The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse

I already blogged before about the coming Iranian Oil bourse which will trade oil in Euros.

I found a nice little essay explaining quite a bit about it and why it would upset US position in the world much more than anything thing else.

If you don't understand the importance for the USA to have all the oil price in dollars and the oil paid in US dollars, read this!
Really interesting to see how the fact that the USD is the reserve currency of the world benefits the ones printing that currency, and how the rest of the world accepts to get screwed over it just to be able to buy energy.


Posted in: _Economy , _Geopolitics

Justice Justice Justice...

Who goes to jail? While an army interrogator convicted of brutally killing an Iraqi general during receives no jail time, we look at the case of New York peace activists who have been sentenced to six months in jail for protesting war.

In Colorado a military jury decided on Monday not to jail an Army interrogator being tried for the killing of an Iraqi prisoner. Meanwhile a group of four peace activists in New York were sentenced to up to 6 months for spilling their own blood at a military recruiting station.
In the case of the Army interrogator, human rights groups are criticizing the military jury's decision not to jail Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr for torturing and killing Abed Hamed Mowhoush.
Mowhoush died after Welshofer put a sleeping bag over his head, wrapped him in an electrical cord, covered his mouth and sat on his chest.
Welshofer was convicted of negligent homicide. Instead of jail time, the military chose to fine Welshofer $6,000 and ordered him to spend the next 60 days restricted to his home, office and church.


Posted in: _USA , _Democracy

Killing war detainees

Convicted detainees in "war on terror" could be executed at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, according to a new code adopted by the U.S. Army, the U.S. military suggested Tuesday.

Just perfect!

After detaining them for as long as they want without giving them the right to a judgement (and if they ever have one, they can't see what are the charges against them), now the US military will simply give itself the right to kill the ones it finds guilty!

Why did people write the Geneva convention? Really!?


Posted in: _HumanRights , _IraqWar

2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim

What an interesting little memo...
Released by the White House (only after having been sued by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group), it shows that the Uranium sale claim was not believed credible by the secret services already in 2002, way before the State of the Union address where Bush used the claim.

One more evidence showing that the administration cherry picked the facts suiting its aims.


Posted in: _IraqWar

British MPs to be spied on

Furious cabinet revolt as Blair gives green light for security services to spy on elected representatives.

New technology and new laws mean that Britons are among the most spied-on citizens on earth.

Get ready for a spy-rich tomorrow folks!


Posted in: _Democracy , _HumanRights , _Society

Norwegian Oil Production Down

It seems like the oil production from Norway has peaked...
-9% compared to last year!

Now the $1 million question is: when will the world production do the same?!??!
And let's not even think of the geopolitical consequences of such a milestones...


Posted in: _PeakOil

The proper study of Mankind

Really good survey from The Economist, if you are interested in the kind of thing of course.

I recommend you read the first article to get what this is all about, and contact me if you can't access the others articles of the survey.

Amazing what kind be deduced through Science!!


Posted in: _Sciences

QOTD

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

Abraham Lincoln.

Posted in: _QOTD

'Downing Street Documents' - Confirmed and Corroborated!

The Constitution in Crisis, the report from Congressman John Conyer now confirms the veracity of the Downing Street memo which means the following:
1. Bush had already decided to go to war long before approaching Congress or the public or the UN about it, and had already started the attack with increased bombings;
2. Bush had already decided to lie about weapons of mass destruction and ties to 9-11;
3. The Brits were concerned by the illegality of an aggressive war, but the Bush Administration was not;
4. Going to the UN was an attempt to justify the war, and the hope was to craft an ultimatum that Saddam Hussein would reject;
5. The focus of the Bush and Blair administrations was on selling the war to the public, and not at all on trying to avoid it;
6. The Bush and Blair administrations were aware that Iraq was no threat, and were willing to attack Iraq precisely because it posed no serious threat of fighting back.


Posted in: _IraqWar , _Democracy

Trillions of Dollars unaccounted for

How can it be possible to have Trillions of US Dollars unaccounted for?

According to Rumsfeld himself, there are $2.3 trillions which can't be tracked from the pentagon's budget! It is trillions, with a T!!!

More here, here, here and here.

But does it get lost, or is it used for some secret projects nobody knows about, projects that are not approved by Congress!?!


Posted in: _Economy , _Democracy

Ritter Hitchens Iraq war debate Dec, 21st '05

Very informative debate between Ritter and Hitchens, for those you want to dig into the details of the 2003 Iraq war.
If you have 1:45 hour to spent, it is really worth it.

You can fetch the audio file from here.
Or from my personal web server here.


Posted in: _IraqWar

Fear is the mind killer

Fear, even for wrongs reasons or beliefs, is VERY powerful.
It makes people do stupid things, really stupid things... It goes all the way to ruining innocent people's lives.

Have a look here.

This survival instinct of ours is so powerful that we would rather kill anything which seems to be a threat to us than trying to make sure we are facing a threat in the first place at all.


Posted in: _USA , _Society

Insight of the day

Quote from Howard Zinn, taken from this article.

"There is a persistent argument against such a possibility, which I have heard from people on all parts of the political spectrum: We will never do away with war because it comes out of human nature. The most compelling counter to that claim is in history: We don’t find people spontaneously rushing to make war on others. What we find, rather, is that governments must make the most strenuous efforts to mobilize populations for war. They must entice soldiers with promises of money, education, must hold out to young people whose chances in life look very poor that here is an opportunity to attain respect and status. And if those enticements don’t work, governments must use coercion: They must conscript young people, force them into military service, threaten them with prison if they do not comply."

I found that on this blog.


Posted in: _Society , _IraqWar