America's Synergy of Doom

Doug McIntosh has a donation based blog at www.preparingforthefuture.org. Go to the main page, click on Board Index where you will find two threads: Sample Doomer Doug blog entries and How to Get Doomer Doug's Blog Passwords. Follow the instructions to sign up.

May 5, 2010
Doug McIntosh
© SteveQuayle.com

What a year 2010 has been so far. We have seen a series of natural and man made disasters which are biblical in scale. We started the year off with the Haiti earthquake and 250,000 dead. Next, we had the Chile earthquake and after that we have the ongoing Iceland Volcanic eruptions. And now we are dealing with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which experts say will not be capped for three months at least. The sum total of these is disaster on a scale which overwhelms our jaded senses. Aside from the current military, political and economic chaos overwhelming the United States, we are facing a potential for agricultural shortages that will impact the daily lives of the American people. For instance, the recent frosts in Florida have significantly reduced the supply of fresh tomatoes. This will lead to higher prices for canned tomatoes, pasta sauces and ketchup down the road. In fact, the first four months of 2010 have seen significant increases in the prices of basic foodstuffs. This trend will continue for several reasons.

The United States is no longer a nation of family farmers. Much like the ancient Roman Republic we have replaced small scale family run farms with corporate run mega farms. One of the major reasons the Roman Republic fell was the replacing of small citizen run farms, described as "one citizen, 15 acres, two mules and one slave" with large slave labored ones. The Roman citizens were off fighting to create the Roman Empire. This led to their small farms being bought up by the rich and turned into slave labored plantations. The same process is well underway in the United States, and is having the same political effects as it did for the Roman Republic. Throw in Monsanto with its genetically modified food; the terminator seed program and you have all the ingredients for famine down the road. We don't have to go far down that road to see the ill effects.

Synergy is the scientific principle where the result exceeds the sum of the parts. Synergy is when two plus two does not equal four; rather, it equals six. We are at the point in modern American history where the production of food is reaching an impasse. I think there are two current factors which will aggravate the situation and lead to food shortages this year. There are additional factors like the increase in the cost of diesel oil, increases in the price of fertilizers and pesticides which come into play. However, the two I wish to talk about are in addition to these and will, in my opinion, overwhelm modern commercial food production techniques.

I will digress for a moment and highlight what I mean by commercial food production techniques. Despite the current frenzy over organic food, it is, in my opinion, simply impossible to produce the amounts of food needed to feed three hundred million plus Americans without using modern fertilizers and pesticides. A family can certainly engage in small scale gardening and farming using organic techniques. A family can raise small amounts of vegetables and fruits using organic techniques. What cannot be done is to raise commercial amounts of fruits and vegetables this way. You simply cannot raise several hundred acres of apples without using pesticides to kill the codling moth. Nor, can you raise hundreds of acres of cherries without spraying for cherry fruit flies. You can certainly raise up to a dozen apple and cherry trees organically, but you cannot raise thousands of them. I speak as a commercial orchardist here. In my youth, some forty years ago, I worked in commercial orchards. I pruned trees, sprayed trees with various pesticides; got up in the middle of the night to light orchard heaters to prevent the fruit from freezing. I have thinned fruit, picked fruit, irrigated acres of fruit trees and finally, I have driven the fruit bins up to the warehouse. Hickenbottom and Son in Sunnyside, Washington to be precise back in 1972. So, I know whereof I speak on commercial fruit production.

The point of all this is to convince people that the agricultural system in the USA currently requires an infrastructure as vast as any industrial or manufacturing operation. Large scale agriculture requires more than the work done by the farmer or orchardist: it requires the efforts of American industrial technology to get the crops needed to feed the nation. Something as simple as a disruption in the supply of diesel fuel in the spring would have a devastating effect on that year's food production. People may not want to hear this, but I speak the truth based on my personal experiences.

The reason 2010 is going to be a critical year in terms of modern food production is two fold. First, the Iceland volcanoes may cause a repeat of the "year with no summer" back in the 1800's. Plants require sunlight in order to grow. The ongoing eruptions in Iceland are sending vast plumes of ash into the atmosphere. These plumes have already shut down air travel to Europe twice. Further, these plumes are being pumped into the atmosphere and being carried over the globe. The result of that could be, it's not certain, reduced solar rays getting through our atmosphere. If that is the case, then we are looking at reduced growing seasons on a global basis. Besides that, in both Australia and China sever droughts are impacting food production. Finally, we are looking both at historically low grain reserves and also the U99 wheat rust in Africa and the Middle East. These factors alone will significantly impact global food production in 2010, which will lead to, at best, price increases.

If that is not enough to get your attention, I will add a further impact on fruit and vegetable production in the USA. I don't know that much about commercial vegetable production in the United States to judge the situation correctly. I do know that some crops are wind pollinated, like corn I believe. I also think that most vegetable crops require insect pollination to grow. I do know that all commercial varieties of fruit require insect pollination to create commercially viable fruit crops. By insect pollination I mean honey bees, usually European honey bees, being physically brought into the orchard to pollinate the fruit trees. The bees require certain temperatures in order to get the job done. The Iceland volcanoes may have already impacted the pollination process by reducing temperatures so much that bee pollination is less effective than it normally is. The pollination process is pretty much over in the United States and I am unclear how much it was impacted by decreased air temperatures. What I am sure of, based on media reports that one third of the bee population in the United States has died off since last fall, is there is a problem with fruit pollinatin this year. One third is an incredible number and will have/ has had a significant impact on commercial fruit production. I want to emphasize that commercial fruit production requires bees to pollinate the blooms which will become the fruit. No pollination means no fruit; reduced pollination means reduced fruit crops. Whether a one third reduction in bee populations will mean a linear one third decline in fruit crops is not clear. It depends on a lot of factors besides bees. I am absolutely certain there will significant declines in total fruit production in the United States simply because the fruit trees, whatever the exact percentages are, will be less productive since they were not pollinated as much. What that means is at best higher prices for fruit; at worst, declines in the total supply of fruit available. The quality should be higher as the trees will have less fruit on them, which means the size will be larger than normal. At least if the Iceland volcanoes don't reduce the quality and quantity of sunlight reaching the trees. Like I said, some things I see clearly, some I suspect and some I simply don't know.

I would suggest to the readers here at Q files you keep in mind what I have just written. At least you will not be surprised if fresh fruit, and canned fruit for that matter, is more costly than it was last year. Farming is one of the few areas where supply and demand tend to impact prices more quickly than other areas of our economy. Given the fact food prices have been going up since January at a rapid clip, I expect that process to continue.

On top of all the other issues America is dealing with, I am convinced that basic food supplies will now become a major issue, both in 2010 and onward. The days of cheap food in America are over in my opinion. I am not predicting famine, although one bad growing season would put us right at the edge of it. I am predicting significant price increases on various food products in the supermarket. It is clear to me the bee die off will have a serious effect on total fruit production in the United States. Combined with the disease killing off bats, we are likely to see more insects than ever before also. Nobody knows what is killing off either the bees or the bats; however, the impacts of these deaths will be seen soon enough.

All links to this article must include link to www.stevequayle.com/ Copyright reserved

Commentary on the Mideast Situation

and

Our Website Coverage Changes

The Alpha-Omega Report has gone into a “Yellow Alert” mode for purposes of news coverage. This yellow alert coverage will continue through out the week and most likely end on Friday unless a military conflict develops at which time, the website will switch to a “Red Alert” with near-continuous coverage as information develops for immediate posting.

The Yellow Alert is issued based on an increasing possibility that a military clash will occur during this week between Israel and her neighbors. As publisher of the website, I’ve concluded that there is enough material information developing to prompt publication of news articles related to a possible military clash (or war) between Israel and either Hezbollah, Hamas & Syria or Iran or all four entities.

As noted in our newly posted news coverage of Sunday, February 7, 2010 – Syria and Hezbollah have put their military forces on “high alert” for possible action against Israeli forces. For several weeks, Syria and Hezbollah have been shifting forces and continuing to receive incoming arms shipments from Iran. Syria has stepped up training of new anti-aircraft missile systems with Hezbollah forces.

Hezbollah is also now receiving very large and heavy payload ballistic missiles that are solid-fueled. This means that such missiles do not have to take 2-days of preparations before launch. Instead these missiles can be fired on a few minutes notice and then returned to a sheltered hiding spot inside mountains along the Bekaa valley in Lebanon.

For its part, intelligence reports indicate Israeli forces continue to be positioned for a military clash. Israel has been conducting military maneuvers and civil defense drills. Israeli civil defense forces are passing out gas masks to all Israeli citizens this month.
The Israeli Navy has just dispatched 2 warships – missile corvettes – to the Red Sea via the Suez Canal.

Rumors are rampant throughout the Mideast in expectation that ‘something’ is likely to develop militarily in the near future. Even diplomatic circles are engaging in speculation about “when” military action might unfold.

Some of this talk of imminent war is being fueld by speculation concerning a warning issued by Iran’s President last week. President Ahmadinejad warned the West that on February 11, Iran would make a strike against “global arrogance.” His vague comments have triggered intense speculation that he was referring to some sort of military action.

Meanwhile, Iran has crossed a “red line” with Israel by starting high-enrichment production of uranium. Previously, Israeli officials warned that such a move would cross a “red line” which Israel would not tolerate.

Additionally, Israel had warned Syria against training Hezbollah forces on an anti-aircraft defense system as well as allowing heavy missiles to be transported into Lebanon. The rhetoric for war heated up substantially during the course of last week with both sides issuing increasingly bellicose statements and warnings.

As a result of this increasing, high-level tension and military movements and intelligence chatter, it seems appropriate for The A-O Report to shift news coverage from weekly articles to ongoing news updates on a daily basis. Should hostilities break out, we’ll shift to a “Red Alert” in which we’ll update continuously as needed.

While I personally do not anticipate any military clashes this week, I cannot rule out the possibility, based in some measure on warning by Iran President Ahmadinejad for February 11, or Thursday of this week. While I don’t take much stock in what he would say, especially in the notion that he’d be stupid enough to risk hinting at a secret pre-emptive strike plan being prepared by his military. I know would readers might argue to the contrary, and while I tend to agree with you about Ahmadinejad’s intelligence, I just don’t think he’d be “that” stupid. Regardless of his intelligence, I do give enough credence that he made such an announcement and chose that date, to not ignore it. So, his remarks are part of the consideration for our move to Yellow Alert and a War Watch.

The primary reasons include just what you’ve read in our news coverage, concerning military movements. The primary basis for the Watch is not so much that either side is planning to strike the week, but rather that an unintended action might spark an escalation into most likely a brief clash that quickly cascades unintentionally into something major.

From what we can gather, both sides are not quite ‘ready’ to take action this week. Perhaps one side or the other will be ready later in the month or more likely in March or April or May. We do understand from intelligence sources that the Israelis have reconsidered their timing for a strike action on their northern border based upon new intelligence concerning their enemies plans to use WMD’s.

So, while we’re doubtful that anything significant will take place, the tension levels are so high that any little event could mushroom unintentionally and so we’re prepared to jump into a daily round of news coverage until something either happens this week or it doesn’t at which time we’ll probably return to normal, weekly news coverage. In the meantime, look for daily postings on the public website and "intelligence updates" with the donor's section at "The A-O Insider Report. If war breaks out, we'll shift to "Red Alert" and provide ongoing daily postings as developments warrant, on the hour if needed, around the clock.

http://www.aoreport.com/mag/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1325&Itemid=44

Israel can make a tank disappear

May 9, 2010 Xinhua

In the modern battlefield, as thermal imaging and radar detection systems grow more sophisticated by the day, war machines are increasingly vulnerable to enemy fire.
Would an armored battalion commander want to be able to make his tanks simply vanish from enemy eyes? You can bet on it.

Eltics Ltd., an Israeli start-up that develops electronic warfare systems, says it has come up with technology that will eventually turn fantasy into reality -
a system that can make tanks, armored personnel carriers, helicopter gunships and even naval vessels invisible to night vision systems and heat-seeking missiles.

The company and its technology, the Eltics system or Black Fox Active Adaptive IR Stealth System, were revealed for the first time on Sunday by Israeli TV Channel 10.

The Black Fox system equips any tank, helicopter or ship with a FLIR camera that photographs the surroundings in which they are operating.
The system then analyzes the area's thermal signature and screens the exact same signature onto plates fitted on the machine, thus enabling it to completely disintegrate from sight.

"A tank, armored personnel carrier or ship, equipped with this system, become invisible to thermal night vision systems, guided missiles and a missile's sight,"
explained Eltics CEO Ronen Meir, in his first televised appearance.

shummer60- America is following the same path!

The Balfour Agreement, the major decline of the British Empire, British Petroleum (BP), Valdez, Horizon and their Israel connections - Bill Koenig

The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the Balfour Agreement and the British Empire

The Anglo-Persian oil company, that became British Petroleum in 1954, pressured the British government and the League of Nations to back off their commitment to the Balfour agreement; thus, Israel received approximately twelve percent of the land intended for them.

At the time of the Balfour Agreement (1917), at the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 458 million people, one-quarter of the world's population at the time, and covered more than 13,000,000 square miles (33,670,000 km2): approximately a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. (Reference Wikipedia)

On September 11, 1922, the British government presented a memorandum to the League of Nations stating that Transjordan would be excluded from all provisions of dealing with the Jewish settlement. From that point forward, Britain recognized the land west of the Jordan as Palestine (which was 23 percent of the entire territory), and the land of east of the Jordan River as Transjordan (constituting 73 percent of the mandated territories). In 1923 Britain transferred a part of the Golan Heights to the French Mandate of Syria, in exchange for the Metula region.

Important to many Jews was the permission to settle in the British-controlled Mandate of Palestine. In order to try to maintain peace between the Jewish and Arab populations, especially after the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine of the 1930s, Britain strictly limited immigration. This limitation became nearly absolute after the White Paper of 1939 all but stopped legal immigration. During the War, Zionists organized an illegal immigration effort, conducted by "Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet" (the precursor of the Mossad) that rescued tens of thousands of European Jews from the Nazis by shipping them to Palestine in rickety boats. Many of these boats were intercepted and some sank with great loss of life. The efforts began in 1939, and the last immigrant boat to try to enter Palestine before the end of the war was the Struma, torpedoed in the Black Sea by a Soviet submarine in February 1942. The boat sank with the loss of nearly 800 lives. (Reference Wikipedia)

The British Empire's days were numbered, and on the whole, Britain adopted a policy of peaceful disengagement from its colonies once stable, non-Communist governments were available to transfer power to, in contrast to other European powers like France or Portugal, which waged costly and ultimately unsuccessful wars to keep their empires intact. Between 1945 and 1965, the number of people under British rule outside the UK itself fell from 700 million to five million, three million of whom were in Hong Kong. (Reference Wikipedia)

The Exxon Valdez and the Israel connection

The Exxon Valdez accident happened less than 48 hours after President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State James Baker's staff opened talks with the Palestinians on March 22, 1989. The Valdez problem began to develop late in the night of March 23 with the first spill at 12:05 a.m. on March 24.

On March 21, 1989: U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker concludes that Israel may have to negotiate directly with the PLO

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, attempting to soften the impact of his conclusion that Israel eventually may have to negotiate directly with the Palestine Liberation Organization, Tuesday reaffirmed the Bush Administration's opposition to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

"It is the policy of the United States that we do not support an independent Palestinian state," Baker told a House panel. His statement was intended to reassure Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who has vowed that his government will never relinquish control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories that Israel occupied during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. (Los Angeles Times)

March 22, 1989: Palestine Liberation Organization today rejected a halt in the violent

After its first formal contact with the Bush Administration, the Palestine Liberation Organization today rejected a halt in the violent uprising in the Israeli-occupied territories to encourage peace negotiations.

The move was a rebuff to the approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict outlined by Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d, who has sought to encourage a reduction of violence and tension and bring about direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. (Reuters)

March 23, 1989: Arafat said that the second formal meeting between U.S. and PLO representatives was positive

Yasser Arafat said today that the second formal meeting between U.S. and PLO representatives was positive and reflected the desire of both sides to make the dialogue a success.

To a reporter who asked the smiling chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization whether Wednesday's meeting was responsible for his good mood, Arafat replied: "Yes, exactly."

He described the content of the meeting between U.S. Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau and Yasser Abed-Rabbo of the PLO Executive Committee as "positive and serious," but gave few details of the discussion.

"There is a mutual interest and intention to lead this dialogue to success," Arafat said. (Associated Press)

Pelletreau and Abed-Rabbo met for 4 1/2 hours at the Tunisian government's Dar el Maghreibia guest house, with two senior advisers present on each side. The ambassador would not talk about the meeting and referred all inquiries to the State Department. (New York Times)

March 23, 1989: Jewish Leaders Avoid Comment on Peace Talks:

Jewish leaders from around the world issued a general statement of support for Israel on Wednesday but skirted the increasingly contentious issue of the shape of future Middle East peace talks.

The final proclamation, the fruit of a three-day solidarity conference here attended by about 1,500 delegates, kept to tried and true themes.

March 23-24, 1989: Exxon Valdez Accident

Exxon Valdez left the Valdez oil terminal in Alaska at 9:13 pm on March 23, 1989 bound for Long Beach, California. A harbor pilot guided the ship through the Valdez Narrows before leaving the ship and returning control to Joseph Jeffrey Hazelwood, the ship's master. The ship maneuvered out of the shipping lane to avoid icebergs. Following the maneuver and sometime after 11 pm, he left Third Mate Gregory Cousins in charge of the wheel house and Able Seaman Robert Kagan at the helm, both of whom had not been given their mandatory 6 hours off duty before their 12-hour duty began. The ship was on autopilot, using the navigation system installed by the company that constructed the ship. The outbound shipping lane was covered with icebergs so the ship's captain, Hazelwood, got permission from the Coast Guard to go out through the inbound lane. The ship struck Bligh Reef at around 12:04 am March 24, 1989.

Beginning three days after the vessel grounded (March 27), a storm pushed large quantities of fresh oil on to the rocky shores of many of the beaches in the Knight Island chain.

The result was the largest oil spill in US history: 11 million gallons covering 11,000 square miles, including 1,300 miles of pristine shoreline. The spill devastated the local economy as well as the environment. Estimated losses in the sport fishing industry alone were almost $600 million over the two years following the accident. Within days an estimated 250,000 seabirds perished, along with thousands of otters and seals. Despite billions of dollars in cleanup, the environmental effects of the spill still linger. Much of the oil seeped below the surface of affected beaches, decaying at a rate of about three to four percent per year. Animals that dig in the sand for their food continue to be contaminated. (Wikipedia)

British Petroleum's (BP) Horizon Oil Spill Began on April 20

BP's Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20 — at the very time Obama's team was pressuring Israel to restart talks. BP and the U.S. are still working to contain the oil spill, which is expected to be larger in size than Exxon Valdez.

The two largest oil spills in U.S. history corresponded to U.S. actions on Israel's covenant land and talks with the Palestinians. The spills have and will cause America to forgo more offshore exploration and become even more reliant on rogue nations for oil.

------

For biblically relevant news and commentary, subscribe to "Koenig's Eye View from the White House." The news report is distributed by email and posted in our Subscriber Area on the website by 5 p.m. ET every Friday.