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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

REPORT: President Obama Has Skipped Nearly 60% Of His Daily Intelligence Briefings Since Becoming President


REPORT: President Obama Has Skipped Nearly 60% Of His Daily Intelligence Briefings Since Becoming President


 http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2014/09/report-president-obama-has-skipped.html

← Readying for Ebola: How U.S. hospitals are gearing up – ‘not a question of if there’s a case, but when’ U.S. quietly preparing for Ebola outbreak: CDC issues Ebola guidelines for U.S. funeral homes – how to dispose of bodies

U.S. quietly preparing for Ebola outbreak: CDC issues Ebola guidelines for U.S. funeral homes – how to dispose of bodies



http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/u-s-quietly-preparing-for-ebola-outbreak-cdc-issues-ebola-guidelines-for-u-s-funeral-homes-how-to-dispose-of-bodies/

20% Chance Of Ebola In USA By October; 277,124 Global Cases By Year-End, Model Predicts

20% Chance Of Ebola In USA By October; 277,124 Global Cases By Year-End, Model Predicts



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-15/20-chance-ebola-usa-october-277124-global-cases-year-end-model-predicts

CDC Confirms First Ebola Case Diagnosed In The US, In Dallas Hospital

 

CDC Confirms First Ebola Case Diagnosed In The US, In Dallas Hospital


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-30/cdc-confirms-first-ebola-case-diagnosed-us

Poverty In The Black Community Is The Result of Culture Not Racism

Poverty In The Black Community Is The Result of Culture Not Racism



http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/09/poverty_in_the_black_community_is_the_result_of_culture_not_racism.html

Embracing Assad Is a Better Strategy for the U.S. Than Supporting the Least Bad Jihadis

Embracing Assad Is a Better Strategy for the U.S. Than Supporting the Least Bad Jihadis

WORLD POST/ HUFFINGTON POST
Posted: 09/29/2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/graham-e-fuller/us-assad-isis-strategy_b_5898142.html?utm_hp_ref=world
The Middle East today is in as big a mess as I’ve seen it in a lifetime. By most measures it still continues to worsen, as ever new enemies to the U.S. pop up onto the scene. It is attracting polarized youthful jihadis from both East and West ready to fight us — all high on the blood aphrodisiac of beheadings and bombings.
The U.S. and most other countries understandably seek to suppress the present savage civil conflicts raging in Iraq and Syria — now exemplified at its worst in the spread of the violent jihadi Islamic State. If so, Washington had best look first to ending the civil conflict in Syria, the most efficacious way to start unraveling the Middle Eastern knot.

Fostering the Next Generation of Nuclear Energy Technology

 

Fostering the Next Generation of Nuclear Energy Technology

September 29, 2014 - 11:06am
Fostering the Next Generation of Nuclear Energy Technology
Today, the Energy Department is announcing a significant step to help meet America’s future low-carbon goals with the release of a draft $12.6 billion loan guarantee solicitation for advanced nuclear energy projects.
If finalized, the Advanced Nuclear Energy Projects Loan Guarantee solicitation will build upon the work the Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) is already doing to revitalize America’s nuclear power industry. In February, Secretary Moniz and I travelled to Georgia to announce $6.5 billion in loan guarantees to support the first new nuclear power plant to begin construction in nearly three decades.  The project at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant involves construction of two new state-of-the-art nuclear reactors that will produce enough clean electricity to power nearly 1.5 million average American homes.  At the same time, this project will help fight climate change by keeping about 10 million tons per year of carbon dioxide pollution out of our atmosphere – that’s like taking more than 2 million cars off the road every year.
While the Vogtle project represents an important advance in nuclear technology, other innovative nuclear projects may be unable to obtain full commercial financing due to the perceived risks associated with technology that has never been deployed at commercial scale in the U.S. The loan guarantees from this draft solicitation would support advanced nuclear energy technologies that will catalyze the deployment of future projects that replicate or extend a technological innovation. In support of that goal, the Department has identified four key technology areas of interest:
  1. Advanced Nuclear Reactors: This area focuses on nuclear energy projects with evolutionary, state-of-the-art design improvements in the areas of fuel technology, thermal efficiency, modularized construction, safety systems (especially the use of passive rather than active systems), and standardized design.
  2. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs): This area focuses on innovative technologies for nuclear energy projects that are nominally 300 MWe or smaller in size.
  3. Uprates and Upgrades at Existing Facilities: This area focuses on projects consisting of improvements to an existing reactor to increase efficiency and/or capacity or to make critical improvements that are requisite to current or future facility operations.
  4. Front-End Nuclear: This area focuses on advanced nuclear facilities for the “front-end” of the nuclear fuel cycle. Of the $12.6 billion available under this solicitation, $2 billion is available exclusively for “front-end” projects. This could include uranium conversion or enrichment, as well as nuclear fuel fabrication.
As part of our all-of-the-above energy strategy, we hope this solicitation will help to accelerate the commercial deployment of advanced nuclear energy technologies the way that previous solicitations have helped to accelerate advanced technologies like utility-scale solar photovoltaics, solar thermal energy storage, and electric vehicles. We’ve already started by helping to finance the Vogtle project and we look forward to continuing through this solicitation.

http://www.energy.gov/lpo/articles/fostering-next-generation-nuclear-energy-technology

Two nuclear fuel rods found damaged during North Anna power plant refueling


Two nuclear fuel rods found damaged during North Anna power plant refueling


http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/two-nuclear-fuel-rods-found-damaged-during-north-anna-power/article_774308e2-4836-11e4-8afc-0017a43b2370.html

Mossad Openly Seeks Agents Online



Mossad Openly Seeks Agents Online
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/mossad-openly-seeks-agents-online/

Israeli intelligence has given up to modern trends and introduced an online
questionnaire for would-be spies. Unlike the businesslike CIA or MI5 web draft
campaigns, Israelis are luring volunteers with mystery halo always shrouding
Mossad’s activities.

Mossad has become one of the last intelligence agencies in the world that
vouchsafed to recruiting volunteer spies online, facilitating [...]

Pilot Arrested, Refused to Bomb ISIS


Pilot Arrested, Refused to Bomb ISIS
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/pilot-arrested-refused-to-bomb-isis/

According to social media activists, a Saudi Air Force officer has refused
orders to carry out an airstrike on Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS)
positions in Syria.

The Saudi officer, Captain Faisal Al-Ghamdi, is said to have refused to
participate in the airstrikes due to his support of the terrorist group. The
news has [...]

Russian Currency Buckling Under Pressure


Russian Currency Buckling Under Pressure
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/russian-currency-buckling-under-pressure/

Markets are reacting in real time to tension in Ukraine following Russia’s
March incursion into Crimea and subsequent annexation of the Black Sea
peninsula.

The ruble fell 0.8 percent to 39.5000 per dollar, bringing its drop since Feb.
28, the day before President Vladimir Putin’s incursion, t

Full Transcript: Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations General Assembly, 2014 (VIDEO)


Full Transcript: Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations General Assembly, 2014 (VIDEO)


http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/09/29/full-transcript-prime-minister-netanyahu%E2%80%99s-speech-at-the-united-nations-general-assembly-2014/

Obama Throws America's Spies Under The Bus


Obama Throws America's Spies Under The Bus

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-throws-intel-community-under-bus-over-isis-2014-9?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20Mondays%202014-09-29&utm_content=emailshare

Syria Says It Supports the Fight Against ISIL

 

Syria Says It Supports the Fight Against ISIL // Ben Watson

The Syrian regime says fighting terrorism 'is certainly possible through military strikes,' but warns of a 'double-standard policy' on arming the rebels. By Ben Watson http://www.defenseone.com/politics/2014/09/syria-says-it-supports-fight-against-isil/95378/?oref=defenseone_today_nl


Syria                  
Analysts: Pace of Campaign Could Strain Navy Forces - VP
US, Defending Kurds in Syria, Expands Strikes Against ISIS - NYT
Islamic State Forces Hit in Battle for Key Syrian Border City - WP
US-Led Air Strikes 'Damaging IS' - BBC
Demise of Group Backing Moderate Syria Rebels is a Warning for US - McClatchy
US Struggles to Blunt Syria Rebel Anger at Strikes - AP
Al-Nusra Threat Over Air Strikes - BBC
Syrian Al Qaeda Offshoot Vows Retaliation Against US-Led Air Strikes - Reuters
Islamic State Defies Air Strikes by Shelling Syrian Kurdish Town - Reuters
US Jets Join IS Syria Border Battle - BBC
Turkey Inching Toward Alliance With US in Syria Conflict - NYT
Erdogan: Turkish Troops Could be Used in Syria - Reuters
Russian Suspicions of US Motives in Syria Make Cooperation Unlikely - Reuters
Syrian Kids Battle PTSD in Lebanon Refu­gee Camps - WP

CFR Daily News Brief 9/30 Afghanistan and United States Sign Security Deal

If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view.
Council on Foreign Relations Daily News Brief
September 30, 2014

Top of the Agenda

Afghanistan and United States Sign Security Deal
A high representative for new President Ashraf Ghani signed a bilateral security agreement (Reuters) with the United States on Tuesday, which will allow 10,000 U.S. military personnel to remain in Afghanistan through 2016 after the official combat mission ends in December 2014. Although former Afghan President Hamid Karzai had refused to sign (NYT) the deal despite U.S. threats of a full withdrawal, both President Ghani and Government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah promised to sign the agreement during their campaigns. The signing of the security deal comes a day after President Ghani was sworn in following a power-sharing deal with Abdullah, his former opponent.

Analysis

"By agreeing to the deal so quickly, President Ghani is resetting a relationship soured by his predecessor Hamid Karzai, who refused to sign the agreements, and to the end attacked the US and its forces. The US ambassador to Kabul, Jim Cunningham, said that Tuesday's signing sent a broader signal to the region about continuing US commitment to Afghanistan," writes David Lyon for the BBC.
"There is an important lesson to be learned here: It's vitally important to keep a substantial commitment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after this year. Military commanders are asking for at least 10,000 personnel, and if that request isn't granted by the White House (as leaks suggest it may not be), the odds will increase that Afghanistan, like Iraq, will descend into a civil war that undoes everything U.S. troops sacrificed so much to achieve," writes CFR's Max Boot in the Los Angeles Times.
"Our job now is to support Afghanistan for the Afghans — and to stay committed to a country of people who believe in a better future with an inclusive government that serves them all. Even as this political transition concludes and as Afghanistan takes responsibility for its own security, we must continue to support that aspiration," writes Secretary of State John Kerry in the Washington Post.

Germany Fights on Two Fronts to Preserve the Eurozone By Adriano Bosoni and Mark Fleming-Williams

Germany Fights on Two Fronts to Preserve the Eurozone

By Adriano Bosoni and Mark Fleming-Williams

The European Court of Justice announced Sept. 22 that hearings in the case against the European Central Bank's (ECB) bond-buying scheme known as Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) will begin Oct. 14. Though the process is likely to be lengthy, with a judgment not due until mid-2015, the ruling will have serious implications for Germany's relationship with the rest of the eurozone. The timing could hardly be worse, coming as an anti-euro party has recently been making strides in the German political scene, steadily undermining the government's room for maneuver.
 

The roots of the case go back to late 2011, when Italian and Spanish sovereign bond yields were following their Greek counterparts to sky-high levels as the markets showed that they had lost confidence in the eurozone's most troubled economies' ability to turn themselves around. By summer 2012 the situation in Europe was desperate. Bailouts had been undertaken in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, while Italy was getting dangerously close to needing one. But Italy's economy, and particularly its gargantuan levels of government debt, meant that it would be too big to receive similar treatment. In any event, the previous bailouts were not calming financial markets.

ECB President Mario Draghi never actually had to step in because the promise of intervention in bond markets convinced investors that eurozone countries would not be allowed to default. But Draghi's solution was not to everyone's taste. Notable opponents included Jens Weidmann, president of the German Bundesbank. Along with many Germans, Weidmann felt the ECB was overstepping its jurisdictional boundaries, since EU treaties bar the bank from financing member states. Worse, were OMT ever actually used, it essentially would be spending German money to bail out what many Germans considered profligate Southern Europeans.

Read more »http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/germany-fights-two-fronts-preserve-eurozone#axzz3Eo2OxIoh

Failure Is Success How American Intelligence Works in the Twenty-First Century By Tom Engelhardt

Failure Is Success
How American Intelligence Works in the Twenty-First Century
By Tom Engelhardt
What are the odds? You put about $68 billion annually into a maze of 17 major intelligence outfits. You build them glorious headquarters. You create a global surveillance state for the ages. You listen in on your citizenry and gather their communications in staggering quantities. Your employees even morph into avatars and enter video-game landscapes, lest any Americans betray a penchant for evil deeds while in entertainment mode. You collect information on visits to porn sites just in case, one day, blackmail might be useful. You pass around naked photos of them just for... well, the salacious hell of it. Your employees even use aspects of the system you’ve created to stalk former lovers and, within your arcane world, that act of "spycraft" gains its own name: LOVEINT.
You listen in on foreign leaders and politicians across the planet. You bring on board hundreds of thousands of crony corporate employees, creating the sinews of an intelligence-corporate complex of the first order. You break into the “backdoors” of the data centers of major Internet outfits to collect user accounts. You create new outfits within outfits, including an ever-expanding secret military and intelligence crew embedded inside the military itself (and not counted among those 17 agencies). Your leaders lie to Congress and the American people without, as far as we can tell, a flicker of self-doubt. Your acts are subject to secret courts, which only hear your versions of events and regularly rubberstamp them -- and whose judgments and substantial body of lawmaking are far too secret for Americans to know about.
You have put extraordinary effort into ensuring that information about your world and the millions of documents you produce doesn’t make it into our world. You even have the legal ability to gag American organizations and citizens who might speak out on subjects that would displease you (and they can’t say that their mouths have been shut). You undoubtedly spy on Congress. You hack into congressional computer systems. And if whistleblowers inside your world try to tell the American public anything unauthorized about what you’re doing, you prosecute them under the Espionage Act, as if they were spies for a foreign power (which, in a sense, they are, since you treat the American people as if they were a foreign population). You do everything to wreck their lives and -- should one escape your grasp -- you hunt him implacably to the ends of the Earth.
As for your top officials, when their moment is past, the revolving door is theirs to spin through into a lucrative mirror life in the intelligence-corporate complex.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175901/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_entering_the_intelligence_labyrinth/#more

Ebola Round-Up

EBOLA ROUND-UP

* While a consortium of scientists in Germany claim that an Ebola vaccine safety trial has been held up by negotiations with the US company holding the vaccine license, discussions are underway at WHO on speeding the clinical development of vaccines. ** Science Magazine (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=7bd666be6c&e=9c1fcebfa3)


* The underlying weaknesses that led to the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa will be hard to fix and take years, says Peter Piot, the man who discovered Ebola, in this Q&A. ** Vox (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=79e35bf856&e=9c1fcebfa3)


* The Ebola epidemic demands an “all-hands-on-deck moment for mobilization of the basics,” writes Laurie Garrett in a long blog post surveying the current situation. ** Foreign Policy (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=71b8bc65f7&e=9c1fcebfa3)


* A Monrovia physician explains why she’s honoring her commitment to medicine in the face of extraordinary danger. ** NPR Goats and Soda (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=50b6dcfa72&e=9c1fcebfa3)

Monday, September 29, 2014

Al Assad the Net Winner from the US Aerial Raids

Al Assad the Net Winner from the US Aerial Raids

The Syrian regime is telling whoever wants to listen that the US bombardment of ISIL targets in the country was done in “full coordination” between the two governments, and that the US army is fighting “in the same line” with the Syrian army.

“Al Watan” daily newspaper, published in Damascus and owned by Rami Makhlouf, a relative and business associate of Bashar Al Assad, printed an editorial that praises the US military operation and said that the Syrian Army will gain “substantial benefits” from these operations “so far as they hit terrorist forces.” The editorial emphasized, “it is the Syrian army that is stronger on the ground and has the capabilities and the flexibility to move.”

Israel Prepares for `Inevitable’ Lebanon War with Trepidations

Israel Prepares for `Inevitable’ Lebanon War with Trepidations

Israel is now preparing for what IDF officials believe is an “inevitable” new Lebanon War to pre-empt Hezbollah attacks on Israel that could include ground incursions into the north of the country by the Lebanon-based Shi’ite militia. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who was the head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman) until mid-September has been assigned to head Israel’s Northern Command. Kochavi had come under criticism for failing to provide in-depth advance intelligence on Hamas’ elaborate underground maze of Gaza tunnels that enabled the group to survive Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” largely intact. In his defense, Aman officials argued that they placed much greater priority on dealing with the Hezbollah threat to the north. Kochavi is recognized as one of Israel’s pre-eminent specialists on Hezbollah.

Legal Basis for U.S. War in Iraq and Syria Is Thin

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/legal-basis-for-us-war-in_b_5900984.html

Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, The Independent Institute

Legal Basis for U.S. War in Iraq and Syria Is Thin

Posted: 09/29/2014
U.S. government officials recently began hyping the threat from a very small and little-known terrorist group called Khorasan and then striking it in Syria. Several of President Obama's aides told the media that airstrikes were launched to foil an "imminent" terrorist attack, possibly using hidden explosives to blow up aircraft. Yet other government officials seemed to pour cold water on that assessment. According to the New York Times, one anonymous senior official described the Khorasan plot as only "aspirational" and said that the group had not seemed to have established a concrete plan. Other officials, at least one of who was a senior counterterrorism official, said that the plot was far from mature and that no sign existed that the group had decided on the method of attack or the time and target of it.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivan-eland/legal-basis-for-us-war-in_b_5900984.html

I got an exclusive interview with ISIS


I got an exclusive interview with ISIS


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyrFvKxp6VQ

Analysts: Air-Sea Battle concept carries risks in possible conflict with China

http://www.stripes.com/news/analysts-air-sea-battle-concept-carries-risks-in-possible-conflict-with-china-1.305505

Stars and Stripes Logo

Analysts: Air-Sea Battle concept carries risks in possible conflict with China

By Erik Slavin
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 28, 2014

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — While the United States may welcome China’s peaceful rise, last week’s Valiant Shield exercise over the western Pacific Ocean plainly showed that Washington is hedging its bets on the “peaceful” part.http://www.stripes.com/news/analysts-air-sea-battle-concept-carries-risks-in-possible-conflict-with-china-1.305505

Neocons’ Noses Into the Syrian Tent

Neocons’ Noses Into the Syrian Tent

Jackson Diehl, deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post.
Exclusive: The neocons say the next step in President Obama’s bombing raids inside Syria must be to move from attacking the terrorist Islamic State to destroying Syria’s air force and air defenses, all the better to achieve the neocons’ long-sought “regime change,” reports Robert Parry.

Emerging markets eye renminbi trading alternative to dollar

Emerging markets eye renminbi trading alternative to dollar



http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/df11fbbe-2ea4-11e4-afe4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3EhkCP3d8

The many names of ISIS (also known as IS, ISIL, SIC and Da'ish) -

 The many names of ISIS (also known as IS, ISIL, SIC and Da'ish) -

The many names of ISIS (also known as IS, ISIL, SIC and Da'ish)

- See more at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/09/economist-explains-19#sthash.HGwmHrQx.dpuf

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/09/economist-explains-19

Israel Is Put on Trial for War Crimes

Israel Is Put on Trial for War Crimes


http://www.alternet.org/world/israel-put-trial-war-crimes

Noam Chomsky: Why Americans Know So Much About Sports But So Little About World Affairs


Noam Chomsky: Why Americans Know So Much About Sports But So Little About World Affairs


http://www.alternet.org/noam-chomsky-why-americans-know-so-much-about-sports-so-little-about-world-affairs

Pope's Meeting With the Elderly in St. Peter's Square

Pope's Meeting With the Elderly in St. Peter's Square

"How many times the elderly are discarded with attitudes of abandonment that are a true and proper hidden euthanasia."


http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-meeting-with-the-elderly-in-st-peter-s-square

Top Liberian Doctor Quarantined in Throes of 'Vastly Underestimated' Ebola Crisis

Top Liberian Doctor Quarantined in Throes of 'Vastly Underestimated' Ebola Crisis

Death toll surges as chief medical officer places herself in incubation period


http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/27/top-liberian-doctor-quarantined-throes-vastly-underestimated-ebola-crisis

Project On Government Oversight (POGO) for a special film screening of Tom Christie’s parody of the Pentagon decision-making process.

I have not seen this videotape of an old parody of the DOD acquisition making process, but I am told that it is hilarious and depressingly relevant.  It is tomorrow (late afternoon) at POGO; details and RSVP address below.  I hope you can make it.
You are cordially invited to join the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) for a special film screening of Tom Christie’s parody of the Pentagon decision-making process. The screening will begin at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, September 30, at POGO’s office in Washington, DC:

 When: 5:00 pm, September 30, 2014
What: Screening of Tom Christie’s “Pentagon Parody”
 Where: 1100 G St., NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC

A couple years ago, POGO held a screening of Tom’s first parody of the Defense Acquisition Board, or DAB as it’s known, to much fanfare.   On September 30, we will be debuting another spoof that lampoons the Defense Resources Board, or DRB, in like fashion. Tom will provide brief introductory remarks before the film screening.

There is limited space, so please RSVP to Ethan Rosenkranz at erosenkranz@pogo.org by September 29. Call 202-347-1122 if you have trouble at the door and we'll get you in. 

We hope you’ll get a kick out of this performance.  Light refreshments will be served. 

About Tom Christie: Tom began his career in the Department of Defense and related positions in 1955. He retired from the Pentagon in February 2005 after four years as director of Operational Test & Evaluation. In this role, he was responsible for advising the secretary of defense on policy and procedures for testing weapon systems and for providing independent evaluations of the test results to both the defense secretary and Congress.

William R. Black on Prosecuting Criminal Banker CEOs: Obama and Holder Don’t Even Care Enough to Fake It


William R. Black on Prosecuting Criminal Banker CEOs: Obama and Holder Don’t Even Care Enough to Fake It


http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/09/william-r-black-prosecuting-criminal-banker-ceos-obama-holder-dont-even-care-enough-fake.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

China: The Next Major Investor in American Markets?

China: The Next Major Investor in American Markets?

09/29/14
James Krejsa
Economics, China, United States

"We should be ready to welcome Chinese investment as it grows to European levels, while remembering to review its origins from an enduringly statist system of politics."

American and Chinese negotiators are hard at work on a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), the next step in closer, more productive relations between the world’s two largest economies. While U.S. negotiators have rightly focused on improving access for U.S. firms to Chinese markets, policy makers should not lose sight of the growing importance of Chinese investment here. Just a few years ago, Chinese foreign direct investment in the United States was measured in tens of millions of dollars, but that inbound capital has now progressed well into the billions, a trend expected to continue. Yet while foreign investment in the United States is almost always seen as an unambiguous good—shoring up domestic operations of existing businesses or spurring the creation of new jobs and capital—many view this new development with caution, if not outright suspicion.
When Toyota invested in Tesla’s advanced battery operations in 2010 and launched a joint-development deal 2011, it was seen as a critical validation for a company that is quickly becoming an iconic American brand. InBev’s acquisition of Anheuser-Busch bruised the patriotic pride of some, but there was little sense of social dread about a change in ownership. Investment from China, in contrast, is viewed with a more jaundiced eye. Smithfield Foods, an American meat-processing brand for more than seventy-five years, was recently purchased by Chinese agricultural giant Shuanghui Group. Few worry that Japan plans to derail American electric car technology or that Belgium is plotting to destroy the U.S. domestic bar and pub industry. Yet at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Debbie Stabenow warned, “we need to evaluate how foreign purchases of our food supply will affect our economy broadly.” Is foreign investment from China really different and deserving of more scrutiny than investment from other countries?
Put simply, yes.
Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/china-the-next-major-investor-american-markets-11365

Victor Davis Hanson: At 75, are we just old and in the way?

Victor Davis Hanson: At 75, are we just old and in the way?


Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/09/27/4148163_at-75-are-we-just-old-and-in-the.html?sp=/99/274/&rh=1#storylink=cpy


http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/09/27/4148163_at-75-are-we-just-old-and-in-the.html?sp=/99/274/&rh=1

ENTEROVIRUS 68 The Limb Weakening Connection?



ENTEROVIRUS 68

The Limb Weakening Connection?
The CDC is investigating limb weakness, and in some cases paralysis, following infection with enterovirus D68, the virus causing respiratory illness in children across the US.

CDC data show nine Colorado children developed limb weakness after becoming sick with the respiratory illness. Four of the children have tested positive for enterovirus D68 with 2 more awaiting final test results. CDC investigators are trying to determine if D68 caused the neurological symptoms.

There have been 277 confirmed D68 cases in 40 states thus far but many more are likely given the limited ability to test for the virus.
** Forbes (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=1ef72e416d&e=9c1fcebfa3)

Obama’s Faustian pact with the Saudis - FT.com

Obama’s Faustian pact with the Saudis - FT.com

Obama’s Faustian pact with the Saudis

 

Obama’s Faustian pact with the Saudis


http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bdae33de-44de-11e4-ab0c-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/2014929/nbe/Comment/product&siteedition=intl#axzz3EhkCP3d8

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Watchlists and the Fourth Amendment Ray McGovern Triumphs Over State Department


Watchlists and the Fourth Amendment
Ray McGovern Triumphs Over State Department

By Peter Van Buren

Ray McGovern is not the kind of guy to be stopped and frisked based State Department retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights in Post-Constitution America. He sued, and won.

A disease worse than terrorism


A disease worse than terrorism


http://www.arabnews.com/news/636191

Ebola Virus Has Killed More Than 3,000 People, Says WHO

Ebola Virus Has Killed More Than 3,000 People, Says WHO

U.N. Body Calls Exposure of Health Workers 'Alarming'


http://online.wsj.com/articles/ebola-virus-has-killed-more-than-3-000-people-says-who-1411894026

Un-Common, Not Core By Cynthia Walker

 

Un-Common, Not Core


http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/09/uncommon_not_core.html

Islamic State to Putin: We Are on Our Way to Russia

Islamic State to Putin: We Are on Our Way to Russia



http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/islamic-state-to-putin-we-are-on-our-way/506366.html

How Qatar is funding the rise of Islamist extremists


How Qatar is funding the rise of Islamist extremists

The fabulously wealthy Gulf state, which owns an array of London landmarks and claims to be one of our best friends in the Middle East, is a prime sponsor of violent Islamists


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/qatar/11110931/How-Qatar-is-funding-the-rise-of-Islamist-extremists.html

Saturday, September 27, 2014

NIH to admit patient exposed to Ebola virus for observation

NIH to admit patient exposed to Ebola virus for observation

NIH expects to admit a patient who has been exposed to the Ebola virus to its Clinical Center in the coming days. The patient is an American physician who was volunteering services in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone.
The patient is being admitted to the NIH Clinical Center for observation and to enroll in a clinical study.
Out of an abundance of caution, the patient will be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center’s special clinical studies unit that is specifically designed to provide high-level isolation capabilities and is staffed by infectious diseases and critical care specialists. The unit staff is trained in strict infection control practices optimized to prevent spread of potentially transmissible agents such as Ebola.
No additional details about the patient are available at this time.
It is important to remember that Ebola patients can be safely cared for at any hospital that follows CDC's infection control recommendations and can isolate a patient in a private room.
NIH is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our patients, NIH staff, and the public. This situation is of minimal risk to NIH staff and the public.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health®

Welcome To Barack Obama’s Syrian Gong Show

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/welcome-to-barack-obamas-syrian-gong-show/Stockman's Corner

Welcome To Barack Obama’s Syrian Gong Show

by  • September 25, 2014

Folks, this war is only three days old and its already a gong show. Its become at least a four-front affair—with Obama’s “broad” coalition amounting to little more than a few stealth Arab nations renting back to Washington the equipment and American trained pilots it had earlier provided them.
The President’s shock-but-not-awe campaign apparently incepted not with bombs on the Islamic State’s capital of Raqqah but via a tomahawk barrage on some Nusra Front rebels in northwestern Syria. These were anti-regime fighters of the not-so-moderate persuasion who had been recently driven there after a bloody struggle with ISIS. As explained by the WSJ:
In July, the Islamic State routed its rivals including the Nusra Front and allied Islamist rebels from eastern Syria and they are now concentrated in the western half of the country, where they are fighting the regime along with other factions.
So these folks were fighting both of Washington’s declared enemies—–the Assad regime and ISIS—but it obliterated them anyway, and some of their women and children, too. That apparently makes for a three-front war, as the WSJ further explained:

And So It Goes (Diagram)

  
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Be often silent but never shut up
كن صامتا في بعض الأحيان، ولكن لا تخرس أبدا.

We must beware – Isis wants the west to conduct a crusade


We must beware – Isis wants the west to conduct a crusade

Our bombers can achieve little, but Britain can make a diplomatic difference in Iraq and, perhaps, Syria too

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/26/west-isis-crusade-britain-iraq-syria

Secret Goldman Sachs tapes show regulators still respect bankers too much


by Matt O'Brien, 20 mins ago
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) The problem with Wall Street's cops is that, before the crisis, they didn't actually fall asleep on the job.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/27/secret-goldman-sachs-tapes-show-regulators-still-respect-bankers-too-much/

Small Wars Journal Daily Roundup 9/27 IS, ISIS, ISIL, Syria, Iraq

Small Wars Journal Daily Roundup
***
IS / ISIS / ISIL
US Airstrikes Pound Islamic State Targets - VOA
US-led Strikes Hit Islamic State Sites, Vehicles as Coalition Grows - AP
Hagel: Defeating ISIL is Long-term Endeavor - AFPS
Anti-ISIL Campaign Will Take Time, Dempsey Says - AFPS
Behind Islamic State's Battlefield Gains, Battle-Hardened Chechens - VOA
Anti-ISIL Airstrikes Continue in Iraq and Syria - AFPS
Pentagon Stresses Effort to Limit Civilian Deaths in Airstrikes - AP
Digital War Takes Shape on Websites Over ISIS - NYT
ISIS Lieutenant Emerges From Australian Red-Light District - NYT
Public Opinion Presents Challenge for Obama on IS Strikes - VOA
Muslim Scholars Present Religious Rebuttal to Islamic State - Reuters
Cost of Bombing Islamic State Cheap Compared with Afghan War - USAT
How American Precision Weapons Opened the Door to an Arab Coalition - DO Opinion
Assurance of ‘No Boots on the Ground’ Isn’t So Reassuring - WP Opinion

Syria
Dempsey: Up to 15,000 Syrian Rebels Required to Dislodge Islamic State - S&S
Dempsey: Up to 15,000 Syrian Rebels Needed to Retake Eastern Syria - Reuters
US Training Teams Arrive in Saudi Arabia to Train Syrian Rebels - VOA
US General on Training Syrian Rebels: ‘We Have to Do it Right, Not Fast’ - WP
US Considers a No-Fly Zone to Protect Civilians From Airstrikes by Syria - NYT
US-led Air Strikes 'Damaging IS' - BBC
IS Battles for Syrian Border Town - BBC
UAE's First Female Fighter Pilot Dropped Bombs on the Islamic State - WP
About 12 Americans Fighting with Militants in Syria, FBI Says - AP
US Official Says Khorasan Group Threat to Aviation - AP
Russia: US Airstrikes in Syria Violate International Law - VOA

Iraq
More European Nations Join Fight Against Islamic State - WP
3 European Nations Offer Limited Support Against ISIS - NYT
Britain Joins Fight Against IS Militants in Iraq - VOA
MPs Support UK Air Strikes Against IS - BBC
Britain Set to Strike IS After Commons Backs Action - Bloomberg
Denmark Joins Fight Against Islamic State Group - AP
Belgium Set to Send Six F-16 Jets to Anti-Islamic State Coalition - Reuters
Facing Militants With Supplies Dwindling, Iraqi Soldiers Took to Phones - NYT
US, UN Condemn IS Killing of Iraqi Lawyer - VOA

The Benefits of Economic Expansions Are Increasingly Going to the Richest Americans

 

Economic expansions are supposed to be the good times, the periods in which incomes and living standards improve. And that’s still true, at least for some of us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/upshot/the-benefits-of-economic-expansions-are-increasingly-going-to-the-richest-americans.html?abt=0002&abg=1

How Eric Holder Failed the Economy

 

How Eric Holder Failed the Economy


http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-26/how-eric-holder-failed-the-economy

Signaling Post-Snowden Era, New iPhone Locks Out N.S.A.

Signaling Post-Snowden Era, New iPhone Locks Out N.S.A. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/technology/iphone-locks-out-the-nsa-signaling-a-post-snowden-era-.html

ISIS Lieutenant Emerges From Australian Red-Light District


ISIS Lieutenant Emerges From Australian Red-Light District


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/world/asia/isis-australia-mohammad-ali-baryalei.html?_r=0

Taliban Storm Afghanistan, Beheadings Galore

Taliban Storm Afghanistan, Beheadings Galore Michael Shedlock


Having spent well over $3 trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan what do we have to show for it?


  1. Shias aligned with Iran rule Baghdad
  2. ISIS took over parts of over Iraq
  3. ISIS threatens to take over Syria
  4. The average Pakistani hates the US for drone policy
  5. Taliban threatens to take over Afghanistan

Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/09/taliban-storm-afghanistan-beheadings.html#ySGhjxQ6BeuIaEcO.99

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/09/taliban-storm-afghanistan-beheadings.html