Tag Archives: oil

International, U.S.

World War 3: More lies from Afghanistan

“Since December, all U.S. counter terrorism and special forces missions have been Afghan led.”-Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, U.S. Army

According to a new study, Lt Col Cummings is a liar.  Just today I questioned the daily 24 hour battle reports being given by the Afghan National Security Forces. Their reports seem canned in that it’s almost the same number of killed and wounded everyday, just about the same locations everyday, the same claims of weapons captured, and even the same claims of illegal drugs destroyed.

Either the “Taliban” are more active than we’re being told, or someone is lying about Afghan/Coalition (occupiers) military operations.

A new report by the Kabul based Afghan Analysts Network (AAN) says that many of the so called Afghan led operations are actually led by U.S./NATO forces, and sometimes no Afghan forces are involved at all!

In their report titled Death of an Uruzgan Journalist: Command Errors and Collateral Damage, the authors focus on a 2011 incident, where a suicide bomber blew up a radio station.   In the aftermath a U.S. soldier killed an innocent reporter who was a survivor of the suicide bombing.

Initially the U.S. tried to cover it up by insisting the Afghan troops were the ones who responded to the bombing.  International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) refused to comment on whether U.S. led occupying forces were the ones who responded.

The AAN report says even now ISAF continues to present the incident as an “Afghan led” response.  AAN says what they discovered in trying to find out what happened to a reporter who had been targeted in the past, by both Mujahideen and U.S. occupying forces,  is that the United States is trying to give the impression that most military operations are fully under the direction of the Afghan government, possibly to justify an early withdrawal of U.S. troops.

 

 

 

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Israel doing a 180 on Iran, now says Iran is NOT a threat! Egypt is!

April 25, 2012, Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, told Israeli media that Iran was not a nuclear threat!

He based his statements on a report that was published back in February. That report cited 16 intelligence agencies that said Iran is not a nuclear threat. But General Gantz is not the first, or most important, Israeli official to back off of Iran.

On April 22, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company canceled its deal with Israel, causing Israeli politicians to have a shit fit: “This is a dangerous precedent that diminishes the peace treaty!”-Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Finance Minister

As a result, probably the most influential politician in Israel, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, announced that Egypt was now Israel’s greatest threat: “We have to be prepared for all possibilities…The Egyptian issue is much more disturbing than the Iranian issue!” (statement was reported in an Israeli newspaper, which was paraphrasing what Lieberman was telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a closed door/private meeting)

This is just proof that what our glorious leaders tell us (whatever it is about) is unadulterated crap!

International, U.S.

World War 3: Another NATO fuel convoy burned. More battles and deaths. Herat the new hot spot.

April 25, 2012, a convoy of fuel tankers for U.S. led forces was attacked in Herat Province, Afghanistan.

The attack took place shortly after midnight.  Two fuelers were burned to the ground.  Mujahideen used old Soviet era RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades) to torch the tankers.  No casualties reported.

The attack on fuelers followed several battles between Mujahideen and Afghan government troops in Herat Province.  Government officials say one of their soldiers was killed, and another soldier was wounded in a separate battle.

In Ghazni Province five Afghan army troops were killed and two wounded in an explosion.

Once again the Afghan National Security officials gave a 24 hour roundup of military operations across the country.  And once again they say they killed about 20 Mujahideen, wounded 14 others and captured 11.

They claim there were 15 military operations in the past 24 hours, conducted along side occupying troops.  They took place in Kabul, Kapisa, Kandahar, Helmand, Logar and Paktia provinces.  I’m getting suspicious of these 24 hour reports, because they report almost the same number of killed or wounded Mujahideen everyday.  It also involves the same provinces.  If true then it means the “Taliban” are much more active than what Western media are reporting.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) reporting yet more U.S./NATO deaths.  One occupying force member was killed in an explosion (some reports say two NATO soldiers were killed), and two others were killed in non-combat situations.  Standard Operating Procedure for ISAF means no other details were issued.

Officially, the number of occupying forces deaths, from combat, still stands at 123.  They do not include non-combat deaths.

 

 

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Again more NATO deaths. Battles in Helmand and Kandahar.

April 24, 2012, International Security Assistance Force now saying, almost as an afterthought, that a U.S. led soldier was killed by an explosion in Helmand Province on April 22.

No other details.

Afghan officials reporting major battles with Mujahideen in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

In Kandahar one Afghan government soldier was killed, and three wounded after being attacked by Mujahideen.

In Helmand, Afghan government forces claim to have killed 20 Mujahideen, and wounded another ten. Some reports say the battle actually took place a week ago, which brings into question the reliability of government announcements.

The Afghan National Army also claims to have operations underway in Kabul, Nangarhar, Parwan, Kunduz and Logar provinces, so far killing eight Mujahideen and capturing 16.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: More U.S./NATO deaths. U.S. Congressman banned from Afghanistan. Yet more “leaders” captured.

April 24, 2012, International Security Assistance Force announced more U.S. led troop deaths.  As is ISAF SOP, no further details were given, other than that the official death toll for occupying forces is now at 123 for 2012.

Yet again, the Afghan government claims to have captured more “Taliban” and “Haqqani” leaders.   The captures took place in Logar, Nangarhar and Paktiya provinces.  They also claim to have stopped a suicide bomber in Herat Province.  They say he is connected to the Mullah Zahir Mujahideen group.

U.S. Republican Dana Rohrabacher, Representative from California, has been banned from entering Afghanistan.

Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, has criticized Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai.

A group of U.S. Congressman are in Afghanistan meeting with Northern Alliance political parties.  Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry says the U.S. politicians are interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. admits its personnel are drug addicts. More U.S. led NATO deaths. Fuel depot burning.

April 23, 2012, a fuel depot near Kabul is burning.  The only info available, currently, is that there are casualties and that it’s not clear how the fire started.

April 23, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced that two U.S./NATO/ISAF personnel were killed by an explosion the day before.

As is ISAF SOP, no details were given.  The number of confirmed (ie; officially admitted) dead for occupying forces is now 120 for the year. That’s 79 U.S. troops, 15 British troops and 26 soldiers from the other NATO member/ally countries.

More claims of “leaders” being captured.  Afghan government forces claim they’ve captured a “Taliban leader”, and a “Haqqani leader”.  The operations took place in Helmand and Khost provinces.

In Logar Province, Afghan officials claim they’ve captured several Mujahideen.  They say one of those captured belongs to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Legal action by an activist group has forced the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command to admit that many U.S. personnel are drug addicts.

Documents released show at least 56 personnel were investigated in 2010 and 2011.  At least eight military personnel died from opiate use in Afghanistan during the same time.  That included prescription drugs, as well as illegal drugs.

The information was specifically about U.S. Army personnel in Afghanistan.  Earlier this year the Army admitted that between 2006 and 2011, 36,000 soldiers were involved in drug offenses.

But wait, there’s more!  The Army also saw a huge spike in drug use in 2011.  Drug use jumped by 1,800 from 2010 to 2011.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Oil & Gas Prices: South Sudan gives up Sudan oil fields, Sudan invades. Cuban oil exploration not paying off, Mexico wants piece of the action. Argentina nationalizes Spanish oil company. U.S. oil glut will actually increase prices.

April 22, 2012, South Sudanese military officials say they’ve withdrawn forces from Sudan’s Heglig oil fields.

U.S. puppet South Sudan took the Heglig oil fields on April 10, claiming Sudan was using the fields as a military base (gee, if they were it wouldn’t have been so easy to capture them).

On Friday, April 20, Sudan claimed they liberated the oil fields.  But now, April 22, Sudan has invaded South Sudan.  There are reports that Sudanese forces launched at least three attacks, as far as nine kilometers (six miles) into South Sudan’s territory.

The Spanish company Repsol is exploring for oil and natural gas off Cuba’s north coast. However they say progress has been slow.

It’s estimated that just off the Cuban coast line there is at least 5 billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  So far attempts to get at it haven’t paid out.

Mexico has made it clear that its PEMEX oil company wants to be part of any Cuban oil production.

The irony is that Cuba is supporting Argentina’s nationalization of Respol’s operations in the South American country.

April 20, Cuba announced its support for Argentina’s nationalization of Respol YPF.  YPF was originally a state owned company anyway.  Venezuela, Nicaragua and several other Latin American countries support the move.

While Mexico wants in on Cuban oil, it opposes the Argentine nationalization of Respol YPF.

The reason Argentina nationalized its YPF oil production is that the privatized oil industry spent most of its profit on paying off stockholders, the result was an oil industry that fell behind in production, to the point that Argentina now has to import oil!

During the 1990s, Argentina privatized their oil industry.  The obsession with profits at any cost resulted in Argentina being left without enough of its own oil for its own use, which cause fuel prices to skyrocket: “That led to a lack of reinvestment in utilities, little exploration and dwindling reserves, as oil fields dried up and productivity fell.”-Eduardo Fernandez, oil industry consultant

That’s Corporate America and Corporate Europe for you!

In the United States, oil traders are hoping a reverse flow from the Seaway pipeline will increase the price per barrel of oil!

On May 17, a glut of oil from Cushing, Oklahoma, will begin flowing through the pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico.  U.S. oil traders say the bottle neck of oil in Oklahoma is one reason U.S. oil prices are low (if you call $100 per barrel low).  They hope that by getting the oil to the Gulf of Mexico, and therefore to the world oil market, that the price of U.S. oil will go higher!

A week ago India had become the number one buyer of Iranian oil.  Now, Indian officials say they’ve had to cut back because of the high price of oil: “Of course, the high price of oil has caused immense problems for the Indian economy…But actually we have to pay the average price of $100-115 per barrel…”-Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister of India

India is currently buying 14 million metric tons of oil from Iran (the report didn’t specify if that was per day, week or month). Indian officials said they had hoped oil would be at $90-95 USD per barrel by now.

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: More U.S./NATO troops die, Karzai to join with Taliban, U.S. blames Spring Offensive on Pakistan

April 20, 2012, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed that four U.S. led personnel were killed when a U.S. Black Hawk crashed in Helmand Province the day before.

Afghan officials say the helicopter was medivacing wounded Afghan police officers, who had been attacked by a suicide bomber, in the Garmsir district.  Local officials think the medivac went down because of bad weather.

There are reports that four Afghan policeman were killed after the suicide bomber exploded himself at a checkpoint.

Also in Garmsir district yesterday, a lone man attacked an Afghan military patrol.  He was detained.

The failed medivac operation was not part of a larger battle that took place in Helmand on the same day.  Afghan officials say that battle took place in Washir district.

Afghan officials claim to have killed 10 Mujahideen in that battle, along with the destruction of a mine production company.

Helmand saw other military/police operations such as an operation which tore up 1250 hectares (3088.817 acres) of farm land used for opium poppies.  The operation took place in Nad-e-Ali, Marjah and Sangin districts.

On April 19, 2012, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, numb nuts Ryan Crocker, blamed the current Mujahideen Spring Offensive on the so called “Haqqani network” of Pakistan.

U.S. Defense Secretary, numb nuts Leon Panetta, also blamed the “Haqqani network”.

April 20, 2012, an Afghan politician says his opponent, President Hamid Karzai, is planning on creating a coalition government with the “Taliban”.

Ahmadzia Massoud says Karzai is just waiting for the U.S. led occupation forces to leave.

Ahmadzia Massoud is part of a group of Afghans that helped the U.S. commit war crimes at the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, such as the murder of truckloads of POWs, who were machine gunned and suffocated while trapped inside cargo containers (known as Dasht-i-Leili massacre).

The group is called National Front of Afghanistan, or Afghanistan National Front (ANF), and includes Mohammad Mohaqiq and Abdul Rashid Dostum.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: More proof of U.S. Command breakdown; U.S. troops release more pics of themselves posing. Battles rage on, U.S. led NATO needs $4 billion! Rumors of NATO breakdown

April 18, 2012, Australia’s announced early withdrawal from Afghanistan has created rumors of U.S. led NATO breakdown.

For one thing, Australia is not a member of NATO, it is a “contact country” (as is Japan) which will sometimes support NATO action.

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Australia is not in the Atlantic.  However, it’s the growing number of NATO “supporting” countries who are not geographically in, or near the north Atlantic, that has Russia accusing the United States of using NATO to expand its empire.  Also the fact that NATO was originally created to “counter the threat of the Soviet Union”, yet 20 years after the demise of the Soviet Union NATO is still around and more active.

However, even if Australia is not a full member of NATO, on April 17 NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Australia’s early withdrawal was “fully within the framework” of the U.S. led NATO plans.

Here’s another ‘however’: Germany’s Defense Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, said “Australia’s message surprised me.”  Germany is one of the oldest members of NATO.

Yet more ‘however’:  NATO Secretary General Rasmussen added to the confusion by saying “All 50 allies and partners within the ISAF coalition have committed themselves to the basic principle of ‘in together, out together’.  And I know that the Australians are committed to that principle as well.”

So is Rasmussen saying all the occupying forces are going to leave a year early, or is he saying Australia is bluffing?

Here’s what recently resigned, former commander of Australian forces in Afghanistan, said:  “There is an unpleasant whiff of politics and self-interest in the strategy to withdraw American, Australian and other foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014 or earlier. The electoral cycles of nations contributing troops to the fight in Afghanistan mean that politicians everywhere are looking for the exits.”-Major General John P Cantwell

By the way, New Zealand officials are now saying they will pull out troops a year early as well.

To make things even more confusing, on April 18 NATO officials accused each other of not paying their way: “I would expect NATO allies and ISAF partners to commit themselves to pay a fair share of the total bill.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General

Rasmussen hinted at probably the real reason why many NATO members, and their supporting countries, are trying to get out of Afghanistan early: There ain’t no mo’ money!

Rasmussen said in order to continue the U.S. led military occupation of Afghanistan it will take an estimated $4billion USD per year!  His answer is to turn things over to the Afghan government ASAP: “It is less expensive to finance Afghanistan security forces than to deploy foreign troops in Afghanistan.”

Here’s what I say: No shit Sherlock, and obviously our highly edumacated and wealthy elite leaders did not learn a goddamn thing from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan back in the 1980s!!!  Anybody remember what destroyed the Soviet Union?  Economic collapse due to military involvement in a war they could not win in Afghanistan (which was part of U.S. plans to destroy the USSR).

The political ho downs of NATO prove that this so called War on Terror is a war totally of the machinations of political elites, which is a violation of a thousands year old rule of warfare: “…He will win who has military capacity and
is not interfered with by the sovereign [political rulers].”  also “No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique….”-Sun Tzu

And here’s what the warrior master Sun Tzu says about the technological superiority of the United States: “Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust.”

And about long wars:  “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.”

Now to the latest evidence of U.S. military command failings.  A U.S. Army soldier has given the Los Angeles Times 18 pics showing troops in Afghanistan posing with the Afghans they killed.

Gee, we’ve been there done that before.  Of course our military leadership is blaming it on rogue troops, and will “investigate”.  No, this is the fault of our leadership; shit rolls downhill, you idiots!!!

Another proof of failed leadership is the many pics of U.S. troops with prominent tattoos which is a violation of the UCMJ.

Here’s what Sun Tzu has to say about that: “If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame. But, if orders are clear and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.”

In other words it is always the fault of the command structure!!!

And yes, the battles rage on.  April 17, in Nangarhar Province local officials say anti-drug operations turned into a big battle.  The provincial governor said Mujahideen, and even farmers and villagers, attacked Afghan and U.S./NATO/ISAF forces.

The battle was big enough that airstrikes were called in.  Government officials claim at least 10 Mujahideen killed.  The governor said the battle actually started three days ago when the anti-drug operations began.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: More attacks in Afghanistan, Australia decides to leave a year early, female students poisoned

April 17, 2012, Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, says most of her country’s Diggers will leave Afghanistan by the end of next year. That almost one year early.

Australia has about 1,500 military personnel in Afghanistan.  Gillard says the pullout is because she believes security has improved so well that most occupying forces can move from combat to a purely “support” role.

In Takhar Province dozens of female high school students were made ill, after their drinking water was poisoned.  About 100 girls are reporting illness.

Local police are investigating, but so far they don’t know what’s in the water to make people sick.

In Kandahar, Uruzgan and Nangarhar provinces, Afghan police and soldiers were ambushed and wounded.

In Kandahar, officials will not give details, but it sounds like a typical search and destroy mission got ambushed.  Officials claim to have confiscated dozens of weapons.

No details at all about the Uruzgan operations.

In Nangarhar, police were injured after a firefight with Mujahideen. Officials claim the police were carrying out anti-drug operations.

Officials say in all incidents the Mujahideen got away unharmed.

In Nimruz Province an Afghan National Army vehicle ran over a mine, killing two soldiers.