The Good Guys Will Win Ha: 11/22/09

11.27.2009

gold, dubai, india

1. Bob Chapman: investors buy gold

excerpt:

As we look back some years from now when most of us will be in the Elysian Fields, history will comment on America a nation run by common criminals. Many of you know who they are, and those who do not are about to find out. Richard Nixon rolled for the Illuminati on 8/15/71 by taking us off the gold standard. In the year 1987 we were beset upon by the master criminal Alan Greenspan. He was later joined by other Illuminists, including Robert Rubin and Ben Bernanke and many others too numerous to mention. All of these immoral, diabolical people have destroyed our financial system and they did it deliberately to enrich themselves and to bring about world government. Others throughout the world have seen this period of looting since WWII and want to bring an end to it, but heretofore have been threatened with extinction if they disagreed with these illuminated masters of the universe. That time for the end to begin is fast approaching and the elitists are well aware of that, thus, the final push for one-world government. The process of dumping dollar denominated assets has been moving forward for the past few years. They are being exchanged for many things, but gold is the most important. Foreigners are tired of receiving constantly depreciating dollars for their goods and services. They also do not want US bonds and mortgage paper. Incidentally, the current high absorption of US government debt by foreign central banks is by a handful of banks that are being fed money and credit by our Federal Reserve. The funds to buy this paper are being supplied by our privately owned Federal Reserve. The eventual redemption will be met by further depreciated dollars until such time as there is official devaluation. That is why china, Russia, Brazil, Iran, India and others are dumping dollars. The only time they hold or buy is when they need to devalue their own currencies. A good example is the Chinese Yuan, which is unchanged for the past year as the dollar dropped from 89.5 to 75.50 just since early May.

Next comes the scandals. In the forefront are the tungsten bars coated with gold discovered by the Chinese several weeks ago, which has been blacked out in the elitist owned media. The bars were held and delivered from London and believed to be from the ETF-GLD, which received them from the US government. Our question is how much gold held by the US government is a fraud? Is GLD a fraud? Is SLV a fraud? Why can’t London OTC gold dealers deliver gold and have to borrow it from the Bank of England? Why does Comex not have gold to deliver and has to borrow it from Canada and the ECB? When is the CFTC going to stop the short side concentration in gold and silver? When is the SEC going to stop black box front-running and naked shorting? Once these factors assert themselves will the system break down and finally will some of these crooks go to jail? Wall Street, banking and our government continue to steal from the American people with the assistance of the Federal Reserve. Is it no wonder that 75% to 80% of Americans want the Fed audited? We must also keep in mind that the public still only knows a fraction of what has been done to them. They know little about front running, naked shorting or bogus gold bars, thanks to our media. Criminals are doing 20 to 30 years for much less than what these crooks have done and the core, the heart of the mechanism, springs from the Federal Reserve. The Fed is the center from which the fraud emanates.

...Another factor not yet considered is when will those who were involved in the tungsten gold bar caper be exposed? Who created the bars and then sold them? It is a scandal that is really an afterthought to the massive physical buying in the marketplace, particularly by the Chinese and Indians.

read more @ global research

2. India could buy rest of IMF gold on offer

REUTERS VIA MINE WEB

An Indian financial newspaper report suggests that the country is considering buying the remainder of the IMF gold currently up for sale over and above the 200 tonnes it has already bought.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - India is open to buying more gold from the International Monetary Fund following its purchase of 200 tonnes earlier this month, the Financial Chronicle newspaper said on Wednesday, helping to drive gold prices to an all-time high.

But India's central bank governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, declined to comment on whether the bank would buy more gold from overseas, however.

The paper said that subject to acceptable conditions, India's central bank could well buy the balance of the initial 403.3 tonnes, or one-eighth of the IMF's total gold holdings, that the Fund had planned to sell.

read more @ pimpin turtle

3. Gordon Brown attempts to play down global impact of Dubai crisis

Gordon Brown claimed today that the Dubai financial crisis would not cause major damage to the global economy.

The prime minister said this morning that Dubai's problems were "a setback", during a summit meeting of Commonwealth leaders in Trinidad and Tobago. "My own view is the world financial system is stronger now and able to deal with the problems that arise," said Brown.

"I think we will find it is not on the scale of previous problems we have dealt with. I think global recovery has depended on monetary action and fiscal stimulus," he added.

Brown also said that he had spoken to senior figures in Dubai, and was confident that their plans to redevelop the ports they own in the UK would still go ahead.

"The world economy has put in place mechanisms by which when a problem starts in one country we are in a far better position to monitor it and to gauge the effects," Brown said in Port of Spain.

read more @ guardian

4. Robert Fisk: India may hold whip hand in this power game

There are, however, two basic truths about Dubai which, predictably, have not found their way into market speculation or newspaper analysis. The first is that Dubai may soon find itself a satellite not of its Abu Dhabi capital but of India. The biggest merchants in Dubai are Indian – they run the gold market, even the bookshops in Sheikh Mohamed's playpen – and west India is only two hours' flying time away. In fact, until 1962 – and you have to be an oldie to understand the emirates' economic world – the Indian rupee was the currency for most of the Gulf, including even Kuwait.

...

But deep in their golden mosques, the ruling family are asking themselves some serious questions this Islamic holiday. Why was the call for a moratorium on debt so crudely and unprofessionally put together?

As one fine source – Independent readers must take on trust how high up the ladder he is, but he should have known of this announcement and didn't – said privately last night: "It came as a shock and a surprise to everybody, not only to me but to anyone I know. All the information I had till yesterday was that everything was in hand. We had the finding for everything coming due this year – there was the $10 billion [£6 million] issued back in February and then nearly $8 billion over the past month – the money's there.

"So it's a puzzle, particularly since it was very clear, to people who knew, that the bond coming due in December was a litmus test. Everyone was planning to repay it. The people of Abu Dhabi didn't know this was going to happen. The market did not expect anything like this."

there is NO DOUBT that church and other authorities PERPETUATE and COVER UP the sexual abuse of children

1. commission finds church covered up child sex abuse

The Commission of Investigation into Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese has concluded that there is “no doubt” that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up by the archdiocese and other Church authorities.

The commission’s report covers the period between January 1st 1975 and April 30th 2004. It said there cover-ups took place over much of this period.

In its report, published this afternoon, it has also found that “the structures and rules of the Catholic Church facilitated that cover-up.”

It also found that “the State authorities facilitated the cover-up by not fulfilling their responsibilities to ensure that the law was applied equally to all and allowing the Church institutions to be beyond the reach of the normal law enforcement processes.”

Over the period within its remit “the welfare of children, which should have been the first priority, was not even a factor to be considered in the early stages,” it said.

“Instead the focus was on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members – the priests,” it said.

read more @ irish times

2. Vatican IGNORED commission letters

Letters sent by the Commission of Investigation to the Vatican and to the papal nuncio in Ireland seeking information were ignored, the report has disclosed.

The commission wrote to the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, of which Pope Benedict had been head until April 2005, in September 2006.

It was asking for information on the document `Crimen Solicitationis’, which dealt with clerical sex abuse, as well as information on reports of clerical child sexual abuse conveyed to it by the Dublin archdiocese over the relevant period.

The Vatican did not reply. Instead it contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs stating that the commission had not gone through appropriate diplomatic channels.

The commission said that as a body independent of Government, it did not consider it appropriate for it to use diplomatic channels.

In February 2007, the commission wrote to the papal nuncio in Dublin asking that he forward to it all documents in his possession which might be relevant to it and which had not been or were not produced by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. It also requested that he confirm it if he had no such documents. The papal nuncio did not reply.

Earlier this year, the commission again wrote to the papal nuncio enclosing extracts from its draft report which referred to him and his office, as it was required to do. Again, there was no reply.

Vatican senior spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told The Irish Times today it was a matter for “the local church involved”.

Father Lombardi said diplomatic practice requires that any outside requests made to the governance of the Vatican would pass through diplomatic channels, in this case the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin and the Irish Embassy to the Holy See in Rome.

“It’s obvious, if you are looking for official documents from the Vatican then you have to go through the normal diplomatic channels,” he said.

Vatican observers argue that the same “diplomatic” reasoning would apply to the lack of a reply from the nuncio in Dublin. As the Vatican’s Ambassador in Ireland, he cannot respond directly to a request from an independent Irish body.

As for the overall findings of the report, Fr Lombardi was reluctant to add any further comment. “In all cases like this, it is not appropriate for Rome to comment, rather that is for the local bishop. In the case of Dublin, we have an excellent Archbishop and he knows what has to be said.”

source: irish times

3. church used 'don't tell' approach

The pre-occupations of the Dublin Archdiocese in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the “maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church and the preservation of its assets”, the Murphy commission has said.

It says the American phrase “don’t ask, don’t tell” was appropriate to describe the attitude of the Dublin Archdiocese to clerical sex abuse for most of the period covered by the report.

There was an “obsessive concern with secrecy and the avoidance of scandal” and successive Archbishops and bishops failed to report complaints to the gardai prior to 1996.

Main findings:

- The archdiocese first made inquiries about insurance cover against compensation claims in the mid 1980s and such cover was put in place in 1987.

- The commission said it “did not accept” as true the church’s repeated claims to have been on “a learning curve” in relation to allegations of child sexual abuse.

- In 1981, Archbishop Dermot Ryan “showed a clear understanding of both the recidivist nature of child sexual abusers and the effects of such abuse on children” when he referred a priest to a therapeutic facility in Stroud, in the UK.

- “All the Archbishops of Dublin in the period covered by the Commission were aware of some complaints. This is true of many of the auxiliary bishops also. At the time the Archdiocese took out insurance in 1987, Archbishop Dermot Ryan and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid had had, between them, available information on complaints against at least 17 priests operating under the aegis of the Dublin Archdiocese. The taking out of insurance was an act proving knowledge of child sexual abuse as a potential major cost to the Archdiocese and is inconsistent with the view that Archdiocesan officals were still on a ‘learning curve’ at a much later date, or were lacking in an appreciation of the phenomenon of child sexual abuse.”

- Many of the auxiliary bishops also knew of the fact of abuse as did officials, including Monsignor Gerard Sheehy and Monsignor Alex Stenson who worked in the Chancellery. Bishop James Kavanagh, Bishop Dermot O’Mahony, Bishop Laurence Forristal, Bishop Donal Murray and Bishop Brendan Comiskey were aware for many years of complaints and/or suspicions of clerical child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese. Religious orders were also aware.

- The commission said it found claims of ignorance on the part of the church authorities and the religious orders who were dealing with complaints “very difficult to accept” as they were all “very well educated people”.

the real terrorists

1. Israeli spies 'infiltrate' Johannesburg airport

By Jonathan Cook - NAZARETH, Israel

South Africa deported an Israeli airline official last week following allegations that Israel’s secret police, the Shin Bet, had infiltrated Johannesburg international airport in an effort to gather information on South African citizens, particularly black and Muslim travellers.

...The programme also featured testimony from Jonathan Garb, a former El Al guard, who claimed that the airline company had been a front for the Shin Bet in South Africa for many years.

Of the footage of the undercover reporter’s questioning, he commented: “Here is a secret service operating above the law in South Africa. We pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. We do exactly what we want. The local authorities do not know what we are doing.”

The Israeli foreign ministry is reported to have sent a team to South Africa to try to defuse the diplomatic crisis after the government in Johannesburg threatened to deport all of El Al’s security staff.

Mr Garb’s accusations have been supported by an investigation by the regulator for South Africa’s private security industries.

They have also been confirmed by human rights groups in Israel, which report that Israeli security staff are carrying out racial profiling at many airports around the world, apparently out of sight of local authorities.

...Mr Garb commented on the show: “What we are trained is to look for the immediate threat – the Muslim guy. You can think he is a suicide bomber, he is collecting information. The crazy thing is that we are profiling people racially, ethnically and even on religious grounds … This is what we do.”

...Suspect individuals, the former workers say, are held in an annex room, where they are interrogated, often on matters unrelated to airport security, and can be subjected to strip searches while their luggage is taken apart. Clandestine searches of their belongings and laptops are also carried out to identify useful documents and information.

All of this is done in violation of South African law, which authorises only the police, armed forces or personnel appointed by the transport minister to carry out searches.

The former staff also accuse El Al of smuggling weapons – licensed to the local Israeli embassy – into the airport for use by the secret agents.

...A South African Jew, he said he was recruited 19 years ago by the Shin Bet. “We were trained at a secret camp [in Israel] where they train Israeli special forces and they train you how to use handguns, submachine guns and in unarmed combat.”

Mr Garb claimed to have profiled 40,000 people for Israel over the past 20 years, including recently Virginia Tilley, a Middle East expert who is the chief researcher at South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council. The think tank recently published a report accusing Israel of apartheid and colonialism in the Palestinian territories.

“The decision was she should be checked in the harshest way because of her connections,” Mr Garb said.

Ms Tilley confirmed that she had been detained at the airport by El Al staff and separated from her luggage. Mr Garb said that during this period an agent “photo-copied all [her] documentation and then he forwarded it on to Israel” – Mr Garb believes for use by the Shin Bet.

Israeli officials have refused to comment on the allegations. A letter produced by Mr Garb – signed by Roz Bukris, El Al’s general manager in South Africa – suggests that he was employed by the Shin Bet rather than the airline. Ms Bukris, according to the programme, refused to confirm or deny the letter’s validity.

The Israeli Embassy in South Africa declined to discuss evidence that it, rather than El Al, had licensed guns issued to the airline’s security managers. Questioned last week by Ynet, Israel’s largest news website, about the deportation of the airline official, Yossi Levy, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said he could not “comment on security matters”.

read more @ middle east online

2. commander accuses western coalition of collusion with Somali pirates

"Why don't the coalition forces, which enjoy super hi-tech equipment, annihilate the buccaneers of the region forever and why do they provide the ground for the continuation of their activities through their suspicious supports?" Commander of Iran's first Naval Zone Fariborz Qaderpanah asked, speaking in a detailed interview with FNA on Tuesday.

Noting that many analysts believe that there are secret hands at work which are disturbing security in the Gulf of Aden, Qaderpanah lamented that certain countries which are the root cause of insecurity in the region make suspicious statements to justify their presence.

Elsewhere, he further stated that pirates' experience and practice as well as the hi-tech weaponry supplied by the western states to the pirates have rendered them so skillful that they can now grab a vessel at the earliest.

read more @ fars

3. 'they treated us like dogs' - freed crew on Somali pirates

MOGADISHU – "Nightmarish" is the way the crew of the Al-Meezan cargo vessel recount their time in captivity at the hands of Somali pirates.

...

"On November 3, when we were about 150 nautical miles from the Somali coast, we were chased by three small boats with very powerful engines. It's all in the logbook," the old man said, pointing to a black book on the table.

"We'd hardly had time to raise the alarm when the attackers were already on board. They're very intelligent. They immediately took over the controls, switched off all the electronic equipment and headed for Garacad" in north eastern Somalia where the ship anchored in the shelter of a small island, he said.

...Built in 1979, the 2,000-ton 50-meter long Al-Meezan is managed from Dubai by Biyat International.

The Al-Meezan 7906710 is owned by a company called Shahmir Maritime based in the Carribean Grenadine Islands and described by people who know it as a front company.

Chartered by Somali businessmen, the ship mostly plies between the Gulf States and Somalia. When it was captured for the first time around the pirates were already claiming it had arms on board.

how long can the corporate media ignore climategate?

1. Obama's science czar John Holdren involved in unwinding "climategate" scandal

Lift up a rock and another snake comes slithering out from the ongoing University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit (CRU) scandal, now riding as “Climategate”.

Obama Science Czar John Holdren is directly involved in CRU’s unfolding Climategate scandal. In fact, according to files released by a CEU hacker or whistleblower, Holdren is involved in what Canada Free Press (CFP) columnist Canadian climatologist Dr. Tim Ball terms “a truculent and nasty manner that provides a brief demonstration of his lack of understanding, commitment on faith and willingness to ridicule and bully people”.

“The files contain so much material that it is going to take some time t o put it all in context,” says Ball. “However, enough is already known to underscore their explosive nature. It is already clear the entire claims and positions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are based on falsified manipulated material and is therefore completely compromised.

“The fallout will be extensive as material continues to emerge. Reputations of the scientists involved are already destroyed, however fringe players will continue to be identified and their reputations destroyed or sullied.”

While the mainstream media is bending into pretzels to keep the scandal under the rug, Climategate is already the biggest scientific scandal in history because of the global policy implications.

...Indeed, Holdren’s emails show how sincere scientists would be made into raw “entertainment”.

read more @ canada free press

2. John Holdren, Obama's science czar, says: forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save the planet

Book he authored in 1977 advocates for extreme totalitarian measures to control the population

Forced abortions. Mass sterilization. A "Planetary Regime" with the power of life and death over American citizens.

The tyrannical fantasies of a madman? Or merely the opinions of the person now in control of science policy in the United States? Or both?

These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology -- informally known as the United States' Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that:

• Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;
• The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food;
• Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;
• People who "contribute to social deterioration" (i.e. undesirables) "can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility" -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
• A transnational "Planetary Regime" should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force.

Impossible, you say? That must be an exaggeration or a hoax. No one in their right mind would say such things.

Well, I hate to break the news to you, but it is no hoax, no exaggeration. John Holdren really did say those things, and this report contains the proof. Below you will find photographs, scans, and transcriptions of pages in the book Ecoscience, co-authored in 1977 by John Holdren and his close colleagues Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich. The scans and photos are provided to supply conclusive evidence that the words attributed to Holdren are unaltered and accurately transcribed.

read more @ zombietime.com

philippines - what kind of thinking concludes that killing 57 people can be covered up, in any way, even with a backhoe?

1. witness: we just followed orders

A man who says he was a witness to Monday’s massacre in the southern Philippines has told Al-Jazeera how he was ordered to kill members of a rival political clan—including women and children—and to make sure no evidence was left behind. The witness, who identified himself only as “Boy,” said he was among more than 100 armed men who held up a convoy of political campaigners and journalists before taking them to a remote mountainous area where they were then killed. Speaking to Al-Jazeera’s correspondent Marga Ortigas, “Boy” said the orders had come directly from Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor and a member of a politically powerful clan with close ties to the Philippines president.

“Datu Andal himself said, he said to us: Anyone from the Mangudadatu clan—women or children—should be killed … We don’t ask why, we just followed orders.” At least 57 people died in the massacre, believed to be the worst ever politically related killings in the Philippines. “Boy,” who is now in hiding fearing his life is in danger, said all of the women in the group had been raped before being killed. Their bodies were then dumped in mass graves that had already been dug out in advance using an excavator. He said that Ampatuan Jr. had also ordered that the reporters accompanying the convoy should also be killed to cover-up what had happened.

Soldiers coming

“That too was ordered by Datu Andal … because they didn’t want any evidence left behind,” he said. “Boy” said the whole process had lasted little more than an hour before the gunmen had to abruptly abandon the scene following a warning that members of the military were nearby. “We didn’t get to finish, which is why the excavator was left there,” he said.“Someone called and said soldiers were on their way. I feel they have connections among the soldiers.”

‘Up to my conscience’

Speaking with his face covered to conceal his identity, “Boy” said he was supposed to have been an active participant in the massacre but did not actually kill any of the victims. He said he would have been shot if he had tried to intervene. “I was just standing there,” he said “I was all alone… I could only leave it up to my conscience.”

source: inquirer

2. ombudsman wants to know why a govt backhoe at massacre scene

MANILA, Philippines—What was a government-owned backhoe doing in that killing field?

The Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao wants to know and is coordinating with the National Bureau and Investigation and other law enforcement agencies probing the massacre, Assistant Ombudsman Jose De Jesus said Wednesday when sought for comment.

Military and police investigators found a backhoe, owned by the Maguindanao provincial government, in the area where victims of the Maguindanao massacre were found. It was apparently used to dig the mass graves.

De Jesus, quoting the Ombudsman's Mindanao office, said: "We really want to find out exactly why a government property is there at the time of the massacre?"

The Ombudsman is tasked to probe and prosecute cases against government officials.

However, before it could step in, the agency had to confirm first that government officials were indeed involved in the brutal killings.

De Jesus said the deputy ombudsman in Mindanao was "aware of the situation."

He said the fact-finding investigators in Mindanao "are interested in this matter," especially in finding out why a piece of government property was found in the crime scene.

He said that if the police investigation would reveal that government officials were behind the massacre, the Ombudsman would mobilize a fact-finding investigation.

source: inquirer

11.25.2009

common denominators: minerals and psychopaths

1. Rwandan genocide militia has global support network

PARIS-- Military operations have failed to contain Rwandan-Hutu rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo and international action is needed to restrict their financing, said a new report by UN experts.

In a major report for the United Nations Security Council, unpublished but seen by AFP, researchers said Congolese, Rwandan and UN forces have tried to disarm the FDLR rebels, who still pose a potent threat to regional stability, but have failed to impose order in a region still wracked by faction fighting.

"This report concludes that military operations against the FDLR have failed to dismantle the organization's political and military structures on the ground in eastern DRC," the detailed 93-page document begins.

The report also alleges that the FDLR is managing to recruit fighters using profits from a corrupt international trade in minerals.

The militia sprang up in camps in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) housing mainly ethnic Hutu refugees who fled Rwanda after their leaders launched the 1994 genocide, which left some 800,000 people dead.

The campaign has been undermined by corruption and brutality within the official Congolese armed forces and by the FDLR's ability to fund its campaigns through the international mineral trade, it says.

Companies are buying minerals from jungle mines controlled and operated by Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) cadres, while middlemen are smuggling millions of dollars in gold to Dubai every year.

The document was researched on the ground in Congo and the region over six months by a five-strong stream of experts hired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in order to prepare a report for Security Council members.

It calls on international governments to step up measures to stifle the FDLR support network, which includes members of the Rwandan diaspora based in Europe and North America and foreign sympathizers in Catholic charities.

The experts also warn that since March an offensive against the militia by Congolese forces, some of whose officers have supplied weapons to the rebels, has made life even worse for the beleaguered civilian population.

"Scores of villages have been raided and pillaged, thousands of houses have been burnt and several hundred thousand people have been displaced in order to escape from the violence generated by these military operations," it says.

Official Congolese records show only a few kilos of gold exported legally every year, but the country's own senate estimates that in reality 40 tons a year -- worth 1.24 billion dollars -- gets out.

The UN report details how both the anti-Rwandan government FDLR and their enemies in pro-Kigali militias use the same ethnic Indian middlemen to smuggle gold to souks in the United Arab Emirates.

It also says the FDLR profits from the export of cassiterite.

In September, the British group AMC said it would stop buying Congolese cassiterite, insisting the trade was legal but complaining of "negative campaigning from advocacy groups and adverse coverage."

The UN experts also "collected information on individuals affiliated with the Catholic Church and other religious and charitable organizations ... who provide financial and material support to the FDLR."

This is said to include "regular financial, logistical and political support from individuals" linked to two Spanish organizations, including the Fundacio S'Olivar, which is funded by the government of the Balearic Islands.

The islands' regional parliament issued a statement defending the Fundacio, denying that it supports armed groups and insisting that it works "in defense of peace, justice and solidarity, always applying pacifist principles."

Meanwhile, FDLR leaders command their troops from the safety of Europe.

"Some of these supporters and leaders are suspected participants in the 1994 Rwandan genocide," the report says, going on to detail telephone traffic and cash transfers between exiled Rwandan politicians and militia warlords.

The experts tracked down 240 calls between German-based FDLR leader Ignance Murwanashyaka and militia commanders in Congo, while these commanders were in turn in touch with contacts in 25 countries in Europe and America.

The report was addressed to the chairman of the UN Security Council committee on September 9. It is not known when it will be published.

source: inquirer.net

2. Charles Taylor the man who "forgot" he killed thousands

Sitting at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Charles Ghankay Taylor still holds the charisma that once propelled him to become one of Africa’s most prominent warlords. Listening to his seductive tone, one almost feels sorry for the man accused as the initiator of a brutal 1991-2002 civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone, which left over 200,000 people dead.

Dressed in a flowing traditional virgin white Liberian gown and acing his prosecutors, Charles Taylor is often caught sporting an uneasy smile as he continually states that he “doesn’t recall” many of the key accusations brought up against him before the Court, including a claim that he had trained Sierra Leonean rebel fighters and supplied arms and ammunition to rebels from The Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

The first African Head of State to be tried before an international tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Charles Taylor appears to rely entirely on his ‘charming’ persona, considering his visibly lackadaisical defense, to convince the Courtroom that he tried to bring peace to the West African nation rather than fan the flames of war.

The accused former Liberian President, ironically known as ‘Ghankay,’ which means warrior in the Gio dialect, faces an 11-count indictment for acts of terrorism, unlawful killings, sexual violence, physical violence, use of child soldiers under the age of 15 years old, enslavement, and pillaging.

Charles Taylor has, however, denied all charges despite the testimony of about 90 witnesses who shared with the Court the cruel acts that he had ordered in the West African countries (Sierra Leone and Liberia). Rebels are believed to have indiscriminately cut off limbs, kidnapped and drugged children and burned down villages. The court also heard stories of cannibalism, as a way for Liberian rebels to show superiority over their enemies.

Indicted in June 2003, while on his first trip outside of Liberia and transferred to The Hague three years later, Charles Taylor is currently at the cross-examination stage of his trial, which is being conducted by the UN-backed Sierra Leone Tribunal, housed in Freetown.

guard down, sucker punch, soon they'll say "we told you so"

1. WHO studying A/H1N1 flu virus mutation "very carefully"

GENEVA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it was looking at a mutation of the A/H1N1 flu virus recently detected in several countries and regions "very carefully" to see whether it causes severe diseases.

So far, there was still no evidence suggesting the mutation, most recently found in Hong Kong of China and Norway, is associated with severe cases of infection, the WHO said.

"We really need to look at this very carefully to see whether it is in fact associated with severe cases," said WTO spokesman Thomas Abraham.

Abraham said investigations would be done through the WHO's collaborating network of laboratories and "through understanding more about clinical features associated with the infection of this particular form of the virus."

According Abraham, there was currently no evidence suggesting the mutated form of the A/H1N1 flu virus was spreading. The mutations appeared to occur sporadically and spontaneously.

read more @ chinaview

2.more concern of needle devices being used for H1N1 vaccine

There has been much speculation about microchips integrated in auto disable syringes specifically manufactured for use with the H1N1 vaccine. In a recent media briefing held by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Assistant Surgeon General, Anne Schuchat has admitted she is aware of needle devices that have been problematic for some providers unfamiliar with the mechanism.

Without some type of confirmation through a nano-laboratory that can properly examine embedded microchips in the needle devices, the evidence is still very speculative. However, one might ask why safety devices have suddenly appeared simultaneously in every nation for this specific flu vaccine?

...Meanwhile a soldier stationed at a military unit in Switzerland has stated that doctors at the base have explained that every swine flu jab has a special needle with a bar code.

The bar code is registered for every person who takes the jab and then sent to the Federal Ministry for Health, the Bundesamt für Gesundheit.

The military doctor said he didn’t know why a special needle was needed but there are many reports of a nanochip in the needle.

read more @ prevent disease

3. urgent appeal for flu truth seekers to heed dangers of mutated virus

The tides have now changed. It is imperative that we stop focusing on the pandemic hype promoted by the media and start concentrating on publicizing the upgraded viruses which are about to infect the west in the masses.

There are already projections of what could happen if the same virus that infected the Ukraine affects other countries. There are now close to 2 million people infected in the Ukraine from a virus that causes a much higher level of immune stress and cardiopulmonary failure. The deaths being reported there, now close to 400, are almost certainly a misrepresented number by the WHO. The actual number of deaths may be closer to 10,000 as reported by infectious disease experts, who have estimated a fatality rate of 0.5%.

Now, emerging evidence is suggesting that the lethal virus may now be infecting Norway and Eastern Europe. There are additional reports indicating that the same lethal virus may now be present in Canada and the U.S. The increasing number of deaths in Texas, Iowa and Ontario are elevating the concern that the virus is already in North America.

It is of the utmost importance to broadcast the crimes of geoengineering initiatives being used to accelerate the pandemic.

Kelley Bergman's recent article is an excellent interpretation of how the media is playing the alternative media's tune to sway listeners back to their pathetic messages of deceit. It won't work.

The media will now try and spin their stories on the H1N1 pandemic and call this a second wave of the swine flu based on spontaneous mutations. This falsity will attempt to convince the public that these mutations suddenly appeared when in fact the upgraded virus has been engineered from the start and conveniently released in incremental phases throughout the world.

read more @ prevent disease

4. flashback: April 2009: Dress Rehearsal

Before any scientist does anything drastic they always do a beta test. They are studying several different things such as how far it spreads and how fast. They are studying if it mutates. They are studying if they’ll get away with the crime.

read here

Blackwater in Pakistan

1. Blackwater allegedly running secret war in Pakistan

A new report has accused the US private security firm formerly known as Blackwater of operating a covert assassination and kidnapping program against suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda members in northwest Pakistan. In an article published on Monday, The Nation magazine said that the firm, now known as Xe, is also involved in running a US military drone bombing campaign out of Pakistan.

Jeremy Scahill, the investigative journalist who broke the story, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the program was so secretive that senior officials in the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, were likely unaware of it. "What I learned is that for years there has been a covert operation of the US military inside Pakistan's borders ... and that Blackwater operatives are at the centre of not only the drone bombing campaign but also planning snatch-and-grab operations of high value targets."

..."I've talked to my sources though, and they say that it's possible that officials within the military chain of command are simply not in what [they] called 'the circle of love' on this program." US officials have said that they believe northwest Pakistan is a hiding place for al-Qaeda fighters, including Osama Bin Laden. [PUT DOWN THE CRACK PIPE - ed.]

The northwest tribal region, and in particular Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), have borne the brunt of attacks perpetrated by the Taliban in recent weeks. The attacks are in apparent retaliation for a military offensive launched in the country's semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan against members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, one of the main anti-government groups.

But a spokesman for the Taliban last week blamed Blackwater for at least two of the recent bombings. Azam Tariq posted a video statement on the internet, saying the Taliban attacks never aimed to target civilians and that the explosions were linked to Blackwater activities in the country. Xe has denied having any contracts in Pakistan.

read more @ al manar tv

2. Blackwater arms warehouse in Islamabad - October 20, 2009

ISLAMABAD – Kestral Logistics, a warehouse located in the industrial area of Sector I-9/3, and involved in arms trading, is working as the subcontractor of US security company, Xe Worldwide (Blackwater), TheNation has learnt.

The sources claimed that the company had arms deals with Blackwater and was importing heavy arms as well as ammunition for the US company for its ongoing illicit operations in Pakistan.
The sources said that Kestral Logistics was also involved in importing sensitive monitoring instruments for Blackwater, which had been installed at Sihala by the said security company to monitor activities of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Kahuta, as well as to keep an eye on the nuclear assets of Pakistan.

It has been learnt that Col (Retd) Shahid Latif and Mujahid, who run Kestral Logistics, manage weapons and such type of sensitive instruments for Blackwater with the support of US Embassy.
This scribe visited the industrial area himself and the suspicious activities of the warehouse employees made it quite evident that the company was involved in some extra-legal business. The warehouse has high walls, barbed wires and no signboard outside the boundary wall, making the activities of the house more doubtful.

Heavy security of the building was also witnessed as scores of security guards were deployed inside and on the main gate of the building. It is pertinent to mention here that even the people working in plainclothes inside the building were equipped with sophisticated weapons.
When the warehouse in charge was asked what kind of business they were running inside the building, he refused to answer, saying “I am not authorised to answer such type of questions” The people of the area were ignorant of the activities of the company and were also curious to know that what type of business activities were being done inside the building?

It is surprising that when the local police was contacted to know that if they had any information about the business activities of the company, the police was also unaware about that.
Habit Khan, additional SHO of Industrial Area Police Station said that the police was already conducting a survey about the complete details of business activities of all the warehouses of that area but he had no information about such activities of any warehouse involved in weapons’ trading business so far.

source: dictatorship watch

3. 10/29/99 amazing coincidence - security concerns confirmed as terrorists attack almost as if on cue. how on earth do they get such timing hmm it's like they know like there's a mole or something in the State Department?

WASHINGTON - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan to meet with government officials, civic leaders, businesspeople, and even leaders of the political opposition.

For security reasons, the State Department isn't giving details of Clinton's visit - not even a timetable, let alone the topics she's expected to discuss with Pakistan's civilian and military leaders.

The security concerns proved correct, as Clinton's arrival in the country coincided with a car bomb that tore through a market in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar early on October 28. At least 105 people were killed and more than 200 wounded.

Clinton was three hours' drive away in the capital, Islamabad, when the blast took place. In remarks carried live on Pakistani news channels, she said, "I want you to know that this fight is not Pakistan's alone. This is our struggle as well."

yes, i think we got that part. read more @ asia times

cybercrime verging on war - McAfee report

about the report:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Organized Internet-based crime has reached such intensity and scale that the distinction between cybercrime and cyberwar is being blurred, security giant McAfee said in its annual Virtual Criminology Report.

McAfee Inc., based in Santa Clara, Calif., is the world's largest dedicated security technology company. The report's findings come less than a month after the United States ran a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of cybercrime risks among individuals and businesses.

"Is the age of cyberwar at hand?" McAfee asked in the report, citing evidence that countries hostile to industrial democracies are involved in some of the more serious and sustained cybercrime. In response, McAfee said, "nation-states are arming themselves for the cyberspace battlefield."

The number of reports of cyberattacks and network infiltrations that appear to be linked to nation-states and political goals continues to increase, McAfee said.

"There is active debate as to when a cyberattack reaches the threshold of damage and disruption to warrant being categorized as cyberwarfare," said the report.

"With critical infrastructure as likely targets of cyberattacks, and private company ownership of many of the information systems in these sectors, private companies will likely be caught in the crossfire," the report warned.

McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt said, "Experts disagree about the use of the term 'cyberwar,' and our goal at McAfee is not to create hype or stoke unwarranted fear. But our research has shown that while there may be debate over the definition of cyberwar, there is little disagreement that there are increasing numbers of cyberattacks that more closely resemble political conflict than crime.

"We have also seen evidence that nations around the world are ramping up their capabilities in cyberspace, in what some have referred to as a cyber arms race.

"If cyberspace becomes the next battleground, what are the implications for the global economy and vital citizen services that rely upon the information infrastructure?" DeWalt asked. "What should those of us outside the military do to prepare for the next wave of cyberattacks?"

McAfee believes the private sector at large needs to prepare for cyberattacks, and "those businesses that can weather the storm better than their competitors could be in a position to gain considerable market share."

McAfee also called for greater transparency in current discussions on combating cybercrime. The report said, "Too much of the debate on policies related to cyberwar is happening behind closed doors."

Analysts said although the Obama administration rectified this by bringing the cybercrime debate into the open, many other countries in the industrialized world still insist on confidentiality over the issue.

Industry sources believe criminal organizations have built alliances with adversarial governments that seek to achieve military or political advantage over democracies in the West, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere.

So intense is the interaction between cybercriminality and hostile governments that the distinction between cybercrime and cyberwar is increasingly blurred.

"The line between cybercrime and cyberwar is blurred today in large part because some nation-states see criminal organizations as useful allies. Nation-states have demonstrated that they are willing to tolerate, encourage or event direct criminal organizations and private citizens to attack enemy targets."

In the case of the cyberattacks on Georgia, for example, civilians carried out the cyberattacks on targets while the Russian military invaded Georgia by land and air in August 2008. There is evidence that these civilians were aided and supported by Russian organized crime, as cited in a report by the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, an independent research institute.

Russia denied that its government or military provided any help to the attackers or communicated with them. Yet the same US-CCU report found that "the cyberattacks were so close in time to the corresponding military operations that there had to be close cooperation between people in the Russian military and the civilian cyberattackers," McAfee said.

In a sobering conclusion, McAfee said, "While experts may disagree on the definition of cyberwar, there is significant evidence that nations around the world are developing, testing and in some cases using or encouraging cyber means as a method of obtaining political gain."

Although much of that activity is shrouded in secrecy, "there is already a constant, low level of conflict occurring in cyberspace. Whether these attacks are labeled as cyber espionage, cyber activism, cyber conflict or cyberwar, they represent emerging threats in cyberspace that exist outside the realm of cybercrime."

The report said "international cyber conflict has reached the tipping point where it is no longer just a theory, but a significant threat that nations are already wrestling with behind closed doors. The impact of a cyberwar is almost certain to extend far beyond military networks and touch the globally connected information and communications technology infrastructure upon which so many facets of modern society rely.

"With so much at stake, it is time to open the debate on the many issues surrounding cyber warfare to the global community," said the report.

source

about US Cyber Consequences Unit -

http://www.usccu.us/index_noscript.htm

"scrupulously neutral" despite all their many connections to the establishment. mm hmm ok if you say so.

"The reason the US-CCU was set up as an independent, non-governmental organization was so it could rigorously protect the proprietary information of private sector corporations. This was necessary because corporations are extremely reluctant to reveal vulnerabilities to any government entity that might retain the information indefinitely, share it at some point with prosecutors or regulatory agencies, or release it under the Freedom of Information Act. By operating outside the government and under stringent legal safeguards, the US-CCU is able to avoid these problems. It insulates companies from the government."

funny or sad? ok it's funny.

1. Avigdor Lieberman wants meeting participants to take lie-detector test after leaks to Haaretz

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is demanding that all officials who attended Sunday's meeting of the security cabinet undergo a polygraph test, in the wake of a leak to Haaretz about details of the discussion.
Haaretz newspaper said Wednesday that Lieberman has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet security service director Yuval Diskin to summon participants to a lie-detector examination.

The meeting discussed the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Lebanese part of the border village of Ghajar. It was held at the Israeli prime minister's office and was deemed highly confidential.

However, details of the meeting were reported by Haaretz on Monday.

Sources at the Israeli foreign ministry told the daily that Lieberman brought up the issue on Monday at his weekly meeting with senior ministry officials and appeared to be furious. They said he noted that he was late to the meeting because he was asking Netanyahu and Diskin to investigate the leak.

In addition to senior foreign ministry officials and the seven ministers in the security cabinet, the meeting was attended by senior figures from the defense ministry, national security council and the Israeli army.

Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday that nothing had been finalized with Lieberman on the issue. Diskin's office, as well as that of Lieberman, declined to comment.

source: naharnet news

2. Venezuelans show no signs of cutting back on plastic surgery

CARACAS: Unfazed by a recession and rampant inflation, image-conscious Venezuelans show no signs of cutting back on the facelifts, liposuction, and breast augmentation that have become beauty treatments. “There is never a question of not doing it, but of how you can do it. We all want to get everything done,” said Helen Patino, a 37-year-old former model who had her first breast augmentation when she was 21 and her third about three months ago.

Venezuela’s inflation is the highest in Latin America, up more than 20 percent in the first 10 months of this year and the South American nation is in recession after a five year boom.

Hard times may even encourage cosmetic procedures as people look for ways to lift their spirits, with many dipping into savings or taking on debt to get operations, surgeons say. “The financial crisis has spurred people to spend more on themselves ... to console themselves in this crisis. I have not seen demand diminishing,” said Peter Romer, a plastic surgeon in Caracas.

For Iris Delgado, a 57-year-old dental technician, a lack of funds was not an obstacle to getting a recent eyelid tuck.

“With the economy, one has to make sacrifices, because you don’t have the money. So, you get it from credit cards, from family and you pay for it,” said Delgado, who borrowed 7,000 bolivares—about $3,250 -- for the procedure, a move she saw as a hedge against inflation in plastic surgery prices. Like Delgado, many go into debt to finance cosmetic surgery, according to those in the industry. “It’s an investment that people make and they look for money everywhere,” said Romer, adding that one of his patients moved into a smaller apartment to get a makeover and another traded her car for a facelift.

source: the peninsula

11.24.2009

Philippine violence blamed on Muslim insurgency naturally

Something may be up as we approach the one year anniversary of the Mumbai attacks and the Thanksgiving holiday when many people are distracted. - ed.

1. Arroyo declares state of emergency

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday put parts of the troubled southern Philippines under emergency rule following a massacre of at least 24 people there, her spokesman said.

Spokesman Cerge Remonde said the proclamation covered the province of Maguindanao, where the massacre occurred on Monday, and two other neighbouring areas that together had a combined population of 1.54 million people.

"There is an urgent need to prevent and suppress the occurrence of several other incidents of lawless violence," [??? what "other" incidents??? - ed.] Arroyo said in the proclamation, according to Remonde.

"The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are hereby ordered to undertake such measures as allowed by the constitution and by law to prevent and suppress all incidents of lawless violence in the aforesaid areas."

The state of emergency authorizes the military to impose curfews, set up checkpoints and undertake searches of homes.

more here

2. Maguindanao death toll rises to 46 - so the killers took the time to bury the bodies??? that was nice of them.

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines—(UPDATE 6) Bullet-ridden bodies were pulled out from shallow graves on Tuesday as troops hunted down the gunmen who massacred, according to the Philippine National Police, at least 46 people in one of the Philippines' most brutal explosions of political violence.

Police on Mindanao island pulled bullet-ridden bodies from shallow graves in this remote farming area after gunmen allegedly employed by a local political chief abducted then shot dead a group of rival politicians and journalists.

“Some bodies were strewn on the ground. Most were recovered from under lumps of earth which were stained with blood,” said Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, the regional police commander.

"They were piled on top of each other. It looked as if they were buried hurriedly," said Cataluna.

...Journalists on the scene said a mechanical digger was emblazoned with the name of the Maguindanao provincial governor, Andal Ampatuan, whose bodyguards had been blamed by the military as being behind the massacre.

The victims were among a group of more than 40 people abducted by gunmen Monday linked to Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, head of a Muslim clan who is part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ruling coalition.

The abducted group was made up of relatives and associates of Esmael Mangudadatu, the head of a rival Muslim clan in Maguindanao, plus a group of journalists, the military and police said.

more here

OK so the vicious killers, after brutally murdering these people, bury some of them with a backhoe that has their leader's name emblazoned across it. hmm. - ed.

3. elite police units take control of Maguindanao

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police on Tuesday took control of the entire Maguindanao to prevent a possible escalation of hostilities following Monday’s massacre of a group of local politicians, their supporters and journalists.

Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said elite police units from the Regional Mobile Group, Special Action Force, Maritime Group and regional police offices of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Central Mindanao were sent to augment police and military forces already in the area.

Espina said numerous police checkpoints and chokepoints were set up around the province to “control the egress and ingress there.”

He said the PNP might also implement a curfew in Maguindanao.

“The physical control (of Maguindanao) will allow us to run (after) the perpetrators as we still are in the stage of preliminary investigation,” he said in a press briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

“We have to restore normalcy. Everybody entering the area is being checked,” Espina added.

more here

4. massacre exposes brutal underbelly of Philippine politics

MANILA, Philippines—The massacre of at least 22 people in Maguindanao has exposed a brutal culture of guns, greed and money that has poisoned the Philippine political system for decades, experts said Tuesday.

The murders in the southern province Monday are feared to be only the first of many killings ahead of next year's national elections, when posts from village chiefs to the president will be up for grabs.

"This explosion of violence arises whenever there is an election," said Samira Gutoc, one of the conveners of the Young Moro Professionals, a group helping the government in peace talks with armed Muslim groups in the south.

Indeed, dozens of people are killed each election season in this impoverished and often lawless Southeast Asian nation.

Local political warlords have for generations competed for political power and the accompanying business riches that government posts offer.

These clans are well known to control private armies, who carry out assassinations and counter-attacks against rivals.

The proliferation of over 1.1 million unlicensed firearms, most of them in the hands of rebel groups or paramilitaries, contribute to the general lawlessness in many remote areas, according to police.

...But while the problem plagues the entire country, experts say Maguindanao and other parts of the far southern island of Mindanao -- where a Muslim insurgency has waged for decades -- are particularly volatile.

"Politics in Mindanao is about ownership of power. Public office is perceived as a personal, clannish thing -- a birth right, and they would spill blood for it," Gutoc said.

more here

5. several police officials sacked after being implicated in massacre

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Two senior police officers and three other policemen have been sacked after being linked to the massacre of at least 24 politicians and journalists in Maguindanao, the Philippine National Police said Tuesday.

Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, the deputy provincial police chief of Maguindanao, and Maguindanao police provincial director Abusana Maguid have been relieved, said PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina.

He said Dicay was relieved "after being reportedly seen at the scene of the incident” with members of some members of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit militia who are trained by the government to fight local insurgencies.

more here