Turkish Jet Shot Down: Inciting Incident for War?

Bloomberg reported:

A Turkish warplane shot down by Syrian forces was in international airspace when it was struck, and Turkey is still weighing a response to the attack, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said.

The unarmed plane briefly entered Syrian airspace minutes before it was hit on June 22, and then plunged into Syrian waters about 8 miles (13 kilometers) offshore, Davutoglu said on state television today. It was on a test flight related to Turkey’s radar system, and was not spying on Syria, he said. The plane was clearly identifiable as Turkish, and Syria made no attempt to issue a warning after the earlier infringement, Davutoglu said. Turkish rescue teams are still searching for the F4 Phantom jet’s two crew members, he said. 

The Turkish Foreign Minister went on to say, “No one should doubt Turkey’s determination to do what is necessary” in response to the incident.  CNN cited Turkey's classification of the downing as a hostile act.

BBC reported:

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said Syria's actions were "outrageous" and underlined "how far beyond accepted behaviour the Syrian regime has put itself".

"It will be held to account for its behaviour. The UK stands ready to pursue robust action at the United Nations Security Council."

NATO will meet on the incident Tuesday, June 26.  Meanwhile UN Syria Envoy Kofi Annan is working on a Syria summit for June 30 " to which all potential contributors to a solution would be invited."

Hillary Describes Government Corporate Monstrosity

U.S. Secretary of State described her Global Statecraft Initiative Agenda as:
"harnessing global economics to strengthen our diplomacy abroad." 

We have to position ourselves to lead in a world where security and prosperity are shaped in boardrooms and on trading floors, as well as battlefields or diplomatic negotiations.  That's why I'm pleased to announce a new initiative called Global Economic Statecraft Day.

Frankly, it sounds much like her husband's Clinton Global Initiative, the must make event for American brand global corporate CEOs.  Hillary touched on public-private partnerships, which have private equity firms salivating over guaranteed 20% annual returns.

Boardrooms seek the lowest global common denominator on worker pay and benefits.  Trading floors are structured by and benefit the greed boys, until their machinations explode in their faces, after which they ask government to backstop their losses.

America's Red and Blue parties spend billions for the right to captain the G portion of the Government-Corporate Monstrosity (GCM).  Think Eisenhower's Military Industrial Complex on trillions in federal steroids.

President Bill Clinton courted the GCM hard in his second term in office.  His Clinton Global Initiative is a huge GCM annual gathering.  It seems Hillary's Global Economic Statecraft is but a variation of her husband's theme.

Update 6-27-12:  Bloomberg Government noted PEU's propensity to feed off the federal teat.

United States' Control over Global Commons

A retired military friend commented on force headcount reductions such that the U.S. could have the Air Force X-37B space plane and other high tech goodies, like Navy DDG-1000 destroyer, stealth ships with electromagnetic guns that launch projectiles.

That same day I saw a commercial for the Navy, branded as a "global force for good."   I later noticed Pentagon Chief Leon Panetta's warning of a looming cyberwar, which America has been perpetrating with impunity. 

Space, the high seas, the internet...where had I read the United States must rule the global commons?  It was the Project for the New American Century's Rebuilding America's Defenses.

My friend added the U.S. had lots of troops on the ground in Africa at the moment.  Which way will they be mobilized, Syria or Iran?  Iran, Syria and North Korea are the only ones from the PNAC report not yet invaded. The American led West already dealt with Iraq and Libya.

There should be a strong strategic synergy between U.S. forces overseas and in a reinforcing posture: units operating abroad are an indication of American geopolitical interests and leadership, provide significant military power to shape events and, in wartime, create the conditions for victory when reinforced. Conversely, maintaining the ability to deliver an unquestioned “knockout punch” through the rapid introduction of stateside units will increase the shaping power of forces operating overseas and the vitality of our alliances.

The knockout punch could include space launched tungsten rods, electromagnetically propelled molten metal and/or high energy lasers.

Everybody's looking for something disruptive to tilt the system in their favor, U.S. politicians, American branded corporate/financial giants, and the U.S.military.  These three groups coalesce to form the Government Corporate Monstrosity, Eisenhower's MIC on trillions in federal steroids and now global. 

PNAC's 2000 vision is nearly complete.  What's next for American branded hegemony?  Does the average person need another financial kick in the teeth?   Maybe more snooping in their lives?  How about a Cyber Pearl Harbor?  The GCM can deliver it all, while vastly enriching the core faithful. 

Google "American" State of Spying

Google will warn users if "state sponsored spies" attempt to gain access to their accounts.  Wired magazine understands the big picture:

No word on whether Google will still notify users if it has reason to believe the state doing the spying is the US.

Wired reported numerous times on America's degeneration into a total surveillance state.   What limits exist to prevent the U.S. and our fifty-first state from spying on citizens?  They have an "industrial strength" digital vacuum cleaner at their disposal.  Add that Obama's building a monster NSA facility to store the suck.

Update 7-22-12:   America's future involves a projected 30,000 drones in the sky. 

No Gaps Between U.S. & Israel on Iran

Haaretz reported:

According to the U.S. official, the Israeli government was the first to be updated by them on what happened in Baghdad after the talks were over. "We updated the Israelis in detail before we updated our own government," the official said. 

"This shows how much trust and security we have in our ties with Israel." 

This was an anonymous senior U.S. official.

"Even if we do not have the patience, we need to give diplomacy a chance before military action…it is still not too late, and I think that Israel also doesn't think it's too late," the official added.

  

On Friday, the head of the U.S. negotiation team, undersecretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman, arrived in Israel along with officials from the White House National Security Council working on the Iran nuclear issue – Gary Seymour and Puneet Talwar. 

The American team had a three-hour meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, with National Security advisor Yaakov Amidror, and a number of other senior Israeli officials who deal with the Iran issue, in order to update them on the talks in Baghdad.

 The official said the noose around Iran would continue to tighten:

The U.S. team also stressed in their meetings in Israel that there is no intention to annul the sanctions that have already been imposed on Iran, with an emphasis on the EU oil embargo that will go into effect on June 1.

"There will be more sanctions against Iran if it does not give an answer to the concerns of the international community," the U.S. official said. 

In its talks with Israel, the U.S. delegation underlined that it is still not clear whether or not the Iranians are interested in reaching a deal. "This is the beginning, and we did not expect that there would be an agreement in Baghdad, we will see if we will close the gaps in talks in Moscow," the U.S. official said.

We will see economic chains tightening around Iran.  I wonder if this is the Iraq playbook, only elongated.




In the midst of this deja vu, will Coleman Barks write a letter to President Obama?

Petraeus Cites Government-Corporate Monstrosity

America's Government-Corporate Monstrosity (GCM), Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex on trillions in federal steroids, will spy on citizens through internet connected devices.  CIA Chief David Petraeus offered:

“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing,” Petraeus said, “the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing.”

One might expect citizens to tar and feather Petraeus, running him out of the room.  Not this crowd. Petraeus spoke:

at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital firm. “‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”

If anyone believes the courts will protect citizens, think again.  It's about national security, not individual liberty  Google and Facebook are Petraeus' spy tools.

Blomert's: Back on Palestinian Peace

Nearly three years into "economic peace" between the Palestinians and Israelis, how do things look?  Bleak, to say the least.  Meanwhile, Quartet Representative Tony Blair stokes the fires of the Economic Development Peace Train. 

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as slippery and sleazy as Blair himself, spoke on missed opportunities for peace under his regime.  Olmert and Blair counted on toppling Hamas in Gaza and executing a peace agreement. 

Olmert blames the failure on rich Americans tampering with Palestinian peace, according to Haaretz:

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells CNN that right-wing extremists from the United States toppled his government with “millions and millions of dollars” in order to thwart his attempt to reach a lasting peace agreement with the Palestinians. 

Olmert failed to consider the impact of his Gaza razing and corruption allegations on his election loss, which ushered in uber-hawk Bibi Netanyahu. Olmert blamed "Superior Powers" in the U.S., yet refused to identify any group or individual. 

Five years in, Tony Blair's peace plan optimism wears thin, especially as Tony enriched himself mightily.  Like U.S. President George W. Bush, Olmert is on a legacy repair mission. 

Olmert and Blair benefited from "millions and millions of dollars" from superior powers.  Any attempts to shore up their greedy reputations is to garner more of the same.  Meanwhile, peace is but a word.  Grease is their practice.