Obama's Next War

Jerusalem Post reported in early February:

'Military action likely' if Iran talks fail, US spokeswoman says

For the sickening language America's business and political leaders check out the words of senior U.S diplomat Marie Harf:

“I’m not predicting that we would take military action right away,” Harf said. “It’s more of a broad statement that, look, if we can’t get this done diplomatically in six months or a year or at any time, we will – we are committed to resolving it. And that involves less durable and, quite frankly, riskier actions.”

“I’m not saying in six months we’re going to go to war if we don’t get a deal done. Broadly speaking, the alternative to resolving this diplomatically is resolving it through other means.

“There are only a few scenarios that come out of this: Either we resolve it diplomatically or we resolve it a different way,” Harf continued.

“It’s just common sense that that different way could involve – is likely to involve military action.”

She went around her backside to get to her elbow.   The Obama-Bush global tampering team will have more wars.  War with Syria was front and center at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which also had a unique Iranian confrontation.

Eeerie MLK Day

Think about the surveillance state Reverend Martin Luther King endured at the hands of the United States government.  That same government was judged co-conspirator in Reverend King's death by a U.S. civil jury.

Modernize the government's spying apparatus and what risks do people face for speaking openly against hegemonic powers?  Ponder that this MLK Day.

Davos Stage: Star Front Stage Players

Reuters reported:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will both attend the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos this month, the organizers told Reuters on Friday.

The World Economic Forum has its front stage for the public and back stage for participants to conduct deals.   

Promoting a possible Iran-Israel leader confrontation seems a front stage activity.  The fallout from their interaction would impact back stage deals. 

Davos theme is "Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business."  Global tamperers, mostly back stage players, will be there in force. 

Take Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, a frequent Davos guest presenter and moderator.  He and his PEU brethren worked hard to open up Libya for investment from Muammar Gadhafi.  They succeeded, even reforming Gadhafi enough for President Obama to shake his hand.  

Gadhafi challenged the back stage players by offering to fund an African Union without Western money and to sell oil outside a U.S. dollar denomination.  These two acts incurred the West's wrath. 

As for the neoconservative Project for the New American Century, their list of countries for regime change is nearly complete.    

Iraq - check
Libya - check
Syria - in process
Iran - up next
North Korea - nobody wants it, no oil.  

Watch the theatrics at Davos.  It's a shame the back stage antics and deal making will go unreported.

Texas Drones to Add to U.S. Endemic Surveillance State?

The United States of America will allow domestic drone use and Texas will serve as one of six pilot sites.  The Eagle reported:

The Federal Aviation Administration has named Texas a test site for aerial drones thanks to a statewide proposal spearheaded by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The university, which partnered with the Texas Engineering Experiment Station in College Station, or TEES, is one of six entities nationwide selected for the designation that could help usher in a multibillion-dollar industry.

The FAA does not allow for commercial drone use, which is primarily known for military applications. But Congress mandated that operational guidelines be developed by the end of 2015. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta predicted that up to 7,500 commercial drones could operate in U.S. airspace within the next five years. One such application is a proposed package-delivery system unveiled by Amazon.com earlier this month.

Military applications include spying and summary execution.  Drones have been operating in the U.S. by public and private organizations. Texas is not alone in the prospect of more unmanned aerial vehicles:

The FAA announced Monday that A&M was selected along with the University of Alaska, the state of Nevada, New York's Griffiss International Airport, the North Dakota Department of Commerce and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).

While Texas A&M-Corpus Christi President Flavius Killebrew called it a "Kitty Hawk moment," it feels anything but.

Just hours after the FAA’s announcement Monday, commissioners in West Texas’ Brewster County passed a resolution plainly stating that unmanned aerial systems are not welcome in their skies, citing a lack of public input in the state’s drone plans. It is the third such resolution passed by local Texas officials since November, underscoring a growing anti-drone sentiment that has taken hold around the state, particularly in rural areas like Big Bend, a sparsely populated region located along the Mexican border. 

In Alpine, Brewster County’s biggest (and only) city, council members recently voted unanimously to ban drone test flights from operating out of the municipal airport, responding to angry petitions from local residents. And just before Christmas, officials in neighboring Presidio County followed suit with a preemptive resolution demanding that any drone tests take local aviation priorities into account before operating in the region.

The local resistance presents a significant roadblock for Texas’s new UAS testing program, a statewide initiative that was selected by the FAA to to develop safety requirements and protocols for commercial drone operations. The plan, spearheaded by Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, includes 11 test regions that cover about 6,100 square miles across the state, about half of which are located in the Big Bend region. Initially, the public seemed supportive of the proposal, but in recent weeks a surprisingly fierce grassroots campaign against the test sites has gathered steam, driven by residents who fear experimental drone flights will clog local airspace and disrupt the quiet isolation of Big Bend’s open skies.

 People don't like surprises, especially when their voice has not been included:

So far, little effort has been made to inform or include local residents and elected officials in the UAS test site process. While FAA spokesman Les Dorr declined to comment on the specifics of the Texas UAS opposition, he said that the selected test sites are responsible for getting locals on board with their drone plans, and were required to detail their outreach plans in their applications.

But those applications were closely guarded by the FAA during the administration’s secretive vetting process, and many communities are only discovering that they will soon play host to the government’s first commercial drone experiment. 

More drones are coming to Texas but local officials will have some say in their level of participation.  Which list will officials make if they don't open their arms wide for domestic drone use in their city or county?  For citizen privacy the drone test site landscape is the wild, wild West.

Losing Our Democracy

This video describes America's Government-Corporate Monstrosity, Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex on trillions $ in federal steroids.

"60 Minutes" Offers NSA's Good Side

CBS News gave the NSA 25 minutes for an infomercial:

The 25-minute segment consisted mostly of NSA officials dismissing concerns that their surveillance has gotten out of hand and showing off their gadgetry to the CBS cameras. There were no anti-NSA advocates or civil libertarians interviewed on-camera for the piece.

This is the same investigative body that missed the spread of private equity underwriters (PEU's).  PEU greed and leverage became ubiquitous under President George W. Bush.  They've ushered in a new period of excess under President Barak Obama.  In an odd overlap many NSA contractors have PEU sponsors.

CBS News did their part to keep hidden the Government-Corporate Monstrosity, Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex on trillions in federal steroids.  It's another view through the "almost Orwellian" prism.

James A. Baker, III's Nelson Mandela Wrap

Former Secretary of State and Carlyle Group advisor James A. Baker, III spoke with Bob Scheiffer on Face the Nation on the death of Nelson Mandela.

"Certainly, he (President Ronald Reagan) regretted it (vetoing non-binding resolution calling on South African government to free Mandela),” Mr. Baker said. “On the other hand, once that happened and control of South Africa policy passed through the Congress, President Reagan was really determined to meet with the black leaders of South Africa and deal with the problems of apartheid, and he was able to do so.”

Consider how the U.S. long characterized Mandela:

While revered by politicians today as a human rights icon, Nelson Mandela remained on the U.S. terrorism watch list until 2008, when then-President George W. Bush signed a bill removing Mandela from it.

Mandela made the list for adding violence as a method for overthrowing South Africa's oppressive apartheid system.  Formerly, Mandela's African National Congress solely utilized peaceful protest and nonviolence.  HuffPo reported:

South Africa’s apartheid regime designated Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) as a terrorist organization for its battle against the nation’s legalized system of racial segregation that lasted from 1948 to 1994.

Former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also described Mandela’s ANC as a “typical terrorist organization” in 1987, refusing to impose sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid regime. President Ronald Reagan did as well.

In 1986, former Vice President Dick Cheney, then a congressman, voted along with 179 other members of the House against a non-binding resolution to recognize the ANC and call on the South African government to release Mandela from prison. The measure finally passed, but not before a veto attempt by Reagan.

In 2000, Cheney maintained that he'd cast the correct vote.

President Ronald Reagan served from 1981 to 1989.  

Reagan initiated a policy of “constructive engagement” toward South Africa’s white supremacists, meaning that he opposed overt pressure such as economic sanctions in favor of quiet diplomacy that sought gradual reform of the apartheid system.

In reality, Reagan’s approach allowed white South African leader P.W. Botha to crack down on the ANC and other revolutionary movements which Reagan viewed as pro-communist. Instead of substantive moves toward full citizenship for blacks, the Pretoria regime instituted largely cosmetic reforms to its apartheid system.

Reagan saw Mandela through a cold war lens.  James Baker's attempt to wrap President Ronald Reagan in Mandela's one term Presidency, punctuated by peace and reconciliation, feels hollow.  Instead of a sincere alignment of leaders' souls, Baker's words feel like a blatant history rewrite.