Libya may face civil war - Washington and UK Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention

    The Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has once again appeared on state TV, vowing to fight on. A series of blasts have reportedly rocked the Libyan capital as Colonel Gaddafi continues to hold on. Several towns near Tripoli are now in the hands of the opposition. But witnesses say one of them has come under air attack, and forces loyal to Gaddafi have retaken a nearby oil facility. Meanwhile, the US is flexing its military muscle, moving its naval forces closer to Libya, and triggering speculation of possible strikes. The UK's also not ruling out the use of force. The international storm's gathering over the Libyan leader, with the UN suspending the country from its Human Rights Council. It also calls for a mass humanitarian evacuation for people caught up in the crisis. As world pressure mounts, RT's Laura Emmett reports on whether NATO's ready for a new war.

The Threats of NATO Intervention and U.S. and E.U. Control over Libya

Libya has been in the cross-hairs of the Pentagon for years. According to Wesley Clark, the retired general who was the supreme military commander of NATO, Libya was on a Pentagon list of nations to be invaded after Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The list included Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, and lastly Iran. In Clark’s own words:

So I came back to see him [a high ranking military officer in the Pentagon] a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” — meaning the Secretary of Defence’s office — “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” [18]

In one way or another all the nations on the list have been attacked directly or indirectly and all of them, but Syria and Iran, have succumbed to the U.S. and its allies. Again, the only exceptions are Iran and its ally Syria. In Lebanon, the U.S. has made partial gains, but it is now receding with the decline of the Hariri-led March 14 Alliance.

Libya started secret negotiations with Washington in 2001 that materialized into formal rapprochement after the fall of Baghdad to British and American troops in 2003. Yet, the U.S. and its allies have always wanted to expand their influence over the Libyan energy sector and to appropriate Libya’s vast wealth. A civil war provides the best cover for this.(www.globalresearch.ca)

Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa, at more than 3 per cent of the global total – and there could be a lot more undiscovered. Libya is not the only African nation in turmoil. Somalia’s drawn-out conflict has been called ‘a slow genocide’. But there’s little sign of US or European military input. And it is a similar story on the other side of the continent.

“There are events unfolding in the Ivory Coast where there is also an armed conflict between rebels and the government, but nobody seems to be thinking of that,” said John Laughland from the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation. “It’s only because fashionable attention is focused on Libya – oil but also for the political implications of the Middle East as a whole. We all know that the West including Britain has got its hands very dirty with the Libyan leadership over the recent years.”

The Global Battle for Crude Oil - Libya in the Great Game

Fleeing Libya are not only families who fear for their lives and poor immigrants from other North African countries. There are tens of thousands of "refugees" who are being repatriated by their governments with ships and aircraft: they are mainly engineers and executives of major oil companies. Not only Eni, which realizes about 15 percent of its sales from Libya, but also other European multinationals -- in particular: BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, BASF, Statoil, Rapsol. Hundreds of Gazprom employees were also forced to leave Libya and over 30 thousand Chinese oil company and construction workers. A symbolic image of how the Libyan economy is interconnected with global economy, dominated by multinationals.

Libya's oil industry is in chaos — and there's no telling when that will end. Armed men loot equipment from oil field installations. British and German commandos execute secret raids in the Libyan desert to rescue stranded oil workers as security disintegrates rapidly in remote camps.
Libyan port workers, frightened of being caught up in Moammar Gadhafi's violent crackdown on protesters, fail to show up for work, leaving empty tankers floating around the Mediterranean Sea waiting to load crude.
And the European oil companies extracting Libya's black gold are operating in crisis mode, trying to get stranded expatriate workers out and safe amid conflicting information on how much oil is still being pumped and just where it all is. That was just this week. The situation is not expected to get better in the near future.(Associeted Press)

Thanks to its rich reserves of oil and natural gas, Libya has a positive trade balance of $27 billion a year and a medium-high per capita income of $12,000, six times greater than that of Egypt. Despite strong differences in low and high incomes, the average standard of living of the population of Libya (just 6.5 million inhabitants in comparison to the nearly 85 million in Egypt) is therefore higher than that of Egypt and other North African countries. Witness the fact that nearly one million and a half immigrants, mostly from North Africa, work in Libya. Some 85 percent of Libyan energy exports go to Europe: Italy takes first place with 37 percent, followed by Germany, France and China. Italy is also in first place  in imports to Libya, followed by China, Turkey and Germany.

This framework is now blown into the air as a result of what can be characterized not as a revolt of the impoverished masses, such as the rebellions in Egypt and Tunisia, but as a real civil war, due to a split in the ruling group. Whoever made the first move has exploited the discontent against Gadhafi's clan, especially prevalent among the populations of Cyrenaica and young people in the cities, in a moment when entire North Africa has taken the road of rebellion. Unlike in Egypt and Tunisia, however, the Libyan uprising was preplanned and organized.

The reactions in the international arena are also symbolic. Beijing has said it is extremely concerned about developments in Libya and called for "a quick return to stability and normality." The reason is clear: the Sino-Libyan trade has undergone strong growth (around 30 percent in 2010 alone), but now China can see that the whole structure of economic relations with Libya, from which it imports increasing quantities of oil, has been put in play. Moscow is in a similar position.

Diametrically opposite is the signal from Washington: President Barack Obama, who when confronted with the Egyptian crisis minimized the repression unleashed by Mubarak and called for a “orderly and peaceful transition,” has condemned in no uncertain terms the Libyan government and announced that the U.S. is preparing "the full range of options that we have available to respond to this crisis,
including "actions that we can undertake on our own and those that we can coordinate with our allies through multilateral institutions." The message is clear: there is the possibility of a U.S./NATO military intervention in Libya, formally to stop the bloodshed. The real reasons are also clear: if Gadhafi is overthrown, the U.S. would be able to topple the entire framework of economic relations with Libya, opening the way to U.S.-based multinationals, so far almost entirely excluded from exploitation of energy reserves in Libya. The United States could thus control the tap for energy sources upon which Europe largely depends and which also supplies China.

These are the events in the great game of the division of African resources, for which a growing confrontation, especially between China and the United States, is taking place. The rising Asian power - with a presence in Africa of about 5 million managers, technicians and workers - building industries and infrastructure, in exchange for oil and other raw materials. The United States, which can not compete on this level, can use its leverage over the armed forces of the major African countries, who they train through the Africa Command (AFRICOM), their main instrument for penetration of the continent. NATO is now also entering in the game, as it is about to conclude a partnership military treaty with the African Union, which includes 53 countries.
 

The headquarters of the African Union-NATO partnership is already under construction in Addis Ababa: a modern structure, funded with 27 million Euros from Germany, baptized, "Building peace and security."

Il Manifesto, by Manlio Dinucci February 25, 2011

Forget Libya, The Smart Money is Eyeing Developments in Saudi Arabia

The smart money has their eyes on Saudi Arabia. Will the protests there turn ugly?

All the drama seen on the streets, from the unnecessary deaths to Muammar Gadhafi’s rhetoric – its only importance is to gauge how the Saudi citizenry react.

Reuters called a Saudi oil disruption “unthinkable,” and the WSJ claimed “Saudi Arabia is well-shielded from a full-blown uprising of the kind seen in Libya.”

 Think again. This is the world’s second largest oil producer and has promised to fill the gap if Libya totally shuts down. It can’t very well keep such promises if Saudis are involved in their own civil revolt. Remember, even if Libya is totally shut down, there is no supply issue.(read more)

'Spike and crash scenario'

Libyan supply could be knocked out for months, according to a report by US investment bank Merrill Lynch.

The Wall Street firm said that as much as 1.2 million barrels-per-day of production may have been shut down already, and that production facilities in the west of the country were prone to attach by government or opposition forces, which would lead to a prolonged output loss.

There remained a substantial risk that oil prices could move sharply higher, undermining the global economic recovery, the research piece warned, and the market only had limited ability to withstand further unrest in the Middle East.

The Real Manchurian Candidate: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators

The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators.
 
"My job in psy-ops is to play with people's heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave," the officer, Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes, told Rolling Stone.

The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops – the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war. Over a four-month period last year, a military cell devoted to what is known as "information operations" at Camp Eggers in Kabul was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs who met with Caldwell. When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation. ( read more on www.rollingstone.com )

Worldwide Diplomacy Meltdown: US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomatic crisis

US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomatic crisis

• More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreign strategies
• Diplomats ordered to spy on allies as well as enemies
• Saudi king urged Washington to bomb Iran

Read the full coverage of the US embassy cables

Wikileaks began on Sunday November 28th publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. The documents will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into US Government foreign activities.
The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.
The embassy cables will be released in stages over the next few months. The subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice.
The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in "client states"; backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries; lobbying for US corporations; and the measures US diplomats take to advance those who have access to them.
This document release reveals the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors – and shows that if citizens in a democracy want their governments to reflect their wishes, they should ask to see what’s going on behind the scenes.
Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington – the country’s first President – could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today’s document flood would be a mere embarrassment. Instead, the US Government has been warning governments -- even the most corrupt -- around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposures.
The full set consists of 251,287 documents, comprising 261,276,536 words (seven times the size of "The Iraq War Logs", the world's previously largest classified information release).
The cables cover from 28th December 1966 to 28th February 2010 and originate from 274 embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions.

Let's see what will happen....I have nothing to lose...

Tyler Durden: In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.

COLLAPSE - Michael Ruppert explores his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.

Americanilor le place să audă de obicei vești bune. Le place să creadă că un președinte nou va îndrepta greșelile trecutului, că energia regenerabilă va înlocui petrolul murdar și că ideile noi vor vindeca economia. Analiștii americani tind să își restrângă pesimismul și să spere la mai bine. Dar e cineva pregătit pentru adevărata catastrofă? În acest film documentar îl vom cunoaște pe Michael Ruppert, un alt fel de american. Urmareste online acest documentar si hotaraste singur intr-un mod cat mai nesuperficial cu putinta daca are dreptate sau nu.Tradus in lb romana.

UPDATE
Unde se poate vedea filmul? Link-uri utile :

http://filmeonlinetari.com/load/documentare/collapse_2009/11-1-0-362

http://documentare.italk.ro/colapsul-economic-si-prabusirea-civilizatiei-industrializate-2009/

Afghanistan war logs: Secret files exposes truth of occupation

• Hundreds of civilians killed by coalition troops
• Covert unit hunts leaders for 'kill or capture'
• Steep rise in Taliban bomb attacks on Nato
• Read the Guardian's full war logs investigation

War Logs Cast Light on Dirty Side of Afghanistan Conflict
The war logs cast light for the first time on the activities of the elite American unit Task Force 373, whose task is to hunt down senior Taliban in Afghanistan. Secret reports show just how cheap life is in Afghanistan -- and how often mistakes happen during missions.

Obama and the massive Afghan war leak
On July 27, Obama finally received the $37 billion in additional funding for his new war strategy, which he had been requesting for nearly six months, when the U.S. House of Representatives followed the Senate and approved the new war-funding bill.That injection, in addition to the $130 billion allocated for the Afghan and Iraqi wars this year, should give the U.S. military what it needs to "break the back" of the Taliban*, if not completely defeat them, by the summer of 2011, when the United States plans to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

* The Taliban was created in Pakistan by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union was fighting its own Afghan war.

Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010

WikiLeaks today released over 75,000 secret US military reports covering the war in Afghanistan.

The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports describe the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military. They include the number of persons internally stated to be killed, wounded, or detained during each action, together with the precise geographical location of each event, and the military units involved and major weapon systems used.

The Afghan War Diary is the most significant archive about the reality of war to have ever been released during the course of a war. The deaths of tens of thousands is normally only a statistic but the archive reveals the locations and the key events behind each most of these deaths. We hope its release will lead to a comprehensive understanding of the war in Afghanistan and provide the raw ingredients necessary to change its course.

Most entries have been written by soldiers and intelligence officers listening to reports radioed in from front line deployments. However the reports also contain related information from Marines intelligence, US Embassies, and reports about corruption and development activity across Afghanistan.
This archive shows the vast range of small tragedies that are almost never reported by the press but which account for the overwhelming majority of deaths and injuries.

• Der Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html
• The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/afghanistan-the-war-logs
• The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/war-logs.html

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been all over the news for his controversial publication of the documents he has released.As Wikileaks continues to make a name for itself by leaking nearly 93,000 documents about US policy in Afghanistan, the Obama administration says the documents do not reveal very much and, additionally, do not reflect changes in policy since Obama became president.WikiLeaks, blows the whistle but The Whitehouse downplays the release of these documents

US and South Korea begin military drills - It will be interesting to see how North Korea will react - Nuclear threat or Not ?

(Reuters) - The U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off large exercises on Sunday to underscore deterrence against North Korea after accusing the reclusive communist state of sinking a warship.

(www.telegraph.co.uk) - US and South Korea begin military drills in the face of nuclear threat from North Korea
The United States and South Korea began military drills off the Korean peninsula in defiance of threats from North Korea that it would respond with a "nuclear deterrent".

(voanews.com) - The United States and South Korea are to hold a series of joint military exercises in response to the late March sinking of a South Korean warship, blamed on North Korea. The first drill is to begin Sunday in the Sea of Japan. It is being called unprecedented in scope with 8,000 forces participating, 20 surface ships and submarines and about 200 fixed wing aircraft.

(news.yahoo.com) - ABOARD USS GEORGE WASHINGTON – A nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier led an armada of warships in exercises off the Korean peninsula Sunday that North Korea has vowed to physically block and says could escalate into nuclear war. U.S. military officials said the maneuvers, conducted with South Korean ships and Japanese observers, were intended to send a strong signal to the North that aggression in the region will not be tolerated.

America is now the world’s biggest debtor

We are now al most six months into the depression approaching a 1932 scenario. America is now the world’s biggest debtor. The US has had a fiat currency for 38 years and major trade deficits for more than 30 years. Is it any wonder we are in depression? Is it any wonder the dollar is under pressure even though our government supports it at every turn in the market?

The US is the biggest debtor the world has ever seen. But what really worries me is that some states, counties and cities have been or are on the verge of going bankrupt.
California is much larger than Greece and we've seen the fallout from the Greek debt crisis. A lot of promises have been made in these cities and states from both the public and private sector and these have been papered over. Greece has been going on about its debt for a decade and people weren't paying attention. The same is happening across the US.
The Fed has already bailed out the banks and I wonder how its finances will cope once more bankrupt states and cities approach it.(Jim Rogers)

G20 protests in Toronto turn violent

Click photo for more

TORONTO - Clashes with police broke out Saturday as an estimated 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Toronto as part of a massive anti-G20 protest.While most of the protesters were content to sing songs, wave placards and dance, a smaller group, estimated at roughly 100, were doing more serious damage, smashing windows at banks and shops in the downtown, as well as attacking a Global News vehicle.Hundreds of riot-gear-wearing officers watched from a distance for much of the day.Dressed in helmets, gas masks and body armour, they were attempting to block protesters from walking down toward the Toronto Convention Centre, the site of the G20 summit.Two police cars were set ablaze. After flames and smoke had finally stopped streaming from the burnt-out police cars, which had been parked when they were set on fire, officers formed a line four deep to block off a street.

It's Too Late - We All Deserve to Die

Human race 'will be extinct within 100 years
Professor Frank Fenner, emeritus professor of microbiology at the Australian National University, has predicted that the human race will be extinct within the next 100 years.He has claimed that the human race will be unable to survive a population explosion and 'unbridled consumption.’
Fenner told The Australian newspaper that 'homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within 100 years.A lot of other animals will, too,' he added.It's an irreversible situation. I think it's too late. I try not to express that because people are trying to do something, but they keep putting it off.'
Last year official UN figures estimated that the world’s population is currently 6.8 billion. It is predicted to exceed seven billion by the end of 2011
Read more

Grupul Bilderberg - Spania 2010

Grupul Bilderberg se reuneste incepand de joi pentru patru zile in Spania, la Sitges. O serie de bloguri vorbesc despre aceasta reuniune, despre agenda si despre participanti.

Charlie Skelton de la The Guardian are o postare pe blogul sau in care arata ce urmeaza sa se intample la aceasta reuniune inchisa atat publicului, cat si presei. El aminteste ca anul trecut reuniunea a fost in Grecia, la ea au participat ministrul de finante si cel de externe grec, precum si guvernatorul Bancii Nationale. "Cateva luni mai tarziu, Grecia era in faliment, iar Atena in flacari. Asa ca... succes Madrid!", scrie britanicul.

In jurul grupului Bilderberg se invart tot felul de teorii ale conspiratiei, se considera ca acestia sunt cei care, de fapt, conduc lumea si stabilesc in astfel de intalniri precum cea de-acum, din Spania, ce se va intampla in lume in urmatorul an. Grupul cuprinde monarhi, politicieni, bancheri, oameni de afaceri din diverse domenii.

Aici este lista participantilor din acest an, iar aici este agenda discutiilor. ( HotNews.ro )

Extra : Afla mai multe despre Grupul Bilderberg

THE LIFEBOAT MOVEMENT

Description
Los Angeles based Michael Ruppert, author of Confronting Collapse, speaks on the tangible steps that must be taken to confront the grave global reality of our oil dependence. Sponsored by Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont Commons, The Candidates for Vermont Independence and Free Vermont Radio, along with local sponsors.

"What you will see here is explosive and controversial. I guess you could say I'm really back now. It's time to bring this to a head because there is no more time to waste. From now on I will refer to the Peak Oil/Sustainability movement only as the Lifeboat Movemement, because that's what it is. It belongs to all mankind."Michael Ruppert

Nearly a Third of Your Genes Are Patented by Biotech Companies

We may have inherited some of our finest qualities from parents and grandparents, but like anything else, there is a downside: part of that inheritance could be a disposition to a variety of deadly diseases. But the good news is that since the mapping of the human genome, science has made some giant leaps in detecting and treating inherited conditions.

By detecting those genes, for example the genes that predispose women to breast cancer, doctors can offer preemptive treatment. It sounds simple enough, but there's a catch: a woman may have that gene, but strange as it seems, it's really the property of a biotech company that has taken out a patent on it.

So far, nearly 10,000 human genes have been patented, all of them now in question based on a court ruling this past week.

Because, as "60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer reports, whether you like it or not, under current law a vital part of who you are actually belongs to someone else.(more here)

Mayday! Mayday! We're Sinking!

Europe Is Finished Unless It Changes The Rules Fast

GM Food... Feeding the Hungry or Population Control?

Greece braced for mass May Day protests

Louisiana oil slick worse than Katrina

Use your finger to pay for shopping

In 20 Years, There Won`t Be Oil At Any Price

Today Facebook, Tomorrow the World

Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production--Conclusion and Adaptations

US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015

Icelandic eruptions' impact on European economy

20 things you and your family will need to survive when the economy totally collapses and the next Great Depression begins


Update : May Day Protesters Clash With Riot Police In Greece. Thousands of Greeks are taking part in May Day rallies called by trade unions and left-wing parties. The EU is demanding the austerity cuts in exchange for a huge bail-out deal.

Hundreds of thousands of people joined May Day rallies across Europe

Kapitalism - Reteta lor secreta

Au trecut 20 de ani de la Revoluție. Oare am ajuns unde trebuie ?

“Kapitalism – rețeta noastră secretă” descrie drumul nostru de la un comunism cu față urâtă la o democrație originală de piață.

Și cine știe mai bine cum a fost drumul decât câștigătorii ? Filmul îi adună laolaltă pe cei mai mari magnați din România și încearcă să afle ce i-a mânat pe ei în luptă. Printre personajele din varianta integrală a filmului se numără: Dan Voiculescu, George Copos, Dinu Patriciu, George Pădure și Gigi Becali. Aceștia pot fi urmăriți, în film, într-o serie de ipostaze inedite – la ei acasă, în reuniuni de afaceri sau în croaziere cu iahtul, explicând fiecare propria rețetă a succesului.

La noi, Capitalismul începe cu litera K – un cocteil exotic în care se amestecă banii, puterea și trecutul comunist.

Începând din 23 aprilie în cinematografe.

Mai multe : www.kapitalism.ro/

THE REAL FACE OF WAR - US Military Killing Innocents in Iraq (Video)

WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers.Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded. For further information please visit the special project website www.collateralmurder.com.




The War Is Not a Game
As its troops continue to face lengthy and mutiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States is looking at new ways to attract potential recruits.



The US military says the economic downturn and rising unemployment are sending more and more young people into their recruiting offices. And as Monica Villamizar found out, a lot of those conversations happen at the Army's newest, multi-million dollar recruit venue in Philadelphia - the military's version of a video arcade.



More about War in Iraq - Watch how Simon Reeves looks into the reasons behind the war in Iraq, from oil to the petrodollar to US supremacy and finishes with the Iranian Oil Bourse to trade oil in Euro and how that might be the cause for a war with Iran. Click Here

Obama - A Corporate Marketing Creation

About: John Pilger