Relations between Vietnam and China deteriorated over the past fortnight after Hanoi formally protested at online discussions in China about a war with Vietnam. While only a small layer of Chinese nationalist fanatics made the web postings, the incident underscores the ongoing tensions between the two countries, which have conflicting strategic and economic interests, including in the South China Sea.
According to the South China Morning Post on September 5, Hanoi has twice summoned senior Chinese diplomats to express concerns about the "war plans" that have been appearing on Chinese web sites since August. The plans supposedly outline a full-scale invasion of Vietnam, starting with five days of missile strikes. Following a naval blockade and electronic jamming of Vietnam's communications, 310,000 Chinese troops would sweep into northern Vietnam from the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi and from the South China Sea.
Puppet Masters
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| ©Reuters |
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was set to be Israel's next prime minister after a comfortable victory on Wednesday in a party leadership election to choose a replacement for Ehud Olmert.
"The good guys won," the former corporate lawyer and one-time Mossad intelligence agent told supporters within the ruling centrist Kadima party after exit polls gave her a clear margin over retired general Shaul Mofaz, the transport minister.
Palestinian peace negotiators -- and possibly the sponsors of the peace process in Washington -- were among those applauding as official results began to confirm a win for Livni, who has led talks with the Palestinians this year.
Use the latest scientific techniques to poke a hole or two in official findings on the Kennedy assassination and suddenly you have lots of new friends - and lots of enemies.
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| © LOUIS DeLUCA/DMN |
| Dr. Cliff Spiegelman of Texas A&M University is the leader of a team of scientists who investigated bullets from the same manufacturing lot as those used by Lee Harvey Oswald during the assassination of JFK in 1963. |
Sophisticated and elaborate plots are often plagued with one or more serious flaws or oversights, which if followed up doggedly would expose them as malicious frauds. More often than not, such flaws are discounted or massaged by the architects and their abettors and although the explanations may not be generally accepted by astute observers they do contribute to the convoluted and tortuous pattern of evidence that keep researchers running in circles and chasing rainbows.
To solve the entire 9/11 puzzle - to connect all the dots - would certainly be desirable. But to dilute one's efforts by taking in all the broad aspects of the entire series of events at the outset would be unproductive.
Six years have elapsed since the attacks took place at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and many of the pieces to the 9/11 puzzle still remain scattered and disconnected. A broad overview of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon points to American Airlines' Boeing 757, Flight 77 as the weak link in the 9/11 incident. The official account of the Pentagon explosion contains inconsistencies and aberrations that can and should be explored and exploited.
To solve the entire 9/11 puzzle - to connect all the dots - would certainly be desirable. But to dilute one's efforts by taking in all the broad aspects of the entire series of events at the outset would be unproductive.
Six years have elapsed since the attacks took place at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and many of the pieces to the 9/11 puzzle still remain scattered and disconnected. A broad overview of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon points to American Airlines' Boeing 757, Flight 77 as the weak link in the 9/11 incident. The official account of the Pentagon explosion contains inconsistencies and aberrations that can and should be explored and exploited.
Comment: The writer above says:
As accomplished technocrats the plotters were aware of the latest advances in video manipulation as is done on television every day. With real time video insertion the allegedly "hijacked" planes piloted by "Arab terrorists" could be shown crashing into buildings while at the instant of impact a series of low level explosives on the buildings surface would be initiated to etch the outline of a banking plane into its structure.He doesn't realize that if this was what the "technocrats" did regarding the World Trade Center towers, it could also have been done regarding the Pentagon. That it was NOT done for the Pentagon Strike suggests strongly that this was not what happened. Instead, it suggests that actual airliners were used and did strike the WTC towers and the replaying of this event, over and over again, was the means of suggesting to the masses, in a state of shock, that the same thing occurred at the Pentagon.
As to whether or not those same airliners landed elsewhere, or did not, that is most likely the "easy method of confusion" that was utilized to distribute false leads to confuse and confound investigators such as the author of the above piece and others of his ilk.
We know the criminal Bush gang are trying to tie up loose ends before leaving office to put off indictments (the anthrax case, the silly explanation for the collapse of WTC 7). Perhaps they're getting ready to present a grainy image of a plane hitting the pentagon, all painted up to look light flight 77 and all those no-planers are going to take the truth movement down with them. Thus endeth the 9/11 "conspiracy theories" once and for all.
Rome - The "war on terror" declared by U.S. President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks has caused more terrorism than it prevented, Syria's foreign minister said on Thursday.
On the seventh anniversary of the attacks on the United States, Walid al-Moualem said Washington had ignored Syria's advice not to rely on force to stop terrorism.
"As we said to President Bush shortly after the tragic events on September 11, the fight against terrorism must begin at the roots, at the cause of terrorism," al-Moualem told a news conference in Rome, where he was meeting Italy's foreign minister.
"The last thing we should use if that fails is the use of force, as a last resort. Unfortunately they have made the use of force the beginning and the end of the fight against terrorism and thus terrorism is much more widespread today than before."
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| ©REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir |
| Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem waves upon his arrival to attend the parliamentary session for the presidential election in Beirut May 25, 2008. |
On the seventh anniversary of the attacks on the United States, Walid al-Moualem said Washington had ignored Syria's advice not to rely on force to stop terrorism.
"As we said to President Bush shortly after the tragic events on September 11, the fight against terrorism must begin at the roots, at the cause of terrorism," al-Moualem told a news conference in Rome, where he was meeting Italy's foreign minister.
"The last thing we should use if that fails is the use of force, as a last resort. Unfortunately they have made the use of force the beginning and the end of the fight against terrorism and thus terrorism is much more widespread today than before."
Three Mossad agents have been killed in the oil rich city of Kirkuk amid reports that the Israeli spy agency is active in northern Iraq.
Ukrainian lawmakers voted Tuesday to form a panel to investigate their country's weapons supplies to Georgia following Russia's war with that nation last month.
Ukraine has been a major supplier of weapons to its ally Georgia, whom it backed firmly in the conflict. Ukrainian military officials say the arms supplies are perfectly lawful and will not be halted.
But Valeriy Konovalyuk, a lawmaker from the opposition Party of Regions, which has ties to Moscow, told the legislature Tuesday that he believes Ukraine was engaged in "illegal weapons supplies." He did not elaborate.
Ukraine has been a major supplier of weapons to its ally Georgia, whom it backed firmly in the conflict. Ukrainian military officials say the arms supplies are perfectly lawful and will not be halted.
But Valeriy Konovalyuk, a lawmaker from the opposition Party of Regions, which has ties to Moscow, told the legislature Tuesday that he believes Ukraine was engaged in "illegal weapons supplies." He did not elaborate.
Azerbaijan and Israel enjoy broad cooperation aimed at averting the threat posed by Iran, an institute at the Washington University claims.
"The Israeli intelligence service, Mossad does whatever within its power to protect Azerbaijan from the threats posed by (the Islamic Republic of) Iran," Azeri daily Yeni Musavat quoted the political analyst at the University of Washington's institute for Middle East Studies, Alexander Morinson as saying.
He pointed out to what he called "extensive covert and overt preemptive cooperation in security, intelligence and military areas between Azerbaijan and the Israeli intelligence services, Mossad against the Iranian influence" in the ex-Soviet republic.
Morinson also referred to installation of "highly-advanced satellite espionage equipment on the Azeri soil, wiretapping centers in frontier areas, eavesdropping centers in the Caspian Sea and continuous training of Azeri intelligence and security agents in Israel" as instances of the collaboration.
"The Israeli intelligence service, Mossad does whatever within its power to protect Azerbaijan from the threats posed by (the Islamic Republic of) Iran," Azeri daily Yeni Musavat quoted the political analyst at the University of Washington's institute for Middle East Studies, Alexander Morinson as saying.
He pointed out to what he called "extensive covert and overt preemptive cooperation in security, intelligence and military areas between Azerbaijan and the Israeli intelligence services, Mossad against the Iranian influence" in the ex-Soviet republic.
Morinson also referred to installation of "highly-advanced satellite espionage equipment on the Azeri soil, wiretapping centers in frontier areas, eavesdropping centers in the Caspian Sea and continuous training of Azeri intelligence and security agents in Israel" as instances of the collaboration.
Syria: President Nicolas Sarkozy's two-day visit to Damascus got off to a bad start yesterday when it became apparent that he and the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are engaged in a dialogue of the deaf regarding the Iranian nuclear programme.
Matters were further complicated when the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first cancelled his attendance at a meeting with Mr Sarkozy, Mr Assad and the Emir of Qatar here today, then relented on condition the summit be moved forward by an hour or more.
At a press conference in the Syrian presidential palace, Mr Sarkozy stressed repeatedly that he expected Mr Assad to convey to Tehran how serious the crisis over the Iranian nuclear programme has become. "I told [Assad] again Iran must not possess nuclear weapons," Mr Sarkozy said. "An Iranian nuclear weapon would be a threat to peace throughout the region and the world."
Matters were further complicated when the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first cancelled his attendance at a meeting with Mr Sarkozy, Mr Assad and the Emir of Qatar here today, then relented on condition the summit be moved forward by an hour or more.
At a press conference in the Syrian presidential palace, Mr Sarkozy stressed repeatedly that he expected Mr Assad to convey to Tehran how serious the crisis over the Iranian nuclear programme has become. "I told [Assad] again Iran must not possess nuclear weapons," Mr Sarkozy said. "An Iranian nuclear weapon would be a threat to peace throughout the region and the world."
"I'm in show business, why come to me?"
"War is show business, that's why we're here."
- "Wag the Dog" (1997 film)
Last week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had just announced record losses, and so had most reporting corporations. Unemployment was mounting, the foreclosure crisis was deepening, state budgets were in shambles, and massive bailouts were everywhere. Investors had every reason to expect the dollar and the stock market to plummet, and gold and oil to shoot up. Strangely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 300 points, the dollar strengthened, and gold and oil were crushed. What happened?
"War is show business, that's why we're here."
- "Wag the Dog" (1997 film)
Last week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had just announced record losses, and so had most reporting corporations. Unemployment was mounting, the foreclosure crisis was deepening, state budgets were in shambles, and massive bailouts were everywhere. Investors had every reason to expect the dollar and the stock market to plummet, and gold and oil to shoot up. Strangely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 300 points, the dollar strengthened, and gold and oil were crushed. What happened?
Comment: While the primary purpose of the Georgian provocation is probably not to distract from Fannie and Freddie's woes, it's certainly a welcome secondary result. Ms. Eden does a nice job of highlighting just how many neocons are still working "backstage" in the current presidential campaigns.
Comment: Israel's answer to President Palin?