L'Autre Monde 5 décembre 2011: L'union Nord-américaine se complète, Fukushima et les terroristes financiers

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L'Autre Monde 5 décembre 2011: L'union Nord-américaine se complète, Fukushima et les terroristes financiers

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L'Autre Monde 5 décembre 2011
120 min / Radio de l'UQAM, CHOQ FM

	Diffusion en direct : Lundi à 15:00h Animation : François Marginean Réalisation: François Marginean Chronique : Stéphane Poutoire
Archives d'émission

Au programme cette semaine:

- Actualité mondiale - Affront de l'OTAN envers le Pakistan - c'est possiblement l'arrêt de mort de l'occupation militaire de l'Afghanistan, ainsi que la provocation directe de la Chine et la Russie, écouter l'émission pour savoir comment et pourquoi.

- Économie mondiale en ruine, les terroristes financiers veulent votre bien, et il vont finir par l'avoir.

- Tout sur la catastrophe de Fukushima, la pire de toute l'histoire, et de loin.

C'est en rendez-vous le lundi dès 15h pour l'émission la plus écoutée de CHOQ FM, la radio officielle de l'Université du Québec à Montréal !


***Hyperliens vers les sources des informations discutées sur l'émission d'aujourd'hui:

Actualité:

University applications drop sharply after fees hike

The number of British students applying to university has slumped by more than 15 per cent amid a public backlash over a sharp hike in tuition fees.

Figures show that 133,357 candidates have so far applied to start degree courses in 2012 – a drop of 23,759 compared with the same point last year.

Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service also reveals a rapid decline in demand from European students who pay the same fees as British peers.

From next summer, universities in England will charge up to £9,000-a-year – almost three times the current maximum.

Second experiment confirms faster-than-light particles
November 17, 2011, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/second-experiment-confirms...

A second experiment at the European facility that reported subatomic particles zooming faster than the speed of light — stunning the world of physics — has reached the same result, scientists said [today]. The “positive outcome of the [second] test makes us more confident in the result,” said Fernando Ferroni, president of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics. Ferroni is one of 160 physicists involved in the international collaboration known as OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion Tracking Apparatus) that performed the experiment. While the second experiment “has made an important test of consistency of its result,” Ferroni [said], more tests are needed. There is still a large crowd of skeptical physicists who suspect that the original measurement done in September was an error. Should the results stand, they would upend more than a century of modern physics. In the first round of experiments, a massive detector buried in a mountain in Gran Sasso, Italy, recorded neutrinos generated at the CERN [European Council for Nuclear Research] particle accelerator on the French-Swiss border arriving 60 nanoseconds sooner than expected. In recent weeks, the OPERA team tightened the packets of neutrinos that CERN sent sailing toward Italy. Such tightening removed some uncertainty in the neutrinos’ speed. The detector still saw neutrinos moving faster than light.

First live Gulf dolphin found since BP oil 'spill'

The first live dolphin has been found in the Gulf of Mexico since the nation's largest eco-catastrophe in history, the TransOcean BP deep sea oil explosion where oil is still leaking. The dolphin was sick and stranded in Alabama where he was rescued and transported to Gulfport, Mississippi to the hands of Moby Solangi, director of Institue for Marine Mammal Studies to convalesce and be researched to provide clues to the dead dolphin pehnomena that began when the TransOcean deepsea oil rig rented by BP exploded April 20, 2010.

Radiation From Cell Phones and WiFi Are Making People Sick -- Are We All at Risk?

Consider this story: It's January 1990, during the pioneer build-out of mobile phone service. A cell tower goes up 800 feet from the house of Alison Rall, in Mansfield, Ohio, where she and her husband run a 160-acre dairy farm. The first thing the Rall family notices is that the ducks on their land lay eggs that don't hatch. That spring there are no ducklings.

New Research: Laptops Harm Fertility

Activist Post

It is for this reason that the new study published in The Journal of Fertility and Sterility showing Wi-Fi radiation from laptops damages sperm, comes at no surprise.

In the first study of its kind, researchers exposed human sperm to internet-connected laptop by Wi-Fi for 4 hours, resulting in "a significant decrease in progressive sperm motility and an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation." The researchers concluded:

'To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the direct impact of laptop use on human spermatozoa. Ex vivo exposure of human spermatozoa to a wireless internet-connected laptop decreased motility and induced DNA fragmentation by a nonthermal effect. We speculate that keeping a laptop connected wirelessly to the internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to prove this contention.' [Entire Abstract]

Hiding The Incline In Arctic Ice

Government experts have been telling us this week that Arctic ice has continued to decline since 2007 at record rates.

WASHINGTON – Federal officials say the Arctic region has changed dramatically in the past five years – for the worse.

It’s melting at a near record pace, and it’s darkening and absorbing too much of the sun’s heat.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/

Actually, the ice is freezing at record rates.

http://arctic-roos.org/

Even with the latest leak of Climategate emails, four harsh winters in a row, and CERN's results that the sun is the dominant influence on climate, the Carbonazis at the UN are still pushing their New World Order snake oil on us all.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/past-decade-ties-worlds-hottest-un-agency-112708368.html

Past decade ties for world's hottest: UN agency

Thirteen of the warmest years recorded have occurred within the last decade and a half, proving that global warming is a reality, the UN's World Meteorological Organisation said on Tuesday.

Doomsday predictions on sea level rises are 'false alarm' - levels always fluctuate, says expert as climate change row heats up

Predictions that rising sea levels will swallow up low lying islands are a 'false alarm', an expert has claimed.

Apocalyptic warnings that islands such as the Maldives will sink beneath the waves are far-fetched, said Nils Axel-Morner, former head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University.

He says that any rise in sea levels is to do with natural historic fluctuations.

ClimateGate scientists on Michael Mann and his work: "probable flaws" and "clearly deficient", and "crap" and "way too defensive", oh my!

2002 ClimateGate email

Hi Keith,

Of course, I agree with you. We both know the probable flaws in Mike's recon, particularly as it relates to the tropical stuff. Your response is also why I chose not to read the published version of his letter. It would be too aggravating. The only way to deal with this whole issue is to show in a detailed study that his estimates are clearly deficient in multi-centennial power, something that you actually did in your Perspectives piece, even if it was not clearly stated because of editorial cuts. It is puzzling to me that a guy as bright as Mike would be so unwilling to evaluate his own work a bit more objectively.

Ed [Cook]

Climategate 2.0: Schmidt — Make data available in ‘impenetrable-as-possible form’

From the Climategate 2.0 collection, NASA’s Gavin Schmidt and and Michael Mann’s RealClimate collaborator complains about persistent skeptics and finally offers a solution:

… Frankly, I would simply put the whole CRU database (in an as-impenetrable-as-possible form) up on the web site along with a brief history of it’s provenance (and the role of the NMSs) and be done with it.

New Tool – all Climategate emails in order in Excel

Buffy Minton who provided the email Mime data has produced a spreadsheet of Climategate 1 and 2 emails in chronological order. This should be an excellent tool to follow conversations through.

Climategate 2.0: Mann to Revkin — Use me but don’t quote me

Even Mann is embarrassed by his own work and thoughts.

Climategate 2.0: Briffa gets to review his own work?

Revkin wants to know if that’s a “potential conflict of interest”.

Climategate 2.0: ‘[Mann] did pad his data a little’, says Jones

From the Climategate 2.0 collection, Phil Jones writes to Ben Santer about the Michael Mann/hockey stick controversy:

Mike did pad his data a little at the ends and beginning to get common periods, but only by a maximum of 10 years. This would make little difference. You can just average the
lot and get pretty much the same result.

Climategate scientists DID collude with government officials to hide research that didn't fit their apocalyptic global warming

#5,000 leaked emails reveal scientists deleted evidence that cast doubt on claims climate change was man-made

#Experts were under orders from US and UK officials to come up with a 'strong message'

#Critics claim: 'The stink of intellectual corruption is overpowering'

#Scientist asks, 'What if they find that climate change is a natural fluctuation? They'll kill us all'

'Anthrax isn't scary at all compared to this': Man-made flu virus with potential to wipe out many millions if it ever escaped is created in research lab

A group of scientists is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilisation.

The deadly virus is a genetically tweaked version of the H5N1 bird flu strain, but is far more infectious and could pass easily between millions of people at a time.

The research has caused a storm of controversy and divided scientists, with some saying it should never have been carried out.

I agree. Who paid to create this horror and more to the point, why publish the instructions for it, which as I understand it involves only 12 steps to get from the current H5N1 to "Captain Trips!"

The more I think about it, the only thing that makes any sense is that the existence of this GM flu and the publication of the steps needed to make it is intended to obscure its possible intentional release.

We know that the Carbonazis view humans (at least poor ones) as a blight on the Earth.

"Mankind is the most dangerous, destructive, selfish and unethical animal on the earth." - Michael Fox, vice-president of The Humane Society

"Human beings, as a species, have no more value than slugs." - John Davis, editor of Earth First! Journal

"Humans on the Earth behave in some ways like a pathogenic micro-organism, or like the cells of a tumor." - Sir James Lovelock, Healing Gaia

"The Earth has cancer and the cancer is Man." - Club of Rome, Mankind at the Turning Point

"A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people. We must shift our efforts from the treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions." - Prof Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb

"I don't claim to have any special interest in natural history, but as a boy I was made aware of the annual fluctuations in the number of game animals and the need to adjust the cull to the size of the surplus population." - Prince Philip, preface of Down to Earth

"A reasonable estimate for an industrialized world society at the present North American material standard of living would be 1 billion. At the more frugal European standard of living, 2 to 3 billion would be possible." - United Nations, Global Biodiversity Assessment

"A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal." - Ted Turner, founder of CNN and major UN donor

"... the resultant ideal sustainable population is hence more than 500 million but less than one billion." - Club of Rome, Goals for Mankind

"One America burdens the earth much more than twenty Bangladeshes. This is a terrible thing to say. In order to stabilize world population,we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it's just as bad not to say it." - Jacques Cousteau, UNESCO Courier

"If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels." - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, patron of the World Wildlife Fund

So, the ultra rich view us mere mortals as something that ought not to be underfoot, cluttering up their landscaping.

This gets us back to the history of the "Spanish Flu."

WW1 ended on November 11th, 1918, a war whose trench warfare system almost seemed intentionally designed to murder the maximum number of humans with the least damage to surrounding real estate, as line after line of soldiers charged into the machine gun fire for love of country and a sure ticket into heaven after the stinging stopped.

But at exactly the same time the war was winding down, a medical scourge exploded across the globe, killing far more people than the war had. Called the Spanish flu, it had actually appeared during a series of experimental vaccinations at Camp Funston in Kansas. From Camp Funston, infections roared out across the land and around the globe. Estimates of the total dead were as high as 100 million around the world.

We know scientists have been paid to recreate the 1918 flu. We know that CDC has been creating splices of Avian, Porcine, and Human flu identical to that claimed to cause the "Pandemic" of 2009.

And now we have this modified H5N1 flu that can be weaponized in just 12 steps, being made public.

Is that so that when this de-population bomb is unleashed by the ultra-rich to get us icky-poo poor off of "their" planet they can shrug and say, "We don't know who did it; everyone knows how to make this stuff?"

As Andrew Carnegie himself openly declared, the ultra-rich often see themselves as a separate and distinct species from the rest of humanity, and as a matter of record, some religions see themselves as humans while outsiders are merely cattle in human form. That such people might exterminate 90% of the human population to make more room for themselves is hardly a new idea. Tom Clancy postulated that very scenario in "Rainbow Six." And history validates that one nation will often commit genocide against another merely to make room.

One parting thought before you get your "special" vaccine to keep you alive while the people who made you rich start to die; Newly engineered life forms are notoriously unstable. When first discovered, the Ebola virus was mutating as much as 10% of its RNA strand with each generation. An H5N1 wearing a new set of designer genes might easily mutate into form against which the "special" vaccine might not protect you.

Just something to think about.

Climategate 2.0

The new release of emails was timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the original climategate leak and with the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa. And it has already stirred strong emotions. To Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.), for example, the leaker or leakers responsible are attempting to "sabotage the international climate talks" and should be identified and brought "to justice."

For more than ten years we have watched for "Carbonazis" try to do to Earth with CO2 when ENRON did to California with electricity; make themselves very rich with lies and deceptions about a non-existent crisis. Along the way we have seen data manipulation, siting of temperature sensors near sources of heat (in one notorious case right next to a trash incinerator), collusion with the corporate media to keep opposing data from the public, even as the former head of Greenpeace admits making up claims about Greenland losing its ice cover, Phil Jones admits warming stopped 15 years ago (which anyone living through the last four hard winters already knew) and Al Gore insisting that the temperature of the Earth's core is "millions of degrees" while he uses computer generated images of collapsing arctic ice for his "documentary" (which has already been denounced by the British courts for containing numerous lies and misrepresentations.)

The global warming cult is not interested in saving the Earth, and shamelessly exploits the public's desire to save the Earth to enrich and empower themselves, living like royalty as they tell the rest of the people they must live more poorly.

"We need to get some broad based support, to capture the public's imagination... So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention of any doubts... Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest." - Prof. Stephen Schneider, Stanford Professor of Climatology, lead author of many IPCC reports

"We've got to ride this global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic and environmental policy." - Timothy Wirth, President of the UN Foundation

"No matter if the science of global warming is all phony... climate change provides the greatest opportunity to bring about justice and equality in the world." - Christine Stewart, former Canadian Minister of the Environment

"I believe it is appropriate to have an 'over-representation' of the facts on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience." - Al Gore, Climate Change activist

"It doesn't matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true." - Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace

"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis..." - David Rockefeller, Club of Rome executive member

"The concept of national sovereignty has been immutable, indeed a sacred principle of international relations. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the new imperatives of global environmental cooperation." - UN Commission on Global Governance report

"Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced a major shift in the priorities of both governments and individuals and an unprecedented redeployment of human and financial resources. This shift will demand that a concern for the environmental consequences of every human action be integrated into individual and collective decision-making at every level." - UN Agenda 21

"The goal now is a socialist, redistributionist society, which is nature's proper steward and society's only hope." - David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth

"If we don't overthrow capitalism, we don't have a chance of saving the world ecologically. I think it is possible to have an ecologically sound society under socialism. I don't think it is possible under capitalism" - Judi Bari, principal organiser of Earth First!

"Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsiblity to bring that about?" - Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Programme

"A massive campaign must be launched to de-develop the United States. De-development means bringing our economic system into line with the realities of ecology and the world resource situation." - Paul Ehrlich, Professor of Population Studies

"The only hope for the world is to make sure there is not another United States. We can't let other countries have the same number of cars, the amount of industrialization, we have in the US. We have to stop these Third World countries right where they are." - Michael Oppenheimer, Environmental Defense Fund
"Global Sustainability requires the deliberate quest of poverty, reduced resource consumption and set levels of mortality control." - Professor Maurice King

"Human beings, as a species, have no more value than slugs." - John Davis, editor of Earth First! Journal

"Humans on the Earth behave in some ways like a pathogenic micro-organism, or like the cells of a tumor." - Sir James Lovelock, Healing Gaia

"The Earth has cancer and the cancer is Man." - Club of Rome, Mankind at the Turning Point

Immunize Your Child or Lose Benefits, Parents Told

Mike Barrett
Activist Post

Starting July 1 of 2012, Australian parents will be stripped of family tax benefits if their child is not fully immunized.

Once the immunization alterations take effect next year, families who refuse vaccinations will also be refusing up to $2,100 per child in benefits.

It seems that this is just one attempt by the Australian government to force vaccinations on children before potentially making it a federal law...

Swiss Government Declares Downloading for Personal Use Legal

The government of Switzerland has issued a statement declaring that it will not take action to alter current copyright laws allowing the downloading of music and movies for personal use. The statement is the result of a lengthy study conducted by the Swiss government into the impact of so-called “piracy” on the entertainment industry.

The entertainment industry has been complaining in Switzerland – as in the US and elsewhere – that the unauthorized downloading of music and movies has harmed their business. The situation in Switzerland is somewhat unique, in that current copyright law considers the downloading of content for personal use as acceptable and legal. The entertainment industry has been lobbying the Swiss government to change the law. This study is the government’s response.

Amnesty International Urges Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia to Bring George W. Bush to Justice

Amnesty International considers that there is enough evidence in the public domain, from U.S. authorities and from George W. Bush himself, to trigger requirements for Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to investigate his alleged involvement in and responsibility for torture, and to secure his presence during the investigation.

"All countries to which George W. Bush travels have an obligation to bring him to justice for his role in torture," said Matt Pollard, senior legal adviser.

'US used nukes on Iraq, Afghanistan'

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212827.html

The United States has used tactical nuclear weapons in its military campaign against Iraq and Afghanistan, a Middle East expert tells Press TV.

“Tactical nuclear weapons were used, at least one in Iraq and several were used in Afghanistan --in the Tora Bora mountains,” Peter Eyre, a Middle East consultant, said.

Eyre pointed out that the atomic bomb dropped on Afghanistan's Tora Bora region was so powerful that it actually created an earthquake there.

The analyst went on to say that the use of such lethal weapons by US military, which is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention, has been sanctioned by the US presidents; thus they should be prosecuted for war crimes.

The construction of JNF's illegal "Canada Park" has been knowingly and willingly subsidized by the Canadian Government

The Jewish National Fund of Canada website shows "Canada Park" built on ethnically cleansed and destroyed villages inside the Occupied West Bank

The JNF Canada website map clearly shows the West Bank Palestinian villages ethnically cleansed and destroyed and then covered up by JNF's "Canada Park".

The dotted line shows the "Green Line" border between Israel and the West Bank, with the JNF website map showing Canada Park clearly within the Occupied Territory of the West Bank.

The construction of JNF's illegal "Canada Park" has been knowingly and willingly subsidized by the Canadian Government. JNF donors know this. Canadian MPs and Senators know this. Canada Revenue knows this. Canada’s Charities Directorate knows this. Canada’s mainstream media know this. The CBC (video) knows this. It’s public knowledge.

Crossing Police Lines: US cops defect to OWS

Police in Los Angeles have cleared one of the last and longest-standing 'Occupy' camps in the U.S, making 300 arrests in the process. These latest arrests bring the total across the whole 'Occupy' movement to almost 5,000, but now police are starting to defect to the other side.

Occupy UK: Mass strike bites Britain

More than 2 million participants put the public sector on hold in the UK, as unions stage a massive public sector strike. It is the largest of its kind in 30 years.

Egypt imports 21 tons of tear gas from the US, port staff refuses to sign for it

The arrival of 7 and half tons of tear gas to Egypt’s Suez port created conflict after the responsible officials at the port refused to sign and accept it for fear it would be used to crackdown on Egyptian protesters.

Hacking Scandal Widens to Government Secrets, Report Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/world/europe/british-hacking-scandal-widens-to-government-secrets.html?_r=2

Britain’s hacking scandal was reported on Tuesday to have broadened significantly into areas of national security, with the police investigating whether private detectives working for the Murdoch media empire hacked into the computer of a cabinet minister responsible for Northern Ireland.

This has gone beyond mere scandal-mongering. Murdoch was running an intelligence gathering operation behind the facade of his newspapers. The question that must be asked now is, which nation did he provide the gathered intelligence to? You get three guesses and the first two don't count.

A win-win on drugs? Fighting gangs by legalizing pot

Copenhagen just got a lot closer to legalizing the sale of pot.

If approved by the Danish parliament, next year the city could grant licenses to individual marijuana growers. City-owned shops would then sell their crop to the public.

That prospect was deeply amusing to Israel, a burly dreadlocked Cuban in Christiania, the city’s self-declared “free town.”

"I will grow it!" he said with excessive zeal. "I’ve got this big bag of seeds."

U.S. Troops Are Growing Opium In Afghanistan To Protect And Promote The heroin Trade “Sgt, You're Busted” - FDA

Hypocrisy in America has reached a new low with the U.S. government's open admission that U.S. troops are growing opium in Afghanistan to protect and promote the heroin trade.
Yes, it's true: U.S. troops actively guard the opium fields, deliver fertilizer, assist with harvesting and then help deliver the opium to be processed into heroin.

We have been telling you that for years!

War on drugs revealed as total hoax - US military admits to guarding, assisting lucrative opium trade in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is, by far, the largest grower and exporter of opium in the world today, cultivating a 92 percent market share of the global opium trade. But what may shock many is the fact that the US military has been specifically tasked with guarding Afghan poppy fields, from which opium is derived, in order to protect this multibillion dollar industry that enriches Wall Street, the CIA, MI6, and various other groups that profit big time from this illicit drug trade scheme.

DEA launders Mexican profits of drug cartels

Undercover American narcotics agents have laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington’s expanding role in Mexico’s fight against drug cartels, according to current and former federal law enforcement officials.

The officials said that while the D.E.A. conducted such operations in other countries, it began doing so in Mexico only in the past few years. The high-risk activities raise delicate questions about the agency’s effectiveness in bringing down drug kingpins, underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty, and blur the line between surveillance and facilitating crime. As it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests.

One has to wonder if such activities are deterring - or abetting - the work of the drug cartels.

But there is one thing of which you can be absolutely certain; those banks laundering the drug money here are making a killing!

US banks are playing a crucial role in the running of the Mexican drug trade, allowing their facilities to be used to launder money in a drug war that has taken the lives of more than 22,000 people in the past four years, a new investigative report reveals. According to a report from the August, 2010, issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine, both Bank of America and Wachovia are implicated in drug-money laundering schemes to purchase jets to smuggle drugs.

The Drug Tunnels Under the U.S.-Mexico Border (17 pics)

The Drug Tunnels Under the U.S.-Mexico Border (17 pics)

Netanyahu cancels controversial ad campaign to bring back Israeli expats from the U.S.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to discontinue a controversial Immigration and Absorption Ministry campaign in the United States aimed at convincing expatriate Israelis to return, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Friday.

The campaign, which warns Israelis that if they continue to live in the United States, they or their children are likely to become assimilated, has raised the ire of American Jewish groups.

And we know how important preserving the purity of one’s race is, don’t we, Bibi?

Are American Jews unfit to marry Israelis?

A controversial series of Israeli ads targets expatriates living in the United States, urging them to return to Israel.

Republican Jewish Coalilition Bars Ron Paul From Presidential Debate, Saying He's Too "misguided and extreme"

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the Republican Jewish Coalition will host a presidential-candidates forum featuring Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Not invited is the GOP candidate currently polling around third in New Hampshire and second in Iowa: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). The explanation:

Ron Paul Gets 89 Seconds To Speak In CBS Debate

Congressman Ron Paul was a victim of what later transpired to be a deliberate policy on behalf of CBS News to restrict the air time of certain candidates during last night’s Republican debate, after he was afforded just 90 seconds of speaking time during the course of the event in South Carolina last night.

"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have." -- Richard Salent, Former President CBS News.
This the video, "The Clinton Chronicles." Go to 56 minutes into the video and start playing and you will see Don Hewitt, then executive Producer for CBS' 60 Minutes, admitting they edited their segment on Gennifer Flowers to help get Clinton the nomination.

Ron Paul wins both tallies at GOP straw poll in Iowa

Ron Paul has won two separate tallies for the National Federation of Republican Assemblies Presidential Straw Poll.

Paul won both the Iowa-voters-only count at the Saturday convention in Des Moines as well as a tally of non-Iowans who participated.

In the Iowa voters result, Paul took 82%. Following him were Herman Cain with 14.7%, Rick Santorum with 1%, Newt Gingrich with 0.9%, Michele Bachmann with 0.5%, Rick Perry with 0.5%, Gary Johnson with 0.2%, with Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman 0%.

FOX News - Cain, Romney Finish at Top of Des Moines Register Poll

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has taken the lead in the race to win the Iowa Caucuses, according to a Des Moines Register poll published Saturday.

Webmaster's Commentary:

FOX News had to go with a controllable (rigged) newspaper poll because Ron Paul swept the actual Iowa Straw poll.

Fukushima:

Fukushima, le début de la fin

Au moment où l’on apprend que 8% du territoire Japonais, soit 30 000 km2, est perdu pour des dizaines d’années, et que les scientifiques profitent de l’opportunité offerte, pour découvrir ce qui va arriver avec le corium, le directeur de la centrale de Fukushima, malade, se refuse à imaginer que la catastrophe y soit pour quelque chose.

En effet, Masao Yoshida âgé de 46 ans, a dû quitter son poste le 28 novembre 2011 pour être hospitalisé ; TEPCO refuse de confirmer la cause exacte de sa maladie, mais comme il est présent sur le site depuis le 11 mars, il est facile d’en comprendre la raison.

3 ouvriers sont déjà morts depuis l’accident, et là aussi TEPCO se refuse à l’imputer à l’exposition aux radiations. lien

Mais, pour la première fois, le 12 novembre 2011, des journalistes ont été autorisés à visiter les ruines de Fukushima Daiichi, et David Guttenfelder en a profité pour prendre des photos pour le compte de la prestigieuse revue « National Geographic ».

La tache ne lui a pas été rendue facile car les journalistes n’étaient pas autorisés à quitter le bus, et tout ce qu’il a pu photographier, ça a été des débris, des véhicules renversés, des bassins d’eau stagnante, et du coté des réacteurs, aucun signe de vie.

Le compteur Geiger tenu par un travailleur affichait gaillardement ses 300 microsieverts. lien

Au sujet du corium, il est difficile d’établir le tableau de sa décroissance radioactive, puisque sachant que le centre de sa masse se trouve en principe aux environs de 3000 °C, il n’est guère possible de connaitre la température du reste.

Quant au risque d’explosion, il n’est pas inutile de rappeler les explications que donnait le Professeur V. Nesterenko, ce physicien nucléaire, membre de l’académie des sciences du Belarus, docteur ès sciences techniques, en charge des conséquences de la catastrophe de Tchernobyl.

Il affirmait que si la masse de corium de Tchernobyl qui avait déjà percé la cuve du réacteur, rencontrait les masses d’eau contenues dans les sous sols du réacteur, le mélange des 1400 kg composé d’uranium-graphite aurait été susceptible de provoquer une explosion atomique 50 à 80 fois plus puissante que celle d’Hiroshima. lien

Pour Uehara Haruo, concepteur de la centrale japonaise, interviewé le 20 novembre dernier, l’explosion hydro-volcanique est inévitable. vidéo

Le 30 novembre 2011, TEPCO a rendu public les analyses concernant le corium, déclarant que, dans le pire des cas, toutes les barres de combustible du réacteur n°1 pourraient avoir fondu et se retrouver au fond de l’enceinte de confinement, laquelle est recouverte d’une plaque d’acier qui pourrait avoir été érodée a une profondeur de 65 cm, (vidéo) et il ne resterait que 37 cm à traverser pour atteindre la « feuille de métal ». lien (Rappelons qu’à Tchernobyl, la dalle de béton avait 1 mètre d’épaisseur. lien)

Ensuite, que va-t-il se passer ? bien malin qui pourrait le dire, mais il est probable qu’il sera difficile de donner de bonnes nouvelles.

Si, comme à Tchernobyl, un serpentin de refroidissement avait été installé sous la plaque de béton du réacteur, au mépris du danger couru par les milliers de mineurs au travail, lesquels avaient creusé un tunnel pour permettre la pose de ce serpentin, il est possible qu’une partie du danger aurait pu être évitée, mais ce n’est pas le cas, et le pire est logiquement devant nous.

D’après l’association « Union de Tchernobyl » 10 ans après la catastrophe, plus des 20 000 hommes de 30 à 40 ans ayant participé au chantier après l’accident, étaient morts de l’exposition aux radiations.

Sur les 400 kg de plutonium qui étaient dans le réacteur de Tchernobyl, on estime que près de 100 kg ont été rejetés dans l’environnement, et l’on sait qu’un microgramme de plutonium est une dose mortelle pour un homme pesant 70 kg. lien (à Fukushima, il y a 68 tonnes de combustible nucléaire dans le réacteur n°1).

Mais revenons à Fukushima : dans cette vidéo, le détail des explosions des premiers jours.

Rappelons qu’aucun français n’a été invité le samedi 12 novembre à Fukushima, et que la seule présence française consistait en un drapeau qui flottait non loin de l’installation de « décontamination de l’eau » qui est loin d’être probante, alors qu’elle devait être terminée avant la fin de l’année.

D’après Tetsuya Terasawa, porte parole de TEPCO, il y a encore 40 000 tonnes d’eau au fond du bâtiment du réacteur (photo), et 90 000 tonnes d’eau, nettoyées d’après TEPCO, sont stockées dans de grands réservoirs de 12 mètres de hauteur. lien

Il nous faudra donc nous contenter de l’article écrit par le journaliste du « New York Times », Martin Falker, en se souvenant que les conditions de « visite » étaient particulièrement surveillées.

Celui-ci rappelait que le Ministre Goshi Hosono chargé de la catastrophe, avait confirmé que le chantier allait se poursuivre pendant encore 30 ans, espérant un « arrêt à froid » en fin d’année, (lien) sans expliquer pour autant comment il pourrait parvenir à l’arrêt à froid du corium ?

Depuis les mensonges à répétition des exploitants de la centrale, leur crédibilité est largement entamée et aux dernières nouvelles, on apprenait le 1er décembre 2011 qu’un incendie se serait déclaré dans le bâtiment n°3. lien

Japan nuclear meltdown maybe worse than thought?

Molten nuclear fuel at Japan's Fukushima plant might have eaten two thirds of the way through a concrete containment base, its operator said, citing a new simulation of the extent of the March disaster.

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said their latest calculations showed the fuel inside the No. 1 reactor at the tsunami-hit plant could have melted entirely, dropping through its inner casing and eroding a concrete base.

In the worst-case scenario, the molten fuel could have reached as far as 65 centimetres (2 feet) through the concrete, leaving it only 37 centimetres short of the outer steel casing, the report, released Wednesday, said.

30 microsieverts per hour in Nikko City, Tochigi — 150 km from Fukushima meltdowns (VIDEO)

Title: 栃木県日光市瀬尾30.0μSv/h

Google Translation

Title: Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture Cathode End 30.0 μSv/h

Uploaded by: kiseki06office

Date: Nov 28, 2011

Description: Measure 30.0μSv / h in rain prefab offices in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture Seo. http://directorzone.cyberlink.com/video/848233

Tokyo Prof. on NHK: Breach of containment at Reactor No. 2 “extremely grave”, calls for investigation — “Much more prominent” radiation spike after No. 2 trouble, yet Tepco now says NO explosion occurred (VIDEO)

TEPCO says no explosion occurred at No.2 reactor, NHK, November 29, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

[...] NHK has obtained Tokyo Electric Power Company’s interim report on the nuclear accident that was triggered by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. [...]

The company concluded in the report that there was no explosion at the No. 2 reactor, and that a blast at the No. 4 reactor was mistakenly believed to have occurred at the No. 2.

Later that day, pressure inside the No. 2 reactor vessel dropped sharply, and radiation levels near the plant’s main gate rose above 10 millisieverts per hour, then the highest level so far.

The interim report fails to specify how the leakage occurred at the containment vessel, just saying that gas in the vessel was somehow released into the air.

Watch video here.

Nuclear Experts: “We have to be prepared for the worst case scenario” — 5-10 meter barrier must be installed beneath Fukushima reactors

Melted Fuel Near Point of Reaching Bottom Container, Barrier Needed, Arirang (S. Korea), December 2, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

• TEPCO has revealed “that melted nuclear fuel has nearly reached the bottom steel wall under the concrete”
• “If the erosion expands another 37 centimeters, it would be hitting the steel wall”
• “If the fuel melts through the remaining concrete embedment, which is only some 30 centimeters, it is bound to seep into the soil”
• “Experts say TEPCO must find a measure to prevent fuel leakage“
• “Experts stress TEPCO must promptly find a way to put a stop to the fuel erosion inside the reactor“

Unnamed Expert(s)

• “TEPCO’s analysis says we have 30 centimeters of the concrete base left to prevent the melted fuel to hit the bottom. But I am not confident that we have that much space left.”
• “We have to be prepared for the worst case scenario”
• “I think they must install a 5 to 10 meter barrier in the basement to prevent the worst case scenario”

Russia’s TASS: “Fukushima Falling Apart: The Guardian” — Melted fuel has probably “completely destroyed the protective concrete cover”

Fukushima falling apart – The Guardian, TASS via Voice of Russia, Dec. 2, 2011:

Fuel rods inside one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima-1 NPP have probably melted down and completely destroyed the protective concrete cover, The British Guardian writes on Friday. [...]

TASS, IF

*JUST IN* Guardian: Tepco now says concrete “could have been penetrated” — Fukushima ‘may’ have narrowly averted China Syndrome

SOURCE: Fukushima fuel rods may have completely melted, Guardian by Justin McCurry, December 2, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

• “The plant may have narrowly averted a disastrous ‘China syndrome’ scenario”
• Tepco “would not comment on the exact position of the molten fuel“
• Tepco also would not comment “on how much of it is exposed to water being pumped in to cool the reactor”
• Tepco: “Almost no fuel remains at its original position”

Here is the most revealing excerpt from the Guardian article:

“Uncertainty involved in the analysis is significant, due to the uncertain nature of the original conditions and data used,” Tepco said in a report. It said the concrete “could have been penetrated”, but added that the fuel remained inside the reactor’s outer casing.

It appears Tepco is admitting for the first time that melted fuel could be in the concrete outside of the containment vessel.

SOURCE: http://gendai.ismedia.jp

Mainichi: Gov’t session reveals 400,000 TIMES normal radioactive xenon-133 levels in Chiba — Actual figure may be MUCH higher

Xenon 400,000 times normal found in Chiba air immediately after Fukushima nuke accident, Mainichi Japan, December 2, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

• Radioactive xenon-133 some 400,000 times normal levels was detected in the atmosphere here
• Took three months before the volume of radioactive substances returned to normal
• The Chiba-based Japan Chemical Analysis Center made the announcement during a radiation research session in Tokyo on Dec. 1, organized by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
• Average amount of xenon-133 in the atmosphere was 1,300 becquerels per cubic meter of air in Chiba between March 14 and 22
• Compared with zero to 3.4 millibecquerels before the crisis.
• 400,000 times normal levels [At LEAST 382,353 normal levels... could be billions or trillions, the closer the normal amount is to zero]

Keisuke Isogai of the Japan Chemical Analysis Center

• “I think xenon-133 drifted from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to Chiba in the form of a plume.”
• “The detected amount translates into a cumulative external exposure to radiation of only 1.3 microsieverts over the three-month period, it won’t cause a health hazard.”

At least 400,000 time snormal levels of Xenon-133 present no health hazard? See video below…

Further, the xenon is an indicator of where the plume of radioactive material is traveling.

For more information on radioactive xenon see: 'Harmless' Xenon cloud is known to cause dramatic increase in lung cancer -- Bombards humans with very powerful x-rays -- Turns into cesium -- Xenon from Fukushima most ever, 2.5 times Chernobyl (VIDEO)

AGAIN: Tepco study says spent fuel in Reactor No. 4 narrowly avoided being exposed — After claiming melted fuel stopped just short of burning through containment

TEPCO study shows water level in spent fuel pool was dangerously low, Kyodo, December 2, 2011:

A study by Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, has shown that water in the No. 4 unit’s spent fuel pool temporarily dropped to a level close to exposing the stored nuclear fuel, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

After the No. 4 unit lost its key cooling functions along with the plant’s other reactors in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the water level in the No. 4 spent fuel pool fell at one point to only 1.5 meters above the top of the fuel assemblies, as heat from the fuel had caused the coolant to evaporate. The water level is usually around 7 meters above the assemblies. [...]

Reuters: Fukushima, Chernobyl show how vast areas can be turned into nuclear wastelands

Emerging states try to end coal addiction with nuclear | Reuters

[...] On paper, nuclear power is an ideal energy source, producing next to no greenhouse gas emissions while churning out stable supplies of electricity. But, as Fukushima and Chernobyl have shown, an accident can quickly turn vast areas into nuclear wastelands, raises risks of radiation poisoning and leaves a massive bill for clean up. [...]

No mention of the serious problems with:

• Spent fuel storage and ‘reprocessing’
• Ongoing contamination occurring around nuclear plants during ‘normal’ reactor operations, not only during accidents

Tepco: 68 tons of nuclear fuel melted at Fukushima Reactor No. 1

All N-fuel may have fallen to outer vessel / TEPCO: Up to 68 tons likely melted in No. 1 reactor, eroding concrete of containment unit, The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 2, 2011:

[...] The nuclear fuel at the No. 1 reactor melted as its temperature reached nearly 3,000 C at one time, TEPCO estimated. In the No. 1 reactor, TEPCO believes, almost all of the about 68 tons of fuel melted. [...]

Only 37 centimeters of concrete remains between the fuel and the vessel’s outermost steel wall in the most damaged area, TEPCO said.

Without water, the No. 1 reactor’s fuel temperature was more than high enough to have melted everything inside the pressure vessel, not only the fuel itself but also the fuel control rods, the utility said.

TEPCO currently maintains a steady supply of water to the three reactors, enabling the No. 1 reactor to always have about 40 centimeters of cool water at the bottom of the containment vessel, enough to cover the melted fuel, according to the utility. [...]

ABC Headline: “Fukushima fuel rods eating through solid concrete” — Just 37 cm away from outer casing

Fukushima fuel rods eating through solid concrete, ABC (Australia) by Mark Willacy, Updated December 02, 2011:

Molten fuel rods at the Fukushima nuclear plant may have eaten two-thirds of the way through a concrete containment base, the plant’s operator says. [...]

Simulations predict the molten fuel has eaten through 65 centimetres of concrete in a containment base below, stopping just 37 centimetres short of an outer steel casing. [...]

The operator’s assessment comes about six months after international nuclear experts warned that molten fuel could eat through containment vessels below the reactors.

Yahoo: Rumor spreading in Japan says leukemia up 7 times from last year — Champion wrestler who trained in Fukushima diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia

MHLW ignores the medical statistics of Fukushima and a part of Miyagi, Fukushima Diary by Mochizuki, December 1, 2011:

Since a few weeks ago, this “harmful rumor” has been spreading on the internet

• Date: Nov. 21
• Survey of medical association of each local government
• April through October
• Leukemia cases have increased 7 times since last year
• Chairman of medical association said that the connection between unusual increase of leukemia and Fukushima is not clear
• 60% of the total leukemia cases are acute leukemia (highest ratio since 1978, when they started taking this survey)
• 80% of the patients are from Northern Japan and the Kanto area
• Fukushima has highest rate, then Ibaraki, Tochigi, Tokyo

The Announcement

To clear up this “confusion”, a Japanese citizen asked Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for the truth, to which they replied that they take all patients statistics but that this year they eliminated the data from Fukushima and a part of Miyagi from the whole statistics report.

They say it is to support the reconstruction of Fukushima and Miyagi, but we all know that in reality abandoning the survey only makes the situation worse.

On 3/11, earthquake and Tsunami hit Miyagi and Iwate for most of the part while Fukushima suffers from radiation mostly.

If they really wanted to try to “help reconstruction efforts” (sic), they should eliminate the data of those three prefectures, with Iwate and Miyagi given a higher priority.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare does not give any more specific reasons why.

• Source: http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/informationView.do?bcd=1
• See .pdf here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/74379804/2r9852000001rur6

Spread the net “proliferation of leukemia patients,” the Japan Medical Association is a “factual presentation”, ITmedia, Nov. 30, 2011:

A Wrestler in Fukushima got acute myelocytic leukemia, Fukushima Diary by Mochizuki, December 1, 2011:

Nagashima Kazuyuki

· Won silver medal at Asian wrestling league in Koshu last year

· 30 years old

· From Gunma

· Belongs to a company in Iwaki Fukushima (Source) where he used to train.

· Felt ill in early September

· Diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia during a medical test on 9/10/2011

Google Translation

SOURCE: http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20111201-871133.html

Japan Wrestling Association on August 1, last year’s Asian Games silver medalist in the men’s 74 kg class free , Kazuyuki Nagashima (30 = Cleanup) suffered from acute myeloid leukemia, was announced in Tokyo that it is battling. 21-23 day national championships will be missed this month. Players complained of ill-health as the beginning of September, was diagnosed with leukemia at 10 days were examined in the same hospital. According to Mr. Masahiko twin brother, “cause unknown” it. Mr. Masahiko become a donor if the treatment goes smoothly, a bone marrow transplant in early next year. Nagashima official site of the association “will always return, please watch warm” is commented.

According to the association noted that because of high cost medical expenses, trying to raise donations support. Payees are四倉Toho Bank, Ltd. 309 219 Branch savings account　, Kazuyuki Nagashima, H. Imamura player representative office grants

[At 19:34 on December 1st 2011]

Report: Journalist dies of acute lymphocytic leukemia — Was living inside 30 km zone to support Fukushima

Jiji: High radiation levels near Tokyo linked to Fukushima — Rain caused 29,250,000 Bq/m² in soil says gov’t — Almost DOUBLE last gov’t test

High Radiation Levels in Kashiwa Linked to TEPCO N-Plant, Jiji Press, Nov. 28, 2011:

The Ministry of Environment said Monday that high radiation levels detected in soil in Kashiwa, northeast of Tokyo, in October are likely to be from radioactive cesium released from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima [...]

The ministry said it believes that the contamination was caused by rainwater containing radioactive cesium [...]

The ministry detected up to some 450,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive substances in the soil in Kashiwa, higher than the levels of up to 276,000 becquerels found in the city’s research. [...]

To compare these soil contamination levels to those after the Chernobyl meltdown, a conversion from becquerels per kilogram to becquerels per square meter is used.

“To convert from ‘per kilogram’ to ‘per square meter’, Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission uses the factor of 65.” (SOURCE)

Therefore, 29,250,000 Bq/m² of radioactive substances were in the Kashiwa soil.

At Chernobyl, cesium contamination above 1,480,000 Bq/m² required migration, 555,000-1.48 million Bq/m² was for temporary migration.

h/t Taro and Majirox

Daily Beast: “Nuclear power’s future is literally headed south” post-Fukushima — Developed countries are slowing or shuttering their programs

Post-Fukushima, Nuclear Power Changes Latitudes, Daily Beast, Nov. 28, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

[...] Developed countries are slowing or shuttering their nuclear-power programs, while states to their south, in the world’s hotspots (think the Middle East and Far East), are pushing to build reactors of their own. [...]

Post-Fukushima Reaction in the North

· Germany permanently shut down eight of its reactors and pledged to shutter the rest by 2022

· The Italians voted overwhelmingly to keep their country nonnuclear

· Switzerland and Spain followed suit, banning the construction of any new reactors

· Then Japan’s prime minister killed his country’s plans to expand its reactor fleet, pledging to reduce Japan’s reliance on nuclear power dramatically

· Taiwan’s president did the same

· Now Mexico is sidelining construction of 10 reactors in favor of developing natural-gas-fired plants

· Belgium is toying with phasing its nuclear plants out, perhaps as early as 2015

· China—nuclear power’s largest prospective market—suspended approvals of new reactor construction while conducting a lengthy nuclear-safety review

· India, another potential nuclear boom market, is discovering a different set of headaches: effective local opposition, growing national wariness about foreign nuclear reactors, and a nuclear liability controversy that threatens to prevent new reactor imports

· In the United States, new-reactor construction has also suffered—not because of public opposition but because of economics

· Finally, there’s France [...] locked in a national debate over a partial nuclear phaseout. President Nicolas Sarkozy, to be sure, is still backing nuclear power, but his Socialist opponent, François Hollande, now well ahead in the polls, has proposed cutting nuclear power’s contribution to the electrical grid by more than a third by 2025.

· “A handful of new reactors may be built in Eastern Europe and the U.K., and several more in South Korea, but in the North that’s pretty much it”

Going South

· “If you head south, though, nuclear power’s prospects look much brighter”

· Russia is pushing reactor projects in Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Iran, and Turkey

· The United States, France, Japan, and South Korea are all working to nail down similar deals in Jordan, Vietnam, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia

· China continues to expand Pakistan’s reactor fleet

Lester R. Brown is a US environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

Yul Choi is founder and president of the Korea Green Foundation. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1995 for the movement against toxic and nuclear contamination.

Major US Paper: Time to quit nuclear power altogether — “Threatens the very existence of human civilization as we know it”

Fukushima fallout: time to quit nuclear power altogether, Christian Science Monitor by Lester R. Brown and Yul Choi, November 28, 2011:

Experience in northern Japan illustrates that even incremental investment in nuclear power threatens human civilization. The Fukushima disaster should once and for all drive global society away from nuclear power, and toward renewable energy. [...]

Nuclear power simply isn’t economical when you factor the impact of indirect expenses and fees, and thus can’t compete in an open, unsubsidized market for electricity. More often than not, in fact, taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for radioactive waste disposal and storage. Costs for insurance coverage of nuclear energy facilities have become astronomical. And the costs to shutter a nuclear plant after it has passed its life expectancy nearly equal the construction costs of building the plant in the first place. [...]

We fully realize this is a radical thought for many, but our experience in northern Japan illustrates that even incremental investment in nuclear power threatens the very existence of human civilization as we know it. The Fukushima disaster – which now stands, at least in Japan, as a new generation’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki – should once and for all drive global society firmly down a nuclear-free energy path.

Lester R. Brown is a US environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Yul Choi is founder and president of the Korea Green Foundation. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1995 for the movement against toxic and nuclear contamination.

h/t Whoopie

Report: TEPCO reveals Reactor No. 2 temperature has gone “over scale” — “Unusual atmosphere” at press conference — Japan journalists suspicious something crucial is being hidden (VIDEO)

Temperature has gone “over scale” at reactor 2, Fukushima Diary, November 27, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

Unusual Events?

• “Today Tepco started their press conference 20 mins late, which is unusual … They did not even prepare documents to explain the current situation of the reactors.”
• “Considering the unusual atmosphere of Tepco at the press conference, Japanese journalists are suspecting they are hiding something crucial again.”

TEPCO on Triple Temperature Troubles

1) Reactor No. 2

• The gas pressure controlling room temperature has gone over scale, in the suppression chamber
• Because the temperature has gone too high, the heat gauge is inaccurate
• They say other 2 heat gauges are indicating normal temperature, but they are about 100 meters away
• The area is extremely radioactive, so no one can get close to check, fix, or replace heat gauge

3) Reactor No. 2

• Dry well of container vessel is unusually heated
• Nov. 27 at At 11:00 am JST, a heat gauge at the point indicated 85.3 C
• However, Tepco state there is no problem because other 5 heat gauges around that point show 65~69C, which is usual, so the heat gauge has gone out of order
• Yet this is just at the same time as Trouble No. 2 above?
• The heat gauge is also in a highly radioactive area so they are unable to get close enough to check, fix, or replace

3) Reactor No. 3

• The water cooling system is not properly working
• Water coming into the system and coming out of the system shows similar temperature
• They assume it is because a valve was turned off
• Nov. 19 was the last time it was checked
• They don’t know why the valve got turned off

65 microsieverts per hour in front of Tsushima junior high school (VIDEO)

Title: 65.17 micro Sv/h, Namie, Tsushima jr hi school, roadside sand. – YouTube

Uploaded by: Birdhairjp

Date: Nov 26, 2011

Description: On 26 Nov 2011, I measured radiation in front of a junior high school in Namie town, Fukushima pref. Japan (Tsushima junior high school)
The monitorinig place is 32 km from Fukushima Nuclear power plant. And the road closed point of Route 114. The whole Namie town is “Evacuation zone”. All the habitants left here. The monitor indicates 5.81 micro Sievert per hour in air at chest hight, 65.17 on road side sand, ground level. Measuring instrument is made of Ukraine, ECOTEST MKS-05. 65.17μSv/h 浪江町 津島中学校前 地表砂, 通行止地点

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYtmkdtmwo8

Asahi: Gov’t funded researchers “have sounded the alarm” — Calling for “immediate” monitoring — 175 Billion becquerels flow PER DAY in just one river in one city 60 km from meltdowns

Cesium levels hit tens of billions of becquerels at river mouth, AJW by The Asahi Shimbun, November 25, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

· Researchers have sounded the alarm over river water containing cesium levels at tens of billions of becquerels a day flowing into the sea near Fukushima Prefecture

· They called for immediate and continued monitoring of the situation.

· The daily radiation levels are equivalent to the total of amount of cesium in low-level contaminated water released into the sea in April by TEPCO

50 Billion Becquerels of Cesium Per Day… Outside Fukushima Prefecture

· The Abukumagawa river runs [...] near Koriyama and Fukushima [60 km west of meltdowns...] and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Iwanuma in Miyagi Prefecture.

· The researchers estimated the level for cesium-137 at 29.1 billion becquerels a day and that for cesium-134 at 23.4 billion becquerels a day–both at the mouth of the river

· Cesium levels are lower at the mouth of the river

Even Higher in Date

The estimated levels near Date [60 km NW of meltdowns], a city situated at the middle reaches of the river, were 92.5 billion becquerels a day for cesium-137 and 83.8 billion becquerels a day for cesium-134.

Happening Now & Later

· Yosuke Yamashiki, associate professor of environmental engineering at
Kyoto University… “The inflow will likely continue for some time. But
the content can be reduced”

· The researchers said cesium is continuing to contaminate the river water after it fell to the the ground in the watershed area and was carried into the river by rainfall

· More cesium could contaminate the river during decontamination operations and tilling of rice paddies in preparation for transplanting young rice plants, they added

Other Study Information

• The monitoring was commissioned by Japan’s science ministry
• Cesium tends to accumulate in areas where there is a dam

MOX Scandal: Japan Times on “latest revelation of attempts to rig public opinions on nuclear power” — “Collusive ties” between gov’t and nuke industry

Rigging opinions on nuclear power, The Japan Times Online, Nov. 28, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

A third-party committee of the Hokkaido government on Wednesday reported that the then chief of the regional government’s nuclear power safety measures section asked Hokkaido Electric Power Co. in July 2008 to collect opinions that favored the use of MOX (mixed oxide) nuclear fuel in the No. 3 reactor of its Tomari nuclear power plant.

The chief made the request because a majority of opinions collected by the Hokkaido government up to that point had been decidedly against the use of MOX fuel, which contains both plutonium and uranium, the committee said.

Not the first time

This is just the latest revelation of attempts to rig public opinions on nuclear power. [...]

It is already known that the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, both of the trade and industry ministry, asked five power companies — Hokkaido, Tohoku, Chubu, Shikoku and Kyushu — to mobilize employees and other people to express opinions favoring nuclear power generation in public meetings, symposiums, etc. [...]

Given the collusive ties between the government and the power industry, it will be difficult for people to take the claim of nuclear power plant safety at face value. Local residents will resist the restart of such plants even when their regular inspection is over.

Anti-nuclear protestors sit tight at Japanese ministry, DPA, Nov. 18, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

The Resistance

· “We won’t allow the government to restart idled reactors” after they are shut down for maintenance, [Eda] says.

· All of Japan’s 11 reactors still in operation, are scheduled to be shut down for servicing by April, he says.

· If the government withholds permission for them to restart, Japan would be free of nuclear power.

· “That’s an immediate goal,” Eda says outside the ministry, which has
promoted the country’s nuclear-dependent energy policy for decades.

· The country’s other 43 reactors are either currently being
inspected, or have been shut down in the wake of the March 11 earthquake
and tsunami.

More on The Resistance from Aileen Mioko Smith, at 19:30 in

Japan TV: “Truly terrible things emerged several years after the accident” at Chernobyl — 7,800 times more childhood thyroid cancer than average in town 70 km away — IAEA Exposed (VIDEO)

Title: What Happened to Chernobyl Children 7 Years after the Accident (from a Japanese TV program in 1993)

Uploaded by: tokyobrowntabby

Translation and captioning: tokyobrowntabby

Date: Nov. 25, 2011

Description: This video is from a Japanese evening news program broadcasted on Nihon TV, seven years after the Chernobyl accident (around 1993). I hope the families in Fukushima who still hesitate to voluntarily evacuate their children will watch this and change their minds.

Transcript Excerpts

Host: Yesterday, we reported that the truth of the terrible radiation damages had been revealed for the first time through the patients’ charts of the victims made right after the Chernobyl accident. [...]

Mr. Ryuichi Hirokawa, a photo journalist: Well, I went there to see with my own eyes what actually happens to the health of the residents. Above all, please take a look at what’s happening to children now. It’s been 7 years since the accident. [...]

However, truly terrible things emerged several years after the accident. [...]

Radioactive materials have now accumulated up to 20 centimeters below the soil surface and are slowly going downward. [...]

Radioactive materials that have accumulated 20 centimeters below the soil surface are absorbed through the roots of the plants and accumulated in the bodies of humans and animals.

Minsk Center for Pediatric Blood Diseases

Incubation period of radiation damages is ending, and they have started to attack people in forms of leukemia and thyroid cancer [...]

I visited this hospital last year, too, and filmed the inpatient children. [...]

But this time, I wasn’t able to see any of them. Most of them have passed away.

There are many stages in the treatment of leukemia. [...]

Hoiniki Central Hospital

Dr. Korzov, Vice Chief, Hoiniki Central Hospital: “In 5 to 8 years of the accident, there’s an increase in thyroid cancer, then breast cancer will follow, and then bone cancer. This is how an increase in cancer will occur. We are in the stage of increase in thyroid cancer.” [...]

Thyroid Cancer

In the world of medicine, thyroid cancer is supposed to be an adult disease.

The rate of children getting it is said to be one in 500,000.

However, in the areas around Chernobyl, there has been an explosive increase in pediatric thyroid cancer since 4 years after the accident. [...]

In Hoiniki District, located [70km] north of the Chernobyl plant, 27 out of 352 children have been diagnosed as needing attention. 20 percent of them are likely to get thyroid cancer, which is 7,800 times more than the average incidence rate.

Dr. Drozd, Institute of Radiology: “The health condition of children is affected by radiation.”

“It’s obvious if you look at the distribution map of radioactive iodine.” (Japan map of iodine131)

IAEA Exposed

Three years ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s research mission visited the contaminated areas. Dr. Shigematsu [Japanese], chairman of the mission, announced “there are no health damages among the residents.” [...]

Mr. Hirokawa, after looking at your video, I wonder what it was that IAEA announced there were no health damages among the residents. [...]

The local people believed a fair research would be done, because IAEA is an agency of the United Nations and a medical scientist from Hiroshima would lead the research. So, they were astounded that the mission had announced the areas were safe.

But, didn’t the mission actually see the situation there?

Well, according to the local doctors, the mission members didn’t enter the heavily-contaminated areas.

Besides, they brought their food, sourced from far away, and didn’t eat anything local.

Still, they declared it’s safe. No wonder the local people are infuriated.

If the mission found local food too dangerous to eat, they should have said it’s dangerous.

The very credibility of the International Atomic Energy Agency is seriously challenged, isn’t it?

Yes. I hear that when the nuclear industry of the former USSR started to do business with the nuclear industry of the US,

They probably agreed that downplaying the damages by the accident would be beneficial for both sides.

Kyoto U. engineer: Disposing of contaminated soil would surpass the capacity of all disposal sites in Japan (PHOTO)

In Wake of Fukushima Disaster, Japan’s Scientists Ponder How to Regain Public Trust, Science Magazine, Nov. 29, 2011:

[...] The Fukushima accident exposed troubling issues, speakers noted [...] The failure of multiple safety features on nuclear power plants has raised questions about the nation’s engineering prowess. Government flip-flopping on acceptable levels of radiation exposure confused the public, and health professionals provided little guidance. Facing a dearth of reliable information on radiation levels, citizens armed themselves with dosimeters, pooled data, and together produced radiological contamination maps far more detailed than anything the government or official scientific sources ever provided.

Such developments suggest scientists and engineers “need to reposition ourselves in relation to the governmental administration and the general public [so that] the scientific community can play a useful role in providing scientific advice,” said Science Council President Takashi Onishi, an urban planner at the University of Tokyo. [...]

Japan faces hard choices in recovering from the triple disaster, other speakers said. Disposing of the “tens of millions of cubic meters of contaminated soil [would] surpass the total capacity of all disposal sites in Japan,” noted Kyoto University civil engineer Minoru Yoneda. Stripping soil and vegetation could increase flooding and landslides. Finding the right balance between decontamination and risk is a gray area. “The question of how much [low dose radiation] is tolerable is open,” said radiation health expert Tomoko Kusama, president of Oita University of Nursing and Health Sciences. [...]

A rather telling photo of decontamination efforts:

Workers experiment with draining radioactively contaminated mud from a paddy field, left, onto a tarp-covered adjacent field in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, on Aug. 24 (SOURCE: Mainichi)

Japan Times: “Dangerously high levels” of radiation detected in rice from Date — 60 km from Fukushima meltdowns

Cesium find makes Date rice off-limits, Japan Times, Nov. 29, 2011:

The government on Tuesday ordered a ban on the shipment of rice harvested in two more districts in Fukushima Prefecture, after tests detected dangerously high levels of radioactive cesium.

Chief Cabinet Secreatary Osamu Fujimura said the central government has instructed Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato to impose the ban on about 1,900 kg harvested in the Oguni district and 1,500 kg in the Tsukidate district, both in the city of Date.

[...] a combined 3,400 kg of unmilled rice harvested by two farms in the Oguni district and by one farm in the Tsukidate district contained between 580 and 1,050 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium. The government’s limit is 500 becquerels. [...]

In October, Gov. Sato officially announced that test results for rice at 1,174 spots in the prefecture, including Date, confirmed that Fukushima’s rice was not contaminated by radioactive materials and was safe to consume.

Taiwan:

Cobalt-60, Cesium-137 found by Taiwan researcher on Orchid Island — Cesium-137 exceeds gov’t limit, yet report says it does not

Taiwan researcher finds radioactivity near nuclear waste storage space on Orchid Island, Taiwan News, Nov. 29, 2011 (Emphasis Added):

An Academia Sinica researcher said Tuesday he found amounts of radioactivity outside the nuclear waste storage space on Orchid Island, but in quantities lower than the legal limit. [...]

Academia Sinica Institute of Earth Sciences researcher Huh Chih-an said tests outside the facility turned up 6.5 becquerel per kilo of cobalt-60 and 32.9 becquerel per kilo of cesium-137.

The values were lower than the official limits set by the government’s Atomic Energy Council, but one still could say there had been a leak, Huh said. The official limits stand at 110 becquerel per kilo for cobalt-60 and 20.9 becquerel per kilo for cesium-137, reports said.

Huh said that from 2005 to 2008, no cobalt-60 had been found outside the Orchid Island facility, though there were already traces of cesium-137. Beginning from 2009, both types of material were found in ever increasing proportion, according to Huh’s report.

Local leaders on Orchid Island said any leak or change in radioactivity in the environment could have consequences for the local population of mostly indigenous Tao. [...]

Union nord-américaine:

U.S.-Canada Perimeter Security and the Consolidation of North America

Dana Gabriel
Be Your Own Leader

The U.S. and Canada are very close to unveiling a North American perimeter security deal that would promote greater integration between both countries. This includes expanding collaboration in areas of law enforcement and intelligence sharing which could dramatically affect sovereignty and privacy rights. While there is a need for more public scrutiny, incrementalism has been used to advance North American integration. In many ways this has kept the agenda under the radar. Much like NAFTA and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a U.S.-Canada perimeter security agreement would represent another step in the consolidation of North America.

During his speech at a recent meeting of northern border states, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told participants that the U.S. and Canada are set to launch a pilot project next year which will allow law enforcement officers to operate on both sides of the border.

Holder explained that, “the creation of ‘NextGen’ teams of cross-designated officers would allow us to more effectively identify, assess, and interdict persons and organizations involved in transnational crime.” He went on to say, “In conjunction with the other provisions included in the Beyond the Border Initiative, such a move would enhance our cross-border efforts and advance our information-sharing abilities.” The declaration, Beyond the Border: Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness issued by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper last February, identified joint law enforcement operations and information sharing as a high priority. There are already examples of what we could expect from a security perimeter as some Canadians have been denied entry into the U.S. after their records of mental illness were shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

While further details of the new joint law enforcement project are not yet available, Stuart Trew of the Council of Canadians pointed out that the plans are well advanced.

U.S.-Canadian Border Deal to Streamline GMO Approval: Confirmed

Our report sounding the alarm that Obama and Harper’s secretive border deal, due to be signed next week, would be used to fast track GMO acceptance has been confirmed. The details have been kept under wraps, but recent reports revealed that the ‘Beyond Borders’ security and law enforcement deal would also seek to ‘harmonize’ U.S. and Canadian regulatory standards for food, auto and other trade sectors.
The Globe and Mail confirms that the North American Union security perimeter initiative, sold to the public as new security measures at the border, has a second major component– the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Co-operation Council.

Mr. Harper… said there are two issues on the joint security and economic agenda of the two countries. One, he said, is the border and perimeter initiative, and the other is Canada-U.S. Regulatory Co-operation Council.
“We are seeking ways of ensuring security in North America while at the same time making sure that we continue strong Canadian access to the American market,” Mr. Harper told reporters.

This will encompass far more than just the terms under which food can cross the border– it will put approval for biotechnology on a fast track in both countries and impose FDA and other regulations on both countries.
The agenda of the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Co-operation Council was quietly announced in February 2011, putting explicit focus on the implementation of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act requirements under the larger Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness agenda. That nightmarish legislation was heavily criticized for new authority it grants the U.S. government over the right to grow, trade and transport foods of any kind.
In other words, it is poised to boost the reach of Big Agra and biotech firms at the expense of small farmers and ordinary people.
Now, under the new Obama-Harper deal, Canada, too, would accept this tyranny over food.
Specifically, the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperative Council (under “free” trade) would establish a joint review process for pre-market GMO approval, establish a policy for the acceptance and export of LLPs (Low-Level Presence contamination of genetically modified foods bans in country of export) and recommends eliminating mandatory country of origin labeling, and more.
From the report:

Biotechnology
Establish a joint review process or a Mutual Recognition Agreement for biotechnology product approvals to facilitate synchronized approvals.
Establish a common policy for dealing with low level presence (LLP) of unapproved biotechnology products (e.g., harmonized risk assessments and acceptance of LLP already commercially available in the other country).

A 2004 symposium on Canada-U.S. Regulatory Co-operation even recommends outright acceptance of U.S. food standards: The Health Products and Food Branch is now considering a risk-based approach to regulatory co-operation, which might entail accepting or referencing decisions made by the US Food and Drug Administration and other regulators for low-risk products.
With U.S. regulatory agencies filled with revolving door stooges like FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael R. Taylor, formerly a Vice President at Monsanto and long a go-between for biotech and government regulations, there is little doubt what direction such a “harmonization” of food regulations, including FDA recommendations, would mean under the ‘Beyond Borders’ deal.

President Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper are scheduled to meet one-on-one next Wednesday to discuss and sign the deal… then its details will finally be revealed to the world.

Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness: Regulatory Cooperation – A Report on the Consultations on Regulatory Cooperation Between Canada and the United States

Read PDF here or web version here. Excerpt from p. 25
Appendix 2: Specific Proposals by Sector
Agriculture and Food
Food Safety Systems
Develop common approaches to food safety requirements and policies, aligning new regulations and guidance—specifically, implementation of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act requirements.
Mutually recognize food safety systems.
Improve the effectiveness of meat-safety-system equivalency agreements (i.e., eliminate or minimize re-inspections of product and microbial testing at the border).
Accept industry-led standards and programs that are based on international standards (e.g., the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, or HACCP).
Harmonize approvals for food-safety-enhancing products and technology used in processing (e.g., packaging materials, anti-microbial interventions, testing methodologies and processes, sanitation, and maintenance chemicals and equipment).
Biotechnology
Establish a joint review process or a Mutual Recognition Agreement for biotechnology product approvals to facilitate synchronized approvals.
Establish a common policy for dealing with low level presence (LLP) of unapproved biotechnology products (e.g., harmonized risk assessments and acceptance of LLP already commercially available in the other country).
Agricultural Inputs
Building on significant collaboration to date, align pre-market approval processes and data requirements for crop protection products (i.e., pesticides, seed treatments) to facilitate joint reviews and assessments and improve re-evaluation and re-registration processes.
Resolve discrepancies in maximum residue limits for crop protection products.
Modify the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notice-of-arrival process to remove the advance notification requirement for products that are already EPA-registered.
Harmonize the approval process for veterinary drugs, including the establishment of maximum residue limits.
Labelling, Packaging and Product Content
Align nutritional labelling formats and content (e.g., nutrient definitions, required values, daily recommended intakes).
Harmonize approaches to allowed health claims.
Align standards for discretionary fortification of foods.
Develop uniform labelling requirements (e.g., quality specifications, method of production claims, glycemic index labelling).
Adopt a common approach to the nomenclature of meat cuts.
Eliminate or amend U.S. mandatory country-of-origin labelling requirements.
Align container size requirements (infant food, bottled and canned goods).
——

Genetically Modified Chocolate to Consume 70% of Global Cocoa Supply

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

New initiatives seek to genetically modify 70% of the global cocoa supply, highlighting the necessity for consumers to select only high-quality organic chocolate products in order to avoid this threat.

Using genetically modified cocoa tree hybrids, scientists are already spreading the news about their new ‘tastier’ modified chocolate.

The campaign to use genetically modified cocoa tree hybrids is a product of a collaboration involving the USDA, Mars chocolate manufacturer, and even IBM..

'Action Plan Allows U.S. Cops to Operate in Canada'

Armed U.S. police officers will for the first time be allowed to operate in Canada

Border deal fuels concerns in Canada

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1094483--border-deal-fuels-concerns-in-canada

Armed U.S. police officers will for the first time be allowed to operate in Canada along with the RCMP as part of far-reaching changes in Canadian-American border operations to be unveiled next week by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama.

The joint action plan to be announced at the White House will also break new ground by introducing exit-entry records that will track the movements of everyone who leaves the United States or Canada, with the information available to authorities in both countries.

In the months and years ahead, the deal between Ottawa and Washington will reshape security, travel and commercial arrangements at the border in a variety of profound ways — some of which have already raised alarms among Canadians.

The agreement, which has been the subject of confidential negotiations since last winter, is intended to reverse the economically damaging border tie-ups that have been growing since Sept. 11, 2001, while upgrading anti-crime and anti-terrorist security for both countries.

In contrast to the silence from Canadian negotiators, some U.S. officials have been open about what the new reality at the border will look like in the years ahead.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder revealed last fall that the deal will authorize Canada and the U.S. to designate officers who can take part in police investigations on both sides of the border. The pilot project, Holder said, will improve the two countries’ ability to deal with the “unprecedented” threats along the border from terrorists, human smugglers, illegal firearms traffickers and drug dealers.

The model for the joint policing program is the Shiprider project, a three-year-old plan under which the RCMP and U.S. Coast Guard join forces and ride in each others’ vessels when patrolling boundary waters.

As part of the measures to improve security and streamline border practices, the Beyond the Border blueprint is also expected to include greatly increased information-sharing between Canada and the U.S., including the exit-entry plan.

This secretly devised shake-up of border operations has sparked widespread concerns.

“It’s contemptuous of Canadian citizenry to unveil a program in which we’ve had essentially no input,” said Micheal Vonn, policy director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

“This process has really been conducted behind closed doors. We’ve had no white papers, no reports — nothing that we could point to to say, ‘Here are the pros and cons, here are the drawbacks, here are the things we are considering,’ ” she said.

Vonn said the call for comment by Foreign Affairs earlier this year was not a real consultation, because it was based on the loosely worded framework agreement for a border overhaul signed by Harper and Obama in February — not the actual pact negotiated in the months since by officials from Ottawa and Washington.

Still, Foreign Affairs’ consultation exercise drew 1,000 individual responses, nearly half from Canadians who opposed further integration of cross-border law enforcement. Exchanging more personal data across the border also worried individuals who responded to the proposed Canada-U.S. deal.

“Their submissions generally questioned the need to share more information, and they sought assurance that any information sharing would be governed by Canadian privacy laws and that practices and procedures would respect the due process of law and Canada’s civil liberties,” according to a summary of the submissions compiled by Foreign Affairs.

These fears have been underscored by the federal privacy commissioner’s office, which told Foreign Affairs “the experiences of many Canadians in recent years at border crossings and airports highlight ongoing concerns over the protection of privacy rights while travelling.”

This has ranged from increased instances of individuals being delayed, detained or denied entry to the United States to “the tragic rendition of a Canadian citizen to torture in Syria,” the commission said, in a reference to Maher Arar. The Syrian-born Canadian citizen was held and tortured in Syria after being detained and sent there in 2002 by U.S. authorities. “Maher Arar, despite having been cleared of any wrongdoing in Canada, remains on the U.S. no fly list to this day,” the commission said in its June submission.

Assistant privacy commissioner Chantal Bernier said it’s crucial that the agreement include measures that give Canadians a recourse to challenge or correct personal information in border data bases that they believe to be erroneous.

“In any agreement, Canadian privacy protections and practices need to be protected,” Bernier added. “For instance, if there is a lower standard or higher standard of privacy at play, the higher standard has to win out. And in general, our sovereignty needs protection as this unfolds.”

Another question, she said, is whether the U.S. gives as high a priority to protecting personal information as Canada, which has a privacy watchdog reporting directly to Parliament. “The United States does not have a privacy commissioner,” she noted in an interview.

Stuart Trew, trade campaigner with the Ottawa-based Council of Canadians, said further integration of Canada and U.S. police operations is worrisome at a time when Canadians are still waiting for the establishment of recommended controls on information-sharing by Canadian police and intelligence agencies.

“The mechanism for holding the U.S. agents accountable is vague,” he said of the joint policing project included in the border deal. “It’s difficult to know how you would file a complaint, for example, against a U.S. agent and whether there is any accountability in that respect.”

Government officials point out that the joint policing plan will be modelled after the Shiprider cross-border marine policing plan, which requires a Canadian officer to be in charge when the team of mixed U.S. and Canadian police are operating in Canada, and vice-versa on the American side.

“The Prime Minister and the president did say that, of course, even though we would be cooperating in certain areas, our respective jurisdictions and laws would apply, whether that’s our law here, the Charter, etc., or Canada’s privacy rules,” said Andrew MacDougall, a spokesperson for Harper. “Each country would respect its standards on that front. You can look for greater cooperation while respecting our own national laws and standards.”

Besides security, the agreement expected to be announced in Washington on Dec. 7 will cover a wide range of measures on border infrastructure, harmonized product standards, intelligence-gathering and commercial transport.

In a major step to ease border congestion, U.S. officials say next week’s deal will authorize pilot projects in the Ontario cities of Sarnia and Fort Erie for pre-screening of cargo before it reaches nearby U.S. customs facilities. By inspecting shipments away from the border, officials hope that most of the pre-cleared trucks could move quickly through customs when crossing into the U.S.

The agreement is also expected to earmark $1 billion for investment in improved border posts, call for harmonized information requirements on both sides of the border and improve trusted travelers programs such as NEXUS.

Canada and Mexico to Join U.S. in NAFTA of the Pacific

'U.S.: Canada, Mexico open to Pacific trade zone
(North American Union)'

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-11-13/us-canada-mexic...

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) – A U.S.-backed initiative to forge a Pacific free trade bloc got a big boost Sunday when leaders of Canada and Mexico said their countries are interested in joining.

The news was a coup for President Obama, who had made progress on the pact one of his top priorities for the annual summit of Asia-Pacific leaders being held in his home state of Hawaii. It comes after Japan, the world's third-biggest economy, said it would join the nine nations already involved in talks on what has been dubbed the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

L’ALÉNA ou Accord de libre-échange nord-américain (en anglais, North American Free Trade Agreement abrégé en NAFTA, en espagnol TLCAN: Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte) est un traité, entré en vigueur le 1^er janvier 1994, qui créé une zone de libre-échange entre les États-Unis, le Canada et le Mexique.

"NAFTA of the Pacific" and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Washington's Hidden Agenda is to Isolate and Subordinate China

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27928

by Dana Gabriel

The leaders of the nine countries that are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) met at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hawaii and agreed on the broad outlines of a free trade agreement. The current members include the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Peru and Chile.

Following the APEC forum, President Barack Obama held a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Originally, it was scheduled to be a North American Leaders Summit, but Mexican President Felipe Calderon could not attend...

The decision by Japan to begin consultations with TPP countries, followed by the news that Canada and Mexico are also seeking to join negotiations, has given the trade agreement a real boost.

The US aims to isolate and subordinate China in part through constructing a region-wide legal regime that serves the interests of, and is enforceable by, the US and its corporations.” It is interesting to note that many of the current TPP partners, including new prospective members support U.S. foreign policy initiatives. This ties in nicely with the Obama administration’s plans of expanding alliances and military bases in the Asia-Pacific region in an effort to contain China’s rising power.

Russie, Chine et USA:

Obama is provoking China into a trade war: Expert

It was billed as a new, bold President Obama who stood up to a rising China to reassert America`s power in the Asia-Pacific region. President Obama took a hard line at the recent Asian leaders summit in Bali, Indonesia, chastising China for not "playing by the rules".

But many in China do not view Obama`s recent assertiveness as a display of power but weakness. They view the President as desperate to find scapegoats to get votes in next year`s 2012 presidential election.

A rising chorus in China also thinks America is determined to keep China down, so they are pushing the government to respond forcefully. Obama runs the risk of precipitating a trade war or worse as a response.

The Federal government owes China one heck of a lot of money.

According to the Department of the Treasury/Federal Reserve Board, the United States government owes China $895.2 billion. This debt comes mainly in the form of U.S. Treasury Securities, or bonds. Read more: How much money does the U.S. government owe China? | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2108195#ixzz1f7DmC2VG

That's a lot of zeroes, any way you slice it. The US government cannot possibly pay this money back.

By goading China into not a trade war, but a "hot" war, IF the US is successful in such a military misadventure, that debt goes away.

"NAFTA of the Pacific" and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Washington's Hidden Agenda is to Isolate and Subordinate China

The US aims to isolate and subordinate China in part through constructing a region-wide legal regime that serves the interests of, and is enforceable by, the US and its corporations.” It is interesting to note that many of the current TPP partners, including new prospective members support U.S. foreign policy initiatives. This ties in nicely with the Obama administration’s plans of expanding alliances and military bases in the Asia-Pacific region in an effort to contain China’s rising power.

This is the overture to the "cold war" which may well precede a "hot war" against China, to attempt to get US debt to China nullified, which is huge right now, and the US Federal government doesn't have the means to pay it back.

China's navy delivers Thanksgiving spoiler

Right before the American Thanksgiving holiday, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) said it would conduct military exercises in the Western Pacific this month.

The announcement has aroused wide attention, speculation and concern in the region. [1] There is some suspicion that this is China's tit-for-tat response to US President Barack Obama's announcement earlier this month of strengthening the US military presence in Asia-Pacific, including an increase in the number of US military troops in Australia - which raised protests by the Chinese government.

Afghan lawmakers ask Russia for help ahead of US exit

A group of Afghan lawmakers has urged Russia and other countries to step up efforts to maintain stability and tackle drug production in the war-torn country, warning of disaster after the US troops pullout by the end of 2014.

"Drug production is a very big threat to the entire international community, and it's a shame for us," Ishaq Gilani, a lawmaker from Afghanistan's southeastern Paktia province, said in Moscow following a meeting with Russian lawmakers earlier this week.

The Afghan government, he said, "does not have an opportunity" to defeat drug trafficking on its own.

I seem to remember, under the Taliban, that opium production was almost completely eradicated.

It is no accident, or coincidence, that under US and NATO occupation, the drug lords (and the banks which launder drug money) have absolutely thrived.

Russia to send observers to Kosovo to protect Serbs

The First Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federation Council (the parliament’s upper house) Alexander Torshin says that Russia must closely watch the situation in Kosovo and help ethnic Serbs who are being persecuted by the Kosovo authorities.

Russia draws a line in the sand.

Done deal: Russia supplies cruise missiles to Syria

http://rt.com/politics/russia-syria-missiles-contract-crisis-865/

Fulfilling a contract signed in 2007, Russia has supplied Bastion coastal missile systems with Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria under a contract signed in 2007, a diplomatic source in Moscow has told Russian media.

Objecting to Western fears that the defensive weapons system will fall into the hands of terrorist groups, a diplomatic source says that Moscow has fulfilled its obligations as laid out in the five-year-old contract.

Russia delivers supersonic cruise missiles to Syria

Military source confirms delivery of missiles, according to an AFP report; second official says missiles will protect Syria from 'possible attack from the sea.'

Syria: Russia Rejects Arms Embargo, Repeat Of Libyan Scenario

Russia rejects any arms embargo imposed on Syria and Moscow would try to avoid a repeat of the Libyan scenario in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"Groups, including those formed by citizens who penetrated to Syria from other states, have been actively supplied with arms," he said. "That is why proposals to introduce a ban on any arms supplies to Syria are quite unfair."

"We hope our friends in the Arab League... will show maximum responsibility for what is going on in the region... and they will observe the same rules the Arab League worked out, while making relevant decisions," he added.

Russia is behaving like the geopolitically responsible adult in the room; I applaud their understanding of this situation, and what they are doing to prevent another "humanitarian invasion" from NATO and the US.

Turkey is ready to invade Syria

Turkey and its western allies are transferring the Libyan fighters whom they trained and armed to depose Muammar Gaddafi to Syria. Around 600 Libyan ‘volunteers’ have entered Syria. Daily Telegraph reported that secret meetings were held on Friday in Istanbul between the Turkish officials and the Syrian opposition representatives and the Libyan fighters. Large-scale infiltration of weapons from Turkey and Jordan have been going on for months to create civil-war conditions in Syria, but this is the first move to introduce ‘volunteers’.

Turkey is the cutout; this is another American invasion and conquest.

Secret Meeting. War on Syria: Head of Syrian National Council meets leader of NATO sponsored "Free Syrian Army"

The head of Syrian National Council has secretly met the leader of the so-called Free Syrian Army in Hatay to promise support in the fight against Damascus

A delegation headed by the president of the Syrian National Council (SNC) conducted a secret meeting with the highest ranking Syrian army defector and leader of the self-proclaimed Free Syrian Army on Nov. 28 in Turkey, according to reports.

Speaking to the Daily News on Oct. 9, Free Syrian Army Head Coronel Riad Al-Asaad called on the international community and the United Nations to provide armed help to Syria’s opposition movement so that it can finally remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.

The situation in Syria looks as though it is about to devolve into a faux "civil war", courtesy of a lot of outside "freedom fighters" (read: hired mercs).

It is clearly apparent that NATO is using its cutouts , such as the "Free Syrian Army", and the Libyan "National Transitional Council" to achieve their aims here, while maintaining a public stance of plausible deniability as the instigator.

However, that stance is absolutely not working, because the whole world knows that NATO is behind these actions.

Bomb voyage: 600 Libyans ‘already fighting in Syria

The Libyan government apparently wants to share its successful experience of overthrowing the Gaddafi regime with like-minded Syrians. It has sent 600 of its troops to support local militants against the Assad regime, according to media reports.

The fighters have joined the Free Syria Army, the militant group carrying out attacks on government forces in Syria, reports the Egyptian news website Al-Ray Al-Arabi citing its sources. The report says the troops entered Syria through Turkish territory.

The alleged incursion happened with the consent of the chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) Mustafa Abdul Jalil. The NTC allegedly welcomed volunteers to join the surge.

If these were really Libyan "freedom fighters", which would they care what is going on in Syria?!?

These are not rebels; either in Libya or in Syria: they are mercenaries.

Given how many outside covert resources Libyan rebels had before Ghaddafi fell, this appears to be an attempt to mask yet another NATO operation, for which NATO can claim plausible deniability. The Libyan rebels could not possibly overthrown Ghaddafi without extensive NATO and US assistance.

Russia has a naval base at Tarsus Syria, and has provided advanced air defense systems to Syria, Russia is said to have sent warships to deliver an advanced air defense system to Syria. Arab diplomatic sources said the Russian Navy arrived in the Syrian port of Tartous in late November and brought weapons and supplies to the regime of President Bashar Assad.but this article makes no mention of the NATO air cover which will be necessary for such a military tactic to succeed.

Al-Qaeda Terrorists Airlifted From Libya to Aid Syrian Opposition

The same Al-Qaeda terrorists who fought U.S. troops in Iraq and helped NATO overthrow Colonel Gaddafi are now being airlifted into Syria to aid rebels there in toppling President Bashar al-Assad.

Libyan RebelLibya’s transitional ruling authority has agreed to send weapons and fighters over to Syria to help the Free Syrian Army fight government forces.

“There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria,” a Libyan source told the London Telegraph, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see.”

Millions Gather in Syria's Squares to Express Condemnation of Arab League Decisions and Reject Foreign Interference

Rival Militias in Libya Wage Turf Battles, Defy Interim Government

Rival militias about 10 miles west of Libya’s capital clashed violently over the weekend, ending with the death of one local official and the destruction of a militia base to rubble.

Libya’s new government has still not been able to assert control over the country, as armed gangs and militias – formerly America’s freedom fighters – defiantly wage turf wars and destabilize the new interim government a mere two months after Mummar Gadhafi’s death.

So, "progress" in Libya now translates as a true civil war?!?

The US Is Sending 4 Of These State Of The Art Destroyers To Join The Contested European Missile Shield

http://www.businessinsider.com/european-missile-shield-6th-fleet-2011-12

Despite chest-pounding Russian protests, the US is moving ahead with plans to install a missile defense shield to protect NATO European territory, and has committed four of its 60 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to sit off the coast of Spain.

Geoff Ziezulewicz of Stars and Stripes reports that the ships will deploy to the 6th fleet in Rota, and bring with them a full Lockheed Martin Aegis combat system with a long list of heavy ordnance and a "detect to kill" radar array.

The radar system, and the ability to send missiles to destroy incoming ballistic missiles, is what the Russians are so upset about.

While the "misery index" here at home is at an unprecedented high, perhaps even more desperate than that of the Great Depression of the 30s, and the Federal government is broke beyond belief, it appears that the only thing those in the bowels of power in DC can think to do is provoke Russia and China militarily, potentially triggering a world war.

This is desperation on the cusp of madness, on the part of US leadership.

Russia To Discuss Missile Shield With Iran, China

Russia has announced plans to pursue talks with Iran and China about a global missile shield.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has told his country’s armed forces to consider possible measures to counter NATO and U.S. missile shields.

Russia has announced that if the U.S. and NATO insist on continuing their missile shield plans despite Russian opposition, it will aim its missiles at European missile shields.

Memo from Russia to the US Pentagon: checkmate!

Russia activates missile early warning radar system

Russia has turned on a new incoming missile early warning system in its westernmost region in response to US plans for a missile shield in Europe.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the system to be activated on a visit to the radar unit in Kaliningrad, a Baltic region bordering EU countries.

The unit is equipped with the new Voronezh-DM radar system.

Mr Medvedev has warned Russian missiles could be deployed on the EU's borders if the shield is installed.

I would not describe this as "...pre-election rhetoric.", but, unfortunately, a thoughtful response to the US putting its missile shield so close to Russia's own back yard

Missiles that can penetrate any defense - Yars systems on alert

Yars mobile systems carrying RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles were recently put on combat duty with the Teikovo Missile Division in central Russia.

This "Yars" deployment is a deterrent move.

But the RS-24 is an offensive missile with a tested accurate range of 3600 miles, and deploys the Russian maneuverable MIRV which renders the US ballistic missile defense system obsolete before it even finishes development.

What is very troubling is, what does the Russian government believe will be happening in the near term which has caused this deployment at this time?!?

US faces Russian threat to cut access to Afghanistan

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-faces-russian-threat-to-cut-access-to-afghanistan/story-e6frg6so-1226210602851

RUSSIA has threatened to cut off the only alternative US and NATO supply route into Afghanistan, raising the possibility that 130,000 coalition troops, including Australians, could be left isolated.

If Russia follows through on this threat, coupled with Pakistan's shut-down of access to NATO supply lines, the only way to get materials and personnel into Afghanistan will be from the air, and that will be a very pricey endeavor.

Russia threatens to block NATO routes

Russia has threatened to block NATO's supply routes to Afghanistan, should the Western military alliance continue to disregard Moscow's concerns about the US-led defense shield for Europe, a report says.

Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitri Rogozin warned that Moscow will review its cooperation with the Western military alliance on Afghanistan if the NATO fails to address Russia's objections, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Russian arms in US backyard: Back in Cuba

Russia has launched a military partnership project with its Cold War ally Cuba, amid rising tensions over US plans to deploy an anti-missile system in Europe.

Russian contractors are to supply production equipment for manufacturing 6.52-mm rifle rounds, Kommersant daily reports. Cuban arms plant called Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara will also receive a license and technology for recycling used ammo.

Notice that no where in this article did the words "nuclear weapons" come up.

This is minor, and nothing for the US Federal government to get exercised about. But that is no guarantee that it won't over this deal.

NATO to Withdraw 40,000 Troops Next Year, But War is Not Over

NATO will reduce its troop levels in Afghanistan by 40,000 by the end of 2012, according to the Pentagon, as the overall military presence in the country begins to decrease.

But observers should not be fooled into believing the Obama administration’s 2014 date of full withdrawal from Afghanistan. The U.S. plan has been to maintain a military presence there for the foreseeable future, with numerous officials recognizing considerable troop levels beyond 2014.

In a recent talk at the Council on Foreign Relations, under secretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense Michèle Flournoy, explained that “2014 is not a withdrawal date—it’s an inflection point.”

Translation: the US is NEVER leaving Afghanistan, because there is no possible military metric by which anything approximating "victory" can be judged to have happened, and the US military is too pig-headedly proud and ashamed to admit that this war cannot be won.

So, our brave men and women in the military will continue to get mowed down by IEDs, and innocent Afghanis will continue to get murdered in their sleep, all for no damned good reason save US pride and stupidity.

Taliban fighters get £100 a month to stop shooting our troops

Taliban fighters are being paid £100 a month to stop attacking British troops in Afghanistan, it was revealed yesterday.

Insurgents are given monthly payments and are allowed to keep their deadly AK47s and other rifles under the Nato-approved ‘reintegration’ programme, but have to hand over larger weaponry.

Pakistan:

First pictures of devastation wrought on Pakistani army border posts hit by Nato air strikes

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068376/First-pictures-devastation-wrought-Pakistani-army-border-posts-hit-Nato-air-strikes.html

These are the first pictures of the lethal devastation wrought on remote Pakistani army border posts by a strike by Nato helicopters gunships and warplanes last weekend.

The pictures, released by the Pakistani military yesterday, come as anger mounts in the country over the attacks, which killed 24 soldiers.

A senior Pakistani army officer has accused Nato of a deliberate, blatant act of aggression, hardening Pakistan's stance on an incident that could hurt efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

This handout photograph taken on November 26, 2011 and released by the Pakistani military yesterday shows the Pakistani border post struck by a cross-border Nato air strike in the Mohmand tribal district

Already furious politicians in Islamabad have responded by pulling their country out of an international conference in Germany next week on Afghanistan's future.

They have also cut vital supply lines through Pakistan to Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan, and ordered U.S. forces out of a base that had been used to launch drone attacks.

Pakistan: US Attack on Base Lasted ‘Almost Two Hours’ as Calls to Stop Were Ignored

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/south-asia/pakistan-nato-ignored-pleas-for-ceasefire

Questions continue to grow over the Friday night US attack on a Pakistani military base today, with new reports coming out of Pakistan saying that the air attacks against the base lasted for almost two hours.
The Army statement says that the base repeatedly broadcast calls for a ceasefire over the course of the two hours and that those calls were repeatedly ignored, with the attack, carried out by warplanes and helicopters, killing 24 soldiers.
Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani Army’s chief spokesman, termed the attack a “deliberate aggression” by NATO and angrily rejected the new claims that the Pakistani army had started it.
“There was no fire from this direction,” Abbas insisted, challenging the claims on the basis that there were zero claims of any casualties on NATO’s side and no evidence that the people at the base, who were sleeping at the time, did anything to provoke the strikes.

Furious at Latest U.S. Attack, Pakistan Shuts Down Resupply Routes to Afghanistan "Permanently"

NATO recently literally shot itself in the foot, imperiling the resupply of International Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan by shooting up two Pakistani border posts in a “hot pursuit’ raid.

Given that roughly 100 fuel tanker trucks along with 200 other trucks loaded with NATO supplies cross into Afghanistan each day from Pakistan, Pakistan’s closure of the border has ominous long-term consequences for the logistical resupply of ISAF forces, even as Pentagon officials downplay the issue and scramble for alternative resupply routes.

NATO supply stopped permanently: Malik

Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday said that the supply of NATO has not been suspended; rather, it has been stopped permanently.

Moreover, long queues of NATO supply tankers have been formed on the Torkham and Quetta-Chaman highways as Pakistan closed the crossing points for NATO supplies after helicopter attacks in Mohmand Agency on Saturday.

According to reports, NATO supply containers entering from Punjab were stopped at Nowshera and all clearance points were sealed. After the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Defence, all the routes for NATO supply have been closed for the supply vehicles.

I cannot believe that NATO did something so bone-headed as to have the Pakistani military pleading with then to stop the bombing, and refused to do so.

Saturday’s airstrikes lasted almost two hours and persisted even after Pakistani commanders pleaded with coalition forces to stop, the Pakistani army claimed Monday.

US military chief declines to apologise for airstrike deaths

General Martin Dempsey, the most senior figure in the US military has refused to apologise for an air strike at the weekend that killed 24 Pakistan soldiers.

In an interview General Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that relations between the US and Pakistan are at one of their lowest points he can remeber after a Nato strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

He said: "It's had its rocky moments in the past. This one certainly is more serious than any one I have been involved in and I have been working issues with Pakistan for the last 10 years."

White House refuses apology over Pakistan strike

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Thursday dismissed the notion of offering an apology to Pakistan over the NATO air strikes that killed 24 soldiers, insisting an inquiry was still ongoing as to how the men died...

Pakistan snubs US probe into lethal strikes

Islamabad has so far refused to take part in a US probe into air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, exacerbating fears Saturday of a prolonged US-Pakistani crisis as a result of the attack.

Pakistan was invited to cooperate in the probe into the November 26 strikes on the Afghan border, which enraged Islamabad and propelled US-Pakistani ties to their rockiest in years, but officials have declined to do so...

Pakistan military rejects NATO chief's regret on soldiers' killing, warns of 'grave consequences'

The Pakistani military on Monday rejected the regret expressed by the NATO chief for a cross-border air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and warned that the action could have "grave consequences".

Friendship on Fire: Pakistan done with US?

A furious Pakistan is making its anger abundantly clear, over the recent NATO air strike which killed 24 of its soldiers. It's now pulled completely out of a key security conference on Afghanistan's future next week. It also promised to permanently close the alliance's key military supply route through its territory.

Pakistan to Boycott Afghanistan Meeting Over Deadly NATO Raid

Pakistan said Tuesday it will boycott an upcoming meeting in Germany on the future of Afghanistan to protest the deadly attack by U.S.-led forces on its troops, widening the fallout from an incident that has sent ties between Washington and Islamabad into a tailspin.

Meanwhile, a top Pakistani army general called the incident Saturday that killed 24 troops on the Afghan-Pakistan border a "deliberate act of aggression" by NATO forces and said the military had not decided whether to take part in an American investigation into it.

Pakistani leadership understands completely that the NATO investigation of this incident will simply be a white-wash, with absolutely no one taking responsibility for having given the order for this attack, then refusing to stop it when Pakistani military pleaded with them for two hours to stop it.

Saturday’s airstrikes lasted almost two hours and persisted even after Pakistani commanders pleaded with coalition forces to stop, the Pakistani army claimed Monday.

The Coming War With Pakistan

BBC rewrites 10 years of history and declares Pakistan the new enemy.

Tony Cartalucci, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

BBC are propagandists whose lies have killed people. Their documentaries are made upon request by special interest groups whose narratives are sewn verbatim into what would otherwise look like a "documentary." With BBC's name attached, it is hoped, these tissues of lies are then able to gain traction and begin rewriting reality...

Al-Qaeda says it is holding U.S. hostage in Pakistan

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-12-01/pakistan-abducted-american/51549388/1?csp=34news

ISLAMABAD (AP) – Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri said the group is holding an American aid expert kidnapped three months ago in Pakistan.

Al-Zawahri said in a video message Thursday that Warren Weinstein would be released if the United States stopped airstrikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The video was posted on militant websites and released Thursday by SITE, a group that monitors militant activity.

Weinstein was abducted by armed men from his house in the eastern city of Lahore on Aug. 13.

Police and U.S. officials have not publicly said who they believe to be holding him.

Zawahiri

In case you weren't paying attention...

Members of the Moroccan terror group Salafi Jihadi fought for the CIA in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Dagestan, Bosnia and Kosovo

USS Cole Bomber Jamal al-Badawi fought for the CIA in Bosnia

Zacarias Moussaoui fought for the CIA in Chechnya

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed fought for the CIA in Afghanistan

Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman fought for the CIA in Afghanistan

Head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Ayman al Zawahiri, fought for the CIA in Bosnia

His brother Zaiman al-Zawahiri fought for the CIA in Kosovo

Abdullah Azzam, "one of the ideological founders of Hamas" fought for the CIA in Afghanistan

Do you get it yet? All those mean ol' Muslims you are supposed to be so afraid of that you will hurl your babies onto their spears are all working for the CIA!

The Real Ayman al-Zawahiri

Head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Ayman al Zawahiri, fought for the CIA in Bosnia.

This is the guy screaming "I have kidnapped an American, come and invade Pakistan if you dare, you schmucks ... er... um ... I mean, you INFIDELS!"

Pak General gives ok to Fire on NATO

According to the latest news feeds pouring in from Rawalpindi, the Pakistani Army Chief has suspended the regular chain-of-command system and all forward operating units have been ordered to retaliate in case of aggression from the eastern border with Afghanistan. The implementation of this order allows Pakistan Army units based at checkpoints along the Afghan border to retaliate in case of any NATO/US incursions without seeking permission from the military high command.

Pakistan orders troops to return fire if attacked on Afghan border

McClatchy Newspapers

Will Pakistan Bar US From Their Airspace?

The Pakistani government has already imposed some significant measures on the United States in response to Friday’s attack on a Mohmand Agency military base. Experts warn that more may be in the offing, particularly if there is not some sort of rapprochement from the American side.

“If there is another incident, or even a nasty drone attack, the air corridor could also go,” warned Simbal Khan, the director of a top Pakistani government-funded think tank.

Should such an act be taken, the question should be, will the US and NATO use this as the excuse to launch an all-out war against Pakistan, attempting to secure its nuclear weapons, and replacing the existing government with one more "pliant" to the West?

Were I a betting person, I would not bet against such a scenario, should Pakistan bar the US from its airspace.

Chinese Government Official: ‘US Threat To Pakistan Is Threat To China’

The Chinese military has staged a massive wargame exercise near Pakistan in response to a build-up of U.S. troops in the region as a top Chinese government official warned that any threat to Pakistan would be taken as a direct threat to China.
Chinese Government Official: US Threat To Pakistan Is Threat To China DF 15B missiles

Citing a report by China’s Central Television, Junshijia reports that an unnamed government official warned, “Any threat to Pakistan is a threat to China,” in response to increasing hostility directed towards Pakistan by both the US and NATO in the aftermath of a NATO bombing that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers last week.

Rejecting Apology, U.S. May Hasten End of Pakistan as Client

The course Obama has chosen is likely to further aggravate the anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan that has boiled over in response to the violation of Pakistani sovereignty and unprecedented number of deaths of Pakistani troops. U.S. diplomats in Pakistan and State Department officials are seriously concerned that the rejection of any acknowledgement of U.S. responsibility for nearly three weeks will push Pakistan further toward a potentially irreversible break in relations with the United States.

If the US government goes to war against Pakistan, (to destabilize it before potentially attacking Iran), it is looking at a war against China.

According to Pakistani diplomatic sources cited by the Times of India, China has “warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China.” This ultimatum was reportedly delivered at the May 9 China-US strategic dialogue and economic talks in Washington, where the Chinese delegation was led by Vice Prime Minister Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.1 Chinese warnings are implicitly backed up by that nation’s nuclear missiles, including an estimated 66 ICBMs, some capable of striking the United States, plus 118 intermediate-range missiles, 36 submarine-launched missiles, and numerous shorter-range systems.

One has to wonder of those in the bowels of power in DC think this is a good thing, in light of the fact that the US Federal government is absolutely unable to pay off their indebtedness to China.

Living here on this rock known as Oahu, it doesn't help me sleep at night, knowing that Hawaii is one of the places China can actually target, and hit!

NATO troops ordered not to approach Af-Pak zone

US led NATO troops in Afghanistan have been ordered not to approach the buffer zone on the Af-Pak border in order to avoid recurrence of last week's air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

An order in this regard has been issued by Gen John Allen, the Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the November 26 air strike, pending the detailed investigation into the incident announced by US Central Command (CENTCOM), Ivo Daalder, US Permanent Representative to NATO, said on Friday.

Vietnam-Style Exit: Russia Could Deliver Death Blow To NATO in Af-Pak War Theater

Maria Sultan, defence analyst, while talking to this correspondent said that if the Russians also cut the supply line of NATO then it will turn out to be a cold death for NATO troops. “They will literally be strangled in Afghanistan with 90,000 troops, and as they admit that they have reserves for three months, which actually means they have reserves for two months, then NATO will have to airlift the troops and during the airlift only 15 to 20 percent can get out alive out of the 90,000 troops”, Maria said.

This is about to get very nasty for NATO and the US, very quickly, particularly if Pakistan refuses to allow the US and NATO to use their air space.

Will Uncle Sam Go Postal in South Asia?

The US is now risking a military confrontation with old ally Pakistan that is both highly dangerous and unpredictable in the extreme.

Threatening war against Pakistan, a nation of 180 million with a tough military is the height of folly. Our forces have not faced a tough enemy ground force since Vietnam. Pakistan will be no cakewalk.

Pakistan controls most of the supply routes essential to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Most Pakistanis now consider the US a bigger enemy than old foe India.

Even crazier, Washington is making warlike threats against nuclear-armed Pakistan, a very close ally of China, an important nuclear power. So far, Beijing has been cautious yet firm in its support of old ally, Pakistan.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Just because a military confrontation against Pakistan would be one of the most completely, ham-fistedly, and insanely stupid things the US government could do right now is absolutely no guarantee that the US government won't do it.

Those in the bowels of power in DC understand that there is a major crash coming, and may be thinking that a war, any war, will "misdirect" the anger of the American people away from the lousy foreign and domestic policies which got this country into the mess it's in, and toward the new "enemy du jour", i.e., Pakistan.

I would like to assure them that such misdirection will be well neigh unto impossible at this point.

Pakistan floods: world ignoring humanitarian crisis

The world is ignoring a growing humanitarian crisis in Pakistan's Sindh province where a second year of catastrophic floods has forced up to two million to flee their homes, washed away vital crops and left millions at risk of disease, according to aid agencies and local political leaders.

An estimated 300 people have died in three months of torrential monsoon rains which have destroyed 400,000 homes, breached sewerage and freshwater canals and left two million people suffering from malaria, hepatitis and other sanitation-related diseases.

US Ambassador: Haqqani Network Tied to Pakistani Government

The U.S. ambassador to Islamabad said Saturday that the United States believes the Haqqani insurgent network is tied to the Pakistani government, a charge that could further raise tensions between Washington and Islamabad.

The secret US drone program is used to strike Pakistani territory unilaterally, but on Wednesday Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a veiled warning that hinted at a more open attack against Pakistan.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Notice that there is absolutely no proof whatsoever offered for the Ambassador's "belief" here.

And I have a very urgent memo to Pakistani President Zardari, and to the civilian and military leadership of Pakistan; you are being set up for a US military strike (or coup) against the whole of Pakistan right now.

American foreign policy can be erratic in the extreme; a country which is declared to be a friend one day can become an enemy the next. Unfortunately, it appears that Pakistan has the dubious distinction of being next on the US Government's "hit" parade - literally.

And don't believe, for one moment, that this cannot happen to Pakistan, in spite of all the "aid" money the US has given to you and your colleagues to look the other way while your countrymen get slaughtered in US drone attacks, which cannot help but create "collateral damage", which is the deaths of innocent civilians.

Right now, your country is ravaged with vicious flooding. A second year of catastrophic floods has forced up to two million to flee their homes, washed away vital crops and left millions at risk of disease, according to aid agencies and local political leaders.

What the US government would be doing , if conquering the Mideast on behalf of Israel were not the agenda, is getting staff and materials into Pakistan to provide for humanitarian relief to those who have been horrendously affected by this flooding.

But what is the US government doing right now?!? Accusing the Pakistani government of having ties to the Haqqani network, and threatening Pakistan with sanctions over the Iran gas deal.
The United States has renewed its opposition to the multi-billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, warning that Islamabad’s continuous pursuit of the plan may invoke US sanctions.

Gilani asks Karzai to dump US and ally with China

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has asked Afghan President Hamid Karzai to dump United States and instead align with China for help in striking a peace deal with Taliban and rebuilding the economy, a media report has claimed."The pitch was made at an April 16 meeting in Kabul by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who bluntly told Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the Americans had failed them both," the Wall Street Journal reported quoting senior Afghan officials familiar with the meeting.

Webmaster's Commentary:

It will be very interesting to see if Karzai decides to listen to Gilani's advice, and how that will effect the future of this conflict.

Given how the Chinese government's investments in Libya have been destroyed by the US's and Europe's attack there, I am sure that, were Karzai to throw in his lot with China, the Chinese government would be most happy to oblige!

Talk about potential unintended consequences of the US and NATO's failures in Afghanistan: this scenario would be the "Mother of all unintended Consequences!" in Afghanistan

US, Pakistan Near Open War; Chinese Ultimatum Warns Washington Against Attack

Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D
Tarpley.net

China has officially put the United States on notice that Washington’s planned attack on Pakistan will be interpreted as an act of aggression against Beijing. This blunt warning represents the first known strategic ultimatum received by the United States in half a century, going back to Soviet warnings during the Berlin crisis of 1958-1961, and indicates the grave danger of general war growing out of the US-Pakistan confrontation.

“Any Attack on Pakistan Would be Construed as an Attack on China”

Responding to reports that China has asked the US to respect Pakistan’s sovereignty in the aftermath of the Bin Laden operation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu used a May 19 press briefing to state Beijing’s categorical demand that the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan must be respected.” According to Pakistani diplomatic sources cited by the Times of India, China has “warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China.”

This ultimatum was reportedly delivered at the May 9 China-US strategic dialogue and economic talks in Washington, where the Chinese delegation was led by Vice Prime Minister Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.¹ Chinese warnings are implicitly backed up by that nation’s nuclear missiles, including an estimated 66 ICBMs, some capable of striking the United States, plus 118 intermediate-range missiles, 36 submarine-launched missiles, and numerous shorter-range systems.

Support from China is seen by regional observers as critically important for Pakistan, which is otherwise caught in a pincers between the US and India: “If US and Indian pressure continues, Pakistan can say ‘China is behind us. Don’t think we are isolated, we have a potential superpower with us,’” Talat Masood, a political analyst and retired Pakistani general, told AFP.²

The Chinese ultimatum came during the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani in Beijing, during which the host government announced the transfer of 50 state-of-the-art JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, immediately and without cost.³ Before his departure, Gilani had stressed the importance of the Pakistan-China alliance, proclaiming: “We are proud to have China as our best and most trusted friend. And China will always find Pakistan standing beside it at all times….When we speak of this friendship as being taller than the Himalayas and deeper than the oceans it truly captures the essence of our relationship.”⁴ These remarks were greeted by whining from US spokesmen, including Idaho Republican Senator Risch.

C.I.A. Director Warns Pakistan on Collusion With Militants

Leon E. Panetta, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, confronted Pakistani intelligence officials face to face with what the United States believes is evidence of collusion between Pakistani security officials and militants staging attacks in Afghanistan, an American counterterrorism official said Saturday.

The official said Mr. Panetta was compelled to confront General Pasha after the C.I.A. alerted the Pakistanis about the existence of the bomb-making facilities several weeks ago and asked them to raid the locations. But when the Pakistani Army showed up, the militants were gone, making the C.I.A. suspicious that the militants had warning from someone on the Pakistani side.

Memo to CIA Director (and SecDef in Waiting) Panetta; were I you, sir, I would tread very carefully with any confrontation with the ISI or any other Pakistani military or civilian entity right now.

If the alleged "hit" on Bin Laden, done to bolster Obama's popularity here at home, was supposed to cause the Pakistani civilian and military leadership to "knuckle under" and do the US's bidding in terms of more attacks in the tribal areas, this tactic appears to have had the absolute opposite effect, bringing with it, apparently, the mother of all unintended consequences.

And as you know, this act had Pakistani Prime Minister Zardari moving just as quickly as he could to the Chinese government for all kinds of economic and military help. He immediately received 50 warplanes, tons of cooperation agreements, and China will be managing the Pakistani deep water port of Gwadar in Balochistan when the current management contract with Singapore has ended.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/2011527104451497291.html

But one critical and key point from these discussions was a promise from the Chinese leadership that any attack against Pakistan's sovereign territory would be construed as an attack against China.

http://joe-burd.newsvine.com/_news/2011/05/25/6716554-china-any-attack-on-pakistan-would-be-construed-as-an-attack-on-china-major-conflict-could-start-between-us-and-pakistan

I do not believe that the Chinese government makes such statements lightly, nor should CIA Director Panetta.

The other issue is the hard fact that most goods headed for Afghanistan have to come through Pakistan; if Pakistan closes their borders to US and NATO convoys, this puts our troops in Afghanistan in a world of hurt, as there are really no other reasonable alternative routes in the region with which to make movement of goods happen.

All the military options here right now are pretty lousy (including a potential US war against a nuclear-armed China over Pakistan), and any formal accusations against Pakistan's ISI are not going to make the situation any better.

Panetta may well have just added fuel to the fire of a an impending and incendiary geopolitical divorce between the US and Pakistan; both the timing and the accusations raised here are questionable, if Panetta was really attempting to ratchet down the tension, rather than exacerbate it.

Even with very serious Chinese warnings against US/NATO attacks against Pakistan, it appears that the US corporate news is attempting to "groom" the American public with a rationale for why a US/NATO invasion of Pakistan is necessary, and, in fact, inevitable, in order to "save it from itself",

Leon Panetta will replace Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense on 1 July 2011: that's 19 days from today, and right before the 4th of July weekend.

Timing with anything the US Federal Government does is never accidental.

Unauthorized US strike kills 6 in Pakistan

A non-UN-sanctioned US drone strike has killed at least six people and wounded several others in Pakistan's troubled northwestern tribal region.

Pakistani intelligence officials say the attack took place near Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district.

The causalities come after an American drone fired at least two missiles at a vehicle in the troubled region.

Sources say the identity of those killed in the attack was not immediately known.

The United States frequently carries out such attacks on Pakistan's tribal areas.

China has cautioned the US to "respect Pakistan's sovereignty".

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?239475

Additionally, China is giving Pakistan 50 fighter jets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/asia/20pakistan.html?_r=3

The US military is acting with impunity on these non-UN sponsored sorties, and needs to consider the potential unintended consequences of such strikes.

One has to wonder if those in the bowels of power DC are actually contemplating war with China, should China actually act in defense of Pakistan.

This is a really, really bad idea.

Obama: US would raid Pakistan again

U.S. President Barack Obama said he would order another raid into Pakistan in order to kill or capture high-ranking terrorists.

Obama said in an interview with the BBC that his job was to maintain the security of the United States and he could not allow al-Qaeda to plot attacks in relative safety. UPI

We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people. We can't allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action." BBC

Memo to President Obama: the world understands that the alleged "hit" on Bin Laden on 2 May of this year was simply a lousily slapped-together fantasy, conjured to give you some kind of positive bump in the polls, because you cannot run in 2012 on either the economy, or the endless wars you have embraced, all of which, at this point, are going catastrophically badly.

I would like to be able to make it clear to you that being "...very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan..." does not include the deaths of innocent non-combatants via US drone strikes.

China has recently demanded that the US respect the sovereignty of Pakistan, given Pakistan 50 jets for free, and stated very clearly that any new attack against Pakistan in any form will be construed as an attack against China.

I don't think the Chinese are bluffing here, particularly in light of the fact of how important the issue of "face" is in Asian cultures. If Chinese government leadership is making these statements, they will have to follow through.

And I would like to remind you that were China to dump US dollar holdings, that alone could trigger the collapse of the US government without the Chinese even firing one shot.

Exultant Gates, Mullen Declare Pakistan ‘Humiliated’ in Raid

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen held a news conference today related to Pakistan. Though the order of the day was primarily making accusations about the Pakistani government (which Gates conceded were “pure supposition on our part”), the issue inevitably turned to the two top US defense officials triumphantly cheering the bin Laden raid and mocking Pakistan’s inability to do anything about it.

“If I were in Pakistani shoes, I would say I’ve already paid a price. I’ve been humiliated. I’ve been shown that the Americans can come in here and do this with impunity,” Gates declared when asked about the prospect of punishing Pakistan for the discovery of bin Laden.

Memo to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen; crowing about this alleged "raid" in a press conference is an expression of hubris which is beyond belief.

One has to wonder if this public bravado has been engineered to cause the Pakistani military to counter with some military confrontation against the US as the "justification" for the US to attack Pakistan and contain its nuclear missiles.

Phone links bin Laden and Pakistani agency

The mobile phone of Osama bin Laden's trusted courier, recovered in the raid that killed both men in Pakistan last month, contained contacts to a militant group that is a long-time asset of Pakistan's intelligence agency, senior US officials say.

This story on the alleged "Bin Laden hit" is completely unsourced. Note that neither the name of this courier, nor the names of the US officials making these accusations actually occur anywhere in this article. It simply links to the name of an organization, Harakat-ul-Mujahideen which is alleged to be an asset of Pakistan's intelligence agency.

This appears to be yet another attempt to ratchet up US pressure on the Pakistani government and military to "jump when they say jump"; however,the US government needs to tread very softly here.

Pakistan is the ground gateway for any and almost all goods and military traveling to Afghanistan. Should the Pakistani government decide to close all routes to Afghanistan, there is no really practical way to accomplish delivery of goods and military personnel here.

Clinton ‘Warns’ Pakistan, Demands Action Against ‘List’ of Targets

Two weeks ago it was Admiral Mullen. Last week it was Sen. Kerry (D – MA). This weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried her hands at “improving” the increasingly strained relationship with Pakistan. Once again, it has ended the same.

Instead of reconciliation, Secretary Clinton’s visit was full of warnings and demands, She noted that US and Pakistani relations are at a “critical point,” then proceeded to demand “decisive steps” from the Zardari government.

Memo to Secretary of State Clinton; international diplomacy is a nuanced art; not a verbal trebuchet or battering ram directed at the people from whom you desperately need cooperation.

Zardari may well take these demands you have made as a profound insult, and decide to shut down all the ground and air routes from Pakistan into Afghanistan; he may well also end all military cooperation with the US

What then, Madame Secretary?!?

Also, China's government has recently given the Pakistani government 50 fighter jets, and officials have made statements indicating that any attack on Pakistani sovereign territory would be construed as an attack against China.

Please assure the American people that you and your colleagues in the bowels of power in DC have conjured something something less insane than a war with China over Pakistan. And please remember; if China dumps its dollar holdings as a form of asymmetrical warfare, the entire US economy may well collapse.

US military troop strength is almost stretched beyond its limit; we have offshored our manufacturing to the point where the US cannot replace critically needed items in a long confrontation; and no country or financial institution with its leadership in their right mind would loan the US the money for such an undertaking.

A war with China would be a very, very bad idea.

Pak shuts 3 US 'intelligence fusion' cells

Pakistan has closed three US military intelligence liaison centers in Quetta and Peshawar, a US newspaper reported.

The decision has not affected the CIA's ability to launch missiles from drone aircraft in northwest Pakistan.

Memo to both Leon Panetta, current head of the CIA, and General Petraeus, tipped to take over the CIA: gentlemen, you can not be unaware of official Chinese government statements that any attack against sovereign Pakistani territory will be construed as an attack against China.

At this very difficult juncture in the US's relationships with civilian and military leadership in Pakistan, do you really believe that going ahead with these drone attacks, which generally kill scores of innocent people, is a really wise and prudent course of action right now?!?

And can you assure the American people that you are not looking at a war with China, using their potential defense of Pakistan against the US, as a justification for such a war?!?

Thousands protest against US drone attacks in Pakistan

Thousands demonstrated in Karachi on Sunday to demand an immediate end to US missile strikes in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas and urge the blocking of NATO supplies passing through the country.

Activists from the Tehreek-e-Insaf ( Movement for Justice) continued a two-day sit-in outside the city's Arabian Sea port, urging the government to end its cooperation with Washington's "war on terror".

"It is not Pakistan's war, this is America's war. This war has killed thousands of innocent Pakistanis, women and children," the group's leader and former cricketer Imran Khan told the gathering of around 7,000 supporters.

China has just demanded that the US respect Pakistani sovereignty, given Pakistan 50 fighting jets, and has said, in essence, that any further attack against Pakistan would be construed as an attack against China.

I would like to remind those in the bowels of power in DC that should China dump its dollar holdings very quickly in retaliation for any future drone attacks against Pakistan, that alone may well bring down the US Federal government without China having fired a single shot.

Pakistan says wants China to build naval base

Pakistan said on Saturday it wanted China to build it a naval base, in the latest sign of moves to strengthen ties with Beijing as relations with Washington falter.

The announcement from Pakistan's defence minister came a day after Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani returned from a four-day visit to China, Islamabad's biggest arms supplier.

"We would be ... grateful to the Chinese government if a naval base is ... constructed at the site of Gwadar for Pakistan," defence minister Ahmad Mukhtar said is a statement, referring to a deep-water port in Pakistan's southwest.

It appears that after the US refused to stop the drone bombing attacks, (coupled with alleged hit on Bin Laden earlier this month), Pakistan's leadership is looking to build bridges with countries amenable to trade, rather than to destruction.

The US government needs to be very careful about how it handles the relationship with Pakistan; we could well see a point where the Pakistani leadership decides that no amount of money can get them to continue to look away while innocent civilians are killed routinely by American forces.

Pakistan can and will shoot down US drones

Pakistan has the capacity and the technology to shoot down American drones.Pakistan mulls downing US drones. There has been tremendous pressure on the obsequious PPPP Government to ask the US to halt the attacks. There are even some rumors that the Zardari Government has a “wink wink nod nod” agreement with the US which allows the CIA drones to bomb “terrorists” in Pakistan. During the Clinton era at the height of the Monica Lewisnky sex scandal, President Clinton tried to draw the attention away from the his personal failings and fired a few of cruise missiles at All of them missed their stated targets. However a couple did not explode. These Cruise missiles were picked up by the Pakistanis and reversed engineered.

Drone to be struck down on orders: Air Chief

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman Friday said that drones entering Pakistani air space would be struck down if such orders were issued (to the Pakistan Air Force), Geo News reported.

US to Reduce Military Forces in Pakistan

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan today confirmed that the US has received an official demand from the Pakistani government to reduce the number of soldiers inside Pakistan, and that the US intends to comply with the call.

What else could the US do, in light of the fact that most of the US supplies for Afghanistan have to come through Pakistan?

Of course, what will be very interesting to watch will be if the US attacks Pakistan inside its sovereign territory, in light of the fact that Chinese officials have said that any attack against Pakistan will be construed as an attack against China.

Will repeat covert raid if al Qaeda leaders found in Pakistan: Obama

LONDON: US President Barack Obama said that they will proceed with another unilateral covert military operation if intelligence was acquired of any other al Qaeda or Taliban leaders’ presence in Pakistan, DawnNews reported.

Speaking during an interview with the BBC, Obama said that he respected Pakistan’s sovereignty but the US would not allow terrorist plots to succeed. He stated that his mission was to ensure US security at any cost, and that they could not ignore terrorists plotting to murder US citizens or their allies.

Pakistan Switches Sides, Expanding Arms Allegiance With China and Leaving U.S. Behind

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is beefing up its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles by embracing China as its new strategic arms partner and backing away from the U.S., analysts have told Fox News.

Pakistan earlier this month test-fired a nuclear-capable missile from an undisclosed location – the second in a month of try-outs for its short-range surface-to-surface Hataf 2 class rocket, co-developed with the Chinese. It was the latest in a series of arms collaborations between the two nations, which view their strategic partnership as a counterweight to a boldly confident India, which has American support.

US cable: Gulf countries fund Pakistani militancy

Donors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are sending an estimated $100 million annually to radical Islamic schools in Pakistan that back militancy, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable published Sunday.

Said cable leaked through Israel's front operation Wikileaks.

I did warn all of you in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates etc. etc. etc. that Israel and its puppet the United States were not going to stop with Afghanistan. I did warn all of you in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates etc. etc. etc. that Israel and its puppet the United States were not going to stop with Iraq. I did warn all of you in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates etc. etc. etc. that Israel and its puppet the United States were not going to stop with Yemen. I am warning all of you in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates etc. etc. etc. that Israel and its puppet the United States are not going to stop with Pakistan. I am warning all of you in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates etc. etc. etc. that Israel and its puppet the United States are not going to stop with Iran.

Israel's goal is for all the world between the Nile and the Euphrates to be the new Israel, paid for with the blood of their American (and eventual global) slaves.

The longer you pretend that by being nice and polite to Israel than yo can escape doom, the closer to that doom you come.

Witness: Pakistani intel officer ordered attack on Mumbai Jews

An officer in Pakistan’s intelligence service chose a Jewish center as a target for the 2008 Mumbai attacks and then helped launch a new plot against Denmark, according to the star witness in a terror trial in Chicago.

In his second day of testimony, David Coleman Headley, a confessed Pakistani-American terrorist, revealed more details about close ties between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and the Lashkar-i-Taiba terror group, which allegedly carried out the attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

David Coleman Headley was convicted for playing a part in the horrendous attacks in India in March of 2010.

The timing of this revelation is interesting, because it appears that the US is doing all it can, after the alleged "hit" on Ben Laden earlier this month in Pakistan to demonise both Pakistan and Pakistan's ISI (Pakistan's security services).

To what end?!? Perhaps groom American public opinion toward some kind of "punishment" for Pakistan (as if the drone hits have not been punishment enough), or - because China has just stated that any attack against Pakistan will be construed as an attack against China - some other kind of asymmetric destabilization,or finding a way of putting both the civilian and military leadership into more "US-friendly hands" after Pakistan's next election cycle.

At this point, I would almost bet on the second scenario.

'Blood Money' Frees CIA Contractor In Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan -- An American CIA contractor detained on suspicion of murder was released on Wednesday after families of the two Pakistanis he killed were given "blood money" and the case was dropped, Pakistani officials said.

The killings and detention of Raymond Allen Davis had strained ties between Pakistan and the United States and added to anti-America sentiment.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said Davis was charged with murder Wednesday but then immediately pardoned by the families of the victims in exchange for compensation or "blood money", as is permitted under Pakistani law. Davis was arrested on Jan. 27 after killing two Pakistanis in what he said was self-defense.

Raja Muhammad Irshad, a laywer for the families, said 19 male and female relatives appeared in court to accept the $2.34 million.

Pakistan - Chemical being used in drone attacks: Ajmal Khan

http://uruknet.com/?p=m79535&hd=&size=1&l=e

ISLAMABAD, July 13, 2011 (APP): Senior Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League(Q) Ajmal Khan Wazir on Wednesday said that lethal chemicals were being used in drone attacks resulting in outbreak of different diseases in Waziristan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).Addressing a press conference at National Press Club, flanked by local leadership of PML-Q from Waziristan, he said it was sheer violation of human rights as well as international laws and conventions, adding that the drone attacks also undermining country’s sovereignty.

He called upon the Pakistan government, USA, United Nations and international community to play their due role in bringing an end to the drone attacks inside Pakistan.

US: No Way to Seal Afghan Border With Pakistan

Speaking to the media today, a top US military commander in charge of securing the vast, mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan admitted that there was literally no way for the US to actually accomplish this.

The commander, Col. Viet Luong, insisted that it would require more resources than the force has at its disposal to secure the border and that it would require far more cooperation from the tribes inside Pakistan than they have ever been able to secure.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This does not bode well for the ultimate construction of the Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan pipeline, scheduled to begin construction in 2012, and to be completed in 2014 (one of the two real reasons the US is in Afghanistan at all).

Remember SecDef Gates making that observation that "The US will be in Afghanistan until at least 2014?!?

Now, you know why.

Invading Pakistan? The Worst Idea Yet

Two good reporters for the New York Times, Mark Maqzzetti and Dexter Filkins, write today that the United States is preparing for send troops across the border into Pakistan in pursuit of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and any other bad guys they can find. If there’s a worse idea, I don't know what it is.

Webmaster's Commentary:

The US and NATO right now appear to be doing their level best to blame Pakistan for their collective, nearly decade-long failure in Afghanistan.

The US can move from friend to enemy against any foreign nation with lightning speed, if it believes that such a move, however erratic it might seem, will meet their geopolitical objectives.

This may well be happening now in the case of Pakistan. We may potentially be looking at an abrupt, bitter ending of a political and military alliance with Pakistan which suddenly transforms into a war against Pakistan.

As completely insane as such a move might seem, were I a betting human being, I would not bet against it; there are too many careers on the line over the Afghanistan debacle, and too many people who feel that "punishing Pakistan" with such an action would deflect blame away from their own catastrophic failure of vision which lead them to believe that a war in Afghanistan was militarily winnable.

Russia Declines NATO Call for Afghan Supply Route

Though the Pakistan border has reopened to NATO traffic, the need to rely on Pakistan for some 80% of the Afghan War’s supplies has been problematic, to say the least, and the alliance has been looking elsewhere for routes to the landlocked country.

But they won’t find one in Russia, which today announced that it had formally denied NATO permission to transport military supplies through its country.

Bhutto assassination linked to US-run Pakistani terrorist group

Based on intelligence sources, WMR previously reported a link between the Dick Cheney-Pentagon Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) assassination team and the the assassination in December 2007 of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. WMR has now obtained from knowledgeable Pakistani sources the logistical network behind the killing of Bhutto.

Pentagon And NATO Apply Afghanistan-Pakistan War Model To Africa

Air strikes, drone and cruise missile attacks, special forces operations, helicopter gunship raids, counterinsurgency campaigns, multinational armed interventions, cluster bomb and depleted uranium weapons use, and the entire panoply of military actions associated with the Afghanistan-Pakistan war are already being conducted in Africa and will only be increased.

Webmaster's Commentary:

In terms of unexploited resources, Africa is essentially the "new Middle East", which is why these military interventions will continue until there is "US/NATO-friendly" leadership installed in all of these countries.

IMF demands blood from flood-ravaged Pakistan

Under conditions of such an acute social and economic crisis Pakistani officials hoped the IMF could be convinced to relax its criteria for extending the sixth tranche of the 2008 loan. But when they met with IMF leaders in Washington for ten days at the end of August and the beginning of this month they were curtly rebuffed.

According to an account published in the September 8 Dawn, IMF authorities took "a very strong position" during the talks, affirming "that the IMF executive board would not be interested in considering Pakistan’s request for more funds unless it made tangible progress" on implementing the IMF-dictated economic restructuring program.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Unflipping believable.

Économie:

American Airlines files for bankruptcy protection

American Airlines' parent company AMR Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, the company said Tuesday, in an attempt to get costs and debt under control.

Chalk up another victim to the TSA!

S&P 500 Index Has Worst Thanksgiving Week Since 1932 Amid European Crisis

U.S. stocks tumbled in the worst Thanksgiving-week loss for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1932 as concern grew that Europe’s debt crisis will spread and American policy makers failed to reach agreement on reducing the federal budget.

FED Loaned Banks 7.7 Trillion Dollars at No Interest and Then U.S. Borrowed This $ at 3% Interest

John Stewart on the banking fraud.

“Secret Wall Street Bailouts Totalled $7.77 Trillion, 10 Times More Than The $700 Billion TARP Program Passed By Congress in 2008” It's All About The Money Lobby - t.d.

We now have concrete evidence that Wall Street and Washington are running a secret government far removed from the democratic process. Through a freedom of information request by Bloomberg News, the public now has access to over 29,000 pages of Fed documents and 21,000 additional Fed transactions that were deliberately hidden, and for good reason.

The part that should infuriate Americans is how the Federal Reserve created trillions of new dollars out of thin air, then loaned that money to the banks practically for free. Those banks then loaned that newly created cash back to the Federal Government AT INTEREST, to be paid from YOUR TAXES, reaping billions in profits!

There is a reason why the bankers went to the guillotines before Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette ... and you are looking at it.

Kucinich: Fed Grants $7.77 Trillion in Secret Bank Loan - Now Do You Understand Occupy Wall Street?

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a longtime advocate for reform of the Federal Reserve, is sharply criticizing the Federal Reserve today after Bloomberg news reported that the Federal Reserve secretly committed nearly $8 trillion in support to American and international financial institutions during the 2008 bailout. Kucinich recorded a video for his website before going to the floor of the House of Representatives to call upon Congress to reclaim its Constitution primacy over monetary policy.

Fed Grants $7.77 Trillion in Secret Bank Loan - Now Do You Understand Occupy Wall Street?

Secret Fed Loans Helped Banks Net $13 Billion

The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue.

Fed secretly handed out $8 trillion

We knew the last bailout from the Federal Reserve was pretty big, but not until now did we have statistics on the actually tally. If you thought that the $700 billion bailout for TARP was big, get a load of this.

Just exactly how big was the Federal Reserve’s bailout of the banks between the years of 2008 and 2010? Thanks to a Federal Request of Information Act gone fulfilled, America now knows the truth behind a colossal cover-up: almost $8 trillion.

Japan Top Mutual Fund Sells Italy, Spain, Belgium Bonds

Kokusai Asset Management, Japan's biggest mutual fund, said it had sold all its Italian, Spanish and Belgian bond holdings, spooked by a jump in Italian bond yields to above 7 percent and other signs that the crisis in Europe was deepening.

Death of a currency as eurogeddon approaches - Telegraph

It's time to think what hitherto markets have regarded as unthinkable – that the euro really is on its last legs.
The defining moment was the fiasco over Wednesday's bund auction, reinforced on Thursday by the spectacle of German sovereign bond yields rising above those of the UK.
No, what this is about is the markets starting to bet on what was previously a minority view - a complete collapse, or break-up, of the euro.

The eurozone really has only days to avoid collapse.. FT

If you're looking for some good Euro-scare meat, look no further than this column from the FT's Wolfgang Münchau. The basic gist: No really, now we're getting into endgame.

Why now? Because the increase in core yields, the failure of that German bund auction, and the increase in Spanish and Italian short-term yields, as well as the tightening of money for the banks, means it's all almost over unless Europe immediately cooks up some kind of ECB-backed/Eurobond/fiscal union concoction.

IMF drawing up £500bn package to save Italy, Spain and the euro - Telegraph

The International Monetary Fund is being lined up potentially to help Italy and Spain amid growing fears that a European rescue scheme will not be able to prop up the countries.

Reports in Italy suggested that the IMF is drawing up plans for a €600 billion (£517 billion) assistance package for the country. Spain may be offered access to IMF credit, rather than a rescue package, to avoid it being “picked off” by the markets in the coming weeks.

Any IMF involvement in European rescue packages would be partly underwritten by British taxpayers, which could leave this country liable if Italy and Spain did not repay any international loan. (WTF!! Are you joking!!)

Why Banks Deserve Preferential Treatment While Millions of Homeowners Are Denied Assistance And Are At Risk of Foreclosure?

The Fed Threw $7 Trillion at the Big Banks, Without Telling Congress or Shareholders

The Hill notes:

A top House Democrat is calling for a hearing with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke following a report that the central bank secretly committed more than $7 trillion to save banks during the financial crisis.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (Md.) sent a letter on Monday to panel Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) requesting the committee look into how banks “benefited from trillions of dollars in previously undisclosed government loans provided at below-market rates.”

I would be very glad to put this in perspective for Representative Cummings: the banks were the 2nd largest contributors toward Obama's 2008 campaign, right behind the attorneys.

Of course, they expected a "return" on their investment, and have received it, big-time courtesy of their "acquisition" of the Obama administration.

Central Banks’ Latest Move Shows Desperation: This isn’t a financial crisis … it’s a bank robbery.

Jim Quinn writes:

When you see such coordinated action by all the major Central Banks in the world, you know the situation is much worse than you are being told by the ruling oligarchy. The confidence and trust is gone. Every major bank in the world is insolvent, whether it be in the U.S., Europe or China. These Central Banks are owned and controlled by the very banks they are bailing out. They are telling you they have it under control. They do not. They have lost control. The debt is too great and will destroy the economic system of the world.

6 Shocking Revelations About Wall Street's "Secret Government"

We now have concrete evidence that Wall Street and Washington are running a secret government far removed from the democratic process. Through a freedom of information request by Bloomberg News, the public now has access to over 29,000 pages of Fed documents and 21,000 additional Fed transactions that were deliberately hidden, and for good reason. (See here and here.)

These documents show how top government officials willfully concealed from Congress and the public the true extent of the 2008-'09 bailouts that enriched the few and enhanced the interests of giant Wall Streets firms.

The secret Wall Street bailouts totaled $7.77 trillion, 10 times more than the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) passed by Congress in 2008.

Turns out the ‘Government Sachs’ conspiracy theorists were right all along

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

In a shocking article published in Reuters, Felix Salmon confirmed what the so-called conspiracy theorists have said all along: former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Hank Paulson was giving insider tips to his cronies at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street titans which directly benefited them...

The article is entitled, “Hank Paulson’s inside jobs,” emphasizing the fact that this wasn’t some one-off lapse of ethics on Paulson’s part, but instead a disturbingly regular practice.

For those who are unaware, Paulson was the CEO and chairman at Goldman Sachs from 1999-2006 and he clearly provided them with actionable information that epitomizes the plague upon our economy, and the greater global economic system, that is crony capitalism.

However, this isn’t quite a brand new revelation given the fact that in October of 2009 Andrew Ross Sorkin exposed that Paulson met with the entire Goldman Sachs board in a hotel suite in Moscow at the end of June 2008.

Salmon covered this at the time, after Sorkin’s book was released, which detailed the meeting held after the Goldman Sachs boys had dinner with Mikhail Gorbachev.

In a Bloomberg article published yesterday, Richard Teitelbaum details the meeting between roughly a dozen hedge-fund managers and Wall Street executives, including no less than five former colleagues of Paulson’s from Goldman Sachs.

Others in attendance were Stephen Mandel of Pine Capital LLC, Dinakar Singh of TPG-Axon Capital Management LP and Daniel Och of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC.

PREPARE FOR END OF THE EURO, BANKS TOLD

ALARM at the economic turmoil in Europe intensified last night after the Government admitted preparations for the chaotic collapse of the euro were being “stepped up”.

Downing Street is understood to be embroiled in intensive “contingency planning” for Greece and possibly Italy, Spain and Portugal quitting the eurozone.

British banks have been urged by the City’s watchdog to brace themselves for the collapse of the single currency.

Britain has entered second credit crunch, confirms Downing Street

Britain has entered a second credit crunch, Downing Street said on Wednesday night, as America was forced to intervene to stop the eurozone crisis leading to a global financial collapse.

The emergency action to stop the international financial system from freezing up again was prompted by rumours that a European bank was facing difficulties and could not raise money. Panic started to spread through the German bond markets, which threatened to result in a credit freeze for European banks.

British banks have been warned by the Financial Services Authority, the City watchdog, that they must make preparations for the collapse of the single currency.

Central banks unite to stave off euro crisis; markets buoyed news

Six of the world's major central banks, led by the United States Federal Reserve, acted jointly on Wednesday to provide cheaper dollar funding to European banks facing a credit crunch.

The emergency move by the Fed, the European Central Bank, and the central banks of Japan, Britain, Canada and Switzerland was a repeat of the coordinated action to stabilize global markets in the 2008 financial crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Central Banks’ Latest Move Shows Desperation

Latest Move Shows Desperation
The coordinated swap line bailout by the Federal Reserve Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank- and China’s reduction of reserve requirements by .5% – shows desperation. (For background on swap lines, see this, this and this.)

The Street notes:

Don’t get flustered by the terminology of “dollar swap lines” above. Here’s a more simple explanation: Central banks around the globe have acted in desperation to boost liquidity in the system, which has sparked a rally in equities.

The global bankers just handed Europe another cork for the bottom of their boat ... then drilled another hole.

Dow closes up 490 points

Investors around the world raced to scoop up stocks on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve said it will work with other central banks to support the global economy.

The central banks' coordinated market intervention gave investors hope that world leaders could take necessary steps to avoid a credit crunch or market paralysis stemming from Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

For now at least, investors appear willing to ignore any possible parallels between today and November 2008, and just how precarious the state of financial system might be to warrant such a move by global bankers.

The Fed issues a press release and investors forget all about the bludgeoning they have suffered and buy back in?

If you believe that one, I have some of Saddam's nuclear weapons to sell you.

Holding the EU together by Money Printing and Force

Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog

The European Union is frantically trying to come up with a plan to fix the debt crisis that is threatening to cause a worldwide financial calamity. It seems every day there’s a new idea to save the union...

CHART OF THE DAY: KYLE BASS: This Is What The End Of The Global Debt Super-Cycle Looks Like

In his latest investor letter (via Gurufocus), Kyle Bass lays out his case that a wave of hard defaults is coming.

His basic argument: The world is just saddled with too much debt.

Throughout history, he says, total debt-to-GDP only ever breached 200% when nations were spending on war. Today we're at 310%.

Looking at the chart at the bottom of this article, the one word that comes to mind is, "YIKES!!!"

US Debt/GDP Hits Post WW2 High 99.5% Following $55 Billion Overnight Debt Increase: Total Debt Now Over $15.1 Trillion

It seems like it was only yesterday that we celebrated 15,OOO,OOO,OOO,OOOBAMA day. Two weeks later, we are now well over 100 billion in debt over this historic landmark, or $15.11 trillion to be precise, following the predicted $55 billion increase in debt with the settlement of all auctions from last week. And aside from the mind-staggering rate of new debt increase why else is this number notable? Because as we learned 10 days ago, total Q3 GDP in current dollars is $15.18 trillion. In other words, US debt/GDP is now 99.5%, the highest it has been in the post WW2 period, and rapidly rising.

These numbers are very, very scary: if the Fed prints more money, it will simply devalue the money currently in circulation, and that will cause inflation, big-time.

BANK DOWNGRADE RAMPAGE: Goldman, Bank Of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, And Citigroup Just Got Cut By S&P

Standard & Poor's ratings service just cut the ratings of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup from A to A-.

Wells Fargo was also cut from AA- to A+. The agency gave both Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs have a negative outlook.

Those cuts were part of more than 37 ratings reviewed by the agency. Bloomberg says those are dependent upon "criteria change[s]" that were published on November 9.

Eurozone debt crisis worsens as financial world holds breath over impending financial apocalypse

"The world is watching Europe, waiting upon a solution. It's not just the euro that's at stake. If the euro fails, so too does the 27-nation European Union. Bank lending would freeze, stock markets would likely crash, and Europe's economies would follow. Nations in the euro-zone would see their economic output decline, though temporarily, by as much as 50%, according to UBS forecasters. That economic meltdown would then spread to the U.S. and Asia, who would find themselves caught up in the credit freeze while their exports to Europe would collapse."

'Central Banks' Coordinated Move Has Solved Nothing'

Global stock markets on Wednesday were euphoric after the major central banks around the world made it easier for banks to access dollars. But the euro-zone debt crisis rages on nonetheless. At the most, say German commentators, Wednesday's move merely buys some time -- but not much.

The bankers handed Europe another cork for the bottom of the boat ... then drilled another hole.

Egan-Jones downgrades France's credit rating

Ratings agency Egan-Jones on Wednesday cut its rating on debt issued by the Republic of France by one notch, citing a 21 percent increase in the country's debt in the last two fiscal years, which it called a "disastrous trend."

At Risk Eurozone Sovereign Credit Ratings

Moody's says Eurozone crisis conditions place all member state credit ratings at risk.

It warned 87 European banks to expect downgrades. Moreover, Fitch revised America's debt outlook to negative. Nonetheless, its AAA rating is unchanged. For how long is another issue.

At the same time, Italy's La Stampa said IMF intervention will rescue the country. No source was given, and Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's Financial Times, didn't report it. It makes the claim all the more suspect.