Viewing Russia From the Inside

 

 

Insightful as always and very helpful.  The solution is simply to try to do nothing.  That really suits both parties.  However, it does not make the path of the Ukraine any easier.

Their best option would be to declare neutrality but then promote a vigorous trade relationship with both the EU and Russia while postponing EU membership until Russia itself is also ready to join.  This even gives it leadership options.  The important thing is to announce these policies to allow everyone to stand down.

Doing sometyhing may be to establish a boundary commission along with the trade commission obviously needed.  All this cools things down.

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Viewing Russia From the Inside

December 16, 2014 | 09:02 GMT 

 http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/viewing-russia-inside#axzz3M6MAmfZ8

By George Friedman

Last week I flew into Moscow, arriving at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 8. It gets dark in Moscow around that time, and the sun doesn't rise until about 10 a.m. at this time of the year — the so-called Black Days versus White Nights. For anyone used to life closer to the equator, this is unsettling. It is the first sign that you are not only in a foreign country, which I am used to, but also in a foreign environment. Yet as we drove toward downtown Moscow, well over an hour away, the traffic, the road work, were all commonplace. Moscow has three airports, and we flew into the farthest one from downtown, Domodedovo — the primary international airport. There is endless renovation going on in Moscow, and while it holds up traffic, it indicates that prosperity continues, at least in the capital.

Our host met us and we quickly went to work getting a sense of each other and talking about the events of the day. He had spent a great deal of time in the United States and was far more familiar with the nuances of American life than I was with Russian. In that he was the perfect host, translating his country to me, always with the spin of a Russian patriot, which he surely was. We talked as we drove into Moscow, managing to dive deep into the subject.

From him, and from conversations with Russian experts on most of the regions of the world — students at the Institute of International Relations — and with a handful of what I took to be ordinary citizens (not employed by government agencies engaged in managing Russia's foreign and economic affairs), I gained a sense of Russia's concerns. The concerns are what you might expect. The emphasis and order of those concerns were not.

Russians' Economic Expectations

I thought the economic problems of Russia would be foremost on people's minds. The plunge of the ruble, the decline in oil prices, a general slowdown in the economy and the effect of Western sanctions all appear in the West to be hammering the Russian economy. Yet this was not the conversation I was having. The decline in the ruble has affected foreign travel plans, but the public has only recently begun feeling the real impact of these factors, particularly through inflation.

But there was another reason given for the relative calm over the financial situation, and it came not only from government officials but also from private individuals and should be considered very seriously. The Russians pointed out that economic shambles was the norm for Russia, and prosperity the exception. There is always the expectation that prosperity will end and the normal constrictions of Russian poverty return.

The Russians suffered terribly during the 1990s under Boris Yeltsin but also under previous governments stretching back to the czars. In spite of this, several pointed out, they had won the wars they needed to win and had managed to live lives worth living. The golden age of the previous 10 years was coming to an end. That was to be expected, and it would be endured. The government officials meant this as a warning, and I do not think it was a bluff. The pivot of the conversation was about sanctions, and the intent was to show that they would not cause Russia to change its policy toward Ukraine.

Russians' strength is that they can endure things that would break other nations. It was also pointed out that they tend to support the government regardless of competence when Russia feels threatened. Therefore, the Russians argued, no one should expect that sanctions, no matter how harsh, would cause Moscow to capitulate. Instead the Russians would respond with their own sanctions, which were not specified but which I assume would mean seizing the assets of Western companies in Russia and curtailing agricultural imports from Europe. There was no talk of cutting off natural gas supplies to Europe.

If this is so, then the Americans and Europeans are deluding themselves on the effects of sanctions. In general, I personally have little confidence in the use of sanctions. That being said, the Russians gave me another prism to look through. Sanctions reflect European and American thresholds of pain. They are designed to cause pain that the West could not withstand. Applied to others, the effects may vary.
My sense is that the Russians were serious. It would explain why the increased sanctions, plus oil price drops, economic downturns and the rest simply have not caused the erosion of confidence that would be expected. Reliable polling numbers show that President Vladimir Putin is still enormously popular. Whether he remains popular as the decline sets in, and whether the elite being hurt financially are equally sanguine, is another matter. But for me the most important lesson I might have learned in Russia — "might" being the operative term — is that Russians don't respond to economic pressure as Westerners do, and that the idea made famous in a presidential campaign slogan, "It's the economy, stupid," may not apply the same way in Russia.

The Ukrainian Issue

There was much more toughness on Ukraine. There is acceptance that events in Ukraine were a reversal for Russia and resentment that the Obama administration mounted what Russians regard as a propaganda campaign to try to make it appear that Russia was the aggressor. Two points were regularly made. The first was that Crimea was historically part of Russia and that it was already dominated by the Russian military under treaty. There was no invasion but merely the assertion of reality. Second, there was heated insistence that eastern Ukraine is populated by Russians and that as in other countries, those Russians must be given a high degree of autonomy. One scholar pointed to the Canadian model and Quebec to show that the West normally has no problem with regional autonomy for ethnically different regions but is shocked that the Russians might want to practice a form of regionalism commonplace in the West.

The case of Kosovo is extremely important to the Russians both because they feel that their wishes were disregarded there and because it set a precedent. Years after the fall of the Serbian government that had threatened the Albanians in Kosovo, the West granted Kosovo independence. The Russians argued that the borders were redrawn although no danger to Kosovo existed. Russia didn't want it to happen, but the West did it because it could. In the Russian view, having redrawn the map of Serbia, the West has no right to object to redrawing the map of Ukraine.

I try not to be drawn into matters of right and wrong, not because I don't believe there is a difference but because history is rarely decided by moral principles. I have understood the Russians' view of Ukraine as a necessary strategic buffer and the idea that without it they would face a significant threat, if not now, then someday. They point to Napoleon and Hitler as examples of enemies defeated by depth.

I tried to provide a strategic American perspective. The United States has spent the past century pursuing a single objective: avoiding the rise of any single hegemon that might be able to exploit Western European technology and capital and Russian resources and manpower. The United States intervened in World War I in 1917 to block German hegemony, and again in World War II. In the Cold War the goal was to prevent Russian hegemony. U.S. strategic policy has been consistent for a century.

The United States has been conditioned to be cautious of any rising hegemon. In this case the fear of a resurgent Russia is a recollection of the Cold War, but not an unreasonable one. As some pointed out to me, economic weakness has rarely meant military weakness or political disunity. I agreed with them on this and pointed out that this is precisely why the United States has a legitimate fear of Russia in Ukraine. If Russia manages to reassert its power in Ukraine, then what will come next? Russia has military and political power that could begin to impinge on Europe. Therefore, it is not irrational for the United States, and at least some European countries, to want to assert their power in Ukraine.

When I laid out this argument to a very senior official from the Russian Foreign Ministry, he basically said he had no idea what I was trying to say. While I think he fully understood the geopolitical imperatives guiding Russia in Ukraine, to him the century long imperatives guiding the United States are far too vast to apply to the Ukrainian issue. It is not a question of him only seeing his side of the issue. Rather, it is that for Russia, Ukraine is an immediate issue, and the picture I draw of American strategy is so abstract that it doesn't seem to connect with the immediate reality. There is an automatic American response to what it sees as Russian assertiveness; however, the Russians feel they have been far from offensive and have been on the defense. For the official, American fears of Russian hegemony were simply too far-fetched to contemplate.

In other gatherings, with the senior staff of the Institute of International Relations, I tried a different tack, trying to explain that the Russians had embarrassed U.S. President Barack Obama in Syria. Obama had not wanted to attack when poison gas was used in Syria because it was militarily difficult and because if he toppled Syrian President Bashar al Assad, it would leave Sunni jihadists in charge of the country. The United States and Russia had identical interests, I asserted, and the Russian attempt to embarrass the president by making it appear that Putin had forced him to back down triggered the U.S. response in Ukraine. Frankly, I thought my geopolitical explanation was a lot more coherent than this argument, but I tried it out. The discussion was over lunch, but my time was spent explaining and arguing, not eating. I found that I could hold my own geopolitically but that they had mastered the intricacies of the Obama administration in ways I never will.

The Future for Russia and the West

The more important question was what will come next. The obvious question is whether the Ukrainian crisis will spread to the Baltics, Moldova or the Caucasus. I raised this with the Foreign Ministry official. He was emphatic, making the point several times that this crisis would not spread. I took that to mean that there would be no Russian riots in the Baltics, no unrest in Moldova and no military action in the Caucasus. I think he was sincere. The Russians are stretched as it is. They must deal with Ukraine, and they must cope with the existing sanctions, however much they can endure economic problems. The West has the resources to deal with multiple crises. Russia needs to contain this crisis in Ukraine.

The Russians will settle for a degree of autonomy for Russians within parts of eastern Ukraine. How much autonomy, I do not know. They need a significant gesture to protect their interests and to affirm their significance. Their point that regional autonomy exists in many countries is persuasive. But history is about power, and the West is using its power to press Russia hard. But obviously, nothing is more dangerous than wounding a bear. Killing him is better, but killing Russia has not proved easy.

I came away with two senses. One was that Putin was more secure than I thought. In the scheme of things, that does not mean much. Presidents come and go. But it is a reminder that things that would bring down a Western leader may leave a Russian leader untouched. Second, the Russians do not plan a campaign of aggression. Here I am more troubled — not because they want to invade anyone, but because nations frequently are not aware of what is about to happen, and they might react in ways that will surprise them. That is the most dangerous thing about the situation. It is not what is intended, which seems genuinely benign. What is dangerous is the action that is unanticipated, both by others and by Russia.

At the same time, my general analysis remains intact. Whatever Russia might do elsewhere, Ukraine is of fundamental strategic importance to Russia. Even if the east received a degree of autonomy, Russia would remain deeply concerned about the relationship of the rest of Ukraine to the West. As difficult as this is for Westerners to fathom, Russian history is a tale of buffers. Buffer states save Russia from Western invaders. Russia wants an arrangement that leaves Ukraine at least neutral.

For the United States, any rising power in Eurasia triggers an automatic response born of a century of history. As difficult as it is for Russians to understand, nearly half a century of a Cold War left the United States hypersensitive to the possible re-emergence of Russia. The United States spent the past century blocking the unification of Europe under a single, hostile power. What Russia intends and what America fears are very different things.

The United States and Europe have trouble understanding Russia's fears. Russia has trouble understanding particularly American fears. The fears of both are real and legitimate. This is not a matter of misunderstanding between countries but of incompatible imperatives. All of the good will in the world — and there is precious little of that — cannot solve the problem of two major countries that are compelled to protect their interests and in doing so must make the other feel threatened. I learned much in my visit. I did not learn how to solve this problem, save that at the very least each must understand the fears of the other, even if they can't calm them.

Read more: Viewing Russia From the Inside | Stratfor

Russian Scientist Spies Mountain-sized Asteroid Heading our Way

What this emphasizes is that any relatively small object that tracks an orbit conforming to that of Earth itself and close enough at hand is a prime candidate for an impact however distant that may be. Worse though that same object is been constantly disturbed in ways that make orbital prediction almost impossible.

It is not well understood that we need to monitor our own satelites constantly to ensure they do not get lost and that is almost an easy problem.  Thus these objects all need to be located and placed inside a probability equation that needs to be updated every century or so.


It will be quite a while yet before we are able to properly do this although it generally entails putting out sensing platforms to scan the space all along Earth Orbit.  This will identify those in the window.  It will  not easily identify erratics coming in from the Kuiper belt but may also be helpful in that as well.

We really need a full  space station at both Lagrange Points on Earth's orbit.
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Russian scientist spies mountain-sized asteroid heading our way

In a video posted online Sunday, astrophysicist Vladimir Lipunov says the newly discovered asteroid could collide with Earth during its three-year orbital cycle. A giant meteor exploded over a Russian city in 2013.

By Fred Weir | Christian Science Monitor – Mon, 8 Dec, 2014

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/russian-scientist-spies-mountain-sized-asteroid-heading-way-170022867.html

• Reuters - Image courtesy of NASA shows an artist's concept of a broken-up asteroid. Scientists think that a giant asteroid, which broke up long ago in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, eventually …more 

A Russian astrophysicist says his team has located a huge, mountain-sized asteroid whose orbit crosses the Earth's every three years.

Even though experts say the giant object, known as 2014 UR116, poses no immediate threat of collision, its unexpected discovery underscores how little is still known about asteroids and their unpredictable orbits.

Vladimir Lipunov, a professor at Moscow State University, announced the find in a short documentary, "Asteroid Attack," posted on the website of the Russian Space Agency on Sunday. Mr. Lipunov says the asteroid, which he calculates is 370 meters in diameter, could hit the Earth with an explosion 1,000 times greater than the surprise 2013 impact of a bus-sized meteor in Russia. That object entered Earth’s atmosphere over the city of Chelyabinsk, resulting in a series of ferocious blasts that blew out windows and damaged buildings for miles around.

In the film, Lipunov says it's difficult to calculate the orbit of big objects like 2014 UR116 because, as they hurtle through the solar system, their trajectories are constantly being altered by the gravitational pull of nearby planets. "We need to permanently track this asteroid, because even a small mistake in calculations could have serious consequences," he said.

There is little indication that this particular asteroid could hit the Earth in the next few decades, though over a much longer period a collision looks quite likely, says Natan Esmant, an expert with the official Space Research Institute in Moscow. A more serious issue, he says, is the estimated 100,000 near-Earth objects, such as asteroids and comets, which can cross our planet's orbit and are large enough to be dangerous. Only about 11,000 have so far been tracked and cataloged.

"Every couple of days new ones are being discovered," he says. "Scientists have increasingly powerful tools to do this work, but there's a lot still to be done. Every object that crosses the Earth's path can be a potential threat."

Since the Chelyabinsk meteor, which came as a complete surprise to experts, scientists have been warning about the danger and trying to pool their data in order to get a clearer picture of the swarms of debris that are lurking in space. Scientists use conventional telescopes, radar and infrared detectors to hunt asteroids. The first satellite specifically designed to identify asteroids was launched last year. 

A movement of scientists, astronauts, musicians, and businesspeople have launched a campaign to dramatize the danger and seek ways of protecting Earth from what seems like an inevitable destructive collision. They declared June 30, 2015, the world's first Asteroid Day.      

New Evidence Suggests Stone Age Hunters from Europe Discovered America

 


What is astonishing is that an ancient flint knife from Virginia came from France.  This seriously supports active trading then and there rather than sporadic colonization.   This happened 20,000 years ago when the Ice Age left the continental shelf bare and also exposed two massive island in between. 

Thus the trip distance to the islands would have been a few hundred miles at best and easy enough in the summer time.  Better, the explorers would have been sailing into the wind.  This allows a protracted advance in many directions followed by a quick scoot home.  That trick populated the Pacific this is vastly easier.

This island network was ample enough to allow actual stone age trading to take place in high quality flint tools.

New evidence suggests Stone Age hunters from Europe discovered America 

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-evidence-suggests-stone-age-hunters-from-europe-discovered-america-7447152.html


New archaeological evidence suggests that America was first discovered by Stone Age people from Europe – 10,000 years before the Siberian-originating ancestors of the American Indians set foot in the New World.

A remarkable series of several dozen European-style stone tools, dating back between 19,000 and 26,000 years, have been discovered at six locations along the US east coast. Three of the sites are on the Delmarva Peninsular in Maryland, discovered by archaeologist Dr Darrin Lowery of the University of Delaware. One is in Pennsylvania and another in Virginia. A sixth was discovered by scallop-dredging fishermen on the seabed 60 miles from the Virginian coast on what, in prehistoric times, would have been dry land.

The new discoveries are among the most important archaeological breakthroughs for several decades - and are set to add substantially to our understanding of humanity's spread around the globe.

The similarity between other later east coast US and European Stone Age stone tool technologies has been noted before. But all the US European-style tools, unearthed before the discovery or dating of the recently found or dated US east coast sites, were from around 15,000 years ago - long after Stone Age Europeans (the Solutrean cultures of France and Iberia) had ceased making such artefacts. Most archaeologists had therefore rejected any possibility of a connection. But the newly-discovered and recently-dated early Maryland and other US east coast Stone Age tools are from between 26,000 and 19,000 years ago - and are therefore contemporary with the virtually identical western European material.

What’s more, chemical analysis carried out last year on a European-style stone knife found in Virginia back in 1971 revealed that it was made of French-originating flint.

Professor Dennis Stanford, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and Professor Bruce Bradley of the University of Exeter, the two leading archaeologists who have analysed all the evidence, are proposing that Stone Age people from Western Europe migrated to North America at the height of the Ice Age by travelling (over the ice surface and/or by boat) along the edge of the frozen northern part of the Atlantic. They are presenting their detailed evidence in a new book - Across Atlantic Ice – published this month.

At the peak of the Ice Age, around three million square miles of the North Atlantic was covered in thick ice for all or part of the year.

However, the seasonally shifting zone where the ice ended and the open ocean began would have been extremely rich in food resources – migrating seals, sea birds, fish and the now-extinct northern hemisphere penguin-like species, the great auk.

Stanford and Bradley have long argued that Stone Age humans were quite capable of making the 1500 mile journey across the Atlantic ice - but till now there was comparatively little evidence to support their thinking.

But the new Maryland, Virginia and other US east coast material, and the chemical tests on the Virginian flint knife, have begun to transform the situation. Now archaeologists are starting to investigate half a dozen new sites in Tennessee, Maryland and even Texas – and these locations are expected to produce more evidence.

Another key argument for Stanford and Bradley’s proposal is the complete absence of any human activity in north-east Siberia and Alaska prior to around 15,500 years ago. If the Maryland and other east coast people of 26,000 to 19,000 years ago had come from Asia, not Europe, early material, dating from before 19,000 years ago, should have turned up in those two northern areas, but none have been found.

Although Solutrean Europeans may well have been the first Americans, they had a major disadvantage compared to the Asian-originating Indians who entered the New World via the Bering Straits or along the Aleutian Islands chain after 15,500 years ago.

Whereas the Solutreans had only had a 4500 year long ‘Ice Age’ window to carry out their migratory activity, the Asian-originating Indians had some 15,000 years to do it. What’s more, the latter two-thirds of that 15 millennia long period was climatologically much more favourable and substantially larger numbers of Asians were therefore able to migrate.

As a result of these factors the Solutrean (European originating) Native Americans were either partly absorbed by the newcomers or were substantially obliterated by them either physically or through competition for resources.

Some genetic markers for Stone Age western Europeans simply don’t exist in north- east Asia – but they do in tiny quantities among some north American Indian groups. Scientific tests on ancient DNA extracted from 8000 year old skeletons from Florida have revealed a high level of a  key probable European-originating genetic marker. There are also a tiny number of  isolated Native American groups whose languages appear not to be related in any way to Asian-originating American  Indian peoples.

But the greatest amount of evidence is likely to come from under the ocean – for most of the areas where the Solutreans would have stepped off the Ice onto dry land are now up to 100 miles out to sea.
The one underwater site that has been identified - thanks to the scallop dredgers – is set to be examined in greater detail this summer – either by extreme-depth divers or by remotely operated mini submarines equipped with cameras and grab arms.

How To Improve Your Posture in One Simple Step

I will take this idea simply because it is a simple way to instill consciousness regarding one's posture.  Just trying to remember to rotate one's palm upward kick starts your posture and practise will work.

 

 

Sometimes the best fixes are something as trivial as this.

 

 

Most of us have posture issues so i am sure this is welcome.  Try it out.

How To Improve Your Posture in One Simple Step

Sara Calabro

Acutake Health

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/04/02/how-to-improve-your-posture-in-one-simple-step/

Want to improve your posture quickly, for free, with almost zero effort?

I recently did it. So can you.

I don’t deserve any credit for this accomplishment. I didn’t invent the technique, nor, as I mentioned, did implementing it ask much of me. I can, however, vouch for its effectiveness.

I was introduced to this magic bullet by an acupuncturist, and I have an acupuncture theory on why it’s so beneficial (see below), but getting acupuncture is not required.

This solution to better posture is something you can do completely on your own, anywhere, anytime, without ever opening your wallet. You don’t even have to get up from the couch.

The DIY Solution to Better Posture

Turn up your palms. That’s it.

As in the picture above, whenever you’re doing something that does not require use of your hands, turn them so that they’re palm-side up. You also can do it while standing or walking.

This palms-up position may be familiar to committed meditators and yogis who practice shavasana, but it’s foreign to those of us who spend a lot of time at a computer, behind the wheel of a car, holding babies, making lattes, or doing pretty much anything else that requires constant hand use. Even when we’re not using our hands, it’s just habit to sit, walk or stand with our hands facing down or behind us.

Because we’re so unaccustomed to the palms-up position, when we assume it, the effects are felt immediately. There’s a sense of momentum carrying the upper body backward opposed to the hunched forward motion we so naturally fall into. It feels as if someone is gently pulling back on your shoulders.

Try it. If you’re using your hands, stop and rest them against your thighs. Now turn both palms so that they’re facing up toward the ceiling.

It sounds simple, but I’m telling you, it works—and fast.

First-Hand Success Story: Better Posture in Under Two Weeks

I learned this shortcut to better posture less than two weeks ago, while attending a seminar with Japanese acupuncturist Kiiko Matsumoto. Kiiko is known for her eccentric, entertaining teaching style. During lectures, she’ll often diverge from a subject to impart what seems like an irrelevant anecdote. She’s usually halfway through her next thought before you realize the remarkably useful nature of what she just said.

At the recent seminar, Kiiko mentioned this palms-up technique quickly and in passing to illustrate a larger point about the rhomboids, the muscles that connect the scapula with the spine. She started using the technique herself after a friend pointed out that Kiiko was developing poor posture.

I have been trying it out for the past 10 days. Anytime I don’t need my hands, I turn them palm-side up. If I can get away with using one hand—when reading a book, for example, or walking my dog—I’ll turn the other palm up, alternating hands when the one in use gets tired.

I was going to wait to write about this until I spent more time testing it. But in less than two weeks, I have seen a marked improvement in my posture. I’ve also noticed a general feeling of more openness in my chest. It feels easier to breathe.

An Acupuncture Perspective on Why We Should All Give It Up for Palms-Up

Image Source

This second observation, about palms-up opening the chest area, relates to my acupuncture-related theory on why this technique is so important.

In acupuncture, the meridians that run along the inside of the arm, from the chest/underarm to the palm, are Heart, Pericardium and Lung.

Just as in Western medicine, where the the heart and lungs are considered such vital organs, the Heart, Pericardium and Lung meridians are critical in acupuncture.

Here is just a smattering of the functions each meridian is involved in (there are many more):

Heart: breathing, cardiac function, sleep, emotional balance and heat regulation. Pericardium: breathing, blood circulation and upper digestive function. Lung:breathing, immune function, perspiration, body temperature and urination.

Not necessarily stuff you want to mess around with.

Yet our lifestyles force our hands and arms into an almost constant downward/backward position, creating a tendency to slouch forward. This causes us to cave our upper bodies inward, crunching the Heart, Pericardium and Lung meridians.

Image Source

Allowing these meridians to flow more freely optimizes their ability to perform their respective functions.

I’ve only been experimenting with it for 10 days, but I suspect this simple palms-up exercise can go a long way toward encouraging movement throughout the Heart, Pericardium and Lung meridians.

While your palms are turned up, try and visualize the meridians that run along the inner arm into the palm.

The pictures above and to the right show Heart and Lung. Focus just on the solid black line—the one with the orange dots along it—that’s running down the model’s right arm (ignore the lines on the torso as well as the text surrounding the body). The Pericardium meridian, not shown, runs directly between the two.

Imagine these meridians stretching and regaining their normal flow as your palms gaze up.

If you commit to this exercise, I guarantee you’ll notice a shift in your posture. And if my theory is correct, you may notice improvements beyond just sitting up straighter.

You can start right now. Flip your palms toward the ceiling. Let us know what you find.

I Interrogated the Top Terrorist in US Custody. Then The CIA Came to Town

 

I think what bothers me most here is the willful loss of institutional knowledge that takes place for petty political reasons.  Perhaps it is time to reward failure with a full press charge of treason.  This seems draconian, but men grabbing for the brass ring need to know that they can succeed.

We only have to look at the example of General MacArthur to understand what is needed.  That should be our baseline.  No one over the past two decades came close to him.

This tells a story of political grabbing with no clue how to proceed, and then going out and using every stupid idea that the Gestapo misused and actually failed at as well.  At the same time institutional systems had been worked out that succeeded that were then simply lost by the incurious.  It is time the incurious were hung for treason.

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I interrogated the top terrorist in US custody. Then the CIA came to town

The Senate report exposed an orchestrated campaign of deception and lies while I was an FBI agent. But here’s the worst part: the lies haven’t stopped

Ali Soufan

theguardian.com, Friday 12 December 2014 12.15 GMT

Jump to comments (230)

Those responsible for the program have tried to portray this as a CIA-versus-FBI matter. The reality is that these techniques didn’t work. Illustration: Joanne Tapel / Amensty International http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/12/interrogated-terrorist-cia-senate-report

In the middle of my interrogation of the high-ranking terrorist Abu Zubaydah at a black-site prison 12 years ago, my intelligence work wasn’t just cut short for so-called enhanced interrogation techniques to begin. After I left the black site, those who took over left, too – for 47 days. For personal time and to “confer with headquarters”.

For nearly the entire summer of 2002, Abu Zubaydah was kept in isolation. That was valuable lost time, and that doesn’t square with claims about the “ticking bomb scenarios” that were the basis for America’s enhanced interrogation program, or with the commitment to getting life-saving, actionable intelligence from valuable detainees. The techniques were justified by those who said Zubaydah “stopped all cooperation” around the time my fellow FBI agent and I left. If Zubaydah was in isolation the whole time, that’s not really a surprise.

One of the hardest things we struggled to make sense of, back then, was why US officials were authorizing harsh techniques when our interrogations were working and their harsh techniques weren’t. The answer, as the long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report now makes clear, is that the architects of the program were taking credit for our success, from the unmasking of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of 9/11 to the uncovering of the “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla. The claims made by government officials for years about the efficacy of “enhanced interrogation”, in secret memos and in public, are false. “Enhanced interrogation” doesn’t work.

It’s maddening enough to learn that while we were working around the clock and often under dangerous circumstances, from Yemen to Afghanistan, the “enhanced” interrogators took the weeks off from interrogating the only high-value detainee in American custody. And the entire Senate report makes for painful reading. But not just because of the new details on the futility of those techniques and the orchestrated campaign of deception and lies told about their efficiency. The hardest part about the report is what it doesn’t answer: How do we prevent this from happening again?

At the time, I witnessed some CIA officials objecting to what was happening – and I watched them leave. What I learned from the report is that so many more officials were objecting to harsh interrogations through their official channels – they were just ignored. Memos in the report show that those responsible “marginalized and ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms, and objections concerning the operation and management of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program”. The report says that tears were shed, and knowing the officials who shed them, I know those were tears over lost time and lost intelligence – and lost American values.

Those responsible for the program have tried to portray this as a CIA-versus-FBI matter, or as a debate between those who will do whatever it takes to defend the homeland versus those with softer hearts. The reality is that these techniques endangered our homeland. They didn’t work. We lost valuable time – years of time. Intelligence that could have been gained wasn’t. And plots that could have been stopped weren’t.

The sad truth is that today there are more people around the world who follow the ideology Osama bin Laden espoused than there were before 9/11. America’s turn to the dark side damaged our reputation and played into our enemy’s narrative.

The responses in defense of the program are predictable. Those at the top who authorized the program, or who didn’t do the do diligence they should have, are defensive because they are embarrassed – and they should be. They really owe an apology to the American people.

These officials are so committed to their narrative they haven’t paid attention to reality. What amuses me most about their continued defense of what they did is that they’re still wrong. Within minutes of the report’s release, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by three former CIA directors, and they still called Abu Zubaydah a senior al-Qaida operative. This error is, in many ways, a microcosm for everything that went wrong. When the agency’s contractors arrived at that black site, they said that as Abu Zubaydah was giving us information, he wasn’t fully cooperating because he wasn’t admitting to being the number three in al-Qaida.

We knew Abu Zubaydah’s background well: We had been investigating terrorist attacks in which he was involved in Jordan and terrorists who had come through his training camp. The reality is that Abu Zubaydah was an independent operator with close ties to al-Qaida, but he was never a member. He had actually tried to join earlier on in his career, but al-Qaida deemed him unstable; later, when they wanted him to join, Abu Zubaydah refused.

We pointed this out at the time, but the “enhanced” interrogators refused to listen. A few years ago, very quietly, the US government changed its claims about Abu Zubaydah, reflecting the reality that he was never a member.

If such a basic fact is still misunderstood by former directors of the CIA and others – about a terrorist subjected to America’s harsh techniques, and who was the basis for using them on others – it’s no wonder the debate isn’t closed. These officials are so committed to their narrative they haven’t paid attention to reality.

This is why reading the Senate report is so painful. What it does provide is great detail on our failures and shortcomings. What it doesn’t do is prevent them from happening again. That isn’t the responsibility of Senate investigators; that is the responsibility of the president of the United States. Upon the release of the report, President Obama pledged that it would never again happen under his watch. He’s only got two more years left on the clock. He has the responsibility to ensure something like this never happens again.

Cannabis Oil Unveiled

Cannabis oil appears to be coming into its own as a useful method to use this drug. There are now several different methods to use this drug without inhaling smoke which is naturally a lousy idea.  We are still a long way from full legal acceptance which is unfortunate.  What we have instead is a trend line that can be kicked over any minute.


 At least the benefits of cannabis is gaining wide publicity and that means experimentation by all sorts of folks who otherwise would have avoided it.


Hopefully we can have this sorted out in the next two years before it gets caught up in politics again.
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Cannabis Oil Unveiled

Raluca Schachter, Guest

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/12/08/cannabis-oil-unveiled/

Although I’ve been aware of the recent positive feedback of cannabis oil to various serious diseases, I was still skeptical to consider this as a viable solution for certain health disorders. After all, so many people these days are looking for the perfect miracle pill to solve their health issues!

Was this another panacea? Was this another way of buying into the one size fits all treatments that come into the bottle, without being necessary to make any dietary and life style changes? Well, in the end, it all depends on how we really make use of these extracts that Nature provided us and how clearly we see the “big picture” of true healing. So it was time to find out more! I interviewed one of my colleagues with extensive knowledge on the matter – Steven Sinay, a fellow Metabolic Typing® practitioner, as well as VP of Nutritional Science for Empower Genetics,and below is what he kindly shared with me regarding this interesting topic:

Raluca Schachter: What is cannabis oil more specifically and how does it work?

Steven Sinay: Cannabis Oil is a thick, sticky, resinous substance that is extracted from the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica). Cannabis oil is a base product that is prepared by separating the resins from the cannabis flowers (buds) using a solvent extraction process. Cannabis oil contains several Cannabinoids including Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component, and Cannabidiol (CBD), the medicinal component of cannabis.

For legal purposes becoming more commonly used over Cannabis oil, is Hemp oil which is being grown in Europe to have higher levels of CBD and with no THC. In 2001, the DEA issued a rule banning all import and cultivation of industrial grade hemp. In 2003, the Hemp Industries Association filed an Urgent Motion for Stay in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2004, the Ninth Circuit Court sided with the Hemp Industries Association.

In the decision, Judge Betty Fletcher wrote, “[T]hey (DEA) cannot regulate naturally occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana-i.e., non-psychoactive hemp is not included in Schedule I. The DEA has no authority to regulate drugs that are not scheduled, and it has not followed procedures required to schedule a substance. The DEA’s definition of “THC” contravenes the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and cannot be upheld.”

Judge Fletcher is essentially saying that the DEA cannot regulate hemp or the chemicals within it because hemp contains no THC, is not marijuana, and is therefore not covered under the controlled substances act; and the DEA cannot regulate substances that have not been scheduled. This is why you can purchase and sell CBD hemp oil.

Over the last 20 years Cannabis has been at the center of one of the most exciting and underreported developments in recent modern science. Research on marijuana’s effects led directly to the discovery of an unknown biochemical communication system in the human body, the Endocannabinoid System, which plays a crucial role in regulating our physiology, mood, and everyday experience.

The discovery of receptors in the brain that respond pharmacologically to Cannabis and the subsequent identification of endogenous cannabinoid compounds in our own bodies that bind to these receptors has significantly advanced our understanding of human biology, health, and disease.

It is an established scientific fact that cannabinoids and other components of cannabis can modulate many physiological systems in the human brain and body. Cannabinoids are chemical compounds that trigger cannabinoid and other receptors. More than 100 cannabinoids have been identified in the marijuana plant. Of these, THC and CBD have been studied most extensively. In addition to cannabinoids produced by the plant, there are endogenous cannabinoids (anandamide and 2AG) that occur naturally in the body, as well as synthetic cannabinoids created by pharmaceutical researchers.
Cannabinoids promote homeostasis at every level of biological life, from the sub-cellular, to the organism, and perhaps to the community and beyond. Here’s one example: autophagy, a process in which a cell sequesters part of its contents to be self-digested and recycled, is mediated by the cannabinoid system. While this process keeps normal cells alive, allowing them to maintain a balance between the synthesis, degradation, and subsequent recycling of cellular products, it has a deadly effect on malignant tumor cells, causing them to consume themselves in a programmed cellular suicide. The death of cancer cells, of course, promotes homeostasis and survival at the level of the entire organism.

Scientists associated with the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) have elucidated a number of molecular pathways whereby CBD exerts a therapeutic impact. A preclinical study by Dr. Sean McAllister and his colleagues at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reports on how CBD kills breast cancer by down regulating a gene called ID-1, which is implicated in several types of aggressive cancer. Silencing the ID-1 gene is thus is an excellent strategy for a cancer treatment.

Extensive preclinical research much of it sponsored by the U.S. Government (see U.S. Patent below) indicates that CBD has potent anti-tumoral, antioxidant, anti-spasmodic, anti-psychotic, anti-convulsive, and neuroprotective properties. CBD directly activates serotonin receptors, causing an anti-depressant effect, as well.

The United States Government holds U.S. Patent 6,630,507 (filed 1999) on Cannabinoids stating in their patent: “Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention.”

Raluca Schachter: With what conditions has cannabis oil proved to be most successful?

Steven Sinay: According to many CBD Researchers the following are a list of conditions that the use of CBD has been shown to improve: Acne, ADD/ADHD, Addiction, AIDS, ALS, Alzheimer’s Disease, Anorexia, Antibiotic Resistance, Anxiety, Atherosclerosis, Arthritis, Asthma, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Cancer, Colitis/Crohn’s, Depression, Diabetes, Endocrine Disorders, Epilepsy/Seizure, Fibromyalgia, Glaucoma, Heart Disease, Huntington’s Disease, Inflammatory Disorders, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Kidney Disease, Liver Disease, Metabolic Syndrome, Migraines, Mood Disorders, Motion Sickness, Multiple Sclerosis, Nausea, Neurodegeneration, Neuropathic Pain, Obesity, OCD, Osteoporosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Prion/Mad Cow Disease, PTSD, Rheumatism, Schizophrenia, Sickle Cell Anemia, Skin Conditions, Sleep Disorders, Spinal Cord Injury, and Stress Stroke/TBI.

Raluca Schachter: What should we look for in terms of quality when we choose cannabis oil?

Steven Sinay: Since cannabis oil products have only been in the market place for a short period of time, it is important to source these products just as you would your produce, meat, fish, etc. As far as I can tell there are not a lot of regulatory organizations monitoring the quality and purity of these sources. Be sure to look for a product that has gone through some sort of third party lab testing that detect contaminants like pesticides, fungicides, mycotoxins, microbes, etc. Equally as important consumers need to be aware of the concentration of their medicinal cannabis. It is fundamental in allowing the consumer to choose the correct medicine for their symptoms, as well as determining the proper dose. It’s good practice to find a manufacturer that is not afraid to allow access to each Certificate of Analysis on every batch they produce.

Raluca Schachter: In what countries can cannabis oil be bought, legally speaking?

Steven Sinay: As long as the CBD oil product is purchased from a non THC Hemp oil source it should be legal in all countries. Here in the United States a non THC CBD product is classified as a dietary supplement and is legal in all 50 states.
Raluca Schachter: The nutritional world is quite flooded with hypes these days. But as we know through Metabolic Typing, there is no nutrient, remedy or food that can be beneficial for everybody. Any nutrient has different effects in different metabolisms, biochemically speaking. So there are no one size fits all remedies, really. From your experience, have you had the chance to observe how this remedy had different effects in different metabolisms?

Steven Sinay: As previously mentioned, at the right dosage, CBD has been shown to significantly help with anxiety, pain, neurodegeneration, inflammation, etc. An appropriately high dosage of CBD will give you all the desired effects you need, and there is really no risk of overdose as CBD is harmless even in high concentrations. However, most people will feel little effect if they take too low a dosage, effectively wasting CBD’s powerful beneficial properties.

With the above in mind, the importance of correct CBD dosage becomes obvious. People with different requirements and different metabolisms will need accordingly different CBD dosages to experience CBD’s positive effects, and dosages can vary dramatically because there is no one-size-fits-all “typical CBD dosage.” While there is no such thing as “too much CBD,” you can in fact take too little to feel a difference. Dosage can range anywhere from 2-3 mg, up to 100 mg, 200 mg, or 500 mg to 1000 mg on the super high end. Remember, you cannot overdose and there are no reported side effects from taking high concentrations of CBD. Most people only need around 2-3 mg per day to start feeling a difference. Yet people with stronger needs may need to start at a lower dose and work their way up until they find the right dose for their body.

Raluca Schachter: What are your thoughts regarding the future of cannabis in the medical field?

Steven Sinay: This is the $64,000 Dollar Question! With our government holding a patent on several Cannabinoids, it leads one to be a little skeptical. Why? The forces that would keep cannabis illegal are vocal and very well-funded, but they are not impervious to persistent effort. The lynch pin in the War on Drugs has always been cannabis. Without the suppression and interdiction of this popular and widely used substance, there simply would not be enough “illegal drug use” going on to justify the huge amount of money and resources spent on “fighting drugs.” Once again all based on the all mighty dollar!

I feel CBD and other Cannabinoids with the persistence from those who can, and are truly benefiting from its medicinal properties, along with natural healers promoting its use, will find its place in future modern medicine. Time will tell.

About the Author

Raluca Schachter is a passionate Nutritionist and Metabolic Typing Advisor®, with a background in both nutrition and communication/PR. She believes in traditional, unaltered food, ancestral wisdom, sustainable farming and living. Raluca was able to naturally reverse chronic health conditions she was struggling with most of her life, and now uses her knowledge to help as many people as possible do the same. Her health programs and diet plans offer a very unique and comprehensive approach to health, where individual nutritional and biochemical requirements are firstly met using specific nutrients and foods that each metabolism thrives on. This approach reveals why and how ‘one diet/herb doesn’t fit all’ and why ‘one man’s food is another one’s poison.’ Raluca currently resides in Garden Grove, CA and offers her services for local and distance clientele. For more information visit her website and blog guide2health.net or join Raluca on Facebook.