Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

SOTT Focus: Iraq War: The End? Or Is It?

Here we are, almost at the end of the year 2011. After eight and a half long years, millions of lives lost, leaving a country visibly unrecognizable from 2003, trillions of dollars gone, Obama has called an end to the Iraq war, so that must be it then?


How it all began

After the 9/11 attacks, spun by the Powers That Be (PTB) as "terrorist attacks" by Muslim extremists, the War on Terror™ began. As a 'subwar', the invasion and occupation of Iraq was initiated after the governments of US and UK accused Iraq of employing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that it imposed a threat to their "sovereign nations". Of course, the claim that Iraq was harboring WMDs was later completely dismissed and no such weapons were ever found. After the questionable capture and execution of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Western governments began justifying their occupation of Iraq as "bringing democracy" to the country.

Now, almost nine years later the US army are exiting the country after being asked to leave by the Iraqi government for several years. One would assume that if the Iraqi government wasn't so adamant that the US leave Iraqi soil, the US would probably never leave. But this "leave" is only on the surface and most likely a political stunt by the Obama administration before the 2012 presidential elections; so as to state that Obama actually ended the war. But in actuality the US has no intention of leaving Iraq and they are most definitely maintaining a presence there.

MIB

Iran Intelligence 'Arrests CIA Spy'

Image
© Agence France-PresseA grab taken from the official Iranian state TV on December 8, shows what Iranian officials claim is the US RQ-170 Sentinel high-altitude reconnaissance drone. Tehran has arrested an alleged US Central Intelligence Agency spy of Iranian origin before he could complete his mission of infiltrating the intelligence ministry, media quoted the ministry as saying.
Tehran has arrested an alleged US Central Intelligence Agency spy of Iranian origin before he could complete his mission of infiltrating the intelligence ministry, media quoted the ministry as saying on Saturday.

"Based on the scenario, he was supposed to infiltrate the intelligence ministry ... and feed it deceptive information on a large scale and spy on it," said a statement reported by the ISNA news agency.

"The Iranian-origin CIA agent received complex training, had worked as an analyst and also worked with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan," the statement added, without identifying him.

The man was first identified at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and arrested in Iran, the statement said, without identifying the man or saying when he was seized.

Bad Guys

It's All Part of the Plan: The US "Pro-Israel" Right Loses It

It has been over a week since the lobby that deems itself "pro-Israel" began its recent effort to suppress the views of those of us it considers Israel haters, self-hating Jews or -- in a most ridiculous twist given that most of us are Jews -- "anti-Semites."

The effort to silence us now stems from (1) the determination to defeat President Obama, and (2) the need to intimidate us as the lobby and its congressional acolytes cowboy up for a bombing campaign against Iran.

I am one of the least significant figures to come under attack.

The bill of particulars against me is that I use the term "Israel firster" to describe those who consistently -- and without exception -- thwart the efforts of U.S. Presidents to achieve Middle East peace. (Worse, according to Fox News, I "defiantly" refuse to back down).

I view their goals as those of the Israeli right: to maintain the occupation and prevent diplomacy with Iran.

These people (take a look at Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post) think nothing of attacking the President of the United States in the most vicious of terms but condemn anyone with the temerity to criticize anything done by the prime minister of Israel.

People

Could hackers develop a 'computer virus' to infect the human mind?

Image
© UnknownCalifornian biologist Andrew Hessel says, 'Cells are living computers and DNA is a programming language,' but warns that this could lead to viruses and bacteria used to 'hack' human minds

The field of 'synthetic biology' is in its infancy. We can 'tweak' the genetics of life forms - but billionaire entrepreneur Craig Venter only created 'artificial life' for the first time last year, christening his life form 'Synthia'.

But experts working within the field believe that our expertise is out-accelerating natural evolution by a factor of millions of years - and some warn that synthetic biology could spin out of control.

It could lead, says Andrew Hessel of Singularity University, on Nasa's research campus, to a world where hackers could engineer viruses or bacteria to control human minds.

Hessel believes that genetic engineering is the next frontier of computing.

'This is one of the most powerful technologies in the world,' says Hessel 'Synthetic biology - the writing of life.'

Eye 1

The Complete List of All the Phones With Carrier IQ Spyware Installed

cellphone spyware
© Unknown
Responding to the US Senate request lead by Senator Al Franken, AT&T, Sprint, HTC, and Samsung have sent the list of all the phones with Carrier IQ spyware installed in them.

The carriers have also admitted that Carrier IQ also captured the content of text messages "under certain conditions."

Here's the complete list:

AT&T

AT&T claims about 900,000 users using phones with Carrier IQ. The software is active on eleven AT&T wireless consumer devices:
  • Motorola Atrix 2
  • Motorola Bravo
  • Pantech Pursuit II
  • Pantech Breeze 3
  • Pantech P5000 (Link 2)
  • Pantech Pocket
  • Sierra Wireless Shockwave
  • LG Thrill
  • HTC Vivid
  • LG Nitro
  • Samsung Skyrocket
Carrier IQ is also packaged in the free AT&T Mark the Spot application, available for Android and RIM.
  • ZTE Avail
  • ZTE Z331
  • SEMC Xperia Play
It's also installed but not active "due to the potential for the software agent to interfere with the performance" of the following phones:

Info

Congo's Top Court Declares Kabila President

Joseph Kabila
© ReutersCongolese president Joseph Kabila has rejected claims of corruption in the recent national elections.
Democratic Republic of Congo's Supreme Court has confirmed Joseph Kabila as the winner of a disputed November 28 presidential election, rejecting demands by the opposition for the vote to be annulled over fraud allegations.

The court's president, Jerome Kitoko, said Mr Kabila had won 48.95 per cent of the vote.

"In consequence, Joseph Kabila is proclaimed president-elect of the republic with a simple majority," he said at the justice ministry.

The court said the opposition had failed to provide proof of their allegations.

Congo's election commission last Friday declared Mr Kabila winner of the vote which observers said lacked credibility and was marred by irregularities and violence.

Airplane

Pilot Error May Have Caused Iran Drone Crash

Iran, drone
© The Associated Press/Sephanews
The United States is investigating a combination of pilot error and mechanical failure as possible causes for the crash of a classified U.S. drone in Iran and does not believe Iran brought down the plane, according to two U.S. government officials.

The unmanned RQ-170 Sentinel drone, which had been on a sensitive CIA surveillance mission over Iran, crashed and was apparently reassembled by Iran before being put on display in Tehran, said one of the officials, who was speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the investigation.

While exactly what went wrong with the aircraft is not publicly known, it is now becoming clear that its operators could have crashed the plane and destroyed it if they had taken action while it was still at a higher altitude, according to a source familiar with the aircraft and its operation.

Instead, the stealthy drone built by Lockheed Martin Corp broke up into several large pieces, allowing Iran to reassemble the plane and possibly share some of its technological secrets with China, Russia or other U.S. competitors.

Stormtrooper

Best of the Web: US Exit from Iraq: 'This is Not a Withdrawal, This is an Act on a Stage'

Image
© Ali Al-Saadi/Agence France-Presse/GettyUS soldiers hold the US and Iraqi flags during the symbolic flag-lowering ceremony marking the end of the US mission in Iraq.
Iraqi people greet pullout ceremony with ambivalence mixed with concern over an uncertain future

There was no triumphalism and certainly no shock or awe. The end of the war in Iraq was subdued and simple: a small band playing as the US forces flag was furled with 200 troops watching on quietly.

In a makeshift parade ground in a corner of Baghdad airport, time was called on the war just after 1pm on Thursday, eight years, eight months and 26 days after its far more dramatic opening in March 2003. Nearby a plane was waiting to take home the US high command. And in southern Iraq, the 4,000 US troops who remain were steadily streaming towards Kuwait.

By Sunday all the troops will be gone, called home for Christmas by an administration that decided there was little point sticking to the original end date of 31 December. The Iraqi government had made clear that it no longer wanted a US presence here and any soldier who stayed behind would not be granted legal immunity.

Nuke

Nuclear Isotopes Caught Heading to Iran - Not Quite What it Seemed

Image
© Unknown
There is radiation. And then there is radiation.

Reports from Moscow appeared to provide more evidence of Iran's ambition to build a nuclear bomb. Russian customs agents said Friday morning they found 18 pieces of radioactive metal in the luggage of a passenger bound for Tehran. A radiation detector at the airport identified the luggage, which had levels of radiation 20 times the limit.

But on closer examination the isotope was identified as Na22, which is used in medicine. It is commonly used to trace sodium in the body. It cannot be used in the production nuclear weapons. Russia has an agreement with Iran to supply medical isotopes.

It's not surprising that the world is on edge about anything nuclear heading to Tehran. On Thursday diplomatic sources reported that there is hard evidence that Iran is once-again ramping up its nuclear program by transferring machinery, equipment and nuclear material to an underground bunker deep inside a mountain.

This also coincides with a period of escalating tensions between Iran and the West after a U.N. report last month said Tehran appears to be working on designing a nuclear weapon. Iran insists it just wants to build nuclear power plants, but enriched uranium is also the key ingredient for atomic bombs, which is what the West suspects is the country's ultimate intention.

You may remember that in 2009 Iran's nuclear program was the target of a cyber attack from a powerful computer worm called Stuxnet that had its centrifuges spinning out of control.

The U.S. and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Comment: The evidence: an unnamed mountain and "diplomatic sources." What hard evidence do they have and why are they not named, interviewed and images of the hard evidence being shown? Oh that's right it's too much for the typical person to fathom, it might hurt their illusions of War, Destruction, Death, Radioactive fallout, Invisible evidence..


Dollar

Scientific study shows how Western finance rules the world

money graphic
© n/a
Bankers rule the world. A new Swiss Federal Institute of Technology study says so. Written by Stefania Vitali, James Glattfelder and Stefano Battiston, it's titled "The network of global corporate control," saying:
"We find that transnational corporations from a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic 'super-entity' that raises new important issues both for researches and policy makers."
The study says 147 powerful companies control an inordinate amount of economic activity - about 40%.


Comment: The percentage actually comes to 60% when you include shares they own in manufacturing companies.


Among the top 50, 45 are financial firms. They include Barclays PLC (called most influential), JPMorgan Chase, UBS, and other familiar and less known names.

Twenty-four companies are US-based, followed by eight in Britain, five in France, four in Japan, and Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands with two each. Canada has one.


Comment: That's pretty much 'the West' right there.


Moreover, "top ranked" companies "hold a control ten times bigger than what could be expected based on their wealth."

Comment: The New Scientist report on the study is here.

You have to go down to number 50 on the list to find a corporation that actually does something useful...
The top 50 of the 147 superconnected companies

1. Barclays plc
2. Capital Group Companies Inc
3. FMR Corporation
4. AXA
5. State Street Corporation
6. JP Morgan Chase & Co
7. Legal & General Group plc
8. Vanguard Group Inc
9. UBS AG
10. Merrill Lynch & Co Inc
11. Wellington Management Co LLP
12. Deutsche Bank AG
13. Franklin Resources Inc
14. Credit Suisse Group
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp
17. Natixis
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc
20. Legg Mason Inc
21. Morgan Stanley
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc
23. Northern Trust Corporation
24. Société Générale
25. Bank of America Corporation
26. Lloyds TSB Group plc
27. Invesco plc
28. Allianz SE 29. TIAA
30. Old Mutual Public Limited Company
31. Aviva plc
32. Schroders plc
33. Dodge & Cox
34. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc*
35. Sun Life Financial Inc
36. Standard Life plc
37. CNCE
38. Nomura Holdings Inc
39. The Depository Trust Company
40. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
41. ING Groep NV
42. Brandes Investment Partners LP
43. Unicredito Italiano SPA
44. Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan
45. Vereniging Aegon
46. BNP Paribas
47. Affiliated Managers Group Inc
48. Resona Holdings Inc
49. Capital Group International Inc
50. China Petrochemical Group Company

* Lehman still existed in the 2007 dataset used

(Data: PLoS One)