Category: 08 Wild Cards

Posted on

White House skips legal deadline on Libya

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military

White House skips legal deadline on Libya

Salon, 21 May 2011

Military action passes 60-day threshold, but Obama won't seek congressional approval

The White House is skipping a legal deadline to seek congressional authorization of the military action in Libya — but few on the Hill are objecting.

Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 a president can only send troops into combat for 60 days without congressional mandate. That deadline fell Friday, but in absence of pressure from Congress, White House officials say they think they're on solid ground continuing U.S. involvement in the mission, now led by NATO, without formal congressional sign-off — as long as consultations with Congress continue.

In that spirit President Barack Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday saying U.S. involvement remains critical and welcoming congressional input.

Phi Beta Iota: Unconstitutional, illegal, immoral — business as usual.

Posted on

Why the U.S. Should ‘Give’ Af-Pak to China

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Military, Peace Intelligence, Strategy
Richard Wright

Worth a look — even if only the first paragraph.

The New Rules: Why the U.S. Should ‘Give' Af-Pak to China

Thomas P.M. Barnett | Bio | 30 May 2011
Column

Nuclear Pakistan, we are often told, is the Islamic-state equivalent of a Wall Street firm: In geostrategic terms, it is too big to fail. That explains why, even as the Obama administration begins preparing for modest troop withdrawals from Afghanistan this July, it dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Islamabad last week to smooth over bilateral relations with Pakistan's paranoid regime, which were strained even before the killing of Osama bin Laden. But Clinton's trip and the Obama administration's instinctive embrace of Islamabad is a fool's errand, doomed by history, geography and globalization itself.

In fact, the U.S. should drop the entire Afghanistan-Pakistan mess in China's lap now, while the getting is good, and here are the reasons why: …

Phi Beta Iota: World Politics Review has not figured out the new world of information quite yet, and we have no desire to copy their entire article.  Suffice to say that Barnett, who has gotten much more coherent since his first book, is on target here, but add to that that the US Government's foreign policy is both ideological and idiotic —  apart from the huge error by Zbigniew Brzezinski giving Pakistan the nuclear bomb in  the first place, the US has no business in Central Asia that is of benefit to the American people, only to the American carpet-baggers that feed at the public treasury (now much depleted and greatly in debt) while looting foreign countries.

Posted on

Libya, Water, and War + RECAP

08 Wild Cards, 12 Water, Earth Intelligence, IO Sense-Making
Click on Image to Enlarge

Libya: Water Emerges as a Hidden Weapon

Sunday 29 May 2011

by: Simba Russeau, Inter Press Service

Photo: Libyan postcard artwork representing the Great Man-Made River project. (Photo: sludgegulper)

Cairo – Libya’s enormous aquatic reserves could potentially become a new weapon of choice if government forces opt to starve coastal cities that heavily rely on free flowing freshwater.

Posted on

Iran Played “Pivotal Role” in 9/11? Craven Idiocy

05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Impotency, Peace Intelligence, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Thomas E. Mellon, Jr.

First, the lawyer. Thomas E. Mellon Jr. from Doylestown, PA.  He is representing 17 families from Bucks Couny in a Class Action Suit against Iran, al-Qaida and other supporters of Sept. 11 attack.  He is an intimate of the US Department of Justice that is on record as claiming that it has the right to lie to the judiciary.  We smell a lie pie.

Second, the plaintiff. Fiona Havlish.  She was also the lead in the 2002 filing against Bin Laden et al, but in that case the current lawyer was second on a long list of firms that participated.  She was a prime force behind a class action lawsuit seeking $100 billion in compensation.  Her husband died in the South Tower, not in Pennsylvania.  The timing of this, post Bin Laden Show, is suspect.

Third, the defectors. Three of them  A proper investigation will surely find that they have been in close consultation with the Iranian Liberation nut-jobs that are being encouraged by State, DoD, and CIA to play with public perceptions.   There is no way these three can withstand scrutiny, and we hope that Iran chooses to confront these almost certain lies in some public manner.  Remember Chalabi & CURVEBALL?

Continue reading “Iran Played “Pivotal Role” in 9/11? Craven Idiocy”

Posted on

Snapshot: African Union

08 Wild Cards, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Multinational, Military, Peace Intelligence
The African Union says only a political solution in Libya can lead to a lasting peace (AFP/File, Warren Allott)

AU demands end to NATO Libya strikes

India calls for immediate cessation of hostilities in Libya

NATO launches fourth night of Libyan strikes

Phi Beta Iota: We consider the attacks on Tripoli to be outrageously illegal and immoral by every standard.  There is every reason for the non-NATO world to bring war crime charges against every participating NATO nation.

The African Union High Level Ad Hoc Committee on Libya Convened Its 5th Meeting in Addis Ababa

Model African Union Summit deliberates on youth empowerment

Peacekeepers from the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) park their tanks near the main Bakara market during fighting between Somalia government soldiers and Islamist insurgents in the capital Mogadishu, on May 23. Feisal Omar/Reuters

African Union lays siege to Al Shabab-controlled market in Somalia's capital

African Union delegation arrives in Somalia

Government, African Union Consult on Abyei Security[Sudan]

African Union to Bolster Ties with India

Africa: Restore Peace in War-Torn States, AU Told

Phi Beta Iota: As with all regional organizations including security organizations such as NATO, the AU lacks a multinational, multiagency, multidisciplinary, multidomain information-sharing and sense-making (M4IS2) capability.  Until they have one, they will remain at the mercy of predatory states and corporations.

Posted on

Looting Libya: Insider View of Reasons for War….

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Energy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Government, IO Sense-Making, Military, Peace Intelligence
Click on Image to Enlarge

The Libyan War, American Power and the Decline of the Petrodollar System

by Prof. Peter Dale Scott

Centre for Research on Globalization, 29 April 2011

EXTRACT:

As  Ellen Brown has pointed out, first Iraq and then Libya decided to challenge the petrodollar system and stop selling all their oil for dollars, shortly before each country was attacked.

Continue reading “Looting Libya: Insider View of Reasons for War….”

Posted on

Snapshot: Cuba

08 Wild Cards
Click on Image to Enlarge

‘Cuba's classification as a repressive government lacks credibility'

Roy King: Opening up Cuba is about opening up information

New US rules promise legal Cuba travel for many

Cuba Tourism works like a Well-Oiled Machine

Cuban University System: a Model for Latin America

New entrepreneurs on the rise in socialist Cuba

Revolutionary Cuba Now Lays Sand Traps for the Bourgeoisie

Cuba to Host Int’l Colloquium on Hemingway’s Life and Work

Cuba will host the 13th International Colloquium on the life and work of U.S. writer, Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) from June 16 to 19, with the attendance of nearly 20 experts on his life from several countries.

Of the Nationalities Cuba is Made up, the African Root Emerges Strong

Cuba Has World’s Highest Number of Centenarians per capita

Cuban Province Launches Multimedia on Sustainable Agriculture

There are just two sustainable agriculture models in the world: Cuba and the Amish in the USA.