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July 10, 2006
OT 06-61
Comments
ever wonder why an Israeli should propose foreign policy for the US? would he have got a column in the LA Times if he had been a citizen of Jordan or Malta or even Iceland?
compare and contrast Kim with Ohlmert….now tell me who should not be allowed to have a handgun.
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 10 2006 15:50 utc | 2
This weekend’s Financial Times came out in favor of squatting in London (“…squatting has become a viable lifestyle choice for people [newly qualified lawyers and the like] in their 20s and 30s with full-time jobs. Pushed out of the market by increasingly high rental and house prices…”)
Money quote (sorry, some of it is behind subcription wall, I have hard copy tho’): “But those who choose private properties left empty by investors usually have more luck. ‘Most investors don’t want to become landlords so they sit on the property until they make their money.'”
Tenant-free investment housing, how fabulous, how wonderfuly productive of the social good.
The UK property crash cannot be far ahead now.
Posted by: Dismal Science | Jul 10 2006 16:13 utc | 3
Luttwak has some points here right that the US press generally misses.
– The NK rockets are trash
– NK MAY have nukes
– The NK can not put a nuke on those trash rockets, the nukes are too big and the can not make smaller ones
– All talk of a “bellicose” NK is simply wrong
He says the “west” should ignore NK. I agree. But with the exemption of South Korea. They should engaged NK even more on the economical and social side. Together with China, the other NK neighbor, they may can get some fresh air into NK.
But the US will never let that happen.
Also, as a salute to a brilliant career via Google Video:
Zidane vs Ronaldinho – unbelievable!
Posted by: Dismal Footwork | Jul 10 2006 16:28 utc | 5
Lind has a good analysis on Hamas’ situation.
When Hamas won the Palestinian elections, a highly successful Fourth Generation entity became a state. No doubt that was one of Hamas’s highest aspirations. But by becoming a state, it became far more vulnerable to other states than it was as a non-state entity. ..
Hamas may have presumed that once it won a free election, other states, including the United States and Israel, would have to recognize its legitimacy. Great expectations are seldom fulfilled in the amoral world of international politics. When the Washington Establishment calls for “free elections,” what it means is elections that elect the people it wants to deal with. Hamas does not fall in that category.
…
In cooperation with Israel (can Washington now do anything except in cooperation with Israel?), the U.S. imposed a starvation blockade on the Palestinian territories.
…
Hamas is now far more targetable than it was as a non-state entity, but is no better able to defend itself or Palestine than it was as a Fourth Generation force. 4GW forces are generally unable to defend territory or fixed targets against state armed forces, but they have no reason to do so. Now, as a quasi-state, Hamas must do so or appear to be defeated.
Does the sign really say “No Exit” for Hamas? It may – so long as Hamas remains a state, or has aspirations to be one. Washington’s and Tel Aviv’s obvious goal is to push the Hamas government to the point where it must choose between a humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian people and resignation, with the return of corrupt and complaint Fatah to power. Either way, Hamas will have suffered an enormous defeat, to the point where it is unlikely to be a serious alternative ever again.
There is, however, another way out for Hamas. It can call and raise Washington’s and Tel Aviv bets. How? By voting to dissolve the Palestinian Authority. Ending the PA would dump the Palestinian territories and their inhabitants’ right back in Israel’s lap. Under international law, as the occupying power, Israel would be responsible for everything in the territories: security, human services, utilities and infrastructure, the economy, the whole megillah (oy!). Israel could try to restore the PA in cooperation with Fatah, but if Fatah joined Israel in doing so, it would destroy what legitimacy it has left. Hamas could meanwhile return to a 4GW war against Israel, unencumbered with the dubious assets of a state, and with lots more targets as Israel attempted to run the Palestinian Territories itself.
DF,
How about a Rooney vs. Zidane video game? Featuring groin stomps vs. head butts, the last one left standing wins the World (athletic) Cup.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Jul 10 2006 18:23 utc | 7
From the dept of teach your children well…?
Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and others in the Nixon-Agnew-Ford orbit left Washington believing that the imperial Presidency had been disastrously hobbled by a now imperial press. When they reappeared in 2001, under the auspices of George W. Bush, the Nixon-Agnew spirit was resurrected with them—this time without the Joycean wordplay.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 10 2006 20:31 utc | 8
This is VERY FUNNY. germany tv- hope I’m not re-posting.
A german in america
ralphieboy
it’s interesting the reaction to zidane’s “assault” (exaggerrated by the italian’s splapstick acting) was “vicious.” I think the “vicious” explanation for the incident was originated by the moronic american announcer who ceaselessly compared ahmadinejad to hitler. and all the more ridiculous coming from an american announcer who knows very well these teteatetes are expected in american sports. obviously the case for football and boxing. in baseball, throwing at opposing hitters is a badge of honor among pitchers. american sports culture is dominated by trashtalk and revenge.
but besides the hypocritical effort to rhetorically situate the incident to define american cultural superiority, it appears very possible the italian player shouted to zidane: “you’re a filthy terrorist.” zidane is ethnically algerian.
I don’t have to point out to anyone here the parable-like quality of this twist in the plot.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 11 2006 1:01 utc | 10
the italians shouild be lucky zidfane wasn’t wearing shoe-bombs.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 11 2006 1:07 utc | 11
Juan Cole:
I continue to challenge progressive bloggers to link and speak out on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is man-made and entirely avoidable. It is being deliberately created by Ehud Olmert.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Jul 11 2006 10:56 utc | 13
Zidande’s and Rooney’s actions nonetheless give credence to the old saying that “Rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen, soccer is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans”.
I spend a lot of time trying to teach my children that a verbal taunt is *not* sufficient to justify a physical response, even if it is a taunt about one’s national hertage, religion or even one’s mother.
I gave up on professional sports on America years ago. I guess I will just have to stick to clean, civilized sports like the Tour de France…
Posted by: ralphieboy | Jul 11 2006 12:02 utc | 14
FBI plans new Net-tapping push?
Shocked! shocked, I tell ya…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 11 2006 13:25 utc | 15
RIP Roger Keith Barrett
Shine on you crazy diamond…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 11 2006 13:48 utc | 16
U.S. will give detainees Geneva rights
The Bush administration, called to account by Congress after the Supreme Court blocked military tribunals, said Tuesday all detainees at Guantanamo Bay and in U.S. military custody everywhere are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions.
in U.S. military custody hmmm – what is missing here? CIA black prisons I guess. SCOTUS did not extempt those…
b,
Yeah, what is with the media silence on those secret prisons, taking prisoners to other countries to have them do the dirty work?
I am glad the U.S. “IS GIVING” the rights of the Geneva Conventions.
The gossip here is that Zidane reacted to the classical insult. His mother was called a whore, and more. Some say the provocation was deliberate, calculated to inflame, so that France would loose.
North K has a standing army of a million people.
Posted by: Noirette | Jul 11 2006 20:26 utc | 19
“You mother was a hamster-r-r-r and your father reeked of elderberr-r-r-r-ries! Now go away or I shall taunt you again!”
I remember a round of “dozens” played out on a street in Gary, Indiana around 1969 involving by buddies Melvin Gates & Patrick Melaine. It culminated in Melvin asserting: “Yo mama look like Superman and yo’ father look lie Rin-Tin-Tin!”
Patrick, frustrated and unable to top that, up and popped Melvin one.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Jul 11 2006 20:37 utc | 20
wish I could listen to piper at the gates of dawn, for the first time, again.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 11 2006 20:53 utc | 21
via cursor, this is an interesting take on zidane.
interesting, if true racism, the scope of the catastrophe of western imperialism pervades global culture, even makes transparent the catastrophe in a soccer match.
a palestinian colleague tells me people in gaza encounter this catastrophe in the most mundane ways. flicking the light switch reminds them who controls the light.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 11 2006 21:00 utc | 22
so what’s the significance of these subway bombings in mumbai happening on july 11 — 7-11?
Posted by: b real | Jul 11 2006 21:12 utc | 23
Uncle, I didn’t get it at first but you point out that Syd Barrett died a few days ago.
I found some lyrics to a song I remember from him, looking for a link to an audio or video clip.
Bike
by Syd Barrett
I’ve got a bike.
You can ride it if you like.
It’s got a basket, a bell that rings and
Things to make it look good.
I’d give it to you if I could,
but I borrowed it.
You’re the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I’ll give you anything, ev’rything
if you want things.
…
I’ve got a clan of gingerbread men.
Here a man, there a man,
lots of gingerbread men.
Take a couple if you wish.
They’re on the dish.
I know a room full of musical tunes.
Some rhyme, some ching.
Most of them are clockwork.
Let’s go into the other room
and make them work.
I found a 30-second audio clip of Syd and Pink Floyd doing Terrapin.
Posted by: jonku | Jul 11 2006 21:18 utc | 24
the genius, jonah goldberg says castro may have died.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 11 2006 22:18 utc | 25
it’ll be interesting to read, among others, j. cole on the bombay attacks.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 11 2006 22:19 utc | 26
Pinochet, cocaine and bioweapons
Augusto Pinochet’s $26m (£14m) fortune was amassed through cocaine sales to Europe and the US, the general’s former top aide for intelligence has alleged.
In testimony sent to Chilean Judge Claudio Pavez, Manuel Contreras alleges that Pinochet and his son Marco Antonio organised a massive production and distribution network, selling cocaine to Europe and the US in the mid-1980s.
the bioweapons were for Pinochet to use against his enemies in Chile, according the testimony.
Riggs Bank laundered money for Pinochet…but only after he was arrested (cough, cough)
According to the report, in July 1996, about 18 months after opening a personal account at Riggs, Pinochet was indicted by Spain on charges of genocide, terrorism and torture against Spanish citizens during his rule. A Riggs subsidiary in the Bahamas then established two companies, Ashburton Co. Ltd. and Althorp Investment Co. Ltd., both putatively owned by trusts set up by Riggs.
Nowhere on the trust or company documentation does Pinochet’s name appear, though he and his family were the ultimate beneficiaries, according to investigators. Ashburton held the most Pinochet money; it had a $4.5 million balance when it was closed in 2002, the report said.
The report said Riggs concealed its relationship with Pinochet from regulators. In 2000, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency asked for a list of clients’ accounts controlled by foreign political figures, Pinochet’s was not on the list. In 2001, an OCC examiner happened upon a report about Althorp and asked about the beneficial owner. The examiner was told, according to his notes from the time, that the account was for a “publicly known figure” and added that Riggs’s chairman, Allbritton, “knows” the customer. Pinochet’s name was never offered. Not until spring 2002 did the OCC discover the Pinochet accounts, when an examiner demanded an explanation for coded references to cashier’s checks that had been mailed or delivered to Pinochet.
The report states that Pinochet’s account manager, Carol Thompson, sometimes spoke directly with Allbritton about Pinochet’s accounts. According to OCC documents cited in the report, a Riggs officer told OCC examiners that “Mr. Pinochet has a relationship with the Chairman of Riggs.”
Riggs Bank and Jonathan Bush(halfway down page)
Jonathan J. Bush, as of May 2000, is “Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of J. Bush & Co., an investment management company he founded in 1970, which Riggs acquired in 1997”, according to a Riggs Bank Press Release. At the same time, Mr. Jonathan J. Bush was also elected President & Chief Executive Officer and a Director of “RIMCO, a wholly owned investment management subsidiary”.
Riggs Bank and Saudi Arabia and Equatorial Guinea
Riggs also faces a probe into its business with another embassy. A federal grand jury is investigating possible money laundering in accounts held by officials of Equatorial Guinea, and an official at Riggs who managed the West African nation’s accounts has been fired and is under investigation for possible embezzlement. The grand jury also is looking into whether bribes were paid by U.S. oil companies through Riggs accounts to the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, according to people who have been briefed on the matter.
Equatorial Guinea aka African Oil Patch
Mark Thatcher and coup plot in Equatorial Guinea
Oh this is good do watch it…
Fox News Spin Attack Ends With Red-Faced Anchors
Fox News’ tactic of mapping out a spin and attack policy for guests whose stance they disagree with was spotlighted and deflated recently by 9/11 truth scholar Jim Fetzer – who left Alan Colmes and Oliver North red-faced after he exposed them and Fox producers for not having done their homework.
I have some big issues with Fetzer (his Zapruder is a hoax theory, for one), but he does well here. I’m especially grateful that, when asked for evidence of administration collusion, he cites Norman Mineta’s testimony of Cheney’s “of course the order still stands.”
Also, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the enigmatic Bert Stubblebine . . .
Former INSCOM head questions Pentagon hit
bonus…Squibs
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 11 2006 23:49 utc | 28
@Fauxreal:
Interesting. Here’s a really good one on Old Joe A:
LINK
Also, Re: Morkie Thatcher.
Doesn’t have brains enough or experience enough to execute a coup.
Mama, please send lawyers, guns, and money.
This could get interesting.
Posted by: FlashHarry | Jul 12 2006 0:18 utc | 29
Explosions, explosions everywhere
A building in Manhattan, a train in India, a grenade in Kasmir, a truck & bus in Russia, an Afghani market bomb blast and the entire country of Iraq are just the beginning.
Oh, but of course only Merica counts…
Essex, UK business park:
Wisconsin resort, 2 dead:
Wisconsin duplex, one dead:
Ohio dog food plant, 2 dead:
Alaska auto repair:
Elkhart, Indiana home:
Batesville, Indiana home:
Indiana landscaping business:
Minnesota home:
Baltimore apartment building:
Ohio animal fat processing plant:
Colorado home:
Missouri health care manufaturing plant, one badly buned:
A bunch of truscks in Vacaville, CA:
PA restaurant:
Tis the season? Or is this what they call ‘grunt work’ of simple fear?
I’d say -as someone else here recently sd- we are reaching a tipping point… the PTB are scared… (and that’s not necessarily a good thing;beware the jackel)
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 12 2006 0:28 utc | 30
& with novak’s ‘confession of his source’ – i think we can finally say that the untouchable patrick fitgerald is just an ancillary element of the criminal administrations
so much foir law & rights
Posted by: r’giap | Jul 12 2006 0:33 utc | 31
For you numbers geeks…
Graphs of US federal revenue and spending
Mark Wieczorek has put together some graphs of US federal revenue and spending and the US trade deficit, with a minimum of editorializing. They’re shown using nominal dollars, real (inflation-adjusted) dollars, and as a percentage of GDP.
btw, r’giap thanks for sharing your webpage research w/us..
oh, and in regards to Novak: The Plame Game
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 12 2006 0:39 utc | 32
Biggest bomb of all is John Dean’s new book, finally clearing path to calling these guys fascists who are using fear to secure their power. Fascists will try to pull something to upstage his media appearances. Will be interesting to watch.
Also, hot net flick up tomorrow. Greg Palast is in Mexico for the “election”. He’ll have video up on his website tomorrow showing the actual stuffing of ballot boxes…
Posted by: jj | Jul 12 2006 2:41 utc | 33
The Politics of Paranoia and Intimidation
Statistical fallacy of terrorist-hunting surveillance
Here’s a neat statistical explanation of why NSA-style indiscriminate surveillance is useless for catching terrorists:
The US Census shows that there are about 300 million people living in the USA. Suppose that there are 1,000 terrorists there as well, which is probably a high estimate. The base-rate would be 1 terrorist per 300,000 people. In percentages, that is .00033%, which is way less than 1%. Suppose that NSA surveillance has an accuracy rate of .40, which means that 40% of real terrorists in the USA will be identified by NSA’s monitoring of everyone’s email and phone calls. This is probably a high estimate, considering that terrorists are doing their best to avoid detection. There is no evidence thus far that NSA has been so successful at finding terrorists. And suppose NSA’s misidentification rate is .0001, which means that .01% of innocent people will be misidentified as terrorists, at least until they are investigated, detained and interrogated. Note that .01% of the US population is 30,000 people. With these suppositions, then the probability that people are terrorists given that NSA’s system of surveillance identifies them as terrorists is only p=0.0132, which is near zero, very far from one. Ergo, NSA’s surveillance system is useless for finding terrorists.
Via Boing boing
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 12 2006 2:46 utc | 34
Also, Re: Morkie Thatcher.
Doesn’t have brains enough or experience enough to execute a coup.
mark thatcher is/was an arms dealer [search on thatcher]. supposedly he got his start in the biz through the recruitment of sheikh kamal adham, former director of saudi intel and good friend of george hw, both of whom shared an interest in covert banking schemes to fund cia operations. you might remember adham as a key figure behind BCCI. thatcher was recruited b/c, one, his family ties lent instant credibility to big arms deals (for instance, in the iraq/iran war, as covered in that house of commons transcript), but also, more importantly, it provided leverage over what his mother might do or say. evidently, it’s common practice to try to control a high profile political figure through their kid(s). much like george sr was recruited by allen dulles to influence prescott’s activities. and i’m sure that’s probably why the entire bush klan pops up in so many of these clandestine dealings. denis thatcher was also supposed to have been recruited by adham.
Posted by: b real | Jul 12 2006 2:57 utc | 35
oh yea, and mark thatcher, kamal adham & the bin laden family.
Posted by: b real | Jul 12 2006 3:09 utc | 36
Speaking of the “war on terra”, there’s a new C. Austin Fitts rap up on Fri. She has the best take on it. She said it’s purpose is to allow them to Criminalize Anybody & Anything. BINGO.
Posted by: jj | Jul 12 2006 3:54 utc | 37
from the electronic intifada, palestinian injuries suggest israel is using chemical weapons in gaza –
The Palestinian ministry of health revealed on Monday that the Israeli army has used a new type of explosive in its offensive on the Gaza Strip. These explosives contain toxics and radioactive materials which burn and tear the victim’s body from the inside and leave long term deformations.
if it’s okay for the u.s. in fallujah why not israel in gaza?
Posted by: conchita | Jul 12 2006 3:58 utc | 38
I doubt that Riggs will come up again in the Pinochet hearings, but maybe so.
b real, I also think Riggs is simply a continuation of BCCI and Iran-Contra as well as and the Banco Nationale Lavarro and Iraq-gate
Riggs was fined when they failed to disclose their relationship with Pinochet during investigations of terrorist funding…that seems to have been the end of it, as far as information under the Bush junta. Same thing with Thatcher…a suspended sentence for a coup plot?
It’s like Baghdad is no longer one city, it’s a dozen different smaller cities each infected with its own form of violence. It’s gotten so that I dread sleeping because the morning always brings so much bad news. The television shows the images and the radio stations broadcast it. The newspapers show images of corpses and angry words jump out at you from their pages, “civil war… death… killing… bombing… rape…”
Rape. The latest of American atrocities. Though it’s not really the latest- it’s just the one that’s being publicized the most. The poor girl Abeer was neither the first to be raped by American troops, nor will she be the last. The only reason this rape was brought to light and publicized is that her whole immediate family were killed along with her. Rape is a taboo subject in Iraq. Families don’t report rapes here, they avenge them. We’ve been hearing whisperings about rapes in American-controlled prisons and during sieges of towns like Haditha and Samarra for the last three years. The naiveté of Americans who can’t believe their ‘heroes’ are committing such atrocities is ridiculous. Who ever heard of an occupying army committing rape??? You raped the country, why not the people?
…
It fills me with rage to hear about it and read about it. The pity I once had for foreign troops in Iraq is gone. It’s been eradicated by the atrocities in Abu Ghraib, the deaths in Haditha and the latest news of rapes and killings. I look at them in their armored vehicles and to be honest- I can’t bring myself to care whether they are 19 or 39. I can’t bring myself to care if they make it back home alive. I can’t bring myself to care anymore about the wife or parents or children they left behind. I can’t bring myself to care because it’s difficult to see beyond the horrors. I look at them and wonder just how many innocents they killed and how many more they’ll kill before they go home. How many more young Iraqi girls will they rape?
Why don’t the Americans just go home? They’ve done enough damage and we hear talk of how things will fall apart in Iraq if they ‘cut and run’, but the fact is that they aren’t doing anything right now. How much worse can it get? People are being killed in the streets and in their own homes- what’s being done about it? Nothing. It’s convenient for them- Iraqis can kill each other and they can sit by and watch the bloodshed- unless they want to join in with murder and rape.
the first inkling of a detailed Pilger(in vietnam) like on the ground experience in IRAQ. A must read.
Posted by: anna missed | Jul 12 2006 9:15 utc | 42
This grunt’s eye view of Medevac problems in Itaq (click a link there to the original story) comes from the Soldiers for the Truth site, by no means a group of leftist pacifists, but highly unsympathetic to REMF’s (Rear echelon MF’s)
Cryptome also has (at least) three interesting links,
Finally, hard-core conspiracy buffs can get their daily documentation at
the complete (?) but certified false (?) Clearstream spreadsheets from the scandal that seemingly pits de Villepin and Chirac against Sarkozy. Should one believe that these are fakes, as a French court has ruled?
Wayne Madsen’s site, which today supplies everything but a motive to explain the TWA Flt. 800 crash of 10 years ago.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 12 2006 9:52 utc | 44
A round of drinks for everyone…
Bartending, RFID Style
I bet Uncle $cam can imagine other troubling possibilities.
When history discusses Hezbollah’s response to Israel’s aggression against Lebanon, how many times will the word “terrorist” or “terrorism” be used, do you reckon? I don’t want to grab a picket sign and stand on a corner or anything, but it does seem the Great Meltdown has started.
And the “history-repeats-itself” theme is not confined to the ME. Everyone everywhere seems to have lost their mind. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has gone into lockdown mode again. Japan is using North Korea’s flying fe-yu missile tests to pretend that they are threatened and to make an excuse to talk about reclaiming a bit of lost colony (Thank goodness South Korea’s President Rho still seems to have a cool head). And people here in this virtual corner of the ‘verse seem to be doing their best to imitate the GOP of a scant two months ago and turn on one another over their nuanced differences to even mention that the Devil is now safe to walk openly among us. Maybe everyone has taken time off from posting to catch up on their .
I wouldn’t call it “history” (unless you mean to say that history is the art of hiding the truth), but I could swear I’ve already read this book.
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 13 2006 3:06 utc | 46
Grrr. That last link in the second paragraph should have said “swimming lessons”. Titivillus seems to have moved into the digital age.
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 13 2006 3:09 utc | 47
Monolycos,
After watching Dorothy & Toto, I’m studying up on
flying lessons.
.
How will this end?
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Israeli aircraft attacked two runways at Beirut international airport on Thursday, dramatically widening an assault against Lebanon a day after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.
Hizbollah said it fired shells and rockets at three command centers inside north Israel and attacked Israeli border posts early on Thursday.
Not good either: Russia and China Support Sanctions Threat for Iran
Russia and China, crossing a major diplomatic threshold in the international effort to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, agreed to join the United States and Europe today in seeking a United Nations Security Council resolution ordering Iran to freeze its nuclear activities or face sanctions.
The movement toward a resolution reflects increased anger over Iran’s refusal to respond to an international offer of economic and energy incentives in exchange for halting its enrichment of uranium, a step involved in building nuclear weapons.
Agreeing to start down a road that could lead to punitive sanctions is a major change in policy for Russia and China, both commercial partners of Iran that have long resisted attempts by the United States and Europe to punish Iran at the United Nations.
Something is creapy about this. Why do China and Russia turn the coats on Iran now? Any idea?
THERE ARE 900,000,000 MORE YET TO BE DETAINED, BEFORE THE TRUTH IS DISCOVERED
Posted by: Ghandi | Jul 13 2006 5:47 utc | 51
The real price of poodling has begun to dawn on the english, now that more and more people are reporting that rumours are true. The promised yummy brown toffee smells like shit, tastes like shit, and despite Bliar’s assurance to the contrary, it is shit.
The latest example of the old saw “if you lie down with dogs you get fleas” is reported in the Independent:
Natwest 3 ‘witness’ found dead in park
The controversy over the extradition of the NatWest Three to the US took a tragic turn today when the body of a banker linked to the case was found in a London park.
Neil Coulbeck, a former head of group treasury at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) who had reportedly been questioned by the FBI about the NatWest Three case, disappeared from his home in Woodford Green, east London, last Thursday. . .
Three senior english bankers have been arrested on next to no evidence and will be extradited to the US to face charges connected with Nat West (one of the brits biggest retail and trading banks) transactions which were planned, decided upon, and executed in Britain. However because Enron held some stock in one of the enterprises involved in the transaction and the FBI has decided that the deal wasn’t as profitable as it could have been amerikan law is riding roughshod over the brit criminal code, long established common law and EU charters on people’s rights. So they stood over a few NatWest employees of one the NatWest subsidiaries and got them to implicate the big bosses. The ‘transference is blatant in that because the feds aren’t allowed to get the big fish in the US on the enron deal where billions ‘disappeared’, and Ken Lay was strictly the frontman, they have been given free rein to round up another nation’s establishment ‘wide boys’. So now they will take down some politically well connected english crooks instead of those who ran away with the billions leaving Kenny and Jeffie holding the baby.
One of the subsidiary’s chief FBI witnesses topped himself ‘when ‘he couldn’t live with what he’d done’. Of course for those slightly more conspiratorial a murder disguised as suicide could also fit the circumstances.
Whatever it was this event has precipitated an outpouring of dissatisfaction from ‘The City’
Here’s the thing. The extradition law the feds used was meant to catch Richard Reid’s and other nonentities, not members of the old boy’s club. Even worse it has drawn attention to the iniquities in the original deal that Bliar and Company got paid to foist upon the silly “we’ll have a great empire again” brits.
from the same article:
. . .” The case has highlighted concerns over the extradition treaty sealed by former Home Secretary David Blunkett in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the US.
The treaty – originally presented as a tool in the fight against terrorism – allows British citizens to be extradited to the US without American courts having to provide a case for them to answer.
But the failure so far of the US Senate to ratify it means that no such arrangements exist in relation to US citizens wanted in UK courts. ” . . .
These brit bankers can’t understand what hit them LOL.
They are as gobsmacked as former Union Carbide CEO and mass murderer Warren Anderson was when he got himself arrested getting off the plane in India after the Bhopal massacre. The the english establishment, used to a ‘user friendly regulatory ambiance’ where staying out of chokey is a function of one’s connections, not anything as tiresome or blatantly unworkable as one’s degree of culpability, is naturally enough fucking ropeable:
“. . . Last night, peers inflicted defeat on the Government over the issue in the House of Lords, voting by 218-116 in favour of a motion to suspend the Extradition Act 2003 until the American Senate has signed its side of the deal. . . “
The House of Lords’ motion won’t have any effect on the NatWest 3. In usual fashion the BushCo regime won’t realise the imperative to address this problem until the damage has been done and even the remaining normally vehement supporters of the ‘special relationship’ are baying for the seppos to be taken down a peg.
This sitution could be a win win all round, since the english will have a great deal of difficulty in amending the treaty so that it does not apply to billionaires or brown nosed lackeys.
A situation far beyond BushCo abilities to remedy.
It’s problem that can’t be fixed by offering all and sundry a piece of the pie. If the senate ratified something like this what’s to stop some over zealous’/ambitious prosecutor from rounding the gang up in the US and having them up on war crimes in a english court.
Gus Pinochet had to spread the bulk of his coke profits around england to escape. If you can call it that since there wasn’t enough money left in the stash to keep the chilean standover merchants away. Old Gus is going to prison if he doesn’t die first. It will be a close run thing. So sad, too bad
Those tiresome english voters would be a hard sell for a ‘one way valve’ on the extradition treaty. So the treaty will be scrapped.
Anything short of saying “people we like will be unaffected” could be circumvented by an ambitious seppo federal prosecutor. Meanwhile the NatWest assholes will have a few more scary times ahead before someone reminds BushCo that exclusively favouring the prejudices of Texan voters, does have a downside when trying to subjugate a planet.
But even better news from the land of queens and quids is that the one man band who functions as an english version of AIPAC is languishing in jail. Michael Levy aka Baron Levy aka Lord Levy, the baron , alvin stardust’s bumboy and the man who tried to destroy contemporary West Indian culture by trivialising reggae into ska, was arrested by an assistant commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police following a complaint to the police from a Scots Nationalist MP. Roslin O Roslin
The Independent informs once again:
Lord Levy arrested in ‘cash for honours’ inquiry
Labour’s chief fund-raiser Lord Levy was arrested today in connection with Scotland Yard’s so-called “cash for honours” inquiry.
The Metropolitan Police is investigating whether peerages were offered in return for financial support to parties.
The force confirmed this afternoon that a man had been arrested today, but would not confirm his identity.
Sources said the man held was Lord Levy.
The peer, who plays tennis with Tony Blair and is nicknamed Lord Cashpoint for his role in raising funds for Labour, is still in custody.
The nasties running up and down the dam which is straining to contain the emotions of billions of people in the un over developed world are out of fingers to plug the leaks.
w w w commented in another thread that if destruction of the state of Israel looked like occurring, middle eastern people would be nuked.
That most likely the case in the ‘world as we know it’, but white middle class male hegemony is ending. Even in 5 years the Mid East will be a vastly different place than it is now and given that there can be no peace in the ME until the apartheid state is demolished, it must be doubtful the conjunction of forces in play at the moment will see the continuation of the State of Israel as a major priority in 2011.
It goes without saying that as per usual it will be ‘us mob’ the people who don’t treat others as the necessary casualties of their ambition who will cop the most, however whatever does happen to Israel will not be as bloody as continuing it’s genocidal rage against Arabs would be.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 13 2006 6:53 utc | 52
Nice piece, thanks.
—
Kevin Phillip on American Petrocracy
Among the shifting rationales for the war in Iraq, the most plausible motive may be the least discussed: access to oil.
yeah, It was openly known the BUSH1 gulf war was about oil. The U.S. population generally was OK with that to my disgust.
Like Helen Thomas, I don’t know about this BUSH2 war. I don’t think it was all about oil, I think the neocon alliance with Isreal played the major roll here, oil was supposed to be the frosting on the cake.
In any case, the current irrational foreign policy of this GOP administration continues unabated and unopposed by the Democratic Party.
Black Sea Fleet May Move to Syria
Pre show maneuvers ?
Oh, and there is this:
the beginning of the end for Israel – mad dog style ?
Before you bedrock Zionists accuse me of anti-semitism, this is not MY prediction but that of Martin van Creveld, professor of military history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as quoted in an article by David Hirst and published in the Observer on Sunday September 21, 2003:
‘We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force. Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: “Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.” I consider it all hopeless at this point. We shall have to try to prevent things from coming to that, if at all possible. Our armed forces, however, are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.’
Israel is a failure. Created to be an independent state for the safety of the Jewish people, everything Israel has done makes the world a more dangerous place for all Jewish people. And, having cost the American taxpayers four times the entire cost of the Apollo Moon program, Israel hardly qualifies as “independent”.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 13 2006 17:09 utc | 55
venezuela analysis: Is Venezuela the Real Target of Bush’s New Cuba Plan?
Cuba calls the shots; and Venezuela pays the bills. That is the major premise underlying the Report made public last Monday by the U.S. State Department concerning Cuba. Its findings are as much about the Bush Administration’s plans for regime change in Cuba, as they are about the alleged threat that Venezuela poses to U.S. national security interests.
…
Although the Commission’s Report and its recommendations are ostensibly about Cuba, Venezuela is a featured star player in the drama. It mentions Venezuela at least nine different times, always emphasizing Washington’s perception that the Chávez government is bankrolling the Cuban government: “Cuba can only meet its budget needs with the considerable support of foreign donors, primarily Venezuela,” says the Report.
oil wars (via latin america news review) : Opposition bringing Colombian paramilitary death squads to Venezuela
In today’s edition of Ultimas Noticias an article described how Colombian paramilitary organizations, responsible for killing thousands of people in Colombia, now have a significant presence in Venezuela. They are mainly concentrated close to the Colombian border in the Venezuelan state of Tachira.
In the article of couple of young paramilitaries now living in Venezuela describe how they got their start killing suspected guerrillas in Colombia, first torturing them in attempt to get information and later cutting them in pieces. Later the paramilitaries were being demobilized but these individuals moved to Venezuela because, as they put it, Venezuela needs to be rid of its “guerilla government”.
Now they claim to get assassination contracts to kill “people that cause problems directing land takeovers [hundreds of rural activists have been killed in recent years] and that support the biggest guerilla in South America that is in Miraflores Palacio”.
They charge 500,000 bolivares per killing, about $225, but charge significantly more if it is a local official or council person that is to be killed. They claim they used to be paid more but that now the price is falling due to “too much competition”.
Posted by: b real | Jul 13 2006 19:25 utc | 56
uncle, the van crevald comment was misattributed.
from the guardian article:
That, at least, is the pessimistic opinion of Martin van Creveld, professor of military history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. ‘If it went on much longer,’ he said, ‘the Israeli government [would] lose control of the people. In campaigns like this, the anti-terror forces lose, because they don’t win, and the rebels win by not losing. I regard a total Israeli defeat as unavoidable. That will mean the collapse of the Israeli state and society. We’ll destroy ourselves.’
In this situation, he went on, more and more Israelis were coming to regard the ‘transfer’ of the Palestinians as the only salvation; resort to it was growing ‘more probable’ with each passing day. Sharon ‘wants to escalate the conflict and knows that nothing else will succeed’.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 13 2006 19:49 utc | 57
From kos: Wilson’s file.
Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, filed suit in federal court today against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, top Presidential advisor Karl Rove and other unnamed senior White House officials, for their role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson’s classified CIA status.
Posted by: beq | Jul 13 2006 20:54 utc | 58
To follow up on beq’s link above, Here’s the actual 23-page complaint.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 13 2006 21:13 utc | 59
Thanks Uncle. I got tired of waiting for it to download. [dial-up :P]
Posted by: beq | Jul 13 2006 21:15 utc | 60
also this:
Coinciding with the filing of the Complaint, the Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust has been established. Funds from the trust will help the Wilsons pay the substantial legal costs forced upon them by the unlawful leaking of Mrs. Wilson’s covert CIA status. The objectives of the trust include:
* Counseling them in connection with their potential witness testimony during the upcoming trial of Scooter Libby; and
* Helping them to prepare the civil suit that will uncover the truth surrounding the leak, ensure all relevant public officials are held accountable for actions depriving the Wilsons of their privacy and constitutional rights, and serve as a deterrent to similar wrongdoing being committed in the future.
The Trust was established with the Wilsons’ approval and provides that should the suit result in a payment to the Wilsons in excess of their legal costs, they will reimburse the Trust for all legal costs paid by the Trust. That money will then be distributed by the trustees to a charitable organization(s) that works to protect the rights of government whistleblowers.
Contributions to the Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust can be given at http://www.wilsonsupport.org or sent to P.O. Box 40918, Washington, D.C. 20016-0918.
Posted by: beq | Jul 13 2006 21:20 utc | 61
@slothrop Uncle’s attribution is correct. The Observer once the prized possession of the Astor family as the world’s first Sunday paper fell into a hole in 1956 when it’s circulation dropped in 1952 following it’s opposition to the Anglo-French intervention in Suez. Although ‘unconventional’ in the sense it had the likes of George Orwell on it’s editorial staff, it had an extremely Tory readership and in 1956 when Britain was still suffering under the food rationing introduced in WW2 opposing a military action was considered in a somewhat worse light than the rethugs looked upon opposition to the Iraqi invasion in 2003. It muddled along for a few decades until the Astors sold it in the 70’s. The Astors as one of englands best known Jewish families going back centuries, had always kept the paper’s involvement in the Middle East a priority. Interestingly enough although many Zionists worked there many of the middle eastern and jewish writers were opposed to zionism especially the facist style that rose to predominate following the 67 war.
Then it was absorbed into the guardian as it’s sunday edition sometime in the 1993. It’s interest in the ME has continued and is one of the reasons why the Guardian is up there with the Independent in having reasonably objective coverage of ME affairs.
The Observer was always known for it’s ME coverage. In 1990 Farzad Bazoft, a journalist for the Observer, was executed in Iraq on (false) charges of spying.
The editorial staff are somewhat intermingled perhaps more so than the relationship that exists between the Times and the Sunday Times. The difference beteen the two publications since both have been publishing on the web has become negligible particularly for those accessing via the Guardian site.
This means that readers of the Guardian who access the Sunday Guardian are reading the Observer and vice versa. Copyright appears to be held by the Guardian publishers despite the publication an article first appeared.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 13 2006 21:41 utc | 63
A brilliant example of the Guardian/Observer’s reasonably objective but consummate knowledge of the ME is contained in today’s edition.
The fifth part in a history of the ME it studies the lasting effects of the Anglo-French support for Israel’s invasion of Suez.
I cannot under-state a recommendation for this piece as it neatly encapsulates most of the origins of today’s ME mess.
This episode isn’t well known in amerika and for the benefit of amerikans reading the history there are a couple of salient points. The Suez canal which preceded the Panama canal was essential to keep supply lines to England and France’s empires and was ‘owned’ by them even though it was part of Egypt. Egypt’s President Gamal Nasser was following the nationalist will of his people when he seized it from Anglo-French control.
Israel a very new ersatz state in 1956 was enlisted to recover it from the raggedy urchins that Europeans considered most Arabs particularly Egyptians to be. It was no time at all before FRANUK had to join in themselves.
Once again imperialists had to be taught that people really fight hard to defend their own country. The regiments FRANUK parachuted in were no more successful than the fresh from Palestinian ethnic cleansing Israeli Defense Force.
In a panic FRANUK turned to amerika but for whatever reason amerika declined and ordered them to git their asses out.
Many theories have been advanced for the amerikan response. After all not only did it precipitate most of the problems that imperialists have since encountered in their attempts to sequester Arab resources it is one of the few times amerika has declined the offer of ‘whuppin a few raghead asses’.
Eisenhower was prez and lets face it there wouldn’t have been any Jewish members of his golf club bailing him up at the 19th hole in 1956. The repugs were closet anti-semites up until George and the xtians. In 1956 they probably didn’t spend much time at all in the closet other than using the Nazis as a type of they were worse than us ‘strawman’.
But most of all this was the time when amerika was deeply involved with consolidating it’s subjugation of Latin America and increased dependency on Panama for world trade would be seen as a GOOD THING. Oh the irony. That failure to act then has resulted in desperate ME endeavours now which have taken attention off Latin America, thereby enabling it to slip the leash of oppression.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 13 2006 22:31 utc | 64
arrow
the link uncle gives attributes to van crevald something dayan said. when I read uncle’s link, it didn’t sound like something van crevald would say.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 13 2006 22:33 utc | 65
We are Sooo FUCKED….Great Work you oh soooo cool lefty blogs for everything you did to help mobilize people…Oh I forgot, you were too busy looking in the mirror, masturbating…
FCC Approves Merger of Cable Giants
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission today approved the takeover of Adelphia by the nation’s two largest cable companies, Comcast and Time Warner. Conditions placed on the merger would contend with problems related to regional sports networks and leased access for local programming — but they do not include any measures to protect Network Neutrality.
….
“The result of this merger will be fewer choices and higher prices for consumers,” said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, whose members sent more than 26,000 comments on the merger to the FCC. “Just two companies — Comcast and Time Warner — will now control well over half of all subscribers to cable service in the country. These two giant regional gatekeepers will wield immense, unchecked power over what we watch on TV and where we can go online. The failure to include even the limited Net Neutrality conditions imposed by the FCC on recent telephone mergers is a major step backward.” link
Can anyone name one thing those cool guys Gore – made rich by his work for Telecomms on Wall Street – Wesley Clark or Ned Lamont did to fight for net neutrality?? If not, you’ve got to be insane to support them. Why do I think the effing right-wing bloggers – you know, Atrios, etc… where’s Billmon been too – think it’s great & were probably paid off the shut the hell up & assured they’d be let in, while those who challenge their prostitution would be shut out…Speaking of being part of the problem..
Posted by: jj | Jul 14 2006 1:42 utc | 67
does anyone think it’s an accident that they’re gutting the internet just as the fascists are ready to start WWIII ????? Just thght. I’d ask.
Posted by: jj | Jul 14 2006 3:09 utc | 68
Record Crude oil price > No surprise here …fill up your tanks today before gas ^^^.
Crude Oil Surges Above $78 as Middle East Violence Escalates
July 14 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil rose above $78 a barrel in New York for the first time as escalating violence in the Middle East and disruptions in Nigeria threatened global supplies.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 14 2006 4:21 utc | 69
hey guys i just wrote the longest reply of my life and then it didnt send through so i am extremely mad at the moment so im gunna make this one short
nobody really knows the situation out here unless youre here. we are in saida and wallahi there is bombing less than 10mins from where we are staying. we have been hearing bombs and planes and shootin for two days straight now and it doesnt seem like its gunna end anytime soon (thhere is some goin on as i type)
israel has bombed EVERY SINGLE STREET AND HIGHWAY that leads anywhere in lebanon. we cant leave saida. and we definately cant leave lebanon since they bombed the airport.
to sum things up, i have never been more terrified for my life as i am right now. nobody can eat and we are all just shaking. my heart is racing 24hrs out of the day because we odnt know what to expect.
WE ARE WATCHIN THE BOMBS DROP AND GUNS SHOOTING FROM OUR BALCONIES. WE SEE EVERYTHING. we were watchin the news and they were showing babies and kids dead. the saddest thing EVER it made us all cry because we are in the situation too. bombs droppin on houses and so forth. but of course the f’in media over there shows sh*t all (we were watchin CNN) except some stupid ass town in israel that got a rocket and ONE FREAKIN CASUALTY. INSHALLAH THEY ALL DIE A HORRIBLE AND TORTUROUS DEATH INSHALLAH INSHALLAH INSHALLAH.
and i dont know what nasrullah is thinking…all of this…50 casualities for 2 jews? why does he think he can negotiate and get back pow’s from israel? AND EVEN IF HE DOES THE MOST IT WILL DO IS CANCEL OUT THE ONES THAT GOT KILLED DURING THIS WHOLE MESS.
all i can say is keep us in your duaas. bombs everywhere. and we hear plans of them bombing the electricity and water so it call gets cut off. everybody stocked up on food and water in the meantime. some retard jew said if they dont get the soldiers back they are gunna repeat what happened 20yrs ago (the huge war). so GOD HELP US. were soooo scared.
i had typed more the last time around maybe when what i wrote comes back to me ill post again. DUASS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE..
love you guyss…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 14 2006 5:15 utc | 70
“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 14 2006 5:16 utc | 71
ISRAEL PLANNED CAPTURE OF PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT LONG BEFORE ALLEGED KIDNAPPING
“The detention of Hamas parliamentarians in the early hours of Thursday morning had been planned several weeks ago and received approval from Mazuz on Wednesday. ”
“The detention of Hamas parliamentarians in the early hours of Thursday morning had been planned several weeks ago and received approval from Mazuz on Wednesday. ”
Also see: Iran warns Israel not to attack Syria
Rumor: Israel Tells Condi Rice to “Back Off”
Israel says Haifa attack was staged … by Iran
Drum roll please…
According to a news alert aired about twenty minutes ago on Fox. They’re saying it wasn’t a rocket, it was a missile — one known to be manufactured in Iran.
I am going to keep hitting this over and over. Israel’s plan is to set off a war with Iran, with YOUR KIDS stuck between Iran and Israel.
“The detention of Hamas parliamentarians in the early hours of Thursday morning had been planned several weeks ago and received approval from Mazuz on Wednesday. ”
Israeli ambassador refuses to rule out attacking Iran
Israel attacks Iran. Iran counter-attacks, and YOUR KIDS ARE STANDING IN THE MIDDLE IN IRAQ.
Israel is laughing their heads off at how easy it was to trick the Americans into sticking their kids right in the path between Iran and Israel.
“The detention of Hamas parliamentarians in the early hours of Thursday morning had been planned several weeks ago and received approval from Mazuz on Wednesday. ”
Don’t say you weren’t warned abut this.
The Israeli ambassador in Washington, Danny Ayalon, described the Haifa incident as a “major escalation” of the crisis.
Note that the rockets Hezbollah has cannot reach Haifa. Is someone else shooting a few rockets off to get WW3 started?
Qui Bono? (Who profits?) ‘By way of deception…
The immediate question it faces is whether to maintain its strong backing for military action by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert or to engage in active diplomacy to prevent any further escalation and end the violence.
Bush will not do anything to oppose Israel because Israel is blackmailing the US Government with 9-11.
“I want to tell you something very clear, don’t worry about American pressure on Israel, we, the Jewish people control America, and the Americans know it.” Ariel Sharon to Shimon Peres, October 3rd, 2001, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.
“Evidence linking these Israelis to 9/11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It’s classified information.” — US official quoted in Carl Cameron’s Fox News report on the Israeli spy ring and its connections to 9-11.
One last time…
“The detention of Hamas parliamentarians in the early hours of Thursday morning had been planned several weeks ago and received approval from Mazuz on Wednesday. ”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 14 2006 5:38 utc | 72
Uncle $scam: I don’t get your theory. How do the Israelis benefit here? To me the whole thing looks like panic and stupidty more than any brilliant scheming. I think Olmert is caught between posturing to make himself look strong to the Israeli public and absolute strategic failure. The US and Israel are both nations run by morons and bullies who are out of options.
Posted by: citizen k | Jul 14 2006 9:03 utc | 73