Saturday, 23 January 2010

federal reserve: volcker rule

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http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/glass-steagall-vs-the-volcker-rule/

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60L5UD20100122

January 22, 2010

Glass-Steagall vs. the Volcker Rule

For the second time in less than 80 years, the nation’s commercial banks are being told to stick to their knitting. Their knitting is taking deposits, handling checking accounts, lending money and managing the nation’s payment system. Twice now, they have ventured beyond these standard activities, gotten into trouble and almost brought down the financial system.

The solution in the 1930s, and once again now, is this: get out of the sideline businesses that caused so much trouble. Those sidelines were different in the 1930s than they are now. And while people talk of re-enacting Glass-Steagall Act — the solution that helped resolve the 1930s crisis — what President Obama proposed this week is a somewhat different animal, worthy of its own name.

The Banking Act of 1933 — forever known as the Glass-Steagall Act in recognition of its sponsors, Senator Carter Glass and Representative Henry B. Steagall — required banks to spin off or shut down their brokerage and investment operations.

These operations had lost huge sums in the 1929 stock market crash and in the early years of the Depression. The banks, for example, would underwrite corporate stock offerings, and if they had trouble selling the stock they would buy it with money drawn from depositors’ accounts, sometimes without a depositor’s knowledge.

Or as William Donaldson, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, put it in an interview: “If they were underwriting a stock offering and had trouble getting rid of the stuff, they would buy it with people’s deposits.”

The restrictions imposed by Glass-Steagall kept bank deposits, and banks themselves, at a safe distance from the markets. But that distance gradually shrank, and in the heady, free-market days of the late 1990s, Glass-Steagall itself was formally revoked.

So commercial banks — the big ones, at least — returned to the Wall Street marketplace. This time they got into trouble by engaging in proprietary trading — that is, the buying and selling of securities for their own account, particularly subprime mortgages packaged as bonds. When that market crashed in 2008, the federal government bailed out the banks, and now the president is asking Congress to bar banks from proprietary trading.

The president is acting on a proposal that Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, has been pushing for months. It is sometimes referred to as “Glass-Steagall in spirit.” But the behavior involved and the proposed solution are different enough for the legislation to have its own nickname — and Obama himself has suggested one: “The Volcker Rule.”

further reading: http://arthurzbygniew.blogspot.com/2009/12/paul-volker-financial-system-puts.html


Friday, 22 January 2010

biofuel genocide, 25% of us grain for cars!

One quarter of US grain crops fed to cars - not people, new figures show


John Vidal, environment editor,

Friday 22 January 2010

New analysis of 2009 US Department of Agriculture figures suggests biofuel revolution is impacting on world food supplies

One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the biofuel revolution launched by former President George Bush in 2007 is impacting on world food supplies.

The 2009 figures from the US Department of Agriculture shows ethanol production rising to record levels driven by farm subsidies and laws which require vehicles to use increasing amounts of biofuels.

"The grain grown to produce fuel in the US [in 2009] was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels," said Lester Brown, the director of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington thinktank ithat conducted the analysis.

Last year 107m tonnes of grain, mostly corn, was grown by US farmers to be blended with petrol. This was nearly twice as much as in 2007, when Bush challenged farmers to increase production by 500% by 2017 to save cut oil imports and reduce carbon emissions.


Graph - US grain used to make ethanol

More than 80 new ethanol plants have been built since then, with more expected by 2015, by which time the US will need to produce a further 5bn gallons of ethanol if it is to meet its renewable fuel standard.

According to Brown, the growing demand for US ethanol derived from grains helped to push world grain prices to record highs between late 2006 and 2008. In 2008, the Guardian revealed a secret World Bank report that concluded that the drive for biofuels by American and European governments had pushed up food prices by 75%, in stark contrast to US claims that prices had risen only 2-3% as a result.

Since then, the number of hungry people in the world has increased to over 1 billion people, according to the UN's World Food programme.


["...the number of malnourished people in the world rose by 44 million in 2008," Oxfam said..."]


"Continuing to divert more food to fuel, as is now mandated by the US federal government in its renewable fuel standard, will likely only reinforce the disturbing rise in world hunger. By subsidising the production of ethanol to the tune of some $6bn each year, US taxpayers are in effect subsidising rising food bills at home and around the world," said Brown.

"The worst economic crisis since the great depression has recently brought food prices down from their peak, but they still remain well above their long-term average levels."

The US is by far the world's leading grain exporter, exporting more than Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Russia combined. In 2008, the UN called for a comprehensive review of biofuel production from food crops.

"There is a direct link between biofuels and food prices. The needs of the hungry must come before the needs of cars," said Meredith Alexander, biofuels campaigner at ActionAid in London. As well as the effect on food, campaigners also argue that many scientists question whether biofuels made from food crops actually save any greenhouse gas emissions.

But ethanol producers deny that their record production means less food. "Continued innovation in ethanol production and agricultural technology means that we don't have to make a false choice between food and fuel. We can more than meet the demand for food and livestock feed while reducing our dependence on foreign oil through the production of homegrown renewable ethanol," said Tom Buis, the chief executive of industry group Growth Energy.

Friday, 15 January 2010

haiti: us troops to prevent return of aristide

U.S. troops in Haiti to prevent Aristide's return


by Wayne Madsen


January 15-17, 2010


President Obama, in keeping with his CIA lineage, has permitted the Pentagon under Robert Gates to take charge of the humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti. As Cuban and Venezuelan field hospitals were already rendering first aid and trauma care to Haitians injured in the mega-quake, Obama was gathered at a White House photo op with Vice President Joe Biden and other Cabinet officers to state that U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft would fly over Haiti to assess the situation from the air. A U.S. P-3 Orion spy plane from Comalapa air base in El Salvador was dispatched to conduct the surveillance operation, an act that was already being accomplished by earth satellites, the images of which were available on Google Maps.

As Obama was garnering praise from such sycophantic White House outlets as the largely-discredited Washington Post, an 37-person Icelandic search-and-rescue team was pulling trapped earthquake victims from the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince. Iceland, a nation bankrupted by Obama's banker pals on Wall Street and in the City of London, was able to react in a way that the slumbering and oafish dying super-power, the United States, could not -- with action aimed at providing immediate assistance to the Haitian people.

Obama's generals and admirals, who are mostly more concerned about their appearance than in taking charge and moving out, were still scratching their heads about where to land the U.S. Marines and 82nd Airborne. In fact, military aircraft carrying weapons and other war supplied crowded the airport aprons at Port-au-Prince airport that could be used by planes from other countries carrying much-needed food, water, and medical supplies. Argentine doctors already on the scene in Haiti complained that they were running out of simple sewing kits being used as stitches for the injured who had undergone surgery.

When U.S. Special Operations forces hit the ground at Port-au-Prince airport they pointed their weapons at desperate Haitians at the airport perimeter who wanted help not a gun pointed in their faces. Russia, Spain, Mexico, Chile, and Guatemala were rushing in food and water for Haiti.

Meanwhile, Obama was phoning former President George W. Bush to ask for his a former President Bill Clinton to launch a fund drive for Haitian earthquake relief. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was partly behind engineering the 2004 coup that deposed democratically-elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, attended a Haitian relief fundraiser at a Washington hotel called "W." The symbology could not have been worse -- it was Bush who showed the world that he was totally disinterested in the 2004 Asian earthquake and tsunami and hurricane Katrina in 2005 that decimated New Orleans and surrounding areas.

Apparently, the so-called media-savvy Obama failed to realize the revolting nature of asking Bush to do anything related to Haiti when people remembered his lack of action over Katrina. Bodies of African-Americans floating in the streets of New Orleans became juxtaposed with the bodies of Afro-Haitians piling up in the streets of Port-au-Prince. But, of course, Obama is the "Max Headroom" of America's political leadership -- a talking head -- whose rhetorical flourishes speak louder than principles or concrete action.

Aristide, from an exile in South Africa imposed by the United States, France, and Canada, vowed to return to Haiti to be with his people in their time of stress and despair. Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, served the people of the Haitian slum of La Saline and he understands best the plight of his people. On the other hand, Rene Preval, the U.S. stooge who was placed in power twice by the CIA and the U.S. Southern Command to replace Aristide, once in a fraudulent election [Preval won in 1995 with 88 percent of the vote in a 25 percent voter turnout] and the other in a coup, could only complain to CNN's Sanjay Gupta about not having any place to sleep for the night, "I cannot live in the palace. I cannot live in my own house, because the two collapsed."

Preval has been reaping all sorts of "free trade" deals that caused Haiti's agrarian population to stream into Port-au-Prince to work in the sweat shops heralded as "progress" by the likes of George Soros and his gang of thieves on Wall Street. Because of Port-au-Prince's swelled population of sweat shop workers, the death count from the earthquake will be much higher as the result of collapsed tenements that housed more people than they were designed for.

Dr. Gupta, who was Obama's first choice to be Surgeon-General of the United States, was more interested in using dying Haitians in makeshift hospitals as stage props for CNN's ratings than in rendering medical assistance to the injured. Imagine, being one of the few doctors available to the severely injured and breaking away to go on camera and tell some old fool like Larry King or some Israeli agent of influence like Wolf Blitzer about how awful the situation is in Haiti.

However, Gates and his military brass will ensure that Aristide will not show up to threaten Preval's continuing disastrous leadership of Haiti. It was Gates, who was George H. W. Bush's nominee to be CIA director, who helped plan the military coup that ousted Aristide the first time in September 1991. Gates, at the time, was Bush's deputy national security adviser.

Clinton helped Aristide regain his presidency from the CIA-backed coup leader General Raoul Cedras in 1994. But Clinton's disastrous flip-flopping on Haitian refugees from the Cedras dictatorship plunged his new administration into a major crisis. It is certain that when Haiti's earthquake struck, people like Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel were conducting focus group polls to find out how U.S. assistance to Haiti would be received by the public. Although a clear majority of Americans favor helping the beleaguered people of Haiti, and many feel that Obama's assistance has been extremely slow, Emanuel only seems to be concerned about the handful of Americans, including Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, who have uttered racist language in reacting to the Haitian tragedy, are worth listening to. But Emanuel does not view things through the enlightened lenses of America's founders but through the religious myopic eyesight of Talmudic interpreters.

Haiti under Aristide and Preval, was forced by Clinton to agree to horribly one-sided "free trade" deals that saw Haiti's workers press ganged into toiling away in Port-au-Prince sweat shops to produce clothing for America's major retailers like Disney. Haiti had no choice -- Clinton imposed devastating economic sanctions against Aristide to force his compliance with the diktats of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Clinton sweetened the pie for his Arkansas rice growing cronies by ensuring that Haiti went from being an exporter of nutritional rice to an importer of expensive bleached and genetically-modified "junk rice" primarily from Arkansas.

When Aristide regained the presidency in 2000, he took immediate steps to improve the lot of the Haitian workers -- he raised the minimum wage to two dollars a day. Bush decided it was time for the CIA and the Southern Command to remove Aristide, which they did with the help of France and Canada. Aristide was exiled to the Central African Republic and then South Africa.

Preval regained office in 2006 after a phony election engineered with the help of the National Endowment for Democracy's International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), two CIA contrivances acting under the aegis of the U.S. Republican and Democratic Parties, respectively. Soros has adopted Haitian politicians like former Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis who continue to advocate disastrous "free trade" policies and provides them with funding and travel expenses through his Open Society Institute (OSI).

UN "peacekeeping" forces in Haiti have ensured that Aristide and his Lavalas Party does not regain power. One of the methods the UN uses is periodically raiding pro-Aristide slums and killing Lavalas activists in their homes. Bill Clinton was rewarded last year for his guile and deceit committed against Haiti by being named by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the UN's Special Envoy for Haiti.

When Honduran President Manuel Zelaya also raised the minimum wage in his country, the CIA and Southern Command arranged for a military coup to remove him. Obama has now decided to place the Southern Command, headquartered in the right-wing Latin American exilee rat's nest of Miami, to coordinate humanitarian relief in Haiti along with the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) a CIA pass-through headed by Rajiv Singh, a one-time political hack for Pennsylvania's corrupt Democratic Governor Ed Rendell.

The perfidy that is America's relationship with Haiti extends to Bill Clinton's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She has appointed her chief of staff Cheryl Mills to oversee America's role in Haiti. Mills has stated: "We actually see our role as ensuring that the leadership of Haiti is able to provide the leadership that the Haitian people properly expect them to provide." That represents an endorsement of the hapless leadership of Preval and a thumbs down to any return for Aristide.

Note: The editor's book, "Jaded Tasks" is named for the covert Pentagon and CIA coperation that removed Aristide in 2004: Operation Jaded Task. Aristide was presented a signed copy of the book in South Africa with a note that states I hope he is rightfully restored to the presidency in Haiti. Haiti needs Aristide more now than it has ever needed him in the past. People like Obama, Gates, Emanuel, the Clintons, Mills, and Southern Command commander General Douglas Fraser need to step out of the way and allow the legitimate president of Haiti to lead his people out of the rubble of their country, "moving from misery to poverty with dignity," as he said from Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg awaiting permission for a return to his native country.

Thursday, 14 January 2010

israel: idf faces massive draft dodging problem

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http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3834123,00.html

Officer: IDF on brink of abyss over draft dodging

Army's Personnel Directorate chief says number of Jewish youths evading military service may reach 40% over next decade

01.13.10

Shmulik Hadad

Head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, Major-General Avi Zamir, visited an Ashdod high school Wednesday and met with its teachers as part of a military initiative meant to try and reintroduce military values to youths.

Zamir, who focused on the rising numbers of draft dodgers, warned that the coming decade may see up to 40% of Jewish teenager evade military service.

The situation, he added, can turn even worse: "Taking into consideration Israeli Arab youths, we are facing a situation in which 70% of youths will not enlist to military to national service.

"Even now the notion of 'the people's army' is fraying and of these trends continue we'll be on the brink of an abyss," he said.

According to IDF data for 2008, 72% of teenage Jewish boys and 54% of girls enlist in the military, placing draft dodging rates at 37%.

Zamir was especially critical of the 38% of teenage girls who use a false claim of religious observance to dodge the draft. "That, to me, is cynical abuse of the law. We're not too far off from seeing those numbers hit 50%."

The military and the Prime Minister's Office are also working together to increase the number of haredim who perform military service, and so far, according to Zamir, their numbers have increased to 1,000 a year.

The head of the IDF Personnel Directorate also said that the military must do more to aid soldier who complete their service, and especially the 20,000 combat soldiers who are discharged of service every year after an extremely grueling service.

Zamir noted that the burden of reserve duty is far from being equally distributed: The IDF currently has 450,000 reservists between the ages of 21-40, but only 100,000 of them carry our 10 days or more of reserve duty every year, "And we must assist then."

wh staffer about infiltration of conspiracy groups

Got Fascism? : Obama Advisor Promotes 'Cognitive Infiltration'


Your government appointees at work:
Cass Sunstein seeks 'cognitive' provocateurs


By Marc Estrin

January 11, 2010

Cass Sunstein is President Obama's Harvard Law School friend, and recently appointed Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

In a recent scholarly article, he and coauthor Adrian Vermeule take up the question of "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures." (J. Political Philosophy, 7 (2009), 202-227). This is a man with the president's ear. This is a man who would process information and regulate things. What does he here propose?
[W]e suggest a distinctive tactic for breaking up the hard core of extremists who supply conspiracy theories: cognitive infiltration of extremist groups, whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of believers by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups, thereby introducing beneficial cognitive diversity. (Page 219.)
Read this paragraph again. Unpack it. Work your way through the language and the intent. Imagine the application. What do we learn?
  • It is "extremists" who "supply" "conspiracy theories."
  • Their "hard core" must be "broken up" with distinctive tactics. What tactics?
  • "Infiltration" ("cognitive") of groups with questions about official explanations or obfuscations or lies. Who is to infiltrate?
  • "Government agents or their allies," virtually (i.e. on-line) or in "real-space" (as at meetings), and "either openly or anonymously," though "infiltration" would imply the latter. What will these agents do?
  • Undermine "crippled epistemology" -- one's theory and technique of knowledge. How will they do this?
  • By "planting doubts" which will "circulate." Will these doubts be beneficial?
  • Certainly. Because they will introduce "cognitive diversity."
Put into English, what Sunstein is proposing is government infiltration of groups opposing prevailing policy. Palestinian Liberation? 9/11 Truth? Anti-nuclear power? Stop the wars? End the Fed? Support Nader? Eat the Rich?

It's easy to destroy groups with "cognitive diversity." You just take up meeting time with arguments to the point where people don't come back. You make protest signs which alienate 90% of colleagues. You demand revolutionary violence from pacifist groups.

We expect such tactics from undercover cops, or FBI. There the agents are called "provocateurs" -- even if only "cognitive." One learns to smell or deal with them in a group, or recognize trolling online. But even suspicion or partial exposure can “sow uncertainty and distrust within conspiratorial groups [now conflated with conspiracy theory discussion groups] and among their members,” and “raise the costs of organization and communication” -- which Sunstein applauds as "desirable." "[N]ew recruits will be suspect and participants in the group’s virtual networks will doubt each other’s bona fides." (p.225).

And are we now expected to applaud such tactics frankly proposed in a scholarly journal by a high-level presidential advisor?

The full text of a slightly earlier version of Sunstein's article is available for download here.

[Marc Estrin is a writer and activist, living in Burlington, Vermont. His novels, Insect Dreams, The Half Life of Gregor Samsa, The Education of Arnold Hitler, Golem Song, and The Lamentations of Julius Marantz have won critical acclaim. His memoir, Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater (with Ron Simon, photographer) won a 2004 theater book of the year award. He is currently working on a novel about the dead Tchaikovsky.]

The Rag Blog

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

israel turkey: chaplinesque diplomacy

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http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/303487,israel-says-no-disrespect-meant-to-turkish-ambassador.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8456804.stm

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon meeting Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, captioned "the height of humiliation" in Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom [Image: Lior Mizrahi/Israel Hayom]

One newspaper captioned the picture "the height of humiliation" [Image: Lior Mizrahi/Israel Hayom]


Israel says 'no disrespect' meant to Turkish ambassador

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:28:01 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel's deputy foreign minister Wednesday apologized Wednesday for his treatment of Turkey's ambassador to Tel Aviv, saying he had meant no "disrespect" and seeking to calm a diplomatic spat sparked by an anti-Israeli Turkish television drama. Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon had summoned the ambassador, Ahmet Oguz Celikko, to Jerusalem Monday to protest against the new drama series. Israel regards the films a "anti-Semitic" because it portrays unscrupulous operatives of its Mossad intelligence agency kidnapping Turkish babies. In a break from diplomatic norm, Ayalon invited the press to take photographs, made sure he sat on a tall chair while the Turkish envoy sat on a lower chair, and when housekeeping brought refreshments, ordered them to take them back. Celikko was also filmed waiting in a corridor for the meeting to begin. He later told reporters that never in his 35-year diplomatic career had he experienced such humiliation. He said Turkey demanded an apology. Ayalon subsequently issued a brief statement Wednesday, saying:"My protest against the attacks on Israel in Turkey remains valid. Nevertheless, it is not my way to disrespect ambassador's honour and in the future I will clarify my position in a diplomatically acceptable manner."Other Israeli cabinet ministers, although also angered by the television drama, said Ayalon's treatment of the Turkish ambassador had been unnecessarily harsh and humiliating. Turkey has been a key strategic partner to Israel in an otherwise largely hostile region, but ties between the allies have deteriorated since last winter's Gaza war, which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly harshly criticized. Another, earlier Turkish television drama series, which among others portrayed the Israeli military as shooting squads against the Palestinians, had also sparked a diplomatic row. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said late Tuesday he was concerned Turkey was distancing itself from the West and moving closer to Islamic states seen as Israel's enemies, including Iran. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is due to visit Turkey Sunday.
Copyright DPA

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

terror: uk stop and search powers illegal

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/12/stop-and-search-ruled-illegal

Stop and search powers illegal, European court rules

Judges in Strasbourg say UK powers under Terrorism Act 2000 violate convention on human rights

Alan Travis, home affairs editor

Tuesday 12 January 2010 13.36 GMT

Stop and search during a police operation in London to tackle knife crime.

A stop and search operation in London: the powers, under the Terrorism Act, have been ruled illegal by a European court. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

The ability of UK police to use "arbitrary" counter-terror stop and search powers against peace protesters and photographers lay in tatters today after a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights.

The Strasbourg court ruled it was unlawful for police to use the powers, under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, to stop and search people without needing any grounds for suspicion.

The widely-drawn ruling said that not only the use of the counter-terror powers, but also the way they were authorised, were "neither sufficiently circumscribed, nor subject to adequate legal safeguards against abuse".

The use of these powers has grown fourfold, from 33,177 times in 2004 to more than 117,200 in 2008.

The Metropolitan police have used them most, but 11 other forces in England and Wales also make routine use of them.

A political furore ensued when it was disclosed that the whole of Greater London had been secretly designated for stop and search without suspicion since 2001.

The case ruled on today was brought by Kevin Gillan and Pennie Quinton, who were stopped by police while their way to a demonstration outside the annual arms fair at the Excel centre, in London's Docklands, in September 2003.

Quinton, a journalist, was ordered to stop filming the protest despite showing her press card, while Gillan, who was riding his bicycle, was only allowed to go on his way after 20 minutes. They were awarded €33,850 (£30,400) in costs and expenses.

The European judges said the power to search a person's clothing and belongings in public included an element of humiliation and embarrassment which was a clear interference with the right to privacy.

But they also criticised the way in which the police use of stop and search powers was authorised. There is no requirement that the powers be considered "necessary" – only "expedient".

The use of the powers is subject to confirmation by the home secretary within 48 hours, renewable after 28 days, but the European court said there was no real check on authorisations by parliament or the courts.

This was demonstrated by the continuous renewal, every 28 days, of the use of the powers in London since their first introduction, the judges added.

They said they were further concerned that the decision to stop and search somebody was "based exclusively on the 'hunch' or 'professional intuition' of the police officer".

The sole condition was that the search had to look for articles used in connection with terrorism – but this covered many things commonly carried by people in the street. Police did not even have to have grounds for suspecting such articles were present.

The judges said that, because of this, there was a "clear risk of arbitrariness in granting such broad discretion" to a police officer.

Their concerns were compounded by the fact that black and Asian people were four times more likely to be stopped under section 44 and there was a risk that the power could be misused against demonstrators.

"The absence of any obligation on the part of the officer to show a reasonable suspicion made it almost impossible to prove that the power had been improperly exercised," the judges said in describing the lack of judicial checks.

As such, section 44 was not in "accordance with the law" and amounted to a violation of article eight – the right to respect for private and family life.

Quinton told the Guardian she was delighted with the judgment, saying: "There has to be a balance between private life and security.

"The court has shown that section 44 is an invasion of people's right to liberty and privacy. Hopefully the government will have to put a fairer law in place to protect us."

Gillan hailed the ruling as "fantastic news after a long struggle" and added: "I look to the government for a strong response."

Corinna Ferguson, the legal officer for Liberty and acting for the two, said: "Liberty has consistently warned the government about the dangers of stop and search without suspicion and actively campaigned for the tightening up of the infamous section 44 power.

"The public, police and court of human rights all share our concerns for privacy, protest, race equality and community solidarity that come with this sloppy law.

"In the coming weeks parliamentarians must finally sort out this mess."

The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, said: "We have long said that anti-terror laws should not be used as a way of conducting normal day-to-day policing.

"The government needs to make sure that the police have the appropriate powers to deal with crime and antisocial behaviour."

The full judgment can be read here.

iraq war illegal says dutch inquiry committee


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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8453305.stm

Dutch inquiry says Iraq war had no mandate

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

An inquiry into the Netherlands' support for the invasion of Iraq says it was not justified by UN resolutions.

The Dutch Committee of Inquiry on Iraq said UN Security Council resolutions did not "constitute a mandate for... intervention in 2003".

The inquiry was launched after foreign ministry memos were leaked that cast doubt on the legal basis for the war.

The Netherlands gave political support to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but had no military role.

The report demolishes the Dutch case for supporting the invasion, says the BBC's Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond.

It could also be taken to reinforce the international case against the Iraq war, he says.

The report accuses ministers of a selective use of intelligence reports, and says Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende "gave little or no leadership to debates over the Iraq question", which was steered by the foreign minister at the time, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Mr Balkenende formally thanked the committee for its report, but said he needed time to study it before responding.

Political loyalty

Mr Balkenende decided to join the "coalition of the willing" assembled by US President George W Bush because, he said, Saddam Hussein had consistently flouted UN resolutions and possessed weapons of mass destruction.

The Dutch parliament opposed the decision to back the invasion.

Committee chairman, Willibrord Davids, said the Netherlands' loyalty to its alliance with the US and UK had taken precedence over the need to ensure the legality of the invasion.

The committee said there had been no UN mandate for the attack, putting the decision to join at odds with international law.

It said "the wording of [UN Security Council] Resolution 1441 cannot reasonably be interpreted as authorising individual member states to use military force".

Iraq's breach of Resolution 1441, which gave Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations", was used by the coalition, and the Netherlands, to justify its invasion.

However, a memo from the time by Dutch foreign ministry lawyers, subsequently leaked, suggested the war was in fact illegal under international law.

The inquiry said there was no evidence to support rumours that the Dutch military took part in the invasion.

While the government has always said its military was not involved, questions had been raised because Dutch troops were taking part in exercises nearby at the time.

Dutch forces became part of the stabilisation force that was deployed to Iraq in the years after the war.

The Dutch parliament is likely now to consider whether the prime minister misled parliament, and whether to launch a formal parliamentary inquiry.

Sunday, 10 January 2010

uk election: brown ready for lib dem coalition

PM paves way for deal with Lib Dems in hung parliament

Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

Labour and Conservatives both set out their electoral stalls this week

Gordon Brown made an unprecedented overture to the Liberal Democrats yesterday amid growing expectation that Nick Clegg's party could hold the balance of power after the general election.

As Mr Brown hinted he would go to the country on 6 May, Labour and the Conservatives clashed on the best route out of the recession, the issue bound to dominate the campaign.

The Prime Minister was accused of dishonesty after he refused to say where public spending would have to be cut to tackle the nation's debts.

The parties begin to set out their election stalls this week, with Labour promising to improve literacy in primary schools and the Conservatives pledging to raise hospital standards.

A slight fall in the Tory opinion poll lead in recent months has made the election the most unpredictable since 1992. Asked about the possibility of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in the event of a hung parliament, Mr Brown struck an uncharacteristically emollient note towards the party.

"There is an agreement of ideas and of course the Liberals, I think, are closer to us on tax and public services," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.

Labour would fight "every inch of the way" at the election, he said. But Labour commitments on electoral reform, overhauling the House of Lords and recalling MPs who committed fraud, as well as its approach to the environment and civil liberties, showed his party had "not dissimilar" policies from the Liberal Democrats.

Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said: "Nick Clegg is a capable leader and ideologically I am on broadly the same page as him, as I believe is Gordon Brown."

The apparent olive branches came after Mr Cameron also tried to woo the Lib Dems by insisting there was "a lot less disagreement than there used to be" between their party and the Tories.

The Prime Minister said yesterday he "believed" he would hold a budget in the spring, which would rule out an election in March and suggests he is planning for 6 May. Labour's campaign will seek to paint the party as presenting an optimistic vision of Britain's prospects, contrasting that with Conservative warnings of austerity ahead.

Mr Brown gave a fresh sign of a planned "Labour investment versus Tory cuts" election message as he refused to say where spending would be slashed under his plans.

He insisted there was enough money to invest in health and schools and said national insurance rises, the abolition of pension tax relief and lower unemployment would cut the deficit.

George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, retorted: "Gordon Brown ... has slipped back into repeating his dishonest nonsense that Labour will go on spending, when his own Treasury figures reveal Labour cuts."

Shadow Cabinet ministers will fan out across the country today to campaign in marginal seats, while the Tory leadership will focus on its health plans.

Mr Cameron, who is trying to echo Barack Obama by calling for 2010 to be the "year of change", will set out plans to divert billions of pounds of NHS spending to poorer areas.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow Health Secretary, will promise to improve services to pregnant women by offering more specialist help in maternity units.

Mr Brown and Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, will today announce a guarantee that six and seven-year-olds who struggle with literacy and numeracy will receive intensive help.

Saturday, 9 January 2010

grippe a: l'oms laquais des "pharmaciens"

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source: réseau Voltaire

http://www.voltairenet.org/article163315.html

OMS : le « pape de la grippe A » accusé de corruption


par F. William Engdahl

16 décembre 2009

On le surnomme « Dr Flu » (Docteur Grippe), le professeur Albert Osterhaus est le principal conseiller de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé face à la pandémie de grippe H1N1. Depuis plusieurs années, il prédit l’imminence d’une pandémie globale et ce qui se passe aujourd’hui semble lui donner raison.
Cependant, le scandale qui a éclaté aux Pays-Bas et fait l’objet d’un débat au Parlement a mis en évidence ses liens personnels avec les laboratoires fabriquant les vaccins qu’il fait prescrire par l’OMS.
F. William Engdhal relate comment un expert peu scrupuleux a pu manipuler l’opinion publique internationale, surévaluer l’impact de la grippe H1N1, et faire la fortune des laboratoires qui l’emploient.

Dans le courant de cette année, le Parlement néerlandais [1] nourrissait des soupçons à l’encontre du fameux Dr Osterhaus et avait ouvert une enquête pour conflit d’intérêts et malversations. Hors des Pays-Bas et des médias néerlandais, seules quelques lignes dans la très respectée revue britannique Science firent mention de l’enquête sensationnelle sur les affaires d’Osterhaus.

Ni les références, ni l’expertise d’Osterhaus dans son domaine n’étaient remises en question. Ce qui est mis en cause, comme nous l’apprend la revue Science dans une simple dépêche, c’est l’indépendance de son jugement personnel en matière de pandémie de grippe A. Science publiait ces quelques lignes à propos d’Osterhaus dans son édition du 16 octobre 2009 :

« Aux Pays-Bas, ces six derniers mois, il était difficile d’allumer sa télévision sans voir apparaître le célèbre chasseur de virus Albert Osterhaus et l’entendre parler de la pandémie de grippe A. Du moins, c’est ce que l’on croyait. Monsieur Grippe, c’était Osterhaus, le directeur d’un laboratoire de réputation internationale au sein du Centre médical de l’Université Érasme de Rotterdam. Mais, la semaine dernière, sa réputation est descendue en flamme après que des soupçons ont été émis sur sa velléité d’attiser les craintes d’une pandémie dans le but de servir les intérêts de son propre laboratoire dans la mise au point de nouveaux vaccins. Au moment où Science mettait sous presse, la Deuxième Chambre du Parlement néerlandais annonçait même que la question serait débattue en urgence. » [2]

Le 3 novembre 2009, sans pour autant en sortir indemne, Osterhaus avait su éviter les dégâts. Sur le site de Science, on pouvait lire dans l’un des blogs : « La Deuxième Chambre du Parlement néerlandais a aujourd’hui rejeté une motion exigeant que le gouvernement rompe tout lien avec le virologiste Albert Osterhaus du Centre médical de l’Université Erasmus de Rotterdam, qui fait l’objet d’une mise en accusation pour conflit d’intérêts en tant que conseiller gouvernemental. De son côté, le Ministre de la Santé Ab Klink annonçait dans le même temps une loi [3] pour la transparence du financement de la recherche, contraignant les scientifiques à révéler les liens financiers qu’ils entretiennent avec des entreprises privées. » [4]

Dans un communiqué sur le site Internet du Ministère de la Santé, M. Klink, dont on sait qu’il compte parmi les amis personnels d’Osterhaus [5], affirmait par la suite que ce dernier n’était qu’un conseiller du Ministère parmi de nombreux autres sur les questions des vaccins contre la grippe A H1N1. Il s’est aussi dit « au courant » des intérêts financiers d’Osterhaus [6] : ils ne cachent rien d’extraordinaire, simplement le progrès de la science et de la santé publique. Du moins, c’est ce qu’on croyait.

Un examen plus poussé du dossier Osterhaus laisse entrevoir que ce virologiste néerlandais à la renommée internationale pourrait se trouver au centre d’une arnaque mettant en jeu plusieurs milliards d’euros autour de l’idée d’une pandémie. Un système frauduleux dans lequel des vaccins non-testés sont injectés à des humains, au risque —cela c’est déjà produit— de provoquer de sévères séquelles, de graves paralysies, voire des décès.

La supercherie des fèces d’oiseau

Albert Osterhaus n’est pas du menu fretin. Il a joué un rôle dans toutes les grandes paniques suscitées par l’apparition de virus, depuis les mystérieux décès imputés au SRAS (Syndrome respiratoire aigu sévère) à Hong-Kong, là où l’actuelle Directrice générale de l’OMS Margaret Chan avait lancé sa carrière de responsable de la Santé Publique au niveau local. D’après sa biographie officielle à la Commission Européenne, en avril 2003, au paroxysme de la panique provoquée par le SRAS, Osterhaus fut engagé pour participer aux enquêtes sur les cas d’infections respiratoires qui se multipliaient alors à Hong Kong. On peut lire ces mots dans le rapport de l’Union Européenne : « il démontra à nouveau son talent à réagir rapidement à de graves situations. En trois semaines, il a prouvé que cette maladie est provoquée par un coronavirus récemment découvert qui contamine les civettes, les chauves-souris et d’autres animaux carnivores. » [7]

Par la suite, quand les cas de SRAS ne firent plus parler d’eux, Osterhaus passa à autre chose, œuvrant cette fois pour la médiatisation des dangers de ce qu’il nommait la grippe aviaire H5N1. En 1997 il avait déjà sonné l’alarme après la mort, à Hong Kong, d’un enfant de trois ans qu’Osterhaus savait avoir été en contact avec des oiseaux. Osterhaus développa son lobbying à travers les Pays-Bas et l’Europe, affirmant qu’une nouvelle mutation létale de la grippe aviaire s’était transmise aux humains et que des mesures drastiques devaient être prises. Il revendiquait être le premier scientifique au monde à avoir montré que le virus H5N1 pouvait contaminer des humains. [8]

Evoquant la dangerosité de la grippe aviaire dans une interview diffusée sur la BBC en octobre 2005, Osterhaus déclarait : « si le virus réussissait effectivement à muter de telle sorte qu’il se transmette ensuite entre humains, alors nous serions dans une situation complètement différente : nous pourrions nous trouver devant un début de pandémie. » .Il ajoutait : « il y a un vrai risque que le virus soit disséminé par les oiseaux dans toute l’Europe. C’est un risque réel que personne n’a pourtant pu évaluer jusqu’à présent, parce que nous n’avons pas mené les expérimentations. » [9] Le virus n’a jamais réussi sa mutation, mais Osterhaus était prêt à « mener des expérimentations » que l’on peut imaginer largement rétribuées.

Pour appuyer son alarmant scénario de pandémie en tentant de lui donner une légitimité scientifique, Osterhaus et ses assistants en poste à Rotterdam commencèrent à collecter et congeler des échantillons de fèces d’oiseaux. Il affirma que, selon les périodes de l’année, jusqu’à 30 % de tous les oiseaux d’Europe s’avéraient transporter le virus mortel de la grippe aviaire H5N1. Il affirma également que les éleveurs en contact avec des poules et des poulets se trouvaient alors exposés au dit virus. Osterhaus briefa les journalistes qui prirent bonne note de son message alarmiste. La classe politique fut mise en alerte. Dans la presse, il émit l’hypothèse selon laquelle le virus, qu’il étiquetait H5N1, après avoir provoqué plusieurs décès aux antipodes asiatiques, allait se propager en Europe, vraisemblablement transporté sur les plumes ou dans les entrailles d’oiseaux mortellement infectés. Il soutenait la thèse d’oiseaux migrateurs capables d’apporter le nouveau virus mortel vers l’ouest aussi loin qu’en Ukraine et sur l’île de Rügen [10]. Il lui suffit pour cela de feindre d’ignorer que les oiseaux ne migrent pas d’est en ouest mais bien du nord vers le sud.

La campagne alarmiste d’Osterhaus autour de la grippe aviaire décolla réellement en 2003, lorsqu’un vétérinaire néerlandais trouva la mort après avoir été malade. Osterhaus annonça que sa mort résultait d’une contamination par le virus H5N1. Il convainquit le Parlement néerlandais d’exiger l’abattage de millions de poulets. Pourtant, aucune autre personne ne succomba à une infection similaire à celle attribuée au H5N1. Pour Osterhaus, cela démontrait l’efficacité de la campagne d’abattage préventif. [11]

Pour Osterhaus, les déjections aviaires propageaient le virus en retombant sur les populations et les autres oiseaux au sol. Il était ferme dans sa conviction que ces déjections constituaient le vecteur de propagation de la nouvelle poussée mortelle du virus H5N1 depuis l’Asie.

Un problème se posait cependant avec le stock grandissant d’échantillons congelés des déjections aviaires que lui et ses associés avaient rassemblés et conservés dans son institut. La présence du virus H5N1 ne put être confirmée dans un seul de ces échantillons. En 2006, à l’occasion du congrès de l’OIE (Office international des épizooties, désormais appelé Organisation mondiale de la santé animale), Osterhaus et ses collègues à l’Université Érasme furent forcés d’admettre qu’en testant les 100 000 échantillons de matières fécales rassemblés avec tant de précaution, ils n’avaient découvert aucune trace du virus H5N1. [12]

En 2008, à Vérone, lors de la conférence de l’OMS intitulée « La grippe aviaire à l’interface Homme-Animal », Osterhaus prenait la parole devant ses collègues scientifiques, sans doute moins échauffés que le public non-scientifique par ses incitations à l’émotivité. Il admettait que : « dans l’état actuel des connaissances, rien ne permet[tait] de formuler une mise en garde contre le virus H5N1, ni d’affirmer qu’il puisse provoquer une pandémie. » [13] Mais, à ce moment-là, son regard se portait déjà fixement sur d’autres gâchettes à actionner pour faire converger son travail sur les vaccins avec de nouvelles possibilités de crise pandémique.

JPEG - 22.7 ko
En 1923, Louis Jouvet met en scène "Knock ou le triomphe de la médecine" de Jules Romain. Un médecin peu scrupuleux s’installe dans une petite ville et parvient à en convaincre les habitants qu’ils sont tous malades. Il leur prescrit des traitements inutiles, coûteux, et parfois dangereux. La pièce est portée à l’écran en 1933. L’escroc y dit la célèbre réplique : « Les gens bien portants sont des malades qui s’ignorent. »

Grippe A et corruption à l’OMS

Constatant que la grippe aviaire n’avait fait surgir aucune vague meurtrière de grande ampleur —et après que Roche, qui produit le Tamiflu, et GlaxoSmithKline, qui produit le Relenza, eurent encaissé des milliards de dollars de profits quand les gouvernement ont décidé de stocker des vaccins antiviraux contestés—, Osterhaus et les autres conseillers pour l’OMS se tournèrent vers de plus verts pâturages.

En avril 2009, leurs recherches semblaient couronnées de succès lorsqu’à La Gloria, un petit village mexicain de l’État du Veracruz, un enfant malade fut diagnostiqué comme porteur de la grippe alors dite « porcine » ou H1N1. Avec un empressement déplacé, l’appareil propagandiste de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé à Genève fut lancé sur les chapeaux de roues avec les déclarations de son Directeur Général, le Docteur Margaret Chan, concernant l’éventuelle menace d’une pandémie mondiale.

Mme Chan évoqua « l’urgence de santé publique d’envergure internationale » [14] Par la suite, d’autres cas déclarés à La Gloria furent présentés sur un site Internet médical comme : une « étrange » poussée d’infections pulmonaires et respiratoires aiguës, qui évoluent en broncho-pneumonie dans certains cas rencontrés chez des enfants. Un habitant du village en décrivait les symptômes : « fièvres, toux sévères et sécrétions nasales très importantes » [15]

Ces symptômes prennent par contre tout leur sens dans le contexte environnemental de La Gloria, une des zones au monde qui concentrent le plus grand nombre de porcs en élevage intensif, dont les exploitations sont principalement détenues par l’américain Smithfield. Depuis des mois, la population locale manifestait devant le siège mexicain du groupe Smithfield, se plaignant de graves affections respiratoires dues aux lisiers de porc. Cette cause plausible pour les diverses maladies diagnostiquées à La Gloria ne sembla intéresser ni Osterhaus ni les autres conseillers de l’OMS. Enfin se profilait la pandémie tant attendue, celle qu’il avait prédite dès 2003, lors de sa participation aux recherches sur le SRAS dans la province de Guandgong en Chine.

Le 11 juin 2009, Margaret Chan annonçait que la propagation du virus de la grippe H1N1 avait atteint le niveau 6 de l’« urgence pandémique ». Curieusement, elle précisait lors de cette annonce que « selon les informations disponibles à ce jour, une majorité écrasante de patients ressentent des symptômes bénins ; leur rétablissement est rapide et complet, le plus souvent en ne recourant à aucun traitement médical. » Avant d’ajouter : « Au niveau mondial, le nombre de décès est peu important, nous ne nous attendons pas à voir une poussée soudaine et spectaculaire du nombre des infections graves ou mortelles. »

On apprenait plus tard que Chan avait agi à la suite de débats fiévreux à l’OMS, sur les conseils du Groupe stratégique consultatif d’experts de l’OMS (SAGE, Strategic Advisory Group of Experts). L’un des membres du SAGE, à l’époque et encore aujourd’hui, est notre « Monsieur Grippe », le docteur Albert Osterhaus.

Osterhaus occupait non seulement une position stratégique pour recommander à l’OMS de déclarer l’« urgence pandémique » et inciter à la panique, mais il était aussi le président d’une organisation en première ligne sur le sujet, le Groupe de travail scientifique européen sur la grippe (ESWI, European Scientific Working group on Influenza), qui se définit comme un « groupe multidisciplinaire de leaders d’opinion sur la grippe, dont le but est de lutter contre les répercussions d’une épidémie ou d’une pandémie grippales » Comme ses membres l’expliquent eux-mêmes, l’ESWI mené par Osterhaus est le pivot central « entre l’OMS à Genève, l’Institut Robert Koch à Berlin et l’Université du Connecticut aux États-Unis. »

Le plus significatif au sujet de l’ESWI est que son travail est entièrement financé par les mêmes laboratoires pharmaceutiques qui gagnent des milliards grâce à l’urgence pandémique, tandis que les annonces faites par l’OMS obligent les gouvernements du monde entier à acheter et stocker des vaccins. L’ESWI reçoit des financements des fabricants et des distributeurs de vaccins contre le H1N1, tels que Baxter Vaccins, MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur et d’autres, dont Novartis, qui produit le vaccin et le distributeur du Tamiflu, Hofmann-La Roche.

Pour garder l’avantage, Albert Osterhaus, le plus grand virologiste mondial, conseiller officiel sur le virus H1N1 des gouvernements britannique et néerlandais et chef du Département de Virologie du Centre médical de l’Université Érasme, siégeait à la fois parmi l’élite de l’OMS réunie dans le groupe SAGE et présidait l’ESWI, parrainé par l’industrie pharmaceutique. À son tour, l’ESWI recommanda des mesures extraordinaires pour vacciner le monde entier, considérant comme élevé le risque d’une nouvelle pandémie qui, disait-on avec insistance, pourrait être comparable à l’effrayante pandémie de grippe espagnole de 1918.

La banque JP Morgan, présente à Wall Street, estimait que, principalement grâce à l’alerte pandémique lancée par l’OMS, les grands industriels pharmaceutiques, qui financent également le travail de l’ESWI d’Osterhaus, étaient prêts à engranger 7,5 à 10 milliards de dollars de bénéfices. [16]

Le docteur Frederick Hayden est à la fois membre du SAGE à l’OMS et du Wellcome Trust à Londres ; il compte notamment parmi les proches amis d’Osterhaus. Au titre de services « consultatifs », Hayden reçoit par ailleurs des fonds de la part de Roche et de GlaxoSmithKline parmi d’autres géants pharmaceutiques engagés dans la production de produits liés à la crise du H1N1.

Un autre scientifique britannique, le professeur David Salisbury, qui dépend du ministère britannique de la Santé, est à la tête du SAGE à l’OMS. Il dirige également le Groupe consultatif sur le H1N1 à l’OMS. Salisbury est un fervent défenseur de l’industrie pharmaceutique. Au Royaume-Uni, le groupe de défense de la santé One Click l’a accusé de dissimuler la corrélation avérée entre les vaccins et la montée en flèche de l’autisme chez l’enfant, ainsi que celle existant entre le vaccin Gardasil et des cas de paralysie et même de décès. [17]

Le 28 septembre 2009, le même Salisbury déclarait : « la communauté scientifique s’accorde sur l’absence totale de risque concernant l’inoculation du Thimérosal (ou Thiomersal). » Ce vaccin, utilisé contre le H1N1 en Grande-Bretagne, est principalement produit par GlaxoSmithKlilne. Il contient du Thimérosal, un conservateur à base de mercure. En 1999, de plus en plus de preuves faisant état que le Thimérosal présent dans les vaccins pourrait être la cause de cas d’autisme chez l’enfant aux États-Unis, l’American Academy of Pediatrics (Académie américaine de pédiatrie) et le Public Health Service (Bureau de la santé publique) avaient exigé son retrait de la composition des vaccins. [18]

On trouve encore un autre membre de l’OMS partageant d’étroits liens financiers avec les fabricants de vaccins qui profitent des recommandations du SAGE, en la personne du docteur Arnold Monto, un consultant rémunéré par les fabricants de vaccins MedImmune, Glaxo et ViroPharma.

Pire encore, participent aux réunions de scientifiques « indépendants » du SAGE, des « observateurs » comprenant, et oui, les mêmes producteurs de vaccins GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Baxter et consort. On peut se demander, si les meilleurs experts de la grippe au monde sont censés composer le SAGE, pourquoi invitent-ils les fabricants de vaccins à y participer ?

Au cours de la dernière décennie, l’OMS mettait en place ce que l’on nomme des « partenariats public/privé », dans le but d’accroître les fonds à sa disposition. Mais, plutôt que de recevoir des fonds provenant uniquement des gouvernements des pays membres de l’ONU, comme cela était prévu à l’origine, l’OMS reçoit à l’heure actuelle de la part des entreprises privées près du double du budget habituellement alloué par l’ONU sous forme de bourses et d’aides financières. De quelles entreprises privées ? Des mêmes fabricants de vaccins et de médicaments qui profitent des décisions officielles telles que celle prise en juin 2009 à propos de l’urgence pandémique de la grippe H1N1. Tout comme les bienfaiteurs de l’OMS, les grands laboratoires ont tout naturellement leurs entrées à Genève, et ont droit à un traitement fait de « portes ouvertes et de tapis rouges » [19].

Dans une interview donnée au magazine allemand Der Spiegel, un membre de la Cochrane Collaboration, une organisation de scientifiques indépendants qui évaluent toutes les études menées sur la grippe, l’épidémiologiste Tom Jefferson montrait les conséquences de la privatisation de l’OMS et la marchandisation de la santé.

« T. Jefferson : […] l’une des caractéristiques les plus ahurissantes de cette grippe, et de tout le roman-feuilleton qui en a découlé, est que, année après année, des gens émettent des prévisions de plus en plus pessimistes. Jusqu’à présent, aucune ne s’est jamais réalisée et ces personnes sont toujours là à répéter leurs prédictions. Par exemple, qu’est-il arrivé avec la grippe aviaire qui était censée tous nous tuer ? Rien. Mais, ce n’est pas cela qui arrête ces gens de faire leurs prédictions. Parfois, on a le sentiment que c’est toute une industrie qui se prête à espérer une pandémie.
Der Spiegel : De qui parlez-vous ? De l’OMS ?
T. J : L’OMS et les responsables de la santé publique, les virologistes et les laboratoires pharmaceutiques. Ils ont construit tout un système autour de l’imminence de la pandémie. Beaucoup d’argent est en jeu, ainsi que des réseaux d’influence, des carrières et des institutions tout entières ! Et il a suffit qu’un des virus de la grippe mute pour voir toute la machine se mettre en branle. »
[20]

Lorsqu’on lui a demandé si l’OMS avait délibérément déclaré l’urgence pandémique dans le but de créer un immense marché pour les vaccins et les médicaments contre le H1N1, Jefferson a répondu :

« Ne trouvez-vous pas frappant que l’OMS ait modifié sa définition de la pandémie ? L’ancienne définition parlait d’un virus nouveau, à propagation rapide, pour lequel l’immunité n’existe pas, et qui entraîne un taux élevé de malades et de décès. Aujourd’hui, ces deux derniers points sur les taux d’infection ont été supprimés, et c’est ainsi que la grippe A est entrée dans la catégorie des pandémies. » [21]

Très judicieusement, l’OMS publiait en avril 2009 la nouvelle définition de la pandémie, juste à temps pour permettre à l’OMS, sur les conseils émanant, entre autres, du SAGE, de « Monsieur Grippe », alias Albert Osterhaus, et de David Salisbury, de qualifier d’urgence pandémique des cas bénins de grippe, rebaptisée grippe A H1N1. [22]

Le 8 décembre 2009, dans la note en bas de page pertinente d’un article sur la gravité ou la bénignité de la « pandémie mondiale » du H1N1, le Washington Post mentionnait que : « la deuxième vague d’infection du H1N1 étant parvenue à son apogée aux États-Unis, les principaux épidémiologistes prévoient que la pandémie pourrait compter parmi les plus bénignes depuis que la médecine moderne documente les épidémies de grippe. » [23]

Igor Barinov, parlementaire russe et président du Comité pour la Santé à la Douma, a exigé des représentants russes à l’OMS en poste à Genève qu’ils diligentent une enquête officielle sur les indices multiples de la corruption massive acceptée par l’OMS et menée par l’industrie pharmaceutique. « De graves accusations de corruption sont prononcées à l’encontre de l’OMS », affirmait Barinov. « Une commission internationale d’enquête doit s’organiser au plus vite. » [24]

Version française : Nathalie Krieg pour Voltairenet.

[1] NDT : Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (Deuxième Chambre des États-Généraux des Pays-Bas, elle correspond à la Chambre basse).

[2] Article en anglais, Martin Enserink, in "Holland, the Public Face of Flu Takes a Hit" (« Hollande, le visage public de la grippe essuie un coup »), Science, 16 octobre 2009, Vol. 326, n° 5951, pp. 350–351 ; DOI : 10.1126/science.326_350b.

[3] NDT : « Sunshine Act », en référence à la dénomination états-unienne des lois concernant la liberté d’information.

[4] Article en anglais, Science, 3 novembre 2009, "Roundup 11/3 The Brink Edition".

[5] Article en néerlandais, "De Farma maffia Deel 1 Osterhaus BV", 28 novembre 2009.

[6] Article en néerlandais, Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport, "Financiële belangen Osterhaus waren bekend Nieuwsbericht", 30 septembre 2009.

[7] Albert Osterhaus, Commission Européenne, « Recherche ».

[8] Ibid.

[9] Article en anglais, Jane Corbin, Interview with Dr Albert Osterhaus (« Entretien avec le Docteur Albert Osterhaus »), BBC Panorama, 4 octobre 2005.

[10] Article en allemand, Karin Steinberger, "Vogelgrippe : Der Mann mit der Vogelperspektive", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 20 octobre 2005.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Article en allemand, "Schweinegrippe—Geldgieriger Psychopath Auslöser der Pandemie ?", Polskaweb News.

[13] Article en anglais, Ab Osterhaus, "External factors influencing H5N1 mutation/reassortment events with pandemic potential" (« Facteurs externes à fort potentiel pandémique entrant en jeu dans les cas de mutation et de réassortiment du virus H1N1 »), OIE, 7-9 octobre 2008, Vérone, Italie. Téléchargement.

[14] Article en anglais, Health Advisory, Swine Flu Overview, avril 2009.

[15] Article en anglais, Biosurveillance, Swine Flu in Mexico- Timeline of Events, 24 avril 2009.

[16] Cité dans l’article en néerlandais de Louise Voller et Kristian Villesen, "Stærk lobbyisme bag WHO-beslutning om massevaccination", Information, Copenhagen, 15 novembre 2009.

[17] Article en anglais, Jane Bryant, et al, "The One Click Group Response : Prof. David Salisbury Threatens Legal Action" (« Le Professeur David Salisbury répond au groupe One Click par la menace d’une action judiciaire »), 4 mars 2009. Téléchargement.

[18] Prof. David Salisbury cité dans l’article en anglais "Swine flu vaccine to contain axed additive" (« La vaccin anti-grippe A contiendrait un adjuvant retiré du marché »), London Evening Standard et Gulf News, 28 septembre 2009.

[19] Article en allemand, Bert Ehgartner, "Schwindel mit der Schweinegrippe Ist die Aufregung ein Coup der Pharmaindustrie ?"

[20] Tom Jefferson, Entretien avec l’épistémologiste Tom Jefferson : « C’est toute une industrie qui espère une pandémie de grippe », Der Spiegel, 21 juillet 2009.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Article en néerlandais, Louise Voller, Kristian Villesen, "Mystisk ændring af WHO’s definition af en pandemi", Copenhagen Information, 15 novembre 2009.

[23] Article en anglais, Rob Stein, "Flu Pandemic Could Be Mild" (« La pandémie de grippe pourrait être modérée »), Washington Post, 8 décembre 2009.

[24] Article en néerlandais "Russland fordert internationale Untersuchung", Polskanet, 5 décembre 2009.

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swine flu: who, laquais of big pharma

http://www.rense.com/general88/megawho.htm

Mega Corruption Scandal At The WHO

By F. William Engdahl

Author of Full Spectrum Dominance:

Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order

12-9-9




WHO's 'Mr Flu' Holland's Albert Osterhaus
has deep ties to pharma industry



The WHO gets more money from private pharma and
related industry sources than from governments



The UK Pharma Giant GlaxoSmithKline is at the heart
of the WHO scandals of influence peddling


The man with the nickname "Dr Flu", Professor Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam Holland has been named by Dutch media researchers as the person at the center of the worldwide Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A 2009 pandemic hysteria. Not only is Osterhaus the connecting person in an international network that has been described as the Pharma Mafia, he is THE key advisor to WHO on influenza and is intimately positioned to personally profit from the billions of euros in vaccines allegedly aimed at H1N1.

Earlier this year the Second Chamber of the Netherlands Parliament undertook an investigation into alleged conflicts of interest and financial improprieties of the well-known Dr. Osterhaus. Outside of Holland and the Dutch media, the only note of the sensational investigation into Osterhaus' business affairs came in a tiny note in the respected British magazine, Science.

Osterhaus's credentials and expertise in his field were not in question. What is in question, according to a short report published by the journal Science, are his links to corporate interests that stand to potentially profit from the swine flu pandemic. Science carried the following brief note in its October 16 2009 issue about Osterhaus:

" For the past 6 months, one could barely switch on the television in the Netherlands without seeing the face of famed virus hunter Albert Osterhaus talking about the swine flu pandemic. Or so it has seemed. Osterhaus, who runs an internationally renowned virus lab at Erasmus Medical Center, has been Mr. Flu. But last week, his reputation took a nosedive after it was alleged that he has been stoking pandemic fears to promote his own business interests in vaccine development.Last week, his reputation took a nosedive after it was alleged that he has been stoking pandemic fears to promote his own business interests in vaccine development. As Science went to press, the Dutch House of Representatives had even slated an emergency debate about the matter."

On November 3, 2009 it appeared that Osterhaus emerged with at least the damage somewhat under control. An updated Science blog noted, "The House of Representatives of the Netherlands today rejected a motion asking the government to sever all ties with virologist Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, who had been accused of conflicts of interest in his role as a government adviser. But Dutch health minister Ab Klink, meanwhile, announced a "Sunshine Act" compelling scientists to disclose their financial ties to companies."

The Minister, Ab Klink, reportedly a personal friend of Osterhaus, subsequently issued a statement on the ministry's website, claiming that Osterhaus was but one of many scientific advisers to the ministry on vaccines for H1N1, and that the Ministry "knew" about the financial interests of Osterhaus. Nothing out of the ordinary, merely pursuit of science and public health, so it seemed.

More careful investigation into the Osterhaus Affair suggests that the world-renowned Dutch Virologist may be at the very center of a multi-billion Euro pandemic fraud which has used human beings in effect as human guinea pigs with untested vaccines and in cases now emerging, resulting in deaths or severe bodily paralysis or injury.

The 'Bird Shit Hoax'

Albert Osterhaus is no small fish. He stands at the global nexus of every major virus panic of the past decade from the mysterious SARS deaths in HongKong, where current WHO Director Margaret Chan got her start in her career as a local health official. According to his official bio at the European Commission, Osterhaus was engaged in April 2003, at the height of the panic over SARS (Severe Acquired Respiratory Syndrome) in investigation of the Hong Kong outbreak of respiratory illnesses. The EU report states, "he again showed his skill at moving fast to tackle a serious problem. Within three weeks he had proved that the disease was caused by a newly discovered coronavirus that resides in civet cats, other carnivorous animals or bats."

Then Osterhaus moved on as SARS cases vanished from view, this time publicizing dangers of what he claimed was H5N1 Avian Flu. In 1997 he had already began sounding the alarm following the death in Hong Kong of a three-year-old who Osterhaus learned had had direct contact with birds. Osterhaus went into high gear lobbying across Holland and Europe claiming that a deadly new mutation of avian flu had jumped to humans and that drastic measures were required. He claimed to be the first scientist in the world to show that H5N1 could be transferred into humans.
In a BBC interview in October 2005 on the danger of Avian Flu, Osterhaus declared, "if the virus manages indeed to, to mutate itself in such a way that it can transmit from human to human, then we have a completely different situation, we might be at the start of the pandemic." He added, "there is a real chance that this virus could be trafficked by the birds all the way to Europe. There is a real risk, but nobody can estimate the risk at this moment, because we haven't done the experiments." It never did manage to mutate, but he was ready to "do the experiments," presumably for a hefty fee.

To bolster his frightening pandemic scenario, Osterhaus and his lab assistants in Rotterdam began assiduously assembling and freezing samples of, well, bird shit, in an attempt to build a more scientific argument. He claimed that at certain times of the year up to 30% of all European birds acted as carriers of the deadly avian virus, H5N1. He also claimed that farmers working with hens and chickens were then exposed. Osterhaus briefed journalists who dutifully noted his alarm. Politicians were alerted. He wrote papers proposing that the far away deaths in Asia from what he termed H5N1 were coming to Europe, presumably on the wongs or in the innards of deadly sick infected birds. He claimed that migratory birds were carrying the deadly new disease as far west as Rügen and Ukraine. He conveniently ignored the fact that birds do not migrate east to west but rather north to south.

Osterhaus' Avian Flu alarm campaign really took off in 2003 when a Dutch veterinary doctor became ill and died. Osterhaus claimed the death was from H5N1. He convinced the Dutch government to order slaughter of millions of chickens. Yet no other infected persons died from the alleged H5N1. Osterhaus claimed that that was simply proof of the effectiveness of the preemptive slaughter campaign.

Osterhaus claimed that bird feces were the source, via air bombardment or droppings, onto populations and birds below. That was the vehicle for the spread of the deadly new Asian strain of H5N1 he insisted.

There was only one problem with the now voluminous frozen samples of diverse bird excrement he and his associated had collected and frozen at his institute. There was not one single confirmed example of H5N1 virus found in any of his samples. At a May 2006 Congress of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), Osterhaus and his Erasmus colleagues were forced to admit that in testing 100,000 samples of their assiduously saved bird feces, they had discovered not one single case of H5N1 virus.

At a WHO conference in Verona in 2008 titled "Avian influenza at the Human-Animal Interface," in a presentation to scientific colleagues undoubtedly less impressed by appeals to pandemic emotion than the non-scientific public, Osterhaus admitted that "A proper risk assessment of H5N1 as the cause of a new pandemic cannot be made with the currently available information." By then, however, his sights were already firmly on other possible pandemic triggers to focus his vaccination activities.

Swine Flu and WHO corruption

When no mass wave of human deaths from Avian Flu materialized and after Roche, maker of Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline had banked billions of dollars in profits from worldwide government stockpiling of their dangerous and reportedly ineffective antiviral drugs, Tamiflu by Roche, and Relenza by GlaxoSmithKline, Osterhaus and other WHO advisers turned to other greener pastures.

By April 2009 their search seemed rewarded as La Gloria, a small Mexican village in Veracruz, reported a case of a small child ill with what had been diagnosed as "Swine Flu" or H1N1. With indecent haste the propaganda apparatus of the World Health Organization in Geneva went into gear with statements from the director-general Dr Margaret Chan, about a possible danger of a global pandemic.

Chan made such irresponsible statements as declaring "a public health emergency of international concern." The further cases of outbreak at La Gloria Mexico were reported on one medical website as, "a 'strange' outbreak of acute respiratory infection, which led to bronchial pneumonia in some pediatric cases. According to a local resident, symptoms included fever, severe cough, and large amounts of phlegm."

Notably those were symptoms which would make sense in terms of the proximity of one of the world's largest pig industrial feeding concentrations at La Gloria owned by Smithfield Farms of the USA. Residents had picketed the Smithfield Farms site in Mexico for months complaining of severe respiratory problems from the fecal waste lagoons. That possible cause of the diseases in La Gloria apparently did not interest Osterhaus and his colleagues advising the WHO. The long-awaited "pandemic" that Osterhaus had predicted ever since his involvement with SARS in the Guandgong Province of China in 2003, was now finally at hand.

On June 11, 2009 Margaret Chan of WHO made the declaration of a Phase 6 "Pandemic Emergency" regarding the spread of H1N1 Influenza. Curiously in announcing it, she noted, "On present evidence, the overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms and make a rapid and full recovery, often in the absence of any form of medical treatment." She then added, "Worldwide, the number of deaths is smallwe do not expect to see a sudden and dramatic jump in the number of severe or fatal infections."

It later was learned that Chan acted, following heated debates inside WHO, on the advice of the scientific advisory group of WHO, or SAGE, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts. One of the members of SAGE at the time and today was Dr. Albert "Mr Flu" Osterhaus.

Not only was Osterhaus in a key position to advocate the panic-inducing WHO "Pandemic emergency" declaration. He was also chairman of the leading private European Scientific Working group on Influenza (ESWI), which describes itself as a "multidisciplinary group of key opinion leaders in influenza [that] aims to combat the impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza." Osterhaus' ESWI is the vital link as they themselves describe it, "between the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and the University of Connecticut, USA."

What is more significant about the ESWI is that its work is entirely financed by the same pharma mafia companies that make billions on the pandemic emergency as governments around the world are compelled to buy and stockpile vaccines on declaration of a WHO Pandemic. The funders of ESWI include H1N1 vaccine maker Novartis, Tamiflu distributor, Hofmann-La Roche, Baxter Vaccines, MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur and others.

Not to lose the point, the world-leading virologist, official adviser on H1N1 to the governments of the UK and Holland, Dr Albert Osterhaus, head of the Department of Virology at the Erasmus Medical College of Rotterdam, also sat on the WHO's elite SAGE and served as chairman at the same time of the pharma industry-sponsored ESWI, which in turn urged dramatic steps to vaccinate the world against the grave danger of a new Pandemic they insisted could rival the feared 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.

The Wall Street bank, JP Morgan, estimated that in large part as a result of the WHO pandemic decision, the giant pharma firms that also finance Osterhaus' ESWI work, stand to reap some ¤7.5 to ¤10 billion in profits.

A fellow member of WHO's SAGE is Dr Frederick Hayden, of Britain's Wellcome Trust and reportedly a close friend of Osterhaus. Hayden also receives money for "advisory" services from Roche and GlaxoSmithKline among other pharma giants involved in producing products related to the H1N1 panic.

Chairman of WHO's SAGE is another British scientist, Prof. David Salisbury of the UK Department of Health. He also heads the WHO H1N1 Advisory Group. Salisbury is a robust defender of the pharma industry. He has been accused by UK health citizen health group One Click of covering up the proven links between vaccines and an explosive rise in infant autism as well as links between the vaccine Gardasil and palsy and even death.

Then on September 28, 2009 the same Salisbury stated, "There is a very clear view in the scientific community that there is no risk from the inclusion of Thiomersal." The vaccine being used for H1N1 in Britain is primarily produced by GlaxoSmithKlilne. It contains the mercury preservative Thiomersol. Because of growing evidence that Thiomersol in vaccines might be related to autism in children in the United States, in 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Public Health Service called for it to be removed from vaccines.

Yet another SAGE member at WHO with intimate financial ties to the vaccine makers that benefit from SAGE's recommendations to WHO is Dr. Arnold Monto, a paid consultant to vaccine maker MedImmune, Glaxo and ViroPharma.

Even more, the meetings of the "independent" scientists of SAGE are attended by "observers" who include, yes, the very vaccine producers GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Baxter and company. One might ask if the SAGE are supposed to be the world's leading experts on flu and vaccines, why they would ask the vaccine makers to sit in.

In the past decade the WHO, in order to boost funds at its disposal entered into what it calls "public private partnerships." Instead of receiving its funds solely from member United Nations governments as its original purpose had been, WHO today receives almost double its normal UN budget in the form of grants and financial support from private industry. The industry? The very drug and vaccine makers who benefit from decisions like the June 2009 H1N1 Pandemic emergency declaration. As the main financiers of the WHO bureaucracy, naturally the Pharma Mafia and their friends receive what has been called "open door red carpet treatment" in Geneva.

In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine in Germany, epidemiologist Dr. Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Collaboration, an organization of independent scientists evaluating all flu related studies, noted the implications of the privatization of WHO and the commercialization of health:

"one of the extraordinary features of this influenza -- and the whole influenza saga -- is that there are some people who make predictions year after year, and they get worse and worse. None of them so far have come about, and these people are still there making these predictions. For example, what happened with the bird flu, which was supposed to kill us all? Nothing. But that doesn't stop these people from always making their predictions. Sometimes you get the feeling that there is a whole industry almost waiting for a pandemic to occur.

SPIEGEL: Who do you mean? The World Health Organization (WHO)?

Jefferson: The WHO and public health officials, virologists and the pharmaceutical companies. They've built this machine around the impending pandemic. And there's a lot of money involved, and influence, and careers, and entire institutions! And all it took was one of these influenza viruses to mutate to start the machine grinding...

When asked if the WHO had deliberately declared the Pandemic Emergency in order to create a huge market for H1N1 vaccines and drugs, Jefferson replied,

"Don't you think there's something noteworthy about the fact that the WHO has changed its definition of pandemic? The old definition was a new virus, which went around quickly, for which you didn't have immunity, and which created a high morbidity and mortality rate. Now the last two have been dropped, and that's how swine flu has been categorized as a pandemic."

Conveniently enough, the WHO published the new Pandemic definition in April 2009 just in time to allow WHO, on advice of SAGE and others like Albert "Dr Flu" Osterhaus and David Salisbury, to declare the mild cases of flu dubbed H1N1 Influenza A to be declared Pandemic Emergency.

In a relevant footnote, the Washington Post on December 8 in an article on the severity, or lack of same, of the world H1N1 "pandemic" reported that, "with the second wave of H1N1 infections having crested in the United States, leading epidemiologists are predicting that the pandemic could end up ranking as the mildest since modern medicine began documenting influenza outbreaks."

Russian Parliamentarian and chairman of the Duma Health Committee, Igor Barinow has called on the Russian Representative to WHO in Geneva to order an official investigation into the growing evidence of massive corruption of the WHO by the pharmaceutical industry. "There are grave accusations of corruption within the WHO," said Barinow. "An international commission of inquiry is urgently required."

Endnotes

Martin Enserink, In Holland, the Public Face of Flu Takes a Hit,
Science, 16 October 2009:
Vol. 326. no. 5951, pp. 350 ­ 351; DOI: 10.1126/science.326_350b.


Science, November 3, 2009, Roundup 11/3 The Brink Edition, accessed on
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/panay.jpg
&imgrefurl=http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/roundup-113-the.html&usg=___
pt_M2p5uuWJw2outvX-U8SbR9E=&h=168&w=250&sz=21&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=MnfYxYJ9Q_
EqPM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dalbert%2Bosterhaus%2Bscience
%2Bmagazine%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den.


Article from Dutch, De Farma maffia Deel 1 Osterhaus BV, 28 november 2009, accessed in
http://hetonderzoek.blogspot.com/2009/11/de-farma-maffia-deel1-osterhaus-bv.html.


Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport, Financiële belangen Osterhaus waren bekend
Nieuwsbericht, 30 september 2009, accessed in
http://www.minvws.nl/nieuwsberichten/pg/2009/osterhaus.asp.


European Commission, "Research", Dr Albert Osterhaus, accessed in
http://ec.europa.eu/research/profiles/index_en.cfm?p=1_osterhaus.
Ibid.


Jane Corbin, Interview with Dr Albert Osterhaus, BBC Panorama, 4 October, 2005.


Karin Steinberger, Vogelgrippe: Der Mann mit der Vogelperspektive, Seuddeutsche Zeitung, 20 October, 2005, accessed in
"http://www.seuddeutsche.de" www.seuddeutsche.de panorama/8/373818/text/.
Ibid.


Schweinegrippe-Geldgieriger Psychopath Auslöser der Pandemie?, accessed in
http://polskaweb.eu/vater-der-neuen-grippen-wahrscheinlich-wahnsinnig-673756422645.html.


Ab Osterhaus, External factors influencing H5N1 mutation/reassortment events with pandemic potential, OIE, 7-9 October 2008, Verona, Italy, accessed in
http://www.oie.int/eng/info_ev/en_verone.htm.


WHO Health Advisory, April 2009, accessed in HYPERLINK "http://www.swine-flu-vaccine.info/" http://www.swine-flu-vaccine.info/.


Biosurveillance, Swine Flu in Mexico- Timeline of Events, April 24, 2009, accessed in
http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html.


Cited in Louise Voller, Kristian Villesen, Stærk lobbyisme bag WHO-beslutning om massevaccination , Information, Copenhagen, 15 November 2009 accessed in http://www.information.dk/215355.


Jane Bryant, et al, The One Click Group Response: Prof. David Salisbury Threatens Legal Action, 4 March, 2009, accessed in
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/documents/vaccines/
David%20Salisbury%20Threatens%20One%20Click.pdf.


Prof. David Salisbury cited in, Swine flu vaccine to contain axed additive, London Evening Standard, 28 September 2009, accessed in .
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item
_no=316888&version=1&template_id=38&parent_id=20


Bert Ehgartner, Schwindel mit der Schweinegrippe Ist die Aufregung ein Coup der Pharmaindustrie? Accessed in
http://www.profil.at/articles/0944/560/254615/schwindel-
schweinegrippe-ist-aufregung-coup-pharmaindustrie.


Tom Jefferson, Interview with Epidemiologist Tom Jefferson: 'A Whole Industry Is Waiting For A Pandemic' Der Spiegel, 21 July 2009, accessed in
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,637119,00.html.

Ibid.


Louise Voller, Kristian Villesen, Mystisk ændring af WHO's definition af en pandemi,Copenhagen Information, 15 November 2009, accessed in
http://www.information.dk/215341.


Rob Stein, Flu Pandemic Could Be Mild, Washington Post, December 8, 2009.


Polskanet, Russland fordert internationale Untersuchung, 5 December 2009, accessed in

http://polskaweb.eu/vater-der-neuen-grippen-wahrscheinlich-wahnsinnig-673756422645.html