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0 Who's Training The British Army From April?...SERCO PLC


Serco Group plc (Serco), the international service company, announces that it has signed a contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide training and support to the British Army prior to deployment on operations around the world.
Known as the Contemporary Operating Environment Force (COEFOR), and awarded by the British Army's Headquarters, the contract will start in April 2012. Including an option year, the contract has a total value to Serco of approximately £55m through to December 2014.



Under the contract Serco will provide critical pre-deployment training including essential language, culture and operational environment skills, and will create realistic training conditions to prepare UK military forces for deployed operations primarily in Afghanistan, but also worldwide. To deliver the programme, Serco has created new partnerships with a number of small and medium sized enterprises to supply some of the specialised training services.
Serco is a leading provider of training services to the UK Government and other nations and provides pre-deployment training for the Royal Navy, helicopter flying training and fixed wing pilot training to the Royal Air Force (RAF) and supports the operation of the Emergency Planning College, the International Fire Training Centre and the Defence Academy.
Brigadier Richard Toomey, from the Army's Collective Training Group, said: "I look forward to working with Serco. The successful delivery of this contract is critical to the successful preparation of our troops before they deploy on operations."
Christopher Hyman, Chief Executive of Serco Group, said: "We are delighted to have been selected for the provision of such an important service to the British Army. This contract builds on our proven track record in helping the Armed Forces in the UK, US and Australia, and recognises our high quality, efficient and innovative approach in training services."


So who exactly is SERCO?

0 Terrorists using Israeli bombs and explosive devices in Syria attacks

Armed groups fired rocket propelled grenades (RPGat three neighborhoods in centralprovince of Homskilling four peopleincluding two womenand injuring 20 othersSANA said,adding that another armed group on Thursday shelled the Palestinian Camp neighborhood inHoms with mortars.
Earlier in the daya colonel was killed by an armed group in front of his house in al-Wae'erarea in HomsAlsoa First Lieutenant from the army engineering units was killed when trying todismantle an explosive device which was remotely detonated in Khirbat Ghazala area insouthern Daraa provinceSANA said.
In a separate attackan armed group assassinated an industrialist at Sheikh Najjar IndustrialCity in northern Aleppo provinceSANA saidadding that the authorities are studying andanalyzing information to hunt down the killers.
Also on Thursdaya law-enforcement member was killed by the gunfire of an armed terroristgroup near HomsQuoting what it described as "a well-informed source," SANA said that thearmed group opened fire on the car of the law-enforcement forces while crossing the Shinsharbridge near Homs and killed a member of them.
Meanwhileengineering units dismantled two explosive devices in HomsSANA saidaddingthat each device was handmade and weighed 25 kg.
In Damascuscountryside and central province of Hamathe competent authorities continuedhunting down "armed groupsand managed to confiscate some weapons and ammunition,some of which were made by IsraelSANA said.
The seized weapons included machine gunsbombsIsraeli-made bombs and explosivedevicescommunication devicesbinoculars and night vision devices in addition to uniformssimilar to what the Arab observers wore during their tours in Syria.
SANA said that the authorities also discovered an abandoned house Thursdaywhich hadbeen used by "terroriststo torture the kidnapped peopleadding that a team of Arabobservers had gone to the area and documented the incidents there.
On TuesdaySyria agreed to extend the Arab League (ALobserver mission for a secondmonth.
The AL started a monitoring mission in the country on December 26 of last year to monitor thecountry's unrest on the ground.
Meanwhilethe Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reportedly said that 49people were killed Thursday across Syriaincluding eight Syrian soldiers and seven defectors.
The reporthowevercouldn't be independently verified on the ground.
The Syrian government has charged that a media war is being launched to undermine Syria'ssecurity and stabilityIt further says that it's cracking down on armed groups that are targetingarmy men and civilians as well.
Some Syrian provincessuch as HomsHamaIdliband some suburbs of the capitalDamascushave witnessed severe clashes between government troops and militia groups,allegedly comprising of Syrian army defectorsThe daily grind of violence has stocked fearsthat the country might be sliding toward a civil war.
The head of the so-called Syrian Free Army, a group of alleged defectors who were givenrefuge in Turkey, has recently pledged to carry out wide-scale attacks against army basesacross Syria.
Damascus said some 2,000 army and security personnel have been killed since the unrestbegan last Marchwhile the UN has reported more than 5,400 deaths from the violence.
Didn't we see this coming?
 Thursday 12 January 2012 12:00
'Israel finger mark over Syria unrest'
Islam Times - Syrian security forces reportedly seize yet another cache of weapons, bearing traces of Israel's contribution to unrest inside the country.
The Syrian Army displays weapons seized from armed gangs in the town of Jisr al-Shughour, north of the capital Damascus, on June 13, 2011.
The Syrian Army displays weapons seized from armed gangs in the town of Jisr al-Shughour, north of the capital Damascus, on June 13, 2011.
The shipment had been smuggled into the country for anti-government armed groups.

According to authorities, it included bombs manufactured by Israel.

The cargo is not the first one containing Israel-made weaponry meant for armed saboteurs fighting the central government in Damascus.

On October 16, the Syrian ambassador to the Arab League told a meeting of the regional grouping in the Egyptian capital Cairo that Syrian security forces had seized Israel-manufactured weapons trafficked into the country through Lebanon's soil.

Youssef Ahmad said, "They are Israeli made automatic weapons,” which are used by the “armed opposition to kill the sons of our nation.”

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in favor of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Hundreds of people, including many members of the Syrian security forces, have been killed during the unrest.

The Syrian government says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the turmoil and deadly violence, while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

Damascus also says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country and that the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.


0 Iraq water crisis could stir ethnic clash

Iraq is facing worsening water shortages caused by the failure of successive postwar governments to ensure supplies and extensive dam-building in neighboring states that could trigger sectarian conflict.

"One prediction, which has yet to come true, has been made repeatedly by former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali since 1988: That the Middle East will at some point in the future see war break out over access to water," the Middle East Economic Digest observed.
"Boutros-Ghali thought an interstate war would occur because of disputes over the ownership of the Nile. This has yet to happen.
"But if policymakers in Baghdad do not act soon, water could well be the source of renewed strife, not between Baghdad and its neighbors, but between Iraq's already deeply divided population," the weekly warned.

"If water availability in the country continues to fall and the quality of what is on offer is not increased, the government will have no one to blame but itself."

International aid organizations have been reporting an increase in violent incidents concerning water supply.
This is happening against a worrying backdrop of mounting sectarian violence between Iraq's majority Shiites, who dominate the government and the security forces, and the minority Sunnis who lost power when Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was toppled after the U.S.-invasion of March 2003.
With U.S. forces withdrawn from Iraq, government forces under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki haven't been able to contain a wave of bombings and assassinations by Sunni groups, including al-Qaida.
Shiite vengeance on a significant scale may not be long in coming and with it the risk of a sectarian civil war.
Iraq's water comes primarily from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Both rise in Turkey, which has constructed a chain of dams over the last decade, with more to come. This has drastically reduced the flow of water into Iraq.
Syria, which has also suffered because of the Turkish dams, and Iran have been building dams too, further cutting the river flows from the north and the east into a country that until the late 1950s was a breadbasket for the Arab world.
Iraqi farmers recently blocked border crossings from Iran east of Baghdad to protest Tehran's diversion of the al-Wind River that irrigates one of Iraq's largest agricultural areas.
"Cutting water is a crime against life," the farmers' leader declared.
"Iran has diverted 15 tributaries to the Tigris since 2006 alone," observed Casey Walther, who, until earlier this month, was UNESCO's American water projects coordinator in Iraq.
Two new Iranian dams could potentially cut off water to two of Iraq's main dams at Haditha in the northwest and Mosul in the north.
"I visited them last summer and were already down to about 50 percent of capacity," said Walther.
Maliki's government, and those that came before under U.S. auspices, have failed dismally in addressing the worsening problem, which has been exacerbated by climate change and poor control over resources.
Officials say accurate data on water aren't available, making water security almost impossible to achieve. Walther says this is a critical failure by the government.
"All the numbers you see are estimates and often outdated," he said. "Iraqi officials cannot negotiate with neighboring Turkey or Syria, which control the flow of the Euphrates and Tigris."
With tension over the dwindling water supply escalating, Walther said he fears the worst.
"I'm concerned that when you look at the hydrological makeup of the country, the water comes from the northwest and travels down to the southeast, which is pretty much the country's ethnic fault lines," he observed.
Authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdish enclave that spans three provinces in northeastern Iraq are building 11 dams, a move that's likely to inflame ethnic tensions over water.
These have storage capacities that range from 35 million-350 million cubic feet.
"We have studies and designs to build 28 more," Kurdish Regional Government Agriculture Minister Jameel Suleiman announced last March.
Water is a particularly virulent source of tension between Iraq's Kurds and Arab provinces.
In multiethnic Kirkuk province, a flash point in territorial disputes between Arabs and Kurds, Arab farmers complain that Kurdistan shuts them off from the water held by its dams.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/01/27/Iraq-water-crisis-could-stir-ethnic-clash/UPI-56601327698003/#ixzz1kkYuuOFg

0 The Presidential love goes on....

9 Are there Israeli assassination teams in the U.S.?

Source: (ThyBlackMan.com)
 Andrew Adler, a Jewish publisher based in Atlanta caused an uproar last week that continues as news spreads on the Internet about his editorial piece in which he called on the Israelis to assassinate President Obama. In his opinion piece he asserted that President Obama is unfriendly to Israel.
 While most commentary has focused on questions about the vitriol towards President Obama in Jewish political circles, whether or not he is a Muslim who hates Israel and wants to see its Jewish character erased, not many are asking the central national security question about if Israeli Mossad agents are based in the United States and what they are doing.
While there have been attempts to diminish the impact of Adler’s statement that Israeli officials should “give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies“, Adler’s commentary should raise serious national security concerns. While the FBI and the Secret Service are investigating Adler, the Obama administration has  refused to comment on the case and to date, politicians and conservative commentators who are usually  hawkish when it comes to national security issues, have been awfully quiet about the Adler case.
The subject of Israeli political assassination did come up in a recent Republican debate held in South Carolina. Israel has been implicated in the assassination of a number of Palestinians over the years and defenders of the policy have often justified the actions by labeling the targets as terrorist. More recently, Israel has been blamed for the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientist in attempts to thwartIran’s nuclear ambitions which it says are for peaceful purposes.  While the UN’s top weapons inspector Mohamed El Baradei has said there is no credible evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon and backed up by U.S. intelligence assessments, Newt Gingrich explicitly called for “taking out” Iranian civilian scientist.
Gingrich did not stop with calling for assassination plots but called for violations of International law which include deploying U.S. troops and CIA operatives inside of Iran. Mitt Romney also called for actions that would violate U.S. law and International law when he said President Obama should have covertly encouraged uprisings by the Iranian people during recent protest. Rick Santorum said he believed that assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists was a “wonderful idea”. Ron Paul, the only GOP anti-war candidate did not join his fellow Republicans in their calls to attack sovereign governments through unlawful means or through the President taking unilateral executive actions without consulting Congress.
While commenting on unsubstantiated reports that the Iranians hatched a plot to assassinate a Saudi Arabian diplomat on U.S. soil, neither Gingrich, Romney nor Santorum has said anything about the possibility of Israeli Mossad agents being based in the United States nor have they said anything about Adler’s comments openly calling for the Israelis to assassinate the President of the United States.
Since taking over the House of Representatives, the Republicans have held a number of hearings targeting the Muslim community accusing it of possibly harboring terrorist; it will be interesting to see in light of Adler’s claim of Israeli assassination teams on U.S. soil, if that same Congress will investigate these claims which represent a serious breach of national security.
Andrew Adler is not just some crazed or mentally impaired individual publishing outlandish conspiracy theories. Andrew Adler is the publisher of a weekly news paper in Atlanta and also produces a local television show and in that capacity he has interviewed a number of Israeli government officials, some of which have contributed to his publication. Considering his apparent access to Israeli officials, it would be foolish and a dereliction of duty if Congress does not investigate the possibility of Mossad agents in our midst.

2 Iranian crude for gold - Beginning of the end of dollar?

The proposed move by India, if effectuated, will dynamite the world of global finance and destabilise global economies, writes M R Venkatesh.


Most pink papers have missed it. Most news portals (barring Rediff) have failed to cognize the importance of the news item. News Channels with their fixation with Salman Rushdie have failed to capture the significance of the event as it unfolded.
According to a report carried by an Israeli news website DEBKAfile, India has decided to pay Iran in gold - yes gold - for the oil it purchases.
As countries led by US are contemplating sanctions against Iran, this move to trade gold for oil by India has stumped geo-political observers.
India, after all, is never known to initiate any dramatic moves in the world of geo-politics or global finance.
Press reports had originally indicated that India may prefer to pay in Japanese yen or even in rupees for the Iranian Oil.
This was when an Indian delegation visited Tehran recently to discuss payment modalities in light of the proposed US sanctions. Naturally, this repositioning by India has set the cat amongst the pigeons.
It may be noted that while the proposed sanctions (though not backed by the UN) have a calculated effect of ostracizing Iran, it has an equally debilitating impact on other economies too.
Accordingly, any bank dealing with Iranians would be banned from transacting with American and European financial institutions.
It is given this paradigm that the Indian proposal to pay for gold for the Iranian crude assumes importance.

Non-dollar denominated oil trade - the new WMD?
To understand the implication of what has been stated above it is essential to understand the dynamics of oil trade.
What is bizarre to note here is that in spite of the fact that crude is produced by mostly in Middle East; officially it can be purchased in dollar terms only and that too from one of the two oil exchanges situated in New York or London.
Therefore, a potentially destabilising development for the dollar was reported as early as in mid-2004 announcing Iran's intentions to create an Iranian Oil Bourse as a competition to these two oil exchanges located on either side of the Atlantic.
The macroeconomic implications of successful Iranian Bourse selling oil denominated in non-dollar terms are in fact profound for the world of finance.
If Iran switches to the non-dollar terms for its oil payments from its buyers, it would usher in a new oil price that would well be denominated in euro, yen or for that matter, the INR (Indian rupee).
The domino effects of these proposals of an Iranian Oil exchange are unfathomable even after eight years.
While one is not sure the impact such a development would have on economics of Middle East, one can be near certain that if Iran's bourse becomes a successful alternative for oil trade, it would explicitly challenge the hegemony currently enjoyed by the existing two exchanges and implicitly, the USD.
This clearly explains the repeated American paranoia of Iran and accusing it of having WMD (weapons of mass destruction).
Put pithily, oil trade denominated in non-dollar terms and not nuclear weapon program are the weapons of mass destructions as far as the Americans are concerned. Why?
The reasons for the same are obvious. Given the fact that oil trade is denominated in dollars, it is pertinent to note that had Iran effectuated its threat to establish an Oil Exchange and commence oil trade in non-dollar terms, the dollar would come under tremendous selling pressure.
As a bargaining chip, it may be noted then, that the US had then allowed putting the matters relating to the WMD in the cold storage, as Iranians too, as a quid pro quo measure postponed their decision to commence this new oil exchange or trade their oil in non-dollar terms.
It would take no seer to say that the collapse of the dollar could well occur when even a small fraction of the existing traders exit the oil trade being denominated in dollars.
Given the state of affairs of the American economy, it could well be akin to the proverbial straw on the camel's back.
The late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was fully aware of this paradigm even a decade back.
He sought to exploit the inherent weakness of the present arrangement in the global financial architecture.
More particularly he understood the link between oil trade and dollars which in effect sustains the value of the dollar.
Consequently, Saddam sought to trade his crude in euros, which would have led to a lower demand for the USD and thereby trigger a dollar collapse. And that was his WMD!

Then Iraq, now Iran?
Taking a dim view of the events leading to the invasion of Iraq, William Clark from the Centre on Research on Globalisation states, "It is now obvious the invasion of Iraq had less to do with any threat from Saddam's long-gone WMD program and certainly less to do to do with fighting International terrorism than it has to do with gaining control over Iraq's hydrocarbon reserves and in doing so maintaining the US dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market."
He further adds, "Throughout 2004 statements by former administration insiders revealed that the Bush/Cheney administration entered into office with the intention of toppling Saddam Hussein.
Indeed, the neo-conservative strategy of installing a pro-US government in Baghdad along with multiple US military bases was partly designed to thwart further momentum within OPEC towards a petroeuro."
Surely, never in the history of mankind has an army supported a currency as much as the American army has done for the dollar!
Naturally, the proposed move by India, if effectuated, will have other unintended consequences: it will bring down the value of dollar and increase the value of gold - in short, dynamite the world of global finance and destabilise global economies. No wonder even this has incensed the Americans.

More to the point, press reports suggests that the Chinese have also shown their willingness to play ball with the Indians on this matter.
While it may be too early to predict the arrival of India-China-Iran axis, it is likely scenario that the world is increasingly facing in the immediate future.
Fascinatingly, analysts have already begun placing bets on a decisive American intervention in Iran based on these earth-shattering developments in the world of finance.
It is quite possible that the Arab world (as are some in India) is silently rejoicing the very idea of India (and possibly China Joining hands) dynamiting the extant global financial architecture where the dollar is enjoying even to this day the status of global currency.
Nevertheless, there is flip side to this arrangement – gold cannot be a permanent substitute for US dollar. Gold, after all is finite.
Consequently, limitations on availability of gold will translate into limitations on the world of trade. That will in turn choke global economy.
The only way out is by countries their Forex holding in diverse currencies and use those currencies for their bilateral trade.
For instance, the Iranians may sell their crude to India for yen, yuan, or the INR. In turn using the same, the Iranians may buy our wheat.
All this possibly signals the end of the dollar domination in the world of finance. As more countries worm their way to fight the sanctions imposed by the US, they may have to jettison the dollar. That in will result in fall in the value of the dollar!
And should the dollar fall, some of them may well have to face its debilitating consequences. After all several countries have billions of dollars worth of forex reserves, denominated in dollars.
China for instance is reported to have approximately fifty per cent of its 3 trillion forex reserves denominated in dollars.
Consequently, countries across continents are caught in a serious dilemma - should they not intervene, the collapse of the USD is imminent, and should they continue to intervene in the forex market to keep the value of their currency down, they would be a loser as the present arrangement has self-contained seeds of destruction.

While everyone is conscious of this fact and prefers to postpone the inevitable, no one (India included) may want to bite the bullet as yet.
It is apparent that all these countries would benefit if all of them would continue to hold USD, but paradoxically each of them has an incentive too to sell their holdings first.
The central bank of a country which sells before a potential currency holocaust could be the ultimate winner.
But even that would be a huge risk and a costly exercise for that central bank, its currency and its national economy. And that is a considerable deterrent.
The very idea of India trading gold for crude demonstrates that the world of finance is fast running out of choices.
Whatever be it, the Iran-American conflict may be well be fought, not in Hormuz strait, but across the financial capital of the world. And that is frightening.

1 World War III - USS Enterprise False Flag! (USS Liberty) - The Heretic & Michael Rivero

0 Government will fight on to cut solar panel payouts

The Government has pledged to fight on after losing its latest attempt to slash the subsidies available to people with newly-fitted solar panels on their homes.



Environment campaigners and business leaders were celebrating yesterday after three appeal judges unanimously upheld a High Court ruling that Energy Secretary Chris Huhne lacks the power to introduce cuts to the subsidy scheme retrospectively.
Thousands of people who have had panels fitted since mid-December may now be able to collect fixed payments from the Government at the original, higher rate for the next 25 years.
Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint said the Government owes a “huge apology” to solar panel firms forced to lay off staff at Christmas because of the speed the cuts were pushed through.
But Mr Huhne remained defiant, saying he would take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
The Government is desperate to reduce the feed-in tariff (FIT) payments it makes to households and communities who generate green electricity through solar panels. Ministers decided subsidies would be halved for any new installations completed after December 12, 2011.
Those changes will formally come into effect from April.
But following protests, the High Court ruled it would be unlawful to introduce the cuts retrospectively in this way.
That decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal yesterday, with Lord Justice Moses stating the Energy Secretary “plainly has no such power to make a modification with such a retrospective effect”.
Environment campaigners called it a “decisive ruling”, while the Renewable Energy Association called for an end to the “fiasco” so that “the UK solar industry can get back to business”.
John Cridland, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, agreed, saying: “The judgment should be used to draw a line under this saga, which saw the Government scoring a spectacular own goal, and confidence in the sector undermined.”
Yorkshire has proved a leading light for the solar industry since subsidies were first introduced by the Government last year.
Sheffield and Leeds have seen greater increases in the number of panels being fitted than anywhere else in the country. But local firms complained the Government’s sudden halving of the subsidies forced them to cut jobs just as the industry was taking off.
Don Valley MP Mrs Flint said: “The Government owes a huge apology to all those firms in Doncaster and South Yorkshire who have laid off staff around Christmas time because of the cuts to the feed-in tariff.
“The Government’s mishandling of solar energy has devastated order books, put off investors, and lost jobs in South Yorkshire and across the country.”
The subsidies were originally introduced to make it more financially viable for people to have solar panels fitted to their homes. But with solar panels getting cheaper, the Government says subsidy levels are now too generous and will severely deplete future resources – as well as hitting energy consumers in the pocket.
Climate change Minister Greg Barker insisted it was necessary to fight on “to put the brakes on a subsidy-fuelled boom”, which is “impacting on electricity bills” due to the amount the Government is being forced to pay out.
He said: “This could cost consumers £1.5bn. I think it worth taking the legal risk.”
And Mr Huhne later confirmed: “We are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“We have put before Parliament changes... to help reduce the pressure on the budget, and provide as much certainty as we can for consumers and industry.”

These things are going up on every council house here, just outside exeter devon.
I've had four different companies phone me in the last two days to purchase them (though I own my home), something tells me this is already a done deal and the solar companies know it.
I've a feeling these things are about to get very costly to have, and will be impossible to get rid of from council accommodation.