This and That

This and That What's happening? Discovered a Turkish controlled 'exclave' in Syria -- guessing it's this place. According to the Treaty of Ankara signed between France and Turkey in 1921, Turkey controls the tomb and no mention is made of the land beneath it. So it's not really a territory within a territory, like I imagined?   Checking elsewhere, it states it's 'smaller than a city block', so it's not just a few feet by a few feet like I first thought when I read about the tomb.  It's some kind of tiny 'territory' after all.  Looks like it's going to shape up as an excuse for Turkey to take 'action' against Syria if the IS group attack this territory. Encountered a creepy photo of what was allegedly the FSA group getting a child to behead what I suppose was a Syrian loyalist:  bound, hand and foot (I think), on his side, with his head resting, raised on some kind of block.  The child held something above his head, swinging.  Not sure what it was.  Imagined it was an axe.  But I'm now guessing it was a sword, seeing it's the Middle East.  Elicited a degree of revulsion. Stumbled on some information on the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).   Trying to recall what it was, got it mixed up with the other agreements. This one relates to:   "liberalizing the worldwide trade of services such as banking and transport" [wikipedia] It's just another in agreement upon agreement that gives the US control right around the globe. "The EU and the US are the main proponents of the agreement, and the authors of most joint changes."  [wikipedia] But it doesn't end with the US and the EU.  A host of other countries are involved in this and end result is that something like two-thirds of 'trade of services' will be subject to the provisions of this agreement. Apparently, nobody finds the spread of US control at all frightening and they're happy to sign up.  Guess that goes back to being corporate controlled governments doing the bidding of big business, instead of primarily being engaged in representing the people of the nation they're supposedly serving as an elected government in a 'democracy'. Add to that unpleasant picture the fact that this is a 'secret' agreement that was supposed to stay quiet for 5 years after signature.  More information on that is available at the WikiLeaks.org site.  Not sure what I can and can't link to without being in breach of some law or other, so search away.  Easily found. The secrecy of the agreement and the two-thirds of 'world trade in services' being subject to the agreement were the really big red-flag aspects in my view.  But there's also a lack flexibility to respond to changes in world finance that binds governments who sign up for this, and probably other stuff I don't remember or care to know. How outrageous is it that 'democratic' governments are *hiding* what they're signing their entire countries up for! The WikiLeaks site pointed out that the US is pushing for cross-border exchange of data that includes personal and financial information.  So I take it this is yet more surveillance and foreign control.  The G20 ministers meeting resulted in either sign-ups or agreements to sign up for banking data exchange on what is probably a global scale once all the US puppets sign up, so the G20 erosion of liberties could be TISA related -- or just an added round of more of the same erosions. Highly doubt that this will ever affect me personally, in a direct way.   But this affects everybody in terms of the climate their government is creating:  one of secrecy, one of perhaps 'duty' and subordination to foreign interests, one of inability to put national interests first given constraints of such agreements, one of inability to freely act or legislate in future due to provisions of such an agreements, one of divulging citizens' data to foreign interests and therefore conducting what amounts to surveillance on behalf of a foreign power or powers, and so on.  And if you put all of that together, it's like coming under control of some foreign invader state that already controls much of the world.  A world that is shaping up to be one large prison controlled by the US through control of currency, global institutions, defence agreements, the EU, mass surveillance arrangements and various trade agreements. [Image source:  rachelcarsoncouncil.org] If you imagine US control as a vice; it's a vice that's constantly squeezing to erode national sovereignty and to erode civil liberties, right around the world.  It's literally suffocating.