Archive for category Central America

latin america news

1. charity vaccine clinic chief bagged in trafficking Haitian children — not many degrees of separation between “legitimate” and “criminal”

Admin boss Yis Jean Guerson is responsible for providing medical aid to victims of the January 12 disaster with respected local aid group AST (Association de la Santé Pour Tous - “health for all”).

But, unknown to dedicated colleagues, Guerson secretly heads a child trafficking ring and exploits his position of trust scouring camps for a stock of orphaned, lost and homeless youngsters.

Shockingly Guerson, 31, is also a TEACHER at a local school responsible for guiding and protecting children from the age of three.

But last week - as he gave our undercover reporters a tour of the devastated captal Port-au-Prince with the stench of decaying bodies still hanging in the air - Guerson told us: “Just tell me how many kids you need and what ages you want, boys or girls, and I’ll get them for you no problem.

On Wednesday he lined up eight youngsters ranging from a three-month-old baby to a 13-year old girl for our reporters to choose from. Not once in all our dealings did Guerson ask WHO we were or WHERE the children would end up. In fact he was eager to boost the price to £5,000 EACH by offering his gang’s services in SMUGGLING the kids out of the country. Warning of the danger of trying to do it without his help, Guerson said: “The big problem is you need papers.

We were given Guerson’s name by a guard at a legitimate orphanage called Foundation Blessing Hands in the village of Cotart, 11 miles outside Port-au-Prince. The security man told us: “This place has strict rules for adoption, but there is a man locally who has children that you can take.

After being told we were interested in getting five children and taking them abroad, grasping Guerson quickly abandoned the £65-a-head price tag and demanded $40,000 (£26,000) all in.

When we said that was too much he immediately replied: “I can give you a discount, make it $30,000.” Balding Guerson explained that would include the cost of smuggling them across the border and paperwork appearing to show we had legitimately adopted the children.

...Guerson apologised that he had only managed to find three children to inspect because the rest were at a clinic being immunised. It was then he revealed his job with the AST charity which runs a vaccination programme for youngsters.

more @ news of the world

2. Spain, US want Latin America to assume ‘global role’

MADRID – Spain and the United States agreed Monday on the need for Latin America to assume a role of “global interlocutor” to participate in overcoming problems like the economic crisis and confronting challenges like climate change.

The Spanish secretary of state for Ibero-America, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia and Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela met in Madrid.

The two officials particularly discussed issues like the humanitarian situation in earthquake-stricken Haiti and the political crisis in Honduras, as well as cooperation between the United States and the European Union on Latin America.

more @ latin american herald tribune

3. four human heads found in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – The heads of four people were found in Mexico, but the bodies have not been recovered yet, state officials said.

Three of the heads were found in the northwestern state of Sinaloa and the fourth turned up in the southern state of Guerrero.

Three of the heads were discovered Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. in front of a restaurant and a school in Palmillas, a town in Sinaloa, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office told Efe.

Initial indications are that the victims were three unidentified young men, the AG’s office spokesman said.

The killers only left behind the heads, shocking the town, a Palmillas police department spokesman told Efe.

…The head belonged to “a person of the masculine gender, with a dark complexion, whose hair was shaved off and his facial skin removed, and a piece of cardboard with a message was left,” the Guerrero Public Safety Secretariat said. The body has not yet been recovered and authorities have not released the contents of the message.

Mexico has been plagued in recent years by drug-related violence blamed on powerful cartels that are battling for turf and control of the smuggling routes into the United States. Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations, according to experts, are the Sinaloa, Tijuana, Gulf, Juarez and Beltran Leyva cartels, and La Familia Michoacana. Los Zetas, a group of army special forces veterans and deserters who initially worked as hitmen for the Gulf cartel, may now be operating as a cartel, some experts say.


The state is currently the scene of a bloody turf war between Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman and the Beltran Leyva cartel, whose leaders broke off from his Sinaloa cartel.

The Sinaloa organization, sometimes referred to by officials as the Pacific cartel, is the oldest drug cartel in Mexico and Guzman, considered extremely violent, is one of the most-wanted criminals in Mexico and the United States, where the Drug Enforcement Administration has offered a reward of $5 million for him. President Felipe Calderon, who took office in December 2006, has deployed 50,000 soldiers and 20,000 federal police nationwide to combat drug cartels and other criminal organizations. The anti-drug operation, however, has failed to put a dent in the violence due, according to experts, to drug cartels’ ability to buy off the police and even high-ranking officials. EFE

source: latin american herald tribune

Mumbai terrorists: unrecognizable faces

also see my post: unclaimed property for additional context

also see this long post by C. Story, which contains information allegedly given to Bob Chapman by a former, high-ranking member of the CIA, retired, which describes, among many other things, that peeling faces off of people is a calling card of certain intelligence operatives. scroll down to: THE CATASTROPHE, COURTESY OF THE CORRUPTION OF TENET, CHENEY AND BUSH

4. Colombian authorities nab 10 FARC rebels near Venezuelan border

BOGOTA – Colombian authorities captured 10 FARC guerrillas in several operations in Norte de Santander province, which borders on Venezuela, the Colombian government said Tuesday….All the people captured are accused of belonging to the financial and military network of the FARC and they will be turned over to the appropriate authorities to define their legal situation with an eye toward future prosecution or adjudication.

more @ latin american herald tribune

5. date unknown, maybe 2007: the mystery of Eugene Island 330  and self-renewing oil supplies

Look what i found on the Net about Self Renewing Oil Supplies Field. Quite an interesting articles and please share your thought.

Eugene Island is an oil field in the gulf of Mexico, 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana. It was discovered in 1973 and began producing 15,000 barrels of oil a day which then slowed to about 4,000 barrels in 1989.

But then for no logical reason whatsoever, production spiked back up to 13,000 barrels a day.

What the researchers found when they analyzed the oil field with time lapse 3-D seismic imaging is that there was an unexplained deep fault in the bottom corner of the computer scan, which showed oil gushing in from a previously unknown deep source and migrating up through the rock to replenish the existing supply.

Furthermore, the analysis of the oil now being produced at Eugene Island shows that its age is geologically different from the oil produced there after the refinery first opened. Suggesting strongly that it is now emerging from a different, unexplained source.

The last estimates of probable reserves shot up from 60 million barrels to 400 million barrels.

Both the scientists and geologists from the big oil companies have seen the evidence and admitted that the Eugene Island oil field is refilling itself.

Odd Reservoir Off Louisiana Prods Oil Experts to Seek a Deeper Meaning
By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

This completely contradicts peak oil theory and with technology improving at an accelerating pace it seems obvious that there are more Eugene Islands out there waiting to be discovered. So the scientific community needs to embrace these possibilities and lobby for funding into finding more of these deep source replenishing oilfields.

The existence of self-renewing oil fields shatters the peak oil myth. If oil is a naturally replenishing inorganic substance then how can it possibly run out?

source: offshoreman


no mistake

This is terrorism.

Just across the US border.
Young people celebrating a soccer championship and a birthday.
Killed at a house party.
By drug cartels.
Randomly.
And it must have been a misunderstanding…because these were good kids.

But there’s no mistake, no misunderstanding. This is the idea.

Drugs. Danger. Close. Youth. Sports……”Random.”

It’s NOT random. This is terrorism. Conditioning your mind. It’s all in the papers. You only have to look. They want you to know this, very much, that there’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing even that THEY can do, because they tried. See? It’s hopeless. You can do everything right, and the authorities can try to protect you, but the terrorists will still strike. You can put your children into sports and keep them away from drugs, and they can still be targeted. That’s the message coming through loud and clear in all the important papers. Do you get it?

Terrorism is organized crime. The only question we need to answer: Who organizes it? And we already know the answer to that question.

For example, plots in Turkey are being exposed day by day, where the fascist group Ergenekon, which is tied to Mossad and the CIA and corrupt elements of the Turkish military, has a 5,000 page document planning acts of terrorism, to be blamed on al qaeda, including killing 200-300 Turkish children on a field trip, with the express purpose of toppling the Turkish government (Erdogan & Gul), and ushering in a military dictatorship. Seriously. This is what we’re dealing with. Click through to aangirfan.

LA Times: Reporting from Mexico City - Authorities in Ciudad Juarez said Monday that they have no idea what motivated a weekend shooting attack against a group of young partygoers that killed at least 16 people in the border city.

The death toll rose from 14 after two more victims died Monday from wounds suffered during the assault, in which gunmen in seven vehicles sealed off the street and opened fire on a party packed with teenagers. More than a dozen people were wounded during the attack around midnight Saturday.

The majority of the dead were under 20, and most were high school or college students..

..”The violence has always been between the criminal groups, [but] in this case in particular — good kids, students, athletes — there is no apparent motive for these deeds, and that is what concerns Juarez residents most today,” Reyes said during a radio interview. “This case is very difficult for us.”

The International News: Ferriz also encouraged local citizens to give information and tips through a new anonymous system.

“To solve this all us citizens of Juarez should insist that this case is solved. We obviously require the participation of local citizens and it is important to encourage everyone to participate in the “crime stoppers” system. It’s an anonymous system that allows information to be truly confidential. Not even the authorities know the identity of those who give information,” he said….Violence is escalating even as federal police and soldiers patrol the streets. Some 2,650 people were killed in drug violence in Ciudad Juarez last year and cartel murders have jumped since the start of 2010.

NYT: Juárez has become ground zero in the government’s war against drug traffickers, as rival cartels use their enormous firepower to fight over drug distribution and routes across the border to Texas.

Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said Monday that investigators had no motive for the crime and that the victims were “innocent civilians.”…As they cowered in their houses, neighbors dialed emergency services, but soldiers and police officers did not arrive until after the shooting had stopped….A neighbor who gave his name only as Hector was quoted by The Associated Press as having said the students must have been attacked by mistake….Last month, the federal police said that 2,000 additional officers would be sent to the city to add to the soldiers and state police officers patrolling Ciudad Juárez. Five more people were killed in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa early Sunday when gunmen fired repeatedly on their car. Among the dead were a state police officer and a 16-year-old girl, state officials said.

Chinaview: Some 20 armed men entered the house and shot at them before escaping the crime scene in seven vehicles….Mexico is the key transit route for U.S.-bound cocaine from South America and the country itself is a top producer of marijuana and heroin.

Dallas News: Like most killings here, the motives remain unclear: Most of those interviewed said the teens had nothing to do with drugs. What’s troubling, though, is that the latest bloodbath marks a watershed moment for this city, as the victims – all students who grew up together – were not gathered at a bar or a rehab center but at a private home….It comes just weeks after President Felipe Calderon sent 2,000 U.S.-trained federal police officers to help restore order in this city. They joined about 7,000 soldiers and other local and state authorities to take on cartels in Juárez fighting to control drug distribution routes leading to the United States, the world’s largest drug consumer market. Juárez is across the Rio Grande from El Paso. For about two weeks, Calderon’s latest strategy seemed to be working as the killings fell dramatically. But it didn’t last. Since Thursday, at least 40 people had been killed, bringing the total for January to more than 220 people. In 2009, more than 2,700 people were killed, making Juárez the deadliest city in the Americas and one of the most violent in the world.

Others blamed the federal agents standing guard or federal investigators who were trying to piece together what had happened and why. They complained that the police and soldiers took too long to arrive after the emergency calls were made. And when they arrived, they wasted too much time before taking the victims to a nearby hospital. Some parents, out of frustration, said they took their children in their private vehicles. As two investigators walked by slowly, with notepads out, some of the relatives hissed at them and shook their heads in disgust. “Don’t waste your time or mine,” said one woman, who said her name was Teresa. Like most, she spoke on the condition of anonymity, explaining that she trusted no one in a country where more than 95 percent of all crimes remain unsolved. She answered a few questions and then buried her face in her hands and burst into tears. Two of the victims were her nephews. Both were baseball fanatics and had left their gloves in the front yard after playing a few hours before the massacre.

The victims’ final hours were replayed between family members as they looked for clues. The day they were killed, some studied or ran errands for their parents or played football or softball. By early evening, they washed up and prepared to celebrate their friend’s 19th birthday at a nearby home provided by a parent to keep the teens out of town where they feared the killings are more common. “We did everything right,” Soto said. “We raised them to be good, educated people, to dream of a better future. Where did we go wrong?”

LA Times, Headline: As Mexican teens celebrate school soccer win, gunmen open fire…Last month, the Calderon administration took a new tack. Amid widespread complaints that soldiers were trampling people’s rights, the government decided to reduce the army’s profile by pulling troops off the streets and sent in 3,000 more federal police officers to carry out patrolling and investigative duties.

UK Press Association: Police officials said witnesses told them there were at least 15 attackers.

Violence also rocked the oceanside Mexican community of Lazaro Cardenas. Police in the south-western city say that, just after midnight on Saturday, about 20 heavily armed gunmen riding in trucks with tinted windows attacked a police station with grenades and assault rifles, killing a police officer and two civilians - a mother and her son who had come to pay a fine.

Also early on Sunday morning, three women and two men, all identified as Mexican citizens, were murdered while driving in their van with California number plates near the western Mexican city of Navolato. The bodies of the five victims, including a 16-year-old girl, were found riddled with bullets, said Martin Gastelum, attorney general for the state of Sinaloa, where Navolato is located. Authorities also found more than 60 spent shell casings from Kalashnikov assault rifles in the van, Gastelum said.

CNN: “There was no situation that provoked it,” Reyes said. “The people who died were young. They were good people. There was no association with any crime group.”

The attack occurred around 12:30 a.m. local time Sunday in southern Juarez, Municipal Police communications spokesman Jacinto Seguro said. “Witnesses said the gunmen arrived in seven cars, closing down the streets and blocking exits,” Seguro said. “They then stormed into the party and began shooting as the group was watching a soccer game,” he said, adding that windshields and windows on the cars were darkly tinted. Reyes said Monday there were at least four vehicles and up to seven. The number fluctuates, he said, depending on the survivors’ memories.

“Now, the danger is that they will come into anyone’s home and shoot anybody,” said Teresa Henriquez, an aunt of one of the victims, according to El Universal newspaper. “We have no one to protect us or defend us.” Despite thousands of troops being deployed to Juarez, the violence there is unabated.

politics, terrorism and sports

This story appeared recently (1/21/10) in what appears to be an Indian tabloid-style paper. It has several important details about Mohammed Abdul Khwaja, a purported terrorist.

According to the Indian police:

  • Khwaja, age 30, commands a militant group, Huji for South India
  • Khwaja was caught by the Hyderabad Special Task Force recently
  • Khwaja recruited local youth for training
  • Khwaja recruited and/or trained Raziuddin Nasir, who was arrested, to conduct suicide attacks on Western tourists in Goa
  • Khwaja is a close associate of Shahid Bilal, who masterminded the suicide attack on Hyderabad’s Special Task Force headquarters in 2005
  • Khwaja is also linked to the Hyderabad twin blasts of 2007
  • Khwaja worked in Saudi Arabia
  • Khwaja is Nasir’s handler

Click here to watch some television reports about this by an Indian program, Inside Story (a la Fox News). Some points made:

  • RAW nabs Khwaja, Huji commander and pointman for arranging terrorists locally (part 1)
  • ISI planning to strike oil refineries in India, RSS headquarters, and public events
  • with the aim of wrecking the Indian economy
  • senior ISI officer Mohd coordinates strikes against India
  • ISI coordinating activities of LeT, HuM, JeM and manages terror camps
  • RAW lured him into a trap in Colombo, Sri Lanka (part 2)
  • Khwaja has named names to RAW
  • terrorism, politics and sports are interlinked, since athletes are the “ambassadors” of a country (part 3)
  • the passions from a sports snub have taken on a life of their own (part 4)

^^^^^^^

“Terrible events produce outrage, and when people are outraged, they are all the more likely to seek causes that justify their emotional states, and also to attribute those events to intentional action.” — from Cass Sunstein’s conspiracy paper, download here and hang upside by your ankles while you read it — it’s basically their mind-fucking instruction manual

^^^^^^^

Attacks against India conflate with attacks against the UK. According to a report in the Sri Lanka Guardian, it was Khwaja who provided the intelligence that led to the UK terrorism alert last weekend. Worth a read, as he manages to mention every talking point plus the kitchen sink.

According to the “Sunday Times” of the UK as quoted by “The Hindu” of January 25,2010, the Indian intelligence agencies are reported to have alerted MI-5, the British security service,about the suspected plans of Pakistan-based pro-Al Qaeda elements to hijack an Indian aircraft originating from Delhi or Mumbai and crash it into a British city. The recent upgradation of threat level in the UK from “substantial” to “severe” but one below “imminent” has been attributed to this Indian warning. There is a possibility that the terrorist plans might be related to the January 28 London conference on Afghanistan. According to the “Sunday Times”, the Indian intelligence came to know of this plot during the interrogation of Amjad Khwaja of the HUJI, who was arrested recently in India.

Another source: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has asked all airlines to conduct a mandatory 100 percent secondary ladder point check until January 31 on all aircraft flying between Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Hmm. I wonder what happens after January 31st.

In any event, India’s response for public celebrations: With intelligence inputs warning of threats posed by LeT and other militant groups, security establishments in Delhi and the state capitals on Monday went on top alert putting in place a ground-to-air apparatus to thwart any attempt to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations. A heavy security blanket was thrown around the capital with snipers and mobile hit teams fanning across the city and nearly 15,000 police and paramilitary personnel being deployed to guard the 8-km-long route of the Republic Day parade and other key installations. Anti-aircraft guns have also been stationed in certain crucial areas.

Good timing huh?

^^^^^^^

Some recent attacks on athletes — Sri Lanka, Angola, Mexico (they’re getting closer…):

3/4/09 - Sri Lankan cricket team: Pakistani police hunted on Wednesday for gunmen who mounted a bold attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team in Lahore as officials tried to figure out who was behind it. The attack on Tuesday killed seven Pakistanis — six police and the driver of a bus carrying match officials. Six members of the Sri Lankan team and a British coach were among 16 wounded in the daylight attack as their bus approached the cricket stadium.

That attack was linked to Huji: The prosecution on Friday, told a Delhi court that a Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-jehadi Islami (HUJI) terrorist, who along with five others are accused of plotting to kidnap Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, had confessed that he came to abduct the cricketers and then bargain the release of two members of the outfit….Besides three Pakistan-based accused, Tariq Mohammed, Ashfaq Ahmed and Arshad Khan, the others are - Mufti Israr, Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Dar.

1/3/10 - Attack on Togo’s football team in Angola: Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor escaped unharmed after a bus carrying the Togo national team came under attack from gunfire in Angola. … According to reports, at least three Togo players and the bus driver suffered injuries during the attack. Some reports suggest the driver was killed.

South African response for the World Cup: South Africa’s police force has bought helicopters for air surveillance, acquired mobile police stations to be stationed at all key venues and will supply a 24-hour ground patrol using more than 40,000 specially trained officers and private security guards. The military has also been called in to provide additional security.

1/26/10 - Salvadore Cabanas shot in Mexico City nightclub: Two suspects were captured on a security camera walking out of the nightclub toilet where Cabañas was found. Another camera filmed them leaving the building less than a minute later and driving away in a car without number plates. Mexico City’s attorney general, Miguel Angel Mancera, said the suspects were José J Balderas Garza, nicknamed El Modelo, and his bodyguard. Balderas was a regular at the Bar Bar club, which was also popular with footballers and other celebrities. With robbery ruled out by the authorities, the motive remains a mystery. Balderas is reportedly from Sinaloa, a state in Mexico renowned for its drug traffickers, although no evidence has yet emerged of any link to organised crime.

Not yet.

^^^^^^^

Now, this is just me, but I can’t help but wonder if the evidence will lead in a certain direction, like, for instance, to Lebanon and Hizbollah, perhaps. Because we have lately heard about connections and drug smuggling between Venezuela, West Africa and over to Europe and then Lebanon. And corruption in Africa. And threats to Israel. And we’ve also seen the forward connections established in corporate media between Lebanon and West Africa, in light of the Ethiopian plane crash. So all this has been floating around in the herd attention space. All this stuff is part of the narrative. It’s part of preparing people, in baby steps, for what is going to happen next.

bizarre coincidences to ponder

When Moshe Saba’s helicopter crashed outside Mexico City, most of the stories cited the foggy weather. One source, an Israeli investment news service, cited eyewitness accounts that the helicopter burst into flames before crashing:

Mexican Jewish billionaire Moises (Moshe) Saba, 46, along with members of his family, have died in a crash of a helicopter outside Mexico City,. Six people were killed altogether, including the pilot. The Saba family is one of Mexico’s wealthiest families. The family’s pharmaceuticals firm, Grupo Casa Saba SA de CV (NYSE; Mexico: SAB) is one of the family’s business interests, which also include real estate, communications, and media. Moshe Saba was one of the investors whom Joseph Maiman approached to participate in the investment in Channel 10 in 2004, but he declined. Eyewitness accounts said that the helicopter burst into flames while still in the air. The helicopter hit a billboard before hitting the ground. Rescue services found no survivors. Although the accident occurred in a built-up area, there were no casualties on the ground.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard went to the site of the crash. He said that Mexico’s civil aviation authorities had opened an investigation. The accident was believed to have been caused by the stormy and foggy weather conditions at the time in the area on Sunday night. Moshe Saba was close to Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and was a donor to many haredi (ultra-orthodox) institutions. He also a donor to Zaka - Identification, Extraction and Rescue, which today announced that a delegation would go to Mexico City to identify the dead. Ovadia Yosef’s son, Rabbi David Yosef, will accompany the delegation.

You can find the link here.

It’s just kind of strange because the Ethiopian jet crash also took place in stormy weather, but eyewitness reports also note an explosion and fireball.

“The weather undoubtedly was very bad,” Aridi told reporters at the airport….Witnesses reported seeing flames as the plane plunged into the sea. One employee of a gas station near the site of the crash said he heard an explosion and saw “a huge ball of fire” as the plane crashed. Another witness said: “It was like the whole sea lit up.” The accident took place amid heavy rains and storms in Lebanon in the past two days that have caused heavy flooding and damage in some parts of the country.

So could it have been struck by lightning? Possibly, but unlikely.

Estimates show that each commercial airliner averages one lighting hit per year but the last crash that was attributed to lightning was in 1967 when the fuel tank exploded, causing the plane to crash.

The other weird thing was this story:

Police in Oslo are to investigate suspicions that Norwegian drug gangs may be connected to the grisly find of two burned bodies in the boot of a car in western Sweden last week….Though a full identification is not expected until the end of the week, family members of the supposed victims, with a background in northern Iraq, have already begun grieving their loss, Expressen reports. “The car is mine. I have lost hope that my son and his uncle are still alive. This is the worst catastrophe of my life,” the 25-year-old’s father told Expressen. The 42-year-old, a resident of Arvika in central Sweden, had previously lived in Oslo where he ran a business and had a large number of contacts. He was believed to have been travelling from the Norwegian capital to Malmö on the day of the macabre find. With him in the car was his 25-year-old nephew and three million Norwegian kronor ($535,000), believed to have been the proceeds of a drug deal, Dagbladet reports.

Today The Local reported that these victims were ’shot through the eye.’

At least one of the two victims of a brutal double murder in southern Sweden earlier this month was shot through the eye in a gangland-style execution, reports newspaper Aftonbladet. The older of two victims found in a burning Volvo car on January 6th, 2010, believed to be the 42-year-old uncle of the second victim, was shot through the eye, an anonymous police source told the newspaper.

Both men suffered fractured skulls, caused by an extremely powerful blow. “It would have required strong force and extreme violence,” said the police source.The attackers – we are sure there were several – were incredibly brutal.”

Police have yet to fully identify the victims and have issued an arrest warrant for a 35-year-old man, believed to have been part of the gang which carried out the executions at a house near Lund, before transporting the bodies along the E4 motorway and setting the car alight.

The murders are believed to be connected to an international drug smuggling ring, involving a Norwegian criminal gang, according to earlier police reports. According to local Swedish Radio in Halland county in western Sweden, a 44 year old Norwegian man is also wanted in connection with the crime.

And the last time I recall gory details like that was in relation to Mumbai.

the flames burning all around

Current interlinked narratives — apologies for the length:

1. UK raises the terror alert to “severe.” AS A RESULT of underpants bomber, the security services have tightened their vigilance.

Thus we shall be grateful for the crisis narrowly averted, hmm? It has borne the fruits of hyper-vigilance, a symptom, by the way, of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But who’s counting…

“We still face a real and serious threat to the U.K. from international terrorism, so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities and to support the police and security services in their continuing efforts to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity,” he said, adding that U.K. residents and travelers need to be “more aware.”Home Secretary Alan Johnson, as reported in USA Today

This brings UK policies in line with US DHS policies. We are all on the same page now, hallelujah. A terrorist attack is “highly likely,” but there’s no “intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent.”

What is the “intelligence” “suggesting?”

1. The increased concern followed intelligence analysis. Communications and activities of terror suspects were being monitored. The new “severe” threat is the second highest possible.

2. ‘We have a very adept and very focused counter-terrorism facility, people should be reassured by that.’ He said that moving to the different threat level meant people had to be more alert.

3. The danger assessment was made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which constantly reviews the situation. It looks at the intent and capabilities of terror groups. Although it means an attack is now believed to be almost certain, Mr Johnson stressed it was not expected in the very near future.

So the attack is “almost certain,” but not in the “very near future.” The “intelligence” “suggests” people need to be more “alert,” and more “concerned,” and to “carry on reporting suspicious events” to the “appropriate authorities” and “to support the police and security services” in their efforts to “discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity.” Roger that.

Note that all such vigilant efforts can be tied back to patsy underpants, who, by almost taking down that commercial airliner over Detroit, alerted us once again to the ever-present menace of international terrorism. SO he did us a favor in a way. See? He justified the increased vigilance, which now pays off. We Hope. Because, of course, we know the terrorists are so very wily, and they seem magically able to outwit even our best, most vigilant efforts. Let’s hope we don’t have any more of that unfortunate bugaboo: Human Error.

2. The tie to Africa and the Caribbean.

The UK terror alert measures followed a Tuesday meeting between Brown and President Obama. Brown said Britain and other countries face a “sharply growing threat” from al qaeda linked terrorists in Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia.

On Thursday Newtime Africa reported that the Jamaican cleric Abdullah al-Faisal had finally been deported, on the second attempt, from Kenya back to Jamaica. He was due in court. He left Kenya on a private chartered Gulfstream jet, last week.

Nairobi - Kenya has sent controversial Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal back to his homeland, a state prosecutor said Thursday, days after protests demanding his release turned deadly. Edward Okello told a Nairobi court where al-Faisal was due to appear that the cleric had been put on a private jet to Jamaica. Al-Faisal, who has served time in the UK for inciting racial hatred and is on international terrorist watch list, arrived in Kenya from Tanzania in late December, and was arrested around a week later. Kenya tried to deport him to The Gambia earlier this month, but he was sent back. Police on Friday broke up a demonstration in support of al-Faisal, firing bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Five protesters died from bullet wounds. The 45-year-old cleric was sentenced to four years imprisonment in Britain in 2003 after he called on his followers to kill Jews and Hindus. He was deported upon his release in 2007. Born Trevor William Forrest in St James, Jamaica, he went to Saudi Arabia aged 16 and converted to Islam.

Yes, he seems to get around, that notorious terrorist hater. He must have connections. But now, and I tell you this with a straight face, his whereabouts are not exactly known. Because, evidently, of the many righteous people in positions of authority, who have declined to issue him a transit visa, lest he pollute their pristine airspace with his terrorist fumes…or something….I guess it’s not exactly Human Error, or maybe it is but it is Well Intentioned. In any event it seems EXCEEDINGLY OBTUSE AND LEGALISTIC CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES for people who claim to be serious about fighting terrorism twenty four seven.

Their first effort stalled after several countries denied him an intransit visa and airlines that fly to friendly countries refused to transport him….Al Faisal’s exact location was not immediately clear. Officials say he had already left Kenya on a privately-chartered Gulfstream jet. But leader of the Kenya Muslim Rights Forum Al-Amin Kimathi, told the media the preacher was still at Nairobi airport. However sources at the airport later confirmed the plane had left, but not until several hours after he had been due in court.

Another source: First Tanzania refused him entry, and then on his way to the Gambia, an airline refused to take him beyond Nigeria because he is on several international terror watchlists.“We wanted to be furnished with documents to show which anti-terrorism police unit officers followed him, who is the pilot, which plane, and such other documents,’ Harun Ndubi said.

Another source: In Nairobi, Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’ appealed to Britain and the United States governments to allow a-Faisal to transit through their countries. He said the government was stuck with the preacher because all routes to Jamaica must connect through either Britain or America.

The minister said if al-Faisal was to be flown out of the country by the national carrier, Kenya Airways, the connection would be at Gatwick in Britain then to Kingston, Jamaica. However Britain has been adamantly opposed to allow al-Faisal to transit through London. The preacher once served a four-year jail term in that country for hate speech.

The other option available to Kenya, according to Mr Kajwang’ said, was an offer by the Qatar government allowing al-Faisal to transit through its capital Doha. However, the flight must connect through Miami in Florida, USA.

South Africa had also accepted to allow the preacher to pass through its airport en route to Brazil who have no problem either. But the flight has to go through Havana, Cuba, where authorities have declined the arrangement.

As such, Mr Kajwang’ said, Kenya was left “with the last option of hiring a plane but it must connect through somewhere to fuel and again we do not have the money.” Al-Faisal was expected in Kingston on Wednesday, the Jamaican newspaper reported.

Another source: Radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah El-Faisal is expected to arrive in Jamaica today. A Senior Officer in the Jamaica Constabulary Force told the Gleaner that El Faisal is to arrive at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston sometime this morning. The source also said the controversial cleric is to be placed under extra scrutiny by the police. However, the source declined to elaborate on the matter.

Despite international reports of the deportation, the Police High Command and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have both claimed ignorance of the exact date of arrival of El Faisal. They have also said that no extra security measures are to be implemented against the cleric despite the fact that he is on an international watch list of terrorists.

What a pain in the ass. Finally, it appears that he did indeed arrive safely in Jamaica! Phew! Traveling in style like a Rock Star.

JAMAICAN-BORN Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, was quizzed by Special Branch investigators for nearly an hour [hoo boy that sounds like a brutal interrogation! - ed.] when he returned to the island last night.

One investigator made it clear that al-Faisal had not broken any laws here, but said the police wanted to make sure they knew where and how to find him “because of the international attention he has received”.

“He is a very smart man. He can tell us he is going to be here or there, but we want to make sure,” said one investigator, who recorded the licence plate of the minibus that whisked al-Faisal from the Norman Manley International Airport. [GOOD IDEA! - ed.]

Confronted by reporters as he exited the airport, the controversial Muslim cleric said he was too tired to answer any questions after two days of flying.

He would not disclose the route his plane took, but said the flight had been paid for by a South African company.

Informed sources told The Gleaner that after leaving Kenya, al-Faisal’s plane made fuel stops in the West African country of Burkina Faso, the Republic of Cape Verde and Antigua.

One source said al-Faisal told investigators the trip cost US$500,000.

The controversial cleric was ordered deported by Kenyan officials who labelled him a security threat. However, since the deportation order, several countries, including the United States, have refused to allow planes carrying al-Faisal to fly over their air space or provide him with an in-transit visa.

(I can’t believe they made him carry his own bags!)

This is as good a time as any to point out that some people in Nigeria and some people in Jamaica find it grossly unfair to be associated in the public mind with patsy underpants and notorious criminal al-Faisal, seeing as both men were raised and educated elsewhere.

“This is just one instance of a Nigerian who, it is clearly established, has no link with any fundamentalist group or any interest group within Nigeria, not even with his parents….America should look inward and search their souls, there is something wrong with their system and they should not punish Nigerians who are very law-abiding and good international citizens for the failure and irresponsibility of American operatives, Nigeria will not take that.” - Nigerian Senate President David Mark

“Indeed, he is a citizen of Jamaica by birth and no one can deny him access. However, he was taught and trained in a foreign territory and not in Jamaica. For example, he was converted to Islam and completed eight years of studies at a university in Saudi Arabia. He resided in the United Kingdom for 26 years and was deported from that country on May 25, 2007 after spending time in prison for criminal offences…His only connection to Jamaica is by birth, and he did not relinquish his citizenship or ties with Jamaica. Therefore, Jamaica has to accommodate such an individual in a country that already has a tarnished image. Abdullah al-Faisal has created a bad image for himself and has cast a bad shadow on everybody living in Jamaica, especially the Muslim group whose members are law-abiding citizens. Upon his arrival, authorities will have their work cut out for them in order to monitor his whereabouts.” — letter to the editor, Jamaica Observer

Except that the authorities appear to be treating al-Faisal like a ROCK STAR after his half mil private chartered Gulfstream flight paid for by some South African company after the US and UK were prevented — by a fit of moral compunction — to facilitate the criminal’s extradition to a court of law.

Weird, huh? After all that talk about vigilance.

3. Meanwhile, Gates had barely left India for Pakistan when the terrorist threats began in earnest there.

http://cbs2.com/national/Britian.terror.threat.2.1443420.html

This move by British officials comes as Indian authorities issued a terrorism alert over chatter that al Qaeda operatives planned to hijack a plane. India has largely been free of terror attacks since 10 heavily armed militants affiliated with a Pakistan-based militant group rampaged through the commercial capital Mumbai for three days in November 2008, killing 166 people.

India issued a terror alert at all its airports Thursday after the government received warnings about a possible attack, aviation spokeswoman Moushumi Chakravarty said.

A report in The Indian Express newspaper, which Chakravarty confirmed, said intelligence officials had uncovered a plot by militants linked to al Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group to hijack an Air India or Indian Airlines flight destined for an unspecified South Asian country. There were no indications that the United Kingdom was in any way related to the uncovered hijack plot.

I collected about twenty or so stories this week here and here to flesh this out. The overall arc is the US will give cover to India while Pakistan-linked terrorists attack India or another Southeast Asian country, involving India. The key point being, evidently, to justify a response from India.

Just like the patsy underpants attack justified a response from the US and the UK.

This post deals with the connections between India, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and terrorism.

4. Meanwhile, the Clash of Civilization fires burn brightly, and Nicholas Sarkozy has the gasoline ready just in case.

But the UK is in Europe. In order for terrorism to be an international menace, problems must be seeded all over the world. *YOU* may experience difficulty traveling, but unlike you, terrorists use their mysterious international connections to travel, so that they show up halfway around the world, dammit, to commit mayhem in The West, and nobody can understand anything except that they came from a Muslim country.

Nicholas Sarkozy seems to have a special skill for mind-fucking. Notice that he parrots, almost religiously, whatever position Tel Aviv favors. Notice at the same time, he plays kiss kiss hug hug with Lebanon. Israel wants to bomb Lebanon again, just as they did in 2006. Make no mistake about it. Whether it’s Ghajar, or the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, or an attack on UNIFIL — something will take place to justify attacking Lebanon. And Lebanon is connected to Hizbollah, and Hizbollah is connected to Iran, and so whatever happens it will progress like a lit fuse with Wile E. Coyote until it reaches Iran.

To that end, Sarkozy makes various inflammatory statements. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3838323,00.html

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Saturday that he is “convinced that Iran is pursuing a nuclear program and the Israel will not abide that,” the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported.

According to the report, Sarkozy, who met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Paris, said France has proof that Tehran is developing a nuclear bomb and that Israel may choose to take action to neutralize the threat.

Oh, well, PLEASE DO SHARE THE “PROOF!”

The paper also quoted Sarkozy as saying that if given a choice between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he would choose the latter.

The French president also spoke of the recent international sanctioned proposed against the Islamic Republic by the UN Security Council, saying such sanctions may soon become a reality.

Meanwhile, Sarkozy also announced that Paris was willing to supply Beirut with whatever military equipment it needed.

Talk about running both sides of the conflict. Even though France worries, they just worry half to death, that the weapons will end up in Hizbullah’s hands.But, at the same time, they don’t want to leave the Lebanese unprotected.

Sources close to the French president told al-Hayat that Sarkozy said his country “cannot support and protect Lebanon’s independence without giving its military the necessary means of defense.” France, he reportedly added, needs neither the US nor Israel’s permission to support Lebanon’s independence. Should Israel views the issue as problematic, he added, “We will reach an understanding with it on the matter.”

In any case, there’s nothing to worry about because France and Israel are friends, and the only danger to Lebanon comes from Hizbullah and Iran. !!

Kouchner said Lebanese’ mounting concerns amid Israeli threats of another war were “not justified.” “Israel is our friend, and if there was a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hizbullah in the best interest of Iran,” Kouchner warned.

Un-flipping-believable. So while all that is going on, Sarkozy — big world leader — keeps Muslim women in his cross-hairs in France, making sure that the French people have an annoying distraction caused by Muslims, while spinning it all as a morality play, and being a big tease about the whole thing just to keep the tension simmering.

Mr Sarkozy last week reiterated his view that the full veil was not welcome in France “because it is contrary to our values and contrary to the ideals we have of a woman’s dignity”. But he stopped short of calling for a legal ban in all public places, as proposed by some members of his party.

Another source: In a country whose national emblem is Marianne, a bare-chested woman, there is deepening concern over the all-encompassing garb, often black or brown and worn with gloves, attire typical in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Here, it is widely viewed as a gateway to radical Islam, an attack on gender equality and other French values, and a gnawing away at the nation’s secular foundation.

And of course he faithfully channels whatever Bibi would say regarding Iran.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday called for “strong measures” by the United Nations Security Council against Iran, to exert pressure on Tehran to return to negotiations on its nuclear program. Speaking in Paris, Sarkozy said that the European Union should also “assume its responsibilities” in putting pressure on Iran to enter into talks.
Sarkozy warned that hesitation by the international community on the issue would carry “a great weight of responsibility”, reports Reuters. “Despite all our efforts, and a new engagement by the United States, and despite our ambitious proposals for cooperation, the Iranian authorities are blocked in a one-way street of proliferation and radicalism,” he said in an address to diplomats based in France.
“Today, they have added to that the brutal repression of their own people,” he added.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed that world powers would “not back down” in the face of Iran’s continued refusal to prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful. Iran has shunned a United Nations-brokered nuclear fuel deal, aimed at easing the standoff over its nuclear program. Tehran, which insists that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, has vowed to press forward with its uranium enrichment program, despite UN demands to halt such work.

They demand Iran prove a negative, and they offer NO PROOF of Iran’s supposed nuclear program. They have none. If France has some proof, show it to the world. There’s probably nothing there but another forged document.

Why does this next war need to happen? The nuclear program narrative justifies what they want to do — which is bomb various targets in Iran. Iran’s alleged nuclear program, for which no evidence has ever been provided, makes a good excuse to bomb Iran’s oil fields — to control Iran’s resources. Which must happen because the failing fiat currency, the US dollar, needs to be replaced, and they don’t want any Islamic non-usurious banking system luring their wage slaves away. Who controls the currency? The Rothschilds and the Rockefellers and the other banking families.

All the rest is psyops and profiteering and human sacrifice.

going missing

Those conspiracy theorists…

You see, this is why people stick with trusted news sources, like ABC news. ABC news brings this disturbing report that some Haitian children have gone missing from hospitals. UNICEF suspects these children may have been fed into an international trafficking ring.

United Nations officials say children have gone missing from hospitals in Haiti since the devastating January 12 earthquake, raising fears of trafficking for adoption abroad. “We have documented around 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time,” said UNICEF adviser Jean Luc Legrand. “UNICEF has been working in Haiti for many years and we knew the problem with the trade of children in Haiti that existed already beforehand.

“Unfortunately, many of these trade networks have links with the international adoption market.”

An ADOPTION ring! That’s right. Orphaned children might be smuggled out of desperate, ravaged Haiti to be given loving homes with white people. Of course that doesn’t quite explain why the children disappear from hospitals, does it.

Here’s the little faux-outrage politically correct bullshit argument that I’m sure somebody somewhere will go running with: This is outrageous. Surely in every single instance, the people must have only the purest of intentions. But that does not mean they can take these poor children away without following the legal procedures. Even if they only want to save them.

And here is the matching argument for the other foot: This is outrageous. Why should these children be left to die for lack of care and good homes when wonderful people can take them out of that hell right now and give them wonderful homes? Leave these good people alone they are only trying to help.

That controversy oughta keep a few people busy for a while…

The agency said it had warned countries during the past week not to step up adoptions from Haiti in the immediate wake of the quake. However several are fast-tracking adoption procedures already under way, including Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States. Mr Legrand said the situation was similar to the aftermath of the tsunami in Asia five years ago.

Trafficking networks were springing into action immediately after the disaster and taking advantage of the weakness of local authorities and relief coordination “to kidnap children and get them out of the country”. Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said child enslavement and trafficking in Haiti was “an existing problem and could easily emerge as a serious issue over the coming weeks and months”.

The UN mission in Haiti has stepped up surveillance of roads, UNICEF officials said. Mr Legrand said there was separate but only anecdotal evidence of people taking children by road to the neighbouring Dominican Republic and loading children on to planes. “We have seen over the past years many children being taken out of the country without any legal procedure,” he said. “This is going on. This is happening now. We are starting to have the first evidence of that, this is unquestionable.”

He was unable to give details on the 15 missing children or their condition or clearly connect the anecdotal observations in Haiti’s chaos with trafficking.

The cases were documented by social workers and by partner non-governmental organisations working for UNICEF in hospitals.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/23/2799492.htm

Do you see that trafficking networks are….well….good? Or at least not all bad? They spring into action immediately and take advantage of the weakness of local authorities to kidnap children and get them out of the country. See? It’s “nuanced.”

But of course, we can take our sharp little stick and poke around that trafficking idea and ask some more pertinent questions, like: what other rings might be operating in the chaos in Haiti — aside from the fairy tale adoption rings of people who only ever have the best intentions?

Sex trafficking? Human slaves? Organ trafficking? You know, it’s kind of funny that Mr. Legrand would say: “This is going on. This is happening now. We are starting to have the first evidence of that, this is unquestionable.”

Because, to be honest, the authorities have known about these problems for years.

And they also know about the international pedophile rings.

And that doesn’t even begin to touch upon the organ trafficking angle.

But ABC News doesn’t do conspiracy theories.

and so it would be very rude of me indeed to cast an aspersion on this whole haiti roadside hospital narrative and ask just how the sam hill did the israelis, out of all the people in the world who have converged on the little island, how exactly did the israelis manage to get their hospital equipment set up? i thought there were some bottlenecks but i guess they have connections. lucky huh? and what exactly do they do in the mash field hospital with all the little orphaned children? does anyone oversee anything going on or would that be rude? would that insinuate that maybe, you know, given the circumstances of the israeli organ stealing that has happened in the past with disadvantaged populations that maybe our israeli bestest friends could use some chaperones around the destitute orphans of haiti, lest their little kidneys go missing?

big meeting in Haiti - with updates

The disaster in Haiti compounds long-running disasters already in progress, and known to authorities.

If you’re a child born to poor parents in Haiti, chances are your career options are slave, slave, or slave. That’s because approximately 225,000 children in Haiti live in situations of modern-day slavery. That’s nearly a quarter million child slaves in one country. The existence of Haitian child slaves, often referred to as restaveks, has been documented for a long time. However, this is the first time the scope of the issue has truly been understood to be so large.Restaveks are usually children from extremely poor families who are sent away to work as domestic servants in wealthier homes. The children aren’t paid for their work, but provided shelter and a sometimes meager meal supply. In the best case scenarios, families will send their restavek children to school. But restaveks often work long days performing a variety of household tasks for nothing more that a meal or two a day. Two-thirds of restaveks are girls, and they are extremely vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse from the families who house and control them. The life of a restavek child in Haiti often varies between bleak and hopeless, and many children never successfully leave their slave conditions.

What happens to poor children, orphaned children, slave children when chaos strikes? Well, one would hope they get rescued but that’s not what happens. Because these problems are never meant to be resolved. People in authority don’t actually resolve problems, even when they know about them. They can’t, you see. They’re not supposed to.

In 2002 the BBC reported on a UN report about child trafficking in Haiti.

Thousands of Haitian children are being smuggled into the Dominican Republic each year and forced to beg or work as manual labourers, according to a United Nations report. About 2,500 minors, some as young as five-years-old, are brought into the country illegally, the report’s authors found. Traffickers on either side of the shared border smuggle the youngsters into the Dominican Republic to work as farm hands, construction workers and street peddlers.

A year ago The Guardian conducted an investigation and reported more disturbing details about trafficking in Trinidad and Tobago, not all so far away:

PORT OF SPAIN: Sunday December 21 2008, The Guardian newspaper of Trinidad published a disturbing report in which it alleges that human traffickers are on the prowl, looking to lure children and women to sell them for big money. The report states that “children, because they live longer, are sold for over $200,000. Adults can fetch as much as $100,000. They are mostly used as sex slaves and sometimes for slave labour. “Sometimes, they are used to make pay-offs in the drug trade — a well placed source informed the Sunday Guardian.” The report stated that men owing drug lords are being lured into capturing humans, who will be sold for payment of their debts. A source, pleading for anonymity for fear of his life, said victims were drugged almost immediately after capture and their cellphones switched off.

A Sunday Guardian investigation revealed that the lucrative human trafficking ring is operating in the Cascade/St Ann’s area, between Sangre Grande and Tunapuna, Diego Martin and in South. Women have mysteriously disappeared from the Cascade area without a trace during the past year and “several straying young boys have vanished from the streets of San Fernando“.

The report further stated that the clandestine local trade, which operates through a well organised network and is supported by several powerful agencies, is linked to an international human trafficking ring.

Even some policemen are convinced that there is a human trafficking ring in Trinidad and they suspect that a number of missing persons have been victims of the trade, but were reluctant to say more. According to the newspaper report, “fingers are pointing at a popular businessman, who has been described as the ‘big man’ in the human trade.” “He’s popular. He is also linked with other businessmen across the country.”

The information was unearthed by a local resident after a female relative went missing several months ago. The man said his family, desperate for answers, launched their own investigation with the support of a police officer and local private investigators.

The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago denied these reports, citing lack of evidence.

The Guardian newspaper reported that she said there is “no empirical evidence to show the existence of human trafficking… it must be noted, however, that T&T was part of a world which was shrinking in size through the effects of globalisation.”

Where does the evidence go? What is the evidence? People are evidence. If the people are being trafficked, then it stands to reason that to find the evidence, one must find the trafficked people. But where do they go?

This, of course, gets to the heart of the problem. Because obviously, if we have rich and powerful people feeding poor and powerless human beings into an organized international trafficking ring, the empirical evidence will always go missing. That’s the point! The people — the evidence — just “disappear,” to be used up and sacrificed in whatever evil manner suits those who purchase them. With the judicious application of money or blackmail in key spots — airport security, customs, judges, police, social services, etc. — the problem can go on forever and ever and ever. Nobody will ever be able to solve it, since the people/evidence disappear and are eventually discarded. And if anyone accuses the powerful people involved of human trafficking, he or she will never be believed, or else he or she might have an unfortunate accident.

One might also note the Jamaican al Qaeda terrorist al-Faisal, who has most conveniently appeared bar-hopping in Africa. Of course he has been linked to the underpants bomber, and is on an international list of suspected terrorists, but that doesn’t seem to slow him down much.

Born in St James, Jamaica, in 1963 under the name of Trevor William Forrest and raised as a Christian by parents who were very active in the Salvation Army, al-Faisal’s career as a terrorist couldn’t be more surprising. He is believed to have left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the age of 16, where he obtained a degree in Islamic studies, after eight years, before returning to the United Kingdom.

Hahaha, no it “couldn’t be more surprising.” Good one. But the show is moving to The West, via the Caribbean. The Caribbean will link Africa, Europe, Asia, Russia, the Middle East, drugs, terrorism. Human trafficking we don’t discuss, that is taboo. All these other things will be discussed, in the context of dangers to The Good People of The West.

From a 2005 report:

Security threats emanating from the Caribbean Basin typically revolve around its position as a key trans-shipment point for South American narcotics to the United States and Europe, as well as illegal immigration, money laundering, and other forms of banking and document fraud. Indeed, organized criminal networks from as far away as Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Asia, in addition to U.S. and South American organizations, have a formidable presence in the region.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, however, many observers began to look at the region’s potential as a base of operations for radical Islamist terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda to stage attacks against the U.S. and its interests in the Western Hemisphere. Upon cursory examination, the region’s geographic proximity to the U.S., porous borders, widespread poverty and endemic corruption, energy reserves, not to mention the tens of thousands of Americans and Europeans who vacation there at any given time of the year, make it an attractive target.

Unfortunately, a cursory examination is all that is ever required to weave a plausible narrative. In fact, the examination must remain cursory at all times. No digging around please. Cass Sunstein does not approve of conspiracy theories. It would be rude to notice that the best and the brightest know all about the links between international organized crime — drug trafficking, arms trafficking, people trafficking and money laundering — and they can get together and have important meetings to discuss coordinating policies and strengthen regional cooperation blah blah BLAH (and wink wink wink), and they have every resource imaginable at their disposal, but nothing ever gets solved. http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID=8906&Cr=human&Cr1=

17 November 2003Latin American and Caribbean countries will discuss how to combat the practice of trafficking in people later this week during a three-day conference organized by the United Nations.The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has arranged the summit, to be held in Bogotá from Wednesday, through its country offices in Colombia and Ecuador as it fights the disturbing rise in human trafficking in the region.

The conference is expected to focus on finding ways to strengthen regional collaboration and developing agreements for better international judicial and police cooperation, according to a statement issued today by the UN Information Service in Vienna.

UNODC says indicators show that international organized crime, especially drug trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering, is closely linked to trafficking in people. The reasons for trafficking can vary from forced labour to sexual exploitation.

The summit will be attended by experts and government officials from across Latin America and the Caribbean, as well government officials from Sweden and the Czech Republic, UNODC officials from Africa and Asia, the International Organization for Migration and academics in the field.

And so, as they all rush down to Haiti, all these trusty experts from all over the world, and proceed to tell us to keep sending money and at the same time we hear how difficult it is for the aid to get delivered to the people in need. I’m sorry but are you fucking kidding me? Is it not the same in Every Single Disaster??? THE SAME???? All this rush of people and money to the desperate people in need, and somehow, the experts can never figure out how to make it all come together on the ground? It is as if they never learn anything, and each disaster is the first disaster, and they are surprised that the roads are blocked with debris and there are bottlenecks. But please send more money. And the people of course, reduced to survival mode, do what they need to do to survive, and then we hear about the looting and the rioting? Tsk tsk tsk. Yes, of course, chaos.

That’s the narrative. It’s all so unfortunate, but no one in authority is ever to blame.

One might find alternative explanations, but Cass Sunstein would not approve.

We see in Haiti a suitable environment to take advantage, to have meetings and coordinate policies and strengthen regional cooperation for the international crime syndicate.

UPDATE: Actual “big meeting” takes place, with stunning proposals like this:

Fernandez also proposed the rehabilitation of the maritime and aerial ports of Haiti handle the humanitarian aid.

Yeah. GOOD idea. Somebody should get on that right away.

Attending parties at the pre-summit include: Dominican Republic’s President Leonel Fernandez and the representatives of Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominica, Spain, Jamaica, United States, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago, reps from the World Bank, the Inter American Development Bank, the Community of the Caribbean, the International Red Cross, the UN, the OAS and the European Union, and Haitian President Rene Preval. The actual summit will be January 25 in Montreal, “to evaluate the work plans drafted by the United Nations (UN) and Organization of American States (OAS) in Haiti.”

Proposals and evaluations.

UPDATE: Haiti quake creates thousands of new orphans. Officials can’t even venture a number and they sure as heck don’t know what to do with them all.

Tens of thousands of children have been orphaned by the earthquake, aid groups say - so many that officials won’t venture a number. With so many buildings destroyed and growing chaos in the capital, it is conceivable that many children are alone.

…In the meantime, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said the United Nations is establishing a group whose mission on the ground in Haiti will be to protect children - orphans and non-orphans alike - against trafficking, kidnapping and sex abuse.

Oh geez, it’s too bad the UN didn’t know about all these problems sooner otherwise they could have some programs up and running already. Oh WAIT A SECOND….

UPDATE: Haiti takeover by “Uncle Sam”

Thousands of American soldiers have poured into Port-au-Prince airport since US President Barack Obama announced he was ordering a “swift and aggressive” campaign to help millions of Haitians left homeless by last week’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Six days after the quake, however, precious little aid is getting beyond the airport perimeters — largely because of security concerns — and aid agencies with long experience of operating in disaster zones have complained that their flights in are being blocked unnecessarily.