Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Real Struggle in Iran and Implications for U.S. Dialogue

from STRATFOR

The Real Struggle in Iran and Implications for U.S. Dialogue
June 29, 2009


Graphic for Geopolitical Intelligence Report

By George Friedman
Related Link

* The Geopolitics of Iran: Holding the Center of a Mountain Fortress

Related Special Topic Page

* Ongoing Coverage and Updates

Speaking of the situation in Iran, U.S. President Barack Obama said June 26, “We don’t yet know how any potential dialogue will have been affected until we see what has happened inside of Iran.” On the surface that is a strange statement, since we know that with minor exceptions, the demonstrations in Tehran lost steam after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for them to end and security forces asserted themselves. By the conventional wisdom, events in Iran represent an oppressive regime crushing a popular rising. If so, it is odd that the U.S. president would raise the question of what has happened in Iran.

In reality, Obama’s point is well taken. This is because the real struggle in Iran has not yet been settled, nor was it ever about the liberalization of the regime. Rather, it has been about the role of the clergy — particularly the old-guard clergy — in Iranian life, and the future of particular personalities among this clergy.
Ahmadinejad Against the Clerical Elite

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ran his re-election campaign against the old clerical elite, charging them with corruption, luxurious living and running the state for their own benefit rather than that of the people. He particularly targeted Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an extremely senior leader, and his family. Indeed, during the demonstrations, Rafsanjani’s daughter and four other relatives were arrested, held and then released a day later.

Rafsanjani represents the class of clergy that came to power in 1979. He served as president from 1989-1997, but Ahmadinejad defeated him in 2005. Rafsanjani carries enormous clout within the system as head of the regime’s two most powerful institutions — the Expediency Council, which arbitrates between the Guardian Council and parliament, and the Assembly of Experts, whose powers include oversight of the supreme leader. Forbes has called him one of the wealthiest men in the world. Rafsanjani, in other words, remains at the heart of the post-1979 Iranian establishment.

Ahmadinejad expressly ran his recent presidential campaign against Rafsanjani, using the latter’s family’s vast wealth to discredit Rafsanjani along with many of the senior clerics who dominate the Iranian political scene. It was not the regime as such that he opposed, but the individuals who currently dominate it. Ahmadinejad wants to retain the regime, but he wants to repopulate the leadership councils with clerics who share his populist values and want to revive the ascetic foundations of the regime. The Iranian president constantly contrasts his own modest lifestyle with the opulence of the current religious leadership.

Recognizing the threat Ahmadinejad represented to him personally and to the clerical class he belongs to, Rafsanjani fired back at Ahmadinejad, accusing him of having wrecked the economy. At his side were other powerful members of the regime, including Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, who has made no secret of his antipathy toward Ahmadinejad and whose family links to the Shiite holy city of Qom give him substantial leverage. The underlying issue was about the kind of people who ought to be leading the clerical establishment. The battlefield was economic: Ahmadinejad’s charges of financial corruption versus charges of economic mismanagement leveled by Rafsanjani and others.

When Ahmadinejad defeated Mir Hossein Mousavi on the night of the election, the clerical elite saw themselves in serious danger. The margin of victory Ahmadinejad claimed might have given him the political clout to challenge their position. Mousavi immediately claimed fraud, and Rafsanjani backed him up. Whatever the motives of those in the streets, the real action was a knife fight between Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani. By the end of the week, Khamenei decided to end the situation. In essence, he tried to hold things together by ordering the demonstrations to halt while throwing a bone to Rafsanjani and Mousavi by extending a probe into the election irregularities and postponing a partial recount by five days.
The Struggle Within the Regime

The key to understanding the situation in Iran is realizing that the past weeks have seen not an uprising against the regime, but a struggle within the regime. Ahmadinejad is not part of the establishment, but rather has been struggling against it, accusing it of having betrayed the principles of the Islamic Revolution. The post-election unrest in Iran therefore was not a matter of a repressive regime suppressing liberals (as in Prague in 1989), but a struggle between two Islamist factions that are each committed to the regime, but opposed to each other.

The demonstrators certainly included Western-style liberalizing elements, but they also included adherents of senior clerics who wanted to block Ahmadinejad’s re-election. And while Ahmadinejad undoubtedly committed electoral fraud to bulk up his numbers, his ability to commit unlimited fraud was blocked, because very powerful people looking for a chance to bring him down were arrayed against him.

The situation is even more complex because it is not simply a fight between Ahmadinejad and the clerics, but also a fight among the clerical elite regarding perks and privileges — and Ahmadinejad is himself being used within this infighting. The Iranian president’s populism suits the interests of clerics who oppose Rafsanjani; Ahmadinejad is their battering ram. But as Ahmadinejad increases his power, he could turn on his patrons very quickly. In short, the political situation in Iran is extremely volatile, just not for the reason that the media portrayed.

Rafsanjani is an extraordinarily powerful figure in the establishment who clearly sees Ahmadinejad and his faction as a mortal threat. Ahmadinejad’s ability to survive the unified opposition of the clergy, election or not, is not at all certain. But the problem is that there is no unified clergy. The supreme leader is clearly trying to find a new political balance while making it clear that public unrest will not be tolerated. Removing “public unrest” (i.e., demonstrations) from the tool kits of both sides may take away one of Rafsanjani’s more effective tools. But ultimately, it actually could benefit him. Should the internal politics move against the Iranian president, it would be Ahmadinejad — who has a substantial public following — who would not be able to have his supporters take to the streets.
The View From the West

The question for the rest of the world is simple: Does it matter who wins this fight? We would argue that the policy differences between Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani are minimal and probably would not affect Iran’s foreign relations. This fight simply isn’t about foreign policy.

Rafsanjani has frequently been held up in the West as a pragmatist who opposes Ahmadinejad’s radicalism. Rafsanjani certainly opposes Ahmadinejad and is happy to portray the Iranian president as harmful to Iran, but it is hard to imagine significant shifts in foreign policy if Rafsanjani’s faction came out on top. Khamenei has approved Iran’s foreign policy under Ahmadinejad, and Khamenei works to maintain broad consensus on policies. Ahmadinejad’s policies were vetted by Khamenei and the system that Rafsanjani is part of. It is possible that Rafsanjani secretly harbors different views, but if he does, anyone predicting what these might be is guessing.

Rafsanjani is a pragmatist in the sense that he systematically has accumulated power and wealth. He seems concerned about the Iranian economy, which is reasonable because he owns a lot of it. Ahmadinejad’s entire charge against him is that Rafsanjani is only interested in his own economic well-being. These political charges notwithstanding, Rafsanjani was part of the 1979 revolution, as were Ahmadinejad and the rest of the political and clerical elite. It would be a massive mistake to think that any leadership elements have abandoned those principles.

When the West looks at Iran, two concerns are expressed. The first relates to the Iranian nuclear program, and the second relates to Iran’s support for terrorists, particularly Hezbollah. Neither Iranian faction is liable to abandon either, because both make geopolitical sense for Iran and give it regional leverage.

Tehran’s primary concern is regime survival, and this has two elements. The first is deterring an attack on Iran, while the second is extending Iran’s reach so that such an attack could be countered. There are U.S. troops on both sides of the Islamic Republic, and the United States has expressed hostility to the regime. The Iranians are envisioning a worst-case scenario, assuming the worst possible U.S. intentions, and this will remain true no matter who runs the government.

We do not believe that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, a point we have made frequently. Iran understands that the actual acquisition of a nuclear weapon would lead to immediate U.S. or Israeli attacks. Accordingly, Iran’s ideal position is to be seen as developing nuclear weapons, but not close to having them. This gives Tehran a platform for bargaining without triggering Iran’s destruction, a task at which it has proved sure-footed.

In addition, Iran has maintained capabilities in Iraq and Lebanon. Should the United States or Israel attack, Iran would thus be able to counter by doing everything possible destabilize Iraq — bogging down U.S. forces there — while simultaneously using Hezbollah’s global reach to carry out terror attacks. After all, Hezbollah is today’s al Qaeda on steroids. The radical Shiite group’s ability, coupled with that of Iranian intelligence, is substantial.

We see no likelihood that any Iranian government would abandon this two-pronged strategy without substantial guarantees and concessions from the West. Those would have to include guarantees of noninterference in Iranian affairs. Obama, of course, has been aware of this bedrock condition, which is why he went out of his way before the election to assure Khamenei in a letter that the United States had no intention of interfering.

Though Iran did not hesitate to lash out at CNN’s coverage of the protests, the Iranians know that the U.S. government doesn’t control CNN’s coverage. But Tehran takes a slightly different view of the BBC. The Iranians saw the depiction of the demonstrations as a democratic uprising against a repressive regime as a deliberate attempt by British state-run media to inflame the situation. This allowed the Iranians to vigorously blame some foreigner for the unrest without making the United States the primary villain.

But these minor atmospherics aside, we would make three points. First, there was no democratic uprising of any significance in Iran. Second, there is a major political crisis within the Iranian political elite, the outcome of which probably tilts toward Ahmadinejad but remains uncertain. Third, there will be no change in the substance of Iran’s foreign policy, regardless of the outcome of this fight. The fantasy of a democratic revolution overthrowing the Islamic Republic — and thus solving everyone’s foreign policy problems a la the 1991 Soviet collapse — has passed.

That means that Obama, as the primary player in Iranian foreign affairs, must now define an Iran policy — particularly given Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s meeting in Washington with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell this Monday. Obama has said that nothing that has happened in Iran makes dialogue impossible, but opening dialogue is easier said than done. The Republicans consistently have opposed an opening to Iran; now they are joined by Democrats, who oppose dialogue with nations they regard as human rights violators. Obama still has room for maneuver, but it is not clear where he thinks he is maneuvering. The Iranians have consistently rejected dialogue if it involves any preconditions. But given the events of the past weeks, and the perceptions about them that have now been locked into the public mind, Obama isn’t going to be able to make many concessions.

It would appear to us that in this, as in many other things, Obama will be following the Bush strategy — namely, criticizing Iran without actually doing anything about it. And so he goes to Moscow more aware than ever that Russia could cause the United States a great deal of pain if it proceeded with weapons transfers to Iran, a country locked in a political crisis and unlikely to emerge from it in a pleasant state of mind.

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Monday, June 29, 2009

Climate Bill Is Transfer Of Wealth To World Government

Climate Bill Is Transfer Of Wealth To World Government

Former presidential advisor slams fearmongering that led to passage of nightmare legislation

Climate Bill Is Transfer Of Wealth To World Government 290609top

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, June 29, 2009

During an appearance on MSNBC, political commentator Pat Buchanan correctly defined the “Climate Bill” for what it really is, not just a new tax on the American people, but a complete transfer of power and wealth to a global government that is using the manufactured fear of global warming to grease the skids for total domination.

Referring to the passage of the climate bill and global warming in general, Buchanan said that the legislation was passed through the use of fear and that, “More and more scientists are coming forward to say this is a hoax and a scam which is designed to transfer wealth and power from the private sector to the government sector and from the government of the United States to a world government. Which is what we’re going to get in Copenhagen when we get this Kyoto two agreement.”

Buchanan labeled the legislation a “tax bill” that would raise the prices of utilities for every American, hammer the middle class and working class, “for a danger that we don’t even know is really there”.

The former senior advisor to three U.S. presidents accused the Obama administration of hyping the apocalyptic myth that the oceans will rise and that cities will be underwater in order to ram through the legislation.

Establishment left-wing blogs like Crooks and Liars and Media Matters are carrying the video of Buchanan’s remarks with little or no accompanying commentary, as if Buchanan’s comments alone are enough to discredit his position.

Those who act as shills for the climate change hoax may believe that anyone who dares challenge the authodoxy of the church of global warming is automatically a heretic and that no evidence whatsoever needs to even be presented to counter their sacrilege, but here in the real world we prefer to stick to the facts.

Empirical satellite data shows that mean global temperatures are the same that they were 30 years ago and that global sea ice is also at similar levels. Following a spike in global temperatures at the end of the last century that coincided with the sun undergoing its most active period in recent times, the planet has now cooled to 1979 levels. At the end of summer last year, despite hysterical predictions that the North Pole would be free of ice for the first time in history, Arctic sea ice had actually expanded by 30 per cent, an area the size of Germany.

Coinciding with expanding ice sheets, there has been no rise in sea levels for the past three years. Tropical storms and extreme weather events attributed to global warming like hurricanes and typhoons are at a record low.

The United Nations’s IPCC, the heavily politicized organization that is often erroneously cited as an independent scientific body by climate change promoters, was last year caught citing fake data to make the case that global warming is accelerating, a shocking example of mass public deception.

“This was startling,” reported the London Telegraph. “Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China’s official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its “worst snowstorm ever”. In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

It soon came to light that the data produced by NASA to make the claim, and in particular temperature records covering large areas of Russia, was merely carried over from the previous month. NASA had used temperature records from the naturally hotter month of September and claimed they represented temperature figures for October.

As David Deming points out in his excellent article today, temperature data collected by weather stations is being artificially impacted by measuring systems placed nearby to sources of heat. This is why claims that global temperatures are still rising are completely contradicted by real world evidence of falling temperatures and what some scientists are warning is the beginning of a new ice age.

“Why do people think the planet is warming?,” writes Deming. “One reason is that the temperature data from weather stations appear to be hopelessly contaminated by urban heat effects. A survey of the 1221 temperature stations in the US by meteorologist Anthony Watts and his colleagues is now more than 80 percent complete. The magnitude of putative global warming over the last 150 years is about 0.7 °C. But only 9 percent of meteorological stations in the US are likely to have temperature errors lower than 1 °C. More than two-thirds of temperature sensors used to estimate global warming are located near artificial heating sources such as air conditioning vents, asphalt paving, or buildings. These sources are likely to introduce artifacts greater than 2 °C into the temperature record.”

“Every year in the US, more than forty thousand people are killed in traffic accidents. But not one single person has ever been killed by global warming. The number of species that have gone extinct from global warming is exactly zero. Both the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets are stable. The polar bear population is increasing. There has been no increase in infectious disease that can be attributed to climate change. We are not currently experiencing more floods, droughts, or forest fires,” he concludes.

As we have attempted to warn, the major beneficiaries of the climate bill will be the elitists who own the carbon trading systems that will be used to handle the ‘cap and trade’ program, namely Al Gore and Maurice Strong, two figures intimately involved with a long standing movement to use the theory of man made global warming as a mechanism for profit and social engineering.

Gore’s investment company, Generation Investment Management, which sells carbon offset opportunities, is the largest shareholder of The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).

While Maurice Strong, who is regularly credited as founding father of the modern environmental movement, serves on the board of directors of CCX. Strong was a leading initiate of the Earth Summit in the early 90s, where the theory of global warming caused by CO2 generated by human activity was most notably advanced.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

How Much is a Billion Dollars; National Debt Car

Excellent visuals you'll never see in the major media - but that all Americans need to see!
Keep in mind that this is not a new video when it reports the National Debt at 9 trillion dollars.

The National Debt when Dubya took office was:
Date Debt Held by the Public Intragovernmental Holdings Total Public Debt Outstanding
01/19/2001 Not Available Not Available
5,727,776,738,304.64
Notice that much of the debt was not shown in the budget
Then there was Dubya's second term:
Date Debt Held by the Public Intragovernmental Holdings Total Public Debt Outstanding
01/20/2005 Not Available Not Available 7,613,215,612,328.37
01/21/2005 Not Available Not Available 7,614,468,360,651.30
Still much of the debt was outside the budget, such as the Afgan and Irak wars

The National Debt when Obama took office and included the wars into the budget:
Date Debt Held by the Public Intragovernmental Holdings Total Public Debt Outstanding
01/20/2009 6,307,310,739,681.66 4,319,566,309,231.42 10,626,877,048,913.08
01/21/2009 6,307,084,792,840.85 4,317,968,751,468.94 10,625,053,544,309.79

Today - 06/26/09 the National Debt is:

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 26 Jun 2009 at 05:43:54 PM GMT is:

$ 1 1 , 3 7 2 , 4 1 9 , 2 9 4 , 9 1 4 . 7 4

The estimated population of the United States is 306,439,250
so each citizen's share of this debt is $37,111.50.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.71 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

-----------------------------------------------------------
National Debt- How Much Is A Billion Dollars? Dave Walker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um0guhNGPPM&NR=1

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JUST TO CLARIFY THE FOLLOWING PERSPECTIVES FAIRLY:
THIS IS A REPUBLICAN ANTI-OBAMA BIAS CAMPAIGN VIDEO WHERE IN THEIR PERSPECTIVE THE NEO-CONS SPIN THE CAR TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL.

National Debt Car

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwDcc

How To Legally Say "NO" To All Vaccines!

THIS IS LIFE SAVING INFORMATION.....

Almish and Mennonite Children DO NOT GET AUTISM.... You have a choice. If you submit against your will you are no better than the livestock in the field.

CHOOSE LIFE!!!! Pass this on to those you love...

> How To Legally Say "NO" To All Vaccines!
> Crusador Interviews Book Author & Acclaimed International Vaccine Expert Dr. Sherri Tenpenny
> March 20th 2009
>
> Millions of Americans have come to distrust vaccines and mainstream medicine’s vaccine agenda. There is a growing movement in this country and around the world that questions the safety and effectiveness of all vaccines for obvious reasons. Many childhood disorders such as autism, ADD/ADHD, SIDS and others have been linked to vaccines. Thousands of soldiers who served in the military have been severely disabled or in some cases even died after receiving their mandated shots. Vaccines are the most controversial subject in all of medicine.
>
> The standard line heard from most parents once their eyes are open to the risks of vaccines is, “How will I get my child into day care or in school without their shots.” Those working in the healthcare field or soldiers in the military are faced with similar questions.
>
> To help educate the people further about how to legally avoid all vaccines, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny has put together a brand new book that is absolutely necessary to have in your possession if you or a loved one don’t want to vaccinate but are not sure how to get around it. As Dr. Tenpenny says on the back cover of her book, “Saying No To Vaccines is not intended to be a balanced view of vaccination literature. Pro-vaccine information is readily accessible through the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, healthcare and government-sponsored organizations. This book balances the debate.”
>
> Below is a copy of an interview Crusador editor Greg Ciola conducted with Dr. Tenpenny shortly after the release of her new book.
>
> Crusador: What was the impetus for writing your new book “Saying NO To Vaccines”?
>
> Parents needed a tool that did their homework for them. The evidence is there to support their decision to not vaccinate; you just have to do a little work to find it. Everyone seems to be so afraid of “bugs” and their potential ability to make us sick. But the reality is that we swim in “bugs” every day and we are not dropping over like flies.. The only “bugs” we seem to obsess over are associated with vaccines. Only two generations ago, measles, mumps and chickenpox were normal experiences of childhood. Why we have complete fear of these infections is media and money driven and unfounded.
>
> If the focus of Public Health was on sleep, exercise, clean water and safe, non-GMO food, we would have a healthy society without vaccines…but we would not have billion dollar industries employing millions of people to keep us “healthy.” The fact is, we are a very UNhealthy society with vaccines, so the Public health and argument that we must vaccinate ‘for greater good’ is a failure.
>
> I put a large body of research into my first book, FOWL! and my two DVDS, documenting the dangers of vaccination. “Saying No To Vaccines” was the next logical step. It answers the question, “I’ve decided not to vaccinate, now what do I do?”
>
> Crusador: What are some of the issues you cover in the book that aren’t covered in your two DVD’s “Vaccines: The Risks, The Benefits, The Choices” and “Vaccines: What CDC Documents and Science Reveal”?
>
> There is very little overlap between Saying No to Vaccines and the DVDs. The foundational premise of the book is to give answers refuting the 25 most common arguments used to promote vaccination. For example, parents are often told the vaccine-preventable diseases of childhood can be serious and if their child is not vaccinated, their child could die. I tell them how to refute that argument and give documentation from the medical literature to demonstrate that statement is nothing more than fear mongering. Parents are told by pediatricians there is “no evidence that vaccination harms the immune system” and there is “no evidence that vaccination can lead to chronic disease.” I used the medical literature to prove the opposite is true.
>
> Crusador: What are the most common questions you get about vaccines?
>
> The most frequently-asked question I get is about vaccination exemption, meaning, “How do I refuse the vaccine and still get my kids into school or keep my job,” so by design a large part of the book covers exemptions. I included a lot of detail on how to avoid vaccinations for school situations, including college, professional situations where a job may require certain vaccines, if you are in a nursing home, foreign adoption, the military, even if you are incarcerated. I have also included a chapter on frequently- asked questions about vaccination. Saying No To Vaccines has an entire section on “most frequently asked questions.”
>
> Crusador: There is a huge divide in this country between those who think you should vaccinate versus those who feel you shouldn’t. The majority is still on the side of thinking that vaccines are THE answer to long-term immunity. When you do speaking engagements or radio interviews or simply talk to a pregnant woman about the need to question the safety of vaccines further, how do you present your information to make someone think twice?
>
> Even though I strongly believe that vaccines cause more harm than the “good” they supposedly do, it is important for people to see the evidence of harm – from a scientific perspective – and not just take my word for it. All of my information, every slide and every paragraph in my book, is referenced from a highly reputable medical journal or from the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC. People can see for themselves the one-sided, biased view of the vaccine industry, promoting that vaccines are “safe” and “protective.” Almost 100% of the time, once people pull back the veil and see the rest of the story, they know that vaccination is not what the drug companies claim it to be.
>
> Crusador: Do you feel that there is such a thing as a “safe” vaccine? If there isn’t, how do you counter the mainstream medical mentality that vaccines may not be entirely without risks, but those risks are far less than the risks we would face without vaccines at all?
>
> I really felt that parents needed strong answers for when they decided to not vaccinate. Very few people are willing to say something. The risk of the vaccine is greater than the risk of the disease. The “Green Our Vaccines” movement was partially behind the reason I wrote this book. Many activists, people with very good intentions, hedge and put their support behind “safer” vaccines which are a chemical impossibility. People just need to SAY NO.
>
> Crusador: Tell our readers a little more about the exemption clauses you discuss in your book. The medical establishment has done a terrific job of intimidating people into thinking they have to take vaccines and yet, rarely if ever will you hear about the ways to exempt yourself and family from taking vaccines.
>
> A medical exemption is available in all 50 states but must be recommended by a doctor. The exemption can be difficult to obtain and often, it only excuses future vaccination with a shot that has already caused a severe reaction.
>
> There are three exemptions available in this country – medical, religious and philosophical. As of now, 19 states accept a philosophical exemption. It is the easiest of the three to use. You request a form from the school nurse, state the reasons you don’t want to vaccinate your child, sign it and give it to the school. Generally, that’s it. However, different school systems have different rules. Some require the form annually, some require both parents to sign the exemption form, some require it to be notarized and so forth. You can find links to your state laws and more information by going to www.DrTenpenny.com .
>
> Religious exemptions are available in all other states except West Virginia and Mississippi (which only have medical exemptions). Religious exemptions can be tricky and in some states, very difficult to obtain and defend. I often recommend that people consult an attorney for this type of exemption. Some states, such as New York and New Jersey, are difficult. New York has been known to use something called a “sincerity test.” Parents are literally interrogated by an attorney representing the school district regarding how sincere their religious assertions are for refusing a vaccine. A panel then decides if you are sincere enough in your beliefs to allow you to refuse vaccination on religious ground. I find these tactics absolutely appalling and akin to Inquisitioners of the Middle Ages.
>
> Crusador: Where do you see the whole pro-vaccine movement going and what threats to our Constitutional freedoms do you see coming down the pike?
>
> The dogged determination of those who oppose vaccines, and in particular mandatory vaccination, has gained traction at a grass roots level and garnered a lot of attention from the media. I feel that we have the pro-vaccinators on the ropes. Our arguments are hard to deny and the global autism epidemic can no longer be ignored. Pro-vaccinators are using manipulation, threats and fear tactics, trying to convince everyone that vaccines are not only safe but absolutely necessary. I see the vaccine industry like a wounded Tyrannosaurus Rex, gnashing its teeth and flailing its ugly head. It won’t die quickly and it will probably get worse before it gets better.
>
> Crusador: There are many people in this country, myself included, who are concerned that there is an evil agenda to mass vaccinate the entire planet in the event of a health emergency. Do you feel that there are genuine reasons to be concerned and what might we expect to see unfold in an emergency?
>
> Executive orders and recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been written that stop just short of allowing government-enforced mandatory vaccination for anthrax, smallpox and bird flu. The only way to change these policies is by standing together and boldly saying no.
>
> Crusador: Are you still confident that with enough knowledge about the risks and dangers of vaccines enough people will wake up and say NO before Big Pharma forces its will upon the populace?
>
> I’m not sure. People tend to be sheep – Americans in particular. Look what we have allowed a small number in the White House and 545 people in Congress to do to our country. And even those people who want to effect a change have little time and few resources to do so. No one wants to stand out, speak up and challenge authority. Whatever happened to those bra-burning activists of the 1960s? However, people really are involved now, more than ever. It only takes a small, vocal minority to really make a difference. As stated years ago by Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
>
> Crusador: Thank you for your time, Sherri. These are excellent answers. I encourage everyone reading this interview to make every effort they can to get a copy of your new book and share it with their friends and loved ones because it is a great tool to give the average person confidence to “SAY NO TO VACCINES”.
>
> Thank you, Greg for helping me get this message out to more people.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Bilderberg 2009 Intel Already Proving Accurate

Bilderberg 2009 Intel Already Proving Accurate

Please Circulate.....

Corbett
The Corbett Report
Thursday, June 25, 2009

Observers of the annual elitist confab known as Bilderberg have long known that plans discussed at the conference quickly become reality. In 2002, Bilderberg researcher Jim Tucker correctly predicted that the Iraq war would start in March 2003 (not late 2002, as many were predicting at the time). In 2006, Daniel Estulin correctly forecast the popping of the housing bubble and subsequent economic crash, a possibility that most talking heads in the corporate media were laughing at at the time. In 2008, Tucker forecast a dramatic drop in oil prices while most analysts were fretting about the possibility of $200 a barrel oil. Tucker and Estulin have proven so stunningly accurate in their predictions not because they have a crystal ball, but because they have sources inside the Bilderberg Group and other organizations where financial oligarchs and their political puppets make decisions about our geopolitical future.

2009 is not even half over, but it seems the forecasts made by both Estulin and Tucker based on their 2009 Bilderberg sources are already proving to be accurate. In a phone interview conducted as this year’s conference was getting underway in Greece, Daniel Estulin warned The Corbett Report that the powers that be were preparing to run up the stock market one final time in order to draw the masses back into investing before crashing the market. Now, a worrying new report suggests that this is precisely the case as corporate executives start ditching their stocks at a rate not seen in years. Watch an excerpt from the interview in the video player below:

Daniel Estulin on Bilderberg 2009

The Bloomberg report suggests that the market—currently enjoying one of the greatest rallies in decades as stocks continue to rise from last year’s post-crash nadir—is about to have the rug pulled out from under it, a fact that corporate executives in the know are taking to heart as they scramble to get rid of their worthless stocks before the general public realize what’s going on. Add to this the stunning news that U.S. Embassies around the globe have been instructed to prepare for a bank holiday in September and growing opposition to the Obama Administration’s stunning proposal to give the private Federal Reserve sweeping new dictatorial powers over the entire U.S. economy and there is little doubt that an economic collapse the likes of which Estulin discussed is becoming more likely by the day.

Should an economic collapse occur as predicted, social and political changes of world historical importance will be the inevitable result. Jim Tucker, who also recently joined The Corbett Report for a telephone interview, has predicted that the ongoing world financial crisis will be manipulated by Bilderberg to further their long-held goal of crafting a North American Union along the lines of the European Union. Indeed, we have already seen call for the centralization of financial regulatory power from Bilderbergers like German chancellor Andrea Merkel, who argue that national sovereignty over financial regulation is what caused the crisis in the first place. More chillingly, Estulin believes the worldwide economic depression which we are currently entering could ultimately result in the deaths of over 4 billion people, or roughly 2/3 of the planet’s population. This is certainly one way to achieve elitist goals of vast population reduction, an item high on the agenda of another secretive meeting of billionaires (chaired by Bilderberger David Rockefeller) just weeks before this year’s Bilderberg conference.

Jim Tucker also stressed that manipulation of the swine flu hysteria was high on this year’s agenda, and that this crisis too would be used to consolidate power in international bodies such as the WHO. Preparations for ceding more and more power to unaccountable international bureaucrats in the event of a flu pandemic have been carefully crafted for years, and now the butchering of national sovereignty is to begin in earnest. Watch a portion of the Jim Tucker interview in the player below:

Jim Tucker on Bilderberg 2009

Again, recent events have made Tucker’s Bilderberg intelligence that much more credible. Since Bilderberg, the WHO has declared the first pandemic of the 21st century, opening the door to the very WHO power grab that Tucker warned about. The first real test of those powers may be as early as this fall, when a much-hyped seasonal resurgence of the surprisingly weak H1N1 flu may be used as an excuse to implement mass vaccinations. Preparations for just such a plan have been made in country after country including Canada, the U.S. and France.

The prospect of the WHO using their own campaign of swine flu hysteria to justify mass vaccinations in countries around the globe is triply frightening. Firstly, the vaccinations could be made mandatory, thus breaking fundamental tenants of freedom from forced medication which is the very pillar of a free society. Secondly, the swine flu vaccine is being developed by the very company that earlier this year sent out doses of live bird flu to be mixed in with their flu vaccines, an “accident” so incredibly likely that doctors in the Czech Republic accused the company of actually attempting to provoke a pandemic. Thirdly, the idea of a mass vaccination campaign is worrying because, as one of the co-developers of Tamiflu recently surmised, the recent swine flu strain itself was likely created during the vaccine production process.

For more information on the swine flu and the possible implementation of “medical martial law”, please watch the following video:

Medical Martial Law

Although the verification of this Bilderberg intelligence is of course quite worrying, the fact that Tucker and Estulin’s sources have proven accurate yet again provides some small solace. Firstly, it shows that the elitist plans can be exposed (and, if enough political will can be mustered, stopped) by legitimate researchers and alternative media. Secondly, it further discredits the corporate controlled media, which has only begun to shift from its previous canard that Bilderberg doesn’t exist to its latest canard that Bilderberg exists but is not important. The longer the corporate media continues to hold to this line in the face of blatantly obvious facts, the further discredited they will become and the faster the public will abandon the fast-disappearing media apparatus of the corporate propaganda machine. Meanwhile, the alternative media will continue to grow exponentially and awareness of Bilderberg amongst the general public will continue to rise.

Related works from The Corbett Report:

Bilderberg 2009 (podcast episode)

Tucker: Bilderberg to Exploit Swine Flu Hysteria (article)

Bill Clinton admits to violating federal law (video)

New Cyber-Command at NSA, Fort Meade, Maryland - Wayne Madsen Report

June 25-26, 2009 -- New Cyber-Command at NSA, Fort Meade, Maryland
publication date: Jun 25, 2009
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June 25-26, 2009 -- New Cyber-Command at NSA, Fort Meade, Maryland

Special to WMR:

[Ed. Note: On June 23, Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered that the new U.S. CyberCommand will be a part of the U.S. Stategic Command (Stratcom) and will come under the command of the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA). The CyberCommand will be at NSA's headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.]

"Subject: New Cyber Command and NSA

If this is indeed correct, the assertion that StratCom will be in control of this new CyberCom is complete and utter hogwash. As StratCom has neither the expertise nor technical resources to conduct this mission, the default control of CyberCom will fall, by design, into the lap of NSA. This was similarly true of StratCom being given responsibility for military space after the demise of US Space Command, which effectively ceded control of space to the Air Force. Are we to believe that CyberCom being headquartered not at Omaha, NE, but rather at Fort Meade, MD, right next to NSA; and with NSA’s current director, Lieutenant General Keith Alexander, promoted to a four star general, as its head, is a coincidence? NSA has coveted control of cyber operations for some time and already exerts considerable influence in the mission field. Illegally, NSA has tapped into all domestic e-mail traffic within the United States. To allow them the ability to subject all U.S. domestic computer communications to offensive cyber attacks and the many other aspects of digital 'information warfare' should make all of America shutter in fear. Of course this supposedly will be subject to congressional oversight, federal statutes, executive orders, and agency regulations, and we all now know how steadfastly NSA is committed to these safeguards and to our constitutional liberties. With NSA now pulling the wool over our new president’s eyes, in conjunction with their contempt for congressional oversight, I am truly horrified of the prospect that NSA will usher us into a new dystopia where we will soon learn the mandatory newspeak language that will alter the concluding line of our national anthem from '… the land of the free and home of the brave” to, '… the land of the fear and the home of the depraved.'

This development indicates that SecDef Robert Gates is truly a creature of his former master.

Be afraid America, be very afraid, as NSA will soon be the number one 'clear a present danger' to your freedom and liberty.

Lord help us!"



Former Intelligence Officer,

National Security Agency

& specialist in Offensive Information Warfare





Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post on this web site. Comments are subject to the site's terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of Wayne Madsen Report.com. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.

Canada to Vaccinate Entire Population

http://www.canada.com/Health/Vaccinate+Canadians+under+natives+first+experts/1718965/story.html

Canada to Vaccinate Entire Population
Vaccinate Canadians under 40 and natives first: experts

By Sharon Kirkey, Canwest News Service

June 21, 2009

Five-to-40-year-olds and Canada's aboriginal communities should be the first to get vaccinated against human swine flu, experts say as Canadian officials decide who gets priority for the flu shots.

Under Canada's official pandemic plan, the entire population would ultimately be immunized against the H1N1 swine flu.

But the vaccine will become available in batches, meaning the entire population can't be vaccinated at once. It might take four or five months to get all the vaccine we're going to get, during which time a second wave of swine flu may well be underway.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is working on a priority list, deciding where the first batches should go, and who should get the injections first. All provinces and territories would be expected to follow the national prioritization scheme.

Unlike normal seasonal flu, the H1N1 virus appears to be disproportionately infecting older children and young adults. So far the largest number of confirmed cases have occurred in people between the ages of five and 24.

"It doesn't mean they're all getting sick and need to be hospitalized, but they're getting significant illness," said Dr. Noni MacDonald, a leader in pediatric infectious diseases and a professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

British researchers reported last week that targeting children first would protect not only them, but also unvaccinated adults.

"Even if you are concerned about the elderly, who are often mentioned as another risk group, their main connection to the big pool of infection is often their grandchildren," said Dr. Thomas House of the University of Warwick.

But adults older than 64 don't appear to be at increased risk of H1N1-related complications so far in the outbreak. It's possible they have some antibodies against the virus.

As well, children "are known to be really important for transmitting flu," said Earl Brown, executive director of the Emerging Pathogens Research Centre at the University of Ottawa.

"They're important for the cycle of infection. They tend to be naive as far as not having flu antibodies in their system before. And really young kids, their immune systems aren't fully mature.

"Children tend to be hit, and they can be hit harder," Brown said. By immunizing children first, "you get to try to block spread, and protect a vulnerable group."

Gymnasiums would be used for mass school-based vaccination programs but experts say the harder to reach group will be the 18-to-30-year-olds.

"Some of them are in school, a lot of them are not," MacDonald said. "They're very much living in the moment and don't necessarily see themselves as being at risk. We need some fast thinking about how to reach those people."

She suggested booths could be set up outside bars for information and immunization.

"You've got to be creative about this and really think out of the box."

Canada's aboriginal communities also appear to be getting more serious infections. Crowded, poorly ventilated housing and poor access to high-quality running water and sanitization are some of the factors being blamed. Aboriginals also have higher rates of asthma, chronic lung disease, obesity and diabetes ˜ the very diseases early data suggests puts people at higher risk of life-threatening complications from swine flu.

The H1N1 vaccine will be a separate vaccine from the regular, annual flu shot. People will require two jabs, and possibly three, depending on how effective the vaccine is in producing immunity. The Public Health Agency of Canada says that no decisions have yet been made about who would get priority first.

One of the challenges will be getting people to agree to the shots. There will be limited information about any vaccine's safety before immunization campaigns are rolled out across the country.

"We usually do research in healthy adults before we do it in children, because this is a new vaccine, and you want to be sure that it's safe and effective before you give it to vulnerable populations, or populations who don't have full capacity to make an informed decision about getting it or not," said Dr. Joanne Langley, of Health Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization.

"There are pros and cons to putting (children) first."

Babies under six months of age are not vaccinated against flu.

http://www.vaclib.org/

http://www.yourlifesource.com/vaccine.htm

http://vran.org/

Friday, June 26, 2009

The Fed The Ultimate Zombie

http://theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/The_Fed_The_Ultimate_Zombie

Bob Chapman’s
The International Forecaster
The Fed The Ultimate Zombie
June 24 2009
International Forecaster Weekly | Link to this article | Return to Web View

Summary: Mistakes of and good intentions of Lincoln and Kennedy, As the Fed absorbs the toxic waste of its friends, it becomes a zombie bank in its own right, the perils of printing the dollar, the deliberate march to the destruction of the dollar,

This idea of a non-bank currency issued directly by a government free of any interest burden is along the lines of what Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy did, and tried to do, respectively, for the US. Their boldness in promoting the welfare of US citizens cost them their lives. They did not want to become interest slaves to a private national bank, and chose to issue our own official currency directly from our Treasury Department free of the interest burden imposed by a privately owned, debt-based, European-style fractional reserve banking system, which is what our Founding Fathers fought a war to free themselves, and their posterity, from.

Note that Baron Rothschild started and bankrolled the War of 1812 when the first private US central bank charter was not renewed by our then gutsy Congress, which, unlike our current corrupt and cowardly Congress, saw through the ruse of the British crown, which was attempting to take back its colonies via monetary extortion. Lincoln made the mistake of not backing US notes with gold and silver as required by our Constitution, an error that was confirmed as being a mistake by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the US notes that were used to fund the Civil War efforts of the North soon became worthless, triggering a long, hard, devastating depression in the 1870's. President Kennedy was assassinated before Executive Order 11110 could be implemented, and the Fed was allowed to continue on with its blatant criminality.

You might also note that Presidents Garfield and McKinley were both ardently opposed to the idea of a private central bank, and we know what happened to them. Andrew Jackson, who the Illuminists tried to assassinate on multiple occasions, was our most vehement objector to a private central bank, and his face now appears on the front of a twenty dollar bill. If he was alive today, he would throw a "hissy fit" the likes of which has never been recorded in human history. This is the way the Illuminists chose to rub Jackson's face in their final victory to establish a private central bank with the passing of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, albeit their insult was delivered posthumously. In addition, President Lincoln's face is on the front of a five dollar bill, which is yet another posthumous insult to the leader who rejected the European Illuminists and their private banking interests. Next we'll see President Kennedy's face on the front of a thousand dollar bill, which will be created so that you don't need a wheelbarrow to cart around the cash necessary to pay the ridiculously high prices of goods and services that will be caused by the coming hyperinflation. On second thought, let's not give them any more ideas!

So, in the case of the Federal Reserve Note (which is a private note backed by the full faith and credit of the US government, and not a US note issued directly from the US Treasury), do these two ingredients for the creation of hyperinflation exist? Currency speculators we always have, but are the Fed and our Treasury Department corrupt enough to keep printing the dollar so speculators can short it into oblivion by creating a dollar carry trade? Is the Pope a Catholic? Does a bear crap in the woods? So the answer to that question is: Abso-freaking-lutely!!!

But the Illuminists had a problem. They could not print money, thus creating an interest-bearing debt for the US government, without the consent of the US Treasury, which was in turn limited as to how much it could borrow by the US Congress. So how on earth could they get the Treasury and Congress to spend a totally unprecedented amount money by borrowing it at interest from the Fed, which then creates it out of thin air, such that hyperinflation, and the destruction of the US economy to pave the way for world government, is accomplished as the desired and ultimate end? The politics of such a move would be horrendous unless justified by an extremely compelling reason.

Naturally, they would have to start their sting operation by buying off or compromising the Executive Branch and its various Departments, especially the Treasury Department, as well as the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and most of the relevant regulatory agencies, which they had very nearly accomplished already in any case when they put their plans for a hyperinflationary recession, followed by a deflationary depression, into motion. And remember, the ultimate aim of this sting operation is to take down the US economy, along with the economies of Canada and most of Western Europe, to pave the way for world government, which they will attempt to put into place in the ensuing chaos.

So what is an Illuminist with a compelling desire for hyperinflation to do? We'll tell you what they did.

They started by having the Fed create profligate amounts of money and credit well beyond the amounts necessary to absorb any increases in production, thus creating an elevated level of inflation for almost two decades. They continuously lied officially about the rate of inflation by understating it. This was done to cover up their destruction of our economy via free trade and globalization by creating bogus increases in production that were just inflation in disguise. This inflation was implemented to get us started down the road to economic destruction from which a hyperinflationary environment could be created.

To take us out of recession, and prevent the purging which our economy needed from the destruction wreaked in the early 1990's in the aftermath of the Savings and Loan Crisis and the collapse of the real estate market, both of which they also created, they pushed tech stocks into a dot.com bubble, followed by a real estate bubble to cover up the dot.com destruction, which real estate was then re-bubbled after 9/11 via ultra-low interest rates and their if-you-can-fog-a-mirror-you-can-have-a-mortgage-loan policy. This was done to keep the debt snowball rolling, and to prevent the purging of losses from fraud and speculation out of our economy by keeping those losses in the system so they could later become the reason for future defaults, losses and bailouts that would help lead us into hyperinflation when the Illuminati were ready.

They engineered the 9/11 false flag attack to take US citizens, via fraudulent intelligence, into a multi-trillion dollar, two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan to get the big spending sprees started. These were wars for profit intended to enrich Illuminists while simultaneously bankrupting America and pushing us down the road to hyperinflation.

They bankrupted the Social Security system by stealing from its reserves to pay for Illuminist pork projects and benefits for illegal immigrants (slave labor), drove up medical and pharmaceutical costs, and created an entitlement indebtedness in the tens of trillions of dollars that they know can never be repaid, thus ensuring the destruction of the dollar by curtailing the ability of the US to repay its creditors, and providing a backdrop for huge bailouts and expenditures to keep paying out benefits and to fund medical insurance reforms that can only be paid for through debt monetizations that will propel us toward hyperinflation.

They got rid of the Glass, Steagall Act via the Gramm, Leach, Bliley Act so they could defraud investors with new flimflam financial products in the complete absence of any checks and balances. They deregulated the already opaque OTC derivative market with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act so that derivatives could be issued naked (without collateral backing the guarantees against default) to back securities that in many cases were not even owned by the buyers of derivatives backing those securities (credit default swaps), and further allowed investors to gamble on interest rates (interest rate swaps), thus turning the entire OTC derivatives market into a gambling casino. They continued to foster mortgage and other consumer loan fraud, via liar loans, false appraisals, slack credit standards, false derivative ratings and fraudulent derivative sales, using Fannie, Freddie and the unregulated OTC derivative market to accomplish their dirty work until a Quadrillion Dollar Derivative Death Star was created. All of this fraud was allowed in order to plant and build a fatal flaw into the entire debt system, and this flaw would be used to ignite the Derivative Death Star, and start the bankster-gangster bailouts that will eventually run into the tens of trillions of dollars unless stopped by US citizens. How's that for spending us into hyperinflation!

They also allowed investment banks to use 40 or even as much as 60 to 1 leverage to fund the Derivative Death Star, and allowed commercial banks to reduce their reserve requirements to unprecedented levels. They increased money and credit to psychopathic levels to feed the hedge funds, pensions funds, endowment funds, and sovereign wealth funds, which then went berserk on a wild spending binge, thus driving stock and bond prices up to ludicrous levels, which have now imploded or are in the process of imploding, thus giving more cause for bailouts and profligate borrowing and spending by our government at taxpayer expense, once again socializing losses after profits have been privatized.

By exposing the fatal flaw just alluded to that was built into the debt system via rampant fraud, they created an implosion of financial markets by showing how vulnerable, flawed and over-rated derivatives really were (in this case, the exposure of the fatal flaw may have happened sooner than planned by an untoward event, thus throwing a wrench into the works), and set up the 19 anointed financial institutions, and the Fed, as too-big-to-fail institutions, and made sure that no Illuminist companies were allowed to fail. Instead of allowing failure through bankruptcies to purge the economy, they bailed out Illuminist banks and corporations in typical crony capitalist fashion at taxpayer expense, thus socializing losses after profits had been grandly earned and privatized, using the oh-we-can't-let-this-happen routine and the fear of increased unemployment and horrendous amounts of asset losses, which will of course occur anyway further down the road, but this time on steroids. Needless to say, non-anointed companies can go suck an egg.

They hid the losses of Illuminist-anointed financial institutions via false accounting which was approved by "regulators," and caused the BLS and other government agencies to lie about every known economic statistic, in order to convince taxpayers and private investors that there are Green Shoots and that they should once again invest in these zombie institutions which later will implode, thus rendering the stock worthless. In the meanwhile, they allowed non-Illuminist companies to fail, thus reducing their competition and consolidating their power. They then had their government flunkies create fascistic, socialized spending programs, and termed the first of what will be many such programs as an "economic stimulus," when in reality these are all going to be nothing more than flash-in-the-pan, pork-laden masterpieces of profligate spending that stimulate nothing, create few if any permanent jobs, and virtually ignore the middle class, which got a token tax break - big deal. As the economy unravels, they will just keep up the same oh-we-can't-let-this-happen routine, and continue to play on taxpayer fears while they totally ignore the Constitution which in no way authorizes these bailouts of private companies on a secret, crony-capitalist basis, which bailouts are also being extended to foreign banks and corporations stung by the Illuminist derivative fraud (hence the lack of lawsuits). In this fashion, they will continue to spend and spend as the PBGC and FDIC go bankrupt while our middle class is wiped out. This spending will have to monetized. Hyperinflation is the inevitable outcome.

They have also created Public Private Investment Partnerships so Illuminist institutions can buy their toxic waste from each other in what will be a failed attempt to prop up toxic derivative prices, with the public being the big loser because they will absorb most of the losses while most of the profits, if any, will go to Illuminist investors. This is just another method of converting private red ink into public red ink, thus adding to the debt blob that will debauch the dollar and help send us into hyperinflation.

The Fed will continue to absorb the toxic waste of its member banks, setting itself up as the ultimate too-big-to-fail zombie financial institution which is now helpless to stop the oncoming hyperinflationary freight train because all its assets are unmarketable cess pools of toxic waste that no one in their right mind would purchase for more the 10 cents on the dollar. Thus, the Fed has been intentionally disabled from fighting against the inflationary consequences that will result from the rampant spending and bailouts that are now ongoing right before your eyes. The Fed has been hamstrung so that hyperinflation can be assured. They can no longer suck money out of the system because the value of their assets is laughable.

After they achieve an elevated level of inflation by all this spending on pork, bailouts and socialist programs while the hamstrung Fed continues to profligately spew out money and credit at an ever-increasing rate via monetization of treasuries which investors are starting to shun more and more for obvious reasons, interest rates will rise, the real estate, stock and bond markets will collapse, credit default and interest rate swaps will implode, and suddenly there will be tens of trillions in losses that of course will have to be bailed out.

As this debacle transpires, everyone owning dollar-denominated assets will be running for the exits, all the dollars parked in foreign currency reserves will be repatriated, and the currency speculators will go to town as the Fed pumps out money in ever-increasing quantities to fund bailout after totally illegal and disgusting bailout. This will mark the start of the period during which the Much Greater Depression will be at its most severe level, and is where will we be Weimarized. You won't know about the foreign investment until it is too late because, conveniently, like the cessation of M3 statistics by the Fed, the FTC no longer provides figures regarding foreign investment in the US.

During this whole process, only the Illuminist institutions and corporations will receive any bailouts, so in the end, all the money for which taxpayers and their descendents become indebted will have been paid as salaries and bonuses to the Illuminati and their henchmen, and as free booty to their Illuminist business corporations to keep them from failing and to resettle them overseas. Taxpayers will be lucky if they get a lump of coal in their stockings as they watch their pensions, benefits and entitlements trickle down to nothing, especially after hyperinflation becomes full blown. Note how the losses are allowed to be trickled out as slowly as possible so that taxpayers are less prone to say that the losses are just too big to handle and that the elitist institutions must be allowed to fail and let the chips fall where they may as the market sorts things out.

Journalist Files Charges against WHO and UN for Bioterrorism and Intent to Commit Mass Murder

http://naturalnews.com/z026503_pandemic_swine_flu_bioterrorism.html

Journalist Files Charges against WHO and UN for Bioterrorism and Intent to Commit Mass Murder
by Barbara Minton, Natural Health Editor
See all articles by this author
Email this author


(NaturalNews) As the anticipated July release date for Baxter's A/H1N1 flu pandemic vaccine approaches, an Austrian investigative journalist is warning the world that the greatest crime in the history of humanity is underway. Jane Burgermeister has recently filed criminal charges with the FBI against the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN), and several of the highest ranking government and corporate officials concerning bioterrorism and attempts to commit mass murder. She has also prepared an injunction against forced vaccination which is being filed in America . These actions follow her charges filed in April against Baxter AG and Avir Green Hills Biotechnology of Austria for producing contaminated bird flu vaccine , alleging this was a deliberate act to cause and profit from apandemic .

Summary of claims and allegations filed with FBI in Austria on June 10, 2009

In her charges, Burgermeister presents evidence of acts of bioterrorism that is in violation of U.S. law by a group operating within the U.S. under the direction of international bankers who control the Federal Reserve, as well as WHO, UN and NATO. This bioterrorism is for the purpose of carrying out a mass genocide against the U.S. population by use of a genetically engineered flu pandemic virus with the intent of causing death. This group has annexed high government offices in the U.S.

Specifically, evidence is presented that the defendants, Barack Obama, President of the U.S, David Nabarro, UN System Coordinator for Influenza, Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, David de Rotschild, banker, David Rockefeller, banker, George Soros, banker, Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria, and Alois Stoger, Austrian Health Minister, among others, are part of this international corporate criminal syndicate which has developed, produced, stockpiled and employed biological weapons to eliminate the population of the U.S. and other countries for financial and political gain.

The charges contend that these defendants conspired with each other and others to devise, fund and participate in the final phase of the implementation of a covert international bioweapons program involving the pharmaceutical companies Baxter and Novartis. They did this by bioengineering and then releasing lethal biological agents, specifically the "bird flu" virus and the "swine flu virus" in order to have a pretext to implement a forced mass vaccination program which would be the means of administering a toxic biological agent to cause death and injury to the people of the U.S. This action is in direct violation of the Biological Weapons Anti-terrorism Act.

Burgermeister's charges include evidence that Baxter AG, Austrian subsidiary of Baxter International, deliberately sent out 72 kilos of live bird flu virus , supplied by the WHO in the winter of 2009 to 16 laboratories in four counties. She claims this evidence offers clear proof that the pharmaceutical companies and international government agencies themselves are actively engaged in producing, developing, manufacturing and distributing biological agents classified as the most deadly bioweapons on earth in order to trigger a pandemic and cause mass death.

In her April charges, she noted that Baxter's lab in Austria, one of the supposedly most secure biosecurity labs in the world, did not adhere to the most basic and essential steps to keep 72 kilos of a pathogen classified as a bioweapon secure and separate from all other substances under stringent biosecurity level regulations, but it allowed it to be mixed with the ordinary human flu virus and sent from its facilities in Orth in the Donau.

In February, when a staff member at BioTest in the Czech Republic tested the material meant for candidate vaccines on ferrets, the ferrets died. This incident was not followed up by any investigation from the WHO , EU, or Austrian health authorities. There was no investigation of the content of the virus material, and there is no data on the genetic sequence of the virus released.

In answer to parliamentary questions on May 20th, the Austrian Health Minister, Alois Stoger, revealed that the incident had been handled not as a biosecurity lapse, as it should have been, but as an offence against the veterinary code. A veterinary doctor was sent to the lab for a brief inspection.

Burgermeister's dossier reveals that the release of the virus was to be an essential step for triggering a pandemic that would allow the WHO to declare a Level 6 Pandemic. She lists the laws and decrees that would allow the UN and WHO to take over the United States in the event of pandemic. In addition, legislation requiring compliance with mandatory vaccinations would be put into force in the U.S. under conditions of pandemic declaration.

She charges that the entire "swine flu" pandemic business is premised on a massive lie that there is no natural virus out there that poses a threat to the population. She presents evidence leading to the belief that the bird flu and swine flu viruses have, in fact, been bioengineered in laboratories using funding supplied by the WHO and other government agencies, among others. This "swine flu" is a hybrid of part swine flu, part human flu and part bird flu, something that can only come from laboratories according to many experts.

WHO's claim that this "swine flu" is spreading and a pandemic must be declared ignores the fundamental causes. The viruses that were released were created and released with the help of WHO, and WHO is overwhelmingly responsible for the pandemic in the first place. In addition, the symptoms of the supposed "swine flu" are indistinguishable from regular flu or from the common cold. The "swine flu" does not cause death anymore often than the regular flu causes death.

Burgermeister notes that the figures for deaths reported for the "swine flu" are inconsistent and there is no clarity as to how the number of "deaths" has been documented.

There is no pandemic potential unless mass vaccinations are carried out to weaponize the flu under the guise of protecting the population. There are reasonable grounds for believing that the mandatory vaccines will be purposely contaminated with diseases that are specifically designed to cause death.

Reference is made to a licensed Novartis bird flu vaccine that killed 21 homeless people in Poland in the summer of 2008 and had as its "primary outcome measure" an "adverse events rate", thereby meeting the U.S. government's own definition of a bioweapon (a biological agent designed to cause an adverse events rate, i.e death or injury) with a delivery system (injection).

She alleges that the same complex of international pharmaceutical companies and international government agencies that have developed and released pandemic material have positioned themselves to profit from triggering the pandemic with contracts to supply vaccines. Media controlled by the group that is engineering the "swine flu" agenda is spreading misinformation to lull the people of the U.S. into taking the dangerous vaccine.

The people of the U.S. will suffer substantial and irreparable harm and injury if they are forced to take this unproven vaccine without their consent in accordance with the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, National Emergency Act, National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51, Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20, and the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza.

In the U.S. since 2008, Burgermeister charges that those named in her allegations have implemented new and/or accelerated the implementation of laws and regulations designed to strip the citizens of the U.S. of their lawful constitutional rights to refuse an injection. These people have created or allowed provisions to remain in place that make it a criminal act to refuse to take an injection against pandemic viruses. They have imposed other excessive and cruel penalties such as imprisonment and/or quarantine in FEMA camps while barring the citizens of the U.S. from claiming compensation from injury or death from the forced injections. This is in violation of the laws governing federal corruption and the abuse of office as well as of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Through these actions, the named defendants have laid the groundwork for mass genocide.

Using the "swine flu" as a pretext, the defendants have preplanned the mass murder of the U.S. population by means of forced vaccination. They have installed an extensive network of FEMA concentration camps and identified mass grave sites, and they have been involved in devising and implementing a scheme to hand power over the U.S. to an international crime syndicate that uses the UN and WHO as a front for illegal racketeering influenced organized crime activities, in violation of the laws that govern treason.

She further charges that the complex of pharmaceutical companies consisting of Baxter, Novartis and Sanofi Aventis are part of a foreign-based dual purpose bioweapons program, financed by this international criminal syndicate and designed to implement mass murder to reduce the world's population by more than 5 billion people in the next ten years. Their plan is to spread terror to justify forcing people to give up their rights, and to force mass quarantine in FEMA camps. The houses, companies and farms and lands of those who are killed will be up for grabs by this syndicate.

By eliminating the population of North America, the international elite gain access to the region's natural resources such as water and undeveloped oil lands. And by eliminating the U.S. and its democratic constitution by subsuming it under a North American Union, the international crime group will have total control over North America.

Highlights from the complete dossier

The complete dossier of the June 10th action is a 69 page document presenting evidence to substantiate all charges. This includes:

Factual background that delineates time lines and facts that establish probable cause, UN and WHO definitions and roles, and history and incidents from the April, 2009 "swine flu" outbreak .

Evidence the "swine flu" vaccines are defined as bioweapons as delineates in government agencies and regulations classifying and restricting vaccines, and the fear of foreign countries that "swine flu" vaccines will be used for biological warfare.

Scientific evidence the "swine flu" virus is an artificial (genetic) virus.

Scientific evidence the "swine flu" was bioengineered to resemble the Spanish flu virus of 1918 including quotes from Swine Flu 2009 is Weaponized 1918 Spanish Flu by A. True Ott, Ph.D., N.D., and a Science Magazine report from Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger et.al .

The genome sequence of the "swine flu"

Evidence of the deliberate release of the "swine flu" in Mexico

Evidence as to the involvement of President Obama that delineates his trip to Mexico which coincided with the recent "swine flu" outbreak and the death of several officials involved in his trip. Contention is made that the President was never tested for "swine flu" because he had been previously vaccinated.

Evidence as to the role of Baxter and WHO in producing and releasing pandemic virus material in Austria includes a statement from a Baxter official stating the accidentally distributed H5N1 in the Czech Republic was received from a WHO reference center. This includes delineation of evidence and allegations from Burgermeister's charges filed in April in Austria that are currently under investigation.

Evidence Baxter is an element in a covert bioweapons network

Evidence Baxter has deliberately contaminated vaccine material.

Evidence Novartis is using vaccines as bioweapons

Evidence as to WHO's role in the bioweapons program

Evidence as to WHO's manipulation of disease data in order to justify declaring a Pandemic Level 6 in order to seize control of the USA.

Evidence as to the FDA's role in covering up the bioweapons program

Evidence as to Canada's National Microbiology Lab's role in the bioweapons program.

Evidence of the involvement of scientists working for the UK's NIBSC, and the CDC in engineering the "swine flu".

Evidence vaccinations caused the Spanish killer flu of 1918 including belief of Dr. Jerry Tennant that the widespread use of aspirin during the winter that followed the end of World War I could have been a key factor contributing to the earlier pandemic by suppressing the immune system and lowering body temperatures, allowing the flu virus to multiply. Tamiflu and Relenza also lower body temperatures, and therefore can also be expected to contribute to the spread of a pandemic.

Evidence as to manipulation of the legal framework to allow mass murder with impunity.

Constitutional issues: the legality vs. illegality of jeopardizing the life, health and public good by mass vaccinations.

The issue of immunity and compensation as evidence of intent to commit a crime.

Evidence as to the existence of an international corporate crime syndicate.

Evidence of the existence of the "Illuminati".

Evidence as to the depopulation agenda of the Illuminati/Bilderbergs and their involvement in the engineering and release of the artificial "swine flu" virus.

Evidence that weaponized flu was discussed at the annual Bilderberg meeting in Athens from May 14-17, 2009, as part of their agenda of genocide, including a list of attendees who, according to a statement once made by Pierre Trudeau, view themselves as genetically superior to the rest of humanity.

Media is keeping Americans clueless about the threat they are under

Jane Burgermeister is a dual Irish/Austrian who has written for Nature, the British Medical Journal, and American Prospect. She is the European Correspondent of the Renewable Energy World website. She has written extensively about climate change, biotechnology , and the ecology.

In addition to the charges currently under investigation that she filed against Baxter AG and Avir Green Hills Biotechnology in April, she has filed charges against WHO and Baxter among others concerning a case of exploding "swine flu" vials meant for a research lab on a busy IC train in Switzerland.

In her view, control of the media by the ruling elite has allowed the world crime syndicate to further its agenda unabated while the rest of the people remain in the dark about what is really going on. Her charges are an attempt to get around this media control and bring the truth to light.

Her greatest concern is that "in spite of the fact Baxter has been caught red handed nearly triggering pandemic, they are also moving ahead, together with allied pharma companies, with supplying the vaccine for pandemics." Baxter is hurrying to get this vaccine to market some time in July.

For more information:
http://www.naturalnews.com/025760.html
http://birdflu666.wordpress.com/200...
http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/200906...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...






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About the author
Barbara is a school psychologist, a published author in the area of personal finance, a breast cancer survivor using "alternative" treatments, a born existentialist, and a student of nature and all things natural.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Bankster “Holiday” Planned for September?

Bankster “Holiday” Planned for September?
IS IT ANY WONDER PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE BUYING GOLD AND SILVER?
IS IT A SURPRISE TO ANYONE THAT AMERICANS ARE BUYING GUNS AND AMMUNITION BY THE TRUCKLOAD? IS THERE ANY DOUBT LEFT THAT THE NEW YORK FINANCIAL GANG ARE PLAYING FOR ALL THE MARBLES? We shall see!!!!!

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars -- June 22, 2009

Bob Chapman’s influential International Forecaster is reporting on the possibility of a so-called “bank holiday” planned for late August or early September. According to Chapman’s sources, U.S. embassies around the world are selling dollars and stockpiling money from respective countries where they operate.
featured stories Bankster Holiday Planned for September?
nazis

FDR imposed a “bank holiday” soon after taking office. It resulted in the government stealing gold from the American people and giving them useless fiat paper money in return.


“Some US embassies worldwide are being advised to purchase massive amounts of local currencies,” writes Harry Schultz, “enough to last them a year.” Schultz publishes the Harry Schultz Letter, an international investment, financial, economic, and geopolitical newsletter named as “Newsletter of the Year” by Peter Brimelow of Market Watch in 2005 and 2008.

Schultz believes the global elite are in the process of engineering an FDR-style “bank holiday” of undetermined length in order to “sort-out the bank mess” and impose new bank rules.

On March 5, 1933, in the depths of the banker engineered “Great Depression,” newly elected Franklin Roosevelt declared a “bank holiday” that forced banks closed for four days. Roosevelt then rammed the Emergency Banking Act through the legislature. Passed by Congress on March 9, the act granted FDR near dictatorial control over the dealings of banks. It also allowed the Secretary of the Treasury the power to compel every person and business in the country to relinquish their gold and accept paper currency in exchange.

On March 10, Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 6073, forbidding people from sending gold overseas and forbidding banks from paying out gold. A few weeks later, on April 5, Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 6102 ordering Americans to deliver their gold and gold certificates to the Federal Reserve bank in exchange for paper fiat money.

In other words, FDR engaged in one of history’s greatest rip-offs — that is until now.

FDR not only ripped-off the American people, but foreigners holding dollars as well, thus ensuring the “Great Depression” would spread around the world like a bankster engineered contagion.

As Schultz notes, another forced “bank holiday” will likely lead to a formal devaluation of the already broadsided U.S. dollar. “But devalue against what? The euro? Doubtful. Gold? Maybe. Or vs. the IMF basket of currencies,” which he feels is more likely.

In fact, this is precisely what the globalist have in mind. In March, the media reported the IMF was poised print billions of “global quantitative easing” dollars to be dubbed global “super-currency” to address the (bankster engineered) economic crisis. “The principle behind it is that everyone would get bonus dollars and instead of the Federal Reserve having to print them, everyone gets them,” declared Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the IMF.

Can you say inflation?

It is no secret the elite have envisioned a global currency for some time now. In 2007, the director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations stated that the dollar and the euro are but temporary currencies. “It is the market that made the dollar into global money – and what the market giveth, the market can taketh away. If the tailors balk and the dollar falls, the market may privatize money on its own,” Benn Steil pontificated.



More like the banksters taketh away — and not only money but national sovereignty as well because a global currency will demand an end to “monetary nationalism.”

Or as Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, has said, “states must be prepared to cede some sovereignty to world bodies if the international system is to function.”

Mr. Schultz believes a “bank holiday” would suit the burning desires of the international bankster elite. It will lead to “nationalization,” which is a polite word for brazen thievery. It will allow the government — owned lock, stock and barrel by the global elite and run by their corrupt whores and cronies — to rape secured creditors and bondholders. Nationalization is the unfettered process of grabbing up of insurance companies, mortgage companies, banks, medical care, and car companies and handing them over to the monopoly men.

During the FDR “bank holiday,” Schulz notes, “thousands of banks never reopened; it was a face-saving way of shutting them down. I would guess the same would occur today; thousands have little or no net value, loaded with debt, bad mortgages.”

In order soften the nation up for the coming pillage, the Obama administration has proposed a plan to give the privately-owned and unaccountable Federal Reserve complete regulatory oversight across the entire U.S. economy. The new rules would see the Fed given the authority to “regulate” any company whose activity it believes could threaten the economy and the markets — that is to say if it “threatens” the monopolistic interests of the bankers.

“Obama’s regulatory ‘reform’ plan is nothing less than a green light for the complete and total takeover of the United States by a private banking cartel that will usurp the power of existing regulatory bodies, who are now being blamed for the financial crisis in order that their status can be abolished and their roles handed over to the all-powerful Fed,” write Paul Joseph and Steve Watson. “The government is ready to hand over everything to a monolithic private corporation and a gaggle of bastard banker offspring, that have gobbled up an amount close to the entire GDP of the country in taxpayers’ money and figuratively stuck the middle finger up regarding questions over where that money has gone.”

A “bank holiday” would work wonders for any “regulation” the Fed and the bankers have in mind. It would compliment the criminal consolidation now underway. It would allow them to finally and formally devalue the dollar and usher in a global “super currency” of control and enslavement.

A Bob Chapman subscriber added a little dinger to the prospect of the banks going dark. The subscriber claims to have overheard two men in FEMA jackets talking with a police chief in California, all who agreed that the federalization of police around the country — a process largely complete — will be required if the banks are shuttered in late August or early September because it will get “ugly” out there.

No doubt. Because the sort of enduring and polite American who weathered the “Great Depression” is now in seriously short supply.

If Mr. Schultz’s prediction is correct, we can expect riots in bank foyers and ultimately martial law to be imposed. --END

Algeria: Taking the Pulse of AQIM

from STRATFOR

Algeria: Taking the Pulse of AQIM
June 24, 2009


Global Security and Intelligence Report

By Scott Stewart and Fred Burton
Related Special Topic Page

* The Devolution of Al Qaeda

Late in the evening of June 17, 2009, militants affiliated with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) detonated two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against a convoy near Bordj Bou Arreridj, Algeria, which is located in a mountainous area east of Algiers that has traditionally been an Islamist militant stronghold. The convoy consisted of Algerian paramilitary police vehicles escorting a group of Chinese workers to a site where they were building a new highway to connect Bordj Bou Arreridj with Algiers. After disabling the convoy using IEDs, the militants then raked the trapped vehicles with small-arms fire. When the ambush was over, 18 policemen and one Chinese worker had been killed. Another six gendarmes and two Chinese workers were wounded in the attack.

It was the deadliest attack of any type in Algeria since an Aug. 19, 2008, suicide vehicle-borne IED (VBIED) attack against a line of job applicants outside a police academy in Les Issers that killed 48 and injured another 45. AQIM regularly launches armed ambushes and roadside IED attacks in Algeria, and ambushes were frequently used by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) before it announced in September 2006 that it had become part of al Qaeda’s regional franchise — AQIM. Indeed, we have seen four other ambush and IED attacks since May 20, 2009, but the death tolls in such attacks have usually been smaller than the June 17 attack.

In light of this anomalous attack, we thought it would be an opportune time to take the pulse of AQIM and try to get a sense of where the group stands today and where it might be going over the next few months.
History and Trends

The GSPC began as a splinter of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in 1998 as the civil war in Algeria was winding down. At that time, Hassan Hattab led a group of other disaffected GIA members who disagreed with GIA’s targeting of unarmed civilians. Hattab and his followers wanted to distance themselves from the large-scale massacres that had taken place while continuing their struggle against the Algerian government. They formed the GSPC to give themselves a fresh name and a new start.

Hattab eventually ran into disputes within the GSPC as the group was increasingly drawn to the transnational jihadist campaign espoused by al Qaeda. He “resigned” (though he was effectively deposed) as the group’s leader in 2001 and was succeeded by Nabil Sahraoui, who declared the GSPC’s allegiance to al Qaeda. Security forces killed Sahraoui in 2004.

In a message issued on Sept. 11, 2006, al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al Qaeda in a union he hoped would be “a thorn in the neck of the American and French Crusaders and their allies, and an arrow in the heart of the traitors and apostates.” On Sept. 13, GSPC acknowledged the merger on its Web site with a message from its emir, Abu Musab Abd al-Wadoud, who wrote, “We have full confidence in the faith, the doctrine, the method and the modes of action of [al Qaeda’s] members, as well as their leaders and religious guides.”

The newly-established al Qaeda franchise in Algeria was not idle for long. On Oct. 19, 2006, it conducted two IED attacks, one against a police station in El Harrach, an eastern suburb of Algiers, the second against a fuel storage site belonging to the French company Razel in Lakhdaria. On Oct. 29, 2006, the group conducted near-simultaneous VBIED attacks against two Algerian police stations in Reghaia and Dergana. While simultaneous VBIED attacks were something seen in al Qaeda operations, these attacks involved vehicles parked near their targets rather than suicide vehicles and, as such, resembled past GSPC attacks, as did the selection of police stations as targets. Because of these features, the attacks were seen as examples of a hybrid, or transitional, kind of attack.

Other transitional attacks continued into early 2007, such as the twin attacks on March 5, 2007, which targeted foreign oil workers and Algerian security forces, indicating AQIM was incorporating the security-force targets of the GSPC with the foreign-influence targets of al Qaeda.

The focus on foreign interests and the energy sector was seen in several other attacks and attempted attacks against foreign oil workers and pipelines in late 2006 and early 2007. In spite of this focus, to date, AQIM has not been able to launch any truly disruptive attacks against the Algerian energy sector.

On April 11, 2007, AQIM passed another threshold when the group employed two suicide VBIEDS in attacks against separate targets in Algiers. One device was directed at the prime minister’s office in the city center and the second targeted a police station near the international airport in the eastern part of the city. At least 33 people reportedly were killed in the blasts and more than 150 wounded. These attacks marked the first suicide attacks in Algeria connected with GSPC or AQIM and signified a change in tactics.

However, the group’s increased operational tempo and less discriminate target selection came with consequences. In mid-2007 the Algerian government launched a massive operation against AQIM that resulted in large losses of men and materiel for the group. AQIM’s shift in targeting strategy also caused disagreements within the insurgency’s leadership. The schism arose between members who favored the tradition GSPC target set and opposed killing civilians, and those members who were more heavily influenced by al Qaeda and wanted to hit foreign and symbolic targets with little regard for civilian casualties.

In spite of the government crackdown, and in the face of growing internal dissent, AQIM accelerated its suicide bombing campaign, and there were several other suicide attacks during the last three months of 2007. These attacks included the Sept. 6 bombing of a crowd waiting to greet Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika in Batna that killed 22 people and injured more than 100; a Sept. 8 suicide VBIED attack against a naval barracks in Dellys that killed 30; and twin suicide VBIED attacks on Dec. 11 that targeted the constitutional court and the headquarters of the U.N. refugee agency in Algiers that killed 47 people, including 17 U.N. employees.

AQIM conducted six suicide bombing attacks against military and police targets between January 2008 and the Aug. 19, 2008, VBIED attack against the police academy in Les Issers. During this time, military and law enforcement pressure by the Algerian government continued, as did the public criticism of AQIM for killing innocents. The criticism reached a crescendo after the Les Issers attack, which killed largely poor people looking for employment with the police. AQIM has only conducted one suicide attack since August 2008, and the bulk of its operations have been in sparsely populated areas instead of cities. It is unclear at this point whether these observable shifts are in response to the criticism of AQIM’s tactics or if they are a result of the government’s efforts to dismantle the group.

Large VBIEDs are resource intensive. In fact, the explosives required to construct one large VBIED could be used to manufacture many smaller IEDs or suicide vests. Since the Les Issers attack, AQIM has conducted several IED attacks but these have all involved smaller IEDs, and the number of bystander deaths has dropped as the attacks have appeared to have been more carefully aimed at government or foreign targets. Of course, suicide bombers are also a resource that can only be used once, and it takes time and effort to recruit new bombers.

We will be watching carefully to see if the current trend away from the employment of large VBIEDs in urban areas is a temporary lull caused by government pressure and a lack of resources, or if it is an intentional shift designed to assuage public anger. It is very difficult for an insurgent organization to thrive in an environment where the local population turns against it, and perhaps the AQIM leadership has learned a lesson from the high cost the GIA paid after it began killing civilians and lost public support.

In addition to the military and law enforcement pressure, the Algerian government has been very busy in its efforts to apply ideological pressure to AQIM. One way this pressure has been applied is in the form of former militant leaders associated with the group criticizing its change in targeting and tactics. For example, after the Les Issers bombing in August 2008, GSPC founder Hassan Hattab called on the militants to lay down their arms and surrender. There is also talk that the government may soon expand an amnesty offer to include members of the organization who have been excluded from the current amnesty offer because they were deemed to have too much blood on their hands. Like previous amnesty offers, this expansion could serve to further weaken the organization as members choose to turn themselves in.
Regional Franchise?

By design, AQIM incorporated the GSPC with elements of Morocco’s Islamic Combatant Group, Libya’s Islamic Fighting Group, several Tunisian groups, most notably the Tunisian Combatant Group, and jihadists in Mali, Niger and Mauritania. However, in practice, the vast majority of the group’s infrastructure came from the GSPC, and attacks since the founding of AQIM in 2006 have reflected this. Indeed, in spite of the many high-profile Libyan and Moroccan militants who serve as part of the al Qaeda core leadership, Libya and Morocco have been extremely calm since the emergence of AQIM, and the group has remained an Algeria-based phenomenon.
Countries of the Maghreb

In Mauritania, attacks linked to AQIM began as early as December 2007, but AQIM militants there have not displayed the capability to carry out sophisticated attacks. Most attacks in Mauritania involve amateurish small-arms assaults such as the attack on French tourists on Dec. 23, 2007, or the Feb. 1, 2008, shooting at the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania’s capital. As we were writing this, we learned of the June 23 shooting of an American teacher in Nouakchott. The man was reportedly gunned down outside the school where he taught, and Mauritanian officials are blaming the attack on AQIM rather than criminals.

The attacks in Mauritania have shown rudimentary tactics with poor planning, and the militants associated with AQIM in Mauritania simply have not displayed the ability to mount a large-scale, coordinated attack. The group’s activities in Mali and Niger are also mainly constrained to low-level attacks against government or military outposts and foreign mining sites and personnel in the northern stretches of those countries. AQIM also conducts training and engages in smuggling and kidnappings for ransom in this deserted region.

This means that, in the end, in spite of all the hype associated with the AQIM name, the group is essentially a rebranded GSPC and not some sort of revolutionary new organization. It has adapted its target set to include foreign interests, and it did add suicide bombing to its repertoire, but aside from that there has been very little movement toward AQIM’s becoming a truly regional threat.

That said, AQIM has received a lot of attention from the al Qaeda core leadership, which has sought to support it however it can and spur it on beyond Algeria. On June 23, 2009, al Qaeda media wing As Sahab released a 35-minute video statement from Abu Yahya al-Libi entitled “Algeria Between the Sacrifice of Fathers and Faithfulness of Sons.” As his name implies, al-Libi is himself from Libya, and one of the things he does in the video is urge militants in Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco to mobilize and join under the “banner, command and emirate” of AQIM. The video appears to be an attempt by the al Qaeda leadership to counter ideological attacks by the Algerian government as well as AQIM’s regional stagnation.
Coming Home to Roost?

In addition to fighting against the regime in Algeria, Algerian militants have also been very conspicuous on jihadist battlefields such as Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq. Some studies have even concluded that Algerians were the single largest group of foreign jihadists who fought in Iraq during the height of the insurgency.

One of the things we have been anticipating for several years now is a boomerang effect as foreign jihadists leave places such as Iraq and Pakistan and return home. While many foreign jihadists have been killed in such places, those who survive after fighting sophisticated foes like the American military are not only hardened but also possess insurgent tradecraft skills that make them far more lethal when they leave those battlefields than when they entered them. Indeed, we have seen a migration of IED technology and tactics from Iraq to other theaters, such as Afghanistan.

With developments in Iraq over the last few years that have made Iraq increasingly inhospitable to foreign jihadists, and with Pakistan now quickly becoming less friendly, many of the Algerian militants in those places may be seeking to return home. And this brings us back to the anomalous vehicular ambush on June 17.

That operation, while a common type of attack in Algeria, was uncharacteristically deadly. It is plainly possible that the high death toll was merely a fluke. Perhaps the AQIM militants got lucky or the Algerian gendarmes targeted in the attack made a fatal mistake. However, the increased death toll could also have been a result of superior IED design, or superior planning by the operational leader of the ambush. Such a shift could indicate that an experienced operational commander or bombmaker has come to AQIM from someplace like Iraq or Pakistan. It will be very important to watch the next few AQIM attacks to see if the June 17 attack was indeed just an anomaly or if it was the beginning of a new and deadly trend.

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