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Uh-Oh! From Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge:
Bank of America just fired the preemptive escalation shot in its duel with Wikileaks. Late on Friday, America's biggest mortgage lender, and the firm that is now getting sued left and right for various mortgage transgressions, announced it is joining MasterCard, Paypal and Visa in ceasing transactions for Wikileaks. While this decision will certainly not improve Operation Anonymous' empathy toward the North Carolina bank, it may just precipitate overt retaliation by Assange, who is now rumored to be in possession of data that could prove harmful to BAC. Which is why this sudden escalation out of left field by the bank strikes as surprisingly odd: BofA's upside is very limited while its downside could be 100% - even if Wikileaks is bluffing, why provoke them. And as expected, Wikileaks has already retaliated: in two sequential tweets it advised its 568,117 (and very rapidly growing) subscribers to pull their money out of Bank of America, and also to close all their accounts with the firm, urging them to put their money "somewhere safer." What is curious is to see whether this sudden escalation, in what has now become synonymous with a quest for preserving the first amendment for a substantial deal of people (and freedom of speech globally), will have a far broader impact than the comparable "Pull Your Money" out of the Big Banks venture that was attempted by Huffington Post over a year ago, with unsatisfactory results. If people suddenly personify Bank of America with a First Amendment threat, arguably the one freedom most cherished in America, which is precisely what Assange is trying to do, all bets for the Countrywide acquirer may soon be off.
The seeds were also sown earlier this month in France with Eric Cantona's December 7th Bank Run fail. I think history will look at Cantona's efforts more as a template than in judgement for the non-starter event its first attempt (But certainly not last)proved to be. We seem to be at a point in history where random variable people and events could expand or escalate local-to-global situations beyond expectations ever supposed even in the recent past, through the viral, random, and variable nature of the Internet itself.
One last thought from Clif High at Half Past Human(Which deserves a more detailed comment at a later time) regarding the upcoming WikiLeaks/BofA bloodbath.. And there will be blood.. *But* It might not be Bank of America at all, or it might be BofA AND the New York Fed..
The rumors of the next round of Wikileaks 'releases' (hint hint on language)...include not only the promise of deep banking secrets which many people speculate to be centered on Bank of America, while others, perhaps more in the know, are thinking it is actually to be 30/thirty plus years worth of 'secrets' to be revealed about the NY Federal Reserve Bank. The ramifications of either are severe for the banking system which is already stressed to levels never before encountered as it stumbles headlong into the upcoming currency collapse. Note that leverage and derivatives are now being piled upon each other as the fraud of the global 'reserve' banking system comes undone as a direct result of its nature (criminal) being taken to its logical extreme by those persons trapped in the myth of acquisition (e.g. where the 'ego/i' thinks that if it acquires more, and continues to acquire, then everlasting life (for the ego) shall result).
I think people are beginning to understand, with the help of these concrete, but fast developing examples, how information knowledge is power, and how that power is tearing apart the collective perceptions of this reality, thereby altering the course of what would have been Our Future, into a new course of what Our Future will be.
And hopefully, that future contains the total destruction of corporate systems and structures, new types of energy, and aliens, lots of friendly aliens..
Great summary from Before It's News.. Short answer? Higher magnitude earthquakes are increasing, especially those in the magnitude seven range. If this activity is a trend rather than anomalous, next year will hold more of the same, only more shake-tacular..
South Korea went ahead and held live fire exercises.. And North Korea still states that they'll retaliate on their timetable, not anyone else's.. And they'll also allow UN Inspectors back in the country.
No one blinked. The strategic ball belongs to North Korea, at the moment. This comment from Godlike is correct:
"You seriously think that just because the drill has ended then that is it? With all the meetings and concerns over this, I feel there is unfortunately a lot more to come. This is only the start of it."
North Korea will very likely retaliate in some fashion.
It is just a question of when and how much.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1197780
Indeed, this is a chess game not paintball and it is now their move.
Monday, December 20, 2010, the Korean Peninsula remains on the brink of war. Chips are falling, right now. Where said Chips end up and what that ultimately means remains to be seen.
Striking similarities to Deepwater Horizon, eighteen months later. Same kinda boom, same kinda glug glug, same kinda secrecy.. I'm super-glad they learned from their mistakes. Idiocy, Neglect, or Evil? The apparatus at the top is still in place, so does it even matter what the underlying corporate rationale is, much less why?
BP is greedy and sucks, and they don't care who knows.
Sunday morning at 11 a.m EST. The tension is still building, Excerpts:
Russia's U.N. ambassador says Moscow called for an emergency Security Council meeting because of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Vitaly Churkin said the Russian government believes the Security Council must send "a restraining signal" to North Korea and help launch diplomatic actions to resolve all disputes between North Korea and South Korea.
From Bloomberg/Business Week South Korea to Hold Drill This Week; Security Council to Meet
..
The artillery exercises will take place on Dec. 20 or Dec. 21, a spokesman at the Joint Chiefs of Staff who declined to be named, citing military policy, said today by telephone in Seoul. North Korea warned it will retaliate if the exercise takes place.
Shelling by South Korea “would make it impossible to prevent the situation on the Korean peninsula from exploding,” North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency cited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying in a statement yesterday. South Korea sees no reason for abandoning the drill just because other countries say it shouldn’t happen, the South Korean military spokesman said today.
The Security Council meets later today, and neither side will budge. It's not good, but there's your update.
Son of Stuxnet? With, "Everyone ready to revisit the 1880's again?" excerpts in italics:
Stuxnet, the first known weaponized software designed to destroy a specific industrial process, could soon be modified to target an array of industrial systems in the US and abroad, cyber experts told US senators Wednesday.
The Stuxnet malware, discovered this summer, was apparently designed to strike one target – Iran's nuclear-fuel centrifuge facilities, researchers now say. But Stuxnet's "digital warhead," they caution, could be copied and altered by others to wreak havoc on a much grander scale.
Variants of Stuxnet could target a host of critical infrastructure, from the power grid and water supplies to transportation systems, four cybersecurity experts told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
This is what most people don't understand, and what the media has failed to report:
"The concern for the future of Stuxnet is that the underlying code could be adapted to target a broader range of control systems in any number of critical infrastructure sectors," said Sean McGurk, acting director of the National Cyber-security and Communications Integration Center at the US Department of Homeland Security.
Stuxnet infiltrated and targeted an industrial control system software that is widely used in US infrastructure and industry, meaning the nation is vulnerable to future Stuxnet-like attacks, he said. "While we do not know which process was the intended target [of Stuxnet], it is important to note that the combination of Windows operating software and Siemens hardware can be used in control systems across critical infrastructure sectors – from automobile assembly lines to mixing baby formula to processing chemicals," said Mr. McGurk.
"Stuxnet is, at the very least, an important wake-up call for digitally enhanced and reliant countries – at its worst, a blueprint for future attackers," (Michael Assante, president of the National Board of Information Security Examiners) said. It is a "good example of a cyberthreat thought to be hypothetically possible, but not considered probable by many." Its sophistication "should disturb security professionals, engineers, businessmen, and government leaders alike."
Of the many realms of existence on this planet, the cyber/technosphere is among the fastest in overlapping and overall levels of development. When an entity comes along that alters the course and future of its descendants, variations of that entity will occur, and those variants will undoubtedly be aimed at "perfecting" or "streamlining" traits in previous incarnations that are viewed as inefficient, or imperfect. Of course, descendants of Stuxnet will be more powerful, more effective, and more destructive than Stuxnet itself. The prototype is still fucking up the Iranian nuclear program. What will Stuxnet's dirty little black market second generation offshoot going to do, and who will it target? And then the third generation, and and the fourth, and then..
As with everything Internet; Once it's out there, it's out there. The only recourse against Stuxnet and its techno-offspring is focused determination and action geared towards defense against this new breed of cyber barbarians at the gate.. Even though the general public is not aware yet, the rules of cyberspace have most definitely changed..
North Korea warns it will bomb South Korea if it goes ahead with military drills on Yeonpyeong
NORTH Korea yesterday vowed to bomb South Korea if it goes ahead with a fresh wave of artillery drills.
And it warned the ferocity of the strikes “will be more serious” than November’s attacks on Yeonpyeong island which killed four people.
I understood these drills to begin on Friday. My mistake. They take place Saturday through Tuesday, and should begin shortly or currently be in progress.
As a cliched movie fantasy, I see North and South Korea as two intensely handsome criminals, standing in a crowded restaurant pointing automatic weapons at each other, both sweating profusely. No one is speaking out, but everyone involved waits for someone, anyone to say "All right: Everybody be cool.. Everybody breathe.." While outside, two other groups prepare for the restaurant's destruction.
Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees With "This is how the government and corporations are killing you" excerpts in italics:
The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.
The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds. The pesticide scooped up $262 million in sales in 2009 by farmers, who also use the substance on canola, soy, sugar beets, sunflowers, and wheat, according to Grist.
The leaked document (PDF) was put out in response to Bayer's request to approve use of the pesticide on cotton and mustard. The document invalidates a prior Bayer study that justified the registration of clothianidin on the basis of its safety to honeybees:
Clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis. Although EFED does not conduct RQ based risk assessments on non-target insects, information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.
And:
Clothianidin has already been banned by Germany, France, Italy, and Slovenia for its toxic effects. So why won't the EPA follow? The answer probably has something to do with the American affinity for corn products. But without honey bees, our entire food supply is in trouble.
From: Timeline of a Bee Massacre: EPA Still Allowing Hive-Killing Pesticide
Beekeepers across the U.S. are reporting record low honey crops as their bees fail to make it through the winter. One-third of American agriculture, which relies on bee pollination, is at stake. And the problem may be at least partially attributable to clothianidin, a Bayer-branded pesticide used on corn and other crops.
But as we revealed last week, the EPA knew that clothianidin could be toxic when the product came on the market in 2003. So why is it still on the market?
The bee-toxic pesticide problem can be traced back to 1994, when the first neonicotinoid pesticide (Imidacloprid) was released. Neonicotinoids like imidacloprid and clothianidin disrupt the central nervous system of pest insects, and are supposed to be relatively non-toxic to other animals. But there's a problem: The neonicotinoids coat plant seeds, releasing insecticides permanently into the plant. The toxins are then released in pollen and nectar--where they may cause bees to become disoriented and die.
And:
The EPA first brought up the link between clothianidin and bees before the pesticide's release in February 2003. The agency originally planned to withhold registration of the pesticide because of concerns about toxicity in bees, going so far as to suggest that the product come with a warning label (PDF): "This compound is toxic to honey bees. The persistence of residues and the expression clothianidin in nectar and pollen suggest the possibility of chronic toxic risk to honey bee larvae and the eventual stability of the hive."
But in April 2003, the EPA decided to give Bayer conditional registration. Bayer could sell the product and seed processors could freely use it, with the proviso that Bayer complete a life cycle study of clothianidin on corn by December 2004. Bayer was granted an extension until May 2005 (and permission to use canola instead of corn in its tests), but didn't complete the study until August 2007. The EPA continued to allow the sale of clothianidin, and once the Bayer study finally came out, it was flawed.
In a statement to the Pesticide Action Network, beekeeper Jeff Anderson explains:
"The Bayer study is fatally flawed. It was an open field study with control and test plots of about 2 acres each. Bees typically forage at least 2 miles out from the hive, so it is likely they didn’t ingest much of the treated crops. And corn, not canola, is the major pollen-producing crop that bees rely on for winter nutrition.
"This is a critical point because we see hive losses mainly after over-wintering, so there is something going on in these winter cycles. It’s as if they designed the study to avoid seeing clothianidin’s effects on hive health." [Emphasis ours]
And:
The new study, unearthed by Colorado beekeeper Tom Theobald, invalidates Bayer's previous study, claiming that "after another review of this field study in light of additional information, deficiencies were identified that render the study supplemental. It does not satisfy the guideline 850.3040, and another field study is needed to evaluate the effects of clothianidin on bees through contaminated pollen and nectar." The study also warns that clothiandin is highly toxic to bees on both a contact and oral basis.
And yet, the EPA is continuing to allow the sale of clothiandin, even though the study that the agency based its decision on proved to be invalid. "It's a matter of perspective," says Frazier. "If the core study to judge registration is no longer considered a valid core study, do you allow continued use of something without good scientific data behind it? That's the choice that's been left to be made by the EPA."
With the EPA's stellar performance record, do you think clothiandin will be taken off the market anytime soon? Why won't the Environmental Protection Agency even pretend to protect the environment? Will American society even pretend to care?
Welcome to 2010: We gladly kill what would save us.
From Raw Story:
"As an initial matter, there is no doubt that WikiLeaks is very unpopular right now. Many feel that the WikiLeaks publication was offensive," (Representative John)Conyers said, according to prepared remarks. "But being unpopular is not a crime, and publishing offensive information is not either. And the repeated calls from politicians, journalists, and other so-called experts crying out for criminal prosecutions or other extreme measures make me very uncomfortable."
After all the knee jerk responses, the actual legal realities begin to settle in..
"North Korea vowed Friday to retaliate with greater firepower if South Korea goes ahead with its planned live-fire drills from the front line island that has been devastated by North Korean shelling."
Nice. Eventually, someone will blink. Or not. Oh yeah; This is today, so we'll know soon. Happy holidays!
From CNN, this time..
Two, no three, interesting facets of this story: UFOs continue to go mainstream in the media, and mention of Dimona, the town associated with Israel's(rather shadowy but not secret) nuclear plant(at Negev). And the third? The combination of the first two.. The possibility of a motorized object is downplayed, and the "party balloon" angle is emphasized, so there's more to this story, I'm sure.
So what's really left to learn: Will we really ever find out what really happened, and how clever will the cover story be?
Raw Footage from Russia Today via Godlike. Intense. Yesterday was their General Strike, and it erupted into a pretty major riot. Not full scale, as the police didn't shoot to kill, but with more riots possible, full scale fighting will happen. See for yourself:
You can, if you'd rather, read about it here.
Amazing video. Greece is just the first, and this was just the beginning. The Global Financial Crisis is already ugly, and now it's turning violent.
Two-year inquiry accuses Albanian 'mafia-like' crime network of killing Serb prisoners for their kidneys.
Facebook WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT! Excerpts in italics:
Kosovo's prime minister is the head of a "mafia-like" Albanian group responsible for smuggling weapons, drugs and human organs through eastern Europe, according to a Council of Europe inquiry report on organised crime.
Hashim Thaçi is identified as the boss of a network that began operating criminal rackets in the run up to the 1998-99 Kosovo war, and has held powerful sway over the country's government since.
The report of the two-year inquiry, which cites FBI and other intelligence sources, has been obtained by the Guardian. It names Thaçi as having over the last decade exerted "violent control" over the heroin trade. Figures from Thaçi's inner circle are also accused of taking captives across the border into Albania after the war, where a number of Serbs are said to have been murdered for their kidneys, which were sold on the black market.
Legal proceedings began in a Pristina district court today into a case of alleged organ trafficking discovered by police in 2008. That case – in which organs are said to have been taken from impoverished victims at a clinic known as Medicus – is said by the report to be linked to Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) organ harvesting in 2000. It comes at a crucial period for Kosovo, which on Sunday held its first elections since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008. Thaçi claimed victory in the election and has been seeking to form a coalition with opposition parties.
..
Thaçi's links with organised crime date back more than a decade, when those loyal to his Drenica group came to dominate the KLA, and seized control of "most of the illicit criminal enterprises" in which Kosovans were involved south of the border, in Albania.
During the Kosovo conflict Slobodan Miloševic's troops responded to attacks by the KLA by orchestrating a horrific campaign against ethnic Albanians in the territory. As many as 10,000 are estimated to have died at the hands of Serbian troops.
While deploring Serb atrocities, Marty said the international community chose to ignore suspected war crimes by the KLA, "placing a premium instead on achieving some degree of short-term stability". He concludes that during the Kosovo war and for almost a year after, Thaçi and four other members of the Drenica group named in the report carried out "assassinations, detentions, beatings and interrogations". This same hard line KLA faction has held considerable power in Kosovo's government over the last decade, with the support of western powers keen to ensure stability in the fledgling state.
Of course, all Western governments knew what was happening and who was responsible. Intelligence Agencies aren't stupid, as there's precious little they don't know. Obvious, but it must be stated.. Democracy and Human Rights are great things to speechify about, but they are the first directives to be shitcanned by promises of influence, power, and money involving whatever nation/state is abusing them, and what we in the West want from them.
Although this wasn't a WikiLeaks revelation, there's a good possibility we will learn of many more of these administration-sanctioned activities from other governments, not to mention the possibility of learning more Kosovo related criminality.. WikiLeaks has already had an effect in Croatia last week, so with more months of scheduled releases, there's a good chance we'll see much more evidence of government related criminal acts. Maybe this is why they're so batshit about getting Assange: They know what's to come.
Earthquake 'swarm' rattles Arkansas town and its residents Excerpts:The Arkansas Geological Survey is trying to unravel a mystery: What is causing earthquakes in the town of Guy, Arkansas?Since September 20, the community of 549 residents north of Little Rock has experienced an almost constant shaking from 487 measurable earthquakes."We've had 15 today including a 3.1 (magnitude) from this morning," Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Geological Survey, said Monday. "These are shallow quakes between two and eight kilometers (between one-and-a-quarter and five miles) below the surface.".."This time last year we had 39 quakes total for the entire state," said Ausbrooks.And, while some still want to blame fracking, geologists still don't know for sure..
2,000 locals attack riot police with Molotov's, sticks, stones and gun shots in Keratea, Attica; Athens gears up for long week of anti-cuts mobilisations and General StrikeIn the past two days, local residents of the area of Keratea in Attica (Greater Athens) have been engaged in a fierce battle with riot police (MAT). The riot police are there to protect the construction of a waste burial site (HITA). Such burial sites have not only been judged to be illegal by European courts but additionally, the site in Keratea is of archaeological significance.On Saturday, riot police arrived at the site to protect the ongoing construction works from the enraged locals. Clashes quickly erupted, with locals attacking the police with sticks, stones and scores of Molotov cocktails. The police responded with tear gas while for the first time ever in Greece, water cannons also made their appearance. On Sunday evening, gunshots were aimed in the direction of the police from nearby hills.And there's a General Strike scheduled for Wednesday. As Greece's economy deteriorates, so does Grecian society. Don't look for an improvement in Greece's overall situation, either. No one seems to be getting anything right that might prevent catastrophe. And, please don't forget who caused this crisis in the first place.. (Short answer: Creation of the Euro, Bankers gone wild, and Governments guaranteeing banker's gone wild bad debt.)
This sucks. Detroit Is Halting Garbage Pickup, Police Patrols In 20% Of City: Expect Bankruptcy In 2011
Excerpts:
In a futile attempt to stave off the inevitable one last time, Mayor Bing's latest plan is to cutoff city services including road repairs, police patrols, street lights, and garbage collection in 20% of Detroit.
City officials suggest this will not shrink the size of the city. Perhaps it won't shrink Detroit on Google Maps. However, Bing's plan would effectively surrender 20% of the city to gangs and the homeless.
..
The Wall Street Journal discusses Bing's plan in Less Than a Full-Service City
More than 20% of Detroit's 139 square miles could go without key municipal services under a new plan being developed for the city, with as few as seven neighborhoods seen as meriting the city's full resources
Those details, outlined by Detroit planning officials this week, offer the clearest picture yet of how Mayor Dave Bing intends to execute what has become his signature program: reconfiguring Detroit to reflect its declining population and fiscal health. Yet the blueprint still leaves large legal and financial questions unresolved.
Mr. Bing's staff wants to concentrate Detroit's remaining population—expected to be less than 900,000 after this year's Census count—and limited local, state and federal dollars in the most viable swaths of the city, while other sectors could go without such services as garbage pickup, police patrols, road repair and street lights.
After the Global Economic Collapse, many cities will devolve into what the abandoned 20 percent of Detroit will become shortly. The chaos will begin there almost immediately after the societal net of government services disappears. I hope Mayor Bing and his administration reconsider this catastrophic course of action. In our society, there has always been a thin line separating order from anarchy. Like it or not my Libertarian friends, much of it has to do with established laws and a governmental system of enforcement. If this plan is carried out, people will be shocked to see how quickly lawlessness will fill the void. There will be murders; murders and fires. Will the city stand by as this happens? Really?
As for the money/budget situation, I can't think of a more urgent example that would benefit from marijuana's legalization and subsequent taxation. Once the most powerful manufacturing hub of the most powerful nation on earth, Detroit has become the metaphor of The American Dream Destroyed. Legal and Taxed pot represents the inventive spirit and innovation-despite-adversity that could, Could reverse the downward momentum for what was once one of America's premier cities..
But it most likely won't happen. It's too bad that Reefer Madness phobia still exists in this country. Otherwise sound fiscal and societal avenues aren't ever considered because of hateful anti-Mexican, paper industry propaganda..
WikiLeaks backlash: The first global cyber war has begun, claim hackers Excerpts:
He is one of the newest recruits to Operation Payback. In a London bedroom, the 24-year-old computer hacker is preparing his weaponry for this week's battles in an evolving cyberwar. He is a self-styled defender of free speech, his weapon a laptop and his enemy the US corporations responsible for attacking the website WikiLeaks.
And:
Before WikiLeaks, Operation Payback's initial target was America's recording industry, chosen for its prosecutions of music file down loaders. From those humble origins, Payback's anti-censorship, anti-copyright, freedom of speech manifesto would go viral, last week pitting an amorphous army of online hackers against the US government and some of the biggest corporations in the world.
Charles Dodd, a consultant to US government agencies on Internet security, said: "[The hackers] attack from the shadows and they have no fear of retaliation. There are no rules of engagement in this kind of emerging warfare."
The battle now centres on Washington's fierce attempts to close down WikiLeaks and shut off the supply of confidential US government cables. By Thursday, the hacktivists were routinely attacking those who had targeted WikiLeaks, among them icons of the corporate world, credit card firms and some of the largest online companies. It seemed to be the first sustained clash between the established order and the organic, grassroots culture of the net.
But the clash has cast the spotlight wider, on the net's power to act as a thorn not only in the side of authoritarian regimes but western democracies, on our right to information and the responsibility of holding secrets. It has also asked profound questions over the role of the net itself. One blogger dubbed it the "first world information war".
This is happening, and it's been planned longer and more sophisticated than you think. I'm interested to see how the American government and corporate interests respond to attacks world wide, not just from American hackers, and how each side will respond to the other's attacks and how the hackers' increased and increasing cohesion will factor into future strategies..
I'm guessing it'll be bad timing for some entity that Stuxnet was introduced right before this first world wide cyber war..
UK confirms protesters ‘made contact’ with duchess Of course, the Royals have dealt with protesters before. But not this close..
Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May confirmed on Sunday that rioters who surrounded Prince Charles' car during violent student protests made physical contact with his wife Camilla.
..
A window on the Prince of Wales' side of the car was smashed, while the back of the car was spattered with paint hurled at it. The vehicle was also kicked.
..
Asked by Sky News television about reports that Camilla had been jabbed by a protester through a window, May said: "I'm not sure about the term 'poked with a stick'. I understand there some contact made.
"This is an incident that needs to be looked at by the Metropolitan Police."
Now everyone's got to re-assess: The government, as they now have to consider security precautions for all the Royal, all the time. The protesting public, as any demonstration near a Royal will probably be met with more "security" and the potential for more brutality. Students and other future angry mobs will have to factor in a heightened physical risk because of last week's events. In order for success, opposition groups will probably have to be more inventive in delivering their message.
And finally, The Royals themselves. I bet Camilla never saw that jab/poke comin'(I wonder just how severe it really was. Was she shaken or physically injured?).. Do you really think the Queen can process how mad sectors of the English public really are? What they must consider in this period of tension and uncertainty is how much they can add to their security balanced against the inaccessibility and increasing totalitarian appearance a heightened security presence would create. If their subjects fear The Royals, how long before they come to hate them?
But then again, with the coming Euro crisis already in progress, will appearances even matter, say; four months from now?
Historians discover letters and numbers in Mona Lisa's eyes (It's a short read, and yahoo australia won't let me excerpt it, so just click the link. It's worth the trip..)
Latest WikiLeaks Reveal Embarrasses Vatican
Julian Assange, “The Truth Will Always Win”
“In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win." His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.
WikiLeaks cables: Russia 'was tracking killers of Alexander Litvinenko but UK warned it off'
Russia was tracking the assassins of dissident spy Alexander Litvinenko before he was poisoned but was warned off by Britain, which said the situation was "under control", according to claims made in a leaked US diplomatic cable.
The secret memo, recording a 2006 meeting between an ex-CIA bureau chief and a former KGB officer, is set to reignite the diplomatic row surrounding Litvinenko's unsolved murder that year, which many espionage experts have linked directly to the Kremlin.
‘The Fourth Estate is dead,’ former CIA analyst declares
Traditional lines of communication between the people and the press have fallen into such disrepair in America that a whole new approach is necessary to challenge the military-industrial-governmental complex, according to a former CIA analyst sympathetic to WikiLeaks.
"The Fourth Estate is dead," Ray McGovern, of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, told Raw Story in an exclusive interview. "The Fourth Estate in his country has been captured by government and corporations, the military-industrial complex, the intelligence apparatus. Captive! So, there is no Fourth Estate."
WikiLeaks supporters’ group to republish cables
A loose grouping of cyber activists supporting WikiLeaks has abandoned its strategy of online attacks on organizations seen as hostile to the site in favor of spreading the leaked documents far and wide online.
Internet activists operating under the name "Anonymous" temporarily brought down this week the websites of credit card giants MasterCard and Visa -- both of which had stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks.
..
In an overnight blog post, Anonymous announced a change of strategy, saying it now aimed to publish parts of the confidential U.S. diplomatic cables as widely as possible and in ways that made them as hard as possible to trace.
WikiLeaks cables: Former Croatia PM flees over corruption claims
From Xinhuanet dot com.. Excerpts:
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said its army and people were ready for escalated conflicts and all-out war that would not be confined to the peninsula, the official news agency KCNA reported Saturday.
According to the KCNA, a spokesman for the National Peace Committee of Korea said in the statement released Saturday that the recent moves of the U.S. indicated that it was fully joining in South Korea's moves for a war of aggression against the DPRK after "throwing away the disguise of a hypocrite".
It was clear that if the South Korean army mobilized all flying corps, warships and missiles for a war against the DPRK and the U.S. joined them with the latest weapons, it would develop into an all-out war, not a local war, he said.
..
It was ridiculous for the south to talk about a "right to self-defence". It was no more than "war servants and colonial stooges" of the U.S., he said.
The level of regional (and correspondingly international-by-proxy) tension is not leveling off or decreasing. And North Korea's sending an Ambassador to Russia is also a little unsettling(As in diplomatic pre-disclosure, "Here's when we're gonna strike" unsettling).. While this conflict has been reported on in the American media, it's coverage is partial at best, and fails to underscore this plateau to slowly escalating tension and dread surrounding the past 19 days.
North Korea has always been tagged with "enemy status" as long as I've been alive, and always strongly aligned with China. These incidents have happened before, and they've always calmed down. And statistically, that's probably what will happen. But, at the moment, that outcome seems.. Less possible with each passing day.
Video: Ron Paul Tells The Truth About WikiLeaks In front Of Congress,
Granted, he's no Jeri Blank, but who is? Of course these two aren't related; I just miss "Strangers With Candy."
Early 2010 Housing Stabilization Fizzles; U.S. Homes Set to Lose $1.7 Trillion This YearDespite the housing market’s strong start to 2010, the latest data from Zillow shows that homes will likely have lost more value by the end of the year than they did in 2009. Using our housing market data from the first 11 months of the year, along with some forecasting for December, our research arm has calculated that U.S. homes are set to lose $1.7 trillion in values during 2010. That’s 63% more than the $1 trillion lost in 2009.Since the peak of home values in June 2006, more than $9 trillion in values has come out of the housing market.And:For starters, not every market we analyzed saw a drop in total market value. Places like the Boston and San Diego metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) actually saw an increase in total market value. It’s important to point out that most of these gains were made in the first half of the year, before the effect of the home buyer tax credits wore off, but an increase still represents good news for homeowners.The housing market is continuing to hemorrhage value (it's overinflated, imaginary value, that is..), and will continue to do so, as its ties to American banks and the whole global monetary system is unsustainable and will crash, sooner than later. The housing market, Ireland/Portugal/Eurozone Crisis, China controlling our debt, and whoopsie! Derivatives is more than enough firepower to insure that, after the crash, nothing will ever be the same when it comes to local, national, and international finance..
N.Korea 'will rely on nuclear might for defence'
Pyongyang will rely on nuclear might to defend itself against the United States and South Korea, North Korea's Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun told Russia's Interfax news agency Friday.
Anyone taking this threat seriously? Russia, I'm looking in your direction..
Moments after his comments, the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement stating that "all sides must avoid taking any actions that can escalate the situation."
Japan seems a little agitated by how this whole crisis has unfolded..
Japan's usual quiet approach to tensions with its neighbors is giving way to more military exercises, critical statements and discussions of what was once unthinkable: development of a nuclear arsenal.
In recent weeks, Japan has issued blunt positions against North Korea and China over the North's attacking of a South Korean island and China's refusal to rein in its Korean ally.
This month, Japan refused to renounce its claim to islands to its south whose waters are rich in minerals and that China says is its property. And Friday marked the eighth day of military drills with the U.S. aimed at countering a ballistic missile attack on Japan. (If I were Japanese, I'd be more worried about China directly, rather than indirectly via North Korea. But that's just splitting nuclear hairs..)
And, despite favorable talks between China and the U.S., no one seems ready to blink just yet..
*ALERT* UFOs OVER SAKURAJIMA JAPAN! *ALERT* Awesome video narrated by BeePee Oil Disaster(Who, evidently, is a lover of the weed..) showing some kind of battle, but it's not clear who or what is fighting who or what. But something is happening. Watch the video. I honestly don't know what to think. Is this alien, or scalar warfare?
Report: Assange accuser flees to Middle East, may not be cooperating with police Jaw dropping excerpts in italics:
One of the two Swedish women who have filed sex complaints against the founder of WikiLeaks has reportedly left Sweden and may no longer be cooperating with the criminal investigation.
According to a report at Australian news site Crikey.com, Anna Ardin has moved to the Palestinian territories to volunteer with a Christian group working to reconcile Arabs and Israelis.
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Ardin's blog shows that she has recently posted from the Palestinian territories. Her most recent blog posts make no mention of WikiLeaks or its founder, Julian Assange.
Some of Ardin's most recent Tweets suggest sympathy for WikiLeaks.
"MasterCard, Visa and PayPal -- belt them now!" Ardin urged in a Tweet Wednesday, evidently referring to the cyber-attacks launched on those institutions after they severed their relationships with WikiLeaks.
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"CIA agent, rabid feminist / Muslim lover, a Christian fundamentalist, flat & fatally in love with a man, can you even be all [these things all] the time?" she Tweeted in Swedish.
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Assange's lawyer, renowned British advocate Mark Stephens, told CBS News Thursday that prosecutor Marianne Ny is staging a "show trial," in reference to the politically motivated prosecutions of the Stalin-era Soviet Union.
(Assange's lawyer)Stephens said not only have formal charges not been filed against Assange, but the prosecution has failed to provide him with any documentation relating to the investigation. As a result, he says it's impossible for him to begin crafting a defense.
It's unclear what US laws Assange could have broken with his release of US State Department cables, as he is not a US citizen and therefore not bound by US treason laws, and his activities with WikiLeaks were carried out outside the US.
Now this is an interesting turn of events. The most visible witness against Julian Assange has left Sweden, isn't co-operating with authorities, and is expressing support for him.. *And* The prosecution hasn't filed charges, nor has it handed over any documents.
Two what ifs: What if the second witness balks or is deemed un-credible in a decisive-enough fashion, and What if no one can arrest him on anything?
Will they hold him?
Will they let him go?
Will they "Oswald" him?
Mind you, this is only one facet of this expanding, multifaceted event, and the overall pace of events is accelerating. Although I'll be posting something regarding WikiLeaks, I have no idea what it will be, how huge its impact will have, or from what angle it comes.
Only that it will come: Of that, I'm sure..
Haiti protesters rampage against election results Excerpts -Italics:
Thousands of protesters rampaged through Haiti's capital and other cities on Wednesday, hurling stones and wrecking property in a wave of unrest against election results they say were rigged by the ruling government coalition.
At least two people were killed in the flaring violence, which appeared to dash international hopes that the U.N.-backed elections held on November 28 could create a stable new leadership for Haiti, an impoverished nation struggling to recover from a devastating January earthquake.
Port-au-Prince descended into chaos as supporters of popular musician and presidential candidate Michel Martelly, who failed to qualify for an election run-off in results announced by electoral authorities, set up burning barricades of timber, boulders and flaming tires across the city.
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Haiti's outgoing President Rene Preval, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon all appealed for calm, urging election candidates with grievances to address them through the legal channels provided by the country's electoral laws. (This is funny, right?)
"Breaking everything, destroying everything is not going to solve the problem," Preval said in Port-au-Prince.
And:
Preliminary results from the turbulent November 28 elections announced late on Tuesday showed former first lady Mirlande Manigat and Preval's protege, Jude Celestin, going through to the January run-off, with Martelly narrowly in third place and so excluded
But these results flew in the face of voting returns previously cited by media and Haitian election observers that had shown Manigat and Martelly as the two run-off qualifiers, not government technocrat Celestin. Martelly had already accused Preval and Celestin of trying to rig the results.
The United States, through its embassy in Port-au-Prince, cast doubt on the CEP results late on Tuesday, saying it was concerned they were "inconsistent with" vote counts observed by "numerous domestic and international observers."
Why get mad when so many things in Haiti are flammable?
The protesters in Port-au-Prince set fire to the headquarters of Preval's ruling (Inite) coalition. Businesses and schools stayed closed and many fearful residents stayed home, off the rubble-strewn streets. There was no traffic apart from an occasional police or U.N. vehicle.
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Plumes of black smoke rose above the sprawling, crowded city, which bears the scars of the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people in the Western Hemisphere's poorest state. Haiti is also battling a cholera epidemic.
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The protests erupted in the Petionville, Delmas and Canape Vert districts of the capital, among other areas.
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Local radio reported protests in the southern town of Les Cayes in which Martelly supporters burned down government buildings, including the tax and customs offices.
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Enraged Martelly supporters tore down, or hurled stones at election posters of Celestin and also of Manigat.
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"Hang Preval!" other protesters yelled.
So much for holding on to social order.. Again, the runoff election isn't scheduled until January 16th, so likely we'll more variations of this story..
It seems to be "on" in cybersphere.. Hackers hit Mastercard and Visa over Wikileaks row Opening salvo excerpts in italics:
Hackers have attacked the websites of credit card giants Mastercard and Visa.
The attacks came after the Anonymous group of hackers pledged to pursue firms that have withdrawn services from Wikileaks.
Mastercard payments were disrupted but the firm said there was "no impact" on people's ability to use their cards.
Visa's website also experienced problems. The attacks came after both companies stopped processing payments to the whistle-blowing site.
So far, it's Hackers, Master Card, Visa, and now.. Twitter..
Entries on the Twitter page of Operation Payback, the Anonymous campaign, said the Visa site had been taken down.
Then..
But in a day of fast-moving developments, the Anonymous Twitter page then went down, replaced by a message from Twitter saying the account had been suspended. (I'm guessing they're next, or on the list..)
..
Earlier the BBC was contacted by a payment firm linked to Mastercard that said its customers had "a complete loss of service".
Master Card downplays the event, as expected..
"While we have seen limited interruption in some web-based services, cardholders can continue to use their cards for secure transactions globally."
And:
Anonymous, which claimed to have carried out the attack, is a loose-knit group of hacktivists, with links to the notorious message board 4chan.
It said that it has hit several targets, including the website of the prosecutors who are acting in a legal case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
An Anonymous member told AFP news agency the group would extend their campaign to anyone with "an anti-Wikileaks agenda".
These people are fucking serious, and they're strong enough to inflict some serious damage before they're all apprehended or decide they're done. As a precaution, you might consider how you'll live your life with extended Internet(and possibly electrical, but that's another topic..) outages, banking disruptions, distribution chaos.. Me? I plan on lots of jogging, yoga, and P90X.
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