of New Orleans

Silvia Tandeciarz, Professor and Chair of Modern Languages and Literatures, College of William and Mary

Margo Taméz, Assistant Professor of Gender and Women's Studies/Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia

Sinclair Thomson, Associate Professor of History, New York University

Miguel Tinker-Salas, Miguel R. Arango Professor in Latin American History, Pomona College

Mayo C. Toruño, Professor of Economics, California State University, San Bernardino

Stefano Varese, Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, University of California, Davis

Max Viatori, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Iowa State University

Steven S. Volk, Professor of History and Chair, Latin American Studies, Oberlin College

Marilyn Young, Professor of History, New York University

William Walker, Professor of History, University Toronto (ret.)

Clare Weber, Professor of Sociology, California State University, Dominguez Hills

Jeffery R. Webber, Lecturer in Politics, Queen Mary, University of London

Dr. Ingrid Wehr, Associate Professor, University of Freiburg/Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute, Freiburg (Germany)

Judith A. Weiss, Professor Emerita of Modern Languages and Literatures, Mount Allison University, Canada.

Margaret Wiener, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hil

Diana Pei Wu, Ph.D., Antioch University, Los Angeles

Caroline Yezer, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, College of the Holy Cross

George Yúdice, Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, Professor of Latin American Studies, University of Miami

Marc Zimmerman, Professor of Modern and Classical Languages, University of Houston

Trading Post (nibbling minnows edition)

Dia Bras (DIB.v) up 11.5% at $0.29. DIB popped a move on good volumes yesterday and has confirmed it today (though vols have dropped some). There are some rumblings about the drill work at La Cascada reaching this desk from two totally separate sources that give rise for cautious optimism. DYODD, cos I'm long this stock.

Minefinders (MFN) down 6.9% at U$9.94. Should be lower still. Oh Scotia buyer, where art thou?
.

Constitution Mining (CMIN.ob) down 20% at $0.28 and the sound of a toilet flushing. A commenter earlier today asked why I care that much and shouldn't I just leave this stock alone. Well perhaps, but it's more about the concept of this stock than the individual case. CMIN is a blueprint scam, so those following its demise may, in the future, be able to spot the symptoms of other companies trying to do the same thing and leave well alone, too. What this blog is about is standing up to the scumballs and scamsters and if we can get enough simple info out there to help one dudette or dude avoid one of these predators in the future, then it's all worth the cause.

Malaga (MLG.to) up 5.9% at $0.18 on good volumes on the back of today's NR. I've followed MLG for longer than most pennycrappers because it's a fun story. A historic mine in Peru, one of the very few Tungsten plays on the continent and a slow-moving mgmt team that has taken (what seems like) forever to get this company turned around. The NR today smacks of positive, but it's not the first time we've seen this mob do the big spin, either. I'll be running the slide-rule over MLG in more detail this Sunday, subbers. Until then....

Vena Resources (VEM.to) up 7.8% at $0.275 and the fightback continues, with this news of a placement with very interested participants probably accounting for this latest batch of goodfeel. In Winkelried We Trust.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 - Video and News

It is still one of the most popular of Beethoven's works today.

Click the figure below to see the video and news.

Zoom

Andina Minerals (ADM.v): Faut pas jouer les riches quand on n'a pas le sou

On September 16th Andina Minerals (ADM.v) came out with this NR, pushing its Volcan project up in the Maricunga as something to take seriously. And y'know, just for a minute there the market thought there might be a future in this thing.

But of course, reason prevailed. I'll leave it to Brel to explain why:

Alors pour un instant
Pour un instant seulement
Alors moi je la crois Monsieur
Pour un instant
Pour un instant seulement
Parce que chez ces gens-là
Monsieur on ne s'en va pas

DYODD, dude.

OT: Matt Taibbi on The Tea Party

Not part of the normal IKN brief, but thanks to kind reader 'A' and his headsup, your humble scribe has been enrapt in this article today. It's unmissable and there are so many things worth excerpting, but just as one example of the wonderfulness on offer, here's an exchange between Taibbi and some attendees at a Palinfest:

"I'm anti-spending and anti-government," crows David, as scooter-bound Janice looks on. "The welfare state is out of control."
"OK," I say. "And what do you do for a living?"
"Me?" he says proudly. "Oh, I'm a property appraiser. Have been my whole life."
I frown. "Are either of you on Medicare?"
Silence: Then Janice, a nice enough woman, it seems, slowly raises her hand, offering a faint smile, as if to say, You got me!
"Let me get this straight," I say to David. "You've been picking up a check from the government for decades, as a tax assessor, and your wife is on Medicare. How can you complain about the welfare state?"
"Well," he says, "there's a lot of people on welfare who don't deserve it. Too many people are living off the government."
"But," I protest, "you live off the government. And have been your whole life!"
"Yeah," he says, "but I don't make very much."

The article is right here. Go read about the people trying to shape your (and my, sadly) future.

It's a new 52 week low for Constitution Mining (CMIN.ob)....

...which should be evidence enough of this scam as gold whacks into new highs above U$1,300/oz, but this chart demonstrates that it's also a new 104 week low as well, because perspective is needed.

You see the total lack of volume before this time last year? You see all those volume bars since then? There are one or two people that have made multi-millions selling their large stock of worthless paper to the longsheep that bought into this hype, but the vast majority of people who were dumb enough to hold this stock at any given time have had their asses handed to them on a platter by the scam operators.

Want to know why I'm allergic to OTC mining companies? See above. I don't mind missing the GOROs of this world because for every successful mining story that climbs out of OTC-land there are 99 bullshit scams like CMIN.ob, MRGP.ob, WOVT.ob, SILA.ob and those are just off the top of my head...the list goes on and on. I find it quite incredible that people are dumb enough to buy into these scams without doing the slightest bit of DD on the companies' structure and the background of the people involved.....wait, scratch that...I don't find it that incredible after all. As PT Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute.

Worldvest / Iron Mining Group (WOVT.ob): The short case

As promised last week and delivered in IKN73 last Sunday, here's that OTC short idea we were talking about. Read on and see what you think for yourself.

Note to subscribers: Somehow I had a nasty bout of keyboard dyslexia (not the first time, as you know) and named the ticker on Worldvest/Iron Mining Group as "WVOT.ob" on Sunday. This is worng and the correct ticker (also corrected below) is "WOVT.ob". My thanks to several of you who pointed out my crass error. Anyway, enjoy.

Worldvest (WOVT.ob): An OTC short

As promised on the blog this week (10) here comes the obvious shorting opportunity. Worldvest (WOVT.ob) is the name and up to now it’s been some sort of corporate global merchant banking and investment vehicle type of set-up. But now WVOT has decided to morph itself into an iron ore producer. In its September 22^nd news release (11) WVOT, soon to change its name to ‘Iron Mining Group’ and with a website of the same name (12), announced it had signed a letter of intent (LOI) to purchase an iron sands property in Chile. Now that’s fair enough and any public company that decides to morph itself into a potentially lucrative business opportunity shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand, but when you start looking a little bit behind the curtain there are plenty of strange things here.

Firstly, what Iron Mining / Worldvest is promoting is a company that will go into production of iron ore at this asset in the first quarter of 2011 and start exporting the product to its affiliate company in China which already has an order book to fill. This is strange, because for one thing WOVT has done nothing but sign a letter of intent on the property in question. For another thing, the property is one of those ‘iron sands’ projects that nobody (so far at least) has put into production. And if junior miners with experienced mining personnel, geologists and metallurgists haven’t managed that, what chance does a company with just two people on its board of directors (13) have to bring an iron sands play online in less than six months?

Third up there’s the asset itself. One red flag comes up on the company website when it’s mineral content is referred to as “a reserve” when it’s extremely unlikely to be truly classed as such at this point (IKN readers tend to know their 43-101 rules and regs, so there’s no extra comment needed there). Then there’s the mention of “innovative technology” to mine these sands, always a big red flag phrase when it comes to OTC companies in general and mining companies in particular. If the gist of the WOVT promotion is to be believed, all they need to do is dig a trench in the sands, let the incoming sea tide fill it with iron rich mineral, then scoop it all out of the trench and ship it off to China to receive their payment cheques, lather rinse repeat. Now that may be technically true, but it’s also technically true that Lady Gaga could be the President of the USA come 2013.

No mention of methods of processing the sands. No mention of building infrastructure. No mention of how WOVT intends to pay for the property or the upfront capex that would be needed apart from a LOI with an unnamed financial entity that states WOVT is looking to raise $50m in debt financing. No details on the website or in its filed documents of resource grade, recovery percentages, absolute size (apart from a couple of basic length and width numbers) or how WOVT gets to payable iron ore. It’s all rather strange and then gets stranger still when the background of the company Executive Chairman, interim CEO and largest shareholder, Garrett K. Krause, is checked out. Krause knows his way around the US bankruptcy courts and clearly (as attested by this case (14)) knows how to play the bankruptcy system to his advantage (and the detriment of others), suggesting deep experience. He also received a seven year ban in the 1990’s from the Alberta Securities Commission (15) for some pretty flagrant rulebreaking back then. But this was never revealed in the filings for his subsequent moves into the US OTC and Nasdaq bulletin board markets because there was no legal requirement to disclose such stuff under OTC/BB laws (just another reason why this author is allergic to OTC stocks).

But, as always with your author, the real clincher in calling WOVT.ob a short today are the company financials (16). After a long period of inactivity and a share price drop in June and July this year, WOVT.ob has woken up on the back of its new promo campaign and climbed back to a $2+ level ($2.09 as at Friday’s close) on rather bitty and suspect volume exchanges.

As at June 30^th 2010, some of the main financial criteria of WOVT as a company were:

Cash at bank: $6,859

Total current assets: $355,015

Current liabilities: $2,291,480

Working Capital: Negative:$1,936,465

Since that time no new financing arrangements have been filed, either.

As for shares outstanding, they stood at 59.07m as at June 30^th, but according to the LOI agreement to buy the Chilean assets (from a Chilean private company called CIM) the deal involves paying a touch over 20m shares to the vendors, therefore if we assume the deal goes through the current status is close to 80m shares out.

Shares outstanding: 80m

Price per share: $2.09

Market Capitalization: $167m

Or in other words, a company with basically zero cash and a negative working capital of $1.9m that, according to its own business plan (written by someone with a track record of company-related strangeness in Canada and the USA who receives a $120,000 salary for 2010) will try to raise $50m in debt to launch a iron sands operation in Chile that will be producing in 2011 is worth U$167m.

It’s a short. Ok?

Disclosure: No position in WOVT. This note is not one I will personally act upon either and do not plan on taking a position in WOVT. This section that goes through the case for shorting this company is for those subscribers who have asked me for shorting ideas and I much prefer personally to concentrate my portfolio on the long side. DYODD etc.

Minefinders (MFN): Who is more laughable, the company or the goofball analysts that recommend this company to their sheep?

Yesterday evening, Minefinders (MFN) released this NR to tell the world it's not going to make its guidelines for production for the rest of the year.  Have a read yourself, but the lag centres around the company's inability to fix the tear in the leach pad tarp the way they said they would and in the time they allotted themselves.

Toldya so. Let's be clear about this, IKN told you that this perennial screw-up OPUD-merchant would screw it up again. Take for example this post, where we laid out our doubts and noted the madness of a company that says to the world "yeah, well...we've constantly missed guidance, but now we're guiding for record production and THIS TIME WE REALLY MEAN IT".  Here's the table in that post, showing the constant underperformance of the company. 

Minefinders (MFN) Au prod vs previous MFN guidance, six month periods
gold	guidance*	result	comment
2h09	50,000 to 60,000	39,759	fail
1h10	36,000 to 40,000	32,561	fail
2h10	55,000 to 60,500	?	buy used car?
*2h09 guidance from 2q09 md&a, 2010 guidance from YE09 md&a
Minefinders (MFN) Ag prod vs previous MFN guidance, six month periods
silver	guidance*	result	comment
2h09	1,200,000 to 1,300,000	615,870	fail
1h10	680,000 to 765,000	522,233	fail
2h10	1,650,000 to 1,830,000	?	boy cry wolf?
*2h09 guidance from 2q09 md&a, 2010 guidance from YE09 md&a

It's amazing that anyone takes them seriously, but this is not a world of logic, ladies and gentlemen, it's a world of bullshit hype and shift-that-paper, so as this post noted on August 5th the Canadian houses were quickly lining up to pump this dog yet again. Choice quotes include this from Scotiafool:

"This was a miss on consensus and Indi (the analyst) believes any pullback on MFL today should be bought........ The Q2/10 quarter likely won’t change investor’s minds but that is backward looking and Indi believes the inflection point is right now."

And this from Desjardinsfool:

"However, we are encouraged by the fact that realized grades should continue to improve in 2H10......"

There were plenty more besides those two, as well. Another thing you can bet your house on is that none of the Canadian houses will bear any sort of responsibility for they pisspoor call on this dog, as they'll much prefer to blame the "disappointing news from the company" than note their own bullshit hype.

And so here we are with MFN explaining to the world how it won't make guided production in 3q10 and most likely 4q10. This company, that promised to be a cash cow in 2009, now tries to get its long-suffering sheep to wait til 2011 before even the prospect of a profit is on the table. As we said last month, the clue is in the name of the company. Minefinders should have stuck to finding mines and not pretending they could actually run one, as it's now patently obvious that they can't. DYODD

UPDATE: The hypnosis continues as the Scotiafool covering MFN considers "...any negative reaction to yesterday’s news as a buying opportunity..." Jeesh, those guys must be knee-deep in this paper. When will the world call bullshit on this game of cahoots?