5,000 Baloch youth to be inducted in Pak Army in March, 2011

[The way things are, it makes you wonder how he will find 5,000 "volunteers" from Balochistan, if they are to be volunteers.  Does this mean that Baloch have been banned from the Pak Army until now?]

Quetta: A total of 5,000 youth from all over Balochistan Province will be inducted in Pakistan Army in March 2011, said Major General Tariq Javed on Monday.

Pakistan Army in collaboration with Balochistan government is committed to play its role in the development of the province, he said at concluding ceremony of ISSB classes at Quetta Cantt.

“In pursuance of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s directive, Army in collaboration with provincial government launched projects in education, health, and other sectors,” he added.

He said conversion of Sui cantt into military college, training classes in Balochistan Institute of Technical Education BITE, renovation, construction of damaged health and education structures in flood-stricken areas are some of major steps taken by Army for development in Balochistan.

Major General Tariq Javed lauded dedication of Baloch youth during training session and said Balochistan is rich in talent and efforts afoot to bring them on par with students of other provinces.

Stuxnet could have caused “new Chernobyl,” Russian ambassador says

Russian ambassador says NATO should be investigating the Stuxnet further.

By Ellen Messmer, Network World

The Stuxnet worm attack known to have struck computers at the Russian-built Iranian Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran has serious implications and could have caused “another Chernobyl,” a Russian ambassador is said to have advised NATO yesterday, according to a Reuters report.

The Reuters report says Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s ambassador to NATO, called the Stuxnet virus “very toxic, very dangerous” and said it had caused centrifuges to spin out of control and was dangerous enough to have possibly caused “a new Chernobyl,” an allusion to the devastating nuclear-plant accident in the mid-1980s in Ukraine.

Is Stuxnet an Israeli-invented attack against Iran?

According to Reuters, Russian ambassador Rogozin said NATO should be investigating the Stuxnet matter.

Security experts have spent considerable time examining Stuxnetcode, with many regarding it as weaponized malware that was likely used by an enemy of Iran to slow down development of Iran’s nuclear program, with some believing that Israel or the U.S. or both having had a stealthy hand in Stuxnet’s creation as malware targeted Iran industrial control systems in the plant..

Fire in arms depot “strange”: Venezuelan president

English.news.cn

Fire burns at a Venezuelan army ammunition depot in Maracay, Venezuela, on Jan. 30, 2011. A fire set off a series of explosions at a military arms depot, killing at least one person and leading authorities to evacuate about 10,000 people from the area.(Xinhua/STR)

CARACAS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday said that the fire in the arms depot in central Venezuela, which killed one people and wounded some 40 others, was “strange.”

According to Chavez, the fire, which began on Sunday at 4:00 a.m. local time (0830 GMT)in Maracay city, Aragua state, was suspicious as it occurred during a night in a high and large storage without electrical system and where nobody should be there at that time.

However, “everything is possible, so we will launch a scientific investigation and will get the pertinent conclusions,” he said.

Chavez went to the scene of the fire to inspect the damage caused by the fire.

Chavez congratulated the Armed Forces for their work and congratulated the firemen in charge of controlling the fire.

“We must congratulate them, because they did a heroic action, putting on risk their lives due to the risk of explosions. Without their work, it could have turned into a bigger tragedy,” he said.

Chavez also expressed his sympathy to the relatives of the only fatal victim.

Editor: Fang Yang

 

Elite Desperation Over Failing Middle East Psyops

by  Anthony Wile

Once again, the power elite manipulates the Middle East for its own gain. It is a dangerous game, especially in Egypt, which controls the Suez Canal. Because of the violence, gold is up and oil, too. And just as I finish writing this article, the UK Telegraph has released an extraordinary story. It claims that the United States leadership not only secretly backed the current uprisings in Egypt, it was actively aiding and abetting the protestors. Hello rewrite!

“America’s secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising,” the article reads. It explains that The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York. “On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.”

What an expose! Unfortunately the story is developed from cables recently leaked by WikiLeaks. And here at the Bell, we don’t trust WikiLeaks. Julian Assange himself may be an asset of Western intel. Of course, from the perspective of Western intel, tying Egyptian yearnings for independence to WikiLeaks may have seemed a brilliant stroke. Perhaps they believe it provides both WikiLeaks and the American ruling establishment with enormous credibility: Each can be seen as supporting freedom.

But on a deeper level, it reveals the desperation and the unraveling of this entire operation. The Anglo-American power elite has apparently decided to destablize the Middle East in order to create regulatory democracies with an Islamic tinge (an arrogant assumption in my view). The ultimate goal is to butress the war on terror and deliver enhanced authoritarianism to the West – and the Western middle classes that are always the targets of the elite.

But as usual, the Internet has apparently upset elite plans. How does one run a “black ops” of this magnitude while being exposed in real time? In fact, WikiLeaks could have released these cables at any point. They did it yesterday, apparently. It is as if the collective hand of the elite has been forced.

Yes, it seems to me that with plans exposed, Western elites may have decided to take credit for the Middle Eastern uprisings. Why is it a desperate manuever? Because the averge youthful Egyptian or Tunisian is not going to look kindly on the idea that he and his world is being manipulated yet again by ruthless Western powers-that-be. This is the reason that such operations are usually kept quiet. Nobody likes to feel manipulated.

What now? We continually document the struggle between the truth-telling of the Internet and the fear-based promotions of the elite. The elite seems increasingly tortured by the Internet, which is a process not an episode. Usually elite promotions take decades to develop. The EU was 50 years in the making. Global warming nearly as long. But everything the elite is trying to do these days regarding its promotional methodologies has a rushed, error-prone feel about it.

It is not going to help relations with the Egyptian man-on-the-street to have the information broadcast that America was behind – and actively planning – the current disturbances. As of this writing, the Egyptian government has lodged a protest against American interference. US Foggy Bottom types have taken to the airwaves blathering about the “values” of American democracy, but after years of reports of American torture, Western rendition, endless drone attacks that kill women and children in Afghanistan, it’s certainly an open question as to whether America can effectively pose as a beacon of democratic values.

The ramifications are endless. Exposed endlessly on the Internet, the elite may have decided to take credit for the “democratization.” But do the Western powers-that-be really believe they control these uprisings now? A dozen powder kegs have been lit. Blowback – serious blowback – is on the way. In a sense, no matter how the elite’s involvement is portrayed, it would seem a botch. If you are going to destabilize some of the most ancient cultures in the world, you better be able to do it secretly. It’s not something you want to take credit for, or not while the operations are ongoing.

Perhaps the disclosure was planned all along to give WikiLeaks additional credibility (which it sorely needs). But the trouble is that on the ‘Net anyway there has been enormous speculation that neither Assange nor WikiLeaks are exactly what they seem. Thus, WikiLeak’s release of documents about American involvement may be viewed as manipulative itself … artificial and even unconvincing. Here are some previous Bell articles on the subject:

http://www.thedailybell.com/1717/Fall-of-Saudi-Arabia-to-End-Dollar-Reserve-System.html

http://www.thedailybell.com/1714/Tunisia-Promotion-Now-Failing.html

http://www.thedailybell.com/1711/As-Predicted-Tunisian-Islamists-Emerge.html

http://www.thedailybell.com/1691/Western-Elites-Secretly-Still-Building-Islam.html

Credit where credit is due. The above articles have benefited from the insights of reporter and author William Engdahl who understands well the essential manipulation of the late 20th century world by the powers that be. In his book Full Spectrum Domination, he pointed out that the various color revolutions that occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union were essentially manipulated affairs.

He tells us that the leading actors in these revolutions were essentially coached by the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies. The end result was essentially a series of bloodless coup d’etats that left leaders sympathetic to Western style regulatory democracy in charge of the affected countries. What is going on in the Middle East is no different.

But Engdahl, as bright and sophisticated as he is, seems to see the world through a quasi-socialist prism. For him, it is governments orchestrating events and large, evil corporations coming up with the ideas that governments and fatcat politicians then orchestrate. That is why he mentions that it is the Rand Corporation that he claims came up with the idea for the current crop of “bloodless” revolutions. Our point of view is different. We ask who stands BEHIND corporations and governments. You can see a Bell article on Engdahl here:

http://www.thedailybell.com/1272/Western-Wars-Are-Preplanned.html

It seems fairly obvious that a Western power elite stands behind much of what goes on in the world today. There are central banks around the world, and they didn’t happen by accident. The world’s entire financial infrastructure was created by certain elite individuals after the Second World War, although the plans were drafted well in advance. To claim the world is run by “governments” is to miss the point. It is run by powerful banking families and their allies – mostly out of London – using the levers of power that governments provide to the truly wealthy. The mechanism of this governance is called mercantilism.

Elites are always at war with their middle classes, and the preferred techniques, in this epoch anyway, are the fear-based dominant social themes that the Bell tries to cover every day. By using these fear-based promotions, the elite attempts to stampede the middle class into surrendering both wealth and power. There is pressure for constant convergence of power; the preferred governance is regulatory democracy. In the Middle East, no doubt, the evolution of these revolutions will bring to power moderate Islamic entities that will provide a boon to yet another elite promotion: the so-called war on terror. All these promotions are interlinked.

There are other sorts of promotions that the elite uses as well, mostly to piggyback onto existing trends. WikiLeaks and Julian Assange would seem to be one of them. Aljazeera would seem to be another. Aljazeera was initially staffed by the BBC; Assange has released few leaks that harm Western powers in any significant way. By promoting Assange and Aljazeera, the elite is able to control the larger dialogue. It is a version of the Hegelian dialectic that the elite loves to use. Control both sides of the argument and the results are bound to further one’s agenda, whatever it may be.

In this case, the goal is creating much closer and better-coordinated world government run by the Anglosphere. That’s why we’ve suggested at the Bell that one of the outcomes of the Middle East unrest will likely be Islamic governments of a sort that will polarize public opinion in the West and add credibility to the current war on terror – which definitely needs a pick-me-up. If the West is to continue down the path of authoritarianism, it certainly needs to create a larger Islamic bogeyman.

It also seems to me that these revolutions could be used to destabilize a strong American ally, Saudi Arabia – and thus destabilize the dollar-reserve currency as well. (We’ve written about that.) Again, this benefits an Anglo-American power elite that is determined to transition from national currencies to one global currency – reason enough for the destruction of the dollar. The wealthiest sheiks won’t be damaged were this to occur. They’ll simply seek asylum in Britain, (or perhaps France) as so many of the West’s wealthiest allies seem to do when they are toppled.

We live in the age (era) of the Internet. The manipulations of the elite have withstood the test of time, but I would suggest that in the 21st century there is a greater perception of the manipulations than ever before. The Internet was not foreseen by the elite. So many of elite promotions are compromised now; when the elite releases a new one, it would seem that the law of unintended consequences almost immediately takes hold.

In the 20th century, the elite controlled the message and thus much of the world. In the 21st century, the power of the Internet has exposed many of these promotions and given us real insight into the current matrix of control. I have this to say about the current color revolutions: Be careful what you wish for!

No Need for a Draft When the Brightest Young Men Are Eager To Kill for a Job–Literally

[The Beast- Masters learned a great lesson from the Vietnam War--shanghai men out of their own lives and force them to fight against their wills, and they won't fight.  After that, they learned that an "all volunteer Army" cannot function in a thriving economy.  So this time, they got it right--first they killed the economy, then they started their war, so that suddenly, a million jobs became available when there were no other jobs.  If college graduates face a choice between flipping burgers forever, with zero chance of ever paying back all those college loans, or selling their souls to the devil for a chance to "be somebody," even though the job description includes committing murder, how many of them will be moral enough to resist the devil/recruiter's seductive appeals?

There will never be an end to all of these little "piss-ant wars" that plague mankind until normally sane young men wise-up and  stop volunteering to be "hitmen" for the "godfathers" of American crime.]

More college grads signing up for military

BY JEB PHILLIPS

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

FRED SQUILLANTE | DISPATCH

Ben Harris volunteered as a tour guide at the Ohio Statehouse to bolster his resume, to no avail. Now he plans to join the military.

|

More than two years out of college, Ben Harris finds himself working in a chicken-finger place and living with his parents in Hilliard.

This is not what he expected as a double major in political science and communications at Ohio State University. He would like to be an educational ranger in the National Park Service, or possibly a political journalist.

He’s gone so far as to volunteer as a Statehouse tour guide to juice his resume, but no job he wants has come through.

So he’s turning to a place that does have jobs to fit his interests. He is joining the military.

“Now, it seems like a viable option,” said Harris, 25, who is still deciding between the Army and the Air Force. “I’ll get more skills and more education.”

In this tough job market, an increasing number of college graduates agree. The number of military recruits with bachelor’s degrees jumped from 2008 to 2009, then again in 2010. The only service branch without noticeable gains in that category is the Marine Corps.

The number of recruits with college degrees and no military service remains a small part of the whole.

The Army brought in 5,725 new active-duty and reserve soldiers with bachelor’s degrees out of about 83,000 recruits in 2010, said S. Douglas Smith, a public-affairs officer for the Army Recruiting Command. But that college-educated recruit class is up by about 200 from 2009 and by more than 2,000 compared with 2008.

The Navy enlisted 1,425 college graduates in 2010, up from 1,011 in 2008. The Air Force enlisted 920 college graduates into its active-duty force in 2010, up from 553 in 2008.

Like Harris, other new recruits from central Ohio say they might have joined the military even in a booming economy, with desirable jobs available. College graduates can more easily become officers, because a degree is required, and they receive paychecks while the military pays down their college debt.

“I’ve always had in the back of my head that it was either law school or working for the government,” said Josh Gibson, 23, of Plain City, a 2009 graduate of Otterbein University in Westerville. “I know the economy kind of pushed (my decision).”

So did the need to serve his country, he said. He turned down a job in deciding to join the Army.

“I always tell people when they come in, if you are joining for money, you need to walk away,” said Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Thatcher, who commands a Sawmill Road recruiting station that covers the Ohio State campus area and Dublin.

“I try to tell them it’s a lifestyle, not a job,” said Staff Sgt. Brandon Ross, a recruiter at the same station.

Still, Thatcher said, recruiters don’t have to go out and look for people as much as they used to. College graduates and others are walking into the office on their own. The average age of a recruit at the Sawmill Road station is about 26, he said.

The Marines did see a rise between 2008 and 2010 in the number of new college-graduate recruits, but that’s because 2008 was a little down from previous years. The numbers don’t fluctuate much over the long haul because of the culture of the Marines, said Maj. John Caldwell, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.

“Young men and women join our ranks to become a United States Marine,” Caldwell wrote in an e-mail. “They do not see the Marine Corps as a path to something else but rather as a destination unto itself.”

Some college graduates feel exactly that way about their decisions. Kevin Saarie, 26, of Dublin has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio University in Athens. He has a job he has enjoyed with the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission and no school debts.

He leaves for Army basic training in May. He plans to then attend officer-candidate school and begin a career as an active-duty Army officer.

Both of his parents were in the Air Force. He has decided a military career fits with his values and what he believes is important.

“I think it’s a great honor and privilege to serve my country,” he said.

jeb.phillips@dispatch.com

Two Key Bush Policies Have Broken the US Job Market

J.E. Robertson

There is little doubt that the United States is experiencing a long-term crisis in the scarcity of gainful employment. It is, in fact, persistently difficult for many laid off workers to find jobs even at a steep pay cut. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act did a great deal to staunch the bleeding, and has helped move the economy toward a grudging reversal in job trends, but we are still saddled with two major Bush-era policy shifts that are hampering job creation almost across the board.

The first is the unprecedented giveaway of nearly $2 trillion in tax revenues, during the years 2001-2010, to mostly the wealthiest Americans. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were in fact the largest single transfer of wealth in American history, a giveaway of needed government revenues to those who least required a handout. The Bush team’s thinking was trickle-down economics to the extreme: if we give more than a trillion dollars to the wealthiest Americans, they will have to pass on that wealth by “creating jobs”.

The flaw in this reasoning was that the real impact, the real incentive of the Bush handout was: if the wealthiest interests in our society can earn more than a trillion dollars without lifting a finger, why should they waste money creating jobs? This latter logic has proven to be much closer to the economic shift we experienced in the wake of those tax cuts. American businesses began moving jobs overseas at record pace, and even pressed for the further relaxation of labor laws, so job creation wouldn’t be “so costly”.

The transfer of wealth was further exaggerated when the Bush administration persuaded Congress to overhaul bankruptcy laws, making it much harder for individuals to escape crippling debt through bankruptcy protection, while making it easier for corporations to do so. Banks whose balance sheets were riddled with bad debt resulting from mathematically unsustainable and predatory lending practices could hide their exposure by taking advantage of both sides of that bankruptcy reform.

The second major economic policy shift that took place under George W. Bush was the near total deregulation of the banking sector. Pres. Clinton had signed major bank deregulation legislation in the late ’90s, but the intention was not to give major banks carte blanche to set up a fictional trading regime which no human being could track and in which the private wealth of most Americans could be made vulnerable to systemic fraud. The Bush years, however, saw a shift in regulatory infrastructure which invited (and brought) such abuse.

Allowing major banks to not only hold deposits and make loans, but to sell stock, to convert loans into securities, to gamble with pension plans, to sell insurance, some of which was designed to insure against the collapse of their other financial products, was a calamitous miscalculation. It is what invited and brought about the worst financial abuses in generations and led to the worldwide financial collapse of 2007-2008.

If banks are not accountable for the truthfulness of their wealth claims, they have every incentive to first begin, then expand, the very risky fictionalization of wealth that we saw in the years 2001-2008. With unprecedented amounts of free cash floating around in the bank accounts of the wealthiest of the wealthy, the financial sector experienced an incredible boom in dollars invested. The comprehensive deregulation of the financial sector then allowed them to use this new economic reality to vastly inflate the value of that private wealth, by investing not in productive business opportunities, but spurious and ill-designed financial “instruments”, the true value of which was simply the point-blank multiplication of wealth.

To say that wealth is fictionalized is a specific charge: the entire financial services sector embarked on a complicated re-engineering of the meaning of investment. No longer was the smartest gamble the investment of hard cash into real businesses producing actual products and services with corresponding measurable market value; now, the focus shifted to investments in securitized investments, pools of wealth claims not corresponding to any measurable, grounded economic activity.

Building “instruments” designed to expand the financial holdings of clients was the new game. Bad loans were bundled into “mortgage-backed securities”. One could buy one-tenth of 1% of a bundle of 1,000 home loans, the total cash value of which can never exceed the contracted amount plus interest over time, in hopes that other investors will throw so much money at the same security that its financial value (wholly detached from its real economic value) will escalate wildly.

If this sounds risky, your bank could secure its other holdings against the risks of mortgage-backed securities by engaging in “credit default swaps”. The simplest way to explain these is to say that two or more banks agree to shore each other up against massive credit losses, to provide baseline security to the already improbable investment values tied to the pooling of mostly risky mortgages.

These two policy shifts saw the United States government give away $2 trillion, at the beginning of a decade which would cost nearly $2 trillion in war spending, only to throw in another $1 trillion at the tail end, to pay for the clean-up, leaving major financial institutions not only intact, despite systematic abuses, but far wealthier with respect to the average American business or household than ever before. This policy shift was undertaken deliberately by the Bush administration, and to some extent, the policy goal of putting more power into the hands of a concentrated minority of the wealthiest interests was achieved.

The current administration is dealing with the aftermath of this decade of decadence; Pres. Obama has the unenviable task of wrestling with the resulting wave of unemployment, challenging deeply held assumptions about the American genius for creating wealth and reminding citizens and politicians that free as we are, most individuals have little control over their economic circumstances. Should he raise taxes? Fine the banks? Institute wage controls on investment bankers? Ban irrationally huge executive bonuses?

His critics allege he is desperate to do each of these, and yet he has never attempted even one of them, as a response to the financial crisis. The only area where taxes have been increased during Obama’s presidency, is on the wealthiest recipients of the most expensive health insurance policies. Economists of every stripe agree this will help to bring down costs and insure more people.

Pres. Obama’s approach to the financial collapse, the government’s fiscal crisis and persistent unemployment, has been to seek solutions that will allow private markets to deal better with the challenges of the day. The bluster and character assassination from his critics has been relentless, but the fact is, he has not proposed socialist fixes to the converging crises in American markets; he has, instead, sought to make it possible for individuals and businesses to fare better, while aiming to defictionalize the investment markets without prompting a sudden collapse of values in any sector of the economy.

In this sense, Obama has been largely successful. Most economic trend lines appear to be moving in the right direction, including job-creation. In 2009 and 2010, the US economy created far more jobs than during the Bush years, 2001-2008. But employment is lagging desperately behind other economic indicators. The weakness in the US jobs market can be traced directly to these two vitally ill-conceived economic policy shifts: the massive transfer of wealth the wealthy (an incentive large enough to remove all incentives) and near total free rein to the financial sector (allowing the wealthy to isolate their wealth without losing it, undermining the capitalist-democratic model whereby wealth flows throughout the society).

Financial regulatory reform, passed by the Democratic Congress and signed into law by Pres. Obama, was a significant step in the right direction, banning some of the worst abuses, targeting crucial conflicts of interest, and instituting a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will, for the first time in US history, give ordinary Americans a regulatory watchdog specifically designed to protect against systemic fraud and abuse in the financial sector.

But we are still dealing with the bulk of the costs of these two key Bush-era policies, and the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans may serve to stabilize the slow jobs recovery, but it is unlikely to accelerate it. We have to examine whether, as a democratic republic, we have any reason for giving such massive new wealth and such unconstrained privilege, to the already wealthy and privileged, without even asking anything in return.

In a free society, the rule of law should grant each of us the core democratic liberties that make us whole people, able to act freely in the public sphere, but the system should not be so easily redesigned to serve the personal or corporate interests of a limited few or to impede the flow of capital (as a percentage of overall investment) to ordinary people and small businesses. The folly of the Bush years was to pretend that an economy planned for the select few would work for everyone. An economy aligned to privilege market dynamics that elevate working families, citizens and communities, will enrich the wealthy, but not at the expense of everyone else.

The narcissism of the neo-cons, Egypt edition

by Jay

“It seems that a democratic revolution is sweeping the Middle East — spurred, I am sure, by American and allied actions in Iraq. (Our chattering classes will never admit this.)
– Jay Nordlinger, National Review

At last count, at least 50 Egyptians have been killed, more than a thousand injured and probably thousands arrested and imprisoned under what must be extremely frightening conditions. They have made those sacrifices and taken those risks for reasons that are very much their own, reasons born out of decades, centuries, even millenia of cruel repression and corruption.

To claim that they are instead taking such risks because they were inspired by the U.S. invasion of Iraq nine years ago is to attempt to rob them of credit for their own bravery. It is an act of theft by people who sit thousands of miles away in perfect safety, trying to boost their own self-regard by wrapping themselves in the courage of others.

– Jay Bookman

Egyptian Armored Vehicles Shelter Crowd from Police

This video from Daily News Egypt shows a street leading to Tahrir Square, where early Saturday morning, demonstrators were confronted by armed police. The police fired shots into the air, apparently a warning to go no further. Three armored military personnel carriers are seen moving into position between the protesters and the police, apparently in an effort to prevent injury to demonstrators and/or to prevent an attack by police.http://www.casavaria.com/cafesentido/

Military Prevents Confrontation between Protest…, posted with vodpod

How Far Will a Catapault Fling a Bale of Weed?

Another ‘Pot’apult Found Near U.S.-Mexico Border

Mexico’s defense department announced that they have confiscated another catapult on Friday near the U.S. border in the town of Agua Prieta, Mexico used to fling pot across the U.S.-Mexico border.

This ‘pot’apult was discovered when U.S. National Guard were reviewing surveillance video and saw several men on the Mexican side of the border flinging packages over the border.  Border patrol notified Mexican officials immediately who investigated.

When they arrived on the scene they discovered 45 pounds of marijuana and the ‘pot’apult but none of the operators of the device.  Last week the first such catapult was found in Naco, which is near Tucson, and it was also detected by U.S. surveillance video.

Venezuela Arms Depot Fire, Explosions Kill One

Venezuela Arms Depot Fire, Explosions Kill One …, posted with vodpod

TNK-BP Partners File Suit To Stop BP/Rosneft Share Swap

TNK-BP Partners Said to Weigh Dividend Halt as Dispute Worsens

By Torrey Clark and Will Kennedy

BP Plc’s billionaire partners in the TNK-BP oil venture may stop $1.8 billion in dividend payments as a dispute about the U.K. explorer’s alliance with Russia’s state oil company worsens, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The partners, who act through the AAR group, last week asked a London court to halt BP and OAO Rosneft’s share swap and Arctic drilling agreement because it may erode the competitive advantage of their venture.

AAR’s board will meet tomorrow to discuss vetoing the fourth-quarter dividend and having TNK-BP start hoarding cash, the person said, declining to be identified before the meeting. The board comprises Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik.

Robert Wine, a spokesman for London-based BP, said dividend payments were a matter for the TNK-BP board and not just the Russian shareholders. AAR spokesman Mikhail Loskutov declined to comment.

The worsening dispute threatens a second breakdown in relations between TNK-BP’s shareholders. In 2008, current BP Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley was ousted as head of TNK- BP as the billionaires and BP argued over strategy. The 50 percent holding in TNK accounts for about a quarter of BP’s output and a fifth of reserves.

BP agreed on Jan. 14 to swap a $7.8 billion stake in the company for 9.5 percent of Rosneft. The two also agreed to explore an area of Russia’s Arctic waters about the size of the U.K. North Sea.London’s High Court will consider AAR’s application for an injunction on Feb. 1.

To contact the reporters on this story: Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net; Will Kennedy in London at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

Blasts, fire at Venezuela arms depot, 1 killed

[It would be nice to find-out if these are some of the Russian weapons that Chavez has been stockpiling the last few years as part of a national civilian-based civil defense system, embarked upon as a reaction to Bush threats.  There is little chance of that ever happening.  If we knew whether this was terrorism and not accidental, it would tell us that Obama has opened-up another front in his war for global dominance.]

http://static.eluniversal.com/2011/01/30/g_fire.jpg.520.360.thumb

By IAN JAMES

CARACAS, Venezuela — A fire set off a series of explosions at a military arms depot in the Venezuelan city of Maracay on Sunday, killing one person and leading authorities to evacuate around 10,000 people from the area, an official said.

Residents were being evacuated from areas within six kilometers (about four miles) surrounding the arms depot, Aragua state Gov. Rafael Isea told state television.

“This is a preventive measure because the ammunitions that were detonating are ammunitions that have a powerful impact,” Isea said.

State radio reported that firefighters were beginning to extinguish the fires after a series of smaller explosions. Earlier, Isea said that smaller explosions were continuing and firefighters were waiting for them to subside.

A woman nearby the depot was killed, probably by the explosions, he said. The cause of the fire was unclear. Three people were injured in traffic accidents amid the chaos that ensued the blasts, he said.

Cavim, Venezuela’s military arms manufacturer, said in a statement that authorities had surrounded the arms depot “to control the situation.” The company said the explosion took place at 4:45 a.m. local time (4:15 a.m. EST; 0915 GMT).

Information Minister Andres Izarra went on state television calling for calm and saying that authorities were tending to the situation.

Hyrbyair Marri Wins Asylum In British Court

Hyrbyair Marri wins his asylum appeal; I will meet the Diaspora to unite them for Baloch cause: Marri

LONDON: Britain has granted political asylum to Baluch leader Nawabzada Hyrbyair Marri, tacitly acknowledging that the life of fiery Baluch nationalist leader was at risk if returned to Pakistan. Hyrbyair Marri, one of six sons of veteran Baloch leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, had applied for political asylum in Britain four months ago. He had entered Britain in 2000 after sneaking out of Pakistan where he was being sought by Pakistani spy agencies on various charges. Initially Mr Marri’s asylum claim was turned down by the Home Office and stated in the refusal letter that Hyrbyair’s life will be safe in Pakistan as his father still lived in Karachi and didn’t face harassment from the state authorities. Hyrbyair took his case to the asylum and immigration tribunal where his lawyer successfully argued that not only Hyrbyair’s elder brother Balach Marri was assassinated by Pakistani secret services but also Mr Marri himself has not stepped inside Balochistan in 10 years. The immigration judge was told that from former president Pervez Musharraf to the interior minister Rehman Malik had personally threatened and warned Hyrbyair of the repercussions for his ‘what they called’ anti-Pakistan activities. The defence argued that the continuing heavy-handed military operation in areas populated by the Bugtis and Marris, coupled with the ever-deteriorating law and situation in the country rendered Hyrbyair at the potential risk and law enforcement agencies could easily take him out. Sources confirmed that, senior PPP government officials, including the foreign office, contacted the Home Office (in the UK) and assured them that Hyrbyair will be provided safety and security if returned and further assured the former Baluchistan assembly lawmaker-turned-rebel was only exaggerating threat to his life. Hyrbyair’s lawyers were successful in convincing the judge that the current civilian government was not only helpless in matters related to Baluchistan but it was also impotent in security matters concerning rest of the country as its writ was absent in even urban areas. In his evidence before the judge, Hyrbyair also criticised the British government for deliberately creating problems for him and his family on behest of the Pakistani government. The judge acknowledged that Hyrbyair Marri was a high profile figure who had annoyed the establishment by taking a stance on Baluchistan issue not sanctioned by the security establishment. Hyrbyair was arrested alongside a young Baluch rights campaigner Faiz Baluch on December, 4, 2007. They were charged on charges of inciting others to commit murder abroad. Mr Marri spent 4 months in jail whereas Faiz Baluch was detained for 8 months. After a lengthy trail of over 40 days the duo were acquitted by an ordinary British Jury of 12 men and women. Faiz Baluch, who applied for political asylum in 2002, his case, is still in a limbo and the young campaigner remains clueless about his fate in Britain. Speaking to media sources, Hyrbyair referred to his first exoneration on terrorism charges, brought on the special request of Pervez Musharraf, said that being granted asylum was nothing to be celebrated about. “It pains me more that I am not with my people who are standing steadfast against the state onslaught. I am glad though that I have been exonerated for the second time, not by the British government but by the British courts. The British government knows there are serious problems in Balochistan but doesn’t have the courage to stand up to Pakistan. The neutral immigration court has given its verdict in my favour by acknowledging the fact the meltdown in Baluchistan is for real and that life has been made difficult for those who seek independence. I knew that British justice system will not let me and the people of Baluchistan down. These are independent courts, free of political influence.” He said that now when he is able to travel, he will meet the Baluch Diaspora across the world and will galvanise and unite them for the Baluch struggle for justice and Independence. Peter Tatchell has been at the forefront of campaigning for the release of Hyrbyair Marri from the detention in Belmarsh prison. He expressed his joy that Mr Marri was granted asylum in Britain, albeit with a lot of delay. “This decision to grant Hyrbyair asylum is very significant. It is an acknowledgement by the British government that human rights abuses in Baluchistan are so widespread and grave that Mr Marri cannot return their safely. This ruling is a damning indictment of the severe political repression that exists in Pakistan. The human rights advocate added: “It is further evidence that Baluch people who want the right of self determination are at risk of imprisonment torture and assassination by the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies.

Uncertain World: Terrorism’s local roots

Weekly column by Fyodor Lukyanov

International terrorism was at the forefront of global politics in the first decade of this young century. The concept is actually relatively new.

© RIA Novosti.

Fyodor Lukyanov

After the September 11 attacks shook America to its core, the Bush administration declared war on “international terrorism” and sought to enlist others in the cause. This was initially intended to serve as the organizing principle for a new international system. But really it was the same good-versus-evil dichotomy, with international terrorism taking the place once occupied by the Soviet threat.

It seemed at first that they might succeed. The broad coalition in the “war on terror” overthrew the Taliban in Afghanistan and drove them out of Kabul. But this was the high watermark for the coalition.

There was a design flaw in the war on terror. A global counterterrorism campaign must be comprehensive and rooted in cooperation, but the United States ended up using it as a tool to maintain global dominance. That drive toward dominance included exerting pressure – hard and soft – on other countries to follow America’s lead. But no one likes to be pressured.

Washington’s dubious motivation was only part of the problem. Many began to doubt that “international terrorism” really existed as a distinct phenomenon.

In the era of globalization, we are more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. The “martyrs” are no longer confined to the Middle East. They are found on the Moscow subway system and at Russian airports. However, the recent attacks in Moscow and Nalchik were not committed by the abstract international terrorists we are called on to fight. These attacks were carried out by specific Islamic groups from the Caucasus.

Terrorism today can have a global impact while still being rooted in local problems. International terrorism is, in fact, a collection of various separatist and nationalist movements. Each of these groups – in Russia, Indonesia, Sudan, Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, China, India, Turkey or Yemen – is opposed to its respective government and calls for self-determination or the overthrow of the current regime.

Even the unprecedented attacks of September 11 were a specific extremist group’s response to U.S. ambitions in the world, which successive administrations have been pursuing since the end of the Cold War. They see America as a global empire controlling vast territories, either directly or indirectly.

As such, George W. Bush’s attempt to make international terrorism the focus of global politics was doomed from the start. First of all, the concept was overly broad and subject to various interpretations by different political leaders. Most governments tried to use the perceived terrorist threat to expand their power. U.S. intelligence agencies were granted greater authority, while Russia put an end to the direct election of regional governors.

Second, because international terrorism is a manufactured concept, it could not bring countries together to work toward a common goal. Each new country joining the coalition against international terrorism brought its own interpretation of the concept. Again, this was to be expected, as there was no common threat in actuality. Terrorists are not a monolith, even if they do share some motives and means. As a result, the war on international terrorism is at best an empty slogan and at worst a source of irritation between countries caused by the inevitable double standards.

Third, there can be no one-size-fits-all solution to terrorism, because terrorism is rooted in local grievances specific to each country.

The purpose of a major terrorist attack is to undermine a specific government, to make it look weak and ineffectual. Therefore, the initial reaction of the government is always to prove its strength by striking back with sanctioned violence.

If a quasi-state is involved, such as the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of the late 1990s or the Taliban regime, it becomes the target of revenge. Both Russia and the United States sent in troops that ultimately succeeded in destroying the basic terrorist infrastructure in Chechnya and Afghanistan, respectively. But neither knew what to do next, when the surviving enemies fled and became ghosts in the hills, posing even greater danger.

No government has found the answer yet. The illusion of stability brought by the use of overwhelming force fades very quickly, and it becomes clear that the new, unconventional war may drag on forever. Each new act of retribution swells the ranks of the enemy.

Eliminating the roots of terrorism is a long and complex process with no guarantee of success. The United States learned this lesson in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia learned it in the mountains of the Caucasus. America can at least leave these foreign lands when the situation becomes unbearable, although the terrorists could strike again on U.S. soil. Russia is not so fortunate. Russia cannot leave the Caucasus, and so it will have to keep trying to find a balance between suppression and development in its fight against terrorism.

Medvedev Peddling Russia To Davos Investors

[This is the genius moment in the complicated conspiracy to merge East and West, papering over the great divide with money.  We have reached our goals by buying our way with the world, if American capital can safely gain a certain degree of control over Kremlin reactions.  Putin and friends know who is behind this wave of "Islamist" terrorism--the same people who have been behind all the "Islamist" terrorism in Russia.  They know that it was us, yet they do not reveal the proof that their investigators must have, to the world.    If American money can ensure that American military moves are not exposed by Moscow, for fear that it will cause a rupture in the flow of vital modernization investments, then limited warfare tactics (terrorism) can safely be applied with less chance of accidentally tripping the nuclear trigger.  That is the whole idea behind the "irregular warfare" concept, conduct low-level military operations (terrorism), in order to advance the agenda without crossing the nuclear threshold.  Fear of what the covert forces (both military and economic) will do next paralyzes the will to react--the essence of terrorist theory.  Self-censorship, to avoid more unpleasantness.  This is where Medvedev is most valuable to the plotters, giving Russia the means to build on a national scale, while giving America a free pass to push its weight around in the former Soviet countries.  If it is safe to buy into Russia, then it is safe to buy into any of Russia's former satellite countries in Eastern Europe or Asia.

World Government is just a few clicks away.]

Medvedev pitches Russian modernization to investors at Davos

Dmitry Medvedev

© RIA Novosti. Dmitri Astakhov

RIA Novosti economic commentator Maria Selivanova

President Dmitry Medvedev identified key priorities of his ambitious plan to modernize Russia in a speech Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort town of Davos.

Initially, the Russian leader was expected to deliver a keynote speech at Davos and to then attend several panel discussions on the forum’s sidelines. But he decided to cut short his stay owing to the suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on Monday. He took a flight back home just a few hours after his arrival in Switzerland.

Dmitry Medvedev made Russia’s modernization plan the centerpiece of his speech at Davos to reassure the world’s largest gathering of business leaders that the investment climate in Russia is improving.

“Russia still faces quite a few difficulties in establishing rule of law and building a modern, efficient economy,” he said. “But we are undergoing dramatic changes and we are moving forward.”

Government stakes up for grabs

Medvedev’s message to his audience in Davos was that Russia’s bid to modernize will create new opportunities for doing business in the country.

One of the key priorities will be to privatize large government-owned companies in the financial and energy sectors, as well as some infrastructure assets. Toward this end, the Russian government’s list of strategic enterprises, protected against foreign ownership, has been slashed by 80 percent.

“Minority stakes will be sold off and new portfolio investors will come on board, but the companies will continue to be managed the same way as before,” argues Natalia Orlova, chief economist of Russia’s Alfa Bank. “In other words, this privatization doesn’t involve any major transformations in the structure of the economy or in the behavior of its key players.”

This means that Russia’s government will retain its key role in the national economy even after the planned selloff of some of its assets.

A special fund will be set up in Russia to help reduce risks posed by foreign investors, notably by introducing co-investment schemes. Under such schemes, intended for up to 10 years, corporate projects will be co-financed by private investors and the government, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reports. At least 20 billion roubles should be raised for the fund to begin with, says the paper, adding that over time the proportion of private investment should considerably surpass that of treasury allocations.

Russian authorities are not going to introduce any additional taxes on the financial sector in an effort to make Moscow a world financial center.

The abolition on January 1, 2011, of the tax on the sale of shares (or the capital gains tax) is expected to give a jolt to foreign investment in Russia. The Russian economy does need foreign capital. Admittedly, though, along with encouraging heavier direct investment (notably, in industrial production), a favorable taxation system may also draw more speculative capital onto the country’s stock exchange.

Investment plus technological expertise

According to Dmitry Medvedev, investors should be excited about the idea of creating a common Eurasian market, spanning the continent from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, and operating under uniform, clear-cut rules. Russia’s prospective accession to the World Trade Organization and to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will help translate this idea into reality, he said.

The Russian president promised a favorable climate for innovative, high-tech entrepreneurship and venture capital in the country. He pushed his country’s Skolkovo project as the most ambitious international high-tech project. “I’m sure we can expect new global brands to arrive in Russia in the years to come.”

Dmitry Medvedev also stressed the importance of attracting technological expertise. Projects to develop energy efficient technologies and to enhance energy security should become the driving force of Russia’s high-tech sector, he said, inviting foreign partners to contribute.

One striking example of such partnership is a recent deal between the British oil giant BP and Russia’s Rosneft.

“Owing to a high degree of uncertainty and to the constant redistribution of property in the 1990s, Russian petroleum companies now lag some ten years behind in oil recovery technology,” explains Valery Mironov, deputy director of the Russian School of Economics’ Development Center. “Which is why they have to collaborate with foreign companies in offshore recovery and deepwater drilling.”

Expanding broadband Internet across Russia will create greater opportunities for doing business in Russia, Medvedev said. Improved Internet connectivity will also make it easier for the business community to have direct contact with Russian government agencies, thus cutting down on corruption.

Improvements to infrastructure are crucial to modernization and attracting foreign investment, Medvedev said. Russia should make sure its infrastructure is accessible both to the business community and the public at large. Preparations for large-scale international sporting events, such as the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and the FIFA World Cup in 2018, are expected to give an additional boost to infrastructure development in Russia, he said.

Human resources

A competent workforce is extremely importance to investors. Russia has already relaxed its migration laws to encourage qualified foreign professionals to come and work in Russia, and is willing to unilaterally validate foreign university diplomas and academic degrees.

On the other hand, the government expressed willingness to sponsor study-abroad programs for Russians aspiring to become civil servants, scientists and engineers.

Mironov warns, however, that additional investment in personnel training programs may fail to produce the desired effect, speeding up the country’s brain drain instead.

“In order to encourage intellectuals to start their businesses here, in Russia, rather than leave upon completing a free study program, we will need to reduce existing bureaucratic barriers,” he says.

Indeed, the risk of brain drain from Russia is still quite high.

“Developed countries seek to boost exports of industrial products, and demand for qualified engineers is constantly increasing. There’re a lot of surveys indicating that developed countries will have to attract engineers from Russia, India and China in the next fifteen years, until they manage to readjust their own education systems.”

The how and the what

Observers say the modernization priorities outlined by President Medvedev at Davos are all potential steps in the right direction, but that there is nothing new about them.

“These points migrate from one speech to the next, but it remains unclear just how they’ll be executed and how the nation’s leadership see the structure of this process as a whole as well as the order in which the unveiled plans should be implemented,” Mironov says.

He holds that in order to dispel foreign investors’ doubts about Russia, it is crucial to understand where this country should be heading. And that any modernization program should come with a clear-cut strategy.

As for Medvedev’s program, in its current form it looks chaotic and disorderly, Mironov claims.

“All the points sound good enough, but it’s unclear if they can be effectively implemented in Russia’s present-day investment climate,” says Natalia Orlova. In her view, the program does not envisage any measures to make the country more competitive. And “without enhancing its competitiveness, it’d be hard to see all the proposed mechanisms functioning properly,” she believes.

Yelena Matrosova, director of the Center for Macroeconomic Studies at the company BDO, suggests that Russia should turn for advice to countries that have successfully modernized their economies. Modernization, according to her, it is not a Russian invention, and all the relevant “recipes” have already been “spelled out.”

After WWII, modernization reforms were pursued in Japan, Germany, the UK, the United States, and China. Russia would be wise to draw on their expertise as it gets down to the task of charting a roadmap for its own modernization.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

Police defuse two powerful bombs in Dagestan

Special operation in Dagestan. Archive

© Photo NewsTeam

Police have defused two powerful bombs in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said on Sunday.

The bombs were found on Sunday in the town of Izberbash, some 60 km (37 miles) to the south of the republic’s capital, Makhachkala, the committee said.

“Both explosive devices have been defused. The power of the first explosive was about 10 kg in TNT equivalent and the second about 15 kg in TNT equivalent. Both bombs were filled with metal elements,” the committee said.

The terrorist acts were prevented in Izberbash after the police checked information obtained from the interrogation of persons involved in a December 31 blast at a hotel room in southeast Moscow. The suspects were detained on January 29.

Reports say the blast at the hotel room killed a would-be suicide bomber who was assembling an explosive device.

MAKHACHKALA, January 30 (RIA Novosti)

The American and Israeli Governments secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising

The Libyan foreign security agency accused Mossad and Morocco of attempting to break Algeria

ennahar

For the first time, and officially, the Libyan External Security Agency has accused the Israeli Mossad of being behind what she described as “attempts to break the territorial unity of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia. 

• According to the agency, the Amazigh movement activists, backed by foreign intelligence services (Mossad) are leading a plan to break the Maghreb after succeeding in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Yemen.In a communiqué of the Libyan agency, published yesterday, of which Ennahar obtained a copy, four people were arrested three days ago, two Libyan national and two Moroccans entered into Libyan territory under supposedly academic, historical, archaeological, cultural research, a cover for their activities.
  The two Moroccan nationals were released, the agency said, “in respect for the Moroccan official figures.
  The arrest occurred after a surveillance operation, to which four people arrested, Amazigh movement activists, had been submitted.
  The Libyan External Security agency directly involves an official Moroccan institution, of being behind the four spies, the twin Libyan brothers Mazigh and Maghris Bouzahar, while the names of the two Moroccans were not cited, nor for whom they work (the Moroccan Royal Institute). These re Asemhar Mahfoud and Ramou Hacen, two researchers from the centre of studies on the history and environment of the Royal Institute of Amazigh culture.
  According to data of Ennahar, the two Moroccans spies are part of a destructive project conducted by the Mossad.

  Ennahar / Ismail Fellah

Egypt protests: America’s secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising

The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

Link to this video

By Tim Ross, Matthew Moore and Steven Swinford

The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.

On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.

The secret document in full

He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.

The crisis in Egypt follows the toppling of Tunisian president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office.

The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police.

Mr Mubarak, facing the biggest challenge to his authority in his 31 years in power, ordered the army on to the streets of Cairo yesterday as rioting erupted across Egypt.

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in open defiance of a curfew. An explosion rocked the centre of Cairo as thousands defied orders to return to their homes. As the violence escalated, flames could be seen near the headquarters of the governing National Democratic Party.

Police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas and water cannon in an attempt to disperse the crowds.

At least five people were killed in Cairo alone yesterday and 870 injured, several with bullet wounds. Mohamed ElBaradei, the pro-reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was placed under house arrest after returning to Egypt to join the dissidents. Riots also took place in Suez, Alexandria and other major cities across the country.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, urged the Egyptian government to heed the “legitimate demands of protesters”. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said she was “deeply concerned about the use of force” to quell the protests.

In an interview for the American news channel CNN, to be broadcast tomorrow, David Cameron said: “I think what we need is reform in Egypt. I mean, we support reform and progress in the greater strengthening of the democracy and civil rights and the rule of law.”

The US government has previously been a supporter of Mr Mubarak’s regime. But the leaked documents show the extent to which America was offering support to pro-democracy activists in Egypt while publicly praising Mr Mubarak as an important ally in the Middle East.

In a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on December 30 2008, Margaret Scobey, the US Ambassador to Cairo, recorded that opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for “regime change” to take place before elections, scheduled for September this year.

The memo, which Ambassador Scobey sent to the US Secretary of State in Washington DC, was marked “confidential” and headed: “April 6 activist on his US visit and regime change in Egypt.”

It said the activist claimed “several opposition forces” had “agreed to support an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections”. The embassy’s source said the plan was “so sensitive it cannot be written down”.

Ambassador Scobey questioned whether such an “unrealistic” plot could work, or ever even existed. However, the documents showed that the activist had been approached by US diplomats and received extensive support for his pro-democracy campaign from officials in Washington. The embassy helped the campaigner attend a “summit” for youth activists in New York, which was organised by the US State Department.

Cairo embassy officials warned Washington that the activist’s identity must be kept secret because he could face “retribution” when he returned to Egypt. He had already allegedly been tortured for three days by Egyptian state security after he was arrested for taking part in a protest some years earlier.

The protests in Egypt are being driven by the April 6 youth movement, a group on Facebook that has attracted mainly young and educated members opposed to Mr Mubarak. The group has about 70,000 members and uses social networking sites to orchestrate protests and report on their activities.

The documents released by WikiLeaks reveal US Embassy officials were in regular contact with the activist throughout 2008 and 2009, considering him one of their most reliable sources for information about human rights abuses.

Cairo Museum Vandalism Crime Against All Humanity

Looters break into Cairo museum, trash historic treasures.

Looters break into Cairo museum, posted with vodpod

“NATO expansion creates divisions”

Source: Dnevnik

NOVI SAD – Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Konuzin has stated that there is no reason for NATO’s further expansion because it will create new divisions. Aleksandr Konuzin (FoNet, file) “Expansion policy of NATO, which represents not only a political but also a military alliance, creates new lines of division and it’s a question of security for us,” he told Novi Sad-based daily Dnevnik. The Russian ambassador repeated that this was the reason why Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had proposed construction of a new security system. He stressed that such system would enable equal security for everybody, both for the NATO countries and those that chose to be neutral, such as Serbia. Konuzin said that it was up to Belgrade, not Moscow, to determine who it would cooperate with. “Serbia obviously sees some advantages in taking part in the Partnership for Peace program,” he pointed out.

Washington Gives Encouragement To Anti-Mubarak Forces

Hundreds at anti-Mubarak protest in Washington

People demonstrate in support of the Egyptian people’s protests against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington

WASHINGTON: Hundreds of opponents of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak called at a rally in Washington Saturday for his overthrow and urged Washington to “stand on the right side of history” and cut off aid to his regime.

Amid a sea of Egyptian and American flags and protest placards in English and Arabic with slogans including “Pharaoh no more” and “Overthrow Mubarak,” the crowd, estimated at between 900 and 1,000, took turns leading chants in front of the Egyptian embassy.

“Mubarak has to go,” shouted Ayman Hodhod, standing atop snow-covered security barriers.

“America should get on the right side of history and stop giving financial aid to Mubarak because he uses it to abuse his own people,” said Hodhod, who had traveled from the midwestern state of Minnesota for the rally.

Mohammed Eid grabbed a megaphone, pointed it toward the embassy and led the protesters in chants in Arabic of “Down, down Mubarak” and “Seven million jobless in Egypt.”

As that round of noise stopped, an emotional Amal el Bahi took up a new mantra of “Mubarak must go,” shouting to the edge of hoarseness as the crowd joined in.

“It’s our country, not theirs,” el Bahi told AFP, gesturing toward the embassy, where slight movement could be seen behind a tinted glass entrance door, set back several meters (yards) from the high steel barriers and three US police officers that separated the diplomatic building from protesters.

On the brink of tears, el Bahi told AFP she has lost contact with her son in Egypt since massive street protests began there earlier this week.

Reports from Egypt have said nearly 100 people have died in the protests in Egypt against Mubarak, who on Friday sacked his cabinet and promised reforms in an effort to stem the popular uprising.

But as the violence continued in Egypt, the protesters in Washington said Mubarak’s actions and promises rang hollow, and insisted that the only thing they wanted was for him to go.

“I don’t think anyone should accept the same president for 30 years,” said a middle-aged woman who gave her name only as Nabila B.

“I want for my country the same as we have in America. I want freedom — free speech, free elections — and I don’t want the same face,” she said.

The demonstration in Washington was one of dozens across the United States, called to show solidarity with the masses who have taken to the streets in Egypt to demand Mubarak step down after 30 years of iron-fisted rule.

- AFP/fa

Disappeared Baloch student’s body found, friend hospitalised in critical state

[Pakistan's militarists, like all militarists, cannot see the great immoral wrong that they are committing each time that they kill one of these Baloch boys in their custody.  It is no different from the situation in Colombia, where the military has often gone on human hunting safaris to eliminate political opposition.  Absolutely the same policy being followed by US Special Forces as they go on night-time hunts in Afghanistan.  Why is it that governments and the finest military forces in the world cannot do their jobs without breaking multiple international laws in the process?  Are the words of political opposition leaders so threatening that they cannot be allowed to utter one more word, justifying cutting their throats in their sleep, or dragging them away in black hoods to be tortured?]

Occupied Balochistan: Pakistan’s security forces dumped the bodies of two Baloch students in Gwargo area of Panjgor town in Thursday morning. Both of the youth had been severely tortured and shot at – luckily, one of them has survived and has been hospitalised. According to details, Abid Rasool Baksh Baloch, a 17 year old student of Prome High school who was also a member of Baloch Students Organization (Azaad) Prome Unit of Panjgore has been tortured to death by Pakistan Military Intelligence whereas another fellow Baloch student Mr.Nasir Dagarzai was found in a severely injured condition. According a note posted on Radio Gwank Balochistan, Nasir Baloch has been shot in the neck and legs but he survived miraculously. Abid Rasool Bux Baloch and Naser Baloch were abducted by Pakistan Military personnel on January 23, this year along with Mehrab Baloch, a member of BSO-azad Modal School Unit of Panjgor and Abid Saleem Baloch. They were abducted from the residence of Naser Dagarzai Baloch by the Pakistani Military Intelligence. Sources reported that women and children were beaten and harassed during the raid on Nasir’s house. Sagaar, the official website of BSO-Azad reported that Nasir Baloch has been shifted to Karachi for better treatment. Meanwhile BNM, in a press release, has strongly condemned the abduction and subsequent under-custody murder of Abid Rasool Baksh Baloch and critically injuring Nasir Baoch by occupying forces. The BNM statement termed the continuous under-custody murders of Baloch youth as the worst from of human rights violations saying that over 100 Baloch activists have been killed in past seven months. The statement further read “The deliberate silence of International Human Rights Organisations and International Community on state atrocities in Balochistan is tantamount to silent approval of state sponsored crimes against humanity in Balochistan”. On the other hand the Baloch Students Organization (Azaad) has announced a complete shutter down strike in Panjgor and denounces the role of international peace makers on the kill and dump policy of Pakistan towards Occupied Balochistan. A statement released on their website further read: “B.S.O. (Azaad) believes in the strength of Baloch nation to end the oppression and occupation of Pakistan and expects that the peace and justice loving people of the world would support Baloch nation to achieve their rightful freedom”.

Hariri Says Ousted by ‘Foreign Orders’, Not Parliamentary Consultations

Hariri Says Ousted by ‘Foreign Orders’, Not Parliamentary Consultations
Outgoing premier Saad Hariri on Saturday held broad consultations with March 14 leaders and economic and popular figures before presiding over a meeting for Mustaqbal Movement’s politburo that was dedicated to discussing the latest political developments, his press office said.
“The Mustaqbal Movement stresses its commitment to the democratic course,” a statement issued after Mustaqbal’s politburo meeting said, noting that “the parliamentary consultations conducted by the president” were held amid “fierce foreign pressures aimed at changing the rules of the democratic game.”

“Our exit from power was not the immediate result of parliamentary consultations, it rather happened according to foreign orders … executed by domestic tools,” the statement added.

During the meeting, Hariri stressed to the political bureau members that “anything related to the so-called S-S (initiative) belongs to the past now and does not exist for Saad Hariri or the Mustaqbal Movement.”

He denied approving or signing on any paper “related to the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and its ties with the Lebanese State.”

“There is a major difference between discussing certain ideas and approving them,” Hariri added.

He urged the conferees to “protect civil peace and coexistence among all Lebanese.”

“Each official or member in the (Mustaqbal) movement is responsible for implementing this approach,” Hariri added, calling on his movement’s members “not to be dragged into sectarian rhetoric.”

“If street action was one of the means of expressing our political stance, it should not turn at any given moment into a weapon through which we intimidate others,” Hariri went on to say.

The Exact Center of the United States of America Has Been Identified

(thanks to crowhouse.com)

Lahore shootings: As the case unfolds, the mystery deepens

By Asad Kharal / Rana Tanveer / Sumera Khan

US consulate employee Davis is escorted by police and officials after appearing before a judge in Lahore. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: As the US diplomatic machinery moved to calm a brewing storm over Thursday’s shooting incident in Lahore involving an official attached to its consulate, peculiar details are trickling in regarding the exact identity of the man.

US Ambassador Cameron Munter is learnt to have met Foreign Secretary Salman Basheer, requesting the federal government’s intervention in the case of US official Raymond Allen Davis, who gunned down two young motorcyclists near Lahore’s Qurtaba Chowk in apparent self-defence. The case is currently being handled by the Punjab government, and Davis has been remanded into police custody for six days, according to police officials, by a magistrate.

Munter, according to well-placed sources, is said to have brought up the Geneva Convention, under which diplomats are allowed diplomatic immunity. The provincial government has so far refused to bring the international protocol into play. Other diplomats are also learnt to have tried to contact the Punjab government.

The Foreign Office is learnt to have contacted the Punjab government requesting case details. There has also been a meeting between Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik regarding the matter.  Gen. Kayani is said to have advised Malik to handle the matter with ‘extreme care’ given its sensitive nature. He also advised that, aside from the apparent diplomatic links, Davis’ military links should also be kept in mind as the case moves forward.

Also discussed was the law and order situation that could arise if Davis is granted immunity.

Who is Davis?

Meanwhile, intelligence data shows that Davis has visited Pakistan nine times since 2009.

According to records available with The Express Tribune, Allen Davis, aged 37, visited Pakistan for the first time on October 18, 2009, landing in Islamabad. His last entry into Pakistan was on January 20, 2011, when he landed in Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport.

Davis travelled using a regular passport, on which he had regular visit visas. There was no diplomatic passport.

Insiders say that Davis was performing duties as a technical advisor serving in the Intelligence and Security Wings of the US Embassy in Islamabad and the consulate in Lahore. He also made frequent visits to Karachi and Peshawar. The police are said to have recovered an identity card from Davis for the US’ Peshawar consulate.

Pakistani intelligence agencies have so far not reached any conclusion and had not submitted a report regarding the incident till the filing of this report. However, initial data suggests that police or other security/intelligence agencies had no record or intimation of Davis’ movement or participation in official events since he first arrived in Pakistan in 2009.

According to policy guidelines and security advisory issued by the Foreign and Interior Ministries, US officials are, for their own security, not meant to move around without informing security officials due to the terror threat in the country. The vehicle Davis was driving was locally-registered, and did not have diplomatic number plates.

Initial reports revolved around a possible looting attempt by the men on the motorcycles, to which Davis is said to have retaliated. Conversely, some reports rejected the robbery bid. However, it is unclear what would have provoked Davis to open fire.

A new angle to the incident, submitted in a statement by Davis himself, has it that the vehicle he was driving had had a minor collision with a Rickshaw a little before the incident. Therefore, if not a robbery, the two men could have chased the vehicle to argue with the driver.

Tristram Perry, the information officer of the US Consulate in Lahore, did not answer queries regarding Davis’ immunity, saying that he has been requested by Islamabad to not comment on the incident. “We are working with Pakistani authorities to determine the facts and work toward a resolution,” he said

FIRs against the deceased

Meanwhile, though it was initially reported that the two deceased motorcyclists had no criminal record, the police registered FIRs against them posthumously on Friday, police sources told The Express Tribune.

The complainants, Doctor Farzand and Sheharyar Malik, in a written application, state that the two had robbed them of their mobiles and cash just before the incident and were fleeing.

As evidence, the two have referred to phone logs of calls made to Rescue 1-5 about the incident right after it happened. The police say that two mobile phones were recovered from the deceased which matched the description of those the applicants had complained to 1-5 had been stolen.

However, the police had also shown the recovery of foreign currency from the deceased, which they say had also been looted. On the other hand, there is yet to be a complaint regarding the theft of foreign currency on the day of the incident.

In the FIR registered against Davis, the police have also included charges of carrying an illegal weapon – a Glock pistol and two magazines. The police also recovered a digital camera, a phone tracker with a charger.

Conversely, the police so far have no information about the other vehicle that came to rescue Davis and crushed a motorcyclist – Ibadullah – in the process. After killing the man, the vehicle fled from the scene. Davis did not disclose who was heading to his rescue, but did tell the police that, after the incident, he telephoned his Regional Security Officer who might have sent some officials for his rescue.

A police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that they had, through the Lahore Capital City Police Officer, sent a formal request to Pakistan’s foreign office to contact the US Consulate to identify those in the vehicle for their arrest.

The security of the US consulate has meanwhile been increased in light of increasing protests against the incident, The Express Tribunehas learnt.

WITH REPORTING BY SONIA MALIK AND RAMEEZ KHAN

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th,  2011.

‘America’: An experiment in terror

By Larry Pinkney

“To educate a man is to unfit him to be a slave.” –Frederick Douglass

“The [Senate] Committe has not been able to determine with any greater precision the extent to which COINTELPRO may be continuing.” –Book III, Final Report of the Select Committee, 94th Congress, 2d Session, United States Senate

Terror is carried out in many forms by this nation’s corporate government against everyday people both internally and externally, and its most powerful facilitator is apathy.

As the national economy crumbles for everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people, there is in the White House a corporate/military master-president masquerading as the slave, a Congress insatiably feeding from a bottomless corporate trough, and a judiciary that makes an utter mockery of justice, constitutional rights, and human rights. Meanwhile, bloody overt and covert U.S. wars rage on in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere abroad. As contempt grows for the hypocritical and diabolical de facto policies of this nation’s government, it is everyday people at home and abroad whose lives are being torn asunder and who are quite literally dying, as the banksters and other assorted corporate gangsters grow ever richer and even more vicious.

The corporate-stream so-called “news” media of this nation has sunk to its lowest level since the very inception of the United States of America. It is pathetic as it serves as the propaganda arm, of and for, this actual one-party corporatist/military state. The corporate-stream media serves to keep everyday peoplemisinformed (or not relevantly informed at all), apathetic and lethargic, while being simultaneously terrorized. Its role is to omit, distract, confuse, and discredit:Omit – at all costs – delineating the truth and reality of what is actually occurring and why; distract attention away from how everyday people are being emotionally pimped and economically & politically emaciated by the U.S. corporate/military elite while purposely confusing the issues; and discredit – by any means necessary – those who dare to speak truth to power. Indeed, the function of this corporate-stream media is to keep people mindless, confused, and manipulated. There is no such thing in this nation as consistently serious, honest, and hard-hitting, thought-provoking journalism in the corporate-stream media, for such a thing would be absolutely unacceptable to the corporate elite who financially own the corporate-stream “news” media. Thus, the cycle of terror against everyday people in this nation and around the world is maintained and perpetuated.

It is no mere coincidence that as the horrific economic melt-down worsens for everyday people - political repression increases [i.e. de facto terrorism] in this nation. In other words, everyday people are being simultaneously terrorized both economically and politically right here at home. Moreover, the dangerous, absurd, and hypocritical political & military policies abroad, of this nation’s government, virtually guarantees a continuing cycle of blind physical terror against the people of this nation and around the world. But who cares, as long as the blood-lined financial coffers of the tiny avaricious corporate/military elite continue to be filled to the brim?! It’s time for us, everyday people, to care!

On terror, COINTELPRO, the Patriot Act & everyday people

To reiterate: Terror is carried out in many forms, both nationally and internationally.

The most obviously destructive form of terrorism is of course war, and is primarily carried out by governments, most notably our own. Nevertheless, political repression is also a virulent form of terrorism – also, more often than not, carried out by governments.

The United States government has, for many decades, been engaged in a war against its own everyday people. It is a terroristic war of political repression, and presently this form of terrorism is being ratcheted-up to a crescendo level by the U.S. government, under the auspices of the Obama administration.

People are terrorized that they will have their doors kicked in by the FBI et al, or placed on a government no-fly list, or set-up and framed on some well orchestrated bogus offense – all for, in actuality, exercising the right to political dissent against this government’s internal and/or external policies. However, this Orwellian reality, though being continued in the year 2011, by no means just began this year. It is in fact part and parcel of a long, sordid, ignored, often glossed-over and/or hidden chapter(s) of the ‘American’ government’s continuing experiment in terror against its own people.

One such continuing chapter of terror against the people of this nation is the U.S. government’s insidious program to “frame, murder, imprison, discredit and/or [otherwise] neutralize” political dissenters; known as COINTELPRO [i.e. the Counter Intelligence Program]. In point of fact, the political repression of COINTELPRO has been insidiously codified in the so-called ‘Patriot Act’ itself. The Obama/Biden administration, with the complicity of the Congress and the courts, has extended and broadened this ‘American’ experiment in terror against everyday people throughout this nation. Today, even the semblance of political transparency in government has been morphed into a disfigured relic of the past, and those who attempt to pull back the heavy curtain of secrecy and subterfuge permeating this corporate-government become targets to be “neutralize[d].” Nevertheless, an increasing amount of everyday people are becomingfed-up with these amoral, unjust, and secretive, corporate-government intrigues and are increasingly insisting upon speaking truth to power. As in the past, so today, the government invokes the nebulous, omnipresent cloak of “national security” (which really means corporate security for the elite rich) in an attempt to rationalize and defend its secrecy, subterfuge, and wars – at home and abroad.

This corporate-government is in fear of its own people and is resorting to every conceivable dirty trick to keep just plain everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people uninformed, in disarray, and under control. This is not government “of, by, and for the people.” It is a farce and a sham, and getting worse every day. It’s time to wake up and turn things around!

What we must do

There is no single answer or set of answers for bringing about the real systemic change that the people of this nation and globe need and deserve. There are many answers. However, one thing is certain: Resistance is not futile – it is absolutely essential. In order to develop viable answers for bringing about systemic change, we must be critical thinkers and come up with uncompromising and viable questions. We must stop acting as lethargic corporate drones and regain the human creativity that we have allowed the corporate/military elite to steal from us. We must reconnect with our own humanity and that of peoples globally. We must demand a full accounting from those politicians who allegedly represent us everyday people. We must educate ourselves and each other – in the truest sense of the word; and informed critical thinking and analysis is an integral part of real “education” [not brainwashing]. We must seriously educate our young people. Yes, “educate” ourselves and one another – so that we, all of us women, men, and children, Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow are, in the words of Frederick Douglass, utterly “unfit to be slaves!” Unfit to be drones! We must support, in word and deed, those who stand up for justice and human rights and who speak truth to power – for in so doing we are supporting the very best in ourselves and each other.

No more home foreclosures! No more burgeoning prisons! No more unemployment or under-employment! No more wars abroad or at home! No more corporate greed and domination! No more subterfuge and political repression! No more double-speak rhetoric! It’s time for real change – that is, systemic change.

We must organize locally, nationally, and internationally for justice and human rights. Contrary to the words from the motion picture, The Wizard of Oz; we will and must pay attention to that metaphorical “man behind the curtain.” In fact, we must rip that curtain down! We must educate, organize, and agitate for the good of the planet and the whole of everyday people! Stop looking elsewhere for all the answers when it is you, yourselves, collectively who have them within you. Humanity and Mother Earth call to us. And we must respond. Let’s get busy.

Onward, my sisters and brothers! Onward!

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book). Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.

Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal

Who Has Blown Up Moscow Airport?

Andre Fomine -  Oriental Review.

Any terrorist attack immanently pursues a certain political goal. Clear understanding of this goal and an analysis of the whole set of available facts about the horrific explosion in Domodedovo earlier this week may bring us closer to the answer to the key question: who are the perpetrators and who ordered them to commit the barbaric murder of dozens of people in the airport reception hall?

There is no doubt that the ultimate aim was to destabilize Russian political system and trigger the ‘orange scenario’ on the eve of electoral season here. ‘Orange scenario’ means transition of power to the liberal opposition by organizing and funding of a small but extremely motivated and politically active protesting movement that serves as a blind ram at the decisive hour of announcing the results. Therefore the more insecure the people feel and the lower the authority of the central powers is the higher are the chances for opposition to gather a cheated mass storm rise.

Who wants a new Russian revolution? Evidently, the global oligarchic capital seeking to establish (partly restore) their control over Russian resources and other assets. All the claims about ‘lack of democracy’, ‘human rights violations’, ‘war-torn Chechnya’ etc are just a baseless trumpery aimed to hide this simple and plain motive.

Now let us have a look at the political context.

On January 20, 2011 President Medvedev returned from the Middle East, the first ever trip of a Russian leader to Palestine which was not shared with a visit to Israel. Main declaration: heconfirmed Russian support for Palestinian statehood within pre-1967 borders.

On January 23, 2011 Al-Jazeera published ‘revealing’ materials about secret Palestinian concessions to Israel proposed in 2008. So in three days after farewell ceremony with President Medvedev Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas got a ‘punishment’ from Mossad. A ‘punishment’ for the Russian president came one day later…

(for larger image)

The first shocking fact of the explosion in Domodedovo airport on January 24 is the volume of explosive. 7 kg in TNT equivalent! Circle of 30 meters of complete destruction around the epicenter. A hole of 15-20 centimeters deep in the marbled floor (area 1 on photo). The whole floor within the scene is seriously damaged with scratches from metallic filling of the bomb. At the same time, many lamps at the ceiling above the scene are untouched.

Another specific feature is the character of traumas. Almost all victims have their legs significantly damaged or torn away. Both facts indicate that the epicenter was very low and the blast wave was spreading horizontally along the floor.

No need to be an expert in forensics to conclude that apparently the bomb was inside a suitcase or a bag. Should there be a person carrying or pulling it? That is possible but not absolutely pre-conditional. Was it exactly his job to activate the device? I do not see any reason for such modus operandi of the terrorists. The drugs are very costly and for chosen scenario there is no need to waste them to train a suicide zombie. Much easier is to fool somebody with request to hand a luggage to a traveler or just to leave a suitcase among other things. Once the crowd is formed a side observer simply sends a text message with his mobile phone…

Now much more interesting thoughts. For the first time the Russian leaders recognized that this terrorist act doesn’t have any connection to Chechnya. It was crystal clear that the ‘Chechen card’ was played off long ago. So-called jamaats at the North Caucasus do not even take responsibility for the sporadic attacks on the governmental and security agencies as well as Islamic leaders condemning them. The chimerical idea of ‘Caucasian Caliphate’ has been eventually degraded to banal criminal uprising parasitizing on few facts of mismanagement by the local national clans and justified grievances of the population. It is definitely not their job. So who is behind the airport blast?

Last fall I’ve posted an interesting article by Peter Chamberlin ‘Who Is Responsible For Suicide Bomber Academies?”. He describes, among other things, the evidence of several US military veterans who were involved in developing the mind-control research programs after the World War II in the US. He also cites Chechen leader Kadyrov as saying that ‘the captured members of Riyad-us-Saliheen Brigade (a Chechnya-based terrorist organization that was active in Russia in early 2000s – OR) had confessed that Western specialists had given them mind-control drugs, which had the effect of making them like robots, who “do not think.” There are also numerous evidence that terrific ‘suicide truck bombings’ in Iraq and Afghanistan happen mostly after they pass through check-points of the PMCs…

So it is getting more or less obvious that what happened in Domodedovo last Monday was a typical subversive act, a professional special operation against the geopolitical rival. The integral component of such operation is the plausible leaks about possible perpetrators. So we’ve heard about a ‘Chechen girl bomber’ captured by the Russian security forces in December last year who ‘was planning a large-scale attack in Moscow’ and ‘two Palestinians among the victims in Domodedovo’. It very much resembles the story about a Quran and a Pilotage Guidelines left at the back seat of a car used by 9/11 hijackers.

I deliberately will not suggest any specific subversive agency that might operate in Russia and commit this act. After all, the name and location of its HQ doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that the false traces they used to impose on public opinion and international counter-terrorism experts in reality have nothing to do with Islam and Islamic values.

So-called ‘Islamic factor’ as a powerful and blind tool for achieving geopolitical goals is not a modern invention. Creation of different ersatz movements on Islamic soil is an old and charming British tradition. Immediately after the definitive collapse of original British dynasty of Stuarts as a result of ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688, the real masters of the new Britain who sponsored William of Orange and brought him to power began corrupting both Christian and Islamic faiths. It can hardly be a coincidence that very soon the ideology of Islamic Protestantism preached byMuhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab (1703-1792) gained political leverage and was established in the House of Saud.

By now though, I would say that it is only the most narrow-minded people who do not see that all ‘Caliphate’ and other ‘Heaven-on-the-Earth projects’ are clandestinely controlled and managed by global elites. They need such false dichotomy in order to build up their dominance in the fire of global Chaosistan. Will Muslims be prudent enough to understand it? Hopefully they are and the mankind will avoid the worst scenario. Anyway, Russia is the last country where anti-Islamic hysteria may take any effect.

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Hezbollah is the New Government of Lebanon. Now What?

FRANKLIN LAMB

Beirut

This observer tends to get a haircut about every four months whether I need it or not.  But this morning I got more than a trim from my Hezbollah friend and barber, Abass, named after Abass ibn Ali, the brother of Hussein, both martyrs and heroes of the epic 680 a.d. internecine Muslim battle at Karbala in present day Iraq. The Battle of Karbala, for Hezbollah members and Shia Muslims generally, symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and the willingness to sacrifice one’s life for justice and the greater good of one’s family, community or “Ummah.” The reason for mentioning this is that my barber was ecstatic and claims his party has just experienced a “Karbala moment!”

When I mentioned that his statement could be taken different ways, since all the resistance fighters were killed at Karbala, Abass continued:

“Well, what I mean is that we in Hezbollah are pretty well known for kicking and keeping the Zionists out of Lebanon but our Party also seems to be catching on how to work in Lebanese and regional politics. And our people will benefit as we create social programs and honest government for the first time in Lebanese history. Do you agree that we are beginning to play the Lebanese political game pretty well?”
I do agree.

With a speed that surprised many here, and with equally surprising cross-sectarian acquiescence this morning, Hezbollah and its allies constitutionally toppled Hariri’s government, constitutionally imposed new consultations to form a new government, and constitutionally transformed a minority into a majority and vice versa.

Hezbollah is known for studying political subjects very carefully and being quite flexible when events warrant. Two weeks ago when the Party of God pulled 11 MPs from the pro-US Saad Hariri government, it was thinking about nominating former PM Omar Karami to replace Hariri. The two time former Prime Minister, Karami, is strongly pro-Syrian, supports the Resistance and Hezbollah keeping its weapons. He also has zero use for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that will likely indict a minimum of four Hezbollah officials. Now in his eighties, Karami is still fairly spry and may have assumed the post, if Hezbollah formally offered. In fact he might have thought the job was his but in the midst of fast moving events, Hezbollah decided to opt for nominating Nigib Mikati  an American educated, Sunni billionaire who made lots of money in telecommunications  and a lot more when a South African firm bought  his company. Moreover, Sayyed Nasrallah said in his last speech that Omar Karami was the favored candidate, but the latter did not offer to take the job due to his old age. So the best thing to do was thought to be to talk to Mikati, as he is known to be a centrist and that his candidacy would have a less negative impact on the Hariri camp. Mikati is not close to Hezbollah and certainly has never been an ally.

In fact, Hezbollah, the Saudis, Europeans, and increasingly the Americans  support Mikati as a World Bank type technocrat along the lines of  former Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora or Salam Fayyad in Palestine but who can hopefully, not just ignore, but help clean up the governments rampant corruption. Hezbollah’s nominee Mikati is known as a pro western moderate who was elected to Parliament in 2009 on the US backed Hariri ticket. The US would publically endorse him except for the fact that Hezbollah nominated him with Iranian, Syrian and Saudi backing.  This hostile reactive US stance may change because Washington will find it difficult to boycott Mikati since the Europeans are endorsing him. Also, the negative international reaction to the Hariri camp violence on 1/27/11 in Tripoli and Beirut is awkward for the Obama administration to justify since the US has accused the Hezbollah led opposition of using “terrorist tactics” when some elements thought to be allied with the party engaged in similar street violence in the past. So the shoe is now on the other foot.

Some of the early winners and losers 48 hours following what the pro-US March 14 team and the US State Department are still calling “the coup”:
Saad Hariri and his US backed Future Movement: Both are big political losers this morning but Saad still has a couple of important options. For the past nearly two years Saad was told by the US Embassy that Washington wanted him to “hang tough” and refuse to compromise on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The US conceived and engineered the STL in the UN Security Council to get Syria out of Lebanon and Bashar Assad out of Damascus following the Valentine Day 2005 murder of PM Rafik Hariri and 22 others.

Saad obediently did as told and consequently lost his premiership. Hezbollah warned him several times that he would  be out if he did not disavow the STL which Hezbollah views as nothing more than a US-Israeli bludgeon to try to destroy it. When the Hezbollah led opposition pulled down his government on January 12, 2011, Saad was ready to fight to keep his job. But his US and Saudi backers “stabbed Saad in the back as did some of his closest political and personal friends,” according to a Future Movement source.
Meanwhile, both Saudi Arabia and the Obama Administration realized that Saad could not secure the 65 votes from Parliament (they were right; he got just 60) so they decided to let Syria name the non-ideologue,  Nigab Mikati, a personal friend of President Bashar Assad. Omar Karami may have been the first choice but he too was dropped because he also could not get 65 votes and had a checkered past including being too cozy with Syria. The US and the KSA decided better to let Syria back into the Lebanese Government than risk Iran taking complete control.

Saad Hariri reportedly feels betrayed by his fellow Sunni billionaire alliance member Mikati, who he got elected MP in 2009 on his personal ticket.  But in reality Mikati’s  87% election results showed that his candidacy helped Hariri’s candidates because Mikati’s name was on the ballot as part of the Hariri list. Nevertheless, their meeting yesterday morning lasted about 6 minutes and was stone cold. The Hariri TV channels including Future TV chose to publish just 30 seconds of the encounter.  When Hariri left the meeting and was asked by a journalist if he would join the Mikati government he said “Lashou.”  ( meaning: “For what?, or what’s the use?” ).

Just hours later, the March 14 alliance informed Makati that it would not participate in his government. But both may still. The Saudi’s are already encouraging Saad to swallow his pride and cooperate with the next government. Eventually the Americans will likely also after they get over their shock and sour grapes and Jeffrey Feltman talks with the French and some Europeans leaders this weekend.
This morning, Saad is said to be still inconsolable by yesterday afternoon’s private session with the US Ambassador, the motherly Maury Connelly, and repeated this morning that he will not join a government “appointed by Hezbollah.” But his March 14 movement leadership is qualifying his rejection and strongly pressing PM designate Makati to put in writing for all to see a commitment that his government will not under any circumstances accept the three Hezbollah no’s. They are:  no STL funding, no STL Lebanese judges working at the STL, and no Lebanese government cooperation with the STL including scrapping the Lebanese-UN Memorandum of Understanding pledging cooperation on such matter as arresting and extraditing those soon to be named by the STL.

March 14, including their leader Hariri, is still insisting on their price for participation, which is that the new government support  the STL and that the Lebanese government control Hezbollah’s arms.  They will lose on both demands as Hezbollah will not budge on either. Yet,  discussions are being held on how to resolve these issues and, unlikely as it may appear at the moment, solutions may be found to dissolve these ‘red lines’.

If Saad stays out of the Mikati government, he will champion the STL but he will lose more March 14th support because some of his closest team members are said to be planning to jump ship and to put politics about their claimed principles in order to grab some well-paid Cabinet chairs. March 14, via Fuad Sinoria, their Parliamentary leader is making lots of noise about Hezbollah weapons but it’s largely as a bargaining chip ploy to get good cabinet posts when the time is right.

This current March14, playing hard to get stance, suits US diplomat Jeffrey Feltman, one of the architects of the 2005 “Cedar Revolution” and who is currently on his 62nd trip to the region to assure anyone listening that he and the US government “respects the sovereignty, freedom, and independence” of Lebanon, whatever any of those words mean anymore, given US actions in the region. In Paris yesterday, Feltman repeated that there persists mutual French-U.S. concern on how the Hariri cabinet was “toppled under threat and intimidation” and he emphasized the need for the US and its allies to press for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1701 (disarm Hezbollah) and 1757 (indict and convict Hezbollah).

Jeff could be forgiven for feeling a little bit like Saeb Erekat when on 10/21/09  the soon to be ex-PA “peace negotiator” complained to George Mitchell that, “The region is slipping away like sand through our hands.” Feltman, not for the first time, is under great pressure from Washington and Tel Aviv to “do something!”

Rampant rumors circulating here include one that the US Embassy could be closed if, as expected, the US and Israel launch the expected massive international defamation and vilification campaign in the coming weeks timed to drive home the expected STL indictments that Washington believes will include key Hezbollah officials.

Hezbollah has the most direct control over the government of Lebanon including the Parliament, the next 30 seat Cabinet, and the government bureaucracy. Contrary to US-Israel claims the party is not thrilled with having the chance to run the government. Hezbollah sees itself as a resistance movement first, last, and always and many in the party do not relish its “pure mandate” being sullied or getting sidetracked by running Lebanon’s really complicated government.

Hezbollah will now push its clean government and anti-corruption agenda and get it enacted into law but the party is quite content to leave it to others to work constantly with all those self-absorbed sects and their leaders. To a large extent, it will operate through MPs who are not Hezbollah party members. It intends to immediately begin work on improving the big Four issues that all Lebanese urgently want addressed: water, electricity, pollution, traffic among others including the environment and jobs creation. Hezbollah wants to be seen as serving the people while it builds its resistance movement. It is preparing to unveil its domestic legislative agenda which will include most of the ten ‘good government’ initiatives that its ally Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri delivered to Mikati yesterday.
Hezbollah’s 12-member bloc told the new Prime Minster that it favored a government of “national partnership,” according to its head MP Mohammad Raad who advised the media: “Hezbollah did not set pre-conditions [on Mikati] and we won’t accept such a thing. We did not ask for specific portfolios and we await the formation process.”

Iran benefited with important political gains as it continues to rise and move in the region in the direction of Palestine.
The United States’ hegemony continues to recede in the region and is increasingly viewed, post Palestine Papers, as the enemy of Arabs and Muslim. Its pariah status grows because Washington continues to prop up, fund and arm the Zionist occupation of Palestine.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon can is reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com

If Obama Was Really Serious About Fixing Things…

Shut Down The Federal Reserve, Break Up The Big Banks And 16 Other Ideas Barack Obama Could Have Proposed If He Actually Wanted To Fix The Economy

How do we fix the economy?  That is a question that tens of millions of Americans are asking right now.  Republicans are harshly criticizing the empty economic proposals being put forward by Barack Obama and the Democrats, but the Republicans don’t seem to have any real solutions either.  There is talk of cutting taxes a little bit more, reducing federal spending a little bit and getting rid of a few useless federal regulations but doing any of those things would essentially be like spitting into Niagara Falls – the effect would not really be noticeable at all.  As this column has documented over and over and over, the economic and financial problems that we are facing are so enormous that radical solutions are needed.  In essence, what we need is not an “economic bandage” or two – what we need is major reconstructive surgery.  If dramatic action is not taken, our economy is going to completely collapse.

Is anything that Barack Obama is currently proposing going to help fix the economy?  No, of course not.  As I wrote about the other day, Obama’s address to the nation was packed with empty promises and a whole lot of inspirational nonsense.  There were no real solutions to the very real problems we are facing.

So is there anything that we could do to actually start fixing things?

Yes, but the solutions are radical.  They would cause quite a bit of chaos.  They would not be easy for people to accept.

But the truth is that our economy and our financial system have terminal cancer.  If something radical is not done quickly we are going to lose the patient.

The following are 16 ideas that Barack Obama could have proposed if he actually wanted to fix the economy….

#1 We Must Shut Down The Federal Reserve

If you are not willing to accept this, you may as well not read the rest of the solutions.  The truth is that the U.S. government will never be able to solve the national debt problem until the Federal Reserve is shut down.  The U.S. government should nationalize all Federal Reserve assets and start issuing currency that is completely and totally debt-free.

Under such a system, it is conceivable that U.S. budget deficits could be eliminated entirely and that over time the entire U.S. government debt could be retired.

One of the biggest threats of going to such a system would be inflation, but remember, the United States has only had a major, ongoing problem with inflation since the Federal Reserve was created back in 1913.  The U.S. dollar has lost well over 95 percent of its value since the Federal Reserve was created, and so it is hard to imagine that we would do even worse without the Federal Reserve.

In any event, it is the fundamental right of any sovereign nation to be able to issue and control its own currency.  This right was given to the U.S. government by the U.S. Constitution and it is time for the U.S. government to reclaim that right.

#2 We Must End Trade With All Nations That Allow Their Citizens To Be Paid Slave Labor Wages Or That Do Not Respect Basic Human Rights

This would dramatically reduce the “outsourcing” of our jobs and our industries almost overnight.  The truth is that it was never a good idea to put American workers in direct competition with hundreds of millions of workers that are making slave labor wages on the other side of the globe.

Trading with nations that have a similar wage structure to ours and that respect basic human rights (Canada, for example) is a very good thing.  However, all of the “free trade” agreements that politicians from both parties have been pushing down our throats for decades are literally wrecking the U.S. economy.

Since 2001, over 42,000 factories have been shut down in the United States.  This proposal would go a long way towards stopping the bleeding, and if some of these countries are willing to raise their wage levels significantly then we would be able to resume trade with them in the future on a much more level playing field.

#3 We Must Radically Reduce The Size Of The Federal Government

Our big, fat government is a big, fat drain on our economy.  We have millions of paper pushers that don’t contribute much of anything of real value.

Not only that, but some of the things that the U.S. government wastes money on are absolutely mind blowing.  There is a reason why our founders insisted that we have a very limited government.  It is time to get back to those principles.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the U.S. government budget deficit for this year will be nearly $1.5 trillion.

Talk about ridiculous!

I estimate that we could easily cut the size of government in half without hampering how effective it is.

We could start by abolishing the Department of Education.  After that, there are several dozen other government agencies and institutions which are worthy candidates for elimination.

#4 We Must Provide Temporary Jobs For The American People During The Economic Transition

If the Federal Reserve is shut down and the size of the federal government is cut in half, it would cause quite a bit of economic chaos.  During this transition it will be important to help people survive.

Instead of just passing out a bunch of handouts, a better alternative would be getting the American people working on something constructive.

During this time, the U.S. government could use all of the untapped labor of the unemployed to build massive infrastructure projects.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, we need to spend approximately $2.2 trillion on infrastructure repairs and upgrades just to bring our existing infrastructure up to “good condition”.

So there is certainly a lot to do.

These jobs would just be temporary until new manufacturing facilities are set up and jobs in private industry are plentiful again.

Having the American people produce something of value is better than just handing them endless unemployment checks.

#5 We Must Ban All Short Selling

When you allow greedy individuals the opportunity to make lots of money by betting against the U.S. economy, it gives those individuals an incentive to make sure that those bets pay off.

Yes, this proposal is controversial, but it just makes sense.  If people want to make money, it should be because a company is doing well and not because someone is failing.

#6 We Must Ban Virtually All Derivatives

Once upon a time, derivatives were for hedging risk, but that is not what they are primarily being used for anymore.

Now derivatives are being used to bet on almost anything that you can possibly imagine.

Our financial markets have been turned into a gigantic financial casino.

The derivatives bubble is somewhere in the neighborhood of one quadrillion dollars and it could burst at any moment.

These weapons of financial mass destruction must be banned.

#7 We Must Break Up The Big Wall Street Banks

The big Wall Street banks have far too much power and far too much control.  They have come to dominate our entire financial system.

In a capitalist system, too much power concentrated in too few hands is not a good thing.  The corruption that has gone on at many of these institutions is absolutely unbelievable.

These banks need to be broken up into much smaller pieces for the good of our country.

#8 We Must Initiate A Massive Law Enforcement Crackdown On Our Financial Markets

As noted above, the corruption that has been going on down on Wall Street has been absolutely sickening.  We need a massive law enforcement crackdown on all of this fraud in order to restore faith in the financial system.

Just one small example of this corruption happened during the recent housing crash.  Goldman Sachs sold mortgage-related securities that were absolute junk to trusting clients at vastly overinflated prices and then made huge profits betting against those exact same securities.

So do you think that Goldman Sachs or any of the other major players on Wall Street will ever receive more than a slap on the wrist for all the things that have gone on in recent years?

Of course they won’t – unless the American people start demanding it.

#9 We Must Order U.S. Oil Companies To Use Untapped Oil Reserves In The United States And We Must Aggressively Develop Alternative Energy Sources

Right now, the price of oil is pushing up towards 100 dollars a barrel.  If oil passes that mark, it is going to put tremendous inflationary pressure on the entire global economy.

Sadly, there is no need for such a high price for oil.  There are vast, vast reserves of oil that are virtually untapped inside the United States.  These are mostly in the western states and up in Alaska.  We have enough to supply very cheap oil to the entire country for decades.

The U.S. government needs to order these oil companies to quit playing games and to start pumping this oil.

However, it is undeniable that we also need to develop alternative energy sources.  In fact, we should set up a “Manhattan Project”-style team to aggressively pursue this goal.

In the past, U.S. oil and car companies have blatantly repressed alternative energy projects.  The U.S. government should tell U.S. corporate executives that if they ever even think of doing such a thing again that they will be locked away so fast that it will make their heads swim.

#10 We Must Stop Paying Farmers Not To Grow Food

Instead of paying farmers not to grow food, we need to find ways to encourage them to grow as much food as possible.  A horrible global food crisis is coming and we are going to need huge stockpiles of everything.

#11 We Must Secure The U.S. border With Mexico

Illegal immigration costs the U.S. economy tens of billions of dollars (conservatively) every single year.  We need to secure the border and make sure that all of our immigrants are coming through the “front door”.

#12 We Must Shut Down The IRS

Did you know that the United States has only had an income tax for less than 100 years?  For most of our history, the U.S. government got along just fine without taxing personal income.

The IRS is massive waste of time, energy and resources.  There are many alternatives that could easily replace the income tax and the ridiculous tax code that we have right now.

For example, a flat tax or a national sales tax could both potentially work, although both have their problems.

Personally, I am convinced that we could have a system that would not require any taxation of income by the U.S. government whatsoever.

Just imagine how much time, how much energy and how many resources would be saved!

#13 We Must Slash Red Tape And The Miles Of Ridiculous Regulations

In the United States today, you almost have to be insane to start up a new business.  When you consider all sources of taxation, U.S. businesses face one of the highest overall levels of taxation in the entire world.  Not only that, but U.S. businesses face miles and miles of absolutely ridiculous regulations and red tape.

As I wrote about in a previous article, if you want to do business in the United States today, you better be prepared for a regulatory nightmare….

If you plan to start a business in America today, you better get a hold of a good lawyer.  In fact, if you want to be safe, you better get a small army of lawyers.  You are going to need an expert on the federal regulations that apply to your business, you are going to need an expert on the state regulations that apply to your business and you are going to need an expert on the local regulations that apply to your business.

There are going to literally be thousands of regulations that apply to any business started inside the United States today.  There is no way that you will ever be able to learn them all.  Not only that, but the truth is that your lawyers will only be aware of a small fraction of them.

Until the regulatory environment in this country dramatically changes, companies are going to continue to be motivated to leave the United States.

#14 We Must Conduct A Massive Law Enforcement Crackdown On The Health Care Industry

It should not cost $30,000 for a one day stay in the hospital in this country.

The truth is that the American people are being ripped off big time.

We need to conduct a massive law enforcement crackdown on all the big hospitals and all the big health care companies.

We need to conduct a massive law enforcement crackdown on all the big health insurance companies.

We need to conduct a massive law enforcement crackdown on all the big pharmaceutical companies.

We also need massive medical malpractice reform.

Not only that, we also should end the monopoly of the AMA immediately.  We need to reintroduce honest, legitimate competition back into the medical system.

In addition, we need to make sure that natural health practitioners are able to compete on a fair and equal basis in this country.

As I have written about previously, the health care industry in the United States has become all about making as much money as possible.

That must change.

#15 We Must Stop Trying To Police The World

We will always need a very strong military force, but it is absolutely ridiculous that we have troops stationed in approximately 130 different countries today.

This is a tremendous drain on our national resources and we are spread way too thin militarily.  It is about time that many off these other countries started protecting themselves for a while.

#16 We Must Pull Out Of The United Nations And We Must Dramatically Reduce Foreign Aid

The United Nations is a massive waste of time, energy and resources.  We should have pulled the plug on that ridiculous globalist organization long before now.

In addition, we need to dramatically cut back on foreign aid until we get our own house in order.  We should only help the most desperate nations until we get our own economy back on track.

#17 We Must End All Of The Ridiculous Police State Measures Which Are Chasing Tourists Away From Our Soil

Tourism is a very, very important industry to the United States.  But today, all of the incredibly intrusive police state measures that the past few administrations have introduced are chasing millions of tourists away and are ruining our national reputation.

For example, there are many cultures around the globe where it would be unthinkable to have anonymous security goons feel up the private areas of women and children before they are allowed to get on an airplane.  Rather than put up with such nonsense, millions of tourists are simply going to choose to spend their money somewhere else.

#18 We Must Seize The Assets Of The Ultra-Wealthy Individuals And International Banks That Have Been Committing Fraud Against The U.S. Government For Decades

Once the Federal Reserve is shut down, it will be important to hold those that have been defrauding the U.S. government responsible.  Once a full audit of the Federal Reserve is conducted and evidence of criminal activity is uncovered, those involved should be arrested and all of their assets should be seized and frozen pending trial.

If the things that have been going on inside the Federal Reserve are ever fully exposed, it will make the whole Bernie Madoff scandal look like a nickel and dime operation.

But that is why there has never been a full, comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve since it was created back in 1913.  The American people are not supposed to see what happens inside that institution.

Unfortunately, even though economic times are a little rough, things are still good enough that the vast majority of Americans are not ready to start demanding the kind of radical changes listed above.

Not only that, but the kind of radical changes listed above would be fought against by the establishment every step of the way.  Those with money and power are not going to step aside just because “justice” demands it.

What is probably going to happen is that the “establishment politicians” that the establishment has bought and paid for are just going to continue to propose half-baked solutions to our problems as this country continues to tumble towards economic oblivion.

So what do all of you readers think?  Is there hope that someday we will see some real economic solutions implemented in this country?

British Intelligence Reports Mossad ran 9/11 Arab “hijacker” terrorist operation

 

By Wayne Madsen

British intelligence reported in February 2002 that the Israeli Mossad ran the Arab hijacker cells that were later blamed by the U.S. government’s 9/11 Commission for carrying out the aerial attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. WMR has received details of the British intelligence report which was suppressed by the government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.

A Mossad unit consisting of six Egyptian- and Yemeni-born Jews infiltrated “Al Qaeda” cells in Hamburg (the Atta-Mamoun Darkanzali cell), south Florida, and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates in the months before 9/11. The Mossad not only infiltrated cells but began to run them and give them specific orders that would eventually culminate in their being on board four regularly-scheduled flights originating in Boston, Washington Dulles, and Newark, New Jersey on 9/11.

The Mossad infiltration team comprised six Israelis, comprising two cells of three agents, who all received special training at a Mossad base in the Negev Desert in their future control and handling of the “Al Qaeda” cells. One Mossad cell traveled to Amsterdam where they submitted to the operational control of the Mossad’s Europe Station, which operates from the El Al complex at Schiphol International Airport. The three-man Mossad unit then traveled to Hamburg where it made contact with Mohammed Atta, who believed they were sent by Osama Bin Laden. In fact, they were sent by Ephraim Halevy, the chief of Mossad.

The second three-man Mossad team flew to New York and then to southern Florida where they began to direct the “Al Qaeda” cells operating from Hollywood, Miami, Vero Beach, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach. Israeli “art students,” already under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration for casing the offices and homes of federal law enforcement officers, had been living among and conducting surveillance of the activities, including flight school training, of the future Arab “hijacker” cells, particularly in Hollywood and Vero Beach.

In August 2001, the first Mossad team flew with Atta and other Hamburg “Al Qaeda” members to Boston. Logan International Airport’s security was contracted to Huntleigh USA, a firm owned by an Israeli airport security firm closely connected to Mossad – International Consultants on Targeted Security – ICTS. ICTS’s owners were politically connected to the Likud Party, particularly the Netanyahu faction and then-Jerusalem mayor and future Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. It was Olmert who personally interceded with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to have released from prison five Urban Moving Systems employees, identified by the CIA and FBI agents as Mossad agents. The Israelis were the only suspects arrested anywhere in the United States on 9/11 who were thought to have been involved in the 9/11 attacks.

The two Mossad teams sent regular coded reports on the progress of the 9/11 operation to Tel Aviv via the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. WMR has learned from a Pentagon source that leading Americans tied to the media effort to pin 9/11 on Arab hijackers, Osama Bin Laden, and the Taliban were present in the Israeli embassy on September 10, 2001, to coordinate their media blitz for the subsequent days and weeks following the attacks. It is more than likely that FBI counter-intelligence agents who conduct surveillance of the Israeli embassy have proof on the presence of the Americans present at the embassy on September 10. Some of the Americans are well-known to U.S. cable news television audiences.

In mid-August, the Mossad team running the Hamburg cell in Boston reported to Tel Aviv that the final plans for 9/11 were set. The Florida-based Mossad cell reported that the documented “presence” of the Arab cell members at Florida flight schools had been established.

The two Mossad cells studiously avoided any mention of the World Trade Center or targets in Washington, DC in their coded messages to Tel Aviv. Halevy covered his tracks by reporting to the CIA of a “general threat” by an attack by Arab terrorists on a nuclear plant somewhere on the East Coast of the United States. CIA director George Tenet dismissed the Halevy warning as “too non-specific.” The FBI, under soon-to-be-departed director Louis Freeh, received the “non-specific” warning about an attack on a nuclear power plant and sent out the information in its routine bulletins to field agents but no high alert was ordered.

The lack of a paper trail pointing to “Al Qaeda” as the masterminds on 9/11, which could then be linked to Al Qaeda’s Mossad handlers, threw off the FBI. On April 19, 2002, FBI director Robert Mueller, in a speech to San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, stated: “In our investigation, we have not uncovered a single piece of paper – either here in the United States, or in the treasure trove of information that has turned up in Afghanistan and elsewhere – that mentioned any aspect of the September 11 plot.”

The two Mossad “Al Qaeda” infiltration and control teams had also helped set up safe houses for the quick exfiltration of Mossad agents from the United States. Last March, WMR reported: “WMR has learned from two El Al sources who worked for the Israeli airline at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport that on 9/11, hours after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all civilian domestic and international incoming and outgoing flights to and from the United States, a full El Al Boeing 747 took off from JFK bound for Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport. The two El Al employee sources are not Israeli nationals but legal immigrants from Ecuador who were working in the United States for the airline. The flight departed JFK at 4:11 pm and its departure was, according to the El Al sources, authorized by the direct intervention of the U.S. Department of Defense. U.S. military officials were on the scene at JFK and were personally involved with the airport and air traffic control authorities to clear the flight for take-off. According to the 9/11 Commission report, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta ordered all civilian flights to be grounded at 9:45 am on September 11.” WMR has learned from British intelligence sources that the six-man Mossad team was listed on the El Al flight manifest as El Al employees.

WMR previously reported that the Mossad cell operating in the Jersey City-Weehawken area of New Jersey through Urban Moving Systems was suspected by some in the FBI and CIA of being involved in moving explosives into the World Trade Center as well as staging “false flag” demonstrations at least two locations in north Jersey: Liberty State Park and an apartment complex in Jersey City as the first plane hit the World Trade Center’s North Tower. One team of Urban Moving Systems Mossad agents was arrested later on September 11 and jailed for five months at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Some of their names turned up in a joint CIA-FBI database as known Mossad agents, along with the owner of Urban Moving Systems, Dominik Suter, whose name also appeared on a “Law Enforcement Sensitive” FBI 9/11 suspects list, along with the names of key “hijackers,” including Mohammed Atta and Hani Hanjour, as well as the so-called “20th hijacker,” Zacarias Moussaoui.

Suter was allowed to escape the United States after the FBI made initial contact with him at the Urban Moving Systems warehouse in Weehawken, New Jersey, following the 9/11 attacks. Suter was later permitted to return to the United States where he was involved in the aircraft parts supply business in southern Florida, according to an informe3d source who contacted WMR. Suter later filed for bankruptcy in Florida for Urban Moving Systems and other businesses he operated: Suburban Moving & Storage Inc.; Max Movers, Inc.; Invsupport; Woodflooring Warehouse Corp.; One Stop Cleaning LLC; and City Carpet Upholstery, Inc. At the time of the bankruptcy filing in Florida, Suter listed his address as 1867 Fox Court, Wellington, FL 33414, with a phone number of 561 204-2359.

From the list of creditors it can be determined that Suter had been operating in the United States since 1993, the year of the first attack on the World Trade Center. In 1993, Suter began racking up American Express credit card charges totaling $21,913.97. Suter also maintained credit card accounts with HSBC Bank and Orchard Bank c/o HSBC Card Services of Salinas, California, among other banks. Suter also did business with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Palm Beach in Florida and Ryder Trucks in Miami. Miami and southern Florida were major operating areas for cells of Israeli Mossad agents masquerading as “art students,” who were living and working near some of the identified future Arab “hijackers” in the months preceding 9/11.

ABC’s 20/20 correspondent John Miller ensured that the Israeli connection to “Al Qaeda’s” Arab hijackers was buried in an “investigation” of the movers’ activities on 9/11. Anchor Barbara Walters helped Miller in putting a lid on the story about the movers and Suter aired on June 21, 2002. Miller then went on to become the FBI public affairs spokesman to ensure that Mueller and other FBI officials kept to the “Al Qaeda” script as determined by the Bush administration and the future 9/11 Commission. But former CIA chief of counter-terrorism Vince Cannistraro let slip to ABC an important clue to the operations of the Mossad movers in New Jersey when he stated that the Mossad agents “set up or exploited for the purpose of launching an intelligence operation against radical Islamists in the area, particularly in the New Jersey-New York area.” The “intelligence operation” turned out to have been the actual 9/11 attacks. And it was no coincidence that it was ABC’s John Miller who conducted a May 1998 rare interview of Osama Bin Laden at his camp in Afghanistan. Bin Laden played his part well for future scenes in the fictional “made-for-TV” drama known as 9/11.

WMR has also learned from Italian intelligence sources that Mossad’s running of “Al Qaeda” operatives did not end with running the “hijacking” teams in the United States and Hamburg. Other Arab “Al Qaeda” operatives, run by Mossad, were infiltrated into Syria but arrested by Syrian intelligence. Syria was unsuccessful in turning them to participate in intelligence operations in Lebanon. Detailed information on Bin Laden’s support team was offered to the Bush administration, up to days prior to 9/11, by Gutbi al-Mahdi, the head of the Sudanese Mukhabarat intelligence service. The intelligence was rejected by the Biush White House. It was later reported that Sudanese members of “Al Qaeda’s” support network were double agents for Mossad who had also established close contacts with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and operated in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Eritrea, as well as Sudan. The Mossad connection to Al Qaeda in Sudan was likely known by the Sudanese Mukhabarat, a reason for the rejection of its intelligence on “Al Qaeda” by the thoroughly-Mossad penetrated Bush White House. Yemen had also identified “Al Qaeda” members who were also Mossad agents. A former chief of Mossad revealed to this editor in 2002 that Yemeni-born Mossad “deep insertion” commandos spotted Bin Laden in the Hadhramaut region of eastern Yemen after his escape from Tora Bora in Afghanistan, following the U.S. invasion.

French intelligence determined that other Egyptian- and Yemeni-born Jewish Mossad agents were infiltrated into Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates as radical members of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, the “Muslim Brotherhood” agents actually were involved in providing covert Israeli funding for “Al Qaeda” activities. On February 21, 2006, WMR reported on the U.S. Treasury Secretary’s firing by President Bush over information discovered on the shady “Al Qaeda” accounts in the United Arab Emirates: “Banking insiders in Dubai report that in March 2002, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill visited Dubai and asked for documents on a $109,500 money transfer from Dubai to a joint account held by hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi at Sun Trust Bank in Florida. O’Neill also asked UAE authorities to close down accounts used by Al Qaeda .  . . . The UAE complained about O’Neill’s demands to the Bush administration. O’Neill’s pressure on the UAE and Saudis contributed to Bush firing him as Treasury Secretary in December 2002 ” O’Neill may have also stumbled on the “Muslim Brotherhood” Mossad operatives operating in the emirates who were directing funds to “Al Qaeda.”

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Sharjah’s ruler, Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qasimi, who survived a palace coup attempt in 1987, opened his potentate to Russian businessmen like Viktor Bout, as well as to financiers of radical Muslim groups, including the Taliban and “Al Qaeda.”

Moreover, this Israeli support for “Al Qaeda” was fully known to Saudi intelligence, which approved of it in order to avoid compromising Riyadh. The joint Israeli-Saudi support for “Al Qaeda” was well-known to the Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah-based aviation network of the now-imprisoned Russian, Viktor Bout, jailed in New York on terrorism charges. The presence of Bout in New York, a hotbed of Israeli intelligence control of U.S. federal prosecutors, judges, as well as the news media, is no accident: Bout knows enough about the Mossad activities in Sharjah in support of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, where Bout also had aviation and logistics contracts, to expose Mossad as the actual mastermind behind 9/11. Bout’s aviation empire also extended to Miami and Dallas, two areas that were nexuses for the Mossad control operations for the “Al Qaeda” flight training operations of the Arab cell members in the months prior to 9/11.

Bout’s path also crossed with “Al Qaeda’s” support network at the same bank in Sharjah, HSBC. Mossad’s phony Muslim Brotherhood members from Egypt and Yemen controlled financing for “Al Qaeda” through the HSBC accounts in Sharjah. Mossad’s Dominik Suter also dealt with HSBC in the United States. The FBI’s chief counter-terrorism agent investigating Al Qaeda, John O’Neill, became aware of the “unique” funding mechanisms for Al Qaeda. It was no mistake that O’Neill was given the job as director of security for the World Trade Center on the eve of the attack. O’Neill perished in the collapse of the complex.Mossad uses a number of Jews born in Arab countries to masquerade as Arabs. They often carry forged or stolen passports from Arab countries or nations in Europe that have large Arab immigrant populations, particularly Germany, France, Britain, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

For Mossad, the successful 9/11 terrorist “false flag” operation was a success beyond expectations. The Bush administration, backed by the Blair government, attacked and occupied Iraq, deposing Saddam Hussein, and turned up pressure on Israel’s other adversaries, including Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Hamas, and Lebanese Hezbollah. The Israelis also saw the U.S., Britain, and the UN begin to crack down on the Lebanese Shi’a diamond business in Democratic Republic of Congo and West Africa, and with it, the logistics support provided by Bout’s aviation companies, which resulted in a free hand for Tel Aviv to move in on Lebanese diamond deals in central and west Africa.

Then-Israeli Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented on the 9/11 attacks  on U.S. television shortly after they occurred. Netanyahu said: “It is very good!” It now appears that Netanyahu, in his zeal, blew Mossad’s cover as the masterminds of 9/11.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist. He has written for several renowned papers and blogs. Madsen is a regular contributor on Russia Today. He has been a frequent political and national security commentator on Fox Newsand has also appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and MS-NBC. Madsen has taken on Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity on their television shows. He has been invited to testifty as a witness before the US House of Representatives, the UN Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and an terrorism investigation panel of the French government.

As a U.S. Naval Officer, he managed one of the first computer security programs for the U.S. Navy. He subsequently worked for the National Security Agency, the Naval Data Automation Command, Department of State, RCA Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

Madsen is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO), and the National Press Club. He is a regular contributor to Opinion Maker.

http://www.opinion-maker.org/2011/01/british-intelligence-reports/

US warns Lebanon on militants in government

By Associated Press ,

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Monday warned Lebanon’s political leaders that continuing U.S. support for their country will be difficult if the militant Hezbollah movement takes a dominant role in government.

The makeup of the Lebanese government is Lebanon’s decision, the State Department said. But the larger the role for Hezbollah, the “more problematic” for relations with Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

The United States considers Iranian–backed Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization and has imposed sanctions against it and its members. U.S. officials do not meet with Hezbollah members and U.S. money is not supposed to further the group’s activities.

Crowley’s comments came as Hezbollah moved into position to control the next Lebanese government as it secured enough support in parliament to nominate the candidate for prime minister.

“Our view of Hezbollah is very well–known,” he told reporters. “We see it as a terrorist organization, and we’ll have great concerns about a government within which a Hezbollah plays a leading role.”

Crowley declined to say what the United States would do if Hezbollah’s candidate becomes prime minister and is able to form a government, but he said it would be hard to carry on business as usual if that happens.

Asked whether the U.S. would be able to continue economic support for a Hezbollah–controlled government in Lebanon, he replied, “That would be difficult for the United States to do.”

The U.S. has provided Lebanon with hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and military aid over the past five years, following the withdrawal of Syrian forces that had controlled the country for decades.

The United States called the fragile Lebanese democracy a counterweight to authoritarian and militant influences in the Middle East. Washington underwrote Lebanon’s army as a counterweight to Hezbollah, and argued that without U.S. support Iran or Syria might fill the vacuum.

Congressional critics of that policy cite a worry that the weapons and equipment could slip into the hands of Hezbollah for use against Israel. Hezbollah, which forced the collapse of the Lebanese coalition government last week, fought a monthlong war with Israel in August 2006.

Since 2006, the U.S. has provided four kinds of security assistance to Lebanon, the bulk of which has been about $500 million in sales of weapons and equipment such as mortars, rifles, grenade launchers, ammunition, body armor, radios and Humvee utility vehicles.

The U.S. also has increased its spending on military education and training for Lebanese officers and on programs designed to improve Lebanon’s ability to counter terrorism threats.

Rep. Howard Berman, a Democrat and the former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was among lawmakers who last year blocked $100 million in U.S. military aid to Lebanon. They relented and allowed the money to go through after the White House gave assurances in classified briefings that the aid bolsters both Lebanese and U.S. national security and would not be hijacked by Hezbollah.

Berman’s successor as head of the committee, Rep. Ileana Ros–Lehtinen, a Republican, has raised similar concerns.

___

AP National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.