NATO 'Surprised' By Russian Military, Reviewing European Defenses

By testing - August 18, 2008, 2:46PM

NATO has been having problems in Afghanistan. Now NATO has bad news from Georgia: Russia isn't as weak as once thought.

The Georgians hope to get modernized equipment NATO uses. Russia's goal is to undermine confidence in the NATO shield for Eastern Europe.

NATO appears to have been surprised not by the use of force, but the speed of the Georgian
military collapse. These are of concern to NATO because of problems in Afghanistan which might recur when defending Europe against Russia.

NATO will have to explain why, despite planning the Russians reported 24 months ago, why NATO is only now reviewing progress in Afghanistan, and reconsidering Russian power used in Georgia.

NATO appears to fear it has a credibility problem, not only because of poor progress in Afghanistan, but the tactical surprise of the Russians against the Georgian military. NATO will have to provide some credible reassurance to its member nations to demonstrate they have sufficient command and control of resources to defend against an increasingly likely Russian pre-textual attack against Eastern Europe.


The Russian defense ministry recently discussed additional funding for the tactical missile complex system. The Georgians claimed the Russians moved the systems to Georgia is a tactical missile system, which has supporting launch vehicles.

Russia denied it used the system and says it has no plans to use the system. They did not address the claim that the system was moved.

Russia has contradicted itself: Claiming it destroyed Georgia's military; but then refused to completely withdraw. If Russia's claims -- that they quickly, completely destroyed the Georgian military -- were true, then Russia cannot explain why it needs a military in Georgia.

The truth appears to be something different: The conflict in Georgia was a pretext for Russia to invade, destroy Georgia's military, and occupy the country.

The Russians view the American NSA and NATO as being in bed with Georgia. The Russians are gleeful that they've outmaneuvered the American satellites, and moved rockets without any meaningful American or Georgian response.

The Russians are vaguely referring to possible NATO-like aircraft over Georgia and Eastern Europe, mocking the figher pilots as they are tracked across the newly deployed Russian systems in Georgia. The Russians provided similar assistance in the former Yugoslavia when it assisted them in tracking specific fighter pilots flying from Italy.

The Russians have been providing commentary on their ability to use space-based platforms to integrate ground reconnaissance and support air operations. One commenter was happy Russian pilots wold be able to have active air combat experience in Georgia, and not act as show pilots during air shows.

The Russian news reports are discussing NSA satellite coverage of the Russian military movements within Georgia. The Russians are reporting that the Pentagon was surprised by the speed of the Russian troop movements, prompting concerns within NATO. NATO's problem has been the command and control issues in Afghanistan against simple insurgents living in caves. The NATO concerns appear to be much more than how to respond to Georgia, but how to effectively respond to a worried Russian invasion of NATO.

Russian news reports have not adequately discussed the different defense systems NATO uses in Europe, than those available for Georgia. However, NATO has not explained why the best military equipment -- presumably available to defend Europe -- cannot prevail in Afghanistan.

According to the Russian reports, NATO has been surprised by the speed and effectiveness of Russia's attacks on Georgia's command and controls systems, vital to defending Eastern Europe from Russia, and key to organizing an effective air-to-air response against expected Russian air forces over NATO allies.

From the Russian perspective, it appears they are not clear why Georgia did not take seriously the Russian threats. This suggests the Americans believed they could dissuade Russian action in Georgia. One report emphasized the speed at which Georgia's military has been effectively neutralized. Even with some NATO-American assistance, Georgia quickly collapsed.

Russia views Georgia as an indirect proxy for NATO, relying on NATO-like equipment. Russia views the Georgian-military-defeat as a fair warning for NATO: NATO combat forces are not sufficiently robust to challenge Russia, nor defend Eastern Europe. Russia views the remaining Georgian forces as meaningless: One of the units remaining exists only to finance the ministry; and the other organizing the (already) Georgian demobilization.

One of the key reminders is the Russian preparation for the Georgian invasion did not appear out of the blue. The preparations have been coordinated for many months. The American President has known something was possible, but did nothing to timely adjust in either Iraq or Afghanistan; nor did he secure a victory overseas to then make available US forces for Georgia. The President made the decision many months ago not to fully mitigate the Russian threat in Georgia.

It remains to be seen how the Georgian conflict spills into the Middle East. The Russians see an interesting dynamic. They view Israel as being limited in deploying forces, and would have us believe that Israel refused to return to Georgia specific equipment.

According to the Russian media, Russia is not moving its forces out of Georgia because it is planning for an increased American military presence and defense in Georgia. Russia does not expect the American President to use nuclear weapons, and are confident Russian conventional forces will not be adequately opposed by either NATO or America.

Comment

Which all goes to show how stupid it was of the Georgians to attack the outlying districts, wasn't it?

must read on Georgia-Russia war scenario

9.08.2008

Save the little nation from the annihilation!

Stop the genocide of the Ossetians!

The nationalistic and fascist government of Georgia from the year 1989 support the policy of the annihilation and the impression of the aboriginal Ossetian population from the territory that they occupy. From 1991 as a consequence of repeated military actions that were undertaken by the criminal authorities of Georgia against the small nations and the national purge murdered thousands of people –Ossetians, Abkhazians, Armenians, Russians. At the same time the scale of the genocide passed over the silence by mass media. The atrocity of the Georgian fascists, the tortures surpassed the one of the German fascists during the World War II.

The Georgian nation is sick, the ideas of the national oneness, justifying the territorial claims are warmed up by the Georgian mass media. The government of Georgia is financed by the USA, having it's own geopolitical interests in the region. Now the tragedy is developed, the Ossetian people are systematically shot in own houses, perish under blockages of the destroyed houses. The Georgian fascists have destroyed, have wiped about Ossetian villages, the city of Tskhinval is in ruins. It's impossible to count up the quantity of victims, that were buried under blockages of the houses destroyed by fire of the Georgian aggressors, the account goes on thousand. Groans of people from under blockages are audible. The Republic hospital where had helped to the wounded man was destroyed by the Georgian artillery, under blockages were wounded men and medical workers who could not be released under heavy fire of the opponent. Thus the Georgian party cynically declares the constitutional order prompting, one for another offers insinuations to accuse the Russian or Ossetian parts in the conflict. The people of Abkhazia will be the following victims of the Georgian extremism. We ask for the help, solidarity, and if it is possible with an exit on the international sites. Let the world knows the truth, instead of presented by the Georgian masters of falsifications lie.

IА “Рес”

. . . »»»

Inal Pliev: "It's necessary to suppress emphatically these volley plants, the armor-piercing techniques and all those instruments of murder that shoot at the peace town" At this moment the massed, intense, extremely cruel shelling of the housing estate of Tskhinval from the howitzers, mortars, artillery, IFV, tanks with using the system of the volley fire "Grad" from the direction of the Georgian villages continues. The bombardment goes on with the persistent volleys with the intervals under one second. This information was supplemented with the chief of the information department of the South Ossetian part of the Control Committee Inal Pliev. Here is the entire text. There are the hits to the houses that are situated in the immediate region of the boundary. There is fire and smoke around of us. Continues the intimidation and the oppression of the peaceful population. I suppose that the number of the victims will increase badly. But I have no idea about the number of victims, because we are in the shelters. Just now Saakashvily have declared by the radio that "gained a victory over the Russian Federation and Georgian troops are in the zone of the conflict and control Tskhinval totally and the Ossetian separatists will be obliterated". He also made the number of victims of the Ossetian part public (1500 persons). "I don't fight against the peaceful population, but with the gangsters". But in such a small nation can't exist 1500 gangsters. It's obviously that it is done to receive any political dividends. This war don't directed at the political victory, it is directed at total destruction of the peaceful nation. Now it is known that in the villages that have been occupied and that are released now the Georgians have taken away the Ossetian hostages. On the side of Georgia fight the international terrorists that had taken part in the war in Chechnya. It's especially discomposedly that the Georgian part hide the huge number of hostages from the Ossetian villages. This signify that they will be meanly killed as it was done earlier during the previous conflicts. I think that it was wise of Russia to provide safety of civilian population, by talking with the Georgians their native war language. The Russian collaboration is not enough, because the Georgians used heavy artillery against Tskhinval yesterday and today too. It`s necessary to destroy that artillery, because our people are dying, owr town is practically broken to pieses, otherwise South Osetia will be totally destroyed. Inal Pliev, the chief of the information department of the South Ossetian part of the Control Committee. . . . »»»

People of the Republic of South Ossetia apply for the government of the Russian Federation and for the people of Russia! The International Community that has been hypnotized with the crying misinformation of the government of Georgia and the cynical insinuations of Saakashvily doesn't undertake any measures to cut off the military actions of the Georgian part. On the contrary, they make different attempts to deprive the people of the South Ossetia of the peacemaking support and, in that way, doom them to the absolute destruction with the Georgian fascists. Meanwhile, the Georgian nationalists achieve their aims annihilating nearly one and a half thousand people of the South Ossetia and depriving the roofs and making the potential refugees the others. The irrepressible national ambitions and the territorial pretensions are warm up with the Georgian mass media, the supporting of the USA – the world-wide predominant force that has it's own interests in the region. When in April of 1989 in Tbilisi in the result of the dispersal of the unapproved antistate and nationalistic meeting perished 20 Georgian women, the Georgian part demonstrated the national hysteria with the involving of the universal mass media. Though, there is the data that those events also were the skilled insinuation of the Georgian "masters of the theatrical genre". And now, when thousands of people die, the Georgian nation triumphs, approving of the actions of their fascist government. The West is deaf. To live as a part of the fascist state is impossible. We ask for the juridical and legal help for recognizing the independence of the South Ossetia. And we ask for the help in the reducing the truth about the tragedy to the International Community, the RF and the common people. Читать на русском . . . »»»

Tskhinval is under the most frightful fire Innocent Ossetian civilians and Russian citizens killed: exact numbers cannot be established A massive and intensive shelling of the South Ossetian capital Tskhinval continues today as the city endures it's the worst attacks so far in the upsurge of violence in the Caucasus. While much of the civilian population in the capital are sheltering in their houses, many cannot take refuge from the bombs as their homes have been destroyed. There are still many women, children and elderly residents remaining in the city and, according to the latest information available, the city continues to resist the incursion of Georgian troops and has still not been captured. Georgian armed formations and heavy artillery have been accused of doing everything in their power to raze Ossetia with no regard to the safety of the civilian population. читать на русском . . . »»»

8.08.2008 - 11:52 Georgian SU-25 planes dropped bombs on civilians. In these minutes Georgian SU-25 planes dropped bombs on the peaceful citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia. SU-25 also strikes at ossetian village Kvernet, and bypass road,Zar, the only road, which links South Ossetia with the North. Perfidious massive bombardment of Tskhinval by the morning became more intense. In the city and its environs are fighting with heavy weapons. The people of South Ossetia requests assistance from the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and the Government of Russian Federation to take urgent measures to protect the residents of South Ossetia, which are citizens of the Russian Federation and to do everything to stop the genocide of the Ossetian people. According to preliminary data, in the city killed more than 15 civilians. The Georgian convoy of tanks and infantry is moving towards Tshinval. Already devastated a large part of the town. Several buildings in the center of the city burn. Parliament House RYUO burned, the government buildings complex is damaged. High-rise housing and other residential buildings are burning. Читать на русском . . . »»»

Eduard Kokoity: «Situation is extremely deteriorated by the Georgian side» South Ossetia intended to take resolute measures on the facts of shelling of Ossetian settlements by the Georgian side. This was stated by the President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity. «Presently the situation is very serious. At the height above Nuli village Georgians are constructing another post. We will take most tough decisions in this regard, for this are band formations and they are shelling our villages. The situation is aggravating from the Georgian side»-claimed Eduard Kokoity. . . . »»»

Georgian militaries fired funeral procession Georgian armed formations fired the funeral procession in Mugut village, Znaur region of RSO. As the Minister of Interior informed IA «Res» correspondent there was a funeral of RSO law enforcement organs serviceman Anatoly Kabisov killed during the firing of RSO MIA post in Velit village on the night from 1 to 2 August. . . . »»»

Georgian militaries fired funeral procession Georgian armed formations fired the funeral procession in Mugut village, Znaur region of RSO. As the Minister of Interior informed IA «Res» correspondent there was a funeral of RSO law enforcement organs serviceman Anatoly Kabisov killed during the firing of RSO MIA post in Velit village on the night from 1 to 2 August. . . . »»»

4.08.2008 - 17:09

Eduard Kokoity: «It is a meanness to shoot innocent people with sniper weapons, to hide behind the churches and to build fortifications at the cemeteries»

The President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity received the delegation from North Ossetia. They discussed the situation created over South Ossetia last days. All the participants mentioned the complexity of situation. Eduard Kokoity emphasized that the people should not yield to the provocations organized by the Georgian side, whatever tragic and grave as it may be.

. . . »»»

ACTIVISM: General Strike on 9-11-08 Spread the word !!!

General Strike on 9-11-08

To the LIAR$, Weasels, and criminals in our government

We, the People, will not participate in your crimes, we will not vote in your bread and circus media event elections, we will not buy from you, work for you, transport your implements of death, fight for you, kill for you or die for you until you drag the criminals from our government to face justice.

CAST YOUR STONES, NOT YOUR BALLOTS.

Show them YOUR power.

Take time off and enjoy your life.

http://www.votestrike.com

Please help us spread the word.

We have the Power, it's time we used it.

FRBSF: Can Young Americans Compete in a Global Economy?

FRBSF: Can Young Americans Compete in a Global Economy?

Clive Crook recently:

A startling and profoundly important fact about the US economy has received surprisingly little attention. The educational quality of the country's workers is starting to decline - not just relatively (because other countries are catching up and moving ahead) but also, for the first time, in absolute terms. Over the coming years, baby-boomers departing from the labour force will have better educational qualifications than the younger workers replacing them. If the ultimate source of an economy's ability to grow and prosper is its human capital, the US is in trouble.

[Update: I should have included this too.] The absolute decline is a concern, but maybe the relative comparison isn't so bad, at least for now? This Economic Letter argues that U.S. students do poorly in comparison with other students around the world when the comparison is made in high school, but if the comparison is made when they are older, 26-30 years old, the comparison looks better - U.S. students are in the middle of the group rather than at the bottom. Thus , it appears that U.S. students reap substantial benefits from college (and other post high school learning) relative to foreign students in many other countries, and U.S. students attend college in greater numbers than do foreign students. The question is, though, as foreign countries develop their higher education systems, and if we fail to make the necessary investments in education ourselves, will this advantage persist?:

Can Young Americans Compete in a Global Economy?, by Elizabeth Cascio, Economic Letter, FRBSF: Young Americans entering the labor market today face substantial competition. Employers can look all over the world for workers with the skills to meet their firms' needs. Are young Americans ready for these challenges? The answer isn't obvious. On the one hand, U.S. high school students consistently perform worse on international standardized tests than students in other industrialized countries; on the other hand, the United States generally has maintained the highest college completion rate in the world. Sorting out the net effect of these two phenomena on young Americans' readiness to compete in a global job market has been difficult given the dearth of suitable data.

This Economic Letter summarizes new research by Cascio, Clark, and Gordon (2008) (hereafter CCG) that uses data from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), fielded in the 1990s, to address this issue. The authors estimate the skill levels of 16- and 17-year-olds and 26- to 30-year-olds for the United States and other high-income countries. Consistent with other assessments of the school-age population, the IALS data show that U.S. 16- and 17-year-olds perform poorly relative to their counterparts in other nations. By their late 20s, however, those in the U.S. group in the IALS data compare much more favorably to their counterparts abroad, suggesting that they are able to "catch up" in college or beyond. The authors then discuss why the U.S. "age profile of skill" is so different from that in other countries.

Comparing academic performance across countries

Although cross-country data on educational attainment and wage rates are available, they are poor proxies for skill, as they embody unmeasured differences in school quality, labor market regulation, and other country-specific factors. Using data from the relatively recent IALS sidesteps these problems. The IALS measured the information-processing skills of 16- to 65-year-olds in different countries in 1994, 1996, and 1998. Respondents were given several passages of text and, following each, were posed a series of questions to measure skills in three domains: quantitative (applying "arithmetic operations…to numbers embedded in printed materials"), prose (understanding and using "information in texts"), and document (locating and using "information in various formats") (OECD 1995). The test was intended to measure "literacy" broadly ("general skills), rather than occupation-specific knowledge or academic proficiency. Scores on the IALS tests were categorized from level one (the ability to locate information in text) to level five (the ability to locate information in dense text with multiple distractors and to make high-level inferences). Performance on the IALS test is strongly correlated with individual earnings, though the strength of that correlation and the responsiveness of earnings to changes in IALS scores differ considerably across countries (Blau and Kahn 2005).

Based on the IALS, CCG estimate the share of the population that is highly skilled—that is, who scored at least at level-four proficiency on the test on average—for a set of developed countries. Figure 1 displays separate shares for 16- and 17-year-olds and for 26- to 30-year-olds. Countries are ordered from highest to lowest based on the performance of teenagers (solid black bars). To eliminate changes in the demographic composition of the population associated with high immigration rates of young adults, data are reported only for native-born citizens of each country.

The results for 16- and 17-year-olds confirm the findings from previous international standardized tests. On average, native-born U.S. teenagers performed worse on the IALS test than teenagers in any other country: Only 4.7% achieved at least level-four proficiency. In contrast, in the highest ranking country, Sweden, more than 35% of students achieved at least level-four proficiency. Across all nations other than the United States, on average 16% of 16- and 17-year-olds were highly skilled.

The gray bars, representing 26- to 30-year-olds, portray a very different picture. While the gap between the highest performing country, Sweden, and the United States narrowed only slightly, the gap between the United States and the average of developed countries narrowed substantially: 23.0% of U.S. 26- to 30-year-olds were proficient at level four or five, and 24.7% of this group in the other countries surveyed were similarly skilled. The U.S. position thereby moved from the bottom to the middle of the group.

The striking change in the U.S. ranking from the teenage years to young adulthood highlights an important difference in the "age profile of skill" across countries. While substantial learning takes place after high school in nearly all countries, these gains are particularly large in the United States. In fact, except for Norway, the age profile of skill is steeper in the United States than in any other country in the sample.

Why are age profiles of skill different across countries?

Why do U.S. 26- to 30-year-olds perform so much better on the IALS test than U.S. 16- and 17-year-olds? Why are such gains not observed in other rich countries? CCG argue that the steep age profile of skill observed in the U.S. may have emerged because the costs to the individual of investing in general skills in this country are lower and the benefits are higher than in many other countries. In particular, on the cost side, access to university education in many developed nations other than the U.S. is controlled by the government along two dimensions. First, students are "tracked" during the equivalent of K-12; that is, some are on a track that makes them "university eligible," and therefore they take courses that prepare them for college, while some are on a vocational track where the courses they take would make competing for a place in a college difficult if not impossible. Second, the number of available admissions to universities is limited and changes infrequently. Therefore, there is potentially fierce competition for few places in university classrooms. In contrast, there is less educational tracking in the U.S., so more students of varied educational backgrounds and ages can undertake the appropriate preparation to apply to colleges and universities. Furthermore, there is a relatively high level of private provision of college in the U.S., which allows for a greater ability to expand educational opportunities to meet higher demand.

If the comparatively greater access to—that is, low cost of entry into—the U.S. higher education system produces greater acquisition of general skills, the United States should have a relatively high college completion rate to match its relatively steep age profile of skill. The data in Figure 2 suggest that this is true. The figure also shows that the fraction of a country's population receiving a bachelor's degree (or equivalent) between ages 16-17 and 26-30 is strongly positively correlated with its age profile of skill. This suggests that individuals' investments in higher education raise general skills in the average country, even when university education tends to be more track-oriented and focused on a particular field than it is in the U.S.

Differences in the benefits from acquiring general skills also may be important in explaining differences across countries in the age profile of skill. For instance, a relatively high monetary return to college education may also have contributed to the relatively high U.S. college completion rates observed in the IALS. Similarly, in other countries, there are incentives to invest in vocational education over university education. For example, the German government heavily subsidizes participation in apprenticeships, which combine on-the-job and classroom training for specific professions. Thus, even though Germans and Americans spend about the same amount of time in school after age 17, Germans are more likely than Americans to allocate that time toward vocational education. While it has been argued that German apprenticeships bestow relatively general skills, it does not appear that vocational education pays off in this way in the average country: Compared to its strong correlation with college completion shown in Figure 2, the age profile of skill in a country is weakly correlated with increases in years spent in school overall after age 17.

Summary

The research described in this Letter suggests that the skills of young Americans entering the labor market may not be as low as internationally standardized tests historically suggest: While the average U.S. teenager has a low probability of being able to perform high-level inferences, Americans in their late 20s are as literate as their counterparts in a number of similar-income countries. These gains in skill appear to be a by-product of the low-cost, high-return nature of investment in general skills in the United States.

Will U.S. young adults continue to rank favorably in the distribution of skill across countries in the years to come? Perhaps not. While there is considerably less private provision of higher education in countries other than the United States, many did substantially expand public funding for universities in the 1980s and 1990s, increasing accessibility accordingly. Thus, many countries that significantly lagged the United States in college graduation only a decade ago—Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, among others—now have comparable if not higher graduation rates. While it is unclear whether these countries will embrace the U.S. model of higher education, the educational battleground of the near future seems likely to move beyond the elementary and secondary level.

References

Blau, Francine D., and Lawrence M. Kahn. 2005. "Do Cognitive Test Scores Explain Higher U.S. Wage Inequality?" Review of Economics and Statistics 87(1) pp. 184-193.

Cascio, Elizabeth, Damon Clark, and Nora Gordon. 2008. "Education and the Age Profile of Literacy into Adulthood." Journal of Economic Perspectives, forthcoming.

OECD. 1995. Literacy, Economy, and Society: Results of the First International Adult Literacy Survey. Paris and Ottawa: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and Statistics Canada.

Posted by Mark Thoma on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 10:17 AM in Economics, Universities

Israel - WHY BuZhco must be impeached NOW

Iraq: Israeli jets using US bases, says ministry source

Iran has test fired long and medium-range missiles this week during military manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf, amid speculation of a possible strike by the US or Israel.

Baghdad, 11 July (AKI) - Israeli Air Force jets have been flying over Jordanian airspace and landing in Iraq for over a month, according to reports quoting Iraqi government sources.

Iran's state-funded Press TV also reported the claim, immediately fuelling speculation about a potential strike by Israel against Iran's nuclear facilities.

According to Press TV, the Iraqi Ministry of Defence told Iraqi news network, Nahrainnet, that suspected Israeli warplanes had landed at the al-Assad American airbase near Haditha, in western Anbar province, as well as a base in Nassiriya in the country's south.

Iran's Press TV also reported that the US had boosted security arrangements around the bases allegedly used by Israel.

According to retired Iraqi army officials, fighter jets have been entering Iraqi airspace from Jordan.

Jordan and Israel signed a peace agreement in 1994.

Sources also claimed that if Israeli warplanes were to carry out an attack against Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr, it would take them five minutes to reach it from Iraq.

In June, 100 Israeli warplanes carried out a drill over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece, as a rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran.

During that exercise, Israeli Air Force helicopters and refuelling aircraft reportedly flew around 1,500 kilometres from Israel - roughly the distance between Israel and Iran's primary uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.

On Thursday, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that his country was ready to act against Iran if threatened.

"Israel is the strongest country in the region and has proved in the past that it won't hesitate to act when its vital security interests are at stake," said Barak speaking in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

http://www.adnkrono s.com/AKI/ English/Security /?id=1.0. 2330069763

Recent Maher Arar, Mohamed Harket articles

Look at how long JUSTICE is being denied CANADIAN citizens !!

Just when can we trust U.S.?

Jan 25, 2007 04:30 AM
Thomas Walkom

American Ambassador David Wilkins is right when he says that it's up to Washington – not Ottawa – to decide whether Canadian Maher Arar can enter the United States. He's right but misses the point.

The U.S. is a sovereign nation and can do whatever it wants. As Wilkins said yesterday, it is "presumptuous" for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to tell Americans whom they should let in.

If Americans want to refuse entry to Arar, a Muslim they sent to be tortured in Syria, they have that right. If they want to keep out Lutherans, or blonds, or vegetarians or simply every tenth Canadian attempting to cross the international border, they can do that, too.

Their country, their rules.

But what Wilkins and Day don't seem to understand is that the dispute over Washington's decision to treat Arar as a terror suspect is not just about this particular Canadian computer engineer. It casts into question the entire rationale for sharing intelligence information between Canada and the United States.

If Canada can't trust American judgment in this case, how can it co-operate in others? If U.S. intelligence is as unreliable as Day suggests, why is he moving ahead full-bore to further integrate Canadian and American security systems in areas such as no-fly lists?

Day says he's seen the still-classified U.S. file on Arar, but that the information in it is unconvincing – that it does not alter the Canadian government's view, based on an exhaustive public inquiry, that Arar is absolutely innocent of anything even remotely resembling terrorism.

Yet the federal government seemingly does accept as gospel U.S. intelligence in other areas.

For instance, Ottawa is trying to deport Algerian Mohamed Harkat as a security threat, in large part because of information the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency claims it received from an Al Qaeda suspect it's been interrogating in one of its secret prisons.

Even putting aside the probability that this information was obtained under duress (which, as Harkat's lawyer Paul Copeland says, does cast doubt on its reliability) what if – as in the case of Arar – it's just plain wrong-headed? Indeed, it is sobering to remember that if Arar had not been fully investigated – and vindicated – by a judicial inquiry, the Canadian government almost certainly would have accepted unquestioningly the U.S. claim that he remains a dangerous terror suspect.

That's because we've been taking our cues on these matters from the Americans.

After the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, Ottawa moved quickly to integrate its security and intelligence apparatus more closely with that of the U.S.

In practical terms, as Justice Dennis O'Connor's inquiry into Arar discovered, that meant funnelling more information to the Americans and allowing U.S. agents to sit in on all Canadian security meetings.

Indeed, O'Connor concluded that it was probably the RCMP's promiscuous sharing of rumour, innuendo and misinformation that persuaded the Americans to arrest Arar in 2002 in New York, and ship him to Syria for torture

Under the new regime of co-operation, Canada also allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. agencies to send more operatives into Canada.

One example came to light inadvertently last June after native protestors at Caledonia near Hamilton hijacked what they took to be a suspicious vehicle that had been cruising near their blockade. As it turned out, it was a U.S. Border Patrol car containing Canadian and American agents, including one from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

As well, Canada's soon-to-be-unveiled no-fly list is almost certainly linked to its U.S. counterpart, according to experts in the field. (Ottawa won't say one way or the other).

In short, we take our cue from the Americans when it comes to security. We assume that they know what they are talking about.

Washington's intransigence on the Arar case blasts a hole in that theory. It is making serious allegations about Arar, perhaps to derail a lawsuit he has filed against the U.S. administration, perhaps for other reasons. Canada's government has seen the American evidence and discounted it. In effect, Day and Harper are saying that America's judgment in this matter is not only unfair but also seriously flawed.

Yet if we can't trust the U.S. government to behave rationally here, how can we trust it in other matters involving national security?

As Wilkins says, we don't have the right to tell American leaders what to do in their own country. But if they are temporarily deranged, surely we are under no obligation to co-operate.

See also:

Dispute over legal fees latest wrinkle to delay national security ...
The Canadian Press, OTTAWA - May 27, 2008
Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub all face removal from Canada for alleged terrorist activity. ...

Trial of terror suspect Momin Khawaja at crossroads
Vancouver Sun, Canada - Jun 21, 2008
The Supreme Court of Canada last year struck down that process as fundamentally unjust since it denied defendants, including Ottawa's Mohamed Harkat, ...

SPP update on power generation

Yesterday the "Making the Lakes Great" conference conclusions was posted on the H2O list by Dr. Gail Krantzberg, Director of the McMaster Univ. Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy, under the subject heading, "energy options to protect Great Lakes waters".
 
Here were the presentations, including the Canadian Nuclear Assoc., US Dept. of Energy, Suncor, Acelor Mittal, Hydro One.
 http://www.energy2100.ca/Presentations.html
 
check out the merged US-Canadian flags on slide 3 of
http://www.energy2100.ca/pdf/Energy2100_Scott%20Minos_U.S.%20Perspectives%20on%20Sustainable%20Energy.pdf
 
the rest of that slideshow is also instructive, eg. slides 21 and 22, and 55 (arms, and happy face nuke towers- seriously) !!!
 
or how about the rebranding of James Lovelock, author of "The Gaia Hypothesis" as nuclear advocate on slide 9 at:
http://www.energy2100.ca/pdf/Energy2100_Murray%20Elstons_Canada%92s%20Nuclear%20Industry%20-%20Preparing%20For%20The%20Future.pdf
 
And the conference conclusions, translated, mean a US-Canada integrated power grid, based on primarily carbon sequestered tar sands and coal sources, and nukes, with some wind, sun, and geothermal thrown in for PR. The dirty sources are to be heavily subsidized by government, with high consumer pricing supposedly for energy and water 'conservation' (of course while industry gets bulk reduced rates, and while shareholders make record gains). Measured by an integrated metred system with data collation, analysis, and all policy formulation to be carried out by a new 'government' structure, no doubt to be a P3 as other new federal and Ontario infrastructure boards are, heavily embedded with the same players that gathered at this conference.
 
We can do better.
 
Dust off the better studies sitting on the shelf that show there's enough wind and sun on the planet to fuel 6X our current use, and conserve by getting rid of dirty industries, with transition programs for unionized workers to build the renewables, rather than mainly the nonrenewables and nukes. Do all of the above with public power, not the exorbitant costs of privatized P3 power. Eliminate speculation, and pull self-governance from industry heads and investors. Roll-back NAFTA and put a moratorium on further entrenching of the SPP, TILMA, and bilateral deals.
 
Do not use 'renewable energy' to mean building more hydro dams and canals to channel more Hudson Bay Basin water down to the Great Lakes, killing what's left of our wild north for the sake of profiteers who don't have the smarts and humility to shift gears.
 
And above all, read beyond 'green' headlines to expose and reject policy which would entrench the problems.
 
Thanks to all activists for your work for real change, inspite of the kind of nonsense noted here, tossed from various quarters.
 
Our words and actions, of critique and substantive alternatives, are the change we want to see.
 
Leigh Thompson

WAR CRIMES DOSSIER: photographic evidence of torture

U.K. rights group: U.S. has photographic evidence of torture 11 Jun 2008 The U.S. government has photographic evidence that a Guantanamo Bay inmate was tortured with a knife after being taken to Morocco by U.S. forces, a British human rights group said Tuesday. Reprieve said their client, Binyam Mohamed, had his genitals slashed repeatedly with a doctor's scalpel while in custody in Morocco after he was flown there from Pakistan by American officials in 2002. It also said his U.S. captors later took pictures of the torture to show authorities that his wounds were healing.

BAE scandal and 9/11 truth coming to a crunch !!!!!

Will The BAe Scandal Be Gordon Browns Downfall?

[Editor's note: The petition for the removal of Nancy Pelosi, corruption par excellance, is at
http://www.petitiononline.com/everyman/petition.html
Let's end her reign of terror IMMEDIATELY. It is time for Dennis Kucinich to take over as House Speaker !! - Virginia]


Monday 19th May 2008

Just when Gordon Brown thought that things could not get any worse it looks as though the alleged British Aerospace (BAe) bribes scandal is set to grab the headlines again. In direct conflict to the UK stance on the situation, both Mike Turner, Chief Executive of BAe, and Nigel Rudd, a non-executive director, where detained for a short while after landing in the US last week. It seems that US authorities are set to serve more subpoenas on British Aerospace and a number of employees in connection with their ongoing investigation into the $84 billion Al Yamamah arms deal.

While the deal was signed in 1985, under a Conservative government, it appears that the current UK authorities are in possession of highly sensitive information which allegedly confirms unauthorised payments were made. A recent attempt to bring the deal before the courts was blocked by the UK government after pressure from the Saudi Arabian government who threatened sanctions against the UK.

It seems as though the US authorities are looking to get to the bottom of the situation and may well bring charges against US employees of the company, as well as senior management from the head office.

Growing U.S.-British Brawl: BAE Chairman Detained at Houston Airport
From Executive Intelligence Review

May 18 (EIRNS)—On Monday, May 12, Mike Turner, the CEO of BAE Systems, the British aerospace giant implicated in the "Al Yamamah" bribery and covert funding scandal, was detained by U.S. authorities as he arrived at Houston's George Bush International Airport. Turner and a second top BAE executive had their laptop computers, cell phones, and papers confiscated and copied by U.S. officials, before being released. They are targets of an ongoing U.S. Justice Department criminal probe into the reported $2 billion in bribes, given by BAE to former Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, as his kickback for the massive "Al Yamamah" oil-for-arms deal, that began in 1985 and continues to this day.

As Executive Intelligence Review exclusively reported last year, the "Al Yamamah" deal, an off-budget barter arrangement, created a $100 billion British MI6/Saudi intelligence offshore slush fund for covert operations, in addition to billions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to Saudi officials and others involved in brokering the deal. Those slush funds have been used to finance wars in Africa and Asia for the past 23 years. U.S. intelligence sources report to EIR that there is evidence that those Anglo-Saudi BAE covert funds are being used, today, to finance the ongoing destabilization in the Horn of Africa—particularly targeting Sudan, the growing Wahabi insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and last week's failed civil war provocation in Lebanon, which began with Saad Hariri's return to Beirut from a two-month stay in Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. intelligence sources report that these covert destabilization actions have caused a growing Washington-London rift, despite the Bush-Cheney White House's continuing slavish collusion with the Anglo-Dutch oligarchy's global chaos operations. They report that patriotic American intelligence and military circles are furious at the British destabilization schemes, and are moving against BAE as a direct counter to London's war drive. The British press, itself, expressed concern that the detention of Turner and the other BAE executive reflected a deeper trans-Atlantic conflict. The Sunday Telegraph, a flagship publication of British right-wing imperial circles, reported on May 18, "The detention of the BAE executives... has raised serious concerns at high levels of the [British] Government about 'heavy-handed' treatment. The detention follows the case of the 'NatWest Three' British businessmen each sentenced to 37 months in prison in America this year, and threatens to harm U.S.-U.K. relations in the run-up to the Group of Eight summit of leading industrial nations in Japan in July." The Sunday Telegraph continued, "Senior British officials are also concerned about the timing of last week's incident. The Government has spent more than a year negotiating a defense trade treaty with the U.S. that would remove red tape and give Britain preferential treatment in securing defense contracts with the U.S. military. The deal, which still has to be approved by the Senate and is shortly to be the subject of a hearing, is not popular with some in President George W. Bush's administration."

The U.S. Justice Department investigation covers violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and possibly included violations of U.S. laws against money laundering. If the probe is extended to money laundering, it could touch on Prince Bandar and Saudi intelligence's links to the 9/11 hijackers. Prince Bandar and his wife provided an estimated $50-75,000 in "charitable" gifts to two Saudi intelligence officers, who shared those funds with two of the 9/11 hijackers. A 28-page section of the 9/11 Commission report that dealt with this incident was redacted from the published final report. A DOJ money-laundering probe of the BAE-Bandar kickbacks could extend to questions of how Bandar spent the money, and that could, according to one senior U.S. intelligence official interviewed by EIR, get directly at the 9/11 question. And that, the source concluded, would be a terrible problem for the Saudis. [js]

Sibelgate: Is Marc Grossman 'Mega'?

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/

We have no evidence whatsoever, but Grossman was a senior American diplomatic official spanning both Democrat and Republican administrations. Sibel Edmonds may be proven right in the long run. By the way, the Philip Giraldi story, that the latest Israeli spy case was discovered as a result of a leak from the Israeli government (!), is quite obvious bullshit - professional courtesy from the CIA to the Mossad? - proven by the fact that the supposed reason for the leak, derailing the disinfo campaign against Syria regarding a Syrian nuke program, can't be true, as the disinfo campaign continues at full speed. Giraldi (my emphasis in red):

"Israeli sources are reporting that the FBI investigation of the Ben-Ami Kadish spy case resulted from a leak coming from inside the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The information on Kadish and on a number of other Americans who have spied for Israel was provided to the FBI anonymously, leading to the Bureau’s opening of a full investigation. One source reports that the National Security Agency was provided with Yosef Yagur’s current phone number and address and was able to obtain corroborating information on the case by tapping the phone. Yagur, who is now retired and living in Israel, was Kadish’s case officer, handling the cases of both him and Jonathan Pollard. Before the anonymous leak of information, the FBI had no idea that Kadish had been a spy for Israel. Now it is investigating a number of US citizens, including an individual who held very senior security positions in the Clinton and Bush White Houses."

This is questionable. The grand jury investigation, the source of the story, started in 2005. Olmert didn't start leading the Israeli government until 2006! How could Olmert's leak have lead to the opening of the investigation, which arose out of the grand jury investigation? Why would the Olmert government, with full access to the Jew-controlled American media, be trying to get the information out by leaking it to a secret grand jury investigation, the most convoluted way possible, and one not guaranteed of success? Another aside: there appears to be disinfo floating around that the FBI tapped Yagur's phone. How is that possible? Yagur has been living in Israel for years. Isn't it far more likely that the FBI overheard the conversation when they tapped Kadish's American phone? Watch out for a huge campaign of Zionist spin around this story, which really is deeply frightening to World Jewry.

There are a lot of shenanigans going on from the Zionists:

1. The aforementioned propaganda attack through the Jew-controlled American Congress and the Jew-controlled American media concerning the mythical Syrian nuclear installation, 'proven' by some lousy pictures of a . . . building;
   
2. Israeli air attacks on Lebanon;
3. A wild story that Olmert wants to trade the Golan for 'peace', as if the Israelis ever really wanted 'peace', or as if Syria actually constituted a threat to Israel (it is actually Israel that is a threat to Syrian peace). This is probably a distraction from the threat that peace might break out with Hamas, an utter disaster for Zionism.
   

posted at 3:51 AM permanent link Comment (1) | Trackback

/span>

IS MARC GROSSMAN 'MEGA'?

"Watch out for a huge campaign of Zionist spin around this story, which really is deeply frightening to World Jewry."

— Xymphora


Perhaps someone would care to speculate what the consequences for American Jewry would be if Marc Grossman WERE outed as 'Mega'. Would they wiggle out of it somehow?

An equally interesting question would be this. What would be the fate of World Jewry if, one morning, Americans were to wake up to see this headline in the New York Times:

9/11 PLANNED AND EXECUTED BY MOSSAD: US NAVY BLOCKADES ISRAELI PORTS.

Tarpley discusses 'Mega' in his SYNTHETIC TERROR book, and ponders therein if it was, at one point, Richard Clarke.

What “Freedom” Brought to Afghanistan

What “Freedom” Brought to Afghanistan

Women in Afghanistan have a 1 in 8 lifetime risk of maternal death. (By contrast: The rate in neighboring Pakistan is 1 in 74; the rate in Sweden is in in 17,400).

It’s like a perfect storm of right-wing policies: The War on Drugs, women’s liberation by way of imperialism, and “freedom” at the barrel of a gun.

Khalida’s father says she’s 9—or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can’t keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can’t keep her much longer. Khalida’s father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It’s the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he’s losing far more than money. “I never imagined I’d have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,” says Shah.

In the last six months alone, over 250 women have committed suicide in the country, according to Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). IRIN News, August 21, 2007

The vast majority of the world’s opiates originate in Afghanistan. To fight drug production, the solution has been to target individual farmers and destroy their crops — without offering them any other option for survival. And the U. S. keeps mucking it up. We offered farmers other crops (wheat, etc), but once it was grown there weren’t enough buyers (I guess we didn’t think that far ahead).

And it’s not just farmers who are suffering because of these policies — it’s girls.

Angiza Afridi, 28, has spent much of the past year interviewing more than 100 families about opium weddings in two of Nangarhar’s 22 districts. The schoolteacher and local TV reporter already had firsthand knowledge of the tragedy. Five years ago one of her younger aunts, then 16, was forced to marry a 55- year-old man to pay off an older uncle’s opium debt, and three years ago an 8-year-old cousin was also given in marriage to make good on a drug loan. “This practice of marrying daughters to cover debts is becoming a bad habit,” says Afridi.

Even so, the results of her survey shocked her. In the two districts she studied, approximately half the new brides had been given in marriage to repay opium debts. The new brides included children as young as 5 years old; until they’re old enough to consummate their marriages, they mostly work as household servants for their in-laws. “These poor girls have no future,” she says. The worst of it may be the suicides. Afridi learned of one 15-year-old opium bride who poisoned herself on her wedding day late last year and an 11-year-old who took a fatal dose of opium around the same time. Her new in-laws were refusing to let her visit her parents.

Gul Ghoti is on her first visit home since her wedding six months ago. She says it’s a relief to be back with her father and mother in their two-room mud-and- brick house, if only temporarily. “My heart is still with my parents, brothers and sisters,” she says. “Only my body is with my husband’s family.” She says she personally knows of two opium brides who killed themselves. “One of the girls had been badly beaten by her husband’s brother, the other by her husband,” she says. Ghoti says she’s considered suicide, too, but Islam stopped her. “I pray that God doesn’t give me a daughter if she ends up like me.”

The life expectancy for adults in Afghanistan is 43.

Almost half of all children are not enrolled in primary school.

Only eight percent of girls attend secondary school.

More than half of all children under 5 are suffering from moderate to severe stunting.

Only 34 percent of people in Afghanistan have access to adequate sanitation facilities.

For every 100 people in Afghanistan, 5 have a phone.

One has internet access.

Women in Afghanistan have a 1 in 8 lifetime risk of maternal death.

(By contrast:

The rate in neighboring Pakistan is 1 in 74;

the rate in Sweden is in in 17,400).

Biller Bonner on depression and Carla Bruni ..

Here Come the Bread and Circuses
London, England
Thursday, April 3, 2008

---------------------

*** Want a sure bet? Bet on deleveraging...the only place where deflation and inflation make common cause...

*** So many foreclosures, so little time...apartment sales in Manhattan are at an 18-year low – but prices are still higher than ever!

*** Argentina may face worst unrest since the 1970’s...a neighbor you would definitely want to lend you some sugar...and more!

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It is a “leveraged planet,” says the New York Times . It explains that an ounce of leverage in Manhattan is likely to turn into a pound of credit in Dubai...which could quite possibly fall as a ton of debt on someone’s head in Norway. Norwegian fishermen were surprised when they discovered that they were taking losses from US subprime mortgage debt. So were German dentists.

But that’s just the way globalization works. We have nothing against it, but neither would we mind if there were less of it. Which raises the big question: is the leveraged planet becoming even more leveraged...or less so?

Ah, dear reader...this is where inflation and deflation make common cause. They both de-leverage the world...reducing the value of debt – either by defaults or by lowering the real value of the debt itself. That is the real story in the financial markets...and in the housing market: leverage is being marked down. A residential mortgage worth $200,000 two years ago may be worth only $150,000 now, for example. Bear Stearns – worth billions a few months ago – is now worth peanuts.

Inflation takes leverage down too. All those U.S. dollars held abroad (and at home, for that matter)...all those dollar-denominated Treasury bonds...all those dollar denominated I.O.Us – they all lose value as inflation increases.

Just take those 2 trillion odd dollars outside America. Every one of them is a claim against U.S. assets – land, houses, tractors, food, stocks, buildings, you name it. And as inflation takes prices upwards, each of those dollars falls to the ground...it will buy less of what the United States has to offer.

We have been talking about the battle raging between inflation and deflation. But this is one way to win, no matter which side comes out ahead. Want a sure bet? Bet on deleveraging. How do you do that? There are many ways. Sell the industry that provides leverage, for example – the financial sector. Sell Wall Street on rallies, in other words.

Yesterday was a good day to sell. After having gone up more in a single day than the entire value of the Dow in ’29, it was time to take profits. And that’s what investors did. The Dow sold off a little.

Gold, meanwhile, gave investors a buying opportunity. At $887, we’re not saying that that is the best price this correction will offer...but it wasn’t bad. And many buyers decided to take advantage of it. Gold rose back to $900 .

Now let’s look at the U.S. economy itself. Ah...so many foreclosures...so little time.

Food up 9%. Houses down 11%. What’s an upside-down homeowner to do but walk away? According to yesterday’s USA Today , so many are walking away in Denver that it is producing an ‘Exodus’ of Biblical proportions. Some neighbors have one out of 8 houses in foreclosure. Citywide, the total last year was one out of 32.

Where do these people go? They rent, naturally. Rental vacancy rates have fallen from 10% two years ago to 5% today

Meanwhile, from Manhattan come two bits of conflicting news: apartment sales are down to an 18-year low...but prices are at an all-time high. Buyers are holding back, in other words...but sellers hold out too – for more money.

Across the nation, repossession filings are up 93% from last year. And as we saw yesterday, food stamps are up big time. But there really aren’t any “stamps” any more. Now, the food comes via plastic, a type of credit card that can be used – theoretically – only for buying food. In practice, nice shopkeepers in bad neighborhoods take the card and give back cash at steep discount. Say a $10 charge for 7 bucks worth of cash to buy life’s real necessities – liquor, cigarettes and gas.

It’s all going according to plan, as we see it. The empire is rolling over. Now, in its advanced, decadent phase, the imperial government must provide bread – in the form of plastic food stamps...and circuses – in the form of national party conventions, elections and foreign wars. The combination settles the public...and distracts them. They become docile, subservient, willing to stand in line to protect themselves from make-believe threats ...and ready to put up with any nonsense, no matter how grotesque, absurd or faithless.

In the latest financial news comes word of new proposals to “regulate” Wall Street...and new initiatives to “save” homeowners. The free market is out. ‘Public responsibility’ is in.

Treasury Secretary Paulson:

“I think you will continue to see flexibility as we learn and go forward,'' changing his tune from last month when he said proposals to use government funds were a “non- starter.”

Why are they a starter now? People come to believe what they must believe when they must believe it, is our observation. Both private citizens and the government too have taken on obligations that they can’t possibly fulfill. Since it cannot be paid, the debt must be made to disappear. The world – or at least most of the Anglo-Saxon part of it, must be de-leveraged. So, people must believe in a fantasy about how the government will “bail out” the homeowners...and how the Fed will “rescue” Wall Street.

How could they perform such miracles? When a man cannot pay for his house, can the feds make the mortgage disappear? When Wall Street has blundered –forgetting to sell its cheesy debt before it started to stink – what can the feds do about it? All they can do is to spray some deodorizer around the room

Still, the voters have been conditioned by television, public education, and maybe something in the water; people will believe anything. And what they need to believe now is that the feds can somehow ease their hurt. This will make it possible to shift the debts that cannot be paid onto the government, where they will not be paid.

Among all the great debtors in the U.S.A., circa 2008, only one has the power to pay its debts – no matter how large they are. Only one has printing presses that turn out pieces of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them. And only one can trade bad debt for political favor. That one is, of course, the U.S. federal government...lender of first, last, and holiday resort.

Already, the Fed has taken onto its balance sheet some $30 billion in smelly collateral from Bear Stearns...and billions more from other financial institutions. That is just the beginning. Somehow, the whole shebang of mistakes, misjudgments, greed-stoked miscalculations will end on the shoulders of the U.S. Treasury...on the backs of U.S. citizens...and dollar holders all over the world.

*** Uh oh, what’s this?

“Argentina may face worst unrest since the ’70s,” says a headline in the TIMES of London .

Hmmm...we’re on a way to Argentina on Friday...to see our new grandson. The last thing we want is trouble.

But apparently, “a farmers strike has emptied the shelves of meat, cereals and milk.” More than 400 roads are blocked. Much of the discontent followed a disastrous speech by the president of the country, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, which is said to have alienated the farmers even further.

At the heart of the matter is a new tax – up to 49% – on soy exports. Argentina is a farming nation. And soy prices are so high, the farmers planted every available acre, hoping to score big on international grain markets. And now the government has stepped in to take half their money; no wonder they have their bombachos in a twist.

This just goes to illustrate our point: no situation is ever so beneficent that politicians won’t find a way to make a hash of it. The oil exporters are getting a once-in-a-lifetime windfall from high energy prices. What are they doing? Building empty skyscrapers and adding social welfare promises faster than the pumps can put out oil. They’ve managed to squander most of their profit margins and then some. Just look at Hugo Chavez. He had so much oil he was able to throw his weight around all over Latin America. But the dumbell has so mismanaged his own economy that the place is said to be falling apart.

And look to at the US of A. What a bonanza it was to have the world’s biggest military...its richest economy...and its only reserve currency. The rest of the world seemed to want to give Americans valuable goods and services, expecting nothing in return but pieces of green paper. It was like manna falling from heaven. How did Americans manage to turn that into the biggest financial trap in history – actually growing poorer during the greatest boom the world had ever seen?

And now Argentina...with the world’s richest farmland...the world’s flattest, best watered fields, and some of its best weather...has found a way to turn the highest grain prices in history into a financial crisis.

Bravo! Bravo to us all!

*** One of the world’s most fascinating people is surely the first lady of France, Carla Bruni. She dined with Queen Elizabeth II last week. Amid all the glamorous guests, glitzy table setting and diamonds, it was she who sparkled most.

What follows has no apparent connection to our beat – money. Nor does it have any particular connection with anything. Still, women represent half the human population. As poets, we are fascinated by them. As philosophers we are intrigued. And as economists, we cannot ignore them. Mr. Sarkozy’s wife is a woman, but not just any woman; she seems to us to be a kind of überfemale. Almost unnaturally gifted, talented, beautiful and corrupt.

The trouble with economics – one of them – is that economists are almost all male. And thus they are completely incapable of understanding the motives or methods of half the population they are meant to be studying. That is why we turn our attention to Carla. She is such an extreme example of womanhood, perhaps we can learn something.

For readers who have not followed the French press, Ms. Bruni is an extraordinary subject. The French say she is a “croqueuse d’hommes” – which is to say, a man-eater. It was she, according to the press, who had such an affair with Mick Jagger that it destroyed his long marriage to that tough, smart and talented Texan, Jerry Hall. And it was she, too, who is said to have had affairs with Eric Clapton and Donald Trump. Then, she lived with a French philosopher, Jean-Paul Enthoven, until she took a fancy to his son, Raphael, with whom she had a son, Aurelien. Nor was she particularly demeure about the whole thing; she wrote a song called “Raphael” describing how she had fallen madly in love and had great sex with him.

She is so “properly, old-fashionedly beautiful,” writes India Knight in the TIMES of London , “with non-inbred aristocratic features and good bones; so beautiful that she makes everyone else look like pudding.”

Not only that, she speaks three or four languages...comes from a fabulously rich family...and can sing. At the Queen’s state dinner, practically every one of the hundreds of guests had seen her naked photo in the tabloids the day before. Yet, she was reportedly the most composed, most confident person there.

According to reports, she is irresistible at every level – intellectually, emotionally, sexually and artistically. What’s more she lives around the corner from your editor’s Paris apartment.

“I saw her go by last night,” said a neighbor on Saturday. “She had a whole squad of police with her.”

“Why doesn’t she move into the Elysee Palace with her husband?” we wanted to know.

“Apparently, she likes to keep her independence.”

Madame Sarkozy is like no first lady France has ever seen. Nor is she like any first lady any country has ever seen. She says she finds monogamy “boring.” She further observed that “love lasts a long time, but burning desire – two to three weeks.” Here is the world’s most desirable woman – married to a cad. But she is the perfect political prop...a woman who plays her role superbly – according to the local gossip, both in public and in private – and who otherwise goes on her way and amuses herself.

What do other women think of her? Around the corner, from what we hear, they barely let their husbands out of sight.

Your editor is an old-fashioned fuddy duddy; he admits it. He turns his tired eyes to politics, economics and finance – and sees only frauds and mountebanks.

But when he comes home at night, he is charmed. In the newspapers, he regards the chatter on the editorial pages as all lies and claptrap; but at home he believes every fairy tale. When his broker proposes a hedge fund with a leveraged portfolio of private equity deals, he practically laughs in his face. But when his priest promises him everlasting life, what reason has he to doubt? And when his daughter says, “Oh Daddy...I just dropped by the office to say hello,” he’s delighted, scarcely noticing that she leaves with $50 to buy a new pair of blue jeans.

There is a place for cynicism, he says to himself, and a place to believe. Poor Carla doesn’t seem to know the difference.

Still, she lives so close by. Better to keep an open mind. Besides, says your editor remembers that he has a couple weeks of vacation coming up...

Until tomorrow,

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning

Sordid Details on ‘Black Site’ at Diego Garcia Island Come to Light

By Dazeylin

Share This! Categories: C.I.A., Detainee Abuse, Disappeared, Extraordinary Rendition, Ghost, Lies of the U.S. Administration, Torture and Torture flights Tags: No Tags.

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband issued an embarrassing apology to members of Parliament last month. Despite “earlier explicit assurances” to the contrary, he admitted, two planes carrying prisoners of the U.S. “war on terror” had landed on the British-owned island of Diego Garcia in 2002 before flying to foreign territory as part of the American extraordinary rendition program.

One flight went on to Guantánamo, one to Morocco. The identities of the detainees remain classified, but one of them has since been set free. According to the CIA, neither was tortured. But — Miliband would have the public believe — the CIA didn’t bother to tell the British government that its territory was being used as a landing pad for American torture taxis.

Human rights attorneys and a handful of British MPs have long raised the possibility that Diego Garcia, a small island in the Indian Ocean that is home to a massive American military base, has played a role in extraordinary rendition — and that it is among the United States’ “black sites” — secret CIA-run prisons, the existence of which President Bush himself confirmed in 2006. Even loose-lipped American officials have acknowledged it. As London-based human rights attorney Clive Stafford Smith, director of the legal organization Reprieve (which, over a year ago, unearthed flight logs recording the arrival and departure of a CIA rendition plane at Diego Garcia), wrote in the Guardian last January:

British denials are difficult to square with the words of U.S. Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey … recently retired from running Southcom, the military command that oversees Guantánamo. He was asked in May 2004 where the thousands of ghost prisoners were being held. “You know, Bagram Air Field, Diego Garcia, Guantánamo, 16 camps throughout Iraq,” he replied.

Yet the Blair and Brown administrations continually denied it. Until now.

“We have just been informed by the United States of America about what has actually happened,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters lamely on Feb. 21. “The U.S. has expressed regret for us not knowing about this issue. We share the disappointment that everybody has about what’s actually happened.”

In the States, the controversy has gotten little press — in no small part because Americans have known for years that their elected officials are in the kidnap/torture business. But in Britain, where the government has denied any role in their ally’s unsavory program, officials are pleading ignorance, offering insipid excuses and, ultimately, trying to reduce proof of their complicity with the U.S. torture/detention machinery to a mere bureaucratic oversight. As Brown tells it, this was simply a case where an “error in the earlier U.S. records search meant that these cases did not come to light.”

Nevertheless, the Guardian reported on Monday, “Ministers are coming under growing pressure as officials made it clear they still could not be certain of the extent to which U.S. aircraft made use of British facilities when taking alleged terrorists to prisons where they were likely to be subjected to inhumane treatment.”

Regardless of what comes to light, the case of Diego Garcia is uniquely instructive in what it has revealed of American and British collusion in the past. Long before the “war on terror,” the story of Diego Garcia was a tragic symbol of imperial aggression.

As the British journalist John Pilger wrote in his book Freedom Next Time, “The story of Diego Garcia is shocking, almost incredible.”

A British colony lying midway between Africa and Asia in the Indian Ocean, the island is one of 64 unique coral islands that form the Chagos Archipelago, a phenomenon of natural beauty and once of peace. Newsreaders refer to it in passing: “American B-52 and stealth bombers last night took off from the uninhabited British island of Diego Garcia to bomb Iraq (or Afghanistan).” It is the word “uninhabited” that turns the key on the horror of what was done there. In the 1970s, the Ministry of Defense in London produced this epic lie: “There is nothing in our files about a population and an evacuation.”

Pilger tells the awful story of an island that, at the height of the Cold War, was seized by the British, and with the help of the American government, “swept” and “sanitized.” This involved taking a population of natives and, retroactively, reclassifying them as “short-term, temporary residents” that were “returned” to the island of Mauritius, about 1,000 miles away. “In fact,” writes Pilger, “many islanders traced their ancestry back five generations, as their cemeteries bore witness.”

Rendered disposable, the population of 2,000 was forcibly removed and eventually replaced by American troops: Diego Garcia was leased to the United States free of charge following a secret pact between British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. They inhabit a military base that’s now one of the world’s largest. The name: “Camp Justice.”

Years later, the start of the “war on terror” coincided with a number of significant — and hideously overdue — developments for the people of Diego Garcia. In 2000, the British high court ruled the forced removal of the islanders illegal. But, reported Pilger, “within hours of the judgment, the Foreign Office announced that it would not be possible for them to return to Diego Garcia because of a ‘treaty’ with Washington — in truth, a deal concealed from Parliament and the U.S. Congress.”

In 2003, at the same time that extraordinary rendition flights were carrying detainees to be tortured, a second ruling denied compensation for the former residents of Diego Garcia. Adding brutal insult to injury, the Blair government invoked the “royal prerogative” — special executive powers that belong only to the king or queen — to dispense with the earlier ruling — and “a decree was issued that the islanders were banned forever from returning home.”

Today, with Diego Garcia in the spotlight, official reports have tried to continue the fiction that the island never belonged to anyone. “Once uninhabited, it was turned into an air base to protect oil supplies to the West during the Cold War,” wrote a reporter in the Gulf Times the day after Miliband’s apology.

For their part, U.S. officials are taking responsibility for failing to tell the British about the flights in and out of Diego Garcia. “That we found this mistake ourselves, and that we brought it to the attention of the British government, in no way changes or excuses the reality that we were in the wrong,” CIA Director Michael Hayden said. “An important part of intelligence work, inherently urgent, complex and uncertain, is to take responsibility for errors and to learn from them.”

Perhaps. But if Diego Garcia’s role in the war on terror is any indication, neither the U.S. nor the British government have learned from their mistakes. It is only the latest chapter in an epic story of imperial injustice.

Liliana Segura is an AlterNet staff writer.

© 2008 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
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