[cia-drugs] The Oil factor in Kosovo independence
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m41436&hd=&size=1&l=e The Oil factor in Kosovo independence Abdus Sattar Ghazali February 24, 2008 On February 17, Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared its independence. Not surprisingly it was instantly recognized as a state by the U.S., Germany, Britain and France. With 4203 square miles area, Kosovo may be a tiny territory but in the great game of oil politics it holds great importance which is in inverse proportion to its size. Kosovo does not have oil but its location is strategic as the trans-Balkan pipeline - known as AMBO pipeline after its builder and operator the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation - will pass through it. The pipeline will pump Caspian oil from the Bulgarian port of Burgas via Macedonia to the Albanian port of Vlora, for transport to European countries and the United States. Specifically, the 1.1 billion dollar AMBO pipeline will permit oil companies operating in the Caspian Sea to ship their oil to Rotterdam and the East Coast of the USA at substantially less cost than they are experiencing today. When operational by 2011, the pipeline will become a part of the region's critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fiber optic telecommunications lines. This pipeline will bring oil directly to the European market by eliminating tanker traffic through the ecologically sensitive waters of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. In 2000, the United States Government's Trade and Development Agency financed a feasibility study of pipeline which updated and enlarged the project's original feasibility study dating from early 1996. Brown & Root Energy Services, a wholly-owned British subsidiary of Halliburton completed the original feasibility study for this project. The US Trade and Development Agency's paper published May 2000, which assesses that the pipeline is a US strategic interest. According to the paper, the pipeline will provide oil and gas to the US market worth $600m a month, adding that the pipeline is necessary because the oil coming from the Caspian sea will quickly surpass the safe capacity of the Bosphorus. The project is necessary, according to a paper, because the oil coming from the Caspian sea "will quickly surpass the safe capacity of the Bosphorus as a shipping lane". The scheme, the agency notes, will "provide a consistent source of crude oil to American refineries", "provide American companies with a key role in developing the vital east-west corridor", "advance the privatisation aspirations of the US government in the region" and "facilitate rapid integration" of the Balkans "with western Europe". The pipeline itself, the agency says, has also been formally supported "since 1994". The first feasibility study, backed by the US, was conducted in 1996. In November 1998, Bill Richardson, the then US energy secretary, spelt out his policy on the extraction and transport of Caspian oil. "This is about America's energy security," he explained. "It's also about preventing strategic inroads by those who don't share our values. We're trying to move these newly independent countries toward the west. "We would like to see them reliant on western commercial and political interests rather than going another way. We've made a substantial political investment in the Caspian, and it's very important to us that both the pipeline map and the politics come out right." Professor Michel Chossudovsky, author of America at War in Macedonia, provides a deep insight into the Albanian-Macedonian-Bulgarian-Oil Pipeline project: "The US based AMBO pipeline consortium is directly linked to the seat of political and military power in the United States and Vice President Dick Cheney's firm Halliburton Energy. The feasibility study for AMBO's Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline, conducted by the international engineering company of Brown & Root Ltd. [Halliburton's British subsidiary] has determined that this pipeline will become a part of the region's critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fibre optic telecommunications lines. "Coincidentally, White and Case LLT, the New York law firm that President William J. Clinton joined when he left the White House also has a stake in the AMBO pipeline deal. "And upon completion of the feasibility study by Halliburton, a senior executive of Halliburton was appointed CEO of AMBO. Halliburton was also granted a contract to service US troops in the Balkans and build "Bondsteel" in Kosovo, which now constitutes "the largest American foreign military base constructed since Vietnam". "The AMBO Trans-Balkans pipeline project would link up with the pipeline corridors between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea basin, which lies at the hub of the World's largest unexplored oil re
[cia-drugs] Brzezinski Seizing Control Over US Policy In Slow-Motion Coup
http://www.vnnforum.com/showthread.php?t=67533 Brzezinski Seizing Control Over US Policy In Slow-Motion Coup Good background info on Gropebama here. By: Webster G. Tarpley WASHINGTON DC - Events of the past few days indicate that the Zbigniew Brzezinski faction of lunatic Russia haters have now won the upper hand inside the secret councils of the Anglo-American finance oligarchy, displacing the hitherto dominant George Shultz-neocon faction. Although George Bush and his cronies still occupy the White House, the policies that are being carried out are coming from the Brzezinski left CIA machine. Brzezinski has returned to public prominence in recent months due to his role as top establishment controller for the Obama campaign. But Brzezinski is not waiting for the outcome of the November elections to take over key parts of the US government. Brzezinski and his left CIA allies are already moving to assert their strategy, even as the neocons and their characteristic obsessions are moved to the back burner. The probability of an attack on Iran or Syria is declining, even as the danger of confrontation with Russia, China, and Pakistan * all much more dangerous targets to trifle with * increases exponentially. 1. KOSOVO - The independence of Kosovo has opened a new crisis front in Eastern Europe, with the potential for very nasty complications in regard to Russia. This is the essence of the Brzezinski anti-Russian policy. Kosovo independence is of course a flagrant violation of all existing norms of international law, most notably the Helsinki CSCE treaty of 1975 which finally put an end to World War II by declaring that all borders in Europe were to be considered final unless and until any changes had been agreed through mutual consultation of the interested parties. Since the Serbian government in Belgrade is vehemently opposed to Kosovo independence, the unilateral actions of the US, British, and NATO are the very essence of international anarchy. The new regime in Kosovo goes far beyond the usual kleptocracy of NATO puppets favored by Brzezinski and his circles. The new regime in Kosovo is essentially the terrorist KLA, an organization devoted to gun-running, drug-running, and trafficking in human slaves. The KLA is a Balkan version of Al Qaeda, and both are wholly owned creations of the CIA and British intelligence. With Kosovo independence, the US, British, and NATO stand ready to use armed force to defend the right of a terrorist gang to assert sovereignty over a segment of modern Europe. The criminal obscenity of this policy could hardly be greater, but for Brzezinski all methods are legitimate provided that they increase tension with Moscow, and in that respect Kosovo independence is already a glowing success. 2. US EMBASSY, BELGRADE - The attack on the US embassy in Belgrade, Serbia by gangs of drunken students is a classic Brzezinski operation. The tactic of having an incensed rent-a-mob of swarming adolescent patsies attack the US Embassy in order to gin up a crisis is one of Zbigniew's signature specialties. During the time that Brzezinski was running the foreign policy of Trilateral puppet Jimmy Carter, there were bloody attacks on the US embassies in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, both countries that featured prominently in Brzezinski's arc of crisis theory. Most famous of all was of course the attack on the US embassy in Teheran, Iran, which led to the taking of hostages and the huge international crisis which helped to doom the Carter administration to extinction at the polls. If US diplomats or State Department personnel are taken hostage anywhere in the world in the weeks and months to come, this must be attributed to Brzezinski. 3. SPACE WARFARE - The shooting down by the Pentagon of a US satellite over the Pacific is a very provocative military stunt designed to intimidate both Moscow and Beijing, who happened to be Brzezinski's immediate targets. This reckless and irresponsible action has raised the specter of an uncontrolled arms race reaching into outer space. 4. SYRIA - Zbigniew Brzezinski himself, fresh from addressing a retreat of House Democrats in Williamsburg Virginia, is now in Syria at the head of a RAND Corporation delegation. The purpose of this mission should not be construed as peace in the Middle East, although some foolish observers may read it in that way. Brzezinski's goal is immediately to lessen Russian influence in Syria, including the closing of certain naval facilities that the Russian navy has maintained in that country. In the longer run, Brzezinski would like to turn both Syria and Iran into components of the ring he means to forge around Russia for the purpose of the strategic encirclement of that rival superpower. Zbigniew's argument against the neocons is, why attack Iran and Syria, when you can turn them into kamikaze
[cia-drugs] British Empire Restructuring Global Power Structure
http://larouchepac.com/news/2008/02/25/british-empire-restructuring-global-power-structure.html British Empire Restructuring Global Power Structure February 25, 2008 (LPAC)--LaRouche PAC analysts are keeping a close eye on the fights which have been breaking out in international banking circles, as the British Empire continues its assault on the nation-state and nationalistic elements within nations. The latest bank to come under attack is Swiss giant UBS, which has taken substantial losses of late and whose head, Marcel Ospel, is rumored to be on the way out. In neighboring France, Daniel Bouton, the head of Societe Generale, is also under pressure, over big losses in its trading operation, losses which have unconvincingly been blamed on a single rogue trader. These moves recall the ousting last year of both Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch and Chuck Prince of Citigroup, both of whom were replaced after losses. What all of these institutions have in common is that they fall into the category of "national champions," or institutions which represent power structures within nations. In the new global imperialism the oligarchy plans to implement through the demise of the financial system, structures which represent national power bases must be dissolved into the global slime mold. This applies even to structures created by the oligarchy to exert control over those same nations. For the empire to dominate, all vestiges of national power must be destroyed. It is worth noting, in this context, the way the European Central Bank seems determined to bail out the British-linked banks. If the nations of Europe are to survive, they must come to grips with their own oligarchic problems; if not, they will remain captives of this British-centered slime mold, as imperial provinces rather than nations.
[cia-drugs] American System vs. Anglo-Dutch System Dialogue
I don't believe in sovereignty. http://larouchepac.com/news/2008/02/27/economist-magazine-russia-editor-i-advocate-lisbon-treaty-10.html American System vs. Anglo-Dutch System Dialogue Economist Magazine Russia Editor: "I Advocate the Lisbon Treaty 100%...I hate the Westphalian System!" Edward Lucas, the current editor for Russian and Eastern European affairs for the Economist Magazine, the official publication of the British Empire, has written a new book, "The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West". During a book signing, prior to a lecture he was to deliver at the Watson Institute at Brown University in Providence, RI, two LaRouche PAC organizers, Alexandra Peribikovsky and Matthew Ogden, drew him into a pointed dialogue during which he exposed his lust for the Lisbon treaty process, in order to eliminate the sovereignty of nation-states and bring to an end of the era of Westphalia. Because the dialogue yielded some juicy quotes from this explicit British imperialist, a paraphrase follows, with some direct quotations included: LPAC: What do you think of the Kennebunkport process, launched at the meeting of Putin with Bush? LUCAS: (Thick British accent) Bush said he looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul; I would have seen the letters KGB. LPAC: Many people have compared the Kennebunkport proposal to Reagan's SDI. LUCAS: I think the concept of strategic defense is highly over-rated. (He began to go into his spiel about so-called pipe-line politics, the title of one of the chapters in his new book). LPAC: While Putin was involved in the meetings around Kennebunkport, many leading people in Moscow were repeatedly discussing the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt. LUCAS: Well! I think Putin has his own reasons for bringing up FDR! LPAC: Both the Kennebunkport proposal and the SDI are reminiscent of Roosevelt's post-war Russian-American alliance. In fact, the Russian-American partnership goes all the way back to the Civil War and even the American Revolution. And, ironically, America was always allied with the Russians, against the British! LUCAS: World politics were different back then. LPAC: In the context of the crash of the entire world financial system, what do you think about the United States entering into an alliance with Russia and China, to stabilize the dollar, like Roosevelt did during the Bretton Woods? LUCAS: Why should Russia be a party to that sort of conference? Economically, Russia is now a third-rate power. They have no economic power. They're at the level of a Holland, or a Belgium. Why should the Dutch, or the Belgians, have a seat at the table discussing a new world system? LPAC: Brussells wants to dictate the new world system, actually! The Lisbon treaty would give the president of a United Europe a seat in Belgium. LUCAS: (direct quote) "I am a strong advocate of the Lisbon Treaty. I support it 100%! We should end all of this discussion and debate about an EU Constitution, and just do it! Just make it happen!" LPAC: So you advocate the elimination of sovereignty for the nations of Europe? LUCAS: "The nations of Europe don't need sovereignty! They no longer need to be separate states; Europe needs to create its own internal market." LPAC: That reminds me of the idea of a Pan-Europe, a One Europe, of Edward Mosely, the British fascist from the 1940's... LUCAS: Oh, you mean Oswald Mosely. LPAC: What you're advocating would mean the end of the Westphalian System. LUCAS: (direct quote) "I HATE THE WESTPHALIAN SYSTEM! The world needs to move beyond the age of Westphalia!" LPAC: You don't believe that governments should exist to promote the general welfare of its people? LUCAS: "I believe in international security organizations, like NATO...International governing institutions." LPAC: You know, here in the United States of America, we Americans value highly the idea of national sovereignty. LUCAS: I don't know much about the American system of politics, but I don't believe in sovereignty. By the way, are you two part of some specific political party or group? I am beginning to notice a certain consistency in your questions
[cia-drugs] VIDEO: The Ray Gun In Action
if this is being publicly released now, imagine what will be publicly released in 40 years, which has already been developed now. iirc, "non-lethal" means that less than 25% of the people who this device is used on will die within 30 days of it having been used upon them. -vmann http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3888156n The Ray Gun In Action Watch as David Martin gets zapped by a ray gun - a non-lethal weapon that could be used to disperse crowds and could save many lives in war zones. Martin's report airs Sunday, March 2, on 60 minutes.
[cia-drugs] Bill Gates dupes students at Waterloo University
Bill Gates is doing a speaking tour of college campuses in order to get naive students interested in Computer/IT careers, and to push his immigration agenda. As part of that tour he went to the University of Waterloo in Canada where he gave a speech to an audience of high school and college students. The university has a web page where you can find out more about the Bill Gates visit. They even have a video of the entire presentation. http://communications.uwaterloo.ca/events/billgates/ I made a short 2 minute clip of the video (at about 52 minutes into the 1 hour presentation) where he criticized the H-1B program because he thinks it's too restrictive. He praised Canada for its loose immigration policies that make it easy for foreigners to get work visas. Bill Gates said that there must be a "free flow of talent" between the U.S. and Canada but never mentioned how that large labor pool enriches his portfolio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB2OhaGLIp8 The articles below have a few comments by Gates that are worth mentioning. This explains why it's so difficult for anyone over the age of 35 to find jobs at Microsoft: "Why do young people play such an important role in innovation, even though older people have greater breadth of knowledge and a deeper understanding of their field? [snipped] It's not unusual to have the best solution to a tough problem come from one of the youngest people working to solve it. Often, our first reaction is that what they are suggesting is crazy, until we understand that they have come at the problem in a creative, new way. Lots of brouhaha was published in the media when Microsoft set up a development center in Vancouver, Canada. Bill Gates said that the Canadian office was necessary because it was so difficult and expensive to import H-1Bs into the U.S. Gates praised Canada because: "The Canadian government makes it easier to bring in smart people from various countries". You might wonder where all the smart people are coming from to work in Vancouver. Buried in the Financial Post article below the truth is revealed. The smart people Gates adores so much are coming from China, although Gates also mentioned "other countries", which probably means India. I doubt that Gates includes Canadians on his list of smart people anymore than he includes Americans. He said Microsoft has looked to other countries such as China to help fill "a pretty significant shortage" of IT workers and has set up development centres, including one in Vancouver, to develop new talent. The following statement by Gates needs some discussion because there is far more to it than meets the eye: "There should be a free-flow of talent from the U.S. to Canada and Canada to the U.S. There's bright person who wants a job - it shouldn't be hard to go across the border and do that. We should make it as seamless as possible." Gates is only telling half the truth, because it is very easy for Canadians to cross the border to work in the U.S. Microsoft or any other employer can obtain TN (Trade NAFTA) visas for anyone that they need to transfer between the Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. TN visas are unlimited and quick and easy to obtain, so Microsoft should have no problem moving as many people as they want to the U.S. So what is Bill Gates complaining about? Moving Canadians into the U.S. isn't an issue for Gates, but moving foreigners who work in Canada is. In order to get a TN visa Microsoft's Chinese and Indian employees must become naturalized citizens of Canada, otherwise they have to get H-1B visas which are in short supply. Getting naturalized in Canada isn't a big deal for those who have jobs but Bill Gates probably doesn't want to use Vancouver as a drop house for non-Canadians any longer than he has too. I have contended since the opening of that Vancouver office that Gates intended to use it as a backdoor to get foreign workers into the U.S. Apparently he is having some trouble getting as many TN visas as he would like, so now he is on another lobbying campaign to increase the H-1B cap. +++ http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080221/gates_ontario_080221/20080221?hub=SciTech Microsoft looks for talent in developing countries Microsoft founder Bill Gates speaks to university and high school students during a stop in Waterloo, Ont. on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. (Adrian Wyld /THE CANADIAN PRESS) The Canadian Press Updated: Thu. Feb. 21 2008 5:32 PM ET WATERLOO, Ont. -- A widespread shortage of information technology graduates across North America is forcing Microsoft Corp. and other software companies to look to developing countries such as China to meet their needs, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says. "When we want to hire lots of software engineers there is a shortage in North America - a pretty significant shortage," Gates said Thursday in an interview. "We h
[cia-drugs] Fwd: [ctrl] Print - Up, Up and Away: What's Really Driving the Price of Oil? - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
-Original Message- From: Alamaine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: CTRL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:47 pm Subject: [ctrl] Print - Up, Up and Away: What's Really Driving the Price of Oil? - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News SPIEGEL ONLINE - February 28, 2008, 04:50 PM URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,538412,00.html UP, UP AND AWAY What's Really Driving the Price of Oil? By Beat Balzli and Frank Hornig The price of crude oil has doubled, from $50 to $100, within months. The increase cannot be attributed to the fundamental data, which have hardly changed. And the looming recession ought to drive the price down. So why is oil getting more expensive? DPA Pumps in Oklahoma are less important to the price of oil than pension-fund managers. Cushing is the kind of place where you'd expect to see a cowboy ride around the corner and tie his horse to a rail in front of the Buckhorn Bar. This sleepy town of 8,000 on the Oklahoma prairie comes complete with a main street that could double for a set in a Western. Its biggest attractions include a defunct train station and a run-down movie theater, where the price of admission is $1.50. Robert Felts, a friendly old man who works for the Cushing Industrial Authority, likes to show visitors the historic oil pump in the middle of town. He tells the story of how, in 1912, a giant oil field was discovered nearby that placed Cushing on the map and showered it with more than two decades of prosperity. Up to 50 million barrels of oil bubbled out of the ground each year in those days. "Our refineries could hardly keep up," says Felts. To solve the problem, the oil barons of the day had large storage tanks installed in the surrounding prairieland. FROM THE MAGAZINE Find out how you can reprint this DER SPIEGEL article in your publication. There isn't much to talk about besides oil in this small Oklahoma town. But reports on the situation in Cushing get global markets moving at 10:30 every Wednesday morning. That's when US government officials publish a figure that reflects the amount of oil stored in the hundreds of tanks which now stretch for miles along the horizon. Located at a key intersection in the North American pipeline system, Cushing is home to the largest oil storage facility in the United States. Oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange literally changes owners here in Cushing. If the tanks are full, prices sink. But if levels in these tanks fall, prices rise. A rule of thumb for traders: Supply and demand control the market. Normally, at any rate. But in recent months the conventional wisdom has flip-flopped. Within a year the price of a barrel of crude has doubled, from $50 to last week's high of $100. Nothing seems impossible now. Some analysts see prices rising to between $120 and $150, which would have dramatic consequences for the world economy. Similarly spectacular price developments have only occurred four times in the last few decades: in 1973, when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo for the first time; in 1979, as a consequence of the Iranian revolution; a year later, when Iraq invaded Iran; and in 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Which leads to one the most provocative questions being asked about the world economy today: Why are oil prices soaring again? It's All Speculation There are plenty of answers. Some hold the crisis in the Middle East and constantly growing demand in China responsible. Others blame producing countries for keeping the oil spigot half-closed. But none of it's very convincing. "Supply and demand cannot explain the high prices," says Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., a leading commodities analyst. Like many in his profession, Gheit believes financial investors are driving up prices. He's reminded of the Internet bubble around the turn of the millennium. According to Gheit, oil is also seeing "excessive speculation" at the moment. OPEC arrives at the same conclusion. "The fundamentals are right," says OPEC President Mohammed al-Hamli. In fact, the cartel has expected excess supply on markets since early February -- a result of the American economic crisis. This excess supply would normally cause the price per barrel to fall. Instead, dealers have now broken through the magic $100 threshold for the second time in only a few weeks. The mood is festive among oil barons, who seem to be unimpressed by global recession fears. Exxon Mobil recently reported its profits for 2007: $40.6 billion, a record for the world's largest energy company, and in international economic history. A company has never made so much money in a year. Enormous amounts of money are currently changing hands in the business of oil contracts. With the American real estate debacle infecting ever larger segments of the capital markets, fro
