Dangerous Crossroads: U.S. Missiles And Troops To Russian Border

Quote: "But this month has brought even more dramatic and dangerous news. The Pentagon has authorized the completion of a $6.5 billion arms deal with Taiwan with an agreement to deliver 200 Patriot Advanced Capability anti-ballistic missiles. The People’s Republic of China is infuriated, as Washington would be if the situation were reversed and Beijing provided a comparable arsenal of weapons to, for example, an independent Puerto Rico. [5]

As though that action was not provocative enough however, on January 20 the Polish Defense Ministry announced that a U.S. Patriot missile battery, and the 100 American soldiers who will operate it, would not be based on the outskirts of the capital of Warsaw as previously announced but in the Baltic Sea city of Morag, 35 miles [6] from Poland’s border with Russia."

Read all: Dangerous Crossroads: U.S. Moves Missiles And Troops To Russian Border
Nuclear and Conventional Arms Pacts Stalled
By Rick Rozoff
Global Research, January 23, 2010

No Change on Indefinite Terrorism Detentions

US officials: 47 Guantanamo prisoners to be held indefinitely without charge --35 detainees face trial or tribunal 23 Jan 2010

At least 80 Guantanamo prisoners would be brought to the United States to face trial, military commissions or continued imprisonment without charge under recommendations from a presidential task force, two government officials said Friday. The two officials said that a task force has recommended 35 Guantanamo Bay detainees for prosecution. Another six have been chosen to face military tribunals. As part of President Barack Obama's plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, the task force has recommended 47 detainees be held indefinitely without charge. Another 17 detainees who are Yemenis are likely to be held for some time to come...

Judges Urge Congress to Act on Indefinite Terrorism Detentions 22 Jan 2010

Three judges on the federal trial court hearing challenges brought by Guantanamo prisoners are calling on Congress and the Obama administration to enact a law to address one of the nation's most perplexing moral and legal dilemmas: When can the United States indefinitely detain terrorism suspects? ...So far judges have decided 41 of the challenges brought by some 200 detainees and have determined that 32 of the men should be released. Only 21 of those prisoners have actually left Guantanamo, however, because the Obama administration, like its predecessor, is resisting the courts' authority to compel their release -- a dispute that's now before the Supreme Court.

US to Pay Taliban Fighters to 'Lay Down Their Arms'

US to Pay Taliban Fighters to 'Lay Down Their Arms'
--By Lori Price, www.legitgov.org 24 Jan 2010

'Afghan President Hamid Karzai unveiled an ambitious Western-funded plan Friday to offer money and jobs to tempt Taliban fighters to lay down their arms in an effort to quell a crippling insurgency...' 'Further incentives could include pensions for older fighters and allotments of land.'

The Taliban Stimulus: 'Junior Taliban fighters' are going to be offered jobs at US taxpayer expense. Maybe we can include the newly hired Taliban insurgents in US economic data so that the unemployment rate will appear to be on the wane. And, not a GOP signal of discontent in sight! After all, it's the *Taliban* getting jobs, training and education -- not the US poor, so it's all good.

Climategate Junk Scientist Michael Mann Awarded Half a Million in Stimulus Cash

Climategate Junk Scientist Michael Mann Awarded Half a Million in Stimulus Cash: "Funds Should be Returned to U.S. Treasury, Says National Center for Public Policy Research

Washington, DC - In the face of rising unemployment and record-breaking deficits, policy experts at the National Center for Public Policy Research are criticizing the Obama Administration for awarding a half million dollar grant from the economic stimulus package to Penn State Professor Michael Mann, a key figure in the Climategate controversy.

"It's outrageous that economic stimulus money is being used to support research conducted by Michael Mann at the very time he's under investigation by Penn State and is one of the key figures in the international Climategate scandal. Penn State should immediately return these funds to the U.S. Treasury," said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center's Free Enterprise Project."

James Hansen: Would you buy a used temperature data set from THIS man?

James Hansen: Would you buy a used temperature data set from THIS man?: "Before we get too worried about NASA's latest stamping-its-little-feet claims that the world is getting hotter it is it is it IS, let us first remind ourselves why we should trust their temperature records slightly less far than we can spit.

Then let's have a closer look at the character and motives of the man in charge of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), Dr James Hansen. Last year, he was described by his former course supervisor at NASA, Dr John Theon, as an "activist" and an embarrassment.

Or as the Great Booker puts it:



If there is one scientist more responsible than any other for the alarm over global warming it is Dr Hansen, who set the whole scare in train back in 1988 with his testimony to a US Senate committee chaired by Al Gore. Again and again, Dr Hansen has been to the fore in making extreme claims over the dangers of climate change. (He was recently in the news here for supporting the Greenpeace activists acquitted of criminally damaging a coal-fired power station in Kent, on the grounds that the harm done to the planet by a new power station would far outweigh any damage they had done themselves.)"

Pauchauri: EU caught by "glaciergate" hype

Pauchauri: EU caught by "glaciergate" hype: "
Both The Sunday Telegraph (Booker column) and The Sunday Times (link to follow) reveal that the IPCC was not the only organisation caught out by Dr Hasnain's spurious claim that Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035. The EU fell for it as well, without checking its scientific authenticity.

Driven by this claim, officials from the EU's multi-billion euro 'Framework 7' research programme were so alarmed at the prospect of a rapid glacial melt that they decided to 'call for proposals' in the area of Himalayan glaciers retreat, describing the proposed project as 'a topic of high scientific and societal importance!'

This was revealed at a seminar on 13 May 2009 when Anastasios Kentarchos, a senior official from the EU commission's Environment Directorate, DG – Research - made a presentation (see frame pictured above) , which refers to Dr Pachauri's fourth assessment report for the IPCC, specifically citing the 2035 date.

The presentation was given during the opening session of an Open Science Seminar (pictured below) organised to discuss the 'Future of Water Resources in India under a Changing Climate'.


At the seminar, which was hosted by R K Pachauri's institute, TERI, and held in its New Delhi office location, Pachauri was also a keynote speaker and Dr Syed Hasnain was also believed to be present. The seminar was intended to kick-off the EU funded High Noon project aimed at researching the effects of the glaciers melting.

Nor was this the first time Dr Hasnain's claim has been adopted by the EU. In its 'State of the Art' webpage introducing the 'High Noon' project, it references the same 2005 WWF document used in the IPPC forth assessment report. The webpage notes, in respect of the glacier melt, that: 'Reviews from the region suggest that the timescales are short, may be the 2040s... ', citing: 'World Wildlife Fund 2005'.

Six days after Anastasios Kentarchos's presentation, the EU formally announced - again in New Delhi – the start of the €3 million project, revealing that TERI was to be a beneficiary of the funding.

This may not have come as a surprise to Dr Pachauri. A resident at 160 Golf Links, in New Delhi's 'millionaires' row', the office of the EU commission in Delhi is situated at 65 Golf Links – making them practically next door neighbours.

At the time of the announcement and for nearly two years, Dr Hasnain – the originator of the 2035 claim – had been working for Dr Pachauri and was to lead the TERI glaciology unit implementing the EU-funded research.

TERI had already been awarded a major part of a $500,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, also to research the effects of melting glaciers, although this was not to be formally announced until 15 January this year.

As with the EU project, reference was made to Dr Hasnain's claim, with the grant award citation reading: 'One authoritative study reported that most of the glaciers in the region “will vanish within forty years as a result of global warming…resulting in widespread water shortages.' Again, as with the EU project, Dr Hasnain was to lead the research programme.

The issue of Pachauri using IPPC claims as a means of attracting funding to investigate melting glaciers was first raised by this blog on 17 December, his financial interest largely explaining his hostile reaction to criticism of Dr Hasnain's claim retailed by his own report.

Since the extent of the funding has become clearer, and the link with Hasnain have fully emerged, the response from both Pachauri and Hasnain has been denial and contradiction.

Now, with two heavyweight newspapers pitching in, the pair may find it harder to sustain their denials of what is very clearly documented evidence of conflict of interest and, on Dr Pachauri's part, a misuse of public office. His refusal to resign looks thinner by the minute.

PACHAURI THREAD

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FLASHBACK: Haiti is full of oil. And the US thinks it owns it

FLASHBACK: Haiti is full of oil. And the US thinks it owns it: "Scientists and Ginette Daniel Mathurin indicate that under Haitian soil is rich in oil and fossil fuels and have already been listed by foreign specialists and Haiti. "We have identified 20 oil sites," says Daniel Mathurin, stating that 5 of them are considered of great importance by specialists and politicians.

The Central Plateau, including the region of Thomonde, the plain of the cul-de-sac and the bay of Port-au-Prince are full of hydrocarbons, "he said adding that the oil reserves of Haiti are more important than those of Venezuela. "An Olympic pool compared to a glass of water that is the comparison to illustrate the importance of oil Haitian compared with those of Venezuela," he explains.

Venezuela is one of the world's largest producers of oil."

Founder of The Weather Channel to file lawsuit against Gore and Climategate cohorts

Founder of The Weather Channel to file lawsuit against Gore and Climategate cohorts: "Finally, efforts are being made by the founder of The Weather Channel, John Coleman, to sue Al Gore and his cohorts for perpetrating "the greatest scam in history" - the fraud of global warming. Thirty thousand others, comprised of scientists and experts, are also willing to join in that lawsuit.

So how did this fraud all get started? It all started in Chicago shortly after Earth Day, April 17, 1995, when Al Gore went to Fall River, Mass., to give his green sermon speech. He was soon joined by Maurice Strong and Peter Knight, a registered lobbyist and Gore's former top Senate aid.

It didn't take long before the Chicago Climate Exchange was formed and "a veritable rat's nest of cronyism" was formed. The largest shareholder in the Exchange is Goldman Sachs, and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is its honorary chairman. The Joyce Foundation, which funded the Exchange, also funded money for John Ayers' Chicago School Initiative. John is the brother of William Ayers who was one of the founders of the Weathermen."