11
Aug 02

The High Stench of Corruption

The so-called leadership here in the United States are nothing but a group of gangsters. Right under our noses a foreign policy of thuggery and conquest is being undertaken. It seems the US Government has far-reaching plans for the Mideast. Plans involving the seizure of oil fields and the overthrow of governments. Plans which have nothing to do with safeguarding America but only with enriching defense contractors, large corporations, and the elite ruling class at the expense of thousands of lives and the loss of freedom and security.

Emboldened by the creation of the puppet government of Afghanistan, the US has plans to overthrow the governments of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and anyone one else who doesn’t kneel before the US government. The disturbing thing is that many Americans are either ignorant, apathetic, or actually supportive. It’s pure craziness.

  • Seizing Saudi oil fields and partitioning Saudi Arabia:It turns out there was something behind these rumors. As reported in the Post, a July 10 briefing to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board argued for giving the Saudis an ultimatum: “Stop backing terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields.” I have procured another recent report, prepared for the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, which discusses the option of invading the kingdom to secure oil fields.

  • Supporting ‘regime change’ in the United States, for those of you without the ability to read between the lines this means governmental overthrow and seizure of power by the US or their puppets: “The thinking in the administration is really evolving toward the idea of promoting democracy and regime change—an overhaul of the Arab and Islamic world, rather than dealing with it as it is,” says Kenneth Katzman, a leading expert on Iran who works with the Congressional Research Service. Some military strategists worry that the talk of overthrowing other nations could jeopardize any invasion of Iraq. It’s the new colonialism. Rape the national resources and dump the excess consumer goods. It’s good business, screw independence or sovereignity.

11
Aug 02

3d modeling

I’m taking a 3d modeling class at Austin Community College for fun and because my employer is reimbursing me. Here’s something I made recently:


11
Aug 02

Hope Always Dies Last

Finally, a spot of potentially good news. The Mirror had an article, BUSH STANCE ON IRAQ CRUMBLING, which described the widespread lack of support for an invasion of Iraq. Maybe untold thousands won’t be killed for oil after all. If that’s true it would be a rare and fleeting victory for peace.


10
Aug 02

Well, Duh

Experts say ‘terror’ threat overblown. From UPI:


    Parachini believes that the White House’s declaration of war against the terrorists can lead to policy abuses.

    “I think that as a tool, war can justify a lot of activities, but there needs to be a recognition that this isn’t a war like World War II, World War I or even Vietnam,” he said. “It is a ‘war,’ in quotes, in the same sense that we have a war on crime or drugs. You can’t ever reduce the risk to zero, that is impossible.”

    Congleton believes that the declaration of war may lead the government to overstep societal boundaries with unwarranted “drastic new domestic policies,” given the potential threat.


10
Aug 02

‘Enemy’ Citizen Jailing Criticized

From LA Times:

    WASHINGTON — Leaders of the American Bar Assn. criticized the Bush administration Friday for jailing several American citizens as “enemy combatants” without charging them with a crime or giving them a fair chance to prove their innocence.

    Only Congress has the power to write the laws, they said, and no law has given administration officials blanket authority to arrest and detain U.S. citizens who are picked up on U.S. soil.

    “There is genuine reason for concern about a president’s–or anyone’s–power to unilaterally declare that an American citizen who is arrested in the United States, far from any battlefield or combat arena, is part of the enemy and thus may be treated as an enemy seized in battle,” they said.


10
Aug 02

Some fun history: The Order of the Assassins

The Order of Assassins was a branch of the Ismaili sect of Islam, founded by Hassan ibn Sabbah (The Old Man of the Mountain). In 1090, the hill fortress of Alamut was constructed by Hassan in central Persia, and several other forts were built in the hills of that country. Although they were heavily persecuted, pressure on other Muslim states from first the Crusaders and then the Mongols (along with the obligatory program of political assassination), saved the Assassins from destruction. The Assassins expanded into Syria, often cooperating with the Christians against local Muslim rulers. The Mongols pushed the Assassins out of Persia in 1256. The Order survived in Syria until 1272, when the Mamluk Sultan Baybars destroyed their last stronghold. (Footnotes to history) …

Hassan’s devoted followers were prepared to follow his orders unquestioningly, even when this would result in their own certain deaths. He frequently sent them on missions to kill hostile princes, the generals of armies sent to oppose him, and anyone else of whom he disapproved. His fanatical, highly-trained and highly-disciplined killers would blend with the enemy population disguished as merchants or soldiers, awaiting their opportunity. They would then sneak into their target’s encampment or palace, and dispatch him with their long daggers. They were known as Hashishin from their habit of smoking hashish, either to generate visions of paradise or to give themselves courage before their (usually fatal) missions. This is the origin of the English word “assassin”.


10
Aug 02

American Machiavellianism: ‘The Grand Strategy’ to take the Mideast

The Pentagon participated in a pretty disturbing briefing on Saudi Arabia. It shows a little of what’s going on in the Mideast that no one is talking about. The real reasons behind the march to war on Iraq. From Slate’s The PowerPoint That Rocked the Pentagon:


    Diplomatic china rattled in Washington and cracked in Riyadh yesterday when the Washington Post published a story about a briefing given to a Pentagon advisory group last month. The briefing declared Saudi Arabia an enemy of the United States and advocated that the United States invade the country, seize its oil fields, and confiscate its financial assets unless the Saudis stop supporting the anti-Western terror network.

I understood most of the presentation, but can you explain the final slide:

    Grand strategy for the Middle
    East

  • Iraq is the tactical pivot
  • Saudi Arabia the strategic pivot
  • Egypt the prize

Why those three things and why is Egypt the prize?

MAP OF THE MIDEAST


10
Aug 02

Patriotism means…

Get some good anti-propaganda propaganda here.

silence.jpg


10
Aug 02

More quotations

Lifted from whatreallyhappened.com:

    “I spent thirty-three years in the Marines, most of my time being a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.” — General Smedley Butler, former US Marine Corps Commandant, 1935

    “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will.”
    — Frederick Douglass, 1817-1895, escaped slave, abolitionist, author, orator, statesman

    ” It is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.” — Albert Camus, French writer and thinker, 1913-1960

    “The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.” — Albert Schweitzer

    “No other democratic country in the world denies as many people – in absolute or proportional terms – the right to vote because of felony convictions.” — Human Rights Watch – “World Report 1999, United States”

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