Evil Doers - Foiled Again!

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Click here for related story [Washington Post (Sponsored Propaganda Story)]

Still another stunning victory against international evil-doers.

The Washington Post gives front page coverage to a "successful CIA counter-terrorist operation"
[a story worthy of George Orwell's 1984].

FBI PR Series
(c) Projections Movie  Blog

"The latest al-Qaeda bomb plot targeting US aircraft was unraveled from inside the terrorist group by operatives — including an agent who posed as a willing suicide bomber ... penetrating al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen and recovering the explosive device ...  the CIA tracked the bomb’s movements for weeks and then killed suspected plotters in a drone strike after the device was seized."   

What this situation lacks is a video of an Efram Zimbalist, Jr. clone, pulling up to the CIA HQ with a background of patriotic music and flags waving.

[For you younger folks, that was the script for an FBI-sponsored TV series of long ago; today, the CIA uses the Washington Post for its PR campaign.] 

      

I'd feel less cynical about this latest revelation if so many of the previous "busts" hadn't had the appearance of "entrapment" [i.e., the FBI recruiting a potential terrorist, furnishing him with the materials for a bomb or weapons, creating an attack plan, and then wrapping it all up with a high-visibility arrest of the guy they recruited.

DHS News Team
(c) UrbisMedia

The Intelligence Biz seems to have evolved into a Media Circus since Obama has come into office; not that it wasn't already headed down that path since 9/11.    

The steady stream of nonsense stories about counter-terrorist successes tend to be intellectually embarrassing.

Basic rules for the professional Intelligence Biz:

1) Don't publicize your operations -- successful or otherwise.

2) Don't disclose sources and/or methods

3) Don't publicize your source placement [see #2 above]

4) Don't kill off participants; they probably have lots of information on other operatives, cells,    locations,networks, communications systems, etc. There was probably a year's worth of interrogation opportunity destroyed by the "drone strike" [if the event actually occurred]. 

5) Brief the SSCI and the HPSCI in general terms to keep your funding

6) Don't create press releases to show that Homeland Security is "working".

Terrorist Camel with Exploded Cigar
(c) Choss Climbers

This BS story reminds us of the legendary   "camel spotting corps" in the Mojave Desert designed to prevent attacks by marauding Arabs.

It was touted as one of the most successful military operations in history since, during its existence, there was not one successful attack by Arabs in the Mojave!

Of course, there were neither camels nor Arabs in the desert at the time; but, the program was dubbed a success nonetheless.       

Sorry folks.

This "news" story is such a patent piece of journalistic pap that we have to grade it D-  

it's clearly a campaign publicity stunt.

Retired Intelligence professionals around the country must be either laughing, or throwing up at this BS press release.  Once again, the US has become the laughing stock of the world.

Markets Crashing - Again?

The Dow:  500 Point loss in only a few days

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The Dow is plunging again today; looks like it's lost about 500 points in the last few days, which indicates bad stuff is happening.

17 Banks -- in the toilet   (c) Newsmaker Today

"Moody’s Investors Service is reviewing the creditworthiness of 17 banks and securities firms with global capital-market operations. It may cut ratings on Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG by as many as three levels."

Sarkozy welcomes his Socialist successor

Now, all that bad news was processed before France ousted President Sarkozy and voted in a Socialist President -- who promised the French he would give them lots of money and more freebies; and, before Greece ousted their pro-austerity government.

And, the deep thinkers announced this morning -- before the   markets opened -- that everything was hunky-dory.

[Keep moving, nothing to see here, keep moving]




The reality is that Europe is about to play serious politics with the Euro.

A solid work ethic, quality merchandise, a balanced budget
(c) Christian Science Monitorbudget.

They're all blaming Germany because it instituted all the austerity reforms, made the sacrifices necessary, and it now has full employment, a balanced budget, and a stable banking system -- vs the rest of Europe which is still feeding from the welfare trough.

But, but, those nasty Germans!
They should SHARE their wealth!


   

It only works until you run out of other people's money
(c) Marty Nemko

Spain, Portugal, and Greece are all crying the blues because they can no longer retire at full pay when they're 40, or get free health care, or take two years off from work coincident with a pregnancy.

This is a terrible situation.  One report included an interview with a gentleman who complained that he could no longer afford wine with his lunch.  What an incredible sacrifice!

 

Great idea;
really poor implementation

The European leadership is demanding that Germany step up to the plate and provide more low interests loans [no matter that the last series of loans was not repaid], and to support the rest of the European Economic Community; after all, the Germans now have plenty of money, industrial growth, lots of exports, solvent banks, and so, they should share their wealth!
 
And the EC is right there, ready and willing to spend Germany's wealth, since they have all burned through their own savings and credit limits to accommodate their Socialist programs.



 


Something we can look forward to here in the US should we be silly enough to allow Obama to be reelected.   

BP Redux?

Shell Oil; The best afloat in today's Gulf!                 (c) Telegraph

Click here for related story [The Telegraph]

We learn today that Royal Dutch Shell [just Shell in the US] discovered an "oil sheen" in the central Gulf of Mexico near one of its platforms.  The Canadian Press reports that the sheen extends for ten miles, so chances are, it's definitely a leak, and someone has some 'splainin to do."

Shell has advised that there is "no current indication" that the sheen originates from either of its wells in the Gulf.  Meanwhile, investors took a dim view of the situation and sold heavily, forcing the price of Shell down by four per cent.  [BP took a ricochet drop of 1.5%.]

These pipes are safe.  Ask a Nigerian farmer
(c) InFocus

Now Shell could probably dodge this bullet were it not for other spills it's had of late.

The Associated Press reports that the number of its operational oil spills doubled last year -- to 63.

Hmm, that's a lot.

Shell advises that a lot of those spills came from pipeline thefts in Nigeria, but it spilled only 5,300 tons of oil last year, as opposed to 14,000 tons two years ago. 

So, they seemed to be making progress, or at least they were until this ten mile slick appeared in the Gulf.  Chances are, ten miles of oil slick amounts to more than 5,000 tons of oil -- which is a lot in one spill.

115 miles of floating oil near Nigeria
Envisat ASAR image analyzed by SkyTruth

The problem lies in that the 14,000 tons spilled in 2011 created another sheen off the coast of Nigeria, which Shell announced was probably the worst in a a decade and impacted nearly 360 square miles of ocean.

So, about roughly 40,000 barrels of crude oil created that sheen.  That made Shell a bit nervous since its other spills in 2008 in Nigeria's Bodo region of the Delta were estimated to take roughly 30 years to clean up.




On the positive side, Shell spilled only 320 barrels of contaminated fluids in the Gulf of Mexico before it closed down its deep drilling rig there.

Deepwater Horizon (c) Wikipedia

In our very own Gulf, we recall BP's minor spill in 2010 from the Deepwater Horizon was limited to less than five million barrels, with an 80 square mile "kill zone" around the well.  And, only about 500 miles of Louisiana shore line and wetlands were affected.
  
BP alleviated much of the tar problem by pumping thousands of gallons of chemicals into the Gulf to dissipate the oil plumes that were ten miles long and three miles wide that snaked for several miles below the surface.

According to NOAA, roughly half the oil spilled by the Deepwater Horizon remains in the water in a dispersed form, or rests on the Gulf floor.  The bacteria which was touted as being capable of breaking down the oil turned out to be effective only on natural gas, leaving the oil fairly intact.

Although declared "safe" by BP and the federal government, the Gulf remains polluted and continues to spew out the dead dolphins, fish, and waterfowl.

So, we look forward to Shell's oil spill.  Can it compete with BP's spill? And can it cause the amount of devastation as the BP Spill?

We "Little People" are anxious to know!