Syria - British Airstrkes & Dodgy Dave's Lies

ꕤ Article SOURCE as marked SYRIA SUMMARY UK MoD report disputed David Cameron lies re 70,000 'moderate rebels' -->  “misleading” MoD OVERRULED @ meeting -->  Joint Intelligence C'ttee incl. heads: MI6, MI5 & GCHQ + senior military & Foreign Office staff Dodgy Dave's lies:  like Tony Blair’s “dodgy dossier” on #Iraq WMD Cameron / British claim to: Target Islamic State Oil Assets in #Syria --> over 380 UK targets, in over 1yr   [Comment: bet they're Bullsh*t claims.  Must have been targeting Assad for over a year, because ISIS went on selling oil to Turkey & whoever else is in on the finance-the-terrorists scheme to take down Syria] http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-joins-airstrikes-in-syria-against-isis-1449131829 NOTE this is 2013 Article WikiLeaks cables have since revealed 2006 Israel-US plan to take down Syria Note also:  oil reserves Golan Heights SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/aug/30/syria-chemical-attack-war-intervention-oil-gas-energy-pipelines SUMMARY Scumbag Hollande - 2013 welcomed the UK air force strikes in #Syria --> Syria intervention plan fuelled by oil interests Backers of attack on Syria: US, UK, Israel + France -  cooperation w/ Saudi Arabia --> 2007 CIA anti-Syria ops {Seymour Hersh} deploy:  al-Qaeda w/ US approval Saudi Arabia bankroll + give logistical aid to Sunni radicals hostile to US & al-Qaeda linked to attack #Syria #Syria Covert US political + financial support -- via Saudi Arabia -- given to:  exiled Syrian Muslim Brotherhood former French foreign minister Roland Dumas: -->  Britain planned covert action in Syria as early as 2009 Former French foreign minister Roland Dumas stated on TV that:   Britain was preparing gunmen to invade Syria --> in 2009 Syria 2011 uprisings -- domestic energy shortages + climate-induced droughts -->  massive food price hikes --> EXPLOITED WikiLeaks Stratfor e-mails --> CONFIRM US-UK training of Syria 'opposition' since 2011 to collapse ASSAD govt from within. US General Wesley Clark (Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000) --> confirms serial conquest =  strategy for control of region's vast oil & gas resources. 2008 US Army-funded RAND report: --> industrialized states to continue to rely heavily on oil --> oil production:  Middle East #Syria proven oil reserves Persian Gulf coincide w/ power base of Salafi-jihadist network oil supplies / linked w. 'long war' Regional policy trajectories: 1. divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) 2. exploit sustained Shia-Sunni Conflict West policy (1) divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) turn groups against each other / covert action, info ops  divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) discredit transnational jihadist in local eyes divide & rule (salafists-jihadists) support indigenous security forces / local allies West policy (2) exploit sustained Shia-Sunni conflict --> side with:  conservative Sunni regimes against Shiite empowerment -> USA to shore up Sunni regimes in Saudi Arabia #Egypt & #Pakistan -> to containing #Iran power in ME & Gulf USA aware backing Sunni regimes --> result:  empowering al-Qaeda jihadists BUT this to advantage of West. Support Sunni & exploit: bogging down jihadi activity w. internal sectarian rivalry {rather than targeting US} American Saudi Arabia allies Salafi-jihadist --> afraid of upsurge in Shia identity --> to want to target #IRAN vs #USA Following vulnerable to internal destabilisation: 1) Saudi Arabia 2) Gulf States 3) Egypt 4) Syria 5) Iran Internal destabilisation factors - multiple, converging: a) rapid population growth b) 'youth bulge' c) internal economic inequalities d) political frustrations e) sectarian tensions f) water shortages - environment Syria = pipeline geopolitics / Assad refused to sign Qatar pipeline deal 2009 re supply Europe via Syria ie.  bypassing Russia Note that British plan for invasion Syria 2009 coincides w/ Assad refusal of Qatar pipeline deal to supply gas to Europe Nabucco pipeline backed by USA & European Union          parties:             Austria-UAE             Hungarian             Romania             Bulgaria             Turkey             Germany*         --------------------    ie                 OMV - Austria-UAE                       {Romania Turkey Hungary interests}                 MOL - Hungarian                 Transgaz - Romania                 Bulgargaz - Bulgaria                 BOTAS - Turkey                 RWE - Germany, big / largest investor Egypt                 -- 2015 sale oil & gas unit to:         Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman                 RWE operates:  Europe, Middle East & Africa                 RWE partnership w/ British & Netherlands                 re Urenco Group uranium enrichment plants:                  in Germany, Netherlands,USA & UK                 -- supplies nuclear power stations in 15 countries                 -- sale of depleted uranium tails                 -- Russia owns radioactive waste                 -- waste transported to Seversk             [wikipedia] Middle East interests in the Nabucco Qatar LNG pipeline     proposed route:     -Qatar     -Saudi Arabia     -Kuwait     -Iraq     -Turkey     -Jordan http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/qatar-seeks-gas-pipeline-to-turkey#full  [link as above]   Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan -->  attempt to bribe Russia to dump Syria w/ Saudi 'block of gas' to Europe assurances Russia wasn't buying what assurances of the Saudi / stuck w. #Syria Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline plan = slap in face of #Qatar Putin refusal to take bait & sell out #Syria Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan vowed military action. Saudi Arabia Intelligence Agency Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan director general:  Saudi Intelligence Agency 2012 to 2014 --> supporters: Chechen terrorists Bandar bin Sultan confrontational re USA --> Replaced by:  Prince Muhammad bin Nayef head Saudi intel Muhammad bin Nayef Head of Saudi Arabia Intelligence --> escaped x4 assassination attempts --> incl. rectum bomb  { ... lol, always get a laugh out of that detail } ALSO pulling strings in Middle East oil-focused US policy in Syria: Qatar +  Saudi Arabia aim: pliable Syria opposition Writer concludes Assad is 'war criminal' [comment:  --> but  USA a pre-eminent war criminal & Ghouta was a false flag by USA-Gulf proxies.] SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/aug/30/syria-chemical-attack-war-intervention-oil-gas-energy-pipelines SUMMARY British Airstrikes on Syria UK Tornado attack planes deployed to:  Akrotiri, Cyprus - first raid 3 Dec. support:  Voyager tanker + Reaper drone variable payload The Brimstone automated anti-armour missile for use re fast-moving platforms first fielded #Afghanistan 2008 The Brimstone light warhead - 9 kg /  a range of 7.5 miles -->  can be used on fast jets, helicopters & UAVs The Brimstone laser-guided missiles UK  RAF weapons of choice since #Libya in 2011 UK RAF Tornados - transit from Cyprus to #Iraq: --> via Israel --> via Jordan --> Voyager tanker accompanies British airstrikes covering #Iraq + #Syria --> 10 Tornados -->   9 Eurofighter Typhoon reinforcement. The Brimstone automated anti-armour missile for use re fast-moving platforms first fielded #Afghanistan 2008 The Brimstone light warhead - 9 kg /  a range of 7.5 miles -->  can be used on fast jets, helicopters & UAVs The Brimstone laser-guided missiles UK  RAF weapons of choice since #Libya in 2011 #Syria UK RAF Tornados - transit from Cyprus to #Iraq: --> via Israel --> via Jordan --> Voyager tanker accompanies British airstrikes covering #Iraq + #Syria --> 10 Tornados -->   9 Eurofighter Typhoon reinforcement. http://theaviationist.com/2015/12/04/raf-tornados-first-air-strike-in-syria/ AUDIO Syria / Libya / Refugee Crisis / Turkey Scott Bennett former US Army officer counter-terrorism analyst 'Impeach Obama' / 'Arrest Carter' https://soundcloud.com/radiosputnik/goes-against-no-boots-on-the-ground-scott-bennett ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Some of what I've enjoyed looking at today. The stakeholders in the Nabucco pipeline gets complicated, once you start looking at the companies.  eg.  Austrian stakeholder itself has a United Arab Emirates stakeholder.  So working out who's really who would take more time, patience and focus than I have.  Above is just a rough, surface sketch re the companies. The US military guy's audio was kind of cool.  He's anticipating a Turkey military coup against Erdogan.  I don't know if he might be a bit melodramatic there or not, as I'm not that knowledgeable or experienced.  At this stage, it sounds good but far-fetched to me. Key info re Syria (now superseded by further info indicating 2006 planned attack):     Former French foreign minister Roland Dumas     Britain planning covert invasion / attack on Assad     as early as 2009     WikiLeaks Stratfor e-mails     confirm US-UK training Syria 'opposition' since 2011     to collapse Assad from within     British attack     coincides w. Assad rejection of     Qatar pipeline deal 2009     in favour of Russian interests     NB   Qatar pipeline deal 2009     benefits USA & European Union US 4-Star General, General Wesley Clark (Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000) confirms a serial conquest strategy for region (7 countries). NOTE ALSO: Julian Assange: US & Israel Planned To Overthrow Assad In 2006 Cables reveal that before the beginning of the Syrian revolt and civil war, the United States hoped to overthrow Assad and create strife between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. By Kit O'Connell @KitOConnell | September 14, 2015 LONDON — Speaking from Ecuador’s embassy in London, Julian Assange revealed that the United States planned to overthrow the Syrian government as far back as 2006, several years before the start of the current crisis. ... The ongoing threat to his freedom hasn’t kept Assange from continuing his work revealing the dirty secrets of world governments. His latest revelations come in a Wednesday interview with RT in support of his new book, “The WikiLeaks Files,” published late last month. The United States and its allies in the Middle East, including Turkey and Israel, have been frequently accused of contributing to the ongoing destabilization of Syria in the wake of the uprising and subsequent civil war which began in 2011. But according to cables from the WikiLeaks archive, discussed in the Syria chapter of Assange’s book, plans to deliberately destabilize the region go back at least five years further. “In that chapter is a cable from US Ambassador William Roebuck, who was stationed in Damascus, which apparently discusses a plan for the overthrow of the Assad government in Syria,” RT reported. [ ... ] The cable also details plans to foster sectarian strife in the region and make Iran appear like a larger threat to Assad than it really was, Assange continued: “In particular, to take rumors that are known to be false … or exaggerations and promote them – that Iran is trying to convert poor Sunnis, and to work with Saudi and Egypt to foster that perception in order to make it harder for Iran to have influence, and also harder for the government to have influence in the population.” WikiLeaks cables reveal that these plans came from the Israeli government, and show that the U.S. government intended to work with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and Egypt to encourage the breakdown of the Assad regime as a way of also weakening Iran and Hezbollah. “[I]f Syria sufficiently destabilized, it might be in a position where it can keep the Golan Heights forever, or even advance that territory,” Assange said. According to Assange, the cable illuminates how the current Syrian crisis reflects U.S. influence on the Middle East, particularly the ways it has used its allies to put pressure on the country. “Part of the problem in Syria is that you have a number of US allies surrounding it, principally Saudi and Qatar, that are funneling in weapons,” Assange noted, adding that it shows how the U.S. uses its over 100 army bases and network of embassies to further its imperialist interests. CONTINUES http://www.mintpressnews.com/julian-assange-us-israel-planned-to-overthrow-assad-in-2006/209493/ As the article re the WikiLeaks cable indicates, the plan to take down Syria began even earlier than indicated by the former French Foreign Minister:  it was outlined in 2006 US cables. Israel could be a driving force in for US foreign policy in the Middle Eastern region.  As in, the article states: "WikiLeaks cables reveal that these plans came from the Israeli government." Maybe this has something to do with it: Huge oil discovery in Golan Heights - Israeli media https://www.rt.com/business/317906-oil-golan-heights-israel/ ---------------------- ꕤ --------------------- PS ... Think I might simplify things too much.  There's a combination of things going on.  It's not just a single driving factor. I'll probably never understand what's going on. Just read some Forbes article on Russian billionaires having been bought out of Russia's Rosneft (state oil company), and it's a struggle to understand how anyone can have so much money and how the entire thing works, so what hope is there of understanding politics without understanding of the money men?  lol I'm really disheartened  ... and I can't comprehend why anyone would spend $14 million on a frigging mammoth.  Apparently, it's a gilded skeleton.  Intended as a good deed for an AIDS charity.  Just looked up the artist: won the Turner Prize. New York public health officials banned Two Fucking and Two Watching featuring a rotting cow and bull, because of fears of "vomiting among the visitors" [here] Well, now I'm sure I'll never understand anything on this planet.  Who the f*ck considers a rotting cow art?  This hilarious.  The fellow behind this is the "richest living artist to date."  Guess the 'Virgin Mother' would have taken some effort and talent to produce.  That anyone actually bought the finished product is mind-boggling.  I'd definitely go the mammoth.  ;) ꕤ

MUST READ: Neoliberal Capitalism - Planned Machinations of Empire & Militarism - Syria, Ukraine, Libya & Beyond

MUST READ SOURCE http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-collateral-damage-of-us-nato-wars-europes-refugee-crisis-depraved-morality-of-uk-prime-minister-david-cameron/5473997?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter The “Collateral Damage” of US-NATO Wars: Europe’s Refugee Crisis, Depraved Morality of UK Prime Minister David Cameron By Colin Todhunter Global Research, September 06, 2015 Region: Europe, Middle East & North Africa Theme: Police State & Civil Rights, United Nations UK Prime Minister David Cameron this week said “as a father I felt deeply moved” by the image of a Syrian boy dead on a Turkish beach. As pressure mounts on the UK to take in more of those fleeing to Europe from Syria and elsewhere. Cameron added that the UK would fulfil its “moral responsibilities.” On hearing Cameron’s words on the role of ‘morality’, something he talks a lot about, anyone who has been following the crisis in Syria would not have failed to detect the hypocrisy. According to former French foreign minister Roland Dumas, Britain had planned covert action in Syria as early as 2009. He told French TV: I was in England two years before the violence in Syria on other business… I met with top British officials, who confessed to me that they were preparing something in Syria. This was in Britain not in America. Britain was preparing gunmen to invade Syria. Writing in The Guardian in 2013, Nafeez Ahmed discusses leaked emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor, including notes from a meeting with Pentagon officials, that confirmed US-UK training of Syrian opposition forces since 2011 aimed at eliciting “collapse” of Assad’s regime “from within.” He goes on to write that, according to retired NATO Secretary General Wesley Clark, a memo from the Office of the US Secretary of Defense just a few weeks after 9/11 revealed plans to “attack and destroy the governments in seven countries in five years,” starting with Iraq and moving on to “Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.” Clark argues that this strategy is fundamentally about control of the region’s vast oil and gas resources. In 2009, Syrian President Assad refused to sign a proposed agreement with Qatar that would run a pipeline from the latter’s North field through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey, with a view to supply European markets in direct competition with Russia. Being a Russian ally, Assad refused to sign and instead pursued negotiations for an alternative $10 billion pipeline plan with Iran crossing Iraq and into Syria that would also potentially allow Iran to supply gas to Europe. Thus Assad had to go. And this is where Cameron’s concerns really lie: not with ordinary people compelled to flee war zones that his government had a hand in making but with removing Assad in order for instance to run a pipeline through Syrian territory and to prevent Iran and Russia gaining strategic momentum in the region. Ordinary folk are merely ‘collateral damage’ in the geopolitical machinations of bankers, oilmen and arms manufacturers, only to be shown any sympathy when the media flashes images of a dead Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach or people drowned at sea trying to escape turmoil at home. It is then that people like Cameron are obliged to demonstrate mock sincerity in the face of public concern. ***** It is not only Syrians who are heading for Europe and the UK but also people from Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Countries that Britain has helped to devastate as part of the US-led long war based on the Project for a New American Century and the US right to intervene unilaterally as and when it deems fit under the notion of the US ‘exceptionalism’ (better known as the project for a new imperialism – the ‘Wolfowitz Doctrine’). Cameron said that Britain is a moral nation and would fulfil its moral responsibilities. Large sections of the population – ordinary men and women – are certainly ‘moral’ but that is unfortunately where any notion of morality seems to stop. Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray has called the UK a rogue state and a danger to the world. Last year, he told a meeting at St Andrews University in Scotland that the British Government is deeply immoral and doesn’t care how many people its kills abroad if it advances it aims. Moreover, he said the UK was a state that is prepared to go to war to make a few people wealthy. He added that Libya is now a disaster and 15,000 people were killed when NATO (British and French jets) bombed Sirte, something the BBC never told the public. Murray told his audience what many already know or suspect but what many more remain ignorant of: I’ve seen things from the inside and the UK’s foreign interventions are almost always about resources. It is every bit as corrupt as others have indicated. It is not an academic construct, the system stinks. Murray was a British diplomat for 20 years. But after only six months, he said that in the country where he was Ambassador, the British and the US were shipping people in order for them to be tortured and some of them were tortured to death. As far as Iraq is concerned, Murray said that he knew for certain that key British officials were fully aware that there weren’t any weapons of mass destruction. He said that invading Iraq wasn’t a mistake, it was a lie. Back in 2011, 200 prominent African figures accused Western nations and the International Criminal Court of “subverting international law” in Libya. The UN has been misused to militarise policy, legalise military action and effect regime change, according to University of Johannesburg professor Chris Landsberg. He said it is unprecedented for the UN to have outsourced military action to NATO in this way and challenges the International Criminal Court to investigate NATO for “violating international law.” In 2015, the outcome has been to turn Africa’s most developed nation to ruins and run by armed militias fighting one another. Is this the stability and morality Cameron preaches? Yet for public consumption, Cameron flags up his ‘morality’ by stating that the UK would continue to take in “thousands” of refugees. But he cautions that this is not the only answer to the crisis, saying a “comprehensive solution” is required. Awash with self-righteous platitudes he hoped would drown out any hint of hypocrisy or irony, Cameron added: “We have to try and stabilise the countries from which these people are coming.” One year ago, Cameron told the United Nations that Britain was ready to play its part in confronting “an evil against which the whole world must unite.” He also said that that “we” must not be so “frozen with fear” of repeating the mistakes of the 2003 Iraq invasion. He was attempting to drum up support for wider Anglo-US direct military action against Syria under the pretext of attacking ISIS. At the same time, Cameron spoke of the virtues of the West’s economic freedom and democratic values as well as the horrors of extremism and terror. Cameron’s was a monologue of hypocrisy. Over a million people have been killed via the US-led or US-backed attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, so we were told. It did not. That was a lie and hundreds of thousands have paid with their lives. We were told that Gaddafi was a tyrant. He used the nation’s oil wealth well by presiding over a country that possessed some of the best indices of social and economic well-being in Africa. Now, thanks to Western backed terror and military conflict, Libya lies in ruins and torn apart. Russia is a threat to world peace because of its actions in Ukraine, we are told. It is not. The US helped instigate the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Ukraine and has instigated provocations, sanctions and a proxy war against an emerging, confident Russia. But how far in history should we go back to stress that the West and Cameron and his ilk have no right to take the moral high ground when it comes to peace, respect for international law, self-determination, truth or democracy? The much quoted work by historian William Blum documents the crimes, bombings, assassinations, destabilisations and wars committed by the US in country after country since 1945. And since 1945 the UK has consistently stood shoulder to shoulder with Washington. Cameron stood at the UN and talked of the West’s values of freedom and democracy and the wonders of economic neoliberalism in an attempt to promote Western values and disguise imperialist intent. But it’s a thin disguise. The Anglo-US establishment has imposed its economic structural violence on much of the world by bankrupting economies, throwing millions into poverty and imposing ‘austerity’ and by rigging and manipulating global commodity markets and prices. Add to that the mass illegal surveillance at home and abroad, torture, drone murders, destabilisations, bombings and invasions and it becomes clear that Cameron’s ongoing eulogies to morality, freedom, humanitarianism, democracy and the ‘free’ market is hollow rhetoric. Apart from attempting to legitimise neoliberal capitalism, this rhetoric has one purpose: it is part of the ongoing ‘psych-ops’ being waged on the public to encourage people to regard what is happening in the world – from Syria, Iraq and Ukraine to Afghanistan and Libya, etc – as a confusing, disconnected array of events (perpetuated by unhinged madmen or terror groups) that are in need of Western intervention. These events are not for one minute to be regarded by the public as the planned machinations of empire and militarism, which entail a global energy and trade war against Russia and China, the associated preservation of the petro-dollar system and the encircling and intimidation of these two states with military hardware. Any mainstream narrative about the current migrant-refugee ‘crisis’ must steer well clear of such an analysis. Instead, we must listen to Cameron talking about the West ‘helping’ to stabilise the countries it helped to destabilise or destroy in the first place. It’s the same old story based on the same misrepresentation of imperialism: the US-led West acting as a force for good in the world and reluctantly taking up the role of ‘world policeman’. Whether it’s the now amply financially rewarded Blair or whether it is Cameron at the political helm, the perpetual wars and perpetual deceptions continue. Cameron plays his role well. Like Tony Blair, Cameron’s media-friendly bonhomie is slicker (and cheaper) than the most experienced used car salesman. And like Blair before him, Cameron is the media-friendly PR man who beats the drums of war (or mock sincerity, as the situation dictates), courtesy of a global power elite, who through their think tanks, institutions and financial clout ultimately determine economic policies and decide which wars are to be fought and for what purpose: “… the Davos-attending, Gulfstream/private jet-flying, money-incrusted, megacorporation-interlocked, policy-building elites of the world, people at the absolute peak of the global power pyramid. They are 94 percent male, predominantly white, and mostly from North America and Europe. These are the people setting the agendas at the Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group, G-8, G-20, NATO, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. They are from the highest levels of finance capital, transnational corporations, the government, the military, the academy, nongovernmental organizations, spiritual leaders and other shadow elites. Shadow elites include, for instance, the deep politics of national security organizations in connection with international drug cartels, who extract 8,000 tons of opium from US war zones annually, then launder $500 billion through transnational banks, half of which are US-based.” – David Rothkopf (Project Censored ‘Exposing the transnational ruling class’) SOURCE http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-collateral-damage-of-us-nato-wars-europes-refugee-crisis-depraved-morality-of-uk-prime-minister-david-cameron/5473997?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT An excellent article, packed with everything that these slimy used-car salesmen politicians (and their corporate media enabler handmaidens), responsible for devastating their own countries and destroying those abroad, don't want you to know. These same hypocrite politicians that are responsible for the wilful destruction abroad and ensuing mayhem at home, wring their hands about 'radicalisation' ... like they haven't a clue how such a thing could possibly happen ... while entire populations in their countries are placed under totalitarian control, and their vulnerable and working classes are reduced to homelessness and relying on food banks.  lol It's a lot to take in.  Might have to do some notes. Assange Transnational Security Elite, Carving Up the World Using Your Tax Money London  OCT8 Antiwar Mass Assembly (2011) Link  |  here ꕤ

'Is Obama the Worst President Ever?'

SOURCE http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/03/is-obama-the-worst-president-ever/ September 3, 2015 Is Obama the Worst President Ever? by Dave Lindorff Obama is on track to go down in history as one of the, or perhaps as the worst and most criminal presidents in US history. He started out, campaigning in 2008, as someone would would restore the rule of law in US international affairs and here at home after eight years of criminality during the Bush and Cheney administration, as saying he would end America’s wars and bring back an era of international cooperation and negotiation, and as saying that he would confront the dire threat of global climate change. On the basis of that promise, he won a dramatic election victory, raising hopes across the country and across many voting blocks. On that basis, he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize — the first time the award was given before anything had been done by the laureate being honored. And on the basis of that promise, people expected action on climate change. Instead, the president began backpedaling almost instantly. Instead of restoring the rule of law, he almost immediately announced that he would not permit his Justice Department to engage in any prosecutions of CIA, FBI, military of Bush/Cheney administration personnel for violations of international law or of US law. He introduced new secrecy rules, launched a record number of prosecutions of government whistleblowers, including an international manhunt to arrest or kill NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden which included the forcing down of a presidential aircraft carrying the president of Bolivia, wrongly suspected of flying Snowden from Russia to that Latin American country, and a secret espionage indictment against Wikileaks founder Julien Assange, who has thus been trapped for years in the little UK embassy of Ecuador which has granted him asylum. And most egregiously, Barack Obama, sabotaged the first international meeting on climate change held in Denmark, and has ducked every opportunity to have the US lead on reaching an international agreement to seriously reduce global carbon emissions. During the three Congressional electoral cycles and his re-election campaign in 2012, Obama studiously avoided pressing on any of these key issues, and especially on climate change. His position: “all of the above”, for energy development, has seen the US move, not towards carbon emission reductions, but towards expanded production of gas, oil and even coal extraction, making the US the largest oil producer in the world, and a major provider of dirty coal to both US electric companies and large coal using countries abroad, including China. Now we have this flimflam artist up in Alaska, talking about the crisis he has helped worsen, calling it an existential issue. And yet even as he speaks, the Shell Oil Company is towing a giant oil drilling rig up to the Arctic Ocean, thanks to an Obama administration permit, to begin drilling for oil in the shallow waters north of Alaska — drilling for yet more oil, that is, even as the world is facing a glut of the stuff, in a delicate region that would be devastated by a well blow-out, because ice would make containment an impossibility. Future generations of Americans will surely look back at President Obama as not just a con-man, but as someone who blew several trillion dollars on continued wars around the globe, as someone who terminally destroyed the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, instead of rescuing these documents as promised, and as the president who, when given the last real opportunity to reverse climate change, ducked the challenge and pandered to the corporations that selfishly wanted short-term gain over long-term survival for humanity and the biosphere. There are plenty of other criminal acts by this president to consider. On his watch, this first African-American president allowed an increased national police to become a fully-armed occupying army across the country. No American today is safe from abusive police who make up crimes and ignore the law at will, but paying a uniquely terrible price are African-Americans and other people of color, who once gave this president 90% of their votes or more, but who now are being gunned down with a grim regularity by mostly white cops who fire at the slightest provocation, even at unarmed kids. On his watch too, young children, fleeing US-caused gang violence in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and elsewhere in Latin America, have been sent back to their home countries illegally, or held in prisons in this country in violation of direct court orders. He also ordered his Justice Department not to prosecute the criminal bankers who willfully destroyed the US and the global economy to profit themselves and their institutions. This president, let’s be clear, has not just been incompetent and gutless. He has been a slick political fraud and both a common and a Constitutional criminal. In a just nation of engaged citizens, Obama would already have been impeached for any number of serious crimes, beginning with the failure to prosecute known war criminals of the Bush/Cheney administration, including the president and vice-president themselves. That’s not going to happen, because this is not a just nation of engaged citizens. But there will be a reckoning. History will judge this president harshly, as it has judged criminal leaders of the past, from Rome’s Nero to Italy’s Mussolini or Uganda’s Idi Amin. It may strike some as hyperbole to put President Obama in league with such universally acknowledged monsters as these, but when human beings begin dying by the millions because of climate-change caused famines, floods, droughts and international armed conflicts we will surely look back at the actions and inactions of this particular president, who had the opportunity to make a huge difference and chose not just to do nothing, but to make things worse, and will say his crimes perhaps exceeded theirs. Dave Lindorff is a founding member of ThisCantBeHappening!, an online newspaper collective, and is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). SOURCE http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/03/is-obama-the-worst-president-ever/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- What stood out for me: USA refuses to prosecute CIA, FBI, military [or] Bush/Cheney administration personnel for violating US or international law. Obama admin: = violated & continues to violate the Bill of Rights and the Constitution Obama admin: allowed militarised police to become a fully-armed occupying army across USA "No American today is safe from abusive police who make up crimes and ignore the law at will" Obama admin: introduced new secrecy rules Obama admin: launched a record number of prosecutions of whistleblowers Obama admin: engaged in international manhunt for whistleblower Edward Snowden Obama admin: forced down of a presidential aircraft carrying the president of Bolivia (wrongly suspected of flying Snowden from Russia to Bolivia} Obama admin: initiated a secret espionage indictment against WikiLeaks founder, journalist-publisher, Julian Assange (trapped for 5 years in the confines of UK embassy of Ecuador, which has granted him political asylum) Obama admin: =  ordered his Justice Department not to prosecute criminal bankers who destroyed the US & global economy for own profits Obama admin: = blew several trillion dollars on continued wars around the globe Obama admin: = pandered to corporations out for short-term gain over long-term effects on environment Obama admin: = expanded production of gas, oil and even coal extraction making the US the world's largest oil producer Thanks to Obama admin: USA = a major provider of dirty coal to both US electric companies + large coal using countries abroad, incl. China. Thanks to Obama admin: Shell Oil Company = towing a giant oil drilling rig up to the Arctic Ocean (Obama administration permit, to begin drilling for oil in the shallow waters north of Alaska) ꕤ ꕤ

SAUDI ARABIA - OIL, GAS, PETROLEUM - GOOD OVERVIEW

Benefits, burdens of Saudi oil and gas First Posted: 3:15 am - August 9th, 2015 - 666 Views By Wolf D. Fuhrig Since 1938, the 30 million inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula have richly benefited from their second-largest underground petroleum deposits and their fourth-largest gas reserves in the world. At present, these holdings rank second only to the United States, which also is the most important buyer of Saudi oil. After six years of exploration, the Saudis began to produce and export their oil in 1944. When Saudi Aramco grew into the biggest private petroleum producer, the government promptly nationalized the company. By the year 2000, 12.3 percent of all oil produced worldwide came from Saudi Arabia, according to official data. At present, the country’s oil reserves are estimated to amount to 262.7 billion barrels. Available data give the Saudis eighth place worldwide in refining capacity. That enables them to produce heating oil, gasoline, kerosene and diesel, mostly for countries without refineries. The Saudis have been a reliable supplier of oil for the Western world, except during the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt in 1973 and the Islamic revolution in Iran. During the Second Gulf War in 1991, they exported all of their production to fill Iraq’s and Kuwait’s capacity and thus stabilize the market.  [Iran Revolution: 1979] Until 2006, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia produced 9 million barrels daily when worldwide the annual total was 3,942 billion tons. By 2007, however, the Soviet Union bypassed the Saudis’ daily output. Some experts theorize that they intentionally curtailed their production to increase the price of oil. Recently, dealers in the United States asked the Saudis to raise their production quotas. At a conference in 2008, Saudi King Abdullah urged oil producers and consumers to cooperate more in order to avoid what he called “damaging speculation.” His country remains the industry’s leader with 16 per cent of the world’s petroleum output and 49 known oil and 16 gas fields. Since 2002, over 90 percent of the Saudis’ production has come from only seven giant fields, of which six have pumped over 300,000 barrels daily. Recently it appeared that the productivity of those seven fields has been declining. In 2006 Aramco announced that all of the Saudis’ oil fields have reached a “phase of stagnation” and that the rate of production was going to decline by 8 percent annually. This estimate has since been confirmed by the American investment banker and oil expert Matthew Simmons. At present, oil and gold are going through a selling panic due to the strong dollar and China’s economic slowdown. The pending nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran may soon bring millions of more gallons of oil into world markets. In the meantime, new technologies, especially horizontal drilling, have created an oil glut in the United States. If President Obama succeeds with his proposal for severe restrictions on carbon emissions, that also could lower American coal and oil production. Saudi petroleum minister Ali al-Naimi explained his veto of increases in OPEC’s output last year that it was “crooked logic” for low cost producers to sacrifice market share in support of crude oil prices. Saudi commentators looking for motives beyond maintaining market share have given three strategic reasons: King Salman’s accession to the Saudi throne on Jan. 23; the growing geopolitical unrest surrounding Saudi Arabia; and the accelerating progress of North American shale operators. The Saudis claim that they can produce as much as 12 million barrels a day. The CIA lists the kingdom as the second largest source of proven crude oil reserves after Venezuela. Ironically, Saudi Arabia is currently a net importer of gasoline and diesel. It also continues to burn a large amount of crude oil to produce electricity. At present, Saudi Arabia still remains the largest exporter of petroleum based on its possession of 18 percent of the world’s proven reserves. Its oil and gas sector comprises about 50 percent of its gross domestic product and about 85 percent of its exports. Wolf D. Fuhrig of Jacksonville holds a doctorate in public law and government from Columbia University in New York City. http://myjournalcourier.com/news/84500/benefits-burdens-of-saudi-oil-and-gas --------------------- COMMENT How much they burn up producing electricity explains their desire to set up nuclear power stations. Iranian oil coming onto the market can't be too good for the Russians right now? I don't really understand the concept of 'maintaining market share' and its relationship with slowing production.   They're increasing the price by slowing the production?  Yes, a veto of increasing production.  Means the price is up because it's scarce ... but I've forgotten how this impacts on Russian oil.   Also, I thought prices were DOWN and that this wasn't good for the Russians, who are under sanctions pressure etc.  Don't know.  I've obviously missed something somewhere.  Might have to think about it some other time.  lol Just some trivia, I'll probably never remember. *Good Article

Ukraine Bail-Out - Expect Hardship

UKRAINE Article http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2015/02/ukraines-new-bail-out-0?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/ukrainebailout #Ukraine Hryvnia, Ukraine’s currency, fell today. Now worth 1/3 less than it was a few days ago. [economist] #Ukraine For IMF bail-out advance, IMF wants change: > Naftogaz cheap household GAS, price to INCREASE FIVEFOLD in 4 years. [Economist] #Ukraine For IMF bail-out, IMF wants change: Inflation @ 30% ... about to get a WHOLE LOT HIGHER, since hryvnia plunge. [Economist] #UKRAINE #IMF Central bank has already raised interest rates to 20% from just 7% a year ago. #Ukraine IMF bail-out: Propping up collapsed hryvnia means HIGHER INTEREST RATES = more difficult for Ukrainians to repay debt [Economist] #Ukraine Non-repayment of debt will hit banking sector / banking collapsing. Big interest hikes = deep economic recession. #Ukraine IMF bail-out: Expect SIGNIFICANTLY DROP to PUBLIC SPENDING over next 5 years. > So PUBLIC SERVICES will be screwed! /economist #Ukraine IMF bail-out >program inadequate/insufficient >Ukraine’s economic situation will GET WORSE!!!! [Economist] LOOK-UPS Source:  Google Ukrainian hryvnia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_hryvnia COMMENT Not looking good.  So much for that bail-out.

Egypt - Owned by Foreign Oil Companies - $6 BILLION DEBT

EGYPT ----------------------------------------   WOW!!! >> #Germany #Canada #Italy, Tunisian & ors (?) -- oil & gas exploration deals @ $187m signed by #EGYPT >> http://goo.gl/I8pV39 >"Egypt has started repaying ... debt to foreign oil companies, which had reached more than $6 BILLION" -- So Egypt pays THEM! ----------------------------------------    COMMENT Found this snippet interesting. It looks like Egypt's paying the money out instead of the other way around, which I would have expected. Check out the debt to foreign oil companies!  Egypt sounds like it's owned. This info tells you who is particularly cosy with Egypt, I'm guessing.

UKRAINE AND OBAMA'S FAT-CAT FRIENDS

 Article -

Washington Pushing Ukraine to the Brink
Politics / Ukraine Civil War Jul 13, 2014 - 06:03 PM GMT

By: Mike_Whitney

Politics

What does a pipeline in Afghanistan have to do with the crisis in Ukraine?

Everything. It reveals the commercial interests that drive US policy. Just as the War in Afghanistan was largely fought to facilitate the transfer of natural gas from Turkmenistan to the Arabian Sea, so too, Washington engineered the bloody coup in Kiev to cut off energy supplies from Russia to Europe to facilitate the US pivot to Asia.

This is why policymakers in Washington are reasonably satisfied with the outcome of the war in Afghanistan despite the fact that none of the stated goals were achieved. Afghanistan is not a functioning democracy with a strong central government, drug trafficking has not been eradicated, women haven’t been liberated, and the infrastructure and school systems are worse than they were before the war. By every objective standard the war was a failure. But, of course, the stated goals were just public relations blather anyway. They don’t mean anything. What matters is gas, namely the vast untapped reserves in Turkmenistan that could be extracted by privately-owned US corporations who would use their authority to control the growth of US competitors or would-be rivals like China. That’s what the war was all about. The gas is going to be transported via a pipeline from Turkmenistan, across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the Arabian sea, eschewing Russian and Iranian territory. The completion of the so called TAPI pipeline will undermine the development of an Iranian pipeline, thus sabotaging the efforts of a US adversary.

The TAPI pipeline illustrates how Washington is aggressively securing the assets it needs to maintain its dominance ...

    “The US is pushing the four countries to grant the lucrative pipeline contract to its energy giants. Two US firms – Chevron and ExxonMobil – are in the race to become consortium leaders, win the project and finance the laying of the pipeline,” a senior government official said while talking to The Express Tribune.

    Washington has been lobbying for the gas supply project, called Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (Tapi) pipeline, terming it an ideal scheme to tackle energy shortages in Pakistan. On the other side, it pressed Islamabad to shelve the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline because of a nuclear standoff with Tehran…
...
This is why political leaders in Europe are so worried, because they don’t like the idea of sharing a border with Somalia, which is exactly what Ukraine is going to look like when the US is done with it.

In Ukraine, the US is using a divide and conquer strategy to pit the EU against trading partner Moscow. The State Department and CIA helped to topple Ukraine’s elected President Viktor Yanukovych and install a US stooge in Kiev who was ordered to cut off the flow of Russian gas to the EU and lure Putin into a protracted guerilla war in Ukraine. The bigwigs in Washington figured that, with some provocation, Putin would react the same way he did when Georgia invaded South Ossetia in 2006. But, so far, Putin has resisted the temptation to get involved which is why new puppet president Petro Poroshenko has gone all “Jackie Chan” and stepped up the provocations by pummeling east Ukraine mercilessly. It’s just a way of goading Putin into sending in the tanks. [LOL! JACKIE CHAN!]

But here’s the odd part: Washington doesn’t have a back-up plan. It’s obvious by the way Poroshenko keeps doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. That demonstrates that there’s no Plan B. Either Poroshenko lures Putin across the border and into the conflict, or the neocon plan falls apart, which it will if they can’t demonize Putin as a “dangerous aggressor” who can’t be trusted as a business partner.

So all Putin has to do is sit-tight and he wins, mainly because the EU needs Moscow’s gas. If energy supplies are terminated or drastically reduced, prices will rise, the EU will slide back into recession, and Washington will take the blame. So Washington has a very small window to draw Putin into the fray, which is why we should expect another false flag incident on a much larger scale than the fire in Odessa. Washington is going to have to do something really big and make it look like it was Moscow’s doing. Otherwise, their pivot plan is going to hit a brick wall. Here’s a tidbit readers might have missed in the Sofia News Agency’s novinite site:

    “Ukraine’s Parliament adopted .. a bill under which up to 49% of the country’s gas pipeline network could be sold to foreign investors. This could pave the way for US or EU companies, which have eyed Ukrainian gas transportation system over the last months.

    …Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was earlier quoted as saying that the bill would allow Kiev to “attract European and American partners to the exploitation and modernization of Ukraine’s gas transportation,” in a situation on Ukraine’s energy market he described as “super-critical”. Critics of the bill have repeatedly pointed the West has long been interest in Ukraine’s pipelines, with some seeing in the Ukrainian revolution a means to get access to the system. (Ukraine allowed to sell up to 49% of gas pipeline system, novinite.com)

Boy, you got to hand it to the Obama throng. They really know how to pick their coup-leaders, don’t they? These puppets have only been in office for a couple months and they’re already giving away the farm.

And, such a deal! US corporations will be able to buy up nearly half of a pipeline that moves 60 percent of the gas that flows from Russia to Europe. That’s what you call a tollbooth, my friend; and US companies will be in just the right spot to gouge Moscow for every drop of natural gas that transits those pipelines. And gouge they will too, you can bet on it.

Is that why the State Department cooked up this loony putsch, so their fatcat, freeloading friends could rake in more dough?

This also explains why the Obama crowd is trying to torpedo Russia’s other big pipeline project called Southstream. Southstream is a good deal for Europe and Russia. On the one hand, it would greatly enhance the EU’s energy security, and on the other, it will provide needed revenues for Russia so they can continue to modernize, upgrade their dilapidated infrastructure, and improve standards of living. But “the proposed pipeline (which) would snake about 2,400 kilometers, or roughly 1,500 miles, from southern Russia via the Black Sea to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and ultimately Austria. (and) could handle about 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, enough to allow Russian exports to Europe to largely bypass Ukraine” (New York Times) The proposed pipeline further undermines Washington’s pivot strategy, so Obama, the State Department and powerful US senators (Ron Johnson, John McCain, and Chris Murphy) are doing everything in their power to torpedo the project.

“What gives Vladimir Putin his power and control is his oil and gas reserves and West and Eastern Europe’s dependence on them,” Senator Johnson said in an interview. “We need to break up his stranglehold on energy supplies. We need to bust up that monopoly.” (New York Times)

What a bunch of baloney. Putin doesn’t have a monopoly on gas. Russia only provides 30 percent of the gas the EU uses every year. And Putin isn’t blackmailing anyone either. Countries in the EU can either buy Russian gas or not buy it. It’s up to them. No one has a gun to their heads. And Gazprom’s prices are competitive too, sometimes well-below market rates which has been the case for Ukraine for years, until crackpot politicians started sticking their thumb in Putin’s eye at every opportunity; until they decided that that they didn’t have to pay their bills anymore because, well, because Washington told them not to pay their bills. That’s why.

Ukraine is in the mess it’s in today for one reason, because they decided to follow Washington’s advice and shoot themselves in both feet. Their leaders thought that was a good idea. So now the country is broken, penniless and riven by social unrest. Regrettably, there’s no cure for stupidity.

The neocon geniuses apparently believe that if they sabotage Southstream and nail down 49 percent ownership of Ukraine’s pipeline infrastructure, then the vast majority of Russian gas will have to flow through Ukrainian pipelines. They think that this will give them greater control over Moscow. But there’s a glitch to this plan which analyst Jeffrey Mankoff pointed out in an article titled “Can Ukraine Use Its Gas Pipelines to Threaten Russia?”. Here’s what he said:

    “The biggest problem with this approach is a cut in gas supplies creates real risks for the European economy… In fact, Kyiv’s efforts to siphon off Russian gas destined to Europe to offset the impact of a Russian cutoff in January 2009 provide a window onto why manipulating gas supplies is a risky strategy for Ukraine. Moscow responded to the siphoning by halting all gas sales through Ukraine for a couple of weeks, leaving much of eastern and southern Europe literally out in the cold. European leaders reacted angrily, blaming both Moscow and Kyiv for the disruption and demanding that they sort out their problems. While the EU response would likely be somewhat more sympathetic to Ukraine today, Kyiv’s very vulnerability and need for outside financial support makes incurring European anger by manipulating gas supplies very risky.” (Can Ukraine Use Its Gas Pipelines to Threaten Russia, two paragraphs)

The funny thing about gas is that, when you stop paying the bills, they turn the heat off. Is that hard to understand?

So, yes, the State Department crystal-gazers and their corporate-racketeer friends might think they have Putin by the shorthairs by buying up Ukraine’s pipelines, but the guy who owns the gas (Gazprom) is still in the drivers seat. And he’s going to do what’s in the best interests of himself and his shareholders. Someone should explain to John Kerry that that’s just how capitalism works.

Washington’s policy in Ukraine is such a mess, it really makes one wonder about the competence of the people who come up with these wacko ideas. Did the brainiacs who concocted this plan really think they’d be able to set up camp between two major trading partners, turn off the gas, reduce a vital transit country into an Iraq-type basketcase, and start calling the shots for everyone in the region?

It’s crazy.

Europe and Russia are a perfect fit. Europe needs gas to heat its homes and run its machinery. Russia has gas to sell and needs the money to strengthen its economy. It’s a win-win situation. What Europe and Russia don’t need is the United States. In fact, the US is the problem. As long as US meddling persists, there’s going to be social unrest, division, and war. It’s that simple. So the goal should be to undermine Washington’s ability to conduct these destabilizing operations and force US policymakers to mind their own freaking business. That means there should be a concerted effort to abandon the dollar, ditch US Treasuries, jettison the petrodollar system, and force the US to become a responsible citizen that complies with International law.

It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen, mainly because everyone is sick and tired of all the troublemaking.

Extract - Full article @ - SOURCE - MARKETABLE ORACLE - here.

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COMMENT

So glad I stumbled on this article!

I'm not the only one that thinks the US is full of it and that it's all about corporate greed and lies.

Sorry I've included so much of it here.  Very hard to break it up because the entire thing is such a wonderful explanation of what's going on.

See, I'm not wearing tin foil!  LOL

What is happening is deliberate and very chilling, when you consider the $$billions the US & UK are now putting towards their NATO war chest -- and they're going to hit up their lesser NATO parters for more $$$.

Scary.