Israel’s missile shield against Iran: Three Americans in a trailer
By Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: U.S., Israel, missile shield
A commander and two operators monitor missile radars in an armored trailer somewhere in Europe. Inside, they use satellite technology to track the origin and trajectory of long-range missiles. In true American fashion, each shift begins with calisthenics, followed by an intelligence briefing.
That is the envisioned routine of the U.S. team that will be responsible for protecting Israel from surface-to-surface missiles launched from Iran or Syria.
Earlier this month the U.S. and Israel agreed on the deployment of a high-powered early-warning missile radar system in the Negev, to be staffed by U.S. military personnel. The station will receive information from the U.S. team in Europe that will aid it in its work.
The deployment of the Joint Tactical Ground Station (JTAGS) system, is widely seen as a kind of parting gift from Washington to Jerusalem as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office.
The system will protect Israel’s skies from missile attacks, but the flip side of the deal is that Israel’s freedom of action against Iran or Syria will be significantly curtailed.
Israel will be required to obtain U.S. permission for any such operation, since it would endanger the lives of the three U.S. defense contractor personnel operating the system. [as though the lives of three contractors are worth a shekel] The ground station itself would likely become the target of any reprisal attack by Iran or Syria.
Senior defense officials view the radar system deployment as a signal of Washington’s opposition to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program.
Sources in Jerusalem said on Saturday that the Negev station would be operated by civilian firms contracted by the Pentagon, along with a small staff of liaison officers. The early warning station is expected to be transferred to Israeli operation at some point in the future.
The officials said the agreement does not stipulate the establishment of a permanent U.S. base in Israeli territory.
They said the warning station would significantly extend the response time to a missile attack and intercept those attacks from a far greater distance than had been previously possible. [70km, but not enough extra time for civil defense evacuation]
Israel’s current missile defense system depends on the identification of a single U.S. satellite, which can spot the missile itself but not its origin or path.
The new system is significantly more accurate than Israel’s “Green Pine” radar system, which supports the Israeli [imitation of the Patriot, the] Arrow anti-missile system.
JTAGS will cost between $20 and $30 million, the U.S. periodical Defense News reported last week.
The system is expected to be set up next year, but it could go on-line earlier, ahead of a large-scale U.S.-Israeli missile defense drill slated for this fall.
Israel asked for a similar system ten years ago, but encountered firm opposition from the Pentagon, which was opposed to divulging U.S. defense secrets.[which now will be divulged, reverse-engineered, and any weaknesses identified and sold to America’s enemies]
Two years ago, U.S. Senator John McCain voiced support for the deal while visiting Israel.
Congressman Mark Kirk of Illinois also joined lobbying efforts for the agreement. Kirk is a former naval officer and is expected to be given a senior position in the Department of Defense if McCain is elected president.
On one of his own visits to Israel, Kirk heard a briefing on the Iran threat, after which he contacted Yoram Ben Ze’ev, then head of the Foreign Ministry’s North America division, about setting up an early warning station in Israel.
Kirk suggested building a U.S. base in Israel which would enjoy extraterritorial status, like U.S. bases in South Korea.
Proponents of the plan in Jerusalem said that sealing the deal would “raise the price” of an Iranian strike on Israel, as such an attack would now be viewed as targeting the United States itself.
On the other hand, critics said the U.S. presence in Israel would tie Israel’s hands in dealing with its adversaries, and subject any attack to prior U.S. approval. [only until Israel took over the Patriot system operation and reverse-engineered it]
Kirk also recruited Congresswoman Jane Harman of California to the cause.
On the eve of President Bush’s May visit to Israel, some 70 members of Congress from both parties signed a petition calling for the missile defense system. [who are those 70 Congress persons?]
In July, after Iran tested its long-range Shihab-3 missile, Kirk and Harman wrote to Bush again, urging him to take action.
In the subsequent meetings between Israeli and American officials, the latter reiterated their opposition to a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran.
The deal was finally sealed in a meeting between Barak and his U.S. counterpart, Robert Gates, in July, and details were worked out by Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, the head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, earlier this month.

Posted by: Ha Aretz | Aug 24 2008 5:33 utc | 3

via Bruce Schneier,this is the terrorist profile findings.
Anyone surprised?

Posted by: shanks | Aug 24 2008 6:51 utc | 5

I don’t understand #4. The amerikan government is still hanging onto the bulk of the pacific islands that they misappropriated after WW2 fortunately amerika has finally succumbed to the pressure from the Pacific Islands forum (which met last week) to stop the rampant tuna fishing which has denuded most of those islands that were meant to be temporary protectorates. The only reason the bill will have a chance of getting through is that there are bugger all fish left to protect so the fishing lobby won’t ante up the usual bung to all legislators who vote to continue this theft.
These islands were in amerika’s charge until they could attain the independent nations status that virtually every other pacific island archipeligo won decades ago. Every trick in the book has been pulled on the people to hang on to those islands which together cover a huge amount of the pacific. The theory was meant to be that amerika was liberating them from japanese tyranny but all that happened was that the japanese jackboot was replaced with an amerikan one.
amerikan fishing boats reduced the waters from samoa west to guam and the marianas to fucking deserts denying the locals their staple diet. That is unless they want to buy back the fish stolen from them, by eating out of oily little cans.
Not content with stealing the fish now amerika is going to pollute the pacific with more bases and guns and fat flabby white fucks, yet the issue is whether amerikans too fat on stolen tuna to work themselves, have to tolerate some of those pacific islanders turning up in the mainland to earn enough money to feed their families now that their traditional food source has been destroyed.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Aug 24 2008 7:40 utc | 7

Since she’s no longer working for the government, Valerie Plame might feel free to share some thoughts about this hypothesis….

Posted by: alabama | Aug 24 2008 9:10 utc | 9

“Don’t blame the mirror if your face is crooked.”
Vladimir Putin quoting Russian proverb

If the Bush administration proceeds with its plan to deploy its Missile Defense System in Poland, Russian Prime Minister Putin will be forced to remove it militarily. He has no other option. The proposed system integrates the the entire US nuclear arsenal into one operational-unit a mere 115 miles from the Russian border. It’s no different than Khrushchev’s plan to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba in the 1960s.
Early last year, at a press conference that was censored in the United States, Putin explained his concerns about Bush’s plan:
“Once the missile defense system is put in place it will work automatically with the entire nuclear capability of the United States. It will be an integral part of the US nuclear capability….And, for the first time in history—and I want to emphasize this—there will be elements of the US nuclear capability on the European continent. It simply changes the whole configuration of international security…..Of course, we have to respond to that.”
Nuclear weapons specialist, Francis A. Boyle, says the Bush administration’s plans represent the “longstanding US policy of nuclear first-strike against Russia.” In Boyle’s article “US Missiles in Europe: Beyond Deterrence to First Strike Threat” he states:
“By means of a US first strike about 99%+ of Russian nuclear forces would be taken out. Namely, the United States Government believes that with the deployment of a facially successful first strike capability, they can move beyond deterrence and into “compellence.”… This has been analyzed ad nauseam in the professional literature. But especially by one of Harvard’s premier warmongers in chief, Thomas Schelling –winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics granted by the Bank of Sweden– who developed the term “compellence” and distinguished it from “deterrence.” …The USG is breaking out of a “deterrence” posture and moving into a “compellence” posture. (Global Research 6-6-07)
Bush’s real goal is to force Moscow to conform to Washington’s diktats or face the prospect of first-strike nuclear annihilation. Putin must respond.
Putin needs to present his case before the UN General Assembly emphasizing how the proposed US system upsets the nuclear balance of power and poses a direct threat to Russia’s national security. He should give an account of US activities in Central Asia since the fall of the Berlin Wall showing how the Bush administration has pursued a hostile policy of encirclement and strangulation towards the Russian Federation. The US has brought most of the former Soviet satellites into NATO, including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and now is seeking membership for Georgia and Ukraine right on Russia’s border.
The US has expanded its military installations in other areas of Central Asia, primarily Afghanistan, posing long-range problems for the entire region.
The Bush administration has also used its intelligence agencies and NGOs to foment political unrest and topple regimes which were sympathetic to Moscow in its “color-coded” revolutions. Eurasia is now inundated with American puppets who get their marching-orders from the White House.
Also, the US and its allies have declared Kosovo, a vital part of Serbian territory, independent without UN approval. Serbia is a traditional ally of Russia’s. Many analysts now believe that the recent fighting in South Ossetia was directly connected to the Bush administration’s blatant disregard for Serbia’s sovereignty.
Putin recently responded to these developments saying:
“Some people have the illusion that you can do everything just as you want, regardless of the interests of other people. Of course it is for precisely this reason that the international situation gets worse and eventually results in an arms race. But we are not the instigators. We do not want it. Why would we want to divert resources to this? And we are not jeopardizing our relations with anyone. But we must respond. Name even one step that we have taken or one action of ours designed to worsen the situation. There are none. We are not interested in that. We are interested in maintaining a good atmosphere.” Putin added exasperated, “So what should we do?” The present situation has brought us “the brink of disaster!”
Russia has complied with its treaty obligations and removed all of its heavy weapons from the Eastern Europe and put them behind the Ural Mountains. They have reduced their military by 300,000.
At the same time Washington has increased its arms shipments to new allies in Eastern Europe and is building two new military bases in Romania and Bulgaria. Missile Defense components and radar are going up in the Czech Republic and Poland. Obviously, Russia cannot continue to disarm unilaterally while neighboring states bulk up with new US-made weapons systems.
When Putin heard that the Bush administration was developing “bunker-busting” nuclear weapons he said to Bush:
“It would be better to look for other ways to fight terrorism than create low-yield nuclear weapons that lower the threshold for using these weapons, and thereby put humankind on the brink of nuclear catastrophe. But they don’t listen to us. They are not looking for compromise. Their entire point of view can be summed-up in one sentence: ‘Whoever is not with us is against us.’”.
It wasn’t Russia who scrapped the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) That was the Bush administration, too.
American expansionism has thrust the world into another arms race pitting East against West Cold War-style. The present system of international security has been upended and we are moving inexorably towards a military showdown between the two nuclear-armed powers.
As Putin stated at the press conference, “I am convinced that we have reached that decisive moment when we must seriously think about the architecture of global security.”
Indeed.
Russia is experiencing a Renaissance. 20 million people have been raised from poverty since Putin took office 8 years ago. The Russian economy has been growing by 7% a year, real incomes are growing by an astonishing 12% per year and Moscow has become a thriving center of global trade. Oil and natural gas have restored Russia to its formal role as one of the great world’s great powers. The last thing Putin wants is a nuclear standoff with the United States. But he will not shirk from his responsibilities either. If the Missile Defense system is deployed, Putin will be forced to raise the stakes and send warplanes over the construction site. That is the logical first-step that any responsible leader would take before removing the site altogether.
Bush should consider very carefully whether he wants to go ahead with this game of nuclear chicken or not. Putting a knife to Moscow’s throat is an act of aggression equal to invading Iraq, only this time the victim has the ability to fight back

We all live in interesting times.

Posted by: Lysander | Aug 24 2008 14:02 utc | 11

b 1 – the 2nd(3rd) gulf war on iraq was deliberate supply destruction of the lowest production cost crude oil on earth, under the dictatorial management of a baathist regime which was aiding and abetting the anti-zionist movement with oil revenues. so the urgency to gw2(3) was that anti-zionist threat, pnac boys loyal to their il neozi paternosters, but big oil’s end game, the ultimate strategy behind the rhetoric, chest thumping and 100-year war, was deliberate supply destruction, putting that lowest-cost crude under neozi management, then, after commodities futures regulation was deregulated under papa bush, making that neo management the elite zionist pharoahs of the world. like they say, ‘follow the money’, the politics and religion, the colors and rhetoric,… pure pap for the prols.
d 7 – pac islanders are already in the us working at tyson, conagra, cargill as chicken pluckers, since they have protectorate green card status by residency. the bush cnmi open-door to *east asian* immigrants is meant first to undercut the pac islanders labor unions as tens of thousands of east asians flood in, as indians have to tonga, and chinese to indonesia, filipinos to chuuk, etc, but then from there, after decimating the pac island local socio-economy, east asians will begin moving into the us general population as chauffeurs and pleasure girls, maids, butlers, nannies, the service category shortages neozi elites are screaming about. the downside to DHS/TSA and the 1000 mile mexican fence is a shortage of slaves. and while the cnmi language is carefully crafted to suggest east asians won’t be allowed to move east to hawaii, from there to cali, the amendment says otherwise. five years is a long time, and ostensibly there’s only work for tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, not millions, but by then pac island life will be gone, the dems will be in power, and immigration reform relaxed or more likely reversed. the one saving grace of global outsourcing was always an american was anyone stuck in america, white, black, brown, red, yellow or green, stuck paying the taxman, stuck paying food-energy, a wage slave like anyone else, america can absorb them, but not so with pac islanders, their society can be ripped away like a sprout in a typhoon. after all, the us was allegedly their ‘protector’, not their dominatrix.
l 11 – patriot anti-missile system only has a range of 70km, ballistically upward, though yes, the w80 nuclear cruise missile warhead can fit in the patriot, and they could then be used as tactical ground-to-ground against ru armor, but the missile batteries themselves don’t represent a change to the nnpt, nor are they a strategic threat to ru, certainly not in the way krushchev’s icbms in cuba were to us. my read is just constant il arms brokerage pressure, $30b over ten years, an f-16 here, a patriot there, keep moving death merchandise before its obsolete. i think that putin is posturing, hoping to keep the il camel’s nose out of the eu tent, out of the balkans tent, the middle east tent, the same way jesse jackson repeats his memes three times for effect. ‘keep il out, keep il out, keep il out.’ as someone has pointed out, in july cn’s exports fell below us imports into cn, and ru’s commodities profits are falling rapidly, some predict catastrophically as the us economic ice age spreads globally, au has huge unemployment and price spikes, ca has huge unemployment and price spikes, so ru probably is on edge, and if you recall ru when it was su, and de when it was west de and east de, the ru’s have always been paranoid and bellicose. don’t read nuclear winter into belly bumping.

Posted by: Belli Bumpin | Aug 24 2008 16:33 utc | 13

@BB @13 – l 11 – patriot anti-missile system only has a range of 70km,
The missile defense that is supposed to be installed in Poland is not the Patriot system.
The Patriot that will be installed in Poland are to protect Poland and the real Missile Defense.

Posted by: b | Aug 24 2008 17:34 utc | 15

Obama bin Biden ? lol

Posted by: annie | Aug 24 2008 19:46 utc | 17

surely, the diapers & baby food are for saakshivili

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Aug 24 2008 21:28 utc | 19

The doc Chicago 10 is available via bittorrent.
Proviso: it is produced by Sun Myung Moon and narrated by the ghost of Joe McCarthy. So, steer clear of this poison, DM.

Posted by: slothrop | Aug 25 2008 3:35 utc | 21

Maliki further “cleans up” the Awakening Sunnis:
Bomb Shatters Party, Killing 25 Iraqis

Sheik Ayed Salim al-Zubaie held a large dinner party at his house in Abu Ghraib on Sunday evening to celebrate the release of a family member who had been imprisoned by American forces for three years.
…
The bombing killed at least 25 people and wounded at least 29 others, the police said.
Witnesses speculated that the target of the attack was a group of sheiks attending the dinner who had been working with the Americans to fight insurgents.

Posted by: b | Aug 25 2008 4:53 utc | 23

There was only one saving grace for me as a teen, nothing, nothing, nothing, cut through and soothed my rage and anger like the band, Yes!. (note part 1 & 2 and part 3 are automatically linked and auto-play). When I was ‘close to the edge’, (pun intended), something about their life affirming and just beyond the horizon music was and still is mystical and cathartic for me. There is a difference in ‘Professional Musicians’ top notch Entertainers and superb Performers, they were and are all three, a grand craft, indeed. Musicians beyond their time and timeless…
Long story short…Something about my ritual of headphones and their music literally saved my mental health and ultimately from being a statistic…
I offer this to a dear friend and his families newborn…
In the darkness of my youth they were a celebration… and I loved their Wonderous Stories… and always wanted to share this music with my children.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 25 2008 9:45 utc | 25

keeping Yes music alive, this kid is a bass prodigy… Doing great service to Chris Squire.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 25 2008 11:33 utc | 27

on the “large dinner party” bombing in #23, i would wager that, like the recurrent “big wedding” party bombings, SIGINT plays a role in their targeting by way of repeated references in monitored communications to keywords or phrases that the software flags as code for dangerous activity. if SIGINT analysis is increasingly turned over to automated processes, any chatter about “the big wedding” or “the big dinner party” would obviously return false positives about whatever event fits pre-defined triggers, which then provides support for human interpretation already biased to the point of paranoia, ala the one-percent doctrine.

Posted by: b real | Aug 25 2008 14:52 utc | 29

Dick Cheney to visit Georgia next week. The neocons a pulling out all stops to shore up the political fortunes of their prize asset, the indomitable Lion of the Caucasus. Mikheil Nik’olozis dze Saak’ashvili.
I read last week that pro Russian Ukrainians are sending Saak 365 red ties, one to chew on each day, and a load of running shoes so he can more easily run from Russian bombers. That’ll go well with the diapers (awww!) offloaded by the humanitarian American military, which, to be fair, also ships goods to Afghan children, so that’s ok then.

Posted by: Thrasyboulos | Aug 25 2008 15:53 utc | 31

Lots of good comments here – especially #7 on overfishing and #14 on 21st-, 22nd-century feudalism. But in 20 000 years will there be “space-feudalism” with planets as fiefs? That’s what I want to know.
Cheers.

Posted by: Cloud | Aug 25 2008 21:33 utc | 33

from the NSN code of conduct U$:

Among those rights that Nokia :Siemens Networks views as fundamental and universal are: freedom from any discrimination based on race, creed, color, nationality, ethnic origin, age, religion, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status, connections with a national minority, disability, or other status; freedom from arbitrary detention, execution or torture; freedom of peaceful assembly and association; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; and freedom of opinion and expression. Nokia Siemens Networks will not use child or forced labor. Nokia Siemens Networks will not tolerate working conditions or treatment that is in conflict with international laws and practices.

so as you can see, it’s all good.

Posted by: ran | Aug 26 2008 2:24 utc | 35

Obama Assassination Plot?
Update on possible Obama assassination plot, arrests, in Denver
false flag or ratcheting up the tension? Both?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 26 2008 3:36 utc | 37

sudan tribune: Sudanese president offers to share Darfur wealth with US

August 25, 2008 (WASHINGTON) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir offered to allow US companies to explore for oil in the war ravaged region of Darfur.
“Darfur is a rich region swimming over a lake of oil. Darfur has large quantity of minerals like copper, iron and Uranium. There is also aluminum nitrate and a very large aquifer. There is animal wealth and agricultural land” Al-Bashir told the Dubai based Al-Arabiya TV in an interview last week.
“We have no problem with them [Americans] coming and sharing it with us but they want to take it all” the Sudanese president said.
US companies are unable to conduct business in Sudan because of sanctions imposed by Washington since 1997.
…
The Sudanese head of state accused the US of standing behind the ICC indictment and targeting him because he is opposed to Washington’s policies in the region.
…
“There is no reason for targeting us except first of all we are against Israel’s policies in the region and the Palestinian people. We are also opposed to US policies going at the Arab and Islamic region” he said.
Al-Bashir also said that Washington wants Darfur to have the right to secede in a manner similar to that of the South.
“They [Southern Sudanese] have a right of self determination by the end of the interim period in 2011. This is one of their [US] goals; to have Darfur reach this stage [self determination]” he added.
He also said that Western powers want to divide Sudan into 5 states; one in southern Sudan, one in Darfur, one in Kordofan, one in the east of Sudan, and one in the centre of Sudan.
“They think that the Darfur issue is the last means to undermine Sudan because if peace is realized in Darfur and a solution is found, there will be no other problem left” Al-Bashir added.
Moreover Al-Bashir alleged that unidentified powers want to de-Arabize and de-Islamize Sudan.
“The first project was the New Sudan Plan. This means that Sudan must be emptied of the Arabs and kept distant from Islam” he said. “They hoped to do this through the SPLM and the war in southern Sudan, or through the Darfur war” adding that all these attempts failed.

and al-bashir made that gesture last week, prior to obama’s announcement of joe “I would use American force [in Darfur] now” biden as his running mate. biden has been particularly hawkish on the darfur issue over the past couple of years, earning him high marks (A+) from the “Genocide Intervention Network’s” darfurScores.org.
obama himself also gets straight A’s (cumulative A+) for being a “champion to the cause”
and w/ susan “darfur can’t be left to africa” rice on the team, look the f*ck out! bombers at 12 o’clock high! no wonder al-bashir’s already looking for a ‘multilateral’ solution.

Posted by: b real | Aug 26 2008 4:44 utc | 39

A curious time warp argument by Billmon. The problem of course is that counter culture hatred is not as dead as it may seem. A large percentage of AM radio still has a steady diet of 60′-70’s fare – that would be like in 1970 finding the majority of radio fare still playing Rudy Vallee and The Andrews Sisters, which definitely was not the case. While much of the counter-culture has been absorbed into the mainstream, like Jimi Hendrix’s Star Spangle Banner soundtracking a Mountain Dew commercial, it still serves as a testament to its latent viability ( even though the content has been appropriated). Not to mention the connection between the Vietnam war and the one in Iraq and Afghanistan – both of which we’re on the verge of loosing, for very similar reasons. McCain will indeed use the Weathermen, to some advantage, because most Americans STILL need a weatherman to tell them which way the wind blows.

Posted by: anna missed | Aug 26 2008 7:37 utc | 41

Honduras joins Venezuelan pact; Chavez promises oil

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras, long considered an ally of the United States in Central America, joined on Monday a Latin American pact that has been pushed by Venezuela as a way to contain U.S. influence in the region.
Honduras is a member of a free trade pact between Central America and the United States.
But President Manuel Zelaya, a logging magnate seen as a moderate liberal, has been drifting toward closer ties with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, a U.S. foe.
On Monday, Honduras joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, which is based on complementary trade and cooperation instead of free-market competition.
…
“All the energy that they need … in Honduras is assured for the next 100 years,” Chavez told a cheering crowd of about 50,000 people in the Honduran capital.

Posted by: b real | Aug 26 2008 18:25 utc | 43

interesting image comparison of “vanished” italian airstrips on microsoft’s live earth juxtaposed against google earth
Yeah, saw that too – some bad photoshop work on the Microsoft product. The street map overlay shows a road, the zoom picture shows the road and suddenly only fields and then again the road. The manipulation is done stupidly. When you zoom out on the live earth picture you will see a different set of (rougher) pics which clearly show the airports.
Google still has the airport on Italy in all zoom levels.
But then again, Google has only very, very low resolution pictures of Israel and no, zero, road maps of it. Can’t you buy those in Tel Aviv? Also pictures of Iraq and Afghanistan are some 4 years old. Did the satellites stop flying over those countries?

Posted by: b | Aug 26 2008 18:47 utc | 45

Can’t help but notice that overseas meadia eg the Independent or even my local fishwrap has more on the”Obama plot” than the amerikan media. That after taking a quick gander at the NYT and seeing nothing on the front page.
Yes I realise that it probably was an amateur hour crack at him but many lesser ‘terraist’ plots against the asshole Bush have been beaten up much more in the media.
The rethug controlled Justice Dept through US Attorney’s Office and the FBI have closed the assassination attempt story down because they don’t want to give Obama any publicity, if the racism has incited this much already then there will be a backlash, and they know it wasn’t a serious attempt because they haven’t gotten the ‘green light’ to do the hit yet. Take yer pick one or all of the above but it will be interesting to watch the amerikan media try to ignore this. Of course if some foreign media source managed to get some hard info on this the amerikan media is gonna look even worse than usual as they race to catch up.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Aug 26 2008 20:44 utc | 47

b @45 – could be experimental or a hack solution for now. no doubt they’ll eventually improve their masking technologies, though all it really does it prevent users from zooming in & scoping out those facilities – those interested in them already know the coordinates & how to find what they want. i suppose the cheap masking also suffices for now to keep the browsing viewer from stumbling upon places that don’t want the attention.
read this wrt google recently in tim shorrock’s spies for hire: the secret world of intelligence outsourcing,

One of the most valuable technologies funded by In-Q-Tel [“the CIA’s venture capital fund”] is now used by virtually anyone who uses a computer: Google Earth. This massive database of 3-D satellite images … was first developed as EarthView by a company called Keyhole, Inc., based in Mountain View, California. In 2003, seeing value in EarthView for military applications, the CIA fund — in a partnership with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency — invested an undisclosed amount of money in the company, and within two weeks EarthView was being used by U.S. forces in Iraq. Google bought In-Q-Tel’s shares in Keyhole in 2004 and quickly incorporated the program into its widely used search engine.
[…]
Two of the biggest buyers of satellite imagery outside the government are Google and Microsoft. … Over the last three years, Google has moved heavily into the U.S. defense market, selling enhanced products such as Google Earth Fusion, which allows the NGA and other agencies to manipulate and integrate their own images with the company’s software. During that time, its government business increased from $73,000 to $312,000. Google Earth is now the standard mapping software used in geospatial intelligence.
Google, however, has run into controversy: the detail in high-resolution photographs that Google distributes to the public has alarmed governments in India, Russia, and South Korea, which have made their complaints known to the company. [“Due to those complaints, Google has hired former Secretary of State Colin Powell as an adviser.”] The wide availability of its imagery has also raised concerns in the U.S. military, which believes that terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are using Google Earth as a tool for targeting attacks on U.S. soldiers. … Speaking at a GEOINT 2006 panel on future challenges for the industry, Michael T. Jones, the chief technology officer for Google Earth, admitted that it would be easy for enemy soldiers to use Google. “Unfriendlies can use our commercial data because the barrier of entry is so low,” he said. But Jones … argued that such incidents reflected the wide diffusion of modern technology. “As long as cell phones are on, Google Earth should be on,” he said.

also, the street view feature on google is kinda unsettling when you can view your vehicles parked in front of the house at street level and zoom in on the first-story windows. i reckon an assemblage of vehicles equipped w/ a panoramic camera putzed around the gridwork of streets at some point either earlier this spring or last fall. it was useful, however to track down someone involved in a fender bender, verifying their address by locating their vehicle in the adjacent parking lot.

Posted by: b real | Aug 27 2008 4:31 utc | 49

Dennis Kucinich at the DNC
Wake up, America!

Posted by: Hamburger | Aug 27 2008 16:46 utc | 51

the cnn coverage is absolutely unfuckingbearable. the gonnoreah-ridden golem & his crew is like some mad movie about some mad kingdom
chied this, chief that , chief something else – you really know they want to put on uniforms with braid & colours
they are so so fucking cretinous in their cackling – they take your breath away with their idiocy & their bias as clear as day

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Aug 28 2008 1:02 utc | 53

Let’s move on now that the show is over, to the real show, the one that matters.
First, the uber wealthy love being called rich. They love having reporters ask
how many houses they have, how many cars, how rich their wife is, they LOVE IT!
Star power! Lifestyles of the rich and famous! Extra! Extra! You’re feeding that!
But they have a fatal weakness. Even though all, or most all are screaming mad
racists and religious fanatics, nowadays wealth cuts across races and religions.
If they have to sleep with a Saudi, they sleep with a Saudi. If they have to back-
slap a Chinese, tell them what a great guy they are! They’d even kiss a Mugabe.
These uber wealthy HATE being called racist. They hate anything which reminds
people the wealthy got that way by being classist, racist, apartheid fanatics.
Behind the scenes, their AIPAC & PNAC PACs are spreading the most evil racist apartheid lies imaginable, but in the media spotlights, oh, it’s all white lace and linen, fair play and good show!
So, let’s use John “Birch” McCain, (like Ron “Dutch” Reagan, but a word play
on John Birch Society), that disquieting reference to the truth, that McCain is
the lineal descendant of white-supremacist Scotch-Irish Virginia slave holders!
MCCAIN, W. A., 52 slaves
Or another, John “The Boff Man” McCain, for his “family values” adultery with the
beer heiress in dumping his long suffering wife in a post-adulterous divorce.
Speaking of “beer heiress”, why don’t they just hand the election to the ReThugs?!
“Beer”? Who doesn’t like beer? And “heiress”? The wealthy swoon at that descriptor!
Whoever picked the words “beer heiress” to describe Cindy sat at Carl Rove’s feet.
How about, Cindy “Prohibition Princess” McCain, reminding people her wealth came
from the Federal government prohibition that outlawed home brewing hootch, and
‘princess’, because her father, on his death bed, abandoned his other family, his
original wife and daughters, and gave everything to Cindy.
With that, and a reminder to pick your P’s and Q’s, a Little Green Football.
But first, play this soundtrack before you start reading.
Which world? Choose!!
Road Sassy NeoZi White Apartheid Halliban Fundamentalist Mullahs up your ass
-or- Abdullah Ibrahim?
You decide!
This is it, fight to the death between KKK/John Birch/South Shall Rise Again,
and all the rest of US, and if you’re not from the US, and don’t know in your bones what that means, think of Israel/Palestine, or Calvinist Afrikaaners/native kafirs, and the endless decades of slavery and grinding poverty that await US there.
Our children will wear Saudi collars and bark in Mandarin at McCain’s Gates of Hell.

Posted by: Thomas Terrife | Aug 28 2008 4:51 utc | 55

billmom is really proud
me too

Posted by: annie | Aug 28 2008 8:08 utc | 57

Who dropped cluster bombs, Georgia or Russia?
Georgia and human rights watch have accused Russia for bombing georgian villagers with cluster bombs. This morning a norwegian defense researcher, Ove Dullum, who has seen photos of unexploded bombs, says in an interview on Swedish radio the there is no doubt that these bombs are of exactly the same model that Israel dropped on Lebanon. He says only Israel makes them, and that it is highly unlikely that they would have been sold to Russia.
Did Georgia bomb Georgian villages in Ossetia with cluster bombs? Dullum stops very short of saying that. He does say that it cannot be excluded.
(since this is my first comment: many thanks for MoA, it keeps me sane, paranoid and away from work)

Posted by: Lurker | Aug 28 2008 12:42 utc | 59

It worked! The barricade is broken!!! USS Liberty reached Gaza. Some of the Activists are leaving Gaza today.
More info here.
This is BIG news, isn’t it?

Posted by: Jake | Aug 28 2008 14:47 utc | 61

Some Republicans bemoaned an apparent GOP curse when it comes to summer storms and noted the contrast between the approach of Gustav and the sunny weather in Denver for the Democrats. “The Republicans can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather,” said Karl Rove, a former Bush adviser, on Fox News yesterday.–WaPo, August 28, 2008.
An interesting slip by Rove–because the GOP convention starts in September. So what happened lately to the GOP, and in what August other than that of 2005? Answer: the absolute indifference of its leaders, in 2001, to the fact that trouble was in the air….

Posted by: alabama | Aug 29 2008 7:14 utc | 63

Uncle #56, thanks for links.
Re “elite” usage: eight years ago in a bar to a guy who was complaining about political corruption I was saying gist of “$100 per citizen per campaign, period, no tax dollars. Candidates can use their own money, that is free speech not paid shouting, but no loans to the campaign, and those that use a lot of their own money should automatically be especially distrusted.” Even though I think he was in favor of less political advertising, and was sober and until then articulate, he just called me an “elitist” and wouldn’t elaborate.

Posted by: plushtown | Aug 29 2008 13:54 utc | 65

This is a little long, but might interest the interested. TRUE REASON POT IS ILLEGAL

Posted by: plushtown | Aug 29 2008 20:36 utc | 67

Fear not. We can all sleep soundly, for we are in good hands …

Missile crew punished for sleeping on the job
WASHINGTON: Three ballistic missile crew members have been punished for sleeping during a sensitive task, the US Air Force said.
Two first lieutenants and a captain fell asleep on July 12 while in control of a classified electronic part that contained old launch codes for intercontinental nuclear missiles. It happened during the changing out of electronic parts used to communicate with Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
— snip —
Two officers are under investigation for lying about destroying classified missile components, and another for alleged sexual misconduct, the military reported.
A crew member formerly from the 91st Missile Wing told the military that he and another officer formerly assigned to the wing didn’t tell the truth about destroying classified launch devices in July 2005.
Such devices are approximately the size of a bandage and are used on equipment inside the launch control center to detect any equipment tampering.

Posted by: Outraged | Aug 30 2008 11:39 utc | 69

Bust Em Before They Bite
Youtube: Lawyer in handcuffs-Police raid RNC journalist’s house I like how they barely even throw in the idea that the protesters “would have” done something illegal and pretty much let it stand that they arrested them for being protesters. By which I mean I hate it.
I was surprised to learn, that a democracynow journalist is also being detained here…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 30 2008 22:45 utc | 71

ethnic cleansing in New Orleans

Posted by: Lizard | Aug 31 2008 2:36 utc | 73

@Lizard #72:
Dang! I have always distrusted the hippies that weren’t “on the bus” – that’s some scary shite! So now, am I to view Ken Kesey as nothing more than a carrier pigeon? A counterculture Manchurian candidate? Or maybe a ‘Dr. Yueh’ of a sort, as in “Sure, I’ll carry your poison to the masses, but I’m gonna get some mileage out of it on the way!”

Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Aug 31 2008 8:20 utc | 75

DUTCH PAPER REPORTS U.S. STRIKE vs. IRAN IMMINENT
Just wondered if anyone here knows anything about this:
infowars.com re Dutch paper’s ‘Iran Strike’ story
Seems like the sort of this you all here would have some thoughts on/interest in.

Posted by: schneb | Aug 31 2008 16:15 utc | 77

Lizard, thanks for link @ #72. The info fits the parts I know about, and it’s a lot of info.

Posted by: plushtown | Aug 31 2008 19:22 utc | 79

Dr. Wellington & plushtown: thank you, and you’re welcome.
this synthesis of info has been steadily dropping my jaw. the idea that an entire counter-cultural movement could possibly have its roots in this–for lack of a better term–dark energy vortex, is admittedly pretty out there, but if you can agree with the premise that the hippie counter culture diverted the revolutionary momentum on campuses with students and professors, then maybe you’re willing to follow the author through the disconcerting connections that implicates some very well known names.

Posted by: Lizard | Sep 1 2008 0:00 utc | 81

other stuff, 9/11 and more, on link @ Lizard’s #72 looks very good too: rational.

Posted by: plushtown | Sep 1 2008 15:56 utc | 83

thanks for the link, b.
i don’t have patience for literalists of any religion, but when it comes to challenging the zionist myth, there are strong institutional deterrents–the anti-defamation league comes instantly to mind–in place to maintain these myths.

Posted by: Lizard | Sep 1 2008 16:46 utc | 85

while i thought it was a very informative link (and saved it) i am not sure how you come to this conclusion.
‘proving’ thru historical reconstruction a biological lineage to align w/one’s current political agenda does not erase the existence of followers of a religion. or does it? could you explain what you mean.
A people in the sense of “the German people”, “the American people” are defined by a certain bordered region or language. (In German the word is Volk. One could also translate that to nation.)
“Jewish” in that sense is not a people. It is a religion that was proselytized over various people and areas. Like there is no “catholic nation” and no “muslim nation” there is no “jewish nation” or “jewish people”.
Zionist are artificially trying to construct one.

Posted by: b | Sep 1 2008 17:16 utc | 87

Killings of 5 Afghan children inflame tensions

KABUL, Afghanistan – Foreign and Afghan forces killed five children in two separate incidents Monday, further inflaming tensions in the country over the killings of civilians by troops from the U.S. and other countries.

Two days ago the Germans killed another two at a checkpoint. Before that the U.S. killed 60 children in a raid and still denies it.
Next year the resistance will be the double the size it is now.

Posted by: b | Sep 1 2008 18:21 utc | 89

in the midst of all the insanity, there’s still glimmer of hope:
We Are Hard-Wired to Care and Connect by David Korten

The Story in Our Head
The primary barrier to achieving our common dream is in fact a story that endlessly loops in our heads telling us that a world of peace and sharing is contrary to our nature—a naïve fantasy forever beyond reach. There are many variations, but this is the essence:
It is our human nature to be competitive, individualistic, and materialistic. Our well-being depends on strong leaders with the will to use police and military powers to protect us from one another, and on the competitive forces of a free, unregulated market to channel our individual greed to constructive ends. The competition for survival and dominance—violent and destructive as it may be—is the driving force of evolution. It has been the key to human success since the beginning of time, assures that the most worthy rise to leadership, and ultimately works to the benefit of everyone.
….
Wired to Connect
Scientists who use advanced imaging technology to study brain function report that the human brain is wired to reward caring, cooperation, and service. According to this research, merely thinking about another person experiencing harm triggers the same reaction in our brain as when a mother sees distress in her baby’s face. Conversely, the act of helping another triggers the brain’s pleasure center and benefits our health by boosting our immune system, reducing our heart rate, and preparing us to approach and soothe. Positive emotions like compassion produce similar benefits. By contrast, negative emotions suppress our immune system, increase heart rate, and prepare us to fight or flee.

David Korten is the author of “The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community”, which I think someone here recommended.
This article will give you a good indication of where he is coming from and what he has to offer toward the advent of the breaking through of empire. If it appeals to you I think you will find his book of value. I did and immediately gave it to someone else upon completion to share his insights.

Posted by: Juannie | Sep 1 2008 23:29 utc | 91

complete fucking bullshit, uncle. and yet, for many amerikans, the entire idea of protesting has become a cliche. so the fusion center coordinated oinker response got an early start by preemptively raiding houses on flimsy justifications for computers, diaries, and household goods to trump up the fear of domestic terrorists and dissuade people from exercising their constitutionally protected rights? yawn.
over at dissident voice, this article suggests a shift in tactics: target media outlets as sites for protests so they have to pay attention, and avoid terrain where the police state lies waiting. what good will come out of protesting the conventions? will policy be affected, will the greater public be challenged or enlightened? probably not.
regardless, what’s happening in Minneapolis/St. Paul should incite serious rage in the public consciousness, but it won’t. that’s partly because the only interested media are the handful of indies whose audience is solidified, and partly because the public at large won’t really give a shit until it’s their doors being busted open and their children staring down the barrel of a gun.
the most dangerous thing anyone can do is mess with the flow of goods or capital; there’s no quicker path to being branded a domestic terrorist. remember, uncle, those two activists in our quaint little mountain town who roped up to that logging truck while it was at a stop light on the Madison bridge, then repelled over the bridge with their gear? they were held on a 50,000 dollar bond, while that same day, night actually, a man who baited his neighbors with loud music, then opened fire with a 9mm handgun at the house when they shouted at him (no fatalities) made his petty bail and was free the next day.
we should all be disgusted about what’s going down in Minnesota right now, but we won’t be.
not until it’s our houses, our children, our “freedom”

Posted by: Lizard | Sep 2 2008 1:39 utc | 93

Oh, the hypocracy of it all, Hookers & blow! GOP parties as Gustav rages… Brian Ross report on the GOP parties in St. Paul as Hurricane Gustav rages through the Gulf Coast. Note: Brian Ross was just ARRESTED AT THE dnc… also,

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 2 2008 2:42 utc | 95

It was, after all, the captain of a slave ship who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace”.
Can a brown man become President of the United States? Can Tony-Blair-with-more-melanin use his rhetorical gifts to get us to stop killing foreigners, even if it negatively affects the profits of General Dynamics? Will the MICFiC be betrayed by their man Barry Oreo? Stay tuned. We may be going to hell in a bucket, but it’s a hell of a ride.
And, if they’re listening, may the Creative Forces of the Universe stand beside us, and guide us, through the Night with the Light from Above –
and have mercy on our souls, if any.

Posted by: mistah charley, ph.d. | Sep 2 2008 3:01 utc | 97

schneb, from your linked Iran story:

De Telegraaf reports that the decision has already been made by the U.S. to attack Iran using unmanned aircraft.

I am not an expert by any means on these things, but somehow I doubt that unmanned aircraft can transport the payload needed to do serious damage to Iranian nuclear installations. UAV’s like the Predator or its successor the Reaper generally carry Hellfire missiles, which while extremely damaging to tanks and other armored vehicles, don’t have the punch needed to take out the highly secured Iranian nuclear facilities.
Maybe they fit them with bunker busting mini-nukes, but with UAV’s flying not much faster than 450 km/h they’d be like fish in a barrel for any more or less functioning middle class air force. All in all, I can’t see it happening. Not with 150k troops next door and the Russians cheesed off. It would be suicide.

Posted by: Juan Moment | Sep 2 2008 5:55 utc | 99