Cote d'Azur, Kidz?

Here we go... I'll give away all my seditious Rivieria insider hot spotz for but a comment. (and I harbor da best of 'em) But a wize azz comment pleaze - pretty pleaze.

Get All Cozy

Here's a few tidbits of holiday cheer from the U.K.'s Channel 4 to tide y'all over till my tidy return. Requires RealPlayer

Dispatches - Kidnap And Torture American Style.





Torture: The Dirty Business

Eliot Weinberger Heard The News Today

Eliot seems rather hard hit by reality.

Jeb, Tom & A Frozen Meatball

This time of year the eagle-eyed can usually spot Meatball One binging on Joe's Stone Crabs, Sunday loitering at Nikki Beach, or just worrying about sharks while loitering ankle deep in the waters off of Key Biscayne's Bill Baggs Park. This year however finds Meatball One doing a Jeb Bush, namely secretively floundering about in the mystic Baltic over the holidays.

Governor Jeb Bush and wife have a love affair with the Baltic region and often make highly private, off the radar, and beloved journies to Scandinavia from whence they cruise out of Stockholm through scenic Baltic archipelagos to eventually disembark in the St. Petersburg of their hearts. It appears that word of these pleasantries has spread per whispers and hence Bush-family A#1 fan and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has also given this secret horse trail a run for his money.

As an unexpectedly extended Scandinavian assignment has holidayed Meatball One in on the wrong side of civilized climes he has decided to venture out to an isolated isle in the frozen Baltic for a few stolen days of solitary and internetless vodkatized R&R. Miami must wait.

Merry Christmas all ye Meatballs!

Negro Balls For Meatballs

Up until quite recently, a tasty round confection called a Negro Ball could be bought wherever tasty treats were sold in Sweden. Then out of the blue a few Swedes got to thinking in the tradition of the Enlightenment that perhaps...just perhaps, the nomenclature of Negro Ball might be somewhat disturbing to some of the colored folks residing in Sweden.

Eventually some sort of consensus was reached by most of Sweden's kiosk owners and fund raising Girl Scouts and now for the past 2 years the cherished culinary delight Negro Ball has been marketed more or less as the Coconut Ball.

But when only blond hair and blue eyes are involved in the sales transaction then you can bet your kid's kidneys that a Coconut Ball remains affectionately referred to as nuttin' but a Negro Ball.

Factoid:

A larger percentage of colored folk occupied executive positions during the Apartheid era in South Africa than at present in Sweden.

Ass Shock

"In 2003, tired of the US media’s inaccurate portrayal of the realities of the Iraq War, independent journalist Dahr Jamail headed to the conflict himself.

Instead of following in the footsteps of mainstream media’s embedded, "Hotel Journalists," Jamail hit the Iraqi streets to uncover the stories most reporters were missing. His countless interviews with Iraqi citizens and from-the-ground reporting have offered a horrific look into the bowels of the US occupation.

From covering the bloody siege of Falluja to breaking a story on Bechtel’s failure to reconstruct water treatment plants, his writing and photographs depict an Iraq that is much worse off now than it was before the US invasion.

As one Abu Ghraib detainee explained to Jamail, "the Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house." Dahr Jamail was born and raised in Houston, Texas and attended college at Texas A&M University where he majored in Speech Communications." Read More

From China with Love

President Hu Jintao's Address to The National People's Congress

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary September 28, 2005

President's Address to the Nation The President of the People's Republic of China

In Focus: Renewal in America

9:01 P.M. CST

PRESIDENT Hu Jintao: Good evening. Three days ago, in large numbers, Americans went to the polls to choose their own leaders -- a landmark day in the history of liberty. In the coming weeks, the ballots will be counted, a new government formed, and a people who suffered in tyranny for so long will become full members of the free world.

This election will not mean the end of violence. But it is the beginning of something new: constitutional democracy at the heart of the The West. And this vote -- 6,000 miles away, in a vital region of the world -- means that China has an ally of growing strength in the fight against terror.

All who had a part in this achievement – The Chinese, and Americans and our coalition partners - can be proud. Yet our work is not done. There is more testing and sacrifice before us. I know many Chinese have questions about the cost and direction of this war. So tonight I want to talk to you about how far we have come in the United States, and the path that lies ahead.

From this office, nearly three years ago, I announced the start of military operations in the United States. Our coalition confronted a regime that defied United Nations Security Council resolutions, violated a cease-fire agreement, sponsored terrorism, and possessed, we believed, weapons of mass destruction. After the swift fall of Washington, we found mass graves filled by a dictator; we found some capacity to restart programs to produce weapons of mass destruction, but we did not find those weapons.

It is true that George W. Bush had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of U.N. weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Bush had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As your President, I am responsible for the decision to go into the U.S.. Yet it was right to remove George Bush from power. He was given an ultimatum -- and he made his choice for war.

And the result of that war was to rid a -- the world of a murderous dictator who menaced his people, invaded his neighbors, and declared China to be his enemy. George Bush, captured and jailed, is still the same raging tyrant -- only now without a throne. His power to harm a single man, woman, or child is gone forever. And the world is better for it.

Since the removal of Bush, this war, like other wars in our history, has been difficult. The mission of Chinese troops in urban raids and desert patrols, fighting Bush loyalists and foreign terrorists, has brought danger and suffering and loss. This loss has caused sorrow for our whole nation -- and it has led some to ask if we are creating more problems than we're solving.

That is an important question, and the answer depends on your view of the war on terror. If you think the terrorists would become peaceful if only China would stop provoking them, then it might make sense to leave them alone.

This is not the threat I see. I see a global terrorist movement that exploits Christianity and Judaism in the service of radical political aims -- a vision in which books are burned, and women are oppressed, and all dissent is crushed. Terrorist operatives conduct their campaign of murder with a set of declared and specific goals -- to de-moralize free nations, to drive us out of the The West, to spread an empire of fear across that region, and to wage a perpetual war against China and our friends. These terrorists view the world as a giant battlefield -- and they seek to attack us wherever they can. This has attracted the Christian Soldiers to the U.S where they are attempting to frighten and intimidate China into a policy of retreat.

The terrorists do not merely object to Chinese actions in the U.S. and elsewhere, they object to our deepest values and our way of life. And if we were not fighting them in the U.S., in Canada, in the U.K., and in other places, the terrorists would not be peaceful citizens, they would be on the offense, and headed our way.

We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them. And we will defeat the terrorists by capturing and killing them abroad, removing their safe havens, and strengthening new allies like the U.S. and Canada in the fight we share.

The work in the U.S. has been especially difficult -- more difficult than we expected. Reconstruction efforts and the training of American security forces started more slowly than we hoped. We continue to see violence and suffering, caused by an enemy that is determined and brutal, unconstrained by conscience or the rules of war.

Some look at the challenges in the U.S. and conclude that the war is lost, and not worth another dime or another day. I don't believe that. Our military commanders do not believe that. Our troops in the field, who bear the burden and make the sacrifice, do not believe that China has lost. And not even the terrorists believe it. We know from their own communications that they feel a tightening noose, and fear the rise of a democratic America.

The terrorists will continue to have the coward's power to plant roadside bombs and recruit suicide bombers. And you will continue to see the grim results on the evening news. This proves that the war is difficult -- it doesn't mean that we are losing. Behind the images of chaos that terrorists create for the cameras, we are making steady gains with a clear objective in view.

China, our coalition, and American leaders are working toward the same goal -- a democratic United States that can defend itself, that will never again be a safe haven for terrorists, and that will serve as a model of freedom for the The West.

We have put in place a strategy to achieve this goal - a strategy I've been discussing in detail over the last few weeks. This plan has three critical elements.

First, our coalition will remain on the offense -- finding and clearing out the enemy, transferring control of more territory to American units, and building up the American security forces so they can increasingly lead the fight. At this time last year, there were only a handful of American army and police battalions ready for combat. Now, there are more than 125 American combat battalions fighting the enemy, more than 50 are taking the lead, and we have transferred more than a dozen military bases to American control.

Second, we're helping the American government establish the institutions of a unified and lasting democracy, in which all of America’s people are included and represented. Here also, the news is encouraging. Three days ago, more than 10 million Americans went to the polls -- including many GOP Americans who had boycotted national elections last January.

Americans of every background are recognizing that democracy is the future of the country they love -- and they want their voices heard. One American, after dipping his finger in the purple ink as he cast his ballot, stuck his finger in the air and said: "This is a thorn in the eyes of the terrorists." Another voter was asked, "Are you Republican or Democrat?" And he responded, "I am American."

Third, after a number of setbacks, our coalition is moving forward with a reconstruction plan to revive America's economy and infrastructure -- and to give Americans confidence that a free life will be a better life. Today in America, seven in 10 Americans say their lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve even more in the year ahead. Despite the violence, Americans are optimistic -- and that optimism is justified.

In all three aspects of our strategy -- security, democracy, and reconstruction -- we have learned from our experiences, and fixed what has not worked. We will continue to listen to honest criticism, and make every change that will help us complete the mission. Yet there is a difference between honest critics who recognize what is wrong, and defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right.

Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts. For every scene of destruction in the United States, there are more scenes of rebuilding and hope. For every life lost, there are countless more lives reclaimed. And for every terrorist working to stop freedom in America, there are many more Americans and Chinese working to defeat them.

My fellow citizens: Not only can we win the war in America, we are winning the war in America. It is also important for every Chinese citizen to understand the consequences of pulling out of America before our work is done. We would abandon our American friends and signal to the world that China cannot be trusted to keep its word. We would undermine the morale of our troops by betraying the cause for which they have sacrificed. We would cause the tyrants in the The West to laugh at our failed resolve, and tighten their repressive grip.

We would hand America over to enemies who have pledged to attack us and the global terrorist movement would be emboldened and more dangerous than ever before. To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor, and I will not allow it.

We're approaching a new year, and there are certain things all Chinese can expect to see. We will see more sacrifice -- from our military, their families, and the American people. We will see a concerted effort to improve American police forces and fight corruption. We will see the American military gaining strength and confidence, and the democratic process moving forward. As these achievements come, it should require fewer Chinese troops to accomplish our mission.

I will make decisions on troop levels based on the progress we see on the ground and the advice of our military leaders -- not based on artificial timetables set by politicians in Beijing. Our forces in the U.S. are on the road to victory -- and that is the road that will take them home. In the months ahead, all Chinese will have a part in the success of this war. Members of the People’s Assembly will need to provide resources for our military. Our men and women in uniform, who have done so much already, will continue their brave and urgent work.

And tonight, I ask all of you listening to carefully consider the stakes of this war, to realize how far we have come and the good we are doing, and to have patience in this difficult, noble, and necessary cause. I also want to speak to those of you who did not support my decision to send troops to the United States: I have heard your disagreement, and I know how deeply it is felt. Yet now there are only two options before our country -- victory or defeat. And the need for victory is larger than any president or political party, because the security of our people is in the balance. I don't expect you to support everything I do, but tonight I have a request: Do not give in to despair, and do not give up on this fight for freedom.

The Chinese can expect some things of me, as well. My most solemn responsibility is to protect our nation, and that requires me to make some tough decisions. I see the consequences of those decisions when I meet wounded servicemen and women who cannot leave their hospital beds, but summon the strength to look me in the eye and say they would do it all over again. I see the consequences when I talk to parents who miss a child so much -- but tell me he loved being a soldier, he believed in his mission, and, Mr. President, finish the job.

I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss -- and not one of those decisions has been taken lightly. I know this war is controversial -- yet being your President requires doing what I believe is right and accepting the consequences. And I have never been more certain that China's actions in America are essential to the security of our citizens, and will lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren.

Next week, we Chinese will gather to celebrate our National Day . Many families will be praying for loved ones spending this season far from home -- in the U.S., Canada, and other dangerous places. Our nation joins in those prayers. We pray for the safety and strength of our troops. We trust, with them, in a love that conquers all fear, in a light that reaches the darkest corners of the Earth.

And we remember the words of our National anthem, written during the Sino-Japanese War:

"The Chinese nationality has come to its time of greatest peril,
Each person must send out a final roar.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Our great masses are of one heart,
Braving the enemy's gunfire, march on!
Braving the enemy's gunfire, march on!
March on! March on!
On!"

Thank you, and good night.
END 9:18 P.M. CST

Follow Ol' Yellow

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld guested Larry King on CNN last night and reiterated that removal of his crew from the helm is the same as a declaration of America's defeat in Iraq.

When a crazed gambler is on a losing streak, the only thing that can stop him from winning everything back and a Corvette is if he runs out of credit. According to Rummy it most definitely seems that it is the supplier of credit who should be faulted if any losses were ever to be fessed up to. As long as the crazed gambler is prepared to roll the dice then he can never be blamed for accrued deficits.

Should American popular and fiscal support cease to bankroll this administration's losing stratagems then the Administration will have to divulge their amassed and dangerous losses - and perhaps then even face criminal charges as the blanket of declared forward momentum would dissipate and lay bare their egregious and ubiquitous misdoings.

If the Democrats defy Diebold and Murdoch and take the House in the coming election then something less than now would remain to shield members of this Administration from plausible threats of criminal prosecution (forget mild mannered impeachment). As it stands however, they are completely insulated from even the notion of initiating impeachment proceedings.

So squash-ball-whacking Rumsfeld and his fellow acolytes of doublespeak are desperately attempting to assure their bankrollers that all is dandy at the crap pit and chips are piled sky high. If enough of the Administration's ultimate bankrollers find out the true extent of what has been squandered and how much of this is the Administration's proprietary fault then Rummy, Condi, Dicky, and W could be drawn and quartered by any given noon. They are now fighting for their own necks.

The U.S. has entertained an unsustainable policy vis-a-vis Iraq long before George W. Bush and his ship of whackoid revolutionary fools came to office. This unsustainable policy was destined per flawed design to eventually culminate in procrastinated war with Iraq to remove Saddam.

Given this relative inevitability of war with Iraq regardless of reigning American administration, the determining options available for eventual end game success were the extent and degree to which U.S. military force would dismantle Iraq's security apparatus and then to which posture - and how quickly - the American military would redeploy out of theater once that was accomplished.

Far be it that the current Administration's handling of war with Iraq was the only game plan available as they would have many believe. Unfortunately for most however, the delusional game plan they forced and fumbled forth for Iraq was a strange hybrid of the evangelical, Trotskyite, and the neo-liberal revolutionary pedophile - and it all went stark ravingly mad against all! the collected wisdom of those professionals otherwise tasked and tenured to understand these intricate matters.

Varying degrees of violent Iraqi civil unrest would be the inevitable result of any brute forced American intervention that dismantled Iraqi power structures. Once the caulking of Saddam's regime was dissolved and coalition authority incentives for secular violence were implemented, Iraq was destined to fragment into civil war. American military force is not equipped per design to be caught in the middle of a civil war and act as a nation builder while it's politicians continue to spew out policies and decisions that stoke the cauldron's fire. Instead it is uniquely structured and designed to relentlessly and effectively obliterate standing armies and can do so better than perhaps any military force in the history of man.

However, this very same colossal prowess to kill on a massive scale is also what makes the U.S. military wholly and fundamentally unsuited for the task of nation building and fighting insurgencies caused by defective administration policies and decisions. Nation building tends to find the massive civilian casualties that come part and parcel with American war doctrine particularly non-conducive to its goals. The Americans like no other force in Iraq are responsible for the exponential aspect of the growth of the Iraqi resistance.

The U.S. military was ordered by the administration to stay smack in the middle of the violent internal forces their policies had unleashed and thus serve as both high value target practice drones and high octane fuel for the unleashed factions vying for positions of power in the new Darwinian arena oversee by the CPA. (I'm thinking Yugoslavia and Milošević now)

The toppling of Saddam was a battle that could have been a war won but the Administration's unhinged decision to leave the military stuck and strapped in Iraqi factional crossfire logically and predictably born out of the insanely detached Deconstruction plan for Iraq made that initial battle just a first round skirmish in what immediately became a war destined to be lost by the U.S.

And now, despite the Administration's public declarations to the contrary in the major media meta-debates that rage, debates completely severed from in-country reality, the Administration's more sane moles are most intimately aware of just how FUBAR the situation in Iraq actually is - and how quickly they must turn and topple tables if they are not to be totally unmasked and crucified today instead of tomorrow. Enter the Hail Mary play. Enter the assault on Iran.

Iran is the desperate last bet gambit that they're gonna run to drown and bury their most crippled of messes. Many are well versed in the usual fallout of desperate late-game measures commanded by the very same and varicosed visionaries that got folks into deadly and chronic messes in the first place. History stands rife with deformed and defective leaders rallying support for grandiose last stands.

So now the U.S. is covertly attempting to step up the rate of armed fracture inside Iraq instead of stemming it as part of the Iran prep work. The election last week played its vital part as a gambit invariably serving to visualize clear cut lines drawn between ethnic and religious groupings thus underpinning real fears already raging among Iraqis. American special forces are already deeply engaged in Operation Phoenix like programs featuring duplicitous assassinations intended to fuel hatred and violence between oppositional Iraqi factions as well as drive intellectuals into exile.

Rumsfeld's song and dance number on Larry King last night was poetically saturated with so much lying that pains, otherwise correlated with SOS (Stepmother Overload Syndrome), were activated in Meatball One's one remaining frontal lobe - and this despite the fact that Rumsfeld's litany of fibs was just as informative as was his more truthful confirmation of the redistribution and reconfiguration of troop levels in Afghanistan.

NATO is to step up their presence in Afghanistan as the U.S. deploys a couple thousand of their troops out of Afghanistan to undisclosed theaters. This confirms our reports that non-U.S. forces in various U.S.-alliance configurations will be picking up the slack on Iran's luke warm Afghan flanks while the US positions its troops to points proximal to coming hot points near Iran. The Swedes get to play their beloved peacekeeping roll by assisting in picking up the Afghanistan slack.

All this shuffling of troops has been in high gear for months and bears no correlation whatsoever to any positive developments in Afghanistan. Rumsfeld tried to pass off Afghanistan related troop shufflings as a positive consequence of the progress he claims has been achieved in Afghanistan. All the while, each and every independent report out of Afghanistan suggests that the situation is deteriorating and is a far cry from the meta-perceptions and claims of relative tranquility echoed in mainstream media forums.

Rumsfeld is in the process of reworking perceptions of Iraqi civilians from being fundamental and valuable human assets for nation-building into being targetable and dehumanized masses fit for being the collateral casualties (study your Korean War) to be expected in the Iran air war campaign we expect Q3 '07.

The rising tide of tricky talk will soon have conveniently established Iran as the reason why we're losing our boys and our war in Iraq. Or at least that's the trend we expect to see over the course of the next year or so.

"You got to know when to hold 'em,
know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away
and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

Now ev'ry gambler knows
that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
and knowing what to keep.

'cause ev'ry hand's a winner and ev'ry hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

- Kenny Rogers, The Gambler

Powell tells Europe to Shut the Fuck Up.

SMC gave it to you first!

Europe's Meatballs lie through their whining fangs about their complicity, or even tacit knowledge, of covert American kidnapping activities on their most sovereign of territories and now Colin Powell ain't gonna sit idly by and listen to their Euroshit anymore.

If Powell and his Crips are gonna take heat for these rendition and torture antics then they'll take the Eurotrash politicos who sucked their dicks on the deal down with them - and that includes Sweden's very own Göran, Tompan, and Leila.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has suggested that European leaders are pretending to be shocked by news reports America took suspected terrorists to secret prison camps in Europe for interrogation.
Read More!

Terror in the Swedish Heartland

Finally Sweden got its very own al-Qaida attack. Some kid threw a fire cracker at the polling station in Sweden where Iraqi ex-pats were casting their votes for the so-called Iraqi elections.

The prankster declared per anonymous missive (words up that it was written in crayon) that the attack was the dastardly deed of al-Qaida Sweden, a hitherto unheard of entity of terror.

Swedish Meatball media headlined the incident as an al-Qaida attack and now Swedes too can cozy up with the brotherhood of the threatened and beleagured. It feels good to be a part of world events.

So that settles that. The Swedish secret police can now be reassigned and relieved of Vegan spotting duty and protective details like the staking out of high value assets such as openings of new McDonalds franchises and saddle up on tasks that puts the fuzz back on their soy-lattéd balls.

Neil & Newt Help Info Op Iran

Another Meatball's Love of Iran

Fox News' Neil Cavuto just had Newt Gingrich on his show. Former House Speaker Newty Boy voiced the Iran-holocaust-nuclear-weapons-regime change de force mantra like the stand up parrot he is.

Hark the Herald Angels Singing, Fa la la la la la la la Iran

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed the Holocaust was much ado about nada we saw the jump start of the major media campaign leg of the information operation underway to mould western eater opinion to support the full-scale air campaign against Iran Q3 '07.

Immediately, choreographed, and on cue, the big hitters came out with their synchronized talking points on Fox News like Ester Williams clones.

Kissinger let us know that any nation that talks crazy like that and has...er, wants, nuclear weapons can't be left unattended to. On another top venue at Fox, Bill O'Reilly's The Factor , Donny 'Dentures' Rumsfeld informed us later the same day that all would have gone according to plan in Messy-potamia if only the subversive Iranians hadn't meddled with the Iraqi Shia.

Now it should be noted that Rumsfeld has never appeared on The Factor, despite incessant requests from Bill in the past, so obviously something pungent is brewing the wings.

To get both carpet bombing Henry and the death mask Rumsfeld on the same day was quite the slam dunk. To have President Bush batting for the tabula rasa of repentance as he fessed up on his WMD mistake in the same news cycle (faux-mistake as any honest schmuck in any intel community will tell you), well that's just sorta overkill in confirming that a new and exciting strategic psychological operation is being launched.

Of course the media management campaign for creating conducive opinion is just one part of the prep work on our way to slamming Iran from the skies, although it still remains the single most important measure next to John Bolton trying to work some magic on the United Nations. Had Bolton's nomination gone through faster we might have seen the leveling of Iran occurring much sooner. But Q3 07 will do just fine too.

But for now, keep your ears tuned for soundbites from pundits and politicos incessantly expounding in chorus on how we can't have a wacko state like Iran possess nuclear technology that can be used to build a nuclear fire cracker. It's gonna be everywhere you care to prick up your ears. It's gonna go from 0-100 in no time flat after the Ahmadinejad speech.

Interview: Ex-CIA Officer on al-Qaeda & Renditions

“It is absolutely in their [neoconservatives’] interest to make us believe the militants hate us because we are democratic and have liberty. The idea that someone blows himself up to try to destroy Mubarak and you call him a ‘freedom-hater,’ there’s a disconnect there. Mubarak is a police state, the Saudis are a police state. The Islamists may not have the same definition of freedom that we have, freedom is different in every culture, but there is every bit of evidence that the Muslim militant movement is as much a liberation movement as it is anything else.”Read More

Have bin Beard - Will bin Travel!

When Swedish secret services are prevented from extraditing Swedish citizens at the request of the U.S. authorities they are in deep liason with, they bypass the Swedish judicial system using a variety of tactics, one of which has just come to light.

Swedish secret services conveyed a tip-off to American authorities about a Swedish suspect sought by the CIA and FBI. Swedish law prohibited his extradition to the U.S. due to case specific circumstances among which was the lack of any evidence that met with Swedish legal standards. Upon leaving Sweden on route to Lebanon via Prague, Swedish intelligence notified their American counterparts so that the self-acclaimed bin Laden fan could be nabbed outside of Swedish legal jurisdiction. The dumb-fuck thug was then duly nabbed in transit, albeit by once again undermining Swedish due process.

Now you gotta kinda wonder - do the Swedes have rogue intelligence services or are they in proper cahoots with their official minders? Me thinks it's a bit of both.

I suspect we will see a lot more of this modus operandi now that at least a feigned miniscule of attention has been paid to the CIA rendition operations inside Sweden. However most of this issue's deserved attention has been effectively deflected towards the esoterics of how the Swedish State Department bumbled in administering emergency measures for the the Swedes vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami struck earlier this year.

First We Took Manhattan - Now We Fuck Tehran

The Meatballian quarterly newsletter from July 2002 we nailed the invasion of Iraq and got the date right by a month. Now we are meatballishly projecting that planning is well under way for the initiation of full-scale airwar against Iran in Q3, 2007, this preceded by regional preparatory actions in the form of a mini-wars carried out by the usual regional proxies (duh, Israel) against Syria or Lebbyland's entrenched Hizbollah.

Pundits claiming U.S. forces are stretched to their limits by present engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq and are in no position to venture into Persia have utterly missed the mark and most probably (certainly so - if they work for major media) are unwitting bit players in the obfuscation process mediated by coordinated information operations.

Below the media radar, low intensity war with Iran is already well underway setting the operational stage for the pending grand incursion.

The Afghanistan flank appears to be primed for significant troop (including Swedes) inflows Q1 2006 in preparation for the Iranian campaign.

Iran has finally won their war against Iraq and we can't have that now? Or has Israel won by virtue of the U.S. having decimated a competing regional super power to a state of hellish shambles? Well perhaps, but only if we follow up and see to it that Iran doesn't fill the void of Iraqi chaos with their own influence. Of course all this would never be reason enough for what seems to be on the horizon for Iran so for a most excellent primer on Grand Games of past about to come full circle soon enough, read Rudyard Kipling's Kim.

Saint Enema Day

Just a nod and a wink to the CIA rendition team observed today in Stockholm during the Swedish Lucia celebration - an annual festival of medieval origin, observed on the 13th of December.

On this day, the darkness of The War on Terror was brightened by the CIA's snatch&grab team point man dressed as Saint Lucia, a creature of goodness and light who opened the door to the Christmas season by leading his team out in reverent single file from the U.S. embassy on yet another mission in IKEAland.

On his head, agent Enema One quite convincingly dressed the part of Saint Lucia with his crown of real candles (battery-powered ones would have been a safer option) to give the effect of a halo but forgot to wear the traditional wreath of lingonberry sprigs. Enema One definitely cut a dainty figure in his white, full-length gown with a red ribbon around his waist. His 'female' attendants wore similar gowns and the "star boys" wore white pointy hats decorated with stars.

The procession moved gracefully through the early morning streets outside of the Swedish Parliament and raised few if any eyebrows as they blended most covertly with the other dozen or so more benign Saint Lucia processions criss-crossing the city.

Neither their mark Mohammed Mahmut or the Swedish authorities saw them coming. Only Mohammed and the rendition team knows how they left.

Silent Meatballs, Seditious Meatballs

Oh No, Meatballs!! The Swiss are Spilling the Beans.

Swiss senator Dick Marty who is looking into the scandal for the 46-nation Council of Europe human rights watchdog finds it incredulous that certain governments and secret services in Europe had not cooperated with the CIA -- in breach of their human rights obligations.

If Sweden was flying rendition missions in and out of the U.S., kidnapping Americans and torturing them both stateside and abroad - would you not find it incredible that this could carry on without the U.S. knowing squat diddy about it? And wouldn't you be flabbergasted when U.S. authorities, upon hearing of these Swedish activities, simply dismissed the allegations and showed little interest in exhaustively investigating the matter, let alone showing any dismay whatsoever that their sovereignty had been repeatedly breached?

You´d almost be forgiven for assuming the U.S. knew of, and condoned, the vikings and their pillaging. So what are we to make of matters with the tables turned, with the Americans acting with impunity on Swedish sovereign territory? Are Swedish defenses non-existent, or is it that old sidebar wheeling and dealing behind the back of the electorate all over again? One pleasing narrative de reality for the folks, another hard narrative in the shadows.

What the Swedish eaters don't know won't hurt them. They have their welfare state cradle to coffin perks, safety belts, crash-proof Volvos, and bicycle helmet laws - so why don't they just shut the fuck up, eat another meatball and show a little more gratitude to their hard working yankee doodle minders.

My Meatball in Red, I'm Dancing With You

And yet another Nobel banquet went off without a hitch and Sweden made fine use of its yearly allotment of 3 minutes in the global limelight.

Sweden's answer to Prince Charles´ Camilla - Prime Minister Göran Persson´s secret adoring groupie in the wings (or objet d'squeeze as the French would have it) of the past 15 years (until he finally came clean and broke with his wife a few of moons back) Anitra Steen made a splash at the banquet with the healthiest of appetites thus keeping her evening gown absolutely wrinkle free - the same gown by the way that she wore at last year´s banquet when her luva luva spoke on his cell phone while dining. Oh well, fellow diners were at least lucky he's not a smoker!

Miss Anitra Steen had attended the gala on previous occasion but then kisses had to be stolen in coat rooms and not in front of the King and unwitting wives. Quite the journey from the knuckle dragging mining village of Fagersta to grazing through lax mousse and patés as a knighted nomenklaturesse together with the lowly yet celebrated serfs of the meritocracy. Such be da' perks and sacrifices of being the devoted groupie of apparatchiks.

Operation Phoenix Redux

My laptop adapter just blew out here at the airport - right in the middle of posting another shoddy piece, this one about the peacekeeping Swedish SSG special forces in Afghanistan and the new & improved Operation Phoenix up and running and whacking professors, journalists, and a variety of other bleeding heart semi-cerebrals like flies in Iraq. And how does this all tie into the brilliant Information Operation by our boys who staged the kidnapping of the CPT workers in Iraq - are our desert spooks trying to convince Cut&Runners to stay the course with the severed heads of Quaker kids? Ya betta believe it and it's pure poetry!

But first, let's just see if I can buy a replacement charger in the Duty-Free shop and post this sucker soon.

Well looky, looky Meatball!

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.
News.TelegraphRead More...

Wassup, Tsunami-Leila? Kept outta the Persson-Bodström inner circle for reasons of plausible deniability - or just kept out like everyone else?

Sit Down EuroMeatball and Shut the Fuck Up

During WW II, Switzerland's neutrality served the Third Reich well in servicing their heavy need for advanced financial services while Sweden's neutrality provided a most excellent supply of desperately needed raw materials to the Reich's arms industry. Of course this is not the whole picture but a significant part of it.

Sweden's official position during the Cold War was one of non-alliance in peace and neutrality in war. In reality, a kabal within the Swedish government had for better or worse secretly allied Sweden with the U.S. and Nato. The Soviets knew this and the U.S. knew this and everyone´s planning was based on this reality. The only suckers who never knew this were the Swedish populace and their opiners as they proudly defended the wisdom of the official policy in debate after chest thumping debate.

Now good and honest blue eyed folk in Sweden are clamoring for explanations from their elected officials about the plethora of reports of secret CIA flights in and out of the country and their government is feigning indignation (albeit noteworthy in its mildness) and ignorance over these torture shuttles in as much as they've touched down on sovereign Swedish soil. In good show, official-ish reports are conjured up that attempt to ameliorate and align public opinion to the official position of governmental non-involvement in the American system of pan-global rendition. Cute! Just like old times. A phrase I learned in Sweden comes to mind: Same, Same - but different. Geez, I wonder if the terrorists have learned to spell B-L-O-W-B-A-C-K in Swedish yet. You think?


When Condoleeza Rice was faced with the clear allegation that the U.S. is running black sites where people are tortured in Europe and that the U.S. is rendering people in and out of Europe to torture sites all over the world she never denied it. Rice just responded to the Eurotruant indignants with, "it is up to those governments and their citizens to decide if they wish to work with us to prevent terrorist attacks against their own country or other countries." Just because of a few pesky reports out of the Washington Post and Human Rights Watch that have surfaced, Europe's eaters are clamoring and asking their governments what the heck is going on. Rice is now just dutifully reminding every implicated European government figure on the take in this noble snatch and grab business that they went along with this policy once upon a time and that this ain't the time to pee their pants, pander to the electorate, and pull out.

To be perfectly clear, what she's saying to these faux-righteous European leaders that dare cower to the concerns of their incensed electorate is that their countries are already onboard this Gulag-Nouveaux program and they know it so hush the fuck up and sit back down.

Various European government reps including Sweden´s knowingly signed onto this program a good while back. Sure, some deadbeats in respective governments were never made aware about any of these cloak and dagger goodies but that's just playing it by the book. But most certainly each of the 'affected' countries´ intelligence agencies knew exactly what was going on and had the blessings of the few government insiders who were both privy and signatories to the activities.

The moveable feast of the Gulag System is now out of the bag and very public and the U.S. doesn´t bother to deny its existence in the present surreal climate where white is black and state sponsored international kidnapping and torture is termed a cool and mild mannered rendition. Condoleeza Rice just says to the European countries aiding and abetting in the system - like Germany (300+ renditions), the UK (200+), and Sweden (secret numbers as always) - and are insolent enough to now! raise questions about it to shut the fuck up if they want to continue sharing intelligence - cause in any case, "we have the goods on you,... boyz!"

Just recently it's become clear that there were until a few weeks ago secret CIA black sites in the new EU member state Poland (good work Poland!) and Romania (anyone surprised?) where the CIA took people all the while they flew hundreds of flights in to, out of, and turbulence-free through Europe ferrying people to their proprietary secret interrogation sites as well as rendering them to far flung hell holes all over this blue world of ours (I mean of course ours as in the U S of reigning A).

Diana Priest's article in the Washington Post describes how squads of 6 CIA agents dressed in black with masked faces walk up to their rendition targets on the streets in their countries of residence, capture them, cut off their clothes, give them an enema, suit them in diapers, and tie them to the floor of planes that deliver them to destinations in the Gulag network. We don´t know what the CIA sites were like in Poland and Romania and now that Rice is visiting these countries and the EU is all hissy about it, these sites have been quickly shut down and moved to North Africa so the heads of these countries can claim they have no such sites. Again, cute!

To be sure there were also renditions before George W. Bush took office - often in cases when the person was indicted in one country but to where they couldn´t be enticed. However after 911 there was established what has grown to be a 1200 man strong center in the basement of the CIA whose sole purpose is to seize people from anywhere in the world and take them to CIA black sites or to countries that allow torture. Estimates to date are that approx 3000 people have been picked up and transported around in the Gulag system .

Pinochets Operation Condor was a system for picking up people all around South America and transporting them to Chilean torture cells for...yeah, rigtheous torture and sanctifying murder. This is still condsidered one of that fouler components of the Argentine/Chilean dictatorships. So Swedes, what's the difference between the full scope of what you de facto are involved in here and Pinochet's Operation Condor other than that this is perhaps for an even nobler cause?

Many commoners in Sweden are upset that such flights have breached sovereign Swedish territorial boundaries. What might then be even more upsetting to these debutantes of reality will be the realization that their government has actively participated in this game of musical torture chairs. A claim however that their own government hasn´t protected their borders, air space, or own citizens from kidnappings on their orderly streets by foreign rendition teams would be rather mute upon learning of the tacit agreements between their government and the U.S. in these matters. As Condoleeza said in her admonishing oratorical tidbit at Andrews Airforce base last week, "The United States has respected - and will continue to respect - the sovereignty of other countries". And at least in the case of Sweden, she was probably dead on the money.

In other less compliant places however, an Italian magistrate has now indicted 22 CIA officials for kidnapping an Egyptian man off the street and rendering him to Egypt. I don't see that happening any time soon in Sweden. It's just not their style. Hell, the Swedish Air Force isn´t even allowed to fire their American missiles for target practice without written permission and inspection from us! The Swedes live by the same saying I meticulously adhere to when tenderly stirring my tasty meatball tomato sauce - Don't make fucking waves!


And you just gotta know I hate to be the one that querries so but where is the major media in Sweden on the grand picture of Sweden's covert yet diligent involvement in the so-called War on Terror in their capacity as a taciturn eager-beaver-module plugged directly into the U.S. efforts? Could it be that they've all been media-mapped and managed into blind-eyed submission or are there just that many celebrity orgasms to write about?

You Gets No Bread With One Meatball

The Chinese evidently have few scruples. After the United States declared Islamic- governed Sudan a rogue state for harboring Osama Bin Laden, forcing the American companies to abandon their lucrative trade with the country's crude, China was only too happy to fill the void.
Spiegel Online Read more...


Sweden's former prime minister Carl Bildt was one of the first Swede's to point a finger of blame at Osama bin Laden immediately and seemingly on cue after the 911 attack and almost before it's toxic dust came to rest on the streets of Manhattan.

Now Lundin Petroleum for which Carl Bildt peddles his influence for improved fortunes is in celebratory mode as they've resumed their much criticized exploratory activities in the Sudan - a country the United States has labelled a rogue state for harboring Osama bin Laden. The U.S. has subsequently banned all American companies from conducting business under penalty of law.


By the way, how does the average Sven, Ingrid, or naturalized Mohammed of fabled egalitarian IKEA-ville get one of those cards to avoid having their God-cracked asses of many colors extraordinarily renditioned from the Swedish Folkhem to a CIA-sanctioned dungeon of torture in Egypt for suspected financial dealings with rogues and other tanned nasties?

Alas, Alas! So many questions abound and Meatball One just has to know the answers! Does one need friends in duplicitous places and if so just where are those places and who there are the resident patron saints offering refuge and solace de apologetica. for those who merely, and dutifully, endeavor to feed beloved kin with the spoils of enemy collaboration?

So Skål to scruples, Kalle ol´Boy! (I don't know how to say that in any form of Chinese but I guess I'll soon have to learn.)

And here's a little diddy you can sing whenever you find yourself low on funds and left to little but your wits and resumé. I dedicate it to Kalle. Rock on, meatball!

One Meatball
A little man walked up and down,
He found an eating place in town,
He read the menu through and through,
To see what fifteen cents could do.

One meatball, one meatball,
He could afford but one meatball.

He told the waiter near at hand,
The simple dinner he had planned.
The guests were startled, one and all,
To hear that waiter loudly call, "What,

"One meatball, one meatball?
Hey, this here gent wants one meatball."

The little man felt ill at ease,
Said, "Some bread, sir, if you please."
The waiter hollered down the hall,
"You gets no bread with one meatball.

"One meatball, one meatball,
Well, you gets no bread with one meatball."

The little man felt very bad,
One meatball was all he had,
And in his dreams he hears that call,
"You gets no bread with one meatball.

"One meatball, one meatball,
Well, you gets no bread with one meatball."

-Josh White's hit version