International Forecaster Weekly

Update On Lord Conrad Black's Kleptocracy, A No-fly List Full Of Nobodys

Update on Lord Conrad Black's Kleptocracy, a no-fly list full of nobodys... biometric identifiers... oil-for-food for corruption... Americans helpless against their own spending habits... disinformation... kickback city... soldiers refusing suicide missions... and more in the full issue of The International Forecaster. Become a Subscriber today.

Bob Chapman | October 17, 2004

Lord Conrad M. Black and other top corporate officers stole money from Hollinger International. We are mystified as to why a federal judge would throw out Hollinger International’s $1.25 billion RICO lawsuit against these crooks. The company will pursue a civil lawsuit but that is not the point. Again, we are faced with two sets of laws, one for elitists and one for us. Lord Black and his fellow thieves were running a “corporate Kleptocracy” between 1997 and 2003 during which time they stole $400 million. This is an example of what is wrong with America. The elitists do as they please and we get little or no protection from the law.

The federal government’s no-fly list had 16 names on it on 9/11 and today it has over 20,000. The suspected list of terrorists has expanded and many on the list are not terrorists. Two thousand Americans have complained to the Transportation Security Administration but to no avail. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two peace activists because our government refused to explain why they were on the list. What the list really is, is a political hit list. The TSA’s Secure Flight Program should be called the Unsecure Flight Program, because it has been a complete disaster. Every time a passenger books a ticket the airline checks the traveler’s name against two enormous government databases, or suspect lists. If you are traveling as a foreigner and they do not like your itinerary, they have your ticket cancelled. If you are a German and you fly from Frankfurt to Mexico City, to Caracas, to Havana, to Mexico City to New York, your admittance to the US will be rejected because you stopped in Cuba. You then become a victim on the no-fly list. All the TSA has is excuses for their incompetence. Our police state is gathering steam and it will not be long before those on the list are picked up and put in interment camps.

What has become known as Patriot Act II and is in reality Patriot Act III will impose draconian measures to relieve you of your freedom. It would establish a national ID card as a national standardization of driver’s licensing: biometric identifiers, including fingerprints, face recognition, photos, iris or retinal scans, and other private physical ID’s for travel documents, which would be used for security in domestic travel as well as foreign travel: establish a national electronic database for birth certificates, with permanent identifying information assigned each individual, such as a national ID number: expand secret eavesdropping and search powers against individuals suspected of terrorist activity, whether or not the individual is associated with a foreign power: in other words anyone who disagrees with the government: the removal of federal oversight further weakening individual privacy rights in library or personal records: allow guilt by association with a group targeted by government: approval of automatic detention without bail in immigration cases at the government’s request: increased secrecy in immigration court matters: approval of the use of secret evidence in immigration matters: allowing the death penalty in terrorism cases, which is a very important issue because anything that you do or say will now be categorized as a terrorist act. This way government can quickly liquidate any dissidents. This act destroys constitutional protections and is a bold, comprehensive attempt to give government dictatorial powers only previously found in totalitarian regimes. Like the efforts for secret Selective Service Draft papers that have been drafted in secret without telling the public what they are up too, and this is a bipartisan effort. This Act would rapidly expand law enforcement and intelligence operations, reduce or eliminate judicial oversight over surveillance, authorize arrests, create a DNA database based on suspicion only, create new death penalties and even take American citizenship away from persons who belong to or support disfavored political groups. Any American citizen who provides material aid to a group the government has designated a terrorist organization would be stripped of his citizenship. An American can lose his citizenship by living outside the country for extended periods of time. You would not have to denounce your citizenship, but citizenship would be withdrawn as inferred by your conduct. This tact would allow deportation of anyone who disagreed with government such as us or the removal of our citizenship if we lived outside the country. This puts all Americans in jeopardy of becoming terrorists. This fear would terrorize the American citizenry into obeying anything government desired. You are about to become prisoners in your own country if this Act passes. We encourage you to immediately contact your elected representatives and stop this legislation, because if you do not we can assure you that you will end up in an internment camp.

One of the shills quoted in the WSJ last week said BLS data is beyond reproach because career bureaucrats are beyond corruption. This meathead needs a course in the realities of business and government. Payola works and anyone who thinks it does not is a fool. FBI and CIA agents and professional personnel have been caught betraying the American people. Why are bureaucrats any different?

We have another brewing scandal. Law enforcement sources say Americans who participated in the oil-for-food scams also may face further investigation. The CIA conveniently deleted from Duelfer’s Report names of Saddam’s US oil-for-food participants. The report names Chevron, Mobil, Texaco and Bay Oil and three individuals, one of whom was Oscar S. Wyatt, Jr. of Houston & Coastal Corp. The largest allocation went to Mr. Wyatt who received 74 million barrels of oil, which brought him a profit of about $23 million. Wyatt and his wife Lynn are major donors to political causes. They have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.

Bush campaign aides have called the accusation George W. Bush had on a wire during the presidential debate ridiculous. The problem is whether it was true or not. He won’t have one on during the next debate.

As we have said prior to Afghanistan’s invasion, the CIA wanted to control the opium trade and have they been successful in doing so. Production will be up 6% this year from a record 3,600 tons last year. The US investment, of course, is protected by US troops, some of who are giving their lives to protect elitist’s drug interests. Of course, European governments are hopping mad because their countries are being flooded with cheap heroin. Drug enforcement is non-existent. Profits are spectacular. Agents pay the farmer $2,000 for heroin they sell in Europe for $70,000. Not only does the CIA make a profit, but also they ensure the loyalty of warlords and politicians.

As we said long before it happened, the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were for geopolitical advantages, opium and natural resources, mainly oil. All the cheap oil in the world has been found and the only large untapped cheap pool left is in Iraq and in other parts of the Middle East. Big oil companies have more money than they have ever had and they want to develop Iraq. Unfortunately for them, prior to the invasion, other countries had made deals with the Iraq government shutting them out – hence the neocon invasions. From a production viewpoint Iraq’s oil reserves have not even been touched. It is the premier deposit of the future. This is what Dick Cheney’s secret meeting in the spring of 2001 with major oil companies was all about. They were carving up the oil reserves prior to the invasion. Before the invasion, there were 63 oil companies from 30 countries with interests in Iraq. They now are all in the hands of US oil interests backed by the US Army. Of course, might is right – right?

Derision nor not, this was an invasion to steal oil. An expedited invasion to beat Saddam who was about to cut a deal with the UN on lifting sanctions. Its just to know our children and grandchildren are being murdered so America’s elitist oil companies can get richer. Any excuse will do. If we want someone’s assets, we just label them a rogue or terrorist state. Dick Cheney was behind the whole invasion representing the oil interests. He spoke on the need of more oil reserves in 1999, and designated the Middle East as the place to acquire them. This brought about Iraq’s regime change. It is interesting to note, due to nationalization, major oil companies only control 4% of world oil reserves. The goal of the US and UK is to ferment wars and revolutions in order to takeover more of the world’s oil production. Thus, this is what Iraq’s nationalized production was about: to become the property of privatization via US oil ownership. This is fortunate as production falls and usage increases. This is especially true in the US where production has definitely peaked. Canada also figures largely in the equation as the largest supplier of oil to the US. When Canada signed the NAFTA agreement in 1993, they gave up the right to cut back on the amount of oil exported to the US. Mexico on the other hand flat refused to agree to that section of the agreement and was granted an exemption. Canada will eventually be drained of all its oil and gas to satisfy US desires. On the other hand, whoever controls the big oil reserves of the Middle East will control the world.

Fifty-one percent of adults, ages 18-29, believe George W. Bush wants to reinstate the military draft.

Americans just cannot help themselves. They spend far more than they earn and have done so for some time. They have never had it so good. They rush like lemmings headlong into mass financial suicide. For five years, they have spent $1.20 for every dollar they have earned. In 10 years, the percentage of US government debt held by foreigners has risen from 20% to 50%. We continue to print money and Treasuries and foreigners’ central banks continue to buy them, but they cannot do that indefinitely. Americans have ruined their country by spending money they do not have on things they do not need.

November 4, 2004 is a big day in the Middle East. It is the day Iran must decide whether to terminate their plans for uranium enrichment or face nuclear attack from Israel and the US. This could touch off a world nuclear war.

George and the neocons moved to shut down over 20 anti-globalization web sites on 10/7/04 in an unprecedented exercise of police power against political dissent on the Internet. Indymedia sites were shut down by Rackspace, a US based web hosting company with offices in San Antonio, TX and greater London, in response to an order from the FBI requiring it to turn over two of its British servers that were hosting dozens of Indymedia sites. Sites were taken down in Brazil, Britain, Germany, Italy and Uruguay. The FBI said the action was taken at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which provides for cooperative efforts by various national police agencies against international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. If you believe that, we have a bridge for sale. As you can see, you are a terrorist if you are anti-globalization. Rackspace said, they were acting as good corporate citizens and they are cooperating with international law enforcement authorities. We can hear the thump, thump, thump of the jackboots at 3:00 a.m. as our door is kicked in and we are hauled away for telling the truth. The FBI has admitted that posting of a story of Swiss Undercover Police acting as 'agents’ provocateurs' during anti-globalization protests last year outside the G-8 summit meeting in Evian, France does not violate US law. Indymedia cannot be all bad. Not only do the elitists want it shut down, but also so do the fascist National Alliance Party and Alessandria Mussolini, a fascist, granddaughter of the fascist dictator. Alliance leader Gianfranco Fini is the Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. They are major Bush backers and backers of the invasion of Iraq. The FBI actions have been reported throughout Europe in a major way, yet nothing has appeared in the US media. The silence underscores the role of the American corporate media that is totally controlled by the elitists.

Stanley Hilton, who filed a lawsuit charging President George W. Bush with complicity in the attacks on 9/11, in behalf of 400 9/11 victims, has been repeatedly stymied by law enforcement and has had his offices broken into twice and had them ransacked. This, of course, is government intimidation, the same kind experienced in 1933 in Germany. He has also received death threats. Mr. Hilton says John Ashcroft, Attorney General, is now behind the plot to stop his case.

Washington thrives on disinformation, intrigue and greed. It became evident to us during the early 1960’s that the agenda was not saving America from Communism, but for the enrichment in and around government. Occasionally the veil of secrecy is lifted and we are provided with a glimpse of Washington’s furtive conduct. There was the monumental corruption of Lyndon Baines Johnson, then Richard Nixon, who finally was deposed by Watergate and then Ronald Reagan and Iran-Contra. From the 1960’s onward, black-bag jobs were the order of the day, and a network of private military and intelligence companies intended to privatize US foreign policy and national security. That included private armies of mercenaries, many, of which, operate openly today under US government contract. That process began in the 1980’s. The true purpose of these actions was to get around laws and peer review and essentially set up a parallel government. This worked well until the 1990’s and by then it was safe to bring the actions and goals of these people into public focus. It was already part of the system by osmosis. The evolution has taken place from Bush, to Clinton to Bush. The ultimate machinations were brought to fruition by George W. Bush with the implementation of a mercantilist, corporatist, and fascist state. The success of these greedy, power-hungry people in the 1980’s attracted the upper levels of elitism and these operations were all absorbed as part of the engine in the rush to the new world order.

As we have reported before ex-KGB Chiefs Primakov (also former President of Russia and close associate of Saddam Hussein) and Karpov work in the Office of Information Awareness (DARPA), thus we wonder whether they had anything to do with the redesigning of our drivers’ licenses. Of course they did. That is why they were hired. This is not only a passport but a national ID card, an internal passport. Primakov said this is a step in the move to the National Identity Card Act (NICA), which has the new identity upgrade features, which are coming to your drivers’ licenses. The elitists intend to have the same control over the American people that the Kremlin had over the Russian people when Stalin ran the country. If Americans do not stop these actions now it will set the beginning of a total totalitarian state. It will restrict your every movement. You will have to program and get approval of your every movement.

A week after dismissal Hollinger International has allowed the company to refile its suit and seek to recoup some $400 million from Lord Conrad Black and others.

New York Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, sued Marsh and McLennan and arrested two American International Group executives in his first prosecution of the insurance industry. Spitzer alleges Marsh took lucrative payoffs for steering unsuspecting clients to certain insurers. Spitzer also said AIG Hartford Financial Services, ACE Ltd. and Munich RE participated in the steering and bid rigging kickback scheme. Spitzer said the corruption has tainted virtually every line of insurance. Marsh received $800 million in kickbacks last year. Spitzer has subpoenaed AON Corp, Willis Group Holdings, Hub International, Chubb Corp and Altus and said numerous civil and criminal cases are to come. Elitist criminality goes on and on.

The media is already calling this affair “kickback city” and the “Greenberg Crime Family Scam.” Marsh and McLennan is headed by Jeffery Greenberg, son of AIG’s Chief, Maurice “ACE” Greenberg, whose AIG is also entangled in other frauds as well. Ace incidentally is a top man at the Council of Foreign Relations. Another son, Evan, is president and CEO of ACE and was formerly CEO of AIG, daddy’s firm. Two AIG executives have already pleaded guilty to scheming to defraud and are on their own recognizance. This readers is exactly what the Mafia does.

George and the neocons suspended investments in federal employee pension plans in order to stay under the debt limit until after the election. Congress must increase the debt limit by November 15, 2004.

A 17-member Army Reserve platoon from Jackson, Miss. is under arrest for refusing a suicide mission to deliver fuel in vehicles considered extremely unsafe. They have been charged with the willful disobeying of orders, punishable by dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five years of confinement. There have been a number of complaints from parents that vehicles were not armor-plated, or that bulletproof vests were outdated. There was $180 million allocated for such equipment, but no one knows if the funds were used. The President says the troops are well armed. One of the detained soldiers said they delivered fuel to a unit and they were sent back because the fuel was contaminated with water, upon return they were told to take it to another base. The transport unit had no Humvee or helicopter protection. The vehicles could not travel over 40 MPH due to their conditions. Now let us see if we can get the true story.

Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez is to be rewarded for his work at the Abu Ghraib Prison, by being promoted to a four-star general. If Bush is not reelected it will not happen. He would be only one of 33 four-star generals and 4 admirals in our history and we are sure his being Hispanic has nothing to do with the promotion. Any appointment would be met with confrontation in the Senate. He doesn’t have a snowball’s chance. Sanchez had an excellent record until he was responsible for creating an environment that contributed to the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Sanchez authorized the use of techniques that were contrary to both US military manuals and international law and he lied at his hearing. It is incredible considering the reports generated that he hasn’t been punished. Then again, he was under orders from George and the neocons. He probably just followed their orders, but so didn’t Hitler’s henchmen. We find it very telling that Mr. Kerry has refused to make Abu Ghraib an issue in the campaign.