China’s New Silk Road to Make a Big Move in Gold

It’s one of the great engineering achievements in history…

At 48 miles long, the Panama Canal cuts through a narrow strip of land in Central America.

It links up the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, allowing ships to pass through the landmass instead of sailing around a whole continent.

Ships pay dearly to use this shortcut… up to $375,000 for a one-way toll.

It’s worth the price.

Greece to sell water, energy firms under EU deal

And more infrastructure gets plundered in the raid of Greek national sovereignty. Soon we’ll find out who gets what in this case — and it could be Germany once again, which just days ago, took over the Greek airport infrastructure. The Fourth Reich has pulled off the greatest heist of all time.

 

Greek privatisations under the EU bailout are set to include water companies, leading energy firms, and swathes of infrastructure.

The list, compiled by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, and agreed with creditors on 30 July, was published on Wednesday (19 August) by German Green MEP Sven Giegold.

He said the Greek public “hardly knows” what will be sold off and has “the right” to more “transparency”.

TSA Spent $160 Mil For Scanners With A 96% Failure Rate

Air Travel: When Congress decided to let the federal government take over airport security in the wake of 9/11, critics said it would only make matters worse. Fourteen years later, it looks like the critics had it exactly right.

On Monday, Politico broke the news that the federally run TSA has spent $160 million — or more than $150,000 per unit — on body scanners meant to prevent fliers from bringing contraband onto planes.

And what did taxpayers get for their money?

Former CIA Official: Islamic State Could Become Functional State With Airports, Passports

John E. McLaughlin, who served as deputy director of the CIA between 2000 and 2004 during portions of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, was quoted in the Times saying that he was not certain that the United States would defeat IS.“It suddenly just occurred to me, if you add everything up, that these guys could win,” McLaughlin admitted, adding, “Evil isn’t always defeated.”

He admitted that the idea of the Islamic State eventually becoming a legitimate state with working airports and passports is “not inconceivable.” He also compared IS to Hezbollah.

DHS Has No Idea How Many ‘Security Risks’ Slipped Past Border

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials were stumped when asked by a congressional subcommittee to provide data on high-level threats that have slipped through the U.S. border.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas) asked DHS officials whether they had a percentage or exact figures on how many people labeled as potential risks have slipped through visa screenings.

The officials could not supply an accurate number to the subcommittee.

TSA Warns of Possible ISIS Attack on U.S. Soil

The Intercept reviewed a notice of the classified alert, which was sent out Friday afternoon by TSA’s Transportation Security Operations Center. A source, who reviewed the classified intelligence warning, described the threat as very general, with no specifics about location or type of attack — just the timing. The alert covers a 48-hour period that began late Friday afternoon.

The Chinese have put out billboard ads announcing the renminbi as the new world currency

 

When I arrived to Bangkok the other day, coming down the motorway from the airport I saw a huge billboard—and it floored me.

The billboard was from the Bank of China. It said: “RMB: New Choice; The World Currency”

Given that the Bank of China is more than 70% owned by the government of the People’s Republic of China, I find this very significant.

In China, Projects to Make Great Wall Feel Small

Dalian, China:  The plan here seems far-fetched – a $36 billion tunnel that would run twice the length of the one under the English Channel, and bore deep into one of Asia’s active earthquake zones. When completed, it would be the world’s longest underwater tunnel, creating a rail link between two northern port cities.

Throughout China, equally ambitious projects with multibillion-dollar price tags are already underway. The world’s largest bridge. The biggest airport. The longest gas pipeline. An $80 billion effort to divert water from the south of the country, where it is abundant, to a parched section of the north, along a route that covers more than 1,500 miles.

Such enormous infrastructure projects are a Chinese tradition. From the Great Wall to the Grand Canal and the Three Gorges Dam, this nation for centuries has used colossal public-works projects to showcase its engineering prowess and project its economic might.

FAA: ‘No Experience Necessary’ for Air-Traffic Control

No experience? No problem. You, too, can be an air-traffic controller, guiding hundreds or thousands of flights from airport to airport across the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the position offers an “exciting, challenging and rewarding aviation career.”

The qualifications include being a U.S. citizen; starting training no later than age 31; passing medical, security and pre-employment tests; and earning either a bachelor’s degree or three years of progressive work experience.

And be able to speak English “clearly enough to be understood over communications equipment.”

Hacker uses an Android to remotely attack and hijack an airplane

 

The Hack in the Box (#HITB2013AMS) security conference in Amsterdam has a very interesting lineup of talks [pdf]. One that jumped out was the Aircraft Hacking: Practical Aero Series presented by Hugo Teso, a security consultant at n.runs in Germany. According to the abstract, “This presentation will be a practical demonstration on how to remotely attack and take full control of an aircraft, exposing some of the results of my three years research on the aviation security field. The attack performed will follow the classical methodology, divided in discovery, information gathering, exploitation and post-exploitation phases. The complete attack will be accomplished remotely, without needing physical access to the target aircraft at any time, and a testing laboratory will be used to attack virtual airplanes systems.

Report: Assad Transferred Chemical Weapons to Airports

Day by day, step by step, Isaiah 17:1 is slowly coming to pass:

Opposition forces in Syria reported, Tuesday, that the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad transferred some of its chemical-weapons arsenal and equipment for mixing its chemical components to airports in border areas, according to Agence France Presse.

A statement from the Free Syrian Army said, “We in the joint command of the Free Syrian Army inside the country know very well the locations and positions of these weapons.” The statement continued, “According to our information, the regime began moving its stocks of weapons of mass destruction several months ago…with the goal of putting pressure on the region and the international community.” The group said it was impossible to believe that the Damascus government would use the weapons against Israel.

Full article: Report: Assad Transferred Chemical Weapons to Airports (Arutz Sheva)