Category Archives: U.S.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Karzai & NATO going head to head, sure sign that the U.S. has lost Afghanistan

“NATO must learn that air strikes on Afghan homes are not allowed and that Afghan people have no tolerance for that anymore. If they don’t stop air strikes on Afghan homes, their presence in Afghanistan will be considered as an occupying force and against the will of the Afghani people.”-President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai

Karzai is talking tough, but his words are not aimed at “Taliban”.  Instead his words are targeting U.S. led coalition forces.  Karzai’s threats come a after an interview with NATO’s secretary general: “The Afghan society is not yet prepared to take full responsibility for the security.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen

If the Afghans aren’t ready to take full responsibility for security, than how can their president make such bold statements against U.S. led coalition forces?

Another sign that the U.S. is losing in Afghanistan is that Rasmussen has reportedly asked the United States, and other NATO members, to increase their military budgets and expect to possibly stay longer than the new 2014 withdrawal date.

The latest fiasco in Afghanistan involves yet another “accidental” air strike on civilian homes, which killed 12 children and two women.  There have been conflicting statements from NATO; one official said they targeted a “compound” and there were no reports of civilians. The most recent NATO statement says they missed the target and hit two homes instead.  If you’ve been following the war in Afghanistan for even a year, you’d recognize an MO (modus operandi) with the U.S. led coalition: Kill everyone and then claim, “Ooops, we missed the target.”

Another point to make; Hamid Karzai would not be making such bold statements against the coalition, if he didn’t feel secure in doing so.  It’s an indication Karzai has found support from other international powers, and no longer needs the United States.  Recently the Afghan government made an alliance with Iran.

Idaho, International, U.S.

Global Food Crisis: Idaho hit by cold, wet weather, and Potato Worms

The planting season is way behind schedule in the U.S. state of Idaho; at least two to three weeks according to some farmers.  The weather has been too cold, and too wet.  Here in eastern Idaho the Snake and Portneuf rivers are flooding, making it worse.

The flooding Portneuf is hitting farmers in Inkom: “We’ll lose about 4 to 500 ton of hay and probably, I don’t know how much barley, 150 ton of barley. The problem is there’s still a lot of snow to come down, and I think it’s probably gonna be in July or August before we can get in here, and it’s gonna be to late to crop.”-Jim Guthrie, Inkom farmer

The cold is keeping seeds from sprouting: “The cold weather has probably been as much of a delay as the moisture has been. My sugar beets have been in the ground three weeks and they haven’t sprouted yet. With the cold weather we’ve been having, maybe it’s a good thing they haven’t.”-Jim Tiede, American Falls farmer

Potatoes need relatively dry soil to be planted, and they need a hot summer to help them grow big.  Farmers are worried this summer might not be hot enough, or long enough.  Add to that a little worm that likes to eat spuds: “It’s an extremely difficult pest to get rid of.  The thing can last in the soil for decades, and so the process that you go through to get rid of it is extremely long.”-Larry Hawkins, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Hawkins is talking about a microscopic bug that has seen $36 million spent over five years, trying to get rid of it.  It’s shown up in several eastern Idaho potato fields this year.  The nematodes are not native to Idaho; they first showed up in Bingham county in 2006.  They’re not dangerous to people, but can reduce potato yields by 80%.

International, U.S.

African Union pushes NATO to accept their peace deal with Gaddafi

“I can say that the Libyan leader is ready to implement what is in the roadmap by the AU.”-South African President Jacob Zuma

For the second time, Gaddafi has accepted an AU cease fire and peace plan.  The first time U.S. led NATO, and the rebels, rejected the offer.  The South African president said: “…the importance of the ceasefire proposed by the AU on condition that NATO and (others) stop bombing and give the Libyan people a chance to solve their problems by themselves.”

The African Union is upset because Libya is a member of the AU, and the AU sees NATO’s actions against Libya as an attack against the African continent.

 

U.S.

Texas tries to criminalize TSA grope fest, gets slammed by Department of Justice, Utah says will criminalize TSA

“The absolute overbearing audacity of the federal government in threatening Texas while Texas is trying to protect their citizens should really offend any red-blooded American.”-Carl Wimmer, Utah State Representative

Texas tried to make it a crime if Transportation Security Administration screeners touched your fiddly bits during a pat downs.  The U.S. Department of Justice stopped it by threatening to shut down flights in and out of Texas.

Now Utah says they want to criminalize TSA pat down grope fests as well: “Texas needs us to stand with them.”-Carl Wimmer

The Utah Legislature will vote on their bill next year.

Technology, U.S.

The U.S. IS a Police State: FAST system completes first field test, will determine if you “intend” to commit a crime

According to nature.com, Homeland Security field tested the new Future Attribute Screening Technology system, at an undisclosed location in March 2011.  Up ’till now testing was done in a laboratory setting, officials claim 70% success rate.

FAST is a system that is supposed to tell if you are going to commit a crime (they call it “malintent”).  It measures things like heart rate, and eye movement.  U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to use it at airports, sporting events, shopping malls, etc.

Many scientists question the rational of the FAST system: “Even having an iris scan or fingerprint read at immigration is enough to raise the heart rate of most legitimate travelers.”-Tom Ormerod, Investigative Expertise Unit at Lancaster University, U.K.

“I believe that the premise of this approach — that there is an identifiable physiological signature uniquely associated with malicious intent — is mistaken.”-Steven Aftergood, Federation of American Scientists

 

U.S.

The U.S. IS a Police State: Videos posted on the Internet prove it!

If you’re wondering if the United States could become a Police State, stop, you’re too late, it already is!

For proof go to YouTube and type in “police brutality” and get ready for hundreds of videos.  You can even get specific by typing in city names, or something like “nypd brutality” or “lapd brutality”, etc.

Here’s some of the titles: “police turn off camera then beat woman sensless”, “Grandpa, Pregnant Mom get Tasered at Baptism Party!”, “Deaf Wood Carver gets Murdered by Cop in Cold Blood!”, “Iraq Veteran gets Tasered and Beaten Down @ Airport”, “NYPD Officer Smith beat a girl in the street…”, “LAPD May Day brutality”.

Enjoy. Maybe your city’s police are on YouTube?

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

Karzai gives U.S. final warning, orders Afghan troops to stop “arbitrary” U.S. military action

“The president called this incident a great mistake, the murdering of Afghanistan’s children and women, and on behalf of the Afghan people gives his last warning to the U.S. troops and U.S. officials in this regard.”-Press statement from the office of President Hamid Karzai

On May 28, yet another U.S. led NATO attack killed more civilians than militants. That’s several air strikes killing civilians for the month of May, as well as U.S. led attacks that killed Afghan police.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he’s had enough, and has ordered Afghan government forces to take night combat operations away from U.S. led coalition forces, and, to stop any U.S. led military action viewed as “arbitrary” by Afghan forces.  Karzai said the U.S. led coalition was “…murdering Afghanistan’s children and women.”

As usual coalition leaders apologized for killing civilians: “I want to offer my sincere apologies for the nine civilians who were killed during the incident in Now Zad District, Helmand province, that occurred on 28 May.”-Major General John Toolan, ISAF commander southwest Afghanistan

As usual President Obama said they would take the matter seriously: “President Karzai has expressed on a number of occasions his concerns about civilian casualties. Those are concerns that we share and take very seriously.”-Jay Carney, spokesman for President Barack Obama

You know what president Obama? Actions speak louder than words, and I think the Afghan government is tired of smelling the bullshit!


 

International, Opinion, U.S.

Taliban on the offensive, Obama lied again, our military leaders are in a state of denial

In March 2011, The Taliban (aka Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) declared another spring offensive (aka Operation Badar, after a Mujahideen leader killed in 2003) against all foreign occupiers, and locals they view as supporting the foreign forces.

“…I can report that thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals….But there is no question we are clearing more areas from Taliban control, and more Afghans are reclaiming their communities.”-President Barack Obama, December 2010

Not only did Obama claim the Taliban were on their way out, but so did the Western media.  Many U.S. and U.K. mainstream media outlets stated that the Taliban were on their way out because so many of their leaders had been killed or captured.  Some media claimed that the Taliban were in a state of “shock” from the relentless attacks by U.S. and NATO forces.  Mmmm, the current Spring Offensive shows otherwise.

Not only does Obama seem oblivious to the situation in Afghanistan, so do our military leaders:  In January 2011, USA (under U.S. grammar rules USA without periods stands for U.S. Army, just as USAF means U.S. Air Force, and USMC means U.S. Marine Corps) General David H. Petraeus said this about the Taliban: “The sheer losses that they’ve sustained are tremendous. That in and of itself is very significant, and it’s caused enormous stress on the central nervous system of the command and control structure.”

In a February 2011 USA Today (the USA in “USA Today” is actually, legally, a word not an abbreviation.  It does not mean United States of America Today.  If it did there would be periods behind each letter. But it can not because no one can legally use “U.S.A.” in their business name) interview USMC Major General Richard Mills said this about the Taliban: “This is really the heart of the insurgency. I believe they have been beaten.”

USAF Lieutenant Colonel John Dorrian recently brushed off the 2011 Taliban Spring Offensive as a “propaganda ploy.”

The latest casualty numbers prove it’s not a “ploy”:  In March 2010 the United States suffered 22 KIA (killed in action), in March 2011 the U.S. lost 24 KIA.

In April 2010 KIAs were 14, but this April U.S. KIAs hit 43.

For May 2010, U.S. KIAs were 31.  For 2011 KIAs are at 21, but there are a few days left in the month, and so far there have been attacks and explosions almost daily in the month of May.

For the whole year of 2010, U.S. KIAs in Afghanistan hit record levels of 44o (by the way that was the year the Obama administration claimed the Taliban were beaten back).  So far for 2011, KIAs are at 126, that’s almost the total for all of 2008.

Of course U.S. WIA (wounded in action) numbers are even higher.  While NATO troops are getting hit as well, it’s obvious by the casualty numbers that the Taliban are targeting U.S. forces.  This goes against the claim that the Taliban are on the run, or are afraid to take on U.S. troops (it’s also an indicator of the massive U.S. personnel presence, compared to NATO forces).

Even United Nations officials in Afghanistan are ignorant of the fact that Afghans have been at war for decades.  Ignorant of the fact that the Afghan people have sacrificed themselves for freedom from foreigners.  Ignorant of the fact that the Afghan people ARE the Mujahideen: “Our mission is to make sure that civilians and Afghan people are not affected by now 11 years of conflict. What we are worried about, and I think every Afghan is worried about, is whether the Afghan people and the Afghan civilians will be again the victims of a long conflict.”-UNAMA statement

The people of Afghanistan know full well they could be killed in the fight for independence.  This isn’t the first, second or third time Afghanistan has been in this situation.  The Taliban (who are Afghans) even warned the Afghan people about being collateral targets in the Spring Offensive: “All Afghan people should bear in mind to keep away from gatherings, convoys and centers of the enemy so that they will not become harmed during attacks of Mujahideen against the enemy.”-Taliban 2011 Spring Offensive Operation Badar statement

Silly Western thinking, leaders in Afghanistan aren’t viewed the same as in the West; as in “cut the head off and the body will die”.  Afghan leaders are only representatives of the Mujahideen, if one gets killed they’ll elect another one, and it definitively won’t stop any of their military action plans.

For the latest casualty numbers, for all coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, go here.

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

So much for the claim that the U.S. is creating wars to support their military industry: Pentagon buys Russian helicopters for the Afghans

“It is the first large contract Russia signed directly with the U.S. Department of Defense.”-Sergei Prikhodko, a foreign policy aide to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Many critics have claimed the War on Terror is just an excuse to provide new markets for an ailing U.S. military industrial complex.  But the latest arms deal might prove otherwise.

The United States has just signed a $300 million deal with Russia, to supply the Afghan government with Russian made Mi-17 helicopters.  The manufacturer, Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, has become involved in several Western helicopter programs, such as Eurocopter.

This might be the reason Russia suddenly changed its position regarding Gaddafi.  But, what should concern the people of the U.S. is; why in a time of economic upheaval for the working class, does the U.S. spend taxpayer money buying foreign military equipment for another country?

International, Technology, U.S.

U.S. military computers hacked by ?, weapons codes stolen

“Given the military targets, and that millions of compromised keys are in circulation, this is not over.”-Rick Moy, NSS Labs

Reuters reporting that several U.S. military contractors have been hacked.  The cyber attack might have snagged codes for high tech weapons being used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

ECM corporation admits that several of its RSA security keys were copied by hackers several months ago.  This played a role in allowing hackers to access dozens of contractor databases, possibly for weapons codes.  So far officials are not saying what the hackers actually did.