IMF AUSTERITY MEASURES IN USA

TEMPLE INSTITUTE
http://templeinstitute.org/

REMEMBER MARCH 16,2010 ISRAEL WANTS TO START REBUILDING THE 3RD TEMPLE BY LAYING THE CORNERSTONE ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT.GET IN CONTACT WITH NETANYAHU AND DEMAND THE ISRAELIS GET TO REBUILD THE 3RD TEMPLE NOW AND PRAY AT ALL TIMES ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT TO THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD KING JESUS.AND ALSO TO SACRIFICE TO JESUS.

AND THE OTHER ISSUE WE MUST KEEP ON THE TABLE AND IN PEOPLES MEMORY IS THAT BARRY SOTORO IS REALLY BARACK OBAMAS REAL NAME AND HE WAS BORN IN KENYA NOT AMERICA.BARRY SOTORO AKA BARACK OBAMA IS NOT ELLIGABLE TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA GOVERNMENT.EVERYTHING HE SIGNS IN BARACK OBAMA IS ILLEGEL,BECAUCE HIS REAL NAME IS BARRY SOTORO.AMERICAS CONSTITUTION WILL BE IN SHAMBLES ONCE THIS SCAM IS FINALLY REVEALED TO THE WORLD.

MORE MSNBC HATE MOGER AGAINST TEA PARTIERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwqLTxL0KdY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Qm3grBnUg&feature=player_embedded

BARRY SOTORO IS DEFINETLY A FORERUNNER LIER OF THE FUTURE EU WORLD DICTATOR AS AMERICA IS NOW A DICTATORSHIP UNDER OBAMA AND HIS 32 CZARS NOT UNDER THE HOUSE AND SENATE.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

THE EU DICTATOR

REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

THE NEW WORLD ORDER-ONE WORLD GOVERNMENTERS WILL TRY TO TAKE OVER WORLD CONTROL THROUGHT THE ENVIROMENTAL MOVEMENT AND THROUGH THE ECONOMY COLLAPSE.

Commission to table carbon emissions tax proposal
HONOR MAHONY Today MAR 5,10 @ 09:19 CET

The European Commission is planning in the next couple of months to table a proposal for a carbon tax, a move likely to cause division among member states.EU taxation commissioner Algirdas Semeta told Brussels weekly European Voice that he is planning draft legislation on a minimum rate of tax on carbon emissions.In my estimation it is possible to start discussion within the college [of European Commissioners], he told the newspaper, adding that there is currently the right momentum to relaunch the issue.His spokesperson said that the energy directive is one of the priorities he would like to pursue, during his five-year mandate and that an impact assessment of such a carbon tax is now being finalised. The commissioner would like to publish the proposal in the next couple of months.Mr Semeta's predecessor, Laszlo Kovacs, also planned legislation on the same issue in 2008 but the idea was shelved after it was deemed too divisive.According to the European Voice, Mr Kovacs' draft legislation would have set a minimum of excise rate of €10 per tonne of CO2 emitted, however the new impact assessment may result in a change to where the rate is set.

Mr Semeta is looking to calculate the tax according to how environmentally damaging the fuel is, with fuels emitting high level of carbon emissions taxed more heavily.
Several member states already have national carbon taxes, including Sweden, Denmark and Finland. France tried to introduce one but the country's top court last year struck down the attempt calling it unequal and counterproductive.However, any EU-level proposal is likely to cause opposition among those member states who feel tax policies are the preserve of national governments. The UK has already voiced its opposition to the plan, which would need to be supported by all 27 member states.

Previously a taboo, the idea of a direct European tax is now being mentioned more often. Jose Manuel Barroso raised the possibility in his political guidelines on the commission's work for the next five years, while EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, before his took up his post, spoke about the need for financial levies at European level.

Lukewarm reception for EU's 2020 plan
ANDREW WILLIS 04.03.2010 @ 17:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Reactions to the European Commission's communication on a new economic strategy for Europe have so far proved to be lukewarm, at best. While a list of targets advocating higher employment, greener growth and greater research spending have met with general approval, few feel confident they can actually be achieved by means of an EU plan. For me this is like a broken record. I've heard it for 10 years. It's all words and no substance, Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies think tank, told EUobserver on Thursday (4 March).This idea that the EU can fundamentally change the growth prospects of its member countries, via the EU, always struck me as being fanciful, he added. Announcing the proposals a day earlier, commission President Jose Manuel Barroso himself identified what many deem to be central to the strategy's success or failure: member state political will. We have to be quite honest with you, there are 27 member states and if they don't want to play ball nothing will happen, said the Portuguese politician, who has overseen the second half of the bloc's current plan - the Lisbon Strategy - widely considered to have been a failure due to poor implementation levels. Member-state noises have so far given little reason to believe this time round will be any different, with Germany, crucially, coming out against stronger governance proposals. Optimism among European businesses appears to be low. There's no incentive for politicians to reach targets if it doesn't further their political goals, Ben Butters, director of European affairs with Business organisation Eurochambres, told this website.Tough reforms would not be popular with voters.With the commission holding little sway over member states, the role of European Council president Herman van Rompuy will be vital in providing the strategy with any credibility, he added.

Earlier this year, the Spanish rotating presidency raised the prospect of introducing some form of incentive for member states that successfully reach their agreed targets, such as extra money from the EU's structural funds. While absent from the commission's proposal, the European Parliament may revisit the idea when it issues an upcoming resolution.We've got to have carrots, we have to convince member states that they want this strategy, said Liberal MEP Sharon Bowles who chairs the parliament's economy committee. The group's leader, Guy Verhofstadt, has indicated he has little confidence new commission powers under the Lisbon Treaty to issue warnings will bring about much change on their own.[It] is unlikely to send a shudder down the spines of national finance ministers,he said.

EU splashes out €2.3 billion on anti-gas crisis projects
VALENTINA POP Today MAR 5,10 @ 09:13 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission on Thursday (4 March) approved financing for 43 gas and electricity interconnection projects worth €2.3 billion as part of a bigger recovery package agreed last year in response to both the economic and the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis.The funding, which varies between €1 million to 200 million per project, comes with a series of caveats - mainly imposed by Germany last spring when it agreed to the deal after months of haggling. For instance, the money needs to be used over the next 18 months and it can only finance up to 50 percent of the total investment cost.Energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger, himself a German politician, called the decision a milestone in EU history, since never before had the community invested so much in energy infrastructure. Apart from the gas and electricity projects already approved, the commission also agreed to fund wind farms and carbon capture and storage units worth €1.5 billion. That decision was taken in December last year, also as part of the recovery package.In concrete terms, the gas and electricity projects would help member states to be prepared in case of another energy cut off such as the one in January 2009 and 2006. Mr Oettinger gave the example of Bulgaria, which last year was left in the cold for weeks because there was no technical possibility to get gas supplies from its neighbours Romania and Greece when Russia turned off the tap. The pipelines linking Bulgaria to these two countries will be financed with €45 and €9 million, respectively, according to the project list.The same goes for the Baltic states, whose energy infrastructure still reflects the Soviet Union architecture. They will no longer be isolated islands on the energy map, Mr Oettinger said, referring to electricity projects worth between €100 million and €130 million, linking Estonia to Finland and Latvia and Lithuania to Sweden.

A slightly more controversial envelope of €200 million will go to Nabucco, Europe's only pipeline project aimed at reducing its dependence on Russian gas and pipelines by bringing Caspian gas directly to the EU via Turkey. Earlier this week, Mr Oettinger had signaled a u-turn in the commission's thinking when it comes to what is perceived as Nabucco's rival, South Stream, the Russian-sponsored pipeline set to tap the same Caspian resources.Speaking at a Bulgarian forum, the commissioner said that the EU was ready to back South Stream as long as the project would meet all the technical requirements to security.On Thursday, the commissioner again said that Nabucco and South Stream were not rivals but complementary projects. He explained that South Stream, which would cross the Black Sea, along with its northern counterpart, Nord Stream, through the Baltic Sea, would reduce Europe's reliance on one pipeline, as 80 percent of Russia's gas exports to the bloc currently transits Ukraine via an old Soviet network. But he admitted that neither pipeline will lower Europe's dependence on Russian gas. In both projects, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom would hold 51 percent of the shares. Against this backdrop, the EU commission was putting its trump card on the table - the multi-million funding to Nabucco - in order to reduce Europe's dependance not only on a pipeline, but also on the same supplier, he argued.Mr Oettinger did not rule out the possibility that the multi-national company responsible for Nabucco could decide this year to back out of the project altogether. The €7.9 billion scheme has advanced at a snail's pace since its inception in 2002.If the project comes into being, the €200 million will be an important building bloc, otherwise it will be used elsewhere, the German commissioner said, adding that Brussels was now preparing a conference on Nabucco.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Turkish parliament ratified an intergovernmental deal signed last year between the five countries involved in Nabucco. The move is seen as another small step forward, because Ankara had been haggling for a long time on the transit conditions for the pipeline.

EU diplomats should target India and China, ministers say
ANDREW RETTMAN 04.03.2010 @ 17:33 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The UK and Sweden have said the EU should build bigger embassies in up-and-coming capitals such as New Delhi and warned EU institutions not to hog senior posts in the bloc's new diplomatic service.British foreign minister David Miliband and his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, in a joint letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday (3 March) urged the bloc to create larger and more political delegations in the capitals of India, Pakistan, China, Brasil and Indonesia. Although our relationship with the US will remain the most important, we firmly believe that our ability to be part of shaping the world of tomorrow is critically dependent on our ability to deepen and broaden our relationship with these states,they said.The letter was written ahead of an informal EU foreign ministers' meeting on Friday (5 March) in Cordoba, Spain, which is to debate the structure of the union's new External Action Service (EAS).Ms Ashton is planning to put forward her final EAS proposal at the end of March.The list of five countries in the letter is merely indicative, with EU diplomats saying that Russia and South Africa are also being targeted for a meaty EU presence. On a related topic, the Miliband-Bildt letter urged Ms Ashton to make sure that member states' diplomats get their fair share of posts in the new service.

It said future EAS recruitment procedures should be transparent and based on merit and voiced concern that EU Council and European Commission officials are holding on to top EU external relations jobs in the run-up to the EAS launch. It is important that you can take the lead in the overall management of the network of delegations, the two men told Ms Ashton.It [the EAS] must have the keys to its own house.Ms Ashton was made to look weak by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso last month when he appointed an old Portuguese friend to run the EU's prestigious Washington delegation, bypassing the new foreign relations chief.Another plum job, the head of the EU mission to the UN in New York, is currently up for grabs.

Technically speaking, the commission has the right to put one of its officials in place because the vacancy came up before the Lisbon Treaty was in force. But member states expect Ms Ashton to take charge by organising an open contest including candidates from EU capitals.

EU's brightest and best

The Miliband-Bildt letter exposes the conflict between member states and the EU institutions over who will take the lead in the EAS. An EU diplomat told EUobserver that Sweden and France at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday said they will stop attacking Ms Ashton in the press in order to help her stand up to commission pressure. On paper, as stated in the Miliband-Bildt letter, everybody wants the brightest and best people to run the EAS in an impartial way.But in practice, there is just as much conflict between individual member states as with the EU commission over who will get the top jobs.A French diplomat and a German official are currently in the running to become EAS secretary general, a post envisaged by Ms Ashton, in order to offset the existing number of senior Brits.But with two deputy secretary general jobs also to come up for grabs, smaller member states are equally jostling for position: A number of countries don't like what is happening - that the three big ones are trying to forge deals on who gets what, an EU diplomat from a small member state told this website.

Senators warn Obama on EU trade competition
VALENTINA POP 04.03.2010 @ 09:19 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – US senators from both parties on Wednesday (3 March) pressured the Obama administration to implement free trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia, warning of competition from the EU, which recently clinched similar deals.Washington's free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea were signed during the George W. Bush administration, but their implementation has been blocked for some three years now due to opposition from Barack Obama's own Democratic Party.Time is of the essence. We want to get this done,top US trade official Ron Kirk said before the Senate's finance committee. This is almost singularly to the benefit of the United States.Mr Kirk was echoed in his calls by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers from the committee, who warned that the stalemate is hurting US credibility, while the EU and Canada are moving ahead on trade.South Korea has already concluded a trade agreement with the European Union, and Colombia has reportedly just done the same. Such erosion to global US competitiveness concerns me,said Republican senator Charles Grassley.His Democrat colleague Max Baucus said the United States should approve the trade agreements that we have already negotiated and signed.We must address the remaining obstacles to these agreements. But we must also recognize the consequences of further delay, he said.On the EU and Canada's agreements with South Korea and Colombia, Mr Baucus warned that once implemented, these agreements will give European and Canadian farmers and businesses a competitive advantage, unless we act.South Korea is the US's fourth-largest trading partner and Colombia is its largest agricultural market in South America.But trade unions and left-leaning Democrats have expressed concerns over the impact of the agreements on US jobs and want commitments to improve working standards within the countries, especially in Colombia, where trade unionists are regularly killed by right-wing paramilitaries. Colombian trade unionist killings account for roughly 60 percent of the world total.Mr Obama's top trade official said Colombia will be given a list of proposals over the next several months, if not weeks to resolve these issues.As for the South Korean deal, the main obstacle is access of US auto and beef companies to the country's market.The EU has inked its free trade deal with South Korea last year and signed similar pacts with Peru and Colombia on Monday.

EU loopholes could undermine new Iran sanctions, US warns
VALENTINA POP 03.03.2010 @ 10:54 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Any new sanctions imposed on Iran will be effective only if existing loopholes which allow middlemen to buy high-tech American goods in Europe and send them to Tehran are closed, US officials have told this website.Both the US and EU countries are currently looking at imposing a fresh set of sanctions after Tehran stepped up its uranium enrichment programme, which Western powers believe is in reality an attempt to develop a nuclear bomb. But US officials warn that unless current loopholes are fixed, Europe and US-based middlemen working for Iran will continue to circumvent the sanctions regime.I think it's essential that in conjunction with new sanctions, the US and its partners work together to address the current loopholes that Iran is using not only throughout Europe, but also other countries - the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Malaysia - to obtain prohibited items. Iran will continue to attempt to procure the goods that will be subject to new sanctions through the same mechanisms and doors that are currently open,Brian Davis from the Brussels office of the US immigration and customs enforcement agency (ICE) told this website.The office was recently set up in the EU capital for strategic reasons,in order to co-operate not only with Belgian authorities, but also the European Commission, its anti-fraud office (Olaf) and the World Customs Organisation, which is also based in Brussels.

ICE agents are focusing on tracking down buyers of so-called dual-use items - high-tech components with applications in medical, telecoms and other fields, but also in Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme. The money that is used to acquire bits and pieces which can be used to set up nuclear centrifuges often filters through Europe, Clark Settles of the US Department of Homeland Security, who is in charge of counter-proliferation investigations, told EUobserver in a phone interview.We follow the trail, but we adhere to the law of our partner countries -France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium - just to name a few. Predominantly what we do is go after people who are international arms dealers trying to acquire US technology even though they know it's in violation of our laws. So they take a number of steps to hide the source of where the money is coming from in Iran, the destination of the products, Mr Settles said.In a lot of extradition cases, suspects appeal the order in national courts. Since European countries only apply arms and nuclear proliferation embargoes, attempts to send them to the US on charges of trading in dual use items sometimes fall through.Mr Davis stressed that even in Europe, middlemen need to have specific export licences whenever trading in such products. If their shipments actually end up in Iran, then they are in violation of EU law.We need to do a better job at making sure that these goods go to their declared destination, that they stay in Malaysia, for example, and are not subsequently re-exported, in violation of US and EU law. If an exporter from the EU obtains a licence to export to Malaysia and then the goods get re-exported to Iran, that is in fact a violation of EU law. Those are the types of cases that I am currently working on with EU partners, he explained.

New sanctions under way

US foreign policy chief Hillary Clinton has started a tour of Latin America, looking to Brazil and Argentina for support in the UN Security Council for a new set of sanctions against Iran.Speaking on the plane to Buenos Aires, Mr Clinton backed away from her previous statements that a new resolution could be obtained in the next 30 to 60 days.We are moving expeditiously and thoroughly in the Security Council. I can't give you an exact date, but I would assume sometime in the next several months,she said before landing in the Argentine capital, AFP reports.Apart from sceptical non-permanent members of the Security Council such as Brazil, the US needs to convince Russia and China, who can veto any new resolution, as they have done in the past.Washington's strongest ally on the Iran dossier is France, which currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council.

Who will suffer?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday met his Russian counterpart, afterward saying that Moscow was willing to support such measures as long as they don't create humanitarian dramas.Experts are however sceptical that the new sanctions will have an impact on the Ahmadinejad government: In general, one can observe that the current sanctions have only had a limited impact on the Iranian regime. But the population, especially young people, is suffering, because the economy has been affected and unemployment is rising,said Alain Rodier, an expert with the Paris-based Centre francais de recherce sur le renseignement.He noted the Europeans were usually very vocal in supporting sanctions verbally, but less tough on actually applying them.

Protests in Greece as PM seeks aid
ANDREW WILLIS Today MAR 5,10 @ 17:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Clashes broke out in Athens on Friday (5 March) as the Greek parliament debated and approved the fresh austerity measures announced by the government on Wednesday. Workers around the country downed tools in protest against the €4.8 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes, while over 7,000 gathered in a tense protest outside the country's legislature, news media report. Police responded to skimishes with tear gas, and Greece's two main unions announced plans to hold a fresh 24-hour general strike on 11 March.The country's prime minister, George Papandreou, meanwhile embarked on a European tour as he attempts to drum up support for a Greek bail-out package. EU leaders pledged their support for Greece at an informal summit in Brussels last month, but have subsequently been reluctant to release further details, a step Athens argues would bring down its borrowing costs.

After a meeting with Mr Papandreou on Friday, Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker - who chairs the monthly meetings of euro area finance ministers - said a Greek rescue plan was no longer necessary in his opinion. The commitments taken by the Greek government are clearly paving the way towards an exit from its debt and deficit crisis, said Mr Juncker. Athens successfully raised €5 billion with a 10-year bond issuance on Thursday, but was forced to offer investors a punishingly high yield. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also continued to play hardball with the Greek administration on Friday, hours before she was scheduled to meet with Mr Papandreou in Berlin. At a television conference in Munich, Ms Merkel said Greece's successful bond issuance gives us optimism that things will go well in the months ahead, clearly indicating she did not plan to pledge financial aid at the meeting.

German economy minister Rainer Bruederle was less diplomatic earlier in the day when he said the government does not intend to give a cent to Greece.Many EU leaders are reluctant to set a new precedent of bailing out struggling governments, while domestic opposition to a Greek support package is high in Germany, the country likely to be the main contributor. Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks! And sell the Acropolis too! - ran the headline of Germany's mass selling Bild newspaper on Thursday, citing a senior member of Ms Merkel's Christian Democrat party as putting the idea forward. The cat-and-mouse game currently being played out in the Europe has seen Athens declare its willingness to turn to the International Monetary Fund if EU solidarity is not forthcoming, a potential embarrassment for an EU establishment that is keen to solve its own difficulties with internal solutions.

Credit Default Swaps

In related news on Friday, the European Commission held technical talks with banks, investors and regulators as it takes a closer look into the potential threats posed by derivative products such as credit default swaps. Athens has accused speculators of using the swaps to make large bets against the Greek economy, driving up its borrowing costs and weakening the euro. The country's centre-left Pasok administration delayed last week's bond issuance until this Thursday amid CDS turmoil
CDSs function like an insurance contract for debt investors. If a borrower, such as the Greek government, defaults on its debt obligations, the seller of the default swap pays compensation to the purchaser. Swap holders are not obliged to hold the underlying asset that is being insured however, a situation which regulators say promotes destabilising betting. The commission is set to come forward with a directive on derivatives later this year.

Homeopathy industry push for products via public healthcare EU-wide
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today MAR 5,10 @ 17:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - With the European Commission soon to launch a review of EU pharmaceutical laws, the homeopathy industry feels the time is ripe to launch fresh lobbying push in Brussels to have the EU force all member states to provide access to the product from public health systems and loosen up the approval process for their remedies.Representatives of the industry, practitioners and patients that use homeopathic products are to hold an EU Homeopathy Day in the European Parliament on 23 March as the kick-off for a new effort to win EU-level alternative-medicine-friendly legislation. Industry lobbyists and their MEP allies believe that with the new European Commission expected to launch a review of EU pharmaceutical laws at some point during its four-year term, now is their chance to press their case.It provides an excellent opportunity for positive change, Irish euro-deputy Marilyn Harkin, the organiser of the event in the parliament, told EUobserver.The aim is to integrate homeopathy into EU health policy,Homeopathy claims to heal patients with highly diluted treatments of substances that cause physical responses that are similar to the symptoms of the ailment. Invented by by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, the treatments are diluted to such a degree that nothing of the original substance is left. Its practitioners say however that the water retains a memory of the substance.While up to 125 million Europeans a year use homeopathic products - the water is usually dropped onto sugar pills that are then consumed - and the industry worth €1.05 billion as of 2009, reviews of all the published studies on the practice fail to demonstrate any efficacy beyond the placebo affect.

As a result, the practice is regularly pilloried by sceptics who attack it as pseudoscience and potentially dangerous if taken instead of conventional medicines such as vaccinations.There's always a question about the science, said Ms Harkin, but with homeopathy, a lot of it is based on tradition and you need to be careful that the judgments that are not purely based on science. They need to be based on efficacy as well as that.According to Nand de Herdt, the president of the European Coalition on Homeopathic and Anthroposophic Medicinal Products (Echamp), the industry lobby group based in the European capital, said they are to press for concrete action at the EU level, and that the coming legislative review provides a very good opportunity to do so.

Single market

The European institutions, even after passage of the Lisbon Treaty, still have very little responsibility for the health sector and until now, the European Commission has said as a result, it has very little room to manoeuvre in this area. But this time, according to Mr de Herdt, instead of trying the health legislation route, the lobbyists will try to leverage single market rules, where the EU has very powerful powers indeed.In this way, Echamp and its partners hope to win a harmonisation of laws governing the authorisation of homeopathic products across the bloc. Some people have access to some products in some member states but not in others. Patients, doctors, practitioners are being denied access to the products they choose.
Ms Harkin believes the single market angle will work: If we look at the EU and what it's basically about, it's about ensuring the free movement of people, goods and services across the union. So from that perspective, we can get legislation in this area.Using the same legislative crowbar, the industry lobby along with the European Central Council of Homeopaths - the professional association for practitioners, the European Committee for Homeopathy - which brings together the doctors that prescribe the sugar pills, and the European Federation of Homeopathic Patients' Associations - representing the people that swallow them, hope to require public health systems to pay for access to such treatments wherever patients demand them.In most member states, homeopathy is a private matter. That is to say not covered by all public health systems. But it ranges from country to country. This is a major concern. Sweden for example forbids doctors from prescribing it, while in France, it can only be prescribed by doctors.Mr de Herdt complains that the number of homeopathic products on the market as compared to the total number of homeopathic products that could be available is far too low. They exist on the market, often sold by small outfits over the internet, but there is no legal status for these products. Unauthorised, they are tolerated by authorities. This is fine for a small internet business, but for serious manufacturers, this is not a good situation.The problem is with the approving authorities, he says, because they apply the rules that apply to chemical substances. But these are practices from a very old tradition, and authorities do not have the capacity to manage an appropriate assessment of these products.As a result, the major push of the homeopathy lobby is to have a separate stand-alone EU directive that exempts them from regular chemical and other health and safety rules.The current system is substance-oriented. Our products need a system that is therapeutic-oriented, he said, explaining that it was not just the medicine itself but the whole process a practitioner applies that produces the result.

Research funding

Echamp meets with commission representatives three or four times a year and Mr de Herdt says that the EU executive is on side with most of their arguments already, but that the changes they are looking for are for the moment not at the top of their priorities.On the level of the therapeutic argument, research projects, we've had a lot of success, but in terms of product authorisation, the success so far has been more limited.In 2006, the chamber amended the Seventh Community Framework Research Programme (FP7), the EU's main instrument for funding scientific research, to include ‘complementary medicine' and in 2007, the parliament similarly amended the Second Programme of Community Action in the Field of Health, the bloc's funding mechanism for public-health-related projects.In October 2009, the EU awarded a grant of €1.5 million for a 36-month research project carried out by the Communication Platform on topics related to Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Europe (CAMbrella), a Munich-based, 12-member-state research network whose advisory board includes alternative medicine practitioners and product manufacturers. The project's remit includes a review of the current legal status and policies governing alternative medicine provision in the EU.

UK parliament committee: Just a placebo

The lobby's fresh push for EU homeopathy rules comes just as the UK readies itself to strip provision of homeopathic medicine from the country's National Health Service. On 22 February, the influential Scientific Committee of the House of Commons slammed the practice, saying there was no evidence that it provides anything more than the placebo effect and that manufacturers must stop making medical claims for their products.Andy Lewis, the proprietor of the Quackometer website, which debunks quack medicine on the internet, said that the new campaign of European homeopathy lobby was at odds with the British parliament's enquiry.The MPs concluded, after a very detailed review of the evidence, that homeopathy was scientifically implausible and could not be shown to be effective, said Mr Lewis, who was also one of the organisers of a series of homeopathy overdose demonstrations outside pharmacists across the UK in January in which sceptics swallowed entire bottles of homeopathy sugar pills. The recommendation was that homeopathy should not be publicly funded and that medicines labeling regulations should not allow it to make unfounded claims.The EU would be failing its citizens, and pandering to business interests, if it allowed homeopathy sugar pill manufacturers to make misleading claims about this discredited 18th Century quackery,he added.

Ms Harkin, for her part, is familiar with such criticism, but dismisses it as in the service of Big Pharma: There are those that believe that only those medicines prescribed by doctors and manufactured by Pfizer will make you well, but a lot of ordinary people do not subscribe to that view.[The sceptics] are saying medicines must be judged by one critierion only, that it satisfies a scientific equation. Whereas there are many standards by which medicines should be judged,she said.The agenda is to say that science has the answer to everything. Well, they should have learnt by now that it hasn't.

[Video] Muslims denied flight after refusing body scan in Britain
VALENTINA POP Today MAR 5,10 @ 17:42 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Two Muslim women were denied access to a flight from the UK to Pakistan after refusing a full body scan on religious and medical grounds. The move comes just as Brussels is assessing whether to recommend an EU-wide roll out of these devices.The two women, who are British residents, were supposed to travel on a Pakistan International Airlines flight to Islamabad from Manchester Airport in northwest England on 19 February. They opted to lose their flight, when told they could not board unless they passed through a full body scan. One of the women refused to be scanned on religious grounds, while her companion declined for medical reasons.This is the first confirmed case in Britain of anyone being refused travel since mandatory body scanners were introduced in the country's busiest airports a month ago.It also highlights some of the cultural and political implications of a potential EU-wide roll out of these scanners, currently being analysed by the European Commission. The EU executive is expected to issue a report in April assessing their impact on health, privacy and the actual added value in terms of security. Transport commissioner Siim Kallas has however already hinted that he is in favour of EU-wide rules and standards for this technology.Currently, member states can introduce various models of full body scanners in addition to the existing screening methods deployed at their busiest airports. Privacy rules differ, however. The X-ray devices used in Britain show the actual physical features, equivalent to a nude image, and have the capacity to store and print those scans.

Other versions in use in the Netherlands show a puppet image and only flash areas where metals or liquids are hidden. Amsterdam airport officials also offer the option of a physical pat-down in case the traveler refuses to go through the scan.
Italy on Thursday (4 March) also introduced a testing period for full-body scanners in Rome, starting with a terminal that serves US flights. The Italian devices are based on electromagnetic waves, because national legislation prohibits X-ray use other than for medical reasons.Scanners with old X-ray technology are now on sale in the European Parliament's basement. The EU assembly acquired six such scanners in 2005 and never used them. The legislature is selling them now for half the price, with the winner of the tender expected to be announced next week.

MEPs in favour of EU standards

Meanwhile, MEPs dealing with home affairs and civil liberties have criticised the focus on scanning technology as a quick fix for major security blunders.It is stupid from a security point of view to allow member states to roll out such devices, we need standards at EU level, Belgian Socialist MEP Said Al Khadraoui said during an EUobserver tv debate on this topic.We need to be clear that this body scanner is just an instrument, it won't guarantee full security and it costs a lot of money, he added.Liberal British euro-deputy Sarah Ludford spoke about a recurrent pattern of law enforcement and security officials failing to connect the dots and to prevent major terrorist attacks such as the ones on New York and Washington in 2001.The most recent case to prompt the strengthening of airport security occurred in December when a Nigerian who was actually on a no-fly list and whose own father reported concerns about his radicalisation, was allowed to board a US flight in Amsterdam, while carrying explosive devices. There is a danger if you just rely on technological quick fixes, you're not going to do the hard work, making sure the targeted info is truly shared in an appropriate manner and intelligence leads are followed up,Ms Ludford said.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtpEZFgz2SA&feature=player_embedded

Let's Talk about EU is the brand new monthly current affairs programme brought to you by EUobserver.com. Shot in the European Parliament in Brussels, the panel debates allow Members of the European Parliament to discuss controversial current affairs topics. In this debate you can watch Baroness Sarah Ludford (ALDE), Said Al Khadraoui (S&D), Simon Busuttil (EPP) and Judith Sargentini (Greens) give their views on body scanning technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovnDyT1MO7c&feature=player_embedded
THE HATE AGAINST TEA PARTIERS,911 TRUTHERS,BIRTH CERTIFIC ISSUES ABOUT OBAMA,CONSERVATIVES AND CHRISTIANS IS NOW HOT AND HEAVY.

Pentagon Shooting Coincides with Supreme Court Second Amendment Case
Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com March 5, 2010

The shooting outside the Pentagon yesterday occurred as the Supreme Court considers McDonald v. Chicago, a lawsuit challenging the city’s handgun ban. The new case is a sequel to the 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which placed limits on what the federal government may do to regulate the Second Amendment. Arguments in the case, according to The New York Times, are unusually tense.The suspected gunman in the Pentagon shooting, John Patrick Bedell, was heavily armed and spent weeks driving to the Capital area from the West Coast, according to The Associated Press. Resentment of the U.S. government and suspicions over the 9/11 attacks have surfaced in writings by the Californian identified as the man fatally wounded in a hail of return fire.Bedell was dressed in a business suit and carried two semiautomatic weapons and many magazines of ammunition, according to Pentagon police chief Richard S. Keevill. Federal law enforcement sources identified the guns allegedly used by Bedell as a Sturm 9mm and a Taurus 9mm. Investigators are tracing the origins of the weapons and checking to see whether Bedell had permits for them, The Washington Post reports this morning.There are no indications at this point that there are any international or domestic connections to this incident at all, Keevill said. At this time it appears to be a single individual that had issues.Despite the fact Bedell had issues, the corporate media is attempting to connect him to the 9/11 truth movement.There are emerging signs that the suspect in a Pentagon subway station shooting may have harbored resentment for the military and had doubts about the facts behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The San Jose Mercury News reports this morning. In an Internet posting, a user named JPatrickBedell wrote he was determined to see justice for the 1991 death of a Marine in California. The death was ruled a suicide but has long been the source of coverup theories. The writer said the case would be a step toward revealing the truth behind 9/11.

That same posting railed against the government’s enforcement of marijuana laws and included links to the author’s 2006 court case in Orange County, Calif., for cultivating marijuana and resisting a police officer. Court records available online show the date of birth on the case mentioned by the user JPatrickBedell matches that of the John Patrick Bedell suspected in the shooting,reports Fox News.A law enforcement official told Fox News that the FBI is aware of the postings and video posted online from a person with Bedell’s name. The FBI is working to confirm who actually posted the messages and videos.The shooting occurred two days after the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report claiming that the patriot movement represents a growing threat to the government and Obama.The study said some of the ideas of Patriot groups raging at the federal government in the 1990s have now become more mainstream, taken up by groups including some Tea Party grassroots conservative activists who are hoping to make a splash in November’s congressional elections and beyond,Reuters reported yesterday.

Fox News tries to associate government criticism with gun violence
Patrick Henry Infowars.com March 5, 2010

(All quotes are form the Fox News propaganda article cited below.)The above headline reveals the actual talking point being circulated around the country. Bedell reportedly died due to multiple gun shot wounds so he won’t be available to be held as an enemy combatant for the rest of his life.

(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588074,00.html) The alleged shooter at the Pentagon, John Patrick Bedell, mysteriously fired at point blank range yet only grazed two Pentagon police men. Bedell reportedly died due to multiple gun shot wounds so he won’t be available to be held as an enemy combatant for the rest of his life. What does the corporate/government controlled news media want all of us to learn from this attack?

1.) This is probably terrorism, not merely attempted homicide. John Patrick Bedell, 36, of Hollister, Calif., was identified as the shooter. Officials said they’d found no immediate connection to terrorism but had not ruled it out.
2.) Questioning the events of the largest terrorist attack in US history on 9/11/01 leads to violence. Signs emerged that Bedell harbored ill feelings toward the government and the armed forces, and had questioned the circumstances behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
3.) Both questioning the events of 911 and the illegal wars in the Mid East are a clear sign of a tendency toward violence. Bedell allegedly harbored ill feelings toward the government and the armed forces.
4.) Questioning highly suspicious suicides of those critical of the government is a sign of a tendency toward violence. In an Internet posting, a user by the name JPatrickBedell wrote that he was determined to see that justice is served in the death of Marine Col. James Sabow, who was found dead in the backyard of his California home in 1991. The death was ruled a suicide but the case has long been the source of theories of a cover up. The user named JPatrickBedell wrote the Sabow case was a step toward establishing the truth of events such as the September 11 demolitions.
5.) Use of the INTERNET to post thoughts critical of the government indicate a predisposition toward violence. Note the fabricated headline, Pentagon Shooter Railed Against U.S. on Internet.
6.) Opposing the War on Drugs is yet another sign of a tendency toward violence. That same posting railed against the government’s enforcement of marijuana laws and included links to the author’s 2006 court case in Orange County, Calif., for cultivating marijuana and resisting a police officer. Court records available online show the date of birth on the case mentioned by the user JPatrickBedell matches that of the John Patrick Bedell suspected in the shooting.
7.) The facts don’t really matter as long as a bogus association is established between 911 Truth/the War on Drugs/internet postings and hand gun violence. Fox reported that Bedell made a number of internet postings without revealing the specific internet sites. However we also learn that, A law enforcement official told Fox News that the FBI is aware of the postings and video posted online from a person with Bedell’s name. The FBI is working to confirm who actually posted the messages and videos.So Fox is certain of Bedell’s internet activities before the FBI is willing to express this as the case. Remember the headline is,Pentagon Shooter Railed Against U.S. on Internet.As opposed to Pentagon Shooter may have Railed Against U.S. on Internet.Of course astute readers will recognize that even if the alleged shooter did rail against the government on the internet it’s ludicrous to even suggest that anyone who engages in government criticism on the internet is prone to violence. For example, Bedell probably always paid his income taxes so would this establish a connection between those who pay their income taxes with illegal hand gun violence?
8.) There is some connection, mystical or otherwise, between: Bedell’s shooting, the attack on the Austin IRS building by a pilot, the attacks at Foot Hood and an attack at a courthouse in Las Vegas.
9.) In particular I need to stress that the official talking points are desperately attempting to concoct an association between 911 Truth and the Ft. Hood attacks which are being portrayed as the work of a a U.S. Army psychiatrist with radical Islamic leanings. Do not lose cite of the force of this imaginary association between 911 Truth and radical Islam.
10.) This Pentagon attack that resulted in 2 policemen being grazed by bullets was so monumental and downright terrifying that President Barack Obama was getting FBI updates on the Pentagon shooting through his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.The magnitude of this colossal act of what may eventually be sold as domestic terrorism also resulted in the shut down of all but one entrance to the Pentagon.Transit officials said the [subway] station would remain closed at least part of the day Friday while the FBI continued its investigation. Perhaps a Congressional investigation will be launched to answer the pressing question,How did someone shoot 2 Pentagon policemen who were subsequently grazed by bullets? Can you feel the artificial outrage?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XRFII9AiQc&feature=player_embedded
Financial Warfare Exposed: Soros, Goldman Sachs, Hedge Funds Attack Greece to Smash Euro Webster G. Tarpley March 5, 2010

It has been evident for some time that the ongoing speculative attack on Greece, along with such other countries as Spain, Ireland, Portugal, and Italy, was not primarily a reflection of their economic fundamentals, nor yet a spontaneous movement of the market, but rather an orchestrated action of economic warfare. The dollar had been relentlessly falling through the late summer and autumn of 2009. It obviously occurred to various Anglo-American financiers that a diversionary attack on the euro, starting with some of the weaker Mediterranean or Southern European economies, would be an ideal means of relieving pressure on the battered US greenback. Since these degenerate elites are incapable of directly solving the problem of the dollar through increased production, full employment, and economic recovery, one of the few alternatives remaining to them is to create a situation in which the euro is collapsing faster, leaving the dollar as the beneficiary of some residual flight to quality or safe haven reflex.This is what emerged during the first week of December with a speculative assault or bear raid against Greek and Spanish government bonds as well as the euro itself, accompanied by a scurrilous press campaign targeting the PIIGS, an acronym for the countries just named, coming from inside the bowels of Goldman Sachs. I have discussed this phenomenon several times over the last two to three weeks on my radio program on GCN.

Now comes concrete proof of this conspiracy in the form of a Feb. 8 idea dinner, held at the Manhattan townhouse of Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co, a boutique investment bank. Among those present were SAC Capital Advisors, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital (a veteran of the fatal assault on Lehman Brothers in the late summer of 2008), Donald Morgan of Brigade Capital, and, most tellingly, Soros Fund Management. The consensus that emerged that night over the filet mignon was that Greek government bonds were the weak flank of the euro, and that once a Greek debt crisis had been detonated, all outcomes would be bad for the euro. The assembled predators agreed that Greece was the first domino in Europe. Donald Morgan was adamant that the Greek contagion could soon infect all sovereign debt in the world, including national, state, municipal and all other forms of government debt. This would mean California, the UK, and the US itself, among many others. The details of this at dinner were revealed in the headline story of the Wall Street Journal on Friday, February 26, 2010. (See article)Nor was this the only cabal in town intent on attacking the euro through the week Greek flank. The article cited suggests that GlobeOp Financial Services and Paulson & Co. are also piling on. The zombie banks were also heavily engaged. The article reported that Goldman Sachs, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, and Barclays Bank of London were also assisting speculators in placing highly leveraged bearish bets against the euro. Note that these zombie banks are alive today because of US taxpayer money, in Barclay’s case through AIG.It amounted to a deliberate attempt to create a large-scale world monetary crisis which would certainly bring with it the dreaded second wave of the current world economic depression. The creation of monetary chaos in Europe through the convulsive destruction of the euro under speculative attack would cripple commodity production in western Europe, severely undermining one of the dwindling areas of the world economy which are still functioning. The genocidal implications for humanity ought to be obvious, but the assembled hedge fund hyenas were not concerned with these consequences.

George Soros has been telling every media outlet that will listen that the euro is doomed to fall apart and break up over the short run. Soros even has a theory to deploy as part of his speculative attack. Soros argues that the fatal flaw or original Sin of the euro is that it was based on a common central bank among the participating countries, but lacked a common treasury and tax policy. This means that a country like Greece can no longer defend itself from a speculative attack on its bonds by the simple expedient of currency devaluation, since there is no more drachma, and the euro is controlled from Frankfurt, not Athens. British spokesmen are quick to point out that, even though the financial situation of London is far worse than that of Athens, the British government is already devaluing the pound through a downward dirty float.Given Soros’s infamous track record, he must be taken seriously. In 1992, Soros became world famous through his attack on the European Rate Mechanism, which he executed by a highly leveraged speculative assault on the British pound, at the time one of the weaker members of the ERM. Soros’ speculative attack led to a pound devaluation and the ragged breakup of the ERM, and netted Soros £1 billion in profits. It was as if Soros had personally stolen a £20 note from every man, woman, and child in Britain. The speculative gains were no doubt gratifying, but the overriding political purpose of the assault was to sabotage that phase of European monetary policy.The London Economist has gone out of its way to mock Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero’s remark that Spain was under international speculative attack. Press organs of the city of London and Wall Street have ridiculed the Greeks as a nation of paranoid conspiracy theorists. And yet, the revelations made so far are strong circumstantial evidence of pre-concert, as Lincoln would say. Even the US Department of Justice has been forced to send letters to the participants in the infamous idea dinner, warning them not to destroy any of their records and thus putting them on notice that they are under investigation. While we should not have any illusions about the prosecutorial zeal of Attorney General Eric Holder, who once represented the international financial bandit Marc Rich, this is at least a beginning. Spanish and Italian judges are noted for their independence, and one of or more them may wish to examine the activities of Soros, Goldman Sachs, and their hedge fund allies.

Greece does not need an austerity program, as the Greek labor movement has eloquently argued in the course of their successful and admirable general strike last week. Greece does not need a bailout from Germany, the sinister International Monetary Fund, or from anyone else. Least of all does Greece need to accept the advice of Austrian school or Chicago schools charlatans who recommend the catharsis of a deflationary crash that would destroy an entire generation through unemployment, poverty, and despair. Greece needs to defend itself with a 1% Tobin tax on all derivatives and other financial transactions. Greece should take the lead in outlawing credit default swaps, which amount to issuing insurance without meeting the capital requirements of being an insurance company. Greece needs to enforce EU and national antitrust laws. If Soros and his gang succeed in breaking up the euro, Greece should make the best of it by immediately imposing heavy-duty exchange controls and capital controls to protect the new drachma, on the model of Malaysia a dozen years ago. Greece should shut down domestic zombie banks and seize its central bank and use it to issue 0% credit for industrial and agricultural hard commodity production. If the Greeks made plain what they intend to do if they are forced to fall back on the drachma, the financiers who fear such an example would have another reason to relent.Another obvious expedient is that of a bear squeeze or short squeeze. Soros, Goldman Sachs, and their gang of hedge fund allies have now used derivatives to establish short positions against Greek bonds and the euro, betting that these latter will go down. Political pressure is now being brought to bear on the European Central Bank and the Greek central bank to undertake an unannounced large-scale purchase of Greek bonds and euros in the forward market, causing the Wall Street predators to lose their bets, thus punishing them severely with extravagant losses. This is normal central bank practice, and it will be astounding if the Greeks do not execute such a maneuver very soon.The world now faces a stark choice between two alternatives, with Wall Street forcing the issue. The first is that the zombie banks and hedge funds, having been saved and bailed out by national states and their taxpayers, will repay the favor by driving the national states and all forms of state, provincial, and local government into bankruptcy. This will be synonymous with the destruction of modern civilization itself. The second and preferred alternative is that the national states summon the political will to use the inherent powers of government to place the zombie banks, hedge funds, and related purveyors of derivatives into bankruptcy receivership and shut them down once and for all, relying in the future on nationalized central banks for the provision of credit. The second alternative would allow the preservation of modern civilization as we have known it. But in the meantime, the derivatives-based speculative attack on the southern flank of the euro has accelerated the arrival of the second wave of depression, which now appears likely to strike the world before the end of 2010.

IMF-style Austerity Measures Come to America
Ellen Brown Web of Debt March 5, 2010

In addition to mandatory private health insurance premiums, we may soon be hit with a mandatory savings tax and other belt-tightening measures urged by the President’s new budget task force. These radical austerity measures are not only unnecessary, however, but will actually make matters worse. The push for fiscal responsibility is based on bad economics.When billionaires pledge a billion dollars to educate people to the evils of something, it is always good to peer closely at what they are up to. Hedge fund magnate Peter G. Peterson was formerly Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and head of the New York Federal Reserve. He is now senior chairman of Blackstone Group, which is in charge of dispersing government funds in the controversial AIG bailout, widely criticized as a government giveaway to banks. Peterson is also founder of the Peter Peterson Foundation, which has adopted the cause of imposing fiscal responsibility on Congress. He hired David M. Walker, former head of the Government Accounting Office, to spearhead a massive campaign to reduce the runaway federal debt, which the Peterson/Walker team blames on reckless government and consumer spending. The Foundation funded the movie I.O.U.S.A. to amass popular support for their cause, which largely revolves around dismantling Social Security and Medicare benefits as a way to cut costs and return to fiscal responsibility.

The Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform has pushed heavily for action to stem the federal debt. Bills for a budget task force were sponsored in both houses of Congress. The Senate bill was narrowly defeated, and the House bill was tabled; but that was not the end of it. In Obama’s State of the Union speech on January 27, he said he would be creating a presidential budget task force by executive order to address the federal government’s deficit and debt crisis, and that the task force would be modeled on the bills Congress had failed to pass. If Congress would not impose fiscal responsibility on the nation, the President would. It keeps me awake at night, looking at all that red ink,he said. The Executive Order was signed on February 17.What the President seems to have missed is that all of our money except coins now comes into the world as red ink, or debt. It is all created on the books of private banks and lent into the economy. If there is no debt, there is no money; and private debt has collapsed. This year to date, U.S. lending has been contracting at the fastest rate in recorded history. A credit freeze has struck globally; and when credit shrinks, the money supply shrinks with it. That means there is insufficient money to buy goods, so workers get laid off and factories get shut down, perpetuating a vicious spiral of economic collapse and depression. To reverse that cycle, credit needs to be restored; and when the banks can’t do it, the government needs to step in and start monetizing debt itself, or turning debt into dollars.

Although lending remains far below earlier levels, banks say they are making as many loans as they are allowed to make under existing banking rules. The real bottleneck is with the shadow lenders – those investors who, until late 2007, bought massive amounts of bank loans bundled up as securities, taking those loans off the banks’ books, making room for yet more loans to be originated out of the banks’ capital and deposit bases. Because of the surging defaults on subprime mortgages, investors have now shied away from buying the loans, forcing banks and Wall Street firms to hold them on their books and take the losses. In the boom years, the shadow lending market was estimated at $10 trillion. That market has now collapsed, leaving a massive crater in the money supply. That hole needs to be filled, and only the government is in a position to do it. Paying down the federal debt when money is already scarce just makes matters worse. When the deficit has been reduced historically, the money supply has been reduced along with it, throwing the economy into recession.

Another Look at the Budget Reform Agenda

That raises the question, are the advocates of fiscal responsibility merely misguided? Or are they up to something more devious? The President’s Executive Order is vague about the sorts of budget decisions being entertained, but we can get a sense of what is on the table by looking at the earlier agenda of Peterson’s Commission on Budget Reform. The Peterson/Walker plan would have slashed social security entitlements, at a time when Wall Street has destroyed the home equity and private retirement accounts of potential retirees. Worse, it would have increased the social security tax, disguised as a mandatory savings tax.This added tax would be automatically withdrawn from your paycheck and deposited to a Guaranteed Retirement Account managed by the Social Security Administration. Since the savings would be mandatory,you could not withdraw your money without stiff penalties; and rather than enjoying an earlier retirement paid out of your increased savings, a later retirement date was being called for. In the meantime, your mandatory savings would just be fattening the investment pool of the Wall Street bankers managing the funds.And that may be what really underlies the big push to educate the public to the dangers of the federal debt. Political analyst Jim Capo discusses a slide show presentation given by David M. Walker after the I.O.U.S.A. premier, in which a mandatory savings plan was proposed that would be modeled on the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (FSP). Capo comments:The FSP, available for federal employees like congressional staff workers, has over $200 billion of assets (on paper anyway). About half these assets are in special non-negotiable US Treasury notes issued especially for the FSP scheme. The other half are invested in stocks, bonds and other securities. . . . The nearly $100 billion in [this] half of the plan is managed by Blackrock Financial. And, yes, shock, Blackrock Financial is a creation of Mr. Peterson’s Blackstone Group. In fact, the FSP and Blackstone were birthed almost as a matched set. It’s tough to fail when you form an investment management company at the same time you can gain the contract that directs a percentage of the Federal government payroll into your hands.

What Fiscal Responsibility Really Means

All of this puts fiscal responsibility in a different light. Rather than saving the future for our grandchildren, as the President himself seems to think it means, it appears to be a code word for delivering public monies into private hands and raising taxes on the already-squeezed middle class. In the parlance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), these are called austerity measures,and they are the sorts of things that people are taking to the streets in Greece, Iceland and Latvia to protest. Americans are not taking to the streets only because nobody has told us that is what is being planned.We have been deluded into thinking that fiscal responsibility (read austerity) is something for our benefit, something we actually need in order to save the country from bankruptcy. In the massive campaign to educate us to the perils of the federal debt, we have been repeatedly warned that the debt is disastrously large; that when foreign lenders decide to pull the plug on it, the U.S. will have to declare bankruptcy; and that all this is the fault of the citizenry for borrowing and spending too much. We are admonished to tighten our belts and save more; and since we can’t seem to impose that discipline on ourselves, the government will have to do it for us with a mandatory savings plan. The American people, who are already suffering massive unemployment and cutbacks in government services, will have to sacrifice more and pay the piper more, just as in those debt-strapped countries forced into austerity measures by the IMF.Fortunately for us, however, there is a major difference between our debt and the debts of Greece, Latvia and Iceland. Our debt is owed in our own currency – U.S. dollars. Our government has the power to fix its solvency problems itself, by simply issuing the money it needs to pay off or refinance its debt. That time-tested solution goes back to the colonial scrip of the American colonists and the Greenbacks issued by Abraham Lincoln to avoid paying 24-36% interest rates.

Economic Fearmongering

What invariably kills any discussion of this sensible solution is another myth long perpetrated by the financial elite — that allowing the government to increase the money supply would lead to hyperinflation. Rather than exercising its sovereign right to create the liquidity the nation needs, the government is told that it must borrow. Borrow from whom? From the bankers, of course. And where do bankers get the money they lend? They create it on their books, just as the government would have done. The difference is that when bankers create it, it comes with a hefty fee attached in the form of interest.Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has been trying to increase the money supply; and rather than producing hyperinflation, we continue to suffer from deflation. Frantically pushing money at the banks has not gotten money into the real economy. Rather than lending it to businesses and individuals, the larger banks have been speculating with it or buying up smaller banks, land, farms, and productive capacity, while the credit freeze continues on Main Street. Only the government can reverse this vicious syndrome, by spending money directly on projects that will create jobs, provide services, and stimulate productivity. Increasing the money supply is not inflationary if the money is used to increase goods and services. Inflation results when demand (money) exceeds supply (goods and services). When supply and demand increase together, prices remain stable.The notion that the federal debt is too large to be repaid and that we are imposing that monster burden on our grandchildren is another red herring. The federal debt has not been paid off since the days of Andrew Jackson, and it does not need to be paid off. It is just rolled over from year to year, providing the full faith and credit that alone backs the money supply of the nation. The only real danger posed by a growing federal debt is an exponentially growing interest burden; but so far, that danger has not materialized either. Interest on the federal debt has actually gone down since 2006 — from $406 billion to $383 billion — because interest rates have been lowered by the Fed to very low levels.

They can’t be lowered much further, however, so the interest burden will increase if the federal debt continues to grow. But there is a solution to that too. The government can just mandate that the Federal Reserve buy the government’s debt, and that the Fed not sell the bonds to private lenders. The Federal Reserve states on its website that it rebates its profits to the government after deducting its costs, making the money nearly interest-free.All the fear-mongering about the economy collapsing when the Chinese and other investors stop buying our debt is yet another red herring. The Fed can buy the debt itself – as it has been stealthily doing. That is actually a better alternative than selling the debt to foreigners, since it means we really will owe the debt only to ourselves, as Roosevelt was assured by his advisors when he agreed to the deficit approach in the 1930s; and this debt-turned-into-dollars will be nearly interest-free.Better yet would be to either nationalize or abolish the Fed and fund the government directly with Greenbacks as President Lincoln did. What the Fed does the Treasury Department can do, for the cost of administration. There would be no shareholders or bondholders to siphon earnings, which could be recycled into public accounts to fund national, state and local budgets at zero or near-zero interest rates. Eliminating debt service payments would allow state and federal income taxes to be slashed; and the public managers of this money, rather than hiding behind a veil of secrecy, would be opening their books for all to see.A final red herring is the threatened bankruptcy of Social Security. Social Security cannot actually go bankrupt, because it is a pay-as-you-go system. Today’s social security taxes pay today’s recipients; and if necessary, the tax can be raised. As Washington economist Dean Baker wrote when President Bush unleashed the campaign to privatize Social Security in 2005:The most recent projections show that the program, with no changes whatsoever, can pay all benefits through the year 2042. Even after 2042, Social Security would always be able to pay a higher benefit (adjusted for inflation) than what current retirees receive, although the payment would only be about 73 percent of scheduled benefits.Today incomes over $97,000 escape the tax, disproportionately imposing it on lower income brackets. Projections over the next 75 years show that just removing that cap could eliminate the forecasted deficit. When the Democratic presidential candidates were debating in the fall of 2007, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were the only candidates willing to seriously consider this reasonable alternative. President Obama just needs to follow through with the solutions he espoused when campaigning.

The Mass Education Campaign We Really Need

What is really going on behind the scenes may have been revealed by Prof. Carroll Quigley, Bill Clinton’s mentor at Georgetown University. An insider groomed by the international bankers, Dr. Quigley wrote in Tragedy and Hope in 1966:[T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.If that is indeed the plan, it is virtually complete. Unless we wake up to what is going on and take action, the powers of financial capitalism will have their way. Rather than taking to the streets, we need to take to the courts, bring voter initiatives, and wake up our legislators to the urgent need to take the power to create money back from the private banking elite that has hijacked it from the American people. And that includes waking up the President, who has been losing sleep over the wrong threat.

Joseph Stiglitz: Federal Reserve System is Corrupt and Undermines Democracy
Washington’s Blog March 5, 2010
http://www.infowars.com/joseph-stiglitz-federal-reserve-system-is-corrupt-and-undermines-democracy/

Nobel Prize-winning wconomist Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz – former head economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a nobel-prize winner – said yesterday that the very structure of the Federal Reserve system is so fraught with conflicts that it is corrupt and undermines democracy.

Stiglitz said:If we [i.e. the IMF] had seen a governance structure that corresponds to our Federal Reserve system, we would have been yelling and screaming and saying that country does not deserve any assistance, this is a corrupt governing structure.
Stiglitz pointed out that – if another country had presented a plan to reform its financial system, and included a regulatory regime that copied the makeup of the Federal Reserve system – it would have been a big signal that something is wrong.
Stiglitz stressed that the Fed banks have clear conflicts of interest, since the banks are largely governed by a board of directors that includes officers of the very banks they’re supposed to be overseeing:So, these are the guys who appointed the guy who bailed them out … Is that a conflict of interest? They would say,no conflict of interest, we were just doing our job. But you have to look at the conflicts of interest…The reason you talk about governance is because in a democracy you want people to have confidence … This is a structure that will undermine confidence in a democracy.Indeed, by all objective measures, the Fed has performed horribly (and see this).As 6 congressmen wrote last November, there are at least 4 reasons to demand full transparency of the Federal Reserve, and a change in the Fed’s structure:

First … how effective a regulator can the Federal Reserve be if it is unwilling to strive for good public policy through its regulatory powers? Second, there is an inherent conflict in the manner in which regional reserve branch presidents are selected – in that representatives of the member banks select the regional president. It seems counterproductive, yet the banking system has provided case after case of regulated entities selecting their own regulator.Third, the Federal Reserve has continually resisted efforts to engage in discussion on structural and governance reform at the System. Most recently, Bloomberg reported yesterday that the Federal Reserve has rejected a White House request that [the Federal Reserve] conduct a public review of its structure and operations.Despite a request from the administration that provided ample opportunity for the Federal Reserve to have input into its own reforms, the central bank has simply refused. It is because of this attitude that I argue that real financial regulatory reform cannot occur without an examination into the structure of this entity.Fourth, and most importantly, the Federal Reserve has shown a repeated unwillingness to accept efforts to improve transparency for the System.

Europe’s New Debt Solution: Create Their Own Ratings Agency That Only Gives Friendly Ratings Vincent Fernando The Business Insider March 4, 2010

Is your nation under massive financial pressure due to deteriorating sovereign debt ratings? Rising interest costs got you down? Rather than having to actually tackle your mounting debt problems, here’s an innovative solution from some Eurozone finance ministers — create your own, friendlier credit ratings:

Der Spiegel:Now European Union governments are planning to take measures to break the dominance of the main rating agencies, according to a report in the Wednesday edition of the German business daily Handelsblatt. The newspaper reports that euro-zone finance ministers are pushing the European Central Bank (ECB) to set up its own sovereign rating scheme for the 16 members of the euro zone so that it no longer has to rely on private rating agencies, such as Moody’s. Neither the ECB nor the rating agencies were prepared to comment on the alleged plan when approached by Handelsblatt.The sad thing is that even Der Spiegel gets the situation completely backwards:Rating agencies have massive power over the fate of companies. A change from an investment grade to a junk rating can cost a firm billions or even cause it to go bankrupt. The big three — Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch — can even decide the fate of entire countries. All that is currently preventing a massive liquidity crisis for Greece is the fact that it still has an A2 sovereign credit rating from Moody’s. But with the agency already threatening another downgrade, such a crisis may not be far off.

To think that a negative rating is what decides the fate of a country is to believe that a doctor who tells you that you have cancer is a murderer. Debt levels are deciding the fate of European countries right now, while ratings agencies are just the messengers reporting what they see. Let’s not forget that ratings agencies were blamed for being too lenient during the financial crisis. Thus they are now far more careful to make sure they err on the side of caution.If a company like Moody’s were to suddenly turn a blind eye to the debt problems of Greece, for example, and be nice by giving a favorable credit rating, their friendly rating wouldn’t have any market credibility if the facts were obviously much different.Which means that if a new ECB ratings agency only delivered friendly ratings it would also have zero credibility and its ratings would be ignored. Thus to suggest an ECB ratings system as a solution to the Eurozone’s debt problems exposes how financially ignorant some of these leaders are. The problem is the debt, tackle it, there’s no easy way around it.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

FAMINE

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

U.S. Wages Food War Against Somalia by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
http://www.infowars.com/u-s-wages-food-war-against-somalia/

United Nations compliance with U.S. conditions would mean starvation for about three million people.While nearly half the population of Somalia teeters at the edge of starvation, the U.S. is preventing the United Nations from delivering desperately needed food. According to documents obtained by the New York Times, the Americans demand that aid agencies guarantee that no fees are paid at roadblocks, ports, warehouses, airfields or other transit points controlled by Shabab resistance fighters. Since the Shabab and other militias control more than half of the area in conflict, United Nations compliance with U.S. conditions would mean starvation for about three million people.Indeed, if international aid were restricted to areas controlled by the U.S.-backed puppet regime, only a few neighborhoods in Mogadishu, the capital, would be fed.

America’s Somali puppets are incapable of even defending themselves, much less maintaining a functioning government and infrastructure. Five thousand African Union (AU) soldiers – comprised mainly of Ugandans, the U.S.’s shock troops in Africa – keep control of the airport, the regime’s main link to the outside world. According to the United Nations, AU soldiers engage in indiscriminate shelling of civilians.
As the Americans’ Somali puppets’ position becomes more untenable, the U.S. squeezes the UN’s food delivery system, in effect punishing the entire Somali people. U.S. food relief to the UN’s Somali operations in 2009 was only half that of 2008. In 2007, United Nations officials declared Somalia the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa…worse than Darfur,as a result of the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion in late 2006. Thus, the United States has been waging continuous war against the people of Somalia, directly or by proxy, for over three years under the guise of the war on terror.

The United Nations official in charge of humanitarian operations in Somalia, Mark Bowden, says Washington’s charge that Shabab militants are siphoning off UN aid are ungrounded.A White House spokesman claimed that it’s not the U.S., but the Shabab that are denying Somalis access to food aid through their war against the Mogadishu government.It’s a macabre variation on the excuse Americans routinely offer when they massacre civilians: that the insurgents use civilians as human shields,forcing the Americans to kill them.The United States has been waging continuous war against the people of Somalia, directly or by proxy, for over three years.When the UN’s Mark Bowden complained to officials in Washington about the withholding of food to Somalia, he was told, This is beyond our pay grade.Meaning, the orders come from much higher up, likely from UN Ambassador Susan Rice, the administration’s most prominent acolyte of humanitarian military intervention – a doctrine Rice has twisted into the ultimate obscenity in the Horn of Africa.

Humanitarian military intervention maintains that it is the duty of greater powers – that is, the U.S. and its allies – to intervene in the affairs of weaker countries if their governments cannot, or will not, attend to the needs of their people. Also known as responsibility to protect – or R2P – the doctrine, by definition, requires no consent from the soon-to-be subject populations. R2P can be immediately invoked against failed states,as designated by the protective and humanitarian intervener. Indeed, once a state has been declared failed,the great powers are obligated to intervene, according to the logic of R2P. It is all the more convenient when the U.S. has, in fact, caused the failure of the weak nation’s state.Such was the case in 2006, when a fledgling state had finally emerged in south-central Somalia, organized by a movement called the Islamic Courts. When the Islamic Courts defeated U.S-backed warlords and succeeded in bringing a modicum of peace, law and order to their part of Somalia, the Americans instigated and bankrolled an Ethiopian invasion, plunging Somalia into humanitarian crisis.Once a state has been declared failed,the great powers are obligated to intervene, according to the logic of R2P.
As a Democrat on the political sidelines, Susan Rice ranted for greater U.S. military intervention in the Horn Africa, including an air and naval blockade of Sudan. Rice’s ravings, modulated for diplomatic purposes, became U.S. policy upon Barack Obama’s election. Thousands of ethnic Somalis in Kenya were recruited into the puppet Somali government’s forces across the common border (see U.S. Sows Seeds of Wider War in East Africa, BAR November 17, 2009) – although to little apparent military effect in Somalia. However, the recruitments cannot help but undermine Kenyan national cohesion, by encouraging ethnic Somalis to identify, not with Kenya, but with the neighboring state. More ominously, the U.S. has pressured the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Eritrea for allegedly providing material support to the Somali Shabab – a charge Eritrea vehemently denies (see Who Demonizes Eritrea and Why? BAR February 16, 2010).

Every action the U.S. takes in the Horn of Africa seems calculated to undermine the stability of some of the region’s constituent nations or, in Somalia’s case, prevent a national state from emerging at all, unless it is handpicked by Washington. (In Sudan, the U.S. and Israel have long worked toward partition of Africa’s largest country.)Unable to find or cultivate a Somali front man capable of defeating the Shabab, the U.S. lays siege to the Somali people, to starve them into submission. Refusing to authorize the release of grain piled high in warehouses in Mombasa, Kenya, the American regime reveals itself as somewhat less humanitarian than Genghis Khan.BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.


U.S. gets say on which Canadians can fly By Kevin Dougherty, The GazetteMarch 3, 2010)

Secure Flight, the newest weapon in the U.S.'s war on terrorism, gives the United States unprecedented power over who can board planes that fly over U.S. airspace -even if the flights originate and land in Canada.Photograph by: Oli Scarff, Getty ImagesStarting in December, passengers on Canadian airlines flying to, from or even over the United States without landing there will be allowed to board the aircraft only after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has determined they are not terrorists.Secure Flight, the newest weapon in the U.S.'s war on terrorism, gives the United States unprecedented power over who can board planes that fly over U.S. airspace -even if the flights originate and land in Canada.The program, set to take effect globally in December, was created as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, adopted by the U.S. Congress in 2004.Canada's Parliament never adopted or even discussed the Secure Flight program - even though Secure Flight transfers the authority to screen passengers, and their personal information, from domestic airlines to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.The European Parliament, on the other hand, has consistently voiced objections to the Secure Flight plan.When asked about the program, Transport Canada, the federal department in charge of Canadian airlines, deferred to Public Safety Canada.After refusing to comment on Secure Flight or the government's position on the U.S. program, David Charbonneau, a Public Safety Canada spokesperson, said: Canada works in partnership with the United States, as well as with other allies, on aviation safety and security.Canada's approach will continue to balance the privacy rights of travellers with the need to keep the public safe from terrorist and other threats to the air transportation system.

Dimitri Soudas, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, referred all questions on the Secure Flight program back to the office of Transport Minister John Baird, who oversees Transport Canada.Canadian airlines already check their flight manifests against the U.S. no-fly list, which is compiled by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and distributed to airlines around the world. It contains the names of about 16,000 people the U.S. government says are suspected of terrorism. The names and why they are on the list are not disclosed, for reasons of national security.The U.S. Transportation Security Administration says Secure Flight will reduce the number of false positives - innocent travellers with the same names as people on the no-fly list - who are stopped at airports.Under Secure Flight, the TSA, a branch of Homeland Security, will have access to all U.S. government databases.As part of Secure Flight, Canadian airlines will transfer personal information of travellers to Homeland Security, preferably 72 hours before takeoff. Then, the TSA will use Infoglide, a package of 50 identity resolution algorithms - complex mathematical formulas to extract and aggregate information from several sources, to check passenger identities.If necessary, the TSA analyst will check other classified and unclassified governmental terrorist, law enforcement, and intelligence databases - including databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defence, National Counter Terrorism Centre, and Federal Bureau of Investigation,notes Secure Flight Final Rule, the U.S. government document that defines the program.The General Accounting Office, an U.S. institution similar to Canada‚s auditor-general, is concerned this sweeping check could cause new problems.More individuals could be misidentified, law enforcement would be put in the position of detaining more individuals until their identities could be resolved, and administrative costs could increase, without knowing what measurable increase in security is achieved,the GAO said in a January presentation to the U.S. House of Representatives committee on Homeland Security.

Andrea McCauley, a Homeland Security spokesperson in Washington, D.C., said the TSA is confident there will be fewer false positive results than under the current no-fly list system.We have designed this program to ask for the minimum amount of personal information necessary, she said.If the search of U.S. databases, which will also contain information collected in Canada, like police records, turns up no match between a passenger and the watch list, Homeland Security will inform the airline it can issue a boarding pass.Personal information will be purged from the system after seven days, McCauley said.If you are a potential match, it would be retained for seven years, she said, explaining that a potential match is someone who has been determined not to be an exact match but has the potential to match some of the data elements.If the search returns a positive match, personal information will be kept by Secure Flight for 99 years.kdougherty@thegazette.canwest.com The Montreal Gazette
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/which_Canadians/2638494/story.html#ixzz0hKFZTRwg

Feds weigh expansion of Internet monitoring
by Declan McCullagh Mar 4,10 PM

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who said that Einstein 3 could only be discussed in a classified setting, speaks at the RSA conference on Wednesday.(Credit: James Martin/CNET) SAN FRANCISCO--Homeland Security and the National Security Agency may be taking a closer look at Internet communications in the future. The Department of Homeland Security's top cybersecurity official told CNET on Wednesday that the department may eventually extend its Einstein technology, which is designed to detect and prevent electronic attacks, to networks operated by the private sector. The technology was created for federal networks. Greg Schaffer, assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications, said in an interview that the department is evaluating whether Einstein makes sense for expansion to critical infrastructure spaces over time.

Not much is known about how Einstein works, and the House Intelligence Committee once charged that descriptions were overly vague because of excessive classification.The White House did confirm this week that the latest version, called Einstein 3, involves attempting to thwart in-progress cyberattacks by sharing information with the National Security Agency. Greater federal involvement in privately operated networks may spark privacy or surveillance concerns, not least because of the NSA's central involvement in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping scandal. Earlier reports have said that Einstein 3 has the ability to read the content of emails and other messages, and that AT&T has been asked to test the system. (The Obama administration says the contents of communications are not shared with the NSA.) I don't think you have to be Big Brother in order to provide a level of protection either for federal government systems or otherwise, Schaffer said.As a practical matter, you're looking at data that's relevant to malicious activity, and that's the data that you're focused on. It's not necessary to go into a space where someone will say you're acting like Big Brother. It can be done without crossing over into a space that's problematic from a privacy perspective.If Einstein 3 does perform as well as Homeland Security hopes, it could help less-prepared companies fend off cyberattacks, including worms sent through e-mail, phishing attempts, and even denial of service attacks.

On the other hand, civil libertarians are sure to raise questions about privacy, access, and how Einstein could be used in the future. If it can perform deep packet inspection to prevent botnets from accessing certain Web pages, for instance, could it also be used to prevent a human from accessing illegal pornography, copyright-infringing music, or offshore gambling sites? It's one thing for the government to monitor its own systems for malicious code and intrusions,said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology.It's quite another for the government to monitor private networks for those intrusions. We'd be concerned about any notion that a governmental monitoring system like Einstein would be extended to private networks.AT&T did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Cooperation, or a loss of control?
At the RSA Conference here on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stressed the need for more cooperation between the government and the private sector on cybersecurity, saying that we need to have a system that works together.During a House appropriations hearing on February 26, Napolitano refused to discuss Einstein 3 unless the hearing were closed to the public.I don't want to comment publicly on Einstein 3, per se, here in an unclassified setting,she said. What I would suggest, perhaps, is a classified briefing for members of the subcommittee who are interested.Some privacy concerns about Einstein have popped up before. An American Bar Association panel said this about Einstein 3 in a September 2009 report: Because government communications are commingled with the private communications of non-governmental actors who use the same system, great caution will be necessary to insure that privacy and civil liberties concerns are adequately considered.Jacob Appelbaum, a security researcher and programmer for the Tor anonymity project, said that expanding Einstein 3 to the private sector would amount to a partial outsourcing of security. It's clearly a win for people without the security know-how to protect their own networks,Appelbaum said.It's also a clear loss of control. And anyone with access to that monitoring system, legitimate or otherwise, would be able to monitor amazing amounts of traffic.Einstein grew out of a still-classified executive order, called National Security Presidential Directive 54, that President Bush signed in 2008. While little information is available, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff once likened it to a new Manhattan Project, and the Washington Post reported that the accompanying cybersecurity initiative represented the single largest request for funds in last year's classified intelligence budget. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a lawsuit (PDF) to obtain the text of the order. Homeland Security has published (PDF) a privacy impact assessment for a less capable system called Einstein 2--which aimed to do intrusion detection and not prevention--but has not done so for Einstein 3. The department did, however, prepare a general set of guidelines (PDF) for privacy and civil liberties in June 2009. In addition, the Bush Justice Department wrote a memo (PDF) saying Einstein 2 complies with the U.S. Constitution and federal wiretap laws.

That justification for Einstein 2 turned on the consent of employees in the government that are being communicated with, and on the notion that a person who communicates with the government can't then complain that the government read the communication,said CDT's Nojeim.How does that legal justification work should Einstein be extended to the private sector? Declan McCullagh is a contributor to CNET News and a correspondent for CBSNews.com who has covered the intersection of politics and technology for over a decade. Declan writes a regular feature called Taking Liberties, focused on individual and economic rights; you can bookmark his CBS News Taking Liberties site, or subscribe to the RSS feed. You can e-mail Declan at declan@cbsnews.com.

Apocalypse tomorrow? Jerry Mazza Infowars.com March 4, 2010

The advent of Chile’s shattering earthquake, magnitude-8.8, 3 A.M. Saturday, 2/27/10, is the worst in 50 years and comes only seven weeks after the 6.9 earthquake in Haiti. We now have a warning from National Public Radio (NPR) that seems like a sick joke, that Solar Storms Could Be Earth’s Next Katrina. Yet, too often today’s sick joke turns out to be tomorrow’s apocalypse. How come? If you look in the linked article’s photo of the northern lights, the green halo of the lights dance over the Knik River near Palmer, Alaska. It is reminiscent of the green halo of light generated in HAARP experiments. I don’t mean to harp on HAARP, but the recent wave of weather anomalies now flooding the news raise the possibility of apocalypse here, there and everywhere.For instance, the ‘Earth Katrina’ article’s first paragraphs tell us: A massive solar storm could leave millions of people around the world without electricity, running water, or phone service, government officials say.

That was one of their conclusions after participating in a tabletop exercise that looked at what might happen today if the Earth were struck by a solar storm as intense as the huge storms that occurred in 1921 and 1859. One thing sort of balloons into another here…Solar storms happen when an eruption or explosion on the surface of the sun sends radiation or electrically charged particles toward Earth. Minor storms are common and can light up the Earth’s Northern skies and interfere with radio signals. Scared yet? Every few decades, though, the sun experiences a particularly large storm. These can release as much energy as 1 billion hydrogen bombs.Scared now? Well, sayonara, y’all. Or at least one has that feeling, fleeting or lasting, which brings me to my main point.The overall impact of these catastrophic events, purportedly over 300,000 people lost in Haiti is to create a world-angst on the human psyche, including the seemingly quixotic appearance of them and the fragility of our powers to control these events. More importantly, these events represent the murder, even genociding of native or indigenous peoples.Also, if the would-be rulers of a New World Order wanted to create these feelings of instability for destabilizing the present world order, including its rainbow of nations and nationalities, this blizzard of apocalyptic events would be an excellent tool, ala HAARP, to pull from Pandora’s toolbox.In fact, the Earth Katrina article is sub-headed, How Well Can We Weather The Solar Storm, providing us with area exercises and their results, determined in Boulder, Colorado for America. They include dire predictions of storms as big as the ones in 1921 and 1859—a sort of solar Katrina.

These predictions were made by Tom Bogdan, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder and by Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), p.s. the organization that was in NYC on the night before 9/11, which subsequently declared it was safe immediately after for workers to enter Ground Zero to start feverishly clearing all of the evidence from the US’s largest crime scene ever.The two organizations ask also if Disabled Satellites Are Just the Beginning? They cite how solar storms can create electrical currents in high voltage power lines—currents powerful enough to destroy transformers around the globe. I mean, these thoughts were at the heart of Nikolas Tesla’s darkest experiments, to create electromagnetic beams of power that can be pointed in different targets to wreak weather or total earth havoc.His works inspired the environmental-warfare inventions of Bertrand Eastlund, which he patented and sold to private corporations and the military to develop. His U.S. PATENT 4,686,605 for HAARP, High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, was sold to ARCO (The Atlantic Richfield Company). The 15 year confidentially agree with ARCO has now matured, so you can get a sense from this document of the potential destructive abilities of HAARP in several crucial areas.Returning to the Boulder drill and findings, their spokespeople claim that the new Earth Katrina will be far worse due to our growing dependence on satellites and other electronic devices that are vulnerable to electromagnetic radiation. The tabletop exercise revealed that the first sign of trouble came when radiation began disrupting radio signals and GPS devices.In 10 to 20 minutes, electrically charged particles basically took out most of the commercial satellites that transmit telephone conversations, TV shows and huge amounts of data we depend on in our daily lives, said Bogdan, who added When you go into a gas station and put your credit card in and get some gas, that’s a satellite transaction…Fugate added, But a solar Katrina would cause damage in a much larger area than any natural disaster. For example, power could be knocked out almost simultaneously in countries from Sweden to Canada and the U.S…So a lot more people would need help.Are these guys the children of Dr. Strangelove or what?

Fugate ends with the ridiculous reassurance that If you’ve got your family disaster plan together, you’ve taken the steps, whether it be a space storm…system failure…another natural hazard that knocks the power out.Tell that to the people of Haiti or Chile, whose deaths are reported only to be in the hundreds so far, due to superior home, building and highway construction.Yet to get the most realistic (and frightening) idea of HAARP’s power for real-life destruction, go to COOPRADIO.ORG for US HAARP Weapon Triggered Haiti Earthquake: Shock and Awe And Disaster Capitalism. This piece includes an incredible interview with noted independent scientist and whistle-blower Leuren Moret and Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, Med, on Haiti, HAARP, and the devastation.Moret covers everything from the history and geology of Haiti to the development of HAARP weaponry during the Cold War decade, which technology was finally exchanged between US, Russian and Chinese scientists, with their countries supplying the necessary money to apply the research with testing in the ionosphere, and finally building HAARP stations around the world. It’s a fascinating story.Moret explains that the use ofddHAARP technology gave the US Navy foreknowledge of the quake so as to preposition the fleet before the disaster and supervise the event’s devastation after, the US military taking over the scenario and allowing only US planes to land in Haiti. She points out that a World Bank loan that was made to pave streets turned into paving back alleys higher than the earth to flood the shacks and houses when the rains came.She points out that then President Aristide was removed by former President Clinton and Dyncorp (yesterday’s Blackwater/Xe) in 2004, after Aristide had inventoried all of Haiti’s natural resources. This was reported by Aristide’s attorney, Marguerite Laurent (Ezili Danto), whose exposes I included in my article Oil, gas, gold, copper, etc., in Haiti equals US occupation.

Laurent’s revelations reveal a full-fledged man-made catastrophic event for the purposes of resource takeover and to instill fear and greater poverty and hardship to the people of Haiti. They could as easily become the people of Chile today, who happen to be the world’s leading producers of copper and a major supplier of other metals and minerals. The difference is that Chile’s economy is relatively solvent in comparison, with the average family income at nearly $15,000 per annum.You may remember, too, that 40 years ago Chile suffered a political earthquake when its first duly and democratically elected president, Salvatore Allende, was assassinated in a CIA-op orchestrated by Henry Kissinger (subsequently named a war criminal by the Hague), an opener to the Nixon Administration. President Allende was a socialist, ergo not suitable for the US’s tastes, despite the will of his people, thousands of whom were disappeared in the aftermath for protesting, dissidence or activism of any kind. Perhaps the earthquake is an apostrophe to that carnage, a reminder to be good.It would seem that the US has acquired more than one way to depose a president, bring about regime change, and literally dispose of an entire people if it has to, or if it is hungry enough on any given day for whatever resources their land posses. Copper futures were up of course after the quake. The market doesn’t miss a trick to exploit shortage, just as the price of bread soared exponentially in Chile among its own people.Apocalypse comparisons blossomed as well in USA Today, in Chilean Earthquake hints at dangers of ‘Big One’ for USA. This article, too, for all of its fact detailing, will try to fill you with fear from coast to coast. This, just as you hear predictions on a steady basis of a new, more ferocious 9/11. Thinking the unthinkable, the article warns too of our failing infrastructure and points out how quickly our bridges, buildings and parking garages would crumble in the dust if an earthquake struck.Plus, here’s what USA TODAY’s lead paragraph and our government think not only of major earthquakes but indigenous populations…One of the really Big Ones to shake the United States was a magnitude-9.0 earthquake along the Pacific Northwest coast more than 300 years ago, before the arrival of people and development [italics mine], that sent a catastrophic tsunami to Japan.Perhaps that people gaff was just the writer’s poor diction, more likely a national mindset.The notion that in 1710 the human inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest coast were somehow not people and that their culture represented no human development is symbolic of our xenophobia, especially towards underdeveloped nations, which one day will be our undoing, or put another way, our apocalypse. All that remains in our bizarre culture is for someone to start an apocalypse hedge fund, betting on who gets the Big One next.