2000: President Bill Clinton signs Commodities Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), deregulating the derivatives markets and credit-default swaps. Enron would go on to become the largest corporate fraud in history. Washington would become unashamedly captive to Wall Street. Presidential election stolen by George W Bush.
2001: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" August Presidential Briefing brushed aside, one month before 9/11; John Walker Lindh "American Taliban" captured and later sentenced to 20 years; plans to invade Iraq "leaked".
2002: Bush/Blair produce fake evidence of WMDs in Iraq; Defense Secretary Donald ("There are also unknown unknowns") Rumsfeld's military doctrine -- carpet bomb and scrimp on troops -- a disaster; Enron scandal (see 2000 CFMA and 2008 Madoff).
2003: Defense Secretary Colin Powell's UN speech justifying invasion of Iraq; "Mission accomplished" speech of Bush on aircraft carrier; CIA officer Valerie Plame's cover leaked, leading to deputy chief of staff Karl Rove's resignation.
2004: Falluja residents kill four Blackwater mercenaries leading the US Army to flatten the city in revenge; Abu Ghraib torture photos flood the Internet; Pakistan added to US bombing list; Save Darfur coalition formed in NY; Bush re-elected.
2005: Iraq descends into chaos; hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans; Bush bungles rescue operations while commending FEMA head Michael Brown: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
2006: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates's Iraq surge; Democrats win majority in Congress and Senate, beginning to turn the tide against Bush's domestic agenda.
2007: Somalia added to US bombing list; Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduces bill to impeach vice-president Richard Cheney.
2008: Oil hits $147 a barrel; Republican VP hopeful Sarah Palin: "The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick;" Barack Obama elected; stock market/bank crisis (Dow drops 34 per cent, the worst decline since 1931); Wall Street pyramids (Madoff pleads guilty to $65 billion fraud); $2 trillion (not $700b) bank bailout while bankers give themselves huge bonuses.
2009: AfPak; Yemen added to US bombing list; Chrysler and GM declare bankruptcy and government becomes part owner; unemployment reaches over 10 per cent; $787 billion stimulus package and $1.75 trillion budget deficit; Paul-Grayson amendment to audit Federal Reserve (FR) approved by House Financial Services Committee but stymied by FR chairman as it "would shatter the Fed's independence."
Timeline 2000-2010: Europe
2000 - Vladimir Putin elected president of Russia; Serbian October "revolution" ousting Slobodan Milosevic following 1999 NATO bombing, resulting in creation of Kosovo as first NATO "republic".
2002 - EU expansion with plans for 10 new members in 2004.
2004; Ukraine's Leonid Kuchma targeted by Western democracy-promotion groups; Russian theater hostage-taking by Chechens in October (140 deaths); Turkey elects Islamists; Catholic Church sex scandal media frenzy.
2003 - Ukraine Orange Revolution in December bringing Viktor Yushchenko to power; Russian Jewish oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and others arrested/ imprisoned/ exiled; France and Germany refuse to back invasion of Iraq.
2004 - Chechen rebels take 1000 hostages at Beslan, North Ossetia school, resulting in 300 deaths.
