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Nabucco Pipeline To The Apocalypse
It is pretty much official: Europe has unilaterally decided to basically declare economic warfare with their chief energy supplier, Russia. The unelected British Prime Minister admitted the Georgian attacks were so Europe could circumvent Russia with the new oil pipeline that would go to Turkey. Meanwhile, Europe continues to refuse Turkey entry in the European Union. Pure ethnic issues at work here. Nothing was learned from the harsh lessons of WWII. So, we get to hear Putin discuss history and world power politics. He is a most amazing man. Has double the brain power of our crazed emperors.
Russia will not hold us to ransom - Brown
Gordon Brown warns today that the West will not be held to ransom by Russia, threatening a 'root and branch' review of relations with the Kremlin and urgently moving to stop Britain's reliance on Russian oil and gas.
His defiant words in an article in today's Observer, following a 'frank' conversation with the Russian president yesterday, will heighten tensions ahead of tomorrow's meeting of European heads of state called to discuss the crisis in Georgia. The Prime Minister's intervention reflects fears that the territorial conflict over South Ossetia risks spilling into an energy war, with Russia using its vast supplies of oil and gas - on which many European countries depend - to blackmail the West into submission.
'No nation can be allowed to exert an energy stranglehold over Europe,' says Brown. He promises urgent action to prevent Britain 'sleepwalking into an energy dependence on less stable or reliable partners', including seeking out alternative suppliers of gas and oil, as well as pushing ahead with plans for new nuclear plants and alternative fuels.
HAHAHA. The toothless old imperialist lion bellows and roars. But it can't even get to its feet. Lying on the ground, it growls and groans at the Russian bear. The bear can barely suppress its own mirth. Right on the heels of the North Sea energy systems collapsing rapidly, NOW England is going elsewhere for fuel?
Iraq! That's the ticket. Except bankrupt England can't outbid the wealthy Chinese communists. They are buying up the systems in Iraq. Iraq was forced to sell some of its oil reserves to American, European and British invader's oil consortiums. All of which are far, far, FAR worse than Russia. These pirates will strip England, Europe and America of every pfenning of wealth and unlike Russia, not give it to the People of a sovereign nation. These international energy consortiums have tremendous power in the West. Note how McCain chose as a running mate a woman in their pay!
The US is ruled ruthlessly by a pair of oil buddies from Texas and Wyoming. Bush and Cheney have grossly enriched themselves and their friends and colleagues in the oil industries. Fabulous wealth has poured into the coffers of these killers. The audacious move to take over OPEC via military force nearly succeeded. Once the oil consortiums took over Iraq and then Iran, the weight of power over OPEC would have fallen into the greedy hands of these international pirates. Who work in consortium with international banking families who are very eager to control the flow of wealth going to Muslims.
They are on a classic 'Horns of Dilemma'. They dearly want to get filthy rich milking the population of the earth who depend on energy systems for survival. They want very high oil prices so they can get rich. But they don't want Muslims or Russians to benefit from all this. They don't want too high prices, either, or the people of the planet might wise up and kill them. Palaces will be stormed by enraged masses just like in 1917 and onwards! And the fear is, these masses now know where the money is flowing and who to attack.
This is why ethnic cleansing is the preferred European imperial weapon. Throughout history, the rulers of Europe allowed this in order to distract the mobs from THEM. Britain, for example, wants Russia to be passive while England encourages, funds and assists ethnic cleansing in Georgia. Then uses Russia's response to this provocation to declare economic war on Russia. The plan is to still get the high energy profits for the major corporations that pay Brown and Blair to fight for them, not England. England gets exactly NO benefits from all this.
The price of energy is climbing. Normally, this means the buyers of energy try hard to please the sellers so the price goes down. Declaring war on the sellers works ONLY if the seller has been totally disarmed by the corrupt United Nations. But Russia not only sits on the Security Council, Russia is allied with another great power on this council: CHINA. And China is a customer for oil just like England. Only China is being NICE to Russia....and Venezuela....and Saudi Arabia....and Iran....and all of OPEC. China has been reaping the harvest of this diplomatic and social niceness.
The leaders of the major oil pumping nations are HAPPY when Hu and Wen fly into their lands to make more deals. The Chinese come armed with contracts to sign and offers of all sorts of assistance. They made a historic conquest last year when they got a firm alliance going with Russia. From that moment onwards, the chances of Europe and America, huge energy consumers, of trapping and then hammering Russia vanished.
The gambit of using ethnic cleansing to seize a historic hunk of the Russian Empire will now fail. Utterly. China isn't endorsing the IDEA of ethnic fissures but they are definitely on Russia's side in re-absorbing Georgia. Georgia is like Tibet in this regard. Commentators in the West totally misunderstand the innermost thinking in the minds of the Chinese. They are building the New World Order. And this means clipping US and EU wings. And they want to set up the concept of a working empire which is at odds with the US and EU pretenses of NOT building empires while building empires. This faux democracy front is so fake, we are rapidly losing all concept of democracy in the West at this point as both Europe and the US turn rapidly into Stalinist police states.
The Guardian:
The Prime Minister argues for more funding to build a pipeline from the Caspian Sea carrying gas through Turkey to the West, avoiding the traditional route through Russia and its satellites. Analysts had speculated that the Nabucco pipeline project would be jeopardised by the invasion of Georgia.
Nabucco:
Music historians have long perpetuated a powerful myth about the famous Va, pensiero chorus sung in the third act by the Hebrew slaves. Scholars have long believed the audience, responding with nationalistic fervor to the slaves' powerful hymn of longing for their homeland, demanded an encore of the piece. As encores were expressly forbidden by the government at the time, such a gesture would have been extremely significant. However, recent scholarship puts this and the corresponding myth of Va, pensiero as the national anthem of the Risorgimento, to rest. Although the audience did indeed demand an encore, it was not for "Va, pensiero" but rather for the hymn "Immenso Jehova," sung by the Hebrew slaves to thank God for saving his people. In light of these new revelations, Verdi's position as the musical figurehead of the Risorgimento has been correspondingly downplayed. Today, Va, pensiero is regularly given an encore when performed; interestingly, it is the only encore Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine has ever allowed
Naming a pipeline set up to feed Israel and Europe energy from deep inside of what was once the Russian Empire 'Nabucco' is...GOOD GODS! TALK ABOUT INSANE! This has all the indicators of the Apocalypse! This opera is all about how Jewish slaves overthrew the Persian empire. In Jewish history, all sorts of tiny disorders have been elevated into major victories of the Jews who are always slaves when they migrate into someone's country! When they left Egypt, they actually ROBBED their neighbors first and then fled into the Sinai. Where they then killed each other and then regrouped do they could assault Palestine.
The very name is a provocation. The fact that this is possibly going to trigger a massive global war between Europe and the US and Russia and China is even more reason to oppose this pipeline under present conditions. The irresponsibly hot talk from the West is so like Hitler, it isn't funny anymore. I am horrified.
Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war
As the nation focuses on Sen. John McCain's choice of running mate, President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war.
Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that has received scant attention -- and was buried itself in the very newspaper that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the United States remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and "associated organizations."
Part of a proposal for Guantanamo Bay legal detainees, the provision before Congress seeks to "acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of Americans."
Let's all thank AIPAC for this piece of garbage. Mission accomplished. If the US thinks it can become eternally rich with eternal war with all the Persian Empires out there, this is pure madness. The Jewish financiers funding AIPAC are very powerful and note how they slip into law all sorts of mischief they hope the war-weary US will ignore. This legislation was not trumpeted by our putative representatives in Congress. Bush will sign it silently. The fact is, the media which is mostly owned by outright Zionists, won't make an issue about this matter.
This is why Obama has gained some ground in his attempt at the Presidency. He bowed to AIPAC and the media relented on him. Right now, antiwar demonstrators in Minnesota are being arrested and harassed by the paramilitary skinhead troopers who are treating us like Iraqis. The ruling elites are warmongers. They deluge the US public with bloodthirsty rhetoric while at the same time, protecting the emperor as he denies Americans essential services.
The Katrina Redux is to be proof that the media and our real rulers actually love us. They actually said, they will protect us...THIS TIME AROUND. Only Gustav is messing with their plans of destroying Russian power. If our oil rigs are destroyed, the bluster aimed at Iran and Russia is destroyed. So our rulers are chewing their claws to a nub with worry.
The Conflict We Chose
By Mark Weisbrot
The United States has relatively very little in the way of commercial relations with Russia, and therefore there are not powerful business interests here to counteract those whose primary goal is the projection of imperial power, or making money from arms sales. The Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, has been consistently bellicose towards Russia and had previously - long before the current military conflict -- called for expelling Russia from the G-8.
Eventually, our foreign policy establishment will have to adjust to the realities of the 21st century, in which Washington cannot simply tell the rest of the world what to do. They will learn to accept a multi-polar world where diplomacy, international law, and negotiations play a much larger role and military force and threats are much less significant. The question, as always, is how much Americans and the world will lose in blood and treasure before that happens.
In the meantime, the media coverage of this latest conflict shows how far we have to go before common sense can prevail. Appearing on Meet the Press on the Sunday following the eruption of armed conflict, David Broder, a Washington Post columnist who is the embodiment of inside-the-beltway conventional wisdom, said that this was "particularly a moment where John McCain can claim to have been prescient, because . . . he draws a very sharp line when it comes to Russia. ."
It won't be a 'multipolar world' in ten years. It will be unipolar. Europe can't exist as a confounded confederation of ethnic and religious groups that hate each other so much, the Walloons and the Belgians can't even agree on a government in a country not even the size of New Jersey? No 'nation' in the European confederation is even remotely as large as either Alaska or Texas. The only reason the European confederation can exist is because it, like Japan and England, is piggy-back riding the US military. If the US goes bankrupt or descends into open civil war, this vanishes. All empires, when they fail economically, fail politically.
What is at stake here is exactly how much 'blood and treasure' we might lose. If we start WWIII, we lose everything, totally. This totality is to be greatly feared. I knew the minute Reagan embraced the Star Wars concept, we would toy with the notion of holding the entire planet hostage to our new Pax Romana. We would then use this as a tool to rob people of their resources. And to defy the planet when we screw up.
The days of doing this with impunity ended with our unsuccessful invasion of Iraq. It is not far in the future when the US ends its 100 year war with Iraq and is booted out just like the Brits before us. The new Iraq/Iran confederation will be stronger than the European confederation. For the Iraqi majority population will be in total linguistic and religious harmony with the majority of Iranians!
CNN interview with Vladimir Putin
Matthew Chance: Many people around the world, even though you're not the president of Russia anymore, see you as the main decision maker in this country. Wasn't you that ordered Russian forces into Georgia and you who should take responsibility for the consequences?
Vladimir Putin: Of course, that's not the case. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the issues of foreign policy and defense are fully in the hands of the president. The president of the Russian Federation was acting within his powers.
As is known, yours truly was at that time at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. This alone made it impossible for me to take part in preparing that decision, although of course, President Medvedev was aware of my opinion on that issue. I'll be frank with you, and actually there is no secret about it, we had of course considered all the possible scenarios of events, including direct aggression by the Georgian leadership.
We had to think beforehand about how to provide for the security of our peace-keepers and of the citizens of the Russian Federation who are residents of South Ossetia. But, I repeat, such a decision could only be taken by the president of the Russian Federation, the commander in chief of the armed forces, Mr. Medvedev. It's his decision.
Comparing Putin's frank and honest talk with the lies our own politicians tell: sigh. Our politicians have this huge hole in the conversation they dare not enter: Jewish domination of all levels of US foreign policy. Recently, a very kind reader of Culture of Life News sent me an interesting book, 'The Limits of Power' by Andrew J. Bacevich. This book sounds totally reasonable, totally smart until someone like me reads it.
It should be renamed, 'The UNLIMITED Power'. For during and entire book talking endlessly about every nation on earth and its relations to the US and history, only ONE nation is NEVER mentioned except very obliquely just one time only: Israel! Mr. Bacevich is a member of the New World Order organization, the Council of Foreign Relations. This is the stew pot for all the stupid people who have worked tirelessly to destroy the US as an economic and political power. Mr. Bacevich is upset that his 28 year old son was blown up while he was trying to suppress the Iraqi freedom fighters.
This tool of the Real Rulers did a fabulous job of NOT telling the truth about ANYTHING while sounding totally sane and utterly honest. This level of dishonesty is typical of all the guys paid by the rulers to deflect or destroy our ability to see the truth. The truth is connected to the Apocalypse and is attached to the very same spot where King David, according to Jewish legends, stopped the Angel of Death on the threshing floor of a non-Jewish man who happened to live where Jerusalem was built. This threshing floor actually was the habitation of the Goddess of the Moon.
The occult nature of 'magic' comes from the ability to be totally visible while being invisible. The Ring of Power of Tolkien captured this concept nearly perfectly. To be able to rule but not be seen is the height of power. Note the invisible gods excel in this dark art. The nature of what assails us and what is driving us relentlessly into the Apocalypse is the gravest danger facing all humanity. In the mainstream, we hear about 'born again' Christians and McCain chose an oil-soaked believer in the Apocalypse as a running mate: she is a perfect Whore of Babylon on absolutely every level.
Back to Putin: he discusses the complex history of the southern borders of the Russian Empire with great clarity. Earlier, in Europe, he reminded everyone about Catherine the Great, the Prussian Princess. He has been patiently explaining history to everyone who listens. In the West, this is virtually no one. In China, the leadership gave him a very careful hearing and are now acting on this information. The agreement between both empires is an understanding of history, necessity and power. The Chinese are very attuned to power flows and the concept of invisible power while wielding god-like powers was embodied in Mao so they are very aware of this force.
CNN and Putin:
But I would like to recall that all these state entities, each in its own time, voluntarily integrated into the Russian Empire. Back in the mid-18th century, in 1745-1747, Ossetia was the first to become part of the Russian Empire. At that time, it was a united entity; North and South Ossetia were one state.
In 1801, if my memory serves me, Georgia itself, which was under some pressure from the Ottoman Empire, voluntarily became part of the Russian Empire.
It was only 12 years later, in 1812, that Abkhazia became part of the Russian Empire. Until that time, it had remained an independent state, an independent principality.
It was only in the mid-19th century that the decision was taken to incorporate South Ossetia into the Tiflis province. Within a common state, the matter was regarded as not very important. But I can assure you that subsequent years showed that the Ossetians did not much like it. However, de facto they were put by the tsar's central government under the jurisdiction of what is now Georgia.
When, after World War I, the Russian Empire broke up, Georgia declared its own state while Ossetia opted for staying within Russia; this happened right after the events of 1917.
In 1918, as a result of this, Georgia conducted a rather brutal punitive operation there, and in 1921, it repeated it.
When the Soviet Union was formed, these territories, by Stalin's decision, were definitively given to Georgia. As you know, Stalin was ethnically Georgian.
Therefore, those who insist that those territories must continue to belong to Georgia are Stalinists: They defend the decision of Josef Vissarionovich Stalin.
Putin wants to educate us. We want to be stupid. Stupid Presidential candidates always fare better than smart ones. We want to be led by the Common Man even if it is a series of very spoiled brats of one particular political clan, for example. All the political clans run on and on like the Rockerfellers, the Kennedys, the Bushes or the Clintons, just for a very few examples. There are many such. Udalls, Reagans, Cuomos, etc, etc just off the top of my head. They all talk 'stoopid.' They dare not talk like elites. This is why the total outsider, Obama, was accused by the media talking head liars, as an 'elitist'.
Obama is a tool of the elites. But he is a total outsider and he troubles them. What if he goes against their orders? This means a very messy assassination or impeachment over some trivial matter. Bush can get away with repeated gross negligence, outright criminal conspiracy and many Constitutional offenses big and small and 'impeachment is off the table'. But then, the ruling elites used the anthrax assassin as well as enabling the 9/11 assassins so letting the dark, invisible Ring of Power to deal with difficulties is pretty obvious. Obama signed his death warrant by choosing Biden who is 100% ruling elite as a running mate.
Of course, McCain and his Apocalyptic witch are in harmony: both want to have a Final Confrontation and Conflagration. I guess McCain thinks, he has a choice of which house to hide in when the bombs destroy the rest of this nation.
Putin:
Matthew Chance: The raw as you've mentioned areas of cooperation still between the United States and Russia, particularly for instance over the issue of Iran's very controversial nuclear program.
Are you suggesting that you may withdraw your cooperation with the United Nations in tackling that problem from the United States if the diplomatic pressure were to be ruptured up between Russian and the West?
Vladimir Putin: Russia has been working very consistently and in good faith with its partners on all problems, those that I've mentioned and those that you added. We do so not because someone asks us and we want to look good to them. We are doing it because this is consistent with our national interests, because in these areas, our national interests coincide with those of many European countries and of the United States. If no one wants to talk to us about these problems and cooperation with Russia becomes unnecessary, God bless, do this work yourself.
Matthew Chance: And what about the issue of energy supply, because obviously European countries in particular are increasingly dependent on Russian gas and on Russian oil. Would Russia ever use the supply of energy to western Europe as a leaver to apply pressure should the diplomatic tensions be ratcheted up?
Vladimir Putin: We have never done it. Construction of the first gas pipeline system was started during the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, and for all those years, from the 1960s until this day, Russia has been fulfilling its contract obligations in a very consistent and reliable way, regardless of the political situation.
We never politicize economic relations, and we are quite astonished at the position of some U.S. administration officials who travel to European capitals trying to persuade the Europeans not to buy our products, natural gas for example, in a truly amazing effort to politicize the economic sphere. In fact, it's quite pernicious.
It's true that the Europeans depend on our supplies but we too depend on whoever buys our gas. That's interdependence; that's precisely the guarantee of stability.
The US still wants Russia to do our bidding. And Putin is basically and diplomatically tellling us to jump in a lake or go to hell or both. The US and Europe, while preparing for a confrontation over Iran, are trying desperately to find some solution to their energy problems. They know the Middle East will be in flames. The hope is, the US will assist Israel in destroying all military power in Iran. The attempt to disarm Iran has floundered in the UN and is, as of today, totally dead. Neither Russia nor China are even slightly interested in this process anymore.
The US whining about the Olympics has united the Chinese against the West. Patriotism is flowering there due to Western attempts at destroying China, upending their government and driving wedges between ethnic and religious groups in China. This failure has epic repercussions! The US thinks this is a game. For the Chinese, it is survival. Since they are serious and we are addle-brained, they will resolutely follow their own chosen path which is all about clipping our economic wings so we can't wage endless wars. Pax China will rise like a Phoenix in Asia. This is History. We can't stop the Wheel of History anymore than we can persuade the Furies to ignore hubris or the Norns, fate.
Europe doesn't want to buy things from Russia. They want to LOOT Russia. Europe and American don't want to buy things from China. They want to ENSLAVE the hardy Chinese workers. Far from being all about peace and freedom, the real goals of the West as is the secret desires of the rulers is to ENSLAVE AND LOOT. Europe did this with total impunity from 1600 to 2000 AD. The idea that this is over and done with and now in reverse is hard to accept. Europe and the US want desperately to believe that the magic Ring of Power which is nuclear bombs will allow the loot and enslave business to continue....this is pure Nabucco madness.
Russia: Iran N-plant operational in '08
Iran's first Russian-built nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr will become operational by the end of 2008, Moscow says.
"Russia is seriously committed to completing and running Bushehr power plant in the shortest possible time," Russia's ambassador to Tehran, Alexander Sadovnikov, said Saturday.
Russia began the delivery of 82 tons of nuclear fuel to Bushehr in late 2007, giving rise to speculation that the Iranian power plant would become operational earlier in 2008.
According to the Russian envoy, the delays have been caused by 'sanctions imposed by Western powers'.
Russia is moving very fast now that the game has moved from diplomacy to open warfare. The Russians hoped the latest US elections would be all about peace, not more wars. But I noted long ago, the media owners want war and they use their own Ring of Power that keeps them cloaked in invisibility so they can manipulate the masses into wanting only pro-war candidates. So we have both vying for the crown of Evil Warlord rather than Sane Diplomat. And if Obama does play Sane Diplomat, he will be eliminated totally and with harsh prejudice. The Praetorian Guard will either let down their guard or he will be invited to go to Texas to give a speech for 'unity'. Even if he avoids open cars and crowds, it is laughably easy to eliminate him. And I would suggest, he is smart enough to know this.
China Dumps US Dollar Denominated Debt: Bank of China flees Fannie-Freddie
Bank of China has cut its portfolio of securities issued or guaranteed by troubled US mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by a quarter since the end of June.
The sale by China's fourth largest commercial bank, which reduced its holdings of so-called agency debt by $4.6bn, is a sign of nervousness among foreign buyers of Fannie and Freddie's bonds and guaranteed securities.over the mortgage financiers' capital positions and the timing and structure of a potential government rescue has made some investors reassess their exposures. Asian investors in particular have become net sellers of agency debt, said analysts.
Federal Reserve custody data shows that for the year to July, foreign official and private investors bought an average of $20bn of agency debt a month, including debt issued by other government agencies such as Ginnie Mae and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Purchases of US Treasuries averaged $9.25bn.
From July 16 to August 20, foreign investors sold $14.7bn of agency debt, trimming their overall holdings to $972bn. They purchased $71.1bn of Treasuries in the same period.
Our days of whine and bozos is ending. The Chinese 'be bank' and is pulling our credit line. Right in time for hurricanes to hammer us again. We can't beg them for more money. The very inflationary stimulus package dampened American fears of finances but fueled inflation. The temporary drop in oil prices has fooled everyone into thinking this would lead back to the wonderland of $10 a barrel oil of the Clinton years.
This is not going to happen. Russia was weak back then and being looted by Europe. Today, it is one of the greatest powers on earth with the new alliance with China which was weak back in 1992. Today, it is a giant that straddles all of Asia and is now flexing its muscles. China doesn't need us anymore. They can rule the world without us. And luckily, they know about the Apocalypse because some of them lived with me. They know that this worries me more than anything. They want PEACE, not TOTAL WAR. And if we are fortunate, they will dictate peace terms to us before we blow up the entire planet.
To avoid all this, all we have to do is disarm. Like we want the Iranians to do. We can also beg Russia and China to disarm. This would be Heaven, not Hell. Which takes me back to the innermost reality of the Outer Darkness: when lightning strikes, the positive and negative polarity is united. Up is down and in is out and everything is nothing and one either dies or is reborn! We are nearing such a state.
August 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
A Deeper Analysis Of Shanghai Cooperation Meeting
Obama is elevated on a magic number day of some significance. The media is just ROARING with propaganda aimed at Russia and China. We see clearly the naked fear of the foolish debtor nations of England and the US, trying to intimidate the combined financial powers of Russia and super-giant creditor nation, China. Iran, Israel and a host of smaller nations are riding this firestorm looking out for themselves. As is normal. But the US wants to see the world as good and evil and not as a conglomeration of self-interested nations seeking advantages! Looks like Europe is egging Russia into retaliating by cutting off all energy to Europe. Oil will SHOOT UP if this happens. Ditto, gold. WWIII, here we come.
Fly's brain 'senses swat threat'
Researchers in the US say that they have solved the mystery of why flies are so hard to swat.
They think the fly's ability to dodge being hit is due to its fast acting brain and an ability to plan ahead.
High speed, high resolution video recordings revealed the insects quickly work out where a threat is coming from and prepare an escape route.
The research suggests that the best way of swatting a fly is to creep up slowly and aim ahead of its location.
*snip*
Flies put their bodies into pre-flight mode very rapidly - Within 100 milliseconds of spotting the swatter they can position their centre of mass in the right way so that a simple extension of their legs propels them away from any threat.
The scientists found that flies were able to put themselves into this rapid reaction position no matter whether they were grooming, feeding or simply walking.
Flies are obvious smarter than the host of US political classes, the neo cons, the many warmongering media owners, the warmongering US candidates for President: all seem to be able to react to a fly swatter by jumping to it rather than away from it! The deft fly is in stark contrast to the predictable flight pattern of the US political fly. These flies buzz about one's face and are hard to swat away. But if you turn on a blue-light in Russia or China, these flies zip right over and get zapped.
Maybe if they were to merge with a fly like in the movie, The Fly, and have a fly's brain, they might improve their survivability somewhat? Until the Chinese manufacture a giant flyswatter.
Russia may cut off oil flow to the West
Fears are mounting that Russia may restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe over coming days, in response to the threat of EU sanctions and Nato naval actions in the Black Sea.
Any such move would be a dramatic escalation of the Georgia crisis and play havoc with the oil markets.
Reports have begun to circulate in Moscow that Russian oil companies are under orders from the Kremlin to prepare for a supply cut to Germany and Poland through the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline. It is believed that executives from lead-producer LUKoil have been put on weekend alert.
"They have been told to be ready to cut off supplies as soon as Monday," claimed a high-level business source, speaking to The Daily Telegraph. Any move would be timed to coincide with an emergency EU summit in Brussels, where possible sanctions against Russia are on the agenda.
OK: the EU, UK and US have a huge embargo on Iran and Cuba. Next: Russia. How about China, while we are at it? Indeed, why not boycott much of the third world, too? If we engineer a boycott of China, they will engineer not only a boycott of the G7 West by all their many allies across the planet, they and Russia can also dump trillions of dollars onto global currency markets. Whoo hoo. $500 a barrel oil, here we come!
I am betting this is all just a bunch of people with brains somewhat less responsive to danger than fly brains. They think this way: 'We are collectively the world's biggest empire! We have ruled the earth for 500 years. We are the Ruling Elites of the New World Order! We can command all those stupid people in Russia and China to obey our imperial edicts! HAHAHA. Hey, let's do another sneak attack on Russia like we did so often in the past? HAHAHA. Moscow, here we come! It is only September, after all! We will make it to Moscow by November!'
At this point, some grizzled, old Europeans should wake up from their slumber to remind everyone the stupidity of even talking about this. Europe has lived so long under the US nuclear umbrella, they have forgotten important lessons in life. One is, the nation which one menaces must be weak if one wishes to push them around. Russia emphatically is NOT in this category. Also, wishful thinking is stupid if a huge flyswatter's shadow is right overhead.
Europe can't go to Iran for energy if Russia cuts off Europe. They can't demand the US supply them with fuel. The US is already deep in debt over fuel imports. Indeed, the central banks of the G7 have just moved heaven and hell to strengthen the dying dollar so they can resume the status quo of them exporting to the US much more than the US can export to them. Today, the news boasts about how we have increased exports. But that is OVER now.
The US is trying hysterically to project power on Russia and this is causing Russia to smash Europe to smithereens. Europe could have courted Russia but the reflexes there over the last 500 years has been to defy and be-bother the Russians. Even when alliances are made like the ones during the Napoleonic wars, the allies of Russia would surrender to Napoleon after just one or two battles while leaving the Russian army totally alone and exposed to the united forces of France and its new allies, former allies of Russia!
Each time, Russia had to run away, fast. Then Napoleon and all of Russia's former allies turned on Russia and invaded. This led to the total destruction of Napoleon's Grande Armee and the end of his rule in Europe. Russia knows this history. This makes them very touchy. Russia never surrenders, they retreat. Europe has no where to retreat. So these people must be very careful not to start WWIII. Europe started WWI and WWII. Now, will they want WWIII? One wonders about the sanity of the leaders of Europe. Flies are smarter.
Telegraph of Britain:
Such action would be seen as economic warfare but Russia has been infuriated by Nato meddling in its "backyard" and threats of punitive measures by the EU. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday accused EU diplomats of a "sick imagination".
Armed with $580bn of foreign reserves (the world's third largest), Russia appears willing to risk its reputation as a reliable actor on the international stage in order to pursue geo-strategic ambitions.
"We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a Cold War," said President Dmitry Medvedev.
Da, this is Pravda. Russia has little to fear. If the US, EU and UK all want to terminate all trade with Russia, fine, says the Bear. The Bear knows that the World Trade Organization is about as popular as spiders in a jar of flies. They know that the third world will applaud them defying the Flat Earth society of the New World Order G7. The G7 central bankers spend most of last year, berating China about China's banking system and monetary policies before shutting up when the entire banking system of the G7 went under the red ink waters and drowned. Now, sans a working banking system, the G7 nations want economic war with a huge hunk of the world. A hunk that has a huge nuclear arsenal.
Security Group Refuses to Back Russia's Actions
Russia suffered a significant setback here on Thursday, as members of a regional security group in which the Kremlin plays an important role offered little support for Moscow's military action in Georgia.
Dmitri A. Medvedev, the Russian president, came to this Central Asian capital for the annual summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or S.C.O., with the hopes that the six-member group would provide the strong international backing the Kremlin has so far lacked after its incursion into Georgia. Russia has urged other nations to follow its lead and recognize Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
Instead, the Shanghai organization, which also includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, took a neutral stance, urging Russia and Georgia to resolve their differences peacefully.
"The S.C.O. states express grave concern in connection with the recent tensions around the South Ossetia issue and urge the sides to solve existing problems peacefully, through dialogue, and to make efforts facilitating reconciliation and talks," the summit meeting's final joint declaration said.
The media in the G7 nations is hilarious. It won't understand what Russia and China are doing. China doesn't have to be belligerent like the US or UK, for example. China is doing the 'good cop' to Russia's 'bad bear cop.' Russia growls and China sighs and says, 'We must resolve this peacefully and I will be very happy to do this for you guys, hahaha.'
China LOVES diplomacy. Without shooting off either their mouths or their guns, they get far more bank for their diplomatic bucks than the G7 gets for their bluster and fury coupled with demands for money, energy supplies and cheap manufactured goods. China is very delighted to be able to call upon the US to be peaceful and NOT go to war all the time. Got that? HAHAHA again. This is so dumb. China stands on the world stage, the guarantor of peace and prosperity while the US squares off with Russia, trying to start WWIII. So who wins this round? NOT THE US.
The warmongers at the NYT:
The Shanghai organization's leaders did endorse an aspect of Russia's involvement in the Caucasus, saying it approved of "the active role of Russia in assisting in peace and cooperation in the region." However, it also underscored the importance of territorial integrity — a statement that could be applied to Georgia's struggle with its breakaway regions.
HAHAHA. Um, hey! I recall that even in most of my lifetime, Georgia was PART OF RUSSIA! And China didn't make it clear that Georgia was a separate state. They did say that we should use diplomacy and respect spheres of influence. China is very annoyed with the US trying to split up China and also trying to ring both Russia and China with hostile military forces. The Chinese are not endorsing the US Pax system.
Now, let's go to China for the real news. Unlike the propagandists in the West, China cheerfully let us see the actual agreements and proclamations from this Shanghai summit:
Chinese president makes proposal on regional peace, common prosperity among SCO members
(Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao, in a keynote speech Thursday at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tajik capital Dushanbe, made a five-point proposal for joint efforts to develop lasting peace, common prosperity and regional harmony.
STRENGTHENING STRATEGIC CONSULTATION AND POLITICAL MUTUAL TRUST
Efforts should be made to promote mutual support on important issues concerning security and development of member nations in keeping with the SCO Charter and the Treaty on Long-term Good-neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, Hu said.
SCO members should make full use of the mechanisms of the Council of Foreign Ministers and the Council of National Coordinators in boosting strategic consultations on vital and sensitive issues that affect the security, stability and development of the member nations and the region, he said.
DEVELOPMENT OF CLOSER SECURITY COOPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF REGIONAL PEACE
The Chinese president praised the effective cooperation by SCO members on security during the Beijing Olympics and called for continuous cooperation in this regard for similar events to be hosted by the member nations in the future.
Efforts should be made to develop and deepen the various meeting mechanisms such as meetings of Secretaries of Security Councils, Ministers of Defence, Heads of Supreme Courts and Prosecutors General, which have played an important role in safeguarding peace and stability in the region, Hu said.
He called for deepened cooperation among SCO member nations in arresting members of the "three evil forces" (terrorism, separatism and extremism) and criminals involved in other organized transnational crimes such as drug trafficking.
The president also proposed that SCO member nations make joint anti-terror maneuvers a mechanism, and fully implement the anti-drug agreement and the action plan on ensuring international information security.
DEEPENING ECONOMIC COOPERATION, AND REALIZING A MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL AND ALL-WIN SITUATION
Noting the advantages of the SCO in fending off impacts from world economic turbulences as its members include major economies, big food and energy producers as well as huge markets, Hu urged SCO members to make effective use of such advantages, continue efforts to facilitate easy flow of trade and investment, continue to select and implement new model projects in transportation, energy and communication, and to enhance financial and agricultural cooperation.
He expressed the hope that SCO members would implement the agreements on customs mutual assistance and strengthen cooperation in customs supervision and personnel training.
The Chinese president pledged credit support on a larger scale to fellow SCO members, saying China, as a responsible partner, will continue consultation with relevant countries in selecting projects and provide the credits it has promised.
PROMOTING HUMANITARIAN COOPERATION AND ESTABLISHING LINKS OF FRIENDSHIP
Hu said efforts should be made to boost the cooperation among SCO member countries in culture, education, science and technology, sports and tourism, and to promote academic exchanges and exchanges among the young people.
The president called for strengthened cooperation in disaster prevention and relief within the organization, as natural disasters hit the region from time to time, and called for the establishment of a disaster relief center for the organization.
With serious epidemic diseases becoming new threats to the world, Hu said, cooperation among SCO members should be strengthened in the prevention and control of epidemics, transnational medical services, coordination in dealing with public health emergencies, traditional medicine and personnel training.
IMPLEMENTING PRINCIPLE OF OPENING UP AND JOINTLY STRIVING FOR REGIONAL HARMONY
The president noted that it has been a keystone in the SCO's external affairs in recent years to conduct practical cooperation with its observers.
He said China suggests closer cooperation between the organization and its observers, and inviting the observers to participate in inter-departmental cooperation in fields like security, economy and trade, energy, transportation, customs and culture.
China highly evaluates the regulations on the dialogue partnership to be approved by the SCO, and welcomes relevant countries and international organizations, through the dialogue partnership platform, to join efforts with the SCO to promote stability and development in the region.
Sounds like the UN! Sounds...reasonable. When we compare this with the howls from the G-7 powers, it is mild and careful. But behind all this is a strong message: the Shanghai group is consolidating power inside itself. It is a stronger and stronger organization as the US and Europe weakens. It is interested in securing each other's borders. And not one iota of this is from the Europeans or Americans. The G7 nations don't respect borders. They recognized Kosovo in the teeth of disapproval of the entire Shanghai organization. NATO wants to expand and doesn't care if this conflicts with the other nations. To hell with them, sneers Europe and America!
Well, this 'My NATO way or the highway' ideology is very nasty and is totally in the wrong. And the Shanghai proclamation makes this pretty clear. China, unlike the US, doesn't need to bluster. They know they have a firm grip on the economic neck of the US. They are being actually rather kind to us. If we imagine this is a green light to attack Russia, well.....History makes this very clear: many a delusional dictator or hysterical nation has thought this same thing. And ended up dead.
Now for a photo from China, one that has NOT appeared in ANY western propaganda war media reports:
Hey! Who are these dudes?
Why look here: Iran Kitty himself, grinning like the Cheshire cat. And the guy who runs Bagdad. And the President of a tiny part of Afghanistan! HAHAHA. Um, I see some real problems here. Are they in America standing shoulder to shoulder with us as we bark like demented dogs at Russia? Or were they having vodka and tea with Russia and China this week? My god, what does it take to wake people up?
A giant fly swatter?
Xinhua News in China: SCO leaders say no int'l problems can be solved by merely using force
DUSHANBE, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Top leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) agreed Thursday that any attempt to solve problems by merely resorting to force could not work and would only hinder a comprehensive settlement of local conflicts.
A comprehensive solution to existing problems can be found only by taking into account the interests of all parties involved and including them all in the negotiation process rather than isolating any of them, said the leaders in a joint declaration issued at the conclusion of their summit in the Tajik capital.
OK: this is the Chinese summary. Do NOT isolate Russia. Cooperate with Russia. Negotiate with Russia. This didn't displease the Russians at all, by the way. They could turn around and snarl at Europe but note they are not going to war, they are merely telling Europe very curtly, any cessation in commerce will involve the cutting of all energy systems. Simple enough. Europe can ask China to negotiate a peace just like Japan and South Korea ended up asking China to negotiate with North Korea. The US can't negotiate anything anymore because we are stupider than flies.
Now for a word from Iran Kitty:
Ahmadinejad lauds Shanghai pact and Iran's determining role
TEHRAN – President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on Sunday called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization a very important regional and international bloc and said Iran plays a determining role in international developments in its interaction with other countries.
Iran's participation in the conference at this juncture that the world is "undergoing major changes is very important," Ahmadinejad told reporters upon his departure for the SCO summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
He expressed hope that the talks in the summit will lead to "useful and expected results for member states, region, and international community."
The president will hold talks with some summiteers on the sidelines of the conference. "In these meetings bilateral subjects, regional issues and the current situation of world will be reviewed."
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental international organization founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001 by six countries, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its member states cover an area of about three fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.455 billion. Its working languages are Chinese and Russian.
Ahmadinejad called the SCO a very important regional pact which is speedily finding its place in the region and the world.
"The domain of the cooperation between these countries in economic, political fields is expanding," the Iranian president explained.
Oh to be a fly on the wall at these meetings between Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Russia! With the Chinese dragon lounging on its golden throne, sharpening its claws with a file. The cat purrs as it rubs against fellow Shi'as, 'Meow, we will win the war with the Infidels!' The bear rolls its eyes.
Israel unlikely to berate Russia
As the US and Russia sent military vessels to dock at different Georgian ports on Wednesday, Israel continued to tread carefully, issuing no statement regarding Russia's recognition of the breakaway Georgian provinces and - in an apparent show of balance - is planning to send humanitarian aid not only to Georgia, but to North Ossetia as well.
Anatoly Yurkov, the charge d'affaires at Russia's embassy in Tel Aviv, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview that Moscow appreciated the balanced position Israel had taken throughout the crisis, as well as its "low profile."
A first meeting was held in the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to discuss Russia's recognition a day earlier of the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Post has learned that while Israel would most likely decide to continue to recognize Georgia's "territorial integrity," it was unlikely to join the chorus of condemnations of Russia coming from the US, Germany and Britain. It would also certainly not recognize the breakaway republics.
HAHAHA. Back pedal time! Israel is NOT bellowing at Russia. Israel looks after its own needs and affairs. Too bad, Israel won't let us do this. Nope. We have to do what they want. They will TRIANGULATE. All nations do this! This is normal. The US should be doing this with Israel but instead, all our politicians swear fealty to Israel while Israel doesn't swear the slightest fealty to the US. Some ally. Very similar to Japan, by the way. Japan ran off to have a secret meeting with China last fall when the yen suddenly become very strong against the dollar. After this meeting, the yen weakened again and not once has Japan joined the other G7 yapping puppies barking at China about the value of the yuan.
Joe Biden: Russia, China, India: "The Real War"
Obama's running mate presents the strategic plan for the next administration
On Aug 27 2008 at the Democratic Convention in Denver, Vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden presented the plan for the real war, the war against China, Russia. He repeated the key points pushed by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his obsessive determination to go to the final clash with Russia and Asia.
For Biden, The greates mistake of the Bush administration was its failure "to face the biggest forces shaping this century. The emergence of Russia, China and India's great powers".
What was the "consequence of this neglect"? "Russia challenging… Georgia's freedom." The Obama-Biden administration will repair those criminal mistakes... Barack and I will end that neglect. We will hold Russia accountable."
The wars of the Bush administration were, so to speak the wrong ones.
The new administration will unchain the real war. The war to confront the emergence of Russia, China, India.
The war, the real war will have to be waged in Afghanistan/Pakistan - exactly the area where it will be more disruptive for the feared Russia, China India challenge.
The previous administration was not warmonger enough, according to Biden. The new Democratic administration will increase the number of troops sent in central Asia.
Fools come in many stripes. The GOP has no armlock on stupidity. The DNC is pure New World Order. Americans will troop to Denver Stadium to cheer a bright future. Only it is no future. It is the past. And the past is dead, I say. No one wants to recognize this. The US cannot menace Russia. Russia owns us. Russia owns a hunk of Europe. And China owns everyone. Zbigniew Brzezinski is Polish. He wants Russia reduced to serf status. Poor, weak and helpless so Poland can strut and fret and feel powerful. This is stupid. Poland always gets run over by Russia whenever European leaders do sneak attacks on Russia. So Poland should be playing nice with Russia, not egging on yet another world war.
England is equally insane this week, by the way:
LONDON: Miliband says "no question" of war with Russia
(Reuters) - There is no question of launching "all-out war" against Russia, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday, while condemning Moscow's "invasion" of Georgia.
Miliband, asked whether NATO would go to war against Moscow if it were to attack a neighbouring country or ally again, said: "We don't want all-out war with Russia ... There's no question of launching an all-out war against Russia."
NATO is committed to the principle that an attack against one or several members would be considered an attack against all, and to defending its members against aggression. Georgia is not a NATO member but it has ambitions to join.
NATO was not an "offensive" alliance, Miliband told BBC Radio.
Lord, that last statement is pure insanity. NATO has invaded several countries, one of which was disarmed by the United Nations so the US attack could proceed without incident. The UN is dead. Saddam is dead. But Putin and Hu are very much alive and kicking our asses. NATO doesn't want an all-out war with Russia. They just want a PARTIAL war with Russia!
Alas, History is very stern: all wars do what they do. Small wars can swiftly turn into massive World Wars. When Saddam was induced into attacking a corner of Iran so he could steal Iran's oil wells, this turned into a major war between the two countries. This, in turn, cause world oil prices to shoot to the heavens. This, in turn, destroyed the US economy, fueled hyper-inflation and gave us all great, great grief. If we knew it would send oil to over $150 a barrel in today's inflationary dollars, we would have begged Saddam to NOT invade Iran!
But we did the opposite. China has made it very clear: the West can negotiation and stop the violent threats and rhetoric or they will be facing a huge coalition in the UN led by China, the third world, South America, a host of nations condemning the war the G7 seem stupidly to launch.
August 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (34)
Russia And China Ascendant
As the US celebrates the two conventional conventions which feature crushing abuse of demonstrators and even the highest levels of the media, the situation in the Black Sea continues to broil. The grossly over-extended US empire is pretending to muscle everyone even as the chief rivals play games of cat and mouse with our over-muscled but physically weak empire. Like a weight lifter about to die of a heart attack, the US flexes its military muscles while everyone laughs behind their hands, pointing at our red, puffed up visage.
Russia wins backing from China, Central Asia over Georgia
(AFP) — Russia won support Thursday from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over the Georgia conflict as the European Union said it was weighing sanctions against Moscow.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the "united position" of a summit of Central Asian nations would "serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white".
China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan voiced support for Russia's "active role" in resolving the conflict in Georgia, according to the draft of a joint statement released by the Kremlin.
Leaders from the countries met in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional group set up in 2001 to counter NATO influence in the strategic Central Asia region.
One thing about Agence France Presse is they are French and therefore, not all that prone to cough up propaganda. So if they say that Russia has support from China and others, Russia has this. Some commentators this month have suggested that China would not support Russia in this matter because China sensibly doesn't want to be broken up into shattered shards like Russia. Russia, we better remember, become this way due to going bankrupt! The US, incidentally and obviously is going bankrupt, too.
The US has heartily endorsed the break up of all other nations since WWI. We went from fighting our most vicious war in 1860 over the concept of there being no right to break up the United States into individual confederations to proposing all other nations be chopped apart according to language, religious or ideological lines! NO nation is EVER consistent in philosophy. All follow just one rule: do as you wish whenever you want.
Since this is the only rule, it is very important to figure out what this means: all alliances are temporary. And all alliances are an equal danger as well as strength. Alliances can lead to massive wars. Or prevent them. Depending on the skills, sensibilities and desires of the leaders.
Russia fails to win support of Asian alliance
CNN) -- Russia's hopes of winning international support for its actions in Georgia were dashed Thursday, when China and other Asian nations expressed concern about mounting tensions in the region. The joint declaration from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, which includes China, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, said the countries hoped any further conflict could be resolved peacefully through dialogue.
The Chinese have this ritual: they want everything to be resolved via diplomacy. As well they might. Two of the world's greatest diplomats are Hu and Wen. Both go about the planet, making deals, setting up systems and in general, building a huge imperial complex based on joint interests and money. For the Chinese have something the US doesn't have: money. Credit. Power. The US goes about the planet waving guns like some desperado because the US has no more power except the gun. Like any street thug with no job, we have a pug on a leash with spikes on its collar and we trundle about, threatening little old ladies trying to cash their Social Security checks. Or beating up little Palestinian or Iraqi boys for throwing rocks at us.
CNN has to lie to Americans because it pays to lie. If the truth were told, we would not be seeing this election. This election is all about projecting US power. And what is being projected is the image of a clown. The US should hope that Obama wins simply because he has some small talents in the realm of being civilized. He knows how to eat without spitting out food while talking with his mouth full like Bush tends to do. Or throwing up in the Japanese prime minister's lap like Bush Sr. He doesn't talk funny or sing silly songs about bombing innocent civilians. So he isn't a monkey or a chipmunk waving a wooden sword. McCain's bellicosity is exactly what the Chinese want. The two top diplomats of the world can point to this blustering old dottering man who can't remember his home address and say, 'We must disarm him.'
Since Israel, Europe and the US has made disarmament the #1 topic in international politics, I would think the US would happily disarm once the Chinese request this at the UN. And Russia is already going to the UN to demand NATO disarm. And morally, Russia is in the right. Europe and America refused to protect Russian peacekeepers from a sneak attack, after all. Europe and America refused to condemn this sneak attack. Europe and the US have armed and supported a country that has attacked peacekeepers. This is so embarrassing, watching the bellicosity in the US media whip up outrage in America while being totally in the moral wrong here.
G7 condemns Russian recognition of Georgian regions
(Reuters) - The Group of Seven rich nations Wednesday issued a stinging condemnation of Russia's decision to recognize Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the United States said.
The G7 is a federation of powers which have latched onto the US military machine after WWII and taken it over. Germany and Japan went from defeat to total victory over the US in a mere 50 years. By 1980, both nations had financial control over the US. The US negotiated one deal after another to fix this and failed. Both nations fund US military power via loans which are climbing rapidly in cost. Paying the interest on these loans which were run up so we can patrol Europe and Asia on behalf of Germany and Japan is now bankrupting the US. And are so large, these two victors in the 20th century struggle for global dominance cannot fund the US anymore.
So Russia and China, the two nations that lost the Cold War's struggle for power are now the ones mainly funding US spending on military dominance. Thus, these two losers are changed magically into winners of the Cold War. The US is astonishingly trying to restart the Cold War while being owned by the same powers that lost the previous Cold War. This is sheer insanity. The G7 are no longer 'rich' nations. They have in their group, one rather poor nation: the United States of America. And since this poor nation is the centerpiece of the G7 powers, it is the key to destroying the entire G7's powers. The US goes under financially, both Germany and Japan will be exposed to the full fury of two great powers that HATE them with a passion and who were NOT paid reparations for WWII when Germany and Japan ravaged both China and Russia!
NYT editorial: Stuck in Georgia
And if that isn't unnerving enough, President Bush has decided to dispatch Vice President Dick Cheney, that master of diplomacy, to the region.
Awash in oil wealth and giddy after crushing tiny Georgia, Russia's leaders are striking back at real and imagined humiliations. The West's failure to fully marshal its leverage is painful to watch. But Russia also has a lot to lose. Moscow's decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia will only harden battle lines and sow further regional instability.
We know some in the Kremlin don't care if ties with the West are broken. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the dark hand behind Russia's aggression, blustered this week that Russia would be better off if it didn't join the World Trade Organization.
HAHAHA. The WTO is hated across the planet. Before the US turned into a total Soviet police state, we used to have huge, lively anti-WTO demonstrations. All over the place, whenever the WTO tries to meet, there are riots! The WTO has to now meet in isolated resorts surrounded by heavy military installations. Russia defying this organization makes Russia more, not less, popular with the global masses! China doesn't mind using the WTO to colonize the US. Japan loves the WTO because they have a million tricks up their kimono sleeves for restricting global penetration of Fortress Japan. This comedy of errors should be terminated as fast as possible by the US. For of all nations, the US has been ravaged the worse thanks to the WTO.
It is our real enemy. It is why we are now dying as a sovereign power and are now going bankrupt.
NYT is totally for the WTO, incidentally.
A blustering visit from Mr. Cheney would also make it far easier for the Europeans to avoid doing what they need to do: send their own clear message to Moscow that there will be no business as usual. That does not mean completely isolating Russia. But when the Europeans meet next week, they should agree to put on hold a trade and security deal with Moscow so long as it continues to occupy Georgia and threaten its neighbors.
Ties between Russia and the West are now the worst in a generation. It will take toughness and subtlety to ensure they do not lock into a permanent confrontation — not more bluster from anyone.
This blustering, stupid editorialist doesn't seem to clearly understand that if Europe yells at Russia and demands Russia stop trading, Russia will stop. Then Germany and France can freeze to death and watch all their factories close down due to lack of energy. As Putin might say, 'Make my day.'
What the NYT wishes to imagine is, Europe can pick and choose which things they want from Russia. Then they can punish Russia while not cutting off their own noses. But Russia will cut off their noses! Russia has no interest in selling energy while being punished. Tit for tat. As I said at the beginning of this analysis, in international politics, the rule is, leaders do whatever they want, when they want. Treaties or no treaties. Punishments or no punishments. If they happen to be getting along, they get along. When this ceases, they go off and do whatever they want.
The US wanted both oil and to stop Saddam from funding the Palestinian uprising against Israeli invaders in the Middle East. So we cooked up charges, disarmed Saddam and then lunged at his throat. Now, we squat there, dying every day, going bankrupt rapidly, trying to strongarm Iraq's Shia government into some sort of treaty that will lock them in as our servants and weaken them as much as humanly possible. But this is a total failure. The longer this process takes, the stronger the Shi'a become and the weaker the US becomes. Time is of the essence for the US. And the Iranians know this. So they are not eager to see the US stop negotiations. They want this to continue forever or until the US collapses.
Europe needs Iraqi and Iranian oil. Europe wants this oil under the aegis of the US military power. Europe has no means of securing this precious oil without the US. But the US hates the Shi'ites, the US wants to weaken them so they can't support their own people in Lebanon. The US is all mixed up in its goals because the #1 goal here is actually to secure Israel, not the US nor Europe. Since this is a totally contradictory goal, this means the mode of operation as well as the diplomatic goals are utterly at odds with each other and therefore, unattainable.
Now to go to Antiwar.com, a great web page for all information about the US thrashing about the planet, uselessly:
One would think that a coast guard vessel has a fairly straight forward task: patrol the littoral waters surrounding the country.
However, it appears that the US coast guard, like the national guard, has a history of being used in imperial warfare. For instance, the USCGC Dallas, the largest coast guard ship currently in commission, has just made a pit stop in Georgia. Not the Peach State, but rather in the Black Sea near the Caucasus.
Here is my reply to the many military personnel who posted proud answers to this charge that the US military is NOT protecting the US but is scattered about the planet:
9/11 showed the world, the US military and other organizations is so focused on patrolling the entire planet, no one is protecting America. After 9/11, our desire to patrol the entire planet has done two things: left the US utterly unprotected and bankrupted our government.
The dilly-dallying about the planet with our forces scattered to the winds is the usual thrashing around of a dying empire. When England went bankrupt during WWI, they continued to expand their empire afterwards [including a disastrous war in Iraq] and they scattered their forces even more across the planet.
All this, knowing that their home base was totally vulnerable to a frontal attack. So of course, this happened a second time. Unlike WWI, in WWII, the attacks were directly on England and England nearly collapsed. As it was, the rolling up of the English empire was so easy, soldiers on bicycles in Asia were able to overwhelm the bedraggled last strands of the British Empire in Southeast Asia.
The US is using up all available tools at hand in a wild, last attempt at securing our empire. We foolishly imagine, if we have token troops in 130 different countries, this will control all potential rivals. To do this, we have handed over our sovereignty to dire rivals who have only one goal: the termination of the US empire.
China and Russia hold very significant amounts of US debts. Both did this thanks to wild US misspending on global domination systems. Both intend to use this as a way of toppling US international power. The fact is that the US ships are madly trying to muscle so many distant shores has weakened US power which cannot be brought into action anywhere due to this. If we send the vast majority of our fleets into three cul de sac water systems surrounded by hostile powers, we should not be surprised if we lose all our fleets at once.
The truth is, Russia and China can sink our entire navy in a flash if our navy is trapped in these dead-end seas. In WWII, Britain was very lucky that Germany didn't have enough subs to sink all British ships in the Mediterranean. Since the US was supplying Britain, the Germans concentrated on the North Atlantic instead. Otherwise, the Brits would have had virtually no navy outside of the one attached to the US empire.
The US foreign policy fools who have driven the US right off the cliff should be arrested for treason. Sending our local as well as overseas navies to these obvious traps is treason. Even if nothing happens to them—this time—the trap is still set, jaws opened wide. This level of irresponsibility is as great as the 9/11 levels. The Pentagon and White House sat idle during a long multi-level attack because they wanted it to succeed.
They intend to do this again with our navies as 'bait' to Russia and China. Then they get the Cold War back. But this is stupid because it will bring us WWIII instead.
Francis Fukuyama at the warmongering Washington Post:
Are we entering the age of the autocrat? It's certainly tempting to think so after watching Russia's recent clobbering of Georgia. That invasion clearly marks a new phase in world politics, but it's a mistake to think that the future belongs to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and his fellow despots.
I'm particularly interested in trying to discern the shape of the new international moment, because I wrote an essay in 1989 entitled "The End of History?" It argued that liberal ideas had conclusively triumphed at the end of the Cold War. But today, U.S. dominance of the world system is slipping; Russia and China offer themselves as models, showing off a combination of authoritarianism and modernization that offers a clear challenge to liberal democracy. They seem to have plenty of imitators.
China's problem today, unlike in imperial times, is that it doesn't have a well-articulated sense of what the country represents in the larger world. The so-called Beijing Consensus, which mixes authoritarian government with market economics, is popular in many developing countries, and with good reason: Under Beijing's rules, national leaders can just do business and make money, without being hectored about democracy and human rights.
At the Democratic Convention, an ABC reporter was manhandled, nearly choked to death and arrested by Denver goons who claimed, he had no right to stand on a sidewalk and film all the fat cats who were hosting parties for the corrupt and evil Senators. So much for US propaganda about how evil China was for not allowing pro-destruction of China demonstrators! In the US, even the act of gathering the news about the Real Rulers is verboten. Anyone doing this is hammered into the ground. The DNC didn't condemn this any more than Kerry's refusal to stop the repeated tasering of a student in Florida when he asked 'an interesting question.'
Pelosi recently had a reporter for public radio arrested for asking HER an 'interesting question.' She didn't have him tasered, too. But I bet, she wanted to do this. We no longer have a republic or a democracy. We have an autocracy. So why is the Washington Post wasting space with the blathering about how China and Russia are not like the free US where reporters are beaten to death for asking interesting questions....ah. This sort of bloody stupidity is great propaganda for anyone who has zero awareness of the real news which is the vast majority of Americans.
I have been increasingly horrified by the swift loss of civil rights in this nation. We see the beginnings of the Soviet state style of rule that a bankrupt government needs to impose marshal law on angry masses. The average America is totally unable to understand or survive a collapse of our economic systems. Scattered all over, we don't even have the strength of extended families to protect ourselves from the ravages of economic destruction. We can't withdraw into our own villages since we are 'atomized' across the land.
While researching financial matters, I came across this old article from the last major cycle of imperial destruction:
TIME magazine, August, 1930: "Insane Hopes"
"We have not forgotten the wound on our eastern flank and the lopping off of the Vistula district, nor have we forgotten how shabbily Woodrow Wilson urged the unnatural severing of East Prussia from the Fatherland. . . . We intend, of course, to fulfill our European mission without going to war, but, on the contrary, only soldiers with front experience can liquidate the War."
So spoke blunt Gottfried R. Treviranus, Minister Without Portfolio in the cabinet of Chancellor Bruning, to cheering crowds assembled last week before the steps of the Reichstag. Six hours later the protests started, piled up in wave upon wave of outraged French and Polish anguish to a holocaust of denunciation.
Poland, jealous of every move against her dearly guarded corridor to the sea, was just as vociferous. Foreign Minister August Zaleski made formal protest to Berlin.
"Poland is set!" screamed the Gazeta Polska, "and ready to defend her frontiers to the last drop of blood!"
Startled by the speed and strength of these attacks, Dr. Treviranus insisted last week that he had been misunderstood, repeated one phrase in his speech which had not been quoted in French and Polish papers:
"The way of peaceful understanding is the only possible one for ending the wrong of drawing up boundaries as they are now."
This is a cold reminder of what happens to empires playing the ethnic card when sparring with other empires. England and France wanted ethnic identity in Eastern Europe but NOT in Ireland or southern France, just for example. So they carved up Germany and Austria but took over or extended their own powers of rule in distant lands like Southeast Asia, Africa, the Pacific or other areas. Overextended and bankrupt, owing billions to the US, both England and France were utterly incapable of resisting a resurgent Germany that basically rolled right over Poland as well as all of Europe in less than 2 years of warfare.
US Beats US Demonstrators Mercilessly
The US militarized police state is in full flower. I remember how it was assembled. The US rulers are very strict about controlling pesky crowds. The only time they can't do this is when there are UNPLANNED reactions which we call 'riots.' I have lived through these in the past. Right on the heels of the US/NATO imperialists screeching like crazy about China not allowing separatists agitating at the Olympics, we have the media mostly ignoring the small handful of demonstrators who braved the massive suppressionary forces arrayed at Denver. Meanwhile, in the real world, the US condemns separatism in the Caucasus mountains. This is high lunacy!
Kucinich energizes DNC crowd
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio brought the Democratic National Convention crowd to its feet today as he accused the Bush administration of losing track of the economy while focusing on the war in Iraq.
"Wake up America. The insurance companies took over health care," he said. "Wake up America. We went into Iraq for oil!"
Kucinich blamed the war in Iraq for "millions of Americans" losing their homes and jobs.
"Up with peace! Up with prosperity! Up with the Democratic Party! Up with Obama!," he shouted, pumping his arms. "Wake up America!"
His speech was the liveliest of the evening so far, causing delegates to jump out of their seats, wave their arms in the air and shout for the first time tonight.
Sigh. I remember the sixties. I was very, very active back then. I was at many conventions, demonstrations, riots, political action committees, I made many leaflets, banners, wrote newspaper stories, did cartoons, did tons of things no one wanted me to do. I talked about the CIA and how our nation was a nation haunted by spooks every bit as dangerous as the spooks in Russia and China. Frankly, most people didn't believe me when I talked about the way the CIA operates. Yet every time I had to face down the Secret Service, the FBI or the local police, they always ended up going away instead of beating me to death.
Well, now they would beat me to death, I guess. My father's influence is fading as he ages. But I suppose we have to forge ahead. This is because everything about politics today bugs the hell out of me. People wanting to understand 'conspiracies' annoy me because they can't figure out how they have been manipulated by DARPA's think tankers and their ability to toss off all sorts of goofy ideas. These are launched like scud missiles into the internet to see which attracts the most devotion from anxious readers seeking 'the hidden truth!' Rats. It works, alas.
Then there are 'reasonable people' who accept the propaganda pictures put into action by the media owners. The media owners work very closely with the CIA and the government. They are hardly much better or different than the crews that ran Pravda under communism. Most Americans live in this duck soup reality. They thrash about with the noodles and vegetable bits and try desperately to have a point of view. Only they are viewing a brick wall. And they have a choice: if they get out of this frying pan, they end up in the fire. And being able to see the world through sane eyes is nearly impossible.
Let's examine Kucinich's speech: he was allowed on the podium if he gave the 'right' speech. So he obliged. He didn't warn everyone that the DNC is the Police State. Nope. He didn't mention the suppression of dissent outside. He didn't compare Denver with Beijing. Nope. He said 'millions of Americans' are losing their homes and jobs because of the Iraq war????? WHAT THE HELL???? This is utterly senseless and obvious pandering. The US military/industrial complex is 85% of our manufacturing base these days! And has nothing to do with our housing bubble. Our housing bubble came about because Bush and Cheney couldn't go to war without bringing Santa Claus down the damn chimney.
This Federal Reserve Santa came with a huge bag of goodies. The US public LOVED this. True, the war caused oil prices to soar. But this was only 50% of the hike in oil prices. The other 50% was due to US over consumption coupled with excessive import consumption. The US trade deficit soared during the war years. But this was soaring, anyway. The US public can't all live in unaffordable McMansions. Nor can everyone get huge ATM loans from their little shacks, hovels or dumps. This bonanza of easy lending was the tail end of easy lending for US militarist actions on behalf of all the leeches who are our allies in Europe and Asia and a singular, very difficult little Middle Eastern country that tries very hard to never, never be examined or be in the news except with happy stories about happy US dual citizens settling in and making the desert bloom. After killing the natives.
Bush sent the economy off the tracks with the pre-9/11 tax cuts. These were popular. Then, after 9/11, all the war spending created massive jobs at home and abroad. This was extremely popular. The push for war was popular with our media and many a foolish American citizen. And when the illegal and ill-advised invasion happened, I was accosted by a number of people waving their arms, yelling, 'You are WRONG, Elaine! We will win and have CHEAP GAS.' I then explained that gas would not be cheaper but the opposite. This was because the oil was a bonus but not the point. The invasion was on behalf of US hegemony there. Saddam gave lots and lots of support and money to the Palestinians who were fighting the Jewish invaders. This ceased once we destroyed Iraq.
This scheme of ours is now up in flames as the invasion radicalized Islam to an amazing degree. The ancient battle between the Shi'a and the Sunni flared up again. But it didn't help us. It simply made the fires hotter. And they are burning merrily right where the majority of the world's oil reserves lie. This has certainly driven up the price of oil. The issue of Palestine will NOT be mentioned by ANYONE at the Democratic imperial crowning. Nor will the GOP talk about this. AIPAC's representatives are hard at work, behind the curtain, to insure this.
Note that Kucinich isn't demanding the DNC back off of Iran. I know that he wouldn't attack Iran. But he knows better than to talk about the VERBOTEN stuff when the real string pullers are out in full force.
Here is a picture from China, showing how even the smallest demonstrations are crushed....WAIT!!!! This is DENVER!!!! Oops.
Here is a video from Denver/Beijing:
Click here to see how the police trap peaceful protesters in Denver
American News Project: A calm political protest quickly turned chaotic as anxious Denver police surrounded protestors peacefully marching toward the Democratic National Convention Center. After trapping the crowd between two buildings, hundreds of officers used pepper spray, batons and unwarranted aggression. After being surrounded for 20 minutes, two ANP producers managed to escape after recording the whole affair.
Rightwingers are also arrested.
Protest, arrests on Speer downtown
A group of 75-100 anti-abortion protesters plopped down on Speer Boulevard by Market outside the Pepsi Center at about 2 p.m. and are facing arrest.
Members of the group, who had promised in emails that they would do something to guarantee their arrest, appeared to be getting their wish as police arrived.
Traffic has been briefly disrupted.
There is no real 'fire in the belly' in these demonstrations. These are desperate attempts to have the semblance of 'in the street' democracy. But people are in a 'wait and see' mood right now. The chess pieces on the planetary board are rapidly moving. The US and Russia take each other's pawns and are pawning our future. The Chinese are done with proving all the anti-Chinese whiners who complained about nearly everything in this Olympics to be a bunch of ninnies. Now, China is giving our finances a very hard eyeball glare. And is snarling that we better pay our debts or else. And Russia is shoving us around while we lumber about with NATO and shove back. I keep saying, Europe has learned absolutely nothing from history. Nothing at all.
Anyone with a brain knows that 'shove Russia' and 'sneak attack Russia' always ends with Russians destroying everything in their path in return. And they can utterly annihilate Europe. Europe's fear is great. But the solution is to have the US fight off Russia. I suppose the deep plan is for Russia and America to destroy each other while the Europeans stand on the sidelines after the usual sneak attacks. Then they can pick up all the pieces and take over Russian resources a la Hitler.
This is STUPID. I bet most Europeans don't even mention this. They dare not think it, either. No, they are protecting themselves. But if Russia were vaporized, all the easier. Ech. Alas, Russia feels the same. They know that it will take only a few dozen MIRVs to blast most of Europe to eternity. When I was a child, I learned to treat rattlers with great care. If you poke at them with a stick, they fling themselves out of their coiled up position and fly through the air, jaws gaping wide, poison dripping. Only after they have extended themselves, can you pin the head down with a long stick. And lord help you, if you goof and nail too far down the slippery body! Running like hell is the best solution. Even shooting them: they don't die right away. And thrashing around, are still very dangerous. So I hope Europeans think about this more carefully.
CodePINK marches for peace
Members of CodePINK, an organization opposed to the Iraq war, held aloft an effigy of civil-rights icon Rosa Parks as they marched along West Colfax Avenue today.
Members of the group sang "We shall not be moved," an anthem of the civil-rights movement, and chanted as they paraded on the second day of the Democratic National Convention.
The group wants Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to pledge to end the occupation of Iraq, said Renay Davis, 58, a Code Pink member from San Francisco.
"At this point, I will vote for him. He is our last hope for change, but the road to change begins with peace," she said.
I knew Dr. Spock. When he ran for President, I assisted him. It was rather amusing. He couldn't win anything, of course. But we did this in order to push the Democrats in the right direction. For LBJ was the one who upped the ante with the war! It is too late for anyone to think the DNC will 'bring peace' since the Democratic party leaders have all sworn to AIPAC, they will bring us wars and more wars. They were most emphatic about this and work ceaselessly to drive this particular nail home. They are openly egging on a war with Iran. And Iran will make Iraq look easy. We are losing many wars and our rulers don't care. They know that if we tie down Islamic nations, they can't rescue the Palestinians. And the entire US foreign policy direction is to increase the size and power of Israel even if this kills US power.
I better warn Europe, this means they come second. Maybe Europe and the US hope Israel will nuke Russia for us? Who knows. The Apocalypse will be very ugly. No oil reserves or religious centers will exist at the end of it. Antiwar demonstrators have to take this devil by the horns! If we think we can have peace while Palestine is ripped to pieces, this is insane. There will be no peace. And many antiwar people are pro-Tibet, pro-Darfur. They honestly believe that all nations should be ripped to shreds along all sorts of ethnic/religious configurations. The world then can have a million small countries that hate each other. This will sort of like being alive in the Dark Ages.
From Take Back Washington.com:
The US has sent the fleet to a really nasty cul-de-sac, the Black Sea:
Russia Backs Independence of Georgian Enclaves
Russia on Tuesday recognized the independence of two enclaves that have long sought to secede from neighboring Georgia. The action deepened strains with the West over the conflict in the economically vital crossroads of the Caucasus and roiled a broader debate over how to respond to separatist movements around the world.
The Russian decision was intended to consolidate its political and military gains in the two and a half weeks since it invaded Georgia after hostilities flared over the breakaway territory of South Ossetia, an ally of Moscow.
The Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, declared in a nationally televised address that South Ossetia and the other pro-Russian enclave, Abkhazia, would never again have to endure what he described as oppressive Georgian rule.
"This is not an easy choice, but it is the only way to save the lives of people," Mr. Medvedev said.
With Russia's image and financial markets suffering in recent days, Mr. Medvedev took the unusual step of giving a series of interviews to foreign media on Tuesday to explain the move. He said Russia had abided by international law in recognizing the two enclaves, but he left no doubt that the decision was in part retaliation for the West's support earlier this year for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia, which Russia had opposed.
Like England in 1933, the US merrily tootles about the planet with its extremely expensive naval forces. They sail in and out of ports. While on the ground, all the knives of those who hate the British empire are sharpened. Whenever there is a true confrontation, England lost. Ditto, the US. We win ONLY if the UN disarms those we wish to terrorize. This is still nearly impossible for us! We bind up our victims and they still bite our nose off while we waterboard them.
When the European right wing governments gave Kosovo nation status, they thought this pop on Russia's nose would tame Russia. Instead, it enraged Russia. So did they stop? No! The sneak attack on Russian soldiers was next on the agenda. And this will end as it always ends: Berlin filled with Russians. Paris filled with Cossacks. Where is Napoleon? Can any of the weaklings running the EU find some suitable military hero to turn them into a Grand Armee? I just got the entire 'War and Peace' movie made in Russia. It is a must-watch.
Here is the German language version of this great movie:
Up until that battle, no European leader was able to keep fighting to resist the Grande Armee. Even though the French won this battle, the Russians simply pulled back and then returned, with a vengeance. An unstoppable force. So I would imagine, European people should be out in the streets, demanding this new Cold War cease? Well, not.
They too, are waiting to see if Obama can pull a rabbit and not a nuclear skunk out of his hat.
Iraq, U.S. clash over timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal
Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said Monday there would be no security agreement between the United States and Iraq without an unconditional timetable for withdrawal— a direct challenge to the Bush administration, which insists that the timing for troop departure would be based on conditions on the ground.
Maliki said that the United States and Iraq had agreed that all foreign troops would be off Iraqi soil by the end of 2011. "There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date, which is the end of 2011, to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil," Maliki said.
But the White House disputed Maliki's statement and made clear the two countries are still at odds over the terms of a U.S. withdrawal.
"Any decisions on troops will be based on conditions on the ground in Iraq ," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in Crawford, Tex. , where President Bush is vacationing. "That has always been our position. It continues to be our position."
Maliki gives a chance to get our leg out of the Iraq bear trap. Only Bush and our other rulers WANT us there. To keep the Shi'ites in our grip. We know that the day we get kicked out, Iraq and Iran will be on the same page, reading the same script. Romeo and Juliette. Well, we want both dead as that pair of lovers. This pretty much wipes out any talk about 'ending the war' since the Shi'a are ending it. No matter what we do. I suppose we could have another two or three thousand soldiers die or go insane? Seems OK with our rulers. But it isn't OK with me. Moving our soldiers to Afghanistan isn't a hot idea, either. We hope a second surge will save our Reich.
Western forces poised to halt Taliban tide
Western special forces are poised to increase their clandestine military operations in Pakistan to stop the flood of Taliban fighters pouring into Afghanistan, amid concerns that the militants are "winning the war".
As fears grow that the Taliban's strength has been underestimated and not enough is being done to stop militants crossing Afghanistan's porous border, Western forces are considering taking the controversial step of carrying out more missions in Pakistan.
In recent weeks, increased attacks by Taliban fighters on Western and Afghan targets, including the killing of 10 French soldiers and the attempted storming of an American base, have been linked by Nato officials to peace deals struck between the militants and Pakistan's government and an unwillingness in some parts of the Islamabad establishment to |confront extremists.
Gads. A FLOOD of Taliban are pouring into Afghanistan? And we are the Great White Whale, thrashing about the place, killing everyone. And they move back while we kill our allies. Then come in with more harpoons! This is why the Great White Whale ends up dead! This is how our distant ancestors killed mastodons. Those giant, shaggy elephants had huge tusks! And our ancestors killed cave bears, too. Using stone weapons.
The US ruling class prides itself on luring Russia into Afghanistan. Then using the CIA to pay bin Laden to fight the Russians. And paying the Taliban to fight the Russians! And have we learned a thing since then? Perish the thought. So back to the conventions! I'm certain, the Chinese are watching with grim amusement.
DNC And GOP Conventions' Imperial Green Zones
As the economic situation in the US deteriorates, the US blunderbuss foreign policy goes into action. Spreading war, chaos and death, we hope to get out of our imperial trap by terrorizing not only much of the population of the earth but terrorizing US citizens. The conventions we are seeing this time around are most unconventional. They are being turned into US Green Zones surrounded by mercenaries, troops and goon squads. All commerce must come to a halt as our future emperors gather their partisans for the coming battle over the imperial goodies in the New Rome of Washington, DC.
Seeing Red: Buffett, Others Clash On Danger Posed by U.S. Debt
If there is general agreement that times are tough in the short term -- the markets are flighty, foreclosures are widespread and jobless claims remain high -- there is sharp disagreement on what the future holds.
Some, such as super-investor Warren E. Buffett, believe that the economy is merely experiencing a "correction" and that subsequent generations of Americans will have a much higher standard of living than those alive today.
Others, such as David M. Walker -- former U.S. comptroller general and a traveling Cassandra on the perils of the mounting national debt -- fear that the economy is at an inflection point and could be headed toward disaster if something isn't done, immediately.
The town hall discussion was the second half of an evening's worth of entertainment, which began with the premiere of "I.O.U.S.A.," a documentary on the national debt starring Walker and featuring Buffett and other notable thinkers on the economy.
The I.O.U.S.A. propaganda push is set up to convince Americans, we can't afford social services, retirements or anything. We are to live Spartan in every sense of the word: a paramilitary state dedicated to one end. The crushing of all neighbors and the expansion of slavery. This became the modus operandi of Rome until they became a huge empire. Like Sparta, Rome instantly began to rot. The masses in the core of the empire had to be on welfare while the people of Egypt or Asia Minor had to support the empire via fees, taxes and impositions. When the last grain ship from Egypt, which was Rome's China at that time, the location of most manufacturing and production, when the last ship came to Ostia, Rome died.
Up until that dire day, Rome stumbled along. But the last ship disgorged its cargo and then sat there and had nowhere to go. This was because Rome produced nothing except entertainments and war. In 356 AD, Rome had 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks) . The Empire was moved to Constantinople during this time The ships ceased coming in. This is also when a dying Rome tried to conquer, get this: Persia. By 410 AD, the Visigoths and Vandals destroyed Rome. The public baths, theaters, circuses, amphitheaters all shut down forever.
The US empire has huge stadiums, amphitheaters, whole cities devoted to leisure, sex and gambling. The population expects flotillas from all corners of the planet to come pouring into our ports. Our Senate is as corrupt as the ancient Roman Senate. We expect to be able to live beyond our means forever. The super-rich are pretending to be concerned about all this which is why they are running this nasty propaganda campaign to convince us, we must ditch social spending while still protecting the global empire of these clowns. Buffett loves to pretend to be a common man but has many billions in untaxed wealth. All this, while living inside the protection of the US.
The warmongers at the Washington Post:
The film's premise: The current national debt stands at more than $9.6 trillion, which represents about 66 percent of gross domestic product. This in itself is not a ruinous figure, the film says, and most economists agree.
However, Walker says in the film, if you total all of the government's current unfunded liabilities, the United States is actually in a $53 trillion hole.
Worse, Walker says, the coming boomer retirees represent a shock to the system, given their demands on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These -- especially the cost of government-subsidized health care -- will push the national debt to 244 percent of gross domestic product by 2040, possibly leading to economic catastrophe.
Buffett disagreed, and spent a lot of time Thursday night talking about pie.
The refusal of the rich to be taxed is killing our empire, of course. Smart people know that we are now selling our military debts to increasingly angry and dangerous rivals who will slit our collective throats in an instant if we renege on our payments. The US, like Rome, still wishes to expand and like Rome, is eyeballing rich countries like Persia. We itch to invade all the oil countries. We think, if we get these, the super-rich creeps who have corrupted Congress and alienated the populace, will have 'free goodies' forever and we can continue to live like the Romans lived in their imperial dotage.
The Washington Post reports that the debate was NOT about taxing the rich ruthlessly. It was NOT about military spending or our choices of wars that slam into other, increasingly powerful empires. It was NOT about our reckless debt increases at every possible level and how this was handing our affairs over to rivals who hate us. No, it was all about the lower working class losing welfare, social security and healthcare. This will fix the mess! Yup.
And the audience didn't stone these clowns or throw tomatoes at them. Instead, the people at this gathering were all in denial. Why cut anything if they could simply live beyond their means forever? The love shown to Buffett is due to the idea, if we fawn over him, he will play Santa Claus. But he won't. All the billionaires do give charity. But NONE of it pays a PENNY towards our military/industrial complex and our wars! What good is Bill Gates spending on health care charity if he won't pay for the damn wars? Just for example.
The US pie is NOT growing. The US debt is growing. This is very simple to understand. All we have to do is add in all our debts: personal, national, local and then add our trade deficit and then add our military obligations. This tremendous sum dwarfs our tax contributions totally. And we can't buy our own debts. And if we add savings to this picture which is negative, we get the truth: the US is NOT able to pay for hardly anything at this point. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been selling all their debts to China and Russia this last year, not to Warren Buffett and his ilk.
Russia to Hold the Line On Freddie, Fannie Debt
Russia is not planning to raise its exposure to debt issued by troubled U.S. agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but will not cut it rapidly, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin said Wednesday.
"At the moment we are not planning to increase our holdings. We are also not planning a sharp exit, because this is decent paper and it is bringing us decent earnings," Pankin told a news conference.
The agencies' shares later plummeted for a fourth straight day in New York trading, as investors increasingly feared that the stocks would drop to zero if the U.S. government effectively moved to nationalize the companies with a state-sponsored bailout, The Associated Press reported.
This is a shot across the prow. Russia isn't SELLING what they hold but they ain't buying no more, so to speak. They will stand aside and tell us to sell to the Brits. Only Britain's economy collapsed this summer. Japan can buy this stuff but I have said repeatedly, Japan can't do this alone. US debts are far too big for even the world's #2 economy to support. We want to beg China to buy this junk but we also want to destroy China so we demand they let Tibet go. And we lecture China at every possible turn. We demand they kow tow to our New Roman Empire while we lolligag in our stadiums and bathing houses.
China just wiped us out in the Gold Medal race at the Olympics. We, in turn, boast about getting more bronzes. But the truth is, China has shot upwards, we are sliding downwards. China's newest stadium is far, far fancier than our stadiums. Ours look downright decrepit. The US, like ancient Rome, has struggled to fix up our stadiums while increasingly neglecting or selling off our entire infrastructure to 'barbarians'. In time, the Russians and Chinese or the European imperialists like Germany will own all our systems and thus, rule us. It isn't just government debt that is the problem. It is that we cannot buy our own debts of any sort, any more. And our billionaire rich won't buy it, either, or pay taxes to the Empire. And none of our allies and occupied countries want to pay, either.
Justin Raimondo: Bizarro Imperialism
How it works, and who profits
President Bush has long disdained the very idea of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops, but last month had the rug pulled out from under him – and John McCain – when Barack Obama went to Iraq and was greeted by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who promptly endorsed Obama's call for a definitive timetable. The status of forces agreement has been demoted to the level of a "memorandum of understanding," so as not to require a vote by the US Congress, nevertheless it cannot avoid a vote in the Iraqi Parliament. That's what they mean by "exporting" democracy: It's the Iraqis who do the voting, while we just get to foot the bill.
That's how American imperialism works. We're the only empire on earth where, as Garet Garrett put it, "everything goes out and nothing comes in."
One thing is certain: all empires end up with everything going out and nothing coming in...when we talk about taxes. But our empire is having a flood of stuff coming in, still. Far from 'nothing' coming in, everyone is shipping to our New Rome just like everyone shipped to the Old Rome. Then, when the debts reach the levels of impossibility of even paying the interest on it, we will see this process end abruptly. The warmongers hope we don't notice that we aren't paying for anything at all. So long as the Egyptian trade ships come to Ostia, the masses will go about their business of being consumers.
The Iraqis are not a primitive people who worship the cargo cult. They are an ancient civilization. Waves of imperial power have swept over their lands repeatedly. They have been through the corruption/destruction cycle several times just like Iran. They are not fools but rather, are exploiting the weaknesses of the US empire. They know the end result of their refusal to pay for our empire's warmongering. They are happy, contemplating the future. We are trapped in our own systems which means we must pay for all military costs of our empire no matter what. We are not expanding markets. Even if we sell military equipment and this is pretty much what manufacturing these days, all our provinces and dependencies can and do demand that we hold the debts these sales generate. And then forgive them. Which is what Israel does. Or like Israel and Europe, to expand the credit line and to never pay off the debts from these sales. Rolling over the obligations is a great way to grow alternative empires at the expense of the central empire.
Europe is doing this. Expanding the European Union Empire under the US military umbrella has greatly strengthened Europe even as this union has been set up as a RIVAL economic entity competing head to head with the US in the rest of the world. Or Israel's attempt at growing its own influence and power in the Middle East no matter how badly this damages the US itself. And the damage is tremendous.
Iraq seeks breakup of U.S.-funded Sunni fighters
An emboldened Iraqi government has launched an aggressive campaign to disband a U.S.-funded force of Sunni Arab fighters that has been key to Iraq's fragile peace, arresting prominent members and sending others into hiding or exile as their former patrons in the American military reluctantly stand by.
The Shiite Muslim-led government has long distrusted the fighters, many of whom are former insurgents. Senior Shiite politicians label some of the members murderers, and warn that there is no long-term obligation to employ them after their units are disbanded.
"The ones in Baghdad and Diyala province just changed their T-shirts. There are large numbers who were really Al Qaeda. We have to really look hard for those elements without blood on their hands," said Haidar Abadi, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party.
Amid fears that the Sunnis' treatment could rekindle Iraq's insurgency, the Americans are caught between their wish to support the fighters and their stronger ties to Maliki's government, which has challenged the Sunni paramilitaries in recent months as it grows increasingly confident about its fledgling army.
"We want to have our cake and eat it too, support Maliki and the Sons of Iraq. . . . Maliki wants to make that as hard for us as possible. He wants us to choose him," said Stephen Biddle, a Council on Foreign Relations defense expert who has served as an advisor on strategy to Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq. "What it looks like we are getting is a Maliki government that won't behave itself and wants to crush the Sons of Iraq."
Most of the mainstream punditry vacillates between open lying and childish talk. Everyone is assumed to be difficult children the US must control or chide. This infantilization of our diplomacy has been a point of despair here at Culture of Life News. A common thread here is how the snide, obnoxious and alienating thinking in the US is making it nearly impossible for us to conduct any diplomacy at all. Basically, we resorted entirely to waving a big stick while yelling at the top of our lungs.
The Iraqi Shi'ites lived under terrible conditions under the Sunni. They are seeking 1,000 years of revenge! The Jews justify their own misbehavior based on 2,000 years of unhappiness. Ditto, the Shi'ites. They have a firm grip on the government now and will apply pressure as expected. Iran and Iraq will be a confederation. This is the dark fears of the Sunni oil overlords. Unlike our European or Israeli allies, these guys really DO pay us money to patrol the Persian Gulf. And our failure to defeat the ancient Shi'ite enemies in Iraq now cause these guys greatest distress.
Saddam paid Palestinian bombers which is why the Jewish neocons and our media was so hot to trot for Gulf War II. But they pay no money for this at all. They are leeches. But the Saudi, Kuwaiti and other oil Sunnis were most anxious to keep Saddam in power because of their fear of the Shi'ites. The US assured them, in secret meetings, we would keep a firm grip on Iraq and not allow any Shi'ite power. This proved to be impossible as the Shi'ites and then the Sunni revolted. The US accords with the Sunni involve us paying them to be quiet. Now, the Shi'ite overlords have enough military power to consolidate power over the Sunni.
Before this, the Sunni and Shi'ite populations were intermixed. Now that they are fully segregated and under lock and key, the keys go to the Shi'ites who are very friendly with Iran. And Iran wins the last of the Gulf Wars. This means the US, Europe, Israel and the Sunni oil lords must fight BOTH Iran and Iraq. And they, in turn, will have allies: Russia and China. Europe is no more capable of stopping the Russians as Georgia. Only if they activate the US nuclear systems, can they survive. England and France have nukes. But they are TINY countries with 90% of their power consolidated in one city each: London and Paris. Both can be wiped out in minutes by Russia. Eliminating Russia is hard, it is big. And used to being destroyed and rebuilt.
In nuclear wars, size and dispersals matter. The US can survive a war due to both. So can Russia and China. But not Europe. Germany is not a nuclear power. Nor is Poland. The US can fight back but this means the annihilation of most humanity. The battle for control in the oil lands is ancient, terrible and we should avoid this like the plague, not pull ourselves and everyone deeper into this Abyss.
The facts are clear here: the Shi'ites greatly outnumber the Sunni in Iraq. They will rule it and they will ally themselves with Iran. Fighting this is a totally uphill battle and is one that can only lead to our destruction if we even attempt it. But since no one in our government seems to give a hoot about the survival of America, we will probably plunge off this particular cliff. It isn't even the subject of any debate this year. McCain can't even tell apart the different religions in this epic war situation. And Obama's hands are rapidly being tied into Gordian knots by the anxious Jews via AIPAC and control of the US media.
Iraq invites Russian oil major back
An Iraqi Cabinet minister invited Russia's Lukoil on Wednesday to renew its bid on the lucrative West Qurna-2 oil field and urged Russian companies to seek roles rebuilding dilapidated power plants as Iraq searches for foreign investment to revive its oil industry and infrastructure.
"I hope Russia companies will take part in the bidding," Iraqi Electricity Minister Karim Wahid told a news conference in Moscow. "Lukoil is welcome to bid for the service contract at the second or third stage of the tender in March or September."
Iraq is triangulating. This is classic diplomacy. Never rely on one relationship. Always have competing relationships. Then one has leverage. The US is so hyper-ventilating over the illusion of control of the globe, we have lost sight of the goal of all this. Namely, to make the US safe and strong. It is fatally weakening us. But we think, all we have to do is more of this and we will triumph and those lovely cargo ships will come to Ostia forever and ever no matter how deep in debt we are.
Pakistan coalition rift widens as violence rages
(AFP) - Pakistan's ruling coalition was riven by divisions despite crunch talks on Friday, raising fears for the government's ability to tackle Taliban bloodshed after a massive bombing killed 64 people.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif pushed back his deadline for the coalition to restore judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf, prolonging the squabbles that have prevented it from focusing on the rising militant threat.
Thursday's bombing at a huge arms factory was the second suicide attack since Musharraf stood down on Monday, intensifying the pressure on his opponents to show they can govern the world's only Islamic nuclear power.
Troops killed 21 militants, including two more suicide bombers, in clashes near the Afghan border in defiance of threats by the Taliban to launch more attacks if military operations against the rebels are not halted.
As Pakistan slides off the cliff, the great goal of Bin Laden sails into view: control of a nuclear bomb. The US knows this and fears this which is why we are busy bombing civilians in Afghanistan. This, in turn, is turning the people there against us. So we bomb them even more. We also bomb Pakistan with the exact same result. Someone should tell the Zionist neocons this fact. Did Germany and Japan surrender to the US because of our bombs? Or did they do this out of naked fear of the very angry Russians? As history moves onwards, it is increasingly clear, our easy occupation of Germany and Japan was due to fear of Russia, not our great abilities as diplomats. Also, we didn't seek to loot either Germany or Japan. Instead, thanks to our collective fears of the Russians, we built up both rival empires.
Now, Germany and Japan have smashed the US in the global market of manufactured goods! Pakistan can't be held by the US via military power. We control Egypt this way but the Egyptians happily used us as a funding base. Unlike in ancient Rome, no ships go from Egypt to Rome, in our case, we fund ships so they can sail to Egypt. If we expand this to all Muslim countries we need to control so we can imprison the Palestinians in their ghettoes, we will be even more bankrupt than we already are.
Pakistan is bigger and harder to hold than Egypt. Egypt is really one mega-city. Pakistan, on the other hand, has a population spread all over the place. And which is distinctly hostile to us.
Suicide Attack at Pakistan Arms Plant Kills 60 People
More than 60 people were killed Thursday when two suicide bombers attacked Pakistan's largest weapons manufacturing complex, just north of the capital, the deadliest attack by the Taliban in their escalating campaign against the government. The attack came just days after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf left two rival political parties in the governing coalition haggling over the question of succession and added a new layer of turbulence to an unstable, nuclear-armed nation. Neither party has been eager to take on the campaign against the militants, which is seen here as an American conflict foisted on Pakistan.
All the borders drawn by groups of diplomats from Russia, England and France are falling apart. They are all quite artificial. And the tribal groups know this. Taking a page from the US playbook that encourages the dismemberment of rival empires, they all want their own tiny principalities. Germany and Italy did this from 1600 onwards when the Holy Roman Empire lost its grip on Europe and expanded across the oceans, instead. The Taliban are not defeated, they are expanding their base of operations.
Also, they have mastered the arts of insurgency. They can bring a small force in and trigger a massive retaliation. These are quite effective. A happy trick they have completely mastered is to call in US air power which then cheerfully bombs its own soldiers! The latest example is amazing. The US is trying to convince the French, we didn't mean to bomb their soldiers. And we didn't bomb them, anyway, etc. But calls to retreat are rising in France despite attempts to thwart this. Gleefully, the Taliban go easily about their own homelands, swimming like fish in the sea while the US lumbers about, swatting at everything that moves. Now that they obviously have mastered this new tactic, the US should either retreat totally or ground our aircraft as USELESS.
But here is the rub: all our rich people here including most of our Senate, the White House and Congress, all of them make profits off of these bombing raids. They want desperately for this to be an air war instead of a ground war. So they will bomb, bomb, bomb Afghanistan.
Army chief: We cannot beat the Taliban without reinforcements
Troop numbers in Afghanistan must increase to contain the surge in violence, says the commander of British forces in Helmand.
In an interview with The Independent ahead of Gordon Brown's visit to the province yesterday, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said: "We are probably still on a growth trajectory before we get to the stage when the UK presence can begin to thin out." The commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade estimated it would be up to five years before Britain could consider dropping troop numbers.
Senior military officers are reported to have held preliminary talks on increasing British soldiers in Afghanistan from 8,000 to 12,000 – a dramatic difference from the 3,300 initially expected to hold the ground when the UK force took over Helmand in 2006. The boost in numbers ties in with suggestions that troop levels in Iraq be scaled back.
The Great Game gets greater and greater. The fact that Obama is threatening to dump even more troops into this caldron of foolish fancy proves to us, the US has no choices when it comes to imperial follies. If there is always the choice of retreat or die, we die. There is no 'thinning out' of troops there except one way: via death. As thousands are thinned out, thousands march in. Since they are killing each other faster than the Taliban are killing them, this means more soldiers in=more blown up by the air force in the future.
Meanwhile, Russia muscles us out of the Middle East:
The president of Syria spent two days this week in Russia with a shopping list of sophisticated weapons he wanted to buy. The visit may prove a worrisome preview of things to come.
If Russia's invasion of Georgia ushers in a sustained period of renewed animosity with the West, Washington fears that a newly emboldened but estranged Moscow could use its influence, money, energy resources, United Nations Security Council veto and, yes, its arms industry to undermine American interests around the world.
Although Russia has long supplied arms to Syria, it has held back until now on providing the next generation of surface-to-surface missiles. But the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, made clear that he was hoping to capitalize on rising tensions between Moscow and the West when he rushed to the resort city of Sochi to meet with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev.
The list of ways a more hostile Russia could cause problems for the United States extends far beyond Syria and the mountains of Georgia. In addition to escalated arms sales to other anti-American states like Iran and Venezuela, policy makers and specialists in Washington envision a freeze on counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation cooperation, manipulation of oil and natural gas supplies, pressure against United States military bases in Central Asia and the collapse of efforts to extend cold war-era arms control treaties.
Israel will now pull out all the stops to stop Russia. They will egg on WWIII in order to prevent Russia from encircling them with weapons aimed at Tel Aviv and the epicenter of the Apocalypse, Jerusalem. This NY Times article reeks of Zionism. The US is NOT being being ringed by weapons. Israel is. The US had no business, trying to rule huge hunks of Asia. We can trade with them. Do diplomacy with them. Have exchanges with them. But we can't militarily occupy them! This is what is wrong with our entire foreign policy. We still occupy South Korea, Japan, Germany and other previous war zones. Utterly ridiculous at this point.
The South Koreans now will buy out Lehman Brothers? Who is occupying whom?
Russians halt Nato co-operation
Russia has told Nato it is halting all military co-operation, the bloc says, as the crisis over Georgia deepens. The Russian move follows a statement by Nato that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia. However, the alliance had stopped short of freezing co-operation with Moscow.
Russia tried to cooperate with NATO. Now, the mask of cooperation has slipped when the US and Israel enabled and sponsored a sneak attack on Russian soldiers. Europe is grinding its molars, worrying about this winter. They know that Russia will yank their chains. And they deserve this. So long as they make NATO bigger and bigger, pushing hard against Russia, they will suffer the consequences. If they disband NATO, this will diminish.
Since Russia and China are funding NATO via US debt purchases, I would like to warn Europe, the free ride is coming rapidly to an end. Perhaps Europe can buy up $3 trillion in US debt from China and Russia. Then, they can continue onwards as before. HAHAHA. Unlikely.
Zionist NYT:
Russia could also turn up pressure on Kyrgyzstan to evict American forces that support operations in Afghanistan and could block any large-scale return to Uzbekistan, which expelled the Americans in 2005. "The argument would be, 'Why help NATO?' " said Celeste A. Wallander, a Russia scholar at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service.
Even beyond the dispute over Iran, Russia could obstruct the United States at the United Nations Security Council on a variety of other issues. Just last month, Russia vetoed sanctions against Zimbabwe's government, a move seen as a slap at Washington.
"If Russia's feeling churlish, they can pretty much bring to a grinding halt any kind of coercive actions, like economic sanctions or anything else," said Peter D. Feaver, a former strategic adviser at the National Security Council.
Russia could also accelerate its withdrawal from arms control structures. It already has suspended the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty to protest American missile defense plans and threatened to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. Renewed tension could fray a recently signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreement and doom negotiations to extend soon-to-expire strategic arms control verification programs.
Russia and China know that 'disarmament' was fake. The US disarmed Saddam with their help only for them to watch helplessly as the US and NATO invaded Iraq. I said back then, 'Disarmament is dead.' And it should stay dead, too, until the world's biggest military power begins to downsize. Since the US and NATO is rapidly expanding and spending even more, we might as well lay that business in the grave and bury it. Scatter rose pedals on the mound.
Security Makes U.S. Conventions Virtual Fortresses
(Bloomberg) -- Two U.S. cities will become virtual fortresses during the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, protected by airplanes, helicopters, barriers, fences and thousands of police officers, National Guard troops and Secret Service agents.
In Denver, where Democrats assemble next week, police are spending $18 million on equipment alone and will be bolstered by National Guard troops and hundreds of officers from surrounding suburbs. In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the Sept. 1-4 Republican nominating convention, police are calling on 80 law- enforcement agencies to provide 3,000 officers to supplement the city's 500-person force.
Congress earmarked $100 million for security at the two meetings, where federal and local authorities are trying to guard against any dangers to candidates or convention-goers.
``We are constantly looking at what threats could harm us,'' said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, which is overseeing security operations.
And why this security? Because some ally might bomb us? Egypt and Saudi terrorists were permitted to attack the US on 9/11. They came from our allies. The people the military and our ruling elites fear is not foreign terrorists. Foreign terrorists love our rulers. No, these are for the US public. Our rulers don't want us sweaty masses anywhere near their enclaves. Who will be crowned the next emperor?
The guy who offers us more Roman baths, more games and more cargo ships pouring into Ostia! Mobs of Shi'ites won't be attacking our coronations. Mobs of furious Americans are the problem. We know that the level of paranoia of our own rulers is equal to the Chinese. This is why the US is screaming at China for arresting demonstrators while preparing a huge military operation aimed squarely at intimidating and controlling demonstrators here.
Instead of forbidding demonstrations, they put on a 'show of force' with the threat of murder if we don't give up and leave. And the number of confrontations have dropped. The US public is scared off, all right. We will sit at home and watch everything on TV. And hope for the best as they dish out the worst.
The federal money, $50 million for each convention, is being spent for security measures such as fencing and high-tech camera-surveillance systems. The security costs will roughly equal the amount the two cities' host committees plan to raise for other convention costs.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign offices in Denver and in Manchester, New Hampshire, were evacuated yesterday after a Denver employee opened an envelope containing a threatening letter and white powder. The New Hampshire office received a letter addressed in similar handwriting, which wasn't opened.
The anthrax assassin was a black ops CIA man. He left a scattering of clues aimed at several scientists at the secret labs. Now we have many more assassin labs cranking out more nasty stuff. And the anthrax riddle has not been solved since the investigators found no reason for Ivins to want to assassinate the photo editor who published the Jenna Drunk photos.
The Colorado Department of Transportation will close Interstate 25, the main north-south route through the state's biggest city, during the Aug. 28 stadium event. Trucks carrying hazardous cargo are prohibited from using I-25 near downtown Denver for a week, starting tomorrow.
Federal, state and local officials have been planning security precautions since last year, consulting on details such as motorcades for VIPs and road closures.
More than 1,000 National Guard troops will help with communication and supplies in Denver, said Captain Robert Bell, a spokesman for the Colorado National Guard. More than 1,000 Minnesota National Guard troops will help provide security at sites outside the Xcel Center that are being used by convention participants, said Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Olson, a guard spokesman.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command, based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, will participate. Lieutenant Desmond James, a spokesman, wouldn't give specifics about NORAD's involvement. At previous conventions, the Northern Command provided medical and planning assistance and NORAD provided air cover, said Lieutenant Commander Gary Ross, a spokesman for both commands.
HAHAHA. Land of the brave cowers in fear. I have a fine memory. I can even remember last week! And I remember our entire media shrieking about what a nasty nation China is, the government shut down free enterprises for the Olympics. To clean the air, which worked, by the way. So, to have a convention to choose our future rulers, we have to shut down cities, prevent any traffic, etc, due to NAKED FEAR: this is normal. China is bad when they do it for air quality. The US is good if we do this for Potemkin Democratic displays.
Those EVIL Mountain Terrorist Tribes Win Again
US Airfarce bombed French surrender monkeys in Afghanistan. HAHAHA. Why are the French there in the first place? Or the US Airforce? Time to talk about mountain tribes, imperial warfare and the many ironies of history. Also, a game called 'The War On Terror' is being confiscated in Europe because it has 'terrorist tools'. And what are these? A ski mask that has the word 'EVIL' on it! HAHAHA. Well, we have to laugh. The US election is now all about who will be the most brutal, stupid and EVIL emperor of them all. McCain will win, hands down, for Super Stupid and Totally Evil, I am certain. No wonder Rome rotted.
Afghanistan on Fire
The news out of Afghanistan is truly alarming. This week, Taliban forces staged two of their most complex and audacious attacks of the war. Nearly 100 insurgents killed 10 French paratroopers in an attack near Kabul. At least 10 suicide bombers mounted a coordinated assault on one of America's largest military bases, wounding three American and six Afghan soldiers. An earlier attack at the base killed 12 Afghan workers.
There is no more time to waste. Unless the United States, NATO and its central Asian allies move quickly, they could lose this war. The following steps need to be taken in the coming weeks.
Washington must finally make clear to Pakistan's leaders the mortal threat they face. The Army must turn its attention from India to the fight against the Taliban. Civilian leaders must realize that there can be no separate peace with the extremists. Sending American troops or warplanes into Pakistani territory will only feed anti-American furies. That should be the job of Pakistan's army, with intelligence help and carefully monitored financial support from the United States.
More American ground troops will have to be sent to Afghanistan. The Pentagon's over-reliance on airstrikes — which have led to high levels of civilian casualties — has dangerously antagonized the Afghan population. This may require an accelerated timetable for shifting American forces from Iraq, where the security situation has grown somewhat less desperate.
NATO also needs to step up its military effort. With Russia threatening to redraw the post-Soviet map of Europe, this is not time for NATO to forfeit its military credibility by losing a war. Europe does not have a lot of available ground troops either. But it needs to send its best ones to Afghanistan and let them fight.
The editors of the New York Times are utterly unable to explain why it is vital for the US to expand the eternal war in Afghanistan. Usually, we win wars by nuking civilian populations or carpet bombing industrial rivals. But how many ball bearing factories does Afghanistan have? How many airplane factories? Or tank factories does this tiny, landlocked, poor country have?
Answer: NONE. During WWII when the US experimented with mass bombing and destruction of cities, we discovered an interesting effect of these bombings: people resisted even more and supported their governments even more. In Vietnam, we carpet bombed the place to hell and didn't make even slight headway in reducing resistance. Therefore, there is a simple formula: >bombing=>resistance.
There is a rule of resistance recognized by Mao: the revolutionaries swim in the sea of the people. Revolutionaries are civilians. The US and Europe have rules concerning civilians: they have no right to wage war. If a soldier is captured, he is covered by the Geneva Conventions. If a civilian is fighting a government, he or she or the small 9 year old Iraqi boy is an 'outlaw' and therefore, has no protections. Many wars which the ruling elites call 'guerilla warfare' are actually civilians arming and organizing themselves to resist governments. These organizations don't come out of nowhere. They arise due to economic and social pressures. Successful governments deal with this by relieving the pressures and making reforms or changes that benefit the civilians driven to open warfare with their own government.
Then there are alien invasions: Afghanistan has been the victim of this for centuries. From Alexander the Great, onwards. Over the last several thousand years, the Afghanis have developed a culture to cope with this dynamic. Since they are in a very mountainous region and like the Scots of yore or the Assassins of Lebanon's mountains or any number of similar mountain folk, they are ornery and difficult and resist 'civilizing.' The last American Indian holdouts during the 300 year battle of the European invaders of North America, were the Apaches who lived like wild coyotes in the difficult, dry mountains of Southern Arizona.
The entire brunt of the triumphant US Union military, fresh from winning the Civil War, was aimed at the Apaches and the wild Mexican revolutionaries who crossed the borders, too. Also, the US got tangled in a huge, ongoing uprising in the Philippines at the same time. To this very day, uprisings surge upwards there. Jungle guerilla warfare rages. In Spain, the stubborn and poor people of the Basque tribe still battle the governments who seek to rule them.
A common feature is poverty: the is where the term, 'poor but proud' comes in. In the US, the Appalachian mountains have these sorts of back hills people. They want to be left alone. They greatly resent the intrusions, rules, regulations and powers of civilization. When families emigrate out of these sorts of mountains, they lose this power of resistance very rapidly. The Scots who moved from Scotland to Appalachia kept up their lifestyles of independence and resistance as well as cattle raiding, etc.
Just like the Basques became the US image of the cowboy: they roamed the Wild West, living in it just one step above the nomadic natives being displaced by the military. They were also often out of control and uncivilized. And are now idealized as the embodiment of US culture. Isn't that funny? All US political elites aspire to looking like and aping these hardy tribal mountain people. Even as they are all really weak, feeble, cowardly ninnies who can't live without a butler to dress them every morning.
Anyway, this latest attempt by civilization in crushing the spirits of mountain people is doomed to failure. Most despotic empires did this by removing the population entirely. This is how so many Highland Scots ended up in Appalachia, for example. Or New Zealand's highlands. They landed on the shores, took one look towards distant mountains rising above the flatlands in a purple haze and headed for the hills. I know this feeling. I lived on Kitt Peak when a child as well as the hills of Mt. Lemmon in Arizona. When I went looking for a property last time, I gravitated towards a small mountain. It felt right, living high above the lowlands.
The NYT may fume about these rebellious people. These people are supposed to support the elimination of Palestinians from the Holy Land and the increase of US imperial military power. They are supposed to obey our empire, damn it! Or we will butcher more of them as they herd sheep or go to weddings! Killing civilians isn't a war crime if the civilians are difficult mountain tribes seeking to be left alone!
EXCEPT FOR TIBET! Of course, we are supposed to support, aid and abet revolutions, guerilla actions and riots by mountain folk of Tibet! I will note that the Muslim revolutionaries in the mountains of Western China are NOT supported by sobbing US actors or US Congress critters! When they fight, the US army of weeping pro-secessionists suddenly shut up. They, like our empire's rulers, want these Muslim mountain tribes under lock and key. There is no support for these fighters in the West. Only for non-Muslim fighters. Why, the recent fighting in the mountains where Asia and Russia collide, the US sided with the lowlanders running Georgia, not the mountain people who were friendly with Russia! Nope. We want them CRUSHED. They are the 'wrong sort' just like the Serbs in Yugoslavia. Which is a classic example of a mountain region laced with mountain tribes who hate each other and foreign domination and is pretty 'uncivilized.'
France: No Comment On Report NATO Jets Hit Afghanistan Troops
(AFP)--The French army refused to comment Tuesday on a report that French soldiers were hit by North Atlantic Treaty Organization planes that had come to help them escape a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan which left 10 of their men dead.
"Each thing in its proper time...there is a time for compassion, for solidarity...we will learn the lessons of this event," said army chief of staff General Elrick Irastorza.
He was responding to a report in France's Le Monde newspaper that quoted French soldiers who had survived the ambush Monday near Kabul. The soldiers said that once they had fallen into the ambush they had to wait for four hours before any backup was sent.
"We had no more ammunition for our other weapons and we were left only with our Famas (assault rifles)," one soldier, who wasn't named, was quoted as saying. When NATO planes finally arrived to help them they sometimes missed their target and hit French troops, the paper quotes the soldiers as saying.
Afghan soldiers sent in as backup also mistakenly targeted the French soldiers, it said.
Sarkozy is a 100% Zionist. He will kill endless numbers of French soldiers to gain global power so Israel can crush the hardy, difficult Palestinians. The US has bombed many people who were the wrong people so far in the mountain fighting in Afghanistan. This will continue until we withdraw. If NATO doesn't mind being blown up regularly as the sneaky natives flit in at night, attack with small arms and then slip away, well, we deserve this hell. Maybe if we carpet bomb the entire mountains and kill ALL the civilians! That will fix them, eh? Victory for the powerful and death to all mountain people who dare to resist civilization, right?
I recall the Romans did this to the recalcitrant Jews in the Middle East back around 66 AD. When the people who suffer the same fate we are trying to impose on mountain people resisting our empire rise to power, themselves, they act just like the Caesars. The Jewish people, now that they wield vast imperial powers, are frantic to defeat ALL mountain tribes that adhere to Islam. This includes Iran which is mostly mountains.
The flatlanders of Iraq are resisting US occupation. The US had to pay off the tribes that were fighting us. Today, only one or two US soldiers are killed each day. It was sobering to see the video of the Iraqi human rights person talking to those prisoners including the young children. He and all the Iraqis were dressed in light, flowing robes. The US soldiers looked like a cross between turtles and robots. Everyone flits around our heavily armored occupation forces, moving rapidly, while the US imperial storm troopers lumber about in vain. Iraq has settled down because the US is paying nearly entirely for the occupation while they get the profits from the oil they are selling. This is making them stronger and us much, much weaker. Something the NYT can't figure out, of course. If we reverse this and force them to pay $10 billion a month to run Iraq as a despotic dictatorship, they would renew their rebellion.
And we want to take on Iran, of course. The Israelis simply want to carpet bomb Iran.
Iran Sends First Satellite into Orbit
The satellite named Omid (Hope) has been designed and built by Iranian specialists and was orbited by an Iranian carrier rocket.
In February Tehran successfully launched the Explorer-1 research rocket, which is capable of carrying a satellite into orbit, and unveiled the country's first domestically built satellite, Omid.
The achievement has drawn much attention from around the world, specially from among Muslim nations, as Iran is under heavy sanctions by the West and the UN Security Council making it develop the technology and build every part and equipment needed in the field of aerospace.
Iran is both mountains and lowlands. Sort of like England, heh. Or Japan. It is also a very ancient center of civilization going back to the dawn of civilization. It, like China or India, has a fundamental basis of intellectual thought. It, like China and India, has often spread its wings and taken over much greater areas. We celebrate the ancient Greeks who were stubborn, ill-tempered mountain people, in their battles against the huge Persian empire which was civilized. The Greeks won these wars, became more and more civilized and ended up weak. Heh. Sort of a lesson here, eh?
Iran can't buy rockets or weapons systems very easily thanks to the US/EU empire. But they have the intellectual means of doing this for themselves. This makes them much, much stronger. As we force them to rely on themselves, they get better at relying on themselves. We tried this system with Russia. By forcing them to oppose us while using technology they had to develop, they developed the technology they needed. China is doing the same thing: we forbade them the right to buy the best computers like Big Blue. So they were forced to develop their own computer technology systems to do it themselves. Now, they are slowly but very certainly, wrestling from our grip, all computing technology power.
The same is true with laser technology. At first, my dad went there to work on laser technological training. Then the US decided not to do this. But the Chinese no longer needed us for doing this research. They are quite capable of finding their own way about and will dominate this technology in the future.
Pentagon doubts Iranian rocket test succeeded
(CNN) -- The Pentagon does not believe an Iranian rocket test over the weekend was successful, despite reports in the official Iranian media saying the Islamic Republic had launched its first vehicle capable of placing a satellite in orbit.
"The Iranians did not successfully launch the rocket," a senior U.S. defense official told CNN Monday.
The two-stage rocket could have been capable of launching a satellite into space, but the U.S. intelligence assessment shows that the second stage "was erratic and out of control," said the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the intelligence.
I grew up around NASA's programs. We had MANY failures before we had any great successes. The first US man in space, Glenn, was a very iffy thing. We all thought he would be blown up. He thought he would be blown up, too. This is why his survival was greeted with sounds of great relief. Our space program is nearly dead. NASA is falling more and more out of favor with the public. The public was tricked into endorsing the Star Wars program which is shoving us right into WWIII as I predicted back when it was first proposed in 1976. I also said it would kill NASA and civilian space exploration. Which it is doing right this minute. We barely saved the Space Telescope from annihilation.
But NASA is dead. The Mars mission, far from firing up people, has, as I also predicted in the 1980's, has misdirected enthusiasm and killed via boredom, all interest in space exploration. Focused mainly on suppressing difficult mountain tribes across this planet, we have little interest in alien landscapes that might conceal more tribal mountain groups who will hate our empire, too.
Then there is this funny board game called 'War on Terror':
Police seize War on Terror board game because its ski-mask "could be used in a criminal act"
Police in Kent, UK arrested some climate protestors and confiscated their "criminal" equipment, including a satirical boardgame about the war on terror. The police claim that the ski mask that came with the game could be used in a criminal act.
HAHAHA. I want an 'EVIL' ski mask! I would think all skiers this winter will be wearing these as they whoosh between trees, spraying snow! Well, ski resorts are in mountains. Like Switzerland. I remember when the French King wanted to teach the mountain folk of Switzerland a lesson. So many knights were killed in this venture, the sun shone in France. Heh.
The Swiss went on to make a killing as mercenaries. To this day, they protect the Pope. Just like the British Empire was built by Scots. Notice the story line here: if an empire hires mountain people to fight, they will fight for the empires. But bankrupt empires can't do this!!!! Geeze, eh? Anyway, skiers who use this 'EVIL' ski mask will be arrested for being mountain resistance fighters so there. No Basque will wear it. They know who is really EVIL. The cops.
Israel to free 200 Palestinians
The Israeli cabinet has voted to release some 200 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Officials said the actual release would take place around 25 August, but the list of inmates is yet to be finalised.
Mr Abbas' aide described the move as "a step in the right direction", but said more prisoners should be set free.
Israel is said to be holding between 8,500 and 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, including several hundred children.
Israel is up to something here. I suppose, before bombing Iran, they want the Palestinians to be quiet. It won't work. I am certain of this. But they have to try this scheme. NOTE THE PART ABOUT THE CHILDREN. Yes, they hold Palestinian children and subject them to child abuse. Like we are doing in Iraq. I will note that Congress doesn't care about the video I posted. Neither political party feels the faintest human sympathy for the children of tribes who rebel. Just like when we were killing off the American Indians.
The War on Terrorism Brings Mass Surveillance – In Sweden by Per Bylund
On June 18 a new law was passed in Sweden granting the national defense's civilian agency National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) the right to collect and analyze all communication data that in some way passes the borders of the Kingdom of Sweden. As a small country with extensive government and business collaboration with the other Nordic countries, most domestic communication such as Internet and phone services at some point passes the national border. The real effect of the law, which mandates that communication corporations deliver all their border-passing data directly to the FRA, is therefore mass surveillance of the whole Swedish populace.
The official lie offered as excuse for this horrid, uncivilized law is, like in all other countries, the threat of terrorism. It is unlikely anyone actually believes Sweden, an insignificant socialist country in the far north in moral, financial, and political decline, is on the terrorists' list of future targets, yet the sense of a common external threat of a faceless enemy seems to be as effective in Sweden as elsewhere.
All the 'free' nations are throwing this in the trash because of fears that the tribal warriors who are civilians will go about this planet, attacking the US/EU empire. Who would have thought? HAHAHA. How dare they come to our dens to strike back? And History laughs. Who, pray tell, were those tribal mountain terrorists we call 'the Norsemen' who destroyed much of Europe once upon a time? Eh? Forgot that?
No, the Swedes celebrate their Norse past. I come from this culture, the Normans were Norse who intermarried with the other Europeans in France. I am French/Norse, in other words. We invaded many lands including England. And America. Bloody hell! We went all over the planet into distant lands to kill and steal. But we were not terrorists. We were ruling class elites! Yup. This is the difference: tribal people who stayed home are today's terrorists. The tribal people who set out in boats or on horseback to kill and loot are civilized and rulers of the earth. So there! We got to crush our cousins in the mountains.
Maoist leader becomes Nepalese PM
Members of Nepal's parliament have overwhelmingly elected the Maoist leader Prachanda as the country's new prime minister.
The 53-year-old won 80% of votes to defeat his only rival, the Congress Party candidate, Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Maoists won a surprise victory in April elections, and two other key parties supported Prachanda in the vote.
When the Evil Uncle who should wear that EVIL ski mask murdered the royal family via machine gun at a feast, I knew the revolution would overtake Nepal. Once mountain people get it into their heads to revolt, they go at it doggedly. So it was here. The CIA endorsed the murder of the royals because the anti-Maoist Evil Uncle could call in US troops to kill mountain tribes. Instead, they won against us! They took over Nepal. And now, China has secured yet another border. For the US uses Nepal as a staging ground for the invasion of Tibet. Since 1955 when my parents first showed up in Nepal.
Yes, the plan was to use the Buddhists from Tibet who came to Nepal during the Maoist years and have them agitate the Tibetans into rebellion. Only now, the Maoists are suppressing the priests and kicking them out, even! When the Tibetan priests rioted, the Maoists put them down. The US will now hate Nepal and call them 'rebels' and 'EVIL' and when the Nepalese refuse to wear their 'EVIL' ski masks, we will put them on and invade. Yes, that is the plan! Take over in the name of Empire. So the keening crews in Hollywood and Congress can be happy with their idea of a 'free Tibet'. That will be one spectacular war!
Along with the Holy Land: WWIII.
Washington Post Pundit Pugnacious Pandering
The warmongering editor of the Washington Post has a line up of extremely stupid editorials and articles today. Too many to tackle all at once. So....I picked a few juicy, stupid ones. The US is now going on a spending frenzy thanks to Russia using old-fashioned soldiers and tanks to retake parts of the Soviet Union. Also, Bin Laden's strategy of bankrupting the US sails merrily onwards as neocons claim he as lost his long war with us. HAHAHA. And of course, we look at sovereign funds to see who is winning the economic wars. Ain't the US.
If You Can't Say Something Nice . . . The owners of the Washington Post go insane:
As the moving vans approach 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the foreign policy establishment has begun churning out its obligatory judgments on the lessons and legacy of the George W. Bush era. Three new essays render an unexpected verdict, suggesting that history may treat The Decider much more gently than many of his critics might imagine. Although Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria, neoconservative commentator Robert Kagan and even former Bush aide David Frum find plenty to dislike about the past eight years -- say, the rise of enhanced interrogation techniques, the bungled post-invasion planning for Iraq or the nuclear ambitions of Iran or North Korea -- they all contend that a President McCain or a President Obama will actually find a great deal to emulate in his predecessor's policies. Kagan and Zakaria argue that although the administration made significant mistakes along the way, it learned from them and took steps to make things right.
Which of course raises a delicate question: How should history, not to mention Bush himself, feel about a legacy in which the ability -- which implies the need -- to frequently self-correct ranks as a major selling point?
This warmonger rag then proceeds to ask a bunch of crazy, criminal neocons what they think about American foreign policy. As I keep pointing out, anyone who looks at foreign policy issues while ignoring trade issues, for example, sees the world in a very limited way. Like, being unable to see the cliff we just fell off. This infantile way of looking at the reality of geo-political power politics is across the board with virtually all the mainstream pundits who get paid a pretty penny to bloviate. This army of wretches infest all our political commentary about international politics.
This, in turn, makes it nearly impossible for American voters to see hazards, dangers and systems set to grind us to dust. The Washington Post endorses endless wars in the Middle East so Israeli Jews can expand their little empire of hate. The US media also wants us to have European Union laws that forbid anyone comparing Israeli right wing fascist policies with the Nazi ideology. Even though both are a near even match.
I am guessing that if Israeli Jews could get away with simply incinerating all the Palestinians one by one the same way the Nazis tried to ethnically cleanse Europe, they would happily do this. The only bar to this dark deed is the fact that even the US public might notice and stop this crime. But the desire is very much there. And the US: the American people are constantly tempted to simply nuke all resistance and win via the ultimate war crime. The rest of the planet deals with this in various ways. This is partially why everyone tries to appease us....except for the Iranians who have no choice but to arm themselves.
The US foreign policy is now so twisted and bad, it is restarting the Cold War, waging Vietnam-style wars in Muslim lands, has alienated vast swaths of humanity and has utterly devastated our Constitution which was drawn up so as to prevent Presidents from roaming the planet, entangled in many foreign treaties and obligations, fighting imperial wars on behalf of the European Powers. Here we are, 100 years of entangled wars on behalf of the French and British empires! And it is getting worse, not better.
I think the editor of the Washington Post should be arrested and hauled off to the Hague simply because he calls the outrageous torture, abuse and vicious US mishandling of CIVILIAN prisoners as well as our abuse of Saddam. This criminal editor talks about all this as 'enhanced interrogation techniques' which is Nazi-KGB speak for 'torture them until they fall apart but don't leave too many obvious marks or the Red Cross might publicize this.' We know for a fact that the US seized a child in Afghanistan and to get his parents to cooperate with our imperial wars, we took this child to Gitmo and tortured him mentally and physically. We still hold this child and now that, years of torture later, he is finally an adult, we want to put him, not Bush or the editor of the Washington Post, on trial? For fighting American soldiers invading Afghanistan?
How many Hitler Youth like Ratzinger, the Pope, did we imprison and torture after WWII? And how many Hitler Youth did we put on trial for fighting Americans invading Germany, itself? The lunacy and viciousness of all this is astounding and dismaying. And perfectly fine with the Zionists who rule us. They are quite comfortable with this anti-Constitutional universe they foisted on us. This is why they constantly claim, we should not prosecute US criminals or US-supported dictators when they are finally other thrown.
The Economist: Beyond Musharraf
From The Economist print edition
The threat posed by the "Pakistani Taliban", both in the tribal areas that blur into Afghanistan, and in Pakistan itself, is mounting. Fighting this week alone has claimed some 300 lives. The struggle against the extremists has been unpopular in Pakistan. It is seen as America's, Afghanistan's and Mr Musharraf's war. Politicians have therefore tended to play down its importance. But Pakistanis are not, by and large, religious extremists. Defeating Pakistan's version of the Taliban is in the interests not just of the West but also of the country's moderate majority.
The other priority must be the deteriorating economy. Mr Musharraf made much of his governments' alleged economic competence. But despite the billions of dollars of American aid that have poured into the country, the Asian Development Bank reported last year that its poorest people were worse off than they were a decade earlier, before Mr Musharraf took over. Uniquely in Asia, Pakistan had seen a slight rise in the number of people living on less than the equivalent of a dollar a day. In the past year the sharp increase in food and fuel prices has made their lot even harder. Annual inflation is now running at 25%. Economic hardship is feeding extremism. Pakistan's politicians have more important things to do than settle old scores.
I have a fairly good memory of 'scores to be settled' in Pakistan. For example, the week of the first coup, Musharraf's goons stormed into the office of the previous President's lawyers and machinegunned all of them dead including the secretaries. Musharraf is a gangster. The US found him very useful so they OKed his gangsterism. There are many powerful people in the DNC who are very anxious to not let us arrest and jail the war criminals in the United States. Most emphatically, Bush and Cheney. The news media barely whispers about the long hard push by Kucinich to impeach these criminals. Now there are going to be hearings about the Susskind accusation that Bush and Cheney forged letters to make it look as if Saddam was the anthrax terrorist. How convenient that a scientist working for the secret military labs has been accused of this crime and then conveniently killed himself before a trial. That whole business stinks from top to bottom.
The need to clean up past messes is an important part of fixing things that are not working. Of course, the standard operating procedure for the US government is to always support right wing violent military coups. When I was in Europe in 1968, this meant supporting a draconian military coup in Greece, for example. To hear our dictator run around this planet, talking wildly about spreading democracy when the US track record is far more attuned to supporting, funding, enabling and promoting violent military coups. The difficulties we are having in Iraq are due to being forced to support 'democracy' there when we far, far, far rather have some brutal dictator ruling with an iron fist.
Pakistan, like all Muslim countries, has been extremely radicalized by American military blunders. Bin Laden figured this would happen if he could lure us into Afghanistan. When he blew up our embassies in Africa, Clinton sent missiles to hit the renegade's camps. But we did nothing else. Now we are there, we set up a narco-anarchist state and all is well...for bin Laden.
Al Qaeda at 20 Dead or Alive? By Peter Bergen
Two decades after al-Qaeda was founded in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar by Osama bin Laden and a handful of veterans of the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the group is more famous and feared than ever. But its grand project -- to transform the Muslim world into a militant Islamist caliphate -- has been, by any measure, a resounding failure.
In large part, that's because Osama bin Laden's strategy for arriving at this Promised Land is a fantasy. Al-Qaeda's leader prides himself on being a big-think strategist, but for all his brains, leadership skills and charisma, he has fastened on an overall strategy that is self-defeating.
Bin Laden's main goal is to bring about regime change in the Middle East and to replace the governments in Cairo and Riyadh with Taliban-style theocracies. He believes that the way to accomplish this is to attack the "far enemy" (the United States), then watch as the supposedly impious, U.S.-backed Muslim regimes he calls the "near enemy" crumble.
This might have worked if the United States had turned out to be a paper tiger that could sustain only a few blows from al-Qaeda. But it didn't. Bin Laden's analysis showed no understanding of the vital interests -- oil, Israel and regional stability -- that undergird U.S. engagement in the Middle East, let alone the intensity of American outrage that would follow the first direct attack on the continental United States since the British burned the White House in 1814.
In fact, bin Laden's plan resulted in the direct opposite of a U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East. The United States now occupies Iraq, and NATO soldiers patrol the streets of Kandahar, the old de facto capital of bin Laden's Taliban allies. Relations between the United States and most authoritarian Arab regimes, meanwhile, are stronger than ever, based on their shared goal of defeating violent Islamists out for American blood and the regimes' power.
This is typical neocon tripe. The Zionist Washington Post is always jumping up and down, yelling that the Muslim revolutions of various sorts are failing. But what has happened this year? Bombings by Muslim revolutionaries have hit many countries including, very recently, China. Far from diminishing, it is slogging along, taking hits but delivering an amazing number of blows. The neocons can't see this for the simple reason, they are stupid people. They have to lie to themselves and pretend things aren't connected. So they point to the US and claim 'We won' just because there has been no big 'terror' attacks here in 7 years. Anyone with two brain cells knows that these attacks come a decade apart. Goading the US to do stupid things works best if one applies the whip sparingly.
The fatal misunderstanding of Bin Laden's tactics and strategy is at the heart of the US future collapse. Bin Laden knew the Muslims couldn't defeat the US on the battlefield. He knew that the true battle will be economical. Just as the Chinese leadership believe the same thing. Heck, the Russians believe this, too.
The dark fears of Europe and Japan is this same fact: the US will go bankrupt. But even they work day and night to insure this comes to past. So I would suggest, Bin Laden's allies are many and immensely powerful. All of them want the US to continue accumulating debts and for our industrial base to be destroyed.
The paragraph of the above article where Bergen [a Jewish pundit] claims that the US is all-powerful because we 'patrol' a number of Muslim capitals...this is the height of insanity. We patrol them, wracked with fear. Covered from head to foot with armor and weapons, still, every day, one soldier is decimated. One by one, picked off by a population that hates the US, hates what we are doing and can't wait to slit our throats at night.
During WWII, for example, the British were mortified and horrified as the Japanese swept them out of Asia. The French were eliminated rapidly, too. This was because the natives were happy to see the previous conquerers deposed. After WWII, the Brits and French marched right back in and resumed oppressing and controlling the native populace. This led to the communists successfully challenging this. Which we blamed on Russia, not the European imperialists.
And from the Sovereign Wealth Fund's home page:
A brief look at the data and we see that all oil pumping nations such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, NORWAY and CANADA, for example, have growing sovereign wealth. So do major manufacturing countries like ALL of Asia including Japan. They are all getting richer as we get poorer. There are many lessons here. One is, the US cannot afford the New World Order or the War on Terror.
More about Russia and the New World Order Cold War II:
Russia's attack on Georgia has become an unexpected source of support for big U.S. weapons programs, including flashy fighter jets and high-tech destroyers, that have had to battle for funding this year because they appear obsolete for today's conflicts with insurgent opponents.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has spent much of the year attempting to rein in some of the military's most expensive and ambitious weapons systems -- like the $143 million F-22 Raptor jet -- because he thinks they are unsuitable for the lightly armed and hard-to-find militias, warlords and terrorist groups the U.S. faces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been opposed by an array of political interests and defense companies that want to preserve these multibillion-dollar programs and the jobs they create.
When Russia's invading forces choked roads into Georgia with columns of armored vehicles and struck targets from the air, it instantly bolstered the case being made by some that the Defense Department isn't taking the threat from Russia and China seriously enough. If the conflict in Georgia continues and intensifies, it could make it easier for defense companies to ensure the long-term funding of their big-ticket items.
For example, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, quickly seized on the Russia situation this week, saying that it indicates the Russians see the toll that operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking on the U.S. military.
"We've spent so many resources and so much attention on Iraq that we've lost sight of future threats down the road. The current conflict between Russia and Georgia is a perfect example," said Rep. Murtha during a recent visit to his district.
The aptly named 'Raptor' jet: it was made to rape the taxpayers. We didn't need multi-billion dollar jets to murder wedding guests or run down little 9 year old boys in Bagdad. Now, a confrontation with Russia and China: worth trillions. The military brass and Congress make oodles of money along with Cheney and Bush, betting on more military hardware spending. They hate spending on soldiers. Love spending on military war systems. This utterly delights Bin Laden. He hopes we pour all our money into these useless toys.
Frankly, the US can't afford any of this! The Chinese know that when we go bankrupt, we have to give them lots of access to our systems. They and the Arab religious fanatics of Saudi Arabia, etc, will eventually own all of this and we will have to hand our systems over to them to pay for our wild spending. So they don't mind it if they loan us money so we can play 'Boom! Boom! Varroom!'
Needless to say, Russia took over Georgia using mostly lower-tech stuff including a thing called 'soldiers.' They didn't send in assassin drones or laser jets zapping the Georgians.
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ADVANCED TACTICAL LASER
The Advanced Tactical Laser is a major Department of Defense technology project receiving technical expertise and support from the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The Directorate is also developing advanced technologies that will eventually improve the aircraft's laser. Overall, the project involves the installation of a kilowatt class chemical laser in a C130H cargo aircraft, along with a battle management and beam control capability that will direct laser energy on targets to demonstrate the accuracy and lethality of an aircraftbased laser weapon.
In an operational role, a tactical aircraftbased laser weapon could provide a precision, speed of light destructive capability that could greatly reduce collateral damage. The system uses a C130H cargo aircraft that has been modified with the most obvious visual difference being a rotating turret protruding from the aircraft's underside through a 50inchdiameter hole. A laser beam can be focused and directed to a target through this turret.
Every day, we resemble more and more, the original Star Wars: fighting civilians in the desert, terrorizing young ladies, snarling, 'We will destroy your home planet, Princess Leila' and in general, aping Darth Vader. The Chinese were very interested in laser research and this is one of the reasons why they told Nixon, they wanted my dad to come to Beijing. They, too, are using this new toy. We hope to use it to pull sneak attacks on people who have no air defenses. The Chinese plan on using it to destroy our satellites that guide our missiles.
Activists arrested after Hawaiian palace takeover
AP) -- A group of Native Hawaiians claiming to be the state's legitimate rulers occupied the grounds of a historic palace for two hours before being arrested by state officers in the second recent takeover of its kind.
A staff member of the Iolani Palace said she was assaulted and slightly injured during the takeover Friday night and then snubbed by city police who claimed that they didn't have jurisdiction. Gov. Linda Lingle said Saturday that there would be an investigation into the police response to the takeover.
Tibet! Tibet! DARFUR!!!! Hey, I said this would happen. The US says, populations taken over by colonialists should overthrow the invaders! Ethnic minorities who were displaced have a right to riot! Small shepherd groups in various lands have the right to fight imperialist invaders! OOPS. We have a situation here where our message is being massaged backwards. We want OTHER nations to dissolve. We do not want the US to do the same thing we want China or Russia to do! We will crush any uprisings by the natives! We crushed the Hawai'ians in the past, we will do it in the future! The US right wing right now is claiming Obama isn't a real American because he was born in Hawai'i. This means US occupation of those islands is illegal, eh?
Petrol pump pilgrims keep faith
A prayer group in Washington DC is claiming the credit for the recent sharp drop in the US price of petrol.
Rocky Twyman, 59, a veteran community campaigner, started Pray At The Pump meetings at petrol stations in April.
Since then, the average price of what the US calls gasoline has fallen from more than $4 a gallon to $3.80.
And I am including this because it is so pathetic. Oil prices are dropping because the oil overlords here are worried the GOP will be crushed in the next election. So they are dropping prices, temporarily. So I suppose, they are god. Like in 'Goddamn.'
August 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
US Torture Of Small Children In Iraq Prison
Oh Goddess of Justice! Right on the heels of US dictators wailing about the Chinese government, attacking Russians for being nasty bastards, along comes yet more embarrassing, ugly, hideous movies made in our Gulag of vicious prison camps inside of Iraq. This latest one is about prisoners held in vast, totally desolate cages with floppy tents as shelters. One of these Nazi-type camps is filled with CHILDREN. From 9 to 16 years old. Dressed in rags. God help us. Not a peep about this in our complicit, warmongering media. The NYT, of course, thinks it is OK to brutalize Muslim children. They are all terrorists! I AM SICK OF THIS. May the dire gods of these people committing these crimes mete out punishments!
YouTube video claims 9-year-old at US prison in Iraq
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
At 5:47 into the video, the group approaches a barbed wire enclosure where the inmates tell them, "We are all under 18. ... We all have been here for more than a year."
The guide hastens to explain, "We have juveniles from 14 to 18. ... They're IED makers. They are dangerous people."
One young inmate calls out, "I swear to God, some were just walking in the streets or sleeping and they brought us here. I swear to God we are all innocent."
"I am my mother's only child," says another, at which the American soldier breaks in, "And he is the most dangerous. We know about him."
"I am only a child," says a third, more youthful, voice.
"How old are you?" he is asked.
"Nine years old."
"How long have you been here?"
"Five months. ... They wanted to take my father. I told them take me instead."
The children are unsupervised. They are left to fend for themselves. The US soldiers don't look human, dressed up in all sorts of inhuman gear, they are machines, robots set out to crush CIVILIANS. And children! This is EXACTLY like the camps run by the Jews in Israel! And our nation goes down the same, ugly, nasty, horrid road: our desire to control Muslims who hate us because we are there to steal stuff....they are to be taught a lesson. Cruelty of the imperial troopers. Cue Darth Vader's march.
On top of this, we went through a month of endless screeching in the Zionist media about Darfur, Tibet, Chinese oppression, Russian menaces. Every day, a troop of Howler Monkeys in the media were swinging from tree to tree, bellowing deafening accusations that other nations were evil. Other nations oppressed people. Other nations were cruel to religious minorities. Other nations were stealing the lands of natives and bringing in invasive settlers from the outside.
I swear to the Goddesses of Hubris, they must petition a phalanx of lightning bolts to strike down every one of these stupid, howling fools. HAVE THEY NO SHAME???? As we whine about Cuba's baseball pitching, we run a Stalinist prison camp on their sovereign island. Our government does this so the victims trapped there can't call upon the civil rights embodied in our poor, nearly dead Constitution. This morning, I mocked Professor Setser for his 'summer long' efforts to write a thesis which supposes that 'free democracies' are doing poorly, economically, while 'autocratic' ones are doing very well.
I instantly lit out at him, daring him to explain just how the US is different from any of the cruelest authoritarian states. We fund the building of huge ghettoes in Palestine. We permit the Jewish armies to attack their neighbors at will and prevent the UN from stopping obvious massacres. But if anyone defends their own borders, we attack them. Just like when Tibetans went on a vicious, racially-charged rampage, murdering innocent Chinese citizens, the US supported this and attacked China for stopping this outrage.
Yet here we are, in Iraq, a supposedly 'sovereign' nation, imprisoning YOUNG BOYS in a camp that is utterly despicable. I lived in a tent for ten years. But I had windows, doors, a heating system, INSULATION and running water. From what I saw of that hideous camp, the boys are in a cloth tent in the baking sun with NO SHADE which my tent had, and they seem to have nothing, nothing at all. Except once a week, a movie????
NO SCHOOLING, NO ADULT CARE???? Gads!!!!! I am.....OUTRAGED. As a mother, I can't express my fury enough. Damn, damn, damn Bush and Cheney, the paranoid pair of war criminals! ARREST THEM!!!!
Cold Friends, Wrapped in Mink and Medals By BILL KELLER
So much for that thesis. Surveying the Russian military rout of neighboring Georgia and the spectacle of China's Olympics, Ms. Freeland, editor of The Financial Times's American edition and a journalist who started her career covering Russia and Ukraine, proclaimed that a new Age of Authoritarianism was upon us.
If it is not yet an age, it is at least a season: Springtime for autocrats, and not just the minor-league monsters of Zimbabwe and the like, but the giant regimes that seemed so surely bound for the ash heap in 1989.
The Chinese have made their Olympics an exultant display of athletic prowess and global prestige without having to temper their impulse to suppress and control. From the dazzling locksteps of that opening ceremony, to the kowtowing international V.I.P.'s, to the carefully policed absence of protest, this was an Olympics largely free of democratic mess.
Individualism has been confined between lane markers. The pre-Olympics promises that attention would be paid to international norms of behavior went unredeemed. The New York Times's Andrew Jacobs followed one citizen who decided to take up the government's Olympic offer of designated protest zones for aggrieved parties who had filed the proper paperwork. Zhang Wei applied for the requisite license and was promptly arrested for "disturbing social order." Take that, International Olympic Committee.
Typical Zionist NYT whine-athon article about China. Well, I have been SHOT at while demonstrating in the past. I have been arrested while not showing even the slightest sign of violence, nay, when there was NO violence. When the police did arrest me, a riot broke out because everyone was so outraged by this, they tried to overturn the police car I was in! Then, I was charged with 'inciting a riot' when I only asked everyone to STOP! Charges were dropped due to the fact that I was going to sue.
By the way, two ladies who were arrested at a Bush appearance for wearing the wrong Tee shirts won their lawsuit and got $50,000 each. But they should never have been arrested. Talking about cruel authoritarians:
News crew crashes Denver's DNC 'concentration camp'
In Denver, police are preparing what a local political organizer calls a 'concentration camp,' laying in wait for mass arrests anticipated during the upcoming Democratic National Convention.
On Wednesday, a Denver CBS affiliate sent a news crew to crash the police department's improvised detention facility, found in a warehouse owned by the city on the north-east side of town.
"This is a building filled with metal holding cells," described reporter Rick Sallinger, introducing the segment. "We showed up at the facility unannounced today, the doors were wide open, and we managed to shoot for several minutes until a Denver sheriff's captain asked us to leave."
Footage of the warehouse revels tall, chain-link fence capped by barbed wire, and segmented pens each bearing an identifying letter at about shoulder height.
Is this in the Zionist NYT? Or the warmongering, war criminal Washington Post? HAHAHA. Never! Never! If these guys ever told the truth, I suppose the earth will open up and the iron claws of demons will pull them down as punishment! So they lie or hide or fake it. When I went to DC for a massive demonstration against the looming war with the Iraqi civilians, babies, old men, grannies, etc. the NYT claimed no one showed up. We filed a complaint and they had a small story the next day saying, 'Oops. Thousands showed up and demonstrated.' No pictures, of course.
Arrest the owners of the NYT and try them for treason.
By the way, the main papers and TV won't cover any of this. For example, when Kucinich forced the impeachment hearings which war criminal Pelosi said, could not utter the word 'impeachment', no online media was allowed except for a tiny handful because all the seats were reserved for the yapping media. Who then DIDN'T COVER THE STORY. Because they want war crimes. They want an authoritarian US government. This kind of screws up poor Brad Setser's lovely little thesis. Talk about pointy-headed microbrainiac thinking.
Russia's new nuclear challenge to Europe
Russia is considering arming its Baltic fleet with nuclear warheads for the first time since the cold war, senior military sources warned last night.
The move, in response to American plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, would heighten tensions raised by the advance of Russian forces to within 20 miles of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, yesterday.
Under the Russian plans, nuclear warheads could be supplied to submarines, cruisers and fighter bombers of the Baltic fleet based in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between the European Union countries of Poland and Lithuania. A senior military source in Moscow said the fleet had suffered from underfunding since the collapse of communism. "That will change now," said the source.
"In view of America's determination to set up a missile defence shield in Europe, the military is reviewing all its plans to give Washington an adequate response."
The fools in NATO want the US to surround them with a picket fence of nuclear missiles and to use NATO as the New World Order Expeditionary Forces For Crushing Little Arab Boys. Putin is going to put up MIRV missiles right next to Poland. And aim them squarely at Paris and Berlin. Berlin has already been turned to rubble. I suppose they are nostalgic for the good old days. Seig Heil! I detailed yesterday how the US shoved Putin around mercilessly. One of the earliest postings I ever did was how the NYT was gushing over Condi, the supposed Russian expert. She was wearing Nazi-dominatrix boots! How cool was that! And a martial coat! And strode about forcefully! The NYT reporters swooned over her masculinity.
Well, she evidently can't speak Russian. This fool, this pathetic excuse for Secretary of State has worked day and night in the name of her neo-con teacher, Strauss, to restart the Cold War. Only Putin is a lot smarter than her and her gang! He is now running circles around them. Europe is hoping oil from Iraq will spare them this winter when Russia cuts supplies.
Oil from Iraq! Europe, like the US, turns a blind eye to the horrors of our raging war against civilians in Iraq. DARFUR!!! DARFUR!!! TIBET!!!!! Oh my god.
Conyers Calls Emergency Hearings About Bush/Cheney War Letter Forgeries:
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has taken the highly unusual step of calling his committee back from summer recess in order to investigate allegations by Ron Suskind that the Bush administration forged a letter to buttress the links made between Saddam and 9/11, and Saddam and WMD. The congressional Authorization for the Use of Force Against Iraq, the ""War Resolution" which, as far short as it fell of a congressional declaration of war, gave the invasion its constitutional legal cover, and gave Bush the authorization to invade only after he had certified to congress the existence of these two critical links. If Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, and if he did not possess WMD, the war was off.
Conyers' reconvening of his committee was the result of enormous public pressure, most poignantly that coming from military families wanting to know why their loved ones are dead. Despite the exquisite, shining clockwork political operation now in place at the Executive Branch, working hand in glove with the media spin machine, it's still not that easy to get 4100 Americans killed over lies. Bush knew Americans would not subject their troops to such an uncertain fiasco over 17 violated UN resolutions, or Saddam's brutal but by no means unique human rights record. If we attacked every country which violated UN resolutions, we'd be bombing Tel Aviv.
More non-news. The DNC thinks that if we let these war criminals go scot free like LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, et al, why, we can continue to pound civilians into a pulp in Muslim lands. No one will object or stop this. AIPAC loves this concept and pays a lot of money to insure we continue doing this forever and ever. As the very popular McCain criminal says, '100 years occupation of Iraq.' I presume the little boys will be in rocking chairs by then, eh? Gads. And of course, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, too. Another sterling moment in US history.
US must share power in new world order, says Turkey's controversial president
Days after Russia scored a stunning geopolitical victory in the Caucasus, President Abdullah Gül of Turkey said he saw a new multipolar world emerging from the wreckage of war.
The conflict in Georgia, Gül asserted, showed that the United States could no longer shape global politics on its own, and should begin sharing power with other countries.
"I don't think you can control all the world from one centre," Gül told the Guardian. "There are big nations. There are huge populations. There is unbelievable economic development in some parts of the world. So what we have to do is, instead of unilateral actions, act all together, make common decisions and have consultations with the world. A new world order, if I can say it, should emerge."
As a nine-year old Samson pulls down the pillars of the mighty US empire, as everything crashes down upon our heads, all we can do is pray that Putin and Hu show us more mercy than we show the children of Iraq or Palestine.
The True History Of Putin And Bush
The recent tsunami of lies, misdirections and outright propaganda in the US media has swamped reality here. So it is time for us to go backwards, via my many cartoons, to see what actually happened this last 4 years between Russia and America. By no means are these excerpts from my blog all the postings I have done on this topic. They were too many. But the cartoons, set here from the earliest to the most recent, let us see pretty clearly how US/Russian relations deteriorated. From the very beginning, the US plan was to either destroy Russia as a country or to turn back the clock to the Cold War. All the flim-flam about Bush being friends with Putin was pure propaganda as we see in my own postings here.
Pootie-Poot Comes Home to Roost, By Dan Froomkin
Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush is guiding U.S. relations with Russia in a decidedly confrontational direction, evoking memories of Cold War bitterness.
"It's a marked turnabout from the sense-of-his-soul epiphany the president had seven years ago when he declared that Vladimir Putin was a trustworthy partner on the global stage. With only five months left in the Bush presidency, there is little time to repair damage in relations, much less capitalize on a new approach to make progress together on hotspots like Iran or North Korea. . . .
"'The administration is a bit behind the curve on this. They didn't understand what was coming,' said Janusz Bugajski, director of a new European democracies project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. . . .
"Putin is the only world leader who landed the Bush-reward trifecta: visits to the president's Texas ranch, the Camp David retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains and his parents' summer home in Maine. Bush even risked losing some of his democratic-reformer credentials by agreeing to attend Putin's lavish Red Square anniversary celebration in 2005 of Soviet victory in World War II.
I mocked Bush standing there while Putin put on his retro-Stalinist parade. It was a reminder as to who really fought the Nazis all the way into Berlin and who defeated them, utterly. If the US didn't do D-Day, Russian arms would have ended up in Paris again just like when they defeated Napoleon. The Washington Post here has tried to do a comprehensive history of the Bush/Putin relationship while not once, actually referring to past news stories.
This is a common tactic of warmongering media reporters in the US: they interview the usual suspects who are all warmongers. All of them give their various propaganda takes on the past. All end up lying in small or huge ways. None are checked for veracity. So here are a number of my own reports from 2005 onwards. The cartoons say it all!
April 20, 2005: Condi Practices Diplomacy With Pootie Poot
The NYT was gloating over how beautiful Condi was with her kick-ass boots and marital outfits. The Times swooned over her strength and power she projected. The Russians were not impressed. A month earlier, Bush told the media, he had a pet name for Putin: Pootie Poot. The ruler of Russia was not amused. I no longer have the photos of Putin giving Bush the look of death whenever Bush's back was turned. It was painfully obvious that Putin despised Bush. But was trying to be 'diplomatic'. Bush, as usual, being a monkey, thought this was being 'friendly'.
On HUGE propaganda game the media plays with our heads is the concept that Bush and McCain are personal buddies of world leaders and thus, have a good diplomatic standing with everyone such as Hu or Putin. This is a childish and very stupid reading of what 'diplomacy' really is! Putin and Hu will smile and shake hands because they are diplomats. When Bush engineered the sneak attack on Russian troops this week, Putin was visibly very angry. Bush was visibly very clueless looking. Time to go back to early 2005:
November 10, 2005: Russia and China Increase Joint Space Cooperation While USA Slides
The Putin/Hu relationship took off rapidly, like a rocket. Hu even rolled out the very finest red carpets for Putin when they had a joint state visit. Unlike the ugly, twisted affairs thrown by the Bush family, these were very formal occasions with 20 gun salutes, marching bands, ranks of officials lining the street, etc. The WP and NYT mistakes the 'informal' stuff of Bush as being 'friendly' instead of insulting. Because both Russia and China were alternately wooing or sizing up the US, they both tolerated this too-gross familiarity. But they obviously were relaxed and greatly pleased with each other's much more formal visits. Both Hu and Putin love formalities and relish the honors is bestows upon them.
December 3, 2005: Russia Leverages Power By Sharing Space Technology
At the base of all this are rockets and nuclear bombs. The US hysteria over Iran is a common theme. I am not including the zillions of cartoons I drew about Iran, Iraq, North Korea and the US screeching about nuclear bombs. Maybe later.
January 6, 2006:Putin Won Judo Contest with USA: Government of Ukraine Just Fell
The Russians liked my cartoon. I was kind of surprised. Seems Putin likes having people think of him as a sort of severe, strong person.
January, 2006: Putin Announces New Nuclear Missile System That Can Evade Star Wars Defences
Star Wars bothers both Russia and China. This is a neocon US scheme to make it impossible for anyone to nuke the US while the US nukes anyone who dares to challenge our domination of all world resources and finances. From day one, I have been 100% against the Star Wars programs. This is because the only way our rivals can destroy us is to do what we like to do: sneak attacks. So if they destroy us in WWIII before we can lock them down, they will. If we work with them to disarm ourselves, we avoid this hideous potential fate. Why we chose the 'get vicious' route is all about the neocon ideology of the New World Order.
February 1, 2006: Putin Sides With Hamas, Chides USA World Domination Efforts
This is the huge problem: Putin gave support to Iran and Palestine. This is what set our media on a long, three year screech fest against Russia.
March, 2006: White Knight For Palestine, Putin, Rides To The Rescue Of Hamas
March 18, 2006:USA Isn't Containing China, Only Annoying China
March 22, 2006: Hu And Wen Roll Out Red Carpet For Putin
April 21, 2006: AMERICA Is World's Biggest Currency Manipulator, NOT China!
April 24, 2006:The Growing Power of The Shanghai Cooperation Organization
McCain Wants To Alienate China And Russia If They Refuse USA Attacks On Iran
This is a reminder to everyone that McCain has been a hysterical warmongering chipmunk for a long, long time. He isn't some friendly guy who suddenly changed this year.
May 4, 2006: Cheney Demands Democracy For Russia And Dictatorial Rule For America
May 14, 2006: Rice And Russian Sec. of State, Lavrov, Fight Over Dinner
November 15, 2006: Bush visits Putin in Moscow, seeking support
President George W. Bush, eager to obtain Russian help in nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran, tended to the sometimes frosty Washington-Moscow relationship Wednesday by paying a quick call on President Vladimir Putin.
Bush paused to visit Putin for an hour and a half at an airport stopover on his way to Asia in an eight-day trip that is to include stays in Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. Bush has meetings scheduled with several important allies on the sidelines of a summit meeting of Pacific Rim leaders in Hanoi later this week. Bush and Putin are to meet again Sunday at those talks.
January 22, 2007: Mainstream Pundits Begin To Notice Condi Rice Is Incompetent
March, 2007: Putin Is Hiding His Intentions With Iran From USA View
April 26, 2007: Condi Calls Russia 'The Soviet Union'
June 6, 2007: Washington Post Owner/War Criminal Attacks Putin
Img src="https://elainemeinelsupkis.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/06/miz_liberty_berates_russian_bear.jpg">
July 2, 2007: Libby Free, Bush Wrangles With Putin, China Goes Forwards
October, 2007: Mad People Wielding Razor Blades Destroying US Diplomacy
Putin calls our government 'mad people wielding razor blades.' How apt. As we increase the pressure on Iran Kitty, Russia laughs as world oil prices shoot higher. We just made both Russia AND Iran stronger. Time to examine China's many diplomatic fronts and actions. Turkey is about to head off to the Axis of Smart Diplomats: Russia and China. Our blundering leaders are destroying every alliance.
Putin was right. The US has gone mad. We are wildly swinging our arms in all directions, slicing everyone with the razors. The US media certainly are inflicting many cuts on Putin. Like Iran's leaders, he can't open his mouth now without everything being twisted, manipulated or lied about. The entire US media is dead set on framing things so it is all Russia's fault and the US is pure as driven snow. Not covered with blood. This is in lockstep with an election that features only warmongers for President. It is thoroughly disgusting and disturbing. Instead of putting our leaders on trial for lying about 9/11, the anthrax attacks and the illegal invasion of Iraq after conspiring with Europe to disarm Saddam, we have worse and worse war criminals waiting in the wings to do even worse crimes. With AIPAC's help.
US Polish Missiles And US Olympic Baseball Losers
The BBC notices that Russia is losing the PROPAGANDA WARS. This is because the US media is in full bellow, lying about nearly everything. How can any nation win a propaganda war with our own loudmouth, warmongering media? Impossible. Ask Iran Kitty about this. Well the US just lost to Cuba the baseball Olympics. And the US coach instantly launched a classic PROPAGANDA frontal attack on the good athletes of Cuba. Talk about poor losers. The US is constantly provoking everyone across the planet and then screaming that our victims are all picking on little old us, the world's biggest military spenders.
Russia threatens to 'strike' Poland in wake of U.S. missile plan
A Russian general says the recently negotiated deal to allow the United States to place a missile interceptor base in Poland "cannot go unpunished."
Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, made the comment to reporters on Friday.
Nogovitsyn was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Poland was risking attack by agreeing to the deal.
"Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to a strike —100 per cent," he said.
It is the strongest language so far from Russian officials in reaction to plans to install a missile defence battery in a former Soviet satellite nation.
The US has been desperately trying to arm and occupy all of the Warsaw Pact nations surrounding Russia's western borders. These borders are very important to Russia since European powers have repeatedly launched sneak attacks across these frontiers more than once in history. Roughly every 50 years, in fact. The last one was slightly more than 50 years ago, incidentally.
The natural and obviously smart Russian paranoia about European sneak attacks has been reinforced this month when Bush, Olmert and Saakashivili conspired to launch an evening attack right in the middle of a cease fire peace negotiation. This startling fact has been successfully eliminated from nearly all US reports about this war we launched.
Here is a map showing how stupid this missile deal is. And on top of this, the US, which has military bases in over 100 countries, are now going to park one in Poland? Good grief. Talk about dangerous and stupid.
Instantly, the US warmongering neocons made a deal with Poland to put missiles there. The fabrication of these missiles being aimed at Iran have been dropped. The US thinks we are fighting WWII all over again. Only we are playing the role of the Nazis including the desire to take advantage of trust and thus, launch sneak attacks against Russia. Something we were NOT tempted to do during the Cold War for fear it would start a nuclear holocaust.
BBC: Russians losing propaganda war
By Paul Reynolds
The Bush administration appears to be trying to turn a failed military operation by Georgia into a successful diplomatic operation against Russia.
It is doing so by presenting the Russian actions as aggression and playing down the Georgian attack into South Ossetia on 7 August, which triggered the Russian operation.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford has reported: "Many Ossetians I met both in Tskhinvali and in the main refugee camp in Russia are furious about what has happened to their city.
"They are very clear who they blame: Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, who sent troops to re-take control of this breakaway region."
The US media even showed films of the Georgian attacks on the Ossetian capital and had a voice over claiming this was the Russians attacking the people of Georgia! This is very naked propaganda. It is shameful and disgusting. AND DELIBERATE. There was no mistake here. Just as there is no mistake about who launched this war. Putin was furious with Bush who sat there and smirked at the Olympics. Putin ran off to take care of vital affairs while Bush spend the day hamming it up with the US women's beach volley ball babes.
One problem for the Russians is that they have not yet learned how to play the media game. Their authoritarian government might never do so.
Most of the Western media is based in Georgia. The Russians were slow to give access from their side and this has helped them lose the propaganda war.
Georgia, meanwhile, was comparing this to Prague in 1968 and Budapest in 1956. Even the massacre at Srebrenica was recalled.The comparisons did not fit the facts, but some of the mud has stuck and Russia has been on the international defensive.
The flood of lies and fake histories flowing like a sewer in the West isn't due to us having a great democracy with a 'free press.' Our press is now united in one way: they ALL want wars. All the time. Wars make money. Wars are good for Jewish expansions in the Holy Land. Wars get us commodities and lets us control world markets. Russia could be just as pig-headed. All they have to do is lie to their own people. They can't control OUR lying media! If our rules want to inflict huge gobs of propaganda on us, they do so with total impunity. I keep saying, we hung the editor of the Nazi media to death because he was 'complicit' with WWII crimes. So it is here: I would not cry a tear if the owners of the NYT or Washington Post were put on trial and then punished.
The charade of punishing Serb leaders in the Hague while the hags running Europe kiss the hem of a major war criminal, Mr. Bush, is a classic: might makes right! Losers are punished for losing. And Russia won this little war. No matter how our media owners lie, no matter how much red ink they pour on Putin's head, he still won. Just like we lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pretending we won won't convince a soul that we won. It is aimed at the US public: keeping them in the dark. Keeping them ignorant. Making them into fools.
US diplomacy is also concentrating on the issue of sovereignty and territorial integrity - which means that South Ossetia and the other restless region, Abkhazia, must remain within Georgian borders. Russian has questioned this.
HAHAHA. Darfur!! Tibet!!! Free them now! Oops. Wait, now we must be screaming, 'Preserve sovereignty even if it means massacring the natives!' As I have pointed out from day one, the handwringing over Darfur and Tibet is totally cynical and utterly fake. Sincere people in the US are goaded into weeping for both but they are mere tools to the CIA, our rulers and our government. Which is seeking global domination, not freedom for ethnic minorities. We are not taught in school that the battle over the rights of ethnic minorities in the wake of WWI was focused ONLY on areas that were once part of the German and Austrian empires! All ethnic minorities or even, in the case of India, vast majorities, were ignored by the British, French and US empires. They had no rights. But every single tribe in the German sphere was to be given highest sovereign rights! Except if they were German Bohemians, for example. Thus, Hitler had two tools: the sense of righteous indignation coupled with the right to ethnic cleansing. Which he used with tremendous brutality!
BBC: Anger smoulders in rebel city rubble
Everywhere, there are mountains of shattered glass. Those who didn't flee South Ossetia as refugees are now emerging from their basements to begin the clean-up.
They are very clear who they blame: Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, who sent troops to re-take control of this breakaway region. That effort has clearly backfired. The pro-Russian sentiment I experienced on my last visit four years ago has become far fiercer as a result of this conflict.
"They signed a ceasefire, but Saakashvili can start bombing us again any minute," Lusya said, referring to the OSCE/EU-brokered peace plan between Moscow and Tbilisi.
"Look how many people died here! We can never join Georgia after this. We'll cope on our own."
At least the BBC is reporting real news. But this is not picked up in the US media. This is studiously ignored.
We were escorted in South Ossetia by the Russian military, which now controls most of the territory here. Pointing out the tank wreckage, the deputy commander of Russian ground forces insisted that Georgia was the initial aggressor in this conflict - sending in tanks that targeted Russians and Ossetians.
"Half an hour before the tanks began firing, the Georgian peacekeepers disappeared from the base," said Igor Konashenkov. "They left their food uneaten and abandoned their kit. Then the shooting began."
Despite international calls for a withdrawal, there is no sign of Russia pulling its troops out of Ossetia. By Wednesday, they had received an order to cease fire, but not to leave.
Their presence is popular with many locals, who wave as soldiers drive past in the street.
The UN should be hearing about this obvious sneak attack. The US, to this day, hails Pearl Harbor as an excuse for all our subsequent warring. We said, 'This was the GOOD war' because we were the victims of a sneak attack. So was Russia, this week! Ergo: any war they wage is good. I notice the media is talking about how there is now looting in Georgia. Well, DUH. This is war. What happens when WE invade countries? Looting! The way to end this is for Georgia to surrender to Russia and make Russia responsible for things. But then, we never had anyone surrender in Iraq and we are still fighting there.
Cuba Tops U.S. in Final At-Bat
The baseball-adoring men who have governed these baseball-adoring nations, it is safe to say, will not be making congratulatory and consolatory phone calls to each other after another intense chapter in the United States-Cuba sporting rivalry played out Friday afternoon. But President Bush and Fidel Castro, the former dictator, can almost certainly agree on one point (and probably one only), that the circumstances surrounding Cuba's 5-4 victory in 11 innings offended their traditionalist sensibilities and hardly seemed a just way of deciding what had been a compelling and dramatic afternoon.
HAHAHA. The US lost to Cuba. The NYT believes the Cubans were 'offended' by the rules by which they won. Sure. Only they didn't say that. They did note the rule changes were unnecessary. But the rule changes were not for their benefit. Nope. It was for the US TV sponsors! They wanted a faster game! So does the NYT grouse about this and blame the US media? HAHAHA, again. Sheesh.
Now for the poor losers in the US:
The unusual tiebreaker — if teams are tied after the 10th, each half-inning begins with runners on first and second and no outs; in the 11th, managers can start their lineup at any place — had already added a layer of intrigue by the time Nix led off the bottom of the 11th with the United States trailing, 5-3, and the aforementioned runners on base.
Pedro Luis Lazo, the brawny Cuban pitcher, threw an up-and-in pitch that Nix, having squared around to bunt, managed to deflect with the barrel. It zipped upward, smacking him in the eye, and he crumpled to the ground. Lazo immediately rushed over, the first Cuban player to do so, while trainers from both teams gathered behind the plate. Neither Johnson nor anyone else on the team expressed displeasure at the time, but in a postgame news conference afterward he said he thought Lazo was purposely trying to injure Nix. The team's physician, Dr. William Kuprevich, had a tear in his left upper eyebrow. Nix will not return to play during the Games.
"In my wildest imagination, I didn't think they would throw at my player's coconut," Johnson said.
Invoking the name of an infield strategy used to thwart sacrifice attempts, Johnson added, "I don't think that's the way to defend the wheel. Lazo's a great pitcher. I'm sure the game plan was to throw right at his head. It bounced up and hit him on the eye. No game of baseball is worth that."
Told of those comments, the Cuban manager, Antonio Pacheco, all but called Johnson a liar, saying he did not treat the game or his team with proper respect. To confound matters further, the translator did not accurately relay the comments of Pacheco or Lazo — as reporters complained, the mediator tried cutting off the line of questioning — leaving the Spanish-speaking news media to clarify their thoughts.
OK: I was on my school's girls softball team in high school. I was the catcher. This gives one a great view of pitchers and batters, I assure you. When a pitcher throws a ball and a batter swings or bunts, once the ball touches the bat, it is the batter's problem. So, if a batter swings at a ball, the ball is 'nicked' and flies wild either it goes foul, it goes up then falls into the catcher's mitt and the batter is out or it can bop into the batter's hands, feet, face, whatever. This is why batters must practice good batting skills! DUH.
The pitcher has no control over the ball once a bat interferes with the straight passage of the ball. This is simple physics. The fact that our own Olympic team is so politicized, we can't even play fair anymore. I see lots of whining about the Chinese 'cheating' but then, here we are, the US trying a classic bully-boy operation on a very small country the US is bitterly abusing on the world stage with our moronic boycotts and restrictions of honest trade.
Stratfor acknowledges Russia defeated US, not Georgian army in South Ossetia
The USA acknowledged that Russia had virtually defeated the US, but not the Georgian army in South Ossetia. US instructors have spent four years training the Georgian army for an attack against Russian citizens. The US administration refused to help Saakashvili, because the true goal of the new game in the Caucasus is absolutely different.
Experts of Stratfor, the so-called Shadow CIA, stated that the Russian army had not only preserved its battling capacity but also proved to the whole world that was it capable of defeating an armed enemy, trained by US instructors.
A report from Stratfor particularly mentions that the operation in South Ossetia has exercised three things. First off, Russia has proved to have the army capable of conducting successful operations, in which many Western observers doubted before. Secondly, the Russians have showed that they can defeat the forces trained by US advisors. Finally, Russia has shown that the USA and NATO do not find themselves in the situation when they can interfere into a conflict from the military point of view.
The Russians lost in Afghanistan because they were in the wrong. They won in Ossetia because they were in the right. We and they won WWII because the Nazis were in the wrong. Seems simple. We lost in Iraq because we were wrong to invade. It was illegal as all hell.
Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area. The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force".
The lead American ship in these war games, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) and its Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG-2) are now headed towards Iran along with the USS Ronald Reagon (CVN76) and its Carrier Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7) coming from Japan.
They are joining two existing USN battle groups in the Gulf area: the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) with its Carrier Strike Group Nine (CCSG-9); and the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) with its expeditionary strike group.
Russia and China do anything, our warmongering media propagandists all shriek that this is evil. Then we and Israel go about the planet, playing extremely hostile war games aimed straight at Russia and China as well as many smaller countries like Cuba. Oh, how badly the US wanted to be on international TV, beating up the Cuban baseball team! Now, we stand below them on the stands. You can bet, the US will try some awful provocation of Cuba in the next three weeks.
Iran builds new smart submarine
Iranian state radio is quoting the country's defense minister as saying Iran's military capabilities "increased remarkably" after the construction of a new submarine.
General Mostafa Mohammadnajjar says the submarine is "smart," unmanned and has radar-evading capabilities.
Tuesday's report did not elaborate on its size and technical specifics, and did not say whether the submarine had been tested.
Iran occasionally announces production of advanced weapons. Since 1992, it has been active in producing military tanks, missiles, torpedoes, as well as guided bombs and airplanes.
Everyone is arming for WWIII. Especially the US.
Beijing is riding the wave of the future, argues a renowned internationalist
Societies progress at different speeds, and in different ways, toward incorporation into their political and social systems of the highest principles and values to which they aspire. China has made immense progress toward meeting the goals and objectives articulated by its leaders of producing a harmonious society guided by science that will meet the needs and aspirations of all its people and contribute to a more sustainable and equitable world society. Indeed, it is embarking on a distinctive and unprecedented pathway to a new model of development based on utilizing the methods of capitalism to achieve the goals of socialism — a socialist market economy. The entire world has a great stake in the success of China in making this transformation. Following the example of the traditional industrialized countries would not be sustainable for China, or for the world. To be sure, this is a monumental challenge that is still a work in progress. But it is in all of our interests that China be successful in doing so, and that we lend it our understanding and support.
Hostile attitudes and policies aimed at undermining China's progress and discrediting its policies and intentions can only be counterproductive, and contrary to our own interests. For there is not a single major world issue that can be resolved without China's co-operation. It is not that we should forgo legitimate and constructive criticisms and differences, but that these be resolved by engagement with China as a full partner, rather than by the kind of entrenched hostility and bias we so often display.
We should continue to facilitate China's full participation in the policy and decision-making processes by which the future of all of us is being shaped. Climate change is an issue that is especially relevant. China realizes that it will be one of the most vulnerable victims of climate change and is already taking serious measures domestically to avert these risks. But it cannot be expected to transform these into binding commitments that are not matched by firm and enforceable commitments by the countries, notably the United States, whose accumulated emissions of greenhouse gases have caused the irreversible damage already inflicted on the world. The attempt to shift the onus for climate change to China, India and other rapidly industrializing developing countries is neither fair nor workable.
Nothing irritates the US more than the idea that either Russia or China are moving ahead of us! China knows we are customers but not friends. The US is too dumb to realize that we are customers to all our 'allies' and thus, are deep in debt with all of them. This is destroying our powers. But instead of batting better, we throw more temper tantrums as we clock ourselves in the eyes over and over again. Blood streaming down our faces, we wail, 'This is so unfair!'
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