Category Archives: International

International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: Iran decodes all data from stealth drone, says U.S. lying about spying on Iranian nuclear program!

“All the intelligence existing in this drone has been completely decoded and extracted and we know each and every step it has taken…..The U.S. President had told the Israeli officials that the drone was tasked with spying on Iran’s nuclear program, but our experts found, after decoding the drone, that it had not performed even a single nuclear [spying] mission over Iran….this reveals that Americans are treating the nuclear issue as an excuse…”-Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force

Last December Iran gained control of a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Stealth drone.  It’s taken them a year, but they say they’ve decoded all data in the drone’s computers.

Without saying more, Iranian officials said there was no data which showed the U.S. spying on any Iranian nuclear program, every geographical area that the drone flew over was devoid of anything relating to nuclear programs.

This suggests that the U.S. operators of the drone didn’t know what they were looking for, or as the Iranians believe, this is evidence that the U.S. rhetoric about Iranian nuclear programs is nothing but rhetoric.

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; 01 – 04 December 2012. More illegal U.S. led night raids! Pakistan threatens military action in Afghanistan! Soldiers running over cops! Longest war in U.S. history!

04 December 2012

In Balkh Province, the people of Chahar Bolak district said U.S. led forces conducted an illegal night raid, which led to the men and women of 15 families being separated from each other, and then the women were raped!

Amnesty International says the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan has resulted in at least half a million people living in refugee camps.  The camps are not equipped to deal with cold winter weather:  “We are in dire need of help, the weather is getting cold but we don’t have blankets, fuel, and warm clothes. I don’t know how to keep my children warm.”-Shahzada Khan, refugee who fled Laghman Province because of the violence caused by the presence of U.S. led forces

Afghan government leaders are angry over statements made by Pakistan’s Interior Minister.  Pakistan is now accusing Afghanistan of being the home base for terrorist operations in Pakistan: “…if they do not halt their terrorist activities in Pakistan…..We will reply if there is any activity from Afghanistan…”-Rahman Malik

Afghan Interior Minister, Mojtaba Patang, criticized Afghan National Police (ANP) saying the ‘national’ police units are totally influenced by local politics: “Our police forces have been linked with the political and other groups, they are not national police forces. Issues are created by regional police forces. They are supporting the crime intentionally or unintentionally in their areas where they belong to and are performing duties in the same areas.”  

03 December 2012

In Nuristan Province, the deputy district governor and chief of intelligence were killed and six cops wounded, after Mujahideen attacked the building they were in.

In Paktia Province, in Masto village, an Afghan National Army troop ran over and killed a policeman.

ISAF said: “Two International Security Assistance Force service members died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan.”

In Uruzgan Province, five people killed, nine wounded, by an explosion near the local Afghan Intelligence Department in Tarinkowt city.  The explosion was the result of a remote detonated motorcycle bomb.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, say 10,500 people die from tuberculosis every year in Afghanistan.  In a round-a-bout way they blamed the U.S. occupation.

02 December 2012

In Farah Province, locals in the Gulistan district say U.S. led forces raided homes and kidnapped several people.

In Nimruz Province, local government officials say the U.S. struck a suspected Mujahideen home, killing three people.

In Nangarhar Province, Mujahideen attacked the Jalalabad airbase.  According to local government officials, five suicide bombers attacked at once, then firefights broke out.  Some reports say as many as 18 people killed, 40 wounded. Other reports say the Mujahideen made it onto the airbase complex.  ISAF would only say that there were “…multiple explosions in the vicinity of Jalalabad airport.”

Former Afghan Central Bank Chief, Abdul Qadir Fitrat, said government officials were involved with the collapse of Kabul Bank.   Billions of USD were withdrawn or issued as fraudulent loans.  Several reports say the money went to people in other countries and at least 19 individuals and companies in Afghanistan.  Fitrat says no one has yet to be arrested, and even accused the President of being involved: “In Afghanistan we have president who is acting over the law who is not prepared to be inquired regarding the monetary crime which has been committed by himself and family members.”

01 December 2012

In Paktia Province, in Kahiar Kot district, locals say a U.S./NATO transport plane crashed killing everyone on board.  Locals say it looked like the plane was having technical problems. No word from ISAF.

In Uruzgan Province, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle killing three people and wounding four others. Also, locals from Char Chino district say U.S. led forces attacked them, killing four people and kidnapping two others.

Deputy Afghan House Speaker, Haji Zahir Qadir, apologized for the beating his body guards gave to a Afghan cop.  The incident took place near a U.S. military base in Wazir Akbar Khan area, right after a suicide bombing.  Apparently the cop thought the body guards were Mujahideen and tried to attack them.

The Afghan government is now investigating the creation of an official provincial Mujahideen Council, in Herat Province. It was formed a few months ago, and involved redistributing captured Mujahideen weapons back to the Mujahideen.  The stated goal of Herat’s Mujahideen Council is to unite all local Mujahideen groups into one powerful organization, that works similar to the U.S. state run National Guard.  One national government official says Herat officials have misused funding for water and energy projects to create the Mujahideen Council.

German defense officials announced they will close down two of their Afghan bases in Baghlan and Kunduz provinces, sometime in 2013.

The United States Senate has voted, 62 to 33, to accelerate the pullout of U.S. troops: “It is time to end this war, end the longest war in United States history!”-Jeff Merkley, Senator from Oregon

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Some Economic Recovery, for U.S.? Apple reverses outsourcing

07 December 2012, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, revealed that some computer manufacturing will be brought back to the United States.

However, the actual assembly of a specific line of Macs will still be contracted out.  Cook says they’re still figuring out where in the U.S. to assemble the computers.

Analysts say the move amounts to about a $100 million USD investment into the U.S. economy, which is tiny when you realize Apple has at least $1 billion in cash and other investments.  So, don’t expect this insourcing of a new Mac to be the cure all for the U.S. unemployment blues.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Yet another U.S. company invests big, but not in the U.S., in Korea

06 December 2012, for awhile now U.S. President Barack Obama has been touting his desire that U.S. corporations start investing into research right here in the United States.  Yet, a failing U.S. company has decided to spend money it supposedly doesn’t have outside the U.S.

Sears Holdings announced that they are bringing back their old Roadhandler tire brand.  You might think that’s good news, but the new Roadhandler tire is simply a Korean Hankook tire with the Roadhandler name on it.

Hankook tires have good reputation, but in these bad economic times when more and more U.S. citizens are losing their jobs, why couldn’t Sears (a company supposedly going broke) spend their big bucks investing in a quality U.S. made tire?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Incompetence & What Economic Recovery? U.S. made aircraft parts being ripped off by Israeli military and scrap metal dealers, army vehicles and ammo disapearing!

06 December 2012, possibly because of the bad economy in Israel, but investigators now believe that Israeli Defense Force (IDF) personnel are involved in the theft of engines for F-15 and F-16 aircraft.  The engines might have been sold to scrap metal dealers.

The theft of engines took place at Tel Nof air base, near Rehovot, last year.

This is not the only time parts for U.S. made aircraft were stolen.  Last year police raided a scrap metal warehouse in Tel Aviv. It was full of new parts for U.S. made F-15 and F-16 aircraft.

Also, IDF ground forces have revealed that in the past few months several vehicles and at least 1,500 tank rounds went missing from an army base in southern Israel.

The economy is really bad in Israel, and has led to numerous strikes and protests.  The most recent strike involved nurses who said Israeli hospitals are full of sick people who are not being treated due to the fact that there is no money to hire more staff.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Yet another U.S. company invests big, but not in the U.S., in Japan

05 December 2012, for awhile now U.S. President Barack Obama has been touting his desire that U.S. corporations start investing into research right here in the United States.  Yet, U.S. companies continue to spend that money outside the U.S.

The latest is Qualcomm, who announced they will spend up to $120 million USD, by March 2013, on the failing Japanese company Sharp.

Sharp is now predicting it will lose a record $5.5 billion by the end of March 2013!

Sharp was hoping to be saved by a Taiwanese company, but that deal went south, partly because Sharp’s stock prices are crashing and burning (falling by 75%).

Qualcomm says it’ll use half the $120 million buying up Sharp stocks now, and the other half will be used when Sharp starts showing a profit.  Obviously the California based company has more faith in the Japanese economy than in the U.S. economy.

This could be a money maker for Qualcomm, if Sharp recovers, but if Sharp fails…..

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Japan & India sign deal to use U.S. dollars only!

05 December 2012, Japan and India have signed a currency exchange deal that could prop up the U.S. dollar.

Banking officials from the two Asian countries have been working on the plan for about a year.  It involves the central banks of Japan and India exchanging up to $15 billion USD per year for the next three years.

They say the exchanges done in U.S. dollars will stabilize their own currencies.  It could prop up the value of the U.S. dollar, which would hurt U.S. factories (who’re still operating in the U.S.) who want to export their products. Japan has been blaming the rising value of their yen on the falling value of the U.S. dollar.

India is blaming the value of the European Union’s euro, for the rupee’s problems.

When a country’s money becomes more valuable it actually hurts their exports because it makes their products more expensive to foreign buyers. The only way for any country to achieve high economic growth is to have strong exports, a strong domestic economy can only achieve stagnation at best (relative to the size of the country).

Business/Economics, International

Trilateral Commission’s dream of one centralized European Bank dashed, for now

05 December 2012, European Union finance ministers shelved any plans to create a single centralized bank for the EU.

Last month things looked good for a central bank of Europe when 6,000 banks were put under EU “supervision”.  It was hoped an official EU central bank would be in place for 2013.

Some of the reasons for the collapse of such plans was that most EU member countries could not agree on the limits of power for a EU central bank. Also, France wanted immediate implementation while Germany wanted a gradual phase in.

EU finance ministers will resume central bank creation discussions next week.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Iranian officials remind the U.S. of their threat of action over U.S. spy drones

“Americans were warned that if they violate our borders we would take action to protect our sovereignty.”-Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, rough translation from Iranian news source

04 December 2012, Salehi said Iran formally protested to the United States, and reminded the Obama administration that they will defend their country “by any means”.

Salehi said it is the U.S. that is repeatedly violating Iran’s sovereignty.  The latest drone capture is more proof. However, Salehi made it sound like capturing U.S. drones is part of legal ‘action’ Iran will take against the U.S., as they will use the captured drones as evidence against the U.S. in international courts.

International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: Iran displays drone that U.S. media says isn’t missing. U.S. Navy did not say it isn’t missing, USN said “all accounted for” which is not the same thing.

“The new U.S. failure in spying operation by this drone demonstrated that the U.S. government, despite its high military and economic power and its dominance on the world political order, is not capable of confronting the Islamic Iran…”-Brigadier General Hossein Salami, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps

04 December 2012, despite the USN insisting that it is not missing any ScanEagle drones (specifically saying all drones were “accounted for” but that doesn’t mean they have them in their possesion, it simply means they know where they are), Iran has put on display something that looks exactly like a ScanEagle.

Earlier U.S. media reports said the Iranian video didn’t allow anyone to see any clear markings. However, the ScanEagle is the only drone that looks the way it does, and most operational drones don’t carry obvious markings anyway.

I watched some U.S. posted videos of the captured ScanEagle and noticed some edited out the parts that showed the sophisticated optical system in the nose of the drone.  The Iranian video clearly shows it, and even shows members of the IRCG gawking at it. However, it is interesting that the IRCG managed to get the just captured drone put on public display so fast.

If the Iranians did not capture a Scan Eagle then they’ve made a detailed mock up of the drone, so detailed that they must have access to data about the Boeing/Insitu drone.