Twelfth Bough

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Archive for January 20th, 2010

circling the wagons

Jan 20

Posted by A. Peasant in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, NGOs, Palestinians | No Comments

1. report: Israel to strike Iran in March, Lebanon could get involved

Diplomatic sources haven’t ruled out to al-Liwaa newspaper Lebanon’s involvement in a possible war between Israel and Iran. The sources told the daily that the Jewish state is planning in coordination with the U.S. to strike Iranian nuclear states next March. Israel and the U.S. will not allow Iran to put into operation its nuclear project, the diplomat said, adding that the Jewish state’s seven-member inner cabinet has given the green light for the attack.

The sources didn’t rule out the involvement of Lebanon and the Gaza strip in the war, in response to the Israeli attack. Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Hizbullah to “avoid entering in conflict with us.” “We need to constantly prepare for a change in the status quo, though we don’t know when it will occur,” he said. “We don’t want for it to happen, and it might not, but we will not be afraid to react if we have to fight back.”

Top U.S. general David Petraeus also said earlier this month that Washington has developed contingency plans to address Iran’s nuclear ambitions if negotiations falter. Petraeus, who heads U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) that oversees the Middle East, told CNN that Iran’s nuclear facilities “certainly can be bombed,” even though they are reported to be heavily fortified.

source: naharnet

2. Israel withholding NGO employees’ work permits

The Interior Ministry has stopped granting work permits to foreign nationals working in most international nongovernmental organizations operating in the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, Haaretz has learned.

In an apparent overhaul of regulations that have been in place since 1967, the ministry is now granting the NGO employees tourist visas only, which bar them from working.

Organizations affected by the apparent policy change include Oxfam, Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, Terre des Hommes, Handicap International and the Religious Society of Friends (a Quaker organization). Until recently, the workers would register with the international relations department at the Social Affairs Ministry, which would recommend the Interior Ministry to issue them B1 work permits. Although the foreign nationals are still required to approach the Social Affairs Ministry to receive recommendations to obtain a tourist visa, the Interior Ministry is aiming to make the Ministry of Defense responsible for those international NGOs and also requiring them to register with the coordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT), which is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense.

Foreign nationals working for NGOs had understood they would receive a stamp or handwritten note alongside their tourist visa, permitting them to work “in the Palestinian Authority.” Israel is refusing work visas to most foreign nationals who state that they wish to work within the Palestinian territories, such as foreign lecturers for Palestinian universities and businessmen.

Israel does not recognize Palestinian Authority rule in East Jerusalem or in Area C, which comprises some 60 percent of the West Bank. The NGO workers say they’ve come to believe that the new policy is intended to force them to close their Jerusalem offices and relocate to West Bank cities. This move would prevent them from working among the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem, defined by the international community as occupied territory.

The organizations fear the new policy will impede their ability to work in Area C, whether because Israel doesn’t see it as part of the Palestinian Authority or because they will eventually be subjected to the restrictions of movement imposed on the Palestinians. Such restrictions include the prohibition to enter East Jerusalem and Gaza via Israel, except with specific and rarely obtained permits; and prohibition to enter areas west of the separation fence, except for village residents who hold special residency permits and Israeli citizens.

One NGO worker told Haaretz that the policy was reminiscent of the travel constraints imposed by Burmese authorities on humanitarian organizations, albeit presented in a subtler manner.

NGO workers told Haaretz that they had been informed by the COGAT official that a policy change was forthcoming, as early as July 2009. When a number of them approached the Interior Ministry in August to renew their visas, they found that their applications had been submitted to a “special committee.” They were not told who constituted this committee, and had to make do with a “receipt” confirming that they had submitted the request. The workers said the tourist visas they received differed from each other in duration and travel limitations, and surmised from this that the policy has not been entirely fleshed out.

Latest in a series of steps

A number of NGO workers who spoke with Haaretz voiced deep apprehensions about having to submit to the authority of the Defense Ministry. The groups are committed to the Red Cross code of ethics, and therefore see being subjugated to the ministry directly in charge of the occupation as problematic and contradictory to the very essence of their work.

Between 140 and 150 NGOs operate among the Palestinian population. Haaretz could not obtain the exact number of foreign nationals they employ.

The new limitations do not apply to the 12 organizations that have been active in the West Bank prior to 1967. Those groups, which include the Red Cross and several Christian organizations, were registered with the Jordanian authorities.

The new move by the Interior Ministry is the latest in a series of steps taken in the last few years to constrain the movement of foreign nationals in the West Bank and Gaza, including Palestinians with family and property in the occupied territories. Most of those who have been effected are nationals of countries with which Israel has diplomatic relations, especially Western states. Israel does not apply any similar constraints on citizens of the same countries traveling within Israel and West Bank settlements.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the only relevant authority empowered to approve the stay of foreign citizens in the Palestinian Authority is the coordinator of government activities in the territories. “The Interior Ministry is entrusted with granting visas and work permits within the State of Israel. Those staying within both the boundaries of Israel and the Palestinian Authority are required to secure their permits accordingly,” the ministry said.

“Recently, a question was raised on the issue of visas granted to those staying in the Palestinian Authority and in Israel, as it transpired that they spend most of their time in the PA despite having been provided with Israeli work permits,” the statement continued. “The matter is under intense discussions, with the active participation of the relevant military authorities, with a view to finding the right and appropriate solution as soon as possible.”

source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143854.html

3. Israel silences political protest

JERUSALEM - ISRAEL is arresting a growing number of prominent opponents to its policies toward the Palestinians, say critics who are accusing the government of trying to crush legitimate dissent.

In the most high-profile case yet, Jerusalem police detained the leader of a leading Israeli human rights group during a vigil against the eviction of Palestinian families whose homes were taken by Jewish settlers. Since the summer, dozens of Palestinian and Israeli activists have been picked up, including those organizing weekly protests against Israel’s West Bank separation barrier as well as others advocating international boycotts of Israeli goods. Some of the Palestinians were released without charge only after weeks and months of questioning.

The arrests come at a time of shifting tactics in the protests against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and annexation of east Jerusalem, territories the Palestinians want for their future state. Israel captured both from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war. The main protest efforts are Friday demonstrations against the West Bank barrier in the Palestinian villages of Bilin and Naalin and vigils in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheik Jarrah, where Palestinians have been evicted. There appears to be an increased police crackdown on the protests with greater numbers of activists being arrested. In the West Bank, troops fire tear gas, stun grenades, and live rounds to disperse anti-barrier protesters. Israel says the protests are illegal, and the harsh tactics are a response to stone-throwing and violent rioting. In east Jerusalem, police have arrested some 70 demonstrators during marches in recent months, according to Israeli rights groups. — AP

source: straits times

tough jobs: covering big pharma’s ample ass

Jan 20

Posted by A. Peasant in Big Pharma, Corruption & Crime, Flu psyop, Limited Hangouts, Vaccines | No Comments

Check out this amazing article, whereby big pharma attempts to deflect criticism that it has manipulated governments and international agencies by hyping H1N1. Actually they collaborated. Remember? They did it together they work together all together now.

But if some people are going to be held accountable, well I guess it’s not one big happy family after all.

Note that adjuvants are suddenly an unfamiliar technology.

Analyst: Adjuvanted H1N1 vaccines helped stir Europe’s debate

Robert Roos * News Editor

Jan 15, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – The use of adjuvanted vaccines, an unfamiliar technology, helped spark mistrust that may have contributed to the recent allegations in Europe that pharmaceutical companies manipulated governments and international agencies by hyping the H1N1 pandemic threat, according to a British market analyst who follows infectious disease issues.

Some members of the 47-nation Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly have proposed a resolution charging that pharmaceutical companies, aiming to boost vaccine and drug sales, worked to “alarm” governments about the pandemic and prompt them to waste money on inefficient vaccine strategies and expose people to inadequately tested vaccines.

National and international health officials, along with the World Health Organization, have vigorously denied the allegations, which will come before the council on Jan 26.

Hedwig Kresse, MPhil, MSc, a London-based senior analyst on infectious diseases at the independent market analysis firm Datamonitor, said today the decision to use adjuvanted vaccines might have contributed to the controversy in Europe. She also said that when H1N1 emerged, it was the press and government officials, not pharamaceutical companies, that voiced alarm and pushed for a vaccine.

Off to a bad start
“I think in Europe the entire pandemic vaccine supply situation got off to a bad start because European regulators opted for adjuvanted vaccines, which resulted in a lot of negative publicity across Europe” and reduced the public’s interest in getting vaccinated, Kresse told CIDRAP News.

In the United States, she noted, authorities decided not to use adjuvants (which have never been used in US flu vaccines) and to stick with the standard technologies that have been used in seasonal flu vaccines for many years, she noted. (The US government bought a supply of adjuvants for possible emergency use but has not used them.)

“It wasn’t the same kind of debate as in Europe,” she said. “That led to a bigger acceptance of the vaccine.”

The pandemic H1N1 vaccines approved in Europe are GlaxoSmithKline’s Pandemrix, containing the adjuvant ASO3, and Novartis’s Focetria, which contains the company’s MF59 adjuvant. [SQUALENE - ed.] Also approved in Europe is Baxter’s Celvapan, which contains no adjuvant but is made in cell culture, a newer technology, rather than in eggs.

Kresse noted that one adjuvanted flu vaccine, Novartis’s Fluad, was approved in Europe back in 1997, but it is used only in the elderly.

Since most Europeans were unfamiliar with adjuvanted flu vaccines, “it was a new technology and there was no long-term record regarding reactogenicity,” Kresse said. “And since H1N1 has so far been a clinically mild pandemic, it just didn’t seem logical to a lot of people that you needed this new technology. So a lot of people saw it as an unnecessary risk to take.”

The safety record of the European vaccines has been good so far, Kresse said. She said they cause a slightly higher rate of local reactions, such as pain and itching, and possibly a higher rate of fever, than flu vaccines with no adjuvants. “I’m not aware of any major safety concerns in Europe,” she added.

H5N1 threat set stage for adjuvants
Kresse noted that pandemic vaccine efforts in Europe were predicated on the H5N1 avian flu virus. Vaccine versions of this virus have grown poorly in eggs and have been poorly immunogenic. As a result, she said, the general view has been that adjuvants are needed to make H5N1 vaccines work.

Manufacturers developed mockup vaccines based on H5N1, with adjuvants, with the understanding that when a pandemic emerged, the pandemic virus could replace the H5N1 and the vaccine could gain rapid regulatory approval.

Concerning the charge that vaccine manufacturers hyped the pandemic threat to boost their profits, Kresse said it doesn’t fit her perception of how things evolved.

“I think these questions have to be treated very, very carefully,” she said. “Without a doubt the pharmaceutical companies did benefit from the pandemic. But when I look back, it was more the government and the press” that talked a lot about the threat and pressed for a vaccine. “It was more the pharmaceutical companies being on the receiving end and being asked to deliver it as fast as they possibly could.”

She said it seems unlikely that the current controversy would make drug companies unwilling to produce pandemic vaccines in the future, but she wouldn’t rule out that type of outcome.

“If it really comes to a very nasty public discussion and results in a big loss of reputation for the pharmaceutical companies, then it’s another matter,” she commented. “Then as a company I might calculate very carefully what I’d gain and lose in terms of reputation.”

On the other hand, she said it’s unlikely that companies would completely withdraw from pandemic supply efforts: “There’s a very vital political interest in keeping the sector attractive for pandemic supplies.”

Tommy Thompson defends US vaccine efforts
Also today, former US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson added his voice to those defending the pandemic vaccine programs, saying it would be a terrible outcome if critics succeeded in scaring companies away from vaccine development. Thompson served as HHS secretary through President George W. Bush’s first term.

In a telephone interview, Thompson, now a senior partner in the Washington, DC, law firm Akin Gump, said the nation’s preparedness for disease outbreaks has improved and that the progress must be maintained.

“In the past we’ve not been prepared and we haven’t had companies that wanted to be in the vaccine business,” he said. “For the first time in our long history, we’ve got companies that are interested in preparing vaccines for flu. . . . The worst thing in the world would be to say this was contrived and therefore scare away vaccine companies from getting scientists to do research on infectious viruses.”

As for the assertion that the pandemic threat was exaggerated, Thompson said, “The only way to prove our concerns beyond a reasonable doubt is to have a lot of people die, and I don’t know anyone who’s advocating more lethality from flu viruses.”

“You’re always going to have critics, but people in the scientific community believe we’re doing the right thing and I certainly believe that,” he added. “I think it was the right thing to do, to get started down this path, and I’m glad that it continues to be expanded.”

He also commented that while the H1N1 virus is not as lethal as was feared, the pandemic may not be over and the virus could mutate into a more dangerous form.

Stunning remarks.

Selected posts from this long-running saga:

There’s only one word to describe this sort of thing.

Bringing home the bacon.

Novel, as in pulled out of someone’s head or ass or laboratory.

The Trifecta Theory.

Rara Avis.

Bird Flu and the Hegelian Dialectic

foreshadowing

Jan 20

Posted by A. Peasant in 9-11, Afghanistan, CIA, Clinton, Corruption & Crime, Diplomats, India, Military, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Terrorism | No Comments

Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, warns that South Asian militant groups threaten to destabilize the entire region and could trigger a war between “nuclear armed Pakistan and India.”

(Just for the record, India is also “nuclear armed.“)

Watch Mr. Gates reflect anxiety, set expectations, and proactively absolve India for whatever it might do in response to “some provocative act:”

Reflecting anxiety in the region about New Delhi’s reaction if it were attacked by a militant group with roots in Pakistan, Mr Gates said restraint by India could not be counted on. He added that militants under Al-Qaeda’s ’syndicate’ - which includes the Taleban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba - posed a danger to the region as a whole.

They are trying ‘to destabilise not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act,’ Mr Gates said during a visit to New Delhi. ‘It’s important to recognise the magnitude of the threat that the entire region faces,’ he said following talks with his Indian counterpart, A.K. Antony.

…’I think it’s not unreasonable to assume India’s patience would be limited were there to be further attacks,’ Mr Gates warned.

New Delhi suspects the Pakistani intelligence service of supporting terror groups that target India and has consistently called on Islamabad to crack down on militants operating on its soil. Mr Gates described India as a vital partner in the struggle against extremist threats, expressed appreciation for its economic aid to Afghanistan and said that he had discussed how to bolster US-India military cooperation.

It appears that whatever happens, Pakistan will be blamed. If India retaliates — even out of proportion — it sounds like that will be overlooked by the US, given that it’s not “unreasonable to assume India’s patience would be limited were there to be further attacks.”

Interesting. Which country has suffered more from terrorism in recent memory? India, or Pakistan?

India had the Mumbai attack in 2008 (173 deaths). India blames Pakistan for Mumbai.

Meanwhile, in 2009 alone, over 3,500 people have died from terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

And who is responsible for all the terrorism in Pakistan? Good question.

The Pakistan government has been provided a variety of proofs of involvement of Indian government and especially the Indian intelligence agency behind the continuous chaos in various parts of Pakistan, particularly NWFP province’s Malakand division and tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan where Pakistan army is fighting a war against terrorists.

…These investigations indicate that the Pakistani law enforcing agencies found highly credible evidence proving that the Indians were not only giving comprehensive financial support to terrorists in Balochistan but were also providing them with huge caches of all sorts of weapons and other military equipment.

…The Daily Mail’s [of Pakistan -- ed.] findings indicate that not only this but the Pakistani security forces also seized a large amount of Indian currency and Indian medicines from the deserted or conquered hideouts of militants in different operations in Swat and Waziristan.

… In addition, the security forces also seized huge amount of currency bills of Indian currency either from the arrested militants or from the captured hideouts. The investigations reveal that trade in Indian currency in all parts of Afghanistan is quite open and normal and one can buy anything at anywhere with Indian currency in any part of Afghanistan. According to some reports, the Indian currency is more acceptable than the US Dollar in Afghani business markets.

^^^^^^^

Over the last several weeks the contrived Clash of Civilizations has flared up in Malaysia over the use of the word Allah in Christian churches. After a week or two of that, the US Embassy in Malaysia warned that tourists to the Sabah state were at risk of attack by criminal and terrorist groups.

This warning precipitated a prompt response. The Malaysian government tightened security and quickly dismissed the warning. The Malaysian government then summoned the US envoy for an explanation of the misleading advisory.

This is the explanation:

The US advisory did not give details of the possible threat, but noted that Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants based in the southern Philippines - a short boat ride from Sabah - have kidnapped foreigners from Sabah’s secluded resort areas in the past.

^^^^^^^

Abu Sayyaf has an outstanding terrorist pedigree. It can be linked back to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, 911, the CIA, ISI, etc.

In particular, for the purposes of this thread, the Abu Sayyaf can be linked back to Pakistan.

[Privilege speech of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel at the Senate, July 31, 2000]

In the early 1980s, the CIA actively recruited, “armed and supported” moujahideens or volunteer Muslim warriors to fight the CIA sponsored-US proxy war in Afghanistan against the Russians who had invaded the country in 1979 and had put up a puppet regime there. Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, p. 13 et

Thousands of Muslim fighters from many parts of the world, including many young men from the Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao, enlisted to fight in Afghanistan. After all, the dollar-denominated monthly pay plus incentives of $100 to $300 a month was certainly attractive enough for the jobless and impoverished Muslim youths. John K. Cooley, Unholy Wars, p. 107

These young warriors were, then, trained to – and many did - fight in Afghanistan supported with funds and equipment by the CIA and its network of friendly foreign funders which at that time included Osama bin Ladin, a highly successful Arab business man in the construction industry. Bin Ladin subsequently fell out of grace with the CIA which has since been trying to get him either literally or extradited to the US for his complicity in the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993.

…In the case of the Filipino Muslim Moujahideens, most came back to various parts of Mindanao from their base in Peshawar, Pakistan.

In the words of John K. Cooley in his book, Unholy Wars, “This group (of Filipino Muslim Moujahideens) was the core of an armed guerilla band of several hundred men who xxx moved from its Peshawar, Pakistan base to the southern Philippine Islands after the end of the Afghan war. Under the name of the Abu Sayyaf group, it operated on the fringe of the Moros Muslim insurgency.”

Thus was the Abu Sayyaf born.

The Abu Sayyaf took its name from Professor Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, an Afghan intellectual, who had preached an ultra-conservative Islamic ideology called Wahabi.

Cooley calls the Abu Sayyaf in the 1990s as “the most violent and radical Islamist group in the Far East, using its CIA and ISI (Pakistan’s intra-military directorate for intelligence services) training to harass, attack and murder Christian priests, wealthy non-Muslim plantation-owners and merchants and local government in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.” [p. 63]

Thus we can see that the CIA and ISI created this problem, the Abu Sayyaf, with an assist from Saudi Arabia, which spawned Wahhabism.

According to Senator Aquilino Pimentel, military and police personnel then cultivated informers within the Abu Sayyaf, and some members received military intelligence services IDs, safe-houses, safe-conduct passes, firearms, cell phones and financial support. In his speech, he demanded that these traitors to the Philippines be held accountable for their corruption.

Since that speech in 2000, the Abu Sayyaf has certainly not been contained. They operate from the island of Jolo. It appears they stepped up their attacks in 2009.

In 2000, Abu Sayyaf took about 20 people – most of them Western tourists – captive from an island resort across the Malaysian border. They were all released within three months after the Libyan government paid a ransom of around $10 million, media reports said at the time.

…Last year [2008], Muslim rebels generated more than 22 million pesos (SFr528,000) in ransom payments from at least six kidnappings, including the high-profile abduction of three members of a local television network, according to the Philippines military.

…About two dozen people have been kidnapped in 12 incidents on two restive southern islands since January [2009], authorities say.

In September 2009, two US Navy men and one Filipino Marine were killed in a roadside bomb.

Abu Sayyaf is believed to have about 400 fighters, to have received funds from al-Qaida and is suspected of sheltering militants from the larger Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. An estimated 600 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the Philippines, mostly in the southern front lines of the Philippine military’s operations against the Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiyah.

In November 2009, the group beheaded a teacher.

In December 2009, they burst through a jail wall and freed 31 inmates.

^^^^^^^

In July of 2009, the Philippine government deployed hundreds of troops on Jolo and Basilan islands to finish off the 400 member Abu Sayyaf.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro ordered the military last week to launch new assaults against the militants on Jolo and Basilan islands after the militants freed Italian hostage Eugenio Vagni — the last of three Red Cross aid workers who were kidnapped on Jolo in January. Without any hostages to worry about, government forces can now carry out more offensives, regional military commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.

…The government has opened peace talks with a bigger Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but the Abu Sayyaf is not covered by the talks. A report by the US Pacific Command describes the Abu Sayyaf as “a cross between a chilling gang of bandits and a franchise operation of al-Qaida.” “Since the early 1990s, it has terrorized the southern Philippines with kidnappings, bombs and outright massacres; it has also been linked to several international terrorist plots and militants,” the report noted. More recent reports said the Abu Sayyaf, under new leadership, has been able to link up with the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah, said to be behind a regional Islamist terror campaign, including two recent bombings in Jakarta.

By November, after the beheaded school-teacher incident, hopes faded. The Abu Sayyaf would (miraculously) defy the sustained US-backed campaign to finish them off.

The beheading of a kidnap victim is the latest proof that a small number of Islamic militants in the Philippines are defying a sustained US-backed military campaign to extinguish them, observers said. The grisly development this week came just ahead of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Southeast Asian nation, throwing the spotlight on joint efforts by Filipino and American forces to crush the Abu Sayyaf.

It’s always very helpful when they “throw the spotlight on.” In any case, regrettable.

And then Hillary Clinton arrived, and the kidnapped priest from Ireland, Michael Sinnot, was released by the MILF. MILF is another long-standing and much larger terrorist group in the Philippines, originally accused of abducting the priest, but later cleared and thanked for securing his release.

The release of the 79-year-old missionary coincided with the arrival in Manila of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, prompting speculation that it was timed to coincide with her visit, the way the release of a kidnapped Red Cross worker was made on the day US Central Intelligence Agency head Leon Edward Panetta flew to Manila.

Although the Asia Times reported that the US Embassy held clandestine meetings with MILF a month earlier, at their camp. Evidently the US Embassy personnel do not fear the MILF. In fact, they have warm and friendly relations. Everyone wants peace, evidently.

Despite the row over Sinnot’s kidnapping, senior US Embassy officials in Manila have held clandestine meetings with MILF leaders in their Maguindanao camp. The US Embassy has kept mum on the meetings, but on its website, the MILF confirmed in a statement that it had held talks with a visiting group of American diplomats led by the US Embassy charge d’affaires, Leslie Basset, on October 16.

Lasting for two hours, the meeting “was warm and forthright”, the MILF said and quoted Basset as saying that the US was willing to play a role in the peace talks. “Helping attain and sustain peace, security and development in Mindanao is a priority concern of our government,” the MILF quoted Bassett as saying.

^^^^^^^

In August 2009, GMANews.TV reported the statements of Lt. Senior Grade Nancy Gadian at a press conference held before an inquiry by the Senate oversight committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) into the activities of US troops in the Philippines.

Gadian, a whistleblower, was invited to the hearing.

Gadian earlier this year exposed the alleged misuse of the P42-million fund allotted for the joint military exercises between the Philippines and the US by high ranking military officials.

Gadian made the following statements:

  • US soldiers have joined Philippine troops in actual combat against Muslim rebels.
  • The American soldiers were embedded in local units.
  • About 500 US soldiers were assigned in Mindanao as “the first line of defense against the enemy.”
  • US troops usually engaged in operations in Mindanao without informing heads of the Philippine military in the area.
  • Philippine forces are fighting the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and other armed groups in Sulu.
  • American troops are stationed in Mindanao even without any Balikatan exercises going on.
  • The Philippine government does not monitor the deployment and movement of these troops in the country’s southern region.
  • Americans in Mindanao usually have programs or projects which they do not tell the leadership of the Southern Command. They just go to areas where they want to go.

Gadian’s affadavit also states:

  • The US military of building permanent structures in different military camps in the country. She said US forces have established “permanent” and “continuous” presence in Zamboanga, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi in the south.
  • The Philippine military has no access to the camps built by the US soldiers in these areas since they are “fenced off by barbed wires and guarded by US Marines.”
  • These structures are indications the US troops had no intention of leaving the country, which is a violation of the Philippine Constitution.
  • The “arrogant” behavior of many US military officers toward Filipinos.
  • Some US military men bringing Filipino women prostitutes to different areas in the camp.
  • “On the whole, their assertions of power and authority appear like they rule over us and the country.”

^^^^^^^

Given that the CIA helped create Abu Sayyaf; and given the US military’s unrestrained access to the very areas of the Philippines where Abu Sayyaf allegedly operates from; and given the history of connections between Abu Sayyaf militants and their military handlers; and given the warm and friendly relations between US Embassy personnel and MILF leaders…

Can we not imagine that Robert Gates’ foreshadowing remarks about provocative actions might, perhaps, have something to do with Abu Sayyaf?

“The only way to prove our concerns beyond a reasonable doubt is to have a lot of people die”

Jan 20

Posted by A. Peasant in Big Pharma, Corruption & Crime, Experts, Flu psyop, Vaccines | 4 Comments

1. IPCC officials admit mistake over melting Himalayan glaciers

The UN’s climate science body has admitted that a claim made in its 2007 report - that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035 - was unfounded.

The admission today followed a New Scientist article last week that revealed the source of the claim made in the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was not peer-reviewed scientific literature – but a media interview with a scientist conducted in 1999. Several senior scientists have now said the claim was unrealistic and that the large Himalayan glaciers could not melt in a few decades.

In a statement (pdf), the IPCC said the paragraph “refers to poorly substantiated estimates of rate of recession and date for the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers. In drafting the paragraph in question, the clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly.”

It added: “The IPCC regrets the poor application of well-established IPCC procedures in this instance.” But the statement calls for no action beyond stating a need for absolute adherence to IPCC quality control processes. “We reaffirm our strong commitment to ensuring this level of performance,” the statement said.

more @ guardian

2. also — the decision to use adjuvanted H1N1 vaccines — that didn’t work out so well either — BIG PHARMA TRIES TO COVER ITS BIG PHARMA ASS

Analyst: Adjuvanted H1N1 vaccines helped stir Europe’s debate

Robert Roos * News Editor

Jan 15, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – The use of adjuvanted vaccines, an unfamiliar technology, [????? SINCE WHEN ARE ADJUVANTS AN UNFAMILIAR TECHNOLOGY???? ONLY SINCE PEOPLE CAUGHT ON TO THE DANGER OF ADJUVANTS???? - ED.] helped spark mistrust that may have contributed to the recent allegations in Europe that pharmaceutical companies manipulated governments and international agencies by hyping the H1N1 pandemic threat, according to a British market analyst who follows infectious disease issues.

Some members of the 47-nation Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly have proposed a resolution charging that pharmaceutical companies, aiming to boost vaccine and drug sales, worked to “alarm” governments about the pandemic and prompt them to waste money on inefficient vaccine strategies and expose people to inadequately tested vaccines.

National and international health officials, along with the World Health Organization, have vigorously denied the allegations, which will come before the council on Jan 26.

Hedwig Kresse, MPhil, MSc, a London-based senior analyst on infectious diseases at the independent market analysis firm Datamonitor, said today the decision to use adjuvanted vaccines might have contributed to the controversy in Europe. She also said that when H1N1 emerged, it was the press and government officials, not pharamaceutical companies, that voiced alarm and pushed for a vaccine.

Off to a bad start
“I think in Europe the entire pandemic vaccine supply situation got off to a bad start because European regulators opted for adjuvanted vaccines, which resulted in a lot of negative publicity across Europe” and reduced the public’s interest in getting vaccinated, Kresse told CIDRAP News.

In the United States, she noted, authorities decided not to use adjuvants (which have never been used in US flu vaccines) and to stick with the standard technologies that have been used in seasonal flu vaccines for many years, she noted. (The US government bought a supply of adjuvants for possible emergency use but has not used them.)

“It wasn’t the same kind of debate as in Europe,” she said. “That led to a bigger acceptance of the vaccine.”

The pandemic H1N1 vaccines approved in Europe are GlaxoSmithKline’s Pandemrix, containing the adjuvant ASO3, and Novartis’s Focetria, which contains the company’s MF59 adjuvant. [SQUALENE - ED.] Also approved in Europe is Baxter’s Celvapan, which contains no adjuvant but is made in cell culture, a newer technology, rather than in eggs.

Kresse noted that one adjuvanted flu vaccine, Novartis’s Fluad, was approved in Europe back in 1997, but it is used only in the elderly.

Since most Europeans were unfamiliar with adjuvanted flu vaccines, “it was a new technology and there was no long-term record regarding reactogenicity,” Kresse said. “And since H1N1 has so far been a clinically mild pandemic, it just didn’t seem logical to a lot of people that you needed this new technology. So a lot of people saw it as an unnecessary risk to take.”

The safety record of the European vaccines has been good so far, Kresse said. She said they cause a slightly higher rate of local reactions, such as pain and itching, and possibly a higher rate of fever, than flu vaccines with no adjuvants. “I’m not aware of any major safety concerns in Europe,” she added.

H5N1 threat set stage for adjuvants
Kresse noted that pandemic vaccine efforts in Europe were predicated on the H5N1 avian flu virus. Vaccine versions of this virus have grown poorly in eggs and have been poorly immunogenic. As a result, she said, the general view has been that adjuvants are needed to make H5N1 vaccines work.

Manufacturers developed mockup vaccines based on H5N1, with adjuvants, with the understanding that when a pandemic emerged, the pandemic virus could replace the H5N1 and the vaccine could gain rapid regulatory approval.

Concerning the charge that vaccine manufacturers hyped the pandemic threat to boost their profits, Kresse said it doesn’t fit her perception of how things evolved.

“I think these questions have to be treated very, very carefully,” she said. “Without a doubt the pharmaceutical companies did benefit from the pandemic. But when I look back, it was more the government and the press” that talked a lot about the threat and pressed for a vaccine. “It was more the pharmaceutical companies being on the receiving end and being asked to deliver it as fast as they possibly could.”

She said it seems unlikely that the current controversy would make drug companies unwilling to produce pandemic vaccines in the future, but she wouldn’t rule out that type of outcome.

“If it really comes to a very nasty public discussion and results in a big loss of reputation for the pharmaceutical companies, then it’s another matter,” she commented. “Then as a company I might calculate very carefully what I’d gain and lose in terms of reputation.”

On the other hand, she said it’s unlikely that companies would completely withdraw from pandemic supply efforts: “There’s a very vital political interest in keeping the sector attractive for pandemic supplies.”

Tommy Thompson defends US vaccine efforts
Also today, former US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson added his voice to those defending the pandemic vaccine programs, saying it would be a terrible outcome if critics succeeded in scaring companies away from vaccine development. Thompson served as HHS secretary through President George W. Bush’s first term.

In a telephone interview, Thompson, now a senior partner in the Washington, DC, law firm Akin Gump, said the nation’s preparedness for disease outbreaks has improved and that the progress must be maintained.

“In the past we’ve not been prepared and we haven’t had companies that wanted to be in the vaccine business,” he said. “For the first time in our long history, we’ve got companies that are interested in preparing vaccines for flu. . . . The worst thing in the world would be to say this was contrived and therefore scare away vaccine companies from getting scientists to do research on infectious viruses.”

As for the assertion that the pandemic threat was exaggerated, Thompson said, “The only way to prove our concerns beyond a reasonable doubt is to have a lot of people die, and I don’t know anyone who’s advocating more lethality from flu viruses.”

“You’re always going to have critics, but people in the scientific community believe we’re doing the right thing and I certainly believe that,” he added. “I think it was the right thing to do, to get started down this path, and I’m glad that it continues to be expanded.”

He also commented that while the H1N1 virus is not as lethal as was feared, the pandemic may not be over and the virus could mutate into a more dangerous form.

SOURCE: CIDRAP

3. Glaxo offers free access to potential malaria cures

The chief executive of the world’s second biggest pharmaceutical company will today announce that he is putting into the public domain thousands of potential drugs that might cure malaria.

Andrew Witty, the British boss of Glaxo-SmithKline, will say in a major speech that multinational drug companies have to balance social responsibility alongside the need to make profits for their shareholders. There is, he will say, an “imperative to earn the trust of society, not just by meeting expectations but by exceeding them”.

…”I think they’re just nervous. I don’t think they have crossed … I crossed the bridge a year ago … that you can have a [different] approach to the way you think about intellectual property and openness in an area like neglected tropical diseases. There is no financial market stimulating discovery so we need to find ways to stimulate discovery. This is a way to do it.”

more @ guardian

4. HISTORY OF ADJUVANTS — an “UNFAMILIAR TECHNOLOGY,” — STARTS IN 1891

http://www.google.com/search?q=history+of+adjuvants&hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=JJx&sa=G&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=iBtXS9b-G8Th8QbgxN23Aw&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CDsQ5wIwCg

misery and corruption and terrorism in Africa

Jan 20

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Corruption & Crime, Nigeria, Terrorism | No Comments

1. Report: Romanian president’s brother smuggled Taiwanese arms to Hizbullah and Angola

The brother of Romania’s president has reportedly assisted in redirecting obsolete Taiwanese weaponry to Hizbullah and another group in Africa. Taiwan, however, dismissed on Wednesday as “groundless” Taipei-based Next Magazine’s report linking Mircea Basescu, the brother of Romania’s President Traian Basescu, to smuggling obsolete Taiwanese arms.

The arms landed up with Hizbullah and Angola’s Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda after 1,800 tons of grenades, smoke bombs and landmines had been sent to Bulgaria for destruction, Next reported. Calling the report “groundless,” the defense ministry said the Taiwanese ammunition was destroyed in Bulgaria in 2009 by Explomo Technical Services, a Singapore-based firm. “The report is based on speculation and there is no evidence to support its claims,” said ministry spokesman Yu Sy-tue. “However, we will look into the matter and seek compensation if there is new evidence indicating that our contractor has violated the contract,” he told AFP. Next said Basescu had rejected reports on the case in the Romanian media, while his brother had denied involvement in handling Taiwanese ammunition destined for destruction.(AFP-Naharnet)

source: naharnet

2. 24 hour curfew imposed to quell violence in Nigeria

Jos, Plateau, Nigeria (AHN) - Authorities have imposed a round-the-clock curfew in this central Nigeria city after violence that has resulted in the deaths of dozens of people continued for a third day. The police commissioner for Plateau State, Gregory Anyating, declared a 24-hour curfew Tuesday morning after a night-time curfew failed to quell disturbances that began Sunday. The number of people killed in the violence is not known. Unconfirmed reports place the number of dead at about 70, with about 600 injured in the most recent outbreak.

About 150 people had been killed in the fighting, according to another report. An employee of a mosque said 71 people had been buried since Sunday and another 78 were yet to be buried. Despite the curfew, residents of this city of about 510,000 said sporadic gunfire could be heard and that several houses were on fire. Troops from the country’s 3rd Armored Division have been ordered into the city. A spokesman for Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan described the situation as being under control. The cause of the conflict, between Muslims and Christians, is said to have started over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in clashes two years ago.

To stem the possibility of conflict spreading, the governor of neighboring Bauchi state has taken pre-emptive action. Security agents have been ordered to “deal decisively with anyone seen or caught trying to either ignite trouble or are spreading unfounded rumors intended to breach the peace.”

3. Nigeria: religion still a blindfold for violence — the “clash of civilizations” narrative — notice the confusion over what sparked the violence
The State of Jos in Nigeria has proven to be a hot spot for religious violence, for the umpteenth time. Christians and Muslims have failed to resolve their differences by civil means, or compete fairly within the capacity of diplomacy. Factions of Muslim and Christian militias have often taken up arms and gone amok over competition for resources, and for political power.
…Jos is split into a Christian south and a Muslim north; further divided by the classification of the people as indigenes and settlers. According to the historical records, Hausa-speaking Muslims have been living in Jos for many decades but are still classified as settlers, meaning it is difficult for them to stand for election.
According to Reuters, the recent bout of violence was sparked by an argument over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the 2008 clashes. Residents told IRIN the clashes followed a dispute over a Muslim resident’s reconstruction of his home that had been burned down in February 2008, in which according to Human Rights Watch 133 people died. But some unconfirmed sources have said the cause of this recent clash was as trivial as football. Some experts however, blame the clashes on sectarianism, but poverty and access to resources such as land often play a strong role in analyzing this violence.

Nonetheless, the violence has spread beyond the city boundaries of Jos, to neighboring areas….

The Christians and Muslims in Jos are also divided along political party lines with Christians mostly backing the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Muslims generally supporting the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). The incessant clashes have often been over resources and political power in Jos. In Nigeria, political office means access to resources, thus ethnicities, and religions have clashed over this right to loot.

source: afrik.com

4. Zimbabwe: prisoners move around naked in squalid conditions

A recent report has revealed the growing state of hopelessness in Zimbabwean prisons as a large number of prisoners languish without clothes. The impoverished state of the prison system has led to an acute shortage of basic necessities and raised the risk of infectious diseases as prisoners and officers exchange uniforms for court appearances….In recent years, Zimbabwe’s 55 prisons have been described as ‘death camps’. Dire prison conditions have turned the cells into breeding grounds for cholera, diarrhea and tuberculosis, compounding the already high HIV rate in a nation where 15,6 percent of adults carry the virus that causes AIDS.

more @ afrik.com

5. Uganda mega media scandal unearthed — Saatchi & Saatchi — big NYC advertising company hooking up with president’s son-in-law to “win” bid for 2007 Commonwealth Summit

Uganda legislatures have unearthed a mega scandal in a publicity contract for four-month media campaign during the 2007 Commonwealth Summit. The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has discovered that that out of the 17 companies that submitted their bids, 16 were disqualified because they allegedly lacked ‘documents’. Saatchi and Saatchi and ‘won’ the contract during the preparations to host the summit in 2007.

The evaluation committee had recommended only Shs1.8 billion for Saatchi & Saatchi/Terp Group, but the company was paid Shs2.4bn to run the publicity event. “The contracts committee and the procurement unit have 48 hours to PAC why they inflated the price by as much as Shs600 million,” said PAC chair Mafabi Nandala. Also under question is to why the company, Saatchi and Saatchi and Terp Group, submitted empty bid boxes in order to meet the deadline and submitted its bid later. Terp Group, a firm owned by President Museveni’s son-in-law Odrek Rwabwogo teamed up with Saatchi & Saatchi, a firm owned by Mr. Patrick Quarcoo to run the Chogm media campaign. The procurement department has sought some time to enable it provide the technical explanation of the figures.

source: newstime africa