Month: August 2014
France delivered arms to Syrian rebels, Hollande confirms
2014 08 22
From: france24.com
President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France had delivered weapons to rebels battling the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad “a few months ago.”
The deliveries took place “a few months ago, when the Syrian rebels had to face both the armies of the dictator Bashar al-Assad and this terrorist group Islamic State,” Hollande told reporters on a tour of the French island of La Reunion.
“We cannot leave the only Syrians who are preparing a democracy … without weapons,” he added.
What is happening currently in Syria is “terrible,” he said. “On one side, the state of Bashar al-Assad which continues to crush and massacre, (on the other) Islamic State, and, in the middle, those who were supposed to lay the ground for the future, caught in a pincer movement.”
via France delivered arms to Syrian rebels, Hollande confirms.
The Causes of the MH17 Crash are “Classified”. Ukraine, Netherlands, Australia, Belgium Signed a “Non-disclosure Agreement”
August 23, 2014
Source: Live Journal
In the framework of the 4-country agreement signed on 8 August between Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia, information on the progress and results of the investigation of the disaster will remain classified.
This was confirmed at a briefing in Kiev under the auspices of the office of the Prosecutor General Yuri Boychenko. In his words, the results of the investigation will be published once completed only if a consensus agreement of all parties that have signed the agreement prevails.
Any one of the signatories has the right to veto the publication of the results of the investigation without explanation.
Following the signing of this agreement, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified the agreement and allowed for the participation of Malaysian staff to participate in the investigation.
Revisited: Media banned from reporting on Reserve Bank of Australia corruption scandal
On 29 July 2014, WikiLeaks releases an unprecedented Australian censorship order concerning a multi-million dollar corruption case explicitly naming the current and past heads of state of Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, their relatives and other senior officials.
The super-injunction invokes “national security” grounds to prevent reporting about the case, by anyone, in order to “prevent damage to Australia‘s international relations”.
The court-issued gag order follows the secret 19 June 2014 indictment of seven senior executives from subsidiaries of Australia’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
The case concerns allegations of multi-million dollar inducements made by agents of the RBA subsidiaries Securency and Note Printing Australia in order to secure contracts for the supply of Australian-style polymer bank notes to the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries.
via Media banned from reporting on Reserve Bank of Australia corruption scandal.
UNSEALED: The US Sought Permission To Change The Historical Record Of A Public Court Proceeding
David Greene
Electronic Frontier Foundation
A few weeks ago we fought a battle for transparency in our flagship NSA spying case, Jewel v. NSA. But, ironically, we weren’t able to tell you anything about it until now.
On June 6, the court held a long hearing in Jewel in a crowded, open courtroom, widely covered by the press. We were even on the local TV news on two stations. At the end, the Judge ordered both sides to request a transcript since he ordered us to do additional briefing. But when it was over, the government secretly, and surprisingly sought permission to “remove” classified information from the transcript, and even indicated that it wanted to do so secretly, so the public could never even know that they had done so.
We rightly considered this an outrageous request and vigorously opposed it. The public has a First Amendment right not only to attend the hearing but to have an accurate transcript of it. Moreover, the federal law governing court reporting requires that “each session of the court” be “recorded verbatim” and that the transcript be certified by the court reporter as “a correct statement of the testimony taken and the proceedings had.” 28 U.S.C. § 753(b).
The Bermuda Triangle of the East Mystery Continues
The Bermuda Triangle of the East Mystery Continues
By Wade Shepard, Vagabond Journey Travel | August 14, 2014
Last Updated: August 14, 2014 7:38 am
Ships sink in the Laoye Temple waters. Lots of them. This is a phenomenon that has been happening since ancient time, thousands of fishing boats, cargo transporters, and military vessels have been lost. Many go down with no apparent cause at all, they are just sucked down into the abyss below. This area on the east flank of Poyang Lake in China’s Jiangxi province is also known as the “waters of death,” “devil horns,” and the “Bermuda Triangle of the East.” Some say that the ships are sunk by abnormal wind patterns, others say that it’s because of whirlpools, some say it’s magnetic fields causing lightening strikes, while others reach more ominous or mysterious conclusions. Whatever the case, these are some of the most treacherous waters in the world.
Laoye Temple sits before a 24 km channel of water which connects Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, with the Ganjiang River’s exit point. It sits between 28.22′ – 29.45′ degrees N latitude, roughly the same as that of the Bermuda Triangle in the Caribbean. To go from the Yangtze River to the Pearl River Delta by inland waterways, you go travel through Poyang Lake. To get through Poyang Lake you must go through this channel, which tapers down from a width of 15 km to 3 km directly in front of the temple, is the only way to get to get through here. Likewise, these notorious waters have been a major transport route since the days of China’s ancient porcelain trade.
Danger to food chain? Microplastic contaminates found in Sydney Harbor — RT News
Published time: August 24, 2014 20:51
The Sydney Harbour Bridge and city skyline (Reuters / David Gray)
Scientists in the first study of its kind have found microplastic contamination at the bottom of Sydney Harbor, which may pose a threat to the food chain, Australian media reported.
READ MORE: 88% of world’s oceans covered by plastic junk – study
The research by the Sydney Institute of Marine Science tested 27 sites across the harbor, with researchers finding up to 60 microplastics per 100 milligrams of sediment. This was a higher volume than expected even in the cleanest and best-flushed reaches.
Microplastics are tiny fragments and threads of plastic, which are less than five millimeters long. Professor Emma Johnston from the Sydney Institute, who leads the study, told ABC Australia microplastics represent the “emergence of a new contamination in our harbors.”
via Danger to food chain? Microplastic contaminates found in Sydney Harbor — RT News.
US certification provisions in the TPP would create copyright vassal states | Pirate Party Australia
Posted on August 18, 2014
The Pirate Party denounces any attempts to include certification provisions in the highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The United States, one of twelve negotiating nations including Australia, may be given the power to opt-out of the Agreement if countries do not implement the TPP according to the standards of the United States Trade Representative. This has been used by the United States to pressure other countries into adopting its interpretation of trade agreements[1].
These provisions give an inordinate amount of leverage to the US Government to pressure treaty partners, such as Australia, to alter and adopt laws that go beyond the negotiated text of the treaty. In practice this could result in a situation where the US Government and its advisors are approving, or even drafting, Australian laws to ensure they comply with the interests and expectations of the United States.
Brendan Molloy, President of the Pirate Party, commented: “This is an egregious overreach. I daresay that any Australian government that signs such an unbalanced agreement, which puts such an unequal share of power in the hands of a foreign entity, is guilty of betraying the interests of the Australian people. A partnership where all parties do not have equal power is not a partnership. By signing such a fundamentally unbalanced agreement, Australia would be granting the US significant control of our sovereignty, making us effectively a vassal of the United States.
via US certification provisions in the TPP would create copyright vassal states | Pirate Party Australia.
Deadwood: A Study Of Anarchy
max ashley 25/8/14
HBO’s Deadwood is the story of Anarchy or, if you prefer, Self Rule, and follows the story of a relatively newly established 1870 illegal mining camp on Indian Land that succeeds in the harsh conditions and progresses under self rule during harsh times while under threat from internal and external forces that want to wrestle Self Rule from the group and control it. This progression includes a study of society through creation of control which in a capitalistic society is based on the creation of wealth. This is addressed with the individual, the gang and the group so naturally also addresses the worth of a person, personal wealth, personal wealth connected to corporations, corporations, corporations connected to government…and…then…it abruptly ends on the first page of “government” due to a lack of funding, which could in part be as a result of the high costs of production. It would also be fair to say that part of the funding problem lies in the natural progression of the story. It would have gotten ugly, a bit too close to bone for the financiers. Whether planned or not the final episode finishes with the question: have we lost total control of our Self Rule? An extremely poignant and timely question to finish on.
Underlining this is a wonderfully study of Honour, which introduces elements of tribal, natural law, common law, law of the land and the question of justice. Importantly for me, as a white, hetro male living in a reality where the white, hetro male is under constant attack, there is also the question; “what does it mean to be a Man”? The answer is skilfully woven with the threads of Honour.
The 2 main themes are also a major feature.
What is good? What is bad? This theme always hangs on the tree of belief. Deadwood presents an obvious “Bad Man” and an obvious “Good Man” but are the obvious labels correct?
What is reality? What is illusion? Another fruit from the tree of belief. Deadwood views whom is controlling whom? Is what is explained or said reality or illusion?
It’s no wonder that both of these themes are the favourites of the Masters. Both hanging from Belief and both ripened by the reassuring glow of Trust. A delicious pairing of themes.
The story is told in the colourful language of Old English where the scenes are painted with this beautifully descriptive and direct language. The often sublime imagery is juxtaposed and sculptured with the roughness of the times where “cock sucker” and “cunt” become the crude phonetic chisels of a master, and paradoxically become a part of the beauty. Ahh yes, it also has paradoxes.
Most t.v. series these days have a monologue in, if not every episode then the vast majority of episodes and so it is with Deadwood, with the exception that in Deadwood we get, more often than not, a “blow-job monologue” of true Shakespearean proportions where the surreal imagery gives rhythm to the skillfully crafted composition of words.
Script writing, directing, acting, camera, production; it’s all so…so…well crafted.
Deadwood is a series that will get you through a small three series portion of winter and leave you looking through your window for the rest of the winter knowing there is still some fire in answer to that final question…have we lost total control of self rule?…
Energy and thoughts from the volcano…max
James Corbett Releases “Century Of Enslavement”
James Corbett, freelance journalist and researcher and founder the objective voice and face behind corbettreport.com has finally released his long awaited history of the Federal Reserve;”Century Of Enslavement”.
You can view or download via youtube or get a hard copy two-disc DVD
phi in the sky 