Author Archives: oligarchy1
American Scholar of Russian Studies Stephen Cohen: NATO games in Ukraine bring world 5 minutes before nuclear midnight
In a thought provoking interview on RT, with renound American scholar of Russian studies Stephen Cohen, who is also a professor at New York University and Princeton discusses where the war in eastern Ukraine may lead.
It has now been six months into this roiling conflict that began back in April of this year which has displaced over 1 million people and taken nearly 4,000 lives in the region.
The West and Russia can’t seem to get over their differences, with the tensions between Washington and the Kremlin changing the stakes for the whole world. How far would this confrontation go? Is there another Cold War coming? And finally, will the world once again know the horror of a Nuclear War looming over humanity? RT’s Sophie&Co today asked Stephen Cohen these questions on Friday, October 10th, 2014.
Meteor Streaks Over The Skies of Central Russia Causing Damage and Injuries
showered fireballs over a large expanse while causing aerial explosions that damaged buildings, shattered windows and injured 1,200 people. The Interior Ministry said that the meteorite explosions are a very rare spectacle, it also unleashed a sonic boom.Ron Paul Bids Farwell to Congress in a Powerful Speech For Liberty
Ron Paul (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)
This past Wednesday Congressman Ron Paul of Texas gave his farewell speech to Congress with heavy words of what is needed to revitalize our liberties as men and women for freedom. At the same time the stock market has been contracting throughout the month with many financial analysts speculating a stock market crash, or at the very least a minor market correction. The latter possibility could surpass the 2008 recession market correction where many people lost 30% of their 401k’s and portfolios. With European austerity protests and public disputes over how to handle Greece becoming more volatile, the threat of tax hikes (fiscal cliff) under the Obama administration on dividends and capital gains further strangling the middle class, the question of whether the Fed is actually doing the U.S. a service with QE3? and the recent news that 40 states now have filed for secession from the Union has to make you wonder what has brought us to this point? Ron Paul’s farewell speech reveals the state of the crisis we face pretty clearly.
Ron Paul said this in reference to the liberties our founding fathers warned us of losing.
“After over 100 years we face a society quite different from the one that was intended by the Founders. In many ways their efforts to protect future generations with the Constitution from this danger has failed. Skeptics, at the time the Constitution was written in 1787, warned us of today’s possible outcome. The insidious nature of the erosion of our liberties and the reassurance our great abundance gave us, allowed the process to evolve into the dangerous period in which we now live.”
In regards to the ever burgeoning size of the Federal Government he comments:
Today we face a dependency on government largesse for almost every need. Our liberties are restricted and government operates outside the rule of law, protecting and rewarding those who buy or coerce government into satisfying their demands. Here are a few examples:
- Undeclared wars are commonplace.
- Welfare for the rich and poor is considered an entitlement.
- The economy is overregulated, overtaxed and grossly distorted by a deeply flawed monetary system.
- Debt is growing exponentially.
- The Patriot Act and FISA legislation passed without much debate have resulted in a steady erosion of our 4th Amendment rights.
- Tragically our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
- The drone warfare we are pursuing worldwide is destined to end badly for us as the hatred builds for innocent lives lost and the international laws flaunted. Once we are financially weakened and militarily challenged, there will be a lot resentment thrown our way.
- It’s now the law of the land that the military can arrest American citizens, hold them indefinitely, without charges or a trial.
- Rampant hostility toward free trade is supported by a large number in Washington.
- Supporters of sanctions, currency manipulation and WTO trade retaliation, call the true free traders “isolationists.”
- Sanctions are used to punish countries that don’t follow our orders.
- Bailouts and guarantees for all kinds of misbehavior are routine.
- Central economic planning through monetary policy, regulations and legislative mandates has been an acceptable policy.
Patience Wearing Thin In The Wake of Superstorm Sandy
Now into day five, Friday of the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy’s direct hit on the Northeastern United States and still millions are without power.The system was so large, its tropical storm force winds (39-73mph) went almost 1000 miles from its center. From its origins in the Caribbean as Tropical Depression 18, on October22 to Sandy covering not only the Eastern seaboard but reaching inland to the Great Lakes with reports of 15 to 20-foot waves on Lake Michigan only seven days later. Sandy may go down as the fourth costliest storm in U.S. History with, damage estimates totaling 50 billion dollars.
A satellite picture of Superstorm Sandy on October 28th, just 24 hours before its fateful landfall on October 29th, 2012 when it marched ashore near Atlantic City New Jersey with winds of 90mph.
An estimated 4.1 million households and businesses
remained without power across the Northeast — an estimated 530,000 of them in New York — and authorities warned it could take a week or more to restore electricity for many. ABC News reported Con Ed expects to have all power restored in Manhattan by Saturday.
Looking at pictures of the devastation reveals the sheer power of the storms surge in places like Rockaway Beach New York or Atlantic City New Jersey. A record 14 foot surge combined with the new moon tides attributed to the flood damage in parts of Manhattan, New York.
Adding insult to injury in the clean up rescue and recovery efforts, The National Weather Service said Thursday a nor’easter could develop next week over the mid-Atlantic states into New England.
Superstorm Sandy led to power failures in at least 17 states. 95 U.S. deaths are attributed to Sandy with 67 dead in the Caribbean and two confirmed dead in Canada. At least 41 people were killed in New York City. At least 13 people died in New Jersey, and officials said they feared the toll would rise as additional home searches were conducted. Besides New York City and New Jersey other deaths are in:
- Maryland: 11
- Rest of New York state: 8
- Pennsylvania: 7
- West Virginia: 6
- Connecticut: 4
- North Carolina: 2
- Puerto Rico: 1
Subways and buses rolled again in some parts of New York City Thursday and mandatory water restrictions were in effect across New Jersey after Sandy.The stock market reopened Wednesday, but normalcy is not back by any stretch of the imagination across parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
The White House announced Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will travel to Connecticut and New York to meet with state and local officials, and inspect response and recovery operations.
The storm sparked a fire that took down dozens of homes in Breezy Point, Queens. Mayor Bloomberg said more than 80 homes were destroyed by the overnight blaze that hundreds of firefighters struggled to contain on the western edge of the Rockaway peninsula.
Meanwhile with November 6th Presidential Elections around the corner election officials were ordering generators, moving voting locations and figuring out how to transport poll workers displaced from coastal areas as Tuesday’s presidential election became the latest challenge for states whacked by Superstorm Sandy.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says New York’s trains and subways have been recovering from Superstorm Sandy surprisingly quickly.
Still, frustration is building in the region amid gas lines, food lines, ongoing power outages and even some reports of looting.
Washington Institute For New East Policy Suggest how to Instigate a War With Iran
The interesting aspect about this discussion by the Washington Institute For New East Policy, a Neocon (Globalist) think-tank, is that its primary
Patrick Clawson describes how to go about prompting a War with Iran at a Washington Institute for New East Policy conference.
purpose is not necessarily to debate the current political elements of the Iranian question. They aren’t contemplating the viability, or morality of a war with Iran. Instead, they are attempting to devise strategies by which the government could convince the American public and the world that a war with Iran is the “right thing to do”, even if it means fabricating their own justification.
Think tanks like this not only construct policy framework, but they also write the subversive talking points used in the mainstream media that manipulate the masses into acceptance of that framework. In the video above, there is no suggestion that Iran would be left alone if the will of the public leans away from conflict. Instead, Patrick Clawson ,who works frequently with the Council On Foreign Relations openly suggests that a Gulf Of Tonkin style event be engineered (he uses the phrase “covert means”) in order to force a war into being.
Island Dispute Foments Between China and Japan
An escalating disagreement between China and Japan over a string of islands in the East China Sea continues to spark protest on both sides.
Protests over the islands, known as the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China, grew in Tokyo over the weekend. Japan has bought the islands
Violent anti-Japanese Protests erupt across China.
privately, but China says it is the rightful owner. Japan believes the group of these tiny islands lies just outside Chinese waters, but Beijing draws the border differently. The islands are also near rich fishing grounds and known to contain large oil deposits.
Earlier this past summer, in late July Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei expressed China’s “grave concern” and “strong displeasure” over what he described as the “highly irresponsible remarks” made by Prime Minister Noda.
Japanese Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda said Japan was ready to send in the military if necessary to protect the disputed islands of Senkaku,
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is facing dismal public poll numbers and increasing opposition within parliament all amidst the rising tensions with China.
known as the Diaoyu Islands in China. Yoshihiko Noda said,
“If a neighbouring country does something illegal in the vicinity of the Senkaku islands, we will, if need be, send the Self-Defense Forces and deal with this firmly as a nation. But preventive measures and crisis management, including diplomatic solutions, are paramount in order to prevent any such scenario from unfolding.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei also reaffirmed China’s
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei
determination to safeguard its territorial sovereignty. He added that the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands have been part of China’s inherent territory since ancient times. Hong also took note of Japan’s willingness to solve the issue through diplomatic efforts, and called on them to make concrete efforts in light of over-all Japan-China relations.
Now today, Wednesday September 26, 2012 Japan‘s main opposition party selects a nationalist leader Shinzo Abe who is tipped by some to become prime minister by the
Analysts believe Abe, 59, could lead the L.D.P. to victory in an election that could be called as early as this November.
year’s end, raising fears of an increase in tensions with China and South Korea over rival territorial claims.
He has said he wants to water down a 1995 statement by the then socialist prime minister, Tomiichi Murayama, apologising for Japan’s wartime aggression, and to withdraw a 1993 apology for its use of Korean women as sex slaves before and during the war.
Hopefully this rhetoric charged island squabble will abate and these two Asian Powers can resolve this matter diplomatically. “I am concerned
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is walking a diplomatic tight rope between Japan and China
that when these countries engage in provocations of one kind or another over these various islands, that it raises the possibility that a misjudgment on one side or the other could result in violence, and could result in conflict,” U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said this, when asked recently about a clash between Japan and China.
“We do not take a position on the ultimate sovereignty of these islands,” Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee.
“That is not in our strategic interest and clearly would undermine the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific as a whole,” he added.
These uninhabited islets in the East China Sea are “clearly” covered by a 1960 security treaty obligating the United States to come to Japan’s aid if attacked, a top U.S. diplomat says.
Official Story on Puzzling California Sulfur Smell Stinks
An odd stench occurred over a large expanse (10,000 square miles) of Southern California only days ago on Monday. Those concerned Californian residents, who called in about the malodorous odor mostly described it as being ” a sulfur like”, or “rotten egg smell”. The official response, from authorities on the matter
Earthquake swarm of 250 earthquakes ranging from 4.0-5..5 at the strongest occurred last week on August 26th 2012.The center of the activity is quite concentrated on the fault line that runs through Brawley and the Salton Sea (Salton Buttes) area. This area does have active geothermal prospecting, as well as a history of volcanic eruptions, although it has not occurred during historical time.
initially said it is either a fish die off in the Salton Sea which is responsible for the pervasive smell or overturning of the lake from strong southeast winds blowing across it from recent storms. Fortunately no health issues arose with pungent smell.The Salton Sea is some 150 miles E.S.E. from Los Angeles.
However what if it were volcanically linked?
Most definitely Volcanic activity is possible,” said geologist Pat Abbott.
Abbott was part of a research group that collected footage of muddy pits and volcanic gases about 100 miles east on the southern end of the Salton Sea. The area is the home of four buttes that are several hundred feet tall.
The buttes are small volcanoes with an explosive past. Miles below them is a pool of magma that is 15 miles wide. About 8,000 years ago, the buttes erupted, causing magma to flow which cooled into obsidian rock.
The damage from those eruptions was limited to the surrounding area, but if a major earthquake hit along the San Andreas Fault, geologists said there could be trouble.”
However U.S.G.S. geophysical studies of seismic activity, of heat flow in the earth, and of magnetic anomalies in the area around the south end of the Salton Sea all suggest that active igneous and metamorphic processes
It all comes down to the Salton Sea, which lies to the east of San Diego. The Salton Sea lies directly on the San Andreas Fault and covers more than 350 square miles. A big earthquake has hit the lake bed about every 180 years. But when officials started damming the Colorado River to reduce floods downstream (including in the Salton Sea), the moderate earthquakes stopped for the Salton. But seismologists think the damming stopped moderate stress-relieving earthquakes on the Salton. Now, they fear the pressure is building and the area could be as many as 100 years overdue for a mega-quake, measuring 7.5 or larger.
are now going on associated with an intrusive mass that lies below the sedimentary cover. The intrusion under the Salton Sea is thought to be a pluton, an arm or protrusion from a deeply buried molten magma. This intrusion is parallel to the axis of the Salton Trough. It is about 20 miles long by four miles wide, and is at least one to two miles thick. It lies within the upper 10,000 feet of the crust, and possibly as close as 4,000 feet from the surface. It is centered beneath the community of Niland, at the southeast shore of the Sea.
This pluton is acting upon the sedimentary fill, altering the rocks into a low grade metamorphic series under low-temperature/low-pressure metamorphism. Associated with the metamorphism of the rocks, chemical analysis of hot brines brought to the surface by deep thermal wells in the Imperial Valley and Mexico show that active ore formation is probably taking place around the pluton. This involves the concentration of sulfides of iron, lead, zinc and copper.
Previously on July 24th 2012 Lifeguards in Encinitas, California were first to report the strong, pungent odor at about 5 p.m. The odor was described as a gas-like smell rolling in off the ocean.
Soon after,911 was flooded with calls. Residents from the coast all the way to Rancho Bernardo and 4S Ranch reported experiencing the smell. Some complained of headaches and outdoor activities were canceled.
One Del Mar resident who did not want to be identified was inside the library in Cardiff at about 5 p.m. when the gas-like odor filled the entire building with the doors closed.
“There was none when I walked in that door and within 10 minutes, the entire library was filled,” she said.
Eventually, she got in her car and drove to try and get away from the smell. At about 5:30 p.m., the woman parked at San Dieguito County Park and took a photo of what she believes is some kind of aerosol compound she says fell from the sky and coated her car windows.
“I tried to wipe it and it was black and sticky and tried to put my window down and it smeared,” she said. She is convinced it was gas that was dispersing something with an oil component.
Guatemalan Volcanic Eruption Urges Mass Evacuations
A volcano erupted Thursday in Guatemala, prompting officials to evacuate 35,000 residents, said a spokeswoman for the Red Cross. The “Volcan de Fuego,” or Fire Volcano, began spewing ash at 10 a.m. and
was continuing to belch forth late in the afternoon near the country’s former capital, Antigua, said Carmen Maria Caballero of the Guatemalan Red Cross.
Volcanologists said powerful eruptions were catapulting burning rocks as high as 1,000m (3,280ft) above the crater and lava was flowing down its slopes.
Local residents reported how the roaring of the volcano shook windows and roofs in nearby villages. Experts say the eruption of Fuego, 50km (31 miles) south-west of Guatemala City, is the biggest since 1999.
Fuego exploded into a series of powerful eruptions outside one of Guatemala’s most famous tourist attractions on Thursday, hurling thick clouds of ash nearly two miles (three kilometers) high, spewing rivers of lava down its flanks.
Guatemala’s head of emergency evacuations, Sergio Cabanas, said the evacuees were ordered to leave some 17 villages around the Volcan del Fuego, which sits about six miles southwest (16 kilometers) from the colonial city of Antigua, home to 45,000 people. The ash was blowing south-southeast and authorities said the tourist center of the country was not currently in danger, although they expected the eruption to last for at least 12 more hours.
Hundreds of cars, trucks and buses, completely blanketed with charcoal grey cash, sped away from the volcano along the a two-lane paved highway toward Guatemala City. Dozens of people crammed into the backs of trucks. Thick clouds of ash reduced visibility to less than 10 feet in the area of sugarcane fields surrounding the volcano. The elderly, women and children filled old school buses and ambulances that carried them from the area.
The agency said lava rolled nearly 2,000 feet (600 meters) down slopes billowing with ash around the Volcan del Fuego, a 12,346-foot-high (3,763-meter-high) volcano whose name translates as “Volcano of Fire.”
“A paroxysm of an eruption is taking place, a great volcanic eruption, with strong explosions and columns of ash,” said Gustavo Chicna, a volcanologist with the National Institute of Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology. He said cinders spewing from the volcano were settling a half-inch thick in some places and that extremely hot gases were also rolling down the sides of the volcano, which was almost entirely wreathed in ash and smoke. The emergency agency warned that flights through the area could be affected.
Differences Between 2012 Presidential Candidates Romney and Obama?
Republican and Democratic presidential candidates Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are more alike than different in their stances on
many issues like universal health care, gun rights, energy, NDAA, the Patriot Act, Iran, sanctions, economic stimulus. bank and auto bailouts, civil rights, TARP, the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, and campaign donations.
They are both for government mandating healthcare, concur that income taxes should remain the same on those who pay the most and they agree the President may start a war on his own without a declaration of war from Congress like in the current cases of Libya and Syria. The distinctions, are that one is more inclined toward Labor Unions and the other is more in favor of big business.
Isaac breaches the Levees in Plaquemines Parish
As of 4:55 am CDT 10-12 ft of water was in homes in Plaquemines Parish, WRNO radio has reported at 3:15 am CDT that a levee had been breached in a south parish in
10:00 AM CDT, Wed Aug 29 Isaac was located at 29.6°N 90.7°W. The system is moving slowly Northwest at 6 mph, Min pressure was 972 millibars and Max sustained winds have decreased from 80mph to 75 mph. The flood threat from torrential rains and storm surge will continue through tonight along the North Gulf Coast.
New Orleans as Isaac takes direct aim on southeast Louisiana. Plaquemines Parish has had a levee breach at 3:33 am CDT . The breach was confirmed by Homeland Security at 3:51 am CDT. A breach means the levee is being over-topped.
Isaac is turning out to be a more a significant storm than originally expected as the region observes the 7-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Power companies were reporting more than 500,000 without power across the southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi.
Mayor Landrieu says 70% of New Orleans was without power as of early Wednesday.
The National Weather Service has reported severe wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph since late Tuesday across the area with numerous trees and power lines down. Some isolated locations have reported wind gusts over 100 mph.
Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said part of the roof of his home on the parish’s west bank had blown off. He described wind-driven rain entering his home as “like standing in a light socket with a fire hose turned on.”
Officials said an 18-mile stretch of levees on the east side of Plaquemines Parish was over topped by storm surge.
Meanwhile, on the Mississippi coast, dozens of roads were closed or impassable due to storm surge flooding and heavy rainfall. Trees and power lines were also reported down across roads.
Highway 90 from Gulfport to Biloxi was reported to be experiencing significant flooding, with up to two feet of water reaching the doors of the Hard Rock Casino early Wednesday.
A significant storm surge of 11 feet was reported at Shell Beach, La, late Tuesday while a surge of 6.9 feet was reported in Waveland, Miss., the NHC reported.
Fire officials reported they were unable to get to a home that burned to the ground amid storm surge flooding in the Bay St. Louis area Tuesday evening.
Isaac came ashore Tuesday night near the mouth of the Mississippi River, then went nearly stationary back out over the coastal waters for several hours before making a second landfall in Grand Isle.
BellwetherPost 