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News Briefs 28-08-07

By Jameskeon

It’s official. The moon is gay.

  • Lost city of Mu found.
  • $4.5 Billion bet on another 911 within 4 weeks.
  • Mars direct.
  • Graphic changes to rings on Uranus.
  • Evolution balls up.
  • Scars of evolution: the aquatic ape hypothesis.
  • Footage of airplane struck by lightning.
  • Superstition blamed for killing thousands of black cats in Italy.
  • Frozen bacteria repair own DNA for millennia.
  • Expanding earth debate. Part 1, part 2 and part 3.
  • Great wall mark two in Iran.
  • Jupiter’s protective pull questioned.
  • AIDS is caused by HIV: it is an established fact beyond any reasonable doubt. Here is the reasonable doubt.
  • Mystery of the black triangle UFOs.
  • I’m no conspiracy theorist, but…

Quote of the Day:


I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one’s own bat than by doing the right thing on somebody else’s advice.

W. Somerset Maugham

Jameske
Related

28 Comments

  1. $4.5billion
    You know me, I’m as anti-9/11-conspiracy as one can get. I believe it happened as reported, a bunch of nutjobs with a history of suicide bombings and hijacking planes had a bright idea to combine the two activities and strike a blow to the enemy. Osama Bin Laden is perfectly capable of organising it; he was never a camel-herder living in cave, but a billionaire with a Western education.

    But I’m not here to argue about that. What I want to say is that $4.5billion options bet has got me thinking, and seriously doubting the official story. I still don’t believe the US Government orchestrated 9/11, but I do believe there are individuals or groups playing the Muslims, Jews and Americans against each other for their own agendas. I always thought this about 9/11, the only difference now is the options bet has reinforced my suspicions. The Bilderbergers perhaps? I don’t know. What I do know is there are forces operating in the shadows who are pulling everybodies’ strings.

    I said a few weeks ago I have a bad feeling something big is going to happen. I thought it might have been the stockmarket crash in mid-August, or the Peru earthquake. I’m no longer sure.

    I also think that it may very well be China’s about to dump the US dollar and send the global economy crashing in flames. China has suffered a beating recently thanks to bad products (melamine-poisoned pet food, toys painted with unsafe levels of lead, clothes laced with dangerous levels of formaldehyde), so it wouldn’t surprise me if the CCP pulls such a move. But would they do it a year out from the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

    Can it be the US plans to attack Iran before January? That’s the plan according to former Middle East CIA Operative Bob Baer (article is from yesterday, so it’s very recent). Now that puts a whole new spin on the $4.5billion options bet — someone knows Iran is about to be bombed, and they know there’ll be enormous oil shortages as a result, sending the stockmarket into chaos. This seems to be the most plausible explanation. I’m going with this one.

    I’m worried. Is that enough, Kat? 😉

    1. Youre Confusing the Hell Out Of Me
      Hi Rick,

      I’ve had this argument with you before but your current blog is a little confusing.

      “You know me, I’m as anti-9/11-conspiracy as one can get. I believe it happened as reported” – “What I want to say is that $4.5billion options bet has got me thinking, and seriously doubting the official story.” Ummm. So you do believe the official story or you dont? But i’ll take the doubt as signs of improvement.

      “I still don’t believe the US Government orchestrated 9/11, but I do believe there are individuals or groups playing the Muslims, Jews and Americans against each other for their own agendas.” – So these individuals or groups who aren’t part of the government can

      a) Prevent a complete military response on 9/11.
      b) Prevent the 9/11 commission report from mentioning key facts and leaving out completely the fall of World Trade Centre 7.
      c) Ensure that Bush remained sitting in a primary school reading a book about a pet goat while “the nation is under attack”
      d) Ensure that buildings that are structurally designed to take a hit from a large jet fall in free fall speed showing no structure integrity.
      e) Allow a known terrorist Hijacked plane to get anywhere near the Washington D.C let alone the Pentagon.

      “What I do know is there are forces operating in the shadows who are pulling everybodies’ strings” – So if there are forces operating outside of the publics view who have this power why are they incapable of pulling off 9/11? You mention the Bilderberg group so why when you know that the globalised media giants are involved in secret meetings with these types of groups you listen to their “official” story? Is FOX news really that good at their bullshit?

      I know it’s hard to grasp but the key is in not assuming that the people who do this are in anyway part of the same social or humanised mindset that you and every reader of TDG is. You weren’t brought up in the “elite”. You don’t stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars for you and your friends through your military/industrial/big oil/pharmaceuticals/construction rebuilding share portfolio. You don’t go to places like the bohemian grove and take part in obscure Babylonian cult worship. Get my drift. Yes in a real moral sane world a democratically elected leader would never perpetrate such. But what makes you think after every thing you have seen in your life that politicians will play by the rules or that the leaders are elected by the people? You mention that this shadow group are playing people of for their own agenda, so what is the agenda?

      So once again I recommend you and every other Daily Grailer watch ( and you can get them all on youtube or googlevideo)

      1. Aarron Russo’s America: Freedom to Fascism
      2. Loose Change 2nd Edition (3rd Ed releases in 2 weeks)looks awesome.
      3. Any Alex Jones films including, Inside the Bohemian Grove, Police State I,II,II, and definately Terrorstorm
      4. JFK II – The Bush Connection
      5. David Ickes – Freedom or Fascism?

      So if you are starting to open your eyes this might get you through the next step.

      Then go and read some history’s and current work of

      The Rothchilds, Rockefellers, The Kennedys assassination, Bilderberg Group, Tri Lateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, Operation GLADIO, Operation Northwoods, North American Union, Federal Reserve System, National ID cards, The Patriot Act, US military commissions act 2006, the role of the CIA in overthrowing & subverting government worldwide especially IRAN (wonder why they are still pissed?) etc.

      Connect the dot’s, look for the clues and don’t just be worried. Be Pro-active in ensuring that you at least give other people the chance to review the info. Talking about this stuff is not taboo. CONSPIRACY THEORIES are not a dirty word.

      Well thats enough of a rant from me.

      I hope you take the time to do some research. One day might just change the rest of your life.

      Peace and Respect Rick MG and all other TDG fans.

      Havoc

      any Q’s to havoc_oz@hotmail.com

      Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
      John 8:32

      1. David Icke – Freedom or Fascism
        Here’s Coast to Coast AM’s March, 2006 interview with David Icke, subtitled Freedom or Fascism: The Time to Choose.

        I’ve been watching YouTube’s David Icke videos all night. Imho, this is one of the best, even though it’s just audio. I also enjoyed the 5-part BBC documentary ‘David Icke: Was He Right?’. They’re all easily found – just type Icke in the search window.

        Kat

      2. My comments aren’t confusing at all
        [quote=Havoc_Oz]”What I do know is there are forces operating in the shadows who are pulling everybodies’ strings” – So if there are forces operating outside of the publics view who have this power why are they incapable of pulling off 9/11?[/quote]

        I believe the US Government is incapable of orchestrating 9/11, I never said the shadow groups# were incapable of it. I made a clear distinction between the two groups. I wrote that I’ve always believed shadow groups had a part to play in 9/11. That’s not confusing at all.

        [quote=Havoc_Oz]Is FOX news really that good at their bullshit?[/quote]

        Excuse me? When did I say I watch Fox news and believe the mainstream media? If you want to convince me of your beliefs, don’t insult me by insinuating I watch FOX news. Sorry for my anger — I’m just annoyed that anyone would think I watch FOX news. Suggesting I watch FOX news is like Marty McFly being called “chicken” in Back to the Future! 😉

        My take on the media — There’s just as much bullshit and lies from the 9/11 conspiracy corner as there is from the NeoCons and FOX anchormen. I don’t see any difference between the sheeple who believe everything on FOX, and the sheeple who believe everything on Rense.

        There’s no need to educate me, Havoc. I know more than I admit — just because I don’t say it, doesn’t mean I don’t know it. So don’t ever presume I know nothing. I choose to shut my mouth because frankly, both sides of the argument — Left and Right — see only what they want to see, and look down condescendingly on anyone who thinks differently and independently as needing education. I can hear a certain Pink Floyd song about education, and sadly, it applies to the Left just as much as it does to the Right.

        I sincerely appreciate your advice Havoc, but I’d rather trust my intuition and educate myself on my own terms. Think for yourself, not for others (and think of others, don’t just think of yourself 😉 ).

        I’ve already seen a couple of the links you suggested, but I’ve looked at David Icke and I trust him even less than I trust the NeoCons! There’s something very fake about the man, and I trust my intuition. Important commentators missing from your list are Noam Chomsky and John Pilger. I really recommend John Pilger’s Heroes (Amazon). First published in 1986 (hrmm, 1984 would have been much more symbolic!), it’s just as relevant today as it was then. I’m not saying I agree with everything Pilger says, but Heroes is one book I highly respect.

        The journalism of Robert Fisk is also something I read regularly. He’s an excellent journalist. Here’s his most recent editorial, and it pretty much sums up EXACTLY how I feel about 9/11. I hope that helps you understand where I’m coming from a bit better. Actually, ignore everything I’ve just written, and go straight to Fisk’s article!

        Peace and Respect,

        Rick

        PS Kat copy/pasted the entire Fisk article below. Heheh. I should just delete everything I just wrote, and link to Fisk instead because what he says is exactly how I feel about 9/11.

        #I don’t think shadow groups are limited to the West either, something conspiracy theorists refuse to acknowledge.

  2. Even I question the ‘truth’ about 9/11
    Since The Australian‘s version butchered it up, here’s Robert Fisk’s complete editorial as it originally appeared in The Independent on 25 August:

    Even I question the ‘truth’ about 9/11

    Each time I lecture abroad on the Middle East, there is always someone in the audience – just one – whom I call the “raver”. Apologies here to all the men and women who come to my talks with bright and pertinent questions – often quite humbling ones for me as a journalist – and which show that they understand the Middle East tragedy a lot better than the journalists who report it. But the “raver” is real. He has turned up in corporeal form in Stockholm and in Oxford, in Sao Paulo and in Yerevan, in Cairo, in Los Angeles and, in female form, in Barcelona. No matter the country, there will always be a “raver”.

    His – or her – question goes like this. Why, if you believe you’re a free journalist, don’t you report what you really know about 9/11? Why don’t you tell the truth – that the Bush administration (or the CIA or Mossad, you name it) blew up the twin towers? Why don’t you reveal the secrets behind 9/11? The assumption in each case is that Fisk knows – that Fisk has an absolute concrete, copper-bottomed fact-filled desk containing final proof of what “all the world knows” (that usually is the phrase) – who destroyed the twin towers. Sometimes the “raver” is clearly distressed. One man in Cork screamed his question at me, and then – the moment I suggested that his version of the plot was a bit odd – left the hall, shouting abuse and kicking over chairs.

    Usually, I have tried to tell the “truth”; that while there are unanswered questions about 9/11, I am the Middle East correspondent of The Independent, not the conspiracy correspondent; that I have quite enough real plots on my hands in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Iran, the Gulf, etc, to worry about imaginary ones in Manhattan. My final argument – a clincher, in my view – is that the Bush administration has screwed up everything – militarily, politically diplomatically – it has tried to do in the Middle East; so how on earth could it successfully bring off the international crimes against humanity in the United States on 11 September 2001?

    Well, I still hold to that view. Any military which can claim – as the Americans did two days ago – that al-Qa’ida is on the run is not capable of carrying out anything on the scale of 9/11. “We disrupted al-Qa’ida, causing them to run,” Colonel David Sutherland said of the preposterously code-named “Operation Lightning Hammer” in Iraq’s Diyala province. “Their fear of facing our forces proves the terrorists know there is no safe haven for them.” And more of the same, all of it untrue.

    Within hours, al-Qa’ida attacked Baquba in battalion strength and slaughtered all the local sheikhs who had thrown in their hand with the Americans. It reminds me of Vietnam, the war which George Bush watched from the skies over Texas – which may account for why he this week mixed up the end of the Vietnam war with the genocide in a different country called Cambodia, whose population was eventually rescued by the same Vietnamese whom Mr Bush’s more courageous colleagues had been fighting all along.

    But – here we go. I am increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11. It’s not just the obvious non sequiturs: where are the aircraft parts (engines, etc) from the attack on the Pentagon? Why have the officials involved in the United 93 flight (which crashed in Pennsylvania) been muzzled? Why did flight 93’s debris spread over miles when it was supposed to have crashed in one piece in a field? Again, I’m not talking about the crazed “research” of David Icke’s Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster – which should send any sane man back to reading the telephone directory.

    I am talking about scientific issues. If it is true, for example, that kerosene burns at 820C under optimum conditions, how come the steel beams of the twin towers – whose melting point is supposed to be about 1,480C – would snap through at the same time? (They collapsed in 8.1 and 10 seconds.) What about the third tower – the so-called World Trade Centre Building 7 (or the Salmon Brothers Building) – which collapsed in 6.6 seconds in its own footprint at 5.20pm on 11 September? Why did it so neatly fall to the ground when no aircraft had hit it? The American National Institute of Standards and Technology was instructed to analyse the cause of the destruction of all three buildings. They have not yet reported on WTC 7. Two prominent American professors of mechanical engineering – very definitely not in the “raver” bracket – are now legally challenging the terms of reference of this final report on the grounds that it could be “fraudulent or deceptive”.

    Journalistically, there were many odd things about 9/11. Initial reports of reporters that they heard “explosions” in the towers – which could well have been the beams cracking – are easy to dismiss. Less so the report that the body of a female air crew member was found in a Manhattan street with her hands bound. OK, so let’s claim that was just hearsay reporting at the time, just as the CIA’s list of Arab suicide-hijackers, which included three men who were – and still are – very much alive and living in the Middle East, was an initial intelligence error.

    But what about the weird letter allegedly written by Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian hijacker-murderer with the spooky face, whose “Islamic” advice to his gruesome comrades – released by the CIA – mystified every Muslim friend I know in the Middle East? Atta mentioned his family – which no Muslim, however ill-taught, would be likely to include in such a prayer. He reminds his comrades-in-murder to say the first Muslim prayer of the day and then goes on to quote from it. But no Muslim would need such a reminder – let alone expect the text of the “Fajr” prayer to be included in Atta’s letter.

    Let me repeat. I am not a conspiracy theorist. Spare me the ravers. Spare me the plots. But like everyone else, I would like to know the full story of 9/11, not least because it was the trigger for the whole lunatic, meretricious “war on terror” which has led us to disaster in Iraq and Afghanistan and in much of the Middle East. Bush’s happily departed adviser Karl Rove once said that “we’re an empire now – we create our own reality”. True? At least tell us. It would stop people kicking over chairs.

    1. That’s exactly how I feel about 9/11
      Thanks Kat.

      Fisks’s article is exactly what I was trying to say in my post. I’ve added it to my reply, hoping it makes my post less confusing for Havoc and others. 😉

  3. secondary explosions not so easily dismissed
    Monday’s news was a tad late because I got distracted — watching a bunch of 9/11 videos at youtube. In his editorial, Fisk says reports of secondary explosions on 9/11 can be easily dismissed. One of the videos I was watching — which claims to be “the 9/11 documentary you can’t debunk” — was about those secondary explosions:

    9/11: Total proof that bombs were planted in the buildings! (10 minutes, 22 seconds)

    To give you a taste, here are some quotes from the first two minutes or so:

    Two blasts heard in the background as two men are shown talking on a pay phone.

    CNN reporter: “We’ve heard reports of secondary explosions after the aircraft impacted — whether in fact there wasn’t something else at the base of the towers that in fact were the coupe de gras to bring them to the ground.”

    A network reporter says, “When you’re down there, Dan, you hear smaller secondary explosions going off every 15 or 20 minutes, and so it’s an extremely dangerous place to be.”

    CNN producer Rose Arce (or Arge): “…The front part of the World Trade Center has completely sheered off, as well as many of the upper floors. And every few minutes you’ll hear like a small sort of rumbling sound, almost like an explosion sound, and another chunk of it will come flying down into the street.”

    Rick Sanchez of MSNBC says, “…I spoke with some police officials moments ago, Chris, and they told me they had reason to believe that one of the explosions at the World Trade Center – aside from the ones that may have been caused by the impact of the plane with the building – may have been caused by a van that was parked in the building, that may have had some type of explosive device in it. So their fear is, that there may be explosive devices planted either in the building or in the adjacent area, and that’s why they’re being so cautious.”

    Another network reported, “We had another explosion, and I’m assuming that’s the one that came from the lower levels, since there were two.” The anchor interrupts and says, “Sounds like they were eighteen minutes apart.” She responds, “Well, this is — no, the first explosion – the first explosion, then there was a second explosion in the same building. So there were two explosions.”

    WCBS 2 reporter: “Federal agencies that were down there do believe there was some sort of explosive device somewhere else besides the planes hitting.”

    This video about fake hijackers was also interesting:
    9/11 Coincidences (Part Sixteen)

    Kat

  4. $4.5 Billion Bet
    I followed the links and did some searches on this story, and I find it worrisome also. Thanks for posting this link!

    Something not made clear in the linked article is that the S&P 700 (the index that the options were placed against) is comprised of non-US stocks. (The S&P 500 tracks US stocks.) Apparently, similar options were also placed against the European and Asian stock indexes in separate transactions.

    None of the various theories I read takes this information into account. Why only bet against the non-US stock markets? In this global economy, a crash of that magnitude in one part of the world would quickly ripple across the globe.

    I certainly don’t have any answers, but my first thought was that maybe the “event” would cause US stock exchanges to freeze trading for an extended period of time. This could mean physically damaging the buildings housing the exchanges, or having them shut down for price volatility (or some other) reasons. In any case, as long as an exchange is frozen, the value of options can not be recalculated, and the options can not be bought/sold or executed.

    Another thing to keep in mind is that stock indexes can’t decrease in value by 30% – 50% in a single day. Trading is halted for the rest of the day if the market goes down by more than a few percent during that day. The bottom line is that it would take several days of trading for the indexes to lose that much value.

    Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

    Thanks!

    1. Very strange
      I’ve been thinking about it all day and all I can come up with is it’s very strange. It could have just been a reaction to the stockmarket chaos in mid-August; the investor figured with the war in Iraq not going too well, the stockmarket was going to explode and things would get worse. But they got better and the stockmarket is almost back to where it was (in Australia anyway). The investor stands to lose a lot of money.

      I can’t see China dumping the US dollar a year out from the Beijing Olympics. However, Bob Baer’s claims that the US plans to strike Iran before January makes me wonder if the investor has insider knowledge of US military plans. But why only non-US options?

      APEC is also only a week away.

      It’s strange, and I guess we’ll have to wait and see over the coming weeks.

      Rick

      1. price of oil
        Somewhat similarly, how does the price of oil affect stock markets and economies? I don’t quite get it.

        Sure, if the price of oil goes up, then oil company stocks go up. If the price of oil goes down, then airline stocks go up, seeing that the airline profit margins get better. Or they should.

        If there is a catastrophy looming, then the price of gold should go up. As should oil.

        When oil prices hit $50, the world economy will collapse. Oops, we went past $70, and nothing happened.

        So I’m with you, what do these “indicators” mean? Anything?

        —-
        You can observe a lot, just by watching. (Yogi Berra)

        1. Smoking gun?
          I think the smoking gun is the fact that the last time an anonymous investor made such an enormous options bet was a few weeks before 9/11. The timing is almost exactly the same; and this time, we have APEC next week, the COG meeting, and a very reliable former CIA Operative, Bob Baer, saying the US plans to attack Iran before the end of this year. It may all be coincidental.

          The pre-9/11 investor’s identity has never been made public. So the assumption is this new investor (or is it the same one?) knows something is big around the corner, and is trying to profit from it.

          Or is the smoking gun a water pistol?

          PS For an excellent explanation and live commentary, read this forum. These guys know what’s going on, and it appears media economic commentators are now discussing this monster stockmarket bet. It’s big news.

          1. Read this forum
            >>For an excellent explanation and live commentary, read this forum.

            I think people might get more out of the discussion – can see how it evolved – if we link them to the first page of the thread on this subject.

            It may also help readers to know that the forum-owner goes by the username Genesis – real name, Karl Denninger. Someone asked him if his bandwidth costs are skyrocketing because of the huge amount of traffic this thread is currently attracting. He replied, “No, but my bandwidth LOAD is! Fortunately I was able to enable some options here to take some of the heat off!”

            Interesting stuff.

            Kat

          3. I don’t know…
            If it is linked on your guess that Iran is going to be attacked in the near future Rick, but I have read that currently many new US Army recruits are accepting a $20K bonus if they agree to be shipped to Iraq as soon as possible. It’s in MSNBC if you guys are interested. So we’re seeing that the Army is desperate to send all the people they can summon in the next few months.
            Why?

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          4. For a good explanation,
            For a good explanation, watch the PBS documentary Endgame. You can watch it online. It goes through the entire history of the Iraq war, particularly the politics, and really taught me a lot.

            More troops are being sent to Iraq as part of Bush Co’s new “Surge” policy. Basically it means increasing the number of troops so they can overwhelm the enemy and finish the war. But the increase is so small (30’000 troops), it’s barely a ripple. Realistically, ten times the number they’re sending is needed, according to analysts who predict the Surge will be ineffective. It’s such a typical politician response though. You need a hundred new tanks, and the government gives you a bicycle.

          5. not quite
            They are paying $20k extra because most people don’t really want to go there.

            You have to consider that this is a volunteer army (and navy, air force, etc). They are not conscripts.

            Another consideration is that George W knows he is running out of time – and to support his party, he needs to leave the Iraq problem in some state that looks positive. And he needs more force there to make things be more positive, or at least look more positive.

            As for war with Iran – God I hope not.

            Having said all that, what will happen when (not if) the US gets out of Iraq? War between Iran and Saudi and Turkey?

            Who decided that Iraq is a country anyway?

            I’m sorry for being so negative today.

            —-
            You can observe a lot, just by watching. (Yogi Berra)

          6. low numbers
            I know Gerogie said he would increase the troops to 30K, but I believe that by now the actual numbers are ABOVE 100k.

            Earthling, you also have to bear in mind that the Army is giving more money to the recruits for scholarships and such, to above $50K, but the $20 k was an extra… “bonus” if they didn’t delay on a training campus (!).

            “So, how do you release the safety on this gun thing”
            “First is not a gun, it’s a RIFLE son! and don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. NOW MOVE! UNCLE SAM NEEDS YOU A.S.AP.!!”

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          7. numbers
            No he said he would increase by 30k. So now there are something like 160k or 170k soldiers there. Which is not nearly enough to control a country the size of Iraq, especially if the locals are not cooperating.

            As for the money, yes, the US pay their soldiers.

            —-
            You can observe a lot, just by watching. (Yogi Berra)

          8. Conscription
            I hope this doesn’t mean the dreaded C word. No, not Canada — conscription! Canada is the good C word for draftees who don’t want to go to war. 😉

          9. salaries
            Conscripts get a salary, at least in most reasonable countries. Perhaps not much, but just enough to make them technically employees.

            As for Canada, well they have been in pretty much all interesting wars. At the request of the British Empire, usually.

            —-
            You can observe a lot, just by watching. (Yogi Berra)

          10. I don’t think so.
            The Army has made it very clear that they are satisfied with keeping the forces as a volunteer thing, as earthling has stated. And I believe them on this one, since they know it would be a political suicide to any administration that even suggest it. They are just throwing more money to lure people into joining, not just for scholarships but also to start business or as downpayment to a new house. There’s also the video-game and Hollywood PR strategy, why do you think they gave Michael Bay so much support on the “Transformers” movie?

            And there’s also the migration thing: If you fight for America your family gets citizenship, that’s why there has been a surge in the number of hispanics joining the military.

            The only scenario where conscription would return would be in the form of a drastic direct menace to US soil, and if the Army forces are not enough (for instance, if they are too busy fighting too many fronts in the middle east)

            But to prevent this the Army strategy is pretty clear to me: to start the development of an UNMANNED army of robots, both human-guided and autonomous in some capabilities.

            Enforced with the development of trans-continental sub-orbital Mach 8-10 airplanes that can deliver a troop of marines anywhere in the world in less than 2 hours, to engage in lighting-fast ops.

            By 2050 combat is going to be something very, very different to what we have witnessed.

            PS: Would Canada really consider open war to defend their “interests” in the now incredibly coveted North Pole?

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          11. Reality Check
            There’s been a lot of talk about armed forces and military strategy here, but mainly from a civilian perspective. I spent 9 years in the forces. No western armed force would accept conscription any more – apart from the fact that no western population would swallow it. Western armies are based on technology and specialists. Conscription armies are massed forces, and low tech. So that’s a non-starter.
            As for Iraq, it never was, and never could be, a viable country. The ‘British Empire’ was asked, by the world, to do something with it, and it was disastrous – it couldn’t be anything else. It has only ever been held together by tyranny. The inevitable consequence of recent actions is civil war and break up into its 3 traditional tribal influences.
            Iran will certainly move into the Basra area. British forces, unlike the US forces, are now running down – and about time too; we should never have been there. This is what Bush fears, and why he’s preserntly going quite erratic.
            This, and fears of a new Vietnam. After he’s out of office, he won’t give a damn. It’s a ‘history’ thing. As for military action against Iran, it’s a non-starter on the ground. Impossible. The only military option would be a series of air strikes. Nothing more than that is physically capable of happening at this time.

            …

            I’m fanatical about moderation

            Anthony North

          12. exceptions
            Most of what you say is true. However, Germany does still have a conscript army. As a former German, I would suggest that they have the best pacifist armed forces you will find 🙂

            In my amateur mi;litary view, there are some big differences between fighting Iraq and fighting Iran – the Iran armed forces would actually resist. You know, fight back, do army stuff. Whereas the Iraqi armed forces did the reasonable thing and just went home.

            Another significant difference is that Iran (aka Persia) is actually a real country. Older than most European countries, older than China. Iran is not a construct of anyone’s imperialism, except of course their own.

            Do you think that the NSA reads what we write here ? I would hope so.

            —-
            You can observe a lot, just by watching. (Yogi Berra)

          13. If they do….
            I hope they put me in a cellar next to you guys 🙂

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

    2. Pyramid Poker
      Hello Timelord jr,

      There’s a combination of reasons as to why to place puts on eurostox; these are more volatile..the recent crises in the american subrime caused it to fall twice as much as the Dow, where there’s much more control, a few institurions hold a gigantic leverage in the Dow. However, most of all its the value of the dollar that would bring eurostox down. Therefore i assume this mysterious putter bets on a major drop in the value of the dollar, why ? Well i dont think the chinese are about to ruin their party by ruining their guests, afterwards well thats another matter. Maybe the subprime bubble will blow up as it has expanded itself thru all kinds of airy deals leveraging money out of thick air. This pyramid scheme functions as long as money is pomped into it…Then Hedge Funds have been taking over assets worth 2.3 trillion this year alone, and with it came 1.5 trillion of debt..on which to build more ghosts. Well the reverse leverage, leading to the collapse of the speculative pyramid, is moving and words wont stop it. Those with the best remaining credit will be able to buy up the economy-dirt cheap.

      A matter of choice;
      Intimidation, corruption and lies, or serenity, sharing and sincerity.

      1. Military strategy
        Good morning everyone,
        Sorry to leap frog your comment, Rho, but if I didn’t the above thread would become wafer thin again and stop us in our tracks.
        Iraq was a definite disaster at its conception, but not the outome of ‘imperialism’. Britain found itself in the region after WWI and were mandated by the League of Nations to sort out the after effects of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
        Yes, there are still conscript armies, but they are not ‘armies’ in the sense of the Britsh or American. As with Israel, the German forces are defensive (hold your howls of derision – I’m talking strategy, not politics).
        The important differences are ‘reach’ and ‘encirclement’. Before the 1990 Gulf War, France hadn’t realised modern miltary professionalism and thus had to cannibalise ten divisions to get one up to scratch for these concepts.
        By ‘reach’, I mean being able to mobilise anywhere in the world and form a safe base area. By ‘encirclement’ I mean deep penetration of an enemy to destroy his rear, thus starving him of supplies, and as such his fighting capability.
        It would be irrelevant if Iran fought back or not. Modern mechanised forces don’t move out of base area until an enemy has been overwhelmed by air power. This takes out an enemy’s air power and then picks off his armoured assets – tanks, artillery, etc – reducing him to infantry. Hence, when the armour rolls, fully backed up by air power, infantry is too ‘soft’ to stop it. The only time such a force can be stopped is by an air power equal to this, and it would be stopped before armour got going.
        This said, Iran is a ‘no no’ because it would be impossible to create a ‘safe base’ from which to launch. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are ‘hot’, so could not provide the safety; and I don’t think Putin would let it happen from the north.
        IF a base area could be secured, Iran would quickly be overwhelmed through inability of its army to fight, other than infantry. The first phase, therefore, would be a remarkable success. But as soon as the ‘advance’ is over, the Brit and American forces have to revert to infantry themselves. And they would then face the same massive problems as Iraq, but ten times worse. We’d be wiped out. That’s why modern western forces should never, ever invade, ‘cos we’re too technological for this form of infantry insurgency.
        Hope this explains a few things. Sorry to drone on.

        …

        I’m fanatical about moderation

        Anthony North

        1. air and such things
          Indeed, invading Iran does not make any sense. Also, of course the US has enough air power to overwhelm Iran, use 2 aircraft carriers and some long distance bombers, that pretty much the end of it.

          But as you say anthonynorth, then what? Going back to WW2, the occupation of Germany and Japan worked. But that was because the basic threat (only perceived maybe) was, hey if you don’t cooperate we can kill everyone here. It was believable in those days.

          Now, that kind of thing doesn’t work any more.

          —-
          Wanderer, kommst Du nach Liechtenstein – tritt nicht daneben, tritt mitten rein.

          1. Germany and Japan
            Hi Earthling,
            I was speaking in purely strategic terms, not political. As for politics, what we do with Iran is – nothing. What will be in the Middle East will be. A pull-out of Brit and US troops is inevitable. Afghanistan is a different matter – that’s about defeating a threat that wants to wipe the west out.
            Because of the major failures of Bush and Blair, the best thing we can do to save the west is move away from oil as soon as possible, because when the pull-out comes, there won’t be much for a long time.
            Germany and Japan were different matters. Japan went into denial and fear of nuclear holocaust, quickly picked itself up and became a major industrial power. Germany needed American bucks for re-build, and fear came in, not what the Allies would do, but the Russians.
            We can argue all day as to whether this is right or wrong in hindsight, but at the time, the fear was perceived as real.

            …

            I’m fanatical about moderation

            Anthony North

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