A Day in the Life: 5/6-7/14
‘We’re Screwed’: US Climate Report Says Era of ‘Normal’ Over
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “It is no longer acceptable that coal and oil companies
spend millions of dollars to defeat efforts to protect the planet.”
“We’re screwed. Right now. And it could get much worse.”
That was how 350.org co-founder Jamie Henn responded to Tuesday’s release of the federal government’s National Climate Assessment, the national scientific community’s definitive statement on the current and future impacts of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Compiling the efforts of 300 leading climate scientists and experts, the message is “bleak” as the NCA details how human-caused global warming is being felt “here and now” nationwide.
As a consequence of the nearly two degree Fahrenheit rise which occurred throughout the country over the past century, the report says, Americans are experiencing water scarcity in dry regions, increasing torrential rains in wet ones, increasingly severe heat waves, worsening wildfires, and the death of forests as a result of heat-loving invasive insect species.
And all of this is likely to worsen as average temperatures continue to increase. The authors, who were solicited by the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, estimate that global warming could exceed 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the United States by the end of this century.
“I just hope that we convince as many people as possible that they live in a dynamic climate, that the old normal is broken and we have no idea what the new normal is going to look like when all of this is done,” said Gary Yohe, an economist at Wesleyan University, who since 2010 has been a leader of the NCA advisory committee.
Following its release, many noted that the report provides an abrupt wake-up call to politicians and the fossil fuel industry, saying that their ongoing denial of mankind’s disruptive impact on the planet has significantly hastened many of these dangerous effects.
“As our communities reel from droughts, floods, forest fires, fossil fuel disasters, crop failures and more, it becomes harder for these polluters and those aligned with them to hide just how out of touch from reality they are,” said Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice.
“The divide between the fossil-fuel industry’s misguided attempts to place profits above the needs of our families and communities grows as each new scientific report is released,” Van Noppen continued. “The National Climate Assessment paints a bleak picture, but it is a picture we have seen clearly for many years, and we have to act on it now.”
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that the report is another “loud and clear warning that greenhouse gases are rising faster than ever,” warning that our continued “refusal to recognize and deal with the crisis could have catastrophic consequences.”
“It is no longer acceptable for a majority in Congress to ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence,” Sanders added. “It is no longer acceptable that coal and oil companies spend millions of dollars to defeat efforts to protect the planet.”
Recognizing the ‘call to arms,’ Bill McKibben, noted environmentalist and founder of 350.org, tweeted: <snip>
To mark the official roll-out, President Obama announced a series of executive actions, including introducing the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants and setting new goals for renewable energy sources like wind and solar. The President is also taking the opportunity to promote new initiatives to prepare for the inevitable effects of climate change, such as supporting climate-resilient investments, developing climate-preparedness tools and encouraging smart rebuilding after climate disasters, such as Superstorm Sandy.
However, these efforts have repeatedly faced criticism by leading scientists and environmental groups who say that they are not dramatic enough, in light of the current crisis, and that the continuation of the President’s “all-of-the-above” energy policy will only further our dependence on polluting fossil fuels, worsening the problem.
Obama on Tuesday has scheduled interviews with a number of meteorologists from major network stations in an effort to promote the report and stem “the strong current of climate skepticism among weather forecasters,” the Guardian reports.
According to a 2012 Pew report, 62% of Americans trust television weather reporters on climate change far more than they do climate scientists. And another survey in 2010 by George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communications found that only 19% of TV weather forecasters accepted that human activity was the main driver of climate change.
More Americans than ever believe the economy is rigged in favor of Wall Street and big business and their enablers in Washington. We’re five years into a so-called recovery that’s been a bonanza for the rich but a bust for the middle class. “The game is rigged and the American people know that. They get it right down to their toes,” says Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Which is fueling a new populism on both the left and the right. While still far apart, neo-populists on both sides are bending toward one another and against the establishment.
Who made the following comments? (Hint: Not Warren, and not Bernie Sanders.)
A. We “cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people, and Wall Street.”
B. “The rich and powerful, those who walk the corridors of power, are getting fat and happy…”
C. “If you come to Washington and serve in Congress, there should be a lifetime ban on lobbying.”
D. “Washington promoted moral hazard by protecting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which privatized profits and socialized losses.”
E. “When you had the chance to stand up for Americans’ privacy, did you?”
F. “The people who wake up at night thinking of which new country they want to bomb, which new country they want to be involved in, they don’t like restraint. They don’t like reluctance to go to war.”
(Answers: A. Rand Paul, B. Ted Cruz, C. Ted Cruz, D. House Republican Joe Hensarling, E. House Republican Justin Amash, F. Rand Paul )
You might doubt the sincerity behind some of these statements, but they wouldn’t have been uttered if the crowds didn’t respond enthusiastically – and that’s the point. Republican populism is growing, as is the Democratic version, because the public wants it.
And it’s not only the rhetoric that’s converging. Populists on the right and left are also coming together around six principles:
1. Cut the biggest Wall Street banks down to a size where they’re no longer too big to fail. Left populists have been advocating this since the Street’s bailout now they’re being joined by populists on the right. David Camp, House Ways and Means Committee chair, recently proposed an extra 3.5 percent quarterly tax on the assets of the biggest Wall Street banks (giving them an incentive to trim down). Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter wants to break up the big banks, as does conservative pundit George Will. “There is nothing conservative about bailing out Wall Street,” says Rand Paul.
2. Resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act, separating investment from commercial banking and thereby preventing companies from gambling with their depositors’ money. Elizabeth Warren has introduced such legislation, and John McCain co-sponsored it. Tea Partiers are strongly supportive, and critical of establishment Republicans for not getting behind it. “It is disappointing that progressive collectivists are leading the effort for a return to a law that served well for decades,” writes the Tea Party Tribune. “Of course, the establishment political class would never admit that their financial donors and patrons must hinder their unbridled trading strategies.”
3. End corporate welfare – including subsidies to big oil, big agribusiness, big pharma, Wall Street, and the Ex-Im Bank. Populists on the left have long been urging this; right-wing populists are joining in. Republican David Camp’s proposed tax reforms would kill dozens of targeted tax breaks. Says Ted Cruz: “We need to eliminate corporate welfare and crony capitalism.”
4. Stop the National Security Agency from spying on Americans. Bernie Sanders and other populists on the left have led this charge but right-wing populists are close behind. House Republican Justin Amash’s amendment, that would have defunded NSA programs engaging in bulk-data collection, garnered 111 Democrats and 94 Republicans last year, highlighting the new populist divide in both parties. Rand Paul could be channeling Sanders when he warns: “Your rights, especially your right to privacy, is under assault… if you own a cellphone, you’re under surveillance.”
5. Scale back American interventions overseas. Populists on the left have long been uncomfortable with American forays overseas. Rand Paul is leaning in the same direction. Paul also tends toward conspiratorial views about American interventionism. Shortly before he took office he was caught on video claiming that former vice president Dick Cheney pushed the Iraq War because of his ties to Halliburton.
6. Oppose trade agreements crafted by big corporations. Two decades ago Democrats and Republicans enacted the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since then populists in both parties have mounted increasing opposition to such agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, drafted in secret by a handful of major corporations, is facing so strong a backlash from both Democrats and tea party Republicans that it’s nearly dead. “The Tea Party movement does not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” says Judson Philips, president of Tea Party Nation. “Special interests and big corporations are being given a seat at the table” while average Americans are excluded.
Left and right-wing populists remain deeply divided over the role of government. Even so, the major fault line in American politics seems to be shifting, from Democrat versus Republican, to populist versus establishment — those who think the game is rigged versus those who do the rigging.
In this month’s Republican primaries, tea partiers continue their battle against establishment Republicans. But the major test will be 2016 when both parties pick their presidential candidates.
Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are already vying to take on Republican establishment favorites Jeb Bush or Chris Christie. Elizabeth Warren says she won’t run in the Democratic primaries, presumably against Hillary Clinton, but rumors abound. Bernie Sanders hints he might.
Wall Street and big business Republicans are already signaling they’d prefer a Democratic establishment candidate over a Republican populist.
Dozens of major GOP donors, Wall Street Republicans, and corporate lobbyists have toldPolitico that if Jeb Bush decides against running and Chris Christie doesn’t recover politically, they’ll support Hillary Clinton. “The darkest secret in the big money world of the Republican coastal elite is that the most palatable alternative to a nominee such as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas or Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky would be Clinton,” concludes Politico.
Says a top Republican-leaning Wall Street lawyer, “it’s Rand Paul or Ted Cruz versus someone like Elizabeth Warren that would be everybody’s worst nightmare.”
Everybody on Wall Street and in corporate suites, that is. And the “nightmare” may not occur in 2016. But if current trends continue, some similar “nightmare” is likely within the decade. If the American establishment wants to remain the establishment it will need to respond to the anxiety that’s fueling the new populism rather than fight it.
http://rt.com/op-edge/157084-protests-activist-wall-street/
McMillan Case: Two Kinds of Protesters
By Caleb Maupin
Cecily McMillan, a young Occupy Wall Street activist has just been found guilty of 2nd Degree assault on a police officer.
The “assault” was a startled reaction after a police officer violently grabbed her breast in 2011, squeezing it so hard he left a hand shaped bruise. McMillan began having a seizure after being arrested, and the NYPD blocked emergency medical technicians from treating her. When McMillan was released from the hospital she was limping, barely able to walk, after being beaten so badly. Her body was covered in bruises.
On May 19th McMillan will receive a sentence of between 2 and 7 years in prison for her startled reaction to a violent police sexual assault. She now sits in New York’s infamous Riker’s Island correctional facility awaiting her sentence.
During the trial, Police officers spoke of “smelly protesters” in their testimony. Prosecutor Amy Choe alleged that McMillan had injured herself, and mockingly dismissed any allegations of police brutality, comparing it to belief in “space aliens.” The Jury was not allowed to hear testimony about the NYPD’s record of brutality against Occupy Protesters. A great deal of video of what happened to McMillan was prevented from being shown as well. The prosecution insinuated that McMillan was mentally ill and criminal for protesting at all. Articles from Rolling Stone Magazine, where she was quoted denouncing capitalism were presented as evidence.
Wall Street’s favorite protesters
As Cecily McMillan was being convicted, one of the top stories on the news was a group of nudists in China. The US and western media have raved on and on about the “bravery” of wealthy Chinese people who “heroically” engage in public indecency on a beach.
This is just the latest trendy group of protesters the Western media has decided to embrace. The airwaves have so often been filled with reports alleging mistreatment of “green movement” activists in Iran. We were told about the US backed rebels in Libya as if they were heroes. The insurgents who terrorize Syria are also given this hero treatment.
When Right Sector and Svoboda members were openly running through the streets terrorizing people and assaulting cops in Ukraine, they received endless praise in the Western press. Anderson Cooper strolled through Maiden Square narrating their assaults on police and civilians as if it were a romantic battle.
Through the National Endowment for Democracy, the US government gives billions of dollars to fund protesters in places like Iran, Belarus, and Venezuela. These “protesters” break laws, carry out assassinations, and commits all kinds of crimes.
The reason Cecily McMillan is now a political prisoner is because she occupied Wall Street, she did not occupy on behalf of Wall Street. She did not Occupy Maiden Square, beating up ethnic Russians and Jews, to clear the way for the IMF. She did not commit acts of public indecency in churches and supermarkets hoping to destabilize Russia. She did not strip naked on a Chinese beach. She did not bomb a school is Damascus. She did not hang dark skinned Africans in Tripoli. She did not burn monuments to the Ukrainians who died in the Second World War.
Cecily McMillan slept in a park, talking about income inequality, and plutocracy in the US. While doing it she professed non-violence, and was noted for criticizing the more radical elements of her movement. She was sexually assaulted, and jumped in response. She received a horrific beating, and is now going to spend years in prison.
As far as the US government, courts, and media are concerned, there are clearly two types of protesters.
When protesters are opposing the regime currently topping Wall Street’s enemies list, they get praised on TV, they get funding from various US based non-government organizations, and the slightest attempts to suppress them are declared “tyranny.” Luis Posada Carrilles, a Cuban “protester” who bombed an airplane killing over 70 people is living very comfortably in Miami. Terrorists from the “People’s Mujahadeen” (MKO) in Iran, who have tortured and murdered for decades, are happily embraced by political leaders like Tom Ridge, and provided safe evacuation by the United Nations. “Protesters” run through the streets of Venezuela, burning buildings, assaulting police officers, and yet receive support from the US government, and are treated as heroes by the US media.
The US government and Wall Street are happy to fund the most violent, terroristic “protesters” in order to destabilize a government that gets in their way. But when young people in the center of world capitalism engage in peaceful protest, they are dubbed “smelly protesters” and “traitors.” They get maced in the face, beaten, and arrested. The kind of brutality routinely unleashed on black and brown people, is turned on those who take political action.
Anthony Bolognia, who famously maced two protesters in the face during the first month of Occupy Wall Street without any provocation had all charges against him dropped. He is continuing his career as a highly paid New York City Police Officer. Though the world watched Occupy protesters in New York being brutally beaten, not a single NYPD officer has been charged with brutality.
The rising police state
The Police Officers who shot Ramarely Graham, a young African-American man through the chest have also received no penalty. No one disputes that they burst into his apartment and gunned him down in front of his family, but not even the slightest penalty has been issued.
The prison system is in the United States is rapidly expanding with 2.5 million people locked away. The schools in the US are often now filled with armed police, and children are often arrested for what would be previously considered a matter of classroom discipline.
The rising expansion of the “criminal justice system” is accompanied by an increased repression of political activists.
The homes of activists from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization were raided by the FBI. Anarchists in Seattle were imprisoned for refusing to testify against their comrades. In Chicago and Cleveland, occupy activists face lengthy sentences in obvious examples of entrapment. The National Security Agency now admits it is spying on millions of people, recording phone calls, emails, etc.
Are we really expected to trust John Kerry, Samantha Power, or Barack Obama in their words against Russia, People’s Korea, China, or Iran? Are we really expected to trust them as “human rights advocates” around the world, as they preside over rising police state at home?
The next time CNN, FOX, or MSNBC begins to speak of “peaceful protesters” in some country Wall Street dislikes, and declares that government to be “tyrannical”, and calls to rescue these “peaceful protesters” with sanctions and cruise missiles, millions of people will think of Cecily McMillan, and know that these words are nothing but pure hypocrisy.
http://rense.com/general79/chem.htm
What Chemtrails Really Are
By Carolyn Williams Palit
11-9-7
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“Ordinary” People and Global Warming
Odessa tragedy survivor: ‘Many people strangled after escaping the fire’
Radicals set the building with innocent people inside on fire in Odessa, then strangled the survivors and finished them with bats, while police did nothing to prevent the bloodshed. That’s the scary picture a survivor of the massacre told RT.
“First of all, nobody expected such cruelty, and secondly, it was too late to escape,” Tatyana Ivananko told RT’s correspondent Alexey Yaroshevsky about the Odessa tragedy on May 2, after which at least 46 people died in flames, when radicals set ablaze the local House of Trade Unions with anti-government protesters trapped inside.
According to the witness, pro-autonomy activists wanted to hide from the radicals by barricading themselves in the building.
“On our way up the stairs, we were taking plywood sheets inside so that we could block the doors and prevent them from getting into the building,” she says.
However, the crowd of pro-government supporters who were trying to enter the building was quickly becoming bigger.
“They were coming from everywhere,” she added.
According to Tatyana, the radicals started hurling Molotov cocktails, after which the first and the third floors of the House of Trade Unions burst into flames.
Tatyana also recalled that the outraged crowd outside was shouting that they wouldn’t let anybody out.
“They were also throwing firecrackers, so people in the halls were sitting on the floor, blinded.” She added, “At that moment you realize there is no way to help these people so you’d better rescue yourself.”
Public services such as police and fire brigade were not rushing to rescue the injured people.
“The police were idle not doing anything,” she recalls. “When firefighters arrived it was too late – too many people had already died, even though the closest fire station is 700 meters away from the site.”
According to the numerous videos released in the Internet, many victims of the Odessa massacre received bullet wounds. On some of the videos a man in a bulletproof vest who introduces himself as sotnik Mykola (“sotnik” is what Maidan group leaders in Kiev call themselves) is shooting several times in the direction of the burning House of Trade Unions.
“Have a look at the video,” says Tatyana, pointing to the footage where Micola is pictured. “This armed man in a vest is carrying a gun.”
According to her, the shooting started in Grecheskaya Street, in the north of the city.
Tatyana said that after the pro-government activists managed to enter the burning building, “many people were strangled. I didn’t know how they [pro-government activists] were able to get through the fire but they did,” she added.
She recalled that the radicals “finished off some of the people who managed to escape, and threw from the windows those who didn’t, to kill them on the ground.”
“17-year-old hooligans were finishing people with bats,” she added.
Meanwhile, the next day after the clashes, Ukraine’s Vice President, Vitaly Yarema, said that some of those who were killed in the Trade Union building were foreign nationals.
However, Tatyana denied this information saying that all the people who were killed on May 2 came from Odessa.
“They all loved their city deeply. We stood shoulder to shoulder from the very first day,” she said. “A regional council deputy, Vyacheslav Markin, is also known to have been killed in the flames.”
She also commented on the reports from mostly western outlets, which claim that some of those killed were “mercenaries from Russia.”
“If we had indeed been mercenaries, there would have been fewer victims, and not on our side,” adding that the only thing they received from Russia was “moral support.”
Those who died in the ablaze “were innocent civilians who wanted to live a normal life rather than just ‘survive’ – as is now the case in Ukraine,” Tatyana said, adding that the Kiev coup-appointed authorities are to blame for these crimes.
“The guilty party is the current government, which clearly seeks to divide Ukraine,” she added.
Numerous videos have been released on the Internet in which a woman’s voice is heard from the House of Trade Unions screaming for help and the pro-government activists in the crowd surrounding the building say, “that’s not a woman, she’s a separatist!” and “beat the s**t out of her, so that she finally shuts up!”
“Yeah, women sit at home with their children and this one’s an animal!” added another.
According to the acting Prosecutor General Oleg Makhnitsky, it is too early to say what exactly caused the blaze but the investigation is looking into several theories. The cause of the fire could be both Molotov cocktails thrown by the anti-government protesters and the blaze made by pro-Kiev activists, he said. Ukraine will invite independent experts mostly from the US to investigate the case, added Makhnitsky.
On Wednesday, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said that what took place in Odessa on May 2 is “typical fascism” and Russia “will pursue the truth,” adding that Moscow will not permit Odessa’s events to be “swept under the carpet.”
Obama’s Bloodbath in Odessa: As Guilty as Anyone in Kiev
“As the building was engulfed in flames, photos posted on Twitter showed people hanging out of windows and sitting on windowsills on several floors, possibly preparing to jump. Other images showed pro-regime elements celebrating the inferno. Some jeered on Twitter that “Colorado beetles are being roasted up in Odessa,” using a derogatory term for pro-Russian activists wearing St. George’s ribbons.”
– Mike Head, Washington responsible for fascist massacre in Odessa, World Socialist Web Site
“I think what’s happening now shows us who’s actually been orchestrating the process from the beginning. At first, the United States preferred to stay in the shadows, but now they’ve exposed themselves as the leaders of this whole process.”
– Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Members of the fascist Right Sector set fire to Odessa’s Trade Unions House on Friday killing 40 anti-coup activists who had retreated to the building to escape escalating street violence. Witnesses say that members of the Ukrainian security forces withdrew from the scene allowing the rightwing radicals to block the exits and firebomb the building forcing many to jump from open windows to the pavement below where they died on impact. The few who survived the fall were savagely beaten with clubs and chains by the nearly 300 extremist thugs who had gathered on the street. Much of the murderous provocation was caught on video including footage of the terrified occupants leaping to their deaths.
Just hours after the bloodbath took place in Odessa, President Obama praised the brutal crackdown in a joint-press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama announced that, “The Ukrainian government has the right and responsibility to uphold law and order within its territory.” The president made no mention of the 40 victims who were burned alive or who jumped to their death trying to escape the fire. Nor did Obama offer his condolences to the families who lost loved one’s in the Nazi-ignited blaze. Instead, the president demanded that heavier penalties be levied on Moscow for its ‘defiance’ in Crimea where people were allowed to choose their own future through a referendum. Here’s a clip from the press conference transcript:
“We are united in our determination to impose costs on Russia for its actions, including through coordinated sanctions….And as Ukrainian forces move to restore order in eastern Ukraine, it is obvious to the world that these Russian-backed groups are not peaceful protesters. They are heavily armed militants who are receiving significant support from Russia. The Ukrainian government has the right and responsibility to uphold law and order within its territory, and Russia needs to use its influence over these paramilitary groups so they disarm and stop provoking violence… if the Russian leadership does not change course, it will face increasing costs as well as growing isolation, diplomatic and economic.” (Wall Street Journal)
None of the victims of the tragedy were armed. None of them were Russian nationals. All of the people who were killed were identified as locals. There is no factual basis for Obama’s allegation that the “protestors… are heavily armed militants who are receiving significant support from Russia.” Obama’s claims are uncorroborated nonsense, fabrications and outright lies.
According to Obama, the coup government has “the right and responsibility to uphold law and order”, but (apparently) not to provide security for unarmed protestors who are burned alive by neo Nazis arsonists that perform their homicidal ritual in broad daylight while security troops look on approvingly. Do you see the flaw in Obama’s reasoning?
And what prompted Right Sector goons to stage the massacre when they had never done so before? Doesn’t that suggest that they must have gotten the green light from Kiev, which means, the attack must have been approved by Washington as well?
Is that where the bloody footprints lead; to the Oval Office?
Let’s suppose for a minute, that the White House was involved in the Odessa bloodbath. Wouldn’t that explain why the facts of the incident have not been accurately reported in any of the major media? Wouldn’t that explain why Obama failed to mention the incident in his press conference, or why the White House has not issued a statement condemning the perpetrators, or called for an independent investigation, or tried to interview any of the hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw what happened and reported the facts on Russian media?
Who authorized the attack on Odessa’s Trade Unions House? That’s what we want to know. Why did the Ukrainian Security Services withdraw and allow the fascist thugs to burn down the Zuccotti Park-like tent city in front of the building, chase the occupants into the building, painstakingly barricade the exits, and then hurl Molotov cocktails and stun grenades through the windows until the entire edifice was engulfed in flames?
Street fighting thugs don’t typically waste their time barricading exits unless it is part of a plan, a plan to create a big-enough incident to change the narrative of what is going on in the country.
But how does “changing the narrative” benefit Washington?
Well, just think of 9-11, for example: a “Pearl Harbor-type event” that changed all the rules and created the rational for curtailed civil liberties, authoritarian rule and perpetual war. Someone benefited from those changes, didn’t they?
Indeed. But how does that apply Ukraine and the Odessa tragedy?
Let’s say that Obama and his neocon advisors wanted to conceal what they’re really up to. Let’s say they felt they needed an excuse to justify NATO expansion, to block further EU-Russian economic integration, and to transform Ukraine into an anarchic, ungovernable failed state controlled by external powers. Let’s say Obama’s goals are not really altruistic after all, that he doesn’t really give a damn about democracy or freedom; that the real motive is the “pivot to Asia”, the dismemberment of the Russian Federation, the seizing of vital resources, and the control of China’s growth. So how does one achieve those goals without hoodwinking the public?
They don’t. Hoodwinking the public is an essential part any aggressive, imperialistic strategy, which is why western media has been embedded into the US Command Structure. The roll of propaganda is critical to the shaping of public opinion, garnering support for unpopular wars and policies, concealing the crimes of crooked politicians and outlaw corporatists, and diverting attention from the illicit, expansionist marauding of the Imperial state. In this case, Obama would rather propagate the fictitious narrative of an impending civil war then let people know what his real objectives are. The Odessa massacre fits perfectly into this strategy.
The incident suggests that deep ethnic and ideological differences are brewing just below the surface ready to explode at any minute into a full-blown civil war. But are they? The number of fascists in the country is actually quite small, probably just a few thousand altogether. That’s certainly not enough to incite a civil war. But, of course, the coup government can amplify their importance by giving them a free hand to carry out their murderous rampages, just as the media can magnify their importance by portraying their barbarous behavior as a symptom of deeply-rooted ethnic antagonisms that threaten to bubble up and rip Ukrainian society apart.
And that’s what they’ve done, isn’t it? The imposter government and the media have taken the rogue actions of a small group of bloodthirsty misfits, and patched together a story of a state that is on the fast-track to disintegration.
This isn’t the first time the US has tried to pull something like this off. In 2006, the Bush administration used a similar tactic in Iraq. That’s when Samarra’s Golden Dome Mosque was blown up in an effort to change the public’s perception of the conflict from an armed struggle against foreign occupation into a civil war. Bush wanted to use psy-ops (psychological operation) to shift attention away from US causalities (from an effective Sunni-led resistance) to a fictitious religious war between Sunni and Shia. The bombing of the third most sacred shrine in Islam, was expected to provide the Pearl Harbor-type event that would make the new narrative seem credible.
The media, of course, pushed the civil war trope as expected, even though the story unraveled some years later in an investigative piece that popped up in the New York Times. Here’s a blurb from the article titled “One Year Later, Golden Mosque still in Ruins” by Marc Santora:
“A caretaker at the shrine described what happened on the day of the attack, insisting on anonymity because he was afraid that talking to an American could get him killed. The general outline of his account was confirmed by American and Iraqi officials.
The night before the explosion, he said, just before the 8 p.m. curfew on Feb. 21, 2006, on the Western calendar, men dressed in commando uniforms like those issued by the Interior Ministry entered the shrine.
The caretaker said he had been beaten, tied up and locked in a room.
Throughout the night, he said, he could hear the sound of drilling as the attackers positioned the explosives, apparently in such a way as to inflict maximum damage on the dome”. (NY Times)
Clearly, if the men were men dressed in “commando uniforms like those issued by the Interior Ministry”, then the logical place to begin an investigation would be the Interior Ministry. (which was working hand in glove with US Intelligence agencies.) But there’s never been an investigation and the caretaker has never been asked to testify about what he saw on the night of the bombing. However, if he is telling the truth, we cannot exclude the possibility that paramilitary contractors (mercenaries) or special-ops (intelligence) agents working out of the Interior Ministry may have destroyed the mosque to create the appearance of a looming civil war.
The Times also added, “What is clear is that the attack was carefully planned and calculated”.
True again. We can see from the extent of the damage that the job was carried out by demolition experts and not merely “insurgents or terrorists” with explosives. Simple forensic tests and soil samples could easily determine the composition of the explosives and point out the real perpetrators.
The Times even provides a motive for the attack: “Bad people used this incident to divide Iraq on a detestable sectarian basis.”
Precisely. The Bush administration used the incident to change the storyline from foreign occupation to civil war, thus, creating the rational for ongoing US occupation. The civil war meme provided cover for the “Salvador Option”, “the Surge”, massive ethnic cleansing, death squads, Abu Ghraib, and more than a decade of US-sponsored terror which turned Iraq into a decimated third world scrapheap incapable of providing food, water or security for its people. “Mission accomplished”.
Now it’s on to Ukraine where another set of distortions, fabrications and lies are being used to pull the wool over the public’s eyes once again. This time “Hitler” Putin is the source of all the evildoing. Forget about the State Department’s role in toppling the democratically-elected government in Kiev. Forget about the snipers who killed peaceful protestors in Maidan Square and who are tied to Washington’s junta government. Forget about CIA Director John Brennan’s visit to Kiev just hours before the first government crackdown. Forget Joe Biden’s visit to Kiev just hours before the second government crackdown. Forget that, according to a report on Sunday by AFP, that:
“Dozens of specialists from the US Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation are advising the Ukrainian government…. helping Kiev end the rebellion in the east of Ukraine and set up a functioning security structure…” (“CIA, FBI agents ‘advising Ukraine government‘: report”, AFP)
Forget that Obama hasn’t produced a shred of evidence to prove that Moscow is involved in the turmoil in the East. Forget that the United States has been at the center of every major conflagration in every part of the world for the last two decades. Forget about the 40 people who were incinerated in a conflict that is 100 percent Washington’s doing and for which Barack Obama is personally responsible. Forget all of that and just remember this one thing: “Putin is evil. Putin is Hitler. Putin is cause of everything that’s wrong in the world.” Putin. Putin. Putin. Bad. Bad. Bad.
Got that?
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, summed up the feelings of many observers who’ve followed the outrageous developments in Odessa when he said ‘the government in Kiev “bears direct responsibility, and is complicit in these criminal activities. They allowed extremists and radicals to burn unarmed people alive. And I stress that these people were unarmed … The people who justify this punitive operation… are up to their elbows in blood.” (RT)
Obama is just as guilty as anyone in Kiev. Maybe guiltier.
White Book on Violations of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Ukraine
Today the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a White Book on violations of human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine since November 2013.
The book is divided into six chapters:
- Violations of Human rights;
- Interference by the European Union and the United States;
- Weapons and violent methods used by the protesters;
- Restrictions on basic freedoms and crackdown on dissidents;
- Discrimination based on ethnic background;
- Religious persecution.
Full text of the White Book in PDF:
The report contains a chronological record of the HR violations in Ukraine based on monitoring of Ukrainian, Russian and some Western media, statements and announcements made by the leaders of the “new government” of Ukraine and their supporters, numerous eyewitness accounts, including those posted on the Internet, as well as records based on observations and interviews with people on the scene, and those collected by non-governmental organization The Foundation for Researching Problems in Democracy, and the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights. It is supported by extensive photo and documentary footage.
The facts exposed in the book clearly demonstrate that under the influence of extremists from ultranationalistic and neo-Nazi forces, and with the active support of the USA and the European Union and its members, the protests in Ukraine which bore an initially peaceful character rapidly escalated into a coercive rebellion and, in the end, the forceful seizure of power and an unconstitutional coup d’état.
These dramatic events were accompanied by widespread and gross violations of human rights and freedoms on the part of the self-proclaimed government and its supporters. As a result, manifestations of extremist, ultranationalist, and neo-Nazi sentiments, religious intolerance, xenophobia, blatant blackmail, threats, pressure placed by the Maidan leaders on their opponents, purges and arrests amongst them, repression, physical violence, and sometimes plain criminal lawlessness have become commonplace in today’s Ukraine.
In all of Ukraine’s regions, but especially in the southeastern part of the country, Ukrainian radical nationalists, instructed by the de facto authorities in Kiev and their external patrons, are ramping up the pressure on Russian-speaking citizens who do not want to lose the centuries-old ties that bind them to Russia and Russian culture.
The reporting covers the period since November 2013 till the end of March 2014. The situation even worsened later on and culminated in the horrific massacre committed by the Ukrainian ultras in Odessa on May 2, 2014 leaving 46 dead (officially) and hundreds of wounded.
ORIENTAL REVIEW calls all concerned citizens of the world to deliver this report to your national authorities and distribute it widely among relevant institutions and parties. Together we can stop the madness of war and ethnic terrorism in Ukraine!
Ecuador rejects vote on Amazon oil drilling in Yasuni park
The National Electoral Council said not enough signatures were collected to force a referendum.
Activists from the group Yasunidos, who had gathered the signatures, accused the council of “fraud”.
They oppose more oil drilling in the park, saying it would damage one of the world’s richest areas of biodiversity.
The electoral authorities validated 359,781 of the 850,000 signatures collected, well under the 583,323 needed by Ecuadorian law.
They said that some of the signatures were repeated up to nine times, or were found to be incomplete or written by children.
Other people, they said, had used fictional names like Bruce Wayne from Batman and Darth Vader from Star Wars.
‘Biased’But Yasunidos, which brings together environmentalists and indigenous groups, claimed the council was biased.
“Almost seven out of 10 signatures were thrown in the bin,” it said on Twitter.
“The council talks about irregularities. We talk about fraud.”
It has vowed to take the issue to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Last month, it announced it had collected enough signatures, saying it was “certain” that the referendum would go ahead.
Limited oil exploitation has been taking place in parts of Yasuni, which covers nearly 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles), since the 1970s.
‘Poverty alleviation’But last year President Rafael Correa abandoned a conservation plan that would have seen wealthy nations pay Ecuador not to drill in previously untouched parts of the park.
Mr Correa said the initiative had attracted only a fraction of the $3.6bn (£2.1bn) it had aimed to raise, leaving Ecuador with no choice but to go ahead with drilling. Oil is the country’s main export.
He has promised that any earnings from oil drilling would be used for poverty alleviation.
The park supports a huge variety of wildlife, including unique species of birds, monkeys and amphibians.
It is also home to the Huaorani and other indigenous people who had virtually no contact with the outside world until recent decades.
Yasuni oilfields hold an estimated 846 million barrels of crude, 20% of Ecuador’s reserves.
Iraq: Sixty Nine Days in Fallujah General Hospital Emergency Department
“Mission Accomplished.” (George W. Bush, 1st May 2003.)
In Iraq there is an ongoing massacre. Below are the figures of the dead and wounded brought daily, to just one hospital in the country’s largest governorate, Anbar Province, the Emergency Department of the Fallujah General Hospital, between 28th February 2014 and 7th May 2014.
They are the victims of the US imposed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s militias.
The UN representative in Iraq is near silent, the varying Ambassadors in Iraq are silent, including those of the US and UK, whose actions and lies about fictional “weapons of mass destruction” are responsible for the ongoing, daily carnage. Eleven relentless years of death and heartbreak.
Eleven years ago the airways were invaded with sound bites of a “tyrant who kills his own people.” As their tyrant “kills his own people”, the silence is deafening.
Normal services such as clean water, constant electricity are non-existent (imagine the nightmare of working with interruptions in a hospital of the machinery needed to keep patients alive, resuscitated, monitored, anaesthetized.) Thus, given the power interruptions and tense situation, the full numbers are incomplete. But these provide a small sample of one city’s unending tragedy in a Province under siege, under a US imposed leader using US supplied weapons.
This comes with inestimable thanks to the meticulous collating of Dr Muhamad Al-Darraj.
Wednesday 7th May: Government troops targeted the Doctors’ Residence at the hospital at 1 a.m., causing extensive damage, hit “by two projectiles.” It is the twelfth time the hospital has been bombed and the third time that the Doctors’ quarters have been hit.
There were also explosions reported in the blood donation department of the hospital after a call for people to donate urgently. Reports on casualties are stillawaited.
Hospitals are afforded special protection under the 1949 Geneva Convention as are all staff, not alone medical, but drivers, clerical, cleaners, cooks, maintenance. Attacking one is a war crime. But the troops have learned well from the Americans who of course boasted of training them and who on Sunday 7th November 2004: “… stormed the Falluja General Hospital.
“They rounded up all the doctors, pushed them face down on the floor and handcuffed them with plastic straps behind their backs. With the hospital occupied, those wounded by the U.S. aerial bombings headed to the Fallujah Central Health Clinic. And so at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 9th, U.S. warplanes bombed that clinic as well, killing thirty five patients, fifteen medics, four nurses nurses, five support staff and four doctors according to a doctor who survived. U.S. fire also targeted an ambulance, killing five patients and the driver.”(1)
Tuesday 6th May: Forty five wounded, including twelve children and four women. Seven dead.
Monday 5th May 2014: Nine wounded, four killed.
Sunday 4th May: Five wounded including one woman and two children. Fifteen dead, including five children.
Saturday 3rd May: Seven wounded, including one woman and two children. Two dead.
Friday 2nd May: Eight wounded. Two dead.
Thursday 1st May – the eleventh anniversary of George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln: Seven wounded including one woman and one young girl.
30th April, Iraq election day, from which the Province was excluded from voting due to the government attacking it, such is democracy in the “New Iraq”: Ten wounded including a woman and another girl.
Tuesday 29th April: Ten wounded, including one seventy year old lady and a young girl.
Monday 28th April, Saddam Hussein’s Birthday and formerly a national holiday: Five wounded. Two dead, an eighteen year old girl and a forty year old woman.
27th-22nd April not recorded.
Monday 21st April: By Mid-day: Five wounded, including one child and one woman. Six dead.
Sunday 20th April: Five wounded including three children. One dead.
Saturday 19th April not available.
Friday 18th April: By Mid-day: Four wounded including one child. One dead.
Thursday 17th April: By Mid-day: Seven wounded, including one child. One dead.
Wednesday – Tuesday, 16th –15th, not available.
Monday 14th April: By mid-day: Fifteen wounded, including five children and two women. Three dead, including one child.
Sunday 13th April: Five wounded, including two children. Two dead.
Saturday 12th April not available.
Friday 11th April: By mid-day: Fourteen wounded, including one woman and three children. Three dead
Thursday 10th April not available.
Wednesday 9th April: By mid-day: Twenty three wounded, including two women and six children. Five dead including one woman.
Tuesday 8th April: Twenty two wounded, including three women and one child. Four killed including two children.
7th-5th April not available.
Friday 4th April: Nine wounded. One killed.
3rd April-29th March not available.
Friday 28th March: Fifty wounded. Thirteen dead.
Thursday 27th March: One killed.
26th-24th March not available.
Sunday 23rd March: Eight wounded. Three killed.
22nd-20th March, not available.
Wednesday 19th March: Forty three wounded. Fifteen killed including a number of women and children.
Tuesday 18th March: Ten wounded. One child killed.
17th-13th March, not available.
12th March: Three wounded.
11th-6th March, not available.
Wednesday 5th March: Ten wounded. Five killed.
Tuesday 4th March: Four wounded, including a woman who lost her hands to shrapnel wounds. Four dead, two children and two young women.
3rd- 1st March, not available.
Friday 28th February: Seven wounded.
A Danish journalist asked a Fallujan what he thought about what was happening. The reply was: “What would you feel if the Danish army shelled your city?” The journalist’s eyes flooded with tears.
1,666 people died in Iraq the first three months of 2014 due acts of violence, according to UN statistics. Deaths in Anbar Province are now being excluded from Iraq government statistics, it is understood. However, according to the meticulous Dr Al-Darraji to 6th May of the figures he has obtained, which exclude the dates and hours recorded above: “The total civilian casualties of Fallujah people since the beginning of war against Anbar Province so far, are 1,296 wounded and 295 killed.” The all added to day after blood soaked day, in the name of US-UK style “Freedom, Democracy and Liberation.”
Note
In California, Robbing Main Street to Prop Up Wall Street
Why Gov. Jerry Brown’s rainy day fund is a bad idea
Governor Jerry Brown is aggressively pushing a California state constitutional amendment requiring budget surpluses to be used to pay down municipal debt and create an emergency “rainy day” fund, in anticipation of the next economic crisis.
On the face of it, it is a sensible idea. As long as Wall Street controls America’s finances and our economy, another catastrophic bust is a good bet.
But a rainy day fund takes money off the table, setting aside funds we need now to reverse the damage done by Wall Street’s last collapse. The brutal cuts of 2008 and 2009 shrank the middle class and gave California the highest poverty rate in the country.
The costs of Wall Street gambling are being thrust on its primary victims. We are given the choice of restoring much-needed services or maintaining austerity conditions in order to pay Wall Street the next time it brings down the economy.
There is another alternative – one that California got very close to implementing in 2011, before Jerry Brown vetoed the bill. AB750, a bill for a feasibility study for a state-owned bank, passed both houses of the state legislature but the governor refused to sign it. He said the study could be done by the Assembly and Senate Banking Committees in-house; but 2-1/2 years later, no further action has been taken on it.
Having a state-owned bank can substitute for a rainy day fund. Banks don’t need rainy day funds, because they have cheap credit lines with other banks. Today those credit lines are at the extremely low Fed funds rate of 0.25%. A state with its own bank can take advantage of this nearly-interest-free credit line not only for emergencies but to cut its long-term financing costs in half.
That is not just California dreaming. There is already a highly successful precedent for the approach. North Dakota is the only state with its own state-owned depository bank, and the only state to fully escape the credit crisis. It has boasted a budget surplus every year since 2008, and its 2.6% unemployment rate is the lowest in the country. Contrast that to California’s, one of the highest.
In a 2009 interview, Bank of North Dakota President Eric Hardmeyer stated that when the dot-com bust caused North Dakota to go over-budget in 2001-02, the bank did act as a rainy day fund for the state. To make up the budget shortfall, the bank declared an extra dividend for the state (its owner), and the next year the budget was back on track. No massive debt accumulation, no Wall Street bid-rigging, no fraudulent interest-rate swaps, no bond vigilantes, no capital appreciation bonds at 300% interest.
California already has a surfeit of surplus funds tucked around the state, which can be identified in state and local Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs). Clint Richardson, who has made an exhaustive study of California’s CAFR, writes that he has located nearly $600 billion in these funds. California’s surplus funds include those in aPooled Money Investment Account managed by the state treasurer, which currently contains $54 billion earning a mere 0.24% interest – almost nothing.
The money in these surplus funds is earmarked for particular purposes, so it cannot be spent on the state budget. However, it can be invested. A small portion could be invested as capital in the state’s own bank, where it could earn a significantly better return than it is getting now. The Bank of North Dakota has had a return on equity ranging between 17% and 26% every year since 2008.
California has massive potential capital and deposit bases, which could be leveraged into credit, as all banks do. The Bank of England just formally admitted in its quarterly bulletin that banks don’t lend their deposits. They simply advance credit created on their books. The deposits remain in demand accounts, available as needed by the depositors (in this case the state).
The Wall Street megabanks in which California invests and deposits its money are not using this massive credit power to develop California’s economy. Rather, they are using it to reap short-term profits for their own accounts – much of it extremely short-term, “earned” by skimming profits through computerized high-frequency program trading. Meanwhile, Wall Street is sucking massive sums in interest, fees, and interest rate swap payments out of California and into offshore tax havens.
Rather than setting aside our hard-earned surplus to pay the piper on demand, we could be using it to create the credit necessary to establish our own economic independence. California is the ninth largest economy in the world, and the world looks to us for creative leadership.
“As goes California, so goes the nation.” We can lead the states down the path of debt peonage, or we can be a model for establishing state economic sovereignty.
Date: Wed, May 7, 2014 at 7:29 AM
Subject: Some big news from Jane Brunette
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Thai Regime Collapses – Preparing for the Fallout
Thailand’s prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra was dismissed from her position along with several ministers from her cabinet by a Constitutional Court ruling regarding her transferring of key officials to pave way for her brother-in-law’s promotion to National Police Chief. Thai PBS reported in their article, “Constitutional Court rules Yingluck and her cabinet guilty,” that:
The Constitutional Court today unanimously ruled that caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was guilty in interfering in the reshuffling of senior government officials, of covering up of facts in the unusual and speedy transfer, falsifying [the] date in the transfer order to cover up facts, and aiding [a] relative to get [a] promotion to top police post which is a blatant interference of senior government reshuffle.
The court said the transfer of former national security chief Thawil Pliensri and the transfer of former national police chief Pol Gen Photo Phosri was merely to make the national police chief post vacant and is a joint effort of the caretaker prime minister to facilitate the appointment of her relative [brother-in-law] Pol Gen Pliewphan Damapong to the post which is a violation of the Constitution.
The act of overt nepotism is in fact just a smaller part of a much larger pattern of criminality carried out by the current regime, ruled only symbolically by Yingluck Shinawatra who is admittedly a proxy placeholder for her brother, billionaire, convicted criminal, fugitive, accused mass murderer, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Wall Street’s Billionaire Proxy
Thaksin Shinawatra and his political machine have dominated Thailand’s political landscape for over a decade. Formally a Carlyle Group adviser and close family friends with the Bush family, Shinawatra would become prime minister in 2001. He immediately began making sweeping concessions regarding security and economics with his Western backers including the use of Thai troops to assist in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the use of Thai territory for the US CIA’s horrific rendition program, and the privatization and sell-off of Thailand’s oil and natural gas to Western petroleum-conglomerates like Chevron and Hess.
His term in office, stretching from 2001-2006, also included mass murder in 2003 and 2004 that would leave nearly 3,000 dead, and systematic violence aimed at his political opponents including up to 18 human rights activists who were either assassinated or disappeared.
By 2006, his attempts to remove Thailand’s sociopolitical checks-and-balances, his systematic abuse of power, attempts to subvert Thai sovereignty on behalf of foreign interests, and increasing contention between him and Thailand’s various national institutions, including the courts and military, led to a bloodless coup that finally ousted him from power. Following the coup, a year-long reformation of Thailand’s political institutions would lay the groundwork to being uprooting Shinawatra’s extensively dug-in political machine.
Following reforms, elections were held and as expected, Shinawatra’s political machine found itself back in power. Two successive regimes led by Samak Sundaravej – Shinawatra’s admitted proxy candidate – and Somchai Wongsawat – Shinawatra’s brother-in-law – would likewise be ousted through a series of street demonstrations and court decisions. By 2008 Democrat Party candidate Abhisit Vejjajiva would become Thailand’s prime minister and would face violent street protests organized by Shinawatra in both 2009 and 2010.
During 2010′s violence Shinawatra would employ nearly 300 heavily armed mercenaries wielding AK47s, M16s, M67 grenades, M79 grenade launchers, and other assorted small arms. Running street battles beginning in April and ending in May would culminate in widespread arson across Bangkok. Over 90 would die during the violence, including soldiers, police, protesters, journalists, and bystanders.
To avoid further violence, early general elections were held in 2011, and once again Shinawatra’s political machine found itself in power. Performance at the polls, however, showed a weakening across his support base. Shinawatra, living in self-imposed exile primarily in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to evade a 2 year jail sentence, multiple arrest warrants, and a long list of pending legal cases, nominated his own sister, Yingluck Shinawatra to take his place.
The 2011 election motto was literally, “Thaksin Thinks, Peua Thai [his political party] Does.” In various interviews he and his party openly admitted he was still running both the political party and the policies his sister was enacting on his behalf. Both Forbes and the New York Times published direct quotes from the ruling party’s leadership inside of Thailand, and from Thaksin Shianwatra himself, declaring that he was ruling the country remotely.
Were Thaksin Shinawatra trying to contest elections in any other country around the world as a convicted criminal and fugitive, and transparently through a nepotist proxy – in this case his sister – he and his political party would be outright disqualified. Shinawatra’s unwarranted influence and power, assisted by a complicit Western media and army of formidable Washington lobbyists, allowed him to contest and in fact win elections in 2011.
The key to uprooting this unwarranted influence was undermining his popularity at home, while exposing his regime’s criminality to a wider audience abroad. Protests that began late 2013, led by a conglomerate of opposition parties, labor unions, student groups, and eventually rice farmers cheated by Shinawatra’s ill-conceived “rice buying” subsidy scheme promised ahead of the 2011 elections have done precisely this. With the groundwork laid, the toppling of the regime and the uprooting of its political machine has begun.
The court ruling that has removed Yingluck Shinawatra and many of her most prominent cabinet members from power has left her political party otherwise intact. It will be difficult for Thaksin Shinawatra and his foreign backers to portray the ruling as a “judicial coup,” since his political party is still technically in power. The same violent mobs, supported by professional mercenaries employed in 2010 have been promised as a response to any attempt by Thailand’s institutions (its courts and military) to remove Shinawatra’s proxy regime from power.
The Fallout
What is expected in the following days and weeks to come is a systematic campaign of terrorism and attempts to mobilize pro-regime “red shirt” mobs as a show of support for Shinawatra and dissatisfaction over the court’s ruling. The West, eager to keep Shinawatra in power in Thailand, while it builds a united front across Southeast Asia to hem in China, will undoubtedly attempt to bolster these attempts with editorial columns and news reports favorable to the regime and its mobs – however violent or minuscule they may be.
Thus far Thailand’s military has remained in the background, realizing that any overt move would only justify Shinawatra’s notoriously violent tactics. The military is likely to continue this posture while allowing the regime to further incriminate itself before a growing opposition in Thailand, and an increasingly aware and astute audience abroad. The court ruling in response to what is clear-cut nepotism and abuse of power will be difficult for the Western media to spin, and will most likely result in a narrative gravitating toward how the “electorate” should decide the fate of the regime, not the courts.
Unfortunately for the West and their proxy regime in Thailand, the electorate has already decided. In February this year, over half of Thailand’s eligible voters outright boycotted the elections organized by the regime. Additionally, Thailand’s main opposition party chose not to run. Many of those that did vote, defaced their ballots or marked “no vote” in protest. What is left of the regime is a dwindling number of fanatics known as “red shirts,” who have attempted and failed to organize counter-rallies to match protracted anti-regime protests across the country. There are also militants and politically-motivated police.
The final option for the regime appears to be violence. Already, dozens of men, women, and children have been killed as pro-regime militants have attacked protests across the country. These included attacks with hand grenades, 40mm M79 grenade launchers, and an assortment of military assault weapons. The regime has been openly training what it calls a “Volunteers’ Ward to Protect the Country’s Democracy,” and is little more than the recruitment of militants to take part in violence it has repeatedly insisted will unfold should the courts rule against them.
Civil War Impossible
The regime and its Western sponsors have repeatedly floated the threat that Thailand teeters at the edge of civil war. Statistics, demographics, and the strategic lay of Thailand, however, makes this impossible. In 2010, when Shinawatra’s political machine enjoyed much more prominence, only 7% of Thailand’s population identified themselves as “red.” This number has only dwindled further. Conversely, in 2010, the Thai military enjoyed widespread popularity and was seen as an important independent institution within Thailand’s political landscape. This image has only improved due to their response during catastrophic floods in 2011, and their hands-off approach to the current political situation.
What is likely to unfold instead is widespread terrorism and violence that will be portrayed as a “civil war” to make the court’s decision appear to be what Shinawatra’s propaganda machine is calling a “judicial coup” carried out against a “popular government.” Lacking actual supporters to carryout such “popular” backlash, the regime’s campaign of more limited terrorism will instead be dressed up as such. Some amongst Shinawatra’s supporters admit that the violence may not reach “civil war” proportions, but may lead to the division of Thailand as a unified nation-state. However, attempts to sell the idea of carving off northern Thailand as Shinawatra’s personal fiefdom have been poorly received – even by those he seeks to rule over in northern Thailand.
The fall of the regime is inevitable. Attempts to begin negotiations by Shinawatra himself indicate a position of weakness and are an invitation for his political opponents to finally uproot permanently his political machine and sweep from the pages of Thai history his toxic influence on the country, once and for all.
Is Texas Home to a Secret CIA Weapons Facility? Camp Stanley Orders Over Two Million Rounds of AK-47 Ammunition
Global Research Editorial Note
It is convenient to note that the US has been facilitating arms shipments to rebels fighting in Syria for a long time. Obama signed a presidential finding, which gave authority to the CIA to arm and fund the rebels” fighting in Syria and, in relation to the Benghazi Scandal, “Mounting evidence indicates both Obama and Clinton were engaged in a highly covert and illicit arms smuggling operation moving weapons from Libya through Turkey to the anti-Assad rebels in Syria.” For more details, read The Benghazi Scandal Is Obama’s Watergate But Worse.
Observers of the Central Intelligence Agency know that the Agency maintains two widely acknowledged facilities inside the United States —both in the state of Virginia. One is its headquarters in Langley. The other is inside the Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity, known more commonly as Camp Peary, located near Williamsburg, where officers of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service are allegedly trained.
However, for many decades researchers have speculated that the Agency maintains a third facility, which it uses to stockpile and distribute weapons around the world. The facility has been referred to in declassified documents as the “Midwest Depot”. It is said that billions of dollars of untraceable weapons have been dispatched from the “Midwest Depot” to CIA-supported groups such as Brigade 2506, which conducted the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. Other paramilitary groups said to have received weapons from the CIA’s “Midwest Depot” include the Honduras-based Contras, who fought the Sandinistas government in 1980s’ Nicaragua, Angola’s UNITA anti-communist group, as well as the Sunni mujahedeen who fought the Soviet Red Army in Afghanistan.
Now the location of this mysterious depot may have been unearthed thanks to Allen Thomson, a retired CIA analyst. In a 73-page research paper, Thomson concludes that the location of the “Midwest Depot” is actually in Texas. The paper has been published (.pdf) on the website of the Federation of American Scientists’ Intelligence Resource Program, which maintains an extensive archive on topics of current interest to intelligence researchers. Based on what The New York Times calls “a mosaic of documentation”, Thomson claims that the CIA’s “Midwest Depot” is located inside Camp Stanley, located north of San Antonio, Texas.
The latter is officially indexed as a US Army weapons depot. But Thomson says the depot is in fact commanded by the CIA. His paper highlights an explicit reference made to Texas in a memo drafted in 1986 by Colonel Oliver North, who was eventually convicted in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal. In it, North states that the CIA would transport missiles headed for Iran from a military facility to its “Midwest Depot, Texas”.
More recently, says Thomson, Camp Stanley placed a purchase order for over two million rounds of ammunition used for AK-47 rifles, which, says the former CIA analyst, US troops have no use for. Thomson told The Times that he is worried about the fate of the CIA’s “untraceable” weapons. Specifically, he is “worried about the extent to which the US has spread small arms around over the decades […]. Such weapons are pretty durable and, after the cause du jour has passed, where did they go? How many of those AK-47s and RPG-7s do we see Islamists waving around today?”, he adds.
The Times checked with the US Department of Defense and the CIA, but their spokespersons declined to comment. A spokesperson at Camp Stanley would only say that the facility is “a weapons storage and testing facility for the military”.
Iraq Election Sets Stage for Protracted Civil Strife
Iraqis went to the polls on Wednesday to elect a new parliament and government under conditions of a virtual civil war, terrorist bombings and sectarian tensions stoked by all the political factions and their external backers, who are fighting for control over Iraq’s vast energy resources.
Iraq has the fifth largest oil reserves in the world and is the second largest producer among the OPEC nations, having just passed Iran and trailing only Saudi Arabia.
The government deployed troops and security forces, with Peshmerga forces patrolling the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north of the country, and enforced a curfew and ban on traffic in the capital Baghdad, in an effort to prevent car bombs and suicide attacks from deterring voters from going to the polling stations.
In the run up to the elections, there have been at least 40 attacks, with bombs targeting electoral rallies in Baghdad, Khanaqin and Diyala. On April 28, the day when Iraq’s security forces voted, seven polling stations were attacked in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Anbar province, Salahuddin province, and Mosul, with a loss of more than 50 lives. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an al-Qaeda affiliate, has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks.
Only 70 percent of polling stations in insecure areas of Anbar Province, parts of which are controlled by Sunni Islamist, tribal and al-Qaeda militias, were open, while other polling stations in the insecure areas of Baghdad, Mosul and Diyala were closed.
This is the first general election since the US and its allies withdrew from Iraq at the end of 2011 after failing to secure a guarantee of legal immunity for the remaining US troops. The Iraqi people were left to deal with the bitter legacy of a criminal war to topple the Saddam Hussein regime and a nearly nine-year military occupation that destroyed Iraq’s basic infrastructure.
The result is soaring unrest over unemployment, poverty, lack of basic services such as electricity, clean water and freedom from flooding, corruption, and a rising tide of violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in the first three months of this year, and 750 lives in April alone.
Far from anticipating any improvement in their conditions, both voters and commentators believe that the elections are unlikely to resolve the severe political and social crisis that is the legacy of 35 years of war and imperialist intervention. On the contrary, there is open speculation that these elections might be the last under a nominally unified state.
Iraq’s complicated proportional representation system means that the official results are not expected till mid-May. With more than 9,000 candidates from numerous electoral alliances on the ballot for 328 parliamentary seats, no one party is expected to win an outright majority. While Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki continues to dominate his Shi’ite-based State of Law coalition, the remaining Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish parties and alliances have splintered and formed new alliances and blocs.
There have been numerous allegations of foul play in the electoral process. According to Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister and leader of the Iraqiya List, which won the most seats in parliament in 2010, 38 candidates from his political bloc were barred from running in the elections. The Electoral Commission claimed that it had disqualified 34 candidates from all parties.
All the political factions and cliques have played the sectarian card. Not one of them has addressed the dreadful economic and social conditions facing the vast majority of the population, even as oil production and revenues increase. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, the draft Iraqi budget for 2014 “anticipates average exports of 3.4m barrels/day (b/d), up 1m b/d from the previous year.”
The mounting poverty is the direct result of al-Maliki’s government, installed under the US occupation, which has promoted free market policies and introduced legislation outlawing the organisation of workers and unions to fight for higher wages and better conditions.
While al-Maliki’s bloc is expected to win the highest number of votes, he will need to form some kind of coalition to gain an overall majority in parliament and a third term in office. This will entail a process of political horse-trading that could take months. But even this is not assured, as the bloc which won the highest vote total in the 2010 elections, Allawi’s Iraqiya List, was unable to form a government, giving way after seven months to a coalition led by al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki has played the role of the strongman, claiming that he is the only one capable of uniting Iraq. The very opposite is the case. Taking his lead from the US occupation, his government has stoked the sectarian tensions between the majority Shi’ites and minority Sunnis, who live predominantly in the west of the country, to rally Shi’ite support in advance of the elections. He has purged leading Sunni politicians, cracked down on the population, branding all protests the work of al-Qaeda, and accused Saudi Arabia of funding the militias.
Following the arrest of a prominent Sunni politician, the killing of his brother and five bodyguards, and the breakup of a year-long protest camp, civil war has been raging in Anbar Province for four months between government forces and tribal, local and Sunni Islamist militias who oppose both the government and each other.
According to the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), this new “Iraqi insurgency” comprises at least 12 major organizations and possibly up to 40 distinct groups. It estimates that less than 10 percent are non-Iraqi foreign insurgents, a fact that both Baghdad and Washington downplay.
But as a result of the fighting, more than 400,000 Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes, while the Anbar capital, Ramadi, remains contested and Fallujah is under the control of insurgents.
The supposed threat from al-Qaeda, however, is very much the product of Washington and its regional allies’ sponsorship of Sunni Islamist militias in neighboring Syria, including ISIS and al-Nusra, to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, as part of its wider project of isolating Iran and curtailing the influence of Russia and China in the Middle East.
The Obama administration, with supreme cynicism, is using the threat of al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Iraq as a pretext to arm the al-Maliki government and thus control Iraq and its resources. At the same time, it is boosting its teams of specialists working under contract to the Iraqi government to provide security, military training, and intelligence analysis, as well as commercial, energy and construction projects. While Secretary of State John Kerry ruled out putting “American boots” on the ground, he has delegated the task to the Pentagon’s sub-contractors, which, according to figures cited by the Wall Street Journal, numbered more than 12,500 in January 2013.
Tensions have also risen between the al-Maliki regime and the Kurdistan Regional Government, which has sought to export oil directly, cutting Baghdad out of any share of the proceeds, prompting fears of outright secession. Such is the bitter factional rivalry that conflicts over borders and rights to oil and gas wealth threaten to break out into civil war there too.
Al-Maliki has consolidated power into his own hands, holding four positions simultaneously—prime minister, defence minister, interior minister and head of national security—putting 930,000 security personnel at his disposal. This was ostensibly because he could not get parliamentary approval for appointees to those cabinet positions. He also has the judiciary under his thumb. As a result, he was able to use the courts to overturn a law introduced by parliament that would have prevented him for running for a third term.
Eleven years after the US invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has a tyrannical government with the third highest execution rate in the world. Human Rights Watch in its 2013 Report Iraq: a Broken Justice System, described the al-Maliki government as using “draconian measures against opposition politicians, detainees, demonstrators and journalists, effectively squeezing the space for independent civil society and political freedoms … the Iraqi people today face a government that is slipping further into authoritarianism and doing little to make them safer.”
Weeks before the elections, the cabinet endorsed a “National Safety” bill, which defines a “state of emergency” and gives near-absolute powers to the Prime Minister to determine what constitutes an emergency, prompting widespread fears that the government could use the law to eliminate its opponents.
The conflicts instigated in Iraq by Washington, Britain, France and their regional allies are creating the conditions for the break-up of the country and a far wider conflagration that will embroil not just Iraq, but Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf petro-states.
Obama’s Bloodbath in Odessa
By Mike Whitney
Just hours after the bloodbath took place in Odessa, President Obama praised the brutal crackdown in a joint-press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Continue
By Justin Raimondo
Here we have a group of people – pro-Russian Ukrainians – who have been so demonized in the Western media that this mass murder is being framed as if the victims deserved it. Continue
US Media Covers Up Mass Murder in Odessa
By Daniel McAdams
The US mainstream media marches lock-step with the US government, even to the point of covering up a most vile mass murder. Continue
America’s “Immaculate Conception” Theory of War Crimes
By WashingtonsBlog
Ukrainian War Crimes Whitewashed by Western Press. Continue
Ukraine: U.S. Campaign Stuck Without Russian Intervention And German Support
By Moon Of Alabama
The U.S. plan for Ukraine seems to be to bait Russia into an occupation. Continue
Putin Should Send Troops Into Ukraine
By Finian Cunningham
Seventy years ago, Russia defeated fascism in Europe. It is time to deliver that honorable blow again. Continue
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
Needed: Obama-Putin Summit on Ukraine
By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
The buck stops with you, Mr. President. If you want to stop a bloody civil war. Continue
By Pepe Escobar
The hot lava irony of a Pentagon hack carping about “Russia clearly trying to re-impose hegemony” is enough to put the Vesuvius to shame. Continue
How Did the Gates of Hell Open in Vietnam?
By Jonathan Schell
The savagery often extended to the utmost depravity: gratuitous torture, killing for target practice, slaughter of children and babies, gang rape. Continue
Foreign Jihadis In Syria Pledge Their Own 9/11
By Patrick Cockburn
The road is open wide to new attacks along the lines of 9/11 and 7/7, and it may be too late to close it. Continue
The “Peace” Talks that Died of Boredom
By Matt Carr
For Israel, Hamas has always provided a useful pretext for not negotiating. Continue
Engage With The Middle East? Surely Blair Means ‘Bomb’?
By Steven Poole
Tony Blair’s recent speech was packed with darkly flexible terminology. Perhaps he is owed an ‘intervention’ of his own. Continue
Mission Accomplished Day’
Clueless Bush, and Media, Take Bike Ride With Injured Vets
By Greg Mitchell
The former disgraced President George W. Bush chose the eleventh anniversary of his “Mission Accomplished” photo op—to hold a bike ride for sixteen badly wounded (physically or mentally) veterans on his Crawford ranch. Continue
‘Christian’ America Lacking In Compassion
By Tony Norman
The single most ignorant and heretical remark uttered by a so-called Christian politician in a generation. Continue
By Chris Hedges
These masters have set in place laws that, when we rise up—and they expect us to rise up—will permit the state to herd us like sheep into military detention camps. Continue
Here Comes the Economic Collapse
Audio
Gerald Celente has a date in mind. Continue
Ukraine’s ‘Dr. Strangelove’ Reality
By Robert Parry
Virtually the entire U.S. news media has cooperated in the effort to play down the neo-Nazi role, dismissing any mention of this inconvenient truth as “Russian propaganda. Continue
Beware Of Aid Agencies Bearing Gifts
By Linda S.Heard
USAID’s so-called ‘democracy promotion programmes’ are designed to foment dissent against governments percived as unfriendly to Washington. Continue
By Robert C. Koehler
Ten years ago, photos of the crucifixion — and worse — were released to the American public.Continue
Martial Law, Detention Camps and Kangaroo Courts: Are We Recreating the Third Reich?
By John W. Whitehead
Anyone seen as opposing the government—whether they’re Left, Right or somewhere in between—is a target. Continue
By Paul Craig Roberts
Anyone who looks carefully behind the veil of words cannot find democracy in America.Continue
The World has Nothing to Fear From the US Losing Power
By Mark Weisbrot
As China looks set to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy, a multipolar world can only be good for democracy. Continue
In Case You Missed It
The CIA And The Media
By Carl Bernstein
400 American journalists have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency, according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Continue
Cecily McMillan’s Guilty Verdict Reveals Our Mass Acceptance of Police Violence
By Molly Knefel
What happened to McMillan reveals just how powerful and unrestrained a massive police force can be. Continue
Postcard from the End of America: Manhattan
By Linh Dinh
Only 59% of working age Americans are actually employed, and 47% of the population are on some forms of government assistance, a record high, so nearly half of us are already de facto beggars. Continue
Rich People Rule: Struggle Lies Ahead
By Rivera Sun
Citizens must learn to attack politicians, corporations and wealthy individuals in response to legislation they oppose. Continue
Ukraine’s ‘Dr. Strangelove’ Reality
By Robert Parry
Virtually the entire U.S. news media has cooperated in the effort to play down the neo-Nazi role, dismissing any mention of this inconvenient truth as “Russian propaganda. Continue
Beware Of Aid Agencies Bearing Gifts
By Linda S.Heard
USAID’s so-called ‘democracy promotion programmes’ are designed to foment dissent against governments percived as unfriendly to Washington. Continue
By Robert C. Koehler
Ten years ago, photos of the crucifixion — and worse — were released to the American public.Continue
Martial Law, Detention Camps and Kangaroo Courts: Are We Recreating the Third Reich?
By John W. Whitehead
Anyone seen as opposing the government—whether they’re Left, Right or somewhere in between—is a target. Continue
By Paul Craig Roberts
Anyone who looks carefully behind the veil of words cannot find democracy in America.Continue
The World has Nothing to Fear From the US Losing Power
By Mark Weisbrot
As China looks set to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy, a multipolar world can only be good for democracy. Continue
In Case You Missed It
The CIA And The Media
By Carl Bernstein
400 American journalists have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency, according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Continue
Cecily McMillan’s Guilty Verdict Reveals Our Mass Acceptance of Police Violence
By Molly Knefel
What happened to McMillan reveals just how powerful and unrestrained a massive police force can be. Continue
Postcard from the End of America: Manhattan
By Linh Dinh
Only 59% of working age Americans are actually employed, and 47% of the population are on some forms of government assistance, a record high, so nearly half of us are already de facto beggars. Continue
Rich People Rule: Struggle Lies Ahead
By Rivera Sun
Citizens must learn to attack politicians, corporations and wealthy individuals in response to legislation they oppose. Continue
May 7, 2014
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- ‘Revolutionary’ battery could see devices run for up to 50 YEARS – Traditionally, each component of a battery performs a single function. In the new design, the electrolyte component has two functions… (Free Energy Blog; May 7, 2014)
- Gov workers get diarrhea at Food Safety Summit – Similar kind of up-side-down aspects in Energy industry. (Free Energy Blog; May 7, 2014
May 6, 2014
- Focus Fusion launches Indiegogo fundraiser campaign – “Scientists at LPP Fusion, led by Chief Scientist Eric Lerner, are just one step away from this groundbreaking technology and we need your help for the final push.” (Free Energy Blog; May 6, 2014)
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May 5, 2014
- QEG: “If you can build a QEG here you can build one anywhere.” – The guys here are working on it — they’re very close. Measurements and other data are coming. (Free Energy Blog; May 1, 2014)
On Icky Purity: You Are Married to the Lord and Your Daddy Is Your Boyfriend and If You Have Sex You Will Get Pregnant, Use Drugs, Join Gangs and Then (Obviously) Die
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