Tuesday, December 25, 2007

The Fuel Fixers

The above article, published in this week's New York Times Sunday Magazine, concerns James Giffen whose participation in the Kazakhstan bribery scheme was documented in a two-part article in FTW in 2002. I have been unable to find part 2 on the FTW website or on the net. But Mike says it contained an interview he conducted with a member of the Kazakhstan parliament who implicated Dick Cheney in the scheme.

China Secures New Access to Kazakh Oil
Terrorism Damage Bill Passed by House
Transcript of Bill Moyers Show on Iraq War

"PHIL DONOHUE: Our producers were instructed to feature two conservatives for every liberal.
BILL MOYERS: You're kidding."

"BILL MOYERS: IN DUMPING DONAHUE, NBC CITED RATINGS. BUT A BLOGGER GOT HIS HANDS ON AN INTERNAL MEMO AND THE PRESS PICKED IT UP.
BILL MOYERS: Now that memo said, "Donohue presents a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. At the same time our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." Did you know about that memo at the time?
PHIL DONOHUE: No. No. I didn't know about that till I read about it in The NEW YORK TIMES.
BILL MOYERS: What did you think? What does that say to you? That dissent is unpatriotic?
PHIL DONOHUE: Well, not only unpatriotic, but it's not good for business."

"ERIC BOEHLERT: One of the first big embarrassments was Powell had talked about this British intelligence report.
COLIN POWELL: I would call my colleagues attention to the fine paper that United Kingdom distributed yesterday, which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities.
BILL MOYERS: SUPPOSEDLY THAT 'EXQUISITE DETAIL' FROM BRITISH INTELLIGENCE CAME FROM A TOP SECRET DOSSIER.
ERIC BOEHLERT: Literally within a day or two it was proven in the British press that that had simply been downloaded off the Internet. And was plagiarized. And it actually contains the typos that were in the original.
BRITISH REPORTER: (2/7/03): The British government dossier is supposed to be about Iraqi deception and concealment. It says it draws upon a number of sources including intelligence material. Well, actually what it largely draws on is a thesis written by a Californian post graduate student...
ERIC BOEHLERT: That was just the first of many embarrassments that were to come. But within days the British press was going crazy over this revelation.
BRITISH REPORTER: As for the student himself, he's accused the government of plagiarism.
BRITISH REPORTER: If the government is reduced to trawling academic journals then how good is the rest of its case for war against Iraq?"

Cynthia Mckinney Announces Run for Presidency
China's Presence in Africa is Wake-Up Call for Europe
Iraqi Kurds: Turkish Warplanes Bomb Northern Iraq Again
Rumsfeld Torture Case Dismissed in France
Tar Sands Versus Clean Water
Carbon Conscious Consumer

16 comments:

Tyler Havlin said...

Denial Of Energy Crisis Is A Conditioned Response

http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=76142117615387275

The charade of limitless consumption goes on today, further sanctified through the manufacture of close associations between nationalistic symbols such as the flag and icons of waste such as NASCAR and Hummers. The use by politicians of coded phrases like “the American way of life” allows easy dismissal of the bearers of unpleasant realities as unpatriotic.

Indeed, “unpleasant” scarcely begins to describe the scope of a future we as a species now face. With the unavoidable decline of the supply of oil and natural gas, manufacturing, transportation, building construction, central heating, air conditioning, and communications (including our beloved computers) will all break down. Since food production (planting, fertilizing, pest control, harvesting, processing and long range delivery) and even water supply and sanitation have become inextricably dependent on oil, wide scale thirst, hunger, and disease also loom as part of a probable future.

Rice Farmer said...

Everywhere the US looks for resources and energy, the Chinese have already been there. I'm not a supporter of any one government, but have to admire the Chinese for playing their hand well.

Fuel subsidies are the beginning of the end:
http://ricefarmer.blogspot.com/2007/12/fuel-subsidies-beginning-of-end.html

Rice Farmer said...

The missing "Part II" is curious. The title of the linked web page is actually "Part II," while the article itself is Part I. Was this just a simple mistake by the person who uploaded the page, or did this get hacked sometime before the site was locked down? Questions, questions.

Rice Farmer said...

Russia, Iran tighten the energy noose
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/IL22Ag01.html

Not only the Chinese, but the Russians too, have shown themselves to be the equals of the US in the global energy lock-down game. Russia too had a very good year in 2006.

Anonymous said...

with all the major news outlets flooding with bhutto news... I'm looking for the action behind the curtain. What is being pushed through or what have you due to the media divert?

Also, what is everyone's take on this incident and what significance holds for us?

Rice Farmer said...

I have been predicting that as artificial fertilizer gets more expensive, farmers will begin falling back on organic inputs. Well, looky here.
http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/agnews/local_story_361184458.html

And this is just the start. Biofuel producers had better sit up and take notice.

Rice Farmer said...

Congress Makes Move to Secure Fertilizer
http://www.farmfutures.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=CD26BEDECA4A4946A1283CC7786AEB5A&nm=News&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=B447B466188B4DF9B826E7A60588986E

Don't be fooled. This has nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with controlling fertilizer.

gaelicgirl said...

jwfearman: Here is a link to a piece by Global Research contributor Larry Chin that may provide some of the 'backstory' you were looking for on the Benazir Bhutto assasination:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7699

gaelicgirl said...

And here's more along the same lines, re: Bhutto:

http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=172&a=4675

Unknown said...

Quoting from from one of the articles Gaelic Girl posted (and thanks, it was very useful & interesting):-

"The mass popular revulsion over the Bhutto assassination has unleashed intense instability in Pakistan. A further unraveling of the political situation could well draw the US military into direct involvement in the attempt to suppress popular upheavals in a country of 165 million people."

I'm getting the overall impression that the wheels are falling off the Global project. I mean, you can duck and weave and connive for only so long - eventually, you have to pay the piper. How much power does the USA really have in a country of 165 million very unhappy people, when it can't maintain direct military control in a country of around 20 million (Iraq)? What are they going to do, invade if the population decides it wants rid of its dictators? And when does the oil equation cut in, considering the Pentagon is one of the largest consumers on the Planet? As I think I've written before, people who think they hold The Fates on leash often end up getting mauled by them.

johnny said...

Wishes and Thanks to Jenna and everyone's fantastic input and research.

Very enlightening.

johnny

Rice Farmer said...

Best in 2008 to MCR and Jenna, and the whole FTW community!

Gilded Owl Musings said...

I've been reading FTW for a loooong time, and wish to say Hi to all.

I wish to comment on the Energy Crisis.

The energy crisis, combined with the credit crisis, worries me. I'm finding out people are charging their fuel oil costs trying to defer payment because they can't afford the cost of heating their home.

I know we are supposed to have positive suggestions, but it seems like 'it' is almost out of our control. Where will people get money to pay for oil when gas prices will hit $4.00 a gal next winter to heat their homes?

This will certainly create a huge divide in classes. The upper middle & middle class will become poor. The economy will fall.

If people move to the south, there will be an eventual burden on the water supply.

This senario will have people begging for nuclear power plants and drilling in Alaska. Maybe that's what they want.

Tyler Havlin said...

Best wishes to everyone in 2008.

Why the era of cheap food is over

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20071231/wl_csm/o2008food_1

It is significant enough for the FAO to be warning about the dangers of turning too much food into fuel, and for the Chinese government, for example, to ban the construction of new refineries that use corn or other basic foods. In fact, earlier this month Beijing announced tax breaks and subsidies to encourage the use of cellulose, sweet sorghum, and cassava (nonfood crops in China) for biofuels.

Some analysts estimate that as much as 30 percent of the US grain crop will go toward producing ethanol this year, a doubling from 2006. IFPRI forecasts that if the world sticks to current biofuel expansion plans, the price of corn will go up 26 percent by 2020, and the price of oilseeds (such as soybean, sunflower, rapeseed) by 18 percent. If governments double efforts to produce this alternative fuel source, corn prices are expected to go up 72 percent and oilseeds by 44 percent in 12 years' time.

pcleddy said...

found this:

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/04_04_02_elephant.html

part ii of the article

Jenna Orkin said...

thank you for trying, pcleddy, but that's not really part two. it's the same article