Open Your Eyes News - Edition 24

Six months ago, in Edition 2, I predicted that the war against Iran could possibly start during the Olympics, and would almost definitely start before Dubya leaves office in late January. Though the war itself has not started yet, another piece was put into place when Georgia started, at the USA's behest, a war that they couldn't ever win against a foe with immeasurably larger armed forces, Russia, on the Olympics opening night. While this has been happening, virtually un-noticed by the world mainstream media, the USA has moved three more aircraft carrier groups into the Gulf - bringing it to a total of five, the largest naval armada since the first Gulf war back in 1991. All the pieces are falling into in place, and a key potential opponent has lost international kudos (Russia has been supplying the nuclear technology to Iran and has made it clear that they will oppose any action). When the war happens, not only will it be deeply immoral and cause the deaths of tens of thousands more innocents, all in the name of profit and control, but it will spark a major realignment of the world, as commodity prices soar, stock prices plummet, and more "emergency" legislation rushed into statute in the Western "democracies", significantly reducing your civil liberties, in reaction to the inevitable civil anti-war protests and "heightened terror threat". I am no seer, and would never profess to ever believe that I am 100% right on all this as I can only make supposition on the facts and knowledge that I possess, however when you examine how humans and corporations have reacted throughout history it is clear to see that we are quite predictable really.
Away from the Iran/Georgia situation plenty of other very significant events have flown under the media's spotlight as they focus on Beijing, not least in the case of the environmental havoc that we are wreaking on this planet and its fragile eco-system, and further erosion of civil liberties in the West.
A friend said to me this week that even if all this is happening "I can't do anything about it so it is better to ignore and switch off". I passionately disagree. Every single one of us can make a difference, no matter how small it may seem. Even if is just talking to others, or forwarding a link to OYE News, by raising their awareness they may do the same to others, and so pass it on. That will be a very significant and important thing you will have done - On our own we are helpless, together we can change the world - Future generations will not thank us if we bury our heads in the sand and ignore what is happening on our watch.

Areas Covered Each Week:
Civil Liberties - Health - Environment - Democracy & International Relations - Economics - Science - The War on Terror - The Next War

Environment:
Honeybee deaths reaching crisis point
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/12/conservation.wildlife1
This environmental disaster is unfolding worldwide, as GM crops get more and more engrained into the eco-system, and yet where is the mainstream media? Never forget that NO BEES = NO FOOD = NO LIFE

Virgin rainforest targeted for oil drilling
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn14524-virgin-rainforest-targeted-for-oil-drilling.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
There's money to be made boys. Environment damage and deforestation? But just think of the billions of $$$$$$$$

US mission to Arctic will lay claim to gas reserves
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2549271/US-mission-to-Arctic-will-lay-claim-to-gas-reserves.html
Ditto

Charles in GM 'disaster' warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7557644.stm
It is actually a shame that he isn't taken seriously these days really.

Extinction 'by man not climate'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7555206.stm
Though this article is talking about our ancestors 40,000 years ago (at a time of “climate change” which was clearly not “man-made”) exactly the same is true now. “Climate Change” is simply the excuse behind which we hide from our guilt of raping the eco-system of this planet for short term gain.

Stone Age mass graves reveal green Sahara
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14536-stone-age-mass-graves-reveal-green-sahara.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
The last line is rather significant: "We can learn a lot about how humans adapt to dramatic climate change from these remains. The environment changed a lot on several occasions over a relatively short time”. Yes we did adapt, and yes it has happened many, many times before, and each time caused primarily by the sun. This whole man-made climate change (note how it isn’t called “global warming” anymore) is a smoke screen to take your eyes off the real and massive environmental destruction we humans are causing on this planet. There are plenty of examples of such destruction this week alone as you can see.

How to turn gas guzzlers into green machines
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn14484-how-to-turn-gas-guzzlers-into-green-machines.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
Funnily enough I don't suspect our friends at Exxon and BP will encourage their good friends at GM and Ford to embrace this research

80% of British biofuels are unsustainable
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn14518-80-of-british-biofuels-are-unsustainable.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
Millions will die of starvation as a result of us growing these immoral fuels.

Democracy & International Diplomacy:
Russia 'ends Georgia operation'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7555858.stm
Well of course they do, they had such overwhelming armed supremacy they were always going to win. Makes you wonder why the Georgians would provoke it……

U.S. to take control of Georgian ports
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSLD49893320080813
Ah yes, this and the smokescreen to move 3 US aircraft carriers groups to the Gulf that it created (see article below)

Russians 'Seize US Weapons Depot'
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080815/twl-russians-seize-us-weapons-depot-3fd0ae9.html
Why would a US weapons depot be in Georgia, and why would US and Israeli "mercenaries" have been captured by the Russians during the war? This who thing was a smokescreen operation to enable the continued build up of US forces in the Gulf, and to turn international opinion against Iran's biggest potential supporter - Russia. And then there is the hypocrisy - Georgia started this fight ­ Russia finished it. People who start wars don't get to decide how and when they end. Russia's response was "disproportionate" and "brutal," said Dubya. True. But did he not authorize Israel to bomb Lebanon for 35 days in response to a border skirmish where several Israel soldiers were killed and two captured? Was that not many times more "disproportionate"? Russia has invaded a sovereign country, railed Dubya. But did not the US bomb Serbia for 78 days and invade to force it to surrender a province, Kosovo, to which Serbia had a far greater historic claim than Georgia had to Abkhazia or South Ossetia, both of which prefer Moscow to Tbilisi?

Georgia used US and Ukrainian mercenaries in its aggression against South Ossetia
http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/15-08-2008/106111-georgia_ossetia-0

U.S., Poland sign missile shield deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSLE807520080814
You can just hear Dubya talking to the Polish PM can't you? "You boys don't want another Georgia on your hands now do ya?"

Sudan 'launches attack in Darfur'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7559196.stm
The crucial bit is the last line, just in case you had forgotten is "The UN estimates that more than 300,000 people have been killed and two million displaced during five years of fighting." Oh and guess what, there is oil in the region that they have attacked which the Chinese are after.

Britain and Ireland could be forced to share one European Commission seat
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1043068/Britain-Ireland-forced-share-European-Commission-seat.html
I suspect that Eamon DeValera and Michael Collins must be turning in their graves. The people of Britain & Ireland might think that they live in free democracies, but in fact the majority of their laws come via the EU in which their influence is minute.

US must share power in new world order, says Turkey's president
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/16/turkey.usforeignpolicy
There's that "New World Order" phrase again that keeps coming up in political leaders speeches all around the world. Here's the Georgian President doing the same: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oglxWSanSHI

Civil Liberties:
Uproar at plan to hold inquests in secret
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4510259.ece
People of Britain can you hear your liberty just drifting away? Closed societies don’t just come into being over night. They come over a period of time through small, incremental steps (the Totalitarian Tip Toe) and by the time you realise there is a problem it is too late and you can’t stop it. Just because Britain has been a democracy for hundreds of years don’t ever imagine for a second that the motivations and psychology of human beings have changed, and while the British people have become lazy and complacent in the nurturing of their democracy, those people and institutions who seek power and control have done what they always have done, and slowly eroded the freedoms you believed were sacrosanct. PS: I hate to say it but the current opposition might oppose it but trust me when they get into the hot seat they will keep the agenda ticking slowly forward just as the current lot do.

Government admits national DNA database holds records of 40,000 INNOCENT children
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1045664/Government-admits-national-DNA-database-holds-records-40-000-INNOCENT-children.html
Tip toe......

Councils get power to ‘spy’ on your e-mail and net use
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4518226.ece
Can you hear the tip toe yet?

Spy more on your citizens, councils urged
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=260185&in_page_id=34
Yes you are all potential terrorists is what the very Orwellian sounding 'Interception of Communications Commissioner' is saying.

Briton's have Zero privacy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/13/privacy.privacy
Tip toe, tip toe. At least some in the UK mainstream media are beginning to wake up, but is it too little too late?

Dash Cam Records Deputy Beating & Tasering Teen
http://www.wyff4.com/news/17136655/detail.html
Indiscriminate use of a potentially lethal police weapon of the week

NYPD's 'Operation Sentinel' To Track EVERYTHING
http://wcbstv.com/cbs2crew/operation.sentinel.nypd.2.793133.html
All in the name of protecting against "terror" obviously. Remember when politicians say "We won't let the terrorists win by changing our free and democratic way of life"? Expect similar schemes in a city near you in the not to distant future....just in case

Forgot your ID? You must be a terrorist
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/13/tsa_forgot/
However if you had a RFID micro-chip inserted then this would never be a problem. Now wouldn't that be convenient? And guess what? In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted clearance for VeriChip, an identification system using implantable Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, consisting of a handheld reader, a microchip approximately the size of a grain of rice (containing a unique 16-digit ID number), which is implanted in the right arm, and a database.

Minorities set to be US majority
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7559996.stm
Don't be too surprised if two tiers of American citizen come into legal reality in the not too distant future. Meanwhile the "racial differences" will be manipulated to give excuse the further reduce civil liberties, so to "protect the population"

'Guantanamo On The Platte' Set As Holding Cell For Democratic National Convention
http://cbs4denver.com/denver2008/denver.protesters.arrested.2.793930.html
Guantanamo on US soil for US citizens, or "Free Speech Zones" as Dubya calls them?

U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503497.html?hpid=topnews
The Ten Steps to a Closed Society - Number 4. Surveil ordinary citizens (full list at the bottom of this page)

Rounded up into torture camps: the 'undesirables' China doesn't want you to see
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1045764/Rounded-torture-camps-The-undesirables-China-doesnt-want-see.html
I wonder if someone in the Communist Party researched how the Nazi's "cleaned up" Berlin before the games in 1936?

Finance & Economics:
Fannie Mae unveils loss of $2.3bn
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7549428.stm
As discussed at length in previous editions, if either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac go under it will double the size of the US Government's already vast debt. One more step towards persuading the American people that they need to ditch the dollar for the Amero (US, Canadian and Mexican currency union to go alongside the NAFTA political Union)

Student debt 'could top £17,500'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7556441.stm
Brings to mind an old banking saying "Get them hooked in young and won them for life"

Opec income hits record as oil prices soar
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b0172576-670b-11dd-808f-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
God this global instability decreasing supply, at a time of increasing demand is awful isn’t it? It’s no wonder these helpless and un-influential people would shudder at the thought of Iran being bombed and the effect that would have on prices.

UK loses £600bn in credit crunch
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/11/creditcrunch.consumerspending
Talking of which are the British people getting more or less keen on the idea of ditching the pound and embracing the Euro? Then again the 'money' did not exist in the first place, except (electronically) in theory, and so it cannot have been 'lost', except in theory.

China to overtake US as largest manufacturer
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2aa7a12e-6709-11dd-808f-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
Remember what I have been saying in nearly every edition about the concerted effort to weaken the USA so that the American people become more compliant to the idea that a currency and political union with their NAFTA neighbours might be the answer to their prayers (and another key step towards one world government – or a New World Order as Bush, Brown and Obama have been calling it)

US home foreclosures increase 55%
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7560113.stm

Gold, Platinum Lead Commodities Into Bear Market on Growth Risk
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=agtQ7hYVoCxw&refer=home
Good old fashioned market manipulation has been played for as long as there has been commodities and stock trading by those in the know or in power. Look at all the very strange trades that took place just before and after 9/11. Expect a lot of money to be made in these commodities when their prices soar as soon as the bombing of Iran starts.

U.S. banking giant switches billions in debt to Britain to avoid paying corporation tax for 50 years
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1045229/U-S-banking-giant-switches-billions-debt-Britain-avoid-paying-corporation-tax-50-years.html
Well it's bloody unfair that they should have to pay tax like the rest of us isn't it? A glimpse into the immoral "mind" of a corporation.

Science & Technology:
Rat-brained robot
http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/video/2008/08/14/rat_brained_robot
Though the Terminator movies were just fiction, fact is fast catching up with un-manned drones standard issue on battlefields already, Britain's military communications system called Skynet (I kid you not) and now computer brains being made from animal brains. How long before they replicate this experiment with human's and all of a sudden you will be obsolete?

Future wars 'to be fought with mind drugs'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/2557025/Future-wars-to-be-fought-with-mind-drugs.html
Forty years ago the CIA invented LSD to "boost troop performance" in the stress of the Vietnam War. This is just a natural progression of that warped and immoral thinking.

The War on Terror:
Senator questions FBI's anthrax evidence
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/dn14517-senator-questions-fbis-anthrax-evidence.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
But it is so much easier to pin everything on a dead patsy who rather conveniently only sent the anthrax to those politicians or media types who might have objected to the "Patriot Act" being rushed through post 9-11.

Iraq demands "very clear" U.S. troop timeline
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL818601720080810?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
A little disingenuous really however as when the US "withdraws" it will withdraw only as far as the 14 vast military bases that it has been building deep in the Iraqi desert, and the biggest US embassy in the world, strategically placed right next the Iraqi Presidential palace.....just in case.

U.S. court rules Saudi Arabia immune in 9/11 case
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1448612320080814?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
Do you reckon that the fact that Saudi Arabians own about 10% of all US stocks and property assets has anything to do with it? “Who’s your daddy?”

The Next War:
Kuwait on alert for war in Persian Gulf?
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/08/11/special_report_kuwait_readying_for_war_in_gulf/7724/
Do you think that they know something that you don’t? The largest naval deployment since 1991 is unfolding without a whiff of western mainstream media attention, with no less than three additional U.S. aircraft carrier groups (USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima) steaming towards Middle East waters to reinforce the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Peleliu which are already there. And all the while the magician keeps the audience looking the other way (in this case the USA persuading Georgia to provoke an unwinnable war with Russia)


Quote of the Week:

Liberty can not be preserved without general knowledge among people."
- John Adams (August 1765)