statism watch

Another precrime provision, with the additional goody of sharing your medical records with the police. Decisions like this, that may appear reasonable on the surface to some, are readily exposed as driven by a wider agenda when put in context. For one thing, the definition of ‘mentally ill’ is subject to inflation. US veterans of the wars in the middle east that have been encouraged to file for PTSD benefits (small wonder after multiple tours of duty – a Pentagon study found 10% of returning soldiers have PTSD) are in many cases surprised to discover they’re also being denied gun ownership. CNN reported back in 2007 that the total figure for mental illness could be as high as a third of vets. Nexus this in with the recent report that Obama has promised to support a United Nations small arms treaty calling for a global gun registry and stringent licensing restrictions, the brutal totalitarian-style raids, the knock and talk campaigns to build a list of citizens that own firearms, and you’re starting to get an idea of the big picture.

Related: Toronto police beat man, TASER dog in failed gun raid | Liberals aim to put a bullet in bill to scrap gun registry | Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed And Dependent On Government | Anti-gun registry bill hits snag as committee votes not to proceed | Police groups join forces in support of long gun registry | Gun activists rally in U.S. capital | George Jonas: Mr. Bumble’s gun registry | Toronto Star Columnist Fiorito: The cops came and took my gun | BATF Notice Bans Private Gun Sales In Texas | Parliament votes ‘in principle’ to scrap gun registry, bill moves to second reading | Tories move closer to killing gun registry | UK: Paramilitary police placed on routine foot patrol for first time | Toronto police seize 400 guns in ’safety push’ | Handgun bans and the world of make-believe | No vote scheduled on Tory bill to kill gun registry | Americans stick to their guns as firearms sales surge | Secret Homeland Security Threat Assessment Labels Gun Owners Potential Terrorists | Harper urges supporters to fight long gun registry | Police-run gun amnesties in trouble across country | 1,900 Guns Traded for Cameras in Toronto | Toronto Police offer gun owners shiny new camera, home visit to disarm themselves | Layton promises urban gun control | Ont. premier calls for Canada-wide ban on handguns | Citizens Witness Gunplay, Black Uniforms as ‘Flashpoint’ Shoots Drama in Heart of Toronto | A historic gun club’s final days | Chicago, awash in gun violence, gives Toronto advice: You need a gun ban like ours | Illinois governor suggests National Guard help with Chicago gun crime | Armed Police to Roam Toronto High Schools | My gun, my right. We’ll see | Municipalities Join Miller in Calling for Final Citizen Disarmament | Pistol Pendant Causes Airport Holdup | Miller wants shooting ranges shut down | Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway

Virkram Dodd, The Guardian
June 14, 2010

Doctors have agreed to breach duty of medical confidentiality if patients who own guns become seriously mentally ill

Doctors have agreed to breach their duty of medical confidentiality to patients who own guns if they fear they have become so seriously mentally ill they may use their weapons on themselves or the public, the Guardian has learned.

GPs say they will tell the police if a gun owner’s deteriorating health makes him or her a serious danger to the public, without the patient giving consent to their medical privacy being breached.

In order for doctors to know which patients have guns, the medical records of patients holding or applying for firearms licences would be “flagged”.

The agreement comes after months of talks between the Association of Chief Police Officers and the British Medical Association.

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Al-Qaeda has really big computers, and apparently they’re going to get us unless we let the NSA (or some other organization above state accountability) monitor networks.. See here and here and here for moves that have already been made to to create a global Internet Ministry (Mininet?). And then there’s cases like that of hacker Gary McKinnon, who found his way into a Pentagon computer, looking for evidence of UFOs and free energy. While we may dispute whether or not this is a productive use of one’s time – phreaking and hacking is how many of the present generation of digerati actually learned their skills – should Mr. McKinnon be subject to military response? And what would that entail, a drone strike? A bit cannon blasting his ISP with a government denial of service attack? We don’t know. All we know is that this really looks like it’s being hyped and trumped up to subject the free web to surveillance, as Wired has reported.

Related: Homeland Security’s Cyber Bill Would Codify Executive Emergency Powers | Lieberman Bill Gives Feds ‘Emergency’ Powers to Secure Civilian Nets | Cyber Command: We Don’t Wanna Defend the Internet (We Just Might Have To) | Pentagon: Let us monitor your network or else | US appoints first cyber warfare general | NSA head confirmed as chief of US cyber command | Cybersecurity event seeks to spur international talks | Danger Room What’s Next in National Security Prospective U.S. Cyber Commander Talks Terms of Digital Warfare | Canadian researchers reveal another botnet in China, call for state cybersecurity | U.S. cybersecurity bill introduced in Senate | Cyberattacks push CSIS to reach out to business | United States weighs massive expansion of Internet monitoring | Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet | Google, NSA may team up to probe cyberattacks | UN agency calls for global cyberwarfare treaty, ‘driver’s license’ for Web users | Death Of The Internet: Censorship Bills In UK, Australia, U.S. Aim To Block “Undesirable” Websites | Australia introduces web filters | Obama Wants Computer Privacy Ruling Overturned | UK Internet surveillance plan to go ahead | Security boss calls for end to net anonymity | Case for Internet spying not closed | Planned Internet, wireless surveillance laws worry watchdogs | UK ISPs condemn Internet surveillance plans | UK to found new ‘cyber-security’ units attached to national eavesdropping centre | ISPs must help police snoop on internet under new bill | UK plans to integrate ‘cybersecurity’ centre with US, Canada | Cybersecurity Is Framework For Total Government Regulation & Control Of Our Lives | Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate | EU wants ‘Internet G12′ to govern cyberspace | UK Home Secretary has secret plan to surveil, ‘Master the Internet’ | Should Obama Control the Internet? | Cybersecurity law would give feds unprecedented net control | Munk Centre researchers discover botnet, call for international cyberspace ‘legal regime’ | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | Do We Need a New Internet? | Defense Contractors See $$$ in Cyber Security | RCMP to helm a Canadian “cyber-security strategy” | Sweden approves wiretapping law | Law Professor tells tech conference: plans to shut down Internet already on deck

Vito Pilieci, The Ottawa Citizen
June 14, 2010

Top defence official travels to Ottawa to launch initiative

OTTAWA – The U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense stopped in Ottawa Monday to drum up support for a new international organization to combat cyber warfare.

“A nuclear missile comes with a return address,” William Lynn told an audience of about 100 at the Château Laurier. With cyber warfare, on the other hand, “international co-operation is imperative.

“We can’t defend our networks by ourselves. The cyber threat is much larger.”

Lynn said the threat posed by hackers and computer viruses is steadily growing and poses a threat unlike anything the global community has seen.

“Previously, we would refer to the level of lethality. Terrorists did not have access to lethal weapons,” Lynn said in a speech hosted by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute.

“That no longer holds true. Terrorist organizations have access to sophisticated cyber warfare (weapons).”

Lynn’s comments come on the heels of a simulation by the Bi-Partisan Policy Institute in the U.S. The political think-tank simulated an Internet-based attack that wreaked havoc on the financial markets, hammered the Internet connections of millions, shut off the cellular phone connections of more than 20 million users, and caused sporadic blackouts affecting more than 10 million American homes.

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The Toronto Star is further reporting that if the alert (eg; pain beam) function is used it will “be in two to five second bursts, as suggested by Toronto police and the manufacturer’s guidelines” as an all-hail function. So you’ll jump out of your skin as you’re blasted with the LRAD but don’t worry you’ll only be in pain for as long as it takes “‘To alert the public, the crowd . . . to the fact that there is an upcoming message we want them to hear,’ Drummond said.”

Related: Huntsville G8 will host 10 more countries, says PM | NGOs meet with G20 sherpas, press for ‘green economy’ and inclusive IMF | Toronto G20 weekend: Private security fast-tracked, traffic jams, heavy police presence, but no sonic weapons | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | G8/G20: Cell phones to be jammed as motorcades move through Huntsville, Toronto | G20: Eastern Avenue Protest Jail | G20 Security unbridled: Cops bring out artillery as civil rights observers preach vigilance | Construction begins on Toronto G20 security barrier | G20 media centre with fake lake to cost $1.9M | Toronto police show off G20 summit security | Mounties shun ‘sound cannons’ in urban settings ahead of G20 | 1,100 private security guards to work G8-G20 summits | Police detail G20 security zone | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | Toronto police buy four ’sound cannons’ for G20 | Toronto and Muskoka G8/20 Summit security costs hit $1.1B | The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown | Toronto police agree to erase security zone pass info after G20 | Toronto banks review G20 security after Ottawa RBC fire | Condo behind security fence during G20 summit | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto streets get 77 more surveillance cameras for G20 | Toronto G20 should address climate issues: Nicholas Stern, UN | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | Fighter jets buzz Toronto, Muskoka in G20 test runs | Downtown Toronto To Be Transformed Into Locked-Down Police State This Summer | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Militarized police integrate with private security for G20 Toronto concourse drill | Small army to protect Toronto during G20 summit | Toronto braces for G20 logistics crunch | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | Toronto G20 summit security to be ‘massive’ | RCMP needs 5,500 rooms during G20 summit | G20 ’sherpas’ meet with IMF, World Bank on Ottawa | Downtown Toronto to become a fortress for G20 summit | G8/G20: Gearing up for the biggest security event in Canadian history | Toronto braces for G20 disruption, Ottawa to pick up security tab | Convention centre confirmed as location for Toronto G20 summit | G20 security could strangle downtown | G20’s Metro Convention Centre location to bump baseball, pride activities | Harper confirms June G20 summit in Toronto | Is G20 more than Toronto can handle? | With only seven months to go, G20 site may be moved to Toronto | Top Mountie says Huntsville too small for G20 | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

CBC News
June 14, 2010

Effects of device have not been properly tested, Canadian Civil Liberties Association argues

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has filed an injunction against the Toronto Police and Ontario Provincial Police in an effort to disarm the controversial “sound cannon” before this month’s G20 summit.

The application for an injunction was filed with the Ontario Superior Court last Thursday, addressed to Toronto Chief William Blair and OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino.

A hearing is scheduled for June 23, just days before international leaders, delegations and protesters are expected to descend on Toronto for the G20 summit.

At issue is the Long-Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, four of which have been obtained by the Toronto police in the lead up to the summit.

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Meanwhile in Ontario, Hudak (Ontario PC Leader) has floated the idea of knocking a percentage point off of the HST were he to be elected. Hopefully Bill Vander Zalm’s crusade will show Canadians that direct democracy can have a real effect and break throuhg the apathy to the globalist tax in Ontario and elsewhere.

Related: Liberals admit HST will cost families up to $480 a year | Underground economy emerges in Ontario in response to HST | B.C. anti-HST petition hits target weeks ahead of schedule | Protesters worked up over HST levy on fitness | Anti-HST petition nears goal in B.C. | HST rage puts B.C. Liberals in a spot | Harmonized tax could cost Ontarians $5.9B a year | HST will cost families, McGuinty finally admits | HST begins taxing Ontario on Saturday | First Nations protest against HST | Canadian taxes fastest-growing expense: Report | BC Govt, Anti-HST Campaigners Dispute Legality of Pro-HST Leaflet | Electricity rates surge in Ontario | Up to 50,000 protest Charest’s tax hikes | Paul Volcker: VAT, Carbon taxes may be necessary | Nova Scotia budget hikes HST rate | Thousands protest Quebec budget | HST legislation introduced in B.C. | Facing years of deficits, Ontario freezes wages | Former premier Bill Vander Zalm rallies against the HST in BC | Ontario tax collectors get $45K severance, keep jobs in HST federalization deal | Athens erupts as Greek austerity plan passes | HST ad campaign debuts in Ontario | Ont. deficit could linger for years: McGuinty | HST bill passes, 13% tax starts July 1 | Poll: HST equals Hated Sales Tax | Anti-HST protest at Ontario legislature spills onto Toronto streets | Tories, Liberals, Bloc approve HST for Ontario and B.C.

Jonathan Fowlie, Canwest News
June 14, 2010

VICTORIA – Organizers of a petition to repeal B.C.’s harmonized sales tax said Monday they now have signatures from 15% of people in all 85 ridings across the province.

That number puts the group well ahead of the legal requirement for a successful petition, greatly increasing the likelihood it will pass and compel the provincial government to consider dropping the unpopular tax.

To be successful, a petition must be signed by 10% of registered voters in each provincial riding.

After the petition is submitted, Elections BC will validate each signature to make sure they belong to people living in the proper ridings.

If the petition succeeds, the initiative would go to a legislative committee. That committee would then have 90 days to recommend introduction of a draft bill or refer the initiative to the chief electoral officer for a referendum.

Six other citizen-led initiatives have died since recall and initiative legislation was enacted in 1995.

In a news release, petition co-organizer Chris Delaney said the 15% threshold means one in three signatures could be discarded and the petition will still meet the needed 10% support in each riding.

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Hospitality is a wonderful thing – when it’s a private and not a public expense. It’s quite puzzling to this journal, as it surely is to many Canadians, why the leadership of all these other nations are now being invited along. We know that there has been some police training offered to the Jamaicans, and there’s a highly questionable free trade pact with Columbia – less than 1% of Canada’s trade – but really, could we not accomodate state visits in some other forum than the evidently bloated G8/G20? And what is Canada’s interest in these other nations?

Related: NGOs meet with G20 sherpas, press for ‘green economy’ and inclusive IMF | Toronto G20 weekend: Private security fast-tracked, traffic jams, heavy police presence, but no sonic weapons | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | G8/G20: Cell phones to be jammed as motorcades move through Huntsville, Toronto | G20: Eastern Avenue Protest Jail | G20 Security unbridled: Cops bring out artillery as civil rights observers preach vigilance | Construction begins on Toronto G20 security barrier | G20 media centre with fake lake to cost $1.9M | Toronto police show off G20 summit security | Mounties shun ‘sound cannons’ in urban settings ahead of G20 | 1,100 private security guards to work G8-G20 summits | Police detail G20 security zone | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | Toronto police buy four ’sound cannons’ for G20 | Toronto and Muskoka G8/20 Summit security costs hit $1.1B | The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown | Toronto police agree to erase security zone pass info after G20 | Toronto banks review G20 security after Ottawa RBC fire | Condo behind security fence during G20 summit | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto streets get 77 more surveillance cameras for G20 | Toronto G20 should address climate issues: Nicholas Stern, UN | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | Fighter jets buzz Toronto, Muskoka in G20 test runs | Downtown Toronto To Be Transformed Into Locked-Down Police State This Summer | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Militarized police integrate with private security for G20 Toronto concourse drill | Small army to protect Toronto during G20 summit | Toronto braces for G20 logistics crunch | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | Toronto G20 summit security to be ‘massive’ | RCMP needs 5,500 rooms during G20 summit | G20 ’sherpas’ meet with IMF, World Bank on Ottawa | Downtown Toronto to become a fortress for G20 summit | G8/G20: Gearing up for the biggest security event in Canadian history | Toronto braces for G20 disruption, Ottawa to pick up security tab | Convention centre confirmed as location for Toronto G20 summit | G20 security could strangle downtown | G20’s Metro Convention Centre location to bump baseball, pride activities | Harper confirms June G20 summit in Toronto | Is G20 more than Toronto can handle? | With only seven months to go, G20 site may be moved to Toronto | Top Mountie says Huntsville too small for G20 | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Tonda MacCharles, The Toronto Star
June 14, 2010

The expanding G8 adds up to a G20 in Huntsville, while Toronto’s G20 will be a G33 or 34.

OTTAWA — The G what? What the….?

The G8 summit in Huntsville — which is the Group of Seven large industrialized nations plus Russia which joined in 1997 — was already a mathematical puzzle. The European Union participates and so really, it was a G9 from the get-go.

Actually, it’s G10, because the EU sends two representatives, the heads of the European Commission and the European Council.

So if you’re counting, it was to be Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the two EU guys (yes, they are guys), meeting in Huntsville.

But these have become the ever-expanding summits.

On Sunday, Harper quietly announced that he has invited 10 more guests to the G8 (G10) meeting; seven African countries (Algeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa) and three more counterparts from the Americas (Colombia, Jamaica and Haiti) which will attend a “special session” at the G8 Summit in the Muskokas.

First, the G8 or should we say, the G10, leaders will meet alone. Then they hold an “outreach” session with the seven invited African leaders. G10+7=G17. After that, they will be joined by the Colombian, Jamaican and Haitian leaders for another “outreach” session. G17+ 3 = G20. The “outreach” group’s leaders will not bring big entourages or even stay for dinner. And they’re not all invited to the G20 in Toronto.

But suddenly, it’s a G20 in a place Harper deemed too small to handle the G20.

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Related: Can-EU trade talks look good but face 3 potential sticking points: Spanish envoy | EU trade pact may imperil local control over water | Lewenza: Canada-EU deal will affect more than trade | Greece’s near bankruptcy won’t scuttle Canada-EU trade talks: minister | Big stakes in Canada-Europe trade talks, but little attention | EU ‘Free Trade’ and CETA: Advancing the Transatlantic Agenda | CETA worse than ACTA — EU Trade Negotiators Demand Canada Completely Overhaul Its Intellectual Property La ws | Beyond ACTA: Proposed EU — Canada Trade Agreement Intellectual Property Chapter Leaks | EU approves free-trade talks with Canada | Canada expects EU free-trade talks soon: Stockwell Day | Harper, Sarkozy vow to work toward Canada-EU deal | CD Howe Institute backs Canada-EU deal, deep integration | Towards a new world order: Canada-EU trade proposal rivals scope of NAFTA

Thomas Watson, Canadian Business
June 14, 2010

Canada’s on the verge of a trade deal with the EU, the government says. Show us, say exporters.

Canadian Trade Minister Peter Van Loan wishes the mainstream media would pay more attention to the anti-globalization crowd. After all, if trade naysayers made the front page of national papers more often, then more people might realize Canadian trade negotiators are well on their way to making history with an ambitious plan to better integrate our national economy with the European Union. As Van Loan points out, the Council of Canadians, which claims a deal with the EU could threaten Canadian access to safe drinking water, recently held “a wonderful news conference” to voice its concerns – but it got virtually no media pickup. “I was actually disappointed,” Canada’s trade minister says, “because there should be more of a spotlight on these negotiations.”

True enough. If all goes as planned, Canada will become the first developed nation to land a free trade agreement with the economic grouping of 27 European nations sometime next year. The EU – the world’s largest market, not to mention home to the wealthiest pool of investment capital and some of the largest and most important companies on the planet – is already Canada’s second-largest source of trade and foreign direct investment. In 2008, Canadian exports to the EU totalled $52 billion. Imports amounted to $62 billion. But there appears to be plenty of room for growth. After all, the Canadian economy is 150% larger than the Indian economy, which has similar trade levels with the EU. Furthermore, Europe trades about 25% more with South Korea, which has a smaller GDP than Canada.

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Here is the relevant section of the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, updated February 2010: “UAS operations are now being approved in the NAS [National Airspace] outside of special use airspace through the use of FAA-issued Certificates of Waiver or Authorization (COA) or through the issuance of a special airworthiness certificate. COA and special airworthiness approvals authorize UAS flight operations to be contained within specific geographic boundaries and altitudes, usually require coordination with an ATC facility, and typically require the issuance of a NOTAM describing the operation to be conducted” GPS tracking will certainly play a large part in this as it has just been mandated that all planes must have GPS installed for a next-gen air traffic control system. Expect to see UAVs all over US skies before too long.

Related: Predator drones to begin flying Texas border patrol in a matter of months | Waterloo firm creates ‘flying robot spies from the skies’ for global law enforcement market | UK Police use spy drone for first domestic arrest — without airspace clearance | Future police: Meet the UK’s armed robot drones | UK police plan to use military-style spy drones | US Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered | US Air Force confirms new ‘Beast of Kandahar’ drone | Clinton confronted by Pakistanis over attacks by aerial drones | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | Kandahar spy blimp raises privacy concerns | US drone ’shot down over Somalia’ | Canada’s military peers into future, sees drone patrols, draft, insurgency | 250-Foot Long Hybrid Airship Will Spy Over Afghanistan Battlefields in 2011 | Military spycraft patrols Ontario border from Fort Drum | Homing chips are CIA’s latest weapon against ‘al-Qaida’ targets hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Hoverdrone to be deployed to Iraq | Kids to Help Create Drones, ‘Fuzzy’ Line to Be Drawn between Military and Civil Spheres | Canadian military acquiring new helicopters, drones | Unmanned spy planes to police Britain | Austin police testing unmanned spy drones | Nunavut taken aback by military plan for drone patrols | U.S. to patrol Manitoba border with drone aircraft

Jason Paur, Wired.com
June 14, 2010

The Federal Aviation Administration is studying how to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles into U.S. airspace alongside conventional aircraft. Although UAVs have been flying in the United States for several years, they are limited to restricted airspace as well as portions of the borders with Canada and Mexico.

The problem of operating unmanned aircraft within the same airspace as conventional aircraft has been a contentious issue for pilots and carriers. Under an agreement the FAA signed last week with Boeing subsidiary Insitu, the feds will begin flying an unmanned aircraft as part of continuing research using air-traffic-control simulations. Insitu will provide the FAA with a ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system for the research, which will be conducted at the William J. Hughes Technical Training Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The goal is to evaluate how an air traffic controller can manage unmanned aircraft along with manned aircraft. The ScanEagle is a relatively small UAV with a 10-foot wingspan. It weighs less than 50 pounds. During the research program, the New Jersey National Guard will fly the UAV within current air-traffic-control simulations operating in a restricted airspace.

Other UAV makers, including General Atomics, maker of the larger Predator family of unmanned aircraft, have similar agreements with the FAA.

Unmanned aircraft do not currently fly within U.S. airspace except within a handful of restricted regions or with a special waiver. Versions of the General Atomics Predator have been flying border patrols for a few years now, even operating from airports with a mix of small general-aviation aircraft.

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Steven Hynd at Newshoggers.com also makes the interesting point that the timing of the Afghan minerals announcement is not merely opportunistic. Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was “very well known to the Soviets in 1985″ and “a US government Country Study in 2002 went into detail about their knowledge”, he writes. No, the interestnig point is that we should consider also the intended audience for the announcement. The audience is not the American public, but the elite policy makers who govern decisions around the debacle that is the Afghan conflict. Hynd writes:

“…guaranteed U.S. access to ”strategic reserves” of “strategic minerals”, where possession is nine tenths of the game and the resources are just as valuable still in the ground as mined and processed for market, is a heady brew to mostly-hawkish senior policymakers and Very Serious think-tankers, especially if the end of the sentence goes ‘and China doesn’t get them”. Risen’s stenography isn’t aimed at us, but at them and will be used to add some geopolitical weight to the arguments McChrystal and others are already beginning to make as to why they should be allowed to break their promise to Obama and the U.S. should stay in Afghanistan a few years longer.”

Related: Lithium, gold, iron, copper: Massive mineral discovery in Afghanistan could alter the war | LSE Report: Pakistan ISI backs Taliban | Karzai’s Afghan peace conference ends with agreement on Taliban amnesty | NATO to begin handing control to Afghans | UN in secret peace talks with Taliban | Afghanistan conference agrees on exit timetable, Taliban bailout | General McChrystal indicates talks with Taliban to be discussed | UK ‘backs Taliban reintegration’ | Pipeline Opens New Front In Afghan War | Canadians could be defending Afghan gas pipeline | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

Paul Jay, Huffington Post
June 14, 2010

Did a 2007 report of massive mineral deposits in Afghanistan affect President Obama’s 2009 decision to widen the scope of the Afghan war?

Is a recent New York Times article omitting that possibility?

A U.S. Geological Survey has shown that Afghanistan is one of the worlds’ biggest depositories of minerals and precious metals. Include on that list, a lithium find that could be as large as Bolivia’s, now the world’s major source of the rare mineral.

The New York Times reported on Sunday, June 13, 2010 “The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.”

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Consider the following: NGOs recently met with bureaucrat insiders to push the green economy agenda for the Toronto June G20 summit. The Harper administration has already said it’s onboard with US policy. Harper badly needs a public relations win at the G20. The provinces have already moved forward with ‘green economy’ programs. And COP16, the followup to the failed Copenhagen COP15 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is due to be held in Mexico at the end of November. Perhaps the Toronto G20 will accomplish more than the public is bargaining for.

Related: NGOs meet with G20 sherpas, press for ‘green economy’ and inclusive IMF | Europe embraces the cult of austerity — but at what cost? | Toronto G20 should address climate issues: Nicholas Stern, UN | World Bank gets $3.5-billion boost, revamps voting structure to make China number 3 | Banking reforms urgent, Harper says at G20 sherpas’ meeting | G20 ’sherpas’ meet with IMF, World Bank in Ottawa | IMF chief calls for quota-based global warming slush fund | Leaked UN Documents Reveal Plan For “Green World Order” By 2012 | Obama Likely to Rebrand Climate Bill as Jobs Bill | Terence Corcoran: Ontario puts $10B in the wind | Ontario Premiere McGuinty heralds Samsung ‘green energy’ deal | ‘Green jobs’ are key to U.S., Canadian recovery: US Ambassador | Copenhagen Accord Establishes Global Government Framework | IMF could fund climate adaptation: Soros | Bombshell UN Climate Documents Reveal Planned “End Run” Around National Sovereignty | Jim Prentice: Implement A ‘North American Climate Change Regime’ | Leaked G20 Documents Shed Light on Global Carbon Tax | Oil Companies Support Global Warming Alarmists, Not Skeptics | G8 Summit: Rich nations to pay green tab | US Congress Passes the 1,200-page Climate Bill that it was not allowed to read | Climate Cops To Fine “Wasteful” Homeowners & Businesses | Obama targets US public with call for climate action | Obama to stake reputation on fast-tracked climate bill | Ontario unveils cap-and-trade legislation | NRTEE Carbon Market Panel is ‘Round Table on Socialist Planning’ | Climate panel presses for federal cap-and-trade system | Obama, Gore, tied to Chicago carbon exchange | U.N. ‘Climate Change’ Plan Would Likely Shift Trillions to Form New World Economy | U.N. Environment Head Wants Global Warming Tax | Time to emulate Roosevelt’s New Deal and create green jobs | Terence Corcoran: Ontario’s green energy plan sneaks in feed-in taxes | EU calls for global carbon trading system to fight climate change | Obama to visit Canada, Tories to propose ‘integrated carbon market’ | Harper Govt. to push North American carbon market plan with Obama | UN announces green ‘New Deal’ plan to rescue world economies | Ontario joins continental WCI cap-and-trade scheme | B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day | They call it cap and trade, but it’s just another fuel tax | Quebec, Ontario sign historic climate pact | Every adult in Britain should be forced to carry ‘carbon ration cards’, say MPs | CEOs call for ‘aggressive’ action on climate change

Steve Watson, Infowars.net
June 14, 2010

Comparisons to 9/11 represent attempt to scare American people into submission on climate legislation

The Obama administration is using the crisis in the Mexican Gulf to sell it’s nightmare agenda for a so called “green economy”, a push for initiatives that have, according to its own government, led directly to catastrophic economic failure in Spain.

The White House has enacted a direct emailing campaign, calling for support to sell the American people on long sought global warming and Cap and Trade legislation.

The emails sent out en mass to those on the Obama campaign mailing list ask for a public lobbying effort to push for a cap and trade bill in the Senate to match legislation already passed in the House.

The email from Obama (see in full at the end of this article) reads:

The BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast is the worst environmental disaster of its kind in our nation’s history. I am returning to the region today to review our efforts and meet with families and business owners affected by the catastrophe.

We are working to hold BP accountable for the damage to the lands and the livelihoods of the Gulf Coast, and we are taking strong precautions to make certain a spill like this never happens again.

But our work will not end with this crisis. That’s one of the reasons why last week I invited lawmakers from both parties to join me at the White House to discuss what it will take to move forward on legislation to promote a new economy powered by green jobs, combat climate change, and end our dependence on foreign oil.

[...]Please stand with me today in backing clean energy. Adding your name will help Organizing for America create a powerful, public display of support for making this change happen.

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Related: Tucker Bilderberg 2010 Wrapup: Attack on Iran discussed, World Treasury Dept delayed | Bilderberg 2010: Don’t call it a pow-wow! | BC Premier Campbell mingles with world elite at private meeting | Former Nato Secretary-General Admits Bilderberg Sets Global Policy | Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed And Dependent On Government | Bilderberg 2010 Participant List Released | Bilderberg Agenda Revealed: Globalists In Crisis, Supportive Of Attack On Iran | Bilderberg 2010: Why the protesters are your very best friend | Bilderberg 2010: The security lockdown begins | Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests | Dublin Trilateral attendees let slip need for world govt, war with Iran, Bilderberg oversight | Tucker: Bilderberg To Meet in Spain, Prolong Global Financial Recession For Another Year

Charlie Skelton, The Guardian
June 14, 2010

A huge agenda of global issues was crammed into four days of ‘secret’ meetings by a mysterious group of power brokers. But who elected them and why are we paying for them?

Weary and bramble-scratched, elated by the press coverage, and sick of riot vans and lukewarm Spanish omelette baguettes, we return from Bilderberg 2010 with the following thoughts uppermost in our tired mind:

- ‘Global cooling’ is on the cards

Check out the agenda for Bilderberg 2010: “Financial reform, security, cyber technology, energy, Pakistan, Afghanistan, world food problem, global cooling, social networking, medical science, EU-US relations.” That list is a window into your future. Don’t think for one minute that it isn’t. And don’t ignore it, because it isn’t ignoring you.

I love how “social networking” must fry the Bilderbergian mind. On the one hand, as Zuckerberg of Facebook says, privacy is no longer a social norm so it’s okay to milk the networking sites for information, social trends and dissident thinking; however, you can’t stop the people from arranging a meet-up to discuss internet censorship or the rights and wrongs of “global cooling”. Speaking of which, Bill Gates (Bilderberg 2010) is funding “cloud whitening” technology; trials start soon. Global dimming isn’t just something that happens every time Big Brother starts. On the basis of this agenda, I think we can expect a lot of statements about cutting-edge cloud-technology trials in the next 12 months. If it works in Dubai, it can work in Britain too…

- You can’t keep a good story down

If I had to pick the point when Bilderberg finally broke through into mainstream news, it would be when the BBC News Blog published a round-up of Bilderberg reports. Twelve months ago, this would have been barely conceivable. This year, Kissinger must be spitting chips.

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