The Jupiter Effect: "Is everything we know about the Universe wrong?"

The Jupiter Effect: "Is everything we know about the Universe wrong?"

Two recent results  suggest that the answer to the above question is “Quite possibly!”
Utane Sawangwit and Tom Shanks of Durham University that the errors on the “gold standard” cosmic microwave background results from the WMAP satellite may be larger than previously supposed and that the mysterious dark energy and dark matter may not even exit.

The pattern of ripples detected by microwave background telescopes such as WMAP that underpin the idea that the Universe is composed of 22% dark exotic particles and 74% dark energy with the remaining 4% being the atoms in the ordinary material that we see around us. This model produces a largest ripple size of about 1 degree on the microwave sky and this is well matched by the ripples seen in the WMAP data. So these WMAP ripples have a size that is roughly twice the size of the Full Moon as they appear on the sky.
Models that don’t have dark energy or dark matter tend to produce CMB ripples that are smaller, only about half the standard model size and so just about the size of the Full Moon.  
Sawangwit and Shanks have used point-like radio sources to test how much the WMAP telescope smoothes these CMB ripples and have found evidence that this ”beam smoothing” is much larger than suggested from WMAP’s observations of the planet Jupiter.
The radio sources have the advantage that they are much closer in brightness to the CMB ripples that are being studied than Jupiter which is ~1000 times brighter. But their faintness is also a disadvantage which means that the Durham team have had to stack hundreds of the radio sources to get their result. If the WMAP CMB map is smoothed by as much as the radio sources appear to be then it may  make it more easy for other models without dark matter (or dark energy!) to fit the CMB data.
It will be fascinating to see if the new European PLANCK satellite, currently taking data, will confirm the WMAP results. The PLANCK telescope will also smooth the new CMB maps and again the radio source technique used by Sawangwit and Shanks can be used to help them judge how much.
The same Durham team were also involved with international collaborators in another recent paper which suggested that an independent CMB check on the existence of dark energy might not be as “bullet-proof “ as previously thought.
If dark energy exists it causes the expansion of the Universe to accelerate at late times. CMB photons have to pass through giant superclusters of galaxies on their way to be detected by telescopes such as WMAP. Normally a CMB photon gets gravitationally blueshifted as it enters a cluster and redshifted as it leaves and the two effects cancel. But if the cluster galaxies accelerate away from each other as the photon passes through then the cancellation is not exact and a trace is left in that slightly higher CMB temperatures should be observed in sightlines that pass near to galaxy superclusters.
Previously claims have been made that this “ISW “ signal is seen at high significance when CMB-galaxy correlations are studied. But in a powerful new sample of ~1 million luminous red galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey no such effect is seen and when this result is included, the significances of the previous detections reduce to the point where they are as consistent with a null detection of dark energy as with the standard model prediction.
If the same null result is seen in the Southern Hemisphere using WMAP and PLANCK CMB data coupled with millions of galaxies to be found in new Southern Surveys such as the ESO  VST ATLAS (PI T. Shanks) then again there will be a significant threat to the standard cosmological model in which dark energy plays a vital role.
The identification of dark matter with exotic particles as yet undetected in the laboratory and the introduction of dark vacuum energy in an amount that is minute compared to the total energy of the Universe at early-times leaves many cosmologists feeling uncomfortable.
The dark energy problem is particularly vexing– most theorists would prefer a zero cosmological constant because it might be hoped that it could be explained by some as yet unknown symmetry of nature. Indeed, if there had to be a cosmological constant then the string theorists of particle physics would actually prefer that it was negative which is the opposite to what is apparently observed in the supernova Hubble diagram. These problems frequently cause theorists to resort to the “anthropic principle” for an explanation.
The standard model also has astrophysical difficulties. For example, in galaxy formation theories, as much “feedback” energy is now being used in preventing stars from forming as in forming them under gravity, seemingly at odds with the simplest “bottom-up” picture of galaxy formation.
The evidence for dark matter is less strong than it was in the 1930’s when Fritz Zwicky first discovered the “missing mass” problem in the centres of rich galaxy clusters. The confirmation from X-ray satellites like Chandra and XMM-Newton that these galaxy clusters contain large amounts of hot gas as well as galaxies and stars has reduced the missing mass/dark matter discrepancy by a factor of 10-100! It remains to be seen whether the remaining factor or 4-5 merits the invoking of a cosmological density of exotic particles as required by the standard model.
The undoubted successes of the standard cosmological model therefore have to be balanced against the above problems. Much depends on the results from the “precision” Cosmic Microwave Background experiments. If these are correct then the standard model, with all its difficulties, will likely be correct. This is why tests of the CMB results such as those made by the Durham team and their collaborators are so important for cosmology.
The effect of the WMAP telescope on the CMB ripples and the search for the signature of dark energy in the CMB-galaxy correlations are crucial for the survival of the standard model.
Casey Kazan
Source: http://star-www.dur.ac.uk/~dph3us/cosmology.html

THE INFILTRATION OF BLOGS

Israel Recruits Army Of Bloggers To Troll Anti-War Websites
Program mirrors U.S. Air Force, Centcom propaganda

Paul Joseph Watson Propaganda Matrix

Israel has announced that it is setting up a network of bloggers to combat websites deemed "problematic" by the Zionist state, presumably to propagandize about the necessity of killing babies and infants in the name of self-defense.

Israel's global reputation for being the new Nazis was already firmly established, but the ceaseless and indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, labeled a war crime by international observers, has hardened opinion against the country and this has manifested itself nowhere more than the world wide web.

Israel's response will be to flood the Internet with PR agents who will attempt to create a phony consensus that the ZIonist state's barbarian actions are justifiable.

According to a report in Haaretz, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry is setting up "an army of bloggers" who will "represent" Israel on "anti-Zionist blogs" in English, French, Spanish and German.

The ministry's director-general Erez Halfon told Haaretz that over a million people who speak a second language are being targeted in a recruiting drive that will then direct the volunteers to web sites deemed "problematic." Presumably their mission would be to troll comment boards and forums with pro-Zionist arguments, a public relations stunt that we have seen employed by other entities such as Monsanto and more recently Centcom and the U.S. Air Force.

Such ongoing efforts to infiltrate the Internet and propagandize for the war on terror are well documented.

CENTCOM has programs underway to infiltrate blogs and message boards to ensure people, "have the opportunity to read positive stories,"presumably about how Iraq is a wonderful liberated democracy and the war on terror really is about protecting Americans from Al-CIAda.

In May 2008, it was revealed that the Pentagon was expanding "Information Operations" on the Internet with purposefully set up foreign news websites, designed to look like independent media sources but in reality carrying direct military propaganda.

More recently the New York Times published an expose on privately hired operatives who have been appearing on all major US news networks promoting the interests and operations of the Pentagon and generating favorable news coverage of the Bush administration while posing as independent military analysts.

This operation was formally announced In 2006 when the Pentagon set up a unit to "better promote its message across 24-hour rolling news outlets, and particularly on the internet".
Again, the Pentagon said the move would boost its ability to counter "inaccurate" news stories and exploit new media.

Just over a week ago, the US Air Force announced a “counter-blog” response plan aimed at fielding and reacting to material from bloggers who have “negative opinions about the US government and the Air Force.”

The plan, created by the public affairs arm of the Air Force, includes a detailed twelve-point "counter blogging" flow-chart that dictates how officers should tackle what are described as "trolls," "ragers," and "misguided" online writers.

USA:Internment Camps Readied

Internment Camps Readied For Mass Illegal Alien Influx?
Texas officials say contingency plans are in place for collapse of Mexico, policy only covers "law enforcement" needs, does not address humanitarian issues

Paul Joseph Watson Propaganda Matrix

The news that Texas officials are working on contingency plans to deal with a sudden influx of illegal aliens following a collapse of the Mexican government has sparked fears that FEMA detention camps, the expansion of which is the subject of current legislation in Congress, are being readied to detain thousands of illegals as well as American citizens.

According to an Elpaso TImes report, "Texas officials are working on a plan to respond to a potential collapse of the Mexican government and the specter of thousands fleeing north in fear for their lives after recent reports indicated the country could be on the verge of chaos."

"You hope for the best, plan for the worst," Katherine Cesinger, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said last week. "At this point, we've got a contingency plan that's in development."

Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw stated that a "preliminary plan" was in place that dealt only with "law enforcement concerns" and did not address "humanitarian needs".

Such a plan is likely to include designated internment locations, including “national emergency centers” to be located on military installations for the purpose of to providing “temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster,” the expansion of which under FEMA is codified under HR 645, otherwise known as the National Emergency Centers Act.

Ominously, the bill states that the camps can be used to “meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security,” an open ended mandate which many fear could mean the forced detention of American citizens in the event of widespread rioting after a national emergency or total economic collapse.

During the Iran Contra hearings in the 80's, previously classified information came to light about Continuity of Government (CoG) procedures in times of national crisis. The masterminds behind these programs were Oliver North, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. The Rex-84 'readiness exercise' discussed the plan to round up immigrants and detain them in internment camps in response to uncontrolled population movements across the Mexican border.

The real agenda was to use the cover of rounding up immigrants and illegal aliens as a smokescreen for targeting political dissidents and American citizens. From 1967 to 1971 the FBI kept a list of persons to be rounded up as subversive, dubbed the "ADEX" list.

Since 9/11, shadow government and CoG programs that were outlined in Rex-84 have been activated, including mass warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. The internment camp program is now being readied for execution following the announcement on January 24th 2006 that Halliburton subsidiary KBR (formerly Brown and Root) had been awarded a $385 million contingency contract by the Department of Homeland Security to build detention camps.

According to respected author Peter Dale Scott, "Both the contract and the budget allocation are in partial fulfillment of an ambitious 10-year Homeland Security strategic plan, code-named ENDGAME, authorized in 2003. According to a 49-page Homeland Security document on the plan, ENDGAME expands "a mission first articulated in the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798." Its goal is the capability to "remove all removable aliens," including "illegal economic migrants, aliens who have committed criminal acts, asylum-seekers (required to be retained by law) or potential terrorists."

The pretext given for which the camps would be used, as the New York Times reported was, "an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space."

With active duty military personnel already being stationed inside the U.S. under Northcom, partly for purposes of “crowd control,” fears that Americans could be incarcerated in detainment camps as part of a "new program" amidst a crisis caused by a sudden influx of Mexican immigrants are all too real.

INCREDIBLE! Hidden Spy Camera & Mic Found Inside Digital TV Box

Hidden Spy Camera & Mic Found Inside Digital TV Box
Reason for forced digital switchover in US and UK: Government and industry watching us to build profiles, launch invasive advertising

Paul Joseph Watson Propaganda Matrix Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A popular video circulating on You Tube shows the discovery of a spy camera and a microphone hidden inside a digital TV converter box. Such devices are part of a government and industry surveillance program that is undoubtedly connected to the forced digital TV switchover being rolled out in the UK and US.

"I could not believe my eyes," states the blurb accompanying the video clip, "I have a friend who is kind of a conspiracy theorist. He was trying to convince me that many of the digital TV convert boxes that are coming out have microphones and cameras built into them. Knowing a bit about electronics I bought one of these devices opened it up fully intending on proving him wrong. To my surprise he was right. This device has both a miniature camera lens and what looks like a microphone. I was so shocked I took pictures and video. Please send this out to everyone you know who is using one of these devices."

The camera and microphone were hidden inside a MAGNAVOX TB110MW9 Digital to Analog Converter box. We are not suggesting that every digital cable box has a spy camera and microphone inside, so ripping open your cable box is not a good way to prove this one way or another - but the fact remains that companies like Google and Comcast have openly announced that they plan to use hidden cameras and microphones inside their products to spy on consumers.

Watch the clip below.

The need to mandate a mass roll out of such hidden surveillance devices is undoubtedly one of the reasons that governments in both the UK and the US, as well as eventually the entire planet, are overseeing a forced switchover to digital TV and killing traditional analogue broadcasts. The vast majority of TV's require a digital decoder box to receive digital TV transmissions.

By installing covert spy devices and hidden microphones inside our all but mandatory digital boxes, the government and whatever corporate entities get a slice of the pie, have direct access to our living rooms. This is the ultimate Big Brother scenario whereby the majority of Americans and Europeans will have Orwellian telescreens watching their every move.

Many will dismiss such claims as conspiracy fodder, but the fact is that Americans have been spied on for decades, previously under the Echelon program and more recently as part of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

As former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice recently revealed, "The National Security Agency had access to all Americans' communications -- faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications," Tice claimed. "It didn't matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications."

As we highlighted three years ago,  private industry and eventually government is planning to use microphones in the computers of an estimated 150 million-plus Internet active Americans, as well as similar devices installed inside digital TV boxes, to spy on their lifestyle choices and build psychological profiles which will be used for surveillance and minority report style invasive advertising and data mining.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

Digital cable TV boxes, such as Scientific Atlanta, have had secret in-built microphones inside them since their inception in the late 1990's and these originally dormant devices were planned to be activated when the invasive advertising revolution was being rolled out, a watershed that is quickly becoming a reality.

The advent of digital video recording devices such as TiVo (Sky Plus in the UK) introduced the creation of psychological algorithm profiles - databases on what programs you watched, how long you watched them for, and which adverts you liked or didn't like. This information was retained by TiVo and sold to the highest bidders - an example being Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the 2003 Super Bowl half-time show; TiVo were able to compile lists of how many people had rewound the clip and how many times they had replayed it.

In 2006, Google announced that they would use in-built computer microphones to listen in on user's background noise, be it television, music or radio - and then direct advertising at them based on their preferences.

In March last year, Comcast announced that they were "experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room."

The cameras would use body-form recognition to confirm who was in the room and then tailor program recommendations, as well as commercials, to target that member of the family.

The video below covers the issue of secret cameras installed inside digital TV boxes and their relation to the forced digital switchover. A further video explores other motives behind the digital switchover.

URGENT:Bill Clinton: ‘We may have to blow up the well’

Bill Clinton: ‘We may have to blow up the well’

John Byrne
Raw Story
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Little noticed comments from former President Bill Clinton over the weekend which he made in South Africa are perhaps — well — a bit explosive.
“Unless we send the Navy down deep to blow up the well and cover the leak with piles and piles and piles of rock and debris, which may become necessary – you don’t have to use a nuclear weapon by the way, I’ve seen all that stuff, just blow it up – unless we’re going to do that, we are dependent on the technical expertise of these people from BP,” Clinton said.
Clinton was speaking about British Petroleum’s efforts to staunch a massive leak that erupted after one of the oil rigs it was leasing blew up Apr. 20. His remarks about the explosion solution come at about 2:30 into the recording, posted below.
Matt Simmons, founder of energy investment bank Simmons & Company, suggested earlier this month that the US military could close the drill hole with a nuclear weapon.
“Probably the only thing we can do is create a weapons system and send it down 18,000 feet and detonate it, hopefully encasing the oil,” he said.
His idea echoes that of a Russian newspaper that earlier this month suggested the US detonate a small nuclear bomb to seal the oil beneath the sea. Komsomoloskaya Pravda argued in an editorial that Russia had successfully used nuclear weapons to seal oil spills on five occasions in the past.
“Weapons labs in the former Soviet Union developed special nukes for use to help pinch off the gas wells,” Live Science wrote earlier this year. “They believed that the force from a nuclear explosion could squeeze shut any hole within 82 to 164 feet (25 to 50 meters), depending on the explosion’s power. That required drilling holes to place the nuclear device close to the target wells.”
“A first test in the fall of 1966 proved successful in sealing up an underground gas well in southern Uzbekistan, and so the Russians used nukes four more times for capping runaway wells,” the site added.
Critics of Clinton’s plan have told Fox that BP is resisting the option because blowing up the well would ensure they could get no more oil.
“If we demolish the well using explosives, the investment’s gone,” former submarine officer and nuclear policy scholar at Columbia University Christopher Brownfield told Fox News in May. “They lose hundreds of millions of dollars from the drilling of the well, plus no lawmaker in his right mind would allow BP to drill again in that same spot. So basically, it’s an all-or-nothing thing with BP: They either keep the well alive, or they lose their whole investment and all the oil that they could potentially get from that well.”

Pat Tillman's Murder

 

New Big Screen Documentary Exposes Pat Tillman Cover-Up
Evidence strongly indicates Tillman was murdered to prevent him from becoming an anti-war icon

Paul Joseph Watson
Propaganda Matrix
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A new documentary set to hit the big screen this summer lifts the lid on the cover-up behind the death of Pat Tillman, the pro-football star who gave up a lucrative career to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq before preparing to return to the U.S. as an anti-war icon, at which point he was killed in a so-called friendly fire incident that more closely resembled a deliberate assassination.

Whether or not the documentary delves into the question of whether Tillman's death was a targeted act of murder remains to be seen, but the evidence strongly indicates that Tillman was deliberately assassinated in order to prevent him from becoming an anti-war icon and derailing public support in the United States for the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tillman sacrificed the good life and a multi-million dollar football career in the belief that he was defending his country from outside enemies, and soon after 9/11 turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army.

It was during Tillman's second deployment to Afghanistan, after previously serving in Iraq, that he was killed by what the U.S. military initially claimed was a Taliban ambush. It later emerged that the ambush story had been concocted by the Pentagon in an attempt to exploit Tillman's death for pro-war propaganda. Subsequent investigations claimed that Tillman was killed as a result of a friendly fire accident.

However, in July 2007, the results of an Army medical report found that Tillman had been shot three times in the head with an M16 from a mere 10 yards away, clearly suggesting that the incident was a targeted assassination.

"Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime," reported the Associated Press.

"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators. "The doctors - whose names were blacked out - said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away."

The report also states that "No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene - no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck."

The article also reveals that "Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments."

The doctor who autopsied Tillman's body tried to pursue an investigation into the question of whether Tillman was murdered but was prevented from doing so by higher-ups at the Army's Criminal Investigation Division.

The motive for the murder would undoubtedly have been Tillman's plans to return to the U.S. and a vocal critic of the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions.

The evidence points directly to it and the motivation is clear - Tillman abandoned a lucrative career in pro-football immediately after 9/11 because he felt a rampaging patriotic urge to defend his country, and became a poster child for the war on terror as a result. But when he discovered that the invasion of Iraq was based on a mountain of lies and deceit and had nothing to do with defending America, he became infuriated and was ready to return home to become an anti-war hero.

In September 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a friend of Tillman had set up a meeting with author and prominent war critic Noam Chomsky, which was scheduled to take place after Tillman's return from Afghanistan. Chomsky confirmed that the meeting was arranged.

As far back as March 2003, immediately after the invasion of Iraq, Tillman famously told his comrade Spc. Russell Baer, "You know, this war is so fucking illegal," and urged his entire platoon to vote against Bush in the 2004 election.

During a July 2007 appearance on Keith Olbermann's MSNBC show, four star General Wesley Clark stated that "the orders came from the very top" to cover-up the nature of Tillman's death as he was a political symbol and his opposition to the war in Iraq would have rallied the population around supporting immediate withdrawal.

Watch the trailer for The Tillman Story, which is due for cinema release in August.

Iran appears set for massive show of strength

Iran appears set for massive show of strength

Policy Research Group -- June 26, 2010

Iran appears set for a massive show of its military might in the south-west of the country, close to the border with Iraq as much as a response to the Israeli bravado off the Gaza as to keep the US guessing of its intent. Officially, however, it is billed as a showcase of innovative military strategies and skills. As many as five divisions will take part in the maneuvers in a combat theater with rough terrain and will test new indigenous weapon systems.

New sniper rifles, helicopters, Unmanned Arial Vehicles, (UAVs), upgraded and refurbished tanks, laser guidance systems, utilizing laser systems, helicopters and Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) are amongst the weapons billed for tests in field conditions before induction. Already Iran has tested an array of missiles in war like conditions.

The decision to hold the drill as the exercises are officially called was announced by Iranian Army Commander Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan in Tehran on Saturday, June 5.

Though he had set no date for massive military drill and merely stated that the drill would be held in September, (some reports pushed the date to October), the timing of the announcement is significant.

It comes at a time tensions are running high after Israeli commandos attacked the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla  an international aid convoy on May 31. It is however in synch with the on-going efforts at fine tuning strategies and place the armed forces in a state of ever readiness to take on any US- Israeli adventure on its nuclear assets.

Over the past couple of months, army, air force and the navy have conducted a series drills in on ground, air and sea. First to test various strategies. Second to test the level of coordination.

Interestingly, one of these exercises, a day and night affair, in central Isfahan region was code named Jerusalem. It saw a wide range of light and heavy equipment taking part in asymmetric warfare aimed at testing the state of preparedness to respond to various possible attacks.In the past few years, Iran's ground forces conducted a number of military exercises and mastered a variety of combat experience; this is however the largest-scale military exercise, Iran World News TV quoted Army Commanders as saying

In May, naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and northern Indian Ocean featured heavy submarines and they successfully test-fired home-made torpedoes at sub-surface targets. A month earlier, in the same area, a large-scale joint military exercise code-named Great Prophet 5 featured more than 300 vessels with torpedoes and guided missiles and warships.

The month of May saw the test firing of four hi-tech missiles (on May 10) using mobile launchers. These home made missiles called Fajr 5 belong to the Fajr-class missiles; they were not tested in any wargames before, according to Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Force General Kioumars Heidari. He characterized the tests as successful. All the four missiles hit the targets with a record high precision. They have a range of 50-60 kilometers and can evade radars as they fly at very low altitudes.

One of these, the mid-range surface to surface Nour missile was launched from the homemade Jamaran Destroyer. Two mid-range coast-to-sea cruise missiles were also test-fired and successfully hit their simulated targets as the Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Ataollah Salehi told reporters that the tests were a warning to aggressors against any attack on Iranian ships.
As a part of these war games with the code name, Vellayat 89, the army commandoes and Special Forces successfully tested shoulder-launched missiles in the Strait of Hormuz and northern Indian Ocean. Named 'Misaq', these home made missiles pulverized enemy targets. The war game extended into the Sea of Oman to show case Iran's mighty presence in the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and Indian Ocean, Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said in Tehran.

Iran's indigenous weapon programme dates back to the eighties when it suddenly found external supplies drying up for military hardware as the country was locked in a war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Till then, the mainstay of Iranian forces was America made weapon systems and aircraft.

During the drill, Air Force F-4 fighter-bombers and Cobra choppers of the Airborne units targeted with precision a number of hypothetical enemy vessels which had infiltrated Iranian territories. Airborne choppers demonstrated heliborne operations and carried and transferred large numbers of troops and equipment.

Air force has also tested a series of newly updated air-to-surface missiles. The new missiles fired by Phantom fighters had hit and destroyed the targets successfully, according to Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Air Force for Operations General Seyed Mohammad Alawi.

Experts at the self-sufficiency Jihad (department) of the Iranian Air Force changed the missiles' range, fuel, and navigation systems, Alawi was quoted as saying.

Exact location for proposed September October exercises is not made public as yet but it is clear from official comments that the war games would be held in Khūzestān (capital Ahwaz) province that borders Iraq's Basra Province and the Persian Gulf, and the adjoining Kurds dominated Ilam province that suffered heavily during the long drawn Iran-Iraq war.

Ilam today sports the tag of most underdeveloped province of Iran, largely because its economic infrastructure collapsed under intense Iraqi bombing. Only in recent years, the state has begun to see fresh investments like Petrochemical facilities with Japanese help.

These exercises on the ground will see massive aerial maneuvers as the Iranian Air Force has plans to put to test a new set of advanced air-to-ground weaponry and gunnery equipment besides refurbished and upgraded Mirage F-1 fighters.

All Iranian aircraft and warplanes will take part including the F-4, F-5, F-7 and the Sukhoi SU-24 fighter jets, says Deputy Air Force Commander, Mohsen Darrehbaghi. The Iranian Mirage F-1s are equipped with domestic air-to-ground weaponry, including advanced machine rifles and rocket launchers.

Darrehbaghi is brandishing these Mirages to silence the Israelis. We have managed to rise to the challenge of those far stronger and bigger than Israel. If they dare assault us, they will be crushed by our response, he told a gathering of women air force officials in Tehran early June. And referring to the commando attack on the Gaza-bound aid convoy, the commander said Israel is only capable of killing a few defenseless civilians. It lacks the guts to attack Tehran.
Source: http://policyresearchgroup.com/regional_weekly/special_topics/763.html

Last updated 27/06/2010

"Prepare for a false flag attack!"

Prepare for a false flag attack - get ready for the Amero

Josey Wales - Before Its News June 24, 2010

Richard Russell, who has published the Dow Theory Letters for over 50 years, recently made a rather chilling statement: By the end of 2010 you won't recognize the United States. He has also told his clients to get out of the stock market completely and sit on the sidelines with cash in hand. When asked in a recent interview about holding gold as opposed to cash, Russell stated, Gold is the ultimate cash. And gold you will certainly need in order to financially survive the horribly frightening days ahead as the powers-that-be plan another false flag event and throw us headlong into the Amero.

The closed door session

To come to a more complete understanding of Russells shocking statement about the United States and the possible false flag event coming soon, we need to take a look at a little known event, the March 13, 2008, closed-door session of the House of Congress. It was only the fourth time in our history as a nation such a session was held. The proposed agenda for the meeting was to discuss �New Surveillance Provisions,� but that was just a ruse. The fact that there was a March 13, 2008, closed-door session of the House of Congress is an established fact. The real agenda, according to information leaked after the meeting to alternative media, were these issues:

1. The imminent collapse of the US economy by September, 2008

2. The imminent collapse of the federal government finances by February, 2009

3. The possibility of Civil War as a result of the collapses

4. The advance round-ups of dissidents and insurgents into concentration camps

5. The flight of government officials into 'safe facilities' (US underground cities)

6. The formation of the North American Union (NAU): the uniting of Mexico, the United States, and Canada into one union

7. The issuance of the new currency, the Amero, of the NAU, to replace the dollar

Even though there is no way to prove that these were the issues discussed at that meeting, all we need to do is look at the chronology of events since then. The government's intent is obvious: tip off their own people of what is coming, and provide a way of escape for them when the riots and destruction comes, and leave the rest of us in the dark to be blind sided and destroyed.

A chronology of events

The first issue discussed was the imminent collapse of the U. S. economy by September, 2008. That happened just as they predicted. At the beginning of September, 2008, the 5.6 trillion dollar government mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac folded, and we now have no economy left. The second issue was the collapse of the U. S. banking system by February, 2009. That obviously didn't happen because the government and Wall Street bailed out the too big to fail banks. The fact that most of the 8,000 banks in this country are insolvent now is also an established fact. The official crash of the banking system will be coming soon.

When the banks finally collapse, riots and civil war will erupt, martial law will be put in place, rioters will be hauled off to concentration camps, the government officials and the banksters will escape into their two-mile underneath the ground cities, while the rest of us will be trapped up here on the surface trying to deal with the bloodshed.

They're planning to take your money

So what's ahead? As a little background for those who have not been following my writings or listening to my radio shows, I will try to highlight some events for you. For about the last two years I have been talking to a man from the west coast who is a part of the global elite. He is a corporate pilot who flies some of these elite around from time to time, and he also sits in on most of their meetings and is privy to their plans.

About a year and a half ago he told me that the government was planning to declare a banking holiday in December, 2009. At that time they were planning to devalue the dollar by 50%. Logistically, they were planning to accomplish that devaluation simply by raising retail prices on goods, products and services by 100% the day following the banking holiday. In simple terms, whatever would cost one dollar one day would cost two dollars the next day.

By February, 2010, when that devaluation didn't happen, I called the man back and asked him why it didn't happen. He explained to me that their plan hadn't changed, but as he put it, The slaves are still asleep, meaning that the public hadn't figured out yet what the government was doing to them. Then, on February 25th, 2010, I heard an Alex Jones interview with Lindsey Williams, a Baptist minister who had been in Alaska in the early 70s with the global elite as they were drilling for oil there. At the time they found the largest oil reserves in the world in Alaska, enough to supply the United States for over 200 years. They basically capped the wells, not wanting to flood the market with cheap oil and destroy their own mega profits.

Since then Williams has been in contact with one of these men who is now 87 years old and in failing health. One of the things that this man told Williams was that in 2010, the global elite, through our government, plans to go into everyone's bank accounts and investments and take 50% of whatever is there. And don't forget, it is pretty simple for the government to take your money in the stock market because your money is in the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) money pool and the Fed legally owns it. Unlike the dollar devaluation that the other man was talking about, they would just take 50% of what you have there and accomplish the same purpose much more simply.

A false flag attack coming soon

About a week ago, June 13, 2010, I called the man from the west coast and asked him what he knew was coming from here on in. He told me that the powers that be were planning another false flag attack like 9-1-1, and the target date was July 8, 2010. He said that the July 8thdate was not set in stone, that it could be any time this summer. He said it would be equal to or greater than 9-1-1 and would kill thousands of Americans. He also said that they would use the event as an excuse to collapse a huge number of banks, and those banks would never open again. This event would also set the stage for the collapse of the dollar and the switch over to the Amero in November of this year.

From the dollar to the Amero and the North American Union

I asked him many detailed questions about the switch over from the dollar to the Amero. He told me that the government would require people to exchange actual cash for Ameros. I told him that would be impossible as there is very little cash in peoples hands these days, and the banks don't hold much cash either. He said that that was just the point. They want to make the switch over in currencies as difficult as possible. Their intent is to decimate the public financially not help them. If you think about it, if the government wanted to be human all they would have to do is just change the words from dollar to the Amero in bank accounts and investments, and it would be a smooth process.

Not so. These New World Order people (I call them demons in human bodies) want to eliminate 85% of us worthless eaters, anyway, and how better than to collapse the currency and prevent us from switching over to the new one. The man also told me that the exchange rate from the dollar to the Amero would start out at one on one at first, but that wouldn't last long. Then it would go to two to one, five to one, ten to one, and so on. The longer you wait to get your cash to the window the less Ameros you will get.

Obviously, when the panic for cash starts, there will be massive runs on the banks and on Wall Street as people in desperation try to liquidate their investments. And, of course, the knee jerk reaction of the government will be to close financial doors as they can't possibly supply the cash the public wants and demands. The knee jerk reaction of the public at the financial institution closures will be rioting, followed by the government's intervention with the police and military establishing martial law.

I will say that there is no way that I can verify this information I have learned from this man over the past two years. However, he is not the only one saying these things. The inside information that Lindsey Williams has been privy to from the elderly gentleman he met in Alaska has certainly proved right on over the last several years. And you have many other people saying basically the same things, Gerald Celente, Peter Schiff, Richard Russell, just to mention a few. These are not idle remarks from quacks. But these events have been lining up for quite a while. Two other things are also important in the formula for the coming chaos, the recent US Northcom drill in the Gulf and the President of Mexico visiting Obama and the Canadian Prime Minister over the past month to solidify relations among the three countries.

Operational Readiness Inspection already complete

As I mentioned, and not coincidentally, according to an article entitled US Northcom Gears Up for Potential Attack on U.S. Soil, authored by Shepard Ambellas, on May 16 ,- 23, 2010, US Northcom performed an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI) in the Gulf area using three US Air Force units. One was the Kentucky Air National Guards 123rdAirlift Wing unit which was the lead organization for the ORI. The second unit was the 317thAirlift Group from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, which provided active security forces. The third was the 70thAerial Port Squadron from Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, which contributed Air Force Reserve members and equipment.

According to the article, Colonel Greg Nelson, the commander of the Kentucky unit said, This inspection (drill) marked the first time that any Air Force unit has been wartime validated in support of the security and defense of the United States of America. That's huge. Colonel Dan Dagher with the Texas unit stated that the very survival of thousands of Americans rests on our now-tested ability to immediately respond and perform mass-casualty medical evacuations after a chemical attack. In addition, thousands of UN vans are currently sitting on the runways on a Florida Air Force base, ready for mobilization when the time comes.

Never let a good crisis go to waste

It is also not a coincidence that US Northcom held the ORI in the Gulf area as the BP oil gusher is now out of control. And from what real scientists and BP insiders have indicated, the well cannot be capped. The pressure from the well hole is between 20,000 and 70,000 pounds per square inch, according to Lindsey Williams who talked to two BP insiders. The real danger is not the oil coming out of the well but the huge volume of lethal biotic gases. It is only a matter of time before those biotic gases erupt through the surface, potentially killing thousands or millions of people along the coast.

There is currently a huge media block on information coming from the Gulf, all conveniently lending itself to the creation of a false flag event. As Rahm Emmanuel once said, Never let a good crises go to waste. I could envision a few planes flying over some big cities along the Gulf coast, dropping anthrax or some another lethal chemical out the window and killing thousands, and then the Air Force would have to perform their mass evacuations and deal with mass casualties. All we have to do then is find another country to blame it on and we will have the justification we need to bomb another country that had nothing to do with the carnage. Isn't it great to live in America?

As far as the North American Union is concerned, (combining Mexico, the United States and Canada), also not coincidentally, the president of Mexico, Felipe Calederon, visited President Obama about a month ago to discuss further ties. After Calederon's meeting with Obama, he flew to Canada where he met with Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper to discuss further ties among the three countries.

My opinion about the North American Union and the currency change is that they won't be able to switch over from the dollar to the Amero and form the new Union. Why? A new currency won't solve anything, especially if Americans can't get cash to exchange for Ameros. In fact, when they see the trick the government is pulling on them demanding they bring cash, and they can't get the cash, they will riot. In contrast however, in 1999, when Europe switched over to the Euro, every country took a hit on their individual country's currency to do the switch over, but because the economic times were good in Europe and the governments cooperated, it all worked. That is not the intent here, to make it work. On the contrary . . .

It's not going to work ! prepare your exit

The United States is in the midst of a severe depression with massive unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, 40 million on food stamps, and we're not even close to hitting the bottom. In my opinion, what I see coming is the total collapse of the dollar, and then the United States, without a currency, is ushered right into the cashless society and the mark of the beast. Sounds apocalyptic. I hope I am wrong.

But there is still hope for individuals if you do something about it while you can. In one of my last articles I talked about getting out of the financial glue trap. Here are a few suggestions of what to do to accomplish that. Get at least six month's or a year's worth of food for you and your family. Take all of your electronic money out of the bank and liquidate your investments in the markets. At this juncture in time you can't worry about the penalties or tax consequences, (which aren't due until April, 2011), from liquidating your IRAs or other investments. Just get everything out and in your hand as soon as possible. To preserve your wealth buy gold and silver coins and get on the side lines. Remember, the age old adage has always been true: Possession is 9/10s of the law: If you don't have it in your hand in tangible form, you don't own it, and it's not yours.

In addition to food, gold and silver, have a cash cushion for the possible switch over to the Amero or for emergencies. If you live in a big city, plan to get out into the country where it will be safer, and you will have a better chance to survive. If you are looking for information on how to buy gold and silver you can call me at 414-234-8267 or go to my website www.goldandsilverexchange.infofor more information. To preserve your wealth the 5,000 year old way, remember what the old sage, Richard Russell had to say, 'Gold is the ultimate cash.' The time is short.
Source: http://beforeitsnews.com/news/84/972/Prepare_for_a_false_flag_attack_-_get_ready_for_the_Amero.html

Last updated 28/06/2010

The Coming Jewish Lockdown of the Internet

The Coming Jewish Lockdown of the Internet

Brother Nathanael Kapner  Real Zionist News June 26, 2010

A JEWISH-LED SENATE COMMITTEE approved legislation that would fundamentally reshape the way the government protects public AND private sector cyber networks.

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led by Chairman Joe Lieberman, a freedom-hating, Talmudic Jew, is the sponsor of this bill which would create a Cyberspace Policy Office within the White House.

The bill, Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, maliciously crafted by Lieberman, would also create a new center within Homeland Security, (Talmudic Jew Lieberman at the head), which would implement cyber-security policies.

This new agency within the Department of Homeland Security will be named, The National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC).

Any private company reliant on the Internet, the telephone system, or any other component of the US information infrastructure, will be subject to command by the NCCC and be required to engage in information sharing with the agency. AND a Jew, that is, a Talmudic Jew, Joe Lieberman, will be the arbiter.

A provision of the legislation that will give the Jews ultimate control of the Internet  given their rule over every sphere of US political life  is that which will give the president the power to authorize emergency measures to protect the nation if a cyber vulnerability is about to be exploited.

The language is obviously vague, thanks to the Jewish-intrigues of Lieberman, thus giving the president an Internet kill switch that would effectively allow him to turn off the Web (when Jews tell him to) in a so-called emergency.

Indeed, earlier this month, Lieberman was prepping the bill that would allow the government to take over civilian networks in a crisis. Thus, Internet advocacy groups are up in arms that the legislation would give the president the authority to conduct e-surveillance and monitor private networks.

In light of this vehement opposition, Lieberman was granted a spot on Bronfman's CNN to refute the kill switch criticism. If China can disconnect the Internet, protested Lieberman, we need to have that here too.

What does China, a COMMUNIST country, which FORBIDS Freedom of Speech, have in common with Lieberman and his Bill?

Everything, my dear fellow Americans. Lieberman, a Zionist Jew, FEARS Freedom of Speech, just like Communist China, in order to CENSURE all criticism of Jews and their quest to take over the executive office.

And who controls the president of the United States? Jews. Who then will control the Internet and e-mails? Your educated guess is as good as mine. JEWS. Do we really want a Jewish police state? If your answer is no then VOTE OUT THE JEWS!

For More See: A Jewish Police State Is Coming

And: The Rise Of The US Surveillance State & The Jews Behind It

And: Homeland Security Targets Anti-Semitic Extremists

And: How The Jews Took The White House

Source: http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=515

Last updated 29/06/2010

Gilad Atzmon talks about Left, Islam, Israeli Lobby, Chomsky and many other Hot Topics

Touching Left, Islam, Israeli Lobby, Chomsky and many other Hot Topics

Gilad Atzmon talks to Miriam Cotton -- Gilad.co.uk June 27, 2010

Gilad Atzmon is a world renowned saxophonist and musician with a deep political passion for humanist issues and concern for the fate of the Palestinian people. He has written extensively about the issue and been published widely. As a self-exiled, former Jewish Israeli and IDF soldier, Atzmon's perspective within the raging public discourse on Palestine is relatively unique. His views are bitterly opposed by some among anti-Zionist Jewish groups, who accuse him of anti-Semitism and of being a self-hater.

Atzmon fiercely resists the charge of anti-Semitism and insists that he is concerned with a proper and thorough examination of the ideology of what it is to be Jewish  in particular about how the notion of the Jews as a chosen people has led, as he sees it, inexorably to the rise of Zionism and its present disproportionate influence on world affairs.

Atzmon also takes issue with the Western Left which he believes has failed either to recognize the true extent of Zionist influence (he singles Noam Chomsky out for criticism) and of not understanding how western Marxist/socialist ideologies are incompatible with Islamic societies and therefore can be of no use to them. These and other issues are discussed with him below. There are many things in what Atzmon says below that beg further question and comment but hopefully the exchange has served to illustrate his interpretation of the Palestinian situation and to provide an insight on a less frequently aired or understood perspective.

Miriam Cotton -- MediaBite (Ireland) June 21st 2010

MC: Following the murder and kidnap of unarmed aid activists in international waters by Israel, General Petraeus has said the situation [in Gaza] is no longer sustainable. Though he was in no sense condemning what Israel had done, do you think there may be a beginning of an end to unconditional US support for Israel?

GA: It is actually the other way around. It is Israel that ditches America. Israeli leadership realises that with America in the background the Jewish state won't be able to pursue its next two lethal plans: Nakaba 2 and dismantling Iranian nuclear capacity. Israel realises that if it wants to maintain its Jews only state as a regional power, it must ethnically cleanse the rest of the Palestinians. Israel is also convinced that its only chance of surviving in the region is if it maintains a nuclear hegemony. The USA makes things difficult for the Jewish State at the moment; it tries to slow Israel down. I believe that it is Israel that is leading the conflict rather than being subject to it.

MC: But surely that assessment overlooks some important factors. Nobody can seriously doubt that the US obsession with the region is entirely to do with oil, gas and geo-strategic matters such as Russian and Chinese proximity to these resources, in particular.

GA: This is a good way to put it. However you may also wonder what American interests are, who defines these interests and who shapes them. As it happens, AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) has been pretty effective in shaping American interests; we also know that the Wolfowitz doctrine made it into Bush's doctrine. For the last three decades Americans failed to see the clear discrepancy between cheap oil and alliance with Israel. They might start to understand it now.

MC: But the Bush family was/is an oil dynasty too - with ties to as many if not more Arabic vested interests as to the Israelis - there are many more non-AIPAC, US vested interests like these than are in AIPAC. Everything the US has done there since the beginning of its so-called 'war on terror' - and long beforehand - has been aimed at securing the Middle East and about energy and other resources.

GA: This is all true. It is also true that AIPAC won't necessarily interfere with unrelated political matters unless it involves Zionist, Israeli or Jewish interests. However, the Jewish lobby in America and in the UK has managed to shape the English speaking Empire's vision of its needs and interests. From an American perspective, instead of admitting that American soldiers were actually sent to fight war for Israel, they were told instead that they were sent to die in the name of moral interventionism and democracy. They were actually told that they were liberating the Iraqi people. How wonderful! The oil and Israeli interests were presented as side issues. As we know, oil prices didn't drop after 2003. And yet, Sadam Hussein, the bitterest enemy of Israel was removed. In the long run this plan didn't work for Israel either. Iran had become the unchallenged Muslim leading power. Inshalah it also becomes a nuclear super power soon. This would obviously deter the Israelis from accomplishing its endless imperial aspirations.

MC: There is no other country in the Middle East in which the US and its allies could position the vast military threat that Israel has been made into if they are to achieve their ambitions for the region. The realisation of Zionist ambitions for Israel was and still is a secondary consideration for the US, despite the relatively powerful Israeli lobby.

GA: I am not so sure at all. I actually think that the Zionist Lobby has managed to destroy the American empire. I argue that the Credit Crunch is in fact a Zio-Punch. I argue that Greenspan created an economy boom to divert attention from Wolfowitz wars. The Zionists in fact have managed to bring down every super power they cling to. Britain, France and now America. You have to allow yourself to admit that the War on Terror was actually a Zionist led war against Islam, a battle that was there to serve Israeli interests.

MC: Israel has been funded and encouraged to develop a nuclear arsenal of several hundred warheads, while the Iranians who do not even have one, but who control a lot of oil, are deemed to be a threat to world peace. Frankly, in these circumstances the Iranians and others would be justified in thinking they need some means of defending themselves against the only real threat at present- and against those who are in fact being the most provocative as well as doing the vast majority of the killing: US-Israel.

GA: This is indeed a very valid point. From an Iranian perspective, nuclear military capacity is a defensive means. The Iranians are constantly under a nuclear threat and so are the rest of the countries in the region and beyond.

MC: Britain and America don't fight any wars that they don't want to fight - not even justifiable wars, unless there is a percentage in it for them.

GA: Are you sure about this, or is that something we all prefer to believe? As it happens both in Britain and America the political parties are funded heavily by Jewish pro Israeli lobbies. Haim Saban, the multi-billionaire Israeli fund raiser for the American Democratic Party said last year that the best way to influence America is through political funding, the media and think tanks. There you go. Even the vision of American interests can be no more than false interests when they have been manipulated into an alignment with what are really Israeli interests. At the end of the day, it is far cheaper to by a western politician than buying a tank. It is far cheaper to recruit a new friend of Israel than flying an F15 for one hour.

MC: Israel is essentially a creation of the British and other European powers - and the oil was firmly at the front of their minds even way back then.

GA: This is another myth that people like Chomsky want us to believe in. In fact the Balfour Declaration was there to pull America into the war. It was there to push Jewish German and Russian bankers to change their allegiance from Germany to Britain so they could fund the new American war. Amos Alon presents an embarrassing chapter in Jewish history in his monumental book The Pity of It All. In fact it worked for the British. Two months after the Declaration, America was in the war. This wasn't about oil. It was another war funded by a Jewish political lobby.

MC: As with many other violent regimes that the US has propped up, the US doesn't care one jot what Israel gets up to with its own people so long as the commercial plan is proceeding towards its goal. The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is just one of the incidental costs that has to be paid to keep the US's bulldog in the region onside. Official US and UK statements after the attack on the aid flotilla were deplorable, with Obama for example declaring the deaths merely 'regrettable'. This was a clear signal to Turkey: do that again and this is what we will give you. Get in line.

GA: America is talking in many voices at the moment. It is confused or may even be lost in terms of foreign policy. Partially because there is a conflict between the American interests and the lobbies that gave the democrats the keys to the white house, namely AIPAC.

MC: US-Israel can no longer get away so easily as it once did with propagandising the Palestinians cause as a nation consisting entirely of terrorists nor cover up the increasingly blatant horrors that are being visited on them. What General Petraeus was signaling, it seems, is that a new strategy is needed - one that is less horrifying to world opinion so that they can all get on with business without attracting so much negative attention to the details.

GA: I think that General Petraeus together with his military advisers are realising that America is about to lose its grip in the Arab and Muslim world. At the end of the day, if I need your oil, I had better make friends with you rather than being caught in bed with your biggest enemy.

MC: They obviously didn't feel that way about Iraq. They have secured what they wanted there so far and next up is Iran. At the same time, it's clear that the US has created a monster, Israel, in the Middle East that will prove much more difficult to rein in than was wanted or even envisaged in some respects.

GA: I agree with most of what you say. However, contemporary liberal democracy decisions are made by elected politicians that are bought by different kinds of 'friends of Israel'. In America it is AIPAC and major Jewish fund-raisers such as Haim Saban whom I mentioned before, in Britain we had Lord 'cash machine' Levy and now the CFI (Conservative Friends of Israel). These pressure groups and individuals are there to suppress ethical reaction within the political system and beyond. However, following the last massacres in Gaza and on the Mavi Marmara, we saw a tidal wave of mass resentment towards Israel and its supportive Jewish lobbies. This is something that could lead eventually towards a cosmic shift also within politics.

MC: A different question - in the Irish version of the Sunday Times on the 6th of June there was an extraordinary article by one of Ireland's foremost journalists, Matt Cooper, which was headlined 'Israel presents a test of diplomatic skills', I kid you not. Cooper begins the piece by acknowledging the atrocity committed by Israel on the Mavi Marmara but subsequently works his way around to recommending what he calls a 'nuanced' way forward that is devoid of morality or of even basic humanity. The murders and all the previous Israeli slaughters that he has just condemned are benched - presumably in the interest of what he calls 'balanced' opinion later on in the same piece. 'Diplomacy' and Ireland's economic interests are invoked so as to finesse the horrific truths of what is really happening to the Palestinians out of the equation or at least into the margins. We are invited to understand the feelings of successive Israeli governments and by implication to compromise with their murderous intransigence after all. He rehearses the same jaded myth that Israel is surrounded by hostility, while ignoring the terror that it has since its incarnation routinely threatened and inflicted on its neighbours and on the Palestinians with all the might of the US military at its disposal - and says nothing at all of the huge cache of nuclear weapons which it has threatened to use against Iran, which has no nuclear weapons.

GA: It is indeed very interesting. Today we learned that Israel insists to probe its own crime. This is maybe the latest phase in Israeli manifested lunacy, arrogance or ignorance. The murderer tells the authorities, it is ok I can look into my own acts, leave it with me. My parents and my cousin can review my acts. This is indeed a way to challenge world diplomacy. Will Israel get away with it this time? I hope not. But if it does, it is there to prove to us all again that kosher lobbies are corrupting our ethical perspectives. Considering the fatal danger of a total war invoked by Israel, our leaders do not have much time at their disposal. Israel is the ultimate danger to world peace. It must be confronted with the ultimate measures now.

MC: I don't agree that any sort of preemptive physical attack on Israel would be justified, if that is what you are referring to.

GA: I obviously do not refer to violence here but to some extreme measures of economic embargo, sanctions and cultural boycotts.

MC: To get back to the media, I'm asking what you think about the role the mainstream media has played in promoting the Israeli perspective. Senior journalists throughout the West especially, mostly talk in a register of language and from within a frame of reference that is essentially back to front on this and many other issues: the victims of outrageous Israeli aggression and illegality are described as terrorists for resisting while the most outrageous pronouncements and behaviours are 'nuanced' into an Orwellian inversion of meaning and truth  Matt Cooper-style. Unprovoked aggression is redefined as defensive action to protect 'economic interests' above all.

GA: As I mentioned before, Haim Saban states that influence is achieved through political funding, media and think tanks. You are concerned with media and ideology here. There is no doubt that in the English speaking empire we are facing a battle against a foreign ideology that was very successful in defining our needs, desires and notion of justice. It was also very successful in setting our notion of fear and terror. The neo-cons that were spreading the deceitful ideology of 'moral interventionism' via politics and media were largely Zionists with leftist roots. It is actually this ideology that signifies the horrifying shift of Zionism from the limited discourse of 'promised land' into global politics - namely 'promised planet'.

You may want to ask yourself why their ideology was successful for a while, why did we let these people drag us into an illegal war and make us complicit in the murder of more than one million Iraqis. You may want to ask yourself how did the Wolfowitz Doctrine make it into American policy? I guess that 'moral interventionism' and 'war against terror' look nice on paper. It means that we are kosher and the other is evil. It took the West and humanity some time to realise that, in fact, we were serving an evil ideology and Zionist interests. It may also take us some time to realise that it is us who have become the darkest force around.

MC: Would you agree, that the complicit mainstream media narrative  which, as Chomsky has so clearly identified always runs in tandem with powerful economic perspectives - has been more powerful on Israel's behalf than ten AIPACs could ever have been?

GA: Not at all because as Saban makes it plainly clear, there is a continuum between the fund raiser, the think tank and the media. In terms of British politics there is an obvious ideological continuum between the Political Friend of Israel (Lord cash machine Levy) the advocates for the war within the media (Aaronovitch, Cohen) and the British neo-con think tank (Euston Manifesto).

MC: One of the major reasons the mainstream orthodoxy is being challenged now is because of the advent of the far more democratic, alternative media?

GA: I don't think so. It is challenged because there is a growing fatigue for Zionist politics, a growing realisation that tribal politics left a deadly stain on British and American foreign affairs. Also, following the second Lebanon war, the Gaza massacre and the latest assault on the Mavi Marmara, there is a greater realisation that Israel is a murderous state driven by morbid enthusiasm. But there is another reason that must be stated. For very many years, the Left blocked any attempt of elaboration on global Zionism and Jewish power. As it happens, aside from the recent weakening of the Zionist cause, the Left lost power within the solidarity discourse. To a certain extent the two political phenomena are linked. As we know, The Left has unfortunately failed to garner the emerging power of Islam and its immense power within the discourse of liberation.

As a result, the Left has been left behind. It is pretty much irrelevant to the discourse. For the Left to bounce back it must learn to think ethically and make a political bond with Islamic movements and migrant communities in the West.

MC: There are a number of things in what you are saying that I would challenge. Firstly, and ironically, somewhat like the Zionists themselves, you place them front and centre of everything that is happening. To disregard the motives and influence of the many other non-Zionist groups who are equally involved with them is similar to the disregard the Zionists show for others.

GA: There is actually again a continuum that you fail to detect between the sense of chosensess that is inherent to Zionism and any other Jewish political discourse and the Zionist political practice which is relentlessly exercised around the world. Zionists do not try to control everything, I guess that they do not care much about tobacco for the time being (this is probably why we cannot smoke freely anymore) but they do care about Western foreign affairs and would use any possible means to shape them. Look at the pressure Zionist groups mount on the American administration with regard to Turkey, Iran, sanctions, attacking the Mavi Marmara and so on.

MC: Not to defend what the US/UK/EU are doing, but to define their role as you do is almost to infantilise them - it is seriously to underestimate how powerful, dangerous and manipulative they are in their own right.

GA: To be honest, they are not as clever as people seem to think.

MC: Nobody sensible thinks they are being clever about any of this, but that they are capable of uncontrolled greed backed up with equally uncontrolled violence.

GA: Actually Israeli violence is far from being uncontrolled. It is deadly and premeditated. This is the true notion of Israel's power of deterrence. Back to your question. In fact they do it all in the open. David Miliband, who is also listed as an Israeli propaganda author, was acting against British universal jurisdiction just to allow Israeli war criminals to visit the UK. How do you explain it? Was it very clever of him? Was it very clever of David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen to advocate an illegal war while being also Jewish Chronicle (a UK Zionist outlet) writers? Was it a clever move to support a war that led to 1.5 million dead Iraqis? Is it very clever of Haim Saban to tell the American people we the Jews influence your life through political funding, media, and think tanks? The answer is no, it is not clever at all. It is an infantile arrogance that is inherent to the chauvinist identity. The success of the Zionist agenda so far has a lot to do with the fact that they operate within tolerant discourses and people like yourself and Chomsky would go out of your way to defend them with foggy ideology. Unfortunately, this ideology doesn't hold water anymore. As you may know Chomsky is totally discredited. His lame argument against Walt and Mearsheimer, which is similar to yours, puts a big question mark over his entire life time project. This may be a shame but the good news is that the resentment towards Zionism, Israel and relentless Jewish lobbying is becoming a mass phenomenon. It exceeds the political discourse. It is a spirit, it is public and it is refreshing. This may be good news because we always wanted to be there, the only concern is that no one really controls it anymore.

MC: Where have these questions implied a defense of Zionists or Zionism? Merely to say that they are not alone in this or that they do not control what is happening in the Middle East on their own is in no way a defense either of their ideology or of their actions.

GA: To start with it is not a personal debate but and ideological one. However, I guess that failing to confront extensive Jewish lobbying is to provide Zionism with a body shield. You are talking about other American interests. What is so unique about AIPAC, David Miliband and CFI is the fact that right out in the open they promote the interests of a foreign government. Would a Muslim lobby get away with it? Could Iran or Pakistan get away with it? Would Chomsky rush to defend them as well? I really wonder.

MC: Chomsky has been a forthright critic of Israel's - was only recently prevented by the Israeli government from attending an engagement. He has made some puzzling statements but again, I think you ignore overwhelming evidence that contradicts what you say about him.

GA: I have a lot of respect for what Chomsky did along the years. However, as American activist Jeff Blankfort pointed out recently, Chomsky has been dismissing the power of the pro-Israel lobby. He opposed the BDS movement and made some efforts to dissuade people from using the term apartheid to describe Israel's control over Palestinian society. Chomsky also opposes the Palestinian right of return and a one-state solution. Chomsky is in fact a liberal Zionist as well as a kibbutz enthusiast. This is enough to explain why his voice has been pushed to the margin within the Palestinian solidarity discourse. Considering his contribution on other fields of thought, it is a shame indeed.

MC: There is a lot that could and should be said in response to that but this discussion is not about Chomsky. AIPAC may be feted in Washington and London for now but it will go the way of all those who collaborate with the US in due course. As has been noted many times, US foreign policy makers think nothing of caricaturing former friends as villains when they stop being useful. The Israel-as-lone-defender-of-democracy-in- the-Middle-East myth has been forcefully sold for a long time, it's true, but seldom if ever have the economic and strategic spoils of war been so great.

GA: Why was it useful? Is it because it is true? Not really. Israel has never been a democracy - it is a racially exclusive society that managed to set up a Jews only democracy. Americans are clever enough to understand it. They went through a civil rights struggle not that long ago and in fact they still do. The deceitful image of Jewish democracy was there to create a phantasmic continuum between the USA and the Jewish State. It is obviously far more complicated to explain to the masses how exactly supporting a hawkish Jewish state in a sea of oil would make oil cheaper.

MC: Isn't your fundamental mistake in this respect that you are confusing or ignoring much of the quite independent and equally violent avarice of the other vested interests with the extent of AIPAC's influence, which everyone knows is undoubtedly strong.

GA: With due respect and without claiming to be free of errors, I do not think that you are pointing to any mistake in my reading of the situation. If anything, all I can see is you being reluctant to admit that we had been pulled by an extensive institutional and very dangerous lobby for more than a while. In fact, I know that you and others are holding this position because you want to believe that you are true humanists. I respect it. Indeed one of the most crucial questions we have to confront here is how to say what we think about Israel and its Jewish lobbies and still be humanists. I believe that the answer is to admit that we are confronted with an ideology that dismisses our notion of humanism, kindness and compassion. To a certain degree we are confronted here with a deep challenge: how shall we perform kindness to the unkind.

This is why it is so important for me to maintain that the massacre on the Mavi Marmara was no less than killing Christ again. Regardless of the historicity of Jesus and regardless of the fact that there is NO continuum between the ancient Israelites and the contemporary Israelis, we see here a broad daylight assault on goodness and kindness. This deadly attempt was supported by the Israeli people, it was committed by their popular army and it is still supported by world Jewry except some sporadic Jews such as the Torah Jews who oppose it and obviously are highly respected for it. How do we confront it? Call for what it is. This must be our approach because as far as I can see, the Israelis and their lobbyists interpret your silence or reluctance to use the right language as weakness. If we want to help Israelis we may as well make it clear to them that we actually see through them.

MC: It is important to understand Zionist ideology and to challenge and expose what is inhumane in it. Mainstream western media has been criminally complicit in its refusal to do that. But if the Zionists never existed, the US and its EU allies would be in the Middle East right now, or at some other time, doing exactly what they are doing - as they have done for centuries in many other parts of the world that the Zionists had nothing to do with. Also there are many Jewish people in Israel who have been courageously protesting the treatment of the Palestinians by their own government for a long time and who were very vocal after the Mavi Marmara.

GA: Many is just slightly over the top. A Palestinian spokeswomen in London was asked in the late 1990s what she thought of all those good Jews, those who support the Palestinians. Her answer was shockingly simple yet revealing. She said, I admire all these beautiful and kind people, all fifteen of them. In fact I follow their discourse and I cannot count more than eight of them. I am far from being impressed by the Jews for this and Jews for that. I regard it as a Zionist fig leaf operation. Especially when it comes from Marxist Jews. If they are indeed Marxist, why don'[t they just join the working class and fight Zionism along side the rest of us?

I will now go back to your question. What would have happened if Israel didn't exist? Since we are dealing here with a hypothetical assumption you may have to agree that USA/UK/EU could have also used very different tactics. Britain and America in the past used diplomacy also. If you read the history of Zionism, from the very beginning Herzl was capitalizing on super- power interests in the region. This is even before oil was an issue. So you can equally argue that the way things evolved was inevitable due to the nature of Zionist political philosophy of bonding with influential powers. Israel Shahak would argue that this is the heritage of the Talmud. I argue that this is the exact meaning of the Biblical Story of Esther. In my paper From Purim to AIPAC I explore the continuum between the Bible and contemporary Jewish political lobbying.

MC: At the crudest level of all, Israel may have 500 nukes courtesy of the US, but the US arsenal and its overall military capability is many multiples of Israel's. No contest.

GA: This is pretty irrelevant, I am afraid. America is or at least was a super power. It was engaged in a cold war. This may explain rather than justify why it has so many bombs. However Israel engaged in a territorial battle with its so called enemies. One must wonder why it needs atomic bombs at all. If Israel cares about Sderot and Ashkelon as much as it says, it would never nuke Gaza. The answer is pretty devastating. Israel possesses all those bombs because it insists on keeping the rest of the world in a constant threat. In case anyone fails to see it, the rest of the world is what we call humanity. And this is the crux of the matter. We are dealing here with a lethal collective that is driven by deadly psychosis against humanity and humanism.

MC: The Zionists have no monopoly on deadly psychosis towards other groups of people. The native American Indians have told the world a thing or two about the centuries-long psychosis of the Christian settlers there - the misery that led to mass suicides among many other horrors. It's surely fundamentally anti humanist  racist/discriminatory even - to single any one group of people out as being uniquely evil?

GA: To start with we both agree that the Zionists didn't invent evil. In fact Zionism is an attempt to exercise some colonial barbarism in a world that has moved on from that kind of political philosophy. In short Zionists are guilty of committing colonial crimes 100 years too late. However, you make one crucial mistake here. You say It's surely fundamentally anti humanist to single any one group of people out as being uniquely evil. You maybe right, but Zionism is not at all a group of people, it is actually an ideology. In fact it is a racist, anti humanist ideology that must be confronted. Similarly, those who follow this ideology are succumbing to an inhuman philosophy and must be exposed, named and shamed. As you will notice in my writing, I never criticize Jews as Jews or Judaism as a religion. I concentrate on Jewish ideology, namely Jewishness that has a very particular supremacist interpretation of the Judaic core. In my writing I have managed to trace Jewishness in every modern Jewish political setting whether it is right wing Zionism, the pseudo- socialist Bund or the radical Matzpen. However, I must mention that Torah Jews are free of that fault. They draw their inspiration from the Torah and present a very unique form of tribal humanism.

MC: You say the left has failed to embrace the 'emerging power of Islam'. Left wing groups within Islam itself do not seem to be meeting with a good reception by and large.

GA: I don't understand what you mean by Left groups within Islam. Islam is in itself a philosophy that promotes equality; it doesn't need Left ideology and cannot integrate such an atheist precept. I guess that what you are referring to is Left groups within the Arab or Muslim world. Indeed, the entire left philosophy is Euro-centric and related to the industrial revolution. These ideas are completely irrelevant to the Near East and its understanding of struggle for liberation.

MC: Outside of Islam, the left can only offer solidarity and encouragement.

GA: I guess that what you are taking about is producing badges, scarves and caps with Palestinian flags. This is indeed nice. I always quote Lacan in that reference. Lacan says that making love is in practice making love to yourself through the other. In that sense, the Left's notion of solidarity is in practice making love to yourself at the expense of the oppressed. I am not impressed with this concept at all.

MC: That may be true of certain types of activism but it is unfair to caricature much Left solidarity with the Palestinians like that. The Freedom Flotilla was about a lot more than producing badges and scarves. There are many journalists and activists who have made serious and effective efforts to support the Palestinians from within the left  some who have even given their lives to keeping up vital communication. And besides, the badges and scarves have served a purpose too by making sure we are not allowed to forget.

GA: As it happens I was in Athens and in Nicosia when the Flotilla left. I was working closely with the Freedom Mission, I gave talks and interviews. I was also in touch with activists in Istanbul. I can tell you that the Freedom Mission to Gaza is indeed a very refreshing move within the solidarity movement. The so-called Leftists within this movement certainly are not frightened by Islam or Hamas. They certainly respect the Palestinian democratic choice. I admire them for that and wish I could have been with them on board.

MC: To return to the Left and Islam, however justified Iran may be to perceive Israel as the real Middle Eastern threat; trade unionists are having a pretty hard time in Iran right now, for example. What is it that you think the left can or should be doing?

GA: To start with I do not talk about the Left in Iran, Iraq or Palestine. I am talking about the Left here, in Europe. The first thing to do is to accept the notion of otherness. For instance: to stand up for Hamas as a democratically elected body; to stand up for Hezbullah which presents Israel with fierce resistance; to support an Iranian nuclear project as a necessary defensive means; to support the Muslim right to love their Allah and to fight for freedom in his name. These things are rather basic and elementary. The left must also realise that Muslim migrant communities in the West are the first sufferers of cultural, social, racial and political oppression. If the Left wants to maintain ideological and ethical relevance it must join forces with these ethnic groups. It is also possible that the Western Left has already missed the train; this would mean that it belongs to history.

MC: I really cannot agree with some of what you say here. The Left is generally very aware of the need to respect cultural differences in Islam and has done more than any political grouping on either the centre or right to forge links and to challenge the discrimination suffered by migrant groups. As with Christianity, Judaism and other religions Islam has its faults.

GA: If this is the case, how do you explain the fact that the Left was so slow to accept Hamas? How many leftists support the Iraqi resistance? And what about the Taliban? Do you support any of those? I cannot agree with your statement about Islam and other religions.. You are here employing a typical liberal supremacist approach. You set yourself in an imaginary elitist position above and beyond your subject of criticism. If you want to criticize a body of thought you can only do it by means of deconstruction, by tracing inconsistency within. In order to do it you must first achieve a reasonable familiarity. This is by the way, what I try to do with Zionism and Jewish identity. I am obviously familiar enough to deconstruct different form of Jewish discourses. I am less familiar with the Judaic discourse and leave it out.

MC: There is nothing supremacist in the question  I explicitly say that all religions have their faults  but let me be clearer: women and homosexuals have been oppressed by most if not all religions to a greater or lesser extent. To criticize Islam for the same oppression in no way implies either that the problem is unique to it or that matters are perfect elsewhere.

GA: Miriam you are implying here that while Christianity and Jewish identity moved on, Islam was left behind. To be honest with you, I must admit that the dichotomy between the Progressive and the Reactionary is another symptom of Judaic binary opposition within the left discourse. Progressiveness is just another word for Choseness.

MC: Oppression is oppression the same as occupation is occupation.

GA: I obviously do not agree. Oppression is very complicated to define. Occupation, on the other hand, can be defined in positive terms such as territorial and legal.

MC: There is still much oppression of women and of homosexuals which cannot be explained away as mere cultural difference. Criticisng these things should not be a cultural taboo any more than criticising Zionism should be an anti-Semitic taboo.

GA: Sorry, I do not agree with you at all. There is a clear differentiation between the liberal Western discourse that celebrates individualism and the Eastern tribal discourse that values family, the community and culture. You tend to believe that you uphold some higher ethical system that allows you to pass judgment on other cultural assets that are foreign to you. You are obviously not alone. This is the nature of popular culture within the post Enlightenment discourse. I would argue instead that true tolerance is the capacity to accept even when you fail to understand. I myself obviously treat women and gays with total respect and fight for their equality within my environment. However, rather than criticising certain Islamic cultures I try to grasp its political and religious attitude towards different groups. I suggest everyone who claims to care about solidarity should do the same.

But before we move on, please let me address your last point.

As long as you argue that X attitude towards Y is oppressive from a liberal perspective, you may be correct, your argument could be valid and consistent. However, once you claim that X attitude towards Y is oppressive categorically you produce an argument that is no different from a Neocon or moral interventionist. You basically claim to be better and more ethical than X.

These Issues are not simple. I can provide a solution but I guess that I have managed to formulate the complexity.

MC: How then is this different to your intolerance for what Zionists too would argue is their culture and belief in choseness and all that that has led to?

GA: This is very simple indeed. Zionist crimes are committed on the expense of others.

MC: You say you are a humanist. There is no humanist argument to justify the mutilation of girls genitalia and the lifelong misery that it causes to women.

GA: How do you know? Can't you see that in order to make such a statement valid you have to set yourself beyond and above the human discourse? However, I obviously understand your point of view from a Western perspective. I am very suspicious of any call for moral interventionism. And just let me correct you. I do not carry the humanist flag. I am looking for the notion of humanism. As far as I can tell it is a dynamic notion. Like ethics it must be reshaped and revised all the time.

MC: I realise that not all Muslims endorse FGM. But these things are as sick as each other. Again, there are comparable evils in most if not all religions, societies and cultures  this is not to single Islam out.

GA: I am happy that you mentioned it because as far as I am aware, and I am not exactly an expert on the subject, FGM is not at all prescribed by Islam. However, just to mention that I do not remember coming across Left or Liberal criticism of similar Jewish ancient blood ritual that involves blood sucking and chopping of male infant sexual organ (Brit Mila). As it happens Jewish parents, both secular religious let a Rabbi circumcise and suck the blood of their sons when they are just 8 days old. How do you explain the fact that such a barbarian ritual takes place in our midst? Why doesn't it provoke outrage? Why you yourself do not protest against it?

MC: It is not possible for a genuine humanist to look the other way wherever inhumanity is occurring, whoever is responsible for it. You are applying a double standard in this, I think. You defend FGM on cultural grounds but describe a comparable Jewish ritual as barbaric.

GA: It is rather obvious that when I refer to a Jewish blood ritual, I am criticising it from a western point of view by means of deconstruction. I live in the West, I tend to understand western ideology and culture and I am capable of pointing to a clear discrepancy between the human rights of a child and blood ritual. However, I am far less convinced that Western liberals possess the capacity to pass an ethical judgment regarding cultures that are remote to Western values and way of life. And yet one question remains  why is the liberal mind so concerned with FGM that is carried out in Africa, and not all troubled by a similar Jewish blood ritual that is practiced in our midst.

MC: To move on to the next question, however. That Muslims  or anyone anywhere - should be free to fight for freedom from violent invasion and occupation is axiomatic for most people, though not for pacifists of course. Invoking God for the purpose has never been anything other than a disaster, has it?

GA: Really? Here is where you tend to express your intolerance towards other's belief. The greatest symphonies and architecture were actually created in the context of a dialogue with God. Islamic resistance that defeats Israel and Western imperialism whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza or South Lebanon is inspired by Allah. Why are you so disrespectful to God? In fact, I believe that you are failing to detect the importance of Islam within the context of Arabic and international resistance. It is peculiar but tragically rather common amongst leftists. As I said earlier on, this explains why left lost its relevance.

MC: There are a lot of unfounded assumptions in what you say but we will have to leave it there. This has been an interesting debate. We will have to agree to differ on a number of things. Thank you for the conversation.

GA: I too enjoyed it enormously and I really hope that the difference between us will lead to a further debate and many more realizations.
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/touching-left-islam-israeli-lobby-chomsky-and-many-other-hot.html

Last updated 29/06/2010