|
2/15/2003
The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War with Iraq: Petro Euros :. This essay fills in a critical puzzle piece. The reasoning for the war is not simply a matter of U.S. access to global petrolium supplies, but rather the threat, posed by the euro, to the primacy of the dollar. All Cryptogon readers should read this essay: Although completely suppressed in the U.S. media, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking. The upcoming war in Iraq war is mostly about how the ruling class at Langley and the Bush oligarchy view hydrocarbons at the geo-strategic level, and the overarching macroeconomic threats to the U.S. dollar from the euro. The Real Reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves.
This lengthy essay will discuss the macroeconomics of the `petro-dollar' and the unpublicized but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency. The following is how an astute and anonymous friend alluded to the unspoken truth about this upcoming war with Iraq:
"The Federal Reserve's greatest nightmare is that OPEC will switch its international transactions from a dollar standard to a euro standard. Iraq actually made this switch in Nov. 2000 (when the euro was worth around 80 cents), and has actually made off like a bandit considering the dollar's steady depreciation against the euro. (Note: the dollar declined 17% against the euro in 2002.)
"The real reason the Bush administration wants a puppet government in Iraq -- or more importantly, the reason why the corporate-military-industrial network conglomerate wants a puppet government in Iraq -- is so that it will revert back to a dollar standard and stay that way." (While also hoping to veto any wider OPEC momentum towards the euro, especially from Iran -- the 2nd largest OPEC producer who is actively discussing a switch to euros for its oil exports)."
posted by Kevin at 1:57 PM
Largest Anti-War Protests In Europe Ever :.WOW! Millions of protesters - many of them marching in the capitals of America's traditional allies - demonstrated Saturday against U.S. plans to attack Iraq.
In a global outpouring of anti-war sentiment, Rome claimed the biggest turnout - 1 million according to police, while organizers claimed three times that figure.
In London, at least 750,000 people joined in the city's biggest demonstration ever, police said. Berlin had up to half a million on the streets, and Paris was estimated to have had up to 100,000.Check your local Indymedia site for the latest information. Paul writes:Hey Kevin,
I bristled ever so slightly that the Italians got top billing for their million marchers on Saturday's marches :-) when in London the police admitted to 750,000 marching to the rally in Hyde Park where hundreds of thousands had already gathered, and admitted that well over a million attended the Hyde Park rally, with the organisers claiming two million at the rally. So while the Italians may have had more on the march, we had more at the rally :-)
Happy hunting,
Paul
posted by Kevin at 1:18 PM
2/14/2003
CIA Black Ops Flight Crashes :.I don't know where to start on this one. It's almost like you need to have read Compromised: Clinton Bush and the CIA, by Terry Reed to get the full effect of this story. The spooks run narcotics, plain and simple. The trick is to get .mil to shoot down the flights operated by the upstarts, while allowing the Company Authorized flights to go through. The trick is to get Dyn Corp to spray the competitors coca fields without the defoliant wrecking Uncle's own coca crops. The trick is to get drug shipments to enter U.S. airspace via a joint CIA/Special Forces project called SEASPRAY, while ratf*cking the conventional smugglers. This story leads down a deep, dark alley and it will disappear in short order: A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the single-engine Cessna Caravan went down Thursday morning while trying to make an emergency landing in Florencia, near an area dotted with fields that produce coca, the main ingredient of cocaine.
American officials refused to discuss the flight's purpose or identify those aboard. The Colombian Army's high command said the plane was on an intelligence mission, and Colombian investigators reported seeing two bodies in the wreckage.
It was not clear which arm of the U.S. government operated the plane. A host of U.S. agencies and government contractors are in Colombia, operating radar stations that track drug-smuggling flights, fumigating drug crops by plane and helping Colombian security forces. It was not clear which arm of the U.S. government operated the plane. Hmm, my guess is that it's the same arm of the U.S. government that operated this cocaine cartel's mainframe. Finally, check out these dingbats. I don't think there enough spooks milling about looking clueless. Where's Hasenfus?
posted by Kevin at 4:30 AM
SoldiersCopsSoldiersCopsSoldiersCops When I put this site up back in June of 2002, I wrote the following in the ABOUT section: In the wake of 9/11, the outward appearances of things didn't change significantly---except at airports. After the next event, even the most deaf, dumb and blind Americans will scratch their heads and think, "Gee, there are soldiers on the street." America as we think we know it is already gone, and has been for years. What will be different is that even the rhetorical image of America will be shattered into pieces. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, etc? Remember all of that? The mask will be off and we will finally get to gaze upon the actual system we created with our decades of apathy and sloth.If they are softening us up this much before the next terrorists event, what will things be like in the wake of it? Photo caption: National Guardsmen and police gather at Grand Central Station in New York early February 13, 2003. The United States and Britain are on high alert amid intelligence-led reports that al Qaeda may launch an attack on the western allies. Photo by Peter Morgan/Reuters I was planning on doing more entries, but it just didn't happen today.
posted by Kevin at 4:08 AM
2/13/2003
To the Reader From the Global Investment CompanyYou were looking for information about a specific type of company. You know what I'm talking about. If you feel like unburdening your soul about your company's activities in this area, or anything else, please feel free to contact me via email. At a minimum, use a throw-a-way email account and do not send anything further from work. My PGP key is at the bottom of this page. If I know THIS much about what you were looking for, imagine what your IT department knows about what you're using your computer for. You may want to buy the premium article I wrote recently called, U.S. Military and Intelligence Activities Involving the Internet. It's only $2 and judging from the information you let slip, you might want to read it closely. If I don't hear from you in the next couple of days, I'll assume you were casually using your work machine for extracurricular reading and I'll let the rest of my readers in on what this is all about.
posted by Kevin at 6:51 PM
Clear Channel Stations Preparing for War :.This purports to be an internal Clear Channel memo. These imbeciles redefine the meaning of Yellow Journalism: Board ops: The second you get a notification that war has begun make sure you are prepared to hit news bulletin sounder and get the information on IMMEDIATELY. As soon as it is offered, cut to network updates or long-form coverage immediately. Then call and page Ken and Cristi.
Our Coverage will be called America's War with Iraq In writing copy please call our coverage, 'LIVE In-Depth Team Coverage of America's War with Iraq.'
After a major terror attack or after the war begins take all presidential addresses and public appearances.
Branding liners have been produced and are in the system. Michael please issue a memo making it clear where board ops will find this important imaging. Mike also make certain that our cross promos on the FMs all address Live in-depth team coverage of the War with Iraq on Newstalk 1530 KFBK
Editors, producers get to work on a 'war list' immediately. Make sure it includes local experts, sources, military types, other CC newsrooms around the country, network contacts etc. Cristi please coordinate this and make certain it is posted everywhere.
As soon as something happens, notify everyone! Cristi will make sure a complete staff phone list is posted in the newsroom, the studios. Take one home; leave one in your car. You may be asked to help with staff notification.
posted by Kevin at 1:12 AM
Initial Ground Phase of Iraq War Underway :.Here we go... U.S. Special Operations troops are already operating in various parts of Iraq, hunting for weapons sites, establishing a communications network and seeking potential defectors from Iraqi military units in what amounts to the initial ground phase of a war, U.S. defense officials and experts familiar with Pentagon planning said.
The troops, comprising two Special Operations Task Forces with an undetermined number of personnel, have been in and out of Iraq for well over a month, said two military officials with direct knowledge of their activities. They are laying the groundwork for conventional U.S. forces that could quickly seize large portions of Iraq if President Bush gives a formal order to go to war, the officials said.
posted by Kevin at 12:33 AM
Sharon to be Prosecuted as War Criminal :.I think Ariel Sharon and Slobodan Milosevic would make excellent cell mates. Filthy bastards. Well, maybe they'll go after Bush after he wipes out several hundred thousand people in Iraq over the next few weeks or months: BELGIUM'S highest court has delivered a landmark ruling that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can be prosecuted for war crimes � but only after he leaves office.
Israel responded angrily to what one official called a "scandalous" decision, immediately recalling its ambassador to Brussels for consultations and summoning the Belgian envoy for a dressing-down.
The move by the Cour de cassation, the top appeal court, opens the way for several serving or ex-leaders around the world to be tried under a unique Belgian law that allows for war crimes prosecutions independently of where the offences took place.
posted by Kevin at 12:32 AM
FBI Destroyed Possible McVeigh Evidence :.FBI officials said Wednesday they were still trying to determine whether the videotape and other evidence was actually destroyed, but remain confident all those responsible for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building have been punished.My God! What a steaming heap. Watch the Alex Jones video, 911: The Road to Tyranny and then see what you think about OKC bombing and then 9/11.
posted by Kevin at 12:30 AM
Man's Tree House Dream Comes True :.I love stories like this. When I finally fire up my off grid house, I won't need the TV or the gas generator, but I'd like to know how this guy convinced his girlfriend to go along with the plan: With a chain saw, a rope and a hatchet, Tony Detmer built his three-story dream house -- suspended 20 feet up, in a stand of Douglas fir and cedar.
Detmer, 31, often starts his day with a plunge into the snow below. In the deep chill of a mountain morning, he said, the jolt is better than a cup of coffee.
"There's something about being off of the ground," he said. "I feel lofty. I want to fly. This is the closest I can get."
Detmer began working on the tree house in the fall of 1999. The deck went up first. Then straps were wrapped around trees to hold up parts of the house. The whole thing cost less than $2,000, most of which went for a 3,000-watt generator to run a saw and a television.
"I never used a level, it's all by eyeball," he said.
Detmer's girlfriend, Betsy Delph, 23, and another roommate, Brett Hoisington, 19, also live in the house, which has a wood-burning stove and a rope swing on the deck.
posted by Kevin at 12:28 AM
2/12/2003
When "It" Happens, Try to Remain Calm :.When they light off the next one, you have a few options (as long as you're not one of the hundreds or thousands who buy the farm). You can panic. You can kiss their boots, and beg for them to save you. Or, you can realize that the same people who are offering you "security" from terrorism are the terrorists. Take your pick. Hint: If "It" is a nuke, chemical, biological or radiological dispersal weapon, I'm finished maintaining this nonsensical site. That'll be it. Done. Finished. See ya: Intelligence information suggests al-Qaida attacks may occur as early as this week in both the United States and on the Arabian peninsula, CIA Director George J. Tenet told Congress on Tuesday.
The information led to last week's raising of the national terror alert level to "orange," the second highest level of five. The information came from "multiple sources with strong al-Qaida ties," Tenet said without providing details.
"The intelligence is not idle chatter on the part of terrorists and their associates," Tenet said. "It is the most specific we have seen, and it is consistent with both our knowledge of al-Qaida's doctrine and our knowledge of plots this network � and particularly its senior leadership � has been working on for years."
The information pointing to imminent attacks was gathered both in the United States and overseas, said FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert S. Mueller III, who joined Tenet and other intelligence chiefs to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee in an annual public session on threats to national security.
The CIA director said the information suggests the attack may involve a "dirty bomb" � a weapon that spreads radioactive material over a wide area � or chemical or poison weapons. Officials last week worried the attack was timed to coincide with the hajj, a Muslim holy period this week.Related: Missile Launchers Positioned in D.C.Related: Official Likens London Terror Threat, 9/11 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:05 a.m. ET
LONDON (AP) -- A terrorist threat that prompted heightened security in London over the last two days is similar in scale to the Sept. 11 attacks, the chairman of the ruling Labor Party said Wednesday.
``This is about a threat of the nature that massacred thousands of people in New York,'' Labor Party chairman John Reid said.
posted by Kevin at 3:54 AM
O'Reilly: "Cut His Mic...We're Done" :.I doubt any of my readers pay much attention to Bill O'Reilly, but I would encourage all of you to listen to this exchange between O'Reilly and Jeremy Glick, whose father died in the World Trade Center.
posted by Kevin at 3:34 AM
Will Saddam Blow It? :.I saw $2.04 for a gallon of gas today. No jokes from my European readers. $2.04 is a lot for us gluttonous Americans. HA! Actually, I hope it hits $5. That would bring this show down, and then we could get on to what's next. Ahhh, but Bush et al. are going to commit genocide in Iraq in a desperate bid to drive oil prices down again...while lining their pockets, of course. Their diabolical plan may work. Or not. Even if they do get away with it, how much longer can the fraud of the petroleum based paradigm last? Three years, five years, ten at the outside max? IRAQI President Saddam Hussein was moving large amounts of explosives to the country's oil fields, in apparent preparations to destroy them in the case of a US-led military invasion, NBC News has reported.
Citing unnamed military officials, the report said Iraqi companies had been purchasing the explosives and moving them to production areas in order, presumably, to set the fields ablaze.
posted by Kevin at 3:32 AM
77,000 Body Bags :.FEARS that Iraq will inflict heavy casualties on British and American troops intensified yesterday when it emerged the Pentagon had ordered almost five times the number of body bags it requested before the last Gulf War.
posted by Kevin at 3:29 AM
Have an Ad? Rent Space on Someone's Forehead :. More universal than television, livelier than billboards -- London marketing whiz kids have hit upon a new advertising medium: the human forehead.
In a national British campaign to be rolled out in coming weeks, marketing agency Cunning Stunts said it was about to start renting advertising space on the foreheads of university students.
"The idea came when we realized how much coverage students gained in the newspapers during recent demonstrations over debt," said Cunning Stunts' Nikki Horton.
"This is a new way for them to supplement their meager income, but it's also the new advertising medium," she added. Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 3:26 AM
2/10/2003
Ashcroft Proposes Vast New Surveillance Powers, Encryption Crimes :.Within hours of its release, Cryptogon was covering the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (Patriot Act 2). Instead of adding updates to that entry, I'm going to post new entries about this catastrophic legislation separately so they don't get lost in the pile. A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal penalties for using encryption in the U.S.
posted by Kevin at 1:22 AM
France and Germany Attempt to Derail U.S. War Plan :.Russia is siding with France and Germany in trying to stop the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They are actually trying to prevent the formation of an Anglo American empire. Probably the most interesting aspect of this is that Germany has been a mortal enemy to both France and Russia in the not to distant past! But take a look at a map of the world and you will see why the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend doctrine is taking shape. The U.S. and Britain are in the process of securing, for themselves, what can only be described as the greatest strategic prize in the history of the world: Control of Eurasia. All strategic thinkers understand that he who controls this region controls the world. With the latest diplomatic developments, we are witnessing nothing less than a campaign of pragmatic geostrategy on the part of France, Germany and Russia to counter the ascension of Anglo American hegemony in Central and South West Asia. Is this the beginning of a new political order? On one side, perhaps, an Anglo American alliance will attempt to build a global empire. On the other side, France, Germany and Russia, feeling the threat, must band together out of necessity. Of course, this analysis may seem pre-mature. But if these thoughts are not on the minds of the leaders of France, Germany and Russia, why are they playing this game with the U.S. and Britain at this critical moment? And how does China feel about all of this posturing? The Franco-German plan to intensify UN weapons inspections and step up spy flights over Iraq is both a calculated snub to the US and an attempt to derail what is seen as Washington's determination to go to war.
This became clear as deep divisions between the US and France and Germany over Iraq exploded into the open at a high level security conference in Munich. According to one unconfirmed report in the German magazine Der Spiegel, UN blue-helmet soldiers would be deployed in Iraq and the number of weapons inspectors tripled. Some 150,000 US soldiers based close to Iraq's borders would remain in place to ensure the "peaceful invasion" of the blue helmets and secure their mission.
French Mirage reconnaissance planes, German Luna-Drohne unmanned planes, and American U2 spy aircraft would fly over Iraq.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, who attended the Munich conference, said his country had highly skilled inspectors and reconnaissance planes that could take part in a reinforced inspections regime if it was approved by the UN security council.
So bad are the relations between Paris and Berlin on one side and Washington on the other, that Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, was not told anything about the plan, even though his French and German counterparts were at the conference in the Bavarian capital with him.
posted by Kevin at 12:50 AM
Cheney Didn't Like the Head Count :.Beth Osborne Daponte was a 29-year-old Commerce Dept. demographer in 1992, when she publicly contradicted then-Defense Secretary Richard Cheney on the highly sensitive issue of Iraqi civilian casualties during the Gulf War. In short order, Daponte was told she was losing her job. She says her official report disappeared from her desk, and a new estimate, prepared by supervisors, greatly reduced the number of estimated civilian casualties.
Although Cheney said shortly after the 1991 Gulf War that "we have no way of knowing precisely how many casualties occurred" during the fighting "and may never know," Daponte had estimated otherwise: 13,000 civilians were killed directly by American and allied forces, and about 70,000 civilians died subsequently from war-related damage to medical facilities and supplies, the electric power grid, and the water system, she calculated.
In all, 40,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the conflict, she concluded, putting total Iraqi losses from the war and its aftermath at 158,000, including 86,194 men, 39,612 women, and 32,195 children.Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 12:35 AM
U.S. Demands Iraq Show Cooperation by This Weekend :.Cryptogon predicted that the war would start on or about the new moon at the beginning of February. That didn't happen. My guess, and this is just a guess, is that the unending refusal of France (and Germany) to go along with the plan has delayed the main event. I think one of three things will happen. 1) The U.S. will pull some back channel swindles with the U.N. Security Council states, getting them to rubber stamp a use-of-force resolution. 2) U.S. intelligence will launch a terrorist attack inside the U.S., possibly with chemical, biological or radiological dispersal weapons. My guess is that U.S. forces would pull the trigger on Iraq within 24 hours of such an event. 3) U.S. Intelligence/Special forces fake an Iraqi pre-emptive attack on Israel or Kuwait. You can see the headlines now. Saddam Hussein Strikes First, etc. In any event, if the war doesn't start by the beginning of March, I'll be amazed.
posted by Kevin at 12:08 AM
2/9/2003
Sources and Methods: Plagiarism :.Several Cryptogon readers submitted this one: The veracity of Colin Powell's report on Wednesday before the United Nations Security Council was dealt a serious blow when Britain's Channel 4 News broke a story that severely undermines the credibility of the intelligence Powell used to make his case to the UN.
Powell's presentation relied in no small part upon an intelligence dossier prepared by the British Government entitled, "Iraq - Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation." That report plagiarized large swaths of an essay written in September of 2002 by a graduate student from California named Ibrahim al-Marashi. Al-Marashi's essay appeared in the September 2002 edition of a small journal, the Middle East Review of International Affairs.
posted by Kevin at 11:32 PM
|
:. Reading
 Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell
Readers will come to see
that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"
- fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors
such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way
into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff
from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to
genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield
monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our
farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate
farms.
 Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
 The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen
and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land
movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based
on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating,
timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging
philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.
 Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
 The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
 When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
 The
New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques
for the Home and Market Gardener
This expansion
of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended
for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes
practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables,
with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock,
the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other
topics.
|
