U.S. To Start Carving Up Afghanistan's Vast Resources

Wikimedia Commons

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

In yet another move that could be seen coming from a mile away by even the most casual observer, a recently released statement from the Department of Defense is announcing that U.S. agencies are now “aiding” Afghanistan to locate and pinpoint the nation’s mineral wealth.

This “treasure mapping” of Afghanistan is being conducted in anticipation of the opening of the bidding process for private companies who are no doubt salivating as they wait in the wings for their opportunity to gobble up the natural wealth of the impoverished and war-torn nation and, subsequently, turn it into massive profits.

How the empire will prevail: Will Washington Foment War Between China and India?

India-China Proxy War in the Works?
Wikimedia Image

Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars

What is Washington’s solution for the rising power of China?

The answer might be to involve China in a nuclear war with India.

The staging of the fake death of bin Laden in a commando raid that violated Pakistan’s sovereignty was sold to President Obama by the military/security complex as a way to boost Obama’s standing in the polls.

The raid succeeded in raising Obama’s approval ratings. But its real purpose was to target Pakistan and to show Pakistan that the US was contemplating invading Pakistan in order to make Pakistan pay for allegedly hiding bin Laden next door to Pakistan’s military academy. The neocon, and increasingly the US military position, is that the Taliban can’t be conquered unless NATO widens the war theater to Pakistan, where the Taliban allegedly has sanctuaries protected by the Pakistan government, which takes American money but doesn’t do Washington’s bidding.

US welcomes Arab League backing of no-fly zone

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa
© AFP Aris Messinis

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States welcomed Arab League support for a no-fly zone over Libya on Saturday, saying it signaled "unified" international pressure on Moamer Kadhafi's regime to halt the violence.

It stressed it would maintain its posture of support for the Libyan opposition, and that Washington was preparing for "all contingencies" in the North African nation where rebels have been battling regime forces for weeks.

"We welcome this important step by the Arab League, which strengthens the international pressure on Kadhafi and support for the Libyan people," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

"The international community is unified in sending a clear message that the violence in Libya must stop, and that the Kadhafi regime must be held accountable."

After crisis talks in Cairo the Arab League urged the United Nations to slap a no-fly zone on Libya and said Kadhafi's regime had "lost legitimacy," in a boost for rebels fighting to unseat the strongman. Washington joined Britain in welcoming the 22-member League's support.


US President Barack Obama warned on Friday that the world is "tightening the noose" on Kadhafi, but admitted he is concerned the Libyan strongman's forces could thwart rebels battling to oust him.

"The United States will continue to advance our efforts to pressure Kadhafi, to support the Libyan opposition, and to prepare for all contingencies, in close coordination with our international partners," Carney said in his statement.

US posture on a no-fly zone over Libya has been far from unanimous.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday that the US military and other allies could impose such a zone but it remains unclear if it would be a "wise" move.

"This is not a question of whether we or our allies can do this. We can do it," Gates told reporters aboard his plane after a visit to Bahrain.

"The question is whether it's a wise thing to do and that's the discussion that's going on at a political level," he said.



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Water Security – Water Refuges

Until recently the super elite of this planet considered money the most precious commodity to control but they have been changing their minds and buying up as many water sources as possible.

Mark Sircus
IMVA

When asked to rank the most important service, 95 percent of U.S. voters put water in first place followed by electricity, heat, Internet, cell phone, landline phone, cable TV, and cooling systems, respectively. Everyone instinctively understands the importance of water but collectively we have been ignoring the warning signs indicating that a huge percentage of humanity is not going to be staying with us much longer as food and water shortages impact us like dual sledge hammers. All of our projections of vastly increased populations are going to run into the brick wall of water scarcity and terrible water quality.

The depletion of global water resources is more rapid, severe, and complex than anyone anticipated. In many areas of the world like the United States and China, where people have enjoyed enough water to build their industrial civilizations, those water resources are running lower every year. The unshakable thirst for water is now colliding with the reality of shrinking supplies. Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population growth in the last century with many areas in actual danger of running out or becoming seriously and chronically short of water.

As water gets more and more precious, the potential for dispute and conflict only grows. If during the last 100 years we witnessed the rise and fall of nations over oil, this next hundred years will be determined by water. It is a key component of national security. Life runs out when water becomes unavailable and that is already happening in certain parts of the world. The competition for water could even make life in some of America’s largest cities nearly unbearable for residents. Only fools in the future will take water for granted. It is going to become more expensive as it’s increasingly perceived as the precious resource it is.

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10 Reasons Our Shallow Water Supply is in Deep Trouble

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Is the world running out of food, alongside oil, metals, water and much else?

The Fed is fuelling the catastrophe of fast rising raw material prices

Jeremy Warner
Telegraph

The answer to this question, according to a recent OECD and UN Food and Agriculture Organisation report is a definitive no; global agricultural production is on track to satisfy the expected long-term increase in demand, the OECD reckons.

Yet it's little thanks to public policy, which in combination with the current craze among financial speculators for commodities, seems hell bent on driving up prices to what for millions of the world's poor may be starvation levels.

There are two main ways in which policymakers are insidiously interfering with the usual rules of supply and demand for raw materials, and myriad different smaller ones. We'll leave aside the smaller ones, such as China's attempt to leverage its monopoly of rare earth metals for geo-political purposes, and concentrate instead on the two biggies.

One is the policy of ultra-cheap money in advanced economies to fight the economic crisis; and the other, more commodity-specific one, is massive public subsidy for the production of bio-fuels. Food is being elbowed out by pursuit of "clean fuel".


As long as the US Federal Reserve remains accommodative, commodity prices are likely to keep rising. We are not yet back to anything like the extremes seen in the bubble of 2007/8. Oil prices at $140 a barrel, it will be recalled, were what helped tip the world economy into recession. Yet by long-run historic standards, both food and mineral prices are still exceptionally elevated and going higher.

The underlying reasons are well known. Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation in the developing world has created a "super-cycle" that won't ease until these countries bump up against the limits of their growth potential. Most would agree there's some way to go.

Into this already troubling mis-match between growing demand and finite supply stumbles the US Fed with a loose money policy of unprecedented proportions.

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UK Ministers plan huge sell off of Britain's forest to cut the deficit

Editor's Note: Economic hitmen move in for their pound of flesh in Britain. Surely the government will underestimate the value of their forest resources so the banks henchmen get a very good deal on one of the only remaining public assets in the U.K.

Patrick Hennessy and Rebecca Lefort
Telegraph

Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, is expected to announce plans within days to dispose of about half of the 748,000 hectares of woodland overseen by the Forestry Commission by 2020.

The controversial decision will pave the way for a huge expansion in the number of Center Parcs-style holiday villages, golf courses, adventure sites and commercial logging operations throughout Britain as land is sold to private companies.

Legislation which currently governs the treatment of "ancient forests" such as the Forest of Dean and Sherwood Forest is likely to be changed giving private firms the right to cut down trees.

Laws governing Britain's forests were included in the Magna Carta of 1215, and some date back even earlier.

Conservation groups last night called on ministers to ensure that the public could still enjoy the landscape after the disposal, which will see some woodland areas given to community groups or charitable organisations.

However, large amounts of forests will be sold as the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) seeks to make massive budget savings as demanded in last week's Spending

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The New Oil: Water Becoming Our Most Precious Resource

Should private companies control our most precious natural resource?

Lake Mead, NV

Jeneen Interlandi
NewsWeek

Sitka, Alaska, is home to one of the world’s most spectacular lakes. Nestled into a U-shaped valley of dense forests and majestic peaks, and fed by snowpack and glaciers, the reservoir, named Blue Lake for its deep blue hues, holds trillions of gallons of water so pure it requires no treatment. The city’s tiny population—fewer than 10,000 people spread across 5,000 square miles—makes this an embarrassment of riches. Every year, as countries around the world struggle to meet the water needs of their citizens, 6.2 billion gallons of Sitka’s reserves go unused. That could soon change. In a few months, if all goes according to plan, 80 million gallons of Blue Lake water will be siphoned into the kind of tankers normally reserved for oil—and shipped to a bulk bottling facility near Mumbai. From there it will be dispersed among several drought-plagued cities throughout the Middle East. The project is the brainchild of two American companies. One, True Alaska Bottling, has purchased the rights to transfer 3 billion gallons of water a year from Sitka’s bountiful reserves. The other, S2C Global, is building the water-processing facility in India. If the companies succeed, they will have brought what Sitka hopes will be a $90 million industry to their city, not to mention a solution to one of the world’s most pressing climate conundrums. They will also have turned life’s most essential molecule into a global commodity.


The transfer of water is nothing new. New York City is supplied by a web of tunnels and pipes that stretch 125 miles north into the Catskills Mountains; Southern California gets its water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Colorado River Basin, which are hundreds of miles to the north and west, respectively. The distance between Alaska and India is much farther, to be sure. But it’s not the distance that worries critics. It’s the transfer of so much water from public hands to private ones. “Water has been a public resource under public domain for more than 2,000 years,” says James Olson, an attorney who specializes in water rights. “Ceding it to private entities feels both morally wrong and dangerous.”

Everyone agrees that we are in the midst of a global freshwater crisis. Around the world, rivers, lakes, and aquifers are dwindling faster than Mother Nature can possibly replenish them; industrial and household chemicals are rapidly polluting what’s left. Meanwhile, global population is ticking skyward. Goldman Sachs estimates that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, and the United Nations expects demand to outstrip supply by more than 30 percent come 2040.

Proponents of privatization say markets are the best way to solve that problem: only the invisible hand can bring supply and demand into harmony, and only market pricing will drive water use down enough to make a dent in water scarcity. But the benefits of the market come at a price. By definition, a commodity is sold to the highest bidder, not the customer with the most compelling moral claim. As the crisis worsens, companies like True Alaska that own the rights to vast stores of water (and have the capacity to move it in bulk) won’t necessarily weigh the needs of wealthy water-guzzling companies like Coca-Cola or Nestlé against those of water-starved communities in Phoenix or Ghana; privately owned water utilities will charge what the market can bear, and spend as little as they can get away with on maintenance and environmental protection. Other commodities are subject to the same laws, of course. But with energy, or food, customers have options: they can switch from oil to natural gas, or eat more chicken and less beef. There is no substitute for water, not even Coca-Cola. And, of course, those other things don’t just fall from the sky on whoever happens to be lucky enough to be living below. “Markets don’t care about the environment,” says Olson. “And they don’t care about human rights. They care about profit.”

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