SYRIA / IRAQ - Is full-scale war looming?

SYRIA  /  IRAQ SYRIA  /  IRAQ Tartus city/ Mediterranean coast #Syria -- 2nd largest port city in Syria -- 29°C - Wed/ 4:54 pm / #Russia has permanent naval base there ISIS -- US-led coalition will have to resort to the engagement of ground forces -- http://tinyurl.com/nwme9j3  -- New Eastern Outlook >> ISIS is a multilateral non-uniform coalition .. serving as means to an end:  for establishing an indep/ Kurdish state in north Iraq" >>> "Israel expressed its willingness to recognize the Kurdish state" [neo] deeds of "militant organization so far is a serious blow to Islam and the Muslims" - legitimised West intervention in region. >> while appearance of enemy to West ... "group may, in fact, be supported by certain Western structures" / some blame US & Saudi Arabia "Syria’s air-defense arsenal can in no way be discounted, as was the case in Libya." - Gaddafi had the gear /not the expertise >  weakness of high-tech weapons / to maintain in operating condition, spare parts & trained technicians required >>BUT (if I understand NEO correctly) contractors, incl. those from  US & NATO, can be engaged by ISIS for pay -- & have been? COMMENT All the info regarding the above has come out of the linked article - New Eastern Outlook - here. Impossible for me to guess at out how accurate the information might be, when I don't know about the region. Not sure if I knew about the Russian military base at the port or not.  Often I'll read things and be intensely interested at the time, but then it's all forgotten ... and I'll come across the same information and be surprised all over again.   Embarrassing.  LOL Hopefully, I'm not repeating myself here. I didn't understand the last bit of the article where it looks as though the writer's saying members of US and NATO are engaged by ISIS. To be honest, I got kind of excited in the middle portion of the article thinking 'hey, I've got the hang of this', thinking I finally understand what's going on -- but by the end of the article, I was back to being confused! No clue what's going on over there.   Reading about the new organisation (in Motherjones) just spun me out, like the whole thing's a never-die monster out of a horror movie. Think the fear-mongering has got to me.

Bling Bling's Come-Back

FRANCE RT >> "Sarkozy: suspension of the investigation for corruption" [Le Parisien Poodle] >> Gee, how did that happen? - #France > Bling Bing wants 2 head UMP party : making a play for presidency in 2017 > 'love of #France' reason / not self-interest lol - on gaining presidency in econ/ downturn, first thing Bling did was give himself a 140% payrise - http://goo.gl/TZra5j - FT >> "Mr Sarkozy’s penchant for money and glitz helped earn him the nickname President Bling-Bling." - [FinTimes] >>    LEGACY:  "higher unemployment, higher taxes, inflated public debt & doubling of trade deficit"  !!  [FT] >Challenge: con ... er, convince the public ... piece of cake. media savvy, dynamic, skilled & ambitious ... bye #Hollande http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bb179a4c-4269-11e4-9818-00144feabdc0.html Suspension Graft Probe #France - Graft Probe Suspended by Paris appeals court pending study of request by Bling Bling > http://www.therakyatpost.com/world/2014/09/24/paris-court-suspends-graft-probe-sarkozy/ … > suspension & inquiry could last months COMMENT As the reporter said, this should spice things up. I'm betting on Bling Bling.  Sure winner.   Hollande's popularity is at an all time low -- and he's the one enforcing an austerity budget ... although he inherited higher unemployment, higher taxes, inflated public debt & considerable trade deficit from Sarky.

ASSANGE - MEDIA DISTORTION

ASSANGE MEDIA DISTORTION Agence France-Presse " ... international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. It transmits news in French, English, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish & German." Not-for-profit co-operative. Source: Wikipedia - here. Other Agence France-Presse employs staff in over 160 countries around the world. >> So it's got 'embassies' all over the world? >> Editor graduate: Paris Institute of Political Studies -- study & research of contemporary political 'science'. Ooh, worked as an adviser to politician Laurent Fabius - media & culture - http://goo.gl/MRE1n7   / Fab is now Min Foreign Affairs Lebanon - Headline: Assange Extradition to U.S. 'Far-Fetched'  Swedish prosecutors seek to discredit #Assange - Political Prisoner @wikileaks – http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/148497-assange-extradition-to-u-s-far-fetched … >>> #FreeAssangeNow NSW, Australia - Headline: Assange Extradition to U.S. 'Far-Fetched' Mullumbimby paper picks up lame AFP discredit 'circular' > #Assange extradition to US ‘far-fetched’ > http://goo.gl/EXkVAh - @WikiLeaks http://www.echo.net.au/2014/09/assange-extradition-us-far-fetched/ #France - French ruling class entitled, arrogant & presumptuous? >> "French politicians are not used to being held to account by newspapers in the way British ones are." [DM] .. kinda, lol > French newspapers - weak & deferential / heavily subsidised by - thus beholden to - French state. Shackled by privacy laws! >> "As a result of all these factors, corruption in French politics is rife." [DM] - #FreeFrenchPress >> Corrupt & erring French politicians have no fear of the "poodle-like French newspapers" [DM] >> or the photo-journalists >> In #France political class essentially restrains the journalistic class — the two are often indistinguishable [DM] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2178982/Rampant-corruption-Mlud-Leveson-learn-looking-Frances-poodle-Press.html COMMENT Ecuador has granted Assange political asylum on solid grounds and the facts speak for themselves. This AFP 'circular', from the French puppet press, distorts the facts.

UK - Human Rights Under Attack

UNITED KINGDOM #UK - labour party conference - some guy vows: human rights at heart of general election campaign / Tories to scrap Human Rights Act [Ind] -- Therese May, Goddess of Human Rights & ors., question whether 2 walk from European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). [ind] >> Liberal Democrats have refused to countenance changes re human rights laws - http://goo.gl/izztAu COMMENT An interesting development.

UK - Gary McKinnon Case

UK - Gary McKinnon #Hacker -- Gary Mckinnon beat US extradition + 60 yrs>> http://goo.gl/DqHqDy  - humanitarian grounds - rest on hacking general, East Africa -- accused of hacking into 97 US military & NASA computers / deleted critical files / 24hr shut-down of 2,000 computer network - deleted weapons logs - rendered 200 PCs inoperable - paralysed munitions supply delivery US Atlantic Fleet! / Data + p/words -- "Your security is crap" message left for authorities ... LOL -- free for 3yrs ... then subject to bail ... involving daily sign-in @ police station >> 2012 Home Secretary Theresa May - extradition blocked HR ground - DPP, Keir Starmer no 2 pros in UK b/c evidence in USA UK govt easy on hacker that blocked weapons delivery ... but holding a publisher - #Assange - prisoner w/out charge 4yrs. Why? SRC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon COMMENT The McKinnon matter was mentioned generally in an article on hacking. Curious.  Checked it out. McKinnon was free for 3 years, until he became subject to bail conditions in 2005 (daily sign-on at local police station) and then got off on humanitarian grounds (which would probably cover every single accused on the planet, if you think about it) and the matter against him did not proceed in the UK because the evidence was in the US! Not that I want to see McKinnon in a US prison, but I'm curious how this works and why the vast discrepancy between the handling of a hacker case that involved tampering with weapons delivery, compared to the case against a publisher -- Assange -- who is undoubtedly a political prisoner and has been for 4 years at great cost to the UK. Something is wrong here -- and what a pack of slimy, corrupt hypocrites.

Poland - New Appointments & Coal Miners Strike

POLAND New Appointments #Poland - Grzegorz Schetyna appointed Foreign Min. / Radoslaw Sikorski candidate for speaker of the lower house - http://goo.gl/9ymZvr - hahahahaa .. Pres Komorowski favours 'continuity' of Radek ... Too bad. Suck it Radek!! President Komorowski has officially sworn in the new cabinet under Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz - http://goo.gl/9ymZvr Prime Minister Kopacz is to seek a vote of confidence in the new government in parliament on 1 October. Spot of Anti-Russian Propaganda 69th session of the #UN General Assembly / #Poland wants limit to #Russia's UN veto / http://goo.gl/ljl3p0  / Pres Bronislaw Komorowski Next to impossible: two-thirds of the General Assembly and the consent of all five permanent Security Council members. >> So it's an anti-Russian smear for the press? Massive US Arms Deal US sells mid-range missiles to #Poland - 40 SAMs AGM 158-missiles, low radar profile/1,000lb warhead/ http://goo.gl/ZdnrCj  43 miles "pounds €390 million package incls. upgrades to Poland's 48 F-16 jets" /Valery Heletey = Defence Minister / excuse Russian 'aggression' Spot of Trade Union Bother - Coal Mines  #Poland - Trade unions strike Warsaw 1 Oct - http://goo.gl/6GMGlE  - 4 biggest mines low revenue - want clear stance coal mining sector - Coal provides #Poland will over 55 percent of its primary energy consumption. >> #environment #energy >> 4 biggest running @ loss = state owned .. one sold off to Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa - A privatisation lobby?? - JSW - holding company / US$ 1.78 billion revenue/ looks like it might also be state owned?? - http://www.jsw.pl/en/about-us/about-jsw/ … NO, JWS = private: >> x2 = state owned / x2 = private coys: Jastrzębska SW SA & Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka SA. #Business - Coal - #Poland 2012-2013, market conditions worsened 4 largest players/cheap imports applied downward pressure on coal prices coal seams in Poland too deep to mine cost effectively / http://goo.gl/5e4n1A  / By 2030 will be10-15 working mines in Poland >> x2 State + x2 private coys = the 4 mining = account for about 92% of all coal mining in Poland. #Business - Slump in coal prices has hit New Hope Corp’s annual profit, which dropped 21.2 per cent to $58.4 million. [wikinvest] >> Noooo! Price slump!! -- Check out the PROFITS, will ya?!!! That's an obscene amount of money!! - Slump my ass. > So business whines when they're not making an even more obscene amount of money? No economic 'downturn'. Just GREED. #Business /coal slump / imports by China (1/4 of global trade in coal) fell for 2nd mnth - 6yr low - 1. slowed eco. 2. hydropower /reuters Fears #China policies 2 restrict imports - chill on industry - http://goo.gl/nv8Yc6  - uncertainty Hey, China did ban imports of poorer quality thermal coal & it sent WAVES .. it was ahead of UN Climate Change talks / SMH -- Hey, China did ban imports of poorer quality thermal coal & it sent WAVES .. it was ahead of UN Climate Change talks / SMH - China 2 get points for above ... but real reason is it is bailing out its local miners & pwer generators / eco slowing ------------------------------------------ COMMENT Above's probably not easy to follow. Not sure I'm in the mood to summarise.  Been a long day and I'm a bit perlexed about something, so I'm not much in the mood for going back to my 'coal study'. Should also point out that some of this stuff with the coal sounds familiar to me, so I might have covered the coal information before. Anyway, new appointments in government.  Tusk has gone to European Commission, looks like Radek's been demoted and there could be a touch of tension between the Prime Minister and the President -- either that or they often contradict in public.  Hey, maybe that's Europeans -- perhaps they like to talk. Not looking good for the coal miners.  Yes, there's a slowing of the market because a big hunk of the world's coal market is imported by China, which is having an economic downturn and looking to support its own coal industry.  Furthermore, Poland's coal mines have a limited life span because it becomes too expensive to extract (at some point, I don't recall & couldn't be stuffed looking up .. even if at the top of this page :)). From my perspective, there's plenty of profit to be made and the very nature of capitalism, which demands greater and greater profits, is obscene.  Basically, they're not making as much as they'd like to -- ie whatever it was 6 years ago (or more than that).  So what?  They're making plenty. The coal miners are working to survive. No idea about Polish coal mines in question that are presumably running unprofitably.  Odds are, their idea of unprofitable is the same:  just making less profit than they'd like to. The 4 big coal mines produce virtually all of the coal and two are state owned and two have been privatised. The first thought I had is that someone's got the miners to agitate so that it becomes too much to handle and the mines get privatised.  But I'm always looking for some negative angle and haven't read up any further on the reasons there's industrial action. So that's today's look at Poland covered, I guess.

Greenwald Article: Australia's Prime Minister gives a Master Class in Exploiting Terrorism Fears to Seize New Powers

AUSTRALIA Tony Abbott >> Gives a Master Class in Exploiting Terrorism Fears to Seize New Powers http://interc.pt/1r1sgC0  >> #auspol >> #FreeAssangeNow Glenn Greenwald is so funny: greater chance of being killed by following causes than you do by terrorist attack: slipping in bathtub ...LOL #auspol "It’s our acceptance that ppl can live & worship in the way they choose that bothers them, not our foreign policy” - [ABBOTT] LOL > “a sweeping suppression order will prevent reporting of ..preventative detention orders.." / No Press = No democracy #auspol -----------------------------------------  COMMENT The Greenwald article was informative and made its point; but it was also very funny.  Well, to me, it was.   The need to broaden existing powers of authorities is questionable, when they have extensive powers already. And, yes, I would have to agree that those in power use the fear-factor and 'matters of national security' to pronounce whatever laws they want. Mind you, governments tend to rush through whatever they want once they're in power, so this is probably just the extreme version of what goes on -- the extreme version that involves widening powers to ridiculous degrees (eg 'preventative detention') AND, worse yet, muzzling the press who are prohibited from reporting what's going on.   That right there is a recipe for abuse of power by the state. The state can basically do whatever it wants to do with you and there's nobody out there that can even report on it! Is this Stalinist Australia?