Sometimes I read a news article that just doesn't fit into the puzzle of our times. Its contents seem to be non sequiturs in the current economic climate, and although the headlines are brutally honest, noone pays any heed to the contents.Such is the case with the following article. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is advocating an amnesty for illegal workers in the USA.
Let me get this straight:
US unemployment is skyrocketing.
An increase in the labour force means higher unemployment, greater scarcity of jobs.
An increase in hiring international professionals means higher unemployment.
So the CFR recommends this?
The US Congress has passed a rash of Draconian laws to prevent illegal immigration to the US since 911 designed to protect Americans.
Border checks and international travel have become travellers' hell by viture of US No Fly Lists and NSA investigations of 'persons of interest'.
Now the US wants to soften these laws? Why? The threat is gone? Tourism is in the shitter?
I don't get it. Unless this has something to do with the formation of a US-Mexico-Canada currency zone, the NAU. If this is the case, then the CFRs' amnesty on illegal aliens, and its recruitment of foreign students and tourists make much more sense.
What do you think? Have I missed a big piece of puzzle context here or do I not have the whole story? What's wrong with this picture? Maybe the CFR has had an epiphany of moral conscience? Cui bono here?
Council on Foreign Relations backs amnesty for illegals, opposes Arpaio-style raids
Phoenix Business Journal
by Mike SunnucksWednesday, July 8, 2009 Source The uber-establishment Council on Foreign Relations said Wednesday it favors granting legal status to many of the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., creating a guest worker program for low-skilled foreign workers to come and work in the U.S and opposes local police getting to conduct immigration raids.
The CFR issued an immigration policy report Wednesday that looks to lift caps on foreign university students in the U.S. and allow skilled foreign graduates to get more work visas. The international policy group also wants to create legal paths to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
The CFR also said local police should not take lead roles in immigration enforcements and workplace raids. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas have been conducting immigration raids and prosecutions against businesses hiring illegal immigrants, as well as drop-houses used by smugglers trafficking illegal immigrants into Arizona from Mexico.
The CFR report does not specifically mention Arpaio but the Valley’s sheriff is the most notable local enforcer of immigration laws in the U.S.The CFR’s recommendations on guest workers and amnesty mirror plans to be pushed in Congress this year by President Barack Obama. Arizona State university professor Raul H. Yzaguirre and former Florida governor Jeb Bush served on the CFR task force that wrote the recommendations.
The group also wants the U.S. to tweek or ease some post 9/11 security measures that have discouraged immigration and foreign tourism into the U.S. and want the U.S. government to develop new technologies to secure border areas, verify workers’ employment status and enforce immigration laws.
The New York-based CFR is a heavyweight international policy group whose members includes powerful politicians, CEOs and university presidents as well as multinational corporations, media firms and private equity firms.
The Council’s corporate members include
Bank of America,
Goldman Sachs,
American Express,
Chevron,
ExxonMobil Corp.,
Rothschild North America Inc.,
News Corp.,
General Electric,
KBR Inc.,
Lockheed Martin,
Raytheon Co.,
Soros Fund Management and Google Inc.
U.S. Sen. John McCain,
former Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt,
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano,
Arizona State University President Michael Crow and Thunderbird School of Global Management president Angel Cabrera are Arizonans that are CFR members.
Other notable CFR members include: • Former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, James Baker and Madeline Albright. • Former U.S. Treasury secretaries Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin.• Financier George Soros and JP Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon. • Former Federal Reserve Bank chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker.• Former presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and former vice president Dick Cheney. • Media notables such as NBC’s Tom Brokaw, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, Newsweek International editor and CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria and New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger.
So what did happen during the 1976 Swine Flu Pandemic? This old 60 Minutes video is very enlightening. Watch it before you get that Tamiflu vaccination.
Israeli soldiers have described the use of "permissive" rules of engagement that cost civilian lives during the recent military campaign in Gaza.
The troops said they had been urged to fire on any building or person that seemed suspicious and said civilians were sometimes used as human shields.
Breaking the Silence, a campaign group made up of Israeli soldiers, gathered anonymous accounts from 26 soldiers.
Israel denies breaking the laws of war and dismissed the report as hearsay.
Breaking the Silence described most of the testimonies of soldiers who took part in Operation Cast Lead as "sober, regretful and shocked".
Many of the testimonies are in line with claims made by human-rights organisations that Israeli military action in Gaza was indiscriminate and disproportionate.
According to testimonies from the 14 conscripts and 12 reserve soldiers:
• Rules of engagement were either unclear or encouraged soldiers to do their utmost to protect their own lives whether or not Palestinian civilians were harmed.
• Civilians were used as human shields, entering buildings ahead of soldiers
• Large swathes of homes and buildings were demolished. Accounts say that this was often done because the houses might be booby-trapped, or cover tunnels. Testimony mentioned a policy referred to as "the day after", whereby areas near the border where razed to make future military operations easier
Israeli soldiers deployed on the Israel-Gaza border 28 Decmeber 2008 Soldier testimonies appear to contradict official Israeli statements
• Some of the troops had a generally aggressive, ill-disciplined attitude
• There was incidents of vandalism of property of Palestinians
• Soldiers fired at water tanks because they were bored, at a time of severe water shortages for Gazans
• White phosphorus was used in civilian areas in a way some soldiers saw as gratuitous and reckless
• Many of the soldiers said there had been very little direct engagement with Palestinian militants
The report says Israeli troops and the people who justify their actions are "slid[ing] together down the moral slippery slope". Read more...
I have blogged before on the mysterious deaths of top microbiologists here (scroll to bottom for pictures and causes of death). The case of Dr. Kelly may well be the most intriguing and high profile of all. His death reported as a suicide is surely as strange a yarn as the media has ever reported.
Dr David Kelly
13 doctors demand inquest into Dr David Kelly's death
By Glen Owen and Miles Goslett Last updated at 1:19 AM on 13th July 2009 Source
No inquest: Dr David Kelly in the days before his death
The death of Government scientist David Kelly returned to haunt Labour today as a group of doctors announced that they were mounting a legal challenge to overturn the finding of suicide.
Dr Kelly's body was found six years ago this week in woods close to his Oxfordshire home, shortly after he was exposed as the source of a BBC news report questioning the grounds for war in Iraq.
Unusually, no coroner's inquest was held into his death.
The only official verdict has come from the Hutton Inquiry, commissioned by Tony Blair, which concluded that Dr Kelly, 59, died from loss of blood after cutting his wrist with a blunt gardening knife.
Critics regarded the report as a 'whitewash', and Mr Blair remains acutely sensitive to the accusation that he has 'blood on his hands' over the scientist's death.
CBC video (part2/7) of Dr. Kelly and Anthrax letters (10 min)
But now a team of 13 specialist doctors has compiled a detailed medical dossier that rejects the Hutton conclusion on the grounds that a cut to the ulnar artery, which is small and difficult to access, could not have caused death.
It will be used by their lawyers to demand a formal inquest and the release of Dr Kelly's autopsy report, which has never been published. It will also be sent to Sir John Chilcot's forthcoming inquiry into the Iraq War.
The 12-page opinion, a copy of which has been seen by The Mail on Sunday, concludes: 'The bleeding from Dr Kelly's ulnar artery is highly unlikely to have been so voluminous and rapid that it was the cause of death. Sue Halpin who has stood by husband David Halpin through his efforts to raise charity funds to help in the Middle East.
Speaking out: David Halpin, pictured with his wife Sue, is among the doctors behind the legal challenge
'We advise the instructing solicitors to obtain the autopsy reports so that the concerns of a group of properly interested medical specialists can be answered.'
The doctors do not say how, or why, they believe Dr Kelly did die but they have worked closely with campaigning Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who believes that the scientist was murdered by enemies he made in the course of his work as a weapons inspector.
And two of the doctors have added to the sense of persistent intrigue surrounding Dr Kelly by claiming that thousands of emails relating to the case had 'vanished' from their computers, in what one claimed was an act of 'state-sponsored sabotage'.
A coroner's inquest into Dr Kelly's death was suspended before it could begin by order of the then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer. He used the Coroners Act to designate the Hutton Inquiry as 'fulfilling the function of an inquest', but as a judicial investigation it had no power to make witnesses give evidence under oath.
After taking evidence from - but not cross-examining - Dr Nicholas Hunt, the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination, Lord Hutton concluded that 'the principal cause of death was bleeding from incised wounds to the left wrist' combined with the consumption of painkillers and 'silent coronary artery disease'.
The doctors also say that the level of the painkiller co-proxamol in Dr Kelly's blood was about one third of that required to produce death and point to Dr Hunt's comments at the end of giving evidence to Lord Hutton.
Asked if there was anything further he would like to say on the circumstances leading to Dr Kelly's death, he said: 'Nothing I could say as a pathologist, no.'
After the report was published, Dr Hunt added to the doctors' suspicions by telling Channel 4 that he thought a full coroner's inquest should be held.
The doctors have hired solicitor Martin Day, of Leigh Day and Co, and received advice from barrister Richard Hermer, QC, both of whom have a strong track record in civil liberties actions, including winning nearly £3million in compensation from the British Government for the family of Iraqi Baha Mousa, who died while being detained by UK troops.
They intend to use the Coroners Act to challenge Lord Falconer's suspension of the inquest.
One of the doctors, David Halpin, told The Mail on Sunday that they had argued their case in the legal document in 'microscopic' detail.
He said: 'We reject haemorrhage as the cause of death and see no contrary opinion which would stand its ground. I think it is highly likely he was assassinated.'
Mr Baker said: 'The fact that eminent medical experts feel so strongly that the official explanation for Dr Kelly's death cannot be sustained and are now taking legal action against the Government to secure a proper inquest demonstrates both how suspect Lord Hutton's conclusions were and how this dark chapter cannot be closed unless Sir John Chilcott's inquiry into the Iraq war addresses this issue.
'A proper inquest into Dr Kelly's death must take place.'
Among the doctors is Christopher Burns-Cox, 71, the former senior consultant physician for the Frenchay Healthcare Trust, Bristol, and current co-chairman of the NHS consultants' association.
Lib Dem MP Norman Baker at the place where Dr Kelly's body was found in 2003 Mr Halpin, 69, meanwhile, is a former lecturer in anatomy at King's College, London, and a former consultant in orthopaedic and trauma surgery at Torbay Hospital. He continued in general practice until 2005.
Mr Halpin said that he lost more than 6,000 pieces of correspondence - many relating to Dr Kelly - during his investigation, explaining that the mystery began when the 'firewall' on his computer, which all similar machines are fitted with as a security measure, became inactive without warning.
His emails started disappearing as though they were being sifted remotely. 'I believe this will have been done by a state-sponsored agency and not by an amateur acting singly,' he said.
A close associate of Mr Halpin's who has also taken an active interest in the case confirmed to The Mail on Sunday that at around the same time he, too, fell victim to what he believes was a rogue agent, losing 'somewhere in the region of 2,000 emails', many of which discussed Dr Kelly.
For professional reasons, the individual concerned, a civil servant, said that he could not be identified by name.
He said: 'I have no doubt that my computer was hacked into and I also have reason to believe that both my mobile telephone and my landline have been bugged until fairly recently. It echoes on the end of the line, things like that.
'But if I made an accusation like that in public without being able to prove it, it would compromise me and for the sake of my children I do not want to enter that territory. I cannot say any more about it at the moment.'
Mr Baker, who published a book about Dr Kelly's death in 2007, also believes that his computer was hacked into remotely, leading to the loss of sensitive files about David Kelly from his constituency office in Lewes, East Sussex. 'I think it is highly likely he was assassinated'
And Mr Halpin added that Rowena Thursby, who helped establish the Kelly Investigation Group which has campaigned for the inquest into Dr Kelly's death to be reopened on several occasions, has also lost scores of emails in a similar, suspicious manner.
The developments come as investigative journalist Bob Coen prepares to screen a 90-minute documentary, Anthrax War, in London on the sixth anniversary of Dr Kelly's death, this Friday.
The film claims that Dr Kelly's death may have been linked to the secret world of germ warfare research. [See above video for link.]
Until his death Dr Kelly was privy to some of the state's most sensitive information and worked closely with the intelligence services of all the major industrialised countries.
Among notable claims in the film, which was made over four years, is Dr Kelly's connection with Dr Walter Basson, whose work for the South African apartheid regime used chemical and biological weapons research destined for extrajudicial execution, and whose goals included ethnic cleansing.
The film also suggests that Dr Kelly was preparing to write a book that would have breached the Official Secrets Act.
He could not have died from loss of blood, say the experts
The draft version of the doctors’ dossier – a final version, including diagrams and a copy of Dr Kelly’s death certificate, is being prepared for lawyers this week – concentrates on the ulnar artery, a blood vessel in the forearm.
The Hutton Report quoted Dr Nicholas Hunt, the forensic pathologist who examined Dr Kelly’s corpse, as seeing ‘evidence of a significant incised wound to his left wrist, in the depths of which his left artery had been completely severed...
‘The arterial injury had resulted in the loss of a significant volume of blood, as noted at the scene.’
But the doctors draw on their specialist knowledge of human anatomy to argue in detail that a wound to this artery could not have resulted in enough blood loss to cause his death.
‘This artery has the width of a matchstick in its constricted state,’ they write.
‘It is not easily felt on the little finger side of the wrist... on the contrary, the radial artery pulse is easily felt beneath the skin on the opposite side of the wrist. It is thus more difficult to cut the ulnar artery.’
They go on to argue that, according to the evidence given by Dr Hunt to Lord Hutton’s inquiry, Dr Kelly’s blood would have quickly clotted, thus stemming the flow and preventing his death.
They write: ‘Dr Hunt describes complete severance of this artery, ie transection. This means the elasticity of the artery would have caused it to retract within its sheath.
‘Contraction of the circular smooth muscle within the arterial wall would have narrowed the artery, thus reducing or stopping blood flow.
Blood clots would have formed in the wound, but also within the narrowed artery.
‘That clotting within the artery would have happened more speedily because the cutting was done with considerable trauma, thus causing more damage to the lining membrane, the intima.
Damage to the cells of the intima causes aggregation of blood platelets, thus hastening clotting within the vessel.’
The doctors cite a number of studies which they say prove for ‘all practical purposes’ that suicide using the means allegedly adopted by Dr Kelly ‘does not exist in Britain’.
Although the doctors do not believe the painkillers taken by Dr Kelly contributed to his death in any way – as argued by Lord Hutton – they have restricted the scope of their dossier to refute the reasoning he used on the question of haemorrhage.
Workers at collapsed French car parts maker New Fabris threatened on Sunday to blow up their factory if they did not receive payouts by July 31 from auto groups Renault and Peugeot to compensate for their lost jobs. New Fabris was declared in liquidation in April, so the workers stand to get no redundancy money, although they are entitled to draw state unemployment benefit.They want Renault SA (RENA.PA) and PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) to pay 30,000 euros ($41,800) for each of the 336 staff at the factory, or some 10 million euros in total, in return for its remaining stocks of equipment and machinery.
"The bottles of gas have already been placed at various parts of the factory and are connected with each other," CGT trades union official Guy Eyermann told France Info radio."If Renault and PSA refuse to give us that money it could blow up before the end of the month," he addedA delegation of the workers has a meeting on Thursday with Renault, which had no immediate comment.
Police also declined to comment on the threat by the workers, who are occupying the New Fabris factory at Chatellerault, near Poitiers in central France.The company is the successor to Fabris, founded in 1947 and put into liquidiation in 2007. It was later acquired by ZEN of Italy which is headed by Florindo Garro. ZEN SpA, based in Albignasego near Padua, makes cast iron parts for vehicles.
Garro controls other metal firms in France such as Rencast and SBFM that also have financial difficulties.Some French workers have adopted militant tactics in the economic crisis, including "bossnappings" where managers have been held hostage in their offices. (Reporting by Gerard Bon and Marcel Michelson, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
I hate to be cynical on a Sunday...seems like the only day people have to take a break from the burdens of life. Nevertheless, I am wondering what one year will bring; will we curse ourselves for not seeing the writing on the wall? Will we wish we were wiser?
Where were you 22 years ago? What were you doing during the Iran Contra affair? Were you paying attention? If you were, then you know exactly what is going on in Iran today.
I invite you to view this 22 year old Bill Moyers special and the subversion of the US Constitution for an historical perspective on the Iranian elections and US meddling in the foreign affairs of this country. You can go futher back if you like to 1953 - but at least go back to 1986.
How do Americans forget (or ignore) their own history? It is shocking. Did you even think that the future would become a recurring nightmare of the past? I surely did not. Yet, here we are in a worse global situation than 22 years ago. Why have such warnings been ignored? How the eff did this happen again?
"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it." - David Rockefeller, "Memoirs", (p.405).
Of all the blogs I visit and read, one stands head and shoulders above the rest: Old-Thinker News. The author selects articles and organises information such that one can read or watch videos for hours on a particular subject without leaving the blog.
I like the mountain-top panorama of today's world. It's very scary; but, I would rather look and see then to be hustled hurriedly up the ramp to the abattoir. I often wonder; What will the headlines be one year from now? Or in two years? While no one can see around a corner (usually), we can still predict much if we are paying attention to other sensory data and processing the bits together to form the bigger picture.
That is what Old-thinker news does. This one article on Trends to a New World Order, reprinted below, has a breath taking clarity in focusing attention to the context in which we are travelling together on earth, politically, socially, technologically and ecomonically. Hope you will enjoy it and visit the blog, where many other subjects of great interest are presented.
Trends to a New World Order: Part 1
Transnational Elites and Pernicious Globalisation
Countless people... will hate the new world order... and will die protesting against it... When we attempt to evaluate its promise, we have to bear in mind the distress of a generation or so of malcontents..." - H.G. Wells, The New World Order (1939)
By Daniel Taylor Source As we enter the new year of 2008, themes of a "global community" and a "unified global approach" are becoming more prevalent.
When keeping an eye on current events and reading various think tank projections regarding the future of the world, a sobering picture begins to emerge. Forecasts are being made of a world in which a sharp divide exists between the elite and the rest of humanity. Advanced technology offers those who can afford it a means of personalized "auto-evolution". "Pernicious globalization" takes its toll on the world and global elites thrive, leaving the rest of us in the dust. Increasingly open borders, unchecked immigration and trends to world governance cause communal conflict between various groups. The middle class becomes revolutionary as economic hardship hits hard on millions of Americans. Dictators utilize life extension technologies to prolong their reign of terror. A computer simulation offers government agencies and corporations a system to test marketing strategy and psychological operations on a virtual mirror of the real world in real time. "Gen-rich" and "Gen-poor" classes emerge to form a new "biological caste system".
All of this would make for a thrilling Sci-Fi novel, but these trends come not from science fiction - though science fiction has proven to be a prophetic precursor to these developments -, but from present day realities seen by the U.K. Ministry of Defense, the CIA and other prominent individuals in the fields of technology, science and government.
This short two part report will attempt to answer these questions: What impact has globalization had on us and how will it effect us in the future? How do present day trends in technology, globalization, politics and government relate to the prospect of a New World Order?
The New World Order
A "New World Order" has been heralded by global elites for many years. We are told by these elites that trends to a system of world governance are only natural, that national sovereignty must be eliminated. James Paul Warburg, speaking before the US Senate in 1950, stated that, "We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent."
Globalization and advances in technology have undoubtedly impacted our lifestyles, world-views, and lives dramatically. A "global outlook" has planted itself in our society, but more so among elites. Zbigniew Brzezinski writes of this global outlook in his 1970 book, Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era,
"A global human consciousness is for the first time beginning to manifest itself... we are witnessing the emergence of transnational elites... composed of international businessmen, scholars, professional men and public officials. The ties of these new elites cut across national boundaries, their perspectives are not confined by national traditions..." [1]
The dissemination and injection of globalist ideology into the collective vocabulary and consciousness of society has been a leading goal of such transnational elites. Regional governance in conjunction with regional economic systems inside a world government has also been a long term goal of globalist organizations. In order for these regional systems to operate smoothly and to be generally accepted, think tanks have undertaken projects of social engineering on a massive scale to rid the population of "outdated" ideas of national sovereignty. [2]
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a conference in 2002 which was dedicated to the development of strategies to overcome such "outdated" ideas. The political, social and economic integration of the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a union similar to the European Union was discussed. America was acknowledged by the conference panelists as being one of the largest obstacles to globalist planning. Expanding the definition of "we", framing integration in a non threatening manner and a "winner at the polls" were some of the suggested social engineering strategies. A summary of the conference states, "Further economic, political, and social integration will depend on how citizens of the three countries define their national identities and the degree to which they are willing to cede some of their countries’ sovereignty to a larger entity." [3]
"Foreign policy... provides three things for a nation’s citizens: sovereignty, security, and identity. Sovereignty dictates that the state’s citizens and government (“we”) decide policy, identity defines “who we are” as a nation, and security protects a nation’s sovereignty and identity. Governments must convince citizens that the regional project is consistent with these three values by expanding the definition of the “we.” [4]
As we enter the new year of 2008, themes of a "global community" and a "unified global approach" are becoming more prevalent. The United Nations has recently begun an initiative to bring more into agreement with the "global consciousness" with a comic book geared towards children. Marvel Comics has teamed up with the UN to create a comic book that will teach children "...the value of international cooperation." [5] Another example comes from the London based think tank mi2g, which released a statement in late December of 2007 that stated in part, "One world: The global community of nations is realizing that regardless of the complex global risk we wish to address, we all have to come together. The mantra of a "unified global approach" is becoming essential whether it is countering climate chaos and environmental degradation... advanced technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI -- ... financial systems and systemic risk; or transhumanism and ethics..." [6]
Combating climate change with a "global unified approach" is a concept that Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, is quite familiar with. In an article carried in the Taipei times, Haass writes that sovereignty must become weaker in a globalized world faced with climate change, "Some governments are prepared to give up elements of sovereignty to address the threat of global climate change..."
"Globalization thus implies that sovereignty is not only becoming weaker in reality, but that it needs to become weaker. States would be wise to weaken sovereignty in order to protect themselves..." [7]
Climate change "the issue" of 2008
Writing in the Business Spectator, economist Craig James states that climate change is "...expected to be the big issue for 2008, dominating public consciousness..." [8] 2007 saw large amounts of attention on this issue as well, when U.K. Prime minister Gordon Brown called for a "New World Order" to combat climate change. [9]
Impact of globalization and possible future scenarios
Globalization, immigration and integration of countries into larger entities brings with it social and political consequences. The Ministry of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency have produced reports forecasting possible outcomes of globalization and integration. The reports carry a familiar tone between them; advancing technology and globalization causing deep divides between elites and the majority of humanity. The CIA report, "Global Trends 2015", outlines possible scenarios for pernicious globalization. The report states, "Scenario Two: Pernicious Globalization Global elites thrive, but the majority of the world’s population fails to benefit from globalization... migration becomes a major source of interstate tension... Internal conflicts increase, fueled by frustrated expectations, inequities, and heightened communal tensions..." [1]
The Futurist magazine discussed this CIA report in depth in the May-June 2001 edition. Summarizing trends regarding national and international governance, the magazine states, "Established governments are likely to lose some control over their borders as migrants, technology, disease, weapons, financial transactions, and information of all kinds move about the world. Corporations and nonprofit organizations will exert more influence on state affairs. Winners and losers in globalization will emerge..." [2]
The European Union has seen many of the forecasts cited above come to pass. Massive immigration throughout the porous EU borders has caused tension and loss of entry level jobs for native citizens of the United Kingdom. The signing of the EU treaty in Britain by Foreign Secretary David Miliband has heightened these tensions. [3]
In a an article released by the UK Daily Mail, it is reported that, "Half a million fewer Britons are in work following the unprecedented influx of migrants from Eastern Europe..." The Daily Mail report cites the independent House of Commons Library for the statistics. The report also states that, "The British Chamber of Com-merce has already warned that a generation of British children is at risk of going 'from school straight to welfare' while migrants fill skills shortages in the economy." [4]
The United States open borders between Mexico and Canada have allowed millions of illegal immigrants to flow in and out of the country. Violent gangs such as the Latino group MS13 - identified by the FBI as the single most dangerous gang in America - are becoming more prevalent.
Perhaps one of the most concerning forecasts comes from the U.K. Ministry of Defense in a report released in early 2007. The report, "DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007-2036", foresees the middle classes facing increased economic hardship. In response,
"The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx. The globalization of labour markets and reducing levels of national welfare provision and employment could reduce peoples’ attachment to particular states. The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat to social order and stability, as the burden of acquired debt and the failure of pension provision begins to bite." [5]
The report also states,
"Economic globalization and indiscriminate migration may lead to levels of international integration that effectively bring interstate warfare to an end; however, it will also result in communities of interest at every level of society that transcend national boundaries and could resort to the use of violence." [6]
As economic crises hit home for millions in America and abroad in 2008 and beyond, feelings of anger and resentment are undoubtedly going to spread. Trends expert Gerald Celente predicts that in 2008,
"Failing banks, busted brokerages, toppled corporate giants, bankrupt cities, states in default, foreign creditors cashing out of US securities … whatever the spark, the stage is set for panic in the streets. When the giant firms fall, they'll crush the man on the street." [7]
Will the "revolutionary middle class" that poses a threat to social order - bitten by burdens of debt, globalization, and economic hardship - become a reality?
Anti-globalists labeled as terrorists
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano have both suggested - both vaguely and unmistakably - that anti-globalists are terrorists. While speaking at a conference hosted by AKbank in Istanbul Turkey on May 31, 2007, just prior to the scheduled Bilderberg meeting, Henry Kissinger gave a speech in which he stated,
"What we in America call terrorists are really groups of people that reject the international system..." [1]
In June of 2007, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano stated during a press conference that it is, "...psychological terrorism to suggest the spectre of a European superstate." [2]
H.G. Wells' words echo eerily across time; "Countless people... will hate the new world order... and will die protesting against it..."
Citation:
The New World Order
[1] Brzezinski, Zbigniew. Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era. Penguin books, 1976
[2] "The "North American Consciousness" and "European Identity". Old-thinker news. December 22, 2007.
[3] Heard, Emily, Ed. Toward a North American Community? Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 2002. page 7. Available online at
[4] Ibid. page 10.
[5] Brewster, Deborah. "U.N. joining forces with Spider-Man". Financial Times. December 27, 2007. Available at
[6] DK Matai. 2008: The Inflexion Year with Positive Outcomes!. December 21, 2007. Available at
[7] Haass, Richard. "State Sovereignty must be altered in globalized era" Taipei Times. February 26, 2007. Available at
[8] James, Craig. "Economic outlook 2008: climate change will dominate". Business Spectator. December 31, 2007. Available at
[9] "Brown wants a 'new world order'". BBC News. January 19, 2007. Available at
Impact of globalization and possible future scenarios
[1] National Intelligence Council/Central Intelligence Agency. "Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts". page 83. Available at
[2] "The world in 2015". The Futurist. May-June 2001. Volume 35, No. 3. page 7.
[3] "Miliband signs Britain away". The Sun. December 13, 2007. Available at
[4] Slack, James. "500,000 fewer Britons in work following influx of Eastern Europeans". UK Daily Mail. December 28, 2007.
[5] Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre/Ministry of Defense. "The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007-2036". January 2007. page 81.
[6] Ibid. page 84.
[7] "Top Trends 2008" Vol. XV, No. 1. The Trends Research Journal. Available at
Anti-globalists labeled as terrorists
[1] A video of this speech can be seen at 16:00 into this video
[2] Hartley-Brewer, Julia. "Opponents of EU treaty accused of being 'terrorists'". UK Daily Express. June 17, 2007. Available at
Trends to a New World Order: Part 2
The New Age of the Technocratic Elite
Techno-biological tyranny seems to be the best descriptor for what is emerging.
As the world moves toward world governance in a new globalized era, technologies that enable extended life spans, and technologically augmented abilities are being developed. These upgrades for the human body come at a high cost, and are unattainable for a large number of people, causing additional societal conflict and the rise of new aristocratic classes defined by their level of "enhancement". Diseases are mostly eradicated among elites, while a large percentage of the population is left still vulnerable. A high tech overlay of sensors and monitoring devices tracks workers activities. Their heart rates, facial expressions, and overall state are monitored to maintain maximum efficiency. Supercomputers run Sentient World Simulation software designed to enable testing of efficient social management and psychological operations against the population in a virtual world. Artificial Intelligence makes health, political and educational decisions that were once made by human beings. Advancing technology offers miraculous cures, while opening doorways to new forms of tyranny and manipulation unimaginable in the past.
In the hands of a hubris filled, power hungry elite who exercise control over world affairs, advancing technology presents disturbing possibilities. When examining these developments in technology, human nature, and the nature of power are vitally important aspects that must be considered. Utopian ideas are one of the ideologies fueling both trends to world governance and advancing technology. Will these trends benefit the average man, woman and child as we are told they will? Or, will a New World Order be constructed solely for the benefit of a tiny elite? History tells us that the latter is most likely.
Societal control through technology
The perfection and fine tuning of social management utilizing high technology is a theme that permeates science fiction literature. Today, this theme is moving into reality. Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote of "pre-crisis management" in his book Between Two ages,
“Power will gravitate into the hands of those who control information. Our existing institutions will be supplanted by pre-crisis management institutions, the task of which will be to identify in advance likely social crises and to develop programs to cope with them." [1]
The Futurist magazine, in its Outlook 2008 forecast lists an intriguing and disturbing trend for 2008. Educational, health, and financial decisions will be increasingly made by artificial intelligence.
"More decisions will be made by nonhuman entities. Electronically enabled teams in networks, robots with artificial intelligence, and other noncarbon life-forms will make financial, health, educational, and even political decisions for us. Reason: Technologies are increasing the complexity of our lives and human workers' competency is not keeping pace well enough to avoid disasters due to human error." [2]
The Sentient World Simulation, developed by researchers at Perdue University - with the help of DOD funding - can be utilized to do just what The Futurist is projecting, and much more. The SWS program allows for behavior modification and anticipation on a scale unknown at any time prior to its existence. By integrating "nodes" representing every man, woman, and child on earth into a virtual world, propaganda, terrorist attacks and other variables can be launched at the unsuspecting virtual population. SWS was originally designed for fortune 500 companies to aid with strategy. The Department of Defense saw the technology as an opportunity too good to pass up. SWS technology has been "...incorporated into the U.S. Army's recruiting efforts by modeling the population of the U.S. that is eligible for military service, thus allowing recruiting commanders to strategize ways to improve recruiting potential soldiers." [3]
The SWS concept paper describes the program's capabilities in depth. Some of the abilities include military planning, and corporate strategy development. Planning:
"SWS provides tools to develop, reuse, and compose action plans into playbooks. A playbook database enables planners to recall playbooks."
"Planning tools enable plans to be developed for temporally and spatially fine-grained actions as well as long-term actions and to place combined plans into a single playbook."
Operations:
"Augmenting real-time information with near real-time and faster than real-time simulations allows RCC to develop and test multiple courses of action to anticipate and shape behaviors of adversaries, neutrals, and partners."
Testing:
"SWS provides an environment for testing Psychological Operations (PSYOP) and Civil Affairs activities, capable of illustrating the impact of these activities on populations."
"Commercial users can construct experiments to use proprietary data in a controlled environment." [4]
Simulex inc. provides the SEAS (Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation) technology - which the Sentient World Simulation is based on - to multiple government and private clients. [5]
The list includes: Government Clients
-United States Department of Defense -United States Department of Justice -United States Army Recruiting Command -United States Joint Forces Command -Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center Private Sector Clients
-Eli Lilly -Lockheed Martin -Other Fortune 500 companies Using the SWS system, pharmaceutical companies can test marketing campaigns for new drugs in the virtual world. Military strategists can plan PSYOPS and carry them out against virtual adversaries. As reported by the Register, "...the US Department of Defense (DOD) may already be creating a copy of you in an alternate reality to see how long you can go without food or water, or how you will respond to televised propaganda." [6]
Homeland Security is currently using the technology for a variety of purposes. In a slideshow shown to Homeland Security - presented by the co-author of the SWS concept paper cited previously, Alok Chaturvedi - graphics are shown that describe the uses for the technology. Experimentations with Engineering, Economics, Public policy, Law, Management and Psychology are listed as possible inputs for the virtual population. A graph that displays the emotions for the population reads "Sad," "Content," "Aroused," and "Happy". The "impact of globalization" is also listed as a variable in "modeling an adversaries viewpoint". [7]
Microsoft "monitoring group activities"
The workplace will soon be infiltrated by a technology developed by Microsoft that will, as the Register reports, act as "...some sort of "activity monitoring system" that keeps an eye on worker productivity using various "physiological or environmental sensors." These sensors would track everything from heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, facial expressions, and blood pressure to brain signals and galvanic skin response."
The purpose of this technology, according to the patent, is to enable assistance to be sent to those workers who need it, or assign the task to someone else who is able to complete it. The Register also points out that the information will be stored away in a database for future reference. This enables "...user performance [that] can be readily compared..." [8]
The Microsoft patent states,
"For example, the system can infer through physiological and activity sensing that a user is becoming more frustrated with his current activity and thus could benefit from assistance from another user who has experience with the same or similar activity. This can be accomplished via parameter and/or threshold settings whereby the detection of parameter violations or satisfied thresholds can indicate a particular frustration level or at the very least that the user has become "frustrated" or "stressed"." [9]
Surveillance and anticipatory conformity
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, surveillance has expanded exponentially. A phenomenon called "anticipatory conformity" is becoming more prevalent as the surveillance society grows. The term, coined in 1988 by Harvard psychologist Shoshana Zuboff, describes a process of self censorship as a result of constant surveillance. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham designed the Panopticon style prison in 1785 which put this principle to use. The prison included a central tower constantly manned by guards that stands in the center of a circular building in which inmates are unsure whether they are being watched. Bentham saw the Panopticon system being used in "...punishing the incorrigible, guarding the insane, reforming the vicious, confining the suspected, employing the idle, maintaining the helpless, curing the sick, instructing the willing in any branch of industry, or training the rising race in the path of education: in a word, whether it be applied to the purposes of perpetual prisons in the room of death, or prisons for confinement before trial, or penitentiary-houses, or houses of correction, or work-houses, or manufactories, or mad-houses, or hospitals, or schools." [emphasis added] [10]
Lynn Duke quotes Soshana Zuboff, coiner of the term anticipatory conformity, in his Washington Post article, Uniqueness lost in surveillance society, “I think the first level of that is we anticipate surveillance and we conform, and we do that with awareness,” she says. “We know, for example, when we’re going through the security line at the airport not to make jokes about terrorists or we’ll get nailed, and nobody wants to get nailed for cracking a joke. It’s within our awareness to self-censor. And that self-censorship represents a diminution of our freedom." [11]
As surveillance becomes more prevalent, Zuboff says that anticipatory conformity will "become more intense". Zbigniew Brzezinski, again writing in Between two Ages, sees a dictatorship eventually forming in a new technocratic era of electronic surveillance and control, "This [surveillance and data mining] will encourage tendencies through the next several decades toward a technocratic era, a dictatorship leaving even less room for political procedures as we know them." [12]
Future Eugenics and life extension
The Human Genome Project has given rise to promising developments in the realm of medicine, allowing personalized treatments for disease. The project has also opened a doorway into genetic tinkering with the unborn. Selecting embryos that are disease free has been made possible by genetic screening. Genetic manipulation, unlike screening, may allow in the future a selection of specific traits for an unborn child. Professor Michio Kaku, writing in his 1997 book Visions, warns that there is a danger of a new eugenics emerging from genetic enhancement technology. Kaku states, "One long-term danger for the far future is that those who are the wealthiest will be able to afford to improve their germ line, while others will not, leaving the rest of society behind, eventually creating a new biological caste system. Gregory Kavka, a philosopher at the University of California at Irvine, says, "Any such move toward genetic enhancement has the potential of reestablishing social inequality, though along new lines. Old aristocracies of birth, color, or gender may dissipate, only to be replaced by a new genetic aristocracy, or 'genotocracy.'"
"The deep fracture lines of society could become chasms if only the wealthy have access to choosing their germ line..." [1]
This scenario of a society divided by advanced genetics was also seen by the U.K. Ministry of Defense strategic trends 2007-2036 report. The report stated, "The application of advanced genetics could challenge current assumptions about human nature and existence. Initially employed for medical purposes, breakthroughs in these areas could be put to ethically questionable uses, such as the super-enhancement of human attributes, including physical strength and sensory perception. Extreme variation in attributes could arise between individuals, or where enhancement becomes a matter of fashion, between societies, creating additional reasons for conflict." [2]
Many scientists and proponents of genetic enhancement realize that the cost of this technology will be immense. Some of them see the exorbitant cost as a eugenic policy in and of itself, as it would only allow for the "most successful generative lines" to have access to the enhancement. John Campbell of the University of California writes in his paper The Moral Imperative of Our Future Evolution, "The costs [of genetic enhancement] will be enormous, far beyond what most people could afford. This has kept our democratic society from appreciating that these possibilities will be used and will be important. However, their feasibility cannot be judged from what the average person will be willing to pay to procreate. What matters are the resources that the most successful generative lines will be able to apply to their goals. A million dollars per conception seems a great underestimate to me for the beings who hold evolution's frontier."
"We should not imagine that people will just dabble in their evolution. Another generation will fan autoevolution into the all-consuming endeavor of the intellectuals, scientists and economists. The resources of the world probably will suddenly be shifted to this enterprise. Remaining "humans" will realize that they have been displaced from their former privileged status as the masters of destiny." [3]
Advanced genetics also offers a tool for the creation of subservient workers, though an intent to do so is met with denial. The Times Online reports that, "Aldous Huxley may have got it right. In Brave New World, his classic futuristic novel, the author envisaged a society divided into castes from Alpha at the top to Epsilon at the bottom."
The Times Online reports,
"...experiments conducted on rhesus monkeys have shown for the first time that animal behaviour can be permanently altered, turning the subjects from aggressive to “compliant” creatures."
The scientists did so by blocking the effects of a gene in the brain called D2, which cut off the link between the monkeys’ motivation and perceived reward. Humans have an identical gene. [4]
A doctor working for the project denied any attempt to modify humans into becoming slaves, saying, "Genetically manipulating people to become slaves is not in their interests, but other changes might be."
Life extension
The Ministry of Defense also identified the possible uses of life extension technologies in the aforementioned strategic report. "Dictatorial or despotic rulers" are named as being interested in acquiring such technologies. "Developments in genetics might allow treatment of the symptoms of ageing and this would result in greatly increased life expectancy for those who could afford it. The divide between those that could afford to ‘buy longevity’ and those that could not, could aggravate perceived global inequality. Dictatorial or despotic rulers could potentially also ‘buy longevity’, prolonging their regimes and international security risks." [5]
The CIA's Global Trends 2015 also discusses life extension, stating, "Biotechnology will drive medical breakthroughs that will enable the world’s wealthiest people to improve their health and increase their longevity dramatically..." [6]
In summary of parts 1 and 2 of this report, humanity is facing dramatic, challenging, and dire times. Techno-biological tyranny seems to be the best descriptor for what is emerging. As we move full speed ahead into the future, lessons of the past cannot be forgotten. Memories of the slavery and bondage of our ancestors as subjects of royal elites must not fade from our minds.
Citation:
Societal control through technology
[1] ] Brzezinski, Zbigniew. Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era. Penguin books, 1976
[2] "Outlook 2008". The Futurist. Nov-Dec 2007. Available at
[3] Cupp, John. "USJFCOM teams with Purdue University to add the human factor to war game simulations". United States Joint Forces Command. February 4, 2004. Available at
[4] Chaturvedi, Alok Dr. "Sentient World Simulation (SWS): A Continuously Running Model of the Real World". August 22, 2006.
[5] http://www.simulexinc.com/
[6] Baard, Mark. "Sentient world: war games on the grandest scale". The Register. June 23, 2007. Available at
[7] "Towards a Synthetic Environment for Computational Homeland Security". Available at (requires flash player)
[8] Microsoft Patent #20070300174. Available here
[9] Ibid 8.
[10] Clark, Robert. "The Panopticon". The Literary Encyclopedia. Available at
[11] Duke, Lynn. "Uniqueness lost in surveillance society". Washington Post. December 10, 2007. Available at
[12] Ibid 1.
Future Eugenics and life extension
[1] Kaku, Michio. Visions. New York, New York: Doubleday, 1997. page 257.
[2] Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre/Ministry of Defense. "The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007-2036". January 2007. page 80.
[3] Campbell, Thomas. "The Moral Imperative of Our Future Evolution". Available at
[4] Rogers, Lois. "Scientists find way to make us slaves". Times Online. October 17, 2004. Available at
[5] Ibid 2.
[6] National Intelligence Council/Central Intelligence Agency. "Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts". page 9.
A pretty lucid summary of the geopolitical manuevering to gain control over Earth's remaining resources. My reading confirms much of what Engdahl says. Great minds think alike, or, fools seldom differ. You decide. A video in 2 parts.
US lurching towards 'debt explosion' with long-term interest rates on course to double
The US economy is lurching towards crisis with long-term interest rates on course to double, crippling the country’s ability to pay its debts and potentially plunging it into another recession, according to a study by the US’s own central bank Read more...
Relating this to the article here on France calling for a new reserve currency, along with BRIC etc., could make for a very bitter winter for all, but especially Americans who are accustomed to living way beyond their means. It's very possible that Americans will soon appreciate the importance of the dollar as reserve currency in preserving the lifestyles to which they have been accustomed. All will become clear.
Update July 10, 2009
This $17 Trillion Divorce Won’t Be a Pretty One: William Pesek
by William Pesek July 10 (Bloomberg) Returning from China last month, U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk had a bearish take on a high-level visit by American officials.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner claimed the U.S.’s biggest creditor voiced great confidence in its debt. Kirk, an Illinois Republican, came back with the opposite impression.
“China is beginning to cancel Congress’s credit card,” he told Fox News on June 10. It “doesn’t want to lend much more money to the United States and especially is worried about the Fed’s policy of printing money to buy new debt.”
A month later, there’s no doubt about whose assessment was more accurate. Chinese leaders are clearly very concerned about the dollar. How they will react is a key question hanging over markets, and it’s time to take the discussion to the next level.
Everyone knows China wants to reduce its dollar holdings. Little is known about how that process may unfold and how much work and preparation needs to go into it. Lots, in fact.
All blogs are really just small snapshots of a person's mind, heart and soul as they evolve together through life....
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On this page, is the cloak I have fashioned from my fabric to warm myself in a universe which often makes little sense.
Inside my cloak, it is warm enough to face the blistering cold winds of the insane world in which I find myself.
If you find some a bit of 'the good stuff' here, it has been my pleasure.
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