Perceptric Forum

Israel Of The Caucasus

Chris Gilbey — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:46:00 +1000

Fascinating article by Arnaud de Borchgrave on the background to the recent Georgian war and how the balance of power has changed as a result.

He provides the background to the largely unreported role that the Israeli defence forces had in the period leading up to the war, how local airfields were to be used as staging posts for an attack on Iran and the fact that America's intelligence gathering capabilities were overstretched with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Here is a sample of the article:

Georgia also had a special relationship with Israel that was mostly under the radar. Georgian Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili is a former Israeli who moved things along by facilitating Israeli arms sales with U.S. aid. "We are now in a fight against the great Russia," he was quoted as saying, "and our hope is to receive assistance from the White House because Georgia cannot survive on its own."

The Jerusalem Post on Aug. 12 reported, "Georgian Prime Minister Vladimir Gurgenidze made a special call to Israel Tuesday morning to receive a blessing from one of the Haredi community's most important rabbis and spiritual leaders, Rabbi Aaron Leib Steinman. 'I want him to pray for us and our state,'" he was quoted.

Israel began selling arms to Georgia seven years ago. U.S. grants facilitated these purchases. From Israel came former minister and former Tel Aviv Mayor Roni Milo, representing Elbit Systems, and his brother Shlomo, former director general of Military Industries. Israeli UAV spy drones, made by Elbit Maarahot Systems, conducted recon flights over southern Russia, as well as into nearby Iran.

In a secret agreement between Israel and Georgia, two military airfields in southern Georgia had been earmarked for the use of Israeli fighter-bombers in the event of pre-emptive attacks against Iranian nuclear installations. This would sharply reduce the distance Israeli fighter-bombers would have to fly to hit targets in Iran. And to reach Georgian airstrips, the Israeli air force would fly over Turkey.

The attack ordered by Saakashvili against South Ossetia the night of Aug. 7 provided the Russians the pretext for Moscow to order Special Forces to raid these Israeli facilities where some Israeli drones were reported captured.

Global Chess Game

Chris Gilbey — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:07:00 +1000

Its amazing how many people seem to believe that there are surprises when it comes to what nations do. There are no real surprises. Instead there is scenario planning, psychology, brinkmanship, bluff and double-bluff, and huge amounts of money spent on projecting, or giving the appearance of projecting, power.

Very few of us truly know what is going on in the minds of the people in power. We can only imagine. But one thing is for sure - things don't happen by accident.

I came across an analysis of the grand chess game being played out in the Caucasus that provides one hypothetical deconstruction of Georgia, the US and Russia that is worth reading.

Neither of these explanations is accurate. To fully grasp the recent upheavals in the Caucasus, it is necessary to view the conflict as but a minor skirmish in a far more significant geopolitical struggle between Moscow and Washington over the energy riches of the Caspian Sea basin -- with former Russian President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin emerging as the reigning Grand Master of geostrategic chess and the Bush team turning out to be middling amateurs, at best.

The ultimate prize in this contest is control over the flow of oil and natural gas from the energy-rich Caspian basin to eager markets in Europe and Asia. According to the most recent tally by oil giant BP, the Caspian's leading energy producers, all former "socialist republics" of the Soviet Union -- notably Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- together possess approximately 48 billion barrels in proven oil reserves (roughly equivalent to those left in the U.S. and Canada) and 268 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (essentially equivalent to what Saudi Arabia possesses).

The Pyrrhic Victory Of The Great Decider

Chris Gilbey — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:12:00 +1000

Here is a really excellent article about oil, energy and the US war on terror that puts everything into perspective!

Here is a taste:

History is replete with lessons that need to be learned and one of the most abject lessons is that of the Pyrrhic Victory. In the case of America, the term has come to mean exactly what it is: to win the battle but lose the war.

The US now excels at Pyrrhic Victories and for the glory of the photo op. No lie is too big to tell. Rather than admit to the American public that they were dead wrong and lost the adventures quit a few years ago, they choose to tell fabricated stories to justify their ends.

It has come out in the past that the US conspired, connived, lied and pulled many dirty tricks to take over the Caspian Basin oil and gas fields. This all beganl way back in the Carter Administration when Jimmy and his National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, dreamed up the creation of 'Al Qaeda' as a way of stirring up dissension in Islamic areas such as Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc. Their plan was for the US to rush in and 'save' these smaller, oil and natural gas rich nations from their Soviet masters; to introduce them to 'democracy' and 'freedom' - at gunpoint, if necessary.

Saving The Planet Costs Too Much

Chris Gilbey — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:47:00 +1000

A UK survey has found that people there aren't prepared to pay extra by way of taxes on four wheel drives, plastic bags, etc that are designed to discourage people from those same pursuits....

Nor a surprise really. If you asked smokers whether they would be prepared to pay an extra tax on cigarettes to help fight lung cancer, they would almost certainly argue that it isn't proven that tobacco causes cancer.

It makes sobering reading.... How do you get people on side to support something that is going to cost them more at a time when everything is costing more because of increased oil prices...

Here is some of the article:

The public's climate-change scepticism extends to the recent floods which inundated much of the West Country, and reported signs of changes in the cycle of the seasons. Just over a third of respondents (34 per cent) believe that extreme weather is becoming more common but has nothing to do with global warming. One in 10 said that they believed that climate change is totally natural.

The over-55s are most cynical about the effects of global warming with 43 per cent believing that extreme weather and global warming are unconnected.

Three in 10 (29 per cent) of all respondents would oppose any more legislation in support of green policies, while close to a third of citizens (31 per cent) believe that green taxes will have no discernible effect on the environment since people will still take long-haul flights regularly and drive carbon-heavy vehicles.

As We Are Distracted, Cheney Moves The World To War

Chris Gilbey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:54:00 +1000

William Wordsworth wrote sometime in the 1800's:

The world is too much with us, late and soon,
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers...

I remember the quote from school some 50 odd years ago - so hopefully it is right.

But the point is that it so true of us today. We are all pre-occupied with spending, with self, and not with what is really happening.

What is really happening is that Dick Cheney and his buddy, George, are moving the world ever closer to not just another war, which would be bad enough, but a nuclear war.

And whether Iran is good, bad or indifferent, nuclear is not an option in my book. Nor is another unprovoked first strike on another country.

Here is what Paul Craig Roberts has to say about it. (He was the Assistant Secretary to the Treasury during Reagan's time in the WH). Its worth reading the whole article...

The US Congress, the US media, the American people, and the United Nations, are looking the other way as Cheney prepares his attack on Iran.

If only America had an independent media and an opposition party. If there were a shred of integrity left in American political life, perhaps a third act of naked aggression--a third war crime under the Nuremberg standard--by the Bush Regime could be prevented.

On March 30, the Russian News & Information Agency, Novosti, cited a high-ranking security source: "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened US military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran."

According to Novosti, Russian Colonel General Leonid Ivashov said "that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran’s military infrastructure in the near future."

The chief of Russia’s general staff, Yuri Baluyevsky, said last November that Russia was beefing up its military in response to US aggression, but that the Russian military is not "obliged to defend the world from the evil Americans."

On March 29, OpEdNews cited a report by the Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz, which was picked up by the German news service, DPA. The Saudi newspaper reported on March 22, the day following Cheney’s visit with the kingdom’s rulers, that the Saudi Shura Council is preparing "national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts’ warnings of possible attacks on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactors."

And Admiral William "there will be no attack on Iran on my watch" Fallon has been removed as US chief of Central Command, thus clearing the way for Cheney’s planned attack on Iran.

The Iranians don’t seem to believe it, despite the dispatch of US nuclear submarines and another aircraft carrier attack group to the Persian Gulf. To counter any Iranian missiles launched in response to an attack, the US is deploying anti-missile defenses to protect US bases and Saudi oil fields.

Two massive failures by the American media, the Democratic Party, and the American people have paved the way for Cheney’s long-planned attack on Iran. One failure is the lack of skepticism about the US government’s explanation of 9/11. The other failure is the Democrats’ refusal to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush for lying to the Congress, the American people, and the world and launching an invasion of Iraq based on deception and fabricated evidence.

If an American president can start a war exactly as Adolf Hitler did with pure lies and not be held accountable, he can get away with anything. And Bush and his evil regime have.

Hitler launched World War II with his invasion of Poland after staging a "Polish attack" on a German radio station. On the night of August 31, 1939, a group of Nazis disguised in Polish uniforms seized a radio station in Germany. Hitler announced that "last night Polish troops crossed the frontier and attacked Germany," a claim no more true than the Bush Regime’s claim that "Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction." Hitler’s lie failed, because his invasion of Poland, which began the next day allegedly in reprisal for the Polish attack, had obviously been planned for many months.

Iran is a beautiful and developed country. It is an ancient civilization. It has attacked no one. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Iran is permitted by the treaty to have a nuclear energy program. The Bush Regime’s case against Iran is based on the Bush Regime’s desire to deny Iran its rights under the treaty.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have repeatedly reported that they have found no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Despite all the disinformation from US Gen. Petraeus and other Bush Regime military lackeys, Iran is not arming the Iraqis who are resisting the American occupation.

If Iran were arming insurgents, the insurgents would have two weapons that would neutralize the US advantage in the Iraqi conflict: missiles to knock down US helicopter gunships and rocket-propelled grenades that knock out American tanks. The insurgents do not have these weapons and must construct clumsy anti-tank weapons out of artillery shells. The insurgents are helpless against US air power and cannot mass forces to take on the American troops.

Indiscriminate American violence has reduced Iraq to rubble. The civilian infrastructure is essentially destroyed--electricity, water and sewer systems, medical care and schools. Depleted uranium is everywhere poisoning everyone, including US troops. There is no economy, and half or more of Iraqis are unemployed. Literally no Iraqi family has escaped an injury or a death as a consequence of the US invasion. Millions of Iraqis have become displaced persons. A developed country with a professional middle class has been destroyed because of lies told by the President and Vice President of the US. The Bush Regime’s lies are echoed by a neoconservative media, and have gone unchallenged by the opposition party and an indifferent American public.

In Afghanistan, death and destruction rains on even the smallest village from the air. America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are wars against the civilian populations.

Just as the world could not believe Hitler’s next horror and thus was always unprepared, the Iranians despite all the evidence cannot believe that even the Great Satan would gratuitously attack Iran based on nothing but lies about non-existent nuclear weapons.

Iran’s only chance would be to strike before the US delivers the first blow. Instead of using its missiles to take out the Saudi oil fields and to sink the US aircraft carriers, instead of closing the Strait of Hormuz, instead of arming the Iraqi Shi’ites and moving them to insurgency, Iran is perched like a sitting duck in denial even as the US and its Iraqi puppet Maliki move to eliminate Al Sadr’s Iraqi Shi’ite militia in order to avoid supply disruptions and a Shi’ite rebellion in Iraq when the US attack on Iran comes.

It is important to emphasize that Iran is making no moves toward war. Having tamed, blackmailed, and purchased Congress, the US media, and US allies and puppets, Cheney might delight in the arrogance with which he can now attack Iran free of any restraint or fabricated provocation.

On the other hand, he might cover himself by orchestrating an "Iranian provocation" to justify his attack as a response. But like Hitler’s planned attack against Poland, Cheney’s attack on Iran has long been in the works.

On March 29 the Associated Press reported that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi "poured contempt on fellow Arab leaders" at the Arab summit that day. Gadhafi told the Arab "leaders," many of whom are on the American payroll, that their American masters would turn on them all, just as America turned on Saddam Hussein after using him to fight a proxy war against Iran.

Saddam had once been an ally of Washington, Gadhafi reminded the Arabs, "but they sold him out." Gadhafi told the American puppets, "Your turn is next."

Gadhafi asked, "Where is the Arabs’ dignity, their future, their very existence?" If Arabs remain disunited, he predicted, "they will turn themselves into protectorates. They will be marginalized and turn into garbage dumps."

Indeed, it is this disunity that permits the US to bomb and murder at will in the Middle East.

APEC

Chris Gilbey — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:34:00 +1000

Sydney is starting to gear up for the APEC conference.

It rolls into Sydney the week of Sept 2nd. And it is going to totally screw the city.

Last week I decided that on balance it would probably be better to leave town. Almost impossible to get to my office. There will be a total lock down in place during the period, particularly now that Bush is coming to Sydney two days early.

Seems like I was not the only one to think about this and make a last minute dash. Real estate agents are going through huge demand for holiday rentals for the week and particularly for the weekend of the 7th.

Tomorrow I am going to a briefing on what APEC security will look like. Should be interesting.

ARE you a generalist or a specialist?

chrisbroad — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:47:00 +1000

Vertical search-engines

Know your subject

Jul 12th 2007
From The Economist print edition

Topic-specific search-engines hope to challenge Google, at least in some areas

ARE you a generalist or a specialist? The question can be asked of people, but it is increasingly being asked about internet search-engines, as specialist or “vertical” sites take on generalists such as Yahoo! and Google. Some are already prospering: GlobalSpec.com, for example, a profitable search-engine for engineers, has 3.5m registered users and signs up another 20,000 each week. “They own that market,” says Charlene Li of Forrester, a consultancy.

This is due in large part to GlobalSpec's definable customer base. Its knowledge about the needs of its users sets it apart from the generalist search-engines, says Angela Hribar of GlobalSpec. Vertical sites, which serve up search results from a carefully selected group of topic-specific websites, can also target advertising at particular audiences more precisely...

Ned's You Tube

Richard McKinnon — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:52:00 +1000

Ned is 70. Conrad is 14. Yesterday they played chess for seven hours. Or so. Conrad taught Ned where a lot of the cool new chess sites are on the web. Ned and he fought epic duels. Ned also mentioned that he'd been using You Tube a lot recently. He'd discovered how "great" it was. Was now watching whole performances. Was watching chess matches. Conrad showed him You Tube videos of chess games. Grand masters explaining games.

Video is the killer app of all time. You Tube's brilliance is its breadth. It's become the central repository for everything on the web. It gets better by the day as people keep bringing new different stuff to it.

NBC and News want a walled garden of video on a site they set up to protect themselves. Instead they'll shut themselves off Ned surfing into something interesting of theirs, and staying. Which will be the ultimate winner? What model is better. Open or closed?

Games....and how roles reversed

Richard McKinnon — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 03:29:00 +1000

Only a couple of years ago, a Sydney suburban EB games store, (Ashfield) told the story. "look at the footage for Nintendo; shrinking" the manager said. " There's nothing. No new games. No new products". Sony wishes that were true today.

Since then Nintendo has brought out the DS and the Wii......... Ah, the DS, but the Wii! Wow.

Yesterday in suburban LA, the new story. "the PS3 is just too expensive at 650 US dollars including tax. They're not moving. And anyone who want to buy it, wants games, and there's almost none", and then he looked around "but the Wii. Its fun. Everyone buys them, there's tons of games and people keep buying more"

So. Nintendo is soaring and Sony slipping.

"All Sony keep saying is it costs them 2000 bucks to make the machine" said this manager "why are they blaming us". Why indeed?

How businesses are using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey

chrisbroad — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:46:00 +1100

The rising popularity of user-driven online services, including MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube, has drawn attention to a group of technological developments known as Web 2.0.

These technologies, which rely on user collaboration, include Web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts, and online social networks.

Respondents to a recent McKinsey survey show widespread but careful interest in this trend.

They say that Web 2.0 technologies are strategic and that they plan to increase these investments. But companies aren’t necessarily relying on the best-known Web 2.0 trends, such as blogs; instead, they place the greatest importance on technologies that enable automation and networking.

See pdf. attached