Archive for August, 2008
China Has Head Start Over West for Iraq Oil
August 31st, 2008China financed the war, so… Via: Reuters: China crossed the line first in the race for big oil contracts in post-Saddam Iraq and has gained a head start over Western oil majors in the competition for future energy deals. China’s biggest oil company, state-run CNPC, agreed a $3 billion service contract with Iraq on Wednesday. […]
Great Lakes Danger Zones
August 31st, 2008Via: Center for Public Integrity: For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates. The 400-plus-page study, Public […]
GUSTAV MAY HIT GULF PLATFORMS HARDER THAN KATRINA
August 31st, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Hurricane Gustav threatens to hurt U.S. oil and natural-gas production and refining more severely than hurricanes Katrina and Rita did three years ago. Gustav, downgraded to a Category 3 storm by the National Hurricane Center in Miami this morning, may strengthen to Category 4 later today and will make landfall as a “major” […]
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions
August 31st, 2008Thank you. MW1 $20 MW2 $10 DW $20 United American Freedom Foundation $10
Pre-Emeptive Arrests of Peace Protesters in Minneapolis
August 31st, 2008Via: Salon: Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched […]
“Surveillance in a Box” Makes its Debut
August 30th, 2008Via: Intel Daily: According to New Scientist, German electronics giant Siemens has developed software allegedly capable of integrating …tasks typically done by separate surveillance teams or machines, pooling data from sources such as telephone calls, email and internet activity, bank transactions and insurance records. It then sorts through this mountain of information using software that […]
Culture of Surveillance May Contribute to Delusional Condition
August 30th, 2008There’s now a psychiatric designation for people who are aware of systems like the NarusInsight Intercept Suite and Siemens’ Intelligence Platform. Via: IHT: Psychosis in the 21st century looks something like this: You think your every move is being filmed for a reality television show starring you, and that everyone in your life is an […]
The Numerati
August 30th, 2008After staring down the bottomless abyss of formal schooling, this is what the best and brightest can expect when working for IBM: Full time, automated surveillance by a Magic 8 Ball system that will match “commoditized” workers to tasks and monitor their progress on a minute by minute basis. Via: Business Week: By building mathematical […]
New Zealand Supermarkets Chipping Cheese Blocks, Meat to Prevent Theft
August 30th, 2008Via: New Zealand Herald: Supermarkets are introducing electronic tags on items popular with shoplifters and other thieves. The Source Tagging Alliance, set up by leading retailers, is encouraging suppliers to use radio frequency identification (RFID) and source tagging on grocery product packaging at the point of manufacture. Retailer Association chief executive John Albertson told the […]
SOUTH OSSETIA WILL MERGE WITH RUSSIA
August 30th, 2008Via: Times: The Kremlin moved swiftly to tighten its grip on Georgia’s breakaway regions yesterday as South Ossetia announced that it would soon become part of Russia, which will open military bases in the province under an agreement to be signed on Tuesday. Tarzan Kokoity, the province’s Deputy Speaker of parliament, announced that South Ossetia […]
