http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20530.htm

Wag the Dog

How To Conceal Massive Economic Collapse

By Ellen Brown

“I’m in show business, why come to me?”
“War is show business, that’s why we’re here.”
– “Wag the Dog” (1997 film)

16/08/08 "ICH" --- Last week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had just announced record losses, and so had most reporting corporations. Unemployment was mounting, the foreclosure crisis was deepening, state budgets were in shambles, and massive bailouts were everywhere. Investors had every reason to expect the dollar and the stock market to plummet, and gold and oil to shoot up. Strangely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 300 points, the dollar strengthened, and gold and oil were crushed. What happened?

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/aug2008/bush-a14.shtml

World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
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WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Russia & the former USSR

In the guise of humanitarian aid
Bush dispatches US military forces to Georgia
By Barry Grey
14 August 2008

In a major escalation of the conflict with Russia over Georgia, President George W. Bush on Wednesday announced a “vigorous and ongoing” deployment of US military forces to its key ally in the Caucasus. Bush appeared in the White House Rose Garden for the second time in three days, this time flanked by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and announced the military buildup, casting it as a humanitarian relief operation.

Can you say O-I-L? : )

http://socialistworker.org/2008/08/12/stoked-war-in-georgiaAnalysis: Lee Sustar

How imperial rivalries stoked war in Georgia
Lee Sustar looks at the roots of Russia's war on Georgia.

August 12, 2008 | Issue 678 [1]

ACCORDING to the Western media, the Russian military's bloody invasion of the former Soviet republic of Georgia is all about "Russian imperialism" and the "Cold War" mentality of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president-turned-prime minister and still the country's leading political figure.

Certainly, Russia's aim to dominate Georgia--which fell under Moscow's control in the late 18th century and was formally annexed in 1801--are imperial in nature. But it's revealing that after selling the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq as exercises in "promoting democracy," the corporate media is finally willing to characterize a great power's expansionist military moves as "imperialist."

Hi everyone.

I'm used to my 9/11 activist comments being blocked on Huffpo but they just disappeared a comment on a completely different topic and I thought I'd mention it here. To know your enemy is to be halfway towards beating him.

I was looking at Bush's squeaky demands that Putin back off of Georgia. I posted a comment that said:

1. Putin looked at the new US state of Iraq.

2. Considered the upcoming new US state of Iran

3. Decided to secure the massive oil reserves of Georgia and southern Russia as either a bargaining chip or a source of oil when the US has successfully depopulated and secured the arab world.

Somewhere in there I touched a huffpo nerve as the comment went the way of all my 9/11 stuff.

I don't know if there's a list of subjects that the MSM [in which I now include Huffpo] are forbidden to cover, but I suspect there is and, I guess, Georgian oil is now on that list [Or the rapidly becoming obvious plan to depopulate the middle east].

Just FYI.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1043185/The-Pipeline-War-Russian-bear-goes-Wests-jugular.html

The Pipeline War: Russian bear goes for West's jugular
By Svetlana Skarbo and Jonathan Petre

Last updated at 1:00 PM on 10th August 2008

The war in Georgia escalated dangerously last night after Russian jets reportedly bombed a vital pipeline that supplies oil to the West.

After a day of heightening international tensions, Georgian leaders claimed that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which transports oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, had been attacked. But it is thought the bombs missed their target.

Their claims came after Russian jets struck deep into the territory of its tiny neighbour, killing civilians and ‘completely devastating’ the strategic Black Sea port of Poti, a staging post for oil and other energy supplies.

Reports last night also said that Russia had bombed the international airport in Tbilisi.

A bloodied woman lies injured in the ruins of an apartment block in Gori after another Russian air strike

http://europebusines.blogspot.com/2008/08/massive-us-naval-armada-heads-for-iran.html

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Massive US Naval Armada Heads For Iran

Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area. The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force".

The lead American ship in these war games, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) and its Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG-2) are now headed towards Iran along with the USS Ronald Reagon (CVN76) and its Carrier Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7) coming from Japan.

They are joining two existing USN battle groups in the Gulf area: the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) with its Carrier Strike Group Nine (CCSG-9); and the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) with its expeditionary strike group.