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Topics - Cain

#51
New open bar thread.
#52
Aneristic Illusions / Boris Johnson
August 07, 2014, 01:46:22 PM
Calling it now.  Boris has announced a return to Parliament this week.  Cameron's embattered, will take Boris to offset bad press with regards to Warsi and the Lib Dems re: Gaza.

Should the Tories get back in, Boris will end up with a suitable cabinet seat.  I'm thinking former Mayor of London has a nice Home Office ring to it.  But, should Cameron falter, and the knives come out, the Tory backbenchers will install Boris without hesitation.  And this will happen, eventually.  Maybe if Cameron loses the election.

But Boris has been planning this for forever.  He's got the public support, and the backbencher support.  Everyone thinks he's a clown, and he is a clown, but one with very sound political judgement.  He will be PM, one day.
#53
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Oh LOL
July 08, 2014, 11:00:59 AM
4chan has gone to war with Tumblr.

Tumblr has tried to respond...with hilarious consequences.

Shots fired.  4chan spams feminist tags to celebrate independence day.



The counter-offensive begins.  Tumblr petitions Whitehouse.org to shut down 4chan, currently at 1,450

QuoteThere's a faction inside the 4chan community that is in favour of pornography (child, gore, non consensual), abuse, bullying, and other crimes against human and animal rights. If there are not enough reasons to put these people in jail, at least we could prevent them from spreading hate and cyber-bullying. I say that site should be shut down.

The counter-counter offensive.  4chan petitions the White House as well.

QuoteThe people of tumblr should be labelled as mentally handicapped landwhales.

To protect the children of the internet. To learn more on protecting children visit 4chan.org

Currently at 9000 signatures.
#54
Well, this is unusually candid.  Not to mention stupid as fuck.

Backgrounder: Sikorski is the Polish Foreign Minister, known for being rabidly pro-American in a kind of "Central European Neocon" kinda way.  He's married to the noted conservative commentator and dingbat Anne Applebaum.  He's a noted proponent of NATO and his name has been mentioned as a potential future Secretary-General.

So this conversation is really quite striking.

QuoteSikorski: You know that the Polish-American alliance is worth nothing. It is therefore harmful, because it gives Poland a false sense of security.

Rostowski: Why?

Sikorski: Complete bullshit. We will get into conflicts with the Germans, with Russia, and we will think that everything is great because we have given the Americans a blowjob. Losers, complete losers.

QuoteAccording to the transcript, Sikorski described Warsaw's attitude towards the United States using the Polish word "murzynskosc."

That derives from the word "murzyn," which denotes a dark-skinned person and someone who does the work for somebody else, according to the PWN Polish language dictionary.
#55
Principia Discussion / Fnording political debates
June 07, 2014, 04:34:45 PM
Fnord:

QuoteMouthbreathing Machiavellis Dream Of A Silicon Reich
strange and ultimately doomed stunt flamboyant act of corporate kiss-assery latest political fashion California Confederacy total corporate despotism potent bitter Steve Jobs Ayn Rand Ray Kurzweil prominent divisive fixture hard-right seditionist aggressively dogmatic blogger reverent following in certain tech circles prolific incomprehensible vanguard youngish white males embittered by "political correctness" Blade Runner, but without all those Asian people cluttering up the streets like to see themselves as the heroes of another sci-fi movie "redpilled" The Matrix "genius" a troll who belches from the depths of an Internet rabbit hole frustrated poet cranky letters to alternative weekly newspapers preoccupations with domineering strongmen angry pseudonym J.R.R. Tolkien George Lucas typical keyboard kook archaic, grandiose snippets cherry-picked from obscure old lack of higher ed creds overconfident autodidact's imitation fascist teenage Dungeon Master most toxic arguments snugly wrapped in purple prose and coded language oppressive nexus teeth-gnashing white supremacists who haunt the web "men's rights" advocates nuts disillusioned typical smarmy, meandering

Confused?

This may explain:

QuoteLast week, some Internet magazine published the latest attempt at the genre of Did You Know Neoreaction Exists You Should Be Outraged. A couple of reactionaries wrote the usual boring "actually, nothing you said was true, why would you say false things?" responses. Nydwracu, a frequent commenter on this blog, did something I thought was much more interesting. He wrote a post called Fnords where he removed all of the filler words and transitions between ideas and thin veneer of argument until he stripped the essay down to the bare essentials.

Which is probably the single best conceptual deployment of fnords I've actually seen.

(I realise Junkenstein made reference to this elsewhere.  However, I felt putting it in its own thread and this forum would get it more attention)
#56
It's bad enough we're flushing 800 years of legal tradition - which has survived the Spanish Habsburgs, the Valois, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler and Stalin - away because OMG TEH TERRERISM.

But no, we had to go one step further.  Had it not been for an extraordinary effort by the press, even reporting on this trial would've been considered a breach of "national security" - the reason given for the secret trial in the first place.

All we know is that two male defendants, AB and CD, are on trial for terrorism offences, and these offences relate to national security.  I have no doubt whatever they are charged with and the particulars of the offences is of great importance - why else go to such extraordinary effort?  But the groupthink of the intelligence services and political class is disturbing, and prone to error.  And even if it were, closed court sessions are not unheard of in the UK.

I would really like to know what is going on.
#57
So.

After probably a month of not uploading videos to Youtube and getting desperately behind on my playthroughs, I finally submitted and went to my local nerd store* and talked to the nerdling-in-chief about my problems.

While a laptop upgrade is out of the question, for laptop design reasons, they are, however, selling their in-store computers which they use for their "LAN parties" and "48 hour Battlefield 4 marathon sessions" at a suitable discount price.  Top-end market graphics card included.

Obviously, this doesn't solve my internet issue, and will require some setting up and getting used to (not least re-downloading all my games from Steam and Origin).  However, it should be able to run any currently released game at 60 FPS on high graphics settings, and will probably turn things like Dragon Age: Origins and Skyrim into virtual works of art.

So, some good news, at last.


*it really is a nerd store.  Combined computer gaming and tabletop RPG and tabletop gaming needs, all under one roof.  They have a homebrew Warhammer/Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting, for Christ's sake.  Also, neckbeards everywhere.
#58
It's just like the Arab Spring, only for the bit where Obama's not a dictator and none of this is new.
#59
Just another day in America's Banana Republic:

QuoteOn December 10, more than two dozen police officers from across Miami Dade County converged on a blue Volvo that had crashed in the backyard of a townhouse on 65th Street just off 27th Avenue.

As the car was wedged helplessly between a light pole and a tree, nearly a minute passed before officers opened up – firing approximately 50 bullets at the car and the two unarmed men inside the vehicle.

The two men inside the car survived that initial volley of gunfire, according to witnesses, who said they could see the men moving inside the Volvo. Everything went quiet for nearly two minutes before the officers opened up a second time – unleashing an unrelenting torrent of bullets that lasted almost 25 seconds. By the time it was over, the two men inside the car were dead.

CBS4 News has learned a total of 23 officers fired a total of at least 377 rounds.

Bullets were sprayed everywhere. They hit the Volvo, other cars in the lot, fence posts and neighboring businesses. They blasted holes in a townhouse where a 12-year-old dove to the ground for cover and a four month old slept in his crib.

"It was like the Wild Wild West, man, crazy," said Anthony Vandiver, who barely made it through the back door of his home before the gunfire erupted. "Shooting just wild; shooting all over the place. Bullets could have come through the window. Anything could have happened man. They weren't thinking, they weren't thinking at all."

Earlier that night, the driver of the Volvo, Adrian Montesano, robbed a Walgreens at gunpoint, and then later shot Miami Dade Police Officer Saul Rodriguez in a nearby trailer park.

Montesano escaped in the officer's patrol car eventually dumping it at his grandmother's house in Hialeah – before fleeing in her blue Volvo
By 5 am every cop in South Florida was looking for that blue Volvo – intent on catching the man who had shot one of their own.

But what police didn't realize before they started shooting at the Volvo is there was a second man in the car – Corsini Valdes – who had committed no crime.

And in fact, as CBS4 News was the first to report, both men inside the Volvo were unarmed at the time police caught up with them. All of the gunfire came from police.

Montesano and Valdes were killed by the dozens of rounds that tore through their bodies.

But Montesano and Valdes weren't the only ones struck – two Miami Dade police officers were hit as well – caught in the crossfire. One officer was shot in the arm and the second was hit in the arm and grazed in the head. If the bullet had struck just a half an inch to the side the officer would have been killed.

The sound of the gunfire was deafening – literally deafening. Two Miami police officers sustained ruptured ear drums from the cacophony of shots.

I don't often credit major American media outlets, but CBS did good here.
#60
Here'a a collection of posts and information I put up on Facebook, in a more reader friendly format.

So, has anyone got more info on Boko Haram's financial backers? I heard a VERY interesting rumour concerning Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, the former President of Mauritania and current resident (military instructor, in fact) of soft-power and Islamist arming enthusiast, Qatar.

Interesting not least because Taya was considered a stalwart American ally (as is Qatar) and Boko Haram have allegedly forged links with AQIM - a group which probably at least partially infiltrated and run by Algerian military intelligence to bilk counter-terrorism funds from the US.

And in commenting on this article:

Adamawa as a territory does historically extend into Cameroon and Chad, with modern Nigeria being a colonial construct (much to the chagrin of Nigerian nationalists). And of course, Nigeria has an infamously corrupt and wealthy political elite (I taught more than a few of their children), which provides even more reasons for armed rebellion.

However, President Goodluck has been pretty against using military solutions to deal with Boko Haram, which is probably just as well given the state and discipline of the Nigerian military. So I think even if we give Nyako the benefit of the doubt for his thesis, then we shouldn't be looking at the federal government...or at least the parts of it Goodluck controls.

============

So, what does it all mean?  Who knows, really.  I mean, it's just speculation at this point, I've seen nothing which points at hard evidence.

That said...

The alliance between AQIM and Boko Haram is potentially disturbing.  As I'm sure we all recall, AQIM joined with the Tuareg rebels in pillaging their way across Mali before international forces, led by the French military, coordinated a counter-attack.  AQIM allegedly also got support from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in addition to their links to Algerian military intelligence.  Whether that relationship extended to US intelligence is...a question no-one has any clear answers on.

But consider.  Qatar.  Saudi Arabia.  Algeria.  An oil-rich Nigeria.  An Islamist inspired rebellion in a region where one would expect a more...ethnic uprising to occur.  The kidnappers of the girls also wore military uniforms, that much is certainly uncontested, only whether they were terrorists posing as military personnel or actually military.  A President reluctant to use military power (and rightly so, given the ill-discipline of the Nigerian military - they'd probably be at greater risk of rape in military custody), having his hand forced by an international crisis. 

And there is the issue of slavery.  Although I mocked Nick Cohen, and rightly so, for his terrible article on this topic, he may have had a kernel of a point when it came to the distinction between kidnapping and slavery.

Slavery is a widespread practice in....Mauritania.  It's also the basis of the political economy of the Tuareg regions of Africa.

All I'm saying is that there is a ugly picture emerging here.

Edit: And it is worth noting that Boko Haram was not considered a designated terrorist group by the US government until very recently.  Could be mere oversight.  Could be.  But it also means materially supporting Boko Haram would not have been a crime under US law.
#61
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / HE IS RISEN!
April 21, 2014, 07:53:41 AM
Cthulhu, I mean



Blatant "Nessie" disinfo ahead, but we all know the real deal.
#62
Hey guys, guess what?

Al Sharpton was an FBI informant

Looks like Sharpton is trying to alter the record of what he actually did and paint himself in a more flattering light, which may explain why this story has come out yet again.  "Al Sharpton battles the mob" is far nicer than "Al Sharpton got caught laundering coke money, flipped for the FBI and snitched on Muhammed Ali, among others.
#63
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-26882630

QuoteExperts are trying to establish why a large expanse of foam has appeared on the River Clyde in Glasgow.  The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it had received a number of calls.

No wonder they called in experts.  Not only soap, but a "large expanse" of it.  The mind truly boggles.
#64
When are people just going to accept that rich people are ALWAYS the real victim?

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2014/03/28/sunday-preview-du-pont-heir-stayed-prison/7016769/

QuoteA Superior Court judge who sentenced a wealthy du Pont heir to probation for raping his 3-year-old daughter noted in her order that he "will not fare well" in prison and needed treatment instead of time behind bars, court records show.

Judge Jan Jurden's sentencing order for Robert H. Richards IV suggested that she considered unique circumstances when deciding his punishment for fourth-degree rape. Her observation that prison life would adversely affect Richards was a rare and puzzling rationale, several criminal justice authorities in Delaware said. Some also said her view that treatment was a better idea than prison is a justification typically used when sentencing drug addicts, not child rapists.

Yes.  "Unique circumstances."
#65
Aneristic Illusions / The zenith of doublespeak?
March 23, 2014, 03:37:14 PM
I was watching the BBC Panorama investigation into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the man killed on the London Underground because he was, apparently, mistaken for a terrorist*, and there was this hilarious exchange with an Assistant Commissioner from Scotland Yard:

QuoteTaylor: When you strip everything else away, Operation Kratos, in the end, is about a shoot to kill policy, isn't it, because the point is, you've got to kill the suicide bomber.

Steve House: No, I can't agree with that. What we train our officers to do is what we call immediate incapacitation.

Taylor: Which is aiming for the head?

Steve House: Which is aiming for the head. I understand why it is that people say that's a shoot to kill policy but it is not a shoot to kill policy. We do not recruit and train our officers to shoot to kill, and that's not what police firearms officers do. They shoot to incapacitate.

Operation Kratos here is the codename under which armed units are deployed to counter immiment terrorist threats.  So they shoot to incapacitate...in the head.  But that's not a shoot-to-kill order, because policemen don't shoot to kill.  Makes perfect sense when you think about it, really.

*HOW Menzes was mistaken for a terrorist is still a good question which has not been sufficiently answered.  While the building he was in put him in contact with Hamdi Adus Isaac, the two men don't even look similar:



And Isaac was being tracked by British intelligence, namely GCHQ, who were tracking his calls while fleeing to Italy.

Nor was how the surveillance on Menzes suddenly became a kil-, uh, incapacitation order really ever explained.  Or indeed the composition of the Kratos Unit, though it's strongly suspected, based on weapons and conduct that they are likely special forces seconded to Scotland Yard command, either SAS or Special Recon Regiment.
#66
Thought Catalog:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/anne-gus/2014/03/5-things-women-need-to-do-in-their-20s-or-else-the-suffragists-died-for-nothing/

QuoteYou're young, you're free and you're empowered. Nothing is stopping you from espousing a carefree attitude and and embarking on fun adventures!

 As young women in 21st century, the world is truly our fragrant oyster.

Don't get me wrong, women are still oppressed to a monumental degree. The patriarchy is still an omnipresent overlord, endorsing cultural structures that keep women from realizing their full potential and contribute to a harrowing loss of self-esteem, especially to women who don't fit into society's straightjacket-like norms of what a woman should be like. However, we must remember and celebrate the fact that, thanks to the brave endeavors of so many strong and independent women, from the fierce suffragettes in early 20th century to the fearless women of the fat acceptance movement today, young women have it better than our mothers and grandmothers did in their youth. 

Here are 5 things every 20's woman should do to truly bask in the glory of empowerment

Gawker:

http://gawker.com/gym-bro-successfully-gets-fake-feminist-thought-catalog-1545530204

QuoteFaithful readers (like us) of 20-something compost heap Thought Catalog may know the feeling of wondering, upon a reading a Thought Catalog essay, "Is this shit real?" Funny you should ask.

Here you will find a March 15 thread on a Bodybuilding.com forum in which (shirtless gym bro) user AryanofValhalla writes:
   
QuoteI can't believe my eyes misc, I was bored one evening a week ago and so I wrote a satire article from the perspective of a twenty something feminist woman and sent it in to Thought Catalog,
    A few minutes ago I got an email saying they published the article
    My penname is Anne Gus , as an homage to the misc
    It's happening

And here it is: "5 Things Women Need to Do in Their 20's (Or Else the Suffragists Died For Nothing)." Shirtless gym bro AryanofValhalla, a.k.a. Thought Catalog author Anne Gus ("I'm a feminist. I'm a woman. I'm strong. I'm in my twenties. I'm beautiful. I deserve love. Give me it.") adds, "HAHA look at the phucking comments I can't breathe right now, I didn't ever think they'd publish it !"

TIME Magazine

http://time.com/28641/thought-catalog-accidentally-publishes-fake-feminist-essay-jokingly-penned-by-gym-bro/

QuoteOn Saturday, Thought Catalog published a "feminist" essay called 5 Things Women Need to Do in Their 20′s (Or Else the Suffragists Died For Nothing) that wasn't written by a feminist at all. In fact, it was reportedly written by a poster on the Bodybuilding.com forum as a total joke. Using the pen name Anne Gus, the user described himself (herself?) thusly: "I'm a feminist. I'm a woman. I'm strong. I'm in my twenties. I'm beautiful. I deserve love. Give me it."

Thought Catalog:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/nicole-mullen/2014/03/time-accidentally-publishes-article-about-thought-catalog/

QuoteWhat both Gawker and Time don't know however, is that the fake article, is a fake.

There is no AryanofValhalla.

The account on BodyBuilding.com was set up by our dear administrative assistant Wendy Les a while ago as a work of satire. A quick look at "his" other posts indicate that it is clearly a parody of the typical Gym Bro.

I geniunely LOL'd.
#67
Believe you are incapable of cooking that, if given the chance, you could in fact end up burning a glass of water if let loose in the kitchen?  Want to make nutritious and fairly tasty food, either for yourself or to impress others?

Then this is the meal for you.

Serves 4.  It freezes just fine, so if you want to stock up on extra food for lazy days, where anything more than pasta and microwaving seems like too much effort, this is also a good meal.

Ingredients:

500g of beef mince.  Preferably the good stuff, but budget accordingly.
1 onion.
2 celery stalks
Garlic.  Cloves, fresh from a jar or even powdered will work.
Oregano
Thyme
Chilli flakes
Oxo or similar beef stock cube
Tomato sauce
Tinned chopped tomatos
Worcestershire Sauce
Olive oil
A large cooking pan (I use a wok)
Time

Blend the onion and celery first. Throw them in with the olive oil and 1 teaspoon of garlic (obviously, alter for personal taste, but 1 tsp should suit most people) and leave until you can smell them cooking.

Next in goes the mince.  Keep the temperature low/medium, keep stirring until its nice and brown.

Add the tin of chopped tomatos.  Add two tablespoons of tomato sauce.  This will thicken the sauce and, in addition to the next ingredient, add all the salt you will ever need for flavour.

Add the oxo cube/beef stock cube.

Add the oregano and thyme.  I find just under a level tablespoon for both works well.

Add chilli flakes.  I find a heaped teaspoon works well, but it depends how much kick you like your meal to have.  You could also, of course, use actual chillis here, but with the UK being what it is, chili flakes more readily available (also cheaper and keep better).

Add the Worcestershire Sauce.  About a tablespoon should work, but of course, adjust for personal preferences.

Leave to cook on a low temperature for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Serve with delicious pasta and decent cheese on the top.  Parmesan, Mozzarella and Gruyere are my personal preferences.

This is what I cook when I really just cannot be bothered to do anything complicated.  It's easy, I usually have all of the above ingredients in abundance, requires little in the way of thought or effort and usually tastes decent.  Not amazing, but certainly nothing to complain about. 

I think I remembered everything on the ingredient front, but I may not have.  I'm so used to doing it on autopilot I don't even think about it consciously any more.
#68
Aneristic Illusions / Here's your "Illuminati"
March 02, 2014, 03:19:19 PM
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brendancoffey/2011/10/26/the-four-companies-that-control-the-147-companies-that-own-everything/

QuoteThere may be 147 companies in the world that own everything, as colleague Bruce Upbin points out and they are dominated by investment companies as Eric Savitz rightly points out. But it's not you and I who really control those companies, even though much of our money is in them. Given the nature of how money is invested, there are four companies in the shadows that really control those companies that own everything.

QuoteYou can see where I'm headed here. That means the real power to control the world lies with four companies: McGraw-Hill, which owns Standard & Poor's, Northwestern Mutual, which owns Russell Investments, the index arm of which runs the benchmark Russell 1,000 and Russell 3,000, CME Group which owns 90% of Dow Jones Indexes, and Barclay's, which took over Lehman Brothers and its Lehman Aggregate Bond Index, the dominant world bond fund index. Together, these four firms dominate the world of indexing. And in turn, that means they hold real sway over the world's money.

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-chart-shows-the-bilderberg-groups-connection-to-everything-in-the-world-2012-6

QuoteThe Bilderberg Group is 120-140 powerful people who meet each year to discuss policy. The meetings are closed to the public.
This graph we found on Facebook shows the members' connections to a ton of corporations, charities, policy groups and media. Everyone from Eric Schmidt to George Soros is a member. There are tons of conspiracy theories about the group, including that they control the world economy.

We took the findings with a grain of salt--after all, it's easy to trace an individual to a corporation and the graph doesn't specify what influence the member wielded.

But perhaps it's a compelling argument for why the meetings should be public.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/food-industry-monopoly-occupy-wall-street

QuoteAgribusiness is concentrated to a point that would make a Wall Street master of the universe blush. Vast globe-spanning corporations, many of them US-based, dominate the industry.
 
Let's start with "inputs," the stuff farmers buy before they plant their crops. As of 2007, six companies owned 75 percent of the global pesticide market, and four companies sold half of the globe's seeds, ETC Group reckons. Here's the kicker: Three of them—Monsanto, Syngenta, and Dupont—are on both lists. The agrichemical makers have transitioned into seed barons, genetically engineering their major seed lines to resist their own herbicides.

QuoteOkay, so farmers rely on a small handful of firms for their inputs. But it turns out the same thing holds true when they harvest and sell their crops. Just four companies—Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, and Louis Dreyfus—control up to 90 percent of the global trade in grain. In the United States, three of those firms process 70 percent of the soybeans and 40 percent of the wheat milled into flour. The bulk of corn and soy grown by US farmers ends up feeding animals in vast factories, and here, too, the consolidation is dramatic: Three companies now process more than 70 percent of all beef, and just four firms slaughter and pack upwards of 58 percent of all pork and chicken.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goldman-bankers-get-rich-betting-on-food-prices-as-millions-starve-8459207.html

QuoteGoldman Sachs made more than a quarter of a billion pounds last year by speculating on food staples, reigniting the controversy over banks profiting from the global food crisis.

Less than a week after the Bank of England Governor, Sir Mervyn King, slapped Goldman Sachs on the wrist for attempting to save its UK employees millions of pounds in tax by delaying bonus payments, the investment bank faces fresh accusations that it is contributing to rising food prices.

Goldman made about $400m (£251m) in 2012 from investing its clients' money in a range of "soft commodities", from wheat and maize to coffee and sugar, according to an analysis for The Independent by the World Development Movement (WDM).

http://crisisboom.com/2011/02/26/wikileaks-gmo-conspiracy/

QuoteIn 2007, then-U.S. ambassador to France Craig Stapleton conspired to retaliate against European countries for their anti-biotech policies. U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal the Bush administration formulated battle plans to extract revenge against Europe for refusing to use genetically modified seeds.

In the leaked cable, Stapleton writes: "Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the [European] Commission...Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice."

Ambassador Stapleton goes on to write: "Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory," he wrote.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rothschild-loses-libel-case-and-reveals-secret-world-of-money-and-politics-6720015.html

QuoteAccording to the High Court, Nathaniel Rothschild, scion of the banking dynasty and friend of seemingly everyone in the spheres of finance, business and politics, is indeed "puppet master" to the Baron of Hartlepool and Foy.

The banker and Bullingdon boy has lost his libel case against the Daily Mail, which he sued for "substantial damages" over its account of his and Mr Mandelson's extraordinary trip to Russia in January 2005.

Mr Rothschild claimed he was subjected to "sustained and unjustified" attacks in the May 2010 article, which portrayed him as a "puppet master", dangling his friend Lord Mandelson in front of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to ease the passage of colossal business deals.

QuoteLess salacious, but seemingly more sordid, was an earlier dinner at Cantinetta Antinori, a fashionable Tuscan restaurant in Moscow. Mr Deripaska, the Mail had claimed, was dining with executives from the US aluminium giant Alcoa, negotiating a £250m deal to buy two of Mr Deripaska's aluminium plants, at which a stumbling block was an EU import tariff on Russian aluminium. Enter Lord Mandelson, then a lowly Mister, but at the time the EU Trade Commissioner. The deal is done, costing several hundred British jobs, and the tariffs come down.
Mr Rothschild claimed the trip was "purely recreational", and Associated Newspapers had to admit during litigation that it couldn't be sure that Mr Mandelson had joined Mr Deripaska at dinner or whether aluminium tariffs were discussed, and in fact the deal had been struck before Mr Mandelson and Mr Rothschild arrived in Moscow. But for Mr Justice Tugenhadt, recreation it was not.

"So far as Lord Mandelson was concerned the benefit was the trip and the hospitality itself. So far as Mr Deripaska was concerned it was a relationship with the EU Trade Commissioner," he said in his ruling. The judge rejected the notion that Mr Rothschild and Mr Mandelson had flown out as friends, not business associates, and said Mr Rothschild's behaviour had in part been "inappropriate". "That conduct foreseeably brought Lord Mandelson's public office and personal integrity into disrepute," the judge said.

Mr Rothschild's "different and developing" accounts of the Siberia trip were confusing, he continued, adding that on this subject the banker had not been entirely candid.

Note: Peter Mandelson's name can also be found on the Bilderberg invite list, and he has a long and sordid history of corruption in UK political circles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9189053/Rothschilds-to-merge-British-and-French-banking-operations-to-secure-control.html

QuoteThe 200-year-old banks will be reunited under a single shareholding that will bring together the fortunes of the French and English sides of the renowned family as they attempt to safeguard the business against the effects of new regulation and the fallout from the global financial crisis.

Paris Orleans, the Rothschild Group's Paris-based holding company, will convert into a French limited partnership, securing the families' control of the bank against potential takeovers. The new partnership will then buy out minority investors in NM Rothschild & Sons, the UK business, as well as outstanding minority interests in the French operations.

David de Rothschild will become chairman of the partnership and said the new structure would help the bank "better meet the requirements of globalisation in general and in our competitive environment in particular, while ensuring my family's control over the long term".

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/30/us-rothschild-rockefeller-idUKBRE84T0CO20120530

QuoteTwo of the most glamorous names in global finance are linking up, with the Rothschild banking dynasty agreeing to buy a stake in the Rockefeller group's wealth and asset management business to get a long-sought foothold in the United States.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/dec/08/wikileaks-cables-shell-nigeria-spying

QuoteThe oil giant Shell claimed it had inserted staff into all the main ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians' every move in the oil-rich Niger Delta, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The company's top executive in Nigeria told US diplomats that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant department and so knew "everything that was being done in those ministries". She boasted that the Nigerian government had "forgotten" about the extent of Shell's infiltration and was unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations.

http://www.thenation.com/article/161216/wikileaks-haiti-cable-depicts-fraudulent-haiti-election

QuoteThe United States, the European Union and the United Nations decided to support Haiti's recent presidential and parliamentary elections despite believing that the country's electoral body, "almost certainly in conjunction with President Preval," had "emasculated the opposition" by unwisely and unjustly excluding the country's largest party, according to a secret US Embassy cable.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/6/24/haiti_leaked_cables_expose_us_suppression

QuoteA new exposé on Haiti shows how business owners and members of the country's elite used Haiti's police force as their own private army, giving them guns and ammunition, after the 2004 U.S.-backed coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It's part of a series of reports that draw from almost 2,000 U.S. diplomatic cables on Haiti released by WikiLeaks.

QuoteYeah, well, the U.S. government cables are part of the 250,000 confidential and secret cables that WikiLeaks got from the diplomatic service, from the State Department. Essentially, since we were on last talking about PetroCaribe, we've had four major stories, which are that they were blocking the hiking of the minimum wage from a buck-seventy-five a day to $5. They wanted to $3, and that's what they won, working with Haitian assembly industry owners.

QuoteBut what happened is, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, amongst other oil companies, in conjunction with the U.S. embassy, tried to block this deal by putting enormous pressure on President Préval to stop the oil from coming in and the deal with Chávez to happen. And in fact, when Préval visited President Bush in the White House, this was the main issue of conversation, was Haiti's relationship with Venezuela, Haiti's attempt to get energy independence. And so, you see how they maneuver, what strings they pull, how they're constantly applying pressure on Haiti, whether it's to keep the minimum wage low, to stop energy independence, to have their people win the election.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-other-hacking-scandal-suppressed-report-reveals-that-law-firms-telecoms-giants-and-insurance-companies-routinely-hire-criminals-to-steal-rivals-information-8669148.html

QuoteThe Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) knew six years ago that law firms, telecoms giants and insurance were hiring private investigators to break the law and further their commercial interests, the report reveals, yet the agency did next to nothing to disrupt the unlawful trade.

It is understood that one of the key hackers mentioned in the confidential Soca report admitted that 80 per cent of his client list was taken up by law firms, wealthy individuals and insurance companies. Only 20 per cent was attributed to the media, which was investigated by the Leveson Inquiry after widespread public revulsion following the phone-hacking scandal.

Soca, dubbed "Britain's FBI", knew six years ago that blue-chip institutions were hiring private investigators to obtain sensitive data – yet did next to nothing to disrupt the unlawful trade. The report was privately supplied to the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics in 2012 yet the corruption in other identified industries, including the law, insurance and debt collectors, and among high-net worth individuals, was not mentioned during the public sessions or included in the final report.

Tom Watson, the campaigning Labour MP, said: "What is astonishing about this whole murky affair is that Soca had knowledge of massive illegal invasions of privacy in the newspaper industry – but also in the supply chains of so-called blue-chip companies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/consumer-brands-owned-ten-companies-graphic_n_1458812.html

QuoteIt's not just the consumer goods industry that's become so consolidated. Ninety percent of the media is now controlled by just six companies, down from 50 in 1983, according to a Frugal Dad infographic from last year. Likewise, 37 banks merged to become JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and CitiGroup in a little over two decades, as seen in this 2010 graphic from Mother Jones.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36783.html

QuoteWhile the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they've taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company's political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311643/Revealed-Obama-hired-media-expert-monitor-negative-coverage-BP-oil-spill.html

QuoteThe U.S. government paid an expert $18,000 to assess whether news stories about the Gulf oil spill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, it was revealed today.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-usa-holder-mortgage-idUSTRE80J0PH20120120

QuoteU.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.

The firm, Covington & Burling, is one of Washington's biggest white shoe law firms. Law professors and other federal ethics experts said that federal conflict of interest rules required Holder and Breuer to recuse themselves from any Justice Department decisions relating to law firm clients they personally had done work for.

Both the Justice Department and Covington declined to say if either official had personally worked on matters for the big mortgage industry clients. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Holder and Breuer had complied fully with conflict of interest regulations, but she declined to say if they had recused themselves from any matters related to the former clients.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/16/Attorney-For-Goldman-Sachs-CEO-Is-Eric-Holder-s-Best-Friend

QuoteLast week, the Justice Department announced that it will not prosecute Goldman Sachs or any of its employees in a financial probe.
Could that be because the attorney for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was none other than Attorney General Eric Holder's "best friend" and former personal attorney, Reid Weingarten?

Or because in 2008, Goldman Sachs employees donated  $1,013,091 to Barack Obama?

Or because Goldman Sachs is the former client of Eric Holder's and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer's law firm, Covington & Burling?

The conflicts of interest and cronyism at Holder's Department of Justice are so many that it took a 27-page report by the Government Accountability Institute to catalog them all.

And lest one forget: Holder's best friend Reid Weingarten--who previously represented child rapist Roman Polanski--is also the lawyer for former MF Global treasurer Edith O'Brien.  On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Holder's Justice Department will not be criminally charging Jon Corzine or any MF Global executives in that case either.

Weingarten, who calls himself a "hard-core child of the '60s," apparently has a soft spot for Wall Street fat cats.  "I feel like I'm in the French Revolution, defending the nobility against the howling mob," Weingarten told Bloomberg in 2002.
#69
Salon has an interesting profile on Eddie Lampert, the CEO of Sears and creator of " a kind of Lord of the Flies death match"  between Sears managers to boost productivity.

http://www.salon.com/2013/12/10/ayn_rand_loving_ceo_destroys_his_empire_partner/

QuoteAs his company was descending into Randian mayhem, Lampert continued to cheerfully inform stockholders that his revolutionary ideas would soon produce earth-shattering results. Reality: Sears has lost half its value in five years. Since 2010, Sears has closed more than half of its stores. Sears Holdings is financially distressed and Lampert's own hedge fund has reduced its stake in the company. The Sears store in Oakland, California, open for business with boarded-up windows, has even been cited for urban blight.
#70
Hey, can anyone tell me if any for-profit prisons or their chief holding companies/subsidiaries have significant investments in the music industry, in particular with labels responsible for most mainstream hiphop since 1990 or so?

I heard an...interesting rumour...regarding this.  However, the source itself did not inspire confidence, even if the story made a certain amount of sense.  If a link could be confirmed, I'd be willing to look into it further.
#71
This is interesting, and worrying:

QuoteScientists say two of the deadliest pandemics in history were caused by strains of the same plague and warn that new versions of the bacteria could spark future outbreaks.

Researchers found tiny bits of DNA in the teeth of two German victims killed by the Justinian plague about 1,500 years ago. With those fragments, they reconstructed the genome of the oldest bacteria known.

They concluded the Justinian plague was caused by a strain of Yersinia pestis, the same pathogen responsible for the Black Death that struck medieval Europe. The study was published online Tuesday in the journal, Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The two plagues packed quite a punch. The Justinian Plague is thought to have wiped out half the globe as it spread across Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. And the Black Death killed about 50 million Europeans in just four years during the 14th century.

I'll admit, I probably have a slightly irrational fear of the bubonic plague.  Well, maybe not irrational on a historical scale, given the vast amounts of death it is responsible for...but maybe.  Unfortunately, the only modern bubonic plague epidemic was the 1855 outbreak in China and India, so while I'm sure the CDC etc has models for it, the nearest approximate historical analogy is not comforting.

While it seems the normal version of the plague is more easily contained, it's that something like a "radiation event" can cause a mutation which concerns me.  Something completely uncontrollable, that creates a variant which is far more virulent and deadly.  And of course, let's not forget the biological warfare applications of an enchanced virus.  Japan experimented (and used) bubonic plague in WWII.  Even if it was never intended to be deployed, the kind of countries that would mess around with plague are the kind of country with typically poor control on weapons use (let's not forget, up until the 1960s, US military commanders could have gone rogue and initiated nuclear war on their own).
#72
Aneristic Illusions / Have some fun with this
January 27, 2014, 02:14:16 PM
I'll consider offers on all theories not involving David Icke. 

QuoteIt is, according to the estate agents, "probably the most valuable plot of land with planning permission to come to the market for sale in Hampstead Village ... ever". The Regency-style house now being constructed will provide, behind its electric gates, a cinema, swimming pool and gymnasium and the future owner of this £7m property will be living, we learn, where Constable, and Keats, too, found inspiration.

What the estate agents do not mention is that on this very plot more than seven years ago a murder took place with links to the British government, Chairman Mao and George Bernard Shaw. A killing which was then followed by the first murder trial in Britain in which most of the evidence was heard in secret with the media barred from entering the court.

So it's Midsomer Murders meets State of Play, basically.
#73


Cuz this seems a little suspect:

QuoteRyan Loskarn, the former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander who was charged with possessing and distibuting child pornography last month, was found dead in his home in Maryland of an apparent suicide, law enforcement officials said Friday.

"At approximately 12 p.m. yesterday, Carroll County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a private residence in the 6900 block of Kenmar Lane for a report of an unconscious male, believed to be deceased," the sheriff's office reported Friday morning. "Family members reported finding 35-year old Jesse Ryan Loskarn unresponsive in his basement where he'd been residing with family since this past December.

"The preliminary investigation indicates that Loskarn may have taken his own life, and his body has since been transported to the State Medical Examiner's Office for Autopsy."

Shades of Craig Spence?

QuoteSpence's name came to national prominence in the aftermath of a June 28, 1989 article in the Washington Times identifying Spence as a customer of a homosexual escort service being investigated by the Secret Service, the District of Columbia Police and the United States Attorney's Office for suspected credit card fraud.

[...]

On November 10, 1989 Spence was found dead dressed in a tuxedo in Room 429 the Boston Ritz Carlton, the city's most expensive hotel with three dollars in his pocket.

[...]

In black felt-tip marker he had written on a mirror of his room:
   
Chief, consider this my resignation, effective immediately. As you always said, you can't ask others to make a sacrifice if you are not ready to do the same. Life is duty. God bless America.

As a postscript, he wrote, "To the Ritz, please forgive this inconvenience."

Though the article on Wikipedia doesn't make it clear, Spence was believed to be running underage rentboys as well.  One report had him arranging a "midnight tour" of the White House for a 15 year old boy, and the Washington Post, while being typically cautious, described the escorts as "teenagers" and "young".
#74
High Weirdness / Pagans/New Age and the far right
January 10, 2014, 12:25:21 PM
New thread for the previous discussion in the Open Bar (title chosen for lack of a better term).

For those who didn't read the posts, a quick recap:

Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2014, 02:09:13 PM
Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2014, 09:22:09 AM
I've spent a bracing morning reading about Le Veilleurs, Schwaller de Lubicz, Synarchy and interwar occult fascist movements.

It's more fun than filling in a job application form, anyway.

This was spurred on by reading The Stargate Conspiracy, which is despite the name actually quite interesting and fairly grounded.

Essentially, the book asks the question "what the hell is going on with this New Age Egyptology fetish all of a sudden" (this was in the late 1990s) and comes away with some pretty disturbing conclusions.

It also includes our old friends The Nine, for those who read the notes from Sinister Forces that I posted.  Essentially, the books authors trace the origins of The Nine, whatever they may be, back beyond Andrija Puharich and to Schwaller de Lubicz, an academic with a side interest in mystical fascism...and possibly Crowley (of course).

They come away with the conclusion that someone is trying to hijack New Age beliefs, mixing them with apocalyptic, fundamentalist Christianity and using these beliefs to take quite deliberate aim at Muslims and blacks.  Whether that's the intelligence community, mystical fascists or even The Nine (assuming one believes they really exist) is left up for the reader to decide.

Unfortunately, you have to go through quite a bit on the internal politics of the pyramidiots and Cydonian conspiracy types to get to the good stuff.  But it's worth it.

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on January 09, 2014, 02:22:27 PM
When you say "take quite deliberate aim", do you mean that it is anti-black and anti-muslim?

I'm going to have to read this someday, because I can't see how promoting Egyptology via New Age apocalyptic woo would do that.

Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2014, 02:30:34 PM
Oh yes, very much so.

Well, apparently all races on earth were seeded by space alien gods...except black people, who are apparently a "control".  Race-mixing is apparently bad.  It's OK to nuke the Japanese because they are of the "4th race nervous system type" which is "defunct".  Islam is in thrall to the "dark ones" and shows signs of being philosophically influenced by the "dark ones".  A great battle between Light and Darkness is coming.  Jews denied Jesus as an Ascended Master (though the exact status of Jews tends to vary, with some saying they are also in thrall to the dark ones, and others saying they're cool, once they accept Jesus).

You basically combine Blavatsky with The Nine's own disturbing racial pronouncements and...well, a particular kind of political philosophy seems to be advocated.  It starts with a N and ends in -azism.

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on January 09, 2014, 02:49:44 PM
That's a rather... interesting... theology.  It's been a while since 1990 (which is disturbing to me, personally), do you feel this ever gained much traction?

Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2014, 02:57:42 PM
Oh yes, absolutely.  However, since quite a few of them pinned their hopes on the year 2000, there was a subsequent hit to those beliefs...but they are very firmly entrenched within the New Age philosophy, with its love of syncretism and hatred of research or coherency.  A lot of The Stargate Conspiracy involves doing basic research on where people like Graham Hancock got things wildly wrong...not just according to the science and available knowledge, but even according to his own theories.

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on January 09, 2014, 03:06:13 PM
I had no idea there was a new age pack of bigots floating around for the past 20 years.

WHY AREN'T WE TROLLING THEM?

Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2014, 03:08:11 PM
What do you think we were doing on MW and TCC?

I just think we didn't realise quite how widespread or deep the bigotry went.  Like most New Agers, in fact.

I may throw up a thread on this exact topic.

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on January 09, 2014, 03:21:31 PM
I thought they were just dumb.  You mean they were quite possibly pawns in some shadowy political group?

Quote from: Cain on January 09, 2014, 03:24:09 PM
Isn't everyone?  For a given value of shadowy, of course.

Quote from: Waffleman on January 09, 2014, 05:27:41 PM
The alternative/new-age fucktards in norway are making pedo accusations against people in the skeptic community. Shitstorms all the way.
I hate new-agers with the passion of a thousand mohammad alis.

Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on January 09, 2014, 05:36:04 PM
I hate Causes in general.  They do that sort of thing to primates.

Quote from: Telarus on January 10, 2014, 12:55:30 AM
Oh shit. Do you remember how "Lena" reacted when I outted that she was associated with that CRAZY South African blog?

Quote from: Telarus on January 10, 2014, 02:45:28 AM
I remember it because I first posted in OM about it, and then she let slip (over at TCC) that she could view OM via Google searches. When I threw some of the meme key-words from the blog at her over @ wicca.com, she got all sorts of paranoid and started trying... well "passwords" on me, for lack of a better term.

I'm home now, so I'll look for the thread.

Quote from: Cain on January 10, 2014, 12:17:31 PM
I do, that was fun.  For those who don't, start here.

I'm going to gather some notes together on this particular topic.  Stand by for updates...
#75
Aneristic Illusions / Mark Duggan
January 09, 2014, 10:40:32 AM
So, the police have been cleared of unlawfully killing the guy whose death helped to spark off the riots in 2011.

In particular (and this, trust me, is AMAZING), the ruling found that while Mark Duggan was not holding a firearm at the time of his death, the police officer in question was justified in believing he needed to use deadly force to defend himself, and so Duggan was lawfully killed.

Oh, and there was no gunpowder traces found on Duggan, several eyewitnesses said they saw the police plant the gun, said gun and the sock it was wrapped in had no fingerprints on it and was of a different make to the gun supposedly given to Duggan reported by "Operation Trident" police intelligence which sparked the confrontation with Duggan in the first place.

But the above bit is really the icing on the cake.  He was lawfully killed because the police officer really really believed he was dangerous, even though all the evidence shows he was entirely unarmed.  Sure, that's a great legal precedent.  Can I now legally cap coppers, since they seem to spend all their time shooting people for no good reason and I feel really threatened by that? No?
#76
Aneristic Illusions / Oh ho ho!
January 04, 2014, 04:15:17 PM
Lebanese authorities catch Majed Al-Majed, leader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a group with an especially shady past, after a sustained campaign of bombing Shiites in Lebanon.

Majed Al-Majed then somehow dies while in the custody of the Lebanese Army.

Did I mention that the Lebanese Army just got a cool $3 billion from Saudi Arabia?  And that Majed Al-Majed is a Saudi national? I'm pretty sure I mentioned the "exclusively Shiite targets" thing.  And you probably already know about Lebanon practically being the next front in the Syrian Civil War.

Well, I guess this means Majed Al-Majed can't make any inconvenient death-bed testimonies about suspicious Saudi Princes and bank accounts in Dubai or anything.

Most. Profitable. Assassination. EVER!
#77
Aneristic Illusions / Suicide bombings in Russia
December 30, 2013, 11:23:46 AM
Looks like the Caucasus Emirate has been busy.  Two suicide bombings in two days in Volgograd, and a car bombing in Pyatigorsk besides.

While I have no doubt that Umarov's merry band of insurgents are behind the attack, it is worth remembering Prince Bandar's threat uttered this summer:

Quote"There are many common values ​​and goals that bring us together, most notably the fight against terrorism and extremism all over the world. Russia, the US, the EU and the Saudis agree on promoting and consolidating international peace and security. The terrorist threat is growing in light of the phenomena spawned by the Arab Spring. We have lost some regimes. And what we got in return were terrorist experiences, as evidenced by the experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the extremist groups in Libya. ... As an example, I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us, and they will not move in the Syrian territory's direction without coordinating with us. These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role or influence in Syria's political future."

Putin thanked King Abdullah for his greetings and Bandar for his exposition, but then he said to Bandar, "We know that you have supported the Chechen terrorist groups for a decade. And that support, which you have frankly talked about just now, is completely incompatible with the common objectives of fighting global terrorism that you mentioned. We are interested in developing friendly relations according to clear and strong principles."
#78
Aneristic Illusions / Bwahahaha
December 24, 2013, 09:37:30 AM
Hey everyone, remember this guy?

Trey Radel made his name as a Tea Party candidate who demanded that welfare recipients get drug tests as a condition of receiving welfare.

Is anyone surprised then, to discover that Congressthing Radel was arrested for cocaine use?

Projection, I'm telling you.  It's always projection.
#79
..but I just want to note that watching John McCain blather on about freedom while standing next to Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of the Nazi-esque Svoboda Party is too hilarious not to comment on.
#80
Robots trained to deny they are robots.  This is the first step, mark my words.  It's medicare one day, and then BOOM, Skynet.

#81
Aneristic Illusions / No war with Iran? LETS FIGHT CHINA
November 27, 2013, 09:38:57 AM
I'm only guessing, but I strongly suspect that was the guiding conviction which led to the USAF flying two B-52s through the new Chinese air defence zone over Senkaku airspace.

What the US media doesn't seem keen to tell anyone is that the new ADIZ would, if followed properly, probably help avert a conflict.  It's not a claim of sovereignty, or of this now being exclusively Chinese airspace.  What it means is that the Chinese government would like to know what planes are flying in the area, because that way, it wont scramble all fighters and cause an international incident over a sensitive region because of, say, a military training exercise.

Like the one which allegedly occured yesterday.

Yes, of course it's also designed to tweak the nose of the Japanese, somewhat.  Hell, the Chinese ADIZ directly mirrors the Japanese ADIZ in that area.  And the Chinese "restrictions" in that zone are far less onerous than for the America ADIZ, for example - though of course the USA has the advantage of no contested territory on its borders.

Japan is also refusing to recognize the ADIZ, thus negating the possibility that the above was a genuine mistake.  Abe's a firebrand, but he knows when to talk with the US.  And that John Kerry lined right up to declare how "deeply concerned" he was at this means there is coordination and signalling between the two.

Here's the thing - when the US decides to initiate AirSeaBattle against China, it wont tell them.  So seeing unknown warplanes with no transponders on, not responding to Chinese air traffic controllers (military or otherwise), looks like the opening strike of a war.  That's how serious this is.
#82
This is very worrying:

QuoteImagine one day you're using the Internet the same way you do every day. Reading the news, shopping, sending email, checking your bank and credit card balances. Maybe even doing some work for your employer.

Typically, but not always, the bits being sent from your computer, tablet or phone will flow from where you are to where they need to be via the most direct route available.

But what if they didn't? What if someone slipped in between you and the various servers you're connecting with and diverted your traffic elsewhere, funneling it through a choke point of their choosing, so they could capture, copy and analyze it? Your data takes some extra — and imperceptible — milliseconds to get where it's going and ultimately everything you're doing online works just fine. But your traffic has been hijacked by parties unknown and you're none the wiser that it has happened.

In network security circles, this is what's known as a Man-In-The-Middle attack. And for years it has been understood to be possible in theory, but never seen in practice. That changed earlier this year when someone — it's unclear who — diverted Internet traffic from some 150 cities around the world through networks in Belarus and Iceland.

Now obviously, there are two important questions here.  How was this done?  The article goes into some detail about this and while I'm no expert on the technical side, it seems that small ISPs which were front companies for...whoever did this, were able to get away with it because the larger ISPs weren't monitoring traffic to keep an eye on where it was going.

But the other question is who was behind this?  Two ISPs are mentioned in regards to this, one in Belarus, and one in Iceland.

Belarus is not an easy country to operate in.  It's a one-party dictatorship, with strict media control.  In regards to the internet, the state telecom corporation, Beltelecom, "holds the exclusive interconnection with Internet providers outside of Belarus. Beltelecom owns all the backbone channels that linked to the Lattelecom, TEO LT, Tata Communications (former Teleglobe), Synterra, Rostelecom, Transtelekom and MTS ISP's. Beltelecom is the only operator licensed to provide commercial VoIP services in Belarus."

GlobalOneBel appears to be owned by a Mr Vladimir Koresko, who also registered a firm, GlobalOne Security, in the UK (which was dissolved in 2005).  According to the records from that registration, he is of Russian origin, and born in 1945.  His given address in Belarus is the same as that of GlobalOneBel's HQ.

Apart from that, it's pretty much impossible to get information on him.  I did find however, that Research Programmes Ltd was registered as an officer with GlobalOne Security, and this company was associated with a number of Russian internet and software firms in the UK, including Power Engineering Universal, where they first served as a director.  Power Engineering Universal has dissolved, but in the same address there is now iTranstion Group Ltd, where they were listed as the Director between 2006 and 2007.  The current director is Iryna Hvardzeitsava, who is also of Belarussian origin.

This may be linked, it may not be.  Depends on what exactly Research Programmes Ltd is.

As for the Icelandic firm...Nyherji "is the Icelandic representative of a number of foreign technology firms, most of whom are at the forefront of their field, including IBM, Lenovo, Canon, Lexmark, Sony, Heidelberg, SAP, Avaya, Cisco Systems and APC" according to their corporate website.  From my limited look, it does seem to be fairly legit.  As does Opin Kerfi.

So...I don't know.  Attribution is a bitch on the internet.
#83
RPG Ghetto / Unified Vidya Games thread
November 21, 2013, 05:10:58 PM
OK then.

So, as I've previously mentioned, I'd been considering doing a Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 playthrough, with the twist of user feedback driving the main in-game decisions.

For those of you who don't know, DAO is a game published in 2009 by Bioware.  It was billed as a "spritual successor" to the extremely popular and critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate series, which made Bioware's name as the creator of stories with multiple, branching endings and convincing, engaging characters.

Bioware chafed a little under the IP restrictions which the owners of Dungeons&Dragons put them under for that series, and so sought to develop their own intellectual property which they could then take in the direction they wanted.  After 5 years(!) in development, Dragon Age: Origins was the result. 

I won't give too much of the story away, but suffice to say, whicever Origin is chosen, the main character gets drafted into the Grey Wardens, a Templar-esque transnational order of warriors, whose main purpose is to defend against the Blight - periodic invasions by creatures called darkspawn - by any means necessary.  And then things get all complicated.  There's more than a hint of influence from certain modern fantasy stories too, such as George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and (more in the second game) Steven Erikson's Malazan setting.

Just so you are aware, the choice of Origin does have an in-game impact, and can change the possible choices of how the game ends.  The event which causes your drafting will have repurcussions later on in the game, though even if you chose another origin, some of those events will still have happened (the elves in Denerim riot regardless, a power struggle breaks out in Orzammar, Arl Howe kills the Couslands).  It can, however, make certain confrontations and story lines have a bit more resonance.

And if you ask me personally, I like either the Human Noble or City Elf (Female) storylines the best, for that resonance.

Gender primarily influences who you can romance in the game. There are always two hetrosexual and one homosexual romance option for each gender.  It can also have an influence on the ending, depending on in-game choices and origin story.

There are three classes in the game: Warrior, Rogue and Mage.  As per usual, warriors are the heavy hitters and the tanks, who can wear the heaviest armour and use the heaviest weapons, deal out and take the most damage.  Rogues are the agile burst DPS specialists - if you really need that one character dead, right now, they're your best friend.  Mages are the distance based, crowd control specialists.  Blowing things up, setting things on fire, boiling people's blood while its still inside them...you know the drill.  They can also heal, however, in a slight departure from standard RPG fare.  Don't go crying to a priest if you cut yourself, unless you just want a sermon.

Each class has 4 specializations, which give certain stat bonuses and open up a new talent tree.  Rogues get Assassins, Duellists, Rangers and Bards, Warriors get Templars, Champions, Reavers and Beserkers and Mages get Arcane Warrior, Spirit Healer, Shapechanger and Blood Mage.  Since they fall under character build and, in some cases, require specialised builds to properly utilise, they will be down to my discretion, though again popular demand may influence me in certain ways.

I've showcased each different type of fighting style in each playthrough.  As I intend to keep control of the build for whatever character you select, that doesn't really matter much, but I may take into consideration preferences on the subject.  So for warriors, there is sword and shield style, which primarily helps defend the character, there is two-handed weapons which is primarily offensive in nature, there is two-weapons style and archery as well. 

Two-weapons and archery are mostly intended for rogues, though they can work on the warrior as well.  Two weapons is, of course, up close dual-wielding, and archery involves hanging back and using precision strikes to take down the enemy.  And mages are entirely different.

You may also be wondering why my characters are starting off with some high level, powerful gear.  These are the result of completing certain achievements for DLC in the game.  For instance, the Battledress of the Provocateur involves finding the six scraps of leather in Leliana's Song, and the Dragonbone Cleaver is obtained by defeating the Varterral on Hard difficulty in Witch Hunt.  They are extremely powerful...but they come with restrictions like all the game items, and since they are high-tier, some of those restrictions mean it can take quite a bit of levelling up before those items are available for the classes they are intended.

In terms of DLC I intend to play...I only think Awakening, Witch Hunt and Leliana's Song have any story impact or are of enough quality to do, besides those which are integrated into the game itself.  Golems of Amgarrak is a slogfest, and after the last time, I refuse to do it on Nightmare again, which I know you sadists would otherwise make me do.  Though it is delightfully creepy, I wont deny.  But no-one wants to sit through 500 reloads of "Cain trying to defeat the Reaper and getting frustrated at everything."

Each playthrough was done on Hard difficulty, which the developers consider the "baseline" difficulty for the intended DAO experience (why is this not the Normal setting?  People whining, most likely).

I have modded the game...slightly.  All my mods fall into three basic categories: bugfixes, graphics and lore. 

Bugfixes are simple.  When the game shipped, a lot of things didn't work properly.  Spells didn't draw threat, archery and two-handed weapon talents didn't work as described or intended, DoT damage for certain talents didn't work...all a mess.  A lot of this was patched, but Bioware have limited resources and cannot do everything.  Some rewards were also not given.

Graphics are also simple.  The game came out 4 years ago.  I think the graphics are fairly decent, but they weren't top-notch even back then, and so have suffered in the interim.  Some HD textures, tint changes and minor facelifts bring a new clarity to the game. 

Lore may be a bit more debateable.  One mod replaces the Cousland armory, to give weapons and armor a bit more suited to one of the most ancient noble houses of Ferelden.  Steel tier armor, to be exact, with a Silverite blade.  The blade has the normal strength restrictions, meaning it wont be used until mid-game at least, but it does come with a minor enchantment and two rune slots.  The armor is normal steel armor, but restricted to the main character alone.  It also adds a little bit more gold and some jewels to the Cousland treasury.

Another improves Warden's Oath, the necklace you are given when joining the Wardens.  It makes it a bit more competitive for end-of-game play, and with an enchantment that makes sense.

A third installs stamina potions, which are included in the expansion pack, but were apparently an oversight for the main game.

Finally, a mod is installed which means skill and talent points are not automatically assigned to the character on creation, allowing a bit more freedom when starting out.

So no godlike weapons, invincibility or nudity mods.  Sorry to disappoint.

To start with, we'll have three polls.  One poll for origin, race and gender, and one for class.  Please note, dwarves do not get to be mages, so don't vote for the dwarf origins, then that.  The mage origin is the same regardless of race. 

I missed the first half of the Human Noble origin because fraps crashed, but the story is essentially: you are the second child of the noble Cousland family.  Your father and brother intend to ride south and join the King at Ostagar, where Ferelden forces are planning to confront the darkspawn.  Arl Howe, an old friend of your father, intends to ride south with your father and brother, but his forces have been delayed.  And Duncan, a Grey Warden, is at your castle to see Ser Gilmore, in regards to recruiting him to the Wardens.  During the night, Arl Howe's men launch a surprise attack on the keep, which is where the action starts.

You may also like to know that Arl Howe is voiced by Tim Curry, who is a great choice.  In fact, great voice acting abounds in this game, with some very well known people voicing certain parts.

Human Noble (Warrior, Sword and Shield) playthrough
City Elf (Rogue, Dual-wield) playthrough
Dalish Elf (Rogue, Archery) playthrough
Circle of Magi (Human Male) playthrough
Dwarf Commoner (Rogue, Dual-wield) playthrough
Dwarf Noble (Warrior, 2-handed) playthrough

The final part of the Dwarf playthrough is uploaded, it just isn't yet processed.  It should be within the next 24 hours, however, so maybe watch that one last.

And as for the polls

Race, Gender and Origin http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=528e2fd9e4b0988a5cf2a2bc
Class poll http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=528e3df5e4b0988a5cf2a2ff
Difficulty poll http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=528e3e35e4b0988a5cf2a300

And just one more question...when commentating, do you want me to read out the character's answer before selecting it?  No voice actor voices the main character in this game, as you'll notice.  And while on the topic, do you want the Codex entries reading out?  Some of the lore is quite interesting, and certain adds to the feeling of the game, but there is a fair bit of it as well.  It's up to you guys.

Once an origin is decided, I'll put up another poll with choices relating to that origin.
#84
Read it here:

QuoteToday, 13 November 2013, WikiLeaks released the secret negotiated draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the largest-ever economic treaty, encompassing nations representing more than 40 per cent of the world's GDP. The WikiLeaks release of the text comes ahead of the decisive TPP Chief Negotiators summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 19-24 November 2013. The chapter published by WikiLeaks is perhaps the most controversial chapter of the TPP due to its wide-ranging effects on medicines, publishers, internet services, civil liberties and biological patents. Significantly, the released text includes the negotiation positions and disagreements between all 12 prospective member states.

The TPP is the forerunner to the equally secret US-EU pact TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), for which President Obama initiated US-EU negotiations in January 2013. Together, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per cent of global GDP.

So it's kinda important.
#86
Called it

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/22/saudi-arabia-diplomat-shift-us

Quote

    Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief has said the kingdom will make a "major shift" in dealings with the US in protest at perceived American inaction over the Syria war and its overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday.

    The source said that Prince Bandar bin Sultan had told European diplomats that Washington had failed to act effectively on the Syria crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed a 2011 anti-government revolt.

    It was not immediately clear whether Prince Bandar's reported statements had the full backing of King Abdullah.

    In an unprecedented move last week, Saudi Arabia rejected its first offer of a seat on the UN security council and denounced the UN for failing to resolve world conflicts. The move appeared largely directed at the US.

    "The shift away from the US is a major one," the source said on Tuesday. "Saudi doesn't want to find itself any longer in a situation where it is dependent.

    "Prince Bandar told diplomats that he plans to limit interaction with the US. This happened after the US failed to take any effective action on Syria and Palestine.

    "Relations with the US have been deteriorating for a while, as Saudi feels that the US is growing closer with Iran and the US also failed to support Saudi during the Bahrain uprising."

Bandar is butthurt over Syria, and that the US wont give SA carte blance to bloodily suppress every Arab Spring uprising that doesn't come with a "House of Saud" seal of approval.

Still, this is a pretty ballsy move.  IMO, Saudi Arabia needs the US more than the other way around.  Sure, if the Kingdom went full on economic oil blockade of the USA, things would go badly, but that's an act of war, and, well...on the level below that, the US gives a certain large amount of patronage and protection to Saudi Arabia.  Or, at least, it did...the US was obviously not keen on protecting Saudi Arabia from the consequences of their own stupidity should they militarily intervene in Syria, as recently leaked war plans show.

Maybe this is just a play to panic the US diplomatic corps.  Or maybe it's as serious as they say.  Worth keeping an eye on, this
#87
Aneristic Illusions / So, this sounds familiar, right?
October 23, 2013, 10:57:08 AM
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#89
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#90
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#91
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#92
Aneristic Illusions / America's allies!
October 01, 2013, 07:29:57 PM
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#94
Aneristic Illusions / US government shutdown hilarity
September 30, 2013, 07:17:51 PM
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#95
Aneristic Illusions / Obama, Bush, Rezko and WMDs
September 28, 2013, 01:54:22 PM
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#96
Aneristic Illusions / Exaro news - now subscription free
September 21, 2013, 10:05:49 AM
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#99
Aneristic Illusions / The "End Game" memo
August 23, 2013, 12:25:21 PM
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo

QuoteWhen a little birdie dropped the End Game memo through my window, its content was so explosive, so sick and plain evil, I just couldn't believe it.

The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak's fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears.

The Treasury official playing the bankers' secret End Game was Larry Summers. Today, Summers is Barack Obama's leading choice for Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the world's central bank. If the confidential memo is authentic, then Summers shouldn't be serving on the Fed, he should be serving hard time in some dungeon reserved for the criminally insane of the finance world.

The memo is authentic.

QuoteBut what was the use of turning US banks into derivatives casinos if money would flee to nations with safer banking laws?

The answer conceived by the Big Bank Five: eliminate controls on banks in every nation on the planet — in one single move. It was as brilliant as it was insanely dangerous.

How could they pull off this mad caper? The bankers' and Summers' game was to use the Financial Services Agreement (or FSA), an abstruse and benign addendum to the international trade agreements policed by the World Trade Organisation.

Until the bankers began their play, the WTO agreements dealt simply with trade in goods – that is, my cars for your bananas. The new rules devised by Summers and the banks would force all nations to accept trade in "bads" – toxic assets like financial derivatives.

Until the bankers' re-draft of the FSA, each nation controlled and chartered the banks within their own borders. The new rules of the game would force every nation to open their markets to Citibank, JP Morgan and their derivatives "products".

And all 156 nations in the WTO would have to smash down their own Glass-Steagall divisions between commercial savings banks and the investment banks that gamble with derivatives.

The job of turning the FSA into the bankers' battering ram was given to Geithner, who was named Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation.

This has long been suspected, but it's nice to get some confirmation.   They shattered global financial regulations to allow the "big five" to engage in casino capitalism - and that's why, when it all went to shit, the crisis went global.
#100
Pakistan announces negotiations with the Tehrik-i-Taliban this morning:

QuoteA senior Pakistani Taliban commander has welcomed the government's recent offer to hold peace talks.

Asmatullah Muawiya said in a statement Thursday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demonstrated political maturity by reiterating his offer to hold peace negotiations in a speech over the weekend.

A senior Pakistani Taliban commander then gets iced by IED:

QuoteA Pakistani Taliban commander believed to be harbouring foreign militants was killed along with four others in a roadside bomb explosion in South Waziristan tribal agency, officials said Thursday.

Ghulam Jan, believed to be a key commander of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed along with four accomplices when the improvised explosive device targeted his vehicle on Wednesday evening in Birmal tehsil, located about 27 kilometres from Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.

And this is hardly the first time that this has occured.  After the CIA went on their revenge mission for the Khost CIA post suicide attacks, the Pakistani Taliban withdrew from peace talks with Sharif's newly elected government.

It seems being a Taliban commander is especially dangerous when talk of peace is in the air.  Funny, that.