contributions

December 12, 2007
THE ANNAPOLIS CONFERENCE: DEAD MAN WALKING
John Chuckman
The Annapolis Conference was, like so many political and diplomatic events of our time, highly choreographed, finely stage-managed, and heavily marketed. Yet, as soon as it was over, it was apparent little had happened, much as when a child opens a much-advertised, expensive plastic toy on Christmas, a brief, glitzy, big-eyed moment followed quickly by tedium. You might compare it to a George Bush press (…)

Press Release from Science & Environmental Policy Project 10 December 2007
Contact: Dr S Fred Singer, President, SEPP singer@SEPP.org 703-920-2744 Climate warming is naturally caused and shows no human influence: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant.
Climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia report that observed patterns of temperature changes (‘fingerprints’) over the last thirty years are not in accord with what (…)

by Anna Willard
PARIS – President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to regroup France’s different military commands into one new headquarters on the edge of Paris, a ministry official said on Monday.
The commands of the navy, the army, and the overall military command, will move in 2012 to one building in southwest Paris next to the existing air force command, the official said.
Around 10,000 people will be based at the new site in the Balard district, including the 5,000 already located in the (…)

Why is it that when the world should be celebrating, we are at the edge of our seats, waiting for the unimaginable to happen? Why is the United States intent on pressuring Iran towards a fatal conflict? Is it about oil, power, security, money, or nuclear energy? Or is there something more important, such as the currency in which oil in traded?
Last week, with the release of the report from the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear program, “16 U.S. spy agencies, including (…)

Forecast: U.S. dollar could plunge 90 pct
UPI – via Information Clearing House November 24, 2007
A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said.
"We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen," Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a "Panic of 2008."
"The bigger they are, the harder they’ll fall," he said in an (…)

What good is a secret service (CIA) that can’t keep a secret?
Pity the poor CIA. What use is a secret service that can’t keep a secret? Agents of other secret services should be aware the the loose lips and poor tradecraft of the Americans put the foreigners at risk of arrest and worse. Here’s what we mean:
CIA plane photographed in NC. Spotted at Shannon next day.
Irish allies arrested meeting N478GS on arrival at Shannon:
Planespotters of the North Carolina group NCSTN () (…)

Ice storm cripples midwestern US
Reuters | Monday, 10 December 2007
An ice storm has struck the central US, grounding hundreds of flights and cutting power to more than 100,000 people, the Associated Press reports.
Five people were killed in traffic accidents blamed on icy roads in Oklahoma, AP said.
Ice storm warnings were issued from Texas to Pennsylvania, AP reported, and one of the country’s busiest airports, Chicago’s O’Hare International, cancelled more than 400 flights due to (…)

By David Glenn Cox
Again and again and again, That we are under the thumb of a lawless band of criminals I can accept. What I can’t accept however, is that the one group in the world with the power to stop them save the Army, the one group that could rise to occasion at any time and put a stop this. A group that took the same oath as the President, drawing fat paychecks and fiddling while Rome burns has the credulity to again stand on the steps of the Capital and say, “I’m shocked by this (…)

Bush declares storm disaster in Northwest Move opens door to federal assistance for region ravaged by floods
The Associated Press updated 9:56 p.m. ET Dec. 8, 2007
PORTLAND, Ore. - President Bush declared a federal disaster for 11 counties in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday, clearing the way for federal aid after severe storms ravaged parts of Oregon and Washington.
The declaration provides recovery assistance to five northwestern Oregon and six southwestern Washington counties. (…)

By IGNACIO RAMONET Le Monde Diplomatique
Like the pied piper of Hamelin, Nicolas Sarkozy initially enchanted eminent figures on all sides with his verve and brio. The media were equally spellbound and joined in the mass hysteria. France was virtually hypnotised by this disconcertingly hyperactive president, fizzing with vague plans.
The scales began to fall from everyone’s eyes when the true nature of the sideshow was revealed. The magician was just a neo-liberal in disguise.
This was (…)