Posts by Jaime Ortega-Simo:
Outlaws and Obama (Video)
November 17th, 2012President Barack Obama promised in his first electoral campaign to regulate Wall Street and reform the banking system. The video below not only shows how politicians can take advantage of voters, but how Obama’s legacy, continued the same narrow path which his predecessor George W. Bush condoned, by not applying Old Testament justice to those that caused the economic collapse of 2008. Are banks too powerful to fail?
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Video extracted from PBS. Money, Power, Wall Street.
US strategical interest in Africa
November 11th, 2012W.Leaks.
WikiLeaks Document Release
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RL34003
February 2, 2009
Congressional Research Service
Report RL34003
Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of
the U.S. Military in Africa
Lauren Ploch, Analyst in African Affairs
January 5, 2009
Abstract. This report provides a broad overview of U.S. strategic interests in Africa and the role of U.S.
military efforts on the continent as they pertain to the creation of AFRICOM. A discussion of AFRICOM’s
mission, its coordination with other government agencies, and its basing and manpower requirements is included.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RL34003
Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress
Police State during the Great Depression
November 9th, 2012The danger of a police state brings us back to the era of The Great Depression. Millions of WWI veterans who were struggling to find jobs protested during the Hoover administration outside the Capital to get a bonus bill passed which would give them benefits and rights. The bill was not passed. The Army pushed back the thousands of protesters outside the Capital, burned down their makeshift houses and killed men who once fought for the U.S. After the incident Hoover lost the election to President Roosevelt … A reminder of the danger of government and police brutality.
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Video cut thanks to PBS.
Should the uneducated be allowed to vote?
November 7th, 2012
A dilemma for all political cultures under democratic principles
It is estimated that at least 50-73 percent of the population in most democratic nations doesn’t exactly understand for what it is voting. Basically, people are not educated well enough to discuss or understand the policies for which their political candidates stand. This would be the equivalent of saying, “I vote Republican because it is the tradition in our family;” or “I’m a democrat because my friends are voting democrats.”
A majority of voters vote based on intuition, rather than relying exclusively on their comprehension of the candidates’ policies.
Is it fair for citizens who don’t know anything about politics, economics, education … to have equal voting rights as the citizens who are knowledgeable concerning the candidates they select? And if it’s fair: could it also be said that those who vote without comprehension are basically playing a ‘coin toss’ game that could go either way? If it’s not fair: should the system acknowledge knowledgeable voters and only allow those who understand the system to actually vote? In other words, should the janitor be allowed to operate on a tumor and have the same rights as the doctor?
Robert David Steele Vivas.
“Democracy is by definition self-governance of, by, and for educated informed citizens.
When the state fails to educate its citizens to the fullest extent possible, corruption rules and plutocracy/kleptocracy kick in.
The single best book on this point that I have read is Will Durant’s Philosophy and the Social Problem, see my summary review there.
The USA is not a democracy. It is a GRIFTOPIA as Matt Taibbi has defined it, enabled by a two-party tyranny and a government whose flag officers and senior civil servants have confused loyalty to criminally inclined and fraudulently elected politicans, with their oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies domestic and foreign.
To heal ourselves, we must first raise the educational level of all of our people, and then apply ruthless counterintelligence against all of our enemies, including dual US Israli citizens, Opus Dei, Pentecostals, and Mormons, that have penetrated our government and whose allegiance is to a foreign or non-governmental power rather than to the public interest. Please note that in my view Muslims, along with Quakers and 7th Day Adventists, have NOT penetrated the US Government and are NOT a threat to our internal security in that capacity.
as we are finding now when we give Ethiopian kids little simple laptops and no instructions, they have all the innate intelligence they need to open the box, hack the computers, and learn what they need to learn without teachers. Clarity, diversity, and integrity–all in the subtitle of my next to last book, INTELLIGENCE FOR EARTH, are more important than formal education — and since the school are just as corrupt in what they teach as the religions, corporations, governments, and non=profits, once could say that the uneducated are more authentic than the educated. This is why I have published THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO.”
Jaime Ortega Simo
“There might be an agenda hidden in a wide stack of other unopened documents in congress or there might not be. (I don’t have security clearance access, so I don’t know!) But the question really is: If it’s fair for the uneducated to have the same voting rights as the educated, is it not a communist principle of equality? Should the person who worked hard to understand the system be equal to the person that gets trashed every night, doesn’t study and knows nothing about the structure on which he very well dwells? The government should look at the issue more closely.
Ultimately, the system does not choose people’s interactions with society – and especially within a model that somewhat resembles a “democratic society” (which I don’t believe exists as we are taught). But, the choice still remains. In our capitalist republic, we have libraries and vast amounts of resources to study the structure we live on and its bases; unlike other, unluckier — but still educated — third world countries that struggle to fund or support education.
We should not excuse the youth, who are able to study and read a book for free inside the local library. If one wants to go bar-hopping everyday, smoke marijuana and get trashed, and the other decides to study… it’s up to the person to determine his own goals and aspirations regardless of the cultural demands, which negatively affect education. Drinking everyday and living the Bling Bling life might seem taken out of a wild-Walt Disney movie, and ultimately sponsored by powerful financial elites that support such lifestyle. But the fact is that in our nation information is ultimately free and books are not inaccessible. This reverses the whole equation into the hands of each individual as his/her voluntary choice! Fun or knowledge?
I don’t think it’s fair that uneducated voters vote. I see the elections as a massive ‘coin toss.’ I am afraid the
Historic Super Storm Sandy Hits the East Coast
October 31st, 2012By Jaime Ortega.
Video: Ocean City, Maryland Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
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Hurricane Sandy gave a big blow to the North American east coast. The level five hurricane that struck the Caribbean kept its route all the way to New Jersey and parts of lower New York.
Sandy became a level one hurricane close to North Carolina were it met with a low temperature cold front that came from Canada and another front from the northeast.
The anticipated hurricane swiftly rerouted northeast resulting in the worst possible scenario causing over 22 billion $USD in damage and over 67 million in power shortages on late Tuesday.
The Hurricane caused over 56 deaths and the total might go up as other reports continue to follow.
The hurricane winds reached 60-70 mph in parts of lower Maryland, including Ocean City, and 85-90 mph in lower Manhattan, Battery Park, Staten Island, Atlantic City Jersey Shore and Chesapeake Bay. Parts of Delaware such as coastal Fenwick did not escape either.
The winds created nine-foot waves as they impacted the beach, but as the hurricane gusts accelerated closer to land, waves reached over 15 feet in some coastal regions including the Jersey Shore and parts of Virginia Beach.
When Sandy made contact with New Jersey’s coast the hurricane disfigured its spiral form and became a super tropical storm.
The 900 mile wide hurricane was felt in Navy Peer, Chicago were a few surfers got the opportunity to ride the seven-foot waves.
Floods six feet deep registered in all east coast regions and in parts of southern Pennsylvania. Flood warnings were also in effect in cities like Cleveland closer to Lake Erie.
President Obama and Gov. Chris Christie made relief efforts to help those affected by the super-storm in New Jersey and are working to get New Jersey back on its feet.
Power outrages, transit shutdowns and local floods are also issued in Philadelphia, a city near the coast.
Wall Street resumed today after a two-day shut down. The New York City Metro Transportation Authority shut down for a few days due to underground floods in the subway, and it is expected to reopen sometime this week.
The Holland tunnel was also reported to be flooded as local officials and authorities were trying to restore New York’s transit system back to normal.
NYC also dealt with local fires as buildings’ gas and electric power exploded with the powerful winds pushing electrical wires and polls. Thirty deaths were reported in New York alone, but the death toll might go up as reports finalize.
The cold front also covered West Virginia in five feet of snow and other parts of southern Ohio.
Hurricane Sandy made an historical scar in U.S. history, and unlike Hurricane Irene most meteorologists gave an accurate prediction of its destructive path.
The question remains as to whether or not these recent new super storms will continue to push upward to northeast U.S., and what should be done in the future to avoid destruction from storms like Sandy.
Is the US economy lost?
October 25th, 2012
The questions are simple, but the answers they invoke may be extremely complex!
1) What should the U.S. do in order to recover from that fraudulent Derivatives Market that got us here in the first place?
2) Is there a way to save the economy to prevent a depression, and what would it take?
3) Are there other imminent crises approaching, and will those crises have the potential to totally disfigure our economy forever?
Robert David Steele Vivas.
“Restore integrity to the electoral system and thence to governance. That is why I ran for President briefly (see We the People Reform Coalition for the obvious ideas — all it takes is intelligence with integrity), and why I personally checked out every other Presidential candidate. Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are “controlled opposition” and used to keep the honest inside the corrupt party walls.
The USA is a two-party tyranny, and what I discovered is that not a single other “third party” candidate — Rocky Anderson, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein specifically — was willing to join a coaliton of “all of us” demanding electoral reform — they are all still wrapped up in their smaller egos and identities.
As best I can tell, the fix is in, the election will be stolen nine different ways, but Obama has received a deal an order of magnitude better than the deal Al Gore accepted to roll over and play dead in 2000, so odds are that Obama will be going back to Chicago in January 2013. I had really thought Cheney would wake everyone up — yet here today, 935 documented lies later, the neocons are alive and well.
I realized Obama was a fraud the moment he appointed Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff. The U.S. public is paying the price for allowing itself to be dumbed down and shut out. Occupy had a chance but was very quickly fragmented and bribed into the sidelines. Most if not all of the preconditions for revolution exist in the USA.
If a soccer mom torches herself on the steps of the Capitol, after posting an anguished YouTube, perhaps it will drive the people to the streets, but I have the very uneasy feeling that instead the USA will gradually break up as states and local communities begin to pursue their own resilience strategies, refuse to pay federal taxes, nullify federal regulations [that are really nothing more than a means for Congress to extort money from industries by “exempting” (for a price) or not implementing (for a price)].
I wrote a piece some time ago, Paradigms of Failure; another author has written a book called The Cheating Culture. The USA has been led astray by two political parties more concerned with keeping power and helping those who funded them loot the public treasury. We have no one to blame but ourselves. The only winner in 2012, regardless of who wins, will the central banks and the private families that they front for. Only Iceland has it right — put them in jail, wipe the books clean, and start over with transparency, truth, and trust.”
Claude Nougat.
“Is the U.S. economy tendentially weak and open to recurring catastrophes and can it be secured and set on a path of balanced, equitable growth?
World Renown Skeptics Avoided these Questions
October 17th, 2012By Jaime Ortega.
Waiting for response!
QUESTIONS:
1) Most historians accept Julius Caesar existed thanks to archive wall inscriptions, emblems, monuments and papyrus writings. We assume an emperor called Julius Caesar indeed existed in ancient Rome. But using the logic of scientific scrutiny most skeptics apply, slashing out documentation and other remains, emperor Caesar could have being a mythical figure because archaeology itself is not sufficient proof to determine his existence without genetic testing. So to any hardcore-skeptic, there can’t be definite proof that Caesar existed as no one has ever found his grave or done DNA testing on his remains; this is the ultimate truth. Could we approve the existence of a historical figure like Caesar if we never found his remains? And if we never find his remains could it be logical to conclude, Caesar never existed since scientific scrutiny has not backed archaeology?
2) If the statue of Liberty was found in 2,000 years buried deep underground in NY, and future archaeologist found written encryption’s mentioning its existence, they would logically conclude, Lady Liberty was a real character from France. Because there would be sufficient archaeological
3) Many people believe archaeology is controlled by a pervasive atheist agenda; that is to be bias, just alike the Roman Catholic Church was during the dark ages banning everything the Pope did not approve as truth. Catholic and Darwinian are skeptics of others’ interpretation, but true skepticism, is actually problematic in nature. In today’s world we relate skepticism to an atheist approach of singular science, but historically skepticism was just as predominant in other cultures with other belief systems. They also believed they were skeptics.
I am a skeptic in that I believe the great conqueror Hannibal from Cartage never existed because his remains and grave were never to be found. I am drinking tea impatiently waiting for his discovery to arrive. I am using the same modern scientific approach to prove Hannibal’s existence to prove to others he actually existed. Could it be said, I am a good and reasonable skeptic
4) History should be a perfect mixture of these five components; Written, visual documentation, architecture, paleontology and logic, If one of these components is missing could you agree as an skeptic that there might be a chance all other methodologies are invaluable? Is there something in history as total truth considering it’s all now about genetic validity? If science does not back up documented history, is documented history false and science true?
5) Finally, is it dangerous to imply that ancient civilizations were not great and detailed transcribers of history just because we haven’t found any evidence of written documentation. An example:
There was a Coffee house that served great coffee. Locals loved and enjoyed the coffee beans and the family service for over 20 years. Closed after a tragic accident, the shop had no pictures of it taken before and after it was sadly torn down a few years later by a local construction company; like it, many other shops were torn down. If the remains of the coffee shop were never found, which the locals dealt remember for its coffee and childhood, could it be concluded that the modern scientific approach used by most skeptics just made all of those locals “delusional liars” within the short-lived history of that coffee shop? Or could you say documentation is now important?
6) History is recipient to time, control, expansion and ending. If Buckingham Palace was destroyed and London conquered by another powerful nation to never be rebuilt again, history shows, scavengers and thieves from different cultural-areas would most likely dig and steal valuable remains of the sight. —Other conquering armies are known to act this way also! Not to mention, that it depends on how highly populated the area is to meet its local financial needs, what is the likelihood of conservation and preservation of the remains left in Buckingham Palace? Now Buckingham palace would be of great interest for us who know its history and importance, so it would be more likely that the first wave of scavengers roaming the area would have severely emptied and damaged many of its documents or inscriptions specially in the first 200 years. So what would the remains look like, in three thousand years?
Now imagine a fallen kingdom somewhere in the Middle East, once ruled by a once powerful king fell close where scavengers and nomad tribes whom regard antiquity trade and theft as part of their subsistence. Unlike Buckingham Palace, this kingdom after it fell had well over 24 documented cultures which thrived close to it, and occupied that same land for three thousand years. What are the chances the fallen kingdom’s identity and preservation could being completely wiped out with its past obliterated? If this is true, could it be said the documented portion has no historical significance over the undocumented side of it? Even if we claim it didn’t, how could we conclusively define its existence without DNA?
7) One of my beloved world history professors said once, “we only accurately know 30% of recorded history, because the percentage left, unfortunately makes the other side even less known.” Does the scientific approach agree with this historical view?
A Generation of Stupid Selfish People
October 12th, 2012By Jaime Ortega.
The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests, “An intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver.” In other words the “receivers” are those who watch television non stop and are shock waved by the Internet’s powerhouses.
A lot of what you download to your brain is what you actually store inside your head. And most Internet and television users are not getting the right information stored, or at least they choose not to acquire it.
Erin Jackson posted on the New York Times that, “our dependence upon technology has played a huge part in our endumbening.”
“We don’t memorize phone numbers anymore. We’ve forgotten how to use maps and compute basic math problems,” Jackson wrote.
Well memory perhaps is what is making our politicians more credible. (That’s a joke,)
To begin let’s ask five basic questions. If you use Google, you lose. If you fail one question, you have a serious educational issue.
1) What is our neighboring galaxy?
2) What country did Christopher Columbus land on in his first accidental trip to the Americas?
3) Are frogs considered reptiles?
4) How many countries form the European Union?
5) What is the currency used in Japan?
If you’ve come this far, please keep reading! Because I believe you can make it all the way to the end without stumbling.
Brendan Baker a sociology professor at Hartford University said, “The larger the human population grows the average human IQ seems to drop.”
“Since the fifties the average IQ worldwide has dropped a total of three points,” Baker said. “This is alarming and confusing at the same time.”
Baker says the IQ will continue in a steady decline and by the year 2050 he expects an astounding decline of about ten points from the 1952 average. An IQ (Intelligence Coefficient) of 86.32 by 2050 … but don’t worry (lol) in 2011 it was about 88.52.
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale Classifies an IQ score of 86 as “dull normal intelligence” which is also considered close to mental retardation.
But it’s absurd to think that education has declined since the ’50s. So how come a more educated generation has become even more stupid?
There are a few reasons to consider why — instead of evolving into more intelligent creatures — we’re devolving into chicken-heads.
Dave Higgins from Social Media Today quoted Bill Keller, editor of the New York Times. He brought the point to a focus by stating that Social Media indeed makes users’ brains a baked potato.
“The central theme of Keller’s article is that social networking is more or less killing genuine personal relationships and conversation,” Higgins said.
“Facebook friends aren’t really ‘friends’ in the traditional sense,” Higgins said. “And Twitter conversations are killing the ability of people to hold meaningful and deep conversations.”
Higgins worries that Keller’s central message is that extensive use of social networking is causing humanity to lose vital mental skills.
But the problem does not end there. According to Newsweek creativity is also going down.
“With intelligence there is a phenomenon called the Flynn effect; and in each generation, scores go up about ten points. Enriched environments are making kids smarter,” Newsweek informs. “With creativity, a reverse trend has just been indentified and for the first time is being reported here: American creativity scores are falling.”
But Kyung Hee-Kim from the College of William & Marry blames social media and video games and says, “It’s too early to determine conclusively why U.S. creativity scores are declining.”
“One likely culprit is the number of hours kids now spend in front of the TV and playing video games rather than engaging in creative activities,” Hee-Kim said.
“Another is the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect it is left to the luck of the draw that anyone becomes creative,” Hee-Kim said. “There’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children.”
But with globalization sailing across other seas, it’s not just America that is trying to identify the world’s mental tumor. The Dalai Lama argues that today’s education is simply focusing on the material.
“Modern education is premised strongly on materialistic values,” The Lama said. “It is vital that when educating our children’s brains we do not neglect to educate their hearts, a key element of which has to be the nurturing of our compassionate nature.”
Maxwell McCombs & Donald Shaw got it right when they discovered a theory called “The Agenda Setting Model.” This theory states that the media tells you what to think about and how to think about it.
The media is also partly responsible in our free-market for the ideals and many troubles surrounding materialism. The media knows that competition runs the economy, but also the way people chose to live. So by competing with others and using materialism in advertisements, corporations can promote their products.
Have a laugh with the rest of students about what PhD Yoram Bauman thinks of the Professor and recognized Keynesian economist Gregory Mankin’s ten principles about what runs the economy. Watch and laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Sadly what Bauman translates is the so called unintentional and reptilian way “smart business markets advertise” using ‘Diffusion of Information theories’ to spread their materialistic agenda across the world — via propaganda — to those who are clueless.
But how would younger people recognize the problem? Simple! Read the Empire of Illusion, by Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges, which charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion.
Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth.
The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a “reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic.” In this “other society” serious film and theatre productions, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins (people).
In other words, the common uneducated base of today’s world believes they are something they are not. And the media is just inflating minds with bursts of air to create zombies.
In our modern society, popular music is challenging musicians with watered down versions of reality. See what new rappers focus on in their lyrics: self pleasure, cash/money rules, sex, success, bit### … lol. Many artists from different music genres have a similar and materialism focus.
Focusing on materialism doesn’t increase peoples knowledge, it just makes them more proficient consumers!
But the change started a few decades back. The Baby Boomers, people born from 1946 to 1964 started the decline leading to what became known as Generation-X — anyone born from 1965 to 1980. The next generation (Generation Millennium), however, became even more materialistic and lacking in values.
There are three distinctive characteristics of the selfish generation that came with the Baby Boomers.
1) Behavior without consequences (In other words, do whatever you want nothing will happen to you.)
2) Security without sacrifice (You don’t have to pay a price to get the security you want.)
3) Reward without risk (You just get rewarded; you didn’t have to put yourself out there to get it.)
This was the spark for the problems that would transfer to Generation-X. Jeff Gordinier wrote a controversial piece in “X Saves The World.”
“We didn’t believe the same kind of things as Boomers. It was much harder to fool us.” Gordiner wrote. “Just as Xers shunned Boomer notions, it seems Millennials have similarly turned against the Gen-X ethos.”
“If the Gen-Xers were like, ‘No, I’m not in it for the money,’ Millennials rebelled against that and are completely greedy,” Gordinier said.
The British Journal of Social Psychology is the first to examine the impact that materialistic messages and values (desire for financial success and affluent lifestyle) have on a woman’s feelings about her body.
Lead author Eleni-Marina Ashikali says, “This research suggests that materialism, both as an internalized value and as a depiction in the media, should be taken into account for media literacy interventions and policy changes in the advertising industry.”
The problem however is that even literacy is going down hill. With literacy problems how can people get informed in a world were advertisers rule solidly supreme?
American Library Association president Molly Raphael said, “The nation cannot afford to continue losing readers.”
From a recent Poll: Over 19 per cent of those age 18 and up said they did not read a book over the past year, a jump from the 16 per cent who answered the same way for a 2005 Gallup Poll.
It is also estimated that the newer generation doesn’t read the stories of each news article. Instead they read the ‘headlines’ and make ‘the story’ without analyzing and investigating the content. Akin to licking the pulp of an orange without actually eating the orange.
Well the good news is that you don’t need to be a genius to read. Reading-Establishes-Awful-
Journalist Charles Pierce wrote, “The rise of Idiot America today represents — for profit mainly, but also and more cynically, for political advantage in the pursuit of power — the breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good.”
“It also represents the ascendancy of the notion that the people who we should trust the least are the people who best know what they are talking about,” Pierce wrote.
“In the new media age, everybody is a historian, or a preacher, or a scientist or a sage,” Pierce wrote. “And if everyone is an expert than nobody is, and the worst thing you can be in a society where everybody is an expert is, well, an actual expert.”
Technology has replaced people’s brains and expensive libraries with mobile and portable tablets. One-on-one communication has been replaced by Facebook and has turned people into Bookfaces. Text messages have ruined Elmo’s ultimate DVD collection, and Sesame Street is now filing for bankruptcy!
So, be materialistic and stupid in a world self-absorbed by inflated propaganda promoted by corporate elites, to control the ignorant via advertisements. The injected notion that “anyone can be the next star” has thus far turned many into what we all hate from others! Selfish Zombies!
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its future?
October 9th, 2012By Jaime Ortega Simo
• What is the future regarding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its love-hate relationship with the United States and Europe?
• If Saudi Arabia’s oil exports cease because of future shortages, how will that affect their financial market?
• Is Saudi Arabia’s backup, plan B, sufficient enough to restructure its economy without the kingdom’s primary exports?
• What would happen to countries who are dependent on Saudi oil — would they suffer an an “economic regression”?
Ehab Al-Kindi
“The way I see the Saudi/Western relationship is like a third world country trying to use whatever resources available to catch up in progression, secure its lands, and keep its traditions at the same time. It is a relationship that seeks building trust and long term collaborations. Saudi Arabia has been playing an important role in participating in all world’s efforts to spread peace and resolve conflicts.
It also takes serious measures and actions to ensure the safety of neighboring countries. The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the west does not only depend on oil. The kingdom also established long-term businesses in the western world. It invested tremendous amounts of money in several places and bought shares in many leading organisations and well recognized industries.
It is true that oil is the main source of economic growth in the kingdom, but the profits from Hajj and Omrah during the holy seasons are also huge. Every year Saudi Arabia hosts over five million Muslim visitors who stay long periods of time. Saudi Arabia would definitely suffer if the world’s dependence on oil ceased or if its oil supply was affected. But that does not mean that the country would get into a severe “economic regression” since the returns from the external investments and the holy seasons should cover most of the expected loss.
The Saudi government is aware that oil will not last forever and cannot be depended upon forever, but the right utilization of oil profits and the good relationships with other countries could be depended upon to secure a promising future.”
Eric Tham
“The ties between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world are inextricably linked to oil. A couple of months ago Citibank economists reckoned that in the 2030s Saudi Arabia will become an oil importer rather than an oil exporter. This was refuted promptly by the Saudi government.
The Saudis recognize that and have invested in nuclear and renewable energies (in particular solar) to compensate for oil use. Not too many countries actually burn oil for electricity generation for that matter! But how much the Saudi government actually invests in these technologies will be tied to future high oil prices and its pledge for better welfare for its populace – especially after the Arab Spring.
Oil price increases preceded all but two recessions since the second world war.
No doubt that the GDP elasticity to oil has decreased but to say that oil doesn’t play as important a role is still premature. Saudi Arabia is still the main swing producer in OPEC, and its importance cannot be overstated. The impact on the financial markets is a contest on two fronts over the next two to three decades:
1) the gouging appetite on oil by the developing countries and
2) the rise of evolutionary technologies.
Oil demand is forecast to rise by ~25% in 2035 (by the IEA and BP), but if there is anything consistent with such long term forecasts in the past, they are often off the mark!
Technologies to substitute oil use will play an increasing important role (already there were record investments reported by Bloomberg Finance).
In the past we have seen the Saudis fret the rise of such technologies as it curtailed the demand and use of oil, but now they are embracing them.”
Claude Nougat
“A complex question – can’t be answered in one paragraph! The Saudi’s relationship to the developed world will remain unchanged as long as:
(1) oil dependency is not displaced by the rise of green, alternative energies and
(2) the Arab Spring doesn’t land on Saudi shores. So far it hasn’t. The monarchy is still anchored in a good place in spite of Al Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden’s efforts to dislodge it.
Change, if any, seems to be relegated to the distant future …”
Catalan Economist Edward Hugh answers questions about the Spanish economy
September 27th, 2012By Jaime Ortega Simo.
Economist Edward Hugh
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Q – 1) Some people blame José Maria Aznar for the economic problems Spain currently experiences. Others (most people) blame Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for the economic crisis. In your view who of the two ex-presidents had a bigger impact on Spain’s economic crisis and why?
Basically I don’t agree with this way of looking at the problem. This crisis is an economic one, not a political one, and to one degree or another effects all developed economies. The crisis is about debt, aging populations, and the ability to meet growing pension and health liabilities. Politicians, both Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy have had a major impact on the crisis after it started, and in both cases their role has been lamentable. The principle responsibility for the Spanish property bubble, which is the key to the specifically Spanish (or Irish) part of this crisis must lie at the doors of the ECB. They should have seen the problem coming as a result of the application of their one size fits all interest rate policy, and advised the Spanish authorities to take specific measures to counteract the impact. They did not.
The government of José Maria Aznar has responsibility in that it failed to carry through the necessary reforms in labour and product markets, in the pension system etc, which is why the country is so badly prepared at this moment. The Zapatero government failed to heed the warnings of the inspectors at the bank of Spain, who advised in 2006 that a bubble was building that would have major consequences. The Rajoy government, after years of criticizing its opposition, has shown a lamentable lack of understanding of what the country’s problems are and an amazing ability to fool itself that it can fail to act and all will turn out well.
There is a lot of propaganda to the effect that “Spain is doing its homework”, especially from the IMF, which is mainly public relations aimed at maintaining confidence in the country. This is not what is being said behind the scenes, and it is this other reality which makes Mariano Rajoy delay asking for a rescue for so long. He knows the conditionality will be tough, very tough.
All in all, a lamentable performance by Spain’s politicians, but I emphasize they are responsible for not acting adequately. They are not the cause of the crisis, which goes much deeper.
Q – 2) President Hollande and Chancellor Merkel seem to hold the strings of the European Union and its policies inside the ECB. But could it be said, they also control a lot of Spain’s decision making inside the European Union? Is that really fair?
One of the problems the European Union has is that there are too many voices all trying to speak at once. Fairness is not the issue here, effectiveness is. If Spain’s politicians are incapable of handling this crisis, someone else has to help them. That someone is the EU. Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel need to help Mariano Rajoy to take difficult decisions he doesn’t want to take. This doesn’t mean the French and German leaders are always right, but what alternative is there? Spain could default on its debts and leave the Euro. I think that would be a bad outcome for everyone. So if Spain needs finance and the markets won’t give the country access at a reasonable price then it needs to ask for help, and it is natural that this help comes with conditions.
Q – 3) Should Spain leave the Euro and go back to the “Old Peseta”?
No. This would be a bad decision, since it would mean default on the country’s debts in the international arena. Even country’s like the UK who have their own currency, and their own central bank to buy their debt are struggling economically, as is Japan. Things aren’t so easy and so evident as they were in the last century. Naturally that doesn’t mean that this outcome won’t happen. There is a high risk that it will, but the result would be highly negative for everyone, since the Euro would surely cease to exist in its present form.
Q – 4) The unemployment rate in Spain is staggering at a high level, credit ratings from Standards and Poor’s and Moody’s have lowered Spain’s ratings, and the political turmoil inside “La Moncloa” is a constant debacle. In your opinion what would it take to get Spain back on track?
This is a hard question. I’m not really sure the country can be gotten back on track, this is the worry, and this is why their is a risk of disorderly Euro exit. The country needs to deal with the crisis in its financial sector. Steps are being taken, but they are not yet sufficient, and they are being implemented painfully slowly. The reason I am not optimistic relates to the issues about the political class I have spoken about earlier. The country is simply trying to stagger through to tomorrow, and hope something turns up. The only way forward for Spain is to become an export machine like Germany. This, if it is possible, will need many years still, and a major reduction in wages and prices (known as an internal devaluation) which will be pretty painful. I am not sure Spain’s citizens will accept so much pain for so long. Too many years have been wasted.
Q – 5) If the Catalans were to separate from Spain, and become independent, would that hurt the Spanish economy or Catalunya?
Well, it would hurt both countries at the start, but it would hurt Spain more than Catalonia since Catalonia pays money into Spain, so Spain would have less and Catalunya more. A move towards independence is far from improbable, and in my opinion Europe should step in under the bailout terms and oversee an orderly divorce within the structure of the new United States of the Euro Area which is going to be necessary if the Euro is to continue.
Q – 6) Historically speaking has nationalism in Spain been one of the main factors since Spain has never become that powerful economic power which the French, the English and Germans currently enjoy?
I think Spanish nationalism has been a problem in the country’s history, since there has been little tolerance for the national minorities. Spain has had a difficulty across its history in implementing reform, which is why it didn’t enjoy the same trajectory as countries like Germany and France. Then came the greatest expression of Spanish nationalism, Don Francisco Franco, and the country was cast into utter backwardness for 40 years. That is the principle background to Spain’s late development, and peculiar path. Strange to think we are a product of our past, but sometimes it is just like this.
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An agricultural concern for the future?
September 25th, 2012By Jaime Ortega-Simo.
Both India and China for the past few years have made large agro-investments in countries like Sudan, Ethiopia and other eastern African countries. The purpose is to take control of the abundant natural resources by growing crops inside Ethiopia’s native, soil-rich farmlands then exporting these products to western markets. The agricultural bloom has noticeably been accepted by the rulers of the East African Association league. One enterprise in particular, Karuturi Global, run by a wealthy Indian investor, seems to have had increasing problems with locals for not allowing its inhabitants to farm inside their cultural lands and prohibiting the use of basic resources such as water, that were once available.
Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia has been keen on allowing these transnational investors to take control of many farmlands inside Ethiopia, and overlooking the concerns of his indigenous counterparts, who are not happy with his policy.
An article brought by the university of Addis-ababa says, “Yet, these acts pose a threat to the viability of peasant agriculture; they will lead to loss of farmland, deprivation of pasturage and grazing rights, and of access to water resources, firewood and flora. There has already been displacement and resettlement of people away from their home areas in order to provide the investors “unencumbered access to land and other resources”. What about the claim of additional employment? This is merely for short-term and seasonal work. Of course, Indian companies like Karuturi Agro Products have employed casual labourers in land clearing and other heavy work, but for relatively skilled work, even for work Ethiopians could have done, they have brought employees from India.”
The questions …
1) Is it good for these countries to allow foreign investors to maximize the countries GDP, in the short run and in the long run?
2) Are we heading to a world where the rules of privatization will eventually allow transnational corporations to lobby governments to take control of natural resources and landmarks, perhaps even in western countries?
3) Is Ethiopia’s policy, just alike Bolivia, Republic of Congo, Sudan … another case of economical mismanagement to eloquently help poor countries arise from political corruption?
Claude Nougat
“The expansion of investments (mainly but not exclusively) from Chinese and Indian agricultural corporations that started in Africa has in fact extended to wherever there are relatively free land resources to take control of, including Eastern Europe.
Such investments are driven by a need to ensure food for the home population of the investors and the produce is in fact largely shipped back to the investing country, though some of it is exported to rich, industrialized countries to make a profit. Indeed, these investments are largely profit-driven and typical of the ‘one percent’, i.e. transnational corporation with the financial power to bend weak governments to their will. There is no question that there is space for corruption.
Politicians in many developing countries are giving up the rights of peasant communities and the end result is already apparent: populations are displaced, agricultural resources are squandered or threatened as the transnational corporations are mostly interested in reaping a maximum return from the land without particular concern for long-run environmental preservation.
Unquestionably there is a need to bring this issue to the attention of the international community (inter alia at the United Nations) to defend the rights of local people to their own resources.”
Baldr Odinson
“The primary responsibility for any government is the welfare and security of its people. As such, that government must weigh the value of increased GDP enhanced by land management by foreign entities and resultant exportation with the cost of loss of resources. Sometimes it is worth it in terms of GDP, and can be offset by increasing investment in other ways with local peoples. An example would be the role that foreign petroleum companies have in waters and lands owned by the United States (environmental organizations would disagree).
In a true democracy or republic, if the balance has shifted too far to the interests of the foreign investors, then the people could vote out those who are in power. Sadly, this is not likely in Sudan and Ethiopia and some other African countries, since they, though technically parliamentary, are authoritarian regimes. In the cases mentioned here, it seems likely that those who benefit from the foreign investment are too far removed from those who suffer from it.
What can the international community do to change this? Diplomatic pressure on the both the host and investor countries would be recommended. Trade sanctions would be a likely imposition, which would directly affect those who are profiting from it, combined with international aid (food, medicine) to those who suffer at their hands. Changes are slow to come from such sanctions, and could come too late for many of those affected.
It would behoove the international community to intervene diplomatically, since that region is already unstable and has suffered from civil war, and further instability may have significant effects on the entire region.”
Betre Yacob
“What the Ethiopian government do is something terrible. It gives to the Indian, Chinese … investors the land occupied by indigenous subsistence farmers, who are able to feed their families without receiving government or foreign aid. It turns these indigenous farmers into plantation workers with false promises that result in cheap seasonal jobs which can’t even feed their families.
Furthermore, as far as the land is the property of the indigenous people, they have to get appropriate compensation. But the government gives nothing to them. It even doesn’t ask their permission to use their land. It just forcibly relocates people and gives their fertile land to investors. It is a serious human rights violation.
The Ethiopia’s government says the foreign investment in the agricultural sector helps transform the traditional Ethiopian agriculture sector and ultimately lead to economic development. However, I don’t see which is the development since the government is selling its fertile land for a knockout price that even surprise the buyers themselves, and forcefully turning local farmers, who are better performers in agriculture, into very low paid plantation workers.
In fact, the GDP may show some increment for the time being, but when we see the long term impact it is a most terrible strategy to sell the land of indigenous people. For instance, the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security has stated in its second report in 2011 that large scale investment in indigenous people’s land damage food security, incomes, and livelihoods for local people in the long run.
And several studies also clearly indicate that foreign investment companies in developing countries has failed to deliver its promise of jobs, infrastructure, schools, and health facilities, except leading host countries to huge environmental, social and psychological problems.
For example in Ethiopia land is not just an economic asset, but also has spiritual, cultural, ancestral, and sentimental values. Ethiopians livelihood has an important cosmic link to their land where they were born and have defined their humanity. So what will be the consequence of forcibly taking their land? Social and psychological destruction.
In some areas of Ethiopia, it is even resulting in public unrest. Natives are standing to fight the government in order to keep their ancestral land.
For instance, on April 28, 2012, five people, including one Pakistani worker and four Ethiopians people were killed in a conflict, in the Gambela Regional State, a very affect area by ‘land grab’. And, as a counter attack, the government troops are now committing many horrible crimes.”
Turkey the European country that never made it?
September 4th, 2012
The European Union and its unity have always been questioned. Something that has always amused
me was the exclusion of Turkey from the European Union when historically speaking they should have
been the first nation to join. They called it the Eastern Question.
Constantinople was the Eastern kingdom of Catholic Rome till its downfall. It later became Istanbul.
Turkey and Germany fought alongside in World War One to defeat the Hungarians and its allies.
The Ottoman Empire warred against the Kingdom of Spain and Naples in the Battle of Lepanto.
England’s relationship with Turkey has caused struggles but alliances such as the Crimean War and their trade treaties.
Turkey by historical tradition should be considered part of Europe more than most of the countries inside Europe deserve.
Many European countries have fought against each other and allied also.
Finally, Turkey’s government and policies are run by the state, not by religious fanatics. Ataturk changed the Islamic Ottoman based society for the modern country it is now.
Turkey’s top two teams joined the European Champions league.
Why isn’t Turkey in the Euro? Could it be that certain European countries consider Turkey to be part of that old Ottoman Empire that once had a powerful Islamic kingdom? What countries ‘inside Europe’ (not the U.S.) don’t want Turkey to join the Union and its economy?
Robert Steele.
“Europe less the Nordics and certainly not counting Russia, is dead. So is the USA. Western politicians have been if anything worse than Eastern mandarins in that they sold out their publics to the Rothchild and Goldman Sachs and others fronting for the 300 families, and they hollowed out, looting, and generally drove stakes into the hearts of their various countries.
Their greatest sin in my view has been in the failure to educate the public to a standard necessary for an authentic democracy. Each country has fallen victim to a two-party bi-opoly that excludes all other parties, and perpetuates a tyranny.
As Ronald Reagan observed in speaking to the corrupt U.S. Congress, there is less turnover there than in the former Soviet Politburo.
It is a huge mistake to consider Turkey, or Iran, anything other than a returning community of interests. The days of Empire are over. In the Middle East Egypt is on the rise, Syria is headed for the sidelines, Iran is re-emergent as the hub for the non-aligned movement, Turkey is becoming a third voice that matters, and Israel continues to shoot itself in the head — one wonders when it will run out of Zionist fascists and when the world will finally focus on Palestine — as Gandhi said, Palestine is to the Palestinians as France is to the French.
Many do not realize that the Rothchilds have their counterparts in China and Indonesia, and less so but more of them in India as well. The Asians are rightly furious with the legalization of financial crime that the Germans and the Americans have carried out. It used to be that only transnational organized crime routed around government. Now I believe that three fifths to four fifths of the world economy is invisible to governments for revenue purposes — in addition to organized crime, System D, localized barter, white collar capital flights, and of course the massive financial fraud of the banks and major corporations, to include export-import pricing fraud.
Minister-Mentor Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore is exactly right when he says that demography is destiny. On that basis it is quite easy to see that Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela — as well as wild cards such as Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, and Turkey — are the future. Select countries such as Malaysia and New Zealand and perhaps Latvia and Estonia and Croatia have their own unique destinies to pursue.
My final observation: government is dead. Governments have become so corrupt and so inefficient they have lost all legitimacy and most authority. Their penchant for secrecy and violence is counter-productive and unaffordable. The U.S. Government has refused to listen to me these past 20 years, and is now completely dysfunctional at both the political and bureaucratic levels. My latest book, THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth & Trust, is the “little red book” for the future of humanity, and one of the points it makes is that government in the 21st century is the least important of the eight information-sharing and sense-making communities — the others are academic, civil society including labor and religion, commerce, law enforcement, media, military, and non-government/non-profit. My next book now in progress for 2013 publication, is Public Governance in the 21st Century: New Rules, Hybrid Forms, One Constant. Its core point is that the public is finally armed with the Internet and hand-held devices, and finally at a point where authentic democracy or panarchy is achievable. In this context those governments that work very hard with the other seven communities to create an education-intelligence-
Claude Nougat.
“Turkey is not part of the Euro mainly because of France. Sarkozy, the previous President, was dead set against having Turkey into Europe, in spite of all the excellent historical reasons that you give. That’s because Turkey is overwhelmingly Islamic, and with its current government (Erdogan’s) it’s more Muslim than ever, pushing off the army to the side — the army that was carrying forward Ataturk’s inheritance, i.e. the conviction that the State should not be religious, that a democracy to function, needs to be open to every religion and give everyone equal chances. Sarkozy thought Erdogan’s government was going in the opposite direction.
In his view, to have a 90 million Islamic behemoth inside the European Union with an ideology different from the kind of free and open secular democracy France was promoting was seen as too dangerous. And a lot of Europeans view Turkey this way. Also Sarkozy is the guy who kicked out the Roms from France and sent them back to Bulgaria and Romania. He was always one for keeping purity, France to the French, etc., etc.
The fact that Turkey is currently positioning itself as a role model in the Middle East and for the Arab Spring countries (Syria included) doesn’t help. This is regrettable because indeed there is a European dimension to Turkey’s soul. And it would have functioned perfectly as the outer marches for the Europen Union, acting as a buffer zone and as a promoter of European political ideology. But that’s the point, isn’t it? Turkish ideology doesn’t quite match the European Union’s …
Will the situation change with the new French President François Hollande? He’s a Socialist, more open, more flexible to new ideas. But he’s been in power only for the past three months, it’s too soon to tell how he’s going to play the game. But so far, Hollande hasn’t shown himself to be very different from Sarkozy: he continues the policy of kicking out the Roms from France … Does that mean he doesn’t want Turkey into Europe? Maybe, maybe not. The problem now is that Erdogan appears to be the one who doesn’t want to get into Europe!”
Ida Horner.
To see Ida’s complete report about Europe’s Integration to the EU, click here:
http://thedailyjournalist.com/theinvestigative/european-union-and-integration/
“But a question arises as to why Turkey has not been let in, in spite of 60 years of negotiations? The question of Turkey’s suitability as an EU member state raises issues of the geographical limits of the EU as well as the identity of the EU with respect to its enlargement strategy.
Indeed Delhey 2007 p.260 has suggested that community cohesion is affected by similarity as well as proximity, and whilst measuring degrees of trust amongst the 27 EU member states, it transpired that Southern and South East enlargement weakened cohesion within the EU (Delhey 2007 p.265). Moreover as a less developed, culturally different to the EU, and with a population of 73.7 million in 2010 Turkey is less trusted (Delhey 2007 p.272 and, p.279 and trading Economics).
The EU is predominantly a Liberal Democratic Christian organization, founded on the values and norms of Christianity, and as such, this raises concerns as to how a predominantly Muslim country like Turkey would fit into such an organization.
Therefore, although an applicant country could never be turned down for reasons of religion, Turkey appears to present a challenge for the EU at several levels, such as norms, values, religion and demography and whether or not these can be overcome is an unknown quantity, as according to Schimmelfinnig and Sedelmeier 2002 p.515, an organization expands its institutions to outside states to the extent that these states share its collective identity, values and norms (see also Inglehert 1991 cited in Delhey 2007 p.279).
In summary therefore the EU seeks enlargement in order to mitigate elements that threaten its stability as well as accessing new markets.”
Nima Ch.
Nima is under TDJ’s identity protection program.
“Turkey still has some problems on human rights issues. Turkey must change its behaviour with the Kurds to make it possible to become part of European Union.
Furthermore they have to stop polygamy. They have to release jailed journalists. Otherwise the public opinion of Europeans wouldn’t like to see their politicians vote for Turkey’s membership. If a European Politician such as Merkel or Sakozy is against Turkey’s EU membership, it’s because of their voters.
I think if Turkey changes more laws, as they already have done with capital punishment, they can become a member of EU. For sure conservative ruling parties in Austria and Denmark will always be against Turkey’s membership.
But the Euro can and wants to use Turkey’s influence in the Islamic world.”
Ohio State University and Racism
September 4th, 2012By Jaime Ortega.
Living in Columbus Ohio has helped me understand suspicions I had before of a general problem with racial intolerance.
I remember the nights back in 2005 during buckeye football season when I was speaking Spanish on the phone, and groups of drunken guys would disrespect me and start imitating me in a rather cruel manner.
Many foreign students who attended The Ohio State University would say to me, “Americans are racist, I want to go back home.”
I would reply to my foreign friends, “It’s not Americans but Ohioans. Ohio does not represent all America. Most states in America are very diverse and their people are open-minded and friendly.”
What grabbed my attention when I told a bunch of students at OSU that I planned to travel to Kentucky for the weekend was their immediate judgment of Kentucky as the “worst and most backward state ever.”
They would say stuff like, “Don’t go to Kentucky; it’s racist and weird …”
As I travelled through the Covington area just south of Cincinnati (the border area between Ohio and Kentucky), I felt paranoid from the sayings of the OSU students who advised me.
One thing I remember clearly: when I sat in a restaurant in Ft. Wright, KY, the Kentuckians didn’t stare at me, unlike my experiences in Ohio, and I did not feel constantly monitored or judged.
Instead, they turned out to be very friendly and welcoming people, throughout all the places I travelled in Kentucky.
While I was having a haircut in the city of Lexington, KY, I asked the barber, “Why do people in Ohio think Kentucky is backwards and racist?” She responded with a smile, “Honey … Ohio was almost conceded to Canada.”
The truth is that many outsiders (not all) from Arkansas, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Arizona, Florida … that have lived in Ohio for more than a year feel the same way.
Those that tend to agree Ohio is nice and friendly have only visited the state for less than one week.
One good reason for the apparent close-mindedness people in Columbus suffer was explained by a colleague from California, John Jacobs, a fourth year Psychology major.
“Most Ohioans come from smaller towns were they had no outside interaction with society and diverse communities,” Jacob said. “When they hear a foreign language spoken, it follows an abnormal code of conduct which they didn’t have the luck to grow up with.”
Jacob also said, “It’s not so much that they are racists, but it’s a mixture of xenophobia and racial prejudice.”
Jacobs said that the way Columbus was fractured was a sign of its cultural strangeness.
“Columbus is a unique city in my view, because it’s a wannabe city that tries to be like Chicago, or cities in California or Germany but with the attitude of a watered-down New Yorker. This helps explain why people are honking all the time, but without traffic.”
I spoke to Sandra Williamson from Melbourne, Australia, a Cultural Studies major who visited Ohio State University to apply for their business masters program, but had already lived for a few years in Dublin, Ohio.
“Ohio State University is a top notch school that doesn’t have culturally integrated people to fit the standards of the university,” Williamson said.
“Universities by definition are diverse, but students who normally attend universities are diverse tolerant because they grew up with Mexicans, Blacks and other races,” Williamson said.
“Most kids that attend Ohio State get protective when they see others speak a different language or look a different way, because not knowing how to integrate, they start acting with hate as a natural response.” Williamson added, “Most students at Ohio State will tell you racism is everywhere on campus.”
A professor at Ohio State whose name won’t go on the record said, “When most foreign students come to Ohio State, many feel rejected by students here, and become close-minded and unwilling to become part of the greater American experience.”
“It’s only natural right?” the professor said. “When people feel rejected they become protective as well as unwilling to socialize with others.”
Recently, this year OSU authorities have cracked down on swastika paintings and racist bigotry.
Some students have marched to protest hate crimes, but the students and professors who protested were primarily African American rather than white Caucasians. The OSU hate response has short-lived expectations.
But racism and xenophobia are so visible in Columbus that it is sometimes difficult to draw the lines.
Leticia LeRoy, an old African American lady that takes the number two COTA bus weekly to downtown High Street, told me once, “Even African Americans are racist in this town towards others different than their own. They close themselves to not be part of the whiter community, but have become like them — demeaning a now growing Latino community.” Ms.Leroy added, “It’s a reflection of our Midwestern values.”
If you’re a foreign student that is looking for a University to finish your degree or applying from another state, Ohio State offers a great education and great studying resources. It’s not Harvard, but it funds its programs well enough.
The only backdrop is that the state of Ohio and particularly Columbus are culturally primitive and may feel like a socially backwards place to study for those who are looking for diversity and friendships.
Having racial problems in these modern days and times in a University the size of Ohio State where democracy and freedom of speech are promoted could be worrisome for those who are foreigners or from another state.
My recommendation: If you can support two to three years of disrespect and segregated groups, xenophobia, racism, poor costumer service, the annoyance of cars honking for no reason, and people constantly acting superior to you, then you’ll be fine in Columbus.
But getting your degree at OSU is worth the mental suffering.
A serious story that is not serious?
August 25th, 2012By Jaime Ortega Simo.
An article that was troublesome to read was brought to my attention by Carolyn Cassada, a beloved Editor for The Daily Journalist. Here is the link http://www.examiner.com/
Obviously this whole process has been quiet upon the media sphere like much of what the government and corporations hide behind the underworld curtains. The article mentions the measures done by the U.S. government as a precaution for a possible world economic collapse.
However, I believe the U.S. government might be taking the Mayan calendar way too seriously, and I think it’s not a coincidence that in 2012 they decide to equip themselves with ammo in case a catastrophic event occurs. Is the possibility that civilians could be shot for protection now a reality?
The question is why is the U.S. government packing its federal agencies with hollow bullet ammo? And are we really heading to a democracy or a silent tyrannical civil state?
Sylvia Longmire.
The author of that post, Paul Watson, only used a solicitation by the Social Security Administration on the FedBizOpps.com website for the ammunition, which was needed in 41 different locations within 60 days of purchase. Those were the only facts available, and it was Watson who speculated, ‘It’s not outlandish to suggest that the Social Security Administration is purchasing the bullets as part of preparations for civil unrest.
Read the full info on Snopes.com, please: http://www.snopes.com/
This discussion will hopefully end here.”
“Yes, this is conspiracy theory territory. A couple government agencies put in orders for ammo, and the extremists went nuts speculating as to why. Note that the “news report” cited at the beginning of the article goes to a conspiracy theory site (and radio show).”
Robert Steele.
“There are actually three parts to this.
Part I: Under Dick Cheney the government seriously planned for unrest and paid to build detention camps. The National Guard has advertised for resettlement camp specialist for US duty. Generally when a program starts in the US (continuity of government or whatever) it continues forever, especially if it is secret.
Part II: DHS is the new pork community as the corrupt Congress and industry prepare for the inevitable down-sizing of the Pentagon. Anything that can be justified, including tanks and SWAT teams for small towns, is justified, not because they want to use them, but because spending money is how you get promoted, never mind the waste.
Part III: While the government generally lacks both intelligence and integrity across multiple fronts, deep down in its reptilian brain there are a few people that are legitimately worried about chaos in the USA, including a major earthquake on the West Coast, major fires or a dam breach in the inner west, an animal plague that jumps to humans in Texas/Arizona, etc.
If elements of the U.S. Government decide to wage war against segments of the public, the attacks will be false flag and will involve bio-chemical and radiological. It will not be pretty.”
Jeremy Sare.
The suggested news story falls down on all those points. Anthony Martin can amuse himself as a citizen journalist all he wants. His article begins “News reports indicating that.” Immediately I am no longer interested in his article because in essence it said, “Here is a report based on other reports.”
Majia Nadesan.
Ongoing US labor force contraction + Eurozone crisis + looming food crisis because of crop failures globally + slow collapse of Japan’s exports = PERFECT STORM.
Do I think the government is planning for domestic unrest? Yes. I know it.
Do I know what the bullets are for? No.
But, somewhere bullets are being stockpiled for scenarios involving US military policing within the U.S., as envisioned by the 2008 Strategic Studies Institute report titled “Known Unknowns: Uncoventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development. The ACLU is warning that public protests are regarded by DoD as “domestic terrorism” and the Pentagon has planned to deploy troops in the US since 2008, according to the Washington Post.
Jonathan R. Strand answers questions about China and the US relationship
August 23rd, 2012By Jaime Ortega Simo.
Interview with Jonathan R. Strand
Associate Professor Department of Political Science
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
1) Everyone talks about China and its capability of surpassig the U.S. as a world power. But what about countries like India or Brazil? Are these countries experiencing an undetected growth that could eventually make them supersede a world power like the U.S.A.?
China gets a lot of the popular attention in part because of the size of its population. It is also an economic development curiosity since, unlike Brazil and India, it is a single-party state where the Party is the government and vice versa. This makes China a lot different than, say, a post World War II Japan. India and Brazil also have potential to become dominant powers and of course in regional relations they are very important. The big question with China, however, is whether it will be a supporter of the current world order or seek to supplant the U.S. dominated world political economy. The prospect for economic or other conflict between the U.S. and China is a reason China gets a lot of attention; few people hypothesize future conflict between the U.S. and India or the U.S. and Brazil.
2) China seems like a marble cake that never got mixed. A communist government, that allows economical foreign growth inside its borders and sponsors individual economic freedom for its people. The government however is key for China’s future, so could it be said, that China’s government allows limited individual freedoms to continue their dictatorial communist status.
3) Would the U.S. ever sponsor a revolution in China, considering that the U.S. promotes democratic capitalist government’s and historically despises the idea of communist regimes?
4) Will China ever Change strategies. Will it ever leave communism? Or will it apply something as neo-communism?
5) Isn’t it hypocritical that the U.S. allows free trade with China to continue, but meanwhile the U.S. stresses sanctions to China, especially in regions of interest like the Caucasus, Iran or Sudan? Is this a forced marriage were the wife cheats on the husband while the husband feeds the wife by benefiting himself?
The foreign policies of most governments reflect some level of hypocrisy. One reason for the difference in U.S. policies toward China and policies toward Iran lies in the fact U.S. officials view China as a status quo power while Iran is viewed as a government that might challenge the status quo, especially in the politically sensitive Middle East. Whether the perceptions of China and Iran are correct only history will know.
6) What is China’s role with Mexico?
7) Is the U.S. too weak to impose any serious restrictions on China’s foreign policies for fear of economic retaliation?
The U.S. and China both have incentives to maintain the economic balance since the U.S. wants cheap consumer goods and China wants investment and skilled jobs. So it is not so much a matter of strength as the U.S. could of course impose harsh trade restrictions on goods from China, but doing so would also greatly harm the U.S. economy. For better or worse, at this point in time, economically speaking China and the U.S. need each other even if this means glossing over their political differences.
The after effects of the Arab Spring, good or bad for Israel?
August 13th, 2012
Countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen recently had civil confrontations to push out their tyrant rulers in order to construct a new state. Many of these countries are still under the ‘after effects’ of these Arab Spring revolutions. Many critics point that ‘Sharia Law’ could be established in these countries as an alternative for a democratic reformation. For example, many experts believe groups like the ‘Islamic Brotherhood’ that once fought alongside the ‘libertarian secularist in Egypt’ to dethrone Mubarak’s regime, will eventually turn their backs on the “young progressive movement” and fight instead for an Islamic state.
The questions are:
1) How will Israel cope with the transformations of these countries?
2) How many of these Arab countries except for Tunisia and Libya (Not Arab) will become Islamic states?
Samia Errazzouki.
“Sharia law itself is as a concept remains hotly debated, both in how it’s interpreted and how it’s implemented. Sharia law is not black and white, nor is it monolithic. Many of these countries have, to some extent, historically referred to some aspects of Islamic law for the foundations of their legislation.
Tunisia and Libya may not be Arab when it comes to the ethnic make up of their respective populations, but both countries self-indentified as Arab in their constitutions. There are significant political, economic and social factors to consider when assessing the future ties of these countries with Israel, not just the perceived threat of an ‘Islamic state.’ The relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a religiously conservative regime, is the perfect reference for considering this matter.”
Robert David Steele Vivas.
“Israel the country is under the control of Zionists who have lost their minds — they have become the Gestapo of the Middle East. Israel will continue to use force and subversion to “assure” its security, not realizing that like the United States of America, they have lost all legitimacy in the eyes of the rest of the world — their approach to security is retarded and should be compared to the wise words of the current commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization who now, twelve years after I lectured all the intelligence generals and colonels from the NATO/PfP countries, is talking about “open source security.”
Israel will continue to commit crimes against humanity and atrocities against the Palestinian people, for as long as the people of the USA do not rise up against their own insanely criminal government whose political arm — the two-party tyranny that has destroyed democracy in the USA — continues to borrow money, to spend money on dictators and financial terrorists (Goldman Sachs, Morgan, City-Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, among others), and to blindly support Israel with money that directly enables Israeli misbehavior. In my view, it will take another five to ten years before the world grows so sick of Israeli misbehavior that they carry out a global boycott such as South Africa endured before apartheid ended formally (it continues informally). There are not enough guns on the planet to keep the people down once they realize their full humanity. As Minister-Mentor Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore has noted, it is demography, not democracy, that will define the future. Neither Israel nor the USA understand this reality.
There is nothing wrong with, nor to be feared, in an Islamic state that is both responsible as an Islamic state, and responsible as a government of, by, and for its people in relation to the rest of the world. Malaysia and Indonesia are shining examples of successful Islamic states. Turkey and Nigeria are examples of very important Islamic states that could either rise to great stature or collapse. Iran is an example of an Islamic state that has been so attacked by the USA and the Israelis as to be respected for its sacrifices and forbearance. Pakistan is an example of a failed Islamic state. India’s Muslim elements are an example of generally virtuous participants in both secular and inter-faith endeavors. Religion is not the issue — the issue is legitimacy. Dictators — and dictatorships by one or two parties that exclude all other parties — are illegitimate. Whether secular or religious, they do not represent the public interest and should over time be abolished as the public becomes more educated and more connected and therefore more powerful as a non-violent collective.
There are 5,000 secessionist movements around the world (27 of them in the USA). Most exist because artificial, political boundaries imposed by the colonial powers destroyed centuries of natural accommodation among peoples and the lands and waters able to support those peoples and their customs. We are at the very beginning of a period of history where indigenous wisdom is once again appreciated precisely because it is resilient and sustainable, and Western industrial era corruption and falsehoods are not. The deep common sense and collective intelligence of the public, emergent in an Open Source Everything environment that rejects secrecy, corruption, and “top down” or “expert” direction that is almost always in the service of special interests rather than the public interest, is the only force that governments and religions cannot repress.”
Adnan Aamir Sarparrah.
“The so-called Arab spring is just a series of Fake revolutions to bring regime changes as per the strategic interests of America. America is preventing its allies such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait from Arab spring as no regime change is required in these countries. The USA policy in middle east revolves around Israel. So Israel has no threat whatsoever from these so called revolutions as America is monitoring them.
Syria has an anti-Israel regime and this Arab spring is trying its level best to topple it. Egypt has lost a pro-Israel regime Of Hosni Mubarak but Military still call the shots in Egypt which is pro-American. So there is no threat of Islamisation for Israel that can emerge from the cradle of this series of revolutions. Most people of Islamic counties want to impose Shariah Law but the American Manipulation and control in the region is too strong to allow that to happen.
I don’t think that any Arab state will be an Islamic state. Middle east was ruled by dictators of two types: one was with America such as Saudis, Qataris, Bahrainis and UAE sheikh — and one was against America which included Qaddafi, Assad, etc. Only anti-American dictators are facing the wreath of their public and pro-American have nothing to worry about. As long as these pro-American dictators are in power there can’t be an Islamic revolution.”
Kris Anne Hall.
“I cannot speak on other nations, but I can speak on the foundation of America. America was built with a primary focus upon Liberty. John Adams said in his dissertation on feudal and cannon law in 1765 that, “Liberty must be supported at all hazards.” Many of the founders made very similar statements. As they were drafting the Constitution, it was Liberty they were focused on and the best way to secure it for us and our posterity. Unfortunately, we have forgotten what Liberty really is.
We think Liberty and freedom are synonymous. They are not. Pure freedom gives a nation of people the right to live their lives in whatever manner suits them, regardless of how that affects others: free to rob, free to lie, free to murder. Pure freedom is anarchy not Liberty. Liberty is a balance of freedom and morality. It is a shared morality that allows us to have freedom and yet respect the rights of others to that freedom as well. America’s shared morality is derived from a Judeo-Christian world view.
The understanding that thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not murder balanced by the knowledge that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Just as freedom alone is anarchy and a civilized people cannot live like that, we cannot have a nation built upon moral law alone. When a nation is ruled by moral law it is a theocracy. Theocracies in the hands of men are tyranny, because there is no freedom in it. That is why Sharia law is not compatible with the American Constitution. Sharia Law is not based upon Liberty, it is a theocracy and that is anti-liberty.
The founders of America said time and time again that foreign influence was one of the greatest threats to liberty. From my studies I see that threat exists because foreign nations were not built with the same focus on Liberty and the balance between freedom and morality. It is hotly debated in America because American schools no longer teach the truth about the founding of this nation, if they teach anything at all. If the truth were taught, it would be an open and shut case. Sharia Law would not even be debated but immediately dismissed as a “baneful foreign influence” as identified by George Washington.”
Claude Nougat.
“Somebody said in 2000 when the new century was ushered in that the 21st Century would be ‘religious or it wouldn’t be anything at all’… It certainly looks like that and all the countries engaged in the Arab Spring are now veering into various forms of theocracies in the name of Allah the Merciful. Let us hope the Sharia that will be or is being established, will be merciful!
Certainly, a theocracy is not an American-style democracy and certainly Israel will find itself increasingly isolated since it too has become ever more ‘orthodox’ Jewish (mostly under the impulse of new immigrants from Eastern Europe — really Israel has become unrecognizable if one looks at what it was when it was first created over sixty years ago).
The result of all these changes? Greater likelihood of war, for sure. Can we escape the worst scenarios? I think Egypt will play a key role. Turkey is already a role model for most countries that have kicked out their tyrants, but how Egypt follows the model will set the rules for all the others. So, my advice would be: watch Egypt!”
Romney and Obama does it matter?
July 26th, 2012By Jaime Ortega Simo.
Recently a few people have blamed Obama for his lack of leadership and pointed out his ability to make short-lived promises. Critics mostly point to financial and health care issues resulting from his political failures. Truth is the Bailout of 08, was a mixture of wild capitalism, corporate decision makers, and no government regulations. Thanks to the pressure of some lobbyist, the Glass-Steagall Act signed by Bush allowed an early century law passed during the 30’s depression to revive allowing markets to regulate themselves. But the idea comes back to the Reagan era. It could be argued that both republicans and democrats are at fault concerning the financial problems the U.S. is currently experiencing.
The question is: Does it really matter whether Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, or Ron Paul is are elected and would it really change anything?
Protesilaos Stavrou.
“While the idiosyncrasy and political agenda of a president is always important in shaping decisions; these alone will not have a major impact under normal conditions. Even if we assume that the congress does not stand as a stumbling block to every effort of reform; we will have to face a multi-faceted and greatly complex financial system, which goes beyond the standard understanding of capitalism, whether regulated or not.
The complex, interweaving web of causes that has allowed the aggrandizement of banks, is not just insufficient or bad regulation; but rather the very relations between the financial elite and the state apparatus. Banks are enjoying a near-symbiotic relationship with the state, meaning that they defy the rules of standard capitalism. A thoroughgoing reformation of the financial system is necessary, one that will put an abrupt end to the collusion between the government and the financial elite, through a mixture of new regulations and a withdrawal of privileges”
Claude Nougat.
“I think it will make a huge difference whether Obama or Romney are elected – Romney represents (and is himself) Big Money, in short the One Percent, and the Republican platform is clear: it is anti-government and anti-tax. Nobody knows how the government budget will ever be balanced once the super-rich stop paying taxes (they already are paying very little since Bush junior’s days – less than anywhere else in the developed world). This is a fundamental issue Romney does not address and cannot address.
Majia Nadesan.
“Widespread corruption in finance might be tackled by Paul given his desire to audit the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as the endless expansion of U.S. wars abroad and domestic surveillance at home. However, moneyed interests representing finance and the military-surveillance-
My biggest concern with Paul is his laissez-faire approach to environmental protection. Furthermore, he supports nuclear energy, which is a genocidal boondoggle that couldn’t exist without extensive government and taxpayer subsidies. So, I don’t see any of these candidates as capable of true reform of a vastly corrupted system.”
Ronald Bleier.
“I suspect it would be difficult to find a similar example in American history where both major party contenders are so clearly the wrong people for the job and are sure to exacerbate the coming crises.
The less said about Mitt Romney the better. It is President Obama who has deliberately set in motion terrible downward spirals in just about every major and minor policy issue imaginable. It’s no wonder that some are beginning to call him out as the Great Deceiver (Yves Smith), or the More Effective Evil (Glenn Ford), or the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Oliver Stone). If Romney wins he won’t have any trouble following a path already well marked.”
Robert Steele.
“To keep all this in perspective, I believe we have to acknowledge that the Reagan Administration began the one trillion a year borrowing, and Newt Gingrich destroyed the bi-partisan nature of Congress as a separate branch. I was a Republican and even a Reagan nominee for Deputy Assistant Secretary of State position, so I am not a Democrat trying to blame the Republicans.
Where I believe all progressives are making a HUGE mistake is in sticking with the Democratic Party as the lesser of two evils. BOTH parties are evil, and we DO have an alternative course of action as I outline in my presentation below, delivered to the Hackers on Planet Earth in NYC on 13 July.
I feel very helpless right now. I know exactly how to get this country back on track, see We the People Reform Coalition, but I cannot reach the 100 million people that need to contribute $10 each to kick the two party tyranny out of office in time for November 2012.”
John William Gary Answers Questions About the Higgs Particle
July 15th, 2012
John Williams Gary, Ph.D from U.C. Riverside
That is a silly name made up by Leon Letterman, a Nobel-prize winning particle physicist and former director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, for his popular book written some time ago. No scientist calls it that, and it has nothing to do with spirituality. I suppose that it refers to the fact we have been looking for it many decades, without success until now, so it has taken on sort of a mystique. Also, it is a very special particle in that it explains how particles acquire mass, so it is essential to the theory and is the only particle of the standard model that had not been yet observed.
That is not an accurate characterization. The reason it took so long to find the Higgs (or rather, a Higgs-like object, because we haven’t yet proven that what has been found is the Higgs) is that we didn’t have the experimental facilities to do it. Earlier accelerators didn’t have enough energy to produce it. (The Tevatron accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory probably could have found it eventually, but the energy of the Tevatron is lower than the LHC, making the rate at which a Higgs is produced lower, and it would have taken a few more years for them to get enough data to establish a convincing signal). The big bang has incomparably more energy than the LHC and so it (and many other, much heavier particles) can and would have been created no problem.
3) Evolutionists believe that the universe is formed out of luck and chaos, but with the discovery of the new particle, does it prove the universe to be constructed under the laws from something greater than our understanding, considering it only took one try for it to work in the Big Bang and matter to be created?
Again, this is a mischaracterization. We believe that nature is ruled by physical laws, and that those laws are understandable. This is as true for biological science and evolution as it is for physical science and particle physics. There are elements of randomness, in evolution through gene mutation and in particle physics though lack of determinism in quantum mechanics (e.g., we can’t precisely say when an unstable particle will decay, but we can predict the distribution of decays times). Luck does not play a role, and the laws of nature are not beyond our understanding. We believe the big bang is subject to the same physical laws. It is difficult to understand all the way back to the very instant of the big bang, because the energies are so large they exceed the masses relevant for our current framework: the standard model. However, we believe we can understand more and more, and push back our understanding closer and closer to the instant of the big bang, and discoveries like the one made at CERN of the new particle are key to progress in this area.
4) Is this the beginning of a new realm in science? And where is it headed?
The Standard Model of particle physics, of which the Higgs is the last missing piece, has been put together over the last 50 years. It is a great intellectual achievement for mankind. In that sense, the Higgs might be considered an end, rather than a beginning, i.e., if what has been found is the standard model Higgs, it completes the Standard Model. However, the Standard Model is incomplete. It is ad hoc in many ways and requires artificial fine tuning of parameters to make it work. Therefore we know there must be a deeper theory. It is our hope that what has been found is *not* a standard model Higgs but rather something beyond the standard model, so that it shows us the way to extend the theory. In this case the new particle would indeed represent a new realm in particle physics. In the future, we will study the properties of the new particle to determine whether or not it is a standard model Higgs, and potentially even build new accelerators, colliding electrons and positrons at the new particle’s energy of 125 GeV, to precisely determine its characteristics.
No. It is the development of the same field, the description of matter at its most fundamental level, that began with the discovery of atoms, the nucleus, etc. in the first years of the 20th
Facebook The Social Filter of World Intelligence
July 2nd, 2012By Jaime Ortega Simo.
Facebook incorporates over 600 million users thanks to its beautiful simplicity. Who wants complicated layouts like the 25 million users using MySpace?
Simple concepts are almost always better precepts for success. But simplicity in layout backgrounds could likewise become a dangerous tool for gathering information. And the Intelligence Community knows better.
Facebook has replaced any major Central Intelligence Agency information program after it was launched in 2004.
Christopher Sartinsky the deputy C.I.A director said, “After years of secretly monitoring the public, we were astounded so many people would willingly publicize were they live, religious and political views, alphabetize their personal friends, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and hundreds of photos of themselves.”
Sartinsky also said, “Facebook users would give status updates about what they were doing moment by moment,” and added, “It was truly a dream come true for the C.I.A.”
Not only is Facebook great for the C.I.A., but it also saves them a lot of money. Some of the information provided via-Facebook would have taken the C.I.A. months to uncover. For example, hotel receipts or plane tickets.
Julian Assange the founder of WikiLeaks said in an interview conducted by Russia Today, “Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying mission ever invented.”
Not surprisingly Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook said, “Facebook is the single most powerful tool for population control ever created.”
Pulse was a feature from Facebook launched on 2005, and acted like Facebook’s version of Google Zeitgeist. It provided info. for marketers who wanted to know what’s good with the youth demographic. But it strangely disappeared in 2006 without explanation.
The second Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorists Act (P.A.T.R.I.O.T Act) changed on 2006 and got rid of the roving wiretap provision – and section 215, which allowed access to business records under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (F.I.S.A.).
But Facebook is considered a business and the Intelligence Community instead of forcefully entering social networks by the back door, signed a deal with Facebook to allow information gathering by the front door.
Where does your Facebook information end up?
One is In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture capital organization that provides the C.I.A. with technology from the latest high-tech companies in support with the United States intelligence capability.
In the case of Facebook In-Q-Tel uses a software system called Visible Technologies, designed for social media purposes.
In-Q-Tel differs from the Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activity (I.A.R.P.A.) in that it gathers Facebook data to dramatically improve the value of collected information from all sources.
In other words, I.A.R.P.A. would focus more on the value of the data collected from Facebook, than the high efficient software. In-Q-Tel uses via Visible Technology to gather updates done by Facebook’s recent advancements.
Note that many companies are listed under In-Q-Tel, but others remain in secret. Many of its products and what it has are used also in strict secrecy.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (D.A.R.P.A.) created in 2002 the Information Awareness Office (I.A.O). The mission was to apply surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorist and other threats.
The goal of the I.A.O. is to achieve Total Information Awareness (T.I.A.) In other words, gather as much information as possible to counterterrorism using the information architecture.
The information gathered via Facebook is sorted and packaged in a universal central storage unit, used to nest as much data as necessary in case of a national security issue.
Strangely enough, the word ‘IAO’ in Greek has two separate meanings. It’s the Greek form for ‘Yaweh’ and also the purported secret name or abbreviation of a deity in Gnosticism, Greek mystery cults and magic.
But let’s remain out the field of conspiracy theories because correlations don’t mean causations. Conversely, one could argue, if it quacks like a duck and it walks like a duck; it’s therefore a ‘duck.’
The Networks and Information Integration (N.I.I.) provides management and oversight of all United States Department of Defense (D.o.D.) including national security systems.
Facebook is considered to be a national security system, especially under the seal of The P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act.
Under the (N.I.I.) which is controlled by the Assistant Secretary of Defense there is a branch called Information Resources Management (I.R.M.) the I.R.M. includes a program called Information Systems or (I.S.).
The I.S. is the study of complementary networks of hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create and distribute data.
The data that the C.I.A. collects from Facebook is sent to the I.R.M. to be studied under the I.S. program.
Picture Facebook as a fat cow and the Intelligence Community as the butcher; not one part of the animal will come to waist as the butchered parts move trough different sections throughout the plant.
1) The high-tech advancements done by Facebook will go to In-Q-Tel to feed the C.I.A.
2) I.A.R.P.A. will focus on the value of the data collected from Facebook.
3) Once the C.I.A. collects the valuable data, it will go to the D.o.D., which will study the information using the I.R.M. program.
4) All the information is stored under the D.A.R.P.A. program called I.A.O. go gather T.I.A.
That’s what happens to all the information you post on Facebook. It’s used for intelligence to counter terrorism and outside threats by different defense agencies systems. So be aware of what you include in your next update.
One last thing to remember:
Nothing is free in life and there is a reason why social networks like Facebook are free to use. You don’t pay with money, but you do pay with information. And, it also prevents revolutions.
Remember that throughout history when people were angered by the government’s decisions or policies, they marched to a ruler’s residence and demanded change. Violence erupted and change resulted from social revolution.
Now days, when people get angry with the government, they log in to Facebook or to their preferred social media sites, and protest.
People put their thumbs up agreeing or disagreeing with the angered users. And those angered users feel happier when others feed them support via the Internet. They check their posts to reply to those who disagree or agree with them. Social media is a way to filter physical revolutions.
This is a very effective way to stop revolutions and anger, because unlike the old days, only a few people go to the White House and protest. And to top that, the government also studies people’s moods and angers because they ‘simply can.’
Facebook could be also used as filter to prevent revolutions. So whatever you do, make sure that you don’t allow social media to control you or your emotions. And remember that the digital world, is not reality, they are more eyes constantly monitoring users and studying possible threats.
Veterans talk about ROTC and Afghanistan
June 26th, 2012by Jaime Ortega Simo.