On the Cusp of Ending Big Pharma

Gene therapy threatens to disrupt forever big-pharma's profiteering, but not without a fight.

December 28, 2012  (LD) - Imagine being diagnosed with cancer, a genetic disease, or even age-related deterioration in the morning, given a single injection in the evening, and beginning your recovery the next day. No prescriptions, no lengthy treatments, no difficult decisions between finances and getting better. This is the promise of gene therapy, a promise already being fulfilled.

Image: One method of gene therapy - taking human cells, "editing" them genetically, and reinserting them into the human body where they will replicate and carry out their newly designed functions. (Microsoft Encarta Online Concise Encyclopedia)

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Gene therapy is the identifying of faulty genes, be they inherent or mutations in the form of cancer or aging, and designing a vector to replace the faulty genes with fully functional, repaired versions of your genetic code. Once introduced, the corrected genes replicate themselves, displacing aged, mutated, or faulty versions. The technology is a double edged sword however - and can be used to harm just as well as help - in very profound ways. Public awareness and engagement in the emerging field of genetics is an absolute necessity to ensure this technology is used for good rather than profit, or worse yet, increasing death and disparity.

UN Syria "Peace Plan" a Fraud

December 28, 2012 (LD) - UN "peace envoy" Lakhdar Brahimi  is attempting to broker a transitional government ahead of proposed elections in Syria. For Brahimi, his efforts are not only in vain, they are entirely disingenuous. The proposal of a "transitional government" in the midst of what is in fact a foreign invasion, funded, armed, and perpetuated openly by foreign interests violates both Syria's sovereignty and the UN's own founding charter. It would be not unlike a UN envoy visiting Poland at the beginning of World War II, and proposing a transitional government in the midst of the Nazi invasion. The UN would clearly be a facilitator of injustice, not a broker of peace.

The LA Times reports in their article, "Lakhdar Brahimi works to revive Syria peace plan": 

"Peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi made a new push Thursday to draw Syrian officials and rebels into negotiations, aiming to revive a plan for a transitional government and elections that faltered because of disagreements over the future of President Bashar Assad."

The UN has categorically failed to delineate between legitimate opposition inside of Syria, and bands of roving armed terrorists committing wide scale atrocities against the Syrian people - many of whom are not even from Syria, all of whom are heavily armed by the US, NATO, and its regional allies including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar as part of a long standing plan to effect regime change in both Syria and Iran. The Western press is not only supporting the UN's disingenuous efforts, it has gone through great lengths to delegitimize any opposition in Syria that refuses to pick up arms, or that speaks out against foreign intervention.

While the LA Times attempts to make the UN plan seem reasonable, with only Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia standing in the way of peace, in reality, the plan is yet another effort to frame the conflict as a political struggle instead of the foreign invasion it actually is.

US Attempting Regime Change in Malaysia: Fact or fiction?

­December 27, 2012 (RT - Nile Bowie) - As the South-East Asian nation of Malaysia prepares for general elections, distrust of the political opposition and accusations of foreign interference have been major talking points in the political frequencies emanating from Kuala Lumpur.

­The United Malays National Organization (UMNO) leads the country’s ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, and has maintained power since Malaysian independence in 1957.

One of Malaysia’s most recognizable figures is former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who has been credited with ushering in large-scale economic growth and overseeing the nation’s transition from an exporter of palm oil, tin, and other raw materials, into an industrialized economy that manufactures automobiles and electronic goods.

The opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, is headed by Anwar Ibrahim, who once held the post of Deputy Prime Minister in Mahathir’s administration, but was sacked over major disagreements on how to steer Malaysia’s economy during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Today, the political climate in Malaysia is highly polarized and a sense of unpredictability looms over the nation. Malaysia’s current leader, Prime Minister Najib Razak, has pursued a reform-minded agenda by repealing authoritarian legislation of the past and dramatically loosening controls on expression and political pluralism introduced under Mahathir’s tenure.

Najib has rolled back Malaysia’s Internal Security Act, which allowed for indefinite detention without trial, and has liberalized rules regarding the publication of books and newspapers. During Malaysia’s 2008 general elections, the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition experienced its worst result in decades, with the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition winning 82 parliamentary seats. For the first time, the ruling party was deprived of its two-thirds parliamentary majority, which is required to pass amendments to Malaysia’s Federal Constitution.

In the run-up to elections scheduled to take place before an April 2013 deadline, figures from all sides of the political spectrum are asking questions about the opposition’s links to foreign-funders in Washington.

Syrian Military: Militants Using Chemical Weapons

Chemical weapons reportedly used by NATO-armed, funded terrorists near Damascus. 

December 24, 2012 (LD) - PressTV has reported (more details via Fars News) that chemical weapons have been used by militants fighting Syrian government forces in Daraya, near Damascus. PressTV also reported that threats have been made against Syria's ethnic minorities that their water supplies will be poisoned by militants - this on the heels of the UN itself warning of (and preemptively spinning) impending sectarian-driven genocide.

Image: (via the Guardian) "Chemical containers in the Libyan desert. There are concerns unguarded weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist militants. Photograph: David Sperry/AP" As increasing evidence reveals Libyan fighters and weapons are pouring into Syria, the West has been preparing to cover up the inevitability that Libya's chemical arsenal will also found its way into the besieged nation. It now appears that such weapons are being deployed by NATO's terrorist proxies.

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AFP reported that the NATO-backed terrorists' threats against Syria's 1.8 million Christians have become so serious that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has made an official statement condemning the militants. AFP reported: 

 The world's largest Muslim body on Sunday condemned threats made by Islamist rebels in Syria against two Christian towns, warning of fresh confessional strife in the war-torn country.

UN Defends NATO's Premeditated Genocide in Syria

As long-planned sectarian bloodbath unfolds, UN deceitfully labels atrocities as "reprisals." 

December 21, 2012 (LD) - As early as 2007, it was reported that the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, together were not only organizing, funding, training, and arming militants directly linked to Al Qaeda to be used against Syria and Iran, but knew well in advance that by doing so, they would trigger an unprecedented "cataclysmic conflict" driven by sectarian extremism. Not only was such sectarian violence expected, it was desired ahead of redrawing a new map for the Middle East - one that favored Western corporate-financier and geopolitical interests, while keeping the region weak, divided, and infighting.

Now, the UN is feigning indignation over the inevitable, increasingly overt sectarian nature of the so-called "Free Syrian Army" and its so-called "rebellion." Entire communities of minorities face extermination. To blunt the impact this will have on public opinion, UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng has preemptively stated:

"I am deeply concerned that entire communities risk paying the price for crimes committed by the Syrian government."

According to Reuters' article, "U.N. anti-genocide envoy: Syria minorities face reprisal risk," the genocide NATO and its allies are arming, funding, and willfully fueling is merely "reprisals." What Reuters doesn't report is that US, Saudi, and Lebanese officials had for years warned that US foreign policy, started under Bush and continued in earnest under Obama, would trigger this very sort of sectarian violence - driven by Al Qaeda-style fanaticism, not "reprisals." 

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Seymour Hersh writing for the New Yorker, wrote in his 2007 article, "The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?" that: 

"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007) 

South Korea’s Elections

Hardline Conservatism with a Liberal Smile.

December 21, 2012 (Nile Bowie) - The ever-changing political landscapes of the Korean Peninsula never fail to offer stark contrasts. To the north, a somber December is spent mourning the forefathers of the communist dynasty under the helm of a boy-king and his advisers. To the south, voters have elected the nation’s first female president, the daughter of South Korea’s iconic former leader, Park Chung-hee. While their circumstances and rise to power cannot be more dissimilar, both Kim Jong-un and Park Geun-hye both derive some degree of public support through channeling the nostalgia of their parent’s legacies. In South Korea, one of the world’s most rapidly ageing societies, Park relied heavily on the elderly for her support base, who associate her with the economic prosperity brought in under her father’s rule, in much the same way as northerners regard the times of Kim il-Sung. As the new president prepares to take office in February 2013, many among South Korea’s left leaning youth see Park Geun-hye as an enabler of status quo conservatism veiled behind a thin liberal facade.

Park is widely credited with resuscitating legitimacy back into the ruling Saenuri party, which has garnered record-setting disapproval ratings under incumbent President Lee Myung-bak. Money laundering scandals, tax evasion, and accusations of embezzlement have followed the outgoing President Lee, who has come down hard on dissenters by jailing activists and artists who have criticized his rule. Lee is most responsible for dismantling Seoul’s liberal approach to North Korea as seen through the “Sunshine Policy” of previous administrations, at the cost of nearly reigniting the Korean war after a series of provocative live fire exchanges in disputed territorial waters in 2010 that saw the North shell the South’s Yeonpyeong island, and the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel. Despite running on the conservative ticket, Park has steered clear of openly advocating Lee’s hardline policies toward Pyongyang in her campaign rhetoric. Although an unpredictable North Korea looms just 70km from Seoul, domestic economic issues are the most immediate focus of the South Korean voter.

Tell the System: You're Not Getting the Guns. Period.

Draw the line - have the local organizational capacity to back it up.

December 18, 2012 (LD) - It goes without saying that the mass media lies - they lied about Iraq in the lead up to a war that in total, killed over 2 million people. They lied about Libya, they are lying about Syria. They lie about vaccines and intentionally try to sell parents the idea of purposefully injecting their children with mercury. Their lies have a single purpose - to serve the special interests that hand them their talking points.

Now the mass media is lying about gun violence. The New York Times wrote a particularly outrageous piece titled "In Gun Debate, a Misguided Focus on Mental Illness," where a "medical doctor" is given space to willfully bend statistics to make the case for banning guns, period.

Unfortunately for this "medical doctor" who claims that the vast majority of the mentally ill do not commit violent acts, the last several mass shootings in the US were committed by mentally ill individuals, all confirmed to be on psychotropic medication. Shooter Adam Lanza was said by relatives (needs to be confirmed by police/autopsy) to be on Fanapt (Iloperidone) - an anti-psychotic prescribed for people suffering from schizophrenia. The US National Institute of Health describes schizophrenia in its Iloperidone drug profile as:

"...a mental illness that causes disturbed or unusual thinking, loss of interest in life, and strong or inappropriate emotions). Iloperidone is in a class of medications called atypical antipsychotics. It works by changing the activity of certain natural substances in the brain."

Clearly a suicidal mass killer who targets little children is a mentally unhinged individual who has "lost interest in life" and was directed by "strong or inappropriate emotions." Like Lanza, the Aurora Colorado theater shooter was also on  prescription medication - Vicodin (Hydrocodone). Before that, the Tuscon Arizona shooter, Jared Loughner was not only mentally ill - but spent most of his trial on heavy medication. Likewise, the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan had shoeboxes stuffed with prescription medications he had prescribed for himself (he was a US Army psychiatrist).

Solutions: 3D Printing

December 19, 2012 (Corbett Report)

Published on Dec 17, 2012

SHOW NOTES AND MP3: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=6458

Episode 251

Ever dream of a future free from the shackles of mindless mass-produced consumerism? A future of complete freedom, instantaneous manufacturing, and self-designed made-to-order one-of-a-kind goods? With additive manufacturing, that future is now. Join us today on The Corbett Report as we explore the 3D printing revolution.

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Russia Ousts Meddling US NGOs, Fake Protests Peter Out

Alexei Navalny - US funded "activist."

December 16, 2012 (LD) - Saturday, December 15 saw a disappointing show for Western-backed protesters in Moscow - with estimates of only a few hundred showing up. Led by faux-Communist Sergey Udaltsov and confirmed Western-funded opposition leaders Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin, and Boris Nemtsov, even the Western media had to admit the momentum they had hoped to incite is failing to materialize.

AFP's "Year on, Russian opposition subdued but not defeated," and Washington Post's "Thousands protest against Putin, but opposition momentum has slowed," despite unqualified attempts to embellish the size and strength of both the protest and the opposition in general, reflect the winding down of Western attempts to foment chaos across Russia. While the Washington Post cites Russian President Vladamir Putin's "co-opting" of opposition issues, by actually addressing legitimate concerns regarding his government, there is also another dimension that is more muted. 

The Russian Battle Against Foreign Subversion.

Reuters alludes to other possible explanations in their article, "No Russian revolution after a year of protests," stating:

Putin was elected to a six-year third term in March and the parliament, dominated by his party, has pushed through laws which critics say can be used to stifle dissent - tightening controls of the Internet, imposing new checks on foreign-funded lobby groups and broadening the definition of treason.

Indeed, Russia has placed immense restrictions on foreign-funded lobby groups and NGOs, demanding that they exhibit the same level of transparency and honesty that they themselves demand of the government. Foreign subversion, however, requires a degree of deceit and exploitation toward targeted segments of the population. Subversion will not work if its agents are required to state on all their pamphlets, websites, and signs that they are foreign-funded - and predictably both the US and the opposition it has contrived inside Russia, derided the pro-transparency legislation.

NATO Turns Up Heat in Syria Psy-War

NATO tells tales of recently launched "Scud missiles" to retroactively justify Patriot missile deployment months in the making.  

December 15, 2012 (LD) -  In a recent bid to psychologically break Syria's government and military leadership, producing long sought-after defections, US-led NATO has decided to place Patriot missile systems along the Turkish-Syrian border. The announcement was made as far back as November with  NATO Source Alliance News Blog reporting:

"Turkey plans to officially request NATO deploy a Patriot missile defense system in its territories as a security precaution against a potential large-scale military offensive from Syria as Syrian shelling on the border raises tensions."

As this threat's credibility diminishes, NATO has retroactively justified their November decision with a new tale of "Scud missiles" landing "fairly close" to the Turkish border, according to Reuters. Within the same report, "Scud missiles" would be downgraded to "Scud-style ballistic missiles," in what appears to be immediate backpedaling that casts doubt on the entire narrative.

Syria has denied the accusations, and in response, no evidence has been provided by NATO, with the claims emanating apparently from unnamed "US officials" claiming to cite undisclosed "intelligence information." It is very likely that more fabricated incidents will be announced as the missiles are put into position.

Within the pages of the March 2012 Brookings Institution Middle East Memo #21 "Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf)," it was stated explicitly that Turkey and Israel would coordinate with one another to apply pressure along Syria's borders, in turn putting pressure on Syria's leadership, forcing panic and defections while reducing pressure on NATO-armed militants operating inside the country. The report states on page 6:

US-Backed Syrian Opposition Demands Support for Al Qaeda

US-handpicked opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatib wants US to reconsider terror listing for Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front.

Al-Khatib (r) demands support for Al Qaeda.

December 13, 2012 (LD) - As part of the US' charade in declaring support and recognition of the so-called "Syrian" opposition, it added one of the more extreme groups that make up the militant front operating inside Syria to a list of sanctioned terrorist organizations. The idea was to have a scapegoat to pin atrocities on while the West armed, funded, and provided military support for the rest of the extremist groups ravaging Syria. 

The ploy quickly fell apart however, when the US' own handpicked opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatib spoke out in protest. Reuters quoted al-Khatib as saying:

"The decision to consider a party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed. We might disagree with some parties and their ideas and their political and ideological vision. But we affirm that all the guns of the rebels are aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical criminal regime." 

Al-Khatib himself openly declares his intentions of establishing an "Islamic state" upon the ashes of the currently secular Syria, and has ties with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood. He was also a representative of Western big oil interests, in particular Royal Dutch Shell. Al-Khatib had worked at the al-Furat Petroleum Company for six years, according to the BBC, which is partnered with Shell Oil. Al-Khatib is also said to have lobbied for Shell in Syria between 2003-2004, and has likewise taught classes in both Europe and the United States, this according to his biography featured on his own website.

The implications of the US-backed "opposition coalition" in Syria clearly collaborating with and acting in support of the terrorist Jabhat al-Nusra front, identifies it as providing material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, as per USC § 2339B which reads:

"Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life. To violate this paragraph, a person must have knowledge that the organization is a designated terrorist organization (as defined in subsection (g)(6)), that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorist activity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), or that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorism (as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989)."

Unmasking the Brotherhood: Syria, Egypt, and Beyond

December 13, 2012 (Stop Imperialism) - The complexities of the Arab Spring and the struggle for political freedom throughout the Arab world should not obscure what has now become an absolutely essential understanding for all anti-imperialists: the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the most powerful weapons of the Western ruling class in the Muslim world.  While that may be a difficult pill for some to swallow for emotional or psychological reasons, one need look no further than the insidious role the organization is playing in Syria and the abuses of power and human rights of the government of Egypt.  In the US-NATO sponsored war against the Assad government, the Muslim Brotherhood has emerged as the leading western-sanctioned force, the avant-garde of the imperialist assault.  While, in Egypt, President Morsi and the Brotherhood government seek to destroy what had been, little more than a year ago, the promise of the revolution.

Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

This week's establishment of the Supreme Military Command, in charge of all military aid and coordination to the rebels, demonstrates unequivocally the leadership role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the drive for regime change in Syria.  As Reuters reported, "The unified command includes many with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Salafists...it excludes the most senior officers who have defected from Assad's military."[1] This command structure, formed at the behest and under the sponsorship of the US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey among others, does not simply include members of the Muslim Brotherhood, it is, in fact, dominated by them.  Is it possible that the Western imperial powers simply did not notice that the group they were forming was comprised of these elements?  To suggest so would be to accuse some of the leading "statesmen" of the world (Hillary Clinton, William Hague, Laurent Fabius, Ahmet Davutoglu, etc.) of being stupid.  Alas, they are not so.  Instead, these individuals have collaborated to create a Muslim Brotherhood proxy force in Syria, one that can be controlled and depended on to do the bidding of the West.

US Recognizes Unelected Terrorists as Syrian "Representatives"

US admits Al Qaeda "amongst" Syrian rebels, recognizes them as the "legitimate representative of the Syrian people."

The Syrian Army is fighting Al Qaeda.

December 12, 2012 (LD) -  As expected, after a long pause of feigned "consideration," the US has recognized the militants it has been arming, funding, aiding logistically and supporting diplomatically since as early as 2007, as the "legitimate representatives of the Syrian people," with the added caveat, "in opposition to the Assad regime." The Wall Street Journal would report that US President Barack Obama's announcement actually read:

"The Syrian National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime."

The bizarre, uncertain wording sends a message of both  uncertainty and resounding illegitimacy, indicating that the US itself recognizes the true nature of the so-called "Syrian" opposition is apparent to an increasing number of people both in public office and across the public, and that a certain degree of rhetorical distance must be kept.

The overt, extremist nature of the militants operating in Syria has become increasingly difficult for the West to paper over. Torrents of videos and confirmed reports documenting militant atrocities, including several involving the machine gunning of bound prisoners, and a particularly gruesome video of a child handed a sword by militants to hack off the heads of bound men wearing civilian clothing, has confirmed the worst fears expressed by geopolitical analysts and foreign governments around the world - that the Syrian opposition is in fact Al Qaeda.

Decentralize Big-Retail

How to Uproot Walmart & Bring Jobs Back Home. 

December 11, 2012 (LocalOrg) - In many towns across America, Walmart, or a similar mega-retailer, is the only option you have when you need (almost) anything. Big-retail is a monopoly in its truest form and it has become so, not through "free market" economics, technological innovation, supply and demand, or healthy competition, but rather through a combination of pro-monopoly rules and regulations, human exploitation, outsourcing labor overseas, while preventing labor domestically from unionizing for better wages, job security, and benefits. 

The sub-par trinkets, poisoned food and beverages, and slave-made goods that line the corporate consumer troughs at Walmart are the result of a global network taking advantage of socioeconomic disparity, consumer ignorance, and deplorable labor conditions to bring the very lowest prices possible to consumers.

The consumers pushing their carts through the aisles of Walmart scarcely realize the conditions within which workers overseas toil to line those aisles. They may not realize that the polo shirts they are buying came from overcrowded, deplorable factories in Bangladesh, where a fire recently claimed the lives of 112 workers. The doors were locked, the fire extinguishers non-functional - conditions that would not be tolerated in an American factory.

These aren't "always low prices" because Walmart has mastered supply and demand or production efficiency through innovation - these are "always low prices" because people the average Walmart customer has no idea even exist, are paying the rest of the price out of sight, out of mind.

Along every step of Walmart's supply chain, abuses, exploitation, deceit, and harm is being done to both labor and consumers. The only benefactors are the handful of shareholders and executives that run Walmart - who live a life entirely isolated from the paradigm their spanning monopoly has created. Below, an infographic depicts this supply chain - starting at overseas sweatshops, brought through domestic ports where workers struggle for job security, fair wages, and benefits, and end up on the shelves of Walmart, where likewise, labor must struggle to improve their lot.

NATO Appears to be Rushing for Syria Conclusion

Syria & the Fall of Princes on Agenda for Gulf Monarchies | RT Interview with Webster Tarpley.

December 8, 2012 (RT - Tarpley.net)

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Sharing is Not a Crime: A Battle Plan to Fight Back

December 7, 2012 (LocalOrg) - The Battlefield: Christopher Dodd was at one point an alleged elected representative of the people. As a US Senator he was charged with upholding the Constitution and laws of the people, and representing the interests of voters in his state of Connecticut - for 30 years. In reality, Dodd didn't represent the people, and instead, represents corporate special-interests - and unfortunately, Dodd is not the exception.

In early 2011, it was announced that Dodd - after retiring from 30 years in the Senate - would take up a leading role at the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) for a $1.5 million annual salary. Immediately, the retired Senator would lead the charge to pass the notorious Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), with his incestuous business-government ties visibly rippling through the US House and Senate as well as through the corporate-dominated media.
 

Despite the obvious conflict of interests and dangerous precedent set by corporations commandeering elected representatives to leverage their influence and bend the law of the people to the will of big corporations, Dodd has been allowed to continue on with the charade. It was recently reported in Wired's article, "Hollywood’s Total Piracy Awareness Program Set for January Launch," that: 

US, NATO, GCC-backed Terrorists Preparing Chemical Attack?

A troubling video appears on YouTube showing rebel fighters testing chemical weapons in Syria.

December 7, 2012 (Syria Tribune) - While President Obama is busy talking about Syria’s chemical weapons, a troubling video appears on YouTube yesterday showing what appears to be a rebel group testing chemical weapons on lab rabbits, and threatening to use them against Syrian civilians on a sectarian basis.

The video (see here) starts with several scenes showing chemical containers with Tekkim labels (Tekkim is a Turkish chemicals company) and some lab equipment, while playing Jihadists chants in the background. A glass box then appears with two rabbits inside, with a poster on the wall behind it reading The Almighty Wind Brigade (Kateebat A Reeh Al Sarsar). A person wearing a lab mask then mixes chemicals in a beaker in the glass box, and we see some gas emitting from the beaker. About a minute later, the rabbits start to have random convulsions and then die. The person says: You saw what happened? This will be your fate, you infidel Alawites, I swear by ALLAH to make you die like these rabbits, one minute only after you inhale the gas.

Judging from the rabbits’ reaction, the gas must be a nerve agent. The number of containers, if not a bluff, indicates ability to produce a considerable amount of this gas. Deployment could be by means of a smoke generator placed in the target area, an explosion, possibly a suicide one, of a ”chemmed” car, or simply by using a humidifier.

The Pathology of the Free-Trade Disease

A prophetic interview with Sir James Goldsmith in 1994 exposes pathology of economic decline - sober warning then vs. NAFTA & GATT, and a sober, vindicated warning today against TPP, ASEAN, and more.

December 7, 2012 (LD) - The sneering, conniving defenders of free-trade laughed in Sir James Goldsmith's face during a 1994 interview when Goldsmith warned that not only would unskilled labor be moved offshore in the wake of both NAFTA and GATT, but skilled labor as well, undermining the very purpose of nation's economy to serve the needs of society, and instead serve the needs of vast corporations. Goldsmith stated that the interests of these corporations were entirely divorced from the interests of society - a statement that is, now more than ever, demonstrably clear today.

The DARPA Vacuum

December 6, 2012 (LD) - A conscious, pragmatic movement, as well informed as it is technically competent, pursuing advanced localism, post-scarcity and the reduction of disparity, elitism, insidiously imposed social engineering, and economic interdependency, has little to fear as it moves forward. However, as the paradigm-shift exists now - there lacks any clear vision for the future, or situational awareness of the present.

Makerspaces, hackerspaces, community labs, and open source collaborations of all varieties run the risk of being subtly manipulated, their good intentions and naivety exploited, compartmentalized, and tasked for diabolical endeavors the individual participants could hardly fathom. In "Decentralizing Telecom," it was noted that D.C. hackerspace, HacDC was part of a crowd-sourced US State Department project to help develop "suitcase Internet" systems for US-backed opposition movements during the US-engineered "Arab Spring."

Another such scheme was announced by DARPA in a Wired article titled, "Pentagon's New Factory: Your DNA" which stated:

A recent call for research by the Pentagon’s mad science agency proposes a new program called “Living Foundries.” The idea is to use biology as a manufacturing platform to “enable on-demand production of new and high-value materials, devices and capabilities.”  

In other words, let’s engineer life to make stuff we want.

It continues: 

To jumpstart the process, Darpa wants to open the playing field to people from outside the biological sciences, recruiting designers, engineers, manufacturers, computer scientists, academics and anyone else who has an idea. By democratizing the biological design and manufacturing process, they hope to speed up the development of a reliable factory for all sorts of kind-of-living things.

Wired, which has increasingly become a clearinghouse for Pentagon propaganda aimed at "geek" culture - and even hosts corporate-financier funded Brookings Institution "fellows" as contributors, attempts to make DARPA's plans sound exciting and fun. In reality, DARPA is assembling an arsenal of  biotechnology constructed of various individual parts contributed by participants who have no idea what they are involved in or the bigger picture they are helping to shape. These will be biotechnological implements only DARPA understands the true configuration and characteristics of, and implements DARPA and its affiliates alone can wield at will.

Don't Survive the "Collapse" - Prevent It

December 5, 2012 (LocalOrg) - Cuba, Thailand, New York City. All three have faced either economic or natural disasters. The adversity and degree to which each was affected varies, but all have lent us invaluable lessons and warnings about future, inevitable collapses and disasters. With this knowledge in hand we can begin preparing ahead of time, so not only do we "survive" the collapse, but we create thriving, advanced communities that remain entirely unaffected by such collapses - after all, prevention is the best medicine.

Cuba: In 1991, the Caribbean nation, after the fall of the Soviet Union upon which its economy hinged, found itself so destitute it was unable to feed its own people. The writing had been on the wall, particularly when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began instituting "glasnost" economic reforms, but little was (or could be) done in time to head off the consequences of collapse.

With no other choice, the people of the city of Havana began tearing up empty lots, reclaiming abandoned buildings, and planting "urban gardens." Neither "communist" nor "capitalist," the spurt of survival-driven local enterprise brought a people teetering on the edge of starvation back to a degree of stability. Journeyman Pictures, in their 2003 documentary "Seeds in the City - Cuba (23 mins)," tells the story of Havana and the urban gardening revolution that took place there.

NATO Missiles in Turkey to Point at Syria

Defacto no-fly zone in the works to establish Brookings-prescribed "safe havens." 

December 5, 2012 (LD) - NATO has approved of stationing US-made Patriot missiles along Turkey's border, for what it claims is "defense." Over the past two years Syria has been fighting terrorists armed, funded, and equipped by NATO, of which Turkey is a member. Turkey has admitted its role in harboring and providing logistics for foreign fighters flooding across the border into Syria, many of whom are confirmed members of Al Qaeda. Despite this, Syria has gone through extraordinary lengths to avoid a confrontation with Turkey.

Image: A Patriot missile system. NATO Source Alliance News Blog reported on November 4, 2012, "Turkey plans to officially request NATO deploy a Patriot missile defense system in its territories as a security precaution against a potential large-scale military offensive from Syria as Syrian shelling on the border raises tensions." In reality, US officials have admitted the purpose of the missiles are to impose a no-fly zone over northern Syria. 

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US Repeats Syrian Chemical Weapons "Warnings"

US repeats same tired, desperate accusations that the Syrian army is preparing to use "chemical weapons."

December 4, 2012 (LD) - Once again, the US has issued a warning against Syria deploying "chemical weapons" citing "intelligence reports that the Damascus government is preparing such munitions for possible use." No evidence was provided, nor any reasonable explanation as to why the Syrian government would deploy such weapons when, after over 2 years, the majority of the Syrian people still stand behind the government while terrorist forces flooding over Syria's borders have been faced with constant tactical and strategic defeat.

Image: (via the Guardian) "Chemical containers in the Libyan desert. There are concerns unguarded weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist militants. Photograph: David Sperry/AP" As increasing evidence reveals Libyan fighters and weapons are pouring into Syria, it seems the West is preparing to preempt the inevitability that Libya's chemical arsenal has also found its way into the besieged nation.

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US NATO-backed Terrorists in Syria Mass Murder Unarmed Men

December 3, 2012 (LD) - "18 USC § 2441 - War crimes - (d) Common Article 3 Violations - (D) Murder.— The act of a person who intentionally kills, or conspires or attempts to kill, or kills whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including those placed out of combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause."

Video: (RT) "WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE. Gruesome footage has emerged apparently showing Syrian rebels executing loyalists while their victims pleaded for their lives. One of the gunmen is heard referencing an al-Qaeda-linked group behind several terrorist attacks in Syria. News analyst Patrick Henningsen says the nationwide internet shutdown, that's now ended, could have been American-influenced."

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Yet another grisly video shows US-NATO backed terrorists in Syria executing unarmed men as they plead for their lives (a similar atrocity covered here). Not only are the crimes depicted against international law, but they are explicitly against US law. Despite this, the West, including the United States, is still providing a steady stream of cash, equipment, weapons, and diplomatic support to verified terrorists and war criminals.

While the Western media and defenders of sectarian extremists committing wide scale war crimes in Syria attempt to downplay the atrocities as merely targeting "loyalists," it should be remembered that the unconfirmed affiliations of the victims have no bearing on the impartial application of both international and US law. In fact, by making such arguments and failing to condemn the atrocities, or impose punitive measures on those carrying them, indicates the overt duplicity and double standards being couched behind "humanitarian" and "democratic" concerns.

Image: Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of the US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. This is clearly a  foreign invasion, not a "revolution." Al Qaeda's leadership role in the so-called "Free Syrian Army" goes far in explaining their tactics.

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The West's increasingly unhinged narrative versus Syria is feverishly pushed by their media outlets, even as Libya degenerates into nation-wide sectarian violence that has left one American ambassador dead and a US consulate burned to the ground, while Egypt descends into a sectarian tyranny eclipsing the despotism of the ousted government of Hosni Mubarak - all while the pro-American autocratic regimes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain operate with absolute impunity amidst a self-imposed media and diplomatic blackout by American, British, and European nations.

Decentralizing Telecom

December 2, 2012 (via LocalOrg) SOPA, ACTA, the criminalization of sharing, and a myriad of other measures taken to perpetuate antiquated business models propping up enduring monopolies - all have become increasingly taxing on the tech community and informed citizens alike. When the storm clouds gather and torrential rain begins to fall, the people have managed to stave off the flood waters through collective effort and well organized activism - stopping, or at least delaying SOPA and ACTA.

However, is it really sustainable to mobilize each and every time multi-billion dollar corporations combine their resources and attempt to pass another series of draconian rules and regulations? Instead of manning the sandbags during each storm, wouldn't it suit us all better to transform the surrounding landscape in such a way as to harmlessly divert the floods, or better yet, harness them to our advantage?

In many ways the transformation has already begun.
While open source software and hardware, as well as innovative business models built around collaboration and crowd-sourcing have done much to build a paradigm independent of current centralized proprietary business models, large centralized corporations and the governments that do their bidding, still guard all the doors and carry all the keys. The Internet, the phone networks, radio waves, and satellite systems still remain firmly in the hands of big business. As long as they do, they retain the ability to not only reassert themselves in areas where gains have been made, but can impose preemptive measures to prevent any future progress.

With the advent of hackerspaces, increasingly we see projects that hold the potential of replacing, at least on a local level, much of the centralized infrastructure we take for granted until disasters or greed-driven rules and regulations upset the balance. It is with the further developing of our local infrastructure that we can leave behind the sandbags of perpetual activism and enjoy a permanently altered landscape that favors our peace and prosperity.

Decentralizing Telecom 

As impressive as a hydroelectric dam may be and as overwhelming as it may seem as a project to undertake, it will always start with but a single shovelful of dirt. The work required becomes in its own way part of the payoff - with experienced gained and with a magnificent accomplishment to aspire toward.
In the same way, a communication network that runs parallel to existing networks, with global coverage, but locally controlled, may seem an impossible, overwhelming objective - and for one individual, or even a small group of individuals, it is. However, the paradigm has shifted. In the age of digital collaboration made possible by existing networks, the building of such a network can be done in parallel.
In an act of digital-judo, we can use the system's infrastructure as a means of supplanting and replacing it with something superior in both function and in form.

1. Mesh Networks: The first shovelful of dirt is to building a dam, as developing a rudimentary mesh network is to building a parallel "second Internet." It is a small project a small group of people can work on, with a lot of resources already out there to start with.

Image: A visual depiction of Project Byzantium's ad-hoc wireless mesh network. More information can be found on their website here. Such networks are being funded and passed out by the US State Department for use by "activists" to oust dictators in exchange for new ones, who coincidentally are US-backed. However, such networks also possess the ability to effect pragmatic change on a technical and local level.

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Syria's Internet Outage & the Future of Information Warfare

December 1, 2012 (LD) - It's not that Syria's government didn't prepare for war. They perhaps, simply prepared for the wrong kind of war.

This week when sweeping outages in Syria's communication networks were reported, the Western media immediately accused the Syrian government of being behind the move. However, it should be noted that NATO-backed terrorists operating inside of Syria have been openly given advanced communication equipment (also here and here) by Western nations, including the United States, allowing militants to create their own, independent communication networks. This includes radio, satellite, and cell networks, as well as the under-reported existence of "suitcase Internets" (also here and here).

The reason a communications blackout in Syria would not effect NATO's primary proxy forces is because any node or bottleneck in Syria controlled by the government has already long since been circumvented, either through independent networks, or satellite links.

Image: New York Times depicts what is called a "mesh network," or an independent internet that uses computers and phones not only as interfaces, but as actual nodes to create the network Imagine in this case, that the "country border" is that of Turkey and Syria. Such networks can be set up virtually anywhere, and the development of methods and software to do so have been the subject of US State Department funding and implementation.

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The New York Times in their article, "U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors," stated in June, 2011 that:

The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.

The effort includes secretive projects to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries, as well as one operation out of a spy novel in a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of young entrepreneurs who look as if they could be in a garage band are fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype “Internet in a suitcase.”

Therefore, the Syrian government would gain very little by shutting off the Internet to neutralize networks working entirely independent of infrastructure within state control. Conversely, if NATO has shut the Internet off at nodes leading into Syria, as appears to be the case, NATO and their proxies operating inside of Syria can begin spreading false information, uncontested, via radio, SMS, and even ad hoc WiFi networks.

With NATO's proxies possessing their own communication networks, their own ability to co-opt and control signals in and near their areas of operation, in particular along the borders where NATO forces themselves are directly involved in disrupting and controlling communications, according to Reuters, a disruption in Syria's communication networks would only serve to blind, hinder, and disrupt the government and the vast majority of Syria's civilians. 

Aung San Suu Kyi Silent Over Rohingya Violence, but Decries Crackdown on Anti-Chinese Protest

Nobel laureate's double standards toe line of pro-Western "pivot" toward Asia and the recolonization of Myanmar. 

December 1, 2012 (AltThaiNews) - In its article, "Suu Kyi demands apology for mine violence," Bangkok Post reported that:

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has demanded an apology for monks hurt in a violent police crackdown at a Chinese copper mine protest, after she held talks with the two sides.

The "monks," of course, form the foundation of Suu Kyi's so-called "pro-democracy" movement, as well as the leading front carrying out genocidal violence against Myanmar's Rohingya population. Suu Kyi's recent demand for an apology stands in stark contrast to her habitual silence over the plight of the Rohingya. The common denominator behind this consistent hypocrisy is the targeting of Chinese interests across the country.

Image: The Western media gladly fills their coverage of the Monywa mine protest with images of battered, "victimized" "monks," while downplaying both the violence these same "monks" have visited upon Rohingya refugees in Rakhin state, as well as the indefensible silence of Aung San Suu Kyi regarding that violence.

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The violence against the Rohingya, carried out by Suu Kyi's own support base, threatens to destabilize the Rakhine state where exists significant Chinese interests including a deep-water port and an oil pipeline terminal that is to connect Sittwe, Myanmar with Kunming, China. Likewise, the protests in Monywa, located further north, target a Chinese mine. The protesters cited "human rights" and "environmental" concerns, mirroring identical efforts by NGOs subsidized by Western corporate-financier interests seeking to supplant China and exploit Myanmar's vast natural resources themselves, who had targeted and halted the construction of Myitsone Dam.   

Image: Praying for genocide. While Associated Press claims these protesters are demonstrating against ethnic violence targeting Rohingya refugees, the sign they carry clearly states that they seek the expulsion of the refugees from Myanmar, and are merely protesting against the Myanmar Army's use of force to protect the refugees from attacks that have left scores dead and thousands of homes destroyed. 

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Corbett Report - Middle East Update

December 1, 2012 (Corbett Report)

Published on Nov 30, 2012

SHOW NOTES AND MP3: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=6273

Corbett Report Radio #262

Nile Bowie of NileBowie.blogspot.com joins us tonight to go over some news headlines from across the Middle East, including the UN General Assembly vote on Palestinian statehood, western double standards in the “Arab Spring” and the American-ization of Saudi Arabia. We also talk about the recent 9/11 conference in Kuala Lumpur and Nile’s upcoming trip to China and North Korea.

WORKS CITED

• Nile Bowie’s blog
• War on Syria: Gateway to WWIII by Nile Bowie and Tony Cartalucci (free download)
• The Moral Imperative of Reinvestigating 9/11
• UN implicitly recognizes Palestinian statehood
• Qatari poet jailed for life for ‘insulting’ Emir with his poem
• Total blackout: Syria goes offline nationwide
• U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors
• Saudis say No to the Prophet Muhammad, Yes to Paris Hilton

Stop Imperialism - Episode 50

Syria's Internet outage, terrorism plagues Iraq, rebels in Congo, and bonds in Argentina.


November 30, 2012 (Stop Imperialism)

 

Podcast Powered By Podbean

In today's episode:

1. Syria (On the Ground)

a) Syrian internet goes dark

b) Syria rebels kill top ruling party official

c) Twin car bombs reportedly kill 34, wound dozens in Syria

d) Syria child soldiers: Rebels using children in war - Human Rights Watch

2. Syria (International)

a) U.S. weighs bolder effort to intervene in Syria's conflict

b) The war for Syria is also a war for Iraq

c) Syrian govt fins rare friends in Latin America

d) Excerpt from "Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change" (pg. 6)

3. Iraq

a) Iraq bombings target Shi'ite areas

b) Iraq Deputy PM opposes pressure on MEK

c) Lukoil considers Iraq's West Qurna-1 this year as Exxon may exit

4. Congo

a) Congolese M23 rebels say leaving positions in Goma

b) Congo general pledges war as rebels prepare to quit Goma

c) UN relief agencies working 'around the clock' to assist displaced in DR Congo

5. Under the Radar

a) Argentine bonds rally as U.S. ruling quells default fears

b) Serdyukov dismissed to ensure impartiality of probe into Defense Ministry embezzlements - Medvedev

c) Israeli PM denounces UN draft resolution on Palestinian statehood as 'one-sided'

d) Lawmakers consider dissolving Detroit

       e) GMO giant hires retired cops to hunt down farmers

*The summary of Eric Draister's latest episode of the "Reality Principle" on Boiling Frogs can be found here. New listeners can subscribe to listen at the bottom of the page. Episodes are free to the public after 4 weeks.

McCain, Lévy Openly Conspire Against World Peace

Against the will of the international community, in open defiance of their own contrived international law, American and French warmongers openly plot the destruction of Syria.

November 29, 2012 (LD) - A recent event held by the Neo-Conservative Foreign Policy Initiative, featured a "conversation" with Senator John McCain and self-proclaimed "philosopher" Bernard-Henri Lévy. Both men played a pivotal role in arranging and promoting the arming, funding, and diplomatic recognition of terrorists in Libya who have now overrun much of the country, committed wide scale atrocities, and have left a US Ambassador dead and a US consulate burnt to the ground. Despite this, they now openly seek to repeat their "success" in Syria.

Watch FPI's "The Consequences of Inaction in Syria" with several facts kept in mind...

1. Libya's "freedom fighters" are verified terrorists. Benghazi, Libya was their epicenter. 
2. These very same terrorists are now being purposefully armed, funded, and funneled into Syria, via NATO member Turkey.  
3. The violence in Syria is the result of a premeditated US-Israeli-Saudi plan stretching back to 2007, confirmed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his article "The Redirection." 
4. The current "rebels" in Syria are sectarian driven, genocidal members of the Muslims Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, already subjugating segments of Syria's population along the Turkish-Syrian border to medieval, Saudi-inspired autocracy and barbarism. 
5. The so-called "Syrian National Council" is run by a Western big-oil representative who openly admits he seeks to establish an "Islamic state" upon the ashes of secular Syria. 
6. Worst of all, McCain and Lévy admit the US, French, European, and even Turkish people reject wholly the notion of intervention in Syria, as well as the fact that the International community has, on numerous occasions blocked attempts to approve of meddling in Syria's internal affairs, yet both men, and the interests they represent continue to conspire to push the conflict further, at the cost of more lives, and at the risk of unraveling regional stability.

URGENT: NATO Preparing Psy-Op in Syria

Internet connections & telecom reportedly failing across Syria, right as NATO has finished preparing their proxy "SNC" and readies for final push. 

November 29, 2012 (LD) - In early summer, NATO had attempted to overwhelm Damascus and Aleppo with a torrent of psychological operations, communication disruptions, foreign terrorists crossing Syria's borders, and a devastating assassination of top Syrian officials in the heart of Damascus. The idea was to cause panic, division, mass defections and fold the Syrian state when in reality, it was more than able to fight on. Syria called the bluff and here it still stands.

With the Israel-Gaza charade concluded, it was reported that NATO would pivot back toward Syria - and it has. It has handpicked a new proxy-regime to act as the face of the terrorists battling Syrian civilians and soldiers alike within the country, while it has been conducting a concerted and refocused propaganda campaign to paint the Syrian government as once again, "imminently about to fall."

Reports are now trickling in that communications are failing across the country and another attempt at a Libyan-style "Mermaid Dawn" is being made by NATO and its terrorist proxies inside Syria. The hope is, that after several months more of terrorism, threats, sanctions, and pressure put on the border by both Israel on the Golan Heights, and Turkey along Syria's north, that this time the trick might work.

If operations are not already in progress, they will be soon, and one must recall historical instances when this tactic has been used before so as to recognize it when it is tried again.

Reposted below, is Thierry Meyssan's June 2012 warning regarding NATO psychological operations - and the information is as relevant now as ever. Inside Syria, unity and resilience is more important now than ever.

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Thierry Meyssan
voltairenet.org
June 12, 2012

In a few days, perhaps as early as Friday, June 15, at noon, the Syrians wanting to watch their national TV stations will see them replaced on their screens by TV programs created by the CIA. Studio-shot images will show massacres that are blamed on the Syrian Government, people demonstrating, ministers and generals resigning from their posts, President Al-Assad fleeing, the rebels gathering in the big city centers, and a new government installing itself in the presidential palace.

This operation of disinformation, directly managed from Washington by Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, aims at demoralizing the Syrians in order to pave the way for a coup d’etat. NATO, discontent about the double veto of Russia and China, will thus succeed in conquering Syria without attacking the country illegally. Whichever judgment you might have formed on the actual events in Syria, a coup d’etat will end all hopes of democratization.

The Arab League has officially asked the satellite operators Arabsat and Nilesat to stop broadcasting Syrian media, either public or private (Syria TV, Al-Ekbariya, Ad-Dounia, Cham TV, etc.) A precedent already exists because the Arab League had managed to censure Libyan TV in order to keep the leaders of the Jamahiriya from communicating with their people. There is no Hertz network in Syria, where TV works exclusively with satellites. The cut, however, will not leave the screens black.

Actually, this public decision is only the tip of the iceberg. According to our information several international meetings were organized during the past week to coordinate the disinformation campaign. The first two were technical meetings, held in Doha (Qatar); the third was a political meeting and took place in Riyad (Saudi Arabia).