Saturday, August 2, 2014

SPACE COWBOYS IN THE UFO RODEO

space cowboys

SPACE COWBOYS IN THE UFO RODEO

Over the past 5 decades, various individuals, including pilots, astronauts, and government officials have come forward with evidence of UFOs, extraterrestrials, and government involvement in the covering up of knowledge about such subjects.
Some skeptics claim, however, that there is no physical evidence of UFOs and that the eyewitness accounts come from unreliable sources, which are either seeking fame or are out of their minds.
The truth for the skeptic is that at one time UFO accounts were unique and that maybe 30 years ago a wild UFO tale would sell a few pages in FATE magazine or become the latest best seller turning into a major box office motion picture.
However, today the times have changed and the stories are no longer all that special.
Now, that does not mean the stories are not valuable and when they are told by people in society we look up to we pay close attention to what is being said.
I have been particularly curious as to why the older astronauts have now been coming forward on television specials and spinning tales of UFO sightings in space when decades ago none of them would speak. I guess with time comes the ability to either declassify or otherwise speak candidly about so many UFO experiences because in their elder years there is really no need to worry about some type of retribution.
For obvious reasons astronaut encounters with UFO’s fall into the very highest category of sightings. What makes their testimony more valuable than most is the fact that astronauts usually see themselves as objective technical and scientific observers. This is why astronauts have not always been willing to become involved in the debate about UFO’s and the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors.
The SyFy Channel has produced a Television show called “Aliens on The Moon” which has given them the opportunity to corner various astronauts and have them spill the beans on their UFO experiences.
Once such Astronaut is Buzz Aldrin the second man to walk on the moon, who not only appeared on the SyFy Channel special but actually did several news appearances on the networks telling his story of a UFO that followed the Apollo 11 Space craft.
Now for those who are into UFO news and keep abreast of all things UFO both historical and what takes place today, you will note that Aldrin’s weird UFO Tales were first being revealed in 2005 when he spoke of his UFO encounters on the Science Channel. So for those who think that Aldrin telling his UFO stories before the SyFy channel airs Sharknado lacks credibility, then perhaps you should go back to 2005 and also check out all of the television networks where he made statements about UFO’s, alien life and a Monolith on the moon of Mars.
Aldrin also appeared in Reddit to answer questions about UFO’s and gave some hints about possible fossils and abandoned structures left behind on the moon. He of course avoids coming right out and saying that aliens have left behind these structures, however reading between the lines we can safely say that space cowboys have had their run ins with alien folk in the UFO rodeo.
Here is the official quote form Aldrin on the sensitive matter of a UFO following the Apollo 11 crew:
“On Apollo 11 in route to the moon, I observed a light out the window that appeared to be moving alongside us. There were many explanations of what that could be, other than another spacecraft from another country or another world—it was either the rocket we had separated from, or the 4 panels that moved away when we extracted the lander from the rocket and we were nose to nose with the two spacecraft. So in the close vicinity, moving away, were 4 panels. And I feel absolutely convinced that we were looking at the sun reflected off of one of these panels. Which one? I don’t know. So technically, the definition could be ‘unidentified.’
“We well understood exactly what that was. And when we returned, we debriefed and explained exactly what we had observed. And I felt that this had been distributed to the outside world, the outside audience, and apparently it wasn’t, and so many years later, I had the time in an interview to disclose these observations, on another country’s television network. And the UFO people in the United States were very very angry with me, that I had not given them the information.
“It was not an alien. Extraordinary observations require extraordinary evidence. That’s what Carl Sagan said. There may be aliens in our Milky Way galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies. The probability is almost CERTAIN that there is life somewhere in space. But the distances involved in where some evidence of life may be, they may be hundreds of light years away.”
—Buzz Aldrin speaks about the Apollo 11 UFO
The sixth man to walk on the moon Dr, Edgar Mitchell has also been very vocal about UFO’s as well. Now keep in mind that unlike Buzz Aldrin, Mitchell claims to have not seen or has come in contact with a UFO or aliens. Mitchell does say however that there is most definitely a U.S. cover-up and policy of denial as an “embargo of truth.” Mitchell has spoken out about the existence of aliens, alien visitations, and reverse engineering of alien technology by the U.S. government.
There is a recording of Mitchell speaking during an Apollo 14 transmission saying something about having visitors on the moon. While discussing the preparations for the Lunar Rover you can clearly hear him say “looks like we have had visitors again, hardly worth mentioning.”
Mitchell was apparently briefed on the UFO phenomenon during his years within military and intelligence circles. He described most UFOs as being “homegrown,” or reverse-engineered crafts based on original alien technology but not nearly as advanced as the originals.
Astronaut Gordon Cooper, one of seven in the United State’s first manned space program Project Mercury, has also been very outspoken about UFOs and ETs. Cooper claims that he had a close encounter on a dry lakebed during the filming of a precision landing facility.
A UFO saucer flew overhead, extended landing gear legs, and landed on the dry lakebed near the facility’s construction. As the camera crew picked up their gear and began to move toward the saucer, it flew away at a high speed. Cooper sent the developed film to certain authorities in Washington, D.C. After he reported the incident, the film was never seen again.
On March 13th, 1989, Donald Ratsch (an American member of a radio club that monitors all of NASA’s space travel transmissions) was recording communications from the shuttle Discovery STS-29.
He picked the right time to record, because he got this astronaut transmission: “Houston this is Discovery, we still have the Alien spacecraft under observance.” The voice belonged to Colonel John E. Blaha. When the tape was made public NASA claimed ignorance, simply saying that no such incident had occurred. Then when more people were made aware of the transmission NASA said it was Blaha’s way of making a joke.
Then it was examined even further that the quote was not what was earlier reported. The message was actually quite muddled and upon another examination Blaha had stated that the alien spacecraft was not “under observance” but that it was on VFR.
Which means in pilot’s terms, that the object was clear and visible without cloud cover or any other obstacles. Needless to say when people heard the transmission they did not hear anything that sounded humorous about the so called alien spacecraft on VFR or under observance.
There have been several other instances of Shuttles and other space craft that have come in contact with what appear to be extraterrestrial craft. The Apollo 12 astronauts were startled when a UFO continued to stalk them as they were doing their work. Mission control tried without success to explain away what the UFO might be but the astronauts sounded helpless to ascertain just exactly what was happening out in space.
Back then there was always that candid comment from the astronauts that went uncensored. Now however, it seems that NASA has an uncanny ability to shut down any and all conversations about any anomalous objects that may be picked up on their live feed.
On January 29, 2014 the live camera feed of the International Space Station (ISS) showed what appeared to be a strange yellow elliptical object docked with the hull of the ISS. The live camera feed was quickly recorded and uploaded to YouTube.
The video is controversial and there have been a few NASA insiders that have made outrageous claims about Unidentified Craft docking at the space station.
Keep in mind that none of those who have reported the incidents have claimed that aliens are involved.
On June 8th, 2014 a group callings themselves secure team 10 was monitoring he live feed from the ISS when suddenly coming in from the dark area of the screen was a arrow head looking UFO. The second the anomalous object came into view the live feed was cut and a gray screen appeared.

The original ISS feed of the UFO appearing was first posted on Ustream but was immediately deleted.
It is no longer appropriate to pretend that the truth is out there when there are accounts as compelling as these.
If seeing is not believing then what do we rely on, what we hear? If testimonies of astronauts are not credible then who else can we speak to that can give us a more critical view of the anomalous objects that are being reported?
Is this an indication of the weaponizing of space, or can we allow ourselves to speculate that maybe there are alien spacecraft after all and that if they ever come near our astronauts or even our space station that whatever is monitoring the event will suddenly be cut and that a public relations firm will then tell us what we didn’t see?
It is no more about belief or questioning belief in something like UFO’s. The word alone makes it sound like perhaps there is some sort of faith or religion involved. If the term “belief” or “believe” wasn’t part of the speak of those who promote the truth embargo then perhaps it would be easier to state that with much of the testimony, pictures, film and other proofs that there is reason to consider the possibility that UFO’s exist and that the extension of believing that extraterrestrials piloting them is a matter or belief without proof.
Now, the challenge is to be informed or uninformed about what truth is out there and who is pushing the accounts of the encounters.
Always remember when confronted by s skeptic or a debunker on the subjects of UFOs that it is not all that difficult to call upon the U.S. military and intelligence community to find many brilliant and dedicated professionals who not only are “believers”, but who have been briefed on the matter.
Astronauts, pilots, military personnel and others are now coming forward and giving the news now before an official disclosure is made by the United states Government, if it ever is made.

THE EBOLA HAS LANDED

EBOLA

THE EBOLA HAS LANDED

This morning I received an early call from a friend that informed me that a special meeting was held at the Pentagon about the outbreak of Ebola. In the briefing it was announced that two American patients infected with Ebola would be treated in Atlanta Georgia.
Officials say the victims; Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol are at Emory University Hospital in a special containment facility provided by the CDC. Sources told CNN that Brantly and Writebol are described as being in grave condition but are stable after their health worsened overnight.
Many Americans see this as risky and are quick to believe that it may place the country in danger, but of course we are being told that doctors, nurses and staff are trained in procedures to handle this type of patient.
The CDC issued a level three travel warning Thursday as the West Africa Ebola outbreak worsened. Officials are warning people to avoid nonessential travel to the West-African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, proposed that citizens of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as “any foreign person who has visited one of these nations 90 days prior to arriving in the United States” be kept out of the country. He urged the secretaries to “consider the enhanced risk Ebola now presents to the American public”.
Even though there seems to be this sense of cool about everything, the poker face that the government is giving us does not seem to be too convincing, and even though we are told the risk of getting Ebola in the United States is low – actions speak louder than words do and without a doubt the country should be aware that the Ebola virus has landed in the United States.
We Americans have been encouraged to think well of ourselves and our way of life. We are told that the way we live in this country is superior to other countries, even though this ideal life is quickly fading into history; even though other countries, which live differently, seem to have lasted a lot longer than we have.
They have lasted longer and have been through more than we have and have been tested to the point of extinction. The United States truly has dodged many bullets; however in time it appears that we will face some abrupt changes to our lifestyle and with those changes will come loss and a reminder of the fragility of our existence.
In their mental haze of fear and paranoia, the American public has paid little attention to what is being done inside the United States for the sole purpose of the continuity of government in the event of a massive crisis. One of the most deceitful actions being carried out by our leaders is something called a “mission creep“. The simple definition of mission creep is the process by which a mission’s methods and goals change gradually over time.
The mission creep that we have chosen to ignore is the militarizing of our police forces, the encroachment of the surveillance state, and the conjoining of the surveillance apparatus and the health care system.
Medical records with the new Obamacare proposals were always open to investigation by Big Brother. This was a fulfillment of what Obama adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote in his famous signature book “Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era”.
Brzezinski wrote,
“It will soon be possible to assert almost continuous control over every citizen and to maintain up-to-date files containing even the most personal details about health and personal behavior of every citizen, in addition to the more customary data. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities. Power will gravitate into the hands of those who control information.”
After Obama was elected president in 2008, he invested some $50 billion dollars in electronic medical records software. He claimed it would save us $10 billion in health care costs. It also confirmed that his staff, headed by Brzezinski, confidently knew that the medical surveillance apparatus would be part of his proposed health care plan. This was all planned many years prior to him becoming President.
The Obama administration, under the direction of Zbigniew Brzezinski – an elite socialist controller, is basically carrying out the plan for social evolution by creating a medical surveillance state, controlling not only your pain and ability to be healthy, but also your ability to protect yourself.
Now, it is becoming evident as to why a healthcare requirement and surveillance records must be an imperative. Because many Americans are all going to be needing specialized medical care in the future because we no longer are going to have the normalcy bias with regard to public health.
Back in 2008, I had the opportunity to be briefed on a report that was distributed to the Department of Homeland Security that projected a possible nuclear or biological terror threat on the Unites States ‘homeland’. The threats were hypothetical, however there were a lot of details that went into them including statistical data on the radiation effects of dirty bombs set off by a terrorist organization, the possible death tolls and what it would do to the infrastructure of an area.
Equally there were frightening statistics given on how a non curable hemorrhagic diseases could be transported or delivered by terrorists either through aerosol delivery or even with a patient zero scenario where a terrorist infected with a disease like Ebola, Marburg, Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and other Hemorrhagic fevers could kill nearly 200 million Americans and could lead to emergency powers being levied against the American people.
This was not some clandestine or exclusive report. It was available to journalists and, even though I was not on the air at the time, my online presence and public appearances afforded me the ability to receive some information about this possible threat on the United States.
The report was from the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism and they were quite clear that there was a definite danger of a biological attack before the year 2020.
This was a controversial report because it triggered all sorts of dark questions that needed to be answered by government officials. There were inquiries as to how the United States would cope with diseases that are usually seen in Africa and elsewhere and how it is known that these diseases are fatal and kill indiscriminately.
At the time there seemed to be a lot of concern about the spread of both H5N1 and Ebola.
Let’s speculate that 400,000 people had to move from one area to another to escape a released biological agent? What if this attack was so effective that mass graves had to be dug in order to bury the dead? What if FEMA and the Centers for disease control had to require that everyone receive a vaccination against some biological threat within 48 hours?
What if thousands of people had to be detained in camps similar to what took place in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? These and other questions were presented during a 2012 “Hazard Mitigation” Plan inquiry by FEMA.
I had prepared several Ground Zero shows both online and when I presented the Ground Zero Lounge show called “Toughening Our Emotional Skin.” The show focused primarily on preparedness and the possibility of isolated bio or nerve gas attacks that could prompt the government to reinstate the Model State Health Powers Act.
This act was first issued after the anthrax attacks on the United States outlining what powers the government would be allowed to have in the wake of a bio attack. The powers would include; search and seizure, forced medical treatments and inoculations and mass detainment if necessary to contain a contagion.
Elected officials were also briefed that in such an event, funeral homes, cemeteries and mortuaries would be overwhelmed should millions of Americans suddenly die in a tragic event. There must also be allowances for survivors of such an event.
There was a need proposed at the time for a health care database that would be easily accessible to authorities to weed out anyone that may be a carrier of a disease or a contagion. There were plans to have isolation detainment areas in airports and pharmacy lounges that could be used as “quick use” doctor’s facilities that can be used for inoculations. When these types of facilities popped up in Wal-Mart stores there really weren’t any detainment facilities that I was aware of being set up in airports.
I figured that the expediency had died down and the thought of a bio-nerve gas attack on the United States had also reached its nadir that the reports were much ado about nothing.
That was until I was researching some statistics on the 2012 Olympics in London. The preparation for the Olympics included specific measures that were to be taken when and if it was shown that a nuclear or Bio terror attack had taken place during the games. This was seen as a real threat and once again the focus was on possible avian flu attacks or possible Ebola outbreaks.
The threat was once again given a highly probable rate of occurrence and that once it is detected it had to be contained or else it would spread like a forest fire in a matter of days.
I was also given a file that was reportedly a detailed document illustrating hypothetical situations by which governments would have to act quickly to avert crisis.
The name of the document was entitled “Scenarios For The Future of Technology and International Development.”
The report was issued by the Rockefeller foundation in 2010 and outlines plans for the continuation of the New World order and sustainability after approximated catastrophes occur in the next decade. There are scenarios being played out in the book which detail a possible contagion that will be far worse than the H1N1 pandemic. Ironically the hypothetical scenarios mentioned from bombings to bio attacks were to take place during a time called “The Doom Decade” from 2010-2020.
In December of 2011, there were a few documents that were leaked to the British press regarding a preparedness plan proposed for a future threat to the United States. This plan featured a number of documents and contracts from Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) regarding the contracting of services for what are called environmental danger camps.
These camps are known in conspiracy circles as Federal Emergency Management camps, the very same internment camps that were utilized in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
However, these documents had more to them.
In an article called “15 Million plastic bags,” there was a haunting and very real addendum to the camps that KBR was proposing. KBR also were authorized to handle any and all contaminated body disposal in case of a mega death scenario.
KBR had indicated that they could also provide mobile mortuaries that could be set up and used in remote areas in case of a major outbreak, biological attack, or nuclear attack.
The US operates the Disaster Mortuary Response Team (DMORT), a DHHS program designed to assist local authorities in a mass fatality incident which has overwhelmed their capability. The DMORT consists of three core groups, the Disaster Portable Morgue Unit, Family Assistance, and the WMD Team, and the core component of these teams are: Medical Examiners, Pathologists, Funeral Directors, Mental Health specialists, Evidence Specialists, Technical Specialists (Fingerprints, DNA, Odontologists, Photographers, etc.), as well as administrative support.
Decontamination and human remains is always a tricky subject as the natural putrification is in itself a bio-hazard. While safety for the living is first priority , it looks as if all of the rumors about the FEMA coffins, mass burial vaults and body bags are all in preparation for an as of yet mass death scenario.
The first priority in times of an outbreak is of course the continuity of government and the enforcement of this continuity through the use of a militarized police apparatus. This apparatus will be used in tandem with what can only be described as a central intelligence cabal. This cabal will use whatever means necessary to create a system that will be able to filter out undesirables and those who pose a danger to the health and general welfare of the populace.
The President can enact at his discretion the Model State Health powers act by executive order. Under the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, upon the declaration of a “public health emergency”, governors and public health officials would be empowered to:
Force individuals suspected of harboring an “infectious disease” to undergo medical examinations. Track and share an individual’s personal health information, including genetic information.
Force persons to be vaccinated, treated, or quarantined for infectious diseases. This includes arresting, imprisoning and forcibly examining, vaccinating and medicating you and your children without your consent. The Government will not be held liable if these actions result in your death or injury.
Literal colonies of sick individuals would be placed in camps far from civilization. The government could mandate that all health care providers report all cases of persons who harbor any illness or health condition that may be caused by an epidemic or an infectious agent and might pose a “substantial risk” to a “significant number of people or cause a long-term disability.”
Pharmacists would be required to flag or report any unusual demand or any increased prescription rates that may be caused by epidemic diseases.
All existing state laws, rules and regulations, including those relating to privacy, medical licensure, and property rights, would be suspended. The government would then have the right to seize your house, car, telephones, computers, food, fuel, clothing, firearms and alcoholic beverages for their own use. Once again, they will not be held liable if these actions result in the destruction of your personal property.
If we are to believe the horror stories about Ebola then we have to acknowledge that this incurable disease will exterminate at least 200 million Americans if it spreads.
The majority of people living in the United States are extremely addicted and dependent on prescribed medications, over-the-counter medicines and synthetic vitamins. The majority of the immune systems in the United States are not capable to fight off this disease. I know that we are told that we are better equipped to handle an Ebola outbreak in the United States but the statistics that have been issued in the years prior to the outbreak scare we face now weren’t so optimistic.
Senior citizens, the disabled and baby boomers who happen to be the majority in this country as a population group will be the first casualties of Ebola.
Back in April of 2014 The Department of Defense informed Congress that it had deployed biological diagnostic systems to National Guard support teams in all 50 states, according to a report published by the Committee on Armed Services. The report was published amid growing fears that the Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus might spread outside of West Africa. The report says that the portable systems are designed for “low probability, high consequence” scenarios.
Some 340 Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS) units have thus far been given to emergency response personnel. The systems are “rapid, reliable, and [provide] simultaneous identification of specific biological agents and pathogens.”
There is no specific treatment for Ebola. Efforts to help persons who are infected include giving them either oral rehydration therapy or intravenous fluids. The disease has a high mortality rate: often between 50% and 90% of those who are infected with the virus.
The MH17 Downing: How to Be a Smart News Consumer
Posted By Sylvia Todorova and Russ Baker On July 31, 2014  Fresh Takes,Internationalhttp://whowhatwhy.com/2014/07/31/the-mh17-downing-how-to-be-a-smart-news-consumer/
MH17: The Inconvenient Questions [1]
MH17: The Inconvenient Questions
We share the horror and revulsion at the loss of 298 innocent lives in the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. And we believe It is imperative to ask inconvenient questions about a tragedy that has brought the world to the edge of a new and, indeed, very Cold War.
We also think everyone needs to become a smart news consumer. That means taking into account the history of disinformation foisted upon the public. It means recognizing that while our instinct is to accept stories where the “other” is the bad guy, things may be more complicated. And it means reminding ourselves of the military-industrial complex that Dwight Eisenhower warned us about—and how our “public servants” operate under constant pressure from wealthy interests with a stake in particular outcomes.
Surely as we look into the eyes of those who lost their lives, we know they would not want to be pawns in the cynical calculations of money and power. They would want the truth to come out, whatever it might be.
123 [2]
Looking into those eyes
The shoot-down of MH17 must be viewed in the framework of a struggle that could affect the world’s power dynamic for years to come. Russia, China, India, Latin America and other players are cooperating more and more in ventures that have little room for the traditional domination by the U.S. Institutions like the World Bank are threatened by alternative bodies [3], and the Western fossil-fuel establishment is facing increasing competition from state-run oil companies and others outside its usual spheres of influence.
And here is something even more dangerous: The U.S. military has been concerned about losing its ability to “project strength for U.S. interests” ever since the end of the Soviet Union sent the neocons in search of new “threats” to justify an ever-expanding U.S. military.
Without question, in the current international arena the downing of MH17 is a possible game changer. And game changers need to be rigorously examined.
Thus, while we allow for the very real possibility that the “authorized” version of the crash may prove true, we cannot ignore the larger picture—and the way in which this story has unfolded.
Rapid-Fire Conclusions
At WhoWhatWhy, we have a longstanding concern about the effectiveness with which the U.S. governments can quickly persuade Americans to rally around some simplistic narrative. From the Oklahoma City bombing to 9/11, our media and political establishments have failed to ask tough questions.
Within days of the Boston Marathon Bombings, we warned [4] about a rush to judgment at a time when the authorities insisted they knew exactly what had happened, and that the investigation and questions about it should come to a halt. What gives us hope is that a significant minority, armed with memories of past fabrications and spin, refuse to simply accept what they are told. Perhaps that is why our first article on the bombings received more than 18,000 Facebook likes, quite a lot for a small site like ours.
With the MH17 crash, we were struck by the certainty with which U.S. and Western officials affixed blame, insisted that the plane had been brought down by a missile, and, moreover, asserted which “side” had fired it. Contrast that with TWA Flight 800 in 1996, where eyewitnesses stated they saw a projectile heading toward the plane before it exploded over Long Island. In that case, the government and media rushed to divert the public away from such cl aims—one of which implicated a U.S. Navy missile test gone awry.
(In an interesting sidelight to that continuing controversy, click here [5] to watch CNN’s Anderson Cooper compare the MH17 incident to TWA 800, which he said had been “shot down”—Cooper returned shortly after to offer an apology for “misspeaking.”)
***
In all such events, the conclusions you draw depend largely on whom you listen to. When the State Department alleged that Russia was firing across the border into Ukraine, most Western media quoted U.S. officials without expressing any doubts. Predictably, the Russian network, RT, had a different take [6], citing one of the rare American journalists who refuses to simply parrot claims.
On its website, under the headline “State Dept. accuses Russia of firing artillery into Ukraine, refuses to provide any evidence,” RT wrote:
Matthew Lee, a veteran AP journalist known for his frequent showdowns with spokespeople during U.S. State Department briefings, raised questions about the latest claims during Thursday’s scheduled press conference.
“We have new evidence that the Russians intend to deliver heavier and more powerful rocket launchers to the separatist forces in Ukraine, and have evidence that Russia is firing artillery from within Russia to attack Ukrainian military positions,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters during the Thursday afternoon briefing.
When asked by Lee for any evidence, however, Harf said the State Dept. is unwilling at this time to disclose further details because doing so could expose the secret intelligence operations involved in making such claims.
“I would like to know what you’re basing this new evidence that the Russians intend to send any heavier equipment,” Lee asked.
The details, Harf responded, are “based on some intelligence information.”
“I can’t get into the sources and methods behind it,” Harf insisted to Lee’s chagrin. “I can’t tell you what the information is based on.”
Cui Bono: Who Benefits From the Current Situation?
We all know the official version about the Russian-backed separatists with the BUK missile system, who allegedly shot down the plane by mistake or simply because they were clumsy and drunk.
Yet the calls for sanctions ignore the possibility of an accident and imply a willful act. Which begs the question: What would Russia and its separatist proxies gain by blowing a passenger plane out of the sky? On balance, the downing seems a public relations disaster for Moscow.
It seems clear that in a situation and a place where several players are operating in secrecy under the proverbial “fog of war,” we need to be cautious about assigning blame. In such chaotic situations, many possibilities present themselves. They can range from an accident to a reckless, deliberate act by a few individuals operating without any sort of larger authority. There’s even the potential for an agent provocateur to launch a “false flag” [7] attack, serving cynical interests that care nothing about the loss of innocent life when the stakes are high enough.
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Provocations consisting of false horror stories are a favored arrow in the quiver of power. Look how effective it was to allege that Qaddafi [8] and Assad [9] ordered mass rapes. Those stories played big in the global media, though there is no reason to believe they were true, and plenty of reason to doubt.
And then there was the completely fabricated story by an American PR company that Saddam’s troops killed premature babies in Kuwait [10], which boosted public support for the first Gulf War under George H.W. Bush. This was topped by the false claim that Saddam was involved with 9/11, which in turn helped build support for the Iraq War under George W. Bush.
Yet when evidence points to the possible involvement of a U.S. ally (Saudi Arabia) [11] and to the role of elements of the U.S. diplomatic and security establishment in, at minimum, covering things up regarding 9/11, there’s a near-total silence.
What’s going on here? Is it that we cannot bear to imagine that horrible things are being done, supposedly on our behalf, “to keep us safe”? Yet examples abound, from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam to the present-day assassination-by-drone of American citizens [12] without due process—not to mention the slaughter of innocents by the U.S. or its proxies in any number of theaters of war including Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, to name a few.
What’s at Stake—and Rarely Mentioned
The overt assigning of blame to Moscow in the MH17 downing comports with the general trajectory of recent news coverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which portrays him and anyone associated with him in a negative light. This serves a purpose in an ongoing high-stakes battle characterized by such dramatic developments as Russia’s providing haven to the whistleblower Edward Snowden, and Putin’s role thus far in blocking a Western plan to remove Syria’s Assad, thereby thwarting what had been a successful streak of “regime changes” in the Middle East (Saddam and Qaddafi).
Most important to understanding what’s at stake in Ukraine, however, is the struggle over natural resources.
News media—traditionally poor at providing context—failed to note that the tragic MH17 downing came amid an unfolding trade war between Washington and Moscow for the lucrative European natural gas market. Or that the sanctions are strengthening the American market potential in the area.
The battle over natural gas, oil and other fuels and minerals involves the entire European continent, in fascinating and intrigue-filled ways we recently described [13].
The first piece of evidence that sanctions against Russia may be more about oil and gas than about punishment is the surprising new restriction on the export of hi-tech oil-production equipment, [14] and a total ban on equipment destined for deep water, Arctic, and shale oil production. Shale oil is of increasing  importance [15] to the United States, and the world.
Who are the Big Economic Losers?
According to an EU source familiar with the legal texts, the sanctions will cost the Russian economy €23 billion this year (1.5% of GDP) and €75 billion in 2015 (4.8% of GDP). The Economist meanwhile has calculated that Russian firms will suffer losses from the sanctions as high as $1 trillion (€744bn).
The sanctions will also weigh heavily on the economies of Western Europe [16]: the EU commission forecasts that the European Union will lose €40 billion (0.3% of GDP) this year and €50bn in 2015 (0.4 % of GDP). That’s because Russia is expected to retaliate with trade bans of its own against EU countries, which are still largely dependent on Russian gas and have strong economic ties with Moscow and its Big Money. For example, London’s priciest real estate has long been dominated by Russian oligarchs.
With all these considerations, we would be foolish to view the plane tragedy in isolation.
Fascinating Discrepancies Raise Provocative Questions
–Was the person who shot down MH17 “a defector” from the Ukrainian army?
U.S. intelligence officials have suggested that the person who fired the missile that downed the plane may have been a “defector” (or defectors) from the Ukrainian army [17]. This was an apparent attempt to explain why some CIA analysts thought satellite images revealed men in Ukrainian army uniforms [18] manning the missile battery believed responsible for the shootdown. Of course, if the people firing on the plane can be identified with the Ukrainian army in any respect, they could also be….Ukrainian government soldiers.
–Could MH17 have been shot down by accident by the Ukrainian army, or the separatists?
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti—not to be trusted any more or less than any other major news organization—quoted a source as follows:
On July 17 the commanding officer of 156th Anti-Aircraft Regiment was instructed to conduct a training exercise of ground troops stationed near Donetsk, which involved deploying the troops, and carrying out a routine tracking and destroying of targets with the Buk-M1 missile.
In this scenario, Ukrainian troops, not rebels, accidentally fired off rockets when two Sukhoi Su-25 combat aircraft flew parallel to the Boeing 777—but at a different altitude. According to this version, when the three aircraft merged and became a single dot on the missile’s radar system, the Buk-M1 automatically chose the larger target, leading to the demise of MH17.
Another version, advanced by some U.S. intelligence officials, [19] holds that the separatist rebels fired on the jet after misreading their radar, mistaking MH17 for a Ukrainian military plane.
An unidentified senior rebel leader admitted that a unit made up of Ukrainians and Russians fired the missile that downed the plane by accident, according to an Associated Press report [20]. An AP reporter, and residents, witnessed a Buk missile launcher rolling through the town of Snizhne—about 10 miles from the crash site—on the same day MH17 went down. A soldier in unmarked camouflage, with a Russian accent, stopped to ensure the journalist was not taking photographs.
These plausible stories should be investigated before conclusions can be drawn.
–Was MH17 shot down after being escorted by Kiev fighters, as claimed by a Spanish air traffic controller?
Another version of the MH17 downing has been circulating on social media networks: the alleged Twitter posts of a Spanish air traffic controller named Carlos, described as working at the Boryspil International Airport in Kiev. In the series of July 17 tweets, translated from the original Spanish by an unknown person with a poor command of English, @spainbuca wrote [21]:
“The B777 plane flew escorted by Ukraine jet fighter until 2 minutes before disappearing from the radar,” says an 11:48 tweet.
“Malaysia Airlines B777 plane just disappeared and Kiev military authority informed us of the downing, How they knew?” he asked at 12:00.
“7:00 minutes after [plane disappeared], the downing was notified, later our tower was taken with foreigner staff, they still here ” his next tweet said.
He blamed the Ukrainian government for shooting down the plane and trying to make it look like the work of pro-Russian separatists.
Some of his tweets suggest it may have been a military uprising against the current Ukrainian president by partisans of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Others describe soldiers, accompanied by foreigners, coming to the control tower to gather up all the evidence and coaching the controllers on what to say about the downing if asked.
Mysteriously, the Twitter account of the user was deleted the next day, and the man’s full identity has never been made clear. Here’s where it gets even more interesting: he appeared on RT’s Spanish-language channel [22] in May, claiming he’d sent his wife and children home after being threatened by Euromaidan supporters. Euromaidan is a broad coalition of people behind this year’s revolution, many of whom are allied with Tymoshenko’s party.
This may turn out to be an unreliable story, or an outright hoax [23] carried out as a propaganda operation. Either way, the story of Carlos is one that should be checked—and that is just what we’re doing.
A Change of Course—Right Over the Conflict Zone
Significantly, radar screen shots show MH17 executing an unexplained change of course. The altered flight path took the aircraft directly over the eastern Ukraine conflict region, in contrast to the previous day’s routing of the same flight. See for yourself:
July 16
123 [24]






July 17
123 [25]





(Source: flightaware.com)
Russian Claims and Questions
A high-ranking Russian military official claims that a Ukrainian military jet was flying close to MH17 before it was downed. [26]Lieutenant-General Andrei Kartopolov told a press conference that the SU-25 attack jet was gaining height and came within 3-5 kilometers of MH17. Those jets, which are primarily used for ground attack, can briefly fly high enough to have reached the altitude of the MH17, and can be equipped with air-to-air missiles that can destroy flying targets, he said.
Russian officials say they have evidence of the jet’s presence following images taken by the Rostov monitoring center. The implication is that it might have been a Ukrainian military jet that shot down the Malaysian plane.
Kartopolov criticized the U.S. for not releasing its own satellite images taken at the time of the shoot-down, which the Russians say will confirm just which missile or missiles were launched by the rebels.
Further, the general asserted that Ukraine itself had BUK missile launchers located a few miles to the northwest of the Lugansk crash site on July 14, near rebel-held territory. He said that satellite images revealed the Ukrainian batteries in place on July 14, but absent from images taken on July 17, the day of the shoot-down.
The Russians have posed 10 questions about the tragedy [27], though few if any Western media outlets have even acknowledged them. Here they are:
1. Immediately after the tragedy, the Ukrainian authorities, naturally, blamed it on the separatist forces. What are these accusations [28] based on? 2. Can Kiev explain in detail how it uses Buk missile launchers [29] in the conflict zone? And why were these systems deployed [30] there in the first place, seeing as the self-defense forces don’t have any planes?
3. Why are the Ukrainian authorities not doing anything to set up an international commission [31]?
4. Would the Ukrainian Armed Forces be willing to let international investigators see the inventory of their air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles, including those used in SAM launchers?
5. Will the international commission have access to tracking data from reliable sources regarding the movements of Ukrainian warplanes on the day of the tragedy?
6. Why did Ukrainian air traffic controllers allow the plane to deviate from the regular route [32] to the north, towards “the anti-terrorist operation zone”?
7. Why was airspace over the warzone not closed for civilian flights [33], especially since the area was not entirely covered by radar navigation systems?
8. How can official Kiev comment on reports in the social media, allegedly by a Spanish air traffic controller who works in Ukraine, that there were two Ukrainian military planes flying alongside the Boeing 777 over Ukrainian territory?
9. Why did Ukraine’s Security Service start working with the recordings of communications between Ukrainian air traffic controllers and the Boeing crew and with the data storage systems from Ukrainian radars without waiting for international investigators?
10. What lessons has Ukraine learned from a similar incident [34] in 2001, when a Russian Tu-154 crashed into the Black Sea? Back then, the Ukrainian authorities denied any involvement on the part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces until irrefutable evidence proved official Kiev to be guilty.
Anyone who wants to know what really happened in the MH17 tragedy needs to consider these theories and questions, and indeed, any legitimate questions from either side of the Ukrainian conflict.
Time and again, the world has seen open-ended wars erupt from fabricated or manipulated events. That potential exists today, in the fog of war that hangs ominously over an eastern Ukraine killing field.

WhoWhatWhy plans to continue doing this kind of groundbreaking original reporting. You can count on us. Can we count on you? What we do is only possible with your support. Please click here [35] to donate; it’s tax deductible. And it packs a punch.

Article printed from WhoWhatWhy: http://whowhatwhy.com
URL to article: http://whowhatwhy.com/2014/07/31/the-mh17-downing-how-to-be-a-smart-news-consumer/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://whowhatwhy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1236.jpg
[2] Image: http://whowhatwhy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1237.jpg
[3] alternative bodies: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-23/india-said-to-propose-brics-bank-to-finance-developing-nations-projects.html
[4] we warned: http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/04/19/the-marathon-bombing-what-the-media-didnt-warn-you-about/
[5] click here: http://freebeacon.com/culture/anderson-cooper-twa-800-shot-down-corrects-himself/
[6] different take: http://rt.com/usa/175388-state-department-briefing/
[7] “false flag”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
[8] Qaddafi: http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/06/15/whowhatwhy-factchecks-the-media-more-questions-about-the-libyan-sex-atrocity-reporting/
[9] Assad: http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/07/24/war-syrian-style-has-assad-ordered-mass-rapes/
[10] killed premature babies in Kuwait: http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html
[11] involvement of a U.S. ally (Saudi Arabia): http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/09/22/saudi-royal-ties-to-911-hijackers-via-florida-saudi-family-0/
[12] assassination-by-drone of American citizens: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/world/middleeast/anwar-al-awlaki-a-us-citizen-in-americas-cross-hairs.html?hp
[13] recently described: http://whowhatwhy.com/2014/07/23/gaspipe-diplomacy-how-ukraine-opened-the-door-to-new-u-s-russian-energy-fight/
[14] new restriction on the export of hi-tech oil-production equipment,: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/30/eu-us-sanctions-against-russia-hurt
[15]  importance: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/23191/shale_oil_boom.html
[16] Western Europe: http://euobserver.com/economic/125118
[17] “defector” (or defectors) from the Ukrainian army: http://consortiumnews.com/2014/07/22/the-mystery-of-a-ukrainian-army-defector/
[18] satellite images revealed men in Ukrainian army uniforms: http://consortiumnews.com/2014/07/19/airline-horror-spurs-new-rush-to-judgment/
[19] advanced by some U.S. intelligence officials,: http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-ukraine-intelligence-us-20140722-story.html
[20] according to an Associated Press report: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BC_EU_UKRAINE_PLANE_WHAT_HAPPENED?SITE=MAFAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
[21] @spainbuca wrote: http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/full-text-and-translations-of-spainbucas-carlos-twitter-feed/
[22] he appeared on RT’s Spanish-language channel: http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/127516-amenazar-controlador-espanol-ucrania-crisis
[23] an outright hoax: http://www.stopfake.org/en/lies-spanish-flight-operations-officer-from-kiev-informed-about-ukrainian-planes-involved-in-boeing-tragedy/
[24] Image: http://whowhatwhy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1238.jpg
[25] Image: http://whowhatwhy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1239.jpg
[26] Ukrainian military jet was flying close to MH17 before it was downed.: http://rt.com/news/174412-malaysia-plane-russia-ukraine/
[27] 10 questions about the tragedy: http://rt.com/news/173976-mh17-crash-questions-ukraine/
[28] accusations: http://rt.com/news/173964-ukraine-malaysia-intercepted-calls/
[29] Buk missile launchers: http://rt.com/news/173784-ukraine-plane-malaysian-russia/
[30] deployed: http://rt.com/news/173636-buk-malaysian-plane-crash/
[31] international commission: http://rt.com/news/173972-churkin-malaysia-plane-un/
[32] deviate from the regular route: http://rt.com/news/173792-malaysian-plane-diverted-warzone/
[33] closed for civilian flights: http://rt.com/news/173652-fights-avoid-ukrain-malaysian/
[34] similar incident: http://rt.com/news/173680-passenger-planes-shot-down/
[35] click here: http://www.whowhatwhy.com/donate

ZERO HEDGE: DID PUTIN INDICATE HE’D RELEASE CLASSIFIED CONTROL FILES ON WESTERN LEADERS?

Mr. K.L. who is a regular reader here, found this extremely interesting “take” on recent events, including the downing of MH 17 in the Ukraine’s Donetsk region, and the inability of American officials to offer anything like substantive proof to their claims that it was Russian-backed separatists that fired the missile:
US State Department “Confident” MH17 “Mistakenly” Downed By Separatists, Finds No Direct Link To Russia
There’s a fly in the “attack Russia ointment,” as Zero Hedge makes abundantly clear, citing the Associated Press coverage of the story:
“Senior U.S. intelligence officials say they have no evidence of direct Russian government involvement in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
“They say the passenger jet was likely felled by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile fired by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and that Russia ‘created the conditions’ for the downing by arming the separatists.
“The officials briefed reporters Tuesday under ground rules that their names not be used in discussing intelligence related to last week’s air disaster, which killed 298 people.
“They said they did not know if any Russians were present at the missile launch, and they wouldn’t say that the missile crew was trained in Russia.
“ A senior official said the most likely explanation was the plane was shot down by mistake.” (Emphases in the original)
Ok…so just Russia “created the conditions”? I think not. If Russia is to be held to blame for the incident simply by having “created the conditions,” then surely the same must ultimately be even more applicable to the USA and the West’s actions in fomenting the coup and creating the chaos in the first place, if indeed, even they are responsible, for recall my high octane speculation of a few days ago: neither the West, the Ukraine, nor Russia has anything to gain either by creating the incident, sponsoring proxies or cut-outs to create it, or even by “creating the conditions.” But some independent rogue group might

This is not, however, our focus here. The real focus is on the zinger that occurs at the very end of the Zero Hedge article with these two salvos:
“So – to sum up – having told the world that they would release details surrounding intelligence about the MH17 disaster, US officials have pulled a ‘trust us’ moment… blamed the ‘terrorists’ and given themselves an out with Putin… all with absolutely no public proof whatsoever…
“Which leaves us with one question - What happened between The White House and Putin (and perhaps Merkel) that ended with this lowering the tone of the debate?” (Emphasis in the original)
What indeed? Granted, it’s hard to pull off a “trust us” moment when trust in the US government internationally is at an all time low.
Recall, for a moment, that President Putin phoned President Obama almost immediately after the downing of MH17, so what Zero Hedge is asking is what, exactly, did Putin(and perhaps Merkel) really convey to the White House, and why the subtle backpedaling from Washington?
Well, if the disclosure of Victoria Nuland’s “phone call” comments prior to the Kiev coup are any indicator, if the USS Donald Cook incident are any indicator, and if the extensive Russian corporate networked contacts with the West and the Ukraine are any indicator, then perhaps Mr. Putin is sitting atop a mound of his own “classified information and sources,” and may have conveyed that he was willing to “share it,” leaving the Republicans in the US Senate to pick up the ball with the “Russian Aggression Act of 2014.” Perhaps Mr. Putin also gently reminded the West that Russia never did buy into the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, and that for them, as for the late West German Chancellor Audenaur, nuclear weapons are “just another form of artillery.”
And I’ll bet, like Zero Hedge, that it was a conference call including Frau Merkel, present, perhaps, by Mr.  Putin’s invitation, and perhaps even unannounced and unbeknownst to the other end of the call.

NY FED TO DEUTSCHEBANK: YOU’RE OVEREXPOSED TO DERIVATIVES…

Now this one is rich folks, and comes to us from Zero Hedge courtesy of many readers here who shared it.
The New York Federal Reserve, that bastion of transparency and truthfulness, is accusing the huge German mega-bank, Deutsche Bank, of over exposure to derivatives. Here’s the Zero Hedge article:
NY Fed Slams Deutsche Bank (And Its €55 Trillion In Derivatives): Accuses It Of “Significant Operational Risk”
Ok, so says the NY Fed to Deutsche Bank: “Whoa! You’re way over-exposed to derivatives and at significant risk!”
We’ll get back to what would be a fun Deutsche Bank response to this statement in a moment.
But consider some interesting facts from the article. Note that Germany’s Gross Domestic product is approximately 2,740,000,000,000 euros, almost three trillion euros, while the whole Eurozone’s GDP is only 9,600,000,000,000. In other words, Germany accounts for approximately 28.5 % of the Eurozone’s GDP. If you’ve been wondering why Germany has such clout in the European, or for that matter, the world economy and geopolitics, that’s why; it remains the locomotive of Europe’s economy, after two World Wars and, some would argue, desperate attempts of certain people in certain Cities, to ruin the country once and for all.
But now note that Deutsche Bank’s exposure to derivatives is around 54.7 trillion euros… that’s almost twenty times the entire German GDP, and it’s approximately 5.5 times the entire Eurozone’s GDP.
Now in that context, consider this citation from The Wall Street Journal and Zero Hedge’s analysis:
“In a letter to Deutsche Bank executives last December, a senior official with the New York Fed wrote that financial reports produced by some of the bank’s U.S. arms “are of low quality, inaccurate and unreliable. The size and breadth of errors strongly suggest that the firm’s entire U.S. regulatory reporting structure requires wide-ranging remedial action.”
“The criticism from the New York Fed represents a sharp rebuke to one of the world’s biggest banks, and it comes at a time when federal regulators say they are increasingly focused on the health of overseas lenders with substantial U.S. operations.
“The Dec. 11 letter, excerpts of which were reviewed by the Journal, said Deutsche Bank had made “no progress” at fixing previously identified problems. It said examiners found “material errors and poor data integrity” in its U.S. entities’ public filings, which are used by regulators, economists and investors to evaluate its operations.
“The shortcomings amount to a “systemic breakdown” and “expose the firm to significant operational risk and misstated regulatory reports,” said the letter from Daniel Muccia, a New York Fed senior vice president responsible for supervising Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank’s external auditor, KPMG LLP, also identified “deficiencies” in the way the bank’s U.S. entities were reporting financial data in 2013, according to a Deutsche Bank email reviewed by the Journal.”
“Oh wait, so those €55 trillion in derivatives are actually completely fabricated? Well if that doesn’t send the S&P 500 limit up nothing will.
“DB’s response is the generic one already attempted by that other permacriminal bank, Barclays, which hired a few hundred compliance people after it was revealed that the British firm was manipulating and rigging pretty much every product and market it was involved in.
“We have been working diligently to further strengthen our systems and controls and are committed to being best in class,” a Deutsche Bank spokesman said Tuesday. As part of this, he said, the bank is spending €1 billion globally and appointing 1,300 people, including about 500 compliance, risk and technology employees in the U.S. Mr. Muccia declined to comment.
“Sadly for now what this latest Pandora’s box means is that confidence in Europe’s insolvent banks just crashed with a bang once again, not that it would be reflected in the stock’s rigged price of course: rigged most likely by Deutsche Bank among other of course.”
So the bottom line here is this: Germany’s largest bank is over-exposed to five and half times more derivatives than the entire Eurozone GDP, but Deutsche Bank might equally respond with some form of the following question to the NY Fed:
“OK. We’re over-exposed. So, where do we rank in terms of over-exposure compared to, say, Barclay’s, Westminster, BNP Paribas, Citibank, JP Morgan?”
In other words, just exactly where are all those credit default swaps and derivatives currently sloshing around?
And they might want to make one more statement, one calling into question just how sound the whole system is:
“OK, we’re over-exposed. We’ve got bad books and bad credit. Just take it out in that gold that you won’t repatriate.”
In other words, look at the pot calling the kettle black.
Maybe, just maybe, what the financial system needs is a “Philippe le Bel” moment.