MELTDOWN: Al Jazeera Four Part Video Special

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Law Enforcement, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

MELTDOWN

Part I:  The men who crashed the world

The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that led to financial collapse.

In the first episode of Meltdown, we hear about four men who brought down the global economy: a billionaire mortgage-seller who fooled millions; a high-rolling banker with a fatal weakness; a ferocious Wall Street predator; and the power behind the thron

Part II:  A global financial tsunami

Meltdown examines how an epidemic of fear caused banks to stop lending, triggered protests and led to industrial action.

In the second episode of Meltdown, we look at how the financial tsunami swept the world. We hear about a renegade executive who nearly destroyed the global financial system and the US treasury secretary who bailed out his friends.

Part III: Paying the price

As the toll of the financial crisis continues to mount, many are looking for its true causes – and finding a crime.

The third episode of Meltdown looks at how the victims of the 2008 financial crash fight back. A protesting singer in Iceland brings down the government; in France a union leader oversees the kidnapping of his bosses; and thousands of families are made homeless in California.

Part IV: After the Fall

Some responded with denial, others by re-thinking capitalism, but who is preparing for the next crisis?

In the final episode of Meltdown, we hear about the sheikh who says the crash never happened; a Wall Street king charged with fraud; a congresswoman who wants to jail the bankers; and the world leaders who want a re-think of capitalism.

Phi Beta Iota:  This is a world-class series that misses just two things:

A.  Goldman Sachs has owned the US Treasury–providing the Secretary of the Treasurer (and today also the National Security Advisor to the President–for three critical administrations, each of which willfully eradicated safeguards.

B.  Senator Phil Graham (R-TX) and the other Senators who had and still have zero integrity, passing 200 pages of lobbyist written deregulation inserted into the bill five minutes before the vote.

Penguin adds:

C.  The perfidy of Clinton in his Glass-Steagall sellout and his CONTINUED malignant hyping of its ethic through obfuscation and the pimping of what “reputable” analysts who want access to his solon. For him America was built on deal making and networking.

Anthony J. Thorne: 9/11 Revelations 10 Years After

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military, Officers Call

Phi Beta Iota:  Responding at Amazon to Review of Extreme Prejudice.

Interesting review Robert. I haven't read the book yet but I'm hopeful there are some new details of worth in it. I appreciate your regular mention of 9/11 issues in your book reviews. Don't know if you've read it yet but Kevin Fenton's DISCONNECTING THE DOTS is worth a look as it brings out new details in the (dubious) activities of the CIA and their Alex Station team prior to 9/11 – Peter Dale Scott recently praised this one highly in interviews. Additionally, if you Google ‘Who is Rich Blee?', the first link that comes up (SecrecyKills) offers a lengthy podcast from the same team that made 9/11 PRESS FOR TRUTH that fruitfully accompanies that DISCONNECTING book mentioned above with new interviews with Richard Clarke and statements from a very defensive George Tenet. They have a full transcript of the podcast on the site which is valuable reading, and author Kevin Fenton is again featured on that site and thanked in the podcast.

There's a lengthy 500 page book on 9/11 by a possibly pseudonymous author called E.P.Heidner, titled ‘The September Eleventh Commission Report' (a poor title for a valuable work) that a number of researchers have been discussing recently – David Ray Griffin mentioned to me in an email a month ago that he makes note of the book in his latest 9/11 TEN YEARS LATER volume. Heidner has done a massive amount of new research into who the likely background figures are (many linked to Iran Contra) and brings a lot of new information to the table. The book is currently unpublished but is available online for free as a PDF, at Scribd and elsewhere. If you Google the phrase ‘A remarkable new book on 9/11', the first link that comes up is a post by me at the Deep Politics forum where I and some others discuss the book in detail and post a number of links where any reader can get the book for free.

Researcher and journalist Jonathan Elinoff uploaded a fine documentary on 9/11 online a couple of years back called CORE OF CORRUPTION-FROM THE SHADOWS, which goes into a lot of depth about events prior to 9/11. (The currently available version has a minor sound issue where for the first 10 minutes or so, the background music is a little louder than it should be, but the film is still worth sticking with and is easily locatable online). I mention this as two(!) new follow up films to that documentary, the next of the series entitled CORE OF CORRUPTION-ECHOES OF TREASON, are reportedly being finished right now and will be released online for full viewing in March 2012. Elinoff reportedly has close to five years of research and relevant interviews and various revelations prepared for release with the new film, including new information from whistleblowers, fresh details about the participants in the rogue 9/11 stock trades, and a lot of juicy new info. The proof will be in the pudding but I expect it to be a formidable piece of work.

As a final note, if you haven't yet watched the recent feature length documentary 9/11 EXPLOSIVE EVIDENCE-EXPERTS SPEAK OUT, and its accompanying shorter featurette ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS-SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF WTC7 (hosted by Ed Asner) please go to Youtube and view them immediately. Both are superior works from Richard Gage's group of professionals and contain a lot of formidable evidence and testimony.

Penguin: Israel’s Covert Operations Inside the USA

05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
Who, Me?

Hmmmmm.  Does this connect Israel's larger covert operations inside the USA to the specific Iran plot as a possible Israeli covert operation to influence US public and US Congress?

Why I Published US Intelligence Secrets About Israel's Anti-Iran Campaign

Richard Silverstein

Truthout, 14 October 2011

In 2009, Shamai Leibowitz was working secretly for the FBI, translating wiretapped conversations among Israeli diplomats in this country. He passed some transcripts of these conversations to me, which described an Israeli diplomatic campaign in this country to create a hostile environment for relations with Iran. I published excerpts from them in my blog, Tikun Olam.

. . . . . .

The true story was why and how Israeli diplomats were intervening so obtrusively in US political life.

Read full story with many specifics on Israeli lobbying, monitoring, and direct influence (tantamount to threats) against members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Phi Beta Iota:  We do not think the Israeli's are behind the Iranian plot.  It may even be that the Iranian liberation nut-jobs are not behind it either, and this is strictly a standard FBI over-reach with a sting that netted a used car salesman.  What we do know is that both Congress and the White House have been very irresponsible in their confrontational statements toward Iran, and very irresponsible in failing to challenge the authenticity of this plot in detail.

#OWS Deputy Major Stops Confrontation Over Cleaning

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, Law Enforcement, Mobile
John Steiner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2011
www.nyc.gov

STATEMENT OF DEPUTY MAYOR CAS HOLLOWAY ON BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES POSTPONING THEIR CLEANING OF ZUCCOTTI PARK

³Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park ­Brookfield Properties ­ that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation. Our position has been consistent throughout: the City¹s role is to protect public health and safety, to enforce the law, and guarantee the rights of all New Yorkers.  Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown, and we will continue to monitor the situation.

Phi Beta Iota:  NYPD and Bloomberg both understand that flash mobs can hand them their ass.

See Also:

John Robb: Bloomberg Cleaning Out OWS

#OWS Letter Seeking Eviction of OWS in NYC (sic)

Graphic: Twitter as an Intelligence Tool

Journal: PA & NYPD Criminalize Twitter

 

DefDog: Iranian Bomb Plot US Lies or Iranian Nuts?

Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement
DefDog

It would appear that more and more people are beginning to see the lack of integrity of the US Government….

You Should Hope the Crazy Iranian Bomb Plot Is True

By Spencer Ackerman

WIRED, October 12, 2011

The wild story put out by the Justice Department about an Iranian assassination plot smells suspiciously like something passed through a bull’s digestive tract. But the U.S. should hope that it’s true. Because it makes Iran’s fiercest terrorist organization look like blithering idiots.

According to the criminal complaint brought against Mansour Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri on Tuesday, agents from Iran’s feared Qods Force, a buck-wild branch of the already buck-wild Revolutionary Guards Corps, plotted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington, D.C. They might move on to the Israeli embassy to raise hell. And if the prospect of starting a regional war — the likeliest outcome of murdering diplomats from Iran’s Mideast rivals, on U.S. soil no less — weren’t bad enough, the Qods Force allegedly sought inroads with Mexican drug cartels.

It’s a fusion-cuisine salad bar of U.S. security anxieties. Crazy Iranian terrorists and violent Mexican narcotraffickers. No wonder FBI Director Robert Mueller called the plot straight out of Hollywood.

Read more.

Mini-Me: Iranian Plot or False Flag Fraud?

Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military, Peace Intelligence
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

U.S. Accuses Iranians of Plotting to Kill Saudi Envoy

Holder: US will hold Iran accountable in plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador

Iranian plot to kill Saudi ambassador thwarted, U.S. officials say

Alleged Iranian Terror Plotter Was Well-Known Texas Used Car Salesman

U.S. aims to “unite the world” against Iran

Iran slams plot allegations

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Iranian Plot or False Flag Fraud?”

Chuck Spinney: In new window Print all The Liquidation of al-Awlaqi – Droning Mindlessly Into an American Jihad

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military
Chuck Spinney

Using the extra-judicial liquidation of Anwar al-Awlaqi as a point of departure, Patrick Seale provides very useful and important survey of the strategic and grand strategic implications of the expanding U.S. conflict in what now might be called the Yemen Theater of Operations (YTO) in what is rapidly mutating into a U.S. Jihad against the Islamic world.  The United States is now in involved militarily in wars encompassing at least six theaters of operations in the Islamic world, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia, with possible expansions into the Sahel and Nigeria, not to mention Iran and who knows where else.

Chuck Spinney
Badalona, Catalunya (part of Spain according to some)

Anwar al-Awlaqi, Yemen, and Obama’s War

by Patrick Seale

Agence Global, 4 Oct 2011

On Friday, 30 September, Yemen announced that a Hellfire missile fired from a CIA-operated drone had killed Shaykh Anwar al-Awlaqi, in the north of the country. His grief-stricken father, once a minister of agriculture in a Yemeni government, went to the scene to collect and bury the pieces of what remained of Anwar’s body. It was the seventh U.S. strike in Yemen this year.

Anwar al-Awlaqi was a virulent critic of American foreign policy in the Arab world, and a passionate advocate of al-Qaida’s form of Islamic jihad. He was also a U.S. citizen, born in New Mexico, with an engineering degree from Colorado State University. His internet sermons, delivered in fluent English, had a devoted following, especially among young Muslims in the West.

His killing inevitably aroused a storm of controversy in the United States about its legality. In an article in The National Interest, Paul R. Pillar, a former senior CIA officer now a university professor, described it as “essentially a long-range execution without judge, jury or publicly presented evidence.” This is a subject which must be left to the Americans to debate.

What are its probable consequences? The most obvious is that it is likely further to inflame some Muslims against the United States, drawing fresh recruits into the jihadist struggle. “Why kill him in this brutal, ugly way?” a member of his Awalik tribe was quoted as saying. “Killing him will not solve the Americans’ problem with al-Qaida. It will just increase its strength and sympathy in this region.”

A key question, therefore, is whether al-Qaida — including its Yemen-based offshoot, “Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula” — is an organisation or a cause.

Read full article.