Pages

Sunday, 11 August 2013

President Obama refuses to punish NSA for world spying.


by Stephen Lendman
Huey Long once said fascism will arrive "wrapped in an American
flag." In "Friendly Fascism," Bertram Gross (1912 - 1997) called
Ronald Reagan its prototype ruler. Gross didn't know Obama.
He represents the worst of rogue governance. He advances America's
imperium. He heads its police state apparatus. He's waging war on
humanity. He's doing it abroad and at home.
He puts a smiling face on repression. He's hardline. He's ruthless.
He's done what supporters thought impossible. He exceeds the worst
of George Bush. He says one thing. He does another. He demands it.
His promises ring hollow. He broke every major one made. He's a
serial liar. He's a moral coward. On August 9, he defended the
indefensible. He did so disingenuously.
He deplores transparency and reforms. He claimed otherwise. He lied
saying so. He paid lip service to policies he won't change. He
hardened them on his watch.
A disingenuous White House press release headlined "Background on
the President's Statement on Reforms to NSA Programs," saying:
"President Obama believes that there should be increased
transparency and reforms in our intelligence programs in order to give
the public confidence that these programs have strong oversight and
clear protections against abuse."
"That is what he has pursued as President, and today he is
announcing several initiatives that will move that effort forward."
"Since the disclosures were first made, the President has held a series
of meetings with Intelligence Community leaders, during which he has
emphasized the importance of transparency and openness and
directed IC leadership to press forward with declassification of
relevant materials, to the maximum extent possible, without
undermining national security."
"Already, the Administration has declassified unprecedented
information about the activities of the National Security Agency
(NSA)."
"On July 31, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) made public
three documents dealing with the Section 215 program."
"The Administration has also engaged Congress on these issues on
35 occasions, including several committee hearings and all-Senate
and all-House Members' meetings."
"On August 1, the President met with a group of bipartisan members
of Congress to discuss key programs under the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act."
"The President and senior White House and Administration officials
have also engaged in a national dialogue on privacy in the 21st
century, soliciting feedback from relevant stakeholder groups in the
private sector, academia, and civil society."
"To date, the Administration has taken various steps to advance this
national privacy dialogue, including: meeting with the Privacy and
Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and leading several conversations on
privacy issues with a broad array of organizations representing
industry, civil society, civil rights and transparency groups."
"Most recently, the President met with a group of leaders from the
private sector, civil society and academia yesterday at the White
House to discuss a range of privacy issues."
"Today, the President directed his Administration to work with
Congress to pursue appropriate reforms to our nation's surveillance
programs and the court that oversees them. Specifically, he laid out
four steps his Administration will take:
(1) The Administration will work with Congress to pursue appropriate
reforms to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. After having a dialogue
with members of Congress and civil libertarians, the President
believes that there are steps that can be taken to give the American
people confidence that there are additional safeguards against abuse.
For example, steps could be taken to put in place greater oversight,
transparency, and constraints on the use of this authority.
(2) The Administration will work with Congress to improve the
public’s confidence in the oversight conducted by the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).
Specifically, steps can be taken to make sure civil liberties concerns
have a greater voice in appropriate cases by ensuring that the
g

Monday, 5 August 2013

In Korea, all children are older than their European peers

16.07.2013
 
In Korea, all children are older than their European peers. 50612.jpeg
We are used to counting our age from the day of birth. It turns out that not all peoples count age this way. Korea has long been using a different method of calculation. This is not the only difference, and the traditional relationship between parents and children in this country can serve as an excellent example to the rest of the world.

The countdown of children's age in Korea does not begin with the birth of a child, like in the West, but starts in the beginning of the year, rounding up the time spent by a child in the mother's womb. In addition, people become older not on the day of birth, but on January 1st, according to the lunar calendar. For example, a child born in late December of 2013 will turn two on January 1st, 2014.
This strange, at first sight, tradition can be explained by historical and cultural peculiarities of life of the residents of the East Asian region. Unusual for the Europeans system of chronology originated in ancient China and is still widely used in other cultures of East Asia. In Japan and Vietnam the system is now used in traditional divination and religion, but it has been forever removed from the everyday life. The eastern part of Mongolia echoes the unusual ancient traditions, and the age is traditionally determined by the number of full moons since conception for girls, and the number of new moons from the birth for boys.
Koreans count their age in units called sal with the addition of Korean ordinal numbers. For example, a child born on the 29th day of the 12th month (lunar calendar) in the East Asian interpretation reaches the age of two on Seollal (Korean New Year), whereas under the Western system she is only a few days old. It is important for teachers and tutors of young Korean children to clarify whether the age they are told is according to the Korean or Western system.
Except for the legal sphere, East Asian age calculation system continues to be widely used by Koreans, but city dwellers use the traditional system more often.  
 
The Gregorian calendar and the calculation of age from birth is officially accepted in Korea, and used in completing legal documents and procedures. In addition, it is used to count age limits for alcohol and tobacco use, the age of consent and the age of marriage, restrictions on viewing pornographic video, as well as the school and the draft age.
While the age is calculation based on the lunar New Year, Koreans celebrate the day of their birth as well.  
Particularly important for the Koreans is the first year of a child's life. This tradition emerged in Korea at the time when infant mortality rate was very high. It was believed that if the child lived up to one year, the crisis was over, and that the child would live a long life. On this day, a child was blessed for prosperous future.

This holiday, Dol or doljanchi, is celebrated for all children in Korea. During the celebration the babies wear a hanbok, a special bright colored silk suit made specifically for this holiday, and a hat, a jobawi or gulle for baby girls and a bokgeon or hogeon for baby boys. On this day big celebrations and feasts are held. No matter how poor the family is, ample holiday treats are provided. Everyone from the poorest peasant child to an heir to the Emperor have this ritual. When this holiday is celebrated for the emperor's son, the magnitude of the celebrations is truly enormous, with a lavish table, congratulatory speeches and even amnesties for prisoners.
One of the most interesting rituals during the holiday is when Koreans set a variety of items on a table next to the child, each of them representing a specific meaning. The child picks something up and the adults make a conclusion on what the child will become in the future. Traditionally these items include rice, a thread, money, a brush, a book and a bow. Modern parents, as a rule, do not follow this custom too strictly, and set on their table a computer mouse, a baseball or a toothbrush. After the child makes her choice, they sing, dance and celebrate, give gifts, usually money, gold rings and clothes.
The members of the family thank the gods guarding the growing child by offering rice and traditional soup. The soup (Miyeok Guk) is served at each birthday party to remind of the suffering of the mother at birth.
One-year-olds sit next to their parents, watching the ritual in their honor. Since that day, the participation of children in traditional rituals, ceremonies and celebrations becomes a requirement of Korean life. On this day, a child first begins to understand the importance of traditional festivals, feels love and respect, gets to know family members and feels like a full member of the family. The child learns not only to treat gifts and entertainment with respect, but also for the first time feels respect for the elder and listens to their teachings and wishes. During such celebrations young Koreans get familiar with ancient traditions and rules of national ceremonies that became law for the Korean people.

Traditionally, Koreans celebrate birthdays only twice in their lifetime, at the age of one and 60. According to the Korean tradition, a child represents the divine source until the age of five or six. It is believed that after one year of age the baby's soul is fully formed, and they directly communicate with the souls of the ancestors helping them in the afterlife. This is why Korean parents spoil their children and allow different mischiefs.
It becomes apparent that in traditional Korea birth of children is given a great importance. Interestingly, according to the Confucian tradition adopted today in Korea, any person is always in absolute obedience to their parents, and not until they become of age, as it happens in Europe.
Koreans are some of the most caring parents in the world, and a question about their son or grandson is able to soften even the most unfriendly person. Korean children are given all mental and financial strength by their parents. Even if there is a conflict between the spouses it rarely affects children. Despite some oddities in determining age, the nations of the West have much to learn from the Koreans.

Julia Chmelenko

Tony Blair: Libya, Lockerbie, Arms and Betrayals.

Tony Blair: Libya, Lockerbie, Arms and Betrayals.. 50765.jpeg
"The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men." (Samuel Adams, 1722-1803, letter 1775.)
This will surely have you falling down with surprise. According to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act and obtained by the (UK) Sunday Telegraph, the August 2009 release from Scotland's Barlinnie jail of Libyan Abdelbaset al- Megrahi, accused of the bombing of  Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, hinged on an oil and arms deal, allegedly brokered by roving war monger (sorry, roving "Peace Ambassador") Tony Blair.
Felicity Arbuthnot
At this point it should be said that anyone who has read John Ashton and Ian Ferguson's meticulous "Cover up of Convenience" (i) on the Lockerbie tragedy could only regard Mr al-Meghrahi's conviction as between very unsafe and very questionable.
The British Labour Party, which Blair headed for ten years, until 27th June 2007, have always insisted that the release had no connection with commercial deals. After leaving Downing Street, Blair visited Libya some six times.
On 8th June 2008, the then British Ambassador to Libya, Sir Vincent Fean, sent Tony Blair's private office a thirteen hundred word briefing on the UK's eagerness to do business with Libya, according to the Telegraph. (ii) Blair flew to Tripoli to meet Colonel Quaddafi, just two days later, June 10th. Quaddafi paid: Blair, always lavish with other's money had requested, and was granted, the Colonel's private jet for the journey.  
Sir Vincent's "key objective" was for: "Libya to invest its £80 billion sovereign wealth through the City of London", according to the Telegraph, which also cites the Ambassador writing of the UK being : "privately critical of then President George Bush for 'shooting the US in the foot' by continuing to put a block on Libyan assets in America, in the process scuppering business deals." Britain however, was voraciously scrambling to fill the fiscal gap.
 
Unlike the US and UK who abandon or drone to death their own citizens who are in trouble, or even accused of it, Libya's Administration had stood by their man and seemed to be prepared to do even unpalatable deals to free him and had long been pressuring the UK to release al-Megrahi.
In May 2007, a month before he left Downing Street, Blair had made his second visit to Libya, meeting Colonel Quaddafi and his Prime Minister Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi in then beautiful and now near ruined city of Sirte.
Surely coincidentally, on this trip, a deal was seemingly thrashed out, including prisoner transfer, just before British Petrolium (BP) announced their approximate £454 million investment to prospect for £13billion worth of oil in Libya.
Also, states the Telegraph report: "At that meeting, according to Sir Vincent's email, Mr Blair and Mr Al Baghdadi agreed that Libya would buy a missile defence system from MBDA - a weapons manufacturer part-owned by Britains's  BAE Systems." This seemed to (also) hinge on a Memorandum of Understanding for a Prisoner Transfer Agreement: "which the Libyans believed would pave the way for al-Megrahi's release." Various sources state that the arms deal was worth £400 million, and up to two thousand jobs in the UK. Sir Vincent referred to the arms deal as a "legacy issue." Blair's "legacy", as ever, synonymous with destruction. 
Ironically, it was Blair who credited himself with persuading Colonel Quaddafi to abandon and destroy his weapons programmes  after his visit to the country in March 2004 (placing that Judas kiss  the Colonel's cheek) as a step to Libya returning to the fold of the duplicitous "international community." With friends like Blair, enemies are a redundancy.
When Blair returned to Libya in June 2008, the Telegraph contends that the British Government, then under Gordon Brown, Blair's former Chancellor of the Exchequer (who left the national coffers near empty) used the opportunity: " to press the case for the arms deal to be sealed. At the time, Britain was on the brink of an economic and banking crisis - and Libya, though the Libyan Investment Authority - had billions of pounds in reserves."
Saif al-Islam, Quaddafi's son, expressed the concern over the arms deal being voiced from within the Libyan military, given their close ties to the "Russian defence equipment camp." 
An earlier discovery by the Sunday Telegraph shows, in letters and emails, that Blair held hitherto undisclosed talks with the Colonel in April 2009, four months before al-Megrahi's release. (iii) 
Again he was flown at the expense of the Colonel, in his private jet: "In both 2008 and 2009, documents show Mr Blair negotiated to fly to the Libyan capitol ... in a jet provided by Quaddafi." Blair's Office denies the claims, saying they were transported in a Libyan government 'plane.
By the time of the 2009 visit: "Libya was threatening to cut all business links if al-Megrahi stayed in a British jail." Blair seemingly attempted to pour oil on troubled waters by bringing American billionaire, Tim Collins to that meeting to advise Quaddafi on building the beach resorts he was planning, on the Libyan coast. 
Further adding to the murk, a spokesperson for Collins stated:"Tim was asked to go by Tony Blair in his position as a trustee of Mr Blair's US faith foundation. Tim had no intention of doing any business with Quaddafi."
However: "Sources in Libya said Quaddafi had discussed with Mr Collins opening beach resorts along the Libyan coast, but that Mr Collins had dismissed the idea because the Libyans would not sanction the sale of alcohol or gambling at the resorts. 
Blair's spokesperson said of the visit: " ... Tony Blair has never had any role, either formal or informal, paid or unpaid, with the Libyan Investment Authority or the Government of Libya and he has no commercial relationship with any Libyan company or entity." A Blair first, seemingly, given the impression that he never touches down anywhere without emerging with a lucrative contract or a large cheque, 
However, Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, is quoted as saying : "Mr Blair is clearly using his Downing Street contacts to further his business interests."
In a further coincidence, the Prisoner Transfer agreement for Mr al-Megrahi was signed the day before Blair's 2009 visit.
When al-Megrahi, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, was released in August 2009, the British media and politicians were outraged. Scotland had done a deal and was benefiting financially from Libya. The latest revelations prove Scotland did no financial deals. When Mr al-Megrahi failed to die, politicians and media were even more outraged. They were a shaming spectacle.
Mental mind set can be a huge force in prolonging life in even the most serious cancer patients. No doubt in al-Megrahi's case, being back in a home and with a family he loved contributed to his extra time. He survived long enough to see his country destroyed by the devious forces the West embodies - and at which Blair excels.  Megrahi died in September 2012. 
Incidentally, Ambassador Fean reportedly "expressed relief" at al-Megrahi's release: "He noted that a refusal of Megrahi's request could have had disastrous implications for British interests in Libya. 'They could have cut us off at the knees."(iv)
Quaddafi, however, never signed the arms deal.
Footnote: The 2004 visit by Blair was arranged by Saif al Islam, who Blair seemingly knew well and had allegedly even offered suggestions on his PhD thesis when Saif was studying at the London School of Oriental and.African Studies (SOAS.)
In September last year Saif al-Islam's lady friend of six years, appealed, passionately, to Blair to intervene to save the life of his now captured, maimed and death penalty-facing friend: "The two are old friends - it is time that Mr Blair returned some loyalty. Mr Blair is a man of God - as a Christian he has a moral duty to help a friend in need", she has commented. (v)
Seemingly there has been no response from Blair's office. Further, an extensive search for a comment on the appalling death of  Colonel Quaddafi - his former host and private 'plane provider - and the demise of much of his family from this "Peace Envoy" and "man of God", has come up with absolutely nothing.
To mangle a quote: Beware of British offering deals.

Was Hitler the enfant terrible of European construction?

By Nicolas Bonnal
Was Hitler the enfant terrible of European construction?. 50536.jpeg
AP photo
In 1945, Himmler had written a famous letter (at least famous in France) to general de Gaulle in order to recommend him an alliance between France and Germany to save Europe from the Soviet Union: the defeat of Nazi Europe was such a mess... and today, France being the shadow of herself, Germany is running again the continent and Angela Merkel is reigning on her own with the bankers who created the euro and design a continental austerity and the great replacement of our peoples. Hitler projects were obsessed too by such displacements of peoples, by autobahns and by a destruction of our landscapes and national and Christian roots. Now Brussels's Europe serves basically the same purpose.
Twenty years ago, my friend John Laughland had described in his book "The Tainted Source" the undemocratic origins of European construction. While Europe unwillingly submits herself to the yoke of not so invisible banks, elites and agencies, it seems important to recall that the first designer and builder of that modern Europe was Hitler, for he dreamt of a unified and Russophobe continent driven by an iron fist and a somewhat erratic agenda. It is well-known that after the war ex-SS prince Bernhard created the Bilderbergs with Jesuit Rettinger and NATO agents in order to fulfil the European construction and the destruction of our nations. The purpose of the European Construction was to crush Marxist temptations, to submit our peoples to undemocratic agencies, to isolate the soviet bloc and to create a pure materialistic world: the world of the reign of quantity, to put it in René Guénon's words.
Reading the various books written about the fuehrer and his grandiose projects by world-famous historian David Irving, I find the following phrases (we are in 1936):
 
AT this Nuremberg rally Hitler announced a four-year plan for Germany. His grand plans on foreign policy came as no surprise Goebbels. After sitting in on one conference aboard Hitler's yacht Grille at Kiel in May 1936 he had noted down Hitler's prophetic vision of a United States of Europe under a German leadership.
In 1941 Hitler pronounces a speech in Berlin about Europe. Notes Irving:
In his speech he outlined his unifying role in Europe - how Italy, Hungary, the Nordic countries, and then Japan had come closer to Germany.
Berlin is again the capital of Europe. During the war declared by Britain (Hitler just wanted a clean sweep in the East), the German dictator argues for a destruction of the nations and their colonies: 
As for Europe: there is no justification for the existence of small nations, and they particularly have no right to big colonial possessions. In the age of air forces and armoured divisions small nations are lost.
Hitler was driven by a mad racism against Slavic peoples. He wanted to colonize the East and send Nordic colons from all northern Europe in Ukraine or Crimea; the program was both economical and demographical. A good British, Irving notes with scepticism the German dreams:
By mid-October, despite the foul weather, Hitler was still red with optimism. On the thirteenth he began laying the foundations for a Nazi version of a united Europe. Hewel wrote, 'Reich foreign minister visits the Fuehrer; first thoughts on a European manifesto, probably in the economic sphere first of all, and probably at the beginning of the winter.
While invading Russia, Hitler is surrounded too by economists and experts and he dreams of a new Europe no more based on obsolete notions:
Fuehrer is in very best and relaxed mood.' Over dinner he revealed that he had been thinking of calling together the economic experts of Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, and Finland. 'All those who have a feeling for Europe can join in this work,' he said, meaning the colonisation of the east.
The fact is that the Nordic peoples moved but to the South (nobody ever wanted to freeze in the East!), accelerating the decay of southern European economies. In a few years the euro has anyway destroyed their economies. The history of Nazi currency has been well studied by Milton Friedman (a frank admirer of Dr Schacht's wizardries) and his school.  German-European currency is just an extension of the domain of the fight.
Nobody felt at this gloomy times more European than Himmler and the SS:
It was Himmler who was most assiduously propagating the new 'European' spirit: in the SS panzer division 'Viking,' now fighting in the Caucasus, the young men of Scandinavia and the Netherlands were united with the finest German troops.
Here we come closer to the present situation. By the end of the war, as the strength of the Red Army begins to crush the idealistic and somewhat multicultural Nazi hordes, Hitler - an insatiable optimist like all the good Europeans - underlines the necessity of a unified Europe.
'But the British have got it all quite wrong! They declared war to preserve the "balance of power" in Europe. But now Russia has awakened and turned into a state of the highest technical and material calibre. . . This means that the onslaught from the east can in the future only be met by a united Europe under German leadership. That is in Britain's interest too.'
A united Europe under German leadership! Here we are! This doesn't mean that the fuehrer did not betray too the interests of his race: after all, he was responsible fort he blood and death of millions of Europeans in the name of a racist and lunatic agenda; after all he wanted the Japanese to attack Russia in the East and he awoke the Asian resistance against the British imperial interests. The fuehrer too was an antiracist who fought his own race. This is why I call his attitude erratic; as we consider today's European construction absurd, prejudicial and doomed.
Of course I am exaggerating! The goals are the same but not the means. So let us call Hitler - after Napoleon - the enfant terrible of European Construction; and read again Tolstoy's War and Peace to understand the confuse mind of westerners... 
By David Irving: Hitler's war; Goebbels, the mastermind of the Third Reich
Nicolas Bonnal

Summer camps: Islam and a bit of sport

Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan will verify the information on extremist nature of Muslim spiritual and recreational camps attended by students from Russia. Why send Russian children to religious camps abroad if there are plenty of those in the Russian Federation? However, the activity of the latter also has unacceptable elements.
The inspection was prompted by the information posted on the website News of the Altai Mountains and stating that one of the organizers of the trip to Kazakhstan is Imam Serzhan Svatov. The imam is currently under investigation with respect to a criminal case of extremist nature, namely, organization of the activities of religious association Tablighi Jamaat prohibited on the territory of Russia. As established by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the purpose of the religious association is world domination through the spread of radical forms of Islam and the establishment of an Islamic state "World Caliphate."
Altai prosecuting authorities began their investigation that "will assess the legality of the organizers and others persons associated with sending children to spiritual wellness Muslim camps in Kazakhstan, the activities of these camps, and legality of taking children out of the Russian Federation unaccompanied by their parents," states the site of the prosecution office.
Serzhan Svatov, the imam of Kosh-Agach mosque, commented as follows: "We were surprised by this reaction. Parents cannot understand what they did wrong, why their children cannot receive the spiritual and moral education in their homeland in formal camps whose activity is entirely under the control of the Spiritual Administration of Kazakhstan. We are all in shock! People are outraged, we did not expect such an outcome of the organization of summer holidays," Bankfaks agency quoted Svatov.
However, the authorities of Kazakhstan, in contrast to the Imam of Kosh-Agach, do not believe that the activities of such camps are controlled by the Spiritual Administration of Kazakhstan. Recently, efforts to prevent the spread of Wahhabism among the youth were enhanced in the country. "At this time, on behalf of the head of the government, a state program on combating religious extremism and terrorism in the Republic of Kazakhstan was established and will be implemented over a five-year period," said Kairat Lama Sharif, chairman of the Agency for Religious Affairs at the scientific and practical conference "Islam and jihadism" in Aktau, wrote BNews. kz. It was decided to return Kazakh students studying in religious institutions abroad to Kazakhstan.
 
 
According to Lama Sharif, today392 citizens of the country study Islam in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other countries, many under the patronage of Tablighi Jamaat considered banned and extremist in Kazakhstan. Security officials of Kazakhstan found that of the 52 Zhambyl residents studying theology at the universities of Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh, 41 people were members of the organization.
"This wave (of inspections) started after a recent speech at the parliamentary hour of the chairman of the Kazakhstan Agency for Religious Affairs Kairat Lam Sharif. He reported to the parliament on the measures his department is taking to prevent the activities of extremist organizations in the religious sphere. This is the only thing I can think of to explain such a keen interest to the activities of Muslim religious camps attended by Russian citizens on the territory of Kazakhstan. So far there is no information on what is going on in these camps, we have to wait for the results of the investigation," Alexei Vlasov , a historian, political scientist, and the Director of the Information and Analytical Center for the Study of the post-Soviet space MSU-RSUH told Pravda.Ru.
It should be noted that there are many Muslim recreational and educational camps for children in the Russian Federation, not only in the Muslim republics, but in places like Saratov, Tyumen, Izhevsk, Penza, Khabarovsk region, Moscow and the Altai region. Why send Russian children to Kazakhstan? However, there are questions to the Russian Muslim camps as well.
For example, URA agency, citing IA IslamNews Muslim, reported that Muslim students in a training camp near Tyumen had paramilitary training. The students worked with unarmed combat and military training instructors, and studied the national traditions and fundamentals of Islam. Head of the camp, Mufti Garifullin in 2010 called on Moscow Muslims to pray in Orthodox churches. He is also the Regional Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Asiatic Russia (DUM). Meanwhile, Imam Ilkhom Merazhov was recently convicted for the creation of a group of Nurdzhular in Omsk, an organization banned in Russia. This is quite an alarming fact.     
What are these camps training their students for? Are the authorities aware of these activities? Incidentally, more attention should be paid to the threat of infiltration of extremist ideas into its structure. The experience of other countries shows that extremist organizations are not working with outcasts, but young people, providing them with support in their civil service carrier, including in the security forces.
Lyuba Lulko
<iframe SRC='http://www.newtvworld.com/livetv/pakistan/geotez.html' width='600' height='400' id=www.Newtvworld.com marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling='no'></iframe>