& to you comrade uncle
& all here
venceremos

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 24 2008 3:13 utc | 3

why is it they never report on this kind of stuff at the time it’s going down? (yes, it’s strictly a rhetorical lament & you’ll have to google the title to find the link – i don’t feel like entering any stupid pw to have the comment sit in the spam trap all week)
American lawmaker says US involved in Liberia’s “destabilisation”

MONROVIA (AFP) — A visiting US lawmaker claimed Monday that Washington had been involved in Liberia’s “destabilisation” before and after a series of civil wars that killed tens of thousands over the past three decades.
“Our government was supportive of some things that happened in the destabilisation of this country,” US Congressman Benjamin Swan of Massachusetts told reporters, responding to accusations by a former Liberian justice minister.
“It happened during the Doe regime and it happened during the Taylor regime,” said Swan, a Democrat, referring to former presidents Samuel Doe (1980-1990) and Charles Taylor (1990-2003), whose terms in this west African country were marked by brutal torture and killings.
In remarks before Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, former justice minister Clarence Simpson accused Washington of conspiring against both former leaders, along with William Tolbert (1971-1980) who was overthrown and executed in a coup d’Etat.
“The Americans helped in getting William Tolbert out of power because he did not go their way,” Simpson told the commission.
“Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor faced the same fate because of their refusal to take instructions from Washington.”

Posted by: b real | Dec 24 2008 7:17 utc | 5

Former US Atty General John Ashcroft is “…stunned people think detainees deserve a trial.”
http://fora.tv/2008/11/19/Ashcroft_Stunned_People_Think_Detainees_Deserve_Trial
Best on you holiday, b.

Posted by: Jeremiah | Dec 24 2008 8:39 utc | 7

Jeremiah — I read that article on ‘The Next Bubble’. I think the fellow is somewhat overly optimistic but I do believe that. henceforth. wannabe speculators will find it easier to create bubbles in bathtubs than in financial markets.

Posted by: Jimmy Montague | Dec 24 2008 10:11 utc | 9

Hope everyone at MOA has a very Merry Christmas. I want to thank the host and everyone for all the great input on this site.

Posted by: jdp | Dec 24 2008 14:04 utc | 11

To everyone, happy holidays and best hopes. Cheer, drinks, for all at the bar.
Thanks to b for all his work.
Wouldn’t Jesus be surprised if he returned and saw what was made of his birthday?

Posted by: Tangerine | Dec 24 2008 15:46 utc | 13

@4 Klaus, wow. I wish Putin had some agents of influence in the US, it would really raise the tone. No fair Israel getting all of them.

Posted by: …—… | Dec 24 2008 16:22 utc | 15

Wouldn’t Jesus be surprised if he returned and saw what was made of his birthday?

Good question Tangerine. The very people he despised commercialized his birthday, must be one of the mysterious ways them hypochristians keep talking about. My guess is that should Jesus return tomorrow, he’d be given the 21 century equivalent of nailing him to a cross, as a professional agitator he’d get locked up in a mental institution and should he start converting water to wine he’d have a frontal lobotomy before he could say “Listen brothers & sisters”.

Posted by: Juan Moment | Dec 24 2008 19:14 utc | 17

AP – Outgoing US President George W. Bush pardons a convicted war criminal.
But it was for Israel, so it’s totally cool.

Posted by: Jeremiah | Dec 24 2008 19:57 utc | 19

Americans are not sensitive in that regard. I mean, as a whole. The simple truth today is that your economy is built on the global economy. And it’s built on the support, the gratuitous support, of a lot of countries. So why don’t you come over and … I won’t say kowtow [with a laugh], but at least, be nice to the countries that lend you money.
Talk to the Chinese! Talk to the Middle Easterners! And pull your troops back! Take the troops back, demobilize many of the troops, so that you can save some money rather than spending $2 billion every day on them. And then tell your people that you need to save, and come out with a long-term, sustainable financial policy.

In his first interview since the world financial crisis, Gao Xiqing, the man who oversees $200 billion of China’s $2 trillion in dollar holdings, explains why he’s betting against the dollar, praises American pragmatism, and wonders about enormous Wall Street paychecks.

Posted by: Jeremiah | Dec 24 2008 21:56 utc | 21

Alamet- I didn’t detect optimism so much as a “this is the best thing that can be said about the coming future.”
And I agree with your final sentence.

Posted by: Jeremiah | Dec 24 2008 22:02 utc | 23

@Jeremiah I’m afraid I didn’t read the article not that would have changed my mind about what I wrote because a/ capitalism has always lived in a boom bang bust cycle and nothing I have seen suggests that this (living in capitalism) is about to change and 2/ as I said above this is only the first major bust that can be directly attributed to the de-regulatory phase begun with Thatcher/Regonomics.
87 doesn’t count because although we may see the scause as being a lack of regulation the peeps who make the decisions about such things claim the opposite. That the ‘contraction was caused by an unresponsive regulatory system. Since deregulation wasn’t even halfway as far down the road is it is now, they were believed ahead of those who believe that greed has no innate characteristic of precluding stupidity despite neo-lib rhetoric to the contrary..
Not so this time – but as we have heard from pols on all sides of the capitalism bandwagon ,there is no intention of ditching the deregulation fantasy yet. So as I said there will have to be at least one more major bust before capitalist economies are moved back into a regulatory phase.
Every time we get a boom someone – often of the same ilk that a year or two before claimed the boom wasn’t a speculative boom this time, claims that the age of speculation and bubbles is over.
This is an essential first step in re creating “confidence in the market” and needs to be treated with the contempt such self serving distortions deserve. Most won’t do that of course – they will lap it up because that is what they want to hear. That is what they need to hear.
If the only work available was work which physically produced something for sale the world’s economy would be in real trouble. Genuine ‘value adding’ as some types put it, the global economy would be dead tomorrow because there wouldn’t be a sufficient percentage of people in work earning to keep the wheels turning.
Automation has created that situation and that isn’t going anywhere for a good while.
So we either have the current system of ‘make work’ or we build a new economic model from the ground up yet.
There is no real impetus for that yet.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Dec 25 2008 9:10 utc | 25

Unconventional Warfare in the 21st Century: U.S. Surrogates, Terrorists and Narcotraffickers

On December 13, the whistleblowing website Wikileaks did investigative- and citizen journalists a great service by publishing the Army Special Operations Forces FM 3-05.130, titled Unconventional Warfare.
Published in September 2008, the 248-page document though unclassified, is restricted “to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors only to protect technical or operational information from automatic dissemination under the International Exchange Program or by other means.” The Department of the Army urges recipients to “destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document.” Wikileaks has guaranteed that the disappearance of this critical primary source into the bowels of the Pentagon will not occur.

The following is several snips from the article, which needs to be read in full.

Special Warfare’s Nazi Provenance
Since the end of World War II, the United States has acted through proxies either to defeat leftist insurgencies or to subvert “hostile” governments, e.g. those states viewed by Washington and the multinational corporations they serve as ideological competitors.
Historically, U.S. unconventional warfare (UW) doctrine was derived from Nazi experiences in countering “partisan warfare” across Europe during World War II. As analyst and scholar Michael McClintock detailed in his essential study on the topic,
American special warfare doctrine would draw considerably on Wehrmacht and SS methods of terrorizing civilian populations and, perhaps more importantly, of co-opting local factions to combat partisan resistance. The Department of the Army’s A Study of Special and Subversive Operations (November 1947) was an early assessment of the lessons learned from World War II in the context of Cold War imperatives. (Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerrilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, Counterterrorism, 1940-1990, New York: Pantheon Books, 1992, p. 59)
But the United States did more than translate captured Wehrmacht and SS documents: they recruited many Waffen SS veterans, often with an assist from high Vatican officials. Tens of thousands of war criminals were spirited out of Europe along “ratlines” into U.S. hands for clandestine war against the new enemy: the Soviet Union and the international left.

Ideologically Coherent
The authors of FM 3-05.130, far from being militarist troglodytes are knowledgeable and erudite, presenting a broad and ideologically coherent narrative that is both informative and historically intriguing in its transparency and methodological purpose. In other words, unlike their political masters, they don’t pull any punches.
Right up front they inform the reader that UW establishes a “litmus test” which is warfare conducted “by, with or through surrogates” and that their preferred assets are irregular forces:
Irregulars, or irregular forces, are individuals or groups of individuals who are not members of a regular armed force, police, or other internal security force. They are usually nonstate-sponsored and unconstrained by sovereign nation legalities and boundaries. These forces may include, but are not limited to, specific paramilitary forces, contractors, individuals, businesses, foreign political organizations, resistance or insurgent organizations, expatriates, transnational terrorism adversaries, disillusioned transnational terrorism members, black marketers, and other social or political “undesirables.” (Unconventional Warfare, p. 1-3)
While “conventional warfare” is viewed as a conflict between states, Irregular Warfare (IW) and UW according to FM 3-05.130 is “about people not platforms.” Irregular and unconventional warfare “does not depend on military prowess alone.”
It also relies on the understanding of such social dynamics as tribal politics, social networks, religious influences, and cultural mores. Although IW is a violent struggle, not all participating irregulars or irregular forces are necessarily armed. People, more so than weaponry, platforms, and advanced technology, will be the key to success in IW. Successful IW relies on building relationships and partnerships at the local level. It takes patient, persistent, and culturally savvy people within the joint force to execute IW. (Unconventional Warfare, p. 1-5)
Indeed, FM 3-05.130 explicitly states that its “strategic purpose [is] to gain or maintain control or influence over the population and to support that population through political, psychological, and economic methods.” While both IW and UW seek to influence “relevant populations,” UW in contrast to IW, “is always conducted by, with, or through irregular forces.” In other words, local surrogates drawn from relevant far-right and/or organized crime-linked assets are the means of eliciting “influence” over “relevant populations.”

The Media’s Role
Explicitly stated is the media’s role in advancing the goals of United States national power. As recent exposés in The New York Times and elsewhere have documented, “message force multipliers” such as retired Pentagon officials and former high-ranking officers, often linked to corporate defense firms that rely heavily on Pentagon largesse, have leveraged their expertise and conducted illegal domestic psychological operations (PSYOPS) and information warfare, with the complicity and full knowledge of the giant media firms.
It is important for the official agencies of government, including the armed forces, to recognize the fundamental role of the media as a conduit of information. The USG uses SC to provide top-down guidance for using the informational instrument of national power through coordinated information, themes, messages, and products synchronized with the other instruments of national power. The armed forces support SC themes and messages through IO, public affairs (PA), and defense support to public diplomacy (DSPD). The armed forces must assure media access consistent with classification requirements, operations security, legal restrictions, and individual privacy. The armed forces must also provide timely and accurate information to the public. Success in military operations depends on acquiring and integrating essential information and denying it to the adversary. The armed forces are responsible for conducting IO, protecting what should not be disclosed, and aggressively attacking adversary information systems. IO may involve complex legal and policy issues that require approval, review, and coordination at the national level. (Unconventional Warfare, p. 2-2)

Economic Subversion
For the authors of FM 3-05.130, “properly integrated manipulation of economic power can and should be a component of UW.” Never mind that such “manipulation” can and did result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of human beings in Iraq prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation as well as in a score of other nations that have defied the U.S.
The cases of Chile and Nicaragua are instructive in this regard, where the disgraced president, Richard Nixon, vowed to “make the economy scream,” prior to the 1973 coup, or the crippling sanctions and economic embargo imposed on Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. Various sanctions regimes unambiguously “can build and sustain international coalitions waging or supporting U.S. UW campaigns.” A similar methodology is being applied today against Iran as “punishment” for its legal development of civilian nuclear power.

Narcotrafficking Networks and the “Global War on Terror”
For decades, investigative journalists, researchers and analysts have noted the symbiotic relationship amongst international narcotrafficking syndicates, neofascist political groups, U.S. intelligence agencies and U.S. Special Forces in the war against leftist adversaries.
Dozens of books and hundreds of articles by journalists and writers such as Alfred W. McCoy, Peter Dale Scott, Henrik Krüger, Robert Parry, Gary Webb, Jonathan Marshall, Douglas Valentine, Daniel Hopsicker, Bill Conroy as well as exposés by former DEA investigators such as Michael Levine and Celerino Castillo III, have documented the long and bloody history of U.S. complicity in the global drugs trade.
While the United States has pumped billions of dollars into so-called drug eradication programs in target countries such as Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Afghanistan and Mexico through ill-conceived projects such as Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative, also know as Plan Mexico, recent reports, most notably by The Narco News Bulletin, have documented the close interrelationships amongst narcotraffickers, rightist extremists, political elites and U.S. intelligence agencies.
Indeed, investigative journalist Bill Conroy recently documented how a U.S. trained and equipped special operations group within the Mexican army (the Zetas) “is now assisting the Mexican military in its narco-trafficking operations along the border.”
None of this however, phases the authors of Unconventional Warfare. And why should it. As they themselves describe the doctrine, unconventional warfare is “conducted by, with, or through surrogates; and such surrogates must be irregular forces,” the next logical step in the equation is the utilization of transnational criminal networks to advance U.S. national power. The section, “Law Enforcement Instrument of United States National Power and Unconventional Warfare,” states this explicitly: no tinfoil hat needed here!

FM33-1, Psychological Operations, is a good outline of how the U.S. media is run, too.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 26 2008 5:15 utc | 27

Unconventional Warfare in the 21st Century: U.S. Surrogates, Terrorists and Narcotraffickers

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 26 2008 5:39 utc | 29

Right on cue?
Pakistan moves troops toward Indian border

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan began moving thousands of troops to the Indian border Friday, intelligence officials said, sharply raising tensions triggered by the Mumbai terror attacks.
India is blaming Pakistani-based militants for last month’s siege on its financial capital, which killed 164 people and has provoked an increasingly bitter war of words between nuclear-armed neighbors that have fought three wars in 60 years.
The troops headed to the Indian border were being diverted away from tribal areas near Afghanistan, officials said, and the move was expected to frustrate the United States which has been pushing Pakistan to step up its fight against al-Qaida and Taliban militants near the Afghan border.
Two intelligence officials said the army’s 14th Division was being redeployed to the towns of Kasur and Sialkot, close to the Indian border. They said some 20,000 troops were on the move. Earlier Friday, a security official said that all troop leave had been canceled.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A spokesman for India’s Defense Ministry offered no immediate response.
Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Friday with the chiefs of the army, navy and air force to discuss “the prevailing security situation,” according to an official statement.
An Associated Press reporter in Dera Ismail Khan, a district that borders Pakistan’s militant-infested South Waziristan tribal area, said he saw around 40 trucks loaded with soldiers heading away from the Afghan border.

And still 26 shopping days before Bush leaves. This smells.
Also see, India, Pakistan: Signs of a Coming War

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 26 2008 19:49 utc | 31

NYT has a report about “Passive houses” in Germany: No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’

In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.
…
Using ultrathick insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants’ bodies.
And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more to build than conventional houses.
…
Decades ago, attempts at creating sealed solar-heated homes failed, because of stagnant air and mold. But new passive houses use an ingenious central ventilation system. The warm air going out passes side by side with clean, cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent efficiency.

Friends built one of these, nice and comfortable and very little energy costs (electricity) to run it. The additional costs will be back in only three years because of savings for heating/cooling. Their next step is to generate and store all the electricity they need by themselves (solarpanels, battery(?)).
Passive Haus Institute has some English pages too.

Posted by: b | Dec 27 2008 7:59 utc | 33

let this be a lesson to those who believe the “left” are the good guys. any proposal by rightwingers would be met with street protests and general strikes. just wait and see what happens to this very concerned Liberal (father of small children and good looking too) when he succeeds in passing laws requiring ratings for websites.
How is it possible that the nation responsible for the Magna Carta can even imagine such a thing?

Posted by: dan of steele | Dec 27 2008 14:05 utc | 35

@ Jeremiah, The possibility of another bubble in alt.energy. ?
i don’t think so. Or not for the next 7 years, or possibly ever. Alt energy is very expensive, it is basically an energy sink and requires subsidies or scams (ok, solar could be developed, etc. etc.) often a frill or a luxury that the rich countries indulge in, either to hand out pork and grab voters with subsidies (ethanol from corn in the US, say) or to just get into the ‘green wave’, ‘start a new industry’, ‘be first in the market’, attract eco-tourism, create new jobs, present reassuring illusions – the list is long. Obama continues this kind of hype.
But the customers are not waiting at the gate and the manufacturers are holding back…the demonstration of one or another means being efficient, and there are ppl who sincerely want to do that, even with some initial investment that is ‘lost’ could easily be demonstrated in Africa…ok all that gets complicated..for ex. solar ovens are great but are not made / sold on a large scale because those who would benefit are poor and can’t buy and live in the ‘south’.
Low type innovative tech could have a great future. There are some pockets of devp. poss. For ex geo-thermal heating in Switz (it requires some electricity) is now installed, since many years, in far more than half of new houses. Yet, it reiies on the whole present infrastructure..drilling, digging, pipes, roads, electricity, etc. etc.
With oil/nat gas prices sinking and set to stay low for a long time (the speculators scooted when they realized demand would contract) the wind is taken out of the sails (sic) of alt. energy, and with the economic crisis there isn’t the investment for it except thru Public Works, funded by the State.

Posted by: Tangerine | Dec 27 2008 18:29 utc | 37

From Newsmax, so a disreputable source, but I thought this interesting, and it makes sense: CIA Using Viagra to Bribe Afghan Warlords

Posted by: plushtown | Dec 28 2008 15:47 utc | 39

@39,
and in return, the Afghans are delivering big explosions- Always guaranteed to give CIA-types an erection.

Posted by: biklett | Dec 28 2008 16:09 utc | 41

@Dick
Thanks, Ollie!
You mean that Great American Hero, ollie north?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 28 2008 18:37 utc | 43

This is stupid, and probably more than just a little compulsive, but I keep seeing the number $850 billion dollars used everywhere, two notable uses of this number I’ve seen recently were the total U.S. military budget (suspect source) and also the amount congress approved during the special TARP session (TARP+pork). And I forgot, Obama’s stimulus package, that’s probably what’s started me thinking about the significance of $850 billion in the first place.
Being something of a kook I wondered what would happen if I took one of the conspiracy-theorist favorite numbers, 33, and divided it into 850=26 which I then divided by 2=13!
I can’t figure out how to achieve world peace, but I know how to use a calculator, Damnit!
does this mean anything? Probably only that 850 is a very divisible number.
Do I have a point–no, sorry to say. But I wondered if there was someone even more into numbers, and maybe even kookier than I that might have a really creative answer to why this seems important.
Dave

Posted by: David | Dec 29 2008 2:28 utc | 45

us surfs only cover something when we’re told to, or at least that’s how they want it to work.
It is my feeling that american humans have been taught not to think. It isn’t even that we don’t want to think, it is just so much easier to ignore most of the world’s problems and focus on our own individual challenges.
right now everyone is up in arms about what has happened in gaza, and with good reason, but at the same time look at how many places are experiencing horrible problems from violence: Indonesia, parts of africa, the mid-east, russia, turkey, chile, and these are just off the top of my very small brain:) I’m sure with very little research I could add to this terrible list.
It is really quite simple–keep people down on the bottom two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs) and then there is never any question of them developing the mental resources to truly agitate for any change in the system.
as much as technology is helping spread information, it is also spreading lots of the same crap that got everyone into the mess we’re in.
Look at what happened in america during the sixties and early seventies, the power structure had to act quickly to keep america and americans destabilized and fighting each other rather than taking a hard, close look at what was about to come down the pike at them.
the power structure used race, religion, social class and anything else they could to divide america during the sixties and up through the seventies. look at how many of the same creeps are slinking around washington dc–do they not die? are they like the political un-dead and are immune to death? when is Kissinger gonna croak? I mean, when do all these creeps exit stage right and leave us to clean-up the mess?
truth is they will never willingly leave, the french might still remember how hard these pest are to rid from office.
I tearfully laugh at what seems so obvious to me, yet most people are too invested in the illusion to see that it is nothing more.
we hate each other for the silliest of labels, yet we tolerate the most incredible official abuses all because some other human has said this is the way it is. should it surprise anyone we act like such angry children when were treated as such?
stay strong and human,
dave
P.s. My right shift buttons doesn’t work on this site, sorry.

Posted by: David | Dec 29 2008 6:35 utc | 47

Unrest caused by bad economy may require military action [in the homeland], report says

Source: El Paso Times
EL PASO — A U.S. Army War College report warns an economic crisis in the United States could lead to massive civil unrest and the need to call on the military to restore order.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Nathan Freir wrote the report “Known Unknowns: Unconventional Strategic Shocks in Defense Strategy Development,” which the Army think tank in Carlisle, Pa., recently released.
“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities … to defend basic domestic order and human security,” the report said, in case of “unforeseen economic collapse,” “pervasive public health emergencies,” and “catastrophic natural and human disasters,” among other possible crises.
The report also suggests the new (Barack Obama) administration could face a “strategic shock” within the first eight months in office.

Yep, they are priming us for, for something…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 29 2008 17:10 utc | 49

David #50

reason people like sports and even gossip because it allows them an avenue to use their “intelligence” but doesn’t involve any really hard or unique thinking because everyone knows the answers

thanks for response, but sitting in a physical bar I hear a lot of hard and unique thinking from people whose political/economic/religious thinking is racialist/idiotic/controlled, but on sports (I put in celebrity gossip for gender reasons, but tend not to hear those conversations) they’re opinionated with evidence and use percentages with understanding, though elsewhere (credit card bills, welfare #’s, defense crimes) percentages stymie them to stupor. Reason I think is pleasantness of the subject because not terrifying.

Posted by: plushtown | Dec 29 2008 22:58 utc | 51

am
completely out of context but have been looking at work by the master painters of the kimberly & of the centre – paddy bedford, for example but there is quite a number of the men & women – whose ‘abstraction’ is very close to your own

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 30 2008 0:07 utc | 53

Anna missed-
are you telling me horse races are fixed? 🙂
It sounds like the rest of “civilization.”
Though, once you know the game is fixed, it suddenly becomes much easier to play the game…or go invent a new one.
Dave

Posted by: David | Dec 30 2008 0:19 utc | 55

am – link to a gallery

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 30 2008 2:26 utc | 57

Pakistan Suspends NATO Supplies to Tackle Militants

JAMRUD, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan suspended supplies going to foreign forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday as security forces launched an operation against militants in the Khyber Pass region, a government official said.
Militants have launched a string of attacks in recent months aimed at choking off supplies trucked to foreign forces in landlocked Afghanistan through northwest Pakistan from the port city of Karachi.
Khyber’s top administrator, Tariq Hayat, told reporters that a curfew had been imposed and the main road leading to the Afghan border had been sealed.
“Supplies to NATO forces will remain suspended until we clear the area of militants and outlaws who have gone out of control,” he said.

Posted by: b | Dec 30 2008 7:57 utc | 59

Meanwhile, here at home…
Known Unknowns: Unconventional “Strategic Shocks” in Defense Strategy Development (pdf)

“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” the report, authored by Lt. Col. Nathan Freir, reads.
“Deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction or other catastrophic capabilities, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters are all paths to disruptive domestic shock.” it continues.
“An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home…”
“Already predisposed to defer to the primacy of civilian authorities in instances of domestic security and divest all but the most extreme demands in areas like civil support and consequence management, DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States.” Lt. Col. Freir concludes.
Pages 31-32

RAW STORY: Report: Military may have to quell domestic violence from economic collapse

Deepening economic strife in the US could lead to civil unrest and violence that would require military intervention, warns a new report from the US Army War College.
“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” writes Nathan Freier, a 20-year Army veteran and visiting professor at the college.
A copy of the 44-page report, “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development,” can be downloaded here. Freier notes that his report expresses only his own views and does not represent US policy, but it’s certain that his recommendations have come before at least some Defense Department officials.
The author warns potential causes for such civil unrest could include another terrorist attack, “unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters.” The situation could deteriorate to the point where military intervention was required, he argues.
“Under these conditions and at their most violent extreme,” he concludes, “civilian authorities, on advice of the defense establishment, would need to rapidly determine the parameters defining the legitimate use of military force inside the United States.”

like this?
Disturbing story on the news. People are returning Christmas gifts en masse
This is UP 40%. Almost half. This cannot bode well for the retailers.

During a recession ordinary people will sometimes do extraordinary things. You may have seen the numbers – holiday sales through Christmas Eve were down as much as 88-percent compared to a year ago. And today we learned that the number of people returning gifts is up 40-percent.
The economy has many North Texans trying to decide whether to keep the gift, or trade it in and use the cash.

“We are seeing more gift cards being used more on the grocery side – that they get from their exchanges,” explained Target tore manager Aaron McKnight. “Just because food is something we definitely need right now, over something they we may want.”
That type of ‘savings strategy’ is one customers at a North Dallas Wal-Mart store also reportedly use. Shoppers there pocketed a nice chunk of change on returns.

Are people returning gifts to buy food? I’m reminded of b’s recent holiday post of the Wal-Mart worker crushed to death for mere electronics, ipods etc… wait until it’s food people are in line for… I suspect we wont have much longer to wait.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 30 2008 10:18 utc | 61

Meanwhile, here at home…
Known Unknowns: Unconventional “Strategic Shocks” in Defense Strategy Development (pdf)

“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” the report, authored by Lt. Col. Nathan Freir, reads.
“Deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction or other catastrophic capabilities, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters are all paths to disruptive domestic shock.” it continues.
“An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home…”
“Already predisposed to defer to the primacy of civilian authorities in instances of domestic security and divest all but the most extreme demands in areas like civil support and consequence management, DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States.” Lt. Col. Freir concludes.
Pages 31-32

RAW STORY: Report: Military may have to quell domestic violence from economic collapse

Deepening economic strife in the US could lead to civil unrest and violence that would require military intervention, warns a new report from the US Army War College.
“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” writes Nathan Freier, a 20-year Army veteran and visiting professor at the college.
A copy of the 44-page report, “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development,” can be downloaded here. Freier notes that his report expresses only his own views and does not represent US policy, but it’s certain that his recommendations have come before at least some Defense Department officials.
The author warns potential causes for such civil unrest could include another terrorist attack, “unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters.” The situation could deteriorate to the point where military intervention was required, he argues.
“Under these conditions and at their most violent extreme,” he concludes, “civilian authorities, on advice of the defense establishment, would need to rapidly determine the parameters defining the legitimate use of military force inside the United States.”

like this?
Disturbing story on the news. People are returning Christmas gifts en masse
This is UP 40%. Almost half. This cannot bode well for the retailers.

During a recession ordinary people will sometimes do extraordinary things. You may have seen the numbers – holiday sales through Christmas Eve were down as much as 88-percent compared to a year ago. And today we learned that the number of people returning gifts is up 40-percent.
The economy has many North Texans trying to decide whether to keep the gift, or trade it in and use the cash.

“We are seeing more gift cards being used more on the grocery side – that they get from their exchanges,” explained Target tore manager Aaron McKnight. “Just because food is something we definitely need right now, over something they we may want.”
That type of ‘savings strategy’ is one customers at a North Dallas Wal-Mart store also reportedly use. Shoppers there pocketed a nice chunk of change on returns.

Are people returning gifts to buy food? I’m reminded of b’s recent holiday post of the Wal-Mart worker crushed to death for mere electronics, ipods etc… wait until it’s food people are in line for… I suspect we wont have much longer to wait.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 30 2008 10:18 utc | 63

I had a crazy thought last night.
what if the world’s economic collapse was planned?
Look at what has happened to the financial world since the last depression. there has been a boom in several industries which never existed in the ’30’s, biotech, computing, inernet, ect…
the so-called great depression shook-up the business world and the wealthy were able to consolidate their investments by buying up the depressed assets of competitors.
the same thing is going to happen in this financial mess. the true, old wealth is going to be buying up all the important industries to control as their original owners lose them because of this huge monetary hiccup.
If you look back into history, you find this is often the reason for times of peasant hardships.
the financial elite do not want any competition and the rise of dot com billionaires may appear to be a challenge to the wealthy’s financial power; the dot coms certainly pose a threat to control of information.
anything that could give the average joe a leg-up has to be controlled, regulated, or better yet made un-available.
I was interested in knowing who the richest folks in the world are, so I of course googled the question and it seems bill gates and warren buffet are both fighting for the top tier, but there are others, smarter, who have hidden their family wealth that has been hoarded for generations and don’t appear on the list.
these are the ones causing everyone else most of the problems, these are the people that we should be knotting the ropes for, these are the folks that are the logjam in the path of peace.
I laugh as I read how everyone likes to blame this religion or that political group, when it is just a few wealthy families trying to keep the rest of us from figuring it all out and using those knotted ropes.
dave

Posted by: David | Dec 30 2008 14:28 utc | 65

David, perhaps you should be on Prosac; it will keep you from having crazy thoughts at night. The world does not need any more thinkers.
Of course you are correct. Buckminster Fuller, a blueblood himself, described the origins of this wealth and the process you are touching upon in his 1983 book, “Grunch of Giants: GRoss UNiversal Cash Heist.”

Posted by: Malooga | Dec 30 2008 20:12 utc | 67

for uncle $cam

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 30 2008 21:38 utc | 69

Prozac-
I don’t do that anymore, but then I don’t do it any less, either:)
Have any of you heard of a riso digital duplicator?
I discovered them a year ago and I just published the 99th issue of my publication. this is a way to take back the media, this is a way to get the truth, at least as you know it, out in the public.
If you look at the numbers, a good viral internet anything has a million hits. awesome amount of viewers true, but that’s what the L.A. times used to claim for readership, daily!
Publications have a way of sticking around and being read even in places where the computer doesn’t work.
I just had my internet down for the better part of the day–drives me crazy to be out of touch, but it is a good reminder of how quickly all this can go away!
Peace,
dave

Posted by: David | Dec 31 2008 3:56 utc | 71

I can’t help but think of Hunter S Thompson writing in fear & loathing in LV about covering the drug conference of DAs and the language they believed “heads” used, funny stuff but all too true.
anything an official says becomes “official” and hence the word of god.
Neocon=snafu
george bush=that was stupid!
american=sucker
some words from the idiot code…
dave

Posted by: David | Dec 31 2008 5:04 utc | 73

Bernhard, thank you so much for another year of running this bar, if it weren’t for you and all you good people sharing your thoughts and insights here at the Moon, 2008 would not have been the same.
So, before the sun sets on 2008, b4 the memories fade, b4 I get (too) drunk and naked, spill the red over my keyboard, let me wish yers all a fabulous new year. May the force be with you.

Posted by: Juan Moment | Dec 31 2008 10:19 utc | 75

the risograoph digital duplicator.
One of those things that comes from japan that is well worth the money.
New, the beast sold for over twenty thousand dollars U.S., but they can be had used/shipped for right around $1000.
Here is a link to a the riso site:https://us.riso.com/portal/page?_pageid=777,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
It’s been almost 30 freaking years since I graduated from high school (I don’t feel like it) and got my first job at the local daily paper as a labtech in the darkroom. I worked there and moved to bigger papers but after ten years of sometimes working full-time, and sometimes freelancing as a photographer, I realized the whole corporate journalism thing is a joke.
I pretty much stopped shooting photos then (for five of those years I averaged 5 rolls a day, 365 days a year) and concentraited on living a normal life.
I watched as paper after paper was turned into corporate a cash-cow and the business model the corporations used, slowly started to kill the vibrant journalism america experienced during the vietnam war.
People want to read a newspaper, but one would never know it based on current circulation numbers, The corporations have drained off the main part of the paper people picked them up for-local news (and shrunk the comics, grrr!)
business types figured why pay for AP and a local staff? Cut the staff and let the AP fill the pages of the paper, it’s cheaper and it doesn’t complain about management or threaten to go on strike like reporters do.
I could go on and on, but I figure most here at the bar are probably aware of the problems facing print journalism, and anything I add are just old memories.
I tried doing a zine, but the printing cost killed me because I am a horrible businessman, and I hate selling anything other than myself, so I never had advertising. I’d use the money I saved guiding hiking, dog sledding and jeep trips (not to mention waiting tables, grilling burgers, tuning skis and other jobs that will remain nameless…) If any of you used to read the photo district news 25 years ago, you might remember the house ad they’d run with a header that said, “jobs for photographers who don’t read the PDN” and had a group shot of people dressed as clerks, street sweepers, ect. I laugh because that ad became my life after I quit working for papers.
fast foreword to Oct. 2007, I’m sitting in the house I rent and looking out at the little state hwy which runs past. I watched as a seemingly never-ending stream of cars was going in both directions and I realized I was about to watch my little town become something else, something bigger.
and so I got a wild idea to start a publication, but I couldn’t afford a webpress so I started checking out the digital presses, like the ones used to print the zine I did, but they are still pretty expensive to buy and it’s really expensive to run–toner based printing (like copy machines.)
being a photographer I wanted to have good reproduction of my images, so I’d ignored the digital duplicators I’d seen other zines printed on. I’d never seen anything done on one that looked good, but while researching printers I found that riso had developed a true 600×600 dpi machine, and that they were a big improvement over the earlier machines. these new models came with computer interfaces and the ability to print PDFs like a any other printer would.
the machine I print with is a gr 3770, and was high-tech about 1998.
a digital duplicator uses a wax paper “plate” that rides on a drum with a fine mesh screen. Ink flows thru the screen in the drum and thru tiny holes burned into the wax plate and is then pressed onto a sheet of 11×17 paper. this is all done automatically, no mess no fuss.
the main use for these digital duplicators is to handle the printing needs of large organizations, such as mega churches that have thousands of people they print programs up for.
the more you print, the cheaper per unit the cost becomes. I think fifty prints is the magic number where the cost starts to drop below that of a copier.
I’ve previewed this post and I realized this is a pretty disjointed mess of thoughts.
I’ll go get my morning mocha and see if I can’t redo this so it reads more like a how-to guild.
dave

Posted by: David | Dec 31 2008 13:59 utc | 77

I just tried to post a long how to. Sorry if it causes grief, not my intention. If it does get posted, my post at 50 should probably be deleted.
I apologize for creating extra work.
Happy New Year,
dave

Posted by: David | Dec 31 2008 17:12 utc | 79

David @65,
I have been thinking something along the same lines, but more as US-Anglo vs. BRIC-OPEC. The trajectory of the world economy up until last year would have diminished relative US-Anglo power from near-total control to junior partner. So, like a sore loser who sees a checkmate coming in a few moves, US-Anglo clumsily knocks the board over and calls for a replay. The broken pieces are taped together and set down for another round.

Posted by: biklett | Dec 31 2008 18:10 utc | 81

Here, here to that biklett@84,
One of my favorite quotes is, ” he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.” that’s from memory, so I could be off a word or two, but it is the real start of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
On that note, I’ll post this article I just found out about–this is out of the Aspen Times:
ASPEN — Bomb threats at two banks in downtown Aspen have forced the evacuation of nearby buildings and police have cut off vehicular access to various streets in the resort, which was bustling with activity on the afternoon before New Year’s Eve.
Wells Fargo Bank notified police at about 2:30 p.m. that it had received a suspicious package with a note. Police and Aspen fire department personnel responded. Subsequently, Vetra Bank reported the receipt of a package and note, as well.
“In both cases, a package with a note indicated a credible threat to the community,” according to police.
Alpine Bank also closed down and a signs placed there informed customers the bank was temporarily closed due to an emergency.
Other downtown businesses and residences within two blocks surrounding the affected banks were ordered to evacuate. Authorities placed reverse 911 calls directing occupants to leave nearby buildings. The Aspen Times, on Main Street, received the evacuation call, but next door, the Hotel Jerome’s J-Bar was hopping at about 4 p.m.
Authorities were using police vehicles, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority buses and at least one snowplow to block vehicular access to streets at various intersections, though pedestrians continued to stroll through the affected areas and were merely directed to cross the street when passing by Wells Fargo, according to Aspen Times reporter Wyatt Haupt Jr.
The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, Basalt police, Snowmass Village fire department, FBI and the Grand Junction Bomb Squad have been mobilized to assist in the investigation into the threats.
Anyone who has been evacuated and needs a warm place to go has been directed to the Rio Grande meeting room, located behind the Pitkin County Courthouse in the former Aspen Youth Center building.
Nothing has yet been said regarding the town’s planned New Year’s celebrations, including fireworks displays over Aspen Mountain at 8:30 p.m. and midnight, and an 8 p.m. bonfire and party at Wagner Park.
In addition, restaurants throughout the downtown are planning special New Year’s Eve dinner seatings and nightclubs are hosting parties for the occasion.
This article will be updated.
I don’t know what to make of this, my guess is some local, while half-crazed on cocaine and angry about his stock losses decided to do a bit of grand standing, but I could be wrong. It is also the town Prince Bandar has a $55 million dollar house for sale and a bunch of dirty money flows though the place in ways you wouldn’t imagine, couldn’t imagine.
If I find any interesting insider info, I’ll try to post it so you can follow along the follies of the rich and spoiled…
Happy New Year! (I hope)
Dave

Posted by: David | Jan 1 2009 3:37 utc | 83