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March 31, 2009
Links March 31 09

Please add your remarks and links of the day in the comments.

Posted by b on March 31, 2009 at 06:07 UTC | Permalink
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Stan Marsh is right! I’d often thought this is how most things are decided at that high a level… Why doesn’t it surprise me it’s going on with our money too.

Posted by: DavidS | Mar 31 2009 6:27 utc | 1

A look inside the new (?) neocon propaganda: “The State of Play in the Bomb-Iran Debate”

Posted by: andrew | Mar 31 2009 10:39 utc | 2

Israeli Military closes probe on Gaza.

Posted by: andrew | Mar 31 2009 10:59 utc | 3

“Indian Army fears China attack by 2017”

Indian Army fears China attack by 2017
* Secret military exercise visualises war scenario in less than a decade
* Top brass brainstorm over India’s options in case Pakistan joins war
LAHORE: The Indian military fears a ‘Chinese aggression’ in less than a decade, the Hindustan Times has reported, and claimed that a secret exercise – called ‘Divine Matrix’ – by the army’s military operations directorate has visualised a war scenario with the nuclear-armed neighbour before 2017.
“A misadventure by China is very much within the realm of possibility with Beijing trying to position itself as the only power in the region. There will be no nuclear warfare but a short, swift war that could have menacing consequences for India,” said an army officer, who was part of the three-day war games that ended on Wednesday. In the military’s assessment, based on a six-month study of various scenarios before the war games, “China would rely on information warfare (IW) to bring India down on its knees before launching an offensive”, the report claimed.
The war games saw generals raising concerns about the IW battalions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carrying out hacker attacks for military espionage, intelligence collection, paralysing communication systems, compromising airport security, inflicting damage on the banking system and disabling power grids. “We need to spend more on developing information warfare capability,” he said. The war games dispelled the notion that China would take at least one year for a substantial military build-up across India’s northeastern frontiers. “The Tibetan infrastructure has been improved considerably. “The PLA can now launch an assault very quickly, without any warning,” said the officer.
“The military believes that China would have swamped Tibet with sweeping demographic changes in the medium term. For the purposes of Divine Matrix, China would call Dalai Lama for rapprochement and neutralise him. The top brass also brainstormed over India’s options in case Pakistan joined the war too. Another apprehension was that Myanmar and Bangladesh would align with China in the future geo-strategic environment,” said the Hindustan Times. daily times monitor

Posted by: andrew | Mar 31 2009 11:02 utc | 4

andrew, thanks for these 3 great posts. The last one about a potential China-India war was quite extraordinary (to me at least) as I cannot envisage war between 2 heavily armed nuclear powers. But there must be something to it, otherwise India wouldn´t be sounding alarm bells.

Posted by: Parviz | Mar 31 2009 12:39 utc | 5

maybe I didn’t look close enough but I didn’t find mention of theses numbers here this month:
http://www.horizons-et-debats.ch/index.php?id=1478
scary…
taken from the Privateer N° 624 March 2009
http://www.mediafire.com/?fnbmodlzmfm
“happy” reading 🙂

Posted by: totoro | Mar 31 2009 13:05 utc | 6

I posted this yesterday, but in the spirit of recycling I’m going to repost and see if anyone actually watches.
the lost people of mt village
This is a funny fifteen minute short that dares ask what happened to the population of Mountain Village… Even though it is done as a comedy, it is a telling tale about the extravagance of wealth… Watch the video, and be amazed such a place exist.
I been there when people roamed the streets, and I’ve seen it empty… it is crazy how many McMansions sit empty most of the year, hot tub warm and the driveway free of snow. Lights turn themselves on and off. The houses view humans as a pest and go about living even when the humans have vanished.

Posted by: DavidS | Mar 31 2009 13:06 utc | 7

#7:
Well, Parviz, actually the title of that article should be “India war games involving China”, I chose that one from the Pakistani “Daily Times” because it was more extended that others (for example, here’s one from a Tibetan site that focuses on China http://www.tibetcustom.com/article.php/2009032917104477 and one from Press TV, that reports US military-diplomatic actions towards China http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89871 ). I don’t think there will be a war, but it’s interesting to see India’s new strategic direction, and if the news about the war game will be confirmed.

Posted by: andrew | Mar 31 2009 13:35 utc | 8

DavidS, some yuppies build expensive mansions in the wild and then abandon them. So what?
I´m sorry but I wasn´t impressed by the video. The moderator was a breathless pain, the whole thing was too long (I watched both parts) and the interviewed ´experts´ tried too hard to inject interest in a documentary that was neither comic nor thrilling. JMHO.

Posted by: Parviz | Mar 31 2009 13:51 utc | 9

Paviz,
You’re a harsh film critic 🙂 I guess our sense of ironic humor is pretty different. Or maybe you didn’t get that the movie was suppose to be ironic? Or maybe I’m just a country twit who is too easily appalled by 20,000 sq ft of space that sits empty 710 days out of every two years (730 days).
Empty resort towns are nothing new. It’s the scale of these homes that causes me to ask, “why?”
Why does a person need thousands of square feet of home that is used 10 days a year? Watching one of these massive “cabins” being built is crazy, and the construction causes more problems then the money generated from the work. What really gets me is that one year a place is built, the next it’s remodeled, the next, tore down and another architect’s fantasy is built in it’s place.
This is a nightmare to live around, and is so wasteful that I can hardly believe such things are done.
As I said I’m just a hick, happy to have a yard and a roof I can afford to rent; I suppose I’m not cultured enough to understand these creeps and their strange needs.
And is likely why I found the short spoof funny.

Posted by: DavidS | Mar 31 2009 15:36 utc | 10

Very interested in the Navy trying to “tackle” gangs.
It is a topic I brought up to an Admiral who was working with Homeland Security. I also talk about it with a new-hire in the local police department.
I see many correlations between suppressing (in a good way) gang activities. Though their public motivations may be different, they share many of the same operational details as well as motivations.
I wonder if once we recognize such as normal results of discontinuous parts of our society, we will be able to successfully remove their reasons to exist.

Posted by: Intelvet | Mar 31 2009 15:57 utc | 11

DavidS: NOOOOOOOOW I get it …. It was a spoof. Duh.
My point was that it was neither funny as a spoof nor extraordinary enough to warrant a special documentary. It should have been a mere footnote to the capitalist ethos. Conspicuous consumption is a sorry feature of Capitalism, and there are many much bigger and more atrocious examples than the abandoned mansions in the feature …….. literally thousands of cancelled yachts and private jets, numerous Arab egos destroyed by the cancellation of two $ 100-billion-plus U.A.E. building projects, the creation of a mini-ski resort in the 60 c.+ Dubai desert, etc.,. etc.,.

Posted by: Parviz | Mar 31 2009 16:33 utc | 12

Eric Margolis states some good points:

[…] The `New York Times’ in a front-page story last week that was clearly orchestrated by the Obama administration charged that Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), has been secretly aiding Taliban and its allies in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 2003, the `NY Times’ severely damage its once stellar reputation by serving as a primary conduit for fake war propaganda put out by the Bush administration over Iraq. The `Times’ has been beating the war drums for more US military operations against Pakistan.
Even so, these latest angry charges being hurled by Washington at Pakistan’s spy agency ring true. Having covered ISI for almost 25 years, and been briefed by many of its director generals, I would be very surprised if ISI was not quietly working with Taliban and other Afghan resistance movements.
Protecting Pakistan’s interests, not those of the United States, is ISI’s main job.
According to Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Washington threatened war against Pakistan after 9/11 if it did not fully cooperate in the US invasion of Afghanistan. Pakistan’s bases and ports were and remain essential for the US occupation of Afghanistan.
Pakistan was forced at gunpoint to accept US demands though most of its people supported Taliban as nationalist, anti-Communist freedom fighters and opposed the US invasion. Taliban, mostly composed of Pashtun tribesmen, had been nurtured and armed by Pakistan.
[…] Pakistan has always considered Afghanistan it `strategic hinterland’ and natural sphere of influence. The 30-million strong Pashtun people straddle the artificial Pak-Afghan border, known as the Durand Line, drawn by Imperial Britain as part of its divide and rule strategy.
Pakistan supports the Afghan Pashtun, who have been excluded from power in US-occupied Afghanistan. But Pakistan also fears secessionist tendencies among its own Pashtun. The specter of an independent Pashtun state – `Pashtunistan’ – uniting the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan has long been one of Islamabad’s worst nightmares.
Pakistanis are outraged by US bombing attacks against their own rebellious Pashtun tribes in the frontier agencies. Most also strongly oppose Washington’s `renting’ 130,000 Pakistani troops and aircraft to attack pro-Taliban Pashtun tribesmen. A majority believe the increasingly unpopular and isolated government of President Asif Zardari serves the interests of the US rather than Pakistan.
Pakistan is bankrupt and now lives on American handouts.
Its last two governments have been forced to do Washington’s bidding though most Pakistanis are opposed to such policies.
The US has ignored intensifying efforts by India, Iran, and Russia to expand their influence in Afghanistan. India, in particular, is arming and supplying Afghan foes of Pakistan.
Washington sees Pakistan only as a way of advancing its own interests in Afghanistan, not as a loyal old ally. Obedience, not cooperation, is being demanded of Islamabad.
President Barack Obama announced that more US troops and civilian officials will go to Afghanistan, and more billions will be spent sustaining a war against the largely Pashtun national resistance in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
None of this will benefit Pakistan. In fact America’s deepening involvement in `Afpak’ brings the threat of growing instability and violence, even the de facto break-up of Pakistan as the US tried to splinter fragile Pakistan just as it did Iraq.
It is ISI’s job to deal with these dangers, to keep in close touch with Pashtun on both sides of the border, and to counter-act the machinations of other foreign powers in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal belt.
Many Pakistanis also know that one day the US and its allies will quit Afghanistan, leaving a bloody mess behind them. Pakistan’s ISI will have to pick up the pieces and deal with the ensuing chaos. Pakistan’s strategic and political interests are quite different from those of Washington. But few in Washington seem to care in the least. […]

Posted by: andrew | Mar 31 2009 16:58 utc | 13

Hi Parviz, your arguments about the rapprochement US -Iran are very interesting, but I’d want to know how you think the Zio lobby element will work with that. Will the rapprochement mean that US will dump Israel for Iran? (almost impossible IMHO. Or that Iran will cool down the support to the anti-zio resistance? Something in between? Sorry if I´m asking thing already addressed, but I don’t have all the time I´d like for fly around the bar.

Posted by: C.A. | Mar 31 2009 17:08 utc | 14

DavidS,,
I have you know that I enjoyed watching the spoof on Telluride. I liked the way it was presented within the context of other civilizations throughout history that have gone belly up due to a mixture of greed and stupidity.

Posted by: Cynthia | Mar 31 2009 18:01 utc | 15

C.A., the U.S. won´t ´dump´ Israel but force it to adopt a more realistic policy that would serve the dual purpose of both reducing regional tension and guaranteeing its own long term security.
Some will disagree with this statement, but I sincerely believe the Zionists are on the retreat and that Obama is indeed bringing about ´change´. The speed and scope of the changes will depend on too many variables to permit any degree of confidence regarding the timeline, but my best guess is that it will occur sooner rather than later for reasons of U.S. mid-term elections, i.e., the policy has to be implemented immediately after the Iranian June 12th election or not at all. We are already witnessing the substantial preparatory work that is proceeding at lightening speed (= within just 2 months of Obama´s election):
Blowback against Israel re Gaza;
NATO meeting with Iran 2 weeks ago;
Very positive Op-Eds on Iran in mainstream U.S. publications;
A spate of positive news features on Iran by both the BBC and CNN;
Negative media reports on erstwhile ´friends´ Saudi Arabia and Pakistan;
Hillary Clinton´s acknowledgement of Iran´s positive role in Afghanistan;
The need for the U.S. to extricate itself from Iraq and Afghanistan;
and many other signs. Israel has to shape up or ship out.

Posted by: Parviz | Mar 31 2009 19:00 utc | 16

parvis
to paraphrase your citation of stevie wonder – just because you can read the mass media does not mean you have to believe them. i can note a whole series of events, not the least the hardening of israeli politics, complete compliance by the west – & implicit & ongoing menaces to iran to ‘see’ the very contrary of what you are ‘seeing’

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Mar 31 2009 19:36 utc | 17

i think israel is being ‘seen’ differently – gaza was its soweto moment – the opinion has turned irrevocably & implacably against her. but i’d like to remind you that after soweto apartheid south africa chose to live out the most brutal part of its history – it is clear to me that israel will follow the same doomed path. & it is essential to remember that nelson mandela & the anc were regarded as terrorists by the u s empire until he & his party were elected

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Mar 31 2009 19:43 utc | 18

Shipping all of Obama’s economic advisers to Israel would do wonders towards getting the US economy back into shape.

Posted by: Cynthia | Mar 31 2009 19:46 utc | 19

r´giap, the hardening of Israeli politics is counter-trend. It´s a desperate Last Hurrah by the Zionists, a bit like Hitler imagining victory even as the Red Army approached Berlin.

Posted by: Parviz | Mar 31 2009 19:52 utc | 20

This interview of Galloway is interesting:
Tthe young uncaring, smart, TV hack just does his job, waiting to get off and do his thing, excruciatingly typical, a model, really, he knows everything, and lobbies the obligatory questions;
Galloway takes potshots at Le Pen, indulging in the same thought police process as he is subject to;
On Palestine, Galloway is excellent as usual
the interviewer switches to “you represent Muslims” and Galloway takes him up on it….adopts the same terms…
video, the Hour

Posted by: Tangerine | Mar 31 2009 20:02 utc | 21

p
i don’t know if you remember the years after soweto but they were years of so much blood & brutality, almost inconceivable brutality, third forces, instrumentalising inkatha – zulus, the application of biological & chemical attacks on the anc indeed on all south africans, the intensity of targeted assasination both in s a & abroad
i wouldn’t be getting too hopeful too soon
the refusal of the idf to investigate itself – no surprise – but that this wholesale murder is passed over in silence in the west is not a good sign

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Mar 31 2009 20:04 utc | 22

r´giap, don´t you recognize the total self-contradiction between your posts 17 and 18? They could have been written by 2 different people!
While your first post suggests it´s going to be ´business as usual´, your 2nd post supports my view that time is not on Israel´s side and that the tide has turned irrevocably against the Apartheid state.

Posted by: Parviz | Mar 31 2009 20:06 utc | 23

no, they are saying the same thing – this is no time to be optimistic
the only hope i really do have is that because the crisis has revealed injustice itself to people in a very personal way – perhaps they might connect the dots about injustice elsewhere

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Mar 31 2009 20:28 utc | 24

More on the U.S. economy (this about NY)

Posted by: Rick | Mar 31 2009 22:53 utc | 25

China and Argentina in currency swap

China, which is pushing to end the dominance of the dollar as a worldwide reserve, has agreed a Rmb70bn currency swap with Argentina that will allow it to receive renminbi instead of dollars for its exports to the Latin American country.
. . .
Beijing has signed Rmb650bn ($95bn, €72bn, £67bn) of deals since December with Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Belarus, Indonesia and, now, Argentina in an attempt to unblock trade financing that has been severely curtailed by the crisis.

Posted by: Arcturus | Apr 1 2009 1:49 utc | 26

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