War on Cash: A “Wider Cultural Change Agenda”

 

A certain Michael Andrew is the former global director of accounting at KPMG. He’s also the present generalissimo of Australia’s Black Economy Taskforce.

The stated mission of this “taskforce” sets it among the angels — to combat terrorism, narcotics, tax dodging.

Cash is of course the coin of these evil realms.

China to reap harvest of NSA scandals

The best warfare strategy is to attack the enemy’s plans, next is to attack alliances. – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

A growing chorus of nations is decrying Washington’s unrestrained cyber espionage. However, there is only one country with both the means and motivation for using mounting international resentment to challenge American hegemony. The NSA surveillance of America’s allies has opened up two vital fronts in which China can erode American global dominance.

Saudis bankroll new rebel force to fight own war on Assad

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 8 (UPI) — Saudi Arabia, exasperated with U.S. vacillation related to Syria’s chemical arsenal and now its effort to reconcile with Iran, Riyadh’s foremost adversary, is forging a new alliance of Islamist rebels in Syria under a pro-Saudi warlord to supersede the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army.

Riyadh also wants to foment an Iraq-style “Sunni Awakening” to unite Syria’s majority sect to topple the minority Damascus regime of President Bashar Assad.

Middle East analyst Michael Weiss, writing in the Beirut Web portal Now Lebanon, observed Riyadh has “taken substantive measures to circumvent Washington altogether on Syria by activating a cadre of new clients in the form of a hard-line Salafist rebels who are now united under the umbrella of the army of Islam.

Armed Caspian becomes dangerous

At the end of September – early October, Russia and Iran will carry out joint military drills in the Caspian Sea to train maritime security-enforcement operations. Iranian military attaché to Moscow Col. Suleiman Adeli said: “Iran and Russia want Caspian states to maintain maritime security without interference of foreign states. They consider presence of foreigners a source of tensions and conflict.”

When they mention “foreign interference”, they usually keep the US in mind. Although, it is not only the US that has political, military-strategic and economic interests in the region. The EU and China have own palates. The reason why Caspian states arm themselves is terrorism, extremism, separatism and expansionism of the West. These are the new threats of the Caspian Sea. The US strategy in the Middle East remains a sensitive issue for the Caspian Sea, but the steps made in the Middle East to disrupt the balance of power by pressing on Syria may cause problems for all Caspian and Trans-Caucasus states.

Defense Department guide calls Founding Fathers ‘extremist’

A Department of Defense teaching guide meant to fight extremism advises students that rather than “dressing in sheets” modern-day radicals “will talk of individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place,” and describes 18th-century American patriots seeking freedom from the British as belonging to “extremist ideologies.”

The guide comes from documents obtained by Judicial Watch and is authored by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, a DoD-funded diversity training center.

Uncle Europe wants you!

“Learn a trade in the European Army. Send your applications to the following email or postal address…” Such slogans do not yet appear on posters displayed in the metros of Berlin, Rome, Warsaw or Madrid. Yet, if the EU did have its own army, it would be the biggest recruiter on the continent and an important provider of jobs, both direct and indirect.

Million Muslim March Planned in DC on Anniversary of 9-11

A group called The American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) is planning a one million Muslims march to Washington D.C. on September 11th. The timing of the group’s march is seen by many as tasteless (to say the least) considering it is scheduled for the anniversary of the worst domestic massacre in American history perpetrated in the name of Islam. AMPAC ups the tasteless quotient by issuing “demands” for the American government:

We at AMPAC (American Political Action Committee) are planning an historic event for 9.11.13 where one million Muslims will march to Washington D.C. and demand that our civil rights be protected by our government.

Israeli green light for big Egyptian Sinai offensive, after Islamists fail to assassinate Egyptian general

Israel Thursday July 11 approved a major Egyptian offensive for curbing the mounting aggression in Sinai of armed Salafis gangs, Muslim Brotherhood raiders and Hamas terrorists. A day earlier, Egypt’s Second Army commander, Maj.-Gen. Ahmad Wasfi, who is assigned to lead the offensive, escaped unhurt from an attempt on his life. Some of his bodyguards and soldiers were killed.

The Biggest African Conflict You’ve Never Heard Of

In Nigeria’s so-called Middle Belt, 785 people have died in the past two years in sectarian violence, and the government is doing little to stop it.

As the military’s assault against Boko Haram and civilians in northern Nigeria continues, so too does the ongoing and underreported conflict in the villages around Jos, the capital of Plateau state in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. As in other parts of the Sahel stretching from Khartoum to Dakar, rivalries between ethnic groups, settlers and indigenes, herders and farmers, and religious groups overlap to create a kaleidoscope of insider and outsider identities. Resulting conflicts, in turn, create openings for international jihadist Islam, as in other parts of the Sahel. In the Middle Belt thus far, conflicts still remain largely local, but there is potential that they could acquire a cross-border dimension.

Spectre of a coup hangs over Lebanon

As Army officers gather the intelligence that may anticipate a Hezbollah attempt to seize power, the possibility of an army coup d’état cannot be ruled out.

In November 2011, various reports alluded that Hezbollah planned to “seize parts of Beirut” should the Syrian regime of President Bashar Al Assad fall, allegedly as a patriotic step to prevent foreign intervention in Lebanon. At the time, the discussion hovered around a military coup, although on a far larger scale than the May 7, 2008, manoeuvres that terrorised Beirut and cost the lives of more than 100 Lebanese citizens.

Given the government’s failure to extend the terms of the six-member Military Council, and because Army commander General Jean Qahwaji, who heads the council, reaches a mandatory retirement age in September, the country may well be exposed to a security vacuum. Coincidentally, the Army’s chief-of-staff, Major General Walid Salman, is scheduled to retire in August, while three other council members are now serving through emergency extensions.

German Intelligence: 95% of free army non-Syrian extremist groups

Berlin, (SANA)- German “Die Welt” daily said that only 5% of the armed terrorists in the so-called Free Army are Syrians, while 95% of them are extremist groups which came from several African countries to jihad in Syria baked by the Gulf and Arab countries.

The daily quoted intelligence experts in Germany as saying : ” The German intelligence has an official and detailed account of the nationalities of the rebels in Syria and their locations in the country,”

U.S.: Syria used chemical weapons, crossing “red line”

The Assad regime has turned the tide and now the rebels will be further armed to turn the tables once again. This can now essentially be declared an open war. Syria has to be overthrown or in in a perpetual state of chaos and dysfunction in order to render it useless and weaken its mutual defense pact with Iran — Iran being the main target. Another factor to consider is that Obama’s Syria could prove to be George Bush’s Iraq, or worse. As we speak, and on a daily basis, Damascus is continuing to be turned into a pile of rubble. Will Isaiah 17:1 be fulfilled? Only time will tell… Don’t count on the Assad to go out easy or make a deal to retire in safety on beach front property. Assad also knows what happened to Mubarak of Egypt, Ghadaffi of Libya and Hussein of Iraq.

The Obama administration has concluded that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government used chemical weapons against the rebels seeking to overthrow him and, in a major policy shift, President Obama has decided to supply military support to the rebels, the White House announced Thursday.

“The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the [Supreme Military Council]. That includes military support,” Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes told reporters.

President Obama has repeatedly said that the use of chemical weapons is a “red line” that, if crossed, would be a “game changer” for more U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war.

“The President has been clear that the use of chemical weapons – or the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups – is a red line for the United States,” said Rhodes in a separate written statement.

“The President has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has,” he continued.

Why Iraq Is On the Precipice of Civil War

These days, no one in Iraq is safe.

Last Wednesday, a bridal party was the target. On Thursday, separate attacks brought destruction upon civilians and police officers alike.

According to the UN, in May Iraq suffered its highest rate of violent deaths in five years.

This is a country standing on the edge of an existential precipice.

Report: Syria cyber attacked Haifa’s water system

A senior Israeli official revealed on Saturday that Syria has attempted two weeks ago to launch a cyber attack against Haifa’s water system, in retaliation to the alleged Israeli attack in Damascus a month ago.

Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael, chairman of the National Council for Research and Development, said that Israeli critical infrastructures such as electricity, water and the stock exchange undergo hundreds of cyber attacks every minute.

MI6 chief’s chilling warning: We can’t stop terror attacks

THE security forces are virtually powerless to stop atrocities like the Woolwich murder, a former MI6 chief admitted.

Amid growing fears of copycat attacks and rising community tensions, Richard Barrett said preventing such terror attacks was “incredibly hard”.

…

“I think it is incredibly hard to stop,” he said. “When does a person who expresses radical views, who joins a radical group, flip over to be a violent extremist? To find the signals, the red flags as it were, I think is enormously hard.