watch your tin foil hat plushtown, esp. with so much wireless electricity transfer around ….

Posted by: b | Nov 2 2007 9:59 utc | 3

None of these soldiers know for sure what’s killing them. But they suspect it’s a cascade of multiple toxic exposures, coupled with the intense stress of daily life in a war zone weakening their immune systems.
“There’s so much pollution from so many sources, your body can’t fight what’s coming at it,” Valentin said. “And you don’t eat well or sleep well, ever. That weakens you, too. There’s no chance to gather your strength. These are kids 19, 20 and 21 getting all kinds of cancers. The Walter Reed cancer ward is packed full with them.”
The prime suspect in all this, in the minds of many victims — and some scientists — is what’s known as depleted uranium — the radioactive chemical prized by the military for its ability to penetrate armored vehicles. When munitions explode, the substance hits the air as fine dust, easily inhaled. Last month, the Iraqi environment minister blamed the tons of the chemical dropped during the war’s “shock and awe” campaign for a surge of cancer cases across the country.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Nov 2 2007 12:16 utc | 5

@Hamburger – not going to happen – they can’t refinance mortgages anymore …
—
National Journal has a big story on FISA-less spying.
NSA Sought Data Before 9/11

Beginning in February 2001, almost seven months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government’s top electronic eavesdropping organization, the National Security Agency, asked a major U.S. telecommunications carrier for information about its customers and the flow of electronic traffic across its network, according to sources familiar with the request. The carrier, Qwest Communications, refused, believing that the request was illegal unless accompanied by a court order.
…
in February 2001, the NSA’s primary purpose in seeking access to Qwest’s network apparently was not to search for terrorists but to watch for computer hackers and foreign-government forces trying to penetrate and compromise U.S. government information systems, particularly within the Defense Department, sources said.
…
A former White House official, who at the time was involved in network defense and other intelligence programs, said that the early 2001 NSA proposal to Qwest was, “Can you build a private version of Echelon and tell us what you see?” Echelon refers to a signals intelligence network operated by the NSA and its official counterparts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
…
Another source said that the NSA wanted to analyze the calls, e-mails, and other transmissions crossing Qwest’s lines, to detect patterns of suspicious activity.
…
That information could augment intelligence that the NSA and other agencies were gathering from other sources, the former official said.
…
Although the NSA’s specific request for an Echelon-like program may have worried Qwest’s attorneys, it appears that the company was sharing other kinds of proprietary information about its network with the Pentagon in the months before 9/11.
In May 2001, then-Commerce Secretary Donald Evans told the Senate Appropriations Committee that his department had helped to persuade Qwest to “share proprietary information with the Defense Department to evaluate the vulnerability of its network.”
…

It’s more in there but not much relevant.
Two issues – I don’t buy the “network security” fear. You don’t increase network security by simply looking at general internet traffic pattern. You must look at the attacked machines and walk back from there (I know this stuff and big telco/internet networks pretty much by heart).
I am certain the NSA wanted listen to specific traffic, i.e. what company x was sending to company y, or person to person stuff. That is what Quest denied.
Echelon, the comparison, doesn’t look at patterns but does listens to calls.
The “former White House official” in the piece telling the “network security” part must be überhawk Richard A. Clarke.
The story is obfuscating something.

Posted by: b | Nov 2 2007 15:11 utc | 7

U.S. Navy starts exercises in Gulf waters

The U.S. Navy began a series of exercises in the Gulf and wider Gulf waters on Friday involving a U.S aircraft carrier and two expeditionary assault ships.
The five-day crisis response exercise involved amphibious, air and medical forces, the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, said in a statement.
“The scenario is challenging but prepares us for a real-world event,” Commander Jay Chambers, of Combined Task Force 59, said.

Oil above $95

Posted by: b | Nov 2 2007 18:04 utc | 9

REAP WHAT YOU SOW The new Sunni insurgency? I think so.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 2 2007 19:28 utc | 11

another possibility is that it is std op procedure to destroy two skiffs tied to the back of each hijacked vessel, which may also indicate a pattern in that hijackings take place w/ ships being overran by teams operating in two boats. however, the news wire stories contain no mention that i’ve ran across of any skiffs being destroyed in the korean ship episode.

Posted by: b real | Nov 2 2007 19:56 utc | 13

christiaana barbarossa & it’s title in english is iraq – the truth denied

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 2 2007 21:17 utc | 15

@b real – 13 – the news agencies are all over this – I’d characterize it as AFRICOM’s first “information operation” campaign
This stuff is dripping with U.S. red-white-blue “good samaritan” tales – Jefferson included – but one interesting nugget too:
US military takes on latter-day pirates

NAIROBI, Kenya – The U.S. military is once again tangling with pirates, intervening in waters off Somalia twice this week to help ships seized by hijackers — and bringing to mind another century’s battles off Africa.
…
Writing in 1786, Jefferson urged using “ships and men to fight these pirates,” and the U.S. military did just that, battling the Barbary pirates into submission in fighting off the shores of Tripoli.
Today, impoverished and weak governments in Africa have few resources to police on land, much less patrol territorial waters that can stretch a dozen or more miles into the ocean. The lack of security near major shipping lanes has created fertile ground for hijackers, and the U.S. Navy came to the aid of hijacked vessels from North Korea and Japan this week in the waters off Somalia.
“This is a very serious security problem on the African coast. These are not pirates who will remind you of Johnny Depp. These are quite different kinds of pirates,” Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters Friday in Seoul, South Korea.
…
Andrew Mwangura, a Kenya-based program coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program, which monitors pirate activity, said a recent attack off Somalia appeared to have been a local ship agent’s way of resolving a financial dispute.
…

Posted by: b | Nov 2 2007 21:53 utc | 17

BREAKING: Schumer and Feinstein Will Vote For Mukasey
—
Dems voting for the “Unitary Executive” and torture – again –
Alternative headline:
“Schumer, Feinstein make sure Hillary will have the tools she’ll need …”

Posted by: b | Nov 2 2007 22:03 utc | 19

SEND SCHUMER A MESSAGE This fool needs to hear the furies

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 3 2007 2:38 utc | 21

b @17
there’s no mention of AFRICOM in the stories i’ve reviewed on the navy’s success in tackling the “pirate” menace, and since that new command is barely a fledgling, the (dis)info campaign is coming from somewhere else.
one of the earliest rpts i saw mentioned the possibility that the hijacking of the korean vessel was part of a business dispute, but i cannot find that particular article now. more recent ones, as you posted, now imply that.
the first two stories that shabelle media ran on the 30th state that the ship was hijacked by somali troops after the cargo have been delivered & offloaded.
A cargo ship hijacked off Mogadishu main port

Mogadishu 30, Oct.07 ( Sh.M.Network)- A big Korean cargo ship charted by Somali businessmen has been reported to have been hijacked off Somali seaport overnight.
Officials from Mogadishu seaport confirmed to Shabelle Radio that the Korean Ship has been hijacked by Somali guards at the harbor after it had offloaded the load it was carrying include sacks of sugar from Brazil.
…
It is not yet clear why the cargo ship has been hijacked.

US Navy saves North Korean hijacked vessel off Somali coast

It was hijacked by Somali security men overnight who were protecting the vessel.
The security officials at seaport identified as the vessel as MV DI Honga Dan, it was hijacked after it had been offloaded.
The reason of the hijacking is not yet clear.

on thursday shabelle media ran the following story
Somali businessman says, MV DAIN HONGO DAN was hijacked by Somali Seaport security Guards

The agent of MV DAIN HONG DAN which was recently hijacked from Mogadishu International Port strongly declared that the hijackers of the Korean Vessel were from Mogadishu seaport security Guards.
Businessman Gabow said before, the TFG took over the Ctrl of the seaport, the business men had security guards, but after the Government handed the control of the port the accountability of the Security run by the government and the hijackers of DAIN HONGO DAN were soldiers from Mogadishu seaport guards assigned by the Government.
…
The words of the trader came after a ship was hijacked unexpectedly from Mogadishu seaport and said the pirates were not from any were else, but right from Government seaport security forces.

now the ugandan peacekeeping forces have been based at the port in mogadishu for awhile, and forces from the somali govt military are there too.
see, for instance, this story date october 23rd
Mogadishu port under attack, teeming with troops

The AU forces are based at Mogadishu port where they help secure the delivery of humanitarian aid.
…
Meanwhile, more Somali troops joined their comrades at the Mogadishu port after Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed “Dheere” Omar demanded yesterday that government troops return to their barracks.
…
The AU peacekeeping mission, that safeguards the port, has not commented on the Somali troops surrounding the vicinity of the port or the new reinforcements.
Heavily armed soldiers backed by armored vehicles were visible around the port throughout the day, our correspondent reported.

one of the things that the TFG did when it moved into mogadishu was to reclaim the port from a private businessman. since then, the volume of ship hijackings have increased.
in an oct 16th article that i pointed out in the last AFRICOM thread, we read that
Piracy increase off Somalia may be due to collapse of Islamic group

Piracy off Somalia is on the rise because an Islamic group that had cracked down on pirates was ousted, an official who tracks piracy cases off Africa’s side of the Indian Ocean said Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, an international watchdog reported maritime pirate attacks worldwide shot up 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007, with Somalia and Nigeria showing the biggest increases.
Attacks rose rapidly in Somalia to 26 reported cases, up from only 8 a year earlier, the International Maritime Bureau said in its report. Some hijackings have turned deadly — pirates complaining their demands had not been met killed a crew member a month after seizing a Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel in May off the northeastern coast of Somalia.
Somali pirates even targeted vessels on humanitarian missions, such as the MV Rozen that was hijacked in February soon after it had delivered food aid to northeastern Somalia. The ship and its crew were released in April, but the World Food Program has been forced to rely on more expensive air deliveries of food aid to Somalia.
Somalia has had 16 years of violence and anarchy, and now is led by a government battling to establish authority even in the capital, and challenged by an Islamic insurgency. Its coasts are virtually unpoliced.
During the six months that an Islamic group known as the Council of Islamic Courts ruled most of southern Somalia, where Somali pirates are based, piracy abated, said Andrew Mwangura, the program coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program.
At one point, the group announced it was sending scores of fighters with pickups mounted with machine-guns and anti-aircraft guns to central Somali regions to crack down on pirates based there. Islamic fighters even stormed a hijacked, UAE-registered ship and recaptured it after a gun battle in which pirates — but no crew members — were reportedly wounded.
Mwangura said but piracy increased this year after Ethiopian forces backing Somali government troops ousted the Islamic courts in December.
“So it seems as if some elements within the Somali transitional federal government and some businessmen in Puntland (a northeastern Somalia region) are involved because you know piracy is a lucrative business,” Mwangura told The Associated Press.
Somali government officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

can we draw a connection between the installation of the TFG, their control of the ports (in part to gain control over the money it generates), and the rise in hijackings? hard to say w/ only the limited info i’ve dug up. but there’s no reason to not suspect them. many warlords in the TFG, and the warlords have tried to monopolize trade in the past.
could be un-affiliated warlords though, involved in the rash of hijackings.
businessmen are also suspects, as they may resort to such “lucrative” ventures since the stability that the brief rule of the ICU had brought — recall that they had strong support from private businessmen in driving out the warlords and establishing a modicum of order in which business could thrive — has largely collapsed. the TFG jacked up taxes & tariffs – b/c it’s a corrupt/greedy puppet govt — and soldiers routinely loot businesses, if they’re even able to open, which the main market in mogadishu has barely been able to do over most of the summer. all of this has certainly frustrated many business owners to the point where they may very well be forced to turn to illicit trade & compete in that economy, which could involve hijacking cargo & such. (today i read one article that listed businessmen among the various groups now comprising the insurgency, but i didn’t save it & can’t recall where it was that i saw it.)
and there’s the soldiers – well-known for looting & pillaging in mogadishu. it’s not unlikely that bands of soldiers on their own could take up “lucrative” operations like hijacking cargo. especially when they’re posted right there at the port.
conceivably, it could be a combination of all of those actors involved in varous incidents. hard to say for certain, though the numbers still aren’t that high & possibly inflated (“throw it all in there – related or not”)
what’s interesting about the korean vessel is that the rpts say that it was hijacked after it had already unloaded the cargo bound for mogadishu. did it load anything while in port? was there other cargo still in hold, bound for the next stop? haven’t found that info yet.
also interesting is the chronology of events that ended its hijacking & how the govt propagandists relate it.
the state dept tale (linked in #12) describes it as

On October 30, a U.S. Navy destroyer answered a call for help — relayed through the International Maritime Bureau — from the North Korean crew on a vessel that had been overtaken by pirates in international waters October 29.
The USS James Williams dispatched a helicopter to the sugar-laden Dai Hong Dan, poised 60 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, to investigate the situation.
The helicopter confirmed the plight of the ship — the pirates had taken control of the ship’s bridge while the crew was confined to the steering and engineering areas — and the destroyer headed to the scene. Upon its arrival, the Navy demanded the pirates surrender.
The arrival of U.S. assistance emboldened the North Koreans to take on the pirates, and a gun battle ensued that left two pirates dead and five captured. Although the North Korean crew regained control of their ship, three members were wounded in the fight.
U.S. Navy medics were invited on board to treat the wounded. The North Korean sailors were transferred to the American destroyer for medical treatment and later returned to their vessel. The five surviving pirates were kept under guard on the North Korean ship, which returned to the Somali port of Mogadishu.
A coalition vessel destroyed the two pirate skiffs so they would not be used again for nefarious purposes.

but that’s not the chronology the press reported
Gunmen killed as Koreans repel attack off Somalia

Nairobi – Two gunmen died and three crew members were badly wounded in gun battles as North Korean seafarers fought off attackers who raided their cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, a maritime official said on Wednesday.
“Six gunmen were also seriously injured in Tuesday’s heavy fighting,” said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme.
The United States Navy said a destroyer, the USS James Williams, arrived on the scene later and took the wounded on board.
…
The attempted raid on the Dia Hong Dan, which was carrying sugar and 22 sailors, appeared to have been part of a business dispute and not another case of piracy, Mwangura said.
North Korea’s government did not immediately comment.
But South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that South Korean government officials thought the incident might help in the ongoing process to rid the North of nuclear weapons by showing the US was willing to help North Koreans in danger.

and
US navy helps injured North Korean sailors after pirate attack

In one of the world’s most unlikely rescues, a US naval vessel cruised to the support of a North Korean cargo ship this week after it repulsed a boarding by Somali pirates. The mission – which would have been almost unthinkable a year ago – was described by US diplomats as a goodwill gesture that underscored the thaw in ties between two of the cold war’s oldest and, until recently, most bitter enemies.
US sailors were invited aboard the North Korean ship to provide medical assistance to wounded crewmen after a deadly fight with the pirates. The North Korean seamen had already won the battle, killing one Somali, wounding three and overpowering the others.

and there was no destroying of two skiffs attached to the korean vessel. the state dept story is flat-out wrong on that.
it’s debatable whether the use of the evocative term “pirates” is even applicable in most of these incidents. especially in this one involving the korean ship, of which the head of the kenyan-based East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme judged as “appear[ing] to have been part of a business dispute and not another case of piracy.”
technically speaking, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has a specific definition of piracy

Article101
Definition of piracy
Piracy consists of any of the following acts:
(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:
(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
(c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).

since since the hijackings this week just off the coast of mogadishu took place in territorial waters, they’re not technically acts of piracy – arguments on somalia’s sovereginty aside.
and if they’re not acts of piracy, then the u.s. is not “battling pirates” in any meaningful sense, though it does have great symbolic weight for propaganda campaigns.
the article that b links to in #17 above states

The U.S. military is once again tangling with pirates, intervening in waters off Somalia twice this week to help ships seized by hijackers — and bringing to mind another century’s battles off Africa.
…
Writing in 1786, Jefferson urged using “ships and men to fight these pirates,” and the U.S. military did just that, battling the Barbary pirates into submission in fighting off the shores of Tripoli.

but that history — the real history — is actually more relevant than the author of that story realizes.
r.t. naylor wrote an informative & fascinating essay last year on this very subject, titled Ghosts of terror wars past? Crime, terror and America’s first clash with the saracen hordes [pdf]. i’ve drawn attention to it twice before, but if you haven’t read it you’ll probably find it worth the effort.
naylor writes how the first u.s. war on terror actually took place in the late 18th/early 19th century in a battle against those swarthy muslim “barbary pirates,” the scourge of all good christians. the pirates label was incorrect at that time, just as it is now, but used to “rally the nation around a common threat, puff the military budget, expand central government authority, suppress internal dissent, and defend the profitability of American business abroad, all with the vocal blessing of the country’s religious leaders, while simultaneously assuming that the costs fell on the poorer sections of the population through fiscal manipulation in the name of patriotism.”
naylor explains: “To the 18th Century American mind, Muslim became synonymous with Pirate much as it would become interchangeable with Terrorist two centuries later.”
but on the jefferson and the barbary “war”

..Jefferson’s most important legacy was probably his role in the creation of a permanent, powerful and modern military for the U.S.
…
“We ought to begin a naval power if we mean to carry on our own commerce,” Jefferson declared. In contemplating the Barbary challenge, he added: “Can we begin it on a more honorable occassion or with a weaker foe?” To Jefferson the Navy was also a means to “arm the Federal head with the safest of all the instruments of coercion over their delinquent members” (i.e., over American states with uppity ideas). Although with considerable prodding from America’s opinion makers, the Barbary states still struck fear into the public heart. Jefferson knew better. “These pyrates,” he stated baldly, “are contemptibly weak.” Their economies had been shrinking for decades, their cities depopulating and their fleets reduced to a handful of poor vessels with mediocre artillery and untrained personnel. Jefferson had always been consistent in his opposition to paying tribute, regarding it as a way to reward and therefore encourage “piracy” (while being perfectly happy to permit American privateers to engage in precisely the same kind of depredation against the ships of European nations with which the U.S. was in conflict).

so jefferson got his navy and war against the “pyrates”, which didn’t turn out to be the cakewalk envisioned earlier.

There followed a derisory, four year campaign in which the U.S. attempted to impose on Tripoli a naval blockade, only to be profoundly embarassed when the Tripolitan side captured the largest warship in the U.S. Navy along with its 300 man crew. In response, U.S. frigates subjected Tripoli to ruthless and indiscriminate bombardment, a dress rehearsal for what would be visited upon Baghdad and other Iraqi cities two hundred years later. The damage would have been worse if an American plan to sail a ship loaded with explosives deep into the harbor before blowing it up had not been thwarted by Libyan shore defenses. The American crew who died were, of course, lauded as military heros rather than derided as failed suicide bombers.
Nor was this the end of the striking victories. After he was expelled from Tripoli, William Eaton fell back on Cairo where he plotted to replace the Dayi with a pliable, exiled older brother. To put the plan into effect, Eaton led a mixed detachment of mercenaries and Marines across the desert to capture the weakly defended town of Dernah. It had no impact on the course of the military campaign; the conquering force was soon beseigned in turn; and the Dayi, who had never wanted war, soon secured from the U.S. government the peace he had been seeking. The new treaty reduced (but did not eliminate) the subsidies; but it gave the Dayi his recognition as a sovereign power.
However, America’s first foreign contest had an enormous propaganda effect back home, even inspiring the stirring lines in the Marine corps hymn: “…to the shores of Tripoli.” Under the circumstances, it would have been mean-spirited to point out that U.S. forces were largely foreign mercenaries who came in by land and that Dernah was about 800 miles east of Tripoli. While the American population was exhulting in its first great victory over Islamic Terror, Mediterranean states were taking note of what seemed from their perspective an impressive Libyan military performance. For them there was no “shock and awe” from America’s first overseas campaign, while its first “regime change” plot had been an utter failure. The American setback in Tripoli probably ensured that the U.S. would not become a colonial power in North Africa — that honor would go primarily to France, with Spain, Britain and Italy vying for their share. Arguably, America’s subsequent decision to focus its lunge for empire westward, across the Continent, then over the Pacific, grew at least in part out of less-than-inspired results in the Mediterranean; but there is little point in trying to explain that to the Pentagon today.

Posted by: b real | Nov 3 2007 6:29 utc | 23

WaPo writer hypocrisy :
U.S. Warns Musharraf Not to Use Martial Law

The explosion that killed 10 Friday in the restive border region of North Waziristan seemed likely to exacerbate an already turbulent situation in Pakistan. According to witness reports, the explosion was caused by a missile attack that obliterated a house near a madrassa, or religious school, that has been associated with Taliban commanders.
The Pakistani military, which has been fighting a losing battle in the tribal region, denied that it was involved in the attack. Many Pakistanis quickly blamed Washington, saying the attack bore the hallmarks of previous strikes by U.S. drones.
…
The missile landed in the village of Dandi Darpakheil, 10 miles into Pakistani territory. Some residents reported seeing a drone circling overhead before the explosion, while others said that the strike seemed to have originated to the west, in Afghanistan.
…
The United States is technically supposed to restrict its military activity to the Afghan side of the border, where it has tens of thousands of troops. But there have been previous episodes in which the CIA is believed to have employed Predator drones mounted with Hellfire missiles to go after targets within Pakistan.

Ok – Musharraf shall not declare martial law, bcause that would be illegal. But the us may fire missiles into foreign countries and that is a “technical”.
I guess OBL was not “technically supposed” to wack the WTC either …

Posted by: b | Nov 3 2007 9:18 utc | 25

AT&T Invents Programming Language for Mass Surveillance

Remember Russell Tice, the NSA SIGINT officer who had knowledge of a special access NSA operation that was so disturbing that he tried to tell the U.S. Congress about it?

The article appears on Cryptogon’s site I found it on Matt Savinar’s LATOC a site I read a lot. There is some good discussion on this topic and links to related articles on Matt’s site.
Whilst the subject might seem woowoo the move towards a surveilled (a word I just invented) society is almost certainly a necessary tool for maintaining control as normal service starts to get a bit creaky. And the massive amounts of data theft over the last few years might synch in with a system of surveillance being implemented behind the scenes. Fair enough, the theft might just by criminals. Somehow, I doubt if that is the real reason for the (apparently) systematic gathering of electronic data on people through theft.
A little tinfoil hattery of my own. The raw data is one thing. The way people behave is also useful to know about. What people do on the www is there to be gathered and then analysed. Web sites visited, types of videos uploaded to Youtube, types and value of purchase, length of time online, newsgroups and web sites subscribed to, demographically-based information, political comments, views of the elite, response to disinformation, how many people are starting to get it…etc etc.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 3 2007 13:18 utc | 27

Child soldiers, mind controlled assassins? Too icky to think of in real life. Better to reframe the information as fiction, just in case it is exposed.
Dollhouse – MC based series on fox.

Joss Whedon is heading back to TV– along with his “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” ingenue, Eliza Dushku.
Dushku will star in the Whedon-penned series “Dollhouse,” which has been given a seven-episode order by Fox. News came as an extra-big Halloween treat for Whedon fans, considered some of the most passionate in all of TV.
Produced by 20th Century Fox TV — the studio also behind “Buffy,” “Angel” and Whedon’s late, lamented “Firefly” — “Dollhouse” follows a top-secret world of people programmed with different personalities, abilities and memories depending on their mission.
After each assignment — which can be physical, romantic or even illegal — the characters have their memories wiped clean, and are sent back to a lab (dubbed the “Dollhouse”). Show centers on Dushku’s character, Echo, as she slowly begins to develop some self-awareness, which impacts her missions.

I think there are writers in Hollywood who know very well the material they explore.
Some for prurient interest, some for water-muddying purposes, others in an attempt to get a message through to the mass consciousness.
I assume these competing interests (unwitting or otherwise) can be found within a single production or organization. Just like real life or internet forums.
Imagine the mind controlled robot’s they’ve created after 4 or five years in the hole of gitmo.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 3 2007 17:21 utc | 29

Bushite Worship and the American Halliban
Was listening to some radio show, waiting for the bus,
the moderator had a Human Rights Watch whiner, and some
State Department hack named Casey, talking about “torture”,
now that Rumsfeld has been indicted on war crimes in France.
Well it turns out Casey isn’t even of the Secretary of State’s
office, he’s a “spokesman”, like Ari Fleischer. A propaganda
psy-ops tool. Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey gave the classic non
sequitor, “Torture is the only (sic) way we can avoid another 9/11”.
The HRW woman whined about human pain and suffering, which just
played into the hands of Casey, who flipped it to the pain and
suffering caused in 9/11, yada, yada.
Then the moderator gave Casey open platform to talk about
why the US needed “extraordinary measures” (torture and
rendition) in these times of “all out global terrorism”.
Almost like the show was a paid State Department faux debate.
Then they took listener calls, with more whining, or else the
other kind, returning vet’s, “have to kill all the snakes” crap.
Then unexpectedly there was a caller on a monitored line, named
Robinson. He said he was a retired Colonel and DoD analyst who
wrote the manual on US mil interrogation techniques ! Good stuff!
Robinson totally trashed Casey’s ten minute hector monologue on
how “it all depends on how you define torture”, saying that no
responsible military personnel would use torture, it was all
the mercenaries and wildcat CIA operatives assigned by the VP
to supervise the Abu Ghraib and Gitmo service people, which
caused all the problems, the multiple torture deaths, machine
gunning of interred suspects, raping suspects’ sons in front
of their fathers to extract confessions, really sick stuff
Congress knows about, saw videos of, then made SECRET.
Remember, the Iraqi suspects were ANY MEN IN THE VILLAGE
rounded up in “sweeps”, then interred for “processing”. And
mil start raping their sons in front of them to gather evidence?
Then State says, well, sometimes you gotta break a few eggs?!
So Robinson went a step higher, and said the whole thing
came down out of Cheney’s office through David Addington.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Addington
“The most powerful man you never heard of.”
The very MOMENT the military expert said Addington’s name,
his phone was cut off and you could hear the dial tone!
The moderator suddenly said, oh, we have to go to commercial.
Cheney. That’s where it all leads back to. Barking Mad Dick.
Father was a power company lineman. Never home with his kid.
Grew up in Montana. Went to State, then got SEVEN deferments.
Does not like war, at least not when he has to actively serve.
Receiving deferred salary and bonuses from Halliburton, linked to
the price of crude oil. Has accumulated ~$500M, as a bureaucrat.
while VP salary is $175,000 a year (<$2.5M over 30-year career). Do the math. Endless torture and war pays Dick belli belli good. Which goes towards the Zeitgeist movie, when our kids look back on the 2000's, unchallenged war corruption, then piss on our graves, while Cheney laughs from his penthouse suite overlooking Dubai. http://zeitgeistmovie.com/
$196B is the Neo-Zi’s surge demand.
That’s a big 42″ LCD TV out of every working American’s pocket!!
That’s a brand new laptop out of every working American’s pocket!!
Bush was on TV next day, slashing away at Congress for delaying
the vote on his highest ever drawdown on our national deficit.
SO WHAT IS $196,000,000,000 FOR, GEORGE?!~ WHERE IS OUR AUDIT?!
It’s the collateral direct and indirects costs Bush is obfuscating:
http://www.ips-dc.org/iraq/failedtransition/
How is it that no one challenges him, no one makes him address realities?!

Posted by: Apres Deluge | Nov 3 2007 17:57 utc | 31

Some issue not many people talk about but which haunts me for a quite a while already is hinted at in this otherwise economic piece:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_pesek&sid=a9R.dwXkar1U“>Sexual Frustration Will Hurt Asia’s Economies: William Pesek

No matter what one calls it, the desire for sons in China, India and other Asian economies is causing a dangerous gender gap. In China, for example, 120 boys were born for every 100 girls in 2005, according to a new United Nations report. This growing testosterone glut is something investors making long-term bets on Asia should be monitoring, and closely.
…
Guilmoto, who wrote the UN report, says men will outnumber women by 23 million in India and by 26 million in China by 2030. Some estimates are even higher.
…
Farfetched, perhaps, yet the UN warns that the focus on sons in countries such as China, India, Nepal and Vietnam may fuel sexual violence and trafficking in women. The UN notes that if Asia’s overall sex ratio were the same as the rest of the globe, in 2005 the region would have had 163 million more females
…
In [the 2004 book “Bare Branches: Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population.”], Valerie Hudson and Andrea den Boer warned that Asia’s shortage of women is giving rise to an entire generation of young men with no prospects of finding a mate. They argue that biology, sociology and history suggest the imbalance will lead to crime and social disorder.

In total by 2030 China, India, Vietnam, Nepal and other countries around the area will have some 100+ million young testosterone filled “excess” men in fighting age.
The historic outcome of such an imbalance is war. Most likely these “excess” men will fight against each other, but a (global warming induced) move north to the riches of ’empty’ Sibiria and a move south to Australia are also possible.
Those will be “interesting times”.

Posted by: b | Nov 3 2007 19:44 utc | 33

speaking of austalia & the utterlly transcedental stupidity of their journalists – iraq, we won

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 3 2007 21:23 utc | 35

R’Giap Understates the orgiastic graffiti he linked. For those who haven’t clicked through –
There is no civil war. The Kurds have not broken away. Iran has not turned Iraq into its puppet.
And the country’s institutions are getting stronger. The Iraqi army is now at full strength, at least in numbers.
The country has a vigorous media. A democratic constitution has been adopted and backed by a popular vote.
Election after election has Iraqis turning up in their millions.
Add it all up. Iraq not only remains a democracy, but shows no sign of collapse.
I repeat: the battle for a free Iraq has been won.

Posted by: jj | Nov 3 2007 22:00 utc | 37

badger

The Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar, citing diplomatic sources, said this morning (Saturday Nov 3) the US administration has given the green light to Israel to launch a wide-ranging attack on the Gaza Strip, although timing is complicated by preparations for the Annapolis peace conference. The paper said the planned incursion is based on Israeli intelligence warnings about the arming of various Palestinian groups, including an allegation about funding from Lebanese Hizbullah, and Israeli demands for more US pressure on Egypt on the issue of arms-smuggling.
….
The sources said Olmert and Barak have since then been meeting frequently to work out the timing and other details for the attack on Gaza, adding however that the American green light is being complicated or held up by current multi-party efforts to come up with some kind of an Israel-Palestine agreement ahead of the Annapolis peace conference. They said the Israeli troops currently on the Gaza border are receiving instructions and training, in preparation for a giant military operation in the Gaza Strip which will begin in the north and central parts of the Gaza Strip, and then be extended throughout.

Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2007 0:45 utc | 39

Been out demonstrating against the implementation of the EU data retention directive, or Big Brother for short. We were not many and it was cold. Well what the hey, you got to accept your inevitable loss and find energy to fight on anyway. Right?
Feel like things are falling in slow motion. The ices are melting – we knew that decades ago – and they are melting faster then the conservative estimates of the IPCC – suprise! Economy is morphing into bubblenomy as the real foundations break – it was forseen. The bubbles bust – well bubbles tend to do that. The political and econimcal powers are feeling their powers undermined by Internet and the breaking bubblenomy and slouches towards surveillance society and fascism, in US as well as EU – it was foreseeable. I feel like some character of out Dune trapped in a vision. I knew the things that happen, not from some psychic powers but from observation, reading, reason and deduction. And it is happening so maddening slowly.
It is not that I want an apocalypse, but I think I somewhere would prefer a fast crash to this outdrawn trainwreck taking years and decades for the train to come to a stop although the front has already hit the cliff wall. Will I be living my whole freaking life in this slow crash of the overshoot of the thinhaired ape species? And how do you live such a life?

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Nov 4 2007 4:06 utc | 41

the US administration has given the green light to Israel to launch a wide-ranging attack on the Gaza Strip, although timing is complicated by preparations for the Annapolis peace conference.
jaw drops. Orwell, anyone? “we’re about to roll into Gaza again killing tens or hundreds, inflicting mayhem and grief and pain, just another overt op in the low intensity genocide against the Palestinians — but we have to time it carefully so as not to interfere with preparations for a peace conference”…????
is it just me, or have they lost all vestige of shame and all sense that anyone with half a brain is watching or listening?

Posted by: DeAnander | Nov 4 2007 5:17 utc | 43

No matter what one calls it, the desire for sons in China, India and other Asian economies is causing a dangerous gender gap.
there’s a word for it: gendercide, the elimination of huge numbers of females before or just after birth.
the headline of the quoted story leaves me numb with horror: sexual frustration will harm Asia’s economies — never mind the rampant violence (general, internal, external, but also specifically against women) that is historically, consistently associated with huge gender imbalances (too many men, too few women) w/in a culture, never mind the women and girls who will be forced into sexual slavery as a result, the “comfort woman” imports, the mail order brides, the whole sorry mechanism of patriarchal entitlement to consume female bodies combined with capitalist profit taking. never mind all that. that’s not important.
o no, the real nub of the problem is that men might experience sexual frustration — gasp! — and this might hurt their economies.
one day I fully expect to see the headline: Cause For Concern: Genocidal Slaughter in Darfur May Affect The Economy!

Posted by: DeAnander | Nov 4 2007 5:21 utc | 45

DE – NO it’s not just you!
ditto
bubblenomy askod!! I feel like some character of out Dune trapped in a vision. you/we are.
I somewhere would prefer a fast crash to this outdrawn trainwreck taking years
something my brother said at my fathers memorial. “he lived thru the last century w/his eyes open”. sometimes i wish i could fast forward.. just get it over with, this trainwreck, to be able to see the other side. i wonder if i will live long enough to see this other side, for certainly i know the trainwreck will occur.
re: gender imbalance. workforce. bodies, slaves. no home, no family. excess men. reminds me of a story i read about dubai.
brain-hurting, intolerable….The political and econimcal powers are feeling their powers undermined by Internet and the breaking
the breaking brain-hurting, intolerable
the breaking
brain-hurting, intolerable
the breaking
brain-hurting, intolerable
the breaking
It is not that I want an apocalypse
i would rather live thru an apocalypse than living my whole freaking life in this slow crash of the overshoot of the thinhaired ape species.
me too, break thru

Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2007 7:28 utc | 47

Not to pile on but..
The Cavernous Divide: More Billionaires, More Poverty

Two magazine covers stood out in poignant contrast on newsstands last week. Forbes magazine released its 29th annual listing of the world’s billionaires. Time Magazine’s cover story wondered “How to End Poverty.”
It was a good year for the global billionaires’ club. Their ranks grew to 691, up 17 percent from the previous year. Collectively, the wealth of the world’s billionaires reached $2.2 trillion, up more than 57 percent over the last two years.
Poverty is growing as well. Time reports that nearly half of the world’s 6 billion residents are poor. Over one billion of them subsist on less than $1 a day. In the United States, according to the US Census Bureau, the number of impoverished Americans rose 3.7 percent in 2003. The number of children living in poverty rose 6.6 percent.

Submedia videos by “The Stimulator”
On a somewhat related note, I thought some of you might enjoy these videos on youtube. This guy calls himself the Stimulator does weekly or biweekly shows about how fucked we are.
57IMULA7OR.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 4 2007 10:35 utc | 49

ist link above is accidentally to 2nd page of NY Times article on central a.c rules. Here’s link to ist page. (If any of my NYT links don’t work unless you register/pay, e-mail me, I’ll send text)

Posted by: plushtown | Nov 4 2007 11:47 utc | 51

Fixing problems for people is too expensive. Causing suffering is worth any cost.
Very well put, Monolycus. You nailed it.

Posted by: Bea | Nov 4 2007 18:18 utc | 53

Checking in on how the preparations for the Israeli-Palestinian “peace” conference are proceeding, we learn:
Not much is clear about it at all:

One month before President George W. Bush’s Mideast peace conference – the administration’s first serious effort in six years – it’s still not clear what will be on the agenda or who, beyond the Americans, Israelis and Palestinians, will show up. Even the date is still up in the air.

Rice, in Jerusalem today, is seriously trying to lower expectations:

By Rice’s own assessment, there is little hope of progress toward an agreement this weekend.
“I absolutely don’t expect there will be agreement on a document,” Rice told reporters on Saturday.

Debka: Bush Pulls the Rug Out from under Condi on Annapolis, emasculating the already fairly hopeless conference Even taken with a grain of salt, as one must always do with Debka, this is worth further investigation — has anyone else heard about this?
Israel and the US Decide Syria “Will Be Allowed to Attend but…”

The two agreed that Israel and the United States would allow Syrian officials to attend if Syria accepted the fact that the summit would deal only with Israeli-Palestinian relations, and not with the fate of the Golan Heights.
The statements were made in response to the Syrian foreign minister’s request to Rice on Saturday that the summit deal with Israel-Syria issues as well.

This is a way to extend an invitation while ensuring that the invited party will decline. And note that “Israel and the US” make the decisions about the invitees; the Palestinians are merely dragged along in their wake with no say.
Some Folks May Have Actually Had a Different Agenda for Annapolis All Along

[Israeli] Minister Ami Ayalon met with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat Thursday night and told him that “the Annapolis conference needs to serve as an additional link in the chain of the creation of a regional coalition against the Iranian threat.”

or this:

[Israeli] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman on Saturday set down his ‘red lines’ for any agreement made with the Palestinians at the upcoming Annapolis peace conference.
Lieberman told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the agreement must include a swap of populations and land in a way that will ensure an 80% Jewish majority in Israel. He also said Israel must demand a complete stop to any acts of terror and a solution to the Palestinian economic crisis before the finalization of any agreement.

Key Israeli figures criticize Defense Minister Barak as being too right-wing; Barak gets in a shouting match with Israel’s Attorney General over cutting electricity to Gaza
Paranoia Runs High
Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for Israel in Gaza:

Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli warplanes killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Sunday morning, including three factory workers. An intense bombardment left dozens of others wounded, many of them within a half hour of bombardment.
Israeli forces shelled the town of Beit Hanoun, at the northern end of the Gaza Strip, killing a twenty-five-year-old Islamic Jihad Al-Quds Brigades fighter named Hisham Khaddoura. A twenty-three-year-old Al-Quds Brigades activist named Muhammad Abid was injured.
Other wounded Palestinians could not be evacuated because Israeli bombardment made areas in and around Beit Hanoun inaccessible to medical crews.
Medical officials said the bodies of the three factory workers were “cut into pieces” when they arrived at Al-Udwan and Al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza. The bodies were identified as forty-year-old Zaher Al-Ar, his eighteen-year-old son Yousef Al-Ar, and twenty-three-year-old Muhammad Abu Hrbeid.

PS. A clever Israeli has invented a new game: Middle East Bullshit Bingo

Posted by: Bea | Nov 4 2007 19:02 utc | 55

A Short History of Fascism in America by Clifford Kiracofe. A good overview of the history of international fascism, the liberty league, Smedley Butler, Synarchy, and various other organizations involved in fascism in America.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 5 2007 1:39 utc | 57

bea has shown once again what underlines our despair. the despair of deanander of monolycus – the basic fact that our slothrop would sometimes call sentimental – that is the murder, the massacre, the genocide of the other. of a people & of their dreams & visions
& what is parodically called western civilisation couldn’t give a fuck. it witnessed south east asia turned into flame & defoliants. it witnessed the humiliation & the destruction of the people of africa. it witnesses until recently the wholesale slaughter of generation after generation of latin americans
& it lives in silence in the belly of the beast itself with the destruction of the hope(s) & desire(s) of its underclass, of its poor & of its working class
it was with thatcher that they even turned the povery of their people as a mrketing device for the institution(s) of fear & it was under thatcher & now throughout the world where we see vast numbers of people living on the streets. i work with them every day & their number are growing & deepening
& western civilisation turns its eyes to its own reality. a reality so marked in blood & sweat of the other. in every metropolis of the beast we witness people drinking their capuccinos which are the direct result of a modern form of slavery – where the worker is diminished if not extinguished
white skin privelege is a terrible thing – it should not have become something so horrific
& i know for me that it is that which feeds so much of my own despair even though i think i act civically every day but every where we turn from continent to continent – we witness slaughter
it is not so strange – that these days in england the art galleries have being placing reproductions of their paintings on the streets as if to insist on our civilisation & robbing it of its real meditative relation with individuals – they insist on our civilisation because as benjamin has sd behind every artifact of culture is an artifact of crime

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 5 2007 2:44 utc | 59

nyt: Iraq, With U.S. Support, Voids a Russian Oil Contract

Guided by American legal advisers, the Iraqi government has canceled a controversial development contract with the Russian company Lukoil for a vast oil field in Iraq’s southern desert, freeing it up for potential international investment in the future.
In response, Russian authorities have threatened to revoke a 2004 deal under the Paris Club of creditor nations to forgive $13 billion in Iraqi debt, a senior Iraqi official said.
The field, West Qurna, has estimated reserves of 11 billion barrels, the equivalent of the worldwide proven oil reserves of Exxon Mobil, America’s largest oil company. Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, said in an interview that the field would be opened to new bidders, perhaps as early as next year.
The contract, which had been signed and later canceled by the Saddam Hussein government, had been in legal limbo since the American invasion. But the Kremlin remained hopeful it could be salvaged until this September, when Mr. Shahristani traveled to Moscow to inform officials there that the decision to cancel it was final, he said.
…
The contract presented a quandary for the United States, which has been accused by some critics of invading Iraq for its oil. There is little evidence to date that the war effort has given American oil companies an inside track to Iraq’s reserves, and the Lukoil deal is the only one involving a major oil company to be reversed since the start of the war.
But as a cornerstone of its foreign policy, the United States has argued vigorously for countries to honor petroleum contracts. In that light, condoning the cancellation of the Lukoil contract could be seen in some quarters as evidence of a double standard.
“From the Russian government perspective, Iraq is seen as occupied and its administration directed by Washington, particularly when it comes to oil,” Vladimir I. Tikhomirov, chief economist at the Russian bank UralSib, said in a telephone interview.
“The Russians see the cancellation of their contract in Iraq as part of the U.S. drive to keep control over the major oil fields there,” he said.

Posted by: b real | Nov 5 2007 5:20 utc | 61

Irony of the day…
State Department Announces “Doors to Diplomacy” 2008 Web Project Competition for Middle School and High School Students
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/oct/94331.htm

The Department of State and the Global SchoolNet Foundation announce the 2008 “Doors to Diplomacy” award competition, recognizing the student-created Global SchoolNet Web projects that best teach others about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy.

Note, I don’t know if it matters or not, but I chose not to link directly to the State department here, because I would rather they not see MOA in their server logs. And track back to here.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 5 2007 9:09 utc | 63

@ Apres Deluge #62
your post on windows is brilliant, correct. Berkeley is right, on this and other things, and not coincidentally on a coast.
I obviously think coasts are deluged too soon for preventative measures to be put in place, or even to get the building permits.
Am curious how much apres you think we have before deluge.
@ my #’s 2, 4, b’s #3 – I mentioned that Tesla tried to sell a system to transmit electricity wirelessly. Said system was also to generate electricity. More links here.
My thesis on MoA and elsewhere is that the powers that be have largely inherited their positions and are in favor of global warming, at least until the coasts are gone. After that, they will indeed have a New World to play with. My brother-in-law points out that power plants tend to be on coasts, cooled by sea water. He thinks for that reason elite would not want coasts gone. Wireless electricity dissolves that concern. But also, whether they wanted such or not, it looks like Greenland and antarctic ice in ocean would have happened anyway. Savvy businessmen (and I think less than 100 know) only take advantage of natural forces and stir up time wasting arguments as to whether things are human caused or not.
I used to think we could dig inland seas, if only there were time, save coasts that way while helping economies. We know how to dig. And one can keep digging, whereas dikes have limits that are pitiful compared to what’s coming. That was before I realized a LOT of earthquakes were likely, and a small population desired.
BTW, have put on environmental blogs stuff about earthquakes under ice being inevitable, have never gotten real response anywhere.
Am putting this here, not on thread above, because idea about windows really is brilliant, don’t want to distract. Notice that Greenpeace etc, well endowed by giant pricks, never pushed such 30 years ago.

Posted by: plushtown | Nov 5 2007 12:09 utc | 65

plushtown – and don’t forget about the increase in new volcanoes & activity in dormant ones
—
NOAA A total of 87 tornadoes were reported in the United States from Oct. 17-19 – a new record outbreak for the month, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The outbreak also contributed to the monthly total of 105 tornado reports – the second highest for October, behind the 117 tornadoes in October 2001. Records date back to 1950.
Although these real-time reports must be confirmed by local National Weather Service forecast offices, the preliminary number for the three-day outbreak significantly surpasses the previous October outbreak record of 63 tornadoes set along the Gulf Coast from southeast Texas to Florida and Georgia from Oct. 23-27, 1997.

Posted by: b real | Nov 5 2007 16:12 utc | 67

poor sad guatemala seems to be following the tide of all latin america. but this country where the u s empire made a coup against the social democrat abenz & established over 40 years of bloody history are still determining factors
i hope the people of guatemala can arrive at the peace that they merit but i would not be at all surprised that the state department will set free the death squads again

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 5 2007 17:39 utc | 69

@b real – thanks – wonder at what point ethiopia will ask U.S. bombers to help them out.
—
Via Froomkin: Darth Vader
Give and Take, Surrender-Style

Cynics who think that they .. know Cheney and assume he does not believe much in the art of negotiation can now rest easy. Asked during a rare question-and-answer session after a speech to the World Affairs Council of Dallas-Fort Worth on Friday why the United States should invade countries such as Iraq and Iran rather than sit down and talk with their leaders, he said he would be more than happy to talk with them — on certain rather favorable terms.
“Well, I would love to have one giant peace conference, to see our adversaries come sit down on the other side of the table, and negotiate a treaty here — like we did at the end of World War II onboard the USS Missouri — and have the problem solved,” he said, before going on to explain why he did not think that was possible.
Of course, the “treaty” signed on the Missouri was actually an instrument of “unconditional surrender” in which Japan agreed to “obey and enforce all proclamations, orders and directives” issued by the Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. If only Iran would be reasonable and agree to something like that, everything sure would be a lot easier.

Posted by: b | Nov 5 2007 20:18 utc | 71

sorry, 72 was me. (different computer)

Posted by: plushtown | Nov 5 2007 20:24 utc | 73

the first american casualty in iraq was in fact a guatamalean. a mayan streetboy who had try to run from the horror that the u s empire had created in his country
what a sad, sad history we live – bethed as it is in blood from north to the south from the east to the west
john pilger commences his last film with the horror the u.s. created in guatemala . the truth commission in that country was more than clear on the participation of the state dept & people like negroponte
they have never given a fuck for the people. never. their lives & deaths are of no consequence to those gentlemen in washington who rule from the roll of dollars
& now those same gentlemen in washington squeal like pigs over chavez, over morales, over ortega – they lay down yet again another slander against the heroic cuban people & use their bullypulpit to make out history does not exist
& if we accept that history – as forgotten – then we are just as criminal – as those who designed policies – to deny food to the other, to deny housing for the other, to deny education for the other – to those who created policies which meant the death of the other – especially the other who was indigenous
i’ve been reflecting on john pilgers last film because it is essentially so optimistic – possesses so much faith in the masses of latin america – a latin america that has not long walked from the bloodbath of u.s. policies & a u s distracted now by another continent where yet another bloodbath has been created – yet pilger sees the possible light
& on good days it can be seen & felt but unfortunately so too the madness of this empire in its dying can be felt at a level – westerners have never felt
but today hundreds of thousands o people march in caracas in support of the changes to the constitution – they are holding history in their frail hands – but i trust them with it much more than the elites who have never given the world anything other than fear

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 6 2007 0:46 utc | 75

Report: Hezbollah stages maneuvers

Thousands of Hezbollah guerrillas staged secret military maneuvers without weapons or uniforms near Israel’s border in southern Lebanon, a pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper reported Monday.

Posted by: Alamet | Nov 6 2007 0:58 utc | 77

Link
Skepticism Greets Africom

Posted by: BenIAM | Nov 6 2007 3:17 utc | 79

working link for #79
Skepticism, distrust greet America’s new military command in Africa
there was a barely altered version of that same story that ran on the navytime’s site today, w/ a more empowering headline
Navy exercise kicks off AfriCom mission
good to see you still around, BenIAM
two things from that AP wire story today stood out to me
1. of all the astute things wafula okumu has said about the problems AFRICOM faces on the continent, the reporter singled out the sentence
“If it was packaged a different way and better explained, maybe it could be a success.”
define success. for whom? for the investors in AFRICOM? or for the african peoples? it definitely won’t be a success for the latter, no matter how much lipstick you smear on this pig.
robert kaplan has the same kind of nonsense reverberating between his ears, hoping to see his racist “indian country” war game ideas transposed onto africa while at the same time offering a chance to clean up the u.s. image

Indeed, through a combination of small-scale military strikes that do not generate bad publicity and constant involvement on the soft, humanitarian side of military operations, AFRICOM could rebuild the post-Iraq image of the American soldier in the global commons.

these ideas that image can trump reality — how long do they imagine they can prevail? whoever heard of small-scale military strikes on foreign lands leading to good press? who’s fooling who? i’d argue that these attempts at packaging are not fooling those on a continent w/ a historical memory of colonialism.
as julius nyerere nicely put it in his 1963 book, the second scramble,

..if we, in Africa, were left on our own we would achieve Unity on our Continent, but … I do not believe we are going to be left alone.
…
But there is no need for fear. All we need to do is use our intellect; to know what is good for us. We need to listen to the outside world; to accept from them what we believe is in the best interests of Africa and of African Unity, and to reject (and reject in no uncertain terms) what believe is not in the best interests of Africa and African Unity. And that includes all those attractive, but misleading, slogans about “democracy,” “socialism,” and so on, which are too often used to cloak the real designs of the power-hungry.
…
What annoys me is not the use of these labels and slogans by power-hungry nations; that, after all, is something we expect. But what does infuriate me is their expecting us to allow ourselves to be treated as if we were a bunch of idiots!

so let the imperialist braintrust behind AFRICOM focus on image & broadcasting pretty slogans about a neo-military enforcement of “democracy” and humanitarianism for the african masses; the end will reveal them for what they remain — supremacist, warrior asses.
and
2. one reason that the AFRICOM spokespeople like stressing that they aren’t (currently) envisioning rings of bases on the continent at the moment is b/c they expect to use more subtle means of conquest — particularly in the form of gaining control of select militaries (“professionalism,” “peacekeeping,” GWOT, etc), the civic sector (“good governance,” “democracy promotion,” and “accountability”), and the business sector (privatization, infrastructure development/ownership). and throw in ideas of controlling humanitarian efforts (NGO’s, logistics, USAID, etc).
this is the experiment that they hope to undertake in africa – avoid the outright colonialism that comes w/ permanent basing while still achieving hegemony to protect u.s. interests & investments in…well…as ‘principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy’ (whew!) ryan henry proclaimed, “a country both rich in human capital and — a continent rich in human capital and natural resources.”

Posted by: b real | Nov 6 2007 4:33 utc | 81

FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here

the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.
The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.
The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.
…
The possibility of Iranian-sponsored terrorism in the United States has drawn major attention from the FBI because of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program.
“Because of the heightened difficulties surrounding U.S.-Iranian relations, the FBI has increased its focus on Hezbollah,” Bresson said 16 months ago. “Those investigations relate particularly to the potential presence of Hezbollah members on U.S. soil.”
…
Hezbollah and Hamas (also backed by Syria) have kept mostly to their own backyards, with the notable exception of a 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires synagogue, which was traced to Tehran. While fiery calls for launching attacks inside the United States remains a guaranteed applause line in Iran’s mosques, so far cooler heads have prevailed.
…

Hmm – Falafel ain’t a Iranian dish …

Posted by: b | Nov 6 2007 7:16 utc | 83

Marc Lynch has an interesting post on statements coming out of the Maliki government (remember them?). In a recent interview with al-Arabya Maliki insists that reconciliation is a done deal, that the civil war is over, and the bottoms-up strategy spreading out from Anbar, is a success evidenced by Shiites and Sunnis returning in peace to their former mixed neighborhoods, and a decrease in violence. This is a rather amusing pack of lies which more than anything, signal a rather breathtaking shift in rhetoric – because the facts on the ground (almost 100 killed in violence yesterday) remain in your face contrary, to say the least. Without bothering to take issue over the assertions themselves, Maliki is taking a different tact in that he seems to of had a sip of the kool-aid, and appears to like it – although his reasons may be different. What he seems to be doing is to out Petreaus, Petreaus in claiming all the current strategies, against all evidence, are working miracles even more astonishing that even the most ardent bush cheerleaders have been misunderestimating. Its a clever turn for Maliki, who no doubt is reading the U.S. time line trajectory and is buying an insurance policy from the administration in claiming the long sought reconciliation is a done deal and no longer benchmark worthy. And by (sucking up &) appearing totally on board with the entire Petreaus plan – there is no need waiting around for a corruption/insubordination grounded coup. Mission accomplished. At least as far as buying more time is concerned.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 6 2007 9:43 utc | 85

U.S. backed dictatorship = “Military Powerhouse”
Ethiopia, Eritrea on Verge Of Border War, Report Says

The two countries have been on the brink for some time. But the current military buildup along their border has reached “alarming proportions,” with opposing troops separated in some areas by only a dry riverbed, according to the report by the International Crisis Group, based in Brussels.
“The risk that Ethiopia and Eritrea will resume their war in the next several weeks is very real,” the report says, adding that the United States could play a vital role in averting a conflict.
Eritrea, a tiny country with one of the largest armies in Africa, has about 12,000 troops near the disputed border, as well as 4,000 positioned inside a demilitarized zone that was established by a peace agreement that ended a 1998-2000 border war, according to U.S. government estimates cited in the report.
On its side of the border, Ethiopia, a U.S.-backed military powerhouse, maintains an estimated 100,000 troops who have been carrying out large-scale training exercises in recent months.
Ethiopia also has been building up its air force and jamming Eritrean radar, according to a U.S. government source, who speculated that Ethiopia may strike by air in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, hoping to topple the government there.
…
In the context of a U.S. foreign policy driven primarily by counterterrorism objectives, Ethiopia has remained a key U.S. ally. Washington supported Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia and has roundly condemned Eritrea for hosting the Somali Islamic leaders. Given that support, Meles may decide that now is the time to try to get rid of the Eritrean leadership, the report says.

Posted by: b | Nov 6 2007 10:47 utc | 87

Revealed: how multinational companies avoid the taxman

Global banana companies supplying the UK are using tax havens to avoid paying tax on their profits here and in developing countries, the Guardian has found.
The investigation reveals that large corporations are creating elaborate structures to move profits through subsidiaries to offshore centres such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, to avoid handing money over to tax collectors in the countries where their goods are produced, and in those where they are consumed. Governments at both ends of the chain are increasingly being deprived of the ability to raise tax for development or services.
…
In some years the banana companies have paid an effective tax rate as low as 8%, even though the standard rate in the US where they have their headquarters and file their full accounts is 35%.
The banana companies are not alone. Nearly a third of the UK’s 700 largest businesses paid no corporation tax in the year 2005-06. A further third paid less than £10m each, according to figures from the National Audit Office.

Posted by: b | Nov 6 2007 11:34 utc | 89

Recommended read:
Pepe Escobar: Bush’s Turkey Shoot
Wonderful piece that sums up all the complexities and contradictions inherent in US policy toward the Kurds, in the wake of Erdogan’s US visit yesterday.
~Snip

Way beyond Turkey’s troubles with the PKK, it all comes back to the stark fact that Turkey simply cannot accept a virtually independent Iraqi Kurdistan in its southeast border – exactly the outcome sought by the US-Israeli axis.
Bush and his inner circle have bought time to calculate the odds on whom to double-cross. Will it be North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally Turkey, with its handy Incirlik base, anti-US public opinion and no oil; or pro-US Iraqi Kurds, with lots of oil and their Israeli-trained peshmerga (armed forces)? Tough call. A poker player familiar with Bush administration methods would bet on a double double-cross, complete with a “blame it on Iran” sequel and a “bomb Iran” grand finale.
Ankara’s logic remain flawless, at least from a “war on terror” angle. If Washington invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq to fight “terrorists”, Ankara has the same rights to invade its terrorist-harboring neighbor, which just happens to be an American neo-colony. The irony is obviously lost on the Bush administration.

A single excerpt can’t do this piece justice — read the entire thing.

Posted by: Bea | Nov 6 2007 13:59 utc | 91

Excuse me. Another reason to make that call.

Posted by: beq | Nov 6 2007 16:06 utc | 93

misna: PRESIDENT MUSEVENI SAYS “NO” TO US MILITARY BASE

Uganda will not host a United States military base in its territory.
The statement was clearly made by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on return to Kampala from a visit in Washington a few days ago, specifying that the concession of such a privilege would amount to losing part of the nation’s sovereignty.
“Will Uganda accept a foreign base? No, it would be a no-confidence motion toward ourselves”, said the Ugandan President. Museveni underlined that at the most Kampala could concede the US a temporary military presence, as occurred in the case of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) or of France as part of the peace mission in DR-Congo.
Museveni’s rejection of Washington’s request is only the latest of a long series of African Head’s of State and regional blocs that took firm stands against a first US military command for the continent, called AFRICOM, wanted in the past months by President George W. Bush and currently stationed in Stuttgart, in central-west Germany, where the European military Command (EUCOM) is located. The new African command will not be operative before October 2008, before which Washington hopes to have individuated a location in African territory.
The creation of AFRICOM was far from welcomed in the continent and for weeks, from Libya to South Africa, there have been calls for the continent’s governments “to resist US requests” to host the command. South Africa’s Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota recently defined the refusal to AFRICOM “a continental stand”. The united front against the creation of a US military command in Africa appears only broken by Liberia, whose President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has suggested that her nation is willing to host the new American base.

[h/t to african news analysis]
liberia is very unlikely to get the HQ, due to lack of infrastructure etc, though that hasn’t stopped president sirleaf or her veep from acting as AFRICOM’s ambassadors in west africa.
Liberia Wants AFRICOM Sited in Africa

Government of Liberia has given its support to the location of the United States military base tagged AFRICOM, presently in Stuttgart, Germany, on the African soil.
The country is also bidding to host the site if possible, in in spite of reservations expressed by some African government including Nigeria, on AFRICOM’s location on African soil.
Vice President of Liberia, Honourable Joseph Boakai, disclosed this yesterday at the 20th Meeting of ECOWAS Committee of Chief of Defence Staff in Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Monrovia.
He said Liberia saw the development as a good thing and will appeal to African brothers to support it, as it bid to host the site.
He claimed not to be aware of the displeasure expressed by other African countries, who saw it as exposing the continent to the American government.

sirleaf was working w/ some lobby groups in washington to promote liberia as the site for the AFRICOM HQ, but after her recent visit to the states, where she was lauded w/ all types of honors (including the presidential medal of freedom) and pledges of financial & military support/relief, even she had to admit that liberia “probably” would not get to host the HQ.
it’s not likely that liberia has much influence on the ECOWAS states, or the rest of the continent for that matter, when it comes to changing minds on AFRICOM. for one thing, liberia is still largely viewed as an “american” colony.

Posted by: b real | Nov 6 2007 16:52 utc | 95

r’giap- no tengo problema aquí, amigo

Posted by: b real | Nov 6 2007 19:05 utc | 97

@ Deanander in post 54:
Thank you for a new idea — predation as a “predatory” method … I’m not kidding, this is a mind-bending idea.
We all remember the movie Wall Street (well some of us), the whole “greed is good” mentality that became prevalent as the late 1960s/early 1970s gender-free counterculture devolved into the 1980s fascist model. Even clothing went from flowing and flattering to thin black jeans and pointy shoes …
Just my observation, an aside.
The idea that trees share is beautiful, I read recently that plants of the same species don’t compete for resources amongst themselves, they are somehow aware of their similarity. This doesn’t imply intelligence, just “intelligent design” in the proper meaning of that ill-used phrase.
As for bulldozers, I recently moved to an area just outside the suburbs, served by a rural two-lane highway through the trees.
Not here more than a year before the highway is being expanded to four lanes, with requisite behemoth trucks, blasting, noise and the result: I will live in the shadow of a superhighway overpass. My neighbors point out that our property value will increase due to the easy access and higher visibility!
Ack!
Anyway, De. I’m beginning to finish a couple of projects that have taken all my time for the last 3-4 months and I am actually quite optimistic, not about the economy, our freedom or the harm that is being done by “our” armies and allies, nor about the rash of murders targeting (apparently) the gangs that run the drug trade in nearby Vancouver, but simply that I woke up this morning without too much pain from my twisted ankle, no hangover, not craving cigarettes, and not in dread of an unfulfilled meeting and delivery deadline.
Life is good and thanks for reminding me that we all have something to contribute.

Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 6 2007 20:37 utc | 99