George Soros is predicting protests by Occupy Wall Street will turn violent..sounds like a plan

http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/soros-occupy-to-turn-violent/

Billionaire George Soros is predicting protests by Occupy Wall Street will turn violent, while warning the U.S. financial system may collapse.

In an interview with Newsweek writer John Arlidge, Soros reportedly said riots on the streets of American cities are inevitable.

“‘Yes, yes, yes,’ he says, almost gleefully,” when asked about the prospect of Occupy turning violent, writes Arlidge.

Soros claimed the riots will “be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States.”

“At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” Soros continued.

“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros said.

“We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse,” he said.

“The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”

In the interview, Soros claimed the Occupy Wall Street movement “is an inchoate, leaderless manifestation of protest.”

However, WND has repeatedly documented the billionaire’s many ties to Occupy, including how the group’s reported nerve center is staffed by professional agitators deeply linked to organizations funded by Soros.

Those groups, most prominent among them being the Tides Center, have been involved with Occupy since the anti-Wall Street movement’s inception.

Tides functions as a money tunnel in which major leftist donors provide large sums that are channeled to hundreds of radical groups.

The Tides-funded Adbusters magazine is reported to have come up with the Occupy Wall Street idea after Arab Spring protests toppled governments in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The Adbusters website serves as a central hub for Occupy’s planning.

The Tides-funded Ruckus Society has been providing direct-action training to Occupy protesters as well as official training resources, including manuals, to Occupy training groups. Ruckus, which helped spark the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle, was also listed as a “friend and partner” of the “Occupy Days of Action” in October.

http://rt.com/usa/news/george-soros-class-war-619/

Billionaire investor George Soros has a new prediction for America. While it might be as dire as it gets for the financial wiz, this bet concerns more than just the value of the buck. According to Soros, there’s about to be an all-out class war.

Soros, 81, previously bet against the British pound in the early 90s and made $1 billion off its collapse. In the years since, he’s remained active in investing, but also in advocacy. He’s helped keep Wikipedia afloat thanks to impressive contributions and through donations to the Tides Center, has indirectly funded Adbusters, the Canadian anti-capitalist magazine that put Occupy Wall Street on the map. Speaking to Newsweek recently, Soros neglected to acknowledge his past successes, but instead offered a word of warning: a period of “evil” is coming to the western world.

“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros tells Newsweek. “We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”

Soros goes on to compare the current state of the western world with what the Soviet Union was facing as communism crumbled. Although he would think that history would have taught the globe a thing or two about noticing trends, Soros says that, despite past events providing a perfect example of what is to come, the end of an empire seems imminent.

“The collapse of the Soviet system was a pretty extraordinary event, and we are currently experiencing something similar in the developed world, without fully realizing what’s happening,” adds Soros.

Soros goes on to say that as the crisis in the Eurozone only worsens, the American financial system will continue to be hit hard. On the way to a full-blown collapse, he cautions, Americans should expect society to alter accordingly. Riots will hit the streets, says Soros, and as a result, “It will be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States.”

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here he is..after organising and financing the groups behind it he now says it will all end in tears and a bigger police state is born..just what they wanted to happen..its like a train wreck in slow motion..

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Forget about SOPA & PIPA..ACTA already owns you..Poland protests

http://rt.com/news/acta-internet-censor-treaty-591/

As cyberspace turns its attention to the SOPA and PIPA bills in the US, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has been quietly signed or ratified by most of the developed world and is arguably the biggest threat to Internet freedom yet.

ACTA has – officially – been in the works since 2008, and was signed by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea in 2011. All negotiations were held behind closed doors, and it is mostly thanks to Internet hacktivist groups like Anonymous that news of the potential damage ACTA could cause has spread.

Most recently, Anonymous turned their attention to Poland, where officials announced that they will sign the controversial treaty on January 26. A number of government website attacks has left them paralyzed for two days, and several Polish websites have since announced they will go dark in protest at the treaty, echoing recent unprecedented actions by Wikipedia, Redditt, BoingBoing and many others.

However, Polish officials have said they will sign the agreement as planned. Government minister Michal Boni said “The ACTA agreement in no way changes Polish laws or the rights of Internet users and Internet usage,” after a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The irony of that statement is that ACTA will do exactly that. It will surpass the sovereign laws of participating nations, especially in the matter of ISP monitoring.

ACTA’s reach is far more global, with countries like the US, Switzerland, Japan and all European Union members in its grasp. It is allegedly being introduced “to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.” But in reality, the measures that have been worked on by behind-the-scenes politicians and media industry moguls are just shy of draconian.

Under this new treaty, Internet Service Providers will police all data passing through them, making them legally responsible for what their users do online. And should you do something considered “breach of copyright” like, for instance, getting a tattoo of a brand logo, taking a photo and posting it somewhere, you may be disconnected from the Internet, fined or even jailed.

This, of course, threatens the entire founding idea of the Internet – the free sharing of information. But ACTA doesn’t stop there. It goes beyond the Internet, bearing down on generic drugs and food patents. If passed, ACTA will enforce a global standard for seed patenting, which would wipe out independent, local farmers and make the world completely dependent on the patent owners (read “big corporations”) for supplies.

The agreement states that it must be signed and ratified by 2013, but the seemingly late deadline is no cause for celebration. And if the secrecy surrounding this latest censor tool continues to hold, it may be put into effect without anyone noticing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16735219

Thousands of protesters have taken to Poland’s streets over the signing of an international treaty activists say amounts to internet censorship.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Tokyo on Thursday.

The treaty, known as Acta, aims to establish international standards to enforce intellectual property rights.

But critics say it could curb freedom of expression, and government websites have been hacked in protest.

Later on Thursday, hundreds of people took to the streets of the eastern city of Lublin to express their anger over the treaty.

Several marches had taken place in cities across the nation on Wednesday, says the BBC’s Adam Easton in Warsaw.

Crowds of mostly young people held banners with slogans such as “no to censorship” and “a free internet”.

After convening a special government meeting to discuss the issue, Mr Tusk said the government would not be blackmailed by the treaty’s opponents.

There would be ample time for public discussion about the treaty before it was ratified by the Polish parliament, he said.

Poland was one of several European Union countries, including Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Greece, to sign the treaty on Thursday but it appeared to be the only place where it caused protest.

The agreement was signed by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea last year.

Acta shares similarities with America’s Stop Online Piracy Act, which US lawmakers set aside last week after Wikipedia and Google blacked out or partially obscured their websites for a day in protest.

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“Under this new treaty, Internet Service Providers will police all data passing through them, making them legally responsible for what their users do online. And should you do something considered “breach of copyright” like, for instance, getting a tattoo of a brand logo, taking a photo and posting it somewhere, you may be disconnected from the Internet, fined or even jailed.”

i had wondered about the massive focus on SOPA..and why it was allowed to have so much negativity thrown at it.. because they already have plans in place..and signed..ACTA is the mother of SOPA..its worse if possible and its already here..distraction of the strawman argument..

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India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil..usurping Iran sanctions with China..Iran banned from trading Gold and Silver

http://www.debka.com/article/21673/

India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, DEBKAfile’s intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively.  Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran’s total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets.

By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its central bank’s assets and the oil embargo which the European Union’s foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan. 23. The EU currently buys around 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

The vast sums involved in these transactions are expected, furthermore, to boost the price of gold and depress the value of the dollar on world markets.
Iran’s second largest customer after China, India purchases around $12 billion a year’s worth of Iranian crude, or about 12 percent of its consumption. Delhi is to execute its transactions, according to our sources, through two state-owned banks: the Calcutta-based UCO Bank, whose board of directors is made up of Indian government and Reserve Bank of India representatives; and Halk Bankasi (Peoples Bank), Turkey’s seventh largest bank which is owned by the government.
An Indian delegation visited Tehran last week to discuss payment options in view of the new sanctions. The two sides were reported to have agreed that payment for the oil purchased would be partly in yen and partly in rupees. The switch to gold was kept dark.

India thus joins China in opting out of the US-led European sanctions against Iran’s international oil and financial business. Turkey announced publicly last week that it would not adhere to any sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program unless they were imposed by the United Nations Security Council.
The EU decision of Monday banned the signing of new oil contracts with Iran at once, while phasing out existing transactions by July 1, 2012, when the European embargo, like the measure enforced by the United States, becomes total. The European foreign ministers also approved a freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of Iran which handles all the country’s oil transactions.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Currency_Wars_%E2%80%93_Iran_Banned_From_Trading_Gold_and_Silver_/17552/0/0/0/Y/M.html

The Iranian geopolitical tension is supporting gold as Britain, America and France have delivered a clear message to Iran, sending six warships led by a 100,000 ton aircraft carrier through the highly sensitive Strait of Hormuz.

Reuters report that the EU has agreed to freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank and ban all trade in gold and other precious metals with the Iranian Central Bank and other public bodies in Iran.

According to IMF data, at the last official count (in 1996), Iran had reserves of just over 168 tonnes of gold. The FT reported in March 2011 that Iran has bought large amounts of bullion on the international market to diversify away from the dollar, citing a senior Bank of England official.

Currency wars continue and are deepening.

Many Asian markets are closed for the Lunar New Year holiday which has led to lower volumes.

Of note was there was an unusual burst of gold futures buying on the TOCOM in Japan, which has helped the cash market to breach resistance at $1,666 an ounce.

Investors are also waiting for euro zone finance ministers to decide the terms of a Greek debt restructuring later today.  This would be the second bailout package for Greece.

The risk of contagion in Eurozone debt and wider markets is leading to continued safe haven demand for gold.

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thanks to nomnomnom for the link..

so tell me..what came first?..india and china to use gold to pay..or the ban on iran using gold and silver as a trade currency..either way there is some usurping of sanctions going on..

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Petroplus to file for insolvency

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/12709997/petroplus-to-file-for-insolvency/

Highly indebted Swiss-based oil refiner Petroplus, after weeks of talks with its creditors, said in a statement on Tuesday it would file for insolvency.

The company, with $1.75 billion in outstanding senior notes and convertible bonds, had been negotiating with lenders to reopen credit lines needed to maintain operations and meet its financial obligations.

But on Tuesday it said its board of directors had “resolved to prepare for a filing for insolvency or composition proceedings in Switzerland and will make the necessary filings as soon as possible”.

It added that “similar steps are being taken by Petroplus subsidiaries in various jurisdictions”.

CEO Jean-Paul Vettier said: “It is unfortunate to have reached the point where the executive committee and board of directors have to inform our employees, shareholders, bondholders and other stakeholders about these circumstances.”

“We have worked hard to avoid this outcome, but were ultimately not able to come to an agreement with our lenders to resolve these issues given the very tight and difficult European credit and refining markets.

“We are fully aware of the impact that this will have on our workforce, their families and the communities where we have operated our businesses.”

On Monday trading in Petroplus shares was suspended at the request of the company, the Swiss exchange said.

A week earlier credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s had downgraded its rating for Petroplus by three notches due to the increased risk of a default on its short-term debt.

Last week Petroplus, Europe’s largest independent oil refiner, announced it was to sell its Petit Couronne refinery in France due to the financial difficulties.

Petroplus also said it was looking for strategic alternatives including the sale of its Cressier (Switzerland) and Antwerp (Belgium) refineries.

It has two other refineries across Europe: Ingolstadt in Germany and Coryton in Britain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroplus

Petroplus Holdings AG is Europe’s largest independent oil refiner by capacity. When the company first formed in 1993 it was known as Petroplus International N.V. being based in the Netherlands. In August 1998, it was listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. In April 2005, it was delisted from the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange when the company was acquired by a holding company. In November 2006, the company went public on the Swiss Stock Exchange.

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“Europe’s largest independent oil refiner by capacity”

big scalp..big news..markets go up..wtf?

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For Chinese communists..only RedPad..not iPad..will do

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57361810-17/for-chinese-communists-only-redpad-not-ipad-will-do/

When you’re a member of the China Communist Party, the iPad just doesn’t let you think different enough, it seems.

According to Reuters, China’s Communist Party members can now carry the RedPad Number One, which among other things comes bundled with software that allows up-and-coming commissars to monitor both the news and the journalists who report it. The Android-based tablet, which comes with a 9.7-inch display and a leather case, isn’t for the masses, though. The device sells for 9,999 yuan (about $1,600).

That exorbitant price tag is causing some bloggers in China to speak out against the Party. The critics say that it’s entirely possible the Party could use taxpayer dollars to pay for the tablets. In fact, Chinese Web site 91wenwen conducted an online survey earlier today on the topic, finding that about 2,000 people believed taxpayers could foot the bill. Nearly 3,000 respondents, however, say that it’s a “symbol of privilege.”

Perhaps what’s most interesting about the RedPad is that it comes with a host of applications designed to help party members keep tabs on the media. Reuters describes one application that lets members easily validate a journal’s accreditation. Another application lets them monitor blogs and microblogs.

Blogging services have long been a thorn in China’s side. The country has gone so far as to censor many of those services in an effort to “safeguard the public.”

“The rapid advance of this flood has also brought ‘mud and sand’–the spread of rumors–and to nurture a healthy Internet, we must thoroughly eradicate the soil in which rumors grow,” state-run media organization Xinhua wrote last year about blogs and microblogging services. “Concocting rumors is itself a social malady, and the spread of rumors across the Internet presents a massive social threat.”

That threat remains unchecked, apparently. The China Internet Network Information Center reported recently that as of the end of November, 300 million Chinese citizens were using microblogs. Last June, that figure stood at just 195 million.

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redpad..to funny..

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Google announces privacy settings change across products..users can’t opt out

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/google-tracks-consumers-across-products-users-cant-opt-out/2012/01/24/gIQArgJHOQ_story.html

Google said Tuesday it will require users to allow the company to follow their activities across e-mail, search, YouTube and other services, a radical shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices.

The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes.

The policy will take effect March 1 and will also impact Android mobile phone users, who are required to log in to Google accounts when they activate their phones.

The changes comes as Google is facing stiff competition and recently disappointed investors for the first time in several quarters, failing last week to meet earnings expectations. Apple, perhaps its primary rival, is expected to announce strong earnings Tuesday.

Google’s changes are appeared squarely aimed at Apple and Facebook, which have been successful in keeping people in their ecosystem of products. Google, which makes money by selling ads tailored to its users, is hoping to do the same by offering a Web experience tailored to personal tastes.

“If you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services,” Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy, product and engineering wrote in a blog post.

“In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,” she said.

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as a user of gmail, youtube and google search i am disgusted at this..

dont believe the lies that they want to fashion the unique “you” on the net..thats not what its about, its more control of what you see on the net and “surf” for..its them telling you we know what you want before you do, and here is our version of it for your subconcious..lap it up..its good clean propaganda with all the silly truths removed from search engines..just like smart phones and ipads, who have different search parameters than a search from a pc or laptop..made just for you, “history” and “news” courtesy of big media..

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Georgian authorities claim that Russia is offering African countries money for the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia..Saakashvili “eyeing Iran war to hold power”

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/01/23/64397073.html

Special envoy for the Russian President on cooperation with African countries, Senator Margelov called a statement by the Georgian authorities, that Russia is offering African countries a lot of money for the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a PR stunt.

“The essence of this statement is to try to attain some sort of informational advantage, said Margelov, commenting on the “Interfax” statement of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

“Russia has never offered a single African country any money for the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” said the senator.

According to him, the question of “recognition or no recognition,” is far removed from contracts for exploration of mineral resources, banking and infrastructure development and the interaction of African economies. “That’s what Russian officials in Africa and are busy with,” said Margelov.

http://rt.com/politics/shevardnadze-iran-war-saakashvili-557/

To keep his post, Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili may draw the country into a war against Iran, former Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze believes.

I dont rule out that to retain the [presidential] chair Saakashvili may join a military campaign against Iran, which would become a catastrophe for our country, Shevardnadze said, as cited by ‘Georgia on-line’ news portal.

The issue may be discussed at the upcoming meeting between Saakashvili and US President Barack Obama in the White House on January 30, Shevardnadze noted.

Any anti-Iranian campaign on Georgian territory shouldnt be accepted, the former Georgian president stressed.

Georgian expert on the Caucasus Mamuka Areshidze says that if a military operation against the Islamic Republic begins, Georgia would face extreme difficulties, Regnum agency reports.

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georgia is another that punches above its weight and receives a lot of attention, but it is a vital part of the energy supply chain, so its..push, push, pull..we did the post last week on the hospitals being built in georgia..watch them..most of the above is hype and white noise but i do believe the 2 breakaways will go for independence..and that will lead to something

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Nigerian forces have arrested 158 suspected members of the Islamist Boko Haram organisation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16710086

Boko Haram said it carried out a series of bombings in Kano on Friday in which at least 185 people died.

The group says it wants to overthrow the Nigerian government and impose Islamic law.

There were two casualties from Tuesday’s dawn raids, carried out by the Nigerian Joint Military Task Force.

One resident of Kano said officers had encircled a house where a Boko Haram suspect was believed to be hiding. The shoot-out lasted several hours.

“They began shooting, and he fired back… This was followed by a barrage of gunfire by the security men,” Mohammed Maikubi Bala told AFP news agency.

A man and his wife were killed in the raid, residents said.

Attacks by Boko Haram killed close to 1,000 people last year, according to campaign groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Amnesty said the Nigerian government should do more to tackle the group.

“The Nigerian government has repeatedly failed to prevent, investigate, prosecute or punish these acts,” it said.

The key suspect in a Christmas Day bombing on a Catholic church – believed to be a member of the Islamist sect Boko Haram – escaped from police custody earlier this month.

At least 40 people died in that attack.

A top African Union official warned that the radical sect was escalating its activities.

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these guys must have stuffed up and got caught with their boko haram membership cards on them..the police must know who is doing the attacks if they have 160 suspects in 1 week..someone gave them a 160 names and addresses??

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Anonymous takes down Monsanto

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To the free-thinking citizens of the world: Anonymous stands with the farmers and food organizations denouncing the practices of Monsanto We applaud the bravery of the organizations and citizens who are standing up to Monsanto, and we stand united with you against this oppressive corporate abuse. Monsanto is contaminating the world with chemicals and genetically modified food crops for profit while claiming to feed the hungry and protect the environment. Anonymous is everyone, Anyone who can not stand for injustice and decides to do something about it, We are all over the Earth and here to stay.

To Monsanto, we demand you STOP the following:

• Contaminating the global food chain with GMO’s.
• Intimidating small farmers with bullying and lawsuits.
• Propagating the use of destructive pesticides and herbicides across the globe.
• Using “Terminator Technology”, which renders plants sterile.
• Attempting to hijack UN climate change negotiations for your own fiscal benefit.
• Reducing farmland to desert through monoculture and the use of synthetic fertilizers.
• Inspiring suicides of hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers.
• Causing birth defects by continuing to produce the pesticide “Round-up”
• Attempting to bribe foriegn officials
• Infiltrating anti-GMO groups

Monsanto, these crimes will not go unpunished. Anonymous will not spare you nor anyone in support of your oppressive illegal business practices.

AGRA, a great example:
In 2006, AGRA, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, was established with funding from Bill Gates and The Rockefeller Foundation.

Among the other founding members of, AGRA, we find: Monsanto, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter and Gamble, Merck, Mosaic, Pfizer, Sumitomo Chemical and Yara. The fact that these corporations are either chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturers is no coincidence.

The people of the world see you, Monsanto. Anonymous sees you.

Seeds of Opportunism, Climate change offers these businesses a perfect excuse to prey on the poorest countries by swooping in to “rescue” the farmers and people with their GMO crops and chemical pesticides. These corporations eradicate the traditional ways of the country’s agriculture for the sake of enormous profits.
The introduction of GMOs drastically affects a local farmers income, as the price of chemicals required for GMOs and seeds from Monsanto cripples the farmer’s meager profit margins.

There are even many cases of Monsanto suing small farmers after pollen from their GMO crops accidentally cross with the farmer’s crops. Because Monsanto has a patent on theri brand of seed, they claim the farmer is in violation of patent laws.

These disgusting and inhumane practices will not be tolerated.

Anonymous urges all concerned citizens to stand up for these farmers, stand up for the future of your own food. Protest, organize, spread info to your friends!

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whatever your opinion is of anonymous..anyone going after monsanto is a friend of mine in those circumstances..

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Frank Wuterich faces three months in prison for role in Haditha massacre..justice?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9033999/US-Marine-Frank-Wuterich-faces-three-months-in-prison-for-role-in-Haditha-massacre.html

Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich faced nine counts of voluntary manslaughter for his role in the 2005 Haditha massacre, when his squad of Marines gunned down 24 Iraqis, including many women and children.

Yesterday, his attorneys reached a deal with military prosecutors at his court martial in California, allowing him to plead guilty to one count of dereliction of duty in return for the other charges being dropped.

A spokesman for the Marine Corps told the Daily Telegraph that the maximum sentence he faces is three months confinement, a two-third cut in pay and a demotion of up to five ranks. The sentencing hearing is expected to take place tomorrow.

His guilty plea is the first conviction secured in the years since the killing but is unlikely to satisfy campaigners in Iraq, who have long demanded accountability for the killings. Six other members of his squad saw charges against them dismissed while one was acquitted at court martial.

Prosecutors had earlier told the hearing that Staff Sergeant Wuterich “lost control of himself” after a roadside killed one of his squad members and wounded two others. The court had originally heard allegations that the unit went house-by-house killing civilians with machine gun fire and grenades.

Prosecutors alleged that Staff Sergeant Wuterich had stood at the foot of a bed in a back bedroom and shot dead a woman and her children. That charge has now been dropped.

The soldiers involved said they believed they were operating under the rules of engagement which allowed areas to be designated “hostile” and giving troops permission to open fire on anyone they found there.

In an un-aired 2007 interview that was shown at the hearing, Staff Sergeant Wuterich said he was not “a monster” and expressed regret over the civilian casualties.

The massacre caused international outrage and was one of the key reasons that the Iraqi government last year refused to extend immunity to American forces in the country.

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i can see why some people may dislike america over this sort of justice..the other killers got off free..and frank gets 3 months..its such a slap in the face to the iraqis..civilians are just cannon fodder in war..even when they arent on the battlefield..

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Saleh leaves Sana’a to seek treatment in the USA

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Yemenis-Protest-Law-Granting-President-Immunity-137847268.html

The United States says it will allow outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to come to the U.S. for a limited time to undergo medical treatment.

A State Department release Sunday noted that Mr. Saleh’s travel request had been approved for the sole purpose of such treatment, and that his expected stay in the U.S. will be short.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Saleh departed the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on a jet for the Persian Gulf sultanate of Oman, where he is expected to stay for a short time before traveling on to New York.

In a televised farewell speech just hours before he left, the Yemeni leader asked his people to forgive him for mistakes made during his 33-year autocratic rule. He also vowed to return to Yemen and continue leading his ruling General People’s Congress party.

Mr. Saleh was severely wounded in a bomb attack on his presidential compound last June and spent several months recuperating in Saudi Arabia. He has spoken previously of a desire to seek further treatment in the United States.

Yemeni opposition activists have staged a year of mass protests demanding his immediate ouster, inspired by popular uprisings in other parts of the region.

Thousands of Yemenis rallied in Sana’a Sunday, calling for Mr. Saleh to be put on trial for a violent crackdown on the demonstrations in which hundreds of people have been killed.

The anti-Saleh protesters reject a law that grants Mr. Saleh full immunity from prosecution. Yemen’s parliament approved the law Saturday, as part of a Gulf Cooperation Council-backed plan to encourage the president to leave office. Mr. Saleh signed the plan last November and agreed to transfer presidential powers to his deputy ahead of February elections that will pick his successor.

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not sure if he has left the USA yet..the “claytons” resignation and revolution..immunity..not just for him but all his family..he was obviously a much better slave than mubarak or gaddafi were..

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Alien “scorpions” found on Venus? BOO!

http://rt.com/news/alien-life-on-venus-485/

Are we still alone in the universe? Well, if a Russian scientist is right, a Soviet probe already solved one of humanity’s greatest riddles by discovering alien life on a neighboring planet – three decades ago.

While generations of stargazers dreamed of little green men on Mars, a recently published article in the Russian Solar System Research (Astronomicheskii Vestnik) magazine says a Soviet probe may have actually captured images of alien life on Earth’s scorching sister Venus back in 1982.

The article, penned by Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presents a detailed analysis of a 126-minute panoramic video recording made by the Venus-13 landing probe.

“Without going into the present conception that life would be impossible on Venus given its conditions, we can take a long shot and say that the given morphological characteristics allow us to assume that certain objects [registered on the planet’s surface] have qualities of living beings,” the researcher claims.

The article mentions three distinct objects: “a shape shifting disk,” “a black patch” and something resembling a“scorpion” which all exhibited signs of life.

Professor Ksanfomaliti said the objects, which measured between 0.1-0.5 meters, were constantly moving over time, making it difficult to explain them away as mere technical glitches.

Most interesting was the appearance of the ‘scorpion,’ whose movements were recorded a full 26 minutes before disappearing.

Ksanfomaliti also says the probe’s noisy touchdown on Venus’ surface probably scared off other otherworldly critters, which explains why nothing similar was captured in subsequent recordings.

The scientist had an inkling the video showed something potentially spectacular back in the 1980s, but opted to remain silent at the time. But based on a new wave of research dedicated to Earth-sized planets outside of our solar system, Ksanfomaliti decided to mull over the old data.

He plans on publishing further results of his findings in upcoming articles.

However, Aleksandr Bazilevsky the laboratory chief from the Russian Academy of Science’s Geochemistry Institute, says that while Ksanfomaliti is “a true, serious scientist,” his theory is “flawed.” 

“The life forms we are familiar with are protein-based and they would never survive on Venus,” Bazilevsky says.

“We know life forms capable of surviving at pressure of 100 bars on the seabed, and creatures living at the maximum temperature of +150 C in underwater volcanoes. But the temperature on Venus exceeds +500 C.”

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thanks to nomnomnom for the link..

i am still laughing..thats a scorpion eh?..please..try again..and they have sat on these pictures since the 80s?  hmm..

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Puntland: In search of black gold

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/countingthecost/2012/01/201212111213181948.html?utm_content=automateplus&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_medium=MasterAccount&utm_term=tweets

Puntland, one of the poorest regions in Africa, has been a semi-autonomous region in Somalia since 1998 when it was formed in response to the collapse of the government and the ongoing civil war in the south.

It has been calm recently compared to the lawless south, but illegal fishing, dumping and piracy along its coast are a barrier to progress.

But now for the first time in 20 years oil companies are drilling in Puntland and the region is hoping to see how transformational and powerful natural resources can be to a struggling economy.

Oil could offer the jobs and revenue the region desperately needs.

So has the autonomous region of northern Somalia found the source of its own renewal? Could oil change change the fate of Puntland? We talk to one of the men who is drilling for black gold.

***

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_exploration_in_Puntland

Several key players are involved in oil exploration in the Puntland region of Somalia:

• Amsas Consulting an energy and resource consulting firm based in Melbourne, Australia was the first company to get involved in Puntland in the mid 90′s after most major oil companies declared force-Majeure.The company has done some study recently in Puntland in December 2008. The only repository of data is with this company headed by Dr.Ali Abdullahi a former Presidential candidate in the Federal and State elections of 2004 and 2008.He was also instrumental in the setting up of the state of Puntland in 1996-1998.He was also a former Special Adviser on Energy and resources and has worked with many International Corporations and governments in Africa.
• Africa Oil Corporation, formerly Canmex Minerals, an oil company based in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.
• Range Resources Limited-, a mineral exploration company based in Perth, Western Australia and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Puntland State government of Somalia, where the Nogal and Dharoor blocks are located.
• Transitional Government of Somalia

Puntland state of somalia has started drilling a much need oil in Dharoor valley area nearby the economic city of Bosaso. This is one of the most successfull project in Puntland if the mission is accomplished.

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readers will know i speak of puntland a lot when somalia comes up..this video will tell you why..its one of the last bastions of massive  oil deposits left in the world..

this is why so much interest is placed on pirates and somalia..

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French Senate outlaws Genocide Denial

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120124/170915871.html

France’s upper house of parliament, the Senate, passed a bill late on Monday making the denial of genocide a crime punishable by a 45,000-euro fine and a year in jail.

The bill that sets the country on a collision course with Turkey was approved 127 to 86 after a seven-hour discussion. It is yet be ratified by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The bill, initially criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide in the early 20th century, had been amended to outlaw the denial of any officially recognized genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing Ankara. So far, French laws classify only two mass killings as “genocide” – the Holocaust (the 1990 law) and the deaths of more than 1 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917, recognized by France as genocide in 2001.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan welcomed the move as an important contribution “to the record of worldwide human rights protection” and a worthy addition to the existing mechanism of preventing crimes against humanity.

Ankara, in its turn, threatened “grave consequences,” including diplomatic and economic sanctions.

“Turkey’s response to the adoption of the bill had long been decided. These measures will stay in place as long as the law stays in force,” Hurriyet Daily News quoted Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying shortly before the bill was voted on.

Omer Celik, deputy leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), threatened “permanent sanctions” if the bill is approved.

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oh the french..the premier agitators..back at it again..note that any genocide, that has occurred anywhere in the world, where you deny the government line, will be viewed as illegal..think about it..

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IMF’s Christine Lagarde warns of “1930s moment”..she means a depression

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16689211

IMF chief Christine Lagarde has warned the world faces an economic spiral reminiscent of the 1930s unless action is taken on the eurozone crisis.

Ms Lagarde, speaking in Berlin, warned of a danger of rising unemployment if governments did not act together.

She said the Fund needed 500bn euros more to help sustain those countries worst hit by the eurozone crisis.

She added that Germany’s economy depended on the economic health of its customers in other eurozone countries.

Ms Lagarde, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said that the eurozone needed a “larger firewall” to prevent the debt crisis spreading.

Talks between Greece and its creditors were adjourned on Friday amid Greek hopes a large chunk of its debts could be written off.

In a BBC interview, Ms Lagarde said now was the time to act in order to avoid a 1930s-style depression.

She said: “Looking at it from this perspective, 2012 must be a year of healing. But as Hippocrates put it long ago: ‘Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.’

“And today, it has to be an opportunity of our own making. Otherwise, we could easily slide into a 1930s moment.

“A moment where trust and co-operation break down and countries turn inward. A moment, ultimately, leading to a downward spiral that could engulf the entire world.”

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they arent quite saying that word..”depression”..but they are very close and you have been warned..lagarde looks like a man..sorry..but whats going on with that tan?

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Gaddafi supporters seize control of Bani Walid..I thought it was over?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-libya-fighting-idUSTRE80M1EC20120123

Supporters of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi seized control of the town of Bani Walid on Monday after clashes with a militia loyal to the new government in which four people were killed, witnesses told Reuters.

A resident of Bani Walid, about 200 km (120 miles) south-east of Tripoli, said the sides fought using heavy weaponry, including 106 mm anti-tank weapons, and that 20 people were wounded.

Another witness told Reuters the fighting had now stopped but that Gaddafi loyalists were in control of the town centre, where they were flying green flags, a symbol of allegiance to the ousted administration.

“They control the town now. They are roaming the town,” said the witness, a fighter with the 28th May militia which was fighting the Gaddafi loyalists.

Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last towns in Libya to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year. Many people there oppose the country’s new leadership.

The uprising in Bani Walid could not come at a worse time for the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC). It is already reeling from violent protests in the eastern city of Benghazi and the resignation of its second most senior official.

An air force official told Reuters that jets were being mobilized to fly to Bani Walid. In Tripoli, there were signs of security being tightened, Reuters reporters in the city said.

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but the killing should be over?..libya was liberated and democracy came to the land..no?..so we have been fed a pack of lies?

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Bahrain violence on the rise..funeral attacked with tear gas

http://bikyamasr.com/54516/bahrain-violence-on-the-rise-funeral-attacked-with-tear-gas/

The Bahrain government continues to increase its attacks on pro-democracy protesters in the country, killing a child over the weekend and attacking a funeral of another victim of the state-sponsored violence.

On Saturday police and pro-government supporters clashed with hundreds of mourners in Muharraq, north of the Bahraini capital Manama, as they marched in the funeral of 24-year-old Yousif Muwali, who died in controversial circumstances on January 13.

Muwali had gone missing on January 11 before his body was found on the sea-shore. Authorities say he died after drowning at sea, while relatives claim that he died in police custody and later had his body dumped by the shore.

The body was released to the family Saturday morning, but the authorities declined to authorize a funeral march. Mourners attempted to march inside the graveyard but clashes broke-out as they tried to head from the graveyard to a nearby street.

Earlier on Saturday, Yassin Asfour, 14, died due to inhalation of toxic gas. Friends close to the family told Bikyamasr.com that doctors attempted to save his life, but due to his asthma they “couldn’t do anything.”

Citizens then took to the streets to protest the continued deaths that are rising, even after a November inquiry into the violence hoped to move the country away from the near constant street battles.

Saturday’s clashes left several injuries and several cars of people taking part in the funeral were damaged. The vice chairman of the opposition grouping Ekha, Ali Yousif Qodrat, was detained by police after they stormed the graveyard firing tear-gas.

The police action was backed-up by pro-government supporters armed with sticks and hurling rocks at mourners from various sides of the graveyard, before police finally stopped their assault but allowed them to remain in the vicinity and behind police lines.

Shortly after the clashes, several Shiite-owned businesses were vandalized by the pro-government supporters, in a repeat of the sectarian targeting seen in February and March of last year when the pro-reform protests broke-out.

Clashes were also reported in several areas across the small Gulf island on Saturday, with tire-burning protests to demand the release of political detainees.

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bahrain doesnt get anywhere near the publicity of syria..but its in the same boat..its a good friend of the USA so it can do whatever it wants..nice hand signal to btw..

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Anonymous hacks French presidential website

http://rt.com/news/anonymous-french-website-megaupload-365/

A group of hackers known as ‘Anonymous’ attacked the French president’s website on Friday, apparently in retaliation of the country’s official support of an American clampdown on the popular file-sharing website, Megaupload.

Anonymous inserted their online slogan “We are legion” into the website’s navigation bar, where it stayed until the end of the day.

The French government reiterated its stance on the issue and denounced the people behind Megaupload.com as criminals and their actions as massive violations of copyright law.

“It is delinquency, it is theft,” AFP quoted the French Culture Minister, Frederic Mitterrand, as saying. “The truth is that they are stealing on a large scale.”

The US authorities have indicted seven people for “massive worldwide online piracy of numerous types of copyrighted works, through Megaupload.Com and other related sites.”

An international crackdown has led agents to serve at least 20 search warrants across the globe. Four of the company’s senior figures have already been arrested in New Zealand, and Washington is now demanding their extradition to the US to be prosecuted for alleged online piracy, racketeering and money laundering.

“In retaliation for Megaupload,” Anonymous operative Barrett Brown earlier told RT, the group shut down several US-based websites for several hours, including those of the FBI, the Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America.

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“The French government reiterated its stance on the issue and denounced the people behind Megaupload.com as criminals and their actions as massive violations of copyright law”

the french firmly hand in hand with the USA..take it all down i say..

401

Multiple bomb attacks in Nigeria kill over 160

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16672310

The death toll from Friday’s bomb attacks by Islamist militants in the Nigerian city of Kano is certain to rise further, doctors have said.

Hospital officials say 160 people have been confirmed dead, but that bodies are still arriving at mortuaries.

Boko Haram, which wants an Islamic state, said it launched the attack because the authorities refused to free a group of its members from jail.

President Goodluck Jonathan visited Kano to offer his condolences.

He has said that the security situation in Nigeria is now more complicated than it was during the 1967-1970 civil war.

But he has promised to track down the perpetrators of the Kano attack.

Boko Haram has launched a series of assaults over the past year, killing hundreds of people.

Its members have bombed churches, government buildings and police stations – mostly in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria.

But the Kano attack appear to be the group’s most deadly co-ordinated assault.

One doctor told the AFP news agency that the final toll was likely to be about 250.

“Although the bulk of the bodies were brought here [the main hospital], others were deposited at three other hospitals,” the doctor said.

And aid workers were still collecting bodies from the streets on Sunday.

The BBC’s Andrew Harding in Kano says there is a growing belief that Boko Haram launched the attack to free some of its members from jail.

A local police chief told our correspondent that about 50 Boko Haram attackers had managed to free “many” prisoners.

Boko Haram, which loosely translates from the local Hausa language as “Western education is forbidden”, says it wants to overthrow the national government and impose Islamic law.

http://rt.com/news/nigeria-terror-attacks-toll-395/

More deadly attacks have hit northern Nigeria two days after the country endured one of the bloodiest spates of sectarian violence in its history, claiming up to 178 lives.

In the latest incident, which took place early on Sunday, gunmen killed at least nine people and injured 12, the BritishSunday Telegraph newspaper reports.

The death toll from terror attacks on Friday in the Nigerian city of Kano has climbed to at least 150 as estimated by the Red Cross, amid conflicting reports on casualty figures. The victims died in bombings and shootings aimed at eight government buildings across the city.

“We have 178 people killed in the two main hospitals. There could be more, because some bodies have not yet come in and others were collected early,” the senior doctor in Kano’s Murtala Mohammed hospital told Reuters on Sunday, citing records from his own and the other main hospital of Nasarawa.

————

more horrific attacks on the weekend.. Nigeria is very very unstable now..might need some “peace keepers”?

401

Newt..the most dangerous man in America?

http://theintelhub.com/2012/01/22/newt-gingrich-the-establishment-globalist-new-world-order-puppet-wins-south-carolina-primary/

Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Primary, beating out fellow establishment candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum as well as the only real conservative Dr. Ron Paul.

Gingrich, despite widespread allegations of misconduct from multiple ex wives, somehow won in a state that bills itself as one of the most conservative in the nation.

How this happened remains a mystery with many questioning how Gingrich could place 1st in the primary while Paul placed 4th when primaries are mostly based off of voter enthusiasm at the time that the vote is cast and many reports prior to the primary indicated that Paul and even the other establishment puppets had much more support than Gingrich just days before the primary.

Continue here: http://theintelhub.com/2012/01/22/newt-gingrich-the-establishment-globalist-new-world-order-puppet-wins-south-carolina-primary/

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google PNAC..a recent catholic convert..carrying the cross for the vatican..yes he is very dangerous..he will roll mitt..wonder who he will run with as VP?

the “darling” of the washington elite..hes their boy..no doubt there..

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