Realpolitik Iraq

All those people who died to give Iraq 'freedom' and 'democracy', all those trillions spent to get it. This is what it looks like...

The United States has asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa. The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

Hang on, it it not Iraq's oil? Nope - it just happens to be under Iraqi soil, but goddam it, it U$A OIL and they will do with it as they please. And before us Brits get smug over this, our government is at it too;

A social justice group has obtained documents showing that the British government tried to influence a new Iraqi oil law in favour of UK businesses. The London-based Platform group said on Friday that the documents showed British diplomats tried to exclude Iraqi oil firms in favour of firms such as BP and Shell.

(Also interesting to note as the twice-fired minsiter, now EU trade representative Peter 'Bliar' Mandelson talks down a boycott of China, the Chinese government move to buys a skate in BP.)
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An Unmasking that May Kill the C2i

If you have not heard, the campaign group Plane Stupid recently caught a spy from corporate 'intelligence' group C2i in their midst;

Since late summer 2007, an employee of a corporate espionage agency has been trying to infiltrate Plane Stupid. Toby Kendall, who works for C2i International, a "special risk management" firm, thought he was undercover in our London group, gathering information on what we're up to. Instead we've been feeding the 'revenge movie' obsessed mole false information, which he's been reporting to the aviation industry for months.

Kendall, described as 'more Austin Powers than 007' bragged about his job on various social network sites (as well as a misogynistic streak coming from his bebo profile, 'Scared of: Having an uglier wife than Brooke's' he swaggers. Well ladies... whatcha wating for? He's a catch!)

So if you see this guy;



At any meeting or action - watch out!

Now if you go to his employers website - C2i, they have a news section where they point to recent media articles with them in - as of the date of writing the most recent entry was 12th November 2005. Indeed the site looks barren of activity. So they must have not been in the news? A quick google news search reveals plenty of mention of the company - but all out the outing of their super-spy.

Where this gets interesting is what future does C2i have? In a parallel case, the corporate spy group who went after peer-to-peer users, Media Defender, itself got hacked and thousands of emails and other files spilled out onto the internet, revealing lots of company secrets and operational methods. If you build the reputation of a company in understanding technology and you get popped by a better user of technology, that costs. It cost Media Defender over $825,000 and ended up bankrupting the company. How many clients have bailed on C2i (assuming it had more than one) since this story broke?

However the downside it that corporate infiltration won't stop, it will just get better - so we have to get more creative as a counter.

BNP are Pricks - Update

Thanks to Anakissed for the info;

looks like he got the sack! ha! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=552692&in_page_id=1770&ito=1490

and his blog has been taken offline! although you can still comment on it here: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=12487277&postID=7767213467734044331

Great news!

The Grain Fight

As the west looks to nuclear and bio-fuels as false hopes in the face of global warming, it (as has been warned) has the knock-on effect of starving the poor as resources are diverted;

And meanwhile, land used to grow biofuel feedstock is land not available to grow food, so subsidies to biofuels are a major factor in the food crisis. You might put it this way: people are starving in Africa so that American politicians can court votes in farm states. Oh, and in case you're wondering: all the remaining presidential contenders are terrible on this issue....What should be done? The most immediate need is more aid to people in distress: the U.N.'s World Food Program put out a desperate appeal for more funds. We also need a pushback against biofuels, which turn out to have been a terrible mistake. But it's not clear how much can be done. Cheap food, like cheap oil, may be a thing of the past.

Also, as the US celebrates Martin Luther King, it also deports a peace activist. Nothing changes, everything changes. And well done to the Free Tibet protesters in taking on China via the torch!
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Its Official: BNP Are A Bunch of Pricks

If there was ever any doubt about what a bunch of pricks the BNP are, then it is worth this view into the mind of one of their leading figures, Nick Eriksen, who is standing for Mayor of London;

A senior BNP leader with a strong chance of winning a seat in the London Assembly next month has written that rape is a "myth" and that "some women are like gongs - they need to be struck regularly."

The Evening Standard has revealed that Nick Eriksen, the BNP's London organiser and the second-highest candidate on its list for the Assembly, is the author of "Sir John Bull," a notorious far-Right blog which has regularly advocated hatred and abuse against women. The disclosure will be a serious blow to the BNP's hopes of London electoral success.

In August 2005, Mr Eriksen wrote: "I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.

"To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched. The demonisation of rape is all part of the feminazi desire to obtain power and mastery over men. Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors."

What a massive, massive pick. Anyone who supports them or votes for him is both a moron and a traitor.