7/29/10

disaster lottery

Some possible connections...

Ellen Brown: How brokers became bookies, the insidious transformation of markets into casinos
A massive new derivatives market that could be highly destructive economically is the trading platform called Carbon Credit Trading, which is on its way to dwarfing world oil trade. The program would allow trading in “carbon allowances” (permitting companies to emit greenhouse gases) and in “carbon offsets” (allowing companies to emit beyond their allowance if they invest in emission-reducing projects elsewhere). It would also allow trading in carbon derivatives; for example, futures contracts to deliver a certain number of allowances at an agreed price and time.
The players - partial list:

The proposed form of cap and trade has not yet been passed in the U.S., but a new market in which traders can speculate on the future of allowances and offsets has already been launched. The largest players in the carbon credit trading market include firms such as Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, Fortis, Deutsche Bank, Rabobank, BNP Paribas, Sumitomo, Kommunalkredit, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch and Cantor Fitzgerald. Last year, the financial services industry had 130 lobbyists working on climate issues, compared to almost none in 2003. The lobbyists represented companies such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.

They need a new derivatives market to replace the old derivatives market. Everything is broken.

[UPDATE: Christopher Jon Bjerknes on these videos:
A friend has emailed me a link to a video of the Jew whose real name begins with "Paul Rupert", but who calls himself "Muhammad Rafeeq", in which he shows his face. Why does he show his face, but does not tell us his name? Note that his roots in the "City" of London, the Rothschild dominated banking district of England, are again revealed in the description of the videos:]




Part 2

Part 3

Via Kevin Boyle.

^^^^^^^


Last Friday night Goldman revealed that bailout cash went to 32 entities, some of them foreign.

Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public Friday night.

Goldman Sachs disclosed the list of companies to the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia. Asked the significance of the list, Grassley said, "I hope it's as simple as taxpayers deserve to know what happened to their money."

He added, "We thought originally we were bailing out AIG. Then later on ... we learned that the money flowed through AIG to a few big banks, and now we know that the money went from these few big banks to dozens of financial institutions all around the world." Grassley said he was reserving judgment on the appropriateness of U.S. taxpayer money ending up overseas until he learns more about the 32 entities.

Goldman Sachs (GS) received $5.55 billion from the government in fall of 2008 as payment for then-worthless securities it held in AIG.

Restated: Our congress people used our money to buy worthless betting slips -- the derivatives -- in order to help their bankster friends.
Goldman had already hedged its risk that the securities would go bad. It had entered into agreements to spread the risk with the 32 entities named in Friday's report.
Which was contrary to public policy as well as, incidentally, being totally unnecessary. (See Geronimo Manifesto: Credit Default Swaps -  The Insane Problem and the Radical but Sane Solution)
Overall, Goldman Sachs received a $12.9 billion payout from the government's bailout of AIG, which was at one time the world's largest insurance company.

Goldman Sachs also revealed to the Senate Finance Committee that it would have received $2.3 billion if AIG had gone under. Other large financial institutions, such as Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, sold Goldman Sachs protection in the case of AIG's collapse. Those institutions did not have to pay Goldman Sachs after the government stepped in with tax money.

US taxpayer money went to foreign banks. Some of the players:

The list of companies receiving money includes a few familiar foreign banks, such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays. DZ AG Deutsche Zantrake Genossenschaftz Bank, a German cooperative banking group, received $1.2 billion, more than a quarter of the money Goldman paid out.

At the direction of Tim Geithner, who was rewarded for his treachery to the American people with a big promotion.

AIG received the bailout of $85 billion at the discretion of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which was led at the time by Timothy Geithner. He now is U.S. treasury secretary.
Regrettable. What to do? Simples! Conduct a hazing ritual which will embarrass a few people without causing any lasting damage, and which enforces the rules of the fraternity.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Waterloo Democrat, said he would propose that the House subcommittee on oversight and investigations convene hearings on the need for more Federal Reserve oversight. Braley is a member of the subcommittee.


^^^^^^^

Meanwhile, the oil spills continue. A new one in Michigan:

Why are oil spills suddenly occurring constantly, all over the world? Just this year, the environment has taken an unprecedented beating, from the oil industry alone. There's now a leak of an oil pipeline in the Kalamazoo River, Michigan. So far, an estimated 840,000 gallons of oil has gushed into a creek that directly flows into the river.


New types of money are popping up across Mid-Michigan and supporters say, it's not counterfeit, but rather a competing currency.
..."Do people have to accept dollars or money? No, they don't," Gillie said. "They can accept anything they want or they can refuse to accept anything."

He's absolutely right.

The U.S. Treasury Department says the Coinage Act of 1965 says "private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash, unless there is a state law which says otherwise."

That's the kind of idea that, if it caught on, could Ruin Everything, if you know what I mean.

Update on the Oil Spills -- All of Them, by Jeffrey Kluger of TIME -- last paragraph:

The Gulf's other two recent leaks are also comparatively minor—and comparatively common—and would not be making news at all if not for the BP elephant that's been in the room for more than 100 days now. But that's just the point. The only way to slake our thirst for oil is to continue to engage in industrial practices that are inherently dirty, unreliable and extremely dangerous. The only way to avoid the problem is either to invent a magic bullet that satisfies all our energy demands spotlessly and cheaply or to count on our legislators to cowboy up and pass the tough legislation necessary to price carbon, cap emissions and encourage the development of clean renewable technologies like wind and solar. For now, the safer bet is on  the magic.



Those are the ONLY TWO OPTIONS according to Jeffrey Kluger, distinguished senior editor at TIME magazine.

1) Invent a magic bullet energy solution that is perfect.


OR


2) Count on our corrupt legislators to do the "tough" thing and pass the cap and trade legislation that the banks want.


Hmm. What do you think will happen? There's really No Choice, and my friends, THAT'S the point.

So in addition to causing all sorts of illness around the Gulf, [with symptoms that are hard to distinguish from Dengue Fever, which is also REGRETTABLY appearing in South Florida simultaneously, and which will maybe be linked to Global Warming?, and which is justifying greatly increased mosquito spraying (and can a new vaccine be far behind?)...], the oil spills bolster the case for passing cap and trade!


WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!!

7/27/10

trip wires


Mass graves found in Mexico.

The Mexican authorities say they have recovered more than 50 bodies from a clandestine cemetery in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. The dead are thought to be victims of drugs gangs who have been fighting for control of smuggling routes into the United States.

Most of the bodies are male and have tattoos. Some have been mutilated and burned. Other graves have been found, including one in May in Taxco.

In the past weeks, two other mass grave sites have been discovered in Nuevo Leon, which is the scene of a fierce battle between between rival drugs gangs. The powerful Gulf cartel has been fighting its former allies, the Zetas, for control of lucrative smuggling routes to the US. 










^^^^^^^

On July 23, 2010, Fox News tells us that explosives were seized from gunman in a clash with soldiers in a remote area. These gunmen had army uniforms and satellite phones in their possession.

Mexico's Defense Department said in a statement Friday that soldiers had seized 57 pounds (26 kilograms) of explosives from gunmen killed in two clashes with soldiers in the remote mountains of the border state of Chihuahua. State authorities first reported the shootout between troops and assailants Thursday saying eight gunmen had been killed near the rural town of Madera, about 145 miles (230 kilometers) south of the U.S. border but gave no other details. The Defense Department said nine gunmen were killed in two clashes and that troops had also seized army uniforms, seven satellite phones, two ATVs and ten cars.
Just a week earlier, on July 17th, a drug cartel detonated the first-ever successful car bomb in Mexico. Who could have predicted?

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — The first successful car bombing by a drug cartel brings a new dimension of terror to a Mexican border region already shocked by random street battles, bodies dangling from bridges and highway checkpoints mounted by heavily armed criminals.
The attack, seemingly lifted from an al-Qaida playbook, demonstrated once again that the cartels are a step ahead of both an already guarded public and federal police, who have recently taken over command from the military of the battle against traffickers in Ciudad Juarez, a city across the border from El Paso, Texas.

...The car bomb, which killed at least three people Thursday, was the one thing nobody was expecting. It was a carefully planned attack designed to catch the extremely wary population and security forces off guard. A street gang tied to the Juarez cartel lured federal officers and paramedics to the site of the bomb by dressing a bound, wounded man in a police uniform and calling in a false report of an officer shot, said Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes. Among those killed was a private doctor who rushed to the scene to help treat the wounded man. Among the injured was a local TV cameraman who had been filming the paramedics treating the man. Even in a country where beheadings and drive-by shootings are routine, they could not imagine the cartels would choose that vulnerable moment to strike.


Really? They couldn't imagine such a thing? Even after the drug cartels gunned down all those teenagers at a party a few months ago, for no reason? Totally random? As I wrote at the time:

It's NOT random. This is terrorism. Conditioning your mind. It's all in the papers. You only have to look. They want you to know this, very much, that there's nothing you can do. There's nothing even that THEY can do, because they tried. See? It's hopeless.
Such as this snip from the above story about the car bomb: 

"The attack, seemingly lifted from an al-Qaida playbook, demonstrated once again that the cartels are a step ahead of both an already guarded public and federal police..."
They are always a step ahead. It's just infuriating. How do they do that?

^^^^^^^

Al Qaeda-like. We anticipate hearing about links to foreigners. We anticipate officials finding possibly direct links to Hezbollah, Iran, or perhaps a few steps removed via the Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiya. Something that can be linked back to Iran or perhaps Pakistan without too much difficulty. That would help to provide a justification to do something like bomb Iran or Pakistan in retaliation (self-defense), should an attack happen in the US.

Investigators are looking into how these attackers learned how to do remote controlled car bombs.

Federal police said the bombing attack was in retaliation for the arrest earlier in the day of a top leader of the La Linea gang, which works for the Juarez drug cartel. Investigators were still trying to determine what type of explosives the attackers used. Brig. Gen. Eduardo Zarate, the commander of the regional military zone, said as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives might have been used. He said it might have been detonated remotely, adding that burned batteries connecting to a mobile phone were found at the scene.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Mexican investigation is ongoing, said it is possible Mexican drug cartels were receiving bomb training from foreign groups – but it is just as likely they are learning on their own. "They could be looking at the Internet, and there are publications out there," he said.

Either it's the fault of foreigners or the internet. Win win.

More intelligence needed, according to Eric Olson of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute (think tank).


Olson said the best way for federal police to confront this new threat would be to improve their intelligence capabilities – an area he called a serious weakness. "It requires operational intelligence. It requires 'We know this is going to happen or likely is going to happen in this neighborhood,'" he said. "That kind of refined intelligence is extremely difficult anywhere. But it doesn't seem to be available in a place like Ciudad Juarez."
The cartels, on the other hand, "have an amazing intelligence capability," he said. "They are far ahead of law enforcement. All that keeps law enforcement from getting ahead of the curve." Mexican cartels – armed with billions of dollars and networks of informers among corrupt police forces – have long demonstrated their ability to target the highest-ranking security officials and government officials.

So the drug cartels are Very Organized and have amazing intelligence due to their 1) billions of dollars and 2) networks of informants among the police forces. And the drug cartels are "far ahead of law enforcement" because their networks deliver such good information. It's so good that law enforcement can never catch up. Ever.

But the networks include corrupt law enforcement people.

Therefore, these corrupt people must be high up and/or exceedingly well-placed, or else how could the drug cartels always stay So Organized and ahead of the non-corrupt law enforcement people?

Also, the drug cartels have demonstrated their ability to target the " highest-ranking security officials and government officials." Have the drug cartels targeted the President of Mexico, because he would be the highest-ranking government official. I don't think so. But they have targeted people like this:

Monterrey, NL - Gunmen kidnapped the transit chief of the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Juan Enrique Barrios Rodriguez, on Monday, hours after abducting highway department director Reynaldo Ramos, city officials said....The kidnappings occurred days after Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal purged the police department of officers suspected of having links to drug traffickers. A total of 178 officers were dismissed.

And a well-known conservative politician went missing in May, but his body has not been found.

The investigation into FernÁndez’s disappearance sparked a confusion familiar in many recent high-profile murders and kidnappings in Mexico. ...Confusing and contradictory information then sped across the airwaves. Party comrade Manuel Espino tweeted that FernÁndez’s body had been found on a nearby military base, then said the information was unconfirmed and sent an apology to media outlets. A leading radio presenter announced that family members were going to see FernÁndez in a nearby hospital. Mexican news websites flashed reports that a decapitated body had been found nearby. The Federal Attorney General’s office sent three different news releases saying the bearded politician was nowhere to be seen. “Until now there is no sign that FernÁndez is not still missing,” it said in the last statement. Amid the confusion, President CalderÓn sat waiting in his presidential jet before eventually departing late on a scheduled trip to Spain.....Tension has also been simmering inside the PAN in the run-up to 12 governorship races this year, with FernÁndez backing a faction opposed to CalderÓn.

I think the President of Mexico might be safe from the drug cartels. Lucky for him. But people who try to interfere with the Organized Crime rings -- not so much. Meanwhile the President of Mexico and the Obama administration do stay busy doing a lot of hand-wringing and throwing our taxpayer money around while nothing much gets accomplished. They are surprisingly Not Organized when it comes to fighting Organized Crime.

Regrettable, as usual.


^^^^^^^

Again, we anticipate hearing about links to foreigners and terrorist groups. We anticipate officials finding possibly direct links to Hezbollah, Iran, or perhaps a few steps removed via the Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiya, perhaps LeT, or perhaps something new. Some group that can be linked back to Iran or perhaps Pakistan without too much difficulty, because the American people have a limited attention span and there can't be too many links in the chain or it won't be "believable."

Just before this big Wikileaks story came out, supposedly breaking new ground on the Afghan War, Hillary Clinton was in Pakistan making these remarks (among others):
“Should an attack on United States be traced to Pakistan, it would have a very devastating impact.” This means, another demonstration of “shock and awe” over Pakistan, as on Afghanistan in 2001, but with a difference, that India would also join them, as they are also having jitters after the Mumbai attack.
So an attack on the United States traced to Pakistan would justify a major attack on Pakistan, involving India. That seems to be what she's saying.

And an attack on the United States could come from these drug lords in Mexico, especially since now they are using explosives and may have as-yet unspecified links to foreign groups.

But could such an attack be linked to Pakistan? Possibly through the Abu Sayyaf group.

See: foreshadowing, for a very similar situation to the one described above with Hillary Clinton, when Robert Gates seemed to preemptively absolve India for retaliating against Pakistan; and the links between Abu Sayyaf, the US military, and Pakistan.




^^^^^^^

April 25, 2009: Terrorist groups operating in Mexico and training cartel gangs

by Michael Webster (http://www.lagunajournal.com/curriculum_vitae.htm)  O_o

Mexican drug cartels, Hezbollah (Party of God) and other Islamic terrorist groups like Al Qaida are joining forces in Mexico. Hezbollah is synonymous with terror, suicide attacks bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Other tactics include assassination, hijacking. Numerous reports and public Usama Bin Ladin proclamations indicate strong desire to obtain and utilize biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Al Qaida the international terrorist network that the United States has singled out as the most serious threat to US security.

Their targets tend to be prominent symbols (public buildings, embassy and military personnel, etc.) of the United States, its allies, and moderate Muslim governments. According to a former CIA Director, “Usama Bin Ladin's organization and other terrorist groups are placing increased emphasis on developing surrogates to carry out attacks. No wonder the criminal organizations in Mexico seem to have adopted many Middle Eastern terrorist tactics with kidnappings and beheadings happening throughout Mexico.

According to authorities global Islamic terrorist have moved into Mexico and other Latin American countries to open the door for Mexican cartels to have excess to Afghanistan opuim at bargain basement prices, those profits from those sales are being passed on to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations worldwide to attack the states from within. Hezbollah is known to be raising money for their cause in the U.S and some Americans say they have brought suite case dirty booms into the U.S. and are waiting for further instructions.


High ranking Mexican army officers claim Hezbollah is currently training Mexican drug cartel enforcement gang members. They are teaching them their gorilla terror tactics that they use in the Middle East. One high ranking Mexican Army officer who will at his request remain anonymous says Hezbollah is now believed to be training Mexican drug cartel enforcers the art of bomb making. It is now feared that there will soon be car and truck bombings of Mexican solders at the many road blocks that they have set up throughout Mexico, their barracks, police stations and even government buildings are at risk. The training is designed to combat the Mexican Army federal police and the American Special Forces and DEA agents now operating in Mexico. 

Hoo! But at the same time that all these anonymous claims and beliefs are coming through, some interesting facts:


High level Mexican military and government sources revealed that U.S. Special Forces and DEA agents are operating in Mexico. They have been allowed into Mexico to seek clandestine terrorist groups believe operating in Mexico. The government of Felipe Calderón authorized some American Special Forces and US anti-narcotics agents to operate in some states without oversight by Mexican authorities. The permission provides that DEA agents will not be required to issue a report to Mexico on their work in the country. Mexican sources said they have no knowledge of which terrorist groups or drug cartels or drug bosses the group will try to meet with because that information “is reserved and the government of the president of the US, Barack Obama, considers it of national security.”
The report goes on to describe how the US collects valuable intelligence about the terrorists in exchange for reduced charges:

The operation concerns the use of a unilateral strategy in Mexico that the U.S. Military and DEA used in Colombia a decade ago and which has, from the year 2000 to the present, involved the voluntary surrender of at least 50 important drug bosses, financial operators and leaders of militant killer units of criminal organizations that still operate in that country. The criminals who will agreed to cooperate with the Americans and provide information about terrorist groups operating in Mexico and who are using terrorist training bases to train drug cartels gang members on militant radical Islamic gorilla fighting tactics and are required to submit to a plan of collaboration that requires the drug bosses to share information about the activities and whereabouts of the terrorist and their colleagues.

They also are to reveal the location of the principal location of the terrorist and the routes of transport of narcotics, humans and terrorist to the US. The information provided is in exchange for the obligation of authorities to reduce the penalty charges once the subjects are incarcerated in the US.

Regarding the operation in Mexico, one official emphasized, “This is a unilateral effort of the US government; the Mexican government is totally out of it.”

So on the one hand the US government has all this information. And on the other hand the drug lords have amazing intelligence and always stay a step ahead, and are incredibly organized.

Let us pause here to consider the obvious implications.







Since then some other groups have come to light. They may be the "surrogates" Webster speaks of.

July 26, 2010: Mexican police investigate possible new drug gang:
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) - Mexican authorities are investigating the possible emergence of a new drug gang that appeared to take credit for six killings through a message left with the bodies Monday, officials said. The six men were found inside a car in the southwestern city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero state police said in a statement. Next to them lay a message reading: "This will happen to all rapists, extortionists and kidnappers. Attentively, the New Cartel of the Sierra."

Another possibility: April 6, 2010: New Cartel: Cartel del Pacifico Sur (Cartel of the South Pacific):


State of Morelos - After the assassination of Arturo Beltran Leyva by the Mexican Marines the restructuring of the cartels in Morelos could have possibly created a new drug cartel: The South Pacific Cartel "Cártel del Pacífico Sur" (CPS)

In the last recent days there has appeared graffiti, narco-messages, burning of homes, businesses and cars, and besides the usual murders, there has been a new signature of the source of all this: Cártel del Pacífico Sur (CPS).




special privileges



Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been criticised after he broke a strict 'no photographs' rule as he posed with Russian President Dimitri Medvedev in front of The Last Supper.

Art experts the world over agree that flash photography can have serious effects on centuries old paintings and galleries and museums forbid their use to protect the works.

However the rules appeared to have been broken for Berlusconi as he and Medvedev posed for several minutes in front of Leonardo Da Vinci's 15th Century mural.

President Medvedev is in Italy for a holiday and visited the Last Supper at the Santa Maria della Grazie museum while on a tour of Milan with Berlusconi.

Tourists who had booked a slot to view the work - which has a waiting list of three months - were held back to allow the party through to view the work which recreates Christ's Last Supper with his disciples.

Museum officials allowed three photographers in to take pictures of the two leaders using flash - despite clear signs banning the taking of photographs - but insisted that it was from a distance and not close-up.

A sign in various languages at the entrance clearly states that photography is not allowed - while wet umbrellas, mobile telephones, food, drink and smoking are also forbidden.

Today Professor Ulberico Santa Maria, who works at the scientific department of the Vatican Museums, and said: 'There is no way I would have allowed flash photography in front of the Last Supper.

'Flash photography is not recommended at all for works of art because of the intense damage that can be caused - certainly photography is allowed but the conditions have to be strict controlled using filters.

'We do not allow any sort of flash photography in the Vatican museums - we have four million visitors a year here and if everyone took just one flash photograph the damage would be immense.

'The fact that the Last Supper is a mural painting and not a fresco makes it all the more fragile to something like flash photography because of the organic material in the paint.

'This pigment is sensitive to flash photography and that's why we do not allow it - as I always say prevention is better than cure, so I am surprised that photographs were taken in front of the Last Supper.'

Alberto Artioli, superintendent of Works in Milan, said: 'The Russian president expressed a desire to have a picture as a reminder of his visit to the Last Supper and I was present at the time.

'I gave permission for three photographers to enter and take pictures. It was my responsibility, my decision and I authorised them because I did not see a problem.

'Flash photography can cause damage and ruin works of art but in this case it was just for a few moments.

'The photographers were quite far back and I really don't see the problem.'

Local councillor Davide Corritore, of the opposition Democratic Left, said: 'This is a very regrettable incident and gives the idea that leaders can do whatever they want.

'Granted a few photographs may not have damaged the Last Supper but it is the principle of that fact that it is forbidden for other people to take photographs but it was allowed for them.

'It does no favours for art and no favours for the city of Milan - any other authority would have not granted permission for photographs to be taken.'

Hypocritical, no surprise there. But also kind of creepy.


Visconti family’s coat of arms in Milan


"Berlusconi is the son of Luigi, a Milan banker, and Rosa Bossi." (source)

7/25/10

corruption

The law project is due to some newspapers leakage of personal infos...Like photos of Berlusconi's pool parties with topless hookers and foreign ministers wandering around naked with throbbing erections?  (comment #7: Berlusconi tries law prohibiting reporting on corruption investigation; Italy's press refuses to report any news in protest, July 8, 2010)

Catholic sex scandal as undercover reporter 'films priests at gay clubs and having casual flings'

A gay priest sex scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in Italy today after a weekly news magazine released details of a shock investigation it had carried out. Using hidden cameras, a journalist from Panorama magazine - owned by Italian Prime Minister and media baron Silvio Berlusconi - filmed three priests as they attended gay nightspots and had casual sex. Today there was no immediate comment from the Italian Bishops Conference and the Vatican - which has been rocked by a series of sex scandals involving paedophile priests since the start of the year.
^^^^^^^


Berlusconi came up a few times here during April in regards to the Kyrgystan scandal, which seems to have many tentacles.

The scandal centered on a Russian Jew with American citizenship in Israel is not noticing. But, according to a Knesset, the story involving Italian politicians, mafia, big businessmen of the EU, USA and Russia and Kyrgyzstan, may continue in Israel.
^^^^^^^

The guy [Berlusconi - ed.] is just a XXI-century Peron who financed his early business success with money from the Mafia, as it was conclusively determined by the judiciary just a few weeks ago. He controls 6 of 7 free tv channels, owns the overwhelming majority of ANY media in the country (press, movie theatres, publishing...), has so many conflicts of interest that it would take several books to explore them all, but is constantly passing laws to make himself even more untouchable. He's responsible, among other things, for the appalling police behaviour during the G8 meeting in Genoa. He was close friend of a previous "uber-corrupted" prime minister, Bettino Craxi. During a court battle to get ownership of the largest publisher in the country, he successfully corrupted the judges, then corrupted his lawyer to lie during the resulting investigation. He was eventually saved by the use of the Italian equivalent of the statute of limitations -- after he had managed to stop the trial umpteen times with new laws. (comment #21: Berlusconi tries law prohibiting reporting on corruption investigation; Italy's press refuses to report any news in protest, July 8, 2010)
^^^^^^^

A few months earlier, December 2009:

Dozens of Jewish magnates from the scene called their annual contribution to the Keren Ha-Yesod. This "auction" of charity became part of the closed "hangouts" of the richest Jews in the world who gathered in the luxurious palace of Rome, Silvio Berlusconi. How many have given to Israel, "Russian" oligarchs?


Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Kazakh tycoon Alexander Mashkevich


You may also recall that Yevgeny Gurevich was the chief financial guru to the Bakiyev family.


Gurevich



"According to the Sun Francisco Chronicle, the 1600 pages of the indictment brought against Gurevich, alleged that he played a key role in laundering illegal proceeds of Italian criminals." See dossier.


See: watch it spread.

When Berlusconi hosted the wealthy Jews in November 2009, they enjoyed "luxurious balls, inspections of palaces and villas of Italian nobility, traveling on Jewish places of Rome and visit closed to normal tourist facilities Vatican."

That's right, special tours of the Vatican. 

The wealthy Jewish philanthropists "raised" $40 million dollars in three days.

On three days' stay in Rome, the largest Jewish philanthropists portal IzRus told a representative of the Keren Ha-Yesod, "in Russia Ronny Vinnikov.  He said that the commemorations have begun in a symbolic location - near the Arch of Titus, which depicts the victory of the Romans over the Jews and the imposition of the menorah from the Temple of Jerusalem (AD 70). Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau asked the guests: "Where are those Romans and where are we? the language of the Emperor Titus long been told of his empire was nothing left, and Jews have preserved their language, have created their own state, and revived their culture."
Then, Jewish philanthropists, accompanied by a government escort motorcyclists have visited the palaces of the president and prime minister of Italy, met with Speaker of Italian Parliament, the Mayor of Rome and the chief rabbi of the country. In one of the palaces of Italy's best opera singers sang "Hatikva".  At the Villa Madama, the official residence of the Prime Minister for receiving heads of state, the Jewish oligarchs met at a top level - with a solemn guard, saluting each guest as a leader of a foreign power. By the way, the ball to Jewish patrons of the palace came from Berlusconi and the Ambassador Russia to Italy Alexei Meshkov.

"The joy of Jewish organizations and beneficiaries, the ranks of the world of philanthropy is increasingly supplemented by people of the" Russian "origin - those who live in the CIS, Europe, USA, Canada and Israel. The arrival of these people to charity - this revolutionary moment," - said Ronnie Vinnikov. He expressed the hope that the leaders of world Jewry "open the door to benefactors of the CIS could go with the right foot to the leading position in the Jewish world." According to Vinnikov, vote-rich Russian Jews should be equally heard on all matters of collection and distribution of funds from donations.
Victorious language. Victorious over Rome. Victorious over the Vatican?

See: "Rome: the promised land for foreign mafias"


See: who wants a Pulitzer prize?

See: who moves the drugs out of Afghanistan.

See: the fire of corruption flashes over

^^^^^^^

The scandal centered on a Russian Jew with American citizenship in Israel is not noticing. But, according to a Knesset, the story involving Italian politicians, mafia, big businessmen of the EU, USA and Russia and Kyrgyzstan, may continue in Israel.

7/22/10

not to put too fine a point on it....

but pick one.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's Fourth of July Greetings at the residence of US Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham.  July 4, 2010




"The intervening century and a half has confirmed that analysis. The Jewish State in particular owes a great debt of appreciation and gratitude to the United States. For decades, the U.S. has helped Israel meet the enormous challenges we face. It has helped us bear the heavy burdens of our defense. It has helped us feel secure enough to take risks for peace. It has helped us negotiate that peace and then make practical arrangements to cement it on the ground. Israel, in turn, has proved to be America's steadfast ally. A friend and an ally. We fight common enemies. We uphold common values - deeply shared by our people and our societies." ~ Bibi!


^^^^^^^

US support for Israel is absurd says Netanyahu - July 19, 2010

The contents of a secretly recorded video threaten to gravely embarrass not only Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister but also the US administration of Barack Obama.

The film was shot, apparently without Mr Netanyahu’s knowledge, nine years ago, when the government of Ariel Sharon had started reinvading the main cities of the West Bank to crush Palestinian resistance in the early stages of the second intifada.

At the time Mr Netanyahu had taken a short break from politics but was soon to join Mr Sharon’s government as finance minister.

On a visit to a home in the settlement of Ofra in the West Bank to pay condolences to the family of a man killed in a Palestinian shooting attack, he makes a series of unguarded admissions about his first period as prime minister, from 1996 to 1999.

Seated on a sofa in the house, he tells the family that he deceived the US president of the time, Bill Clinton, into believing he was helping implement the Oslo accords, the US-sponsored peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, by making minor withdrawals from the West Bank while actually entrenching the occupation. He boasts that he thereby destroyed the Oslo process.
He dismisses the US as “easily moved to the right direction” and calls high levels of popular American support for Israel “absurd”.

He also suggests that, far from being defensive, Israel’s harsh military repression of the Palestinian uprising was designed chiefly to crush the Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat so that it could be made more pliable for Israeli diktats.

All of these claims have obvious parallels with the current situation, when Mr Netanyahu is again Israel’s prime minister facing off with a White House trying to draw him into a peace process that runs counter to his political agenda.

As before, he has ostensibly made public concessions to the US administration – chiefly by agreeing in principle to the creation of a Palestinian state, consenting to indirect talks with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, and implementing a temporary freeze on settlement building.

But he has also enlisted the powerful pro-Israel lobby to exert pressure on the White House, which appears to have relented on its most important stipulations.

The contemptuous view of Washington Mr Netanyahu demonstrates in the film will confirm the suspicions of many observers – including Palestinian leaders – that his current professions of good faith should not be taken seriously.

Critics have already pointed out that his gestures have been extracted only after heavy arm-twisting from the US administration.

More significantly, he has so far avoided engaging meaningfully in the limited talks the White House is promoting with the Palestinians while the pace of settlement building in the West Bank has been barely affected by the 10-month freeze, due to end in September.

In the meantime, planning officials have repeatedly approved large new housing projects in East Jerusalem and the West Bank that have undercut the negotiations and will make the establishment of a Palestinian state – viable or otherwise – far less likely.

Writing in the liberal Haaretz newspaper, the columnist Gideon Levy called the video “outrageous”. He said it proved that Mr Netanyahu was a “con artist … who thinks that Washington is in his pocket and that he can pull the wool over its eyes”. He added that the prime minister had not reformed in the intervening period: “Such a crooked way of thinking does not change over the years.”

In the film, Mr Netanyahu says Israel must inflict “blows [on the Palestinians] that are so painful the price will be too heavy to be borne … A broad attack on the Palestinian Authority, to bring them to the point of being afraid that everything is collapsing”.

When asked if the US will object, he responds: “America is something that can be easily moved. Moved to the right direction … They won’t get in our way … Eighty per cent of the Americans support us. It’s absurd.”

He then recounts how he dealt with President Clinton, whom he refers to as “extremely pro-Palestinian”. “I wasn’t afraid to manoeuvre there. I was not afraid to clash with Clinton.”

His approach to White House demands to withdraw from Palestinian territory under the Oslo accords, he says, drew on his grandfather’s philosophy: “It would be better to give two per cent than to give 100 per cent.”

He therefore signed the 1997 agreement to pull the Israeli army back from much of Hebron, the last Palestinian city under direct occupation, as a way to avoid conceding more territory.

“The trick,” he says, “is not to be there [in the occupied territories] and be broken; the trick is to be there and pay a minimal price.”

The “trick” that stopped further withdrawals, Mr Netanyahu adds, was to redefine what parts of the occupied territories counted as a “specified military site” under the Oslo accords. He wanted the White House to approve in writing the classification of the Jordan Valley, a large area of the West Bank, as such a military site.

“Now, they did not want to give me that letter, so I did not give [them] the Hebron Agreement. I stopped the government meeting, I said: ‘I’m not signing.’ Only when the letter came … did I sign the Hebron Agreement. Why does this matter? Because at that moment I actually stopped the Oslo accord.”

Last week, after meeting Mr Obama in Washington, the Israeli prime minister gave an interview to Fox News in which he appeared to be in no hurry to make concessions: “Can we have a negotiated peace? Yes. Can it be implemented by 2012? I think it’s going to take longer than that,” he said.

breaking the planet



Enlarge the image. You can see how a big ring has broken off the current so that the water is not flowing up and through the Gulf, but just sort of doing a drive-by.

Video explanation:




Here is the article.

As displayed both by the sea surface velocity maps and the sea surface height maps, the Loop Current broke down for the first time around May 18th and generated a clock wise eddy, which is still active (see Fig. 1).
...As of today the situation has deteriorated up to the point in which the eddy has detached itself completely from the main stream therefore destroying completely the Loop Current, as in figure 2 below, dated June 12th 2010.
...Since comparative analysis with past satellite data until may 2010 didn’t show relevant anomalies, it might be therefore plausible to correlate the breaking of the Loop Current with the biochemical and physical action of the BP Oil Spill on the Gulf Stream.

It is reasonable to foresee the threat that the breaking of a crucial warm stream as the Loop Current may generate a chain reaction of unpredictable critical phenomena and instabilities due to strong non linearities which may have serious consequences on the dynamics of the Gulf Stream thermoregulation activity of the Global Climate.
That sounds serious.

^^^^^^^

In other news:


Altered photos found on BP site.

"Bloggers have identified three BP images this week that appear to have been altered using photo editing software." Go see.

And tropical depression 3 is on the way.

The weather showed significant signs of intensification during the overnight hours into Thursday morning with thunderstorm activity increasing, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said. If the system develops sustained winds of 39 mph or higher, it would be named Tropical Storm Bonnie. Several forecast models show that the system could move into the Gulf of Mexico, which could threaten operations this weekend to contain the BP oil spill, Morris said. (CNN)

BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells said that although boats and crew remain at the Macondo site, work on the relief well was stopped Wednesday to give hundreds of workers time to leave if necessary. Evolving plans for an additional effort to seal the well from above were put on hold. 

...Anxiety built Thursday among the 75-member crew aboard the cutter Decisive, the Coast Guard's primary search and rescue vessel that would be the last of about 65 ships to leave in the event of an evacuation, the Associated Press reported.
"It's a controlled chaos out there," Lt. Patrick Montgomery told an AP reporter aboard the cutter heading from Pascagoula, Miss., to the spill site.
The Shell Oil Co. announced Wednesday that it was preparing to take all non-essential personnel off its platforms and rigs in the eastern gulf as a precaution. Spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said the move was triggered by the possibility of bad weather rather than any clear threat.
Anxiety built Thursday. You know, today is Thursday and I read that story first thing this morning. I guess they knew in advance that the anxiety was going to build.

It is so REFRESHING to see how careful they are being.





And a SECOND oil spill has also been spewing for the past seven weeks!



The rig was damaged during Hurricane Ivan six years ago, and it was a really bad hurricane so we should be understanding that is hasn't been straightened out in the meantime. What do you think these oil companies are made of money?

Reportedly this rig has also been leaking since April.

"Taylor Energy says the Coast Guard and the Federal Government have been aware of this spill."

And have the American people been aware of this spill?


cute

where is Hollywood's latest philanthropic gesture?



I got an email yesterday asking where are the aid concerts for the people of the Gulf? Such a great question.

A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at issue. (wikipedia)

That's so nice. Such a great tradition.

Remember Live Aid? 

Live Aid was a multi-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom (attended by 72,000 people) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (attended by about 99,000 people). On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in other countries, such as Australia and Germany. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: an estimated 2 billion viewers, across 60 countries, watched the live broadcast.
Diana and Charles and Bob Geldorf at Wembley, 1985 (Daily Mail)


And Farm Aid?

Farm Aid started as a benefit concert on September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, held to raise money for family farmers in the United States. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan's comments at Live Aid earlier in that year. (Dylan said, "I hope that some of the money...maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe...one or two million, maybe...and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks....") Nelson and Mellencamp then brought family farmers before Congress to testify about the state of family farming in America. Congress subsequently passed the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 to help save family farms from foreclosure.
That's right. Let's raise money to PAY OFF THE BANKS. Send your money in people it's for a good cause. This one's been a real keeper.

The 2005 concert, marked the 20th anniversary of Farm Aid, took place at the Tweeter Center in Tinley Park, Illinois, with events in downtown Chicago as well. The 2007 Concert took place at Randalls Island in New York City (1st Farm Aid in New York) and was recorded in High Definition to be broadcast on HDNet as a 2 Hour Special highlighting many of the performances from the Allman Brothers and Counting Crows to John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson.

John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson and NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg announcing 2007 concert (source)


And "we are the world" lalalalala.... remember that song? They made a lot of money off that one. That worked so well they did it again for Haiti.





And speaking of raising money for Haiti? They really shook the trees didn't they?

(CNN) -- In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, George Clooney and other celebrities have signed on for a telethon to aid the devastated island nation. The Oscar-winning actor will take part in a fundraising program to air commercial-free across several networks, MTV announced.
"Hope for Haiti Now" will air on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT and 7 p.m. CT on Friday, January 22.
MTV said Clooney will serve as a host in Los Angeles, while musician Wyclef Jean will be in New York, and CNN's Anderson Cooper will appear from Haiti. The two-hour event will feature as-yet-unnamed musical performances and celebrity appearances, as well as live news reports from CNN.

It's Hollywood's latest philanthropic gesture in reaction to the catastrophic situation in Haiti. A celebrity lounge at this weekend's Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills has been turned into a Haitian aid fundraiser. Medecins sans Frontieres says actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated $1 million to the group's emergency medical operation as it responds to the disaster.


There have been benefits for 911, the tsunami, Katrina...

But not for the Gulf of Mexico.

I GUESS THAT'S DIFFERENT.

Anyway, celebrities are very busy people, you know.



"Jennifer Aniston dined out with her publicist at Cipriani in Mayfair last night."

7/20/10

practical applications - UPDATED

Great video:




They are not dramatic. They are pernicious. Most psychopaths are subtle. They are more like poison than a knife, and they are more like slow-working poison than cyanide....So what bullies usually do, they start and stop, start and stop. That achieves the maximal stress syndrome, and this is the great secret of bullying. Never overdo it. Small doses. The victim will do the rest. ~ Sam Vaknin, psychopath

See: the social engineers

^^^^^^^

Social engineering in practice:

Iraq war inquiry: Blair government 'massaged' Saddam Hussein WMD threat


Carne Ross, a British diplomat to the UN who was responsible for Iraq in the runup to the invasion, said intelligence was "massaged" into "more robust and terrifying" statements about Saddam's supposed WMD.

In evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, which heard that the Foreign Office had objected to the release of documents that he wanted to disclose, Ross said: "This process of exaggeration was gradual and proceeded by accretion and editing from document to document, in a way that allowed those participating to convince themselves that they were not engaged in blatant dishonesty."

...In an example of what he called a process of "deliberate public exaggeration", Ross said the government in March 2002 sent the parliamentary Labour party a paper that included the claim that "if Iraq's weapons programmes remained unchecked, Iraq could develop a crude nuclear device in about five years".

He said the government's real assessment was more or less the opposite: that sanctions were effectively preventing Iraq from developing a nuclear capability.

The statement to the PLP was "purely hypothetical", said Ross, "and was true in 1991 as it was in 2002; there was no evidence at either point that Iraq was close to obtaining the necessary material". A senior Foreign Office official sent a minute to an adviser to Jack Straw, the then foreign secretary, warning about the discrepancy in the memo to the PLP. But, Ross told the inquiry, the official was ignored.
 ^^^^^^^

Social engineering in practice:

First some conspiracy facts: 

  1. Iran has signed the NPT. As a signatory to the NPT, Iran may rightfully, legally, use nuclear technology for peaceful energy purposes. Iran has submitted to and passed repeated IAEA inspections. 
  2. The US intelligence community (NIE) does not consider Iran a nuclear threat. No credible evidence has ever been presented that Iran has a nuclear weapons program.
  3. Israel refuses to sign the NPT. Israel has an estimated several hundred undeclared nuclear weapons.
  4. An attack on Iran will have global consequences.

Now...

WSJ (high-end social engineering rag): Why hasn't Israel bombed Iran (yet)?, by Bret Stephens, former editor-in-chief at the JPost, via the Truth Seeker

1. Israeli military planners have concluded that any attack would be unlikely to succeed (or succeed at a reasonable price). "But this analysis fails to appreciate the depth of Israeli fears of a nuclear Iran, and the lengths they are prepared to go to stop it." EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NO EVIDENCE THAT IRAN HAS A NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM.

2. Israel needs more time to improve its offensive and defensive military capabilities, (ie: to suck dry the US taxpayers.)

3. Netanyahu and his cabinet can't agree what to do (and who will be blamed if something goes wrong.)

4. And something might go wrong. "This is an unenviable position, and Israel's friends abroad would do well to spare it easy lectures. Iran is not Israel's problem alone. It should not be Israel's problem alone to solve, to its own frightful peril." EVEN THOUGH THE "PROBLEM" OF IRAN IS ENTIRELY ISRAEL'S INVENTION BECAUSE IRAN THREATENS ISRAEL'S HEGEMONY IN THE MIDDLE EAST.





Commentary by Truth Seeker:

There is a fifth and final reason that Israel hasn’t yet struck at Iran. Despite his impressive record as a journalist, Bret Stephens seems unable or unwilling to acknowledge that Israel has yet to persuade its “ally”to do the job for them.

America’s reluctance to strike Iran can largely be attributed to elements in its military command. But that could change, particularly under someone like Patraeus, who seems to have presidential ambitions.

So while at a stretch it might just be possible, a unilateral strike on Iran would prove very costly for Israel. Indeed it could prove disasterous and rather than face the consequences alone Israel wants the rest of the world to help pay the price.

If only subliminally however, the above does at least prepare readers for the prospect of conflict with Iran.


(image from ani-slowa-wiecej.blogspot.com)

Do you see a process of deliberate public exaggeration, just like in the lead up to the Iraq war?

Do you see the starting and stopping? The threat advancing and receding? Month after month, year after year.

Do you see the actual facts of the situation diametrically opposed to the breathless claims justifying war?

Softening you up. Confusing you. Conditioning you. That's the point.

7/19/10

the lucky poor survive on one meal a day

Since winning the presidency last year and ending 61 years of domination by the conservative Colorado Party, Lugo has been trying to push reforms that aim to benefit Paraguay's numerous poor. He has criticized an elite class that "sits comfortably in air-conditioned offices," while the poor "survive on just one meal a day if they are lucky . . . without safe drinking water, surrounded by misery." (Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo replaces military chiefs, denies threat of coup 11/4/09)
And if luck runs out? How do you cut back from one meal a day and survive? To survive people need more than one meal a day, plus safe drinking water, plus shelter. Wouldn't you need that much to survive?






So we have this problem: too many people have to rely on one meal a day. Poverty.


What is the solution?

Scientists have determined how to fortify the cassava plant, a staple root crop in many developing countries, with enough vitamins, minerals and protein to provide the poor and malnourished with a day's worth of nutrition in a single meal.



 Mira Scharf cartoon



Regrettable.

And who could have predicted?

Well let us predict it right now, because maybe 800 million people rely on cassava as a food staple. If something goes wrong with the genetically modified varieties...

^^^^^^^

Some people think overpopulation is a problem.

The First Global Revolution by the Club of Rome spells out the reason for why the globalists use fears such as climate change, food shortages etc.  They want a common “enemy” to “unite” mankind under a single system of control.  And they decided that the enemy is “humanity itself”.  So we are told over and over that normal human activity is a threat, not out of control war-mongering governments and resource-stealing corporations, but normal behavior.   And all they have to do is make us believe that our fellow human beings are an incredible danger to our survival, and we will all fall into line under the sway of a bunch of elitist scam artists, and do whatever we are told to do, and stomp on each others’ rights and freedoms.
...Such as supporting the idea that if hundreds of millions of poor people have to survive on one meal a day, then we should encourage them to eat a genetically modified one meal a day, which it is more nutritious...?

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sponsors this research into the so-called super cassava.


^^^^^^^

Many indigenous cultivars of staple crops, including cassava, are very rich in nutrients and often well-adapted to stresses such as poor soil or severe climate. Yet researchers and authorities in developing countries frequently neglect these varieties....

Research of this type can be very cheap — selecting indigenous cultivars and producing hybrid cassava cost us no more than a few thousand dollars compared with the high price of developing a GM crop, which can cost up to US$100 million. GM crops are unlikely to reach the quality or adaptability of indigenous cultivars because, during their short synthetic life, they are not subject to natural selection, so may quickly break down or be ill-suited to local conditions. Cassava genetically engineered to resist mosaic disease is a case in point: despite spending more than US$20 million on developing it, no farmer is actively growing it.
...
Indigenous cultivars are the precious heritage of native people — selected by them and improved over thousands of years.


^^^^^^^

Cassava starch is an important raw material in food processing, paper, textile and adhesive manufacturing and in the oil drilling industry.

Cassava has many non-food / industrial uses. It's a crop that can be grown and sold whether or not the locals are there to eat it.

2. Corrugated cardboard manufacture. One of the large users of modified starches is the corrugated cardboard industry for the manufacture of cartons. Boxes and other packing materials. The layers of board are glued together with a suspension of raw starch in a solution of the gelatinized form. The board is pressed between hot rollers, which effects a gelatinization of the raw starch and results in a very strong bonding. Medium-quality flours are suitable for this purpose provided the pulp content is not too high.

6. Well drilling. Starches and modified starches mixed with clay are used to give the correct viscosity and water-holding capacity in bores for the exploratory drilling of oil wells or water wells. These starch products are replacing other commercial products for making the muddy materials which are indispensable for drilling wells. For this purpose a coldwater-soluble pregelatinized starch which can be made up to a paste of the required concentration on the spot is desired.

11. Cassava as a biofuel crop. In Brazil, sugar cane is a major bio-energy crop and has made this country a world leader in bio-ethanol production. Cassava has the potential to become another major bio-energy crop together with sugar cane. It is an attractive fuel crop because it can give high yields of starch and total dry matter in spite of drought conditions and poor soil. Energy requirements of cassava represent only 5â€"6% of the final energy content of the total biomass, showing an energy profit of 95%, assuming complete utilisation of the energy content of the total biomass.

12. Alcohol production from cassava has an overall efficiency of 32%. Cassava could become an industrial crop by developing cultivars with different starch compositions. Useful variations in native starch quality â€" altering the proportion of amylase to amylopectin, for instance, which changes the physiochemical properties of the polymer â€" could open new market niches at better prices.

13. Bio-ethanol production. Brazil has already started producing bio-ethanol from cassava. Many African countries are now becoming major producers of bio-ethanol production. Cassava mutants could be developed to produce value-added biomass for cost-effective production of bio-ethanol.
^^^^^^^

Win win win.




legal mumbo jumbo

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