Uganda - UN passes resolution - nuthn' to see, move along there ... the world watches. and passes by.

All 15 nations of the U.N. Security Council approved a statement on Thursday 16th November that called on both the Ugandan government and the LRA to "commit themselves fully" to a long-term and peaceful solution to the conflict. This should help to put new pressure on Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels to immediately release all women and children abducted they have abducted in their 20 year "war" which has resulted in over 100,000 deaths and the flight of over 2 million people from their tribal lands in Northern Uganda.(Pic Ruud Elmendorp of Joseph Kony at Press Conference)

The council statement asked the 192 U.N. member-states both to support efforts to end the fighting and "to ensure that those responsible for serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law are brought to justice." This of course is spooking Joseph Kony the crazed leader of the LRA who , with his 4 named adjutants faces charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague - it was also the first time the UN has called for bringing to justice the LRA leaders responsible for war crimes.



Meanwhile the talks in Juba have virtually collapsed to be overtaken by direct ones with Kony and his deputy and his deputy, Vincent Otti where they are reorted to have met Gulu district (LC5) chairman Norbert Mao, RDC Col. Walter Ochora and Kampala-based lawyer and former MP for Agago County Owiny Dollo at his base at Garamba in Congo. - who have in turn reported to President Musavu.

Pic at Gambara last week : LRA Commander Joseph Kony (third right), his deputy Vincent Otti (far right) and other gangsters.

Both Kony and Otti addressed the Acholi on Radio Mega FM from Gulu claiming the Acholi could return - but no-one trusts him and increasingly suspect the peace talks are just a breathing space to re-arm, re-equip and re-finance his murderous crew. He also asked for financial assistance for his family.

In his first broadcast interview ever at the end of June, Kony said the LRA had never committed abductions, rapes or mutilations and reports of lips and ears being cut off were not true. You must view the video (4.54 sec posted Aug 16th by Rocketboom) of Kony's Press Conference by Ruud Elmendorp here at Google Video. This won International TV Award of the Video Journalism Festival in Berlin. - Visit his site here for this and other absolutely stunning films on Africa which you can preview and download.

"I'm a freedom fighter who is fighting for freedom in Uganda," Kony said in the interview, which was broadcast on BBC2 "Newsnight" programme. "I am not a terrorist."

Ageing Trot the ennobled Dave Triesman - Lord Triesman of the FO said scornfully at the time, "Kony has an international criminal indictment. I take that seriously."

"I believe... the evidence against him and the others who have been indicted means they should be captured, arrested and brought to trial in The Hague." - although palpably reluctant to do anything to bring this desired end about.

Regrettably he wasn't talking about Tony Blair, and the rest of the Labour cabinet who lied to the UK public to get the nation squandering it's blood and treasure in Iraq - whose death toll, and catalogue of corruption, looting, murder, kidnapping , rape, and destruction of a whole nation make Kony's efforts, albeit longer somewhat amateur on the Richter scale that applies to war crimes.

Kony's strength is of course that he controls no oil, gas, gold, diamonds or other desirable minerals, so nobody is interested. If you are you ,can learn more and offer help here at UgandaCAN.

Rock Steady Crew get boost and war criminal tells Truth for once

The Iraq Study Group have had their numbers re-inforced after the departure of ex CIA Director Bob Gates, by another geriatric. 76 year old Lawrence Eeagleburger (whose 3 sons are also called Lawrence Eagleburger), the dumb ,ox like underling of Baker when he was Secretary of State under Bush Senr. has been revived from his bovine torpor, no doubt had large sums of dollar bills pressed into his wrinkled mitt, and will add his ponderous wait to their proceedings and collective unwisdom.

As the bells are silenced and the rejoicing crowds disperse after this happy news one is left to ponder the wise words and observation observation reported in the Torygraph today of the venerable (and in some quarters venerated) war criminal Henry Kissinger who over the weekend said on BBC1's Sunday AM ...

"If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible."

Nice one 'enry. I hope this is engraved on your tomb. Soon.

There will be a few of us who forget that it is the desert booted and suited, clean cut, Mr Bremer (call me "Larry") ex Managing Director of Kissinger Associates who of course so carefully laid the plans for the current disaster, destruction of the Army, de-Baatification, looting, incredible Allied corruption etc etc.,

ATM rip-offs.

Maxwell Parsons (41) of Gorton Manchester was a passenger in a car which made an illegal U-turn in the City of London. On searching the car the Police found a counterfeit bank card and Parson, who was known to the Police, had his home searched.

This uncovered a ridiculously simple method of harvesting data from free standing ATM's in bingo halls, amusement arcades and bowling alleys. By simply intercepting the BT telephone line connecting the machine to the BACS network , installing and cheap (£2) 2 way plug and attaching an MP3 player, to record the oscillating signal (such as you may hear when connecting to a Fax machine) Parsons was able to record data for later demodulation and reconstruction of the card number and PIN.

So far some £200,000 of purchases have been traced using modified credit cards only £14,000 of it traced back to Parson - who got 32 months for his troubles at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester this week.

On August 19th in the US a black male, approximately 5'8" tall with a thin build wearing a white T-shirt with writing on the back, dark shorts, dark tennis shoes and a red ball cap was last seen driving a light tan four-door car. He strolled into a Crown Gas Station at 2400 Lynnhaven Parkwayn, Virgina Beach VA. and casually re-programmed it 's ATM machine run by Net Bank Payment Systems, based in Jackson, Mississippi. From the public console he instructed it to issue US$20 bills instead of US$5 bills and only debit his account with the US$5 debits. - due to a limit on it issuing 80 bills it limited the scam to US$800. Apparently it took following users who benefited from the scam 9 days to report it! As the perp used an untraceable pre-paid debit card he also was untraceable.

See CNN report with CCTV of the casual dude at work here on You Tube (1.34) 154,749 views to date

Dave Goldsmith, working in computer security researcher at Matasano Security,NY. (We specialize in solving the security challenges of complicated applications deployed in high-risk environments) ... dug into this news story on CNN and was able to identify the machine's model and maker: a Tranax Mini Bank 1500 series - there are 75,000 Mini-Bank ATMs in service in the US.

Obtaining a (legal) copy of Tranax's manual which spelt out the diagnostic mode, default passwords - which engineers couldn't be arsed to change. he found he could soon be inside and once inside - and armed with the manual - hey Presto ! Open Sesame time.

Tranax say they have a firmware fix in the works but engineers REALLY should change the password from default. Ho.Ho.

Gazprom / LUKoil - Russian energy gets to grips with Europe

The prospects for EU energy security begin to look even more fractured. Russian State controlled Gazprom is rapidly becoming dominant in the EU, by combining its natural gas supply position (25% of EU curent demand) with an ever growing downstream market position in Europe’s main markets. This puts Moscow / St. Petersburg control where the more alert Europeans don’t want it to be.

After the supply problems to Ukraine in January and resultant problem with pressure and reduced supply elsewhere in Europe, Austrian Energy Minister Martin Bartenstein (pic) said in May that Russian gas would remain the backbone of the European energy supply mix but ....:

"We have to think about energy supply security in general, gas supply security... and we have to learn the lessons."

See 30 min OPEC video 12/9/06 ""Challenges to Energy Policies: The Case of Europe" by M
Bartentstein.

Gazprom and CEO of ENI, Paolo Scaroni, have just announced an agreement with Italian oil and gas major ENI [NYSE:ENI] to enter the Italian domestic market with the prospect of supply up to 3 Bn. cubic metres per year to Italy from 2010 onwards, with an estimated value of $770-$963 million per year. Gazprom sells around 21 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Italy - equivalent to around a third of its gas imports and 29% of total consumption.

This has 3 consequences ;

1. Gazprom will be selling directly to Italian domestic consumers
2. ENI will become Gazprom's largest gas customer
3. ENI / Gazprom will build a 2nd Bluestream Russia - Turkey pipeline, to supplement the one they built and inaugurated in 2005.

The head of the Anti Trust Authority in Italy, Antonio Catricala has criticised what he sees as an anti-competitive arrangement. A previous deal was blocked in March 2005 (under the previous Gubment) by regulators who said it would "curtail the development of competitive intensity in the market." It is thought however that last winter's supply problems and the events in Ukraine and Georgia will concentrate minds on the realities of supply rather than notions of competitiveness before the planned LNG supplies are up and running.

Italy has only one LNG terminal operating but they are the 3rd largest LNG market in Europe and currently have several new LNG reception terminals in progress. Construction has commenced at Rovigo in the Adriatic and other projects at Brindisi, Porto Empedocle, Tuscany, Rosignano, Gioia Tauro, Taranto and two at Trieste are in various stages of planning, authorization or preliminary construction.

Gazprom are building their its first LNG export project by 2009 at Ust Luga, outside St Petersburg. Gazprom are also involved in the amazing Norwegian Statoil Snoehvit LNG export project on Melkoya Island outside Hammerfest.(pic)



Gazprom already has a 50% equity stake in German utility Wingas which was agreed in April with a complicated asset swap where Gazprom has traded some of its upstream assets in the Siberain gas field, Yuzhno Russkoye for the Wingas domestic retail and distribution market.

Gazprom have also had talks with the Meeuse / Rhine combine with the newly established Trianel European Energy Trading GMBH and Trianel Gas Storage Association GMBH.

Ruhrgas has a 5% stake in Gazprom. Ruhrgas is

German energy giant E.ON have also agreed to take up a 25% minus one share stake in Yuzhno Russkoye, and in return Gazprom is receiving minority interests of 50% minus one share in Hungarian gas companies E.ON Foldgaz Trade and a 25% stake in the regional power and gas supplier E.ON Hungaria.

The Russian gas giant has now taken a stake in Amorim Energia, which owns 33.34% of newly floated (30/10/06 - raising US$1.1 Bn for the Portuguese state) Galp Energia [Lisbon:GALP] the privatised ex state energy company which is itself 33% owned by ENI. Amorim Energia is owned by Portuguese businessman Americo Amorim and Angolan oil company Sonangol. Diario Economico (Daily Portuguese paper) has reported Americo Amorim, and Manuel Ferreira de Oliveira, Galp chief operating officer, went to London yesterday (18/11) to sign an agreement with Gazprom. Part of the deal involves the supply of gas to GALP by Gazprom.

Gazprom have also let it be known they are looking for expanding downstream in Belgium and have been having discussions with gas distributor Fluxsys exploring underground gas storage
possibilities within Belgium at Poederlee in La Campine.

Gazprom is one of the companies which own the Interconnector pipeline linking Belgium and the UK.

Gazprom acquired the small (12 employees) Pennine Natural Gas (PNG) in June this year to gain a foothold in the UK retail market. There is continuing speculation that they have set their sites on acquiring Centrica and have made no scret that they plan to supply 20% of the UK market.

Several other deals in Europe are known to be cooking - and LUKoil have repeatedly stated and make no secret of their intentions of expanding withing Europe.

The energy world is however full of reports that a supply crunch is looming in Russia before even 2010. Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency, said in may "We are afraid that Gazprom will not have, in the coming years, enough gas to supply even their existing customers and existing contracts .This is our data, Gazprom is not investing enough."

The Russian policy of divide and rule by dealing with each nation seperately - for example the
Baltic sea pipeline to supply the UK , Holland and Germany, negotiated in Chancellor Schroeder's dying days by Putin - construction of the Russian end of which has commenced. Supply contracts are also said to be in place with German and Dutch operators such as Gasunie.

All this flies in the face of Brussels policy who want Russia to ratify an "energy charter treaty" that would provide access to Russia’s reserves and remove Gazprom’s monopoly of the export pipeline to Europe. A point the Polish government , with long experience of Russian deal making (42% of their gas is supplied by Gazprom) are demanding as a prior condition to any further EU / Russian energy supply busines agreements.

Financing these and further deals said to be on the way is not a problem . Gazprom , assisted by
Credit Suisse and UBS placed 2 tranches of Eurobonds for $1.35 billion (US$ denominated) and
500 million euros both maturing in 2017 under the euro medium term notes (EMTN) program worth US $15 billion.

Within Russia, Vagit Alekperov CEO of LUKoil [LSE:LKOR] is complaining as they have had to
lose majority control of a planned joint venture in Russia to Gazprom. Lukoil claims still to be in
control of its existing oil field, but Gazprom’s state backed control has only increased further.

However last year LUKoil's natural gas production soared 265% to 5.1 Bn. cubic meters, after LUKoil brought its Nakhodkinskoye field on line last year, on top of being Russias largest oil producer and had total sales in 2005 of US$55Bn. up from US$33Bn. in 2004. Lukoil's sales network covers 17 countries, including the USA where they purchased 200 gas stations from Getty and Mobil in May to add to 795 gas stations bought from Conoco Philips (who have a substantial 7.6% stake in LUKoil) in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.


LUKOIL CEO Vagit Alekperov said in June that they were thinking about the purchase of Coryton refinery from BP. BP’s last UK refinery, Coryton, accounts for 8 percent of all refining in the country (around 8.6 million tons a year). Coryton produces diesel fuel, automobile fuel and aviation fuel, as well as the liquefied petroleum gas and bitumen. The petrol goes to BP’s fuel stations.

Contrary to BP (esentially now a US company) which is disposing of refining assets, LUKOIL’s policy is to buy refineries , and especially in Europe. In the recent months, for instance, globe trotting jet setter, Vagit Alekperov has had talks about acquiring Slovenian Nafta Lendava, Oilinvest (Netherlands) B.V. Group (actually State owned by Libya) who operate as Tamoil in Europe and Africa (and sponsor Juventus for €110 million - Gadaffi's son has a 7.5% stake in the club) - although on 1st October it was announced that the shady Carlyle Group had bought Tamoil for US$3Bn. , a Rotterdam refinery owned by Kuwait Petroleum, Serbian state owned Naftna Industrija Srbije which Merrill Lynch are busily privatising, and is discussing building a refinery in Turkey.

NSA warrantless surveillance cases arrive in Court...

Go to Wired News " NSA Case Becomes Lawyer Junket" for details of the 48 lawsuits and 24 lawyers assembled to consider against the US's largest telco's for willingly participating in warrantless Government surveillance of US citizens before Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco.

AT & T lawyer Bradford Berenson raised a laugh when he said he can't know what to do until the appeals court rules on state secrets.

"I couldn't answer a complaint if a gun were put to my head," Berenson said.

"I don't know anything and don't have a security clearance."

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Very funny until you turn to his biography at his blue chip Washington firm,Sidley Austin Brown and Wood LLP. which states that from January 2001 (when the wire tapping - which the Gubment have admitted took place, started) through January 2003, Mr. Berenson served as Associate Counsel to the President of the United States. In the White House, he worked on a wide variety of legal, legislative and policy issues associated with the Bush Administration’s relations with Congress, its justice and domestic policy initiatives, and the war on terrorism. These included judicial selection, responses to congressional oversight and investigations, the USA Patriot Act, the Military Order authorizing the use of military commissions, detainee policy and anti-terrorism litigation, presidential action against terrorist financing, and the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security.

There is more here about how this adjunct fellow of the American Enterprise Institute worked with a tight knit team for Alberto Gonzalez on the legal status of "detainees" captured in the War on Terrorism, the validity (or otherwise) of the Geneva Conventions, and a new less stringent and curious legal definition of torture.

Berenson is also Co-founder of Citizens for the Common Defence, a shadowy group, whose members include Robert Bork and 23 other conservative lawyers and legal scholars, including several recent veterans of the White House counsel's office and the Justice Department. They act as Amicus Curiae or "Friends of the Court" and describe their interests in the case of Hamdi v Rumsfeld ...(PDF alert)

" Citizens for the Common Defence (“CCD”) is an association that advocates a conception of robust Executive Branch authority to meet the national security threats that confront the nation in its war against international terrorists.

The organization’s name derives from the Preamble to the Constitution, which recognizes that “to provide for the common defence” against foreign threats is one of the great objects of government our Constitution was meant to secure. Far from being inconsistent with “secur[ing] the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” the vigorous executive power necessary to defend our nation against foreign enemies was seen by the Framers as a vital precondition to securing those blessings and an integral part of the same libertarian enterprise."

There is more at Rasul v Bush.

It is fascinating to read these documents to consider the especial rigorous legal certitude (and bullshit) which these unfeeling litigous atomatons pick through the cracks of the law, hiding where required in the Constitution and playing fast and loose with international treaties and obligations.

...then you don't have to be smart to tell Monkey boy that as Commander in Chief he can strut about in his Bomber Jacket and do what he fucking well pleases.

More details at Cnet

VAT fraud - a profitable business - £400 Mn a month ..ish

Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC), or 'missing trader' fraud , is a highly sophisticated and organised criminal attack on the UK VAT system. It is an EU-wide scam, estimated to have cost the UK government between £1.12billion and £1.9 billion in 2004/05. The sums being lost are so huge they have been distorting the country's trade statistics and income - UK VAT revenues fell last year, the first time since its introduction 1973. The Torygraph report that the Inland Revenue's £1.155 billion slice of £6.6 billion of imports, out of a total £45.7 billion worth of EU imports, has been lost over the first quarter of 2006. The annual loss will be £4.6 Bn in 2006 if it continues unabated. The Office of National Statistics announced last month that such fraud fell by £500m to £1.2bn between July and August.

Criminals import compact , high value goods such as mobile phones and computer chips, free of VAT, from other countries in the European Union. The goods are sold on with VAT in the UK , but the criminals disappear with the tax they have collected instead of handing it over to the tax collectors, HMRC. Newer variations involved extra EU nations especially Switzerland. There has been some success against one operation .....

Avantis Trading Ltd, Diamond Traders International Limited and Sovereign Imports Limited were connected companies based in Birmngham which turned over a staggering £185 million in 7 months.

They operated a complex and sophisticated scam that was unravelled by officers from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and has involved 3 separate trials:

Trial 1.

In April 2006, Asad Chohan and Saajid Chohan were found guilty of evading excise duty of £750,000 under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 following the seizure of 2.4 tonnes of hand rolling tobacco at Dover Eastern Docks on 17 August 2000.

Asad Hussain Chohan, (38) of Wake Green Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to four years in prison in April 2006 and one year consecutive, for absconding during the trial. He is believed to be in Pakistan. He will face trial in relation to the 'missing trader' fraud and money laundering activities when (and if) re-arrested.

His younger brother , Saajid Chohan (33) of Wake Green Road Birmingham, was sentenced to 18 months in prison

Trial 2

In July 2006, Saajid Hussain Chohan (33) and Mohammed Ilyas pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue of £5.17million in a 'missing trader' fraud. Saajid Chohan (33) was sentenced to a further four years in prison for the 'missing trader' fraud in July 2006. A Confiscation Order of £120,318 was also made and a further two years will be added to his sentence if he defaults on the Order.

Mohammed Ilyas, (46) of Bagnell Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to three years in prison .

Trial 3

Concluded on Wednesday 15 November 2006 in Birmingham Crown Court , Samiah Ali Chohan (34) and wife of Asad, was found guilty of a money laundering offence under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, through the purchase of a property, valued at around £380,000. She gave a previous address of Wake Green Road, Birmingham, and now of "Lauriston", Manchester Road, Rochdale, and was sentenced to a Community Service Order of 80 hours.Pic shows, bijou, compact 10 bedroom Victorian textile magnates mansion, "Lauriston", Manchester Road, Rochdale.

The court heard that the organised crime group was controlled by Asad Chohan and included his brother Saajid Chohan, his wife Samiah Ali Chohan and Mohammed Ilyas, the family bookkeeper and a member of the Institute of Accounting Technicians.

Chris Ballard, assistant chief investigation Officer for Revenue & Customs said:

"This was not some kind of advanced tax planning, but organised fraud on a massive scale perpetrated by criminals.

"They had the active co-operation of professionals in the legal and accountancy sectors, all bent on making fast and easy profits at the expense of the British taxpayer."

Investigations into the Chohan frauds led to a separate, investigation which identified over £200 million of 'missing trader' money being laundered through a firm of solicitors, Beveridge Gauntlet of Fleet, Hampshire.

The firm had been launched a year earlier with an overdraft teamed up with "dodgy clients" transforming its "sacrosanct" client account into a bank, it was claimed in court. 7 sham companies were able to launder £250 million between May 2002 and March 2003 through the firm's client bank account. The use of the solicitors' client account gave the fraud an air of legitimacy.
The company's Legal Executive Laurence Ford (56), twice divorced father of two children, was sentenced to 6 years in prison in June 2006 at Southwark Crown Court for money laundering offences contrary to Section 93C of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. he is said to have been paid £40,000 for his work.

The partners of the firm Matthew Gauntlett ( Law Society Council member) and Sarah Beveridge were found not guilty at the trial (the first time solicitors had been charged with such offences), and Mr Justice Rivlin said , " ...(they) were acquitted [because] the jury accepted their case that on any view they were both wholly unsuited to the responsibilities of running a practice on their own. That not merely were they inexperienced, (MG was a Law Society Council member- for Christ sakes !!) but they were quite out of their depth, neither having the strength of personality to run a firm themselves. They were woefully [unable to] fulfil the responsibility expected of partners.’

It must have cheered up the HMC when Elizabeth Robinson, of Peters & Peters, the lawyer representing Sarah Beveridge was made Lawyer of the Week by The Times on June 13, 2006. She had been working on this case for three years and the barristers involved, Andrew Radcliffe, QC, and Tom Forster, for two years. The costs for the "out of depth" lawyers defence in the 6 weeek trial would make your eyes water. - and would be paid by HMC.

Beveridge Gauntlett, was closed down by the Law Society three years ago. Their rather grand address of "Rosebank Chambers " was in fact a first floor office above an off-licence and estate agent, in an ordinary shopping parade in the village of Yateley, near Aldershot in Hampshire.

Having locked up Ford, (which took over 3 years) HM Customs officers have yet to find the ringleaders. A senior partner at accountants Grant Thornton, said: "This guy is the tip of the iceberg. Government attempts to crackdown on this type of fraud seem to be having no effect whatsoever."

On Wednesday 15 September 2006 HM Customs issued HMRC Business Brief 14/06 with dertails of what is called Reverse Charge Accounting for traders in Mobile phones, computer chips, electronic storage meda (memory cards) for MP3 players,palm computers, GSP driven Sat Nav systems and electronic game consoles which they expected to introduce on December 1st 2006. On the 10th November they announced a delay (Because EU discussions about the necessary derogation are still continuing ?) and stated they would give traders 8 weeks notice when it was introduced.

Reverse Charge accounting changes the responsibility for VAT payment to the purchaser, rather than the seller - subject of course to all sorts of conditions - small transactions etc.,

It is hoped that this change in accounting will eliminate the fraud. Don't hold your breath.

Kazakh oil / National Energy - Russia - China - India and territorial / economic dominance

The Kazkah government looked set to approve by the end of December the China International Trust & Investment Corp (CITIC) . bid to $1.9 billion to buy the Kazakhstan oil assets of Canada's Nations Energy Co., The deal is dependent upon several approvals including the waiver of pre-emptive rights of the Kazakh government, which last year amended laws to give it first option on the sale of mineral resources and possibly on corporate deals.

It is further evidence of China's ruthless quest to hoover up oil supplies, to meet their massive growth in demand.

CITIC is reported to be planning a "medium-size'' oil refinery in the Mangistau Oblast region when they have found some strategic Kazakh partners.

CITIC quoted in Hong Kong rose 1% to HK$1.62 , their biggest gain in a year.
www.cnpc.com.cn/english/

However Russian news service Interfax reports (16th Nov) from (old) Kazakh capital Almaty (pic of Statue of Indpendence) that Energy and Natural Resources Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told a committee of the Kazakh parliament that the proposed sale should be blocked and

"We should, or rather I should in the first place, take urgent measures to stop this agreement over Karazhanbasmunai,"

Karazhanbasmunai is the unit of Nations Energy that operates the Karazhanbas oilfield in western Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Channel 13 TV reports (BBC monitoring 16th Nov) that fear of Chinese expansion is today's political fashion. MPs who recently had an outburst of China phobia are setting the tone for xenophobia. Some MPs say that if China continues to buy out Kazakh oil, the republic would soon become merely raw materials appendage to Beijing.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) acquired Calgary based PetroKazakhstan Inc. in a US$ 4.18 Mn (HK$32.6 billion) deal on October 26th 2005 which bought them the Karazhanbasmunay bloc, the second biggest (known) production asset in Kazakhstan and co-operation with KazMunaiGaz to operate and manage the PK project. It was said at the time that oil hungry India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp was also in the bidding. (see connection to LUKoil below)

Part of the deal involved the development of the Darkhan field in the North caspian 60 Km south of Bautino in working waters of 3-5 metres which is said to have 480Mn Tons of fuel equivalent.

KazMunaiGaz produces about 16 % if Kazakh oil output. It controls 65 % of Kazakhstan's oil transport routes and 100 percent of gas transport pipelines and in 2005 produced
65 million barrels with revenues of t US$4.7 billion (Ђ3.8 billion), 31.4% up on 2004.

Overall Kazakh oil output , says the Oil Ministry, is planned to grow from the current 1.3 million barrels to 3 million barrels a day by 2015, according to the Oil Ministry.

CITIC , quoted in Hong Kong rose 1% to HK$1.62 , their biggest gain in a year.
http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/search?q=Nursultan+Nazarbayev+embraces

Readers might remember Lord Patel posting about Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's ambitions on Thursday, April 6 2006
Nursultan Nazarbayev embraces Mother Russia ... and Putin

"Russian state-controlled media, including the RTR television channel and Radio Mayak, report Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s recent three-day visit to Moscow as a potential turning point in Putin’s struggle for control of the Caspian Basin’s oil and gas reserves...."

or

Monday, March 27 2006
Hashim Djojohadikusumo sells Nations Energy to Vagit Alekperov

"Vagit Alekperov told me over the gaming tables in Northern Cyprus that he has his eyes on Nations Energy – a price tag of $2.5Bn is attached. Expect news any day he said."

Two lessons :
1. President Nursultan Nazarbayev plays a long game.
2. So does Hashim Djojohadikusumo and his Indonesian pals, owners of National Energy Ltd (until December)
3. Don't hang around gambling tables and expect to be told the truth, the whole truth .....

A 962-kilometer (598-mile) Atasu-Alashankou pipeline completed in December at a cost of $800 million transports crude to China National's refinery in Dushanzi, close to China's northwestern border with Kazakhstan. Russian state owned Transneft have announced the intention to export 7 million tons (51.3 mln bbl) in 2007, to China on this route. Only this week have Transneft announced the final part of the pipeline from Russia to China with the first leg from Taishet in East Siberia to Skovorodino near the Chinese border to be completed by the end of 2008 for which China will pay US$400 Mn.

Mr Lowry, sold down the river

Laurence Lowry's view of the murky Irwell cost the buyer £1,408,000, more than Mr Lowry earned in his life. The citizens of Bury will receive (after, commissions, taxes, insurances, carriage, packing) £1,250,000, a fair return on their investment of £175 in 1951 when £500 was a good annual salary.

If he is in heaven, Mr. Lowry's twinkling blue eyes will be smiling.

It was in the late fifties when I first knew Mr Lowry. Like him I used to haunt the Manchester Art Gallery on Mosley Street, a step from my father's office in George Street - adjacent to the lift shaft down to the Regional Command Centre being silently and secretly hewed out from under Manchester's City Centre.

Friendly and chatty he taught me about the pre-Raphaelites, (of which it transpired he was a canny buyer) showed me the techniques, told stories about them, swooned over the women, and bought me cups of tea in the cafe overlooking Princess Street. He would ask me to get extra sugar cubes and pocketed them - he had a sweet tooth and nature to match.

Years later I bought a gouache of central Mottram and Battle Hill where Lowry lived, from the Tib Lane Gallery by Pat Gerard, her first ever commercial sale. She was then a teacher at Altrincham Girls Grammar School and as a child lived a few doors down from Mr Lowry - one of his young girl friends.

Through her I met him again, older, testy, suspicious of the art critics, dealers, collectors, he was happy to take their money.

His fame amazes me, it would have mystified him. The Lowry industry would have disgusted him, it's architects and saprophytes even more so.

His paintings were a jumble of canvas, wood and paint - take them or leave them was his view.

It would of course be delightful - and Mr Lowry would have enyoyed it - if the burghers of Bury used the proceeds to buy some more pictures from local artists of local interest.

They won't, they'll simply piss it up against the wall.

Bury Art Gallery & Museum is on the delighfully named Paradise Street and is well worth a visit - Local paper manufacturer and business magnate Thomas Wrigley' family gave his collection of Victorian art, to the town in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. There are some magnificent pictures from the Stott family - but no Pre-Raphaelites - Wrigley disliked them.

They have anew exhibition which opened tonight with a bun fight

IDEAS is a selling show, the ideal place to find Christmas gifts with a bit of a difference. This exhibition showcases work by some of the North West's most innovative contemporary designers and artists. A diverse range of original designs are featured in a variety of media and material.

There will be a special launch of the exhibition on 17 November, 6pm to 8pm. Please join us for a glass of wine and take advantage of the 10% discount we will be offering for items in the show.

There are some beautiful handbags.

ITV - The Kaleidoscope has been shaken

Mid afternoontoday Brandes (8%) and Fidelity(11%) the 2 largest shareholders in ITV were approached to sell their shares at 125p.

Finally they agreed (with others) to sell 18.9 % of the issued shares to Murdoch's BSkyB (39% owned by News Corp.) at a finally negotiated price of 135 p per share. A premium of over 20p (16.6%)on the market price at the time (115.7p up 1% on day) but not announced until the close of the market.

This punt of £ 940 Mn. scooping 696 million shares gives Murdoch 17.9% - The 2003 Communications Act, prohibits BSkyB from controlling more than 20% of ITV. Whilst it does not give the Australian American media monster control, it gives him a very powerful voice in the boardroom.

This follows stories earlier that RTL (34 television and 33 radio stations in 11 countries - dire Channel 5 in the UK), part of the German Bertelsmann media Empire was working with private equity firms on a potential £5bn (US$9.4 Bn.)bid for ITV. RTL were said to be running the ruler over ITV in cahoots with private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which has Lord Hollick as a partner.

Last week heavily indebted US based NTL (whose largest shareholder is the bearded wonder, serial groper, Sir Dickie Branson) confirmed that it is to hold talks with the broadcaster about a potential tie-up, although these do not appear to have happened yet. Murdoch will not be anxious to see competitors from the cable networks muscling in on what he sees as his fiefdom.

It would be foolish to overlook the interests of Apax Partners who now own 49.9% of Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) (NASDAQ/Prague Stock Exchange: CETV) and who have previously been involved in a private equity gang who withdrew a bid earlier which involved Greg Dyke.

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) are also said to be interested in bidding.

As a tiny part of the deal, as a consolidation of ITV's media interests , we may see the tired and outdated Friends re-United outfit (costing ITV, £120Mn over a period of time) be swallowed up in Murdoch's My Space. Should RTL emerge as winners, and have to divest itself of Channel 5 (required by law) then a nice swapparooney looms for Murdoch.

Finally, how will BBC and Channel 4 compete with Sky / ITV / NTL for US TV rights, series , sports ?

IT'S KALEIDOSCOPE TIME FOLKS !!

To quote from our Dear leader after 9/11 when he spoke so movingly at Sedgefield....

"The kaleidoscope has been shaken,The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again."

For those amongst us who are lost by his imagery, turnto page 30 of that masterpiece of 20th Century philosophy by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, and look at page 30:

"Five months ago, the kaleidoscope of power had been shaken, and Aringarosa was still reeling from the blow."

...and watch out for Lew Grade's son to find himself a new job!

Enver Hodge - "The Truth will set you Free" - A Damascene revelation

Eric Gorden, genial, bearded and bespectacled , 40 years a hack and now Editor of the Islington Tribune was present with his shorthand notebook and pencil at a meeting last Friday at the London Resource Centre in Holloway Road. He was the invited guest of his friend Labour Party member Chris Roche who introduced him to many of those present .



Ex near neighbour and (and probably ex )friend of the Blairs, Margaret "Enver" Hodge, now a Minister at the Department of Trade & Industry (her 4th Ministerial post) , in a Q & A session after a prepared speech , and a generous spread of nut cutlets and organic yoghurt, told the assembled Fabianistas that the Iraq war had been the Prime Minister's "big mistake in foreign affairs".

She accepted the Prime Minister's arguments about the dangers posed by Iraq in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion because she said in answer to a question - "he was our leader and I trusted him".

Shed of the scales that occluded her vision she singled out Mr Blair's "moral imperialism" - importing British attitudes and ideas to other countries - for particular criticism.

In another fit of truthfulness the Member for one step beyond Dagenham - Barking , whom fans of the blonde bimbo will remember her recruiting cry for the BNP in April before the Local Elections this year.

The Torygraph were deliriously happy to report her claim on April 11th (curiously the 21st Anniversary of the death of her eponymous hero Enver Hoxha) hero that eight out of 10 white people in her east London constituency of Barking were threatening to vote for the far-Right BNP in the local elections.

"They can't get a home for their children, they see black and ethnic minority communities moving in and they are angry,"

Said Mrs Hodge, (then) the employment minister.

"When I knock on doors I say to people, 'are you tempted to vote BNP?' and many, many, many - eight out of 10 of the white families - say 'yes'. That's something we have never seen before, in all my years. Even when people voted BNP, they used to be ashamed to vote BNP. Now they are not."

Mrs Hodge said the pace of ethnic change in her area had frightened people.

"What has happened in Barking and Dagenham is the most rapid transformation of a community we have ever witnessed."

Should the Prime Minister haul her over the coals for her irreverence she might well recall what her guiding light Enver Hoxha told Stalin on his first meeting with Stalin in July 1947 (the year of her birth incidentally) in explaining his problems with internal dissent ..

" .... we still cannot say that internal reaction is no longer active. It is not capable of organizing any really dangerous attack upon us, but still it is making propaganda and mischief against us"

He was also keen to explain to Stalin how British perfidy was even then causing international strife ...

"The Corfu Channel incident," I told Comrade Stalin, "is a concoction of the British from start to finish in order to provoke our country and to find a pretext for military intervention"

Plus ca change ....

UK Energy supplies face uncertainty this winter

Roy Anderson head of Nuclear Generation at British Energy ( appointed July 2004 , pay = £1.3 Mn. incl. £800K "bonus") has resigned and CEO Bill Coley has "taken direct control of nuclear operations." Today British Energy has 38 % of its nuclear capacity out of service, or 3,620 megawatts from a total of 9,568 megawatts.

British Energy supplies approx 20% of UK electricity from 8 nuclear power stations incorporating 12 nuclear power plants. They have recently revealed a series of engineering problems with cracked pipes and ensuing leaks.6 of British Energy's 16 reactors are shut to repair parts of the plants, some of which are more than 30 years old.

Current plans for repairs are and re-starts are ;

2 units - Hunterston and Hinkley Point to restart by the end of December 2006 and the other 2 units ( 1 at each site) are scheduled to restart by the end of January. The 4 units will run at 70% capacity up to end March 2008.

The 2 units at Hartlepool , shut down in September will resume production in December, all this work will involve "investment" over the next 2 years in the region of £500/£600 Mn.

Production will be cut for at least 16 months - which results the company said today in a reduction in output of 8.2% (5 terawatt hours or more until at least March 2008) on forecast annual production - 61 to 63 terawatt hours of electricity (2005 national ouput 398 terawatt-hours)

Lakis Athanasiou, an analyst at Collins Stewart Ltd. in London is quoted on Bloomberg where he estimates that British Energy's full year output will be in a range from 48 terawatt hours to 56 terawatt hours.

Due to higher electricity wholesale prices , Company profits announced today zoomed from £212m to £481m rsulting in earnings per share rocketing 4 fold from 3.5p to 14.3p a share.

This will stop the Gubments plans for a £3.5 Bn sell off of part of its 65% holding - quite how it affects UK energy security it is difficult to calculate. It is manifest that the forthcoming 2 UK winter quarters will be met with significantly reduced spare production capacity

UPDATE 6.30 GMT
The shares (BGY.L) opened up 40 p down but ended today, up 8p today at 477p.

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.pl?selection=920941166&src=rss_jbe

British Energy are looking for a Permanent Deputy in Information Management (£30/40K security vetted) for immediate employment at Sizewell.
They say ...

The last six months have been an exciting period of change for our Information Management Department, and it's not over yet,

You bet.

The applicant must also ......

* Have well-developed communication skills, and a methodical approach to problem solving.

Which seems to be required at all levels within the company.

Israeli Lobby consolidate control over US lawmakers

No sooner was the ink dry on Lord Patel's posting about the dot to dot connections between Pelosi / Hoyer and sister Bernice than the results came out of the Democrats voting / selection of their team under Nancy. (see pic)

John Murtha, the 74-year-old Democrat from Pennsylvania (13 terms in 26 years) who has called for an early U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, was challenging comparative youngster 67 year old Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer for the post of Majority Leader - and was said to be supported by cake baking Nancy.

House Democrats voted FOR Steny Hoyer as House Majority Leader by a stonking 149-86, probably sunk by the dredging up of Murtha's alleged involvement in the 1980s FBI Abscam "sting" scandal in which he was neither indicted or prosecuted.

The Press have represented this as a setback for Pelosi who backed Murtha but Hoyer and Pelosi have worked seamlessly together for 4 years and as Rep. Barney Frank (D), Massachusetts said on PBS today "There is zero, zero evidence that any friction between them"

Jim Clyburn, - “you catch many more flies with honey than you do with vinegar," - an African-American from South Carolina,first elected in 1992 and former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1998 (CBC) will be Democratic whip. He is also chairman of the House Faith Working Group. Margaret Kimberley at Black Commenator has some intersting points to make about the CBC and the Israeli Lobby.

Ex ballet dancer Rahm "Rahmbo" Emmanuel first elected in 2003 for the northside of Chicago (78% of the vote) will head the Democratic caucus, the number four position in the hierarchy after a great success as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He comes trailing clouds of glory as a Clinton aide and is said to be the model for Josh Lyman in The West Wing. He also picked up US$18 Mn as a partner when Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein when they sold out ( he worked there from 1999 to 2002) - which is why Edward Moskal of the Polish American Congress and backer of his opponent Nancy Kaszak called him a "millionaire carpetbagger".

His show biz agent brother acts for Michale Moore and Baron Sacha-Cohen - Borak / Ali G.

Whilst looking for more information about Nancy it appeared that readers might share the recent thoughts of Jennifer Jacobson, Jewish Journal.com

"Nancy Pelosi's links to Israel are strong and personal"

"My daughter is Catholic. My son-in-law is Jewish," she said. "Last week I celebrated my birthday and my grandchildren -- ages 4 and 6 -- called to sing 'Happy Birthday.' And the surprise, the real gift, was that they sang it in Hebrew."

She reports and makes the remark ...

"Political observers say it's no surprise that the congresswoman from San Francisco considers herself close to the Jews. "

Which all looks as though AIPAC et al have more friends and more influence over the lawmakers than ever. So expect the US Army to continue to act as surrogate forces for Israel and Zionism -so don't expect any withdrawal of troops from Iraq soon. Note this graphic from the NYT today of intensified activity by USAF in Afghanistan and reduced activity in Iraq. In one run a B1 ,re-located from Diego Garcia ,dropped its entire payload of 8 x 2,000-pound bombs and 6 x 500-pound bombs after ground units called for help

Meanwhile NATO military focres from Alte Europa have been installed as an Army of occupation in the South of Lebanon to keep Hezbollah off the border - which Israeli jets increasingly fly over "to check on any arms reaching Hezbollah".

EU Carbon Trading a massive failure......Sssscccchhhh!!!

Here is a graph of the EU ETS price i.e the traded price of 1 ton of carbon in Euros - for the last month.

Looks like the market is a huge success having reached the lowest price levels ever. Or as Point Carbon said today (principal booster of this Alice in Wonderland casino) said ..."First-phase CO2 allowances in the EU emissions trading scheme took a dive today as the December 2006 contract lost €0.30 on yesterday to close at €8.60 at 17.30 CET."(Close of biz Friday 17th Nov down 10 cents to €8.60)

Meanwhile the Kyoto bandwagon rolled merrily along in Nairobi with the gravy train riders persisting in the illusion that carbon trading is going to prove effective - so far it's success is to take money from the credulous and place it in the capacious pockets of share boosters, consultants, lawyers and oher snake oil merchants.

AIPAC / Pelosi/ Democrats - Joining the Dots

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD) spoke to the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference on Sunday May 16th 2004.
"...What a strong, strong voice for Israel. What a strong voice – (applause) – for human rights and what a strong voice for America. Howard, I am so proud to be your close friend. However; you took 90 percent of my time. (care to elaborate on how that time was spent Mr Hoyer?), (Laughter.) that’s the bad news. The good news? Nobody in the audience who knows you is shocked.

Now let me speak about my sister, Bernice, (AIPAC President Bernice Manocherian) your incoming president. She and I were born not together, but at the same hospital in New York City. I was born at least a couple of decades before Bernice. Bernice does not have a microphone, but she said, absolutely. Bernice, we are so proud of you, we sons and daughters of the Fifth Avenue Flower Hospital. And I lookforward to working as closely with you as I have with Amy – as I have with Howard. I know you will do an extraordinary job. (Applause.)

Steny Hoyer is of course the Democratic Whip

...and Bernice was Chairman of AIPAC when Nancy Pelosi and Condileeza Rice addressed the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference in May 2005 whose uplifting comments about the Israel / US relationship were noted recently by Lord Patel.

Doh!

PS Grubbing around at the Whips site I discovered this fascinating example of how the lawmakers of the world's most powerful nation spend their time.

H.RES.1078
Title: Congratulating the St. Louis Cardinals on winning the 2006 World Series.
Sponsor: Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] (introduced 11/13/2006) Cosponsors (50)
Latest Major Action: 11/15/2006 Passed/agreed to in House. Status: On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 395 - 0 (Roll no. 523).

At least all the lunatics in the asylum can agree on something.

Aiding Africa - Tony, Barclays and BAE - a curious tale of President Kikwete and kickbacks

President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania has just returned from a gruelling tour taking in China, Japan, South Korea and Arab Emirates (UAE) which took in joining 44 other African leaders and heads of state for a Sino-Africa summit in Beijing.

While in China , the President will also had the opportunity to have a chat with Vice President of the World Bank, African Zone. Gobind Nanani.

It is not known if they discussed the matters raised in the Times this week about the way Tony Blair and Patricia Hewitt overruled Gordon Brown and Clare Short to grant BAE a government export licence for a military air traffic control system to Tanzabia. The World Bank at the time questioned why Tanzania, which has only eight military aircraft, needed a military system.

Of particular interest (apparently also to the Serious Fraud Office SFO) was the unique funding for this £28 Mn system that kept 250 workers on the Isle of Wight busy.

Apparently Barclays - who of course are rowing back in Africa from contempt for their support for South Africa's apartheid regime - provided in 1999 a £40 million loan from Barclays Bank - which subsequently was paid from aid given to Tanzania by Britain to assist sustainable development, including primary education.

Cosily and coincidentally Barclays were granted in October 2000 Barclays a banking licence to open branches in Tanzania. Their website baldly states ...

Barclays opened a new business in Tanzania in October 2000.

Ill informed , malicious, stupid observers who claim the difference between the loan and cost of the system was somehow squirreled away as kickbacks / bribes / gifts are evidently in error.

Continuing it's waste of taxpayer's funds the SFO has visited (the then ex-Minister for Overseas Aid) Clare Short MP who told her that told her that they had received documents suggesting corruption concerning this contract.

The Times reports her saying ,

“Although I never knew any details of corruption, it was always clear that that contract could not have been honestly obtained and I am delighted that the truth is coming to light.”

What can she possibly mean ?

PS It may be of interest that Barclays Bank, is unionised in neighbouring countries to Tanzania such as Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe but refuses to recognise the Tanzania Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers (TUICO) the right to organise their employees.

UKC - Get rich Quick - With thanks to Mrs Thatcher

To those who look upon Lord Patel merely as a share tipster they will not be disappointed if they took his advice in June to buy UK Coal (LSE:UKC) at 147p which broached £4.00 this am.

McCartney condemns Cash for Honours SCAM

Ipedia Limited was incorporated on 17 January 2006 with a registered office and trading address at 4 Shepherds Way, Tilford, Surrey GU10 2AB.. The sole director of the company from 6 June 2006 was Mr Stephen Andrew Cocker. Mrs Joanne Cocker was the company secretary.

The registered office was a shed in the Cocker's garden. Their route to riches was detailed on their website www.channel6TV.co.uk . The server has closed down but the this link will take you to the fascinating cached home page.

Basically these wannabe billionaires (mis)represented themselves as controlling a media company called Channel 6TV with an internet television station on which it was about to broadcast. It claimed the TV channel would follow the progress of applicants as they worked on the Billion Pound Empire.

Applicants responding to the company's internet advertisements were invited to pay a £150 fee to become part of this tantalising prospect project (Curiously enough not named Project Midas) whereby 1000 individuals would each make £1 million in one year thereby creating a billion pound business empire - apparently 93 poor saps sent off their cheques. Some savvy keyboardists at Shell Live Wire had smelled out the scam by April 2006.

The harsh reqality was the garden shed at 4 Shepherds Way had no equipment, no studio and was incapable of producing a television programme or carrying out what it purported to offer. The company had no proper banking arrangements and did not keep adequate accounting records.

This comic duo had their dreams wound up in the High Court today after an investigation by the Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) of The Insolvency Service.

Consumer Minister Ian McCartney said:
"These scams are outrageous, ripping off those who can least afford it. The people behind them have no shame and we will not hesitate to shut them down".

It is not known if the scam Mr McCartney was referring to related to taking in "donations "(...er..."loans") to the New Labour Party in exchange for some very fancy dress and saucy headgear, and the right to interfere with preparing UK legislation whilst being paid a handsome retainer.

It is good to see Mr McCartney is up and about after his two heart operations in summer 2005, especially as he survived a visit by pert, raven haired, glamorous, pouting suspender clad Ruth Turner ( Prime Minister's head of government relations - see pic of visit (c) Lancashire Evening Post) bearing flowers, restorative grapes (see pic) messages of goodwill and some tiresome paperwork for House of Lords Appointments Commission enabling New Labour donors to be put forward for peerages.

On reflection this was DEFINITELY not the scam that Mr McCartney Consumer Minister was referring to today. NO. NO. Miss Ruth Turner did not supply nor did Mr McCartney sign false certificates stating untruths about the status of loans / donations / gifts of millions of pounds to the New Labour Party by good honest down to earth working class folk who had been proposed for Life Peerages. NO. Absolutely Not.

...and Inspector Knacker (nee Yates) of the Yard is evidently wasting not only his time but considerable sums of tax payers money in pursuing this "ludicrous endeavour."Yes. Completely.Totally. Time better spent chasing Muslims who have books about Ju-jitsu and look very, very suspicious.


PS. Channel 6TV is a very respectable TV station serving residents of Central Kentucky in Marion, Washington and Nelson Counties. http://www.channel6tv.com/

9/11 Seismic shocks and Commission lies / Gubment deceit and Able Danger

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University (LDEO) has a dumb piece of kit that shakes when the earth shakes. Besides recording the shakes, rattles and rolls of the tectonic plate that New York sits on it, it records the time according to UTC - that's Co - ordinated Universal Time - the world’s very precise atomic clock system.

On the morning of 11th September 2001 this silent sentinel recorded two earth shattering ( or more correctly Earth shuddering) events - they were timed precisely as follows ;

The first significant seismic event that day was timed at UTC 12:46:26±1 second = 08:46:26 EDT
The second seismic significant event that day was timed at UTC 13:02:54±2 seconds = 09:02:54 EDT

You will recall that two airliners ploughed into the WTC towers that day at about that time - er - well you were nearly right.

The 2004 Commission timed the following

AA Flight 11 hit WTC North at 08:46:40 EDT - 14 second after the record of the seismic trace at LDEO
UA Flight 175 hit WTC South at 09:03:11 EDT - 17 seconds after the LDEO record

see : - The Commission’s times are based upon: “We have determined that the impact time was 9:03:11 based on our analysis of FAA radar data and air traffic control software logic.” [9/11 Commission Report, pg 460, Note 130]:

Now that is fairly simple ,but a lot more people got in on the act which has served (Ho Ho) to confuse the issue - identified by Craig T. Furlong & Gordon Ross of 9/11 Scholars for Truth in Seismic Proof 9/11 Was An Inside Job posted November 12th, 2006 at RINF


So you can click the link and read the fine print about the time differences and how they were ...er...well..re-aligned.

WTF ?

So there are time differences, maybe the time differences can be explained - well no-one has yet found an explanation why a plane (albeit a big one travelling fast) in mid air 14 seconds out of crashing into the WTC sets the jiggling pens to work on the streaming paper at Columbia University. Premonition ?

But of course there is more. William Rodriguez had just arrived at work at 8.30 am that day and not 8.00 as he had done for 20 years - he was the last man to leave the building and an acknowledged hero that day. By being late he missed having breakfast with his friends in the Windows on the World Restaurant on the 106th floor. - it also meant he was in the basement when as he was discussing the day’s tasks with others, there was a very loud massive explosion which seemed to emanate from between sub-basement B2 and B3.

The cement walls in the office cracked from the explosion.

“When I heard the sound of the explosion, the floor beneath my feet vibrated, the walls started cracking and everything started shaking.”

said Rodriguez, who was crowded together with fourteen other people in the windowless subterranean maintenance office .

Seconds later seconds there was another explosion way above which made the building oscillate momentarily.

Felipe David crashed into the maintenance office. “He had been standing in front of the freight elevator on sub-level 1 about 400 feet from the office when fire burst out of the elevator shaft, causing his terrible injuries.” The skin on his face had been peeled away by the heat of the blast and he was horribly burned on thirty-three percent of his body. “He was burned so badly from the basement explosion that flesh was hanging from his face and both arms.”

William asks:

“How could a jetliner hit 90 floors above and burn a man’s arms and face to a crisp in the basement below within seconds of impact?”

William spent hours testifying behind closed doors in front of the 9-11 Commission. His testimony as an eye witness does not appear anywhere in the 576 page report.

William Rodriguez says: “I have tried to tell my story to everybody, but nobody wants to listen. It is very strange what is going on here in supposedly the most democratic country in the world.

Lt. William Walsh NYFD, Jan 11, 2002 also gave testimony - He was explaining hothe short service elevators doors were blown open but not the main Northa dn South elevators were apparently intact

Question: And they were blown off?

Answer: They were blown off the hinges, and you could see the shafts. The elevators on the extreme north side and the other express elevator on the extreme south side, they looked intact to me from what I could see, the doors anyway…….

William Rodriguez also testified that there were sprinklers going off in the basement and not on the upper floors. Also when he got to the lobby, the passenger elevators in the field of view, their doors were popped open sideways like a pyramid, from the bottom up.

The evidence of William Walsh and William Rodriguez shows that there were explosions that affected the basement and lobby levels, and these were not caused by the jet fuel.

CONCLUSION by Craig T. Furlong & Gordon Ross

Several seismic stations recorded seismic signals originating from two events which occurred at the WTC site, immediately prior to both aircraft impacts. Because these signals preceded the impacts there can be no doubt that the seismic signals recorded were not those associated with the aircraft impacts on the Towers. These signals were in fact the seismic spikes associated with the huge basement explosions reported by witnesses.

They continue from this inescapable scientific fact ....

The inescapable conclusions drawn from this analysis and the facts contained herein, cast extreme doubt on the government’s claim that these attacks were carried out solely by Middle Eastern terrorists, who would not have had the ability or opportunity to plant the explosive devices, nor to detonate them so as to be masked and partially hidden by the aircraft impacts. The real perpetrators, those who actually did plant these devices, clearly had free access to the Towers.

Of particular interest is the testimony of William Rodriguez not mentioned by Furlong and Ross. He had struggled with the first arriving firemen to ascend the tower at the 33rd floor they stopped at a maintenance office to get some face filters....

"Strangely, while William was on the 33rd floor he heard lots of very loud noise as if someone was moving heavy equipment and furniture around on the 34th floor. The reason this is interesting is that the 34th floor was empty. Elevators did not stop at the 34th floor. It was off limits due to a construction project. The new security chief, John O’Neill had his new office on this floor. William said that this was the first time that he felt fear."


John O'Neill is the maverick FBI agent who had recently resigned (see pic at head of post) ( whose involvement with Able Danger is still unclear and probably will never be fully known) and taken up the security post at WTC - this is one description of his final hours alive.



"O'Neill is in his 34th floor office in the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. when American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into it. Among others, O'Neill calls Valerie James once he is outside the building. He asks her what hit the building and tells her,

"Val, it's horrible. There are body parts everywhere." A few seconds later he tells her, "Okay, I'll call you in a little bit."

O'Neill also sends a text message to Fran Townsend to report that he is okay.

In the minutes after the attack, O'Neill makes his way to the command center that had been set up. There he sees FBI agent Wesley Wong. Wong would tell Esquire magazine later,

"He was in FBI mode. Then he turned and kind of looked at me and went toward the interior of the complex. From the time John walked away to the time the building collapsed was certainly not more than a half hour or 20 minutes."

Wong is the last person to see him alive.

Consume ! Save the world.

This ad appears in the TESCO Christmas magazine. Why doesn't mum use woven cotton nappies, soak and wash like her mum did, instead of loading landfill in the UK with 8 Million un-biodgradeable shit filled nappies every day ?

...and hasten baby being potty trained within 2 years rather than being seduced by Proctor & Gamble etc., into buying these technological marvels for years, helping to exhaust lord knows what natural resources.

There is also an ad from Oz winemakers Banrock Station, buy their plonk and help the Eden Project clog the lanes of Cornwall with cars under the pretext they are saving the planet's biodiversity - which botanic gardens worldwide have been doing for centuries.

Rumsfeld et. al. case lodged in Germany

The New York-based civil rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), filed a criminal complaint against ex Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday at the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The previous attempt to bring Rumsfeld and others to justice in 2004 under the Criminal Code of Crimes Against International Law (CCIL) was dropped in February 2005 on the eve of a visit by Rumsfeld to Germany for the Munich Conference on Security Policy. Kay Nehm, then the federal prosecutor claimed that Rumsfeld could be prosecuted in his own country and said.." that there were no indications that the US authorities and courts of the United States of America are refraining, or would refrain,from penal measures as regards the violations described in the complaint.” In 4 years Nehm did not take up a single case under the CCIL.

This new charge sheet has a greater chance of suceeding claims Berlin attorney Wolfgang Kaleck because ;

1. Rumsfeld is no longer able to hide behind his role as an employee of a sovereign power.
2.Monika Harms, who took office earlier this year as the federal prosecutor, may be more amenable to their cause.
3. New evidence such as documents from the 2005 Congressional hearings on the al-Qahtani case and the role of various people in producing the "torture memos".
4. Janis Karpinski the former commander of Abu Ghraib, will appear as a witness.
5. A different and much changed political situation.

CCR President Michael Ratner said on launching this action

“The recently passed Military Commissions Act, which purports to amnesty the alleged war crimes of U.S. officials, is only the most recent illustration of American unwillingness to prosecute Americans. These crimes are not the work of ‘a few bad apples;’ they were planned and executed at the highest levels of the U.S. government.”

In the original action Hannes Honecker, an attorney for the Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV) in Berlin, which represents CCR in Germany said his group agreed to help with CCR's case because it shared the organization's fundamental belief that serious crimes had been committed at Abu Ghraib.

"I fear that the rule of law will perish if we don't further pursue this and that Abu Ghraib will at some point take on significance in our cultural history -- namely that people don't give a damn about law as long as they are in power. This situation is undemocratic, it disregards human rights, it's intolerable and I'm afraid it will become standard if we do not take legal action against it."

.Janis Karpinski who toured the US with Craig Murray earlier this year , resigned from the army in July 2005. She is anxious to reveal the incidents that ended her army career. "I served for 28 years," Karpinski told the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel. "I was entirely committed to the army. Then they make me into a scapegoat."

The case cannot be brought (like the Yugoslav defendents) to the International Criminal Court in The Hague because the US is not a member and will not recognise it. The UN route would be immediately subject to (at least) the US power of veto.

These documents are available (PDF alerts)
1. Introduction in English which makes compelling reading 14 pages

2/3 The Full complaint in German only (so far) 2 parts Part 1 784K Part 2 659K

4. Press Release from Wofgang Kaleck's office (German) - wonderful logo / theme

5. Joint Press release CCC/RAV/ etc.,

It is essential that as much publicity is afforded world wide to this case - please help by circulating, posting, linking information wherever and whenever possible. The next step is Bush and Balir up on war crimes charges.