I don’t remember which of the noncorporate foreign satellite TV channels it was on when I wondered through the house enroute to a sandwich yesterday, but there was a guest on one of the channels talking about how how ‘convenient it was that the plane attempt swept US attention away from climategate. yeah, funny how that’s been pushed back off the front pages, isn’t it? If you are only plugged in to US MainStream/me-too-media (MSM-M2M) you aren’t supposed to have noticed the timing. How many times do ‘incidents’ have to happen at particular inflection points before it’s acceptable to ask “Is there a pattern here?” Joys of FTA television – and no monthly bill besides.
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Later today we’ll be treated to a report on the shocking missed clues that should have prevented the attempt Christmas day. The Obama administration’s national security chief says it will be shocking. Talk is of this being ‘two strikes’ (the plane attempt plus the Fort Hood rampage). Not sure what’s to happen on the third ‘strike’ attempt, but why do I get the feeling we’ll find out?
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Not that al Qaeda and elements of militant Islam aren’t out to ruin the west; they are. And in fact there’s a report out of the UK’s TimesOnline today that the recent “CIA attack was ‘in revenge for al-Qaeda deaths’.
But when we step back and look at the big picture, a couple of things stand out in stark relief. The first is that the West is not any closer to finding Osama bin Laden than we were the day after 9/11. Here’s a guy who is the supposed mastermind of much of America’s troubles – and he’s got a $50-million dollar bounty on his head – and yet the resources of the richest (at least when this all started) and brightest (as least we hope so) country on earth have been stymied by this fellow. I can’t help but think that he’s getting help from some other players – BIG PLAYERS – who are helping him stay one-step-ahead of efforts and that suggests to me that certain of the PowersThatBe want to keep terrorism in play. Especially since fear-mongering and global governance promotional schemes like climate change and global pandemic aren’t doing too well; know what I’m saying?
We’re only a month and a half from the next round of disease-fears if the predictive linguistics are right and if that stuff pops around the Winter Olympics up in Whistler, B.C. remember it will be prima facie evidence that the next ‘flu outbreak’ might be more aptly named an escalation in ‘global bioterrorism’ by rogue elements of shadow government (global supergov types) working hand-in-hand with rogue elements in globalpharma. We get to wait for that one.
Meantime, the second striking self-evident feature is that the US is getting (more corrected: has been sucked) into another manpower absorption layer of conflict in Yemen. True, the Yemeni forces are doing what they can including arrest of three suspect AQ members, but I sense the larger game as outlined previously is to so preoccupy the West with brushfire engagements around the periphery of Pakistan, that AQ/MI (Militant Islam) forces will be able to overthrow Pakistan’s government and scoop up their nuclear arsenal.
Just today we see how the eastern side of Pakistan is being pressured by those forces as “2 militant killed after 22-hour standoff in India Kashmir.”
The US-backed government in Pakistan and US strategic planners are not unaware of the problem.
You can sense it behind headline-grabbing stories like “Pakistan calls for swift resolution of Kashmir issue” since that tense border problem sucks up resources that could be deployed elsewhere.
This Big Picture is not clearly articulated in the corpgov Western press, however, perhaps because it’s so difficult to explain. It’s terribly clear, however, if you look at maps. Ratchet up Iran’s threat to move West into Iraq with incidents such as the recent oil well grab. Threaten both the KSA (kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to the Northt of Yemen and marching east through Oman, pressure on Pakistan’s western flank. Increase pressure on the Pakistani North via Afghanistan, and on the east via Kashmir.
That’s a huge perimeter to defend for the West and as noted earlier this week, deterioration of Oman’s economy. The increased traffic at Oman Air doesn’t seem related - the national airline has expanded its fleet and number of destinations. But efforts by Oman to increase ties with the United Arab Emirates may be.
As I hear rumors from SF groups about AQ/MI types drifting toward Pakistan, the pieces seem to fit with an upcoming uprising, although no timetable is clear – only the agenda. And that’s a scary one since in the West we’ve been watching the increasing coziness of corporations and government develop into ‘checkbook fascism’. Stands to reason that the Middle Eastern equivalent would be closer ties between corporations and religion-principled governments (not sure what that term might be). But the financial winner in this “heads we win, tails we win” scenario is corporations and their PTB masters who have worked both sides in how many wars over the longer term of history?
Banky-Panky Department:
8% of Americans “Unbanked”
A buddy in the community banking arena passed this one as something you may find interesting. Our source pointed to an article in a very good monthly banking newsletter:
“The article starting on page 2 reports FDIC concerns about nearly 8% of Americans who don’t have a checking or savings account. While it’s true that this 8% pays heftier fees to remain un-/underbanked, I’m suspicious about FDIC’s supposed concern. It is also true that those 8% remain outside the official, monitored banking system. With Fed trying to get approval for term deposit facilities for member banks to have access to more money for the govt’s profligate spending, I think that 8% just represents a juicy source of new captive deposits to the FDIC.”
Yes, you can use “Banky-Panky” – a term cooked up by our Indonesian Bureau Chief B.G.
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In case you missed it – the Fed minutes out yesterday were a yawner. More review economics here, if you want to read it. A more forward-looking idea? Count homeless today and look at average credit card delinquencies and so on.
How Cool Is This?
In yesterday’s report I mentioned the argument advanced by a reader that doesn’t make sense to one well-schooled reader with a science background:
“Your reader wrote:
“In a nutshell – the jet stream which is normally farther north than this, and which keeps the warm and cold climates separate, is not being pushed as far north because the cold isn’t cold enough (doesn’t compress as much) so arctic weather is a bit further south than we’d expect. Proof positive of ‘climate change’ I’d say.”
If that’s the argument, it’s equally possible that the “warm” isn’t “warm enough (doesn’t expand as much)” so arctic weather is drawn further south, instead of pushing further south.”
Another reader/critic in Prague says that it’s dead wrong to associate pole-flipping of the Sun with anything 2012′ish, but that lack of sunspots being linked to cold weather isn’t far off:
“Vazeny Jiri:
You write as an authority on many matters. This is why I am responding to your commentary for today like this.
As a reporter, you were taught to get the facts straight. Now I will not challenge you on DIY, goat raising and electronics. But I have spent much of my life around astronomy and have observed all parts of the sun. I have also studied weather; at one time in my youth I planned to be a meteorologist.
First, the solar minimum was forecast to occur around 2007 or 2008, not 2005. The last minimum was in October 1996. Remember that you should not set your clocks by the solar magnetic cycle, otherwise you would not be on time for your clients.
Second, I refer you to Dr Miroslav Druckmuller’s solar eclipse imaging website http://www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz/~druck/Eclipse/index.htm. Look at the 1995 solar corona. Now look at the 2008 and 2009 solar coronas. Do you see the difference?
The 1995 corona was very quiet with little action. This was not true in July. There are lots of “little” magnetic loops. July 2009 is a typical solar minimum corona, but not a calm and quiet one. It tells me that something is still going on.
Third, every solar cycle has a different polarity of sunspots. The solar magnetic field reverses with each cycle. It will not flip off the Earth.
There is very little we know about solar activity. We cannot predict details of future solar cycles. We can do better predicting the course of financial markets.
You also forget the recent volcanic eruptions that have thrown aerosols into the atmosphere. That blocks solar energy and thus cools the earth.”
Good point on the volcanism. Getting little to no play in the MSM is the eruption this week of yet another volcano…this one in Costa Rica…which hasn’t popped off since the 1800′s. I expect it would have gotten a lot more play in the media except for this headline: “Costa Rica coffee crops spared from volcano blast“. As long as we have our coffee, does the nation that consumes 25% of global resources really care? We got empires to build, software to develop, new taxes to levy, and those efforts require tons of coffee… See how it all makes sense now?
With snow forecast for the Atlanta area, I wonder again…sunspots? None visible again today…and just the remnants of 1035 coming around from the backside.
Another Day, Another Ponzi?
A reader tipped me off to an incredibly interesting story – which goes to a scam that may dwarf the Madoff case and is outlined in an open letter to president Obama on the CMKM Diamonds, Inc. website. The website docs allege that more than 50,000 people were bilked out of dough when they purchased more than 703-billion shares issued by then-management of the firm.
What’s even more interesting, however, is that as you read through the detailed accusations, inaction of the SEC comes clearly into view along with questions about why aggressive enforcement action wasn’t undertaken early.
I don’t have time (since I’m a part-time reporter/full time consultant) but here’s something which a good reporter should go after: Look up the alleged perps and see who was giving money (if any) to various high rollers in government. Seems to be a pattern in such cases…a few bucks here and there to those in power…and might be interesting in this one.
Meantime, it’s another sad commentary on the practice of naked short selling -reports on the ‘net allege more than 7-trillion shares were nakedly shorted.
