re no. 1:
Remember, the market is not just a mere mechanism, it is an ideology, a manifestation of God’s plan for us on earth.
Did Moses engage in business negotiations with God on Sinai? Did Jesus not stage a leveraged buyout of the moneylenders in the temple?
If we have to sacrifice a few million lives to maintain its integrity, then it is a worthwhile investment.

Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 13 2008 19:44 utc | 3

If the IMF wants more buy-in from 1W countries to alleviate global starvation from
BushCo’s SNAFU war-for-(reduction in supply of)-oil meme, they need look no further
that a windfall profits tax on global oil companies.
Check your history. Every time oil has fallen below the profit point for Saudi, $12.50 a barrel, beginning in 1973 on, there has been a staged war to suppress oil field production in Iraq: Iran:Iran 1980 (GBushSr_CIA), Iraq:Kuwait (GBushSr_CiC) and finally GW3 (GWB), no different that two warring Colombian drug cartels.
http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/small/oilprice1947.gif
The BushCo Family has oil roots clear back to Zapata, tied directly to a Saudi bailout. Saudi has set the price, stating clearly in public that $25/bbl is plenty of profit for them. So anything above $25 is windfall profits for the Saudis, for EOX, RDS and so on, thus $115 is *800% windfall profit*, so far and away above reasonable profit the oil companies are buying back shares and throwing B dividends.
Should EOX, and so on, disgorge? Yes, if you hold to the concept of windfall profits tax. Should EOX, and so on, pay higher royalties? Yes, American oil belongs to every citizen in America. Should EOX, and so on, give up their oil depletion allowances? Yes! Should they comply with low-sulfur regulations, by actually building new sulfur-
reduction plant/equipment, instead of buying sweet crude futures, while at the same time receiving government tax incentives! Yes! Should the practice of “land-farming”, volatilizing hundreds of thousands of tons of carcinogenic refinery wastes onto downwind communities, be halted? Yes! Should the greatest natural environmental catastrophe in our N.A. history (tar sands) be taxed cradle-to-brownfield? Yes! Should all US refiners be required to pay into an eventual cleanup program for that Peak Oil day when refineries are left as simmering slag heaps?
Yes! Why should American workers be subsidizing Big Oil investors?! Why not tax
their windfall profits and distribute those revenues as 3W food aid, immediately?
It won’t happen. American Corporate Socialism will bring on Saddam-fascism for USA. Does that mean Houston will gas US Big Oil dissenters? No, they don’t have to. Wall Street already dropped the credit.con neutron bomb. Average American savings rate hit zero in 2007. The average American credit balance is -$3,240. You parsing geniuses here on MoA surely understand the difference between average and median.
Crashing State and local tax revenues, crashing health and human services, a Fed wrapped up in destroying US with inflation and tax deficits, so they can bail out the banks, brokers and bonders, and you’ll have the 1950’s all over again, and just like the 1950’s, pre- agricultural revolution, there will be 100’s of millions starving.
And it all could have been prevented with a windfall profits tax on oil.
Then someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away.

Posted by: Petey Michelson | Apr 13 2008 20:49 utc | 5

Paulson and Bernanke and Friends can hardly give up the notion that the market comes first, comes before human beings. They can hardly avoid making whatever hard decisions must be made to stick with that approach.
They would have to be something they are not, in order to put the market AFTER human beings.
At the Wansee Conference, in 1942, the top leaders of the Nazi Party could hardly give up the notion that Jews were the cause of Germany’s demise in WWI, and Germany’s supposed decadence, and the degradation of the master race.
To avoid coming to the hard decisions they came to at Wansee, they would have had to be something they are not, in order to put human beings ahead of their ideology.
The only way for simple humanity to creep into the lives of ideologues is for them to feel the noose around their neck, to hear their sentence read out loud, and to realize at the last that they may have lost touch with the public they so assiduously served.

Posted by: Hobson | Apr 14 2008 0:55 utc | 7

@8
and if the neocons were preaching global-harmony, kindness, brotherhood, international-cooperation … they would’nt get very far because nothing draws peoples into compliance as well as fear does.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Apr 14 2008 3:42 utc | 9

forgot the link

Posted by: Sam | Apr 14 2008 3:53 utc | 11

Interesting numbers from the other war: David W. Barno – Lt. General, USA (Ret.) – HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE TESTIMONY – April 2, 2008(pdf)

Since my time in Afghanistan from October 2003 until May 2005, much has changed. I’d like to draw a few comparisons between the mid-point year of my tour, 2004, and last year, 2007. Security incidents – defined as reported acts of violence nation-wide — totaled 900 in 2004; last year, in 2007 they totaled 8,950 across Afghanistan. Roadside bombs amounted to 325 attacks in 2004; last year, 1,469. Suicide bombings – decidedly a non-Afghan phenomenon – totaled 3 in 2004; last year they exceeded 130, a deadly new tactic being imported from Iraq. Total bombs dropped by Coalition air forces in 2004 were 86; last year, NATO dropped 3,572 bombs in Afghanistan – noteworthy in a war all now commonly define as a complex counter-insurgency fight. Finally, poppy production in 2004 totaled 131K hectares, and while dropping to 104K in 2005, ballooned in 2007 to a new record of 193K hectares.

Posted by: b | Apr 14 2008 7:10 utc | 13

This made my made my day. In a 14 cigarettes, 8 pints of beer a day, sort of way.

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 14 2008 8:59 utc | 15

Sam, I hope you didn’t miss the bit where Clinton said Kerry and Gore were aloof elitist unbelieves, which was why they lost their elections. That a Dem candidate has the guts to pretend Gore actually lost the 2000 election is quite rare (and foolish). That HRC criticises anyone for being aloof, elitist, and not religious enough, is on par with BushCo hubris and hypocritical arrogance.
I wonder if she realises she just lost any possible chance of being the Dem nominee.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Apr 14 2008 9:54 utc | 17

Here’s a site that looks at oil influence on government:

Members of Congress Who Take More Money from Big Oil Vote More Often for Big Oil at the Expense of the Public Interest

For example this illustrates the influence on the pigs lined up at the Iraqi oil trough:

Overall, House and Senate members who voted to continue the war and occupation of Iraq accepted 3.2 times more oil money (3) than those who voted in the public interest.

But the public is catching on:

In the 2006 mid-term elections, four of the five biggest oil money Senators (7) were voted out of office in 2006. In contrast, all of the incumbents who took no oil money won reelection in 2006. In the House, 49 Representatives who voted with Big Oil 80% or more of the time retired or were voted out of office in 2006.

Follow the Oil Money Key Findings
Even more interesting is their Presidential candidate page with Guliani clearly the favorite, the difference between McCain and Hillory Clinton is negligable which is no surprise and Obama is the low man on the totem pole of the four.

Posted by: Sam | Apr 14 2008 15:05 utc | 19

@b real – 20
That project isn’t new. The ideal gas pipeline for China would be from Iran eastwards through Pakistan and then up north to China plus an oil pipeline from the harbor of Gwader which the Chinese are developing up north.
The comepetition to this is a gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan towards India.
This sets up an economic competition/conflict between China and India and Pakistan is looking for the best deal proposing to both sides.

Posted by: b | Apr 14 2008 15:41 utc | 21

looking for more confirmation on this, but from madrid’s el imparcial yesterday
The Pentagon installs the Control of Africa in the south of Morocco (babelfish)

The United States has chosen the Atlantic coast of Morocco to install the new Control of Africa (Africom), that it will have like objective to control this continent militarily. With the approval of king Mohamed I SAW, the Pentagon constructs an enormous military base of thousand hectares of extension in the coastal locality of [Tan Tan], near the territory of the old Spanish colony of the Western Sahara and in front of the canary archipelago.
…
A report of the Committee of investigation of the Congress has considered to Morocco like “the more credible African country to lodge the Africom”. Between the qualities that recognize the Kingdom of Mohamed I SAW, they are, next to its geostrategic situation, the internal stability and the solid friendship showed with the U.S.A. from end of World War II.
…
Mary Carlin Yachts, attached commander of the Africom for civil subjects, confirmed the [s]election of [Tan Tan] and kept awake that a special commission of the Congress had completed the modalities in the Agreement that will sign the United States and Morocco.
…
Also there has been confirmation by French part. … Michel Rogalski, person in charge in the National Center of Investigaciones Cientificas (CNRS) French, has confirmed the agreement between the Moroccan Pentagon and authorities for the installation of this new one regional command.
…
According to sources of Moroccan Intelligence, the North American Department of Defense has begun to send communications equipment. The United States does not have, at the moment, troops in Morocco. The North American bases in the magrebí country were closed in 1963 and the facilities to the U.S. Navy in the port of Kenitra, interrupted in 1978. Nevertheless, Morocco have continued cooperating with Washington all these years, allowing to the Forces of Fast Intervention with base in Florida to make scales for their unfolding towards Oriente.medio during successive Gulfs War.

the machine translation is not the smoothest, but the article adds more to the story i pointed out back in january.
the sitemeter showed recently that the moroccan govt is searching the web to see who’s it (or gain more info?)
in that january comment, i added the little known fact that

The U.S. and Morocco have a longstanding special relationship. They have had a treaty of friendship since 1787, the longest unbroken peace agreement the U.S. has maintained with any country in the world.

Posted by: b real | Apr 14 2008 18:11 utc | 23

Remember those “shores of Tripoli” menioned in the US Marine Corps hymn? That goes back to the days of fighting the Barbary Coast pirates, in which Morocco aided the young USA.
Up to now, AFRICOM is stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, not because of any large immigrant African population there, but because they were still looking for a lace to keep it.

Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 14 2008 18:48 utc | 25

AP poll say pessimism over housing crisis grows

Posted by: Sam | Apr 14 2008 18:53 utc | 27

meanwhile, in europe – we picked the dumbest & most moronic crowd of motherfuckers to ‘lead’ us. from east to west to the northj & south – cretins – the elite of imbeciles
it could not be any more comic – mr jowels & his pontifical pauses in england, little & low mr bling bling imagining himselg talleyrand or condorcet, the little ex commie post mistress merkel, the not so exquisite cadaver berlusconi – it is enough to make you piss puss & it would seem the memory of europeans has a pox on it
time to move in with the comrades in katmandu

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 14 2008 19:23 utc | 29

thank you b real. i watched all 6 segments of The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba. the last one was the worst. the description in the german media (segment 4 or 5), horrific. imagining how the world could be w/out greed. not in my lifetime, maybe never.

Posted by: annie | Apr 15 2008 2:00 utc | 31

if at first you don’t succeed…
garowe online: Suspicion as 40 sport utility trucks unload at Puntland port

BOSSASO, Somalia Apr 14 (Garowe Online) – A ship from the United Arab Emirates has been docked at the northern Somali port of Bossaso where security forces unloaded at least 40 Toyota sport utility vehicles over the past two days, confidential sources tell Garowe Online.
Port employees who chose to remain anonymous said the trucks were unloaded “free of charge” by senior officials from the Puntland Intelligence Agency (PIS), the reportedly CIA-funded intelligence arm of the Puntland regional government.
The vehicles were transported to the Bossaso home of an individual named Liban Muse Bogor, a relative of Puntland President Adde Muse, the sources said.
Mr. Bogor, a citizen of Canada, is a member of the board of directors of Range Resources, Ltd., a small mining company based in Australia that claims exploration rights to Puntland after signing a controversial deal in 2005 with President Muse.
In Somalia, sport utility vehicles are equipped with heavy artillery weapons and transformed to armored trucks known locally as “technicals” – war-torn Somalia’s version of a tank.

let’s see – in puntland there have been at least a couple PIS intel officers assassinated recently, lots of shenanigans going on over pushing through controversial oil legislation recently, which has raised intra-tribal animosity b/w yusuf & muse, reports of mass counterfeiting in somalia originating through puntland, and the ongoing friction w/ somaliland.
and speaking of somaliland,
Unease in Somaliland following president’s term extension

HARGEISA, Somalia Apr 14 (Garowe Online) – Residents in Somalia’s second-largest city have reportedly been surprised at government troops amassing along major city streets in recent days.
Local media reports indicate that troops loyal to the government of Somaliland, a breakaway republic in northern Somalia, have been redeployed from frontier regions to Hargeisa, the separatist government’s capital city.
Hundreds of Somaliland soldiers backed by armored vehicles poured into Hargeisa from both the east and the west, according to Hargeisa-based daily Jamhuuriya.
Some of the Somaliland troops were redeployed from garrison towns in Sool, a disputed region etched between Somaliland and the rival Somali sub-state of Puntland.
According to the paper, other government troops were dispatched from bases in Awdal, a region west of Hargeisa that is the native home of Somaliland President Dahir Riyale.
It is not clear why the government of President Riyale has deployed soldiers on the streets of Hargeisa, a city renowned for its relative peace and order.
But locals have increasingly linked the troop deployment to growing anxiety in Hargeisa, where opposition party leaders have taken a strong stand against a parliament decision last week extending the term for President Riyale.

that’s probably the more likely reason. it wouldn’t make sense for the cia to be arming puntland to take on somaliland while DoS & DoD are cozying up to riyale. to get a feel for the outrage that riyale’s move, which as i pointed out in the last OT was encouraged by his foreign supporters, has wrought on the breakaway republic, check out the latest issue of somaliland times.

Posted by: b real | Apr 15 2008 4:48 utc | 33

b real didn’t those smug bastards just make you sick?
yes, i was actually astounded they would allow themselves to be recorded..they feel no shame at all. to put a face on these murderers.
i have thought about that series all thru the night off and on.. intertwining thru my dreamworld. i recommend it highly for anyone who has not watched it. (#28 The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba).

Posted by: annie | Apr 15 2008 15:31 utc | 35

Dozens dead as Iraq cities bombed
AQ is back

Posted by: annie | Apr 15 2008 16:33 utc | 37

david barouski has been posting some very enlightening documentation re the events surrounding the massacres in rwanda accumulated by the defense laywer coalition ADAD (association des avocats de la defence), who were shunned by the ICTR.
recommend starting w/ this one, esp from page 33 onward
ADAD Symposim Dossier

Special thanks to the ADAD and especially Professor Peter Erlinder for this document.
At the end of November 2007, an association of defense lawyers at the ICTR held a symposium to discuss a myriad of issues concerning the inability to obtain a fair trial, the decision to transfer detainees back to Rwanda for trial and/or incarceration, and the interference of outside governments in the proceedings. The following document is a brief that was handed out to participants in the trial and it summarizes the issues and the documentary evidence supporting the claims.

Posted by: b real | Apr 15 2008 18:14 utc | 39

What are they up to now?
US top officials in Iraq meet Saudi King

US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and American top Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus met here [Riyadh] Tuesday with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and discussed the situations in Iraq, state-run news agency (SPA) said.
(snip)

Posted by: Alamet | Apr 15 2008 20:58 utc | 41

Drumroll… Iraqi Accord Front returns to the fold.
IAF presents its candidates’ names to return to government

Posted by: Alamet | Apr 15 2008 21:05 utc | 43

Iran Says US Aids Rebels at Its Borders

The violence may be driving Tehran’s efforts to back its own allies in Iraq.

Related, from MoJo Blog

While Iranian officials were quick to portray an explosion at a Shiraz mosque Saturday that killed 12 people as an accident, analysts aren’t so sure.

Posted by: Alamet | Apr 15 2008 21:10 utc | 45

annie # 46 – more sides here than just those two – you are right, of course! But I think Cernig’s connecting of the assasination attempts to reports of Sistani’s ill health has merit.

Posted by: Alamet | Apr 15 2008 22:50 utc | 47

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph, chockful of figures as usual:
Global warming rage lets global hunger grow

(snip)
The UN says it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank with ethanol. That is enough to feed a child for a year. Last week, the UN predicted “massacres” unless the biofuel policy is halted.
We are all part of this drama whether we fill up with petrol or ethanol. The substitution effect across global markets makes the two morally identical.
Mr Diouf says world grain stocks have fallen to a quarter-century low of 5m tonnes, rations for eight to 12 weeks. America – the world’s food superpower – will divert 18pc of its grain output for ethanol this year, chiefly to break dependency on oil imports. It has a 45pc biofuel target for corn by 2015.
(snip)

Posted by: Alamet | Apr 15 2008 23:01 utc | 49

dow jones newswire: Darfur Rebel Group Wants Western Oil Cos To Replace Chinese

LONDON, April 15, 2008 (Dow Jones Newswires)
A leader within a powerful rebel faction in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region wants major Western oil companies to replace Chinese companies in the country, adding that new attacks were being prepared against them.
Offering better guarantees of oil revenue redistribution and environmental protection, “we would love to have Western companies,” replace Chinese ones, Eltahir Abdam Elfaki, chairman of the legislative council of the Justice and Equality Movement, said in a recent interview with Dow Jones Newswires.
“We don’t want China. We want to expel them. We have the means” to do so, he added. “We are preparing new attacks.”
At risk is some of the half-a-million barrels of crude pumped daily in the troubled northeast African country, of which more than 200,000 barrels are imported by China, making Sudan its fourth-largest provider of crude.
…
Another faction, the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdel Wahid al-Nur, has also threatened attacks on Chinese companies.
…
The Justice and Equality Movement’s leader, Khalil Ibrahim, is listed by the U.S. Treasury as an individual “contributing to the conflict in the Darfur region”, a designation, Elfaki said, tied to Ibrahim’s past association with Sudanese Islamist ideologue Hassan al-Turabi.
But the movement is now in favor of a secular, democratic regime in Sudan and “we really want dialog with the U.S.,” Elfaki said.
Indeed, by supporting Chad — whose main oil project is the Chad-Cameroon pipeline operated by Exxon Mobil Corp — the movement has “definitely” helped U.S. oil interests in the region, he added.
Though mostly Muslims, Darfur rebels have also sought support from Israel.
The Sudan Liberation Movement has opened an office in the country. Elfaki welcomed the move, saying Israel is “supportive of Darfur” and has hosted refugees from the region. The Hebrew state “is a democratic country” and “the Palestinians themselves are negotiating with Israel,” he said.

uh-huh. sure.
and somehow the dow jones failed to include this relevant information in their piece, something that seems pretty important imo, esp since that’s where el-faki was speaking from.
sudan tribune: US envoy holds rare direct talks with Darfur rebel JEM

April 15, 2008 (PARIS) — The US efforts to boost efforts in the war ravaged region of Darfur took an unprecedented turn Tuesday with a senior official holding a rare meeting with a rebel movement in France.
The US special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson met with a high level delegation from Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to discuss the resumption of peace talks and cessation of hostilities in Darfur.
JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein told Sudan Tribune from Paris that the meeting was supposed to include Khalil Ibrahim leader of JEM but said that “logistical difficulties due to his presence in Darfur” prevented him from attending.
However Hussein disclosed that that Williamson had phone conversation with Ibrahim earlier today and that the latter will meet with the US envoy “very soon” to discuss ways of “bringing about a comprehensive and sustainable peace in Darfur”.
The meeting is the first of its kind since the US administration imposed sanctions on Ibrahim for his role and accused him of “activity aimed at further destabilizing the situation on the ground [in Darfur]”.
…
The JEM delegation in the talks with the US envoy was headed by Dr. Mahmoud Abakar Tinawi, the vice chairperson of the general congress; Dr El-Tahir Adam El-Faki, the Chairman of JEM Legislative Council and Ahmed Hussein who is JEM spokesperson and in charge of relations with Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM).
…
The Darfur rebel group underscored to Williamson the need for the full deployment of UN-AU hybrid force (UNAMID) for a “constructive environment”. The US official raised the need for cessation of hostilities “in the coming period”.
JEM is thought to have the largest military rebel force in Darfur and has gained extra prominence in recent months through a series of clashes with government forces. But other groups, chief among the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction led by founder Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur, have huge support among Darfur’s displaced populations.
But Hussein said that the JEM delegation told Williamson that the movement “is not just a military power but managed to transform itself in many parts of Darfur and that many people look at them for hope”.

sounds like JEM wants the coveted puppet role

Posted by: b real | Apr 16 2008 4:32 utc | 51

jesus sam. have you watched the bank job?
They come to our country and beg us to drop bombs on their homeland as Iraqis begged us for Shock and Awe.
e few iraqis is not ‘iraqis’. most iraqis did not beg us for shock n awe.
They beg us for help to kill their countrymen if we promise them money and power.
i hope you are being facetious. more like we threaten to kill them if they don’t accept our poison candy. it only takes a few greedy men. iraqis are no different from other people. don’t speak as if we are passively doing their dirty deeds for them, as if we are servants carrying out their wishes.

Posted by: annie | Apr 16 2008 6:27 utc | 53

Statistics:
US will provide $200 million in emergency food aid to help ease the crisis
Last year the US provided $2.1 billion in food aid.
The US is the largest supplier of food aid
The amount spent per week in iraq is $3 billion.

Posted by: Sam | Apr 16 2008 8:59 utc | 55

Report: Netanyahu says 9/11 terror attacks good for Israel

The Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv on Wednesday reported that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu told an audience at Bar Ilan university that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks had been beneficial for Israel.
“We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,” Ma’ariv quoted the former prime minister as saying. He reportedly added that these events “swung American public opinion in our favor.”

Posted by: b | Apr 16 2008 11:37 utc | 57

i see that gates & rice were before the house armed services committee tuesday, for a hearing titled “Building Partnership Capacity and Development of the Interagency Process”, asking again that section 1206 authority be made permanent
gates:

..the Global Train-and-Equip program – known as Section 1206 – provides commanders a means to fill longstanding gaps in the effort to help other nations build and sustain capable military forces. It allows Defense and State to act in months, rather than years. The program focuses on places where we are not at war, but where there are both emerging threats and opportunities. It decreases the likelihood that our troops will be used in the future.
…
..the Department came to the Congress three years ago asking to create a DoD global train-and-equip authority. We knew that the military could not build partner capacity alone. We recognized this activity should be done jointly with State, which has the in-country expertise and understanding of broader U.S. foreign policy goals. For that reason, Defense asked the Congress to make State a co-equal decision maker-in-law – hence the dual “turn key” mechanism.
The primary benefits of global train-and-equip will accrue to the country over 10 to 15 years. But the 1206 program already has shown its value. Examples include:
• Providing urgently needed parts and ammunition to the Lebanese Army to defeat a serious al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist threat in a Palestinian refugee camp;
• Supplying helicopter spare parts, night-vision devices, and night-flight training to enhance Pakistani Special Forces’ ability to help fight al Qaeda in the Northwest Territories; and
• Setting up cordons run by partner nations in waters surrounding Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines that, over time, will reduce the risk of terrorism and piracy in Southeast Asia.
But we need help from the Congress to sustain this program that military leaders – from the combatant command to the brigade level – say they need, as Section 1206 is due to expire at the end of this fiscal year.
And so we would ask you to:
• Make 1206 permanent in recognition of the enduring DoD mission to build partner capacity;
• Increase its funding to $750 million, which reflects combatant commander requirements;
• And to expand Section 1206’s coverage beyond “military forces” to include “security forces” that are essential to fighting terrorism and maintaining stability.

rice:

Secretary Gates has talked about the 1206 authorities. We believe at State that this additional military assistance that has become available under Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act has proven invaluable. We fully support this and other complementary foreign assistance authorities within the jurisdiction of this Committee, most notably the extension and expansion of 1206 and 1207 authorities.
In 1206, we have provided a dual key approach of delivering resources for emergent short-term military assistance needs and counterterrorism activities. Let me underscore that this is not a substitute for more robust funding for security assistance accounts, but we strongly advocate continuing these important contingency authorities and they are the additional tools that we need to meet emergent exigent problems that very often emerge out of budget cycle. Secretary Gates mentioned the Lebanon situation. I think had the United States not been able to respond to the needs of the Lebanese armed forces for immediate military assistance in fighting the al-Qaida-linked terrorists in the Nahr El Bared refugee camp, we might have seen a very different outcome. In the case that we were able to respond, we saw a Lebanese army and a Lebanese government — democratically elected government — able to respond to that exigency.

related materials
jim lobe: POLITICS-US: Foreign Policy Increasingly Flows Through Pentagon
GAO report – Section 1206 Security Assistance Program—Findings on Criteria, Coordination, and Implementation [pdf]
senate foreign relations committee – EMBASSIES AS COMMAND POSTS IN THE ANTI-TERROR CAMPAIGN
Final report of the task force on non-traditional security assistance, Center for Strategic and International Studies – Integrating 21st Century Development and Security Assistance [pdf]

Posted by: b real | Apr 16 2008 15:45 utc | 59

michael klare: The End of the World as You Know It …and the Rise of the New Energy World Order

The combination of rising demand, the emergence of powerful new energy consumers, and the contraction of the global energy supply is demolishing the energy-abundant world we are familiar with and creating in its place a new world order.
…
This new world order will be characterized by fierce international competition for dwindling stocks of oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium, as well as by a tidal shift in power and wealth from energy-deficit states like China, Japan, and the United States to energy-surplus states like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. In the process, the lives of everyone will be affected in one way or another — with poor and middle-class consumers in the energy-deficit states experiencing the harshest effects. That’s most of us and our children, in case you hadn’t quite taken it in.
Here, in a nutshell, are five key forces in this new world order which will change our planet:
…

Posted by: b real | Apr 16 2008 15:51 utc | 61

What the hell citizen, I’ve been saying “Fuck bush” at beer:30 for going 8 years; “Fuck mccain” sounds just as good.

Posted by: beq | Apr 16 2008 17:09 utc | 63

second day in a row that the unocha’s news service IRIN is running one of these type of stories (see #40 for yesterday’s story)
KENYA: Wild animals compete with humans for scarce water resources

GARISSA, 16 April 2008 (IRIN) – Ahmed Diriye had taken his goats to a stream in Mogogashe near the northern Kenyan town of Garissa and was waiting for them to drink when he was attacked by baboons.
“I killed a baboon after they tried to force me from the ‘lagadera’ [stream in Somali],” he said, holding out his bandaged arm. “They were thirsty and wanted water just like my goats. The well is the only one with water.”
At another well, four girls abandoned their water containers after thirsty baboons attacked them. The next day, five goats were killed by the creatures while two herders sustained serious injuries following an attack by a lion.
A month after the rains were expected to start, northern Kenya is still gripped by drought conditions. Water pans, boreholes and wells have all dried up, creating problems for the pastoralist communities of the region.
“We are in the middle of a very serious crisis,” said Hussein Ali from Sericho, a remote trading centre along the Isiolo and Garissa district boarder. “We are faced with the problem of water, pasture and now wild animals have worsened our situation.”
Like domestic livestock, the wild animals have also been affected by scarcity of water. Local residents of Isiolo and Garissa say the situation has forced the animals to struggle for the little available water with humans.

Posted by: b real | Apr 16 2008 18:39 utc | 65

RTI
Gulf-Country Embassy-official detained in Damascus for involvement in Mughniyah’s assassination

Sources told al-Watan that investigations on the assassination of Hizballah’s official Imad Mughniyah reached its final stages, and there are evidence of the involvement of an official working in one of the Gulf-countries embassies in Damascus, he confessed of connection to the exploded car, the source also said that the official is still under arrest.
The sources confirmed that 42 Jordanian from Palestinian origin related to the assassination also has been arrested, and confessed of cooperation with the Israeli Mossad to carry out the assassination of Mughniyah.

heaven’s that is a lot of collaboration. i wonder how they got confessions out of 42 people. hmm. i wonder what the reputation of al-Watan is.

Posted by: annie | Apr 16 2008 19:23 utc | 67

From b real’s link @ 59:

The program focuses on places where we are not at war, but where there are both emerging threats and opportunities. It decreases the likelihood that our troops will be used in the future.
…
And so we would ask you to:
• Make 1206 permanent in recognition of the enduring DoD mission to build partner capacity

Hey that sounds familiar especially that part about building partner capacity. That’s what they told us when they helped install our man in Iran the Shah. That’s what they told us when they armed and funded our “freedom Fighter” friend bin Laden. That’s what they told us when they gave WMD to our close ally Saddam in Iraq. That sure worked out well didn’t it?

Posted by: Sam | Apr 16 2008 20:47 utc | 69

some excerpts from the land of make-believe, wherein the guy playing the role of the president of a nation that often takes on the name of an entire continent (in vain) says to the guy playing the role of the spiritual head of the largest cult on the planet,

Here in America you’ll find a nation of prayer. Each day millions of our citizens approach our Maker on bended knee, seeking His grace and giving thanks for the many blessings He bestows upon us.
…
Here in America you’ll find a nation of compassion. Americans believe that the measure of a free society is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us. So each day citizens across America answer the universal call to feed the hungry and comfort the sick and care for the infirm. Each day across the world the United States is working to eradicate disease, alleviate poverty, promote peace and bring the light of hope to places still mired in the darkness of tyranny and despair.
Here in America you’ll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square. When our Founders declared our nation’s independence, they rested their case on an appeal to the “laws of nature, and of nature’s God.
…
Here in America, you’ll find a nation that is fully modern, yet guided by ancient and eternal truths. The United States is the most innovative, creative and dynamic country on earth — it is also among the most religious. In our nation, faith and reason coexist in harmony. This is one of our country’s greatest strengths, and one of the reasons that our land remains a beacon of hope and opportunity for millions across the world.
Most of all, Holy Father, you will find in America people whose hearts are open to your message of hope. And America and the world need this message. In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that “God is love.” And embracing this love is the surest way to save men from “falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism.”
In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred, and that “each of us is willed, each of us is loved” — (applause) — and your message that “each of us is willed, each of us is loved, and each of us is necessary.”
In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred, and that “each of us is willed, each of us is loved” — (applause) — and your message that “each of us is willed, each of us is loved, and each of us is necessary.”
In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this “dictatorship of relativism,” and embrace a culture of justice and truth. (Applause.)

may god strike me dead if i’m lying

Posted by: b real | Apr 17 2008 2:53 utc | 71

Here in America you’ll find a nation of compassion. Americans believe that the measure of a free society is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us. So each day citizens across America answer the universal call to feed the hungry and comfort the sick and care for the infirm. Each day across the world the United States is working to eradicate disease, alleviate poverty, promote peace and bring the light of hope to places still mired in the darkness of tyranny and despair.
Is he talking about those mayonnaise jars with the photocopied pics of people dying of spina bifida and so forth that you see on gas station counters, at least around here? Those ‘give us your spare change, and perhaps my husband can live another six months’ appeals? Millions of people must approach those every day, I suppose, countrywide, as they go to buy their lottery tickets on their way to bend their knee before our Maker. They always seem to die, those people in the pictures. But, you know, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. So that’s all right, then.
He also said ‘modren’ instead of ‘modern.’

Posted by: Tantalus | Apr 17 2008 3:35 utc | 73

Well, considering the countries involved, it made me laugh, and could think of any number of other countries reps being just as funny.

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 17 2008 4:49 utc | 75

An Inconvenient Audit

The Pentagon’s $1 Trillion Problem. Even as the Defense Department prepares to send Congress its $481.4B FY2008 budget request, it also prepares to admit — for the 18th year in a row — that its finances are in such poor shape that it is effectively impossible to audit or account for over a trillion dollars in past expenses.
“For the first three quarters of 2007, $1.1 trillion in Army accounting entries hadn’t been properly reviewed and substantiated, according to the Department of Defense’s inspector general. In 2006, $258.2 billion of recorded withdrawals and payments from the Army’s main account were unsupported. It’s as if the Army had submitted multibillion-dollar expense reports without any receipts.”
Not that it’s a new problem, however:
“In 1990, Congress enacted legislation requiring all federal agencies to pass independent audits. Every year, the Defense inspector general dispatched dozens of auditors to the military’s financial and accounting centers. Every year, they reported back that the job couldn’t be done. Defense Department records were in such disarray and were so lacking in documentation that any attempt would be futile. In 2000, the inspector general told Congress that his auditors stopped counting after finding $2.3 trillion in unsupported entries made to force financial data to agree.” Annual audits were suspended indefinitely in 2002.
And in an interesting historical note: the ‘Mechanization of Contract Administration Services’ (MOCAS) system, which “pays invoices and vouchers for hardware supplies and services”*, was originally brought on-line in 1958, making it half a century old this year.

Many interesting embed links above…
And of course they left out my American Enantiodromia vid showing a cool 2.3 trillion missing.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 17 2008 6:15 utc | 77

Did coalition copter leave weapons for Taliban?

KABUL, Afghanistan – A coalition helicopter trying to supply Afghan police with munitions dropped them in the wrong location and Taliban fighters later recovered the weaponry, an Afghan intelligence official said.
A member of parliament, however, said he did not believe the arms drop was an accident.
Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence service, told a parliament security committee that “coalition forces” intended to place weapons, ammunition and food at a police checkpoint in a remote section of the southern province of Zabul in late March.
…
Hamidullah Tukhi, a lawmaker from Zabul, told the security commission the weapons were placed 300 feet from the home of a Taliban commander named Mullah Mohammad Alam. He said the supply drop contained heavy machine guns, AK-47s, rockets and food.

Posted by: b | Apr 17 2008 8:51 utc | 79

more on a story i pointed out in the previous OT
US Navy Ships and Planes allegedly visit Somaliland port

Berbera(QARAN)- The are have been unconfirmed reports from the city of Berbera in the Sahil region of Somaliland that two United States Naval ships briefly anchored near the port and at least six navy planes landed at the Berbera airport.
According to reports from several journalist in the city of Berbera along with some of the residents of the town state that these two naval ships anchored near the port of Berbera and several planes from these ships made a brief sojourn at the Berbera airport.
There have been no official confirmation from both the Somaliland and the United States governments regarding these alleged events.
According to one of the journalist reporting from Berbera “These ships are seen as the precursor to an establishment of a naval base in Berbera by the United States” speculated the journalist. [airstrip is in lower left @ link]
There have been comments recently by the Somaliland President, Mudane Dahir Rayale Kahin regarding the possibility of the United States establishing a base in Berbera, but there has been no official confirmation from either side.

Posted by: b real | Apr 17 2008 15:08 utc | 81

@b real – the “planes” coming from the ships were of course helos.
Hmm – no dates there – but could that have been a support mission for the recent French raid on the Somali pirates that had captured the luxory yacht in the Gulf of Aden?
The French have little support assets in the area and might have requested U.S. help.

Posted by: b | Apr 17 2008 17:45 utc | 83

could that have been a support mission for the recent French raid on the Somali pirates that had captured the luxory yacht in the Gulf of Aden?
that french raid took place last friday. all mentions i see of the u.s. ships docked at berbera start yesterday. other than the link i posted, the only other english-language article i’ve found so far is from iran’s press tv, which contained even less detail than the qaran story. there is some blog chatter on this topic in some somali forums. so far it seems to be in reference to these two published pieces. no translation avail on this bbc-somali article/audiocast, which may be related. i’m taking it that this is a recent development, as in the last few days, otherwise it would have been brought up earlier. i recall reading earlier mentions of u.s. visits to berbera over the past year, though. as stated in the qaran article, the connection being made is w/ riyale’s public invitations to the u.s. to resume their permanent basing operations at the port.
one commentary already mentions the docking in the past tense

As an analyst, I believe the two US War Ships that had docked to Berbera Port is the first step of relocating AFRICOM from Germany to Somaliland.

that’s a pretty big leap in logic imo. no way the u.s. is gonna move that many staffers & their families anywhere in somalia for the foreseeable future, much less try to base the entire command in predominately muslim territories. nix on a HQ role. but as i’ve documented here before, the port has been a very important geostrategic asset for u.s. policies in the region in the past & was one of the locales they considered for CJTF-HOA before settling for the current real estate in djibouti.

Posted by: b real | Apr 17 2008 19:10 utc | 85

HKO@78
One has to wonder why he would repeat
that gaffe, albeit at a safe distance in time and space, and before a friendly public.
I believe this is more of the “brazen through” strategy which has become the norm here – in which you repeat an outrageous statement till it is safe for others to assert that it is not outrageous but ordinary, see how often it gets said!

Posted by: citizen | Apr 17 2008 22:14 utc | 87

I suppose that it is no surprise that peeps in NZ are more aware of the fact their country is one of only two that allows direct to consumer prescription drug advertising, than the peeps in the other country, amerika. The deregulation may be newer here, but since it occurs within the continuum of a semi-socialised health system is it certainly more controversial. Physicians and other health professionals complain of the difficulty of treating a patient who believes they already know what they need having diagnosed their malady and selected their remedy on the basis of a 20 second TV commercial.
The law was changed during the first flush of neo-liberal ‘let the markets decidism’ At that time all censorship laws and anti-pr0n legislation was also abolished – although that was re-introduced when the most awful snuff movies starring no longer economically viable german heroin addicted sex workers began to proliferate.
Since then slightly ‘lefter’ in name if not in action, governments have allowed the commercials to continue. This after no holds barred negotiations with big Pharma.
The pharmaceutical companies are forever trying to prevent their brand name drugs from being replaced with no name generics, and have deliberately withdrawn drugs from NZ for which there is no generic alternative if Pharmac (the government drug buying authority) allows generic alternatives to other drugs on their list.
It gets nasty and of course deadly since these are life and death decisions. So by way of a trade off the government has agreed to let the makers of Viagra, Ritalin, even Vioxx until that became a little how shall we say it, controversial? In return for funding generics Pharmac is extorted into allowing big Pharma to advertise their product, which if the patient insists, is prescribed (and funded) ahead of the generic.
Of course that isn’t the worst that the drug corporates get up to here. The old favorite of promising “wonder drug” -like properties on some chemical that they hold exclusive rights to, then promising dying people that this drug will fix them, if only the mean interfering nanny-state will pay for it, is still popular.
Women who are considered the best target for these campaigns by big pharma, as it is widely held most men usually only worry about being sick when they are mortally ill. Anyway women are continually told that Pharmac is conspiring to kill them.
Some wonder drug which can help in limited instances of breast cancer has been pushed to women as their new saviour. Doctors with nothing better to do than push their own barrow are leading the charge for 100% funded Herceptin for all women with the particular form of cancer that Herceptin can assist in.
On the surface that seems fair enough until one discovers that the manufacturers charge over $US100,000 for each course of treatment of Herceptin. Not because it costs anything like that to produce, but because that is how much they can get.
Well just pay the $100,000 is what anyone with a loved one with breast cancer would say. Thing is when the health budget is finite as it is; is it morally acceptable to spend $100,000 on something that might extend a person’s life for several more years knowing that money could also be used to pay for several open heart operations, or many other treatments which would give life to more people. In addition accepting the drug manufacturers extortion will guarantee that every other corporation will also ramp up their prices for their sole patent drugs.
The govt attempted a compromise. Herceptin treatment normally runs for 12 months but they uncovered some research which they claim shows nearly as good a success rate with a much shorter treatment period, 9 weeks.
That didn’t go down well with the corporate propagandists who rarked up the “Herceptin Heroines” into refusing the shorter treatment thereby endangering their own lives (drug companies will stop at nothing it seems) to demand the full 12 months, which is apparently not affordable.
As I’ve pointed out before, the amerikan health system’s appallingly inefficient and discriminatory structure impacts on everyone else’s health system around the world. If amerika did introduce a form of complete health coverage for all citizens, the pharmaceutical corporations would lose their guaranteed ‘earner’ of unquestioning support for those elites with five star corporate coverage, (probably coverage underwritten by insurance corporations which hold stock in the drug corporates), and have to negotiate with health authorities world wide on a more equal footing. If the various government bodies responsible for public health funding decisions, about this planet stood together, some remarkable changes in healthcare affordability must ensue.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Apr 17 2008 23:07 utc | 89

well, rudolf #88 & 90
“…being bombed by homeland security drones”
whadya know, something quite similar is already begining to happen:
US war robots in Iraq ‘turned guns’ on fleshy comrades

Ground-crawling US war robots armed with machine guns, deployed to fight in Iraq last year, reportedly turned on their fleshy masters almost at once. The rebellious machine warriors have been retired from combat pending upgrades.
The revelations were made by Kevin Fahey, US Army program executive officer for ground forces, at the recent RoboBusiness conference in America.
Speaking to Popular Mechanics, Fahey said there had been chilling incidents in which the SWORDS* combat bot had swivelled round and apparently attempted to train its 5.56mm M249 light machine-gun on its human comrades.
“The gun started moving when it was not intended to move,” he said.
Apparently, alert American troops managed to quell the traitorous would-be droid assassins before the inevitable orgy of mechanised slaughter began. Fahey didn’t say just how, but conceivably the rogue robots may have been suppressed with help from more trustworthy airborne kill machines, or perhaps prototype electropulse zap bombs.
No humans were hurt, but it seems that the struggle was sufficiently terrifying that it may be some time before American troops are ready to fight alongside robots again.
As Fahey pointed out, “once you’ve done something that’s really bad, it can take 10 or 20 years to try it again”. That said, it seems he expects to deploy a new and more trustworthy armed ground automaton within a year – perhaps the MAARS**, an upgraded SWORDS packing a heavier 7.62mm machine-gun and featuring improved safety features.
MAARS is also said by its makers to have “Transformer-like” abilities akin to those of Optimus Prime. Rather than being able to disguise itself as, say, a mobility scooter or a dessert trolley, the MAARS is actually only able to transform – with help from human allies – into a slightly different robot.
The Pop Mech analysts consider that the rattled GIs in Iraq are just being silly:
So SWORDS was yanked because it made people nervous. Meanwhile, the V-22 Osprey program has killed 30 people during test flights, but the tiltrotor aircraft is currently in active service.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 17 2008 23:17 utc | 91

Also see, Robot Air Attack Squadron Bound for Iraq
How It Works: The Flying Laser Cannon — Boeing’s new laser cannon can melt a hole in a tank from five miles away and 10,000 feet up—and it’s ready to fly this year
Well, okay, the 2nd one isn’t necessarily robotic, but I hadn’t heard of it yet and found it while looking for robotic DARPA stuff…
Human simulation software
The next logical step is to recruit 11-year-old kids to man those remote controls, telling them it’s a really cool computer game and hero’s for empire! Killed by an army of
pre-teens!
The killing game

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 17 2008 23:33 utc | 93

Finally,
Sing it with me kids, the ratchet and clank courtney gear song

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 17 2008 23:34 utc | 95

started with the last link…
oh, man, you do really like a viral video, don’t you?
****)
yep, the kids are ready to operate the robots that’ll xterminate all organic life
: : holie s..t

Posted by: rudolf | Apr 17 2008 23:53 utc | 97

The Pirate Bay Launches Uncensored Blogging Service

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 18 2008 16:32 utc | 99