Berto Jongman: Economic Consequences of War

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, IO Impotency, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Berto Jongman

Economic Consequences of War

New report released by the Institute for Economics & Peace analyses the macroeconomic effects of US government spending on wars and the military since World War II.

The IEP’s latest report,  Economic Consequences of War on the US Economy,  analyses the macroeconomic effects of US government spending on wars and the military.

The report studies five periods – World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Afghanistan/Iraq wars – exposing the effect of war financing on debt, consumption, investment, jobs, taxes, government deficits, and inflation.

The findings of the report show devastating trends for US tax, debt and deficit debates.

Download the report here

Key findings

The U.S. has paid for its wars either through debt [World War II, Cold War, Afghanistan/Iraq], taxation [Korean War] or inflation [Vietnam]. In each case, taxpayers have been burdened, and private sector consumption and investment have been constrained as a result.

Report highlights

The report shows the following economic indicators experiencing negative effects either during or after the conflicts:

  • Public debt and levels of taxation increased during most conflicts
  • Consumption as a percent of GDP decreased during most conflicts
  • Investment as a percent of GDP decreased during most conflicts
  • Inflation increased during or as a direct consequence of these conflicts

The higher levels of government spending associated with war tends to generate some positive economic benefits in the short-term, specifically through increases in economic growth occurring during conflict spending booms. However, negative unintended consequences occur either concurrently with the war or develop as residual effects afterwards thereby harming the economy over the longer term.

Phi Beta Iota:  There appears to be a continued reluctance to address the real causes of our terrible situation: corruption across the board.  No amount of intellectual posturing, whether in a book or in a conference, is a substitute for full transparency and the truth — the whole truth.  The lack of integrity across all eight tribes — academia, civil society, commerce, government, law enforcement, media, military, and non-government/non-profit — is the ROOT CAUSE of our collapse.

See Also:

Journal: Politics & Intelligence–Partners Only When Integrity is Central to Both

2012 THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth & Trust

2010 The Ultimate Hack Re-Inventing Intelligence to Re-Engineer Earth (Chapter for Counter-Terrorism Book Out of Denmark)

Berto Jongman: Afghan Massacre 2 Helos 15 Ground Troops?

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, DoD, IO Deeds of War, Military
Berto Jongman

Afghan parliament delegation claims 15 US troops were involved in Kandahar massacre

Bill Roggio

Threat Matrix, 17 March 2012

One day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the US and implied that more than one US soldier was involved in the mass murder of 16 Afghans in Kandahar's Panjwai district last weekend, a delegation from the Afghan parliament is claiming that at least 15 US soldiers “accompanied by 2 helicopters” were involved in the massacre. From Khaama Press:

A delegation of the Afghan parliament members who visited Kandahar province said at least 15 US troops were behind the assassination of 16 Afghan villagers at Panjwai district in this province.The delegation included 5 Afghan parliament members who were sent by the Afghan House of Representatives to find out the facts behind the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians at Panjwai district.

The delegation presented its findings report to the Afghan House of Representative which states that the civilians massacre was plotted where at least 15 US troops were involved.
A member of the Afghan parliament Shakila Hashimi who presented the report to the Afghan House of Representatives said false statements were given to the Afghan people by provincial governor Toryalai Weesa and US commander saying that the shooting was carried out by a single US soldier.

She also added, the assassination was carried out by 2 groups of US soldiers consisting of 15 to 20 soldiers and were accompanied by 2 helicopters.

See Also:

Owl: ChemTrails, Martial Law, Oil Derivatives…

07 Other Atrocities

Chemtrails Against US General Public?

This article explains how to distinguish ordinary contrails from what is a by-definition hazardous chemtrail in the sky. The reason it is hazardous is the two chemicals researchers were able to identify from chemtrails residues: “Several sky watchers throughout the world have had residue samples analyzed after collecting them in water containers, air traps, and on shrubbery twigs. They have all come up with two common elements: barium and aluminum. Barium is very toxic. Reportedly, it was sprayed from aircraft during Gulf War I to weaken the enemy on the ground. Some consider barium salts more toxic than lead. It affects the lungs directly. Aluminum is a toxin that leads to dementia and neurological diseases. The nasal passages and lungs enable aluminum to have easy entry into our blood streams and affect tissues, including the heart and brain.” Given that lung diseases such as COPD and asthma have increased by large degrees in the last few decades, which is during the same time period, according to this article, when chemtrail spraying has been occurring, is this more than just a coincidence? Is chemtrail spraying another corporate-government initiative, along with others ongoing (vaccines, a deeply corrupt and ineffective medical industrial system) and planned (more vaccines, neutron bombs, selective gas attacks, starvation due to economic collapse) in order to reduce population?

Denying chemtrails is dangerous for your health

Martial Law and Resource Control Preamble to War on Iran?

See key excerpts below (my emphasis in underlined items):

 “The National Defense Resources Preparedness order gives the Executive Branch the power to control and allocate energy, production, transportation, food, and even water resources by decree under the auspices of national defense and national security.  The order is not limited to wartime implementation, as one of the order's functions includes the command and control of resources in peacetime determinations.”

“The economy of the United States is based on the free flow of resources, energy, and the rights of consumers to buy and sell as they see fit.  Any interference in this economic process quickly leads to shortages, rising prices, and civil unrest.  The purpose of President Obama signing this new Executive Order is yet unclear, however, it may coincide with information coming out of Israel yesterday that plans for a tactical or strategic strike on Iran are accelerating.  Oil prices in Europe rose over $3 a barrel for Brent crude after the Israeli actions, and US oil prices rose $2 for WTI.

The Obama administration appears to be preparing for a long drawn out war in the Middle East, or at the very least, an expected crisis that will require the need to override Constitutional authority and claim dominion over all resources in the United States under the guise of national defense.  With the rise in Disaster Preparedness growing for both individuals and states leading up to yesterday's Executive Order, the mood of the nation points strongly towards some event or disaster that will require massive preparations on a national as well as local scale.”

Obama Issues Executive Order Declaring Peacetime Martial Law, Bypasses Congress, Takes Over All Resources

No Attack on Iran, Just a Massive Oil Futures Scam

This article from William Engdahl is persuasive in arguing there will be no Israeli/American attack on Iran, and I have seen other writers make similar points about how this is only intended to enrich the coffers of bankster derivative fund speculator-friends of Obama. However, what weakens his arguments is not only Obama's new executive order to control all resources, but many reports of another Naval carrier and mind sweepers heading to the area. Would Obama send such resources to the Gulf just to solidify an impression of imminent war to help insure his bankster friends make tons of more money on oil speculation? Others more cynical than me may know the answer to that question.

‘The Key Oil Derivatives Insiders are Laughing All the Way to the Bank’

Various Contributors: Continuing Insanity – Potpourri

07 Other Atrocities, Cultural Intelligence

The Enigma of Israel (CounterPunch)

Fukushima Roulette (CounterPunch)

Will Corporations Prevent the Singularity? (IEET)

The Death of Investigative Journalism (CounterPunch)

Corps, Army to restart ‘forcible entry’ drills (Army Times)

The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (WIRED)

Guantanamo Prison's True Secret: Jason Leopold in Conversation With Andy Worthington (OpEd News)

US and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Proxy Cold War in the Levant, Egypt and Jordon (CSIS)

 

Veterans Today: Dick Cheney Accepts Home Arrest, Avoids Canada

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace, Law Enforcement
Click on Image to Enlarge

To Avoid Being Locked Up in Canada Cheney Stays Locked Up At Home

Dick Cheney Opts for House Arrest Rather Than Face the Ire of Canada’s Citizen Jurists Who Insist That Domestic and International Laws Prohibiting Torture, Genocide, Aggressive Warfare, and 9/11 Fraud Must be Enforced on One of the World’s Most Notorious Criminals

by Anthony J. Hall

Earlier this week former US Vice-President Dick Cheney, the dominant, hands-on operative in the two-term presidency of George W. Bush, cancelled a speaking engagement in Toronto on April 24. Through a spokesperson Cheney indicated he was frightened to return to Canada after his experience last September 26 at the Vancouver Club. After promoting his book to a small local audience Cheney spent several hours hiding out in the posh venue trying to outwait several hundred citizen jurists, some of whom were planning to attempt a citizens’ arrest of the credibly-accused war criminal right on the spot.

I am proud to have played an active role in the fascinating teach-in last September of those of us who deputized ourselves at the Vancouver Club. Our goal in assembling outside one of British Columbia’s oldest and most notorious sites of political cronyism was to attempt to defend Canadian sovereignty and the rule of law in Canada against the criminal contempt of government officials for the Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act (2000). This sneering contempt for a law passed in the name of preventing Canada from becoming a haven for war criminals finds its most ardent embodiment in Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the thoroughly politicized Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP’s leadership backed the Conservative Party in a previous successful election campaign.

Read long article with several embedded videos.

Mini-Me: Bin Laden Road Show Begins Part I – David Ignatius on the CIA’s “Captured” Abbottabad Files

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, IO Deeds of War, Media
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?  We do not make this stuff up.  CIA's Covert Action Staff is evidently having a ball, and David Ignatius has no problem playing the bimbo.  Note the built-in pre-excuse on poor syntax.  Note the pretense that incoherence was connected to long periods of time between sending, receiving, and responding.  The hit on Fox is some kid [or geriatric annuitant]'s idiot idea of being clever — when Bin Laden was alive, he knew full well there is no substantive difference between CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox [or the two political parties in the US that exclude everyone else from access to the public treasure].

All of this is beyond belief for anyone with BOTH intelligence and integrity.  When all of the documents are released (after the November elections, of course), they will be torn apart.

The bin Laden plot to kill President Obama

David Ignatius

The Washington Post, 16 March 2012

Before his death, Osama bin Ladenboldly commanded his network to organize special cells in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack the aircraft of President Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus.

“The reason for concentrating on them,” the al-Qaeda leader explained to his top lieutenant, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency. . . . Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis. As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour . . . and killing him would alter the war’s path” in Afghanistan.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Bin Laden Road Show Begins Part I – David Ignatius on the CIA's “Captured” Abbottabad Files”

Chuck Spinney: Investigating NATO’s War Crimes Against Libya

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, DoD, Government, Law Enforcement, Military, Non-Governmental, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
Chuck Spinney

Investigations Around Libya

NATO’S Craven Coverup of Its Libyan Bombing

by VIJAY PRASHAD, Counterpunch, March 15, 2012

Ten days into the uprising in Benghazi, Libya, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council established the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya. The purpose of the Commission was to “investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya.” The broad agenda was to establish the facts of the violations and crimes and to take such actions as to hold the identified perpetrators accountable. On June 15, the Commission presented its first report to the Council. This report was provisional, since the conflict was still ongoing and access to the country was minimal. The June report was no more conclusive than the work of the human rights non-governmental organizations (such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch). In some instances, the work of investigators for these NGOs (such as Donatella Rovera of Amnesty) was of higher quality than that of the Commission.

Due to the uncompleted war and then the unsettled security state in the country in its aftermath, the Commission did not return to the field till October 2011, and did not begin any real investigation before December 2011. On March 2, 2012, the Commission finally produced a two hundred-page document that was presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Little fanfare greeted this report’s publication, and the HRC’s deliberation on it was equally restrained.

Nonetheless, the report is fairly revelatory, making two important points:

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Investigating NATO's War Crimes Against Libya”

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