When you use the Internet in a public place, do you prefer to have as much privacy as possible?  Well, that makes you a potential terrorist.

According to the FBI, Internet privacy is now considered to be suspicious activity.

If you are out in public and you attempt to keep snoopers from peeking at your computer screen, then according to the FBI they should gather as much information about you as they can and they should report you to the authorities immediately.

If this seems completely and totally ridiculous to you, then you are not alone.  Millions of Americans have become deeply concerned about the constantly expanding definition of “suspicious activity” in the United States.

Sadly, the federal government is now engaging in an all-out attempt to have us all spy on one another.  All over America, the Department of Homeland Security is running ads promoting the “See Something, Say Something” campaign.

They even had 8,000 stadium workers at the Super Bowl this year go through special training on how to spot potential terrorists.  So the next time you see a hot dog vendor, keep in mind that he might also be part of a special anti-terrorism task force.

The following are some quotes from a government document entitled “Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Internet Café“.  In between each quote, I have included some commentary.  It is absolutely amazing what the definition of “suspicious activity” now includes….

“Are overly concerned about privacy, attempts to shield the screen from view of others”

Look, if I am doing some online banking or am composing an email to a friend I don’t want someone peeking at my screen.  Aren’t most Americans “concerned about privacy” and don’t most people want to keep their Internet activity to themselves?

“Always pay cash or use credit card(s) in different name(s)”

We have seen the government warn about this before.  It appears that from now on using cash in America is going to get you labeled as a potential terrorist.  How bizarre is that?

“Act nervous or suspicious behavior inconsistent with activities”

Some people are just naturally nervous.  This kind of vague language could be applied to almost anyone.

“Are observed switching SIM cards in cell phone or use of multiple cell phones”

What if your cell phone battery is dead and you need to use your wife’s cell phone?  Does that make you a potential terrorist?

“Travel illogical distance to use Internet Café”

A lot of times people will use Internet cafes when they are out of town on a trip.  Is there something inherently suspicious about that?

“Evidence of a residential based internet provider (signs on to Comcast, AOL, etc.)”

Why in the world would this be considered to be suspicious activity?

“Use of anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address”

These are lots of people out there that take Internet security very seriously and that use things like this.  And how would a casual observer know that these kinds of things are being used?  You would have to be watching someone pretty closely to know that something like this is going on.

“Suspicious or coded writings, use of code word sheets, cryptic ledgers, etc.”

What would “suspicious or coded writings” include?  Again, this is very vague language and could include a vast array of different things.

“Encryption or use of software to hide encrypted data in digital photos, etc.”

So nobody should use encryption anymore?

“Suspicious communications using VOIP or communicating through a PC game”

What exactly would fall under the category of “suspicious communications”?

Also, if you are talking to someone through a PC game, there is a good chance that it is a very violent PC game and that you would say something that you normally wouldn’t say in real life.

You might say something like this: “Okay let’s get the guys together and go kill the boss.  We’ll meet at the Gates of Endor in a half hour.”

According to the FBI, that could easily be labeled as “suspicious activity” that needs to be reported to the authorities.

So exactly what are we being instructed to do if we see something suspicious?

Well, the following is one of the action points from the FBI flyer….

“Identify license plates, vehicle description, names used, languages spoken, ethnicity, etc.”

That sounds like something the KGB would ask people to do.

You can view the complete FBI flyer right here.

But it isn’t just Internet privacy that the FBI is concerned about.

There is another FBI flyer out there that is directed at those running hotels and motels.

The document is entitled “Potential Indicators Of Terrorist Activities Related To Hotels And Motels”, and you can view the entire document for yourself right here.

The following are things that the FBI says make a hotel guest “suspicious”….

“Request specific room assignments or locations.”

I do this all the time.  I always request a non-smoking room and I always prefer a king size bed.  Also, if I have a lot of stuff to carry I may request a room on the ground floor.  Does that make me suspicious?

“Use cash for large transactions or a credit card in someone else’s name.”

Once again, using cash is considered to be a suspicious activity.  How long will it be before they try to outlaw cash?

“Arrive with unusual amounts of luggage.”

Has the person writing these things ever even traveled with a woman?

“Make unusual inquiries about local sites, including government, military, police, communications, and power facilities.”

When I am visiting a new area, I will often talk with hotel staff about places to eat or places to visit.

Is that a problem?

“Refuse cleaning service over an extended time.”

This is something that I have done for years.  I don’t want a maid to wake me up at the crack of dawn.  If I refuse cleaning service will that get me put on a list somewhere?

“Use entrances and exits that avoid the lobby.”

Many hotels have entrances all around the building so that you don’t have to walk a mile to get to your car.

If I walk out a side door directly to my car does that make me a potential terrorist?

“Abandon a room and leave behind clothing and toiletry items.”

How many of us have ever left something behind in a hotel room by mistake?  Sometimes I triple check the room and still manage to leave something behind.

“Do not leave their room.”

Sometimes when you have a day off you just want to stay in bed all day.

Or if you are newly married you may not want to leave your room for a few days.

Should newly married couples be reported to the government as potential terrorists?

“Change their appearance.”

I change my appearance all the time.

If I am on vacation, I may not shave for several days.

And most people I know wear different clothes every single day.

So exactly how dramatic would a “change” of appearance have to be in order to be considered suspicious?

“Leave the property for several days and then return.”

Sometimes people have business plans or vacation plans that involve an unusual schedule.

Whoever wrote these flyers does not seem to have a lick of common sense.

Using the criteria above, almost anyone could be considered to be engaging in suspicious activity.

And it is highly offensive that the federal government is instructing us to watch one another so closely.

When did the United States turn into East Germany?

Unfortunately, these flyers are just another sign of the mass paranoia that seems to have descended on this country.

In America today, everyone is a “potential terrorist” and will be treated as such.

If the authorities will detain U.S. Senators at our airports for “security reasons” and if they will issue hundreds of thousands of tickets to school children, then there is no reason to believe that you are going to be treated with dignity and respect.

The United States is rapidly becoming a Big Brother police state.  I didn’t sign up to live in North Korea, but that is exactly where we are headed.

We have been told that all of our rights are now “limited privileges” that can be taken away at any time for the sake of “national security”.

Sadly, most Americans have become convinced that if we give up large amounts of liberty and freedom it will help the authorities keep us safe.

But that is a lie.  Without a doubt, more bad things are going to happen in the future.

When those bad things happen, we will be told that we need to give up even more liberty and freedom.

In the end, we will be living like slaves.

And we will still not be safe.

Please wake up America.

An accredited and renowned scientist Dr. Elchin Khalilov has confirmed the strange sounds are not just a hoax and offers some solid explanations.

Dr. Khalilov is geophysicist who works in the area of geodynamics and geotectonics. Basically he studies the way the plates of the Earth move on a global scale and the key dynamics of earthquakes and geological forces.

In a recent interview for GeoChange Journal Dr. Khalilov was asked some questions about the strange sounds people have been reporting for the past few months.

Here is a snippet from that interview.

What is the nature of the unusual very low-pitched sounds reported by a great number of people in different parts of the planet since the summer of 2011? Many call them “The Sound of the Apocalypse”. Information about that comes from all over the world: US, UK, Costa Rica, Russia, Czech Republic, Australia, etc.”

DR. KHALILOV - “We have analyzed records of these sounds and found that most of their spectrum lies within the infrasound range, i.e. is not audible to humans. What people hear is only a small fraction of the actual power of these sounds.

They are low-frequency acoustic emissions in the range between 20 and 100 Hz modulated by ultra-low infrasonic waves from 0.1 to 15 Hz.

In geophysics, they are called acoustic-gravity waves; they are formed in the upper atmosphere, at the atmosphere-ionosphere boundary in particular.

There can be quite a lot of causes why those waves are generated: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, storms, tsunamis, etc.

However, the scale of the observed humming sound in terms of both the area covered and its power far exceeds those that can be generated by the above-mentioned phenomena.”

The entire interview can be found on one of his websites here;
http://geochangemag.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142:strange-sounds-in-sky-explained-by-scientists-&catid=1:global-news&Itemid=9

Is There An Effort to Poison The Well?

There is no doubt a huge amount of fake “Strange Sounds” videos saturating Youtube; But where did all these fake videos come from?

Between January 13th through the 16th I watched in disbelief as several dozen fake videos under the title “Strange Sounds” were uploaded to Youtube at the rate of 4-5 per hour.

Notice that the graph for Google Trends starts shooting right up on the 10th when people actually started searching Google for the term “Strange Sounds” and then around the 13th is when all the fake videos started being uploaded like they were going out of style.

In my 18 years on the internet and 6 years being an avid Youtuber I have not seen anything that even comes anywhere near close to this.

Either we just witnessed the world’s largest coordinated hoax that should be put in the Guinness Book, or somebody is trying to cover something up.

How To Discredit the Real Videos – Poison The Well

If a person, or group of persons, wanted to cover up something as big as strange ominous sounds in the sky, and they wanted to do it in the age of digital cameras, the only way to be able to accomplish that goal is by creating a massive slew of fakes and injecting that poison into the stream of information, thus discrediting all the videos.

There is no other possible way to cover up something like that unless you shut down Youtube or delete user accounts but if you shut down accounts that causes a whole other problem because then that lends credibility to the video uploader.

The best, easiest, and “least messy” method would be to saturate Youtube with so many fakes that nobody could tell what was real and what was fake without extensive time consumption and effort.

If a person was to try and sift through all the videos, probably now well over 100, it would be a nightmare.

For those who don’t know what the age old term “Poison the Well” means, here is the definition;

Poisoning the well is a rhetorical device where adverse information about a target is preemptively presented to an audience, with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing everything that the target person is about to say.

This article originally appeared at the Rabbithole2. A thorough examination of how poisoning the well takes place within the alternative media which accompanied the above article can be read here.

Its sponsors include America, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Colombia, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, UAE, Oman, Lybia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Togo.

Notably, Russia and China aren’t included. Nonetheless, Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said:

“We have the text which we shall send to our capital cities and will wait for the result.” He added that doing so “does not predetermine its fate in any way.”

More on its text below.

On February 3, Itar-Tass headlined, “UN Security Council agrees on Syria resolution,” saying:

On February 2, tentative agreement was reached. Key Russia/China concerns were addressed. Some perhaps but not all. Resolution sponsors “urged all countries to launch an open political process headed by the Syrians in the atmosphere free of violence, fear, intimidation and extremism.”

Earlier drafts were one-sided ultimatums. Though softer, the new version “still contains some veiled threat of sanctions” or worse if Syria fails to comply within 21 days. “In this case, the (SC) may consider some additional measures.”

Therein lies one of several flaws. Saying passage is far from sure, The New York Times called the measure “wobbly,” adding that SC members fully support the Arab League plan.

In fact, it’s Observer Mission report acknowledged what Western media reports suppress. Mission head General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi said:

“The mission was witness to acts of violence against government forces and citizens leading to death and injury of many. A case in point was the attack against a civilian bus which killed eight persons and injured others, including women and children.”

Heavily “armed opposition groups” are involved. In Homs and Daraa, for example, they used externally supplied “thermal bombs and anti-armor missiles.”

“In Homs, Idlib and Hama, (observers) witnessed acts of violence being committed against Government forces and civilians that resulted in several deaths and injuries.”

Various incidents “include the bombing of buildings, trains carrying fuel, vehicles carrying diesel oil and explosions targeting the police, members of the media and fuel pipelines. Some of those attacks have been carried out by the Free Syrian Army and some by other armed opposition groups.” However, naming them was unaddressed.

Media misinformation was also highlighted. For example, “many parties falsely reported that explosions or violence had occurred in several locations. When the observers went (there), they found that those reports were unfounded.”

Moreover, observers said government forces didn’t attack peaceful pro and anti-Assad demonstrations, except for minor incidents. While stopping short of blaming foreign governments, readers can draw their own conclusions from clear evidence provided.

As a result, mission findings were discredited for not delivering what Washington and rogue partners want. Arab League governments were heavily pressured to provide one-sided “exaggerated accounts of events.”

Mission head al-Dabi pointed fingers elsewhere. As a result, he was assailed for not cooperating and vilified for once running Sudan’s military intelligence under Omar al-Bashir. Washington wants him tried in the Hague.

New Draft Resolution

Its language states:

• It “e)xpress(ed) grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and profound concern at the death of thousands of people and calling for an immediate end to all violence.”

• It welcomes “the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011 and its subsequent decisions, including (on January 22) which aims to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis.”

• It expressed disappointment that violence prevented mission observers monitoring as planned and forced suspending their initiative as a result.

• It stressed “the importance of ensuring the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in safety and with dignity.”

• It’s “(m)indful that stability in Syria is key to peace and stability in the region.”

• It noted “announced commitments by the Syrian authorities to reform (but) lack of progress in implementation.”

• It “(r)eaffirm(ed) its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasizing its intention to resolve the current political crisis….peacefully, and nothing in this resolution authorizes measures under article 42 of the (UN) Charter.”

It states:

“Should the Security Council consider that measures” short of “armed force….inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations.”

The resolution “demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, protect is population, fully comply with its (international law) obligations….and General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176.”

It included a laundry list against him alone. It ranged from killing civilians to disappearances, arbitrary detentions, preventing access to medical treatment, sexual violence, and ill-treatment, including against children.

It sounds similar to false or exaggerated anti-Gaddafi charges throughout NATO’s campaign against him. Assad’s now target one before moving on to the next one.

It “(c)ondemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from (but not naming it), and in this regard demands that all parties in Syria, including armed groups, immediately stop all violence or reprisals, including attacks against State institutions, in accordance with the League of Arab States’ initiative.”

It calls for “all those responsible for human rights violations, including acts of violence, (be) held responsible.”

It demands “Assad’s government….without delay:

(a) cease all violence and protect its population;

(b) release all persons detained arbitrarily due to the recent incidents;

(c) withdraw all Syrian military and armed forces from cities and towns, and return to their original home barracks;

(d) guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations;

(e) allow full and unhindered access and movement” of Arab League “institutions” and international media in all parts of Syria to accurately determine conditions; and

(f) give Arab League monitors “full and unhindered” access on the ground.

• It calls for addressing all aspirations and concerns of Syria’s people, “without prejudging the outcome.”

• It supports transitioning Syria “to a democratic, plural political system, in which” all citizens are treated equally.

• It demands Syrian authorities cooperate fully, including “unhindered access for humanitarian assistance.”

• It requests the Secretary-General report within 21 days on implementation of the above provisions, in consultation with Arab League states.

• It decided “to review implementation of this resolution within 21 days and, in the event of non-compliance, to consider further measures.”

Fact check

Washington, rogue NATO partners, and regional despot allies abhor democracy and won’t tolerate it at home or abroad. Claiming otherwise belies America’s longstanding agenda, more recently in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere throughout the region.

Expressing disappointment that violence prevented Arab League observers from operating as planned, it stops short of blaming externally generated insurgents.

Saying Syrian stability “is key to peace and stability in the region” ignores over 10 years of Washington-led and/or supported violence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, Palestine, and elsewhere.

Claiming Assad failed to implement reform commitments belies serious steps he proposed, release of thousands of prisoners, nonviolence against peaceful opposition protesters, continued instability preventing him from moving faster, and Arab League mission head al-Dabi commending his cooperation.

Affirming Security Council members’ commitment to peaceful conflict resolution ignores Washington’s longstanding regime change agenda by any means necessary.

In addition, allowing further measures for non-compliance gives Washington enormous leverage to exploit. Imagine what it has in mind. Assad alone is blamed, not unnamed responsible parties.

Moreover, language sounds ominously like Libyan Resolution 1973. It authorized “all necessary measures….to protect civilians and civilian population areas under threat of attack.”

Straightaway, NATO intervened belligerently. Many tens of thousands died. Libya was ravaged and destroyed. Civilians, of course, suffered most. Violence continues unchecked. Human misery is incalculable. Western intervention assures Syria the same fate and perhaps Iran if it’s targeted next.

Washington wants governments in both countries replaced by pro-Western ones. Doing so gives it unchallenged regional control, including over its valued oil and gas resources.

In his book, “Winning Modern Wars,” General Wesley Clark said Pentagon sources told him two months after 9/11 that regime change was planned in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Lebanon, and Sudan. In weeks, Afghanistan was attacked. It’s now America’s longest war with no resolution in sight. Perhaps Syria’s next, then Iran.

United, Russia and China are bulwarks against it. Hopefully, they’ll demand language revisions to exclude interventionist wiggle room for Washington and rogue partners. It’s ominously there. Obama officials will take full advantage. Checking them is key.

A Final Comment

Russia Today reported, “Moscow won’t support a ‘raw’ resolution or arms embargo on Syria,” saying:

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churki spoke by video link, explaining that Moscow opposes a counterproductive resolution.

Points he raised included Russia’s opposition to embargoing arms to Syria, some Security Council (SC) members not condemning armed groups operating there, and likelihood that weapons will still reach them even if a ban’s imposed.

Citing the Libyan example, he said arming Gaddafi was prohibited, but weapons flowed freely to insurgent forces.

Cherkin also stressed Russia’s firm opposition to foreign intervention. He also expressed angst about many SC members ignoring the Arab League observer mission’s report, especially al-Dabi’s comments. However, at Moscow’s insistence, he’ll address the SC, and the report will be translated into all six official UN languages.

Churkin said a final resolution must include its findings. Observers spent a month in Syria and saw events firsthand.

Russia wants conflict resolution peacefully, but won’t yield on key issues.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.         

US and Israeli agendas need enemies. Both pursue rogue state policies.

They defy international laws and conventions, applying rule of law standards to others, not themselves. Their interests alone matter, no matter the toll on others.

When enemies don’t exist, they’re invented. Fear stirs public angst. Major media scoundrels spread it. Propaganda substitutes for truth and full disclosure.

America’s had no enemies since WW II. Israel’s had none since the 1973 Yom Kippur war. However, you’d never know it from regular spurious claims. Haaretz writer Amos Harel reported the latest in his February 2 article titled, “Some 200,000 missiles aimed consistently at Israel, top IDF officer says,” saying:

Military Intelligence chief General Aviv Kochavi alleged “a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more attune to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence,” despite no evidence whatever proving it.

In fact, clear evidence suggests the opposite. Since regional uprisings began a year ago, some names and faces changed, nothing else. Policies remain the same.

Regime abuses and indifference to public need continue in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, and elsewhere, despite public anger and calls for change.

Kochavi stoked fear with lies, alleging 200,000 missiles target Israel. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas are blamed.

Iran’s alleged nuclear threat further escalates tensions, despite no evidence one exists. Nonetheless, he said, if Ayatollah Khomenei “issues a command to achieve a first nuclear explosive device, we estimate it would take another year before that’s achieved.”

On February 1, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz made similar accusations. He emphasized heightened regional threats and said Iran’s nuclear program must be stopped.

Calling it a “global problem and a regional problem,” he left unaddressed its legal peaceful purpose in contrast to Israel’s nuclear proliferation agenda.

He lied saying “There is no doubt that Iran is seeking military nuclear capability.” Israel’s had one for decades. It’s nuclear armed and dangerous.

In his 1997 book titled, “Open Secrets: Israeli Foreign and Nuclear Policies”,” Israel Shahak said “Israel (is) clearly prepar(ing) itself to seek overtly a hegemony over the entire Middle East (with no) hesitati(on) to use for the purpose all means available, including nuclear weapons.”

Moreover, its longstanding policy dictates responding robustly if attacked, including with nuclear weapons. America has the same standard. Both are aggressive. As a result, world peace hangs in the balance. They and rogue partners threaten it, not Iran, Syria, Hezbollah or Hamas.

Nonetheless, strategy includes spewing lies to blame victims. According to Gantz, other Gulf states worry about Iran’s alleged nuclear program. Moreover, he claimed:

“(W)e must not forget one basic thing: Israel is the only country in the world which someone is calling for its destruction and which someone is building the tools to do so. This is something that cannot be ignored.”

Spuriously suggesting Iran, Gantz said “The world and the region must continue to isolate” the Islamic Republic, despite no threat whatever from its leaders. Nonetheless, he added:

“It is correct to continue economic pressure and sanctions, from which we are starting to see signs of achievement and progress in terms of what is going on in Iran. It is correct to act and continue to disrupt processes associated with the development of the Iranian nuclear project and to work to enhance oversight over what is happening.”

Only Iran’s leaders “will decide at the end of the day if it will give up on a military nuclear capability. But determined and consistent action will (lead) to this strategic insight.”

Gantz and other Israeli officials know Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful and legal. In contrast, Israel defies NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) provisions. It never signed the treaty. Iran did in 1968 and abides fully with its standards. Israel operates lawlessly like its Washington paymaster/partner.

Gantz also manufactured other “threats,” saying:

“Gaza and Lebanon are some of the largest munitions depots I know. (They) enter from Iran, Syria, and unfortunately even Russia continues to send arms to this day, where in Syria it is not clear who will control and operate them later.”

“The Middle East is the most armed region in the world, and the bad news is that we are the target of these arms. And we need to remember this.”

In fact, Israel’s been unthreatened for decades. It alone threatens others and wages strategic wars against Gaza, Lebanon, and potentially against Syria and Iran. Mainstream reporting ignores it.

It also lets Israeli President Shimon Peres spew lies about Iran’s “evil” leaders. Like other Israeli officials, he spuriously claimed Tehran’s nuclear program threatens Israel. He called it “ours and the world’s central problem at this time.” He accused Iran of pursuing regional and “even global hegemony.” In fact, Israel and America alone share that distinction.

Nonetheless, he said “Nuclear weapons mustn’t be allowed to fall into the hands of Iran’s Ayatollah regime.” He called its religious leaders the “most morally corrupt regime in the world.” Again, only Israeli and American political ones top the world’s rogue list.

Peres proved it by ruling out no options against Iran, saying “It is the duty of the international community to prevent evil and nuclear (weapons) from coming together. That is the obligations of most of the leaders of  the free world, one which they must meet.”

Iran “funds, trains, and guides terrorists to spread terror and murder across the globe,” he claimed. Proving it’s another matter because saying so is baseless. He added more saying “the current Iranian leadership offers the future only destruction. It threatens human rights and the peace of nations.”

Now age 88, Peres served in various political posts for decades, including prime minister from April – June 1977, again from 1984 – 1986, and most recently in 1995 and 1996. Now he’s president, a largely ceremonial post.

In fact, he acts at the behest and discretion of Israeli ministers and other top officials. Israeli presidents don’t make policy.

Nonetheless, their comments are widely reported on issues of war and peace and state security, no matter how duplicitous, untrue and hateful. Peres had lots of practice. His recent comments show it. He echoes official policies.

They’ve been unchecked for decades. No one challenges them, including major media scoundrels promoting the worst ones. As a result, world peace hangs in the balance. The threat’s too grave to ignore.

A Final Comment

On January 25, American Conservative contributor Noah Millman headlined, “Is Israel a Failed State?” His article reviewed Gershom Gorenberg’s new book titled, “The Unmaking of Israel.”

What’s “exceptional” about it, said Millman, is Gorenberg’s framing. It discussed decisions made during and after the 1967 war. Occupation and repression followed. Progressively, Israel became “unmade.”

Expanded settlements and other rogue policies corrupted democratic values. However, Israel’s fall from grace began from inception. Ben-Gurion endorsed force, violence, and marginalizing non-Jews as policy.

Occupation intensified conflict. International law’s spurned. As a result, Israel’s settlement enterprise and other rogue policies “undermined the Israeli state top to bottom.” Secrecy and corruption followed.

Decades of lawlessness reflect what Israelis “should have grown out of when they acquired the power and responsibility of a state.” Instead, pursuing wrong over right “doesn’t just undermine the” immorality of injustice, but it provides evidence that the “Zionis(t project) failed in what was arguably its primary objective.”

Gorenberg wrote his book mainly for Jews. Instead of pursuing peace, Israel chose conflict. It persists aggressively against non-threatening targets.

Gorenberg’s an Orthodox left-leaning Jew. He also espouses Zionism, but not Israel’s version. He said its “goal was a sovereign, independent Jewish state in the historic land of Israel, as a means to the moral and spiritual rebirth of the Jewish nation.”

Historical inaccuracies and stealing Palestine aside, Gorenberg deplores violence and repression. Pursuing them belie Zionist ideals, he believes, though others view its early days much differently.

Either way, he sees greater trouble ahead unless future Israeli leaders change course. So far, prospects at best are dim.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/

General Moshe Ya'alon, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Israel's current Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Strategic Affairs, and member of Knesset for Likud (Photo credit: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Statements from Israeli officials tend to be veiled (admittedly, the veil is quite thin indeed) in order to retain at least some semblance of legitimacy in the eyes of the international community.

That was dashed today with statements from Israel’s Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister, Moshe Ya’alon, at the closing day of the Herzliya Conference.

He said that the international community still had many tools ready to be utilized in the West’s efforts to stifle the Iranian nuclear program (which does not have military applications, something which Panetta has reluctantly admitted on no less than two separate occasions which you can read about here and here).

Most of these were to be expected, including economic sanctions (many of which are already in place), international pressure (which is already being applied), military actions (which are being prepared for with the American naval presence in the region and the troop buildup along with arming of surrounding states), and most noteworthy “support of Iranian opposition.”

While that phrase might sound innocuous to the uninformed, to someone like me and my readers, it rings alarm bells the size of Texas.

The United States and Israel have been busted funding so-called Iranian opposition, which would be regarded as terrorists and nothing else were they operating in any other country.

Most recently, it was revealed that Israel had been coordinating with the Pakistani terrorist organization Jundallah, while pretending to be Americans.

The United States itself also has a long history with the Mujahideen-e Khalq, or MEK, something which Tony Cartalucci and many others have covered in great detail.

Ya’alon was quite clearly referring to this activity and advocating that this strategy of supporting terrorism in an attempt to destabilize Iran and hopefully enact regime change not end but indeed be increased.

This is especially ironic seeing as one of the most tired accusations leveled at Iran and their leaders is that they support terrorism abroad.

Seeing how Israel and the United States do this, and are now openly advocating ratcheting up the practice, there really could not be a more absurd thing to condemn Iran for.

Ya’alon also made some interesting statements which hinted at infiltration of the Iranian nuclear program by intelligence agencies or assets of said agencies, like the Mossad, CIA, or British intelligence.

Ya’alon stated that “any facility protected by humans can be infiltrated by humans. It’s possible to strike all Iran’s facilities, and I say that out of my experience as IDF chief of staff.”

This is especially noteworthy when considered with the statements made recently by United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in which he said even the United States’ heaviest and most powerful “bunker buster” bomb could not reliably penetrate into and thus completely destroy Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.

As a result, over $80 million in additional funds has been allocated to the bombs. Although, some say that this might not be purely aimed at Iran.

One Russian analyst stated that Iran was being used as the pretext for the development of more powerful deep-penetrating ordinance, while it was actually being developed in order to threaten other nations as well like Russia, China and North Korea.

Writing for the Voice of Russia, Boris Volkhonsky, a senior research fellow at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies concludes, “Since the number of enemies the U.S. have around the world has been increasing with every consecutive administration, one can only wonder, where the new devices might be used. Even if they aren’t, an additional $82 million would come in very handy for the Pentagon.”

Haaretz claims that the above comment from Ya’alon seems “to counter reported remarks by U.S. defense officials quoted last week by the Wall Street Journal,” although I do not necessarily find that to be the case.

This is because defense officials were speaking purely about striking underground facilities from the air. This is what led one unnamed individual to say that a tactical nuclear weapon might be required to wipe out these deep underground facilities entirely.

However, they were not entertaining even the possibility of having assets on the inside who could infiltrate these facilities and destroy them from within, which is exactly what Ya’alon seems to be advocating.

Ya’alon also engaged in the tired fearmongering which has become the hallmark of rhetoric surrounding Iran and their nonexistent nuclear weapons program.

He claimed that a nuclear Iran (which doesn’t exist) is a global threat, saying that “if Iran obtains nuclear weapons [and obviously that is a huge if], it would be a nightmare for the free world, a nightmare for Arab states…and of course a threat to the State of Israel.”

I find it quite humorous that even Ya’alon has to admit that it is only a possibility, given that no one can actually prove that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons beyond overt propaganda and lies.

This is playing out just like the alleged weapons of mass destruction belonging to Saddam Hussein, which we obviously now know was completely fabricated from whole cloth.

I weep for anyone who still believes these warmongers who make a living off of mass death, destruction and suffering.

A nation like Israel, with a completely unregulated and (assumedly) quite large arsenal of nuclear weapons, going after a nation for pursuing peaceful nuclear technology is completely ridiculous.

It is almost as ludicrous as advocating using a nuclear weapon to stop a country from allegedly pursuing nuclear weapons, as was advocated recently in The Washington Post.

Ya’alon also made a somewhat worrying statement in regards to alleged Iranian efforts to destabilize regional regimes and support terrorism.

“We’ll see a more intense undermining of regional regimes and the acceleration of terror attacks against those regimes, as well as against Israel and western states, with the United States at the forefront,” Ya’alon said.

This is somewhat troubling because of the statements made recently by the American Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.

I recently covered these statements, which raise the unsettling prospect of a false flag attack on the United States (either on American soil or on American assets abroad) to be blamed on Iran as pretext for a more aggressive and military approach.

In this same testimony Clapper cast Russia and China as enemies and potential threats to our national cybersecurity, which is quite interesting given that Russia and China are the major opposing forces to Western efforts to enact regime change both in Syria and Iran.

In Ya’alon’s statements he also reinforced what I’ve been saying for months now: Western intelligence (most prominently the Mossad and CIA) have been conducting covert operations in Iran for some time now, especially targeting their nuclear scientists along with their ballistic missile program.

Ya’alon expressed intimate knowledge of an explosion which nearly destroyed a missile base near Tehran which belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) late last year.

He said that the explosion targeted a facility which was “getting ready to produce a missile with a range of 10,000 kilometers, thus threatening the United States.”

While I find this quite unrealistic, it is interesting that Ya’alon would show such a deep knowledge of what allegedly went on at this base, while information on such has been thin at best.

This is especially true given that Iran maintained it was an accident (likely to save face) and the highly strategic nature of the base lends more credence to the assertion that it was indeed a targeted operation and not the result of some innocent mishap.

The quite noteworthy and revealing comments – which will likely be covered completely differently in the establishment media given that they will not accept the reality of Western-supported terrorism, especially targeting Iran – made by Ya’alon come on the heels of more alarmist rhetoric from Israel’s Military Intelligence Chief, Major General Aviv Kochavi.

Kochavi said that Iran was threatening Israel constantly with some 200,000 missiles and that their ability to obtain nuclear weapons was depending wholly on the will of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The basis of the 200,000 figure is shaky at best, but it is quite obvious to anyone who is familiar with post-revolution Iran that indeed the call is ultimately Kahamenei’s and not Ahmadinejad’s or anyone else’s for that matter.

However, this does not mean that they are any more of a threat than they would be otherwise, so the statement seems to be nothing more than even more hollow fearmongering coming from Israeli officials.

Kochavi also claimed that Iran is able to further enrich the uranium they already possess in order to create four atomic bombs.

Once again, this figure has little to no basis in reality given that the highest publicized percentage of enrichment of an Iranian nuclear fuel rod was a mere 20%. This is significantly below “weapons grade” and certainly does not represent enough power for four atomic bombs.

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here in emphasizing that it really does not matter at all given that Iran is not actually pursuing nuclear weapons to begin with.

In fact, I do not think I’m exaggerating when I say that I am beating the ground-up dust of the bones of a skeleton of what once was a horse when it comes to this issue.

However, given the concerted and unrelenting propaganda assault coming out of the Western media, I do not think it can be said enough.

Hopefully if people like me who value truth above all else will continue to fight the tide of disinformation, we can start to dispel the myths surrounding Iran and avoid an unimaginably disastrous conflict which could very likely be the makings of World War III.

If I have missed anything or if you would like to give me a tip please contact me immediately at: admin@EndtheLie.coma reader sent me the link to the Haaretz article which provided the basis for this piece so keep in mind I truly appreciate everything my readers send me and I rely on my astute readership to help me provide the most up to date and accurate geopolitical analysis available. I just want to take a quick moment to thank everyone who continues to send me the links, opinions, and comments as I can’t say it enough: you all have made End the Lie possible and continue to help us become one of the web’s best destinations for unbiased, uncensored and truly independent news supported solely by you, the reader.

This article originally appeared on End the Lie

According to Azerbaijani Trend News Agency, Interfax has reported via Israeli sources that the United States and allied nations have begun to move troops and other firepower into the Persian Gulf Region.

According to the report, troops have already arrived just south of the Strait of Hormuz at the Omani island of Masirah, where an American Air Force base is located.

This appears to be on top of the 15,000 troops in Kuwait, three carrier strike groups to be in the region, arming of states surrounding Iran, and more, all of which has been heavily documented on End the Lie for some time now.

According to Trend, the Huffington Post has also reported that an American base on the British isle of Diego Garcia, located in the Indian Ocean, now has hundreds of “concrete-bomb[s] capable of destroying fortified underground bunkers” which one assumes is referring to the so-called “bunker buster” bombs or Massive Ordinance Penetrators (MOPs).

If true, this would be interesting given that United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta just claimed that the current bombs are not capable of totally destroying Iranian underground facilities.

There are also reports of Saudi Arabia moving parts of their ground forces into the Eastern portion of their nation, which is where the main oil production facilities are located.

This would be in addition to the new and refurbished jets being brought into Saudi Arabia thanks to the United States.

The report from Trend comes on the heels of a report published by Israeli propaganda outfit DEBKAfile which has previously pumped out disinformation which I covered in detail at the time.

However, it seems that this report might be one of the few which they have put out which is actually true, although that is still a bit up in the air.

By logically scrutinizing the report (which is now locked behind a pay wall, but can still be read in part here) we can see that indeed it fits with the overall trend and thus could very well be entirely true.

That being said, I think this buildup represents more of a contingency than anything. This is due to the fact that the United States and Israel have shown that they would much rather operate covertly in Iran rather than engaging in all-out warfare.

Given the statements made today by Israel’s Vice Prime Minister, which openly advocated more support of terrorist operations in Iran aimed at destabilization, I think it is a bit premature to be expecting overt war.

Then again, the military buildup in the region and the arming of surrounding Gulf states, considered in conjunction with the unrelenting torrent of propaganda makes me unable to rule out the possibility of a more overt military attack.

At this point, all we can do it sit by and hope the criminals who are our so-called leaders are not insane enough to engage in a conflict which could spark a global and unimaginably disastrous conflict.

This article originally appeared at End the Lie

As the US prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan, domestically the government feels that threats are increasing. Despite taking down no fewer than three key al-Qaeda members in the last year, the US has doubled the size of its notorious no-fly list.

Government figures provided to The Associated Press this week reveal that the no-fly list that was created over a decade ago as a response to the September 11 terrorist attack has more than doubled in size in only one year’s time.

In 2011, the roster of red-flag would-be flyers included only around 10,000 names. The AP has now learned, however, that today the list has extended to include around 21,000 individuals.

Timothy Healy, director of the Terrorist Screening Centre, tells the AP that a series of improvements were made to the criteria that could land a suspicious person on the agency’s list after the failed Christmas 2009 bombing over Detroit, Michigan.

The US government does not disclose what qualifying factors place persons on the list of suspicious persons, however, nor does it provide a roster of those included though.

Upon formally ending the War in Iraq this past December and executing Osama bin Laden, why the US is only feeling more at risk suggests that even as the nation’s wars end abroad, terrorism threats still remain rampant.

Only one day before the AP released their findings, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that he hoped to end US combat operations in Afghanistan nearly a year ahead of time, forfeiting a decade-long operation that began at the same time that the US government official began it’s no-fly list.

“Both US intelligence and law enforcement communities and foreign services continue to identify people who want to cause us harm, particularly in the US and particularly as it relates to aviation,” Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole explains to the AP.

Only one year after being introduced, the no-fly list grew to roughly 1,000 names in late 2002. Nearly ten years later though, the list is more than 20-times that size, although the US claims to have all-but dismantled al-Qaeda, the group formerly led by Osama bin Laden and initiated the 9/11 terror attacks.

Some suspect that the list does not necessarily suggest that the wars on insurgent forces are proved worthless, but that the US government is only making it easier to keep its own citizens from boarding planes.

It is believed that the list currently includes around 500 Americans, but as with all names on the list, their identities remain restricted to only the eyes of the US government.

“The news that the list is growing tells us that more people’s rights are being violated,” Nusrat Choudhury of the American Civil Liberties Union adds to the AP. “It’s a secret list, and the government puts people on it without any explanation. Citizens have been stranded abroad.”

Previously, the ACLU has attempted to sue the United States government from barring Americans from air travel without revealing their reasoning in-depth.

The organization waged a legal battle with both the US Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2010 over what staff attorney Ben Wizner said were “un-American and unconstitutional” actions from the US government.

Among those represented by the ACLU are several veterans of the US military who have unexplainably ended up on the no-fly list and been denied entry to their own country.

The ACLU has fought in the past for Ayman Latif, a US citizen and Marine vet living in Egypt, and Raymond Earl Knaeble, a US citizen and Army vet who is stuck in Colombia.

When the ACLU waged their suit in 2010, at the time the no-fly list was only 8,000-names large.

Responding to this week’s news, the ACLU writes on Thursday that “To deprive people of their right to travel without any notice or opportunity to object is unfair and unconstitutional. The news that the list is getting bigger only magnifies the problem.”

Late last year I reported on how the Department of Justice refused to reveal the legal justification for the United States’ highly secretive drone-based targeted killing program in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the New York Times.

After that failed attempt, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has stepped up to the plate in an effort to get the Obama administration to actually live up to their promises of transparency.

However, the government continues to nonsensically claim that the program is indeed so incredibly secret that they cannot even confirm or deny the existence of the program itself.

Even more illogical is that Obama himself comes out boasting about the program whenever it is politically beneficial for him to do so.

The same goes for officials from the administration who perpetually remain behind the cover of anonymity in speaking of the program while still attempting to justify it and in doing so confirming its existence.

In a typically spot-on article published today by Green Greenwald, writing for Salon, he outlines just how ludicrous this contradictory practice really is.

In the article, he even lays out what I see as Obama making the case for himself to be arrested for the same crimes as Bradley Manning.

Since Obama claimed that Bradley Manning was guilty and that he too could be arrested for releasing classified information, while Obama himself released classified information on the drone program, it only makes sense that Obama should call for himself to be arrested.

But, of course, this will never happen and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney essentially claimed that Obama can do whatever he wants when confronted with this issue.

This represents the greater problem which Greenwald highlights in his article: they claim secrecy to cover up their actions from legal scrutiny, while publicly boasting about the supposedly secret program whenever it is beneficial to do so.

This way they can continue to scare the world into subservience, strike fear into the hearts of innocent people across the Middle East and the world, keep killing people with no oversight whatsoever all while never having to answer to anyone, while still being able to boast about the “success” of their efforts.

All of this can be done without any legal challenges by leveraging the supposed secrecy of the program when needed, allowing all of this to occur in plain sight while not actually having to prove that they can legally do such a thing.

To help make sense of this approach, I think of it as somewhat like if someone was holding a gun to your back and whispered into your ear, “Hand over your wallet or I’ll shoot.”

You then think, “This feels like a gun, this guy sounds serious, and I just saw him shoot someone, but I can’t see it with my own eyes. I guess I’ll just take his word for it.”

A police officer then approaches you both and asks your attackers, “Excuse me, are you holding a gun to that man’s back and robbing him?”

The attacker replies, “I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the gun.”

A passer-by says, “I’m an anonymous individual who has witnessed this man shoot people with that gun before. I know he has it and I know he uses it.”

The police officer then says, “Oh well, so long as you can’t confirm or deny the existence of the weapon, I’m not going to try to investigate it or hold you to account for your actions. I’ll just choose to ignore the statements of that anonymous individual who confirmed the existence of the weapon since he is anonymous and I couldn’t care less.”

The police officer then walks away to leave you to be shot in the back.

Of course this is an over-simplified and crude way to get the point across, but I think it can help those who are confused by this attempt to understand just how little sense it really makes.

If we actually had a distinctly separate judicial branch which could hold the executive branch to account for their actions, they would never so brazenly contradict themselves by openly talking about a program then when challenged choose to slide back behind the veil of secrecy and claim that they cannot confirm or deny that the program even exists.

Thankfully, there are some organizations willing to stand up to the police officer, the mugger, and the anonymous witness in our hypothetical situation, which in this case are the so-called justice system, the executive branch and the CIA, and the many anonymous officials from throughout the government, respectively.

On top of the New York Times’ efforts which I previously reported on, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department, the Defense Department and the CIA, all of which are agencies of the Obama administration.

They are suing them over their persistent refusal to disclose any and all information pertaining to the assassination of American citizens.

Back in October of last year, the ACLU filed a FOIA request for the most basic (and thus uncompromising) information about the CIA’s targeted killing of three American citizens in Yemen without charge or trial.

These individuals were Anwar al-Awlaki (who some call “the CIA lackey” due to his close ties to Western intelligence evidenced by his dining at the Pentagon), Samir Khan and al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son Abdulrahman, all of which were killed by drone attacks.

All the ACLU’s FOIA request was attempting to do was find the administration’s justification for the murders on both a legal and factual basis.

Unsurprisingly, the Department of Justice and CIA both refused to give any information and even refused to confirm that the pertinent documents existed at all.

The response, which the ACLU characterized as “saying the targeted killing program is so secret that they can’t even acknowledge that it exists,” prompted the most recent lawsuit seeking both the legal and factual basis for these particular executions.

In the case of the New York Times’ suit filed in December, they seemed to just be going after the legal justification for the killings and not the factual information the agencies used to conclude that the killing was warranted in the first place.

As Greenwald rightly points out, this highlights the almost unbelievable fact that a group like the ACLU has been forced to go as far as suing the American government in order to find out what reasons they use to justify murdering Americans.

It shows just how far gone down the road of tyranny this demented government has traveled.

Greenwald makes this point painfully clear in a passage which is best read in its entirety:

“It’s extraordinary enough that the Obama administration is secretly targeting citizens for execution-by-CIA; that they refuse even to account for what they are doing — even to the point of refusing to disclose their legal reasoning as to why they think the President possesses this power — is just mind-boggling. Truly: what more tyrannical power is there than for a government to target its own citizens for death — in total secrecy and with no checks — and then insist on the right to do so without even having to explain its legal and factual rationale for what it is doing? Could you even imagine what the U.S. Government and its media supporters would be saying about any other non-client-state country that asserted and exercised this power?”

He then goes on to show how the Obama administration constantly boasts in public about the program which they claim in legal documents is so secret it cannot even be acknowledged.

Some apt examples are when Obama announced al-Awlaki’s death at a White House press conference (thus confirming the targeted killing program carried out by drones) along with his appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in which he did the same.

Then there was United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta who recently stated on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that “the president of the United States has to sign off [on the targeted killings] and he should.”

He thus confirmed not only that the program exists but the president has a direct role in it, something which other anonymous officials tried to steer clear from when previously discussing the highly secretive National Security Council’s death panels.

Other examples include the many times anonymous officials have spoken to journalists, always trying to maintain the legitimacy of the program (which is laughable in and of itself) while still being able to claim that it is secret and cannot be challenged in court.

Since the Department of Justice maintains that the program is so secretive it cannot even confirm that it exists without exposing a state secret, they effectively keep it out of the realm of legal scrutiny entirely, while still nonsensically allowing people like Obama and Panetta to confirm its existence in public.

The ACLU discussed this thoroughly nonsensical approach in writing,

“The government’s self-serving attitude toward transparency and disclosure is unacceptable. Officials cannot be allowed to release bits of information about the targeted killing program when they think it will bolster their position, but refuse even to confirm the existence of a targeted killing program when organizations like the ACLU or journalists file FOIA requests in the service of real transparency and accountability.”

While the Obama administration is not one to be lauded for consistency and straightforwardness on any account, this situation is an especially egregious example of just how inconsistent and secretive the government can be.

Hopefully the ACLU will be able to make some progress with this lawsuit, but I seriously doubt anything will happen given the fact that the courts have become a tool of the executive and the entire system of checks and balances has been all but openly eradicated from the American political system entirely.

Even if this case makes absolutely no headway in terms of actually getting the Obama administration to justify their actions, it does play a very important role in bringing this issue into the sphere of public debate and hopefully making more people who might otherwise ignore it aware of the horrors being committed in our name around the world.

It also might serve to help more people become aware of the fact that “our” government does not, in fact, work for us and thanks to this insane secrecy, they could actually target anyone for targeted killing.

With no accountability, there can be no justice, and the Obama administration can continue to attack people with impunity, even Americans.

Maybe this newest lawsuit will wake some people up to this ugly reality and hopefully build up a larger body of people in the United States who will no longer sit by and accept what our government is doing.

If you have any tips, comments or opinions to share, please email me at: admin@EndtheLie.com

This article originally appeared at End the Lie

Is this mysterious, hidden Lake Vostok? Where are those Russian scientists? Photo: NASA / FoxNews.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – One hundred years ago today, the frostbitten, exhausted but brave Englishmen forming the Antarctic “Terra Nova Expedition,” led by Capt. Robert Falcon Scott, were trudging back to their starting point on that frozen and unforgiving continent.

Having reached the South Pole 33 days after Norwegian Roald Amundsen, Scott and his men would never make it back, dying along the way.

It was a rather dramatic tale once the outside world learned of their glorious-and-tragic adventure to the bottom of the world.

And now, 100 years later, a new Antarctic tale is unspooling, according to news reports, involving a Russian scientific group called the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute who are exploring a subglacial lake said to be as big as North America’s Lake Ontario.

Reports FoxNews.com: “The team … have been drilling for weeks in an effort to reach isolated Lake Vostok, a vast, dark body of water hidden 13,000 feet (over two miles) below the ice sheet’s surface. The lake hasn’t been exposed to air in more than 20 million years.”

It is reported that geothermal heat from the Earth’s interior warms the lake’s bottom, keeping Vostok in a liquid state, albeit far below the ice.

The Washington Post reports that the scientists at the Lake Vostok drilling site are “enormously excited about what life-forms might be found there.” Of course there are other concerns, including the “de-gassing” of a body of water like Lake Vostok, which likely contains high concentrations of oxygen and nitrogen.”

And now? Well, the scientific world is still waiting to hear back from the Russian team. And with plummeting temperatures, some as low as -40 degree Fahernheit, concerns are mounting, as noted in a FoxNews.com report which quotes American scientist Dr. John Priscu, a professor of ecology at Montana State University.

Priscu said the Russian team has not been heard from in five days and the Americans and others are concerned about the fate of the Lake Vostok explorers.

Naturally, thoughts turn to classic science-fiction films like The Thing when reading such sensational news reports. In fact, Priscu, the ecologist from Montana told FoxNews.com “It could be fodder for a great made-for-TV movie,” not unlike the recent and dramatic Costa Concordia shipwreck echoing elements of the 1912 Titanic disaster and James Cameron film Titanic, as well as The Poseidon Adventure.

We wrote extensively about the comparisons between 1912’s Titanic disaster (or was it the Olympic?) and 2012’s Costa Concordia disaster here and here.

Quite coincidentally, as this drama involving the Russian scientists plays out, this week we read that Titanic film director James Cameron – making headlines this week as he plans to permanently leave the U.S. for New Zealand – is in Antarctica on a “Climate Reality Project” study with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, globalist media magnate Ted Turner, billionaire adventurer Richard Branson, Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin,  Iceland’s President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and a large group of scientists and environmentalists on a voyage aboard the National Geographic Explorer.

We even see the Bangladeshi environment minister placed his nation’s flag on Antarctica, 40 years after Beatle George Harrison, along with Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and others held The Concert for Bangladesh, which was to help refugees in that war-ravaged and flooded land and shone a spotlight on that ecological and humanitarian disaster.

Seeing that report involving Cameron, Gore, Turner and others and then noting this serious situation in Antarctica involving the Russians drilling for the pristine, multi-million-year old waters of Lake Vostok, are setting off this reporter’s sync alarms in a major way. Just last week I re-watched Cameron’s aliens-on-the-ocean-floor sci-fi adventure The Abyss.

Some are suggesting that an insider like Cameron is leaving his villa in Malibu, Calif. for New Zealand for reasons beyond filming that sequel to Avatar. It suggests that Cameron knows more about a coming economic collapse than perhaps most people do.

Two weeks ago we wrote in our piece addressing Scott’s ill-fated South Pole trek titled “Polar history and polar mysteries” that Dr. Brooks Agnew is still planning his North Pole Inner Earth Expedition for sometime this year, in his attempt to find an entrance – with the help of the Russians – into the hollow Earth. Red Dirt Report has received a DVD featuring more information about their goals and hope to report on it soon.

And those Russians at Antarctica’s Lake Vostok? We certainly hope they are heard from soon and that they are all right. We are excited to hear a full report about their discoveries.

That said, we also point to a 2001 article on Richard C. Hoagland’s EnterpriseMission.com website titled “What is happening at the South Pole?” In the article it notes that in early 2001, a team of scientists discovered a “huge magnetic anomaly” on the southeast portion of Lake Vostok. Could it be an “ancient city under the ice,” as Hoagland suggests, or something more alien?

We already know that American scientists had been interested in exploring Lake Vostok at the time but inexplicably pulled out of their Vostok exploration program. Rumors are that those involved in previous and clandestine drilling projects at Lake Vostok were exposed to something they had no immunity to.

Hoagland, writing in 2001, interestingly enough, even makes a link to 2001: A Space Odyssey, reminding readers that a “magnetic anomaly” attracted the Americans to uncover an ancient artifact – that haunting black monolith.

Since we’re on the subject of popular cinema, it should be noted that the film The Grey, starring box-office draw Liam Neeson, is the number-one box office film this week. It’s a survivalist thriller about an oil drilling team who are involved in a horrific plane crash in the icy and remote Alaskan wilderness and the survivors try to outrun and outwit a group of bloodthirsty wolves.

Not only does it remind me of The Abyss, with its oilfield workers facing certain peril, it also reminds one of The X-Files: Fight the Future from 1998 (the coordinates of the alien craft in that film are eerily close to where the Russians are said to be) and John Carpenter’s 1982 version of The Thing (and to a lesser degree the new version that was released last October).

In fact, The Thing (which has been referenced in a cutting-edge TV advertisement recently) is advertised as the “ultimate in alien terror.” And did you know that Lake Vostok, according to GlobalPost.com, is considered “the most alien lake on Earth”?

Interestingly, Ridley Scott (no relation to Capt. Robert Falcon Scott – that we know of) directed The Grey. Conditions were rough on the remote Canadian set and Ridley Scott told Entertainment Weekly that in making The Grey, “everyone embraced the pain.”

Embracing the pain seems to be a common thread, doesn’t it? Scott also directed the highly-anticipated film Prometheus, which many are saying a pseudo-prequel to Alien, one of the best sci-fi films ever.

And Prometheus? Well, for fans of The History Channel’s popular Ancient Aliens series, Scott’s new film, out in June, explores the idea of an advanced civilization of an extraterrestrial race that is linked to humanity’s origins. Are you starting to see a pattern here, folks?

This article originally appeared on Red Dirt Report

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Friday, February 3, 2012

Despite acknowledging there are “no credible or specific threats” to the safety of the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis on Sunday, the TSA is training thousands of fast food sellers and other vendors to spot terrorists under the “First Observer” program.

“TSA said over 8,000 stadium vendors, parking lot attendants, shuttle bus drivers, and other transportation professionals received the agency’s First Observer training for detecting and assessing indicators and planning tactics of potential terrorist activities,” reports Government Security News.

As we have previously reported, many of the behaviors characterized as potential signs of terrorism by the TSA in its training procedures are mundane activities performed by a majority of people, including using a video camera, talking to police officers, wearing hoodies, driving vans, writing on a piece of paper, and using a cell phone recording application.

The First Observer program has previously been used by the TSA on America’s highways, most recently in Tennessee for the purpose of “bothering truck drivers and passengers by subjecting their cargoes to exhaustive searches,” as former Congressman Bob Barr wrote back in November.

Drivers were also recruited to become snitches under the auspices of “See Something, Say Something,” as VIPR teams (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) worked with the Tennessee Highway Patrol to oversee a process that has been criticized as an alarming sign of internal checkpoints becoming commonplace in America.

With Congress having recently given the green light to increase their funding, VIPR teams, who conducted over 9300 unannounced checkpoints last year alone, will also be very much in evidence at the Super Bowl this weekend.

“According to TSA, Super Bowl fans may encounter TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams at local transportation venues, including commercial and general aviation facilities and mass transit,” reports GSN.

VIPR’s presence at the big game again illustrates the expanding scope of the deployment, under which TSA agents have been tasked with shaking down Americans at everywhere from bus depots, to ferry terminals, to train stations, in one instance conducting pat downs of passengers, including children, who had already completed their journey when arriving in Savannah.

The TSA yesterday denied a report out of WPRI that full body scanners would be used on fans entering the stadium, but reiterated that they would be in use at the nearby airport and also made reference to other “security issues” being coordinated with stadium venue security and local law enforcement.

Fans attending the game will be subject to a full body pat down and have been warned that most items being brought into the Lucas Oil Stadium will be confiscated.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.