Did France organize the terror attacks in its own soil?

I would not be surprised at all. In fact it has been my suspicion from day one considering what is DAESH, who arms, leads and equips it, the obligatory "cui bono?" question and the disproportionate reaction of declaring a permanent state of emergency in the Hexagon, just as happened in the USA after 9-11. 

But until now I had no evidence, just reasonable suspicion. Exiled French investigative journalist Thierry Meyssan shares now evidence, first published by the Croat newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija, that strongly supports the case.

The evidence is that the weapons used in the attack, and also the previous one against a controversial magazine and a Jewish supermarket, were bought in Croatia and moved to France through customs officers associated to the far-right National Front (FN) party, Claude Hermant. 

Hermant is a shadowy character involved in what seems to be the so-called Deep State (or Gladio Network, which operates through all NATO and beyond), specifically the security department of the National Front (DPS), a true autonomous mini-army with wide connections with the overall state and not just the FN and, in opinion of Meyssan, directly controlled by the Elysée rather than by the FN:

In summary, Mr. Hermant belonged to a structure which, under cover of the security unit for the Front National, was unofficially charged by the Élysée with secret missions overseas. Today he is paid for freelance work by the Customs and the Gendarmerie, still without any official status. According to Slobodna Dalmacija, he bought decommissioned weapons in Serbia and recommissioned them himself, and that these were the weapons used in the attacks of January and November.

One could naively expect that maybe the police and judiciary would eventually unveil all this but in fact it seems most unlikely when the whole apparatus of the state is involved. Certainly Hermant, who is the weak link, was imprisoned but only because an independent tribunal from Calais got involved and not by the super-judges of Paris on charge of the main investigation: Christophe Tessier, Nathalie Poux et Laurence Le Vert. Le Vert, who is sadly well known to Basques for her many repressive interventions, is incidentally (but surely not accidentally) sister of Gérard Le Vert, the former boss of Hermant in the DPS. 

Meyssan concludes:

In conclusion, either Mr. Hermant was working on infiltrating the terrorist cells who perpetrated the attacks, without their action having been prevented, or else – and this is less probable – his current superiors, probably in the Élysée, themselves participated in the organisation of the attacks. But it still has to be determined why, and in whose name, Claude Hernant’s superiors acted as they did.

Why would it be less probable, Mr. Meyssan? Isn't it apparent that the attacks serve the interest of the deep French state, primarily, against its own population and, secondarily, against the Syrian people and state? Isn't it obvious that the state of emergency, an effective dictatorship with few concessions for free expression and right to protest, is what the regime was looking for?

Another question would be why is France pursuing this totalitarianism right now, when it has no obvious threats (the social conflict arena has been pretty much idle since the general strike of 2010 and the Real Left is making no gains in elections)? My suspicion is that it is part of a wider pan-European plan but that somehow, at least by now, it has not been fully implemented, not yet, not in other states (although the Spanish "muzzle law" is pretty much the same thing, just that with no pretext at all). Why is France of all the European states leading the way to outright fascism?

Curfew imposed on Northern Kurdistan capital of Diyarbakir

Several districts of the effective capital of Northern Kurdistan, Diyarbakir (known as Amed to Kurds), have been put under total curfew by the occupant power, Turkey. People has been forced to leave the area, while those who remain can't go out even to recover the bodies of their dead children.

The situation of North Kurdistan is everyday more similar to that of Palestine: discrimination and genocide under massive military occupation.

Turkey: hands off Kurdistan now!

In related news, several Basque, Valencian and Castilian internationalists, as well as Kurdish exile, were arrested yesterday by Spanish police under the accusation of trying to join Kurdish forces fighting for democracy and socialism. Spain, as usual, joins forces with Turkey and the Islamists against the will of the peoples.

Update (Jan 30): Grand Inquisitor¹ Eloy Velasco has declared the small party Refundación Comunista (Communist Refoundation) illegal for the next year for allegedly aiding the PKK, forcibly closing their sees in Madrid and Valencia. Most of the arrested have been set free but two, including the Kurdish one, have been sent to prison, a bail of 10,000 and 6000 euros respectively are demanded.

¹ Naturally I mean judge of the political tribunal Audiencia Nacional, infamous for all kind of political persecutions and also for aiding the impunity of politicians.

PASOK in Spain

While there is yet not formal announcement, nor candidate, nor anything specific in positive, there are good reasons to suspect that a "great coalition" of the regime's parties has been agreed all the this time and only awaits formal announcement. 

What has happened in the Spain in this last month that has installed that conviction in my mind and soon in that of everybody?

1. Almost every single leader of the PSOE, even those who govern regionally with Podemos, have been vocal against any sort of pact with the rising star of the Spanish political spectrum. Emphasis has been on the issue of the right to self-determination for Catalonia and other stateless nations but it is clearly more than just that. 
2. PSOE and Podemos have barely talked with each other in all this time. Apparently only three short phone calls have taken place between the leaders of the parties, Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias. Meanwhile it is widely known that Sánchez talks every day with the leader of the, numerically irrelevant, yuppie party Ciudadanos.
3. The PSOE has been consciously dedicated to humiliate, deprecate and sideline Podemos as much as they can:
1. They pacted the composition of the boards of both chambers in a way that Podemos would get minimal representation. They had no problem promoting a member of their regional Basque ally, the conservative EAJ-PNV to the Senate's board however.
2. They lent senators to the Catalan nationalists to allow them to have parliamentary groups but blockaded every attempt by the Podemos and United Left associated coalitions to form groups in the lower house.
3. They have just supported a distribution of physical seats that places Podemos representatives on the back ranks, behind of much smaller groups, against all rules and traditions. 
4. When Podemos made a concise public offer of coalition, all second-rank PSOE leaders booed it, claiming it was a "humiliation" (no specific reason was ever provided). Pedro Sánchez did not openly decline it but his right hand, Luena, later explained to the press that they preferred to govern alone. With 80 seats?! Obviously another provocation and humiliation. 

What do all these signs say? Clearly that the PSOE is committed to a "great coalition". Sure, Sánchez made the empty gesture of traveling to Lisbon to consult with his Euro-party colleague and current Prime Minister there A. Costa, who leads also a coalition government with the real left parties, who have extracted major programmatic concessions, but what has done this side of the border has been absolutely nothing other than posing for the cameras and sabotaging his potential ally. So the writing on the wall is clear and every day more so: there will be some sort of "great coalition" and no second elections. 

Why no new elections? Because it would damage the PSOE and Ciudadanos at the expense of the PP and Podemos. They could in theory allow for a PSOE-Podemos coalition without further supports but the PSOE would be further damaged, something that Sánchez cannot probably afford as the weak leader he is. Anyhow it is obvious by now that this coalition will never coalesce.

Global warming in 30 seconds

Pretty interesting and scary:

Credit: NASA.

Anatolia's Hitler keeps on murdering civilians in Kurdistan

In legal theory all Turkish citizens are equal and the Turkish state should protect them all. In reality if you're Kurdish that does not apply at all.

Video of the latest massacre in the martyr town of Cizre (North Kurdistan), where you can see civilians marching behind a white flag, with the intent of collecting corpses or injured, being shot indiscriminately by Turkish occupation forces. Some were seriously injured, very possibly killed:

The whole series of videos are available at Bilal Gezer's Twitter account and have been also made public by RT.

If you search for Cizre in YouTube, for instance, you will find a lot of other massacres and cold blooded murders by the occupation forces. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Who are the conspirators behind the refugee crisis?

I say conspirators because at least two key events in this sequence of events were clearly organized, at least so it seems for the trained eye. One was the sudden wave of migrants from Turkey, which would have never happened without the blatant complicity of the Turkish government, which is also the main direct backer of Al Qaeda and DAESH in Syria and Iraq. This one was more or less "explained" when the EU made some concessions but is it enough explanation?

The other event was the alleged mass attack on New Year celebrations in Cologne, which remained unreported for days, only came to light (or is it darkness?) via Anglosaxon media and has so far been accompanied by not a single video or even photo evidence, something most strange when every other person goes around with a camera-equipped phone. Reports of an aborted similar episode in Finland have also surfaced but are equally dubious.

Interestingly, Voltaire Net discusses not these but the side effects: the campaign against specifically Angela Merkel, whose pro immigrant attitude (not at all out of altruism but of interest of the German national bourgeoisie, who expects to exploit as many immigrants as possible) has earned her a decline in popularity. 

After analyzing the Tweeter accounts behind the campaign, the author, A. Fomin, concludes that they are several Tweeters (probably bots) operated apparently from the Western USA. Anglosaxon media, Western USA Tweeter bots... you get the idea, right?

Early January the notorious speculator and confessed sponsor of the refugee traffic to Europe George Soros gave an explicit interview to Wirtschafts Woche where he bitterly critisized Merkel’s stricter European and refugee policy suggesting that it would “cost her chancellorship” [2]. Simultaneously the hashtag #ArrestMerkel and “Merkel Has To Go” motto appeared in Twitter and gained an impressive circulation.

Fomin concludes that it is George Soros and far-right agit-prop bots which are the ones behind this strange campaign that may well cause the collapse of EU, regardless of Merkel's political destiny. 

Why is Soros so angry at Merkel? It may well be because Germany has never been a genuine ally in his policies for Ukraine and against Russia, where the ultra-liberal capitalist has worked closely with European and Islamist fascists. But would it suffice to oust Merkel? Can Soros impose a German government that is sheepishly complacent with Anglosaxon bourgeoisie's policies? What do they gain if the EU collapses? Wouldn't such a chaotic situation push many European states into the arms of Russia or into outright independent socialism?

Massive booing of EU hymn in San Sebastian

Donostia seems not anymore what used to be: the bourgeois hymn of the bourgeois European Union was booed in that noisy parade that Donostiarrak hold every year the day of their patron, i.e. yesterday.

Borroka Garaia Da! explains why this makes sense and why it bothers so much to the Basque bourgeoisie. For example Basque workers have a productivity 27% above the European average but get paid 30% below the average, never mind the massive unemployment figures. 

Basque companies invest most of their capital outside of the Basque Country: more than 60 billion euros are invested outside the country, while only 13 billion are invested inside. 

The European Union as we know it and Capitalism in general does nothing for us at all, only supporting the imperialist occupation and colonization of our little country. We need another radically different framework, with or without the rest of Europe.

New planet in the solar system

Description of the orbit of the new planet and associated objects (Batygin & Brown)

This kind of stuff does not happen every day: a new planet 10 times the mass of Earth has been inferred to exist in the outer reaches of the solar system, but has not yet been directly observed. Or has it?

Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown have deduced (press release, study) the existence of this object from the trajectory of several anomalous transneptunian bodies of the type of Sedna, whose trajectories seem to orbit both the sun and a distant "super-earth" type planet, so remote that it takes 20,000 years to complete an orbit. 

The Caltech team has not directly eyed the object. However...

A Swedish-Mexican team led by R. Liseau pre-published last month a study where they claimed to have directly spotted a possible outer solar system planet. After some controversy the second version of the pre-pub was withdrawn until further data was collected but the first version is still available online. Another pre-pub paper on the same issue was also authored by W. Vlemmings et al., co-authors of the previous one. 

Direct observation of an object that might be a new planet (Liseau et al.)

I do not know yet if the two studies are convergent or rather they refer to different objects. Neither is fully confirmed as of now in any case but something is almost certainly out there lurking in the depths of the Oort cloud.

The 1% owns half of World's wealth

Several recent reports by Oxfam reveal the brutal inequality of our global society (also at local level, although a few states like Finland redistribute a lot via taxes, dissimulating the problem). 

→ Even it up!

→ An economy for the 1%

→ Wealth: Having It and Wanting It More

The 1% owns already (projected) half of the so-called wealth. Of course it's just accounts and property deeds that can be disowned democratically at any time: money and property are just social functions, but social functions that allow to accrue real power in terms of media, lobbies, corrupt politicians and private armies of gangsters. 

As you can see in the graph above, almost all of the income is concentrated in the top 10%. I conventionally equalize the top 10% with the bourgeoisie and the lower 90% with the working class and the reality of income seems to support this notion at least to a very large extent. While the figure here is global, the pattern is reproduced all across the globe: some states do redistribute some or even a lot but the overall class structure is not altered, just the benefits associated to belonging to each segment. 

In the USA for example, income inequality has been growing absurdly since 1988, grabbing most of the benefits that are not direct investor profits of the economic growth. It is quite difficult to spot the average salary growth in the following figure, so I'll give you a hint: it's painted in green and it's almost zero.

This lack of growth in salaries is not at all related to "productivity" as is sometimes claimed but just to the the ability of the triumphant bourgeoisie to collect growing surplus value from the work of their slaves employees, seemingly unable to defend themselves (ourselves) from those arbitrary and most painful impositions.

Just 80 individuals control as much wealth as the poorest 50%. 

The names of the top 10 parasites in some key economic sectors are listed. The lead clearly corresponds to those speculating in finance: Warren Buffet (USA), Michael Bloomberg (USA), Carl Icahn (USA), Alaweed Bin Talal Al-Saud (Saudi Arabia), George Soros (USA), Joseph Safra (Brazil), Luis Carlos Sarmiento (Colombia), Mikhail Prokhorov (Russia), Alexei Mordashov (Russia) and Abigail Johnson (USA). 

Quoting Buffet: there is indeed a class war and my class [the bourgeoisie] is winning.

Or better, translating a punk song from the 90s (La Polla):

Ferocious Misery has taken the streets,

Greed is raping Liberty, 

the weak whimper while they are squeezed

their complaints are forgotten.

[Politician:]

"We are familiar with the situation

and we're going to solve it soon.

Now I turn around 

and when you leave please close the door".

[Workers:]

"What can we do?", asks the majority.

"What can be done if there's no solution.

We don't want to know: there is no exit.

Let's see what say those above".

[Trade Unionist:]

"Keep calm, it's not so serious,

make another effort till the end of the month.

Meanwhile I am happy

suckling from the budget".

[Capitalist:]

"Fuck off and shut up!

That's how life is!

I don't know what you're crying about.

That's how life is!

What the fuck do you want?!

That's how life is!

You're dirtying my carpet!"

[Publicist:]

"Tough uncivilized nonconformist:

come to our arms, let yourself be tamed.

If you're young and rebel,

Coca-Cola understands you!"

And the rich join forces in the final fight 
as they march singing their 'International',
they pay their tithes to God
and the World is a time bomb!

That's how life is!
That's how life is!
That's how life is:
you can get a cough.

Original Spanish-language track follows:

Time to wake up, guys. Even The Matrix is not what it used to be...

Saudi Arabia's swan song

Main sects in West Asia

The current developments in West Asia clearly signal the end of the Saudi monarchy: they are trying to control much more than they can ever hope to manage while they have less legitimacy than even North Korea or Israel. 

It must be said first of all that the prominent human rights leader that the House of Saud murdered a few days ago, Nimr al-Nimr can only be compared to figures like Martin Luther King or Monsignor Romero, with whom he shares the cleric profession and now also the condition of martyr, not a mere religious martyr but a martyr for freedom, respect and common sense. 

As the other religious-political figures I mention here, he led a peaceful protest movement against oppression and injustice, against the worst tyranny on Earth: the House of Saud. Not an easy task, he surely knew the risks since day one, yet he and his sympathizers dared to challenge the totalitarian theocracy and hope for the best. The best hasn't come, not yet certainly. The Saudi mafia smashed them mercilessly and invaded Bahrain, where a sister movement was about to topple a similar tyranny. 

I must say that I that I do not share the faith of any of the aforementioned leaders but, even from this significant ideological distance, I must speak for their courage, as well as for that of the many less known people who also fought for freedom, with them or in other places, occasions, movements. 

By killing him, the House of Saud has only brought one step nearer its own end: martyrs are way too often the light that guides peoples to fight for freedom. Making martyrs is a most risky bet, one that even the stinkingly rich House of Saud can't afford to make. 

Much less when they have their hands full with problems they are unable to manage. 

I was reading the almost invariably lucid Pepe Escobar on this matter and I must agree with him: Saudi Arabia does not know how to play geopolitical chess... or backgammon either. I'm an enthusiast of good boardgames and particularly the game of Diplomacy (best multiplayer boardgame ever, not for the faint hearted) and you definitely don't play that way, or rather: you don't play that way and have any chances at winning or even surviving. You do not, definitely, want to fight many conflicts in many different fronts at the same time, you do not definitely want to get into a new war before winning the previous one, and, if you depend on some protector, as the Sauds do, you do not want to cause more trouble than they are willing to put up with, lest you will be sacrificed. 

If at least the Sauds would have a slim hope of winning any of the impossible scenarios they have gotten themselves into, be it Syria, Iraq or Yemen, be it Bahrain or its own internal instability, let alone a possible scenario of direct war with Iran that would automatically cut off global oil provisions for a long term... but they do not. Unlike in the game (can't be that good: the map is not reality), it's not just about winning battles and conquering provinces: in real life you have to win peace, and that's the hardest part of all. And a ridiculously pompous absolutist intolerant sexist medievalist theocracy has not the slightest chance to win even within the palatine circles, every day more agitated at the extreme risks assumed by the new king, by the name of Salman, a very elderly man, and his appointed heir (and de facto ruler) Prince Mohammad. 

It is as if the reactionary European order that dominated the 19th century was managed not by consensus of four or five major powers but single-handedly by King Ludwig "the Mad" of Bavaria. Even Mad Ludwig was not as mad as to attempt so much but his decadent lifestyle ruined the country, Ludwig was deposed and Bavaria was annexed to the new state of Germany, with the only remaining privilege of issuing its own stamps.

Is that the destiny of the palaces of the Saud clan? Probably. I can't define a precise timeline but it is every day more clear that they are totally desperate and that Fate only awaits for the best moment to topple them. 

When Fate decides is the right time, the tyrant will be toppled from inside, maybe after growing unrest, probably after some foreign policy fiasco such as the foreseeable loss in Syria and Iraq in few months, much as happened to Mubarak. A gattopardist regime, probably under some other prince, will then take power and try to bargain some reforms, not too many, but without clear legitimacy and with growing pathetism in every action, things may well spiral out of control and get the realm split in three or more states: a conservative stronghold in the center, an unstable most populated region in the West and a Shia-dominated republic in the East, possibly joined with Bahrain and normalizing relations with Iran and Iraq. This Shia-dominated East is where all the oil is. 

The model that worked until Bush Sr. tricked Iraq into a pointless war, destabilizing everything, was a model established almost a century ago by Britain: the resources were not in the hands of the inhabitants or even some sort of arbitrary but locally legitimate figurehead, but in the hands of rather alien Sunni Arab powerhouses. These powerhouses have been terminated thoughtlessly by the twisted games of the Bush clan, out of fear of secular pan-Arabism and the desire to reinforce the direct military presence in the strategic inner sea. Ironically enough Saud can't exist without Saddam: in spite of one being fanatically religious and the other presumptively secularist, both exerted the domination of Sunnis over Shias by Machiavellan British design inherited by the USA. This kind of undemocratic power system just cannot work in the present time, not for long at least, and therefore the House of Saud is bound to fall. 

There is a lot of confusion about what is the so-called "Arab Spring" among certain Left, which confuses the genuine desire for democracy and human rights, maybe even some degree of socialism, with the crude manipulations of the Western powers. No revolution exists in a vacuum and the Arab one could not be different: the various powers will no doubt intervene one way or another, with more or less success, but the revolutionary process in itself was and is genuine. And it has not yet ended, not at all.

Thousands march for amnesty and return of Basque prisoners

Some 70 thousand people marched through Bilbao and Baiona this evening to demand the return of Basque political prisoners and amnesty. 

According to Naiz Info, 63,000 joined the demonstration in Bilbao, while some 8000 did at the twin one of Baiona.

Internationalist support was also present, with the flags of several nations of Europe and America, as well as the corresponding political delegations, also taking part.


Update (Jan 12): Rafael Tsavko published his own footage of the demo: