Open Thread 2015-13
News & views ...
Posted by b on March 10, 2015 at 18:44 UTC | Permalink
next page »Telesur: “How is Venezuela a threat to the United States? Thousands of kilometers away, without strategic weapons and without the resources … to conspire against the U.S. constitutional order; the (White House) declaration has little credibility,” read a statement published in newspaper Granma.
Certainly human rights are not an issue in Mexico: In Mexico, torture and ill-treatment in the time following arrest and prior to being put at the disposition of justice [i.e., presented to Public Ministry, responsible for investigating and prosecuting crime] are ''widespread'', and they take place in a context of impunity, concluded the report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan E. Méndez.
...And under no circumstances is Colombia any kind of threat to US security: The brother of a former President of Colombia’s Supreme Court has been arrested after the United States had linked him to drug trafficking, local media reported on Thursday.
Posted by: Maracatu | Mar 10 2015 19:56 utc | 2
@maracato,
but you don't understand! everything has to be viewed as a threat to the exceptional nation, or else all the snooping, nsa, cia bullshite that is oozing out of the nation into every corner of the planet wouldn't be sustainable! everything has to be seen as a threat.. the fact they are responsible for everything including al qaeda, isis and you name it, IS BESIDE THE POINT!
Posted by: james | Mar 10 2015 20:23 utc | 3
well b, you read my mind, i really needed an open thread for that one
enjoy (you and your guests), there are not too many reasons to laugh in our times
http://www.droneh.it/
Posted by: Mina | Mar 10 2015 20:47 utc | 4
Venezuela committed two unforgivable sins. First, it refused to allow itself to be ruthlessly plundered by the psychopaths who control most of the world. Second, it had the unmitigated gall to thwart the psychopaths attempt to "help" Venezuela correct sin #1. I'm afraid Venezuela can look forward to more coup attempts, sanctions, financial warfare and false flags designed to stir up trouble with her neighbors (Columbia?). How long will it be before Maduro is labeled the "Hitler of South America"?
Posted by: Scott | Mar 10 2015 20:59 utc | 5
Interesting debate on Iran, the US, and Israel:
http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/238281-bibi-iran-war-peace/
Posted by: Ussama | Mar 10 2015 21:11 utc | 6
ISIS in Venezuela? That should do it. Don't they always seem to pop up in countries that disobey?There's the excuse for boots on the ground. It will also prevent Russian expansion. After all...Crimea today...Caracas tomorrow. That darn Putin...he's clever.
Posted by: Scott | Mar 10 2015 21:57 utc | 7
@17
Perhaps Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland are more likely to form the wedge that cleaves America from its European Unit than the putative European Army?
The European Union’s military: yet another sign of impotence
This latest initiative, far from showing any kind of European awakening, is yet another proof of the utter lack of statesmanship on the part of the Eurocretins in power in Brussels and the EU capitals. A far more convincing display of power and dignity would be to dare to simply say “no” to something demanded by Uncle Sam.But that, alas, ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.
It seems that Mike Whitney's observation of the first shoe, second shoe drop of the Der Spiegel article on Breedlove and then the announcement of the European Army idea is right on. It's politics via the press.
Will German hegemony continue to extend over Europe? Or will Southern Europe elect to/be forced by German bankers to join with the BRICS? Will the German bankers' intransigence deal the death knell to the Euro and the Eurozone, to projected German hegemony ... and then to the 'real' hegemony of the US dollar?
@Maracatu@1
You made a good point and a very evident contrast between Venezuela and the Mexican-Colombian combo. The best candidates for "US National Security Threat" from those three countries would be Mexico and Colombia. The US-Mexican border, about 1,954 mi (3,145 km), is a lawless, drug cartel-dominated land on the Mexican side. All main Mexican drug cartels have cut themselves a chunk of the border, and dug countless high-tech tunnels with light, A/C and train tracks, to smuggle drugs by the tons into the US market. The Mexican "war on drugs" is a charade mainly for US consumption, one the Mexican people or other nations with a modicum of intelligence don't swallow anymore. The arrest of drug capos, e.g. the heads of the Sinaloa Cartel, the Michoacán Family cartel, and more recently the Zetas cartel, do not in any way, shape or form, alter the functioning of their respective criminal enterprises. Same happened in Colombia, where the elimination of powerful drug capos, e.g. Pablo Escobar et al, only contributed to the birth of more sophisticated, more dangerous criminals, without stopping the flow of drugs heading into the four directions. Mexican drug traffickers have attacked and killed law enforcement officers in US territory, as well as US officers and citizens on both sides of the border. Besides the drug trafficking, Mexican cartels control all kind of human trafficking, illegal immigrants, prostitution, and enslavement of thousands of people who simply “disappear” to be used as slave labor in the poppy and marijuana fields, or the synthetic drug factories (methamphetamines, ecstasy, etc.), almost in plain view of the US authorities, right across the border. A porous, highly trafficked border on inhospitable deserts and mountains, this is the ideal ground for terrorists of any denomination to create a base in order to plan/execute an attack against the US. There are weapons a-plenty coming from the US, even heavy weapons, in exchange for drugs or bought by the billionaire Mexican cartels, plenty of wild territory where to train an army, as the cartels have done with theirs, and endless amount of Mexican officers that can be bought for a pittance. But of course, business is business, and drug dollars have been helping the limping US economy, the money laundering country of choice by all drug cartels in Latin America, and that makes Mexico and Colombia friends of the US, as long as they are governed by despots playing at the tune of the “democracy” electoral delusion promoted by the US.
The Mexican-Colombian combo (that’s not a tropical music group), is a National Security Threat not only for the US, but to the world at large, as both countries function mainly on drug money-dominated economies, and their tentacles extend to the rest of LA, Africa, Europe, ME , the Pacific and the Far East. It is not only ironic, but also indicative of the direction the Obama administration is taking re: Venezuela, that the US will declare it a public enemy. IMHO, it is the preparation stage for a further, decisive push –and yet another putsch, against a sovereign nation. All the attempts for a coup d’état or a color/themed revolution have failed, time for another option. As per boring, childish, war criminal Obama and his neo-con partners in crime, “all options ARE ALWAYS on the table,” and Venezuela has been resisting the empire for too long, time to cut its wings. It is only fitting the new attack on Venezuela comes at a moment of weakness for its economy, prime time for a potential exploitation of genuine and NED/AID/CIA created discontent among Venezuelans. We can only expect more bad news re: Venezuela in the coming months, a new dastardly attempt by the US to plunder Venezuelan resources. Thanks for a well thought-out analogy.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Mar 10 2015 23:02 utc | 11
I just read Jen Psaki will become the White House Director of Communications effective April 1st. I nominate this move as the best Aprils Fool joke of all time. Sorry...I'm laughing too hard to type any more.
Posted by: Scott | Mar 10 2015 23:53 utc | 12
Thanks @Lone Wolf10 for a much more comprehensive description than my "snapshot" link about Mexico. While mine highlighted the human rights situation, we must keep in mind that widespread corruption is an important factor (probably the most important) behind that as well as many other issues in the USA's junior NAFTA "partner". As Mexican blogger Animal Político states:
If we compare Mexico with the rest of the world on a series of regulatory measures, rule of law, years of democracy, and governmental efficacy, among others, our level of corruption is higher than expected given the laws we have, but expected given our dysfunctional democracy.
...And you (and others above) are spot on about Venezuela, as John Pilger has acknowledged:
It's important to understand that Washington is ruled by true extremists, once known inside the Beltway as 'the crazies'. This has been true since before 9/11. A few are outright fascists. Asserting US dominance is their undisguised game and, as the events in Ukraine demonstrate, they are prepared to risk a nuclear war with Russia. These people should be the common enemy of all sane human beings. In Venezuela, they want a coup so that they can roll-back some of the world's most important social reforms - such as in Bolivia and Ecuador. They've already crushed the hopes of ordinary people in Honduras. The current conspiracy between the US and Saudi Arabia to lower the price of oil is meant to achieve something more spectacular and tragic in Venezuela, and Russia.
Posted by: Maracatu | Mar 11 2015 0:02 utc | 13
@8 I don't know how serious this is, but it's an announcement Berlin no longer views NATO as a defensive alliance. If Merkel is there, Europe less the UK and the most virulent anti-Russian former bloc states can't even far behind. Marie Le Pen is openly contemptuous of NATO. Italy's fm has had productive talks with Putin/Larvov. Southern Europe is what it is. The U.S. is trying to undermine French defense industries.
Posted by: NotTimothyGeithner | Mar 11 2015 0:33 utc | 14
M@12
I agree with most of what you write here but if the Saudis have an agenda following the oil price correction it is to destroy the US Tight Oil production better known as fracking. This US overproduction is what produced the two million barrels of excess oil on the world market.
Both Russia and Venezuela need to diversify their economies away from the almost total dependence on oil rents which this correction may force them to do, I hope they can accomplish this transition without catastrophe.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 11 2015 1:05 utc | 15
The perils of dependence on commodities are well known. Latin America in particular has had a difficult time trying to overcome its dependence on commodities. Even Chile, which is often upheld as an example to follow by many "advanced" countries, is still dependent on copper.
However, it is often forgotten that there is political resistance to such economic diversification from today's industrial countries, who are the architects of the ideological-economic "infrastructure" that still governs the world. The farce of "free-trade" was long ago unmasked by economists such as Georg Friedrich List:
Any nation which by means of protective duties and restrictions on navigation has raised her manufacturing power and her navigation to such a degree of development that no other nation can sustain free competition with her, can do nothing wiser than to throw away these ladders of her greatness, to preach to other nations the benefits of free trade, and to declare in penitent tones that she has hitherto wandered in the paths of error, and has now for the first time succeeded in discovering the truth.
Posted by: Maracatu | Mar 11 2015 2:12 utc | 16
Anybody got the lowdown on the Lugovoy Affair, ie Putin awarding the supposed poisoner of Litvinenko? I'm only finding the self-righteous blather of the Libtards in the digital ether.
Posted by: ruralito | Mar 11 2015 2:51 utc | 17
US Preparing for Military Aggression on Venezuela
History shows that when the U.S. denounces a country, it is often a pretext for intervention and regime change.
By Atilio Borón
March 10, 2015 "ICH" - "Telesur" - Barack Obama, an ornamental figure in the White House, who was not able to impede a lunatic like Benjamin Netanyahu from addressing both houses of Congress to sabotage the talks with Iran on the country’s nuclear program, has received a strict order from the “military-industrial-financial” complex: he must create the conditions to justify a military aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The presidential order issued hours ago, and broadcast by the White House press office, establishes that the country of Bolivar and Chavez is an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” and declares a “national emergency” to deal with that threat.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41187.htm
Posted by: okie farmer | Mar 11 2015 4:15 utc | 18
Bush White House’s Repeated Torture Denials Led CIA Torturers to Seek Repeated Reassurances
Obomber, et, al, should be on the dock too...
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 11 2015 4:27 utc | 19
03/10/2015-19:59
“The Ukrainian forces are increasingly digging in and augmenting personnel. If they have indeed pulled off something (the official data that the Ukrainian forces fulfill the Minsk agreements is still unavailable), returning is a matter of one and half or two hours.
The impression is that new offensive may start tomorrow or day after tomorrow”
03/09/2015-09:51
The authorized representative of Lugansk Republic in Minsk negotiations, Vladislav Deynego, commented on the announcement by the deputy Minister of the foreign affairs of Ukraine, who declared that the Kiyev leadership understands the need to “stitch” Ukraine and “would readily facilitate and take into account the opinion of local population”, but “what does not seem to be fair is to plunk Russian citizens or compradors and make them leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk”.
According to Deynego “aforementioned excuse of the official Kiyev merely convinces of the vehement denial to take the path of peaceful resolution of the confrontation in Donbass. All their activities of dragging time, unwillingness to accept obvious, awkward attempts to elude a constructive dialog serve one purpose – to depart from the commitments assumed by Ukraine during Minsk negotiation on February 11-12, 2015”.
Posted by: Fete | Mar 11 2015 4:30 utc | 20
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/10/us-mideast-crisis-israeli-idUSKBN0M627I20150310
Islamic State video shows killing of teen accused as Israeli spy
(Reuters) - A video posted online by Islamic State militants on Tuesday showed a boy fatally shooting Muhammad Musallam, an Israeli Arab accused by the group of having signed up as a jihadi to spy for Israel's intelligence service.
The video, published by the group's Furqan media outlet, showed Musallam, 19, sitting in a room wearing an orange jumpsuit, talking about how he had been recruited and trained by Mossad. He said his father and elder brother had encouraged him.
Posted by: okie farmer | Mar 11 2015 4:39 utc | 21
Russia suspends joint consultations on Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
News | 11.03.2015 |
TASS - Russia has decided to suspend its participation in meetings of the joint consultative group on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) from March 11, 2015, Anton Mazur, the head of the Russian delegation to Vienna talks on military security and arms control, said on Tuesday.
"For years, the Russian side has been doing its best to maintain viability of the regime of control over conventional arms, it initiated talks on adapting the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, it ratified the agreement on Adapted CFE Treaty," he said. "Regrettably, NATO countries have preferred to dodge CFE provisions by means of the alliance’s expansion and use any pretexts to prevent the Agreement on Adapted CFE Treaty from coming into effect. This course pursued despite our repeated warning about its harmful impacts on the regime of control over conventional weapons led to the unavoidable result - Russia’s suspending the CFE Treaty in 2007."
"Back then, the Russian side, taking into due account appeals from a number of the CFE Treaty signatories, decided to continue its participation in the work of the joint consultative group by way of exception," the Russian diplomat noted. "Taking this decision, we hoped that this platform would be used to work out a new regime of control over conventional arms."
Posted by: okie farmer | Mar 11 2015 4:48 utc | 22
On 6 March, 2015 ...
EU chief speaks out against arms supplies for Kiev
RIGA, Latvia — The European Union's foreign policy chief on Friday came out against a bipartisan call in the United States to provide lethal, defensive weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russian-backed separatists.House Speaker John Boehner and a group of top Democrats and Republicans wrote to President Obama calling for deliveries but so far have found few backers in the 28-nation EU.
Federica Mogherini said Friday that "the European Union is doing enough" and insisted that the implementation of the peace deal brokered in Minsk last month "is the way to go forward."
Four days later ...
US Unloads Arms Enhancing Defense of Baltic States
The US military has begun unloading around 400 armored vehicles in Latvia to support the next rotation of troops in the Baltic region.The delivery comes amid the heightened tension between NATO and Russia over the situation in Ukraine.
The vehicles being delivered in Riga include M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
The vehicles are going to be sent to NATO forward positions in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
US creating false intelligence on Russia: Analyst
“One thing we clearly see from this is that the US is doing everything possible to break the Minsk truce agreement,” said Flores, who is the director and an analyst at Center for Syncretic Studies.On February 12, leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France agreed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk to stop the fighting in east Ukraine and to start the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the frontlines.
“The US is quite upset that European leaders broke ranks with NATO and the US over this,” Flores stated, adding “it is not forecasted that the US will be able to undo this agreement immediately at least not very easily.”
He said the US is trying to achieve two goals by sending arms to the region. “We can see that these armament shipments are really conforming to two plans.”
“One is to inspire arms sales and arms shipment” in the area to benefit US armaments industries, he said, adding “the second piece of this is to scare Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish leaders into thinking that there is something happening that is not. They’re creating false intelligence reports which indicate that a Russian increase in military actions are imminent and they’re not.”
Fuck the EU ... and NATO, too! The USA prepares WWIII in Europe, unilaterally.
I'm going to make a statement that I think has not been made sufficiently before, I'm going to say in the post-coldwar period that the US has basically sent people to govern Eastern European nations including former Soviet republics in a manner not dissimilar to what the Ottoman empire did under the Janissary system [22], where they basically took people from the conquered country - or descendants thereof - brought them back to the metropolis, indoctrinated them - in the religion, in the past - in political ideology currently, sent them back to govern on behalf of the metropolis.Currently, the president of Estonia, who is arguably the most belligerent, calling for everything short of war against Russia, is a man named Toomas Gulmas [sic] [23], was raised in the United States, worked for Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, was safe at the State Department at the very least.
Five years ago his colleague in Lithuania was Valdas Adamkus [24], who left with his family, left Lithuania at the end of World War II with the Nazi Wehrmacht, lived in Nazi Germany until the end of the war. Came to United States, also worked for the federal government, he was Nixon's environmental protection agency chief, he lived in Chicago for decades, when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 he went back and became president of Lithunia as Gulmas [sic] became president of Estonia.
Five years ago the president of the third Baltic state, Latvia, was a woman who was born in Morocco, if I am not mistaken [25] and raised in Canada where she worked for the federal government.
So, we see that the wife - and I would argue the control agent - for Viktor Yushchenko is an American from Chicago; the president, until recently, the president of Lithuania was from Chicago; the president of Estonia to this day is an American.
And this goes all the way down the line. So when we hear Victoria Nuland state of the three major - of the triumvirate of opposition figures - who will occupy which posiion, this should not surprise us. This is exactly what the US has done for the last 23 years in Eastern Europe.
WWI, WWII ... WWIII? You'd think the Europeans might have noticed by now just who it is that always loses and who it is that always wins when 'they' have a war in Europe.
If they have realized what's going on ... they need to blow the whistle a LOT more forcefully than they've done so far.
Every day in every way the USA is just that much closer to critical mass.
Posted by: jfl | Mar 11 2015 6:06 utc | 23
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-31825059
Blurred Lines 'copied Marvin Gaye'
A jury in the US rules that the writers of Blurred Lines - one of the best selling singles of all time - copied a Marvin Gaye track from 1977.
Posted by: okie farmer | Mar 11 2015 6:15 utc | 24
@14
"Both Russia and Venezuela need to diversify their economies away from the almost total dependence on oil rents which this correction may force them to do, I hope they can accomplish this transition without catastrophe."
Russia has a pretty bad record of transitioning without catastrophe...
Posted by: ralphieboy | Mar 11 2015 9:09 utc | 26
2
I've noticed as Peak Life passes me by that the Buddhist mantra of 'No Duality' is just, well, wrong. More factually, there is ALWAYS Duality, and what one side marches you up the hill and back down again for, is just as equivalent/worth-considering/mirror-reflection as what the other side marches you up and down the hill again over.
Then it becomes kind of a holy terror to take ANY position, realizing that the counter-position is JUST as valid, and that ONLY by both sides agreeing that both positions are valid, can there be an outcome, ...and then you have to be able to HOLD DUAL POSITIONS.
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. It's the other white meat!
The Israelis in US State installed a dual-citizen Israeli Junta Leader in Kiev, who brought on a dual-citizen Israeli Cabinet and immediately looted all the gold and cash in the Ukraine Treasury, then flew it off to the dual-citizen Israeli New York banking cartels, in an eerily and deeply foreboding parallel to how proto-Israelis looted Tsar Nikolas' vaults of gold and jewels, then murdered him and his entire family in 1917, before the pogroms began in the Soviet Union that made (WWII) Holocaust™ look like a cheap marketing stunt.
And tragically, those pogroms included Holodomor, the Ukraine Holocaust by the Soviets! So you could counter that the dual-citizen Israeli Junta Cartel is really just *SAFE KEEPING* the gold and cash for the People of Ukraine, and protecting them against another Holodomor! That's a valid argument or position. Russia today remains an Emperor Caligula of oligarchs and deep government National Security State, not any different than the US, except perhaps more ruthlessly efficient, compared to the puerile feckless ineptness of the US CIA:State and NeoLiberal Mother America. Of course, you say, there would never be another Holodomor. There are Holodomor's around the world every day now. You can't possibly be that naive.
So 'bringing it back home', Venezuela is within the sphere of USA influence, and Monroe Doctrine. The USA has a strong oil import trade from Venezuela, or did, until the Fracking Revolution, and therefore a strong interest in maintaining an orderly 'democracy'. But have you seen what the post-Chavez Venezuela looks like? Do you read their papers in G-Spanish? They have virtually free gasoline. Cab drivers and truck drivers fill up and then drive to Colombia to sell it on the black market. There's no transportation in Caracas, they're all running moonshine. The government is openly engaged in money laundering the US oil$s, and that's totally destabilizing their retail economy. They have horrific inflation, hordeing is rampant, and their bolivar has collapsed.
Caracas is right on the same bleeding threshold of Chaos as Kiev is.
That has significant impact on the USA, and South America, and Central America if Venezuela reaches Chaos Point. Is the CIA;State pulling the strings and arming and funding some South American version of Al Nusra and ISIS? Of course they are! But mercenary guerrilla fighters and agents provocateur doesn't explain the looming collapse of Venezuela's economy.
We are just about filled up on the US oil reserves. Then they'll pull out of mothballs every super-large jumbo tanker and fill them up too, and park them offshore of Houston. Yet STILL Venezuela will keep pumping and selling oil, even if it gets to $10 a barrel, pushing the front end on the oil storage contango ever down. That will collapse the US Frackers, who are uniformly speculative wild-catting to juniors and hedgers maybe 5x or 50x who knows the value of their widely-dispersed and near-zero resale value capital investment.
There is a pyramid of fracking finance interest that has to be paid every month, or that fracking ponzi will collapse. Your 401K might be invested in that! The US Congress just gave Banksters permission to invest your PASSBOOK SAVINGS in junk bonds and equity junior plays. You might lose your 401k AND your passbook savings in this Oil Race to the Bottom.
Venezuela may implode long before then, then MILLIONS of Venezuelans will go on the move, just like MILLIONS of Ukrainians and MILLIONS of Greeks are about to go on the move, as the clock ticks down on the last tank farm and the last super-jumbo being filled to the top, and Draghi putting a $T in hot EU's fleeing into US$'s. That Chaos will CRUSH your 401k.
We're seeing a total uncoupling of the US$-v-WTI so-called 'petrodollar', and remember, the equity markets are BUILT on these fool indexes, and your State and Local pension funds are invested in this fool index futures and ETFs. If Venezuela implodes as Ukraine implodes as Greece implodes, as the 'petrodollar' derivative hedges implode, within a few weeks, we could all be staring at black PC screens, because They can't let us see the massive human holocaust, unprecedented in human history, in the fallout on Main Street and Wall Street.
There will be a holiday, then your bank will be quietly liquidated, and under the new US banking laws, as a depositor you are now an 'investor', not a creditor, so you go to the very end of the line, 1c on the $1 if you're lucky, after a long, protracted class action lawsuit. I went through that with the S&L Bonds scam, one of many times I lost everything.
So yes, Venezuela (and Ukraine and Greece and Draghi and Lagarde and Yellen) are most definitely THREATS to USA hegemony and stability.
Proving .: that there IS Duality, and that BOTH POSITIONS are equally valid, if we're going to find the 'Middle Way', as much as I choke to use that butchered NeoLiberal phrase, which they looted from Buddhism, which is my intent in using it.
Consider ALL sides. Be the ALL-seeing eye. Then keep your head down, and your savings cash.
Posted by: NoReply | Mar 11 2015 9:13 utc | 27
17
Wait! There's more!! Obama is blocking all property and access to property of these folks:
>to be a current or former leader of an entity that has, or whose members have, engaged in any activity described in the order or of an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order;
>to be a current or former official of the Government of Venezuela;
>to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of:
>a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order; or
>an activity described in the order; or
>to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order.
That hostile takeover is an economic war crime under the Nuremberg Tribunals, and the resulting directly-caused-by-DNERV mega-deaths a crime against humanity under the NT.
Have a nice day! DJIA will shed 500 points tomorrow but you'll see oil start to recover, because $45 a bbl was the magic 'Yellow Cake' marker for global oil supply destruction.
Some rob you with a hellfire missile, and some rob you with a fountain pen. Wanna bet all the Venezuelan government officials property (cash and stock assets and bullion) are held by the same dual-citizen Israeli Wall Street cartel whose proto-Israeli forebears looted teh Tsar of his gold and jewels, then murdered his entire family in 1917.
The Wurm Turns.
Posted by: NoReply | Mar 11 2015 10:16 utc | 28
The English language version of Al-Akhbar has closed.
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Mar 11 2015 12:17 utc | 29
Interesting observation at counterpunch, Sea-Change in Venezuela ... why now?
Because Saudi A and the Frackers have served notice that the price of oil is going back up, and with it the US' chances of crushing Venezuela, Russia, and Iran ...
The 'national security' of the USA is identical with the security of General Motors ... whoops, wrong century ... is identical with the security of Big Weapons, of Big Oil, and of the financial Whiz Kids of Wall Street.
Hold on Maduro, hold on Putin, hold on Rouhani ... the end of your longtime persecutors is near!
Posted by: jfl | Mar 11 2015 12:28 utc | 30
jfl no. 21
WWI, WWII ... WWIII? You'd think the Europeans might have noticed by now just who it is that always loses and who it is that always wins when 'they' have a war in Europe.
If by "they" you are referring to the US, I think it was Europe that destroyed itself in both WWI and WWII. Europe had a war in Europe.
Posted by: sleepy | Mar 11 2015 13:51 utc | 31
@Maracatu@12
Thanks for your kind words. And thanks to Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge for this piece.
Oil Producers Could See "Regime Change": Bloomberg
Bloomberg suggests that the destabilization of already fragile political and economic situations could lead, in short order, to “regime change” across oil producers:
The large petrostates are varying degrees away from the Weberian ideal of the rule of law. That could spell trouble. Low oil prices threaten the ability of these inefficient, sometimes corrupt states to service their debts and may curtail the government spending that keeps the masses content. This may in turn ignite demands for a fairer distribution of these dwindling oil proceeds and, possibly, regime change.
Well, Bloomberg used the “RC” words. Usually, if the "economic hit man" fail and the CIA fail, the last option is military intervention, a-la Pinochet if the US can corrupt the native military, or a-la Noriega, if the native military is part and parcel of the opposition to the US. Jfl@28 just posted a link to a very informative Counterpunch article, though I disagree with the article’s conclusion, socialism all the way, which at this very point in time seems to me suicidal. The analysis, however, is sound and solid, highly recommended reading. Thanks, jfl.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Mar 11 2015 14:28 utc | 32
@Maracatu@12
Thanks for your kind words. And thanks to Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge for this piece.
Oil Producers Could See "Regime Change": Bloomberg
Bloomberg suggests that the destabilization of already fragile political and economic situations could lead, in short order, to “regime change” across oil producers:
The large petrostates are varying degrees away from the Weberian ideal of the rule of law. That could spell trouble. Low oil prices threaten the ability of these inefficient, sometimes corrupt states to service their debts and may curtail the government spending that keeps the masses content. This may in turn ignite demands for a fairer distribution of these dwindling oil proceeds and, possibly, regime change.
Well, Bloomberg used the “RC” words. Usually, if the "economic hit men" fail and the CIA fail, the last option is military intervention, a-la Pinochet if the US can corrupt the native military, or a-la Noriega, if the native military is part and parcel of the opposition to the US. Jfl@28 just posted a link to a very informative Counterpunch article, though I disagree with the article’s conclusion, socialism all the way, which at this very point in time seems to me suicidal. The analysis, however, is sound and to the point, highly recommended reading. Thanks, jfl.
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Mar 11 2015 14:32 utc | 33
@19
"Islamic State video shows killing of teen accused as Israeli spy"
Wonder if this ISIS killing of a Mossad spy is as genuine as some of their choice 'beheadings'. Especially in light of the three US-Israeli dual-citizen advisors to ISIS captured a couple of days ago by Iranian-led Iraqi forces in northern Iraq. There's a media blackout on that in the Western press, if you don't count the CIA's David Booth who has written about it in his drag persona of Sorcha Faal. Sputnik News has covered it, at sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150307/1019201301.html
Interesting Pravda piece. Israleis and Zionists played key role in 911 attacks ...
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/10-03-2015/130004-israelis_zionists_september_eleven_attacks-0/
Posted by: Alberto | Mar 11 2015 15:30 utc | 35
@ 28: Thanks for the link. We can all wait and see if Gilbert's advice is heeded.
From his article:
" The rhythm of this drummer is marked by the masses’ needs, the programmed satisfaction of which (via solid steps toward socialism) is the surest protection Maduro’s government can have when faced with imperialism.
I think we all know that the Empire cannot let this happen. For the elites, the masses' needs are NOT a consideration.
Posted by: ben | Mar 11 2015 15:33 utc | 36
MH370. A year on, no debris found. Some months ago, my thought was this plane is missing. Missing can equal stolen, but who would steal a plane full of passengers? So, imho, it is missing because someone arranged for it to be missing. Only two scenarios seem plausible:
1) The pilot(s) spoofed it away, methods and reasons unknown. (Not for monetary gain.) Unlikely that hijackers did the same. -> Hijacks are usually accompanied by other actions, not merely a mystery void.
2) The plane (or debris, whatever) has been found, but that is being covered up. This would seem to imply some sort of rogue or tragic accident / event such as shot down / sabotaged by a power stronger than Malaysia, or a US ally, with the cover-up being either spontaneous or coerced, or both at once.
This article from WINGS, which I had not read at the time (nov. 2014) makes a credible (?) case for 1.
https://www.wingsmagazine.com/news/pondering-the-preposterous-11202
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 11 2015 15:35 utc | 37
"The chasm between reality and the U.S. political/media elite continues to widen with Official Washington’s actions toward Iran and Russia making “the world’s sole remaining superpower” look either like a Banana Republic (on Iran) or an Orwellian Dystopia (regarding Russia)."
Full article:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/03/11/official-washingtons-delusions-delusions
Posted by: ben | Mar 11 2015 15:39 utc | 38
Video from TRNN on Venezuela:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13403
Posted by: ben | Mar 11 2015 15:48 utc | 39
A@31
I thought that Pravda was a real news source until they printed this Louie Farrakhan nonsense.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 11 2015 15:54 utc | 40
@B
Mr.B, is the German military as weak as this article makes it out to be?
http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/09/4237
I know it is a small military but I thought it was well trained and equipped. Am I wrong on that?
Best regards
Posted by: Luca K | Mar 11 2015 16:35 utc | 41
this link from jfl at 21 (thx) on NATO/Russia:
http://jfmxl.sdf.org/RickRozoff/#janissary-system
gives a good summary and ample detail. Quote:
So what we are seeing is that the US is using NATO not only to subjugate the entire European continent, in a way that, frankly, Napolean Bonaparte or Adolph Hitler never dreamt of. That is that the entire European continent, excluding Russia, is under the thumb - under the heel - of a US dominated, aggressively-oriented, military block.
Some nit-picking could be done, but so what. Ex. in 2008 (NATO summit Bucharest) Germany and France strongly opposed entry of Ukraine into NATO - note it is still not a member, and probably will never be. (Is partly destroyed and is set for more.)
The Saker gives a chart of milit. spending of the various countries (was looking for one and then saw it), that is of course not the only vital point:
http://thesaker.is/the-european-unions-military-yet-another-sign-of-impotence/
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 11 2015 17:12 utc | 42
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 11, 2015 11:35:07 AM | 33
The article is shamelessly anti-Malaysia(Muslim?) and unconvincing - even to the author.
It's impossible for me to believe that the operators of the M-IC's global RF, radar and satellite snooping/ surveillance/ "Early Warning" systems don't know where MH370 is and are withholding vital information. The fact that eerily inept liar, Tony Abbott's Australia (US lapdog) is coordinating the search is almost a guarantee that it's a US-planned wild goose chase.
Both US and Israel HATE certain people in Malaysia.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 11 2015 17:40 utc | 43
Tikrit offensive advances more quickly than I projected, Islamic State apparently does not have enough mines to slow down advancing Iraqi forces on a consistent basis. If the offensive will continue along Tigris river to clear the Baiji area at a similar pace, with simultaneous pressure on other fronts like Anbar and Kirkuk, the siege of Mosul may start in late April.
Some commenters view the military events in Iraq as a kind of competition between efforts supported by US and Iran. My take is that it is not that simple, as Iraqi Kurds, the dreamed American allies (neocon dreams), are also quite dependent on Iran, and Iran has a unique ability of putting together fractious Shia factions and Iraqi military. If they use it properly, the extremist forces will be reduced to their previous car bombing etc. without any territorial control, and in time, that terrorism will be reduced further. Also, the balanced of forces in Syria should change drastically after the elimination of Islamic State in Iraq, and movement of some of Shia volunteers from Iraq to Syria.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 11 2015 17:48 utc | 44
Noirette @ 38: Thanks for the link. Pretty clear, who "owns" NATO, unless, money doesn't really matter in the decision making process.
Posted by: ben | Mar 11 2015 17:58 utc | 45
The Pravda article only reports (I assume accurately) what Farrakhan says about 9/11, not what it thinks.
Actually, Justin Raimondo's book The Terror Enigma: 9/11 and the Israeli Connection presents a lot of evidence for, at the least, Israeli foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 11 2015 18:22 utc | 46
@46
There is a bit of a gap between, playing a key role and possibly having some foreknowledge of a coming attack. The FBI and other US security agencies also had some evidence of a possible attack but failed to act.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 11 2015 18:39 utc | 47
Connecting the dots.....surrounding Russia one Baltic statelet at a time, one 'stan at a time...just look at a map of the Baltics or Central Asia, Russia's soft underbelly...
1)
“The war has been provoked to destroy the Russian World, to draw Europe into it, and to surround Russia with hostile countries.* Unleashing this world war, America is trying to deal with its own internal problems.”
– Sergei Glazyev, Advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin
(Thanks to jfl@9)
*Bold letters are mine
2)
Who's Isolated Now? Kazakhstan Authorities Announce Plans To De-Dollarize Economy
“Following the approval of the government, Kazakhstan's Central Bank has announced it plans to de-dollarize its economy by the end of 2016. The goal is to avoid the macroeconomic instability that the USD creates and to give priority to Tenge in trade agreements (banning price designations in foreign exchange). Coming just 2 weeks after the ratification of the $100 billion BRICS bank, and Russia's creation of a SWIFT-alternative, one wonders - as one by one foreign nations agree non-dollar trade and swap agreements - who is becoming 'isolated' now?
3)
The Male Nuland And The US’ Central Asian Strategy
“One of the most prominent Color Revolution experts in America’s coup d’état toolkit has been hurriedly recalled from retirement for immediate deployment to Kyrgyzstan. Richard Miles, the engineer of the first Color Revolution in Serbia and the Rose Revolution in Georgia, has been appointed as charge d’affaires in Kyrgyzstan until a new ambassador is confirmed by the Senate, because the former one, Pamela Spratlen, has been reassigned as the US Ambassador to Uzbekistan. While it is not known how long Miles will remain in Kyrgyzstan, which will be the Eurasian Union’s weakest economy when it joins in May of this year, ordinary citizens there already suspect that foul play is being planned against their country and have protested his arrival. Given that Miles’ track record of regime change makes him worthy of the ‘Male Nuland’ moniker, it’s appropriate to investigate what tricks the US may be up to in Central Asia, and how it may be trying to force the Ukrainian scenario onto Russia’s southern doorstep.
4)
I'm going to make a statement that I think has not been made sufficiently before, I'm going to say in the post-coldwar period that the US has basically sent people to govern Eastern European nations including former Soviet republics in a manner not dissimilar to what the Ottoman empire did under the Janissary system [22], where they basically took people from the conquered country - or descendants thereof - brought them back to the metropolis, indoctrinated them - in the religion, in the past - in political ideology currently, sent them back to govern on behalf of the metropolis.
(Thanks to jfl@23 again)
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Mar 11 2015 19:19 utc | 48
U.S. security agencies had more than "some evidence of a possible attack". I would say that Kevin Fenton proves in his book
Disconnecting the Dots: How 9/11 Was Allowed to Happen that at least some highly placed people in the U.S. security agencies (as well as elsewhere in the government) knew an attack was on the way and quite deliberately failed to prevent it.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 11 2015 20:09 utc | 49
@49
Your definition of proof is probably different than mine but these books do raise questions. Another topic we may disagree on is the competence of out security agencies especially their management while the field agents may actually perform quite well.
The circus yesterday at the Boston Bombing trial illuminated this lack of competence in the FBI.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 11 2015 20:35 utc | 50
demian still around?
@27 no reply.. nice post. thanks. @ 28 interesting conjecture too..
@
Posted by: james | Mar 11 2015 20:49 utc | 51
"Janissary" System?
The Janissaries were mercenary armies, unsusally loyal to the Ottoman (Osmani) Sultan beyond mere remuneration. Often Christians or other non-Muslim peoples, Jannisaries were NOT provincial governors!
I believe that the correct term is the "Pasha" system. This is the use of "Ottomanized" locals to rule as state governors under the Ottoman system. This was derived from both Turkic tribal models of fealty and from the Persian and Parthian vassal-kingship of Satrapy, adopted by Alexander.
Posted by: Jeremiah | Mar 11 2015 20:55 utc | 52
@lysias, 49:
When 9/11 happened, my first thought was, "Wow, did somebody finally got a blow in against the Empire?" but within about a half-hour I realized, "No, this is too easy." For starters, NORAD scrambles fighters within minutes when anything so small as a Piper Cub or even a flock of birds enters US airspace; there is no way four airliners could be hijacked and left to roam the continent for *hours*.
Then there is Al-Qaida, which got its start with CIA funding, tutelage and coordination in Afghanistan in the '80's--the CIA would not build up an organization like that only to abandon it; if the agency didn't actively run its operations through the '90's at the very least Arlington was kept very current on AQ's activities from assets still within it. At the very least US intelligence knew in advance and allowed it to unfold.
After this a simple "Cui bono?" gets us very much on the right track; the PNAC's website at this point almost reads like a comic book supervillain calling his shot before he does the dirty deed.
Posted by: Vintage Red | Mar 11 2015 20:59 utc | 53
correction to above^
"Langley" (the CIA HQ), not "Arlington"
Posted by: Vintage Red | Mar 11 2015 21:03 utc | 54
.
Our Civil Liberties, After Sept. 11
Published: June 3, 2002
To the Editor:
Re ''Liberal Reality Check,'' by Nicholas D. Kristof (column, May 31):
Regarding the Sept. 11 tragedy, this was not a case of the F.B.I.'s not going after information because of concern for anyone's civil liberties. The F.B.I. had the information. Why it didn't act on what it had is what we need to know.
Okie Farmer
Paoli, Okla., May 31, 2002
Posted by: okie farmer | Mar 11 2015 22:58 utc | 55
@31
Yes it was Europe that destroyed itself on both occasions ... but it was the US that 'won', in the sense of 'to the victors belong the spoils'.
@32+33
Bloomberg outlines what was the rationale for oil's price plunge.
Back when the Saudis opened the taps, Putin made the statement that the oil price plunge would last six months. Looks like he might have been right. Again.
The most salient characteristic of the US' increasingly desperate scramble to devastate and destroy ... before it succumbs itself to the Mother of All Financial Bubbles ... is just that, its desperation.
@19
Thanks for the link, sarz ...
American and Israeli military advisors were arrested while aiding Islamic State terrorists in Iraq
Iraqi counter-terrorism forces arrested four foreign military advisors from the United States and Israel who were aiding the Islamic State, Iranian Tasnim News Agency reports.Three of the arrested military advisors are dual citizens of the United States and Israel, while the fourth advisor is from a Persian Gulf country, Iraq’s Sarma News Agency said.
... I'll be looking for confirmation elsewhere. (Sorcha Faal doesn't count :)
@37
I hadn't thought about MH370 for awhile ... I guess I thought it was drop in cabin pressure/oxygen deficiency that killed them all, and then automatic pilot flying the plane south till it ran out of fuel ... but why not found, by now?
Surely the location of the plane was/is known by the NSA, and US submarines could have (have) found it by now ... or maybe no one's interested. Maybe it just was an accident?
I'm more interested in MH17. The 'heroic' effort made to shoot that plane down makes me think it was Yet Another Desperate Play by the Criminals In Action ... trying to shoot Putin down. His plane had passed through the same airspace a half hour before?
@53
It slowly dawned on me ... hindered by my reflexive horror and unwillingness to believe my own 'lying eyes' when I watched the orderly, expert demolition of the first Trade Center building live on my TV at lunchtime in Texas ... that something - everything - smelled very, very bad about the events of 9/11.
Subsequently I've come to the conclusion that it was 'look the other way but let 'er roll' on the USG side ... and that it was Israel running the operation, impersonating shadowy 'Arabs' 'over the phone'. Clearly that was beyond the competence ... beyond the wildest dreams of the possible for the Criminals In Action.
And that's still the trail I'd follow if I were investigating the mass murder/casus belli. The fact that the Port Authority had just sold the WTC to a private operator ... Larry Silverstein ... just adds insult to injury. And, coupled with the CIA/FBI/NSA tenancies on site, accounts for the 'surreptitious' thermite installation.
The circus yesterday at the Boston Bombing trial illuminated this lack of competence in the FBI.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 11, 2015 4:35:43 PM | 50
I'd be interested in what you're looking at. Links?
Posted by: Benu | Mar 12 2015 0:52 utc | 57
I very much appreciate and agree with the thrust of the 9/11 discussion burst here.
Also, WoW @ 50
Another topic we may disagree on is the competence of out security agencies especially their management while the field agents may actually perform quite well.
I gather you feel the security agencies are mismanaged. I think most here would agree. Why be so elliptical?
Posted by: Benu | Mar 12 2015 1:07 utc | 58
Wayoutwest's definition of "proof" includes "believing without question everything I've ever read and heard and can make up about the strength of ISIS and the badness of Russia"
-----
In other news, use of the term "exceptional nation" has skyrocketed since Ronald Reagan entered the White House. Probably because those CIA men get a nickel every time one of them sneaks it into one of their news articles.
_____
ps (same troll its always been).
Posted by: guest77 | Mar 12 2015 1:13 utc | 59
@Jeremiah@52
The Janissaries were mercenary armies, unsusally loyal to the Ottoman (Osmani) Sultan beyond mere remuneration. Often Christians or other non-Muslim peoples, Jannisaries were NOT provincial governors!
You're right on the first count, wrong on the second one. A quick look at Wikipedia would have clarified the issue. There is a difference between the Janissaries, and the Janissary system, the key to your confusion.
The Janissary system was introduced in the 14th century. It was a similar system to the Iranian Safavid, Afsharid, and Qajar era ghulams, who were drawn from converted Circassians, Georgians, and Armenians, and in the same way as with the Ottoman's Janissaries who had to replace the unreliable ghazis, they were initially created as a counterbalance to the tribal, ethnic and favoured interests the Qizilbash gave, which make a system imbalanced.[13] The Janissary Corps was a trained and loyal group of slaves to the sultan. In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to become members of the Corps, a practice strictly forbidden for the previous 300 years. They also became rent-seeking and sought protection of their special rights and advantages. According to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards. Consequently, the formerly strict rules of succession became open to interpretation. While they advanced their own power, the Janissaries also helped to keep the system from changing in other progressive ways and according to some scholars the corps was most responsible for the political stagnation of Istanbul.[14]Greek Historian Dimitri Kitsikis in his book Türk Yunan İmparatorluğu ("Turco-Greek Empire")[10] states that many Christian families were willing to comply with the devşirme because it offered a possibility of social advancement. Conscripts could one day become Janissary colonels, statesmen who might one day return to their home region as governors, or even Grand Viziers or Beylerbeys (governor generals).
A Janissary Ağa in the year 1768.Some of the most famous Janissaries include George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, an Albanian who defected and led a 20‑year Albanian revolt against the Ottomans. Another was Sokollu Mehmed Paşa, a Bosnian who became a grand vizier, served three sultans, and was the de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire for more than 14 years.[15][page needed]
Posted by: Lone Wolf | Mar 12 2015 1:43 utc | 61
Hello moa. I know most of you here have likely visited or heard of this site, but in case you have not here is a link. I got wind of this site a few years back on one of my favorite messageboards and it enlightened me about the plight of the Iranian people that the west has dumped on them due to their nuclear research. The Iranian people are just like us in the west, they want the same things out of life that we want, peace prosperity and to leave a better country, opportunity and living situation for their children. If other nations in the region have nuclear power and weaponry why can't Iran? I feel if Iran can't have nuclear energy and weaponry then no country should have nuclear energy and weaponry.
Here is the link...
http://www.tehran24.com/timeline/
Posted by: Really | Mar 12 2015 2:05 utc | 62
B@56
The Guardian had a report yesterday on the BB trial and the FBI's inability to understand things written by DT on twitter and their meaning.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 12 2015 2:38 utc | 63
Lone wolf at 60 -- cut him a little slack. Wikipedia notes the institution evolved, from loyal, almost monastic elite corp and palace guard to something more like mercenary warlords and extortionists.
By the early 17th century Janissaries had such prestige and influence that they dominated the government. They could mutiny and... change Sultans as they wished through palace coups. They made themselves landholders and tradesmen. They would also limit the enlistment to the sons of former Janissaries who did not have to go through... training... as well as avoiding the physical selection, thereby reducing their military value. When Janissaries could practically extort money from the Sultan and business and family life replaced martial fervour... the northern borders of the Ottoman Empire slowly began to shrink... after the second Battle of Vienna in 1683.
The Sultans (a no. of which the Janissaries deposed) would not solve their problem of military modernization until the 1820's.
See also the related Mamluks, who provided dynasties in an number of Islamic states, e.g. Egypt.
Posted by: rufus magister | Mar 12 2015 3:09 utc | 64
@Luka K #41
West Germany's army was very well respected - however, since unification Germany made a conscious decision to de-emphasize its military in favor of social spending (like building up East Germany). This has manifested itself embarrassingly in such incidents as not being able to provide helicopters to transport promised supplies.
@Vintage Red #53
Sorry, but the assertion that the Air Force scrambled for Cessnas pre-9/11 is not correct. The US has literally tens of thousands of private planes - and a huge number are active around New York. The US has something like 223000 general aviation aircraft - and most of these are privately owned planes. Put another way, there is likely 1 private plane per 2 private cars.
Specific places like the White House or Pentagon likely have reaction forces, but then again, these were likely vectored elsewhere on that fateful day. Even in the early AM there are hundreds if not thousands of flights coming in and out of the many major airports scattered from Boston to Washington DC.
Posted by: ǝn⇂ɔ | Mar 12 2015 3:10 utc | 65
W@62 - Your capacity for understatement is...capacious. But I guess, I understand...what can one say? It is what it is.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/10/fbi-testimony-boston-marathon-bomb-trial-dzhokhar-tsarnaev
...Other posts shown by Kimball yesterday turned out to be jokes from the Comedy Central television show Tosh.o, or sketch comedy duo Key and Peele.
At one point, Kimball misidentified a quote as having been made by the radical al -Qaida-affiliated cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. It was actually a quote from the Qu’ran.
In a savage cross-examination, Conrad painted Kimball as a prosecution shill. “You were just given the ones that the government wanted to show to the jury?” she asked.
“Yes,” Kimball said.
“… and you had no part in selecting them?”
“Very little,” answered Kimball, adding that the prosecution team had been the ones to decide which tweets to present to the jury...
Posted by: Benu | Mar 12 2015 3:25 utc | 66
Posted by: Really | Mar 11, 2015 10:05:33 PM | 61
I must make a few things clear. The reason I posted the link Tehran24.com is to make those who may be ill informed on the Iranian lifestyle and country informed. It is my view that far too many westerners have the impression most Iranians are running around with AK-47's and looking to start war with Israel. If that was the case the war between Iran and Israel would have been waged already and if that was the case, unless cool heads prevailed with the United States and the Russian Federation, I would probably not be typing this.
It is well known that Israel has been receiving billions of dollads worth of weapons from the United States and although they may or may not have ICBM's, I would bet thwy have tactical nukes such as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII. One has to wonder why Israel receives so much weaponry from the United States. Could it be trade for global intelligence hardware and logistics? Or could it be that Israel is just ths west's forward operating base to grasp Iran's oil reserves?
Now if a conventional war broke out, without interference from the US and Russia between Israel and Iran, I would think Iran would be more than able to deafeat Israel. But my fear is the Likud government would become desparate and drop a bomb on Iran that may be less than conventional, which in turn would force Iran to do something similar if they have tactical nukes in their arsenal (and I would not be suprised if they have acquired a few on the open market).
So what would happen if the above scenario reached that radioactive point? It is my opinion that two things would be in play. The first being total global destruction, if Russia, China and the west engage in a shooting war. The second option would be a radioactive area in Israel and Iran, birth defects, cancer, worthless soil and building sites. Think Chernobyl.
Posted by: Really | Mar 12 2015 4:12 utc | 67
B. I knew you would flesh out my simple comment. It seems the prosecution was blindsided by the defense's opening statement admitting DT's guilt and is stumbling to present motive to pursue the death penalty in the sentencing phase. This foul-up may provide the defense some help in mitigating DT's responsibility but it's too soon to tell.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 12 2015 4:16 utc | 68
@ǝn⇂ɔ, 64:
This will teach me about posting on the fly. I read a news story of two fighter jets intercepting a small aircraft that came over the border from Canada--post 9/11--and another of an alert over birds--pre 9/11. I should have more carefully phrased it as "can scramble"... four known hijacked airliners, however, are another matter. Thank you for your correction.
Posted by: Vintage Red | Mar 12 2015 4:25 utc | 69
03/12/2015-01:32
Overview of military campaign map (video):
Towards Mariupol`, settlement Shirokino remains an arena of constant clashes. At daily rate, the Ukrainian forces are routinely storming combatants’ positions with support of armored hardware and mortars. Shirokino retains status quo of being divided in two.
Being calm in Donetsk, the situation is seen less delightful in next to front areas of (clockwise around Donetsk) Mar`inka, Staromikhaylovka, Peski, the territory of airport and settlement Spartak, which remain sites of recurrent combat.
To north-west of Gorlovka, periodic battles ignite in the region of Mayorsk - Sumi - settlement 6-7.
In Svetlodarsk (north fringe of former Debal`tsevo caldron), the Ukrainian forces, taking advantage of heavy artillery being withdrawn, bluntly launch tank attacks. Groups of 2-3 tanks from Svetlodarsk advance on Lozovoye, Nizhne-Lozovoye, Logvinovo and shell combatant’s positions at their will.
Bakhmutka of Lugansk Republic maintains stability, except for consistent shootouts by small arms. However, accumulating armored hardware and personnel by the Ukrainian side in areas of Krimskoye and Orekhovo-Donetskoye as well as at intersection of Lisichansk and Bukhmutka route exacerbates the confrontation.
Similar situation is observed near Stanitsa-Luganskaya, Schast`ye as well as around smaller settlements Nizhneteploye and Artem. According to combatants’ reconnaissance, next Ukrainian offensive may jumpstart from these sites.
Posted by: Fete | Mar 12 2015 4:31 utc | 70
@31
Yes it was Europe that destroyed itself on both occasions ... but it was the US that 'won', in the sense of 'to the victors belong the spoils'.
@32+33
Bloomberg outlines what was the rationale for oil's price plunge.
Back when the Saudis opened the taps, Putin made the statement that the oil price plunge would last six months. Looks like he might have been right. Again.
The most salient characteristic of the US' increasingly desperate scramble to devastate and destroy ... before it succumbs itself to the Mother of All Financial Bubbles ... is just that, its desperation.
@19
Thanks for the link, sarz ...
American and Israeli military advisors were arrested while aiding Islamic State terrorists in Iraq
Iraqi counter-terrorism forces arrested four foreign military advisors from the United States and Israel who were aiding the Islamic State, Iranian Tasnim News Agency reports.Three of the arrested military advisors are dual citizens of the United States and Israel, while the fourth advisor is from a Persian Gulf country, Iraq’s Sarma News Agency said.
... I'll be looking for confirmation elsewhere. (Sorcha Faal doesn't count :)
@37
I hadn't thought about MH370 for awhile ... I guess I thought it was drop in cabin pressure/oxygen deficiency that killed them all, and then automatic pilot flying the plane south till it ran out of fuel ... but why not found, by now?
Surely the location of the plane was/is known by the NSA, and US submarines could have (have) found it by now ... or maybe no one's interested. Maybe it just was an accident?
I'm more interested in MH17. The 'heroic' effort made to shoot that plane down makes me think it was Yet Another Desperate Play by the Criminals In Action ... trying to shoot Putin down. His plane had passed through the same airspace a half hour before?
@53
It slowly dawned on me ... hindered by my reflexive horror and unwillingness to believe my own 'lying eyes' when I watched the orderly, expert demolition of the first Trade Center building live on my TV at lunchtime in Texas ... that something - everything - smelled very, very bad about the events of 9/11.
Subsequently I've come to the conclusion that it was 'look the other way but let 'er roll' on the USG side ... and that it was Israel running the operation, impersonating shadowy 'Arabs' 'over the phone'. Clearly that was beyond the competence ... beyond the wildest dreams of the possible for the Criminals In Action.
And that's still the trail I'd follow if I were investigating the mass murder/casus belli. The fact that the Port Authority had just sold the WTC to a private operator ... Larry Silverstein ... just adds insult to injury. And, coupled with the CIA/FBI/NSA tenancies on site, accounts for the 'surreptitious' thermite installation.
@34
Thanks for the link, sarz ...
American and Israeli military advisors were arrested while aiding Islamic State terrorists in Iraq
Iraqi counter-terrorism forces arrested four foreign military advisors from the United States and Israel who were aiding the Islamic State, Iranian Tasnim News Agency reports.Three of the arrested military advisors are dual citizens of the United States and Israel, while the fourth advisor is from a Persian Gulf country, Iraq’s Sarma News Agency said.
... I'll be looking for confirmation elsewhere. (Sorcha Faal doesn't count :)
Sorry for the rash of little postings ... I'd had 'em all together but - although they were 'posted' - they weren't.
So I tried 'em one at a time.
It was the last one that prevented the original post ... sarz' link to sputnik did it ... apparently.
I went to tiny url and, with one level of indirection, no problem. I'll remember that for next time.
US-backed Chadian forces invade Nigeria as Pentagon prepares broader war in West Africa
Long convoys including Chadian tanks and some 200 troop transport trucks crossed the border into Nigeria Monday, witnesses in Niger told the Associated Press.The invasion takes place in the context of a major escalation by Washington and the European powers of their military presence throughout West Africa, and was spearheaded by Chadian forces, including the Special Anti-Terrorist Group (SATG), that have received extensive training and equipment from the US military.
Chadian President Idriss Deby has built close relations with Washington and Paris since taking power at the head of a coup in 1990. The Deby regime plays a lead role in the US-funded Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership and is helping to coordinate the African Union (AU) multinational force of some 8,700 troops called for by the AU in January.
Chadian units fought alongside Western forces during the 2013 French-led invasion of Mali, and the Chadian government has since authorized the permanent stationing of thousands of French troops in its capital at N’Djamena.
The US and European governments are asserting direct control over the continent’s cheap labor and natural resources. Colonial-style occupation forces are conspiring with national governments and militaries throughout the continent, making a mockery of the African states’ nominally “independent” status.
In addition to the US Africa Command’s (AFRICOM) growing military network, which reaches in every corner of the continent, France already maintains an occupation force of thousands headquartered in Chad and tasked with counterinsurgency operations throughout the Sahel desert, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad.
The German government is preparing to get in on the action, announcing plans in January to develop independent military operations in West Africa, supposedly for the purpose of targeting Boko Haram.
The German army is also developing a regional expeditionary Pioneer Regiment in coordination with Ghana, and German troops are already forward-deployed to outposts in Somalia, Central Africa, Sudan and Western Sahara.
NATO in Africa. The re-colonization continues. It is shameful, what the world has become since the neo-con judicial coup in the USA, followed by the Reichstag fire on 9/11.
The Social Crisis in Greece, Part 1, Part 2
... if a person owes more than €5,000 in tax then an immediate arrest warrant is issued and he or she is taken into custody until that debt is paid off...-- from Part Two
I hadn't realized that the German bankers had instituted debtors' prisons in Greece.
The pound of flesh is actually 'due' the German bankers ... the Greek government has been acting as their collection agent only.
Yet why do I imagine that if one owes the government more than €5,000,000 in tax ... it's no problem?
on murcunts jihadists isis wanton destruction of iraqi heritage...
Ban Ki-moon,
* the sites’ desecration is a “war crime”. the international community should swiftly put a stop to such heinous terrorist activity and to counter the illicit traffic in cultural artefacts.”
denk
*who started this shit mr ban* ? [1]
1min later,
cif mod
*This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards.*
hehehehe
[1]
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2918.htm
Posted by: denk | Mar 12 2015 8:54 utc | 80
the new leaders of sri lanka learn fast from their fukus mentors,
speaking in forked tongue....
how to draw someone *closer* by... *keeping them at arms length*
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150312000073&cid=1502
Posted by: denk | Mar 12 2015 9:26 utc | 81
@72
Putin's plane was in the same airspace as MH17 over Poland (near Warsaw allegedly) but then headed northeast over Belarus to Moscow. There is no way that the Russian president would have flown over a war zone, and the Ukrainian military would have known this. The destruction of a large passenger plane enabled sanctions to be brought in and anti-Putin propaganda to be ratcheted up. It seems that a BUK missile strike by Ukrainian military from rebel-held territory was the original plan, but either the equipment failed or the launch crew disobeyed orders.
Posted by: Lochearn | Mar 12 2015 10:24 utc | 82
@jfl #73
The problems with 9/11 conspiracy theory are manyfold:
The assumption is always made that the WTC towers were somehow these very solid buildings. They were not - skyscrapers of that order are huge but are almost entirely air. They're held up only by carefully calculated grids of steel - and steel degrades in strength far sooner than it melts. A jet airliner full of fuel has more than enough energy to raise temperatures to over 500 or even 800 degrees C, at which point steel loses 50% or more of its strength even though it doesn't melt.
Once actual collapse occurs, the weight of what isn't air, in motion, is immense and more than enough to snap off each floor as it collapses. Weight of that magnitude and density (at this point, the collection is a highly compact array of concrete and steel) experiences effectively zero drag, hence the apparent "free fall".
If you examine pictures of the wreckage of WTO right after the collapse, you might note just how little 100+ stories compacted into relative to the volume of the building before collapse. However small the post-collapse debris field was relative to the pre-collapse building, we're still talking about literally millions of tons of steel and concrete - some of which can and did get thrown clear of the immediate footprint of the building - not to mention the effects of millions of tons of debris striking effectively landfill.
There are specific aspects to the 9/11 conspiracy which are believable - but the physics of the collapse nor the means aren't among them.
Posted by: ǝn⇂ɔ | Mar 12 2015 11:31 utc | 83
...the PNAC's website at this point almost reads like a comic book supervillain calling his shot before he does the dirty deed.
Posted by: Vintage Red | Mar 11, 2015 4:59:57 PM | 53
Isn't that the Storm Lord Baal's own truth! The last 20 years have been like a damn PNAC PowerPoint presentation where They tell it to you before they do it, and then They do it, and then They tell you what They did.
But wait. No. not a comic book. Not a PPT. That PNAC plan is more like an Affirmation. It's got that belief-makes-it-real tinge. You 'put it out there'…and lo…Ask and ye shall receive.
Isn't that the whole idea of fellow travelers? Intertwined aspen roots? etc.
Posted by: Benu | Mar 12 2015 14:09 utc | 84
Posted by: ǝn⇂ɔ | Mar 12, 2015 7:31:07 AM | 81
That's all true. None of the "explosives dunnit" wankers have ANY knowledge of building construction, engineering or design principles. Nor are they familiar with the (well-documented) physical limits and properties of common building materials.
However, I must take you to task on an omission from your NORAD claims, above.
You forgot to mention that Rumsfeld made a highly significant change to a long-standing pre-9/11 NORAD procedure. Before 9/11 Air Traffic Controllers at major airports had a direct hotline to NORAD. Rumsfeld diverted that facility to the Pentagon. My favourite version of that story is that the Pentagon phone to which such calls were re-routed was kept in an empty room with the door locked 24/7 right up until 9/11.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 12 2015 14:25 utc | 85
If Israel did drop a nuke on Iran, it would be totally discredited internationally, would be subject to international sanctions all over the world even if the U.S. vetoed a resolution calling for them in the Security Council, and would at the very least be stopped from any further such actions by ultimatums from Russia and China.
If the U.S. dared to try to counter such ultimatums, it would be committing suicide. And I doubt if any U.S. resistance would be politically possible after Israel had done such a reprehensible deed.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 12 2015 14:56 utc | 86
@87
If there is any truth in the truther's claims why aren't they investigating the Clinton/Gore involvement which would have been necessary for this cabal. Bush/Cheney were not in office long enough to have hatched this fantasy, it would have started months or even years earlier.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 12 2015 15:47 utc | 88
about MH planes.
Hoarsewhisperer at 43, Oh I noticed that, article about MH370 (anti-Malaysian), the point was only (in my mind), a scenario for the pilot(s) having deliberately not vaporized :) (see 9/11) but *sunk* the plane. I think the motive outlined is slim, though pilot suicides, with passengers along, are not unknown. I see you prefer some kind of interpretation along 2) lines. I do too and am well aware of Malaysia-hate.
jfl at 56, MH17 is quite clear in my mind, it was carried out by Ukrainian rogues (commanded by others?), this was evident, from the internet pictures of the debris from the get-go, imho, as I posted at the time.
As for confusion with Putin’s plane, I’m not sure he was actually where he was said to be, this is a critical point, very difficult to substantiate. But I did look up the size, thinking that Putin’s plane must be much smaller than a Boeing 777.
Putin’s plane, wiki - the main presidential aircraft is the four-engined, long-range, widebody Ilyushin Il-96-300PU.
vid of ‘it’ landing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxUmqwKyAzc
Wiki: different models and variants exist, plane has a length of between 55 and 64 meters, and a span of about 60 m.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-96
MH17 was a Boeing 777-200ER (news), Boeing site (link below) > a length of 63 m. and a span of 60 m, not differences that can be judged by the human eye in the air. They have a different shape, though the coloring is very similar (from pix.)
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 12 2015 17:19 utc | 89
WoW @ 88
Come on. There are many loci of Power. The Executive isn't the only place for the hatching of plots. Also...Deep State. Also...dual-Israeli fellow travelers peppered here and there...
I'm with jfl. I think it was Mossad directed but permitted, even midwifed by a fifth column within our govt aligned with the PNACers/neocons.
Posted by: Benu | Mar 12 2015 17:38 utc | 90
re MH-370, I read something day before yesterday that caught my attention: Boeing says lithium batteries pose cargo risk, backs ban
It reminded me of this story at ZeroHedge from last March. The Latest Flight MH-370 Shocker: A Two-Ton Cargo Mystery
Note that on page 5 of the manifest, in a waybill from NNR Global Logistics in Penang to JHJ International Transporation in Beijing, are disclosed two shipments of some 200 units of Lithium Ion batteries, weighing a gross weight of 2453 kilos.
I am not saying this is The Explanation, but it's definitely worth noting.
Posted by: Benu | Mar 12 2015 17:47 utc | 91
22 Iraq soldiers killed in Anbar airstrike
According to an Iraqi military officer and a police source, 22 soldiers were killed when an airstrike believed to be launched by a US-led coalition aircraft hit the headquarters of an army company on the edge of Ramadi city, Anbar's provincial capital on Thursday.Iraqi forces, backed by volunteer fighters keep advancing in the northern city of Tikrit, a major stronghold for ISIL militants who control swathes of land in Iraq. The operation has so far liberated major parts of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s hometown.
ISIL Takfiri terrorists have started to hit back with sporadic attacks on security personnel deployed in western Anbar province.
ISIL Takfiri terrorists hit back with sporadic attacks ... and US-led coalition airstrikes, apparently.
B@90
Where are you going with this, B? You do know that Clinton/Gore and Bush/Cheney all belong to the same Deep State clubs and people do not rise to these public positions without that connection.
The Mossad connection to 9/11 is the most tenuous, they are good at killing people but are very bad at covering their tracks, the last assassination with the wigs and stolen passports was a great example of their stealth and competence.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 12 2015 18:33 utc | 93
@Hoarsewhisperer #85
The scenario you outline is at least plausible - the problem I have with it is that incompetence and stupidity is more likely an explanation. Could the FBI or some other US government entity have heard of the plot? Certainly. But I guarantee you that they also hear of thousands of other plots - I have yet to see credible evidence which highlights why this particular plot should have been elevated to the next level of investigation.
@jfl #87
I watched the video, and stopped when the person started spouting nonsense like "Office towers or skyscrapers have never collapsed due to fires". When you can show me that there are many instances of full jet airliners crashing into said buildings which then don't collapse, then this statement is credible. Otherwise, no cred. He then talks again about the "steel not melting" crap - which I specifically debunked. Equally there are plenty of other potential causes like corruption in the materials used; high tensile strength steel is very expensive - and a minor downgrade in quality would yield a whole lot of extra profit. Then the usual garbage about how temperatures were too hot to melt blah blah high temperature metal blah; anyone who says this in a skyscraper collapse is a complete moron. The gravitational potential energy in a 110 story skyscraper collapse is enormous: mass times gravity time height where mass = hundreds of millions of tons and height = 1000 feet. The gravitational potential energy of 100 million tons falling at 1000 feet = 65000 tons of TNT equivalent. That's plenty of energy to do all sorts of things.
Lastly - I've personally seen a video of a small building in the Netherlands which collapsed in much the same manner as WTC1 & 2 due to fire - an except is shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsjfSG69Pik
There's plenty of data out there if you choose to look.
Posted by: ǝn⇂ɔ | Mar 12 2015 19:36 utc | 94
Benu says:
I think it was Mossad directed but permitted, even midwifed by a fifth column within our govt aligned with the PNACers/neocons.
of course to have an opinion it's enough to have vocal chords, but when that opinion is informed by a particularly knowledgeable mind things can get pretty interesting. of course opinions of this quality are rare and, in fact, on this subject this is the only one i've ever read. as such, it's my favorite.
Posted by: john | Mar 12 2015 19:55 utc | 95
@jfl, your eyes and your reason have not deceived you.
The official NIST explanation is bogus, in terms of explaining the collapse of New York's WTC towers on 9/11; and it is especially ridiculous, if extended to explain the free fall collapse of Building 7. Ferocious fires in other steel buildings have not caused one collapse of the kind we saw in New York, much less the demolition that was seen in three buildings on the same day.
It is impossible to pull the wool over people's eyes. There were quantities of molten metal that persisted for long periods of time at the site; and although the mass of forensic evidence was removed in record time, there were photographs preserved of some of the melted materials. People are not wankers because they think the buildings were demolished.
The original construction of the Twin Towers was shown on television. The outer sheath of the towers was of massive curtain steel; the sections were lowered, and fitted on tongue and groove fixtures that were part of each section, and then riveted in place. The building had an intermediate ring of girders, plus a substantial core section. The buildings had been designed to absorb the impact of a passenger jet; and indeed, after the impacts on September 11th, the buildings swayed and stabilized.
We are expected to believe that the metal was softened on the floors where the jet fuel quickly burned up,--or that the black, oxygen-starved fires, that were seen to burn long afterward would be capable of softening the main support elements. They would not.
Iron and steel are very conductive of heat alright; but because an enormous structure like this is all joined together, it is one big heat sink. It should be obvious that heat applied in one spot will be spread out over the aggregate structure. And there is Carnot's Principle, in physics, which in brief states that the most efficient transfer of heat energy is between two energy states that are most nearly equal. A fire burning at several times lower than the melting point of iron or steel, is not going to be so efficiently transfered, and would not raise the metal to the softening point, while the heat was also being dissipated throughout the structure.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31849794
Iraqi government forces are advancing into Tikrit on several fronts, forcing Islamic State (IS) militants to fall back to the city centre, officials say.
Soldiers and militiamen have reportedly retaken areas and key sites in the north, south and west, including a police headquarters and a hospital.
~~~
Meanwhile, the BBC has seen video evidence that chlorine gas is being used as a weapon in Tikrit by IS militants.
~~~
They are still held back from the centre by roadside bombs and booby-trapped cars, our correspondent says.
Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obedi told the BBC the battle for Tikrit would lead the Iraqi army directly to Mosul - the country's second largest city.
~~~
On Wednesday, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, said he was certain the operation was going to succeed, despite the fact that US-led coalition air power was not being used.
But with Iranian-backed Shia militia leading the fight for Tikrit and the Iranian military helping to co-ordinate it, he voiced concerns about what would happen to the city's Sunni population when the fighting was over.
Posted by: okie farmer | Mar 12 2015 21:44 utc | 97
LEAK: EU preparing propaganda against Russia
https://www.veooz.com/news/RIi81LO.html
Posted by: Anonymous | Mar 12 2015 22:46 utc | 98
@Copeland #96
Jet fuel fires can reach up to 1120 degrees C in enclosed spaces - which WTC1 & 2 definitely were.
A 757 carries 11400 gallons of jet fuel, fully loaded.
To say that there is no way 11400 gallons of jet fuel could raise temperatures to 400 or 800 degrees C is simply ludicrous.
11,400 gallons is more than is contained in the typical 12 foot by 24 foot swimming pool.
Molten metal - I've already fully addressed this. The gravitational energy released in the collapse is over 65000 tons of TNT - that's plenty of energy to melt, to grind, to do whatever.
Posted by: ǝn⇂ɔ | Mar 13 2015 0:03 utc | 99
@ 93 WOW
The Mossad connection is the most obvious thing about it. Gosh, if you're as well versed on the subject as you claim you'd know that. So either you're not well versed or you're defending the indefensible. Which is it?
@ 96 Copeland
your observations are correct. To pretend it was caused by fire defies physics.
And as an aside...the thing that gives it away is the non-action if the Secret Service when George the Simple was getting assistance with the big words by the students at Booker Elementary. They did nothing when they should have removed him. It's their call not Georgies. Read S.S. protocol. So the "He didn't want to scare the kiddies" crap doesn't fly. And here we have a supposed threat and the whereabouts of Georgie was well known and...they did nothing. Folks...poker players call that a "tell".
Posted by: Scott | Mar 13 2015 0:06 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
I am busy so no new post ...
I have deleted comments by one "FP, PS, Facepalm, Shlomo" and have his user IPs banned for sockpuppetry, personal insults against other commentators and general misbehavior.
The troll will likely come back under a different IP and/or name. Don't feed it. I will delete her/his comments as soon as I possible.
Posted by: b | Mar 10 2015 18:48 utc | 1