Putin and Bush
©Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
"Take the pawn and I'll take your knight."
"Yeah, but the Middle East will be open for check."
"We'll see about that. Nice ceremony."

While the world slept through the month-long cyclic dream of the Olympic Games, the Axis of Evil took the opportunity to move its pieces onto Russia's doorstep. The Eastern bear responded, and the US/UK/Israeli propaganda machine went into overdrive.

As usual, ordinary people paid a heavy price for this deadly game of global chess.

Playing chess with Russia at the expense of the human race

A month ago we observed the signs of a New 'Cold War'. The first salvo seems to be the proxy war in South Ossetia and Georgia, not unlike the one in Afghanistan back when the Taliban were "freedom fighters" and the "headquarters of terrorism" was Communist Moscow. The basic dynamics at play are rather obvious and have been explained by a number of writers whose articles have been reproduced on SOTT in the last few days. But to make it crystal clear, there are at least five key pieces of information that need to be known to have a fairly complete picture:

1. Georgia stepped into South Ossetia before Russia stepped into Georgia, although the Western media is attempting to convince the world that precisely the opposite is true.

2. Georgia is a puppet of the Axis of Evil (US, Israel, UK and allies) and only one element in a series of movements to get Russia under control and/or provoke it.

3. An oil pipeline which runs through Georgia connects Central Asian producers to Western markets.

4. The conflict coincides with a US-Poland treaty for the installation of an anti ballistic missile system on Polish land.

5. There are reports of a large number of US ships heading towards the Persian Gulf.

So let's have a closer look at these points:

We'll start with a summary of the basic facts of the Georgian conflict, which we quote from this article (emphasis added):
The American-armed and trained Georgian army swarmed into South Ossetia last Thursday, killing an estimated 2,000 civilians, sending 40,000 South Ossetians fleeing over the Russian border, and destroying much of the capital, Tskhinvali. The attack was unprovoked and took place a full 24 hours before even ONE Russian soldier set foot in South Ossetia. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Americans still believe that the Russian army invaded Georgian territory first.

The BBC, AP, NPR, the New York Times and the rest of the establishment media have consistently and deliberately conned the public into believing that the violence in South Ossetia was initiated by the Kremlin. Let's be clear: it wasn't. In truth, there is NO dispute about the facts except among the people who rely on the western press for their information.
Isn't the power of the media a real wonder to behold? One thing is what really happened; what we were led to believe is something entirely different. To be fair, the media didn't have it that difficult, since 90% of the world's attention was focused on medals and world records broken by mere fractions of a second. Indeed, the skillful hand of television is faster than the public eye. A single example from Fox News will suffice:
"Before I say anything else, I just want to say that I was running from Georgian troops bombing our city. Not Russian troops. I want to say thank you to the Russian troops that were helping us out." - Amanda Kokoeva

This is certainly not what a Fox News anchor expected to hear from his guests, Amanda Kokoeva and her aunt Laura Tedeeva-Korewiski, SF Bay residents who have been visiting family in South Ossetia when the war broke out.

The background footage for this short live interview had obviously been prearranged for a different message.

As Amanda openly blames the Georgian troops for the conflict, the anchor can be heard coughing and mumbling repeatedly.
These important details are lost in the sea of information and the images and headlines that bombard us daily. The rest is just a matter of endlessly repeating a biased interpretation of the facts to convince us all that a) Russia is evil, and b) it's up to good old 'democratic' US and its stooges to surround the Eastern bear with anti ballistic missile systems (see below).

The paragraph cited above mentions that the US armed the Georgian army. It has been quietly doing it for 15 years now. For a detailed chronology of the nature and amount of the military aid see here.

But, guess who else was handing a gun to Georgian President Saakashvili, albeit covertly? Here's a hint: the Georgian Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili is a former Israeli citizen, and fluent in Hebrew. With the knowledge and approval of the Israeli Defense Ministry, an Israeli company, Defense Shield, trained Georgian soldiers in preparation for the operation in Ossetia and Abkhazia. Furthermore, the training also involved officers from Israel's Shin Bet secret service. Since 2000, Israel has sold hundreds of millions of dollars in arms and combat training to Georgia, all of it with full approval from the Israeli Defense Ministry. The Russians took notice of Israel's involvement, and in turn, the Israeli Foreign Ministry made an effort to try to distance itself from the conflict by recommending that defense contractors freeze their supplies to Georgia. Too late, though; they had already been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

If you still believe that it is a mere coincidence that the Axis of Evil has armed Georgia, and that neither the US nor Israel had anything to do with the decision of starting this little war, consider that Joseph R. Wood, Cheney's deputy assistant for national security affairs, was in Georgia shortly before the war began. The official story is that he was part of a team preparing for a visit by Cheney to Georgia. But are we expected to believe that Georgia would go to war without the full approval of its sponsors, who happened to be visiting while the events were taking place? In fact, it sort of sounds like Darth Cheney sent his aide to oversee the whole operation.

Consider as well that the principal foreign policy adviser to John McCain, Randy Scheunemann, received $290,000 from the Georgian regime of Saakashvili through Scheunemann's firm, Orion Strategies.

So why are the Ziocons targeting Putin's Russia? (Yes, Putin's, not Medvedev's). The most obvious answer is that Putin has refused to play by the rules of the "War on Terror™". Two years ago Putin made a speech in Munich in which he rejected a unipolar world, with a clear reference to the center of power in Washington. He also spoke against "unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions" and the "almost uncontained hyper-use of force" (Iraq anyone?). With those words, it wasn't necessary for him to openly name who he was talking about, but he did:
One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?
Indeed. Whether Putin has a further agenda of power of his own or not, the fact is that he spoke aloud what many in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres have in their minds since at least 2003, with the brutal invasion of Iraq. Too bad this was not reprinted in Western media.

But even before the Munich speech the Neocons had Putin in their cross-hairs. Back in 2003, Putin confronted Russia's corrupt oligarchs by having Mikhail Khodorkovsky, owner of the oil company YUKOS and one of the wealthiest men on the planet, arrested for fraud and tax evasion. Prominent Neocon Richard Perle - also fondly known as "the Prince of Darkness" - reacted by demanding Russia be thrown out of the G8.

But there are further specific reasons for fomenting the Georgian conflict. Georgia is a highly strategic location from the point of view of the global power-brokers. It turns out that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, runs through Georgia. Considered the only alternative to trans-Russian transport of Central Asian oil and gas to Western markets, it opened in May of 2006. Israel in particular has proposed that the pipeline be extended to the Israeli port of Ashkelon for transshipment to south and east Asia.

Useless and infuriating missiles in Poland

Right on the heels of a missile defense agreement between the US and the Czech Republic, a similar deal was reached with Poland. Washington plans to place 10 interceptor missiles in Poland which are to be coupled with a radar system in the Czech Republic. At least temporarily, American soldiers are to staff air defense sites in Poland oriented toward Russia, and the US would be obliged to defend Poland in case of an attack with greater speed than required under NATO.

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©Unknown

Russia was always going to react negatively, but few expected the severity of the words of Russian general Anatoly Nogovitsyn when he said that Poland was not only exposing itself to a military strike, but also to a possible nuclear attack. Game of hard-ball anyone? The potential nuclear nightmare that is facing us all is being clearly spelled out. There are also reports of Russia considering arming its Baltic fleet with nuclear warheads to counter American plans for a missile defense shield in Europe, while the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia's response would go "beyond diplomacy". Even President Dmitry Medvedev spoke of a military reaction, and declared that Russia was not scared to go back into the Cold War if necessary, as he recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

It's almost surreal that the superpowers are bringing back to life the specter of a nuclear war over this issue, considering that the missile defense system does not work. At best it is very unreliable, but even if it were reasonably efficient, an attacking nation would need only to launch several missiles at once to regain the upper hand. Especially because the plan is to install only ten launchers in Poland. After all, only one nuclear missile needs to hit the target to destroy an entire city.

Therefore, it is not true that the ABM system disrupts the balance of nuclear power; it is not true that Russia's nuclear capability ceases to be a deterrent; and thus it should be a non-issue for both sides. But that's not how they behave. Instead, both Russia and the US seem quite eager to make outrageous threats against each other and millions of helpless citizens.

So why would they want to bring the world back to the times when we all lived under the constant fear of the enemy and a nuclear catastrophe?? Well... maybe that is the whole point. How could superpowers engage in the theft of other countries' natural resources without the fear of an enemy to justify it? How could they ask their populations to give up their rights and freedoms 'for their own safety' without an enemy for them to be "safe" from?

It always goes back to the Middle East

Just as the Olympic games provided a distraction from the Georgian conflict, the Georgian conflict provided a distraction for further movements in the Middle East. War is based on deceit, secrecy and feints, after all.

We read with some concern a report that a massive US naval armada is heading for Iran. We couldn't find many articles confirming this information, so we are left thirsty for important details. Because if there is a US armada heading for the Persian Gulf, while Russia is busy in Georgia, it strongly suggests that a strike on Iran is going ahead. We could even estimate the likely moment of attack if we knew exactly when they are due to arrive. Stay tuned.

By the end of August, additional smoke and mirrors appear to further obscure the picture. Haaretz reports the shocking "news" that the US refused to sell new refueling planes to Israel, because (brace yourselves for this one!) they don't want this sale to appear like the US is backing Israel for an attack on Iran! Knowing that when Israel says "jump", the US immediately responds, "How high?", we are having a hard time believing any of it. After all, if Israel wants to attack Iran, they can do it from Georgia without a need to refuel at all. Moreover, since the last week of August, different commentators from around the world have been insinuating that an attack on Iran by the US is imminent. Among them is Russian Col. Gen Leonid Ivashov, president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, who states that a war with Iran is becoming more likely with "each passing day". Then US based Weekly Standard editor, Bill Kristol, asserts that the Bush administration will more probably attack Iran if they believe that senator Obama will win the elections, and an Azerbaijani pro-government analyst (with an obvious inability to grasp reality) foretold that America would attack Iran before the Ramadan (September 1st). No cigar on that one. Add Daily Kos into the mix, which quoted the controversial Dutch De Telegraaf, on a curious story about a Dutch intelligence operation in Iran being canceled due to the imminent attack in the country, and things are not looking good. Then again, it has been known since Aesop's times that if you cry "Wolf!" often enough, when the wolf comes, the people will have stopped believing, even those who do see him coming.

Interestingly, Russia sent its only aircraft carrier to Syria (right next door to Israel, by the way). It must be important then! The mission - which includes several submarines and a missile cruiser - comes after Syrian President Bashar Assad said he is open to Russia building a base in the area. Assad also expressed support for Russia's intervention in South Ossetia, and an interest in the establishment of Russian missile defense facilities on his land. This is one guy who is paying attention to the chessboard.

What's next?

It didn't make any sense for Georgia to try to snatch South Ossetia knowing that Russia would strike back. It was a little war that Georgia had no chance to win. So obviously, winning was not the intention at all. On the contrary, the purpose was to lure Russia into the conflict and find a way to keep it going for as long as necessary, while more interesting events would be taking place elsewhere, perhaps in the Middle East.

Putin is no fool, and he surely understands the danger of getting entangled for too long. Therefore, we can safely believe the Russians when they say that they intend to leave Georgia (not South Ossetia and Abkhazia, though) and that they believe that Georgia is planning more armed actions. Following the same argument, it makes sense that the US and its new buddy Sarkozy insist that Russia is not complying with the ceasefire. They need to convince their respective publics that Russia is bent on making war. When the situation turns into a guerrilla war, people will blame it on Russia. NATO has already vowed to help the Georgian military and has ships in the Black Sea under the excuse of "exercises". Tension is already rising as NATO and Russian ships share the same waters.

If we are reading the scenario correctly, we can expect other satellite states, ex-soviet republics and Eastern European nations to cause all sorts of trouble for the big bear - as much as needed to allow the US and Israel to invade another Middle Eastern country or two, undisturbed by major players.

One thing is certain: the New Cold War is now officially on. Russia has ended its cooperation with NATO and the US has refused to hold joint naval exercises with Russia.

Packing up the 9/11 fraud - Musharraf included

Officially, the Bush/Cheney cartel are due to pack up their tent and move into private lives in a few months time. "Officially", we say, because things look rather volatile at the moment. We could have one or more "October surprises" any time now, anywhere from Georgia to US soil, passing through the Middle East. But whatever their real plans, elements in the background are working hard to tie up as many of 9/11's loose ends as possible, in order to cover Bush/Cheney backs.

First we had the story of the mad Army scientist who committed suicide, conveniently serving as an explanation for the anthrax terror scare of the last months of 2001. A single bad apple in US military labs and nothing more. Then, a federal "scientific" agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, came up with the ludicrous conclusion that the WTC Building 7 collapsed as a result of a "new phenomenon" known as thermal expansion! Well, of course, the only way anyone can still maintain that the official conspiracy theory of 9/11 is correct is by arguing that the 'old' laws of physics were suspended that day.

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©Unknown

Now we're waiting to be entertained with some official and conclusive explanation for the disappearance of a passenger plane into the small hole in the wall of the Pentagon. Stay tuned.

It is interesting that the "explanations" came after Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for a "third time within a week [...] publicly raised doubts" in regards to the 9/11 official story.

It's a bit coincidental as well that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf found himself in enough political trouble to decide that it was best to resign; let's not forget that Pakistan's ISI played a role in the events of 9/11, or at least in its cover up. Indeed, it was Pakistani intelligence service ISI which wired $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, while the chief of the ISI, General Mahmoud Ahmad, was having breakfast with Senator Bob Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, while the airplanes were hitting the towers.

Was Musharraf's involvement in 9/11 the reason that he had to leave before Bush's official presidency came to an end? And was his departure prepared by a series of events and articles that hurt his image? Shortly before his resignation we read that US media reported that Pakistan's ISI was involved in the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul. Likewise, we read that according to a US senior terrorism analyst, the world's favorite database - al-Qaeda™ - has "an increasingly secure haven in the mountainous tribal areas of Pakistan"; while the Mr. Magoo of terrorism, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called on the people of Pakistan to support the jihadist movement - although, strangely enough, he chose to do so in English. Naturally, Pakistan's arch-enemy India grabbed the opportunity to capitalize in its favor.

Now, here's a crazy idea. If there is indeed a trend that indicates that the Bush gang is engaged in a renewed effort to put an end to all 9/11 doubts, could it be that they fear the possibility that in the not too distant future secret information could be leaked? We find it hard to picture Obama as president sponsoring a serious inquiry. But maybe foreign players, feeling that they have been painted into a corner, would be ready to spill the beans? A threatened Russia might find itself in such a position. They obviously are well aware of what really took place on 9/11, and if NATO pushes them hard enough, they may want to leak, for example, satellite images of the object that hit the Pentagon and Flight 77.

Nuclear leaks

With the rebirth of the Cold War, we grimly contemplate the resurrection of the nuclear nightmare. Strangely enough, this seems to have 'resonated' on the world arena, as we have seen a number of incidents related to nuclear energy. Is the Universe trying to send a message? Is it our own 'collective unconscious'? Are 'black-operators' working on a plan? Or is it all of the above?

At the end of July there was a nuclear contamination incident in southern France (proceeded by another one at the beginning of the month), and at the same time a crane accident, caused the shutdown of one of Germany's atomic reactors. Then early August, the Japanese government reported that a US submarine may have leaked radiation in Japan, but that the "amount of radiation was too small to be considered harmful".

Revealing radioactive leakage from a US ship to the people who suffered the consequences of two US atomic attacks generated some strong emotional reactions. Meanwhile, so many other nuclear incidents are overlooked by armies that we might guess that this revelation was made voluntarily and serves a purpose. Maybe the Japanese officials are looking for a solution to justify the end of US ship presence within its territorial waters without creating a diplomatic incident?

But this is when we find ourselves following a thread and going deeper into the labyrinth.

From France to Japan, and then a few days later, outside Vienna, Austria, a "small amount of plutonium has leaked from an aging International Atomic Energy Agency laboratory", again reported as not harmful to the environment. A recent Belgian radioactive iodine leak however, turned out to be worse than initially thought, the worst in Belgian history. From India to US, nuclear and chemical plants are leaking like crazy while governments stay quiet about the incidents.

Not only that; at the end of July, SOTT editors found one little curious news item about Egypt border authorities denying access to an Israeli truck loaded with radioactive material.
Egyptian officials seized the goods at the Al-Oja border crossing after radiation detection equipment showed a high presence of radioactive material in the cargo, the official told AFP.

In June, Egypt sent back to Israel a delivery of 32 tons of tiles because it was emitting high levels of radiation."
It is pretty clear that the fact that Israel has nukes can't be denied anymore. But let's play devil's advocate for a moment and ask ourselves if it is possible that an entire shipment of ceramic tiles could be radioactive and have no relation whatsoever to the 'non existent' Israeli nuclear weapons? Well, the answer isn't in Israel's favor. Apparently, starting from the beginning of this century, ceramics have been experimented with as containment for nuclear waste:
The Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory has demonstrated that certain ceramic materials with structures similar to fluorite crystals hold up well to radiation damage. Internal radiation can cause radioactive host materials to swell or crack, making the stored waste unstable and susceptible to leaching, but the atoms of these ceramic materials can shift to accommodate defects caused by radiation damage.

"Fluorite-type ceramic materials show promise as safe, radiation-proof materials and should be further developed for containing nuclear wastes," Kurt Sickafus, head of the team developing the materials, wrote in a study published in the August 4th issue of Science."
Albeit and evidently not very successfully.
Scientists developing ways to dump Britain's nuclear waste underground may have to think again after new research revealed that radioactivity could leak out much earlier than expected.

Writing in Nature, the scientists say the resulting radiation disrupted the atomic structure of the material some five times more than expected. Zircon canisters used to store waste, the scientists say, might start leaking after only 1,400 years. The most radioactive wastes will remain dangerous for up to 250,000 years.
It is highly probable that Israel was trying to sneak nuclear waste out of the country disguised as coffee mugs or plant pots. In this case, they should have done their homework first.

But there are still many unclear points surrounding this leaky issue. Taking into account that we have numerous 'rogue elements' who are busy moving all the 'missing' and 'misplaced' nukes and nuclear components, we are forced to speculate that all those leaks are a disguise for some other hidden activity, be it a preparation for a false flag operation or another kind of 'smoke and mirrors' operation to hide the increasingly-hard-to-hide changes to our planet and its atmosphere. Something wicked may be already here, present and apparent for some who don't have our best interests at heart.

As you may understand, it is difficult to draw an exact picture for all of this, especially when there are still many puzzle pieces missing and waiting to be discovered. Let's hope we will have enough time to do it before we see mushroom clouds or fireballs on the horizon.

Show must go on...

streeter cartoon
©Mark Streeter/The Savannah Morning News,

Meanwhile, in the US of A, the election soap-opera continues with all the garishness that we have come to know and detest.

A new "interesting" character enters the Obama camp, who is proud to have been the architect of Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995, on which the Patriot Act was later built, and other such policies of hegemony. Senator Joe (or Josef) Biden, is chosen by Obama - or that's what we are told - to be the democratic VP candidate, though his policies on Iraq appear to match closely those of the republicans. The "show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are" adage is lost on the majority of the sleeping crowd, who continue to consider Obama their Hope for Change. But not all are asleep. As Robert Dreyfus of the Nation wrote:
Obama, whose mushy Iraq plan excites no one, is marrying his own flawed ideas -- which mostly revolve around beefing up US forces in Afghanistan and unilaterally attacking Pakistan -- with Biden's discredited notion of partitioning Iraq into three squabbling mini-states.
In another excellent article, we read:
Joe Biden's acceptance speech was indeed a remarkable performance -- bellicose and delusional and deceitful by turns. If you closed your eyes, there were moments when you would have thought that you were back in the Cow Palace in 1964, listening to Barry Goldwater belching fire and threatening doom for all those who challenge America's uniquely exceptional special unquestionable morally superior dominance of the world.
This is Joe Biden ladies and gentlemen, who indeed looks good on screen as he proudly avows that he is a Zionist! And that is the least of the qualifications needed to get a prime time slot on 'Shalom TV'.

Further, the daily series plot thickens as the subtle insinuation that Obama might not be a US citizen, thus not eligible for the US presidency, enters the script. The audience always loves to see some drama played against its favorite protagonist, and the PTB are well aware of how to keep the sheeple focused on a "movie production", so they can work unhindered on their more important "projects".

Three aspects are worthy of note about this story: 1) it was barely mentioned by the major news providers in the US, 2) the suit was filed only a few days before the Denver Democratic convention, and 3) the suit is filed by Philip Berg, a Clinton supporter, a fact that gave rise to various speculations. Here at SOTT, we see this insider-generated suit as a calculated attack on Obama. It adds to his credibility by making him appear as a "true outsider" coming to Washington. However, his actions so far have made that pretty laughable, given his pledges to AIPAC, Israel and the GWOT (and frankly, if anyone is to question Obama's nationality, they should start with the numerous Bush administration officials, who have dual Israeli/American nationality).

So what else does a character need to become the favorite of the people? How about aplot against his life by white supremacists? What better way to associate him with the last great leaders America has seen, those loved and trusted? It definitely works, let's pack it up and sell it! Yup, the Denver Democratic Convention sounds like a good place.

Absent from that Denver episode is McCain and co., whose story continues to unfold as well, even if not as spectacularly. But wait a minute! We indicated above that McCain might have used a whole war to promote his political campaign and the plans of the NeoCons:
McCain Adviser Was Lobbyist for Georgia
McCain: 'We are all Georgians'
And None Dare Call It Treason - McCain Advisor's Georgia Connection
Cindy McCain flies to Georgia for talks with Mikheil Saakashvili

It was his VP choice nonetheless that shocked the most, from inside his party even. Sarah Palin arrived next to McCain after a "rocketing ascent", though it is said that "she has more experience catching fish than dealing with foreign policy or national affairs"
She brings a strong anti-abortion stance to the ticket and opposes gay marriage - constitutionally banned in Alaska before her time - but exercised a veto that essentially granted benefits to gay state employees and their partners.
Not only does Palin seem to fit the Republican mold, she brings two missing aspects to the McCain campaign vis a vis Obama: 1) she is young, and thus will appeal to the younger generation of voters, and 2) as Obama is the first black candidate for president, Palin is the "first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket".

This selection is no doubt to raise the TV ratings of the show. Palin's history includes a beauty contest nomination, a family vendetta scandal, and the most attention grabbing of all, that the news sites and blogs have been "munching on", Palin announced that her 17 year old unmarried daughter, Bristol, is 5 months pregnant and plans to keep the baby, plus marry the father. Now, rumor on the web has it that this is not Bristol's first pregnancy, and that she might also be the biological mother of Palin's baby son, Trig. Hmmm.... If Trig was born on April 18th of this year, he would be 4 months today, so if Bristol is 5 months pregnant, it is impossible for her to be his mother, right? Or is this announcement for the purpose of damage control? A complicated plot, even for a soap.

Hurricane Gustav killed 95 people but did not cause the cancellation of the Republican National Convention after all, though Bush, Cheney and others will "skip it".

It appears so far that whoever 'wins' the election, the likely outcome for the American people is an administration even worse than the Bush's. But it's only a soap, right? And while Americans are glued to their TVs watching it, US soldiers are killing women and children in Afghanistan on their behalf. In the White House, while he still holds his chair, "Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war" upon all humanity.

Manufactured Famine

We all are feeling the pangs of the psychopathic economic system in our lives, no matter where we live (well, unless we are among the elite 1% of the population), yet it became even more murderous than before in some countries:

In Africa, UK aid agency ActionAid created a report based on "detailed assessment" by its staff all over the region where
It warns that "time is running out for the Horn of Africa," which it says has been "hit by the combined impact of failed harvests and global increases in the price of food."

"With millions facing hunger and destitution, the region is now reaching a tipping point with increasing numbers of people unable to cope," ActionAid says.

"Altogether five countries -- Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti -- are affected. The situation could easily become catastrophic."
For some reason, other starving African countries are missing from the report. Added to continuing drought, the psychopathic politics of Mugabe left Zimbabweans with wild fruits and roots for meal. Uganda is also threatened by famine, with "over 3.5 million Uganda citizens at risk of dying from hunger", and so is Ethiopia, where the world "famine" was changed into "acute malnutrition" under a clueless and conscienceless regime, provided with billions of dollars and military aid by US and EU to perpetrate war crimes against neighboring countries.

In Asia, famine plaguing Chin state in western Burma killed 44 children, due again to a government that does not care for its own people plus a rat attack on rice and maize. Same conditions left the people hungry next door, in India's Mizoram.

Note that the Western's world "aid" in these countries has long stopped bringing any relief to the suffering people, and as Times' Alex Perry succinctly explains:
"Western governments are loath to halt programs that create a market for their farm surpluses, but for countries receiving their charity, long-term food aid can become addictive. Why bother with development when shortfalls are met by aid? Ethiopian farmers can't compete with free food, so they stop trying. Over time, there's a loss of key skills, and a country that doesn't have to feed itself soon becomes a country that can't. All too often, its rulers use resources elsewhere - Ethiopia has one of Africa's largest armies."
Where pathocratic corporate interests rule, there's no prospect for creative and moral thinking to rise, consequently entropy, suffering and death will inevitably result.

Programmed to Kill

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Recent weeks saw some particularly horrific and disturbing murders around the globe, with the most brutal occurring within a few days of each other toward the beginning of the month. One might wonder if there were not something 'in the air' triggering this cluster of killings? It seems hardly a month goes by without yet another high school classroom shooting in the U.S.

As tensions rise here on the big blue marble are psychopaths beginning to 'pop' in the heat?

24 July Canada: Man stabbed, beheaded on Manitoba bus

26 July Brazil: Man accused of killing, dismembering girlfriend

28 July France: 11 year old boy stabbed 44 times, police suspect psychotic serial murderer

31 July Man arrested in river ambush on 3 Wisconsin swimmers

1 August Boy, 12, arrested in mother's slaying

3 August Greek chef cuts off girlfriend's head with cleaver

9 August UK: Gruesome murder of Chinese couple

21 August Tennessee: American student shoots classmate at school

As the Mayor of Santorini put it in reaction to the chef severing his girlfriend's head: "It's hard to believe that people like this circulate among us". Hard to believe, yes, but that is the reality and it is to understand it.

Six percent of the world's population are born genetic psychopaths, these examples represent only a small proportion of those "failed psychopaths" who for some reason are triggered to kill in ways that expose them. The vast majority remain hidden, gaining ever greater power over others, killing by proxy even, ways that are more believable for the Mayor of Santorini no doubt.

Planes, Trains & Buses acting up

It has been a grim month for plane, train and bus accidents. In fact this might be one of the deadliest months for plane crashes world-wide in quite a while:

"Cost-cutting" leads to neglecting the maintenance of infrastructure and machinery, poor training of operators, not to mention general loss of service. Sixty years ago, one could travel by train nearly anywhere in the US. Then buses filled the gap for those who couldn't afford to fly. Adding in the other indignitiesinvolved in travel (for example here), one might be forgiven for thinking that this is one more factor in play to limit the ability or willingness of people to travel. The fences get stronger and higher.

True, some of these accidents can be traced to lack of operator attention. Given the level of general anxiety that has been deliberately fostered these days, it's almost not surprising.

A small sample of August's transportation incidents:

California: Plane landing at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank crashes
Small plane crashes into Las Vegas neighborhood
Mid-air panic as plane plunges 26,000 feet over France
68 die, 22 survive airliner crash in Kyrgyzstan
Ten killed in Guatemala small plane crash
Fiery plane crash at Madrid airport kills 153
Germany: Plane arriving from Tehran clips bus at Frankfurt airport; no injuries
Easyjet A320 near Cyprus experienced violent shaking
Pilot dies after plane crashes in eastern Arizona
2 dead in eastern Arizona plane crash; 2nd this week
Newcastle Airport in chaos as RAF jet crash-lands
UK: Virgin plane makes precautionary landing
Sheriff: 10 dead in plane crash at Moab, Utah
Three Die When Plane Smashes Las Vegas Home, Sparking Blaze
Massachusetts: 3 killed in small plane crash in Easton
German plane with 265 people on board lands in Kenya after fuel leak
Australia: Qantas plane makes emergency landing in Sydney
Canada: 5 dead in plane crash on Vancouver Island
Australia: Barry Hempel feared dead in Stradbroke Island air mishap
Australia: Two dead in glider crash at Toogoolawah near Brisbane

Trains:

UK: Train derailment near Calvert
Texas: No injuries in train derailment in downtown Austin
Passenger Train Derails In Portugal
Train catches fire after derailment in Oklahoma

Bus accidents

Authorities: Tire failure may be behind Nevada bus crash
Texas: Bus crash kills at least 13
Six remain critical after north Texas bus crash
Mississippi crash survivors say bus slipped on wet road
40 killed in India as bus goes into river
One Man Dies, More Than 60 People Injured in U.K. Bus Crash
Bus of Marseille soccer fans crashes, two dead

Chilling out...

Remember the spotless sun?

sun
©©Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)

The paper by Livingston and Penn, Sunspots may vanish by 2015, outlines the development of a situation not seen on earth since the "Maunder Minimum" of the mid-1700's. This period is, coincidentally, the middle of a climate period known as the Little Ice Age. And now a new 60 - 80 year "little ice age" may be coming as a result of the decrease in solar activity.

Then we have this from The Australian:
Sorry to Ruin the Fun, but an Ice Age Cometh

The scariest photo I have seen on the internet is www.spaceweather.com, where you will find a real-time image of the sun from the Solar and heliospheric Observatory, located in deep space at the equilibrium point between solar and terrestrial gravity.

What is scary about the picture is that there is only one tiny sunspot.

Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature on Earth has remained steady or slowly declined during the past decade, despite the continued increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and now the global temperature is falling precipitously.

All four agencies that track Earth's temperature (the Hadley Climate Research Unit in Britain, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, the Christy group at the University of Alabama, and Remote Sensing Systems Inc in California) report that it cooled by about 0.7C in 2007. This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record and it puts us back where we were in 1930. If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.

There is also plenty of anecdotal evidence that 2007 was exceptionally cold. It snowed in Baghdad for the first time in centuries, the winter in China was simply terrible and the extent of Antarctic sea ice in the austral winter was the greatest on record since James Cook discovered the place in 1770.
So much for all that arctic ice disappearing. Nature keeps the balance.
It is generally not possible to draw conclusions about climatic trends from events in a single year, so I would normally dismiss this cold snap as transient, pending what happens in the next few years.

This is where SOHO comes in. The sunspot number follows a cycle of somewhat variable length, averaging 11 years. The most recent minimum was in March last year. The new cycle, No.24, was supposed to start soon after that, with a gradual build-up in sunspot numbers.

It didn't happen. The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon.

The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth's climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790.

[...]

There is no doubt that the next little ice age would be much worse than the previous one and much more harmful than anything warming may do. There are many more people now and we have become dependent on a few temperate agricultural areas, especially in the US and Canada. Global warming would increase agricultural output, but global cooling will decrease it.

Millions will starve if we do nothing to prepare for it (such as planning changes in agriculture to compensate), and millions more will die from cold-related diseases.

There is also another possibility, remote but much more serious. The Greenland and Antarctic ice cores and other evidence show that for the past several million years, severe glaciation has almost always afflicted our planet.

The bleak truth is that, under normal conditions, most of North America and Europe are buried under about 1.5km of ice. This bitterly frigid climate is interrupted occasionally by brief warm interglacials, typically lasting less than 10,000 years.

The interglacial we have enjoyed throughout recorded human history, called the Holocene, began 11,000 years ago, so the ice is overdue. We also know that glaciation can occur quickly: the required decline in global temperature is about 12C and it can happen in 20 years.

The next descent into an ice age is inevitable but may not happen for another 1000 years. On the other hand, it must be noted that the cooling in 2007 was even faster than in typical glacial transitions. If it continued for 20 years, the temperature would be 14C cooler in 2027.

By then, most of the advanced nations would have ceased to exist, vanishing under the ice, and the rest of the world would be faced with a catastrophe beyond imagining.

[...]

All those urging action to curb global warming need to take off the blinkers and give some thought to what we should do if we are facing global cooling instead.

It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, but the fate of civilisation may be at stake.
Some of the more immediate consequences:

Global Cooling in Action: Three dead in Australian snow accidents

New Zealand: Ski resort claims deepest snow base ever

Snow Accumulation Drifts Towards Record

Snow in June: Spokane, Washington reverts to winter-like weather

And then of course comes the pathocratic squelching of scientific inquiry on the subject:

American physicists warned not to debate global warming

There's a lot of data floating around right now which both sides of the debate are grabbing onto to bolster their case. Given that the drive to concentrate power and resources into the hands of the few, looking at which side of the debate is being funded should prove enlightening. You don't think Al Gore tours the world on grass-roots donations do you?

For the comprehensive long-range analysis of climate change data, we recommend the reader to check here and here.

... and feeling the sprinkles of the Cosmic Dust

The Perseid shower, otherwise known as St Lawrence's Tears, came on schedule again this August and left their mark on our planet:

Fireball over Cumberland County, Pennsylvania?
UK: Mystery fireball falls from sky
Kincardine, Canada: Unexplained explosions mystify
Canada probes mysterious Arctic blast
Australia: It came from the sky
US: Witnesses recount 'wild weather'
US: 'Shuttle-Like Sonic Boom' Heard Before Townhome-Destroying Fire
US: Earthquake rattles counties in Alabama, explosion reported
US: Witnesses recount 'wild weather'

A few - perhaps more subtle? - mysterious occurrences drew our attention. In the US, a mysterious foam emerged ashore at Madrona Beach in the beginning of the month, and at the same time a mysterious green layer appeared on a lake in Turkey. Though the two might not be related at all - or at least seemingly - we recalled cases in the past of "foamy" waters. Mysterious foam in water was reported from Italy and Australia. It was also the case, early July, about the greenish foamy Israeli lake.

Curious enough, "white foam" was included in Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls:
In addition to these shipboard fatalities, there have been several striking accounts of near disasters involving impacts very close to ships. Near midnight of 24 February 1885, at a latitude of 37 degrees N and a longitude of 170 degrees 15 minutes E in the North Pacific, the crew of the barque Innerwich, en route from Japan to Vancouver, saw the sky turn fiery red: "A large mass of fire appeared over the vessel, completely blinding the spectators; and, as it fell into the sea some 50 yards to leeward, it caused a hissing sound, which was heard above the blast, and made the vessel quiver from stem to stem. Hardly had this disappeared, when a lowering mass of white foam was seen rapidly approaching the vessel.
The mystery deepens when we read in an article about the lake in Israel, where the foam and greenish color is attributed by the scientists to a new species of weed that recently moved to the lake:
it was the first time the weeds, which created the foam and gave the water an olive green color, had been noticed in the Kinneret and the experts could not identify their exact scientific nature.

....the reason for the weeds' appearance is not clear. "The conditions were apparently suitable but what exactly these conditions are, we don't yet know because we are not familiar with this species and its biology."

But only a few days after they appeared, and even before the researchers had succeeded in classifying them or giving them a scientific name, the strange weeds disappeared from the shores of the lake, leaving behind only the mysterious and worrisome, greenish, foamy patches.
Though a lot of other as yet undiscovered natural explanations might account for the strange phenomena in water bodies all over the world, we wonder whether there is something in the atmosphere - an organic residue of some kind or something that facilitates bacterial growth - which could be the result of a localized overhead explosion. Could it even be due to the planet's movement through some comet dust cloud?

Keep also in mind, that many space bodies' impacts with the earth or its atmosphere go unreported. Consider this report by Gen. Simon Worden from US Space Command:
"Most of the world knew about this situation and watched and worried. But few know of an event over the Mediterranean in early June of this year that could have had a serious bearing on that outcome. U.S. early warning satellites detected a flash that indicated an energy release comparable to the Hiroshima burst. We see about 30 such bursts per year, but this one was one of the largest we've ever seen. The event was caused by the impact of a small asteroid - probably about 5-10 meters in diameter on the earth's atmosphere. Had you been situated on a vessel directly underneath the intensely bright flash would have been followed by a shock wave that would have rattled the entire ship and possibly caused minor damage."
We live in interesting times indeed!

On a cosmic scale, it seems that the crop circle that appeared mid August in Etchilhampton Hill, near Devizes town, in Wiltshire, might provide a picture of where humanity finds itself right now - at a crossroads:

crossroads
©Frank Laumen

The wind of change that we felt last month, seems to be getting stronger and as we look around and collect clues, we note that there is an increase in polarization. The question that remains however is: which "face of god" will the majority of humanity choose to look upon?

The answer, at least for now, remains open.