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Monday, June 23, 2008 |
Greg Palast: "Are they going to Steal 2008? Don't worry: it's already stolen. But you can steal it back. Ted Rall and I have teamed up for one of the first ever series of hard-edged investigative journalism - in 'toon form. Steal this strip ... and pass it on: VOTE THEFT FOR IDIOTS - PART 1."
11:09:04 AM 
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There is evidence that some people knew what was going to happen on 9/11.
A group of Israeli agents in Arabian clothes was dancing at the sight of the first plane hitting one of the towers. They knew what was going to happen and were waiting, and doing their bit.
11:06:45 AM
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LATimes: "Why attack Iran's nuclear facilities when striking their oil infrastructure would be much more effective in the scope of a US-led preventive war? Sure, oil prices might skyrocket and the world economy might collapse. But, hey, that's the price you pay for security.
Such a scenario is not a nightmare or an outtake from a remake of Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove', but part of a serious recommendation made by two neoconservatives in case sanctions fail to persuade Iran to abandon its enrichment of uranium, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons or fuel for peaceful energy production.
In a July report titled 'The Last Resort: Consequences of Preventive Military Action Against Iran', and published by the neoconservative Washington Institute for Near East Studies, scholars Patrick Clawson and Michael Eisenstadt advocate military strategies that would ultimately discourage Tehran from pursuing any future non-civilian nuclear activities."
It figures. Neocons would do anything to blow oil prices sky high. This is capitalism in its most exploitative, most predatory, most destructive form, and it is quite possible it would eventually destroy capitalism as well. These neocons are the personification of evil. They are the worst kind of terrorists. They should be tried for inciting hatred and war.
Guardian: "In the Iraq story, it seems, the answer lies in the oil. This week we hear via the New York Times that up to five of the big oil multinationals are set to win contracts to exploit the largest and most lucrative oilfields in Iraq - including the new discoveries lying to the west of Basra and Amara.
The companies, the heirs of the famous seven sisters of the big cartels that ran large chunks of the oil business in the last century, are Exxon, Chevron, Total, Royal Dutch Shell and BP. They will benefit from the new Iraqi oil law, which has taken years to produce, and they will be granted the licences to lift the oil on a non-compete basis.
Iraq has the second- or third-largest known commercially viable oil reserves in the world - it jostles in ranking with Iran. The difficulty for both countries is that they have antiquated or non-existent infrastructure for refining and distribution. In 1991, according to a UK defence intelligence source, Iraq had only twelve 'cracking' or full refining plants - and the situation can hardly be any better today.
Iran has roughly half as many again, some 18 in all, which leaves it peculiarly vulnerable.
According to my source (who is now an international businessman), however, 'the place is awash with crude, but they have to ship a lot of it out to get it refined, and then buy it back again'. The former commander believed that the coalition force could have 'knocked out' Saddam Hussein's war effort in 36 hours at the opening of Operation Desert Storm by 'dropping the cracking plants'. Similarly, he said, 'the force could do the same for Iran if it came to confrontation over nuclear weapons proliferation: hit the oil plants rather than target elusive nuclear sites.' The consequence, however, would be a tsunami in the global economy."
BradBlog: "Drilling off the coast of California, Florida and elsewhere would increase domestic oil production by 7 percent by 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration. But 'because oil prices are determined on the international market... any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.' There is no short-term benefit to drilling, says the EIA, because it would take at least five years for oil production to begin.
On the other hand, in a single step tomorrow - closing the Enron Loophole - Congress and George Bush could create an overnight drop in oil prices of between 25 and 50 percent. This is according to testimony before a Senate Committee two weeks ago by Michael Greenberger, the former director of Trading & Markets for the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), the government board that oversees commodities markets.
The Enron Loophole is the nickname for a provision written into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) of 2000 that was drafted by lobbyists for Enron and inserted in the bill by then Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Ga.) that deregulated an aspect of the market Enron sought to exploit with its 'Enron On-Line' trading program, the first Internet-based commodities transaction system. Phil Gramm is now a key economic adviser for the John McCain campaign.
While it was a technical success, Enron On-Line was based on a flawed business model that drained corporate revenues - even while the company was manipulating the rates consumers paid for electricity in California. Enron On-Line eventually drove the company into bankruptcy, and the cooking of the books to hide its losses led to charges of conspiracy and fraud against Enron executives."
Marx was right. Capitalism will at a certain moment be openly predatory. Neocons are criminals who have no qualms making their profits over millions of dead bodies. And when the destruction is complete, there will still be people saying like those who voted for the Nazis: 'Wir haben es nicht gewusst. - We did not know.'
Well, we all know now. I know and YOU know.
The battle is beginning.
SundayHerald: "The battle lines for America's controversial anti-missile missile shield in central-eastern Europe have been drawn across the Czech Republic, with the pro-base Prague government fast losing the fight for Czech hearts and minds.
Military police have forcibly ended a six-week-old Greenham Common-style 'occupation' by Czech Greenpeace activists of Height 718, the planned site of America's missile-tracking high-speed radar base in the Brdy military district southwest of Prague.
Following the centre-right Prague government's signing of the US-Czech missile base agreement last month, a wave of mass protests and 'rolling' hunger strikes demonstrated the level of public disquiet over the siting of the US base on Czech soil."
10:54:21 AM
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© Copyright 2008.
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