text:
by Amped Status
I: The CIA, BCCI & The Origins of Al Qaeda
Now that we have an understanding of how the Global Banking Intelligence Complex ran operations through BCCI, let's look at how some of BCCI's key players kept operating after the bank was finally shut down. As discussed in the last chapter, during the 1980s and early '90s, the CIA worked in partnership with BCCI in what was, at the time, the agency's largest covert operation ever, pumping an estimated $10 billion into funding the Afghan Mujahideen. Through this operation, Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network was formed. Bin Laden had accounts in BCCI and ran CIA/BCCI-funded camps.
In " Modern Jihad:Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks," investigative reporter Loretta Napoleoni described the origins of the al Qaeda network:
"[During the Afghan-Soviet war,] potential Arab warriors traveled to Pakistan where they resided in guesthouses. These hostels did not keep any records and not a single organization listed the names of the fighters, where they had gone to fight and if they had been injured or killed. The lack of vital information caused distress among relatives. At that time bin Laden was in charge of several guesthouses and was embarrassed by the hundreds of calls requesting information. Hence, he decided to keep track of whoever stayed at the hostels and that record came to be known as the Record of al-Qaeda. This is how al-Qaeda, which means the base or the scroll, was born."
Throughout this time period, bin Laden's mentor was a man named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In "Afghanistan 1979-1992: America's Jihad," William Blum reported some background information on Hekmatyar:
"His followers first gained attention by throwing acid in the faces of women who refused to wear the veil. CIA and State Department officials I have spoken with call him 'scary,' 'vicious,' 'a fascist,'… 'definite dictatorship material'…. His name was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He was the head of the Islamic Party and he hated the United States almost as much as he hated the Russians. His followers screamed 'Death to America' along with 'Death to the Soviet Union'… some of them had kidnapped the American ambassador in the capital city of Kabul, leading to his death in the rescue attempt… these same people shot down civilian airliners and planted bombs at the airport… anti-American mobs had burned and ransacked the US embassy in Islamabad and American cultural centers in two other Pakistani cities… their brother Islamic fundamentalists in next-door Iran seized the US Embassy in Teheran… and held 55 Americans hostage for over a year."
Supporting acknowledged terrorists and enemies presented the US government with a huge public relations problem. So the White House and CIA went to work on the propaganda front. The United Sates Information Agency (USIA) launched the "Afghan Media Project." The project was run by Joachim Maitre, a man who also worked with Oliver North to make TV ads attacking government officials who were against giving aid to the Contras during the BCCI-financed Iran-Contra Affair.
Reporting in "Covert Action: The Afghan Pipeline," Steve Galster revealed the hypocrisy of the US propaganda campaign:
"Widespread corruption also exists among the [Afghan] rebel leaders but has gone practically unnoticed in the United States thanks to CIA propaganda. The same kinds of things that tarnished the Contras' image, such as killing civilians, drug smuggling and embezzlement are practiced by many Afghan rebels. Taking no prisoners, assassinating suspected government collaborators, destroying government-built schools and hospitals, killing 'unpious' civilians are just a few of the inhumane acts they have carried out. But the picture we receive of the rebels in the United States is of an uncorrupt, popular group of freedom-loving people who aspire toward a democratic society."
In "Jihad International Inc.," Eqbal Ahmad further exposed the propaganda effort:
"They also invested in this Jihad the legitimacy of their enormous power, and the luster of their media-made glory. On one especially memorable occasion when Afghanistan's hard-line Islamists visited the White House, President Ronald Reagan described them as the Muslim world's 'moral equivalent of our founding fathers.' Similarly, the American and European media played up the war in Afghanistan as the greatest story of the eighties. Foreign correspondents combed the Hindu Kush for stories of 'Mooj' heroism. Competition for Jihad narrative was so great that in one instance a major network, CBS, paid handsomely to film a staged battle between Islam and Communism. As the western media carries great importance and authority in the third world, its Afghanistan war coverage made an enormous impact, especially on Muslim youth."
As bin Laden himself would later say in his 1997 interview with CNN, "I have benefited so greatly from the Jihad in Afghanistan that it would have been impossible for me to gain such benefit from any other chance…"
Thanks to CIA funding and weapons, delivered through BCCI's "black network" with the help of Pakistan's intelligence service the ISI, bin Laden and al Qaeda were off and running. In 1992, just after BCCI had been shut down in a global sweep, the Afghan-Soviet war finally came to an end. The war resulted in the death of 1.3 million Afghans, three million were disabled, and 5.5 million became refugees – in total, about half the population.
When BCCI was shut down, most of its major players were allowed to walk away without being held accountable, due to the fact that BCCI was deeply entwined within the upper echelons of US intelligence. Elements of BCCI would then evolve into al Qaeda, as the Washington Post revealed in 2002:
"William F. Wechsler, who monitored bin Laden's finances at the National Security Council during the last two years of the Clinton administration, told Congress in September that bin Laden initially rose to prominence for building 'a financial architecture that supported the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan against the Russians.'
'It's this financial architecture that continued with him when he turned to terrorism, and it's this financial architecture that is at the heart of how al Qaeda today gets its finances,' he said.
Much of that architecture, according to French, Pakistani and American investigators, is modeled on the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)…. In the 1980s it was used to launder drug money, harbor terrorist funds and buy illegal weapons. Its collapse in 1991 was a major global financial scandal.
The CIA used BCCI to funnel millions of dollars to the fighters battling the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Bin Laden had accounts in the bank, U.S. officials said….
The BCCI Model
A 70-page French intelligence report, prepared for Parliament in October and obtained by The Washington Post, outlined some details of this network. 'The financial network of bin Laden, as well as his network of investments, is similar to the network put in place in the 1980s by BCCI for its fraudulent operations, often with the same people (former directors and cadres of the bank and its affiliates, arms merchants oil merchants, Saudi investors),' the report said. 'The dominant trait of bin Laden's operations is that of a terrorist network backed up by a vast financial structure.'
A senior U.S. investigator said U.S. agencies were looking into these ties because 'they just make so much sense, and so few people from BCCI ever went to jail. BCCI was the mother and father of terrorist financing operations.'
The report identifies dozens of companies and individuals who were involved with BCCI and were found to be dealing with bin Laden after the bank collapsed. Many went on to work in banks and charities identified by the United States and others as supporting al Qaeda."
BCCI's Chief Operations Officer and the man the US Senate Intelligence Committee considered to be "the most powerful banker in the Middle East," Khalid bin Mahfouz, was let off with a fine and would become a major al Qaeda funder.
As the Washington Post report continued:
"The French report highlighted the role of Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz, a former director of BCCI, whose sister is married to bin Laden. In 1995 bin Mahfouz paid a $225 million fine in a settlement with U.S. prosecutors for his role in the BCCI scandal and went on to serve as director of the National Commercial Bank, one of Saudi Arabia's largest….
Saudi officials, at the urging of the United States, audited his bank and found that millions of dollars were being funneled through the bank to charities controlled by bin Laden, U.S. officials and the French document said…. U.S. intelligence officials said Washington pushed for the audit of bin Mahfouz's bank but was never allowed to question him.
Saudi officials 'weren't willing to let us talk to him,' said one U.S. source with direct knowledge of events, 'and we asked at a very senior level.'"
One vital point that most of the US mainstream media obscured when revealing bin Mahfouz as a key al Qaeda funder was his heavy ongoing involvement with top US officials and oil companies throughout BCCI's reign and after the bank's collapse. One of the few outlets to pick up on this was the Boston Herald, who reported in December, 2001:
"Two billionaire Saudi families scrutinized by authorities for possible financial ties to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network continue to engage in major oil deals with leading U.S. corporations.
The bin Mahfouz and Al-Amoudi clans, who control three private Saudi Arabian oil companies, are partners with U. S. firms in a series of ambitious oil development and pipeline projects in central and south Asia, records show.
Working through their companies – Delta Oil, Nimir Petroleum and Corral Petroleum – the Saudi families have formed international consortiums with U. S. oil giants Texaco, Unocal, Amerada Hess and Frontera Resources.
These business relationships persist despite evidence that members of the two Saudi families – headed by patriarchs Khalid bin Mahfouz and Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi – have had ties to Islamic charities and companies linked financially to bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization. So far, bin Mahfouz and Al-Amoudi… have been left untouched by the U. S. Treasury Department, which has frozen the assets of 150 individuals, companies and charities suspected of financing terrorism…."
II: "The Strategy of the Silk Route" & 9/11
One of the world's richest oil fields is on the eastern shore of the Caspian sea, just northeast of Afghanistan. The Caspian oil reserves are of top strategic importance in the quest to control the earth's remaining oil supply. The U.S. government developed a policy called "The Strategy of the Silk Route." The strategy was designed to lock out Russia, China, and Iran from the oil in this region. This called for U.S. corporations to construct an oil pipeline running through Afghanistan. Since the mid 1990s, a consortium of US oil companies led by Unocal, which was later bought by Chevron, have been pursuing this goal. The plan was to build a Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline from Turkmenistan's natural gas fields to Pakistan. Unocal partnered with Saudi Delta Oil, which was owned by al Qeada funders Khalid bin Mahfouz and Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi, and they formed Central Asia Gas Pipeline, Ltd. (CentGas).
A feasibility study for the Central Asian pipeline project was performed by Enron. This study concluded that as long as the country was split among fighting warlords the pipeline could not be built. Stability was necessary for the $4.5 billion project and the US believed that the Taliban would impose the necessary order. U.S. intelligence and Pakistan's ISI then continued the close relationship that they established through BCCI and agreed to funnel arms and funding to the Taliban in their war for control of Afghanistan. Until 1999, US taxpayers paid the entire annual salary of every single Taliban government official. The U.S., Saudi and Pakistani alliance established within BCCI reunited to facilitate the rise of the Taliban.
The American oil interests at the heart of this pipeline deal took control of the White House on January 20, 2001, when George Bush Jr. became president. As previously mentioned, Enron was heavily involved in this oil deal. Enron CEO Ken Lay was an old Bush family friend and was Bush Jr.'s biggest campaign contributor. Donald Rumsfeld, who became the Secretary of Defense, was a large stockholder in Enron. Thomas White, former vice-chairman of Enron, became the Secretary of the Army. Condoleezza Rice, a former Chevron board member, became National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State. A major benefactor of the CentGas deal was going to be Halliburton. Dick Cheney, who became Vice President, was Halliburton's CEO. Richard Armitage, who worked as a key lobbyist for Unocal, became Under Secretary of State. Hamid Karzai, who would later become Afghanistan's Prime Minister, was a top Unocal adviser.
Shortly after taking office, the Bush Administration was quickly losing faith in the Taliban's ability to control Afghanistan and be a reliable partner in the pipeline deal. James Baker, who was also a key BCCI player, having served as Treasury Secretary, Bush Sr.'s Secretary of State and Chief of Staff during BCCI's reign, was a leading player in developing the "Strategy of the Silk Route." In April 2001, Baker and the Council on Foreign Relations demanded immediate action and publicly released a Task Force Report entitled, "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century," by the James A. Baker III Institute. They stressed the urgency of the pipeline project and openly called for the Bush Administration to "quickly facilitate higher exports of oil from the Caspian Basin region…" and they reiterated the basic premise of the "Strategy of the Silk Route," stating, "the exports from oil discoveries in the Caspian Basin could be hastened if a secure, economical export route could be identified swiftly." That "export route," as previously planned, would need to run through Afghanistan and into Pakistan.
The tangled web of conflicts of interests within the Bush Administration, oil industry, Taliban and al Qaeda were concisely summed up by investigative reporter Loretta Napoleoni:
"The CentGas deal never came to fruition. The Taliban's inability to commit to any agreement, coupled with public recognition of the exploitive nature of their regime, contributed to its failure. For years, the Taliban skilfully conducted simultaneous negotiations with two potential oil companies: Argentinean Bridas [later bought by BP] and Unocal/CentGas. Both companies showered the Taliban with gifts and money, flying their delegations to the US to win them over. On one occasion, a group of Taliban met high-ranking executives of Unocal in Texas. Parties, dinners and trips to the local shopping malls were organized. At the same time, Zalmay Khalizad, who was working for Unocal, lobbied the Clinton administration to 'engage' with the Taliban. The press reported some of these 'informal' meetings between US officials and rulers of Afghanistan: 'Senior Taliban leaders attended a conference in Washington in mid-1996 and US diplomats regularly traveled to Taliban headquarters,' wrote the Guardian….
'The United States wants good ties [with the Taliban] but can't openly seek them while women are oppressed,' reported CNN. None the less, negotiations carried on more or less openly until 1998, when bin Laden's associates bombed US embassies in Africa. Clinton launched cruise missiles at bin Laden's supposed whereabouts in Afghanistan, an act that convinced the oil lobby that, for the moment, the pipeline deal could not go ahead….
Corporate America continued to do business with people who supported Islamist insurgency. The oil industry, in particular, continues to be run by a very small group of American and Saudi families with close financial relations. Among them were the Bush family, the bin Laden family and Osama bin Laden's Saudi sponsors. The ties among these people go back a long way….
Naturally, as soon as George W. Bush was elected president, Unocal and BP-Amoco, which had in the meantime bought Bridas, the Argentinean rival, started once again to lobby the administration, among whom were several of their former employees. Unocal knew that Bush was ready to back them and resumed the consortium negotiations. In January 2001, it began discussions with the Taliban, backed by members of the Bush administration among whom was Under Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who had previously worked as a lobbyist for Unocal. The Taliban, for their part, employed as their PR officer in the US Laila Helms, niece of Richard Helms, [BCCI player] former director of the CIA and former US ambassador to Iran. In March 2001, Helms succeeded in bringing Rahmatullah Hashami, Mullah Omar's adviser, to Washington…. As late as August 2001, meetings were held in Pakistan to discuss the pipeline business….
While negotiations were underway, the US was secretly making plans to invade Afghanistan. The Bush Administration and its oil sponsors were losing patience with the Taliban; they wanted to get the Central Asian gas pipeline going as soon as possible. The 'Strategy of the Silk Route' had been resumed….
Paradoxically, 11 September provided the Washington with a casus belli to invade Afghanistan and establish a pro American government in the country. When, a few weeks after the attack, the leaders of the two Pakistani Islamist parties negotiated with Mullah Omar and bin Laden for the latter's extradition to Pakistan to stand trial for the 11 September attacks, the US refused the offer. Back in 1996, the Sudanese Minister of Defence, Major General Elfaith Erwa, had also offered to extradite Osama bin Laden, then resident in Sudan, to the US. American officials declined the offer at that time as well. 'Just don't let him go to Somalia,' they added…. When Erwa disclosed that he was going to Afghanistan, the American answer was 'let him go'….
In November 2001… Hamid Karzai was elected [Afghanistan's] prime minister…. Yet very few people remember that during the 1990's Karzai was involved in negotiations with the Taliban regime for the construction of a Central Asian gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan. At that time he was a top adviser and lobbyist for Unocal… In the early 1990's, thanks to his [Karzai's] excellent contacts with the ISI, he moved to the US where he cooperated with the CIA and the ISI in supporting the Taliban's political adventure.
President Bush's special envoy to the newly formed Afghanistan state is a man named Zalmay Khalilzad, another former employee of Unocal. In 1997, he produced a detailed analysis of the risks involved in the construction of the Central Asian gas pipeline. Khalilzad also worked as a lobbyist for Unocal and therefore knows Karzai very well. In the 1980s… President Reagan named Khalilzad special adviser to the State Department; it was thanks to his influence that the US accelerated the shipment of military aid to the Mujahedin."
Yet another interesting conflict of interest: the Chairman of the 9/11 Commission investigation was Thomas Kean. Kean was also a key player in this pipeline deal as a director of Hess Corp., which was in a joint venture called Delta Oil, with Khalid Bin Mahfouz and Mohammed Hussein al Amoudi. It is also important to mention that James Baker, who had a lead role in developing the "Strategy of the Silk Route" and BCCI operations, was hired by these same BCCI/Saudi/al Qaeda oil interests to defend them against lawsuits brought by families of 9/11 victims.
As mentioned in the last chapter, George Bush Sr.'s role in the BCCI Affair cannot be overstated. Even George Bush Jr. had oil companies that were funded by these same BCCI/Saudi/al Qaeda interests. To make matters even worse, the same person who played a pivotal role in covering-up and derailing investigations into BCCI at the Justice Department, was the person who was put in charge of the FBI on September 4, 2001, Robert Mueller – and he is still running the FBI under Obama.
In summation, the CentGas oil consortium that connected all of these interests with Bush Jr.'s administration are undeniably suspect, at best. All of these players and interests are so incestuous that the heated debate over whether or not 9/11 was an inside job is almost irrelevant when you understand the history behind it. Whether it was an attack by al Qaeda or a false flag covert intelligence operation to win public support and trillions of taxpayer dollars for the never-ending "War on Terror" and control of Central Asian oil is essentially a non-issue. The main point, which cannot be legitimately argued, is that 9/11 would never have happened if it wasn't for an out-of-control intelligence apparatus, and we now know the people who were operating that intelligence apparatus. All of the players involved were part of the same banking intelligence network known as BCCI. Al Qaeda and 9/11 were a direct outgrowth and evolution of BCCI intelligence operations. It was the same people, continuing to do what they had been doing all along, except this time their target was on US soil.
And this same out-of-control intelligence apparatus was the biggest beneficiary of 9/11, having had their funding budgets more than doubled since the attack. Knowing how uncontrollable the intelligence world was leading up to 9/11, let's look again at this report from the Washington Post:
"The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work…. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine…. The U.S. intelligence budget is vast, publicly announced last year as $75 billion, 2 1/2 times the size it was on Sept. 10, 2001. But the figure doesn't include many military activities or domestic counterterrorism programs."
III: The Road to World War III
The war for a pipeline to extract oil from the Caspian Sea is far from over. China, a country US oil interests were determined to block out of the region, has been making moves to take control and has clearly established the upper hand. In a TomDispatch report entitled, "Pipelineistan's New Silk Road," Asia Times correspondent Pepe Escobar reports:
"Future historians may well agree that the twenty-first century Silk Road first opened for business on December 14, 2009. That was the day a crucial stretch of pipeline officially went into operation linking the fabulously energy-rich state of Turkmenistan (via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) to Xinjiang Province in China's far west….
The bottom line is that, by 2013, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong will be cruising to ever more dizzying economic heights courtesy of natural gas supplied by the 1,833-kilometer-long Central Asia Pipeline, then projected to be operating at full capacity…. When the Bush administration's armchair generals launched their Global War on Terror, this was not exactly what they had in mind.
Meanwhile, in the New Great Game in Eurasia, China had the good sense not to… get bogged down in an infinite quagmire in Afghanistan. Instead, the Chinese simply made a direct commercial deal with Turkmenistan and, profiting from that country's disagreements with Moscow, built itself a pipeline which will provide much of the natural gas it needs.
No wonder the Obama administration's Eurasian energy czar Richard Morningstar was forced to admit at a congressional hearing that the U.S. simply cannot compete with China when it comes to Central Asia's energy wealth. If only he had delivered the same message to the Pentagon….
If China has so far proven masterly in the way it has played its cards in its Pipelineistan 'war', the U.S. hand — bypass Russia, elbow out China, isolate Iran — may soon be called for what it is: a bluff."
If you have wondered why so many US/NATO/private military troops have been deployed to the Af-Pak region, just consider that China, which shares a border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, has also begun moving troops into the region (it is also important to note that Iran is surrounded by Afghanistan and Iraq). As a New York Times report stated:
"[Pakistan] is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China.
The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency. But reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources… reveal two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the [Chinese] People's Liberation Army.
China wants a grip on the region to assure unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan. It takes 16 to 25 days for Chinese oil tankers to reach the Gulf. When high-speed rail and road links through Gilgit and Baltistan are completed, China will be able to transport cargo from Eastern China to the new Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases at Gwadar, Pasni and Ormara, just east of the Gulf, within 48 hours."
As the war in Afghanistan continues to escalate over the border into Pakistan, you can be assured that China, Russia and Iran will become more militarily involved in defense of their region's resources. Pakistan is already becoming increasingly hostile to an escalation of US drone and NATO strikes within its borders, and have even begun to openly aid the Taliban by cutting off key NATO supply lines. Pakistan has also recently deployed anti-aircraft missiles on its border with Afghanistan. Current intelligence leads one to conclude that the war will continue to expand further into Pakistan, which will lead to China and Iran becoming more involved in what is essentially a proxy war against US/NATO/private military forces.
The bottom line, and one of the main themes of this book, is that we have entered a period of major wars over declining resources. The Af-Pak operations are only initial moves in an attempt to control the earth's remaining oil supply.
Any talks of troop withdrawals from the Af-Pak region and Iraq are psychological operations. US/NATO/private military contractors are still in the process of building the world's largest military bases in this region, they are not going to abandon these newly constructed mega-bases. These bases are designed to be operational and, as oil continues to become more scarce, they will be used to militarily control the remaining supply throughout this region.
Chris Martenson, a former Vice President at intelligence company SAIC, recently wrote the following in an analysis entitled, "Future Chaos: There Is No 'Plan B':"
"The future is likely to be more chaotic than you probably think. This was the primary conclusion that I came to after attending the most recent Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO) in Washington, DC in October, 2010…. The impact of Peak Oil on markets, lifestyles, and even national solvency deserves our very highest attention…. Rear Admiral Lawrence Rice… presented the findings of the 2010 Joint Operating Environment (a forward-looking document examining the trends, contexts, and implications for future joint force commanders in the US military), which spends 76 pages summarizing the key trends and threats of the world…. Peak Oil dominates the discussion. Among the conclusions (on page 29), we find this:
'By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 MBD.'"
The Joint Operating Environment report goes on to reveal:
"To meet climbing global requirements, OPEC will have to increase its output from 30 MBD to at least 50 MBD. Significantly, no OPEC nation, except perhaps Saudi Arabia, is investing sufficient sums in new technologies and recovery methods to achieve such growth. Some, like Venezuela and Russia, are actually exhausting their fields to cash in on the bonanza created by rapidly rising oil prices….
A severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion of production and refining capacity. While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds…."
Increasing OPEC output up to 50 MBD from the current level of 30 MBD is simply not possible, in fact it's absurd to even consider that as a possibility. Once you disregard that, as the report states, "A severe energy crunch is inevitable." To make matters even worse, we are much more likely to see a steady decline in output. So war with Pakistan, China, Russia and Iran, along with continued military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, is increasingly probable, and their planned strategy.
Their strategy becomes all the more apparent when you consider the ramp up in military exercises and drills around China, which has included a series of massive 86,000-troop war games throughout the Korean Peninsula. Add in the recent record-setting $123 Billion in weapons sales to Gulf nations, with Saudi Arabia getting $67.8 Billion in weapons, which was the largest US arms deal ever. Israel also recently purchased 20 F-35 fighter jets for $2.5 billion, and has recently conducted their largest ever joint military exercises with the US. [See Moves Upon the Grand Chessboard for more information. In the next part of this series, we will take a close look at how Iraq fits into this picture.]
Now that we have a basic understanding of how much effort has gone into controlling Middle East and Caspian oil, and as demand for oil increases as production decreases, we can easily see how this is going to become an increasingly dangerous and hostile situation. If we stay on this present course, the "Strategy of the Silk Route" leads us straight down the road to World War III.
IV: War Racket: The Global Banking Intelligence Complex Business Plan
One of the reactions a person may have after learning this information, is to believe that perhaps these wars to control the earth's remaining oil supply are beneficial to the US population. It may even eventually be a clever propaganda strategy to paint these wars as preserving the American way of life and our standard of living by obtaining these vital resources. Coming to this belief would be tremendously naïve.
As recent history has proved, US oil interests and the bankers behind them are global in nature and they don't have any loyalty to the American people. As their actions have clearly demonstrated, they use the oil, and the obscene profits obtained from it, for their own short-sighted personal gain, at the brutal expense of the overwhelming majority of humanity and at the extraordinary expense of the earth's ecosystem. Americans are shielded from the enormous inhumanity of millions of maimed and dead bodies as a result of their addiction to power. If these wars continue to escalate, they will inevitably lead to more attacks on American soil.
The profits from these wars are also a primary driving factor in having them in the first place, and is a major incentive to keep them going. Billions of taxpayer dollars are thrown around in the "fog of war," in what is called a "free-fraud zone." The military companies and the bankers behind them reap huge profits in the process. So fighting these highly profitable wars, for highly profitable resources, is the ultimate win-win situation, and the deliberately chosen business model for the Global Banking Intelligence Complex.
A point that clearly demonstrates the parasitic nature and pure insanity of this: the world's #1 polluter and consumer of oil is the US/NATO/private military machine. So while they so desperately fight for oil, they are burning up significant amounts of it in the process.
The fact that the average American never gets the information presented in this report via mainstream media proves how tightly controlled the corporate media is. It also clearly demonstrates the blatant fact that the Global Banking Cartel doesn't want American citizens to have even a basic understanding of geo-strategic interests and how power really functions. Above all, the American public must be kept in its place, as the cartel emphatically believes that they are the kings and we are the serfs, and it is none of our business how they conduct themselves. If you are not already a multi-millionaire or billionaire, you have now been marked for either servitude or slow death. That is a very harsh truth, but in the new world of declining resources, looted economies and environmental upheaval, this is the unfortunate reality of the situation. Until the American public can wake up to this new reality, turn off the television and fight back, our living standards will continue to decline at an increasing rate.
World War 3 Map – "NATO/WEST" COUNTRIES (DARK BLUE), WESTERN NON COMBATANTS (LIGHT PURPLE), RUSSIA/EASTERN POWERS (DARK RED) , EASTERN LEANING (ORANGE), WILD CARDS (LIGHT BLUE)
Quran and 2012: Evidence Hints At Event Types and Locations of 2012 Catastrophe


text:
KEUKA PARK, N.Y. -- Senior Taylor Smith scored three goals and became Keuka's career leader in goals scored as it blanked Wells 19-0 Tuesday evening at the Jephson Community Athletic Complex.
Smith, a three-time All-North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) midfielder, broke Brandy Shafer's previous school record when she bounced a goal in from in front of the goal with 19 minutes and 37 seconds remaining in the first half.
Smith also won 12 draw controls and collected three groundballs to help the Storm (11-2, 7-0 NEAC) remain perfect in conference play.
Smith was one of four student-athletes with three goals against the Express (3-7, 3-4 NEAC). Senior Caroline Arancio, junior Kaycee Maguire and freshman Sydney Forshay each scored three goals for the Storm, who led 9-0 11 minutes into the contest, and took a 13-0 lead into halftime.
Senior Maggie Bonafede added two goals with four assists while freshman Morgan Bruno added two goals with three assists to lead the Green and Gold.
Junior Jennifer Burt added two goals while sophomore Samantha Staino had a goal, and Arancio and Forshay also had assists in the win, the Storm's 18th consecutive NEAC triumph.
Keuka College won 18 of the 20 draw controls.
The defense was led by Maguire, juniors Olivia Hudson and Anna Patton and freshmen Taylor Willsey and Maura Gosson.
Senior Korie Fitzgerald started and played the first half while freshman Samantha Peacock played the second half. Neither allowed a goal as the Storm held the Express without a shot on goal.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Inviso Corporation - Retail Sales Analysis
The Retail Sales Analysis showcase demonstrates the value of Power BI in translating sales data into meaningful business insights for different audiences in the organization.Contact partner Watch video
- Gold Data Analytics
- Gold Data Platform
Power BI allows organizations to quickly provide valuable insights to all levels through the data query editor, extensive "slice-and-dice" functionality, and intuitive customization interface. This report provided the following insights to various employees of the fictional SportsGear organization:
After connecting to the relevant company data sources, the analyst populates a report with some basic visualizations that highlight notable data trends and sends it to her executives and sales managers.
After investigating the notable increase in Online sales vs. Reseller sales over the last two years, the VP of Sales considers a motion to focus on Warehouse and V.A.R. in the upcoming quarter. To identify potential reasons for stagnating Specialty shop sales, he asks the analyst to add a "Specialty Stores" page to the report that analyzes additional factors such as competitor locations, marketing effectiveness, and store size on these store sales.
The Sales manager recognizes from the "Performance Targets" tab that certain members of the Sales team have demonstrated the ability to handle increased responsibility while noting that a few have been performing consistently below expectations. To validate an intuition, she asks the analyst to pull in additional employee details such as hired date and performance evaluation history into the model so she can do some exploration. To ensure employee evaluations are only visible to their sales managers, the analyst creates security roles in the model before republishing the report to the organization.
After checking the report, one sales team member realizes that his quarter-end sales quota is highly dependent on the outcome of his next client meeting, so he asks his Sales Lead to accompany him to assist with some anticipated technical questions and to help close the deal.
Scaling the Solution
As the report grows in popularity at SportsGear, the analyst has options for scaling the solution. To accommodate the executives and upper management, she can continue managing requested changes and publish report versions to designated groups. Users who prefer to explore and create visualizations on their own as questions arise can connect to the data model created by the analyst to author their own reports.
Want to become a Power BI Partner?
Certified partners are an important part of the team! Find new business opportunities, make connections, and share your company's talents and experience with Power BI users around the world.Sign up
Learn why you should become a partner


text:
The Atlas team includes some of the best fitness coaches and trainers in the Washington, D.C. area. Our central goal is to provide personalized training experiences tailored to individual clients. You'll receive comprehensive training composed of core fitness principles as well as creative and challenging exercises with special care paid toward preventing injury.
What You're Not Getting at Your Gym
View Video
Atlas Fitness integrates cutting-edge personal training, fitness classes and nutritional services within a supportive, welcoming environment, all with the Atlas personalized touch. Whether you're looking to lose weight, gain muscle, improve your athleticism or simply get fit, Atlas Fitness has knowledgeable staff, top-of the line equipment and a supportive environment to help you identify and achieve your fitness goals.
We offer a range of personal training options, fitness classes and nutritional services:
Tim Bruffy has more than ten years experience in the physical fitness industry and is one of the most sought after trainers in the Washington, D.C. area. Tim earned his degree in Education and Sports Medicine from the University of Virginia. In addition, he is certified in Nike SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness) athletic performance training and serves as a guest instructor for the National Personal Training Institute (NPTI). As one of about 750 Nike-certified trainers worldwide, Tim knows how to motivate competitive athletes and aspiring athletes toward peak performance—in sport and in life.


text:
Ring3 API Hook Scanner is, just as its name suggests, a user mode tool which can reveal some types of hooks (inline, IAT, EAT) in processes running on your PC.
If that sounds horribly technical, then you're right: it is. But the underlying principle is very straightforward. Stealthy malware such as rootkits may intercept (or "hook") important Windows system calls to help hide themselves; Ring3 API Hook Scanner will look for this kind of interception and let you know anything it finds.
The program is simple to use. Just download, unzip and run either the 32 or 64-bit version, according to your needs (no driver is required). Click "Scan" and after a few seconds you'll see a list of any hooks found, with associated information, or nothing at all if your system is hook-free.
You can't conclude too much from this, of course. Having no detected hooks doesn't mean you're malware free. And some applications may use hooks entirely legitimately, so don't panic if Ring3 API Hook Scanner finds something.
If you're an experienced Windows user embarking on a manual malware hunt, though, the program could help point you in the right direction, so it's worth adding to your portable security toolkit.
Version 1.6 "added a button to stop the scan"
Another useful (for geeks, anyway) free malware-hunting tool from NoVirusThanks


text:
As most of you know, I've been preaching a series of sermons through the book of Job entitled "The Gospel of Suffering." I'm learning so much about the gospel, idolatry, the long-term blessings of God-appointed trials, and so on. You can listen to the sermon series here.
A few weeks back I was expounding on Job's sweeping losses and his response to those losses in chapters 1 and 2. What we learned together was stunning.
Job's maintained his joy and perspective in a season of suffering because he held onto a robust theology of grace. Job knew that he was not entitled to anything he had—God held the title to everything. He knew that everything he had was on loan from God—his money, his relationships, his place in society, his family. Because he understood that he was an owner of nothing and a steward of everything he was able to say, "I came with nothing from the womb; I go with nothing to the tomb. God gave me children freely then, He took them to himself again. At last I taste the bitter rod, my wise and ever blessed God" (John Piper). While he loved his health and children and reputation and role and wealth, he didn't locate his identity in those things.
This clearly shows that if the foundation of your identity is your things—the thing that makes me who I am is this position, these relationships, having this name, having this money, and so on—then suffering will be pulling you away from the uttermost foundations of your joy-and that will make you mad, bitter, and sad. But if your identity is anchored in Christ, so that you are able to say, "Everything I need I already possess in Him", then suffering drives you deeper into your source of joy. Suffering, in other words, shows us where we are locating our identity. Our response to suffering reveals what we're building our life on and what we're depending on to make life worth living.
This means that suffering itself does not rob you of joy—idolatry does. If you're suffering and you're angry, bitter, and joyless it means you've idolized-and felt entitled to-whatever it is you're losing. Entitlement and self-pity stem from our belief that we deserve more than what we're getting-love, attention, respect, approval. The gospel, however, frees us to revel in our expendability! The gospel alone provides us with the foundation to maintain radical joy in remarkable loss. Joylessness and bitterness in the crucible of pain happens when we lose something (or think we deserve something) that we've held onto more tightly than God.
As Paul Tripp so probingly asks, "How is your present disappointment, discouragement, or grief a window on what has actually captured your heart?" When we depend on anything smaller than God to provide us with the security, significance, meaning, and value that we long for, God will love us enough to take it away. Much of our anger and bitterness, therefore, is God prying open our hands and taking away something we've held onto more tightly than him.
With this in mind, I find this fictional story from Elisabeth Elliot (taken from her book These Strange Ashes) to be refreshingly rebuking to my own soul-and therefore, remarkably liberating:
One day Jesus said to his disciples: "I'd like you to carry a stone for me." He didn't give any explanation. So the disciples looked around for a stone to carry, and Peter, being the practical sort, sought out the smallest stone he could possibly find. After all, Jesus didn't give any regulation for weight and size! So he put it in his pocket. Jesus then said: "Follow Me." He led them on a journey. About noontime Jesus had everyone sit down. He waved his hands and all the stones turned to bread. He said, "Now it's time for lunch." In a few seconds, Peter's lunch was over. When lunch was done Jesus told them to stand up. He said again, "I'd like you to carry a stone for me." This time Peter said, "Aha! Now I get it!" So he looked around and saw a small boulder. He hoisted it on his back and it was painful, it made him stagger. But he said, "I can't wait for supper." Jesus then said: "Follow Me." He led them on a journey, with Peter barely being able to keep up. Around supper time Jesus led them to the side of a river. He said, "Now everyone throw your stones into the water." They did. Then he said, "Follow Me," and began to walk. Peter and the others looked at him dumbfounded. Jesus sighed and said, "Don't you remember what I asked you to do? Who were you carrying the stone for?"
Tullian Tchividjian


text:
Photo by Cara Vescio - www.fictionalchick.com
"Darkness & Shadows is more than a thriller. It's an intoxicating mystery about lost love. It's literary fiction at its finest that's filled with emotional scenes that made me scream, cry, and clutch my hand to my heart. It's goddamn funny. It's layered and complex with engaging chapters that read with such fluidity that I'm filled with snarling jealousy at Andrew's skill. "
-Jessica Park, New York Times bestselling author of Flat-Out-Love and Left Drowning
"Andrew Kaufman goes the extra mile when it comes to authenticity, and just when you think you have seen it all in crime fiction, a guy like this comes along and knocks your socks off."
- Robert W. Walker, critically acclaimed author of over fifty novels, including the Edge and Instinct Series.
"Sometimes an author's first book is such perfection, you wonder if he/she is capable of creating another book that even comes close. Andrew Kaufman had no such problem with his second book. This novel of psychological suspense is a masterpiece. This story reached into the depths of my emotions, squeezed, and didn't let go...The gasping you'll do will come from the way Kaufman steps into your mind and takes control. "
- Darcia Helle author of The First Kill , Enemies and Playmates, Into the Light
"Intricate and unique plot, realistic and believable characters, mind blowing twists and turns--this is what readers will get in this thrilling novel from Andrew E. Kaufman. You will not want to put it down. It is just that good."
-Bitten by Books Reviews


text:
This is part 1 of a two part series on advanced content tracking. This post is about why you might want to use this technique and how to implement. The next post will cover the reporting and analysis.
The default content tracking content in Google Analytics is fairly straight forward. Using the standard page tag you can get all sorts of information like time on page, bounce rate and pageviews.
But sometimes this is not enough. For publishers and minor bloggers (like your's truly) these metrics can be sub-optimal.
I want more detailed information about each article. Do people read the comments or do they just read the post? Do they open a lot of posts in tabs?
What would be better is a way to measure more detailed information about how website visitors interact with each page.
So that's what this post is all about: measuring how people interact with content using custom tracking.
Some Thanks
Before we begin, this blog post, technique and concept was born from collaboration. There are a number of people that need to be recognized for contributing. You can read more about the genesis of this technique at the bottom of the post. Contributors include:
Nick Mihailovski – Developer advocate at Google (and the guys that sits across from me)
Thomas Baekdal – Smart guy and publisher of www.baekdal.com
Avinash Kaushik – If you don't know Avinash…
Joost de Valk – Creator of the Google Analytics for WordPress
Eivind Savio – Blogger and GA consultant
Now, on the details!
Business Objective
As I mentioned above the objective here is to get a better understanding, on a page by page basis, of the content that visitors engage with. Using some objectives suggested by Thomas Baekdal here's what we're going to track:
- How many people scroll
- When a person starts to scroll
- When a person reaches the end of an article (not the end of the page, but the end of the article or post area)
- When a person reaches the botton of the page (the bottom of the HTML)
- Which website visitors are scanning my articles and which are reading my articles
Think about the value here! We will be able to get an accurate measure of which articles are actually read. We can even see which articles are so engaging that visitors continue through the comments to the botto of the page. Very useful stuff.
Tracking Technique
All of the above can be tracked with Event Tracking. The concept is that we will fire events when certain actions happen. Specifically we're going to fire events based on visitors scrolling down the page.
Critical to any event tracking implementation is the data model. We need to define the data we want to see in Google Analytics.
All of the reading activities will be grouped together into a category named Reading.
Within this category there will be four main actions:
- Article load: Measure how many times the article loads in a browser. Basically another count of pageviews. This will provide context to the other events that we track.
- Start Reading: Track when a visitor starts scrolling down the page. This will be triggered after a visitor scrolls 150 pixels down the page. This value can be customized. I'm also tracking how much time it takes to start scrolling.
- Content Bottom: Track when a visitor reaches the end of the article content. And track how much time it took between the scroll start and getting to the bottom of the content.
- Page Bottom: Track when the visitor reached the botton of the page and how long it took.
Another piece of critical information is the page URL and title. We need this to segment the data and see which articles are most engaging to people. Google Analytics will automatically track the page URL and title so there's no need to add it to the event.
We're also going to use a Custom Variable to place this visitor in a bucket. If it took them less than 60 seconds to get to the bottom of the page then I will assume they are just scanning. We'll put them in the Scanners bucket.
But, if they took longer than 60 seconds to get to the bottom of the page then we'll put them in the readers bucket.
FInally, I can set these events up as goals. I'll add one goal for those that make it to the bottom of the content and one goal for those that make it to the bottom of the page. This is an easy way to measure what percentage of visits complete these actions.
The Code
First, this code uses something called jQuery. It's a special JavaScript library that makes it easier to program complex tasks. Almost every website is running jQuery these day. But make sure your site includes the library.
Here's the code, feel free to copy, tweak and share. Just remember all the people that contributed to it!
We start with some simple declarations. These control flow etc. But notice there are a couple values you can change.
[code lang="js"]
// Debug flag
// CHANGE THIS TO false BEFORE INSTALLING
var debugMode = true;
// Default time delay before checking location
var callBackTime = 100;
// # px before tracking a reader
var readerLocation = 150;
// Set some flags for tracking & execution
var timer = 0;
var scroller = false;
var endContent = false;
var didComplete = false;
// Set some time variables to calculate reading time
var startTime = new Date();
var beginning = startTime.getTime();
var totalTime = 0;
You can change the
callBackTime variable and the readerLocation variable.
callbackTime is the time (in millisecond) that the browser will wait before checking the scroll location. This eliminates any lag in scrolling.
readerLocation is the distance, in pixels, that the visitor must scroll before we fire an event and classify them as someone who starts reading.
Now we send off an event to track that the article has loaded:
[code lang="js"]
// Track the aticle load
if (!debugMode) {
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Reading', 'ArticleLoaded', ", , true]);
Next comes the code that checks the location. First we gather where the visitor is on the page and how far they have scrolled.
[code lang="js"]
bottom = $(window).height() + $(window).scrollTop();
height = $(document).height();
Then we start checking.
First, have they scrolled enough to fire the first event (150 px)?
[code lang="js"]
// If user starts to scroll send an event
if (bottom > readerLocation && !scroller) {
currentTime = new Date();
scrollStart = currentTime.getTime();
timeToScroll = Math.round((scrollStart – beginning) / 1000);
if (!debugMode) {
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Reading', 'StartReading', ", timeToScroll]);
} else {
alert('started reading ' + timeToScroll);
scroller = true;
IMPORTANT: The above event WILL change your bounce rate. As soon as someone starts scrolling I consider them engaged and not a bounce. So this event will drop your bounce rate. Also note that these events WILL change your time on site calculations. You should see time on site increase.
Then, when they reach the bottom of the content area, this event fires marking their progress. I'm basically checking to see if the div that contains the article content has been reached. If so, fire the event.
[code lang="js"]
// If user has hit the bottom of the content send an event
if (bottom >= $('.entry-content').scrollTop() + $('.entry-content').innerHeight() && !endContent) {
currentTime = new Date();
contentScrollEnd = currentTime.getTime();
timeToContentEnd = Math.round((contentScrollEnd – scrollStart) / 1000);
if (!debugMode) {
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Reading', 'ContentBottom', ", timeToContentEnd]);
} else {
alert('end content section '+timeToContentEnd);
endContent = true;
It's really important to note that the above code looks for a div specific to my blog. On my site the div is named
entry-content. It might be different on yours. Basically you're looking for the container that holds the blog post or article.
Finally, we track if the visitor got to the bottom of the page. Here we do a few things.
- We calculate how long it took them
- We send an event
- We set a custom variables to bucket our traffic. If the visitor took longer than 60 seconds to reach the bottom then we'll put them in the reader segment using a visit level custom variable. If they take less than 60 seconds I'll put them in the Scanner bucket.
I'm putting them into custom variable slot 5 because that's the only slot that I have available. You may need to use a different slot. Dont know what a slot is? Read more about mastering custom variables.
[code lang="js"]
// If user has hit the bottom of page send an event
if (bottom >= height && !didComplete) {
currentTime = new Date();
end = currentTime.getTime();
totalTime = Math.round((end – scrollStart) / 1000);
if (!debugMode) {
if (totalTime < 60) {
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 5, 'ReaderType', 'Scanner', 2]);
} else {
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 5, 'ReaderType', 'Reader', 2]);
_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Reading', 'PageBottom', ", totalTime]);
} else {
alert('bottom of page '+totalTime);
didComplete = true;
Since we're collecting the time spent on page, I'm going to use this data to adjust the threshold after I collect some data. I chose 60 seconds arbitrarily.
And finally, here's the code that actually checks if the visitor has scrolled down the page:
[code lang="js"]
// Track the scrolling and track location
$(window).scroll(function() {
if (timer) {
// Use a buffer so we don't call trackLocation too often.
timer = setTimeout(trackLocation, callBackTime);
So that's the code. You can copy it from the iFrame above and place it on your site if you want to.
Stay tuned for a post tomorrow about the resulting reports!


text:
Women's Boundless Down Puffer Jacket
Item #: XQ516086
Product Details
Bundle up in warmth and style — our high-collar puffer jacket has all the cozy down warmth you expect, plus extra style for go-anywhere comfort.
Size & Fit
- Slightly Fitted.
- Best with midweight layer.
- Falls at hip.
Fabric & Care
- Shell and lining: 100% recycled nylon
- Insulation: 650-fill down with DownTek.
- Machine wash and dry.
Additional Features
- Features a hood and high collar for additional warmth and style.
- Asymmetrical zipper adds a fresh look.
- Internal chest pocket, plus two front hand pockets with snap closure.
- Insulated with light and warm 650-fill DownTek water-repellent down.
- Water-resistant shell protects against light rain.


text:
I'm a statistic… I'm a victim of sexual child abuse. This statement somehow sounds so cold. My abuser was a neighbor… no one suspected him. I don't know how many children he abused. Back in the early fifties, there was really no accurate count of the number of pedophiles in our country. It was really taboo to speak of such things.
At least now, sexual abuse is a much more acceptable subject and is even an encouraged discussion among parents to children. But we have so much more work to do, if we wish to eradicate all child abuse and sex trafficking in our country. I believe that there is hope – but we need to get parents, educators and legislators all on board to improve the statistics. That's right… it happens, most often right under our noses. And Utah (where I currently live) ranks a D when it comes to stopping sex trafficking of minors. No young, innocent girl wakes up one morning and says, "Gee, I think I'll be a prostitute when I grow up."
Most young girls, who are, are being forced into this profession ( I don't like using that word) Rather than prostitute, let's use the term "sex slave" – since many of these young girls are the product of kidnapping and methodical grooming. They are often treated worse than animals.
People, this just has to stop! Recently an observant Delta flight attendant noticed a peculiar and uncomfortable situation on her plane. Before landing, she contacted the authorities and a man who had been on her plane was arrested for kidnapping the three young people traveling with him… IT CAN BE STOPPED!
I have struggled with image my entire life… never really feeling pretty. It's been a constant inner battle. The evening that I was asked to share my abuse story publicly – the first time in my 64 years… I found myself asking HB for affirmation to try to dispell my negatives: "Honey, does my hair look okay? And what about my eyes… do thy look really bad… all puffy and gross?" It was in those moments that I stopped and connected the dots. This goes back to years of my feelings of worthlessness and guilt. I felt like I was being abused all over again by this neighbor.
I copied a photo to show this high school group… it was taken shortly after the abuse began. "It's our secret… just between us. Remember, don't tell anyone!" Les would say. So for 38 years I was silent. I did begin to avoid him whenever he came to our home after I reached age nine or 10. But I can still smell the cigarettes on his hands and see his yellow crooked teeth in my mind….
It's so different looking at my young me and realizing how innocent I truly was.
I look back at photos of me when I graduated from Denver University. I wasn't ugly – and yet I felt ugly, dirty and guilty.
It's easy to hide behind a mask when you've been sexually wounded- physically, emotionally and psychologically. I spent much of my adult life doing just that. It wasn't until I met HB, my best friend… the person I finally felt completely safe with, whom I could finally share my abuse story with. He held me close and let me sob. I'm not sure how long. But I do know he was there for me. It's very difficult to allow people into this ugly world. But once I did, I was able to begin my healing and forgiving process. Therapy definitely helped.
As I said earlier, I finally, after all these years, shared my story publicly for the first time. It was another cathartic moment. The tears flowed freely, but once I was finished, I felt some more of my burden lifted.
You may ask, how can I help? If you're a Utah resident here is a link: Raise The Grade
We each have a voice. I would suggest we use it – for it can be a powerful tool against this evil! As always, I welcome any comments.
{ 20 comments }


text:
ホーム > アーティスト > オーケストラ > アカデミー室内管弦楽団 (Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra)
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded in 1959 by Sir Neville Marriner and a group of London's leading orchestral players. Originally formed as a small conductorless string group, it spearheaded the 1950's Baroque revival.
Since those early days, the academy has expanded and experimented widely and now divides its time equally between international tours, UK concerts and sessions in the recording studio.
Sir Neville Marriner continues as the orchestra's artistic and music director and as conductor of the symphony orchestra. Iona Brown and Kenneth Sillito are artistic directors of the chamber orchestra and Kenneth Sillito also directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble. The academy makes regular visits to USA, France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia and Japan.
Audiences in London have the opportunity to hear the academy in concerts at the South Bank and Barbican Centres, and the orchestra performs throughout the UK at the major musical centres.
The academy has a flourishing education program and players take part in a wide range of educational projects with schools and community groups throughout the UK. Projects are tailored to suit each group and provide people of all ages and abilities with the opportunity to work with many of the country's finest musicians.
With Britain leading the way in music education projects, the academy is now involved in developing projects abroad. With over 1,000 releases to its credit, ranging from baroque and classical masterpieces to the major romantic and 20th-century works, the academy remains the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world. It has won many coveted international awards—including 8 Edisons, the Canadian Grand Prix and a multitude of gold discs—13 alone for the soundtrack of Milos Forman's film "Amadeus".
Unlike any other major British orchestra, the academy receives no direct government subsidy and relies solely on its artistic integrity and commercial initiative for its continued success.
In April 1993 the Academy of St Martin in the Fields became the first orchestra to be honoured with the Queen's Award for Export Achievement.
© Naxos Japan, Inc. All rights reserved.


text:
18+ new players only. Country restrictions apply. Games play every 20 min 24/7 until further notice. Players can only access the room for 2 days after registration and/or 5 days after first deposit. Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time. General withdrawal restrictions & full T&Cs apply
Welcome to Bingo Academy! The place for you to learn everything you need to know about the exciting world of online Bingo! Our friendly chat hosts are there to help you navigate every step of the way! You'll graduate as a proper online bingo extraordinaire!
16 May, 2018


text:
Evidently, removing scary scary violent video games from arcades is a trend now. So reports the Associated Press which, quite typically, can't be bothered to name any of the video games involved.
The AP brings up the news from earlier in the month when Massachusetts yanked some light gun games from arcades in rest stops it owns on the Massachusetts Turnpike, after a family complained they were inappropriate. Now, a guy in Yonkers, N.Y. complained to a private company—the owner of a global movie theater chain—and got action. Two removals. This constitutes a trend.
I'll tell you what is a trend, as I've seen it throughout the five years I've worked for this publication and reported on this type of story: The refusal of newspapers, newsmagazines, local television and television network reports—the "mainstream media"—to give the titles of objectionable games in the issues they're reporting on. It may seem a petty thing but it's actually important.
If this was a story about a school board banning books, you can be sure they'd name which ones. If a library was removing violent films from its collection, I think the reporter would ask for the titles. It's important to know if a library is removing, say, Commando as opposed to Platoon, or Song of the South as opposed to Cinderella isn't it? Doesn't that help the reader justify the reasonableness, or lack thereof, of the decision?
But video games, no one can be bothered to tell us which ones. Apparently that's not relevant to those writing and editing these stories. Bullshit. It's a form of symbolic annihilation and it reflects a mainstream assumption that the entire medium is irredeemable, and its guilt is justifiably collective. It means that every video game is violent, or that "shooting video game" tells you all you need to know, because a game that has a name is now a game that can be distinguished from others, or have its actual relevance to gaming culture described.
Instead, we have what are likely a bunch of early-2000s light gun games that no one plays anymore standing as authoritative representatives of video gaming's content and cultural reach.
That's not to say games are never named. When they are, it's typically to prop up some assumption about why some suspect or malefactor was playing it. Call of Duty is frequently named in this regard. World of Warcraft got prime billing because it helped portray Anders Behring Breivik as a game-addicted loner (which he likely was). But when it's a game that actually isn't tied to a crime or a person, more a social problem, good luck getting its title in a report. (There are exceptions; The Boston Globe went so far as to name Time Crisis as one of the cabinets pulled from the turnpike stops, but there were unidentified others removed.)
This is how you get to the point where Adam Lanza is assumed by lawmakers, think tanks and civic leaders to be game-addicted or corrupted by Call of Duty. That's what's driving the current conversation, where the president and vice president are calling for federal research into the effect of violent video games on kids, as a response to a mass shooting incident. This connection is made through one statement and one statement only: a quote attributed to a plumber who had done work in the Lanza home.
The only title named by one of Lanza's friends, who actually knew him? Dynasty Warriors. This scary scary violent video game story becomes a lot harder to sell to the general public when the title involved isn't the global bestselling military shooter phenomenon, but a Japanese-made beat-em-up. Indeed, this friend said Lanza was "a big fan of Japanese culture," and also collected Pokémon cards.
The Express, the UK tabloid who talked to the plumber, did its damndest to make Dynasty Warriors the culprit, calling it a "shockingly violent fantasy war game." But no one's repeating that slur, because Dynasty Warriors is a) not that and b) not as identifiable or as reducible to stereotype as Call of Duty. See? That's why names are important. It helps readers verify the accusations made against them and the credibility of those making them. (As a commenter below this reminds, the NRA named names in its deranged news conference. But one of them was Kindergarten Killer, a 10-year-old flash game, badly damaging the claim and painting it as unreasonable scapegoating.)
So, please, reporters, take the time to get the goddamn names of the games. Get all of them. Get them every time. A credible report will have them. A credible statement will give them. If the spokesperson for the movie theater company or the department of transportation doesn't know them, that tells you the real story: that political figures and big business are motivated not so much by propriety and decorum in the spaces they control, but fear of bad PR. And that's an older and more credible trend than this nonsense.
Arcade video shooting games pulled after massacres [The Associated Press via KOMO-TV.]


text:
MGM China won approval Wednesday to build a major new casino in Macau, a glitzy destination that attracts legions of gamblers from China.
The project has a budget of around $2.5 billion, and the 17.8 acre site will include 1,600 hotel rooms, 500 gaming tables and 2,500 slots, the company said.
Shares of MGM China trading in Hong Kong jumped almost 6% after the announcement. MGM China is partially owned by Pansy Ho, the daughter and heir apparent to Macau's longtime gambling boss, Stanley Ho.
Macau is the only location in China where gambling is legal, and the former Portuguese outpost is now heavily dependent on tourist dollars spent by the millions of Chinese who visit each year.
Gambling revenue growth, which had been explosive, has moderated in recent years, expanding by 14% in 2012.
Related: Vegas baby! Casino stocks are paying off
The new MGM casino will be built in Cotai, home to a cluster of casinos that rival the Las Vegas Strip. Construction could take three years. The company already operates one major casino in Macau.
Prior to the start of construction, MGM China was required to secure a land concession from the government of Macau, which issued its official approval Wednesday in its gazette.