Russia Expects US/Israel Attack this Summer

It's a matter of time before the U.S. strategy of "divide and arm" opens new markets for American branded global corporations and gets the West's hands on valuable energy reserves.  The Worldwide Socialist Web Site believes it will be summer.

I have my doubts, as this would be inconvenient for the U.S. Presidential Election.  War, or its escalation, tends to occur outside engorged election campaigns.  . 

I've been wrong before and expect to be again.  Maybe someone will leak the game plan from the upcoming Bilderberg meeting.  Rumors have it back in Chantilly, Virginia.  Four years ago candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton paid fealty to Bilderberg's King and Queen makers.  Who will rise from Chantilly 2012?

Update 5-17-12:  The plan is ready.  The U.S. will provide an additional $70 million for Israel's short range missile defense system, known as Iron Dome.  Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called negotiations ridiculous if they allow Iran to retain something yet to be proven, a "military nuclear program."

Update 9-26-12:  U.S. to go to war with Iran in 2013, according to ex-Ambassador to Israel.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Washington D.C. was the site of Holocaust Remembrance Day activities.  American and Israeli leaders joined to recall the horror of Hitler's extermination program.

President Barack Obama
Treasury Chief Tim Geithner
House Majority Leader John Boehner
Pentagon Chief Leon Panetta

Israeli Ambassador to United States Michael Oren
Defense Minister Ehud Barak

I found it odd that this group didn't travel to Europe and remember the Holocaust from Dachau, Auschwitz, or Treblinka.  No, they gathered in the U.S. Capital, the epicenter of world power and greed. 

Talk turned to war to prevent a "Second Holocaust."

Israel’s US envoy called on the world Thursday to prevent Iran from perpetrating another Holocaust.

It doesn't get more explicit than that.  America and Israel march hand in hand toward war.

Note:  Israel denied pensions to 2,000 survivors of Nazi persecution, making the announcement on Holocaust Remembrance Day.  That calls into question Geithner's words from his speech, "The world is indeed a complicated place. But our basic responsibilities as human beings are not. Protect the weak. Shelter those in need. Resist evil in all its forms."  Strike through protect the weak...

Update 4-23-12:  President Obama announced increased Iranian sanctions from America's Holocaust Museum.

Context for Nuclear Negotiations with Iran

More sanctions, no movement, increased pressure, counter sanctions.  The march to war continues.  Negotiations begin Friday the 13th...

Iran Concerns Leak Beyond Nuclear to Chemical

Haaretz reported:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed that Turkey stopped an Iranian shipment carrying Turkish chemicals to Syria. When asked for an explanation, Iran claimed that the chemicals being shipped to Syria were for agricultural purposes. Edrogan said in response: “But we know that it is possible to make chemical weapons out of materials meant for agriculture.” 

This news story would have me believe an Iranian ship loaded chemicals in Turkey for transport to Syria.  Did Turkish officials seize the ship?  Who's out the money for the shipment, Iranians, Syrians or the Turkish chemical producers?

Which Turkish chemical company reached the deal with Syria?  Who hired the Iranian shipper?  Who might benefit from a seized Iranian chemical tanker?

The shift of Western concern to chemical weapons feels orchestrated, especially since the story came out of a 70+ nation "Friends of Syria" group.

Update 4-7-12:  Iran and Syria remain high on the list for Western tampering.   A round of Holy Week restraint on war feels fake, especially when leaders and the media offer the usual Al Qaeda threat. 

Hillary's War Theater

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced talks between Iran and six world powers on Iran's nuclear program.  The talks will take place in Istanbul from April 13-14.  The Jerusalem Post highlighted last year's talks on this issue:

The previous such meeting took place in Istanbul in January 2011, when the two sides failed to agree on an agenda.

Hillary used the same language U.S. leaders us with Israel, unbreakable bond,

"The commitment of the United States to the people and the nations of the Gulf is rock-solid and unwavering. Our strong bilateral relationships are a rock of stability in the region," Clinton said in prepared remarks delivered in the inaugural meeting of a new US-Gulf security forum.

America supports heavy handed dictatorial regimes throughout the Persian Gulf, the kind that used brute military force to crush any semblance of an Arab Spring.

Clinton said the United States will work with Gulf Arab nations to strengthen their shared defenses against threats including Iran.

Add the President Obama judged world oil markets robust enough to inflict Iranian pain.  He essentially gave a three month warning to anyone buying Iranian oil.


As for the upcoming meeting with Iran, Hillary even worked in an ominous Friday the 13th. Will she also include a creepy soundtrack?

"Wired" Indicates Big Brother is Here & Now

Wired Magazine found an ex-NSA insider who revealed the extent of government spying on citizens.  It's extensive, comprehensive, high tech, top secret and illegal.  The White House and Congress don't care. Wired's source was William Binney, a "senior NSA crypto-mathematician largely responsible for automating the agency’s worldwide eavesdropping network."  Here's Binney's take on the level of spying on citizens:

Sitting in a restaurant not far from NSA headquarters, the place where he spent nearly 40 years of his life, Binney held his thumb and forefinger close together. “We are, like, that far from a turnkey totalitarian state,” he says.

I hope the NSA employs thousands of Agent Maxwell Smarts.  They could collectively say, "Missed it by that much."

America's leadership bar continues to plummet to the lowest global common denominator, this time on privacy.  It's the bane of the average citizen vs.the Bain of those running the Government Corporate Monstrosity, Eisenhower's MIC on trillions in federal steroids.  Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Update:  Bain Capital has a division which helps the Chinese government spy on its citizens.  Think how much business President Romney could send their way...

EU's SWIFT Cutoff: Financial Embargo of Iran?

Europeans did what Americans proposed.  They cut off international processing of messages for a number of Iranian banks.  This service is provided by SWIFT, a Belgium banking cooperative.  FinExtra reported:

US politicians proposed a bill that would block Iranian banks from using the Swift network. At the time Swift said that it complies with "all applicable sanctions laws of the multiple jurisdictions in which we operate".

In 2007 the U.S. and Europe needed SWIFT to monitor terrorist financing activity.  Now that Iran is a "state sponsor of terrorism," the West will turn off their detection tool.

Lázaro Campos, CEO, Swift, says: "This EU decision forces Swift to take action. Disconnecting banks is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for Swift. It is a direct result of international and multilateral action to intensify financial sanctions against Iran."

FinExtra provided information on the nature of European trade with Iran.

In 2010, 19 Iranian banks and 25 Iranian entities reportedly used Swift more than two million times, transacting $35 billion in trade with Europe alone.

There is no way a stressed EU will choke off $35 billion in trade on a long term basis.  The West wants greater access to Iranian oil and its economy.  To garner such, Iran, like Iraq and Libya, must be taught a lesson.  I expect it to be a swift kick in backside, courtesy of America's 51st state, Israel.