Alan Shadrake, arrested author

British author, Alan Shadrake, 75, has been arrested in Singapore because his book, Once a Jolly Hangman – Singapore Justice in the Dock, exposed the unfairness of Singapore’s death penalty. The 219-page book is filled with accounts of high-profile cases in Singapore involving the death penalty and includes interviews with the country’s former executioner Darshan Singh.

Mr. Shadrake, who divides his time between Britain and Malaysia, was in Singapore last Saturday for a private book launch at the Post Museum in Little India. He was arrested by the police at his hotel at 8.20am the next day.

Police said the arrest was made pursuant to a complaint lodged on July 16th by the Media Development Authority (MDA) the government body responsible for censoring publications and broadcasts. According its website, the MDA is “developing Singapore into a vibrant global media city.”

Mr. Shadrake is being investigated for the alleged offense of criminal defamation. This crime in Singapore carries a sentence of up to two years in prison plus unlimited fines.

He has also been served with an order by the Attorney-General to attend court for contempt of court, based on the contents of the book. A spokesman for the Attorney-General said there were statements in the book which are believed “impugn the impartiality, integrity and independence of the Singapore judiciary.”

Darshan Singh, Singapore's hangman

Mr. Shadrake’s book covers Singapore capital punishment cases from the early 1990s to the recent past. Many of these cases ended with the accused meeting Darshan Singh, Singapore’s hangman for the last half-century.

The book demonstrates that the application of capital punishment in Singapore is not a matter of justice. The decision as to whether someone is to be hanged is really a political one: the government, not the court, determines who can be hanged and who cannot be hanged.

In Singapore there are no trials by jury, so the judge is free to take orders from the government and to impose the sentence accordingly.

Among other cases, Mr. Shadrake’s book recounts that, in October 2004, sixteen Singaporeans and seven foreigners were arrested and faced charges ranging from consumption to dealing.

Dinesh Bhatia

One of those accused was Dinesh Bhatia, the son of former judicial commissioner Amarjeet Singh. Bhatia faced 10 years behind bars for consumption.

Shanmugam

His defense lawyer, K. Shanmugam (now the Minister for Law) stated at trial that Bhatia did not know it was cocaine that he was snorting. In the end, after appeal, Bhatia’s sentence was reduced to eight months, but less than three months after that, he was reported by the Straits Times to be at home, albeit wearing an electronic tag.

The drug supplier to Bhatia and the others was Ben Laroussi, himself a high-ranking executive. Laroussi was arrested on the capital charge of trafficking, but when the drugs were tested a second time, the quantity he diminished miraculously below the mandatory hanging threshold.

This tactic of “short weighing” is frequently used by the Singapore police to save the favored few from the hangman’s noose.

Laroussi was given bail on his own recognition, upon which he disappeared from Singapore.

Our book, Escape from Paradise, was also banned in Singapore. We, however, did not make the mistake of getting caught in Singapore, or we would have been arrested like Mr. Shadrake. In spite of the ban on Escape from Paradise, it still sells quite well in Singapore through Amazon.

As we wrote in Escape from Paradise:

In Singapore, a mere 15 grams of heroin, 500 grams of cannabis, 30 grams of cocaine, or 250 grams of methamphetamine will get you the hangman’s noose. There are no jury trials in Singapore, as juries had been abolished by Lee Kuan Yew.

The defendant, who is not entitled to a public trial, faces a lone judge, a government appointee, who hands down his sentence quickly. The system is very efficient, no waiting around for an appeal, no hanging out on death row for years.

Singapore does everything with excellence, and the pre-dawn Friday morning hangings are no exception. Mercifully, our high tech gallows use the “long drop,” so, the prisoner, hooded, and with arms and legs bound, dies instantly, in a snap.

The gallows can accommodate up to seven people at a drop, a great convenience when you are hanging fifty or more people every year.
Ironically, drugs are readily available in Singapore. A favorite place for “scoring” drugs is the Newton Circus Hawker Centre, a favorite late night haunt of open-air food stalls popular with young Singaporeans and foreigners, alike.

More importantly, Singapore, boasting the world’s largest port for shipping tonnage, and the most Asia-Pacific air-links, is a major transit point for drugs.

The bulk business of drug distribution is not done by small-time couriers, but by the big boys, who never touch the drugs, and are never touched by them.

Obama's war, and he needs it

GOP Chairman Michael Steele had it oh-so-right when he said “It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”

The limits of US power

Supposedly, the US is in Afghanistan to defeat Al Qaeda. Obviously Al Qaeda, a small terrorist organization, isn’t going to hang around in Afghanistan for the United States Army to come capture it. By the estimate of Fox News, there are only about 50 members of Al Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan. Obviously, Al Qaeda will find refuge in other parts of the world. Is the US going to invade other countries where Al Qaeda is present? The answer is no, because the US does not have the strength, nor the money to undertake new invasions. Iraq and Afghanistan have drained the US of trillions of dollars, and are largely accountable for the current US depression.

The state of Afghanistan’s government

Afghanistan’s ruler, Hamid Karzai, has established together with his brother a government of cronies and a very tiny, narrow circle of supporters, within a tiny part of Kabul, which now contains huge villas, in sight of the eyes of the poor.

Karzai has said to the United States-”if you try and get rid of me, you know, I am going to join the Taliban.” Not much of a leap as Karzai was once part of the Taliban. And that would have been a total disaster for NATO and the United States, and

General Eikenberry, the U.S. Ambassador in Afghanistan, warned very seriously against against “the surge” of 30,000 extra troops. Eikenberry was convinced that the extra surge was going to be a disaster. And in the short time with mounting US and NATO casualties, he has been proved right.

The myth of the surge

The new American military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, has been glorified as the architect of the supposedly successful surge in Iraq. In a prior post we presented a study by UCLA that it was the ethnic cleansing of Sunnis by the Shia’s in Iraq and not the surge that furthered the US cause in Iraq. The surge did not work in Iraq as it is not working in Afghanistan.

Petraeus attempting to prolong the war

Petraeus prolonging the war

Petraeus has introduced the idea of blacklisting the group, known as the Haqqani network. This could complicate an eventual Afghan political settlement with the Taliban and aggravate political tensions in the region.

As we wrote on June 27th, Pakistan has been working with Karzai that a postwar Afghanistan should incorporate the network of a longtime Pakistani asset, Sirajuddin Haqqani—a top Taliban commander in the North Waziristan tribal area of Pakistan. This would pacify the warring groups and bring some semblance of peace and order to Afghanistan.

Obama’s stake in the war

Petraeus, by attempting to blacklist the Haqqani group is attempting either knowingly or unwittingly to prolong the war in Afghanistan. This is politically advantageous for Obama, as, like Bush, Obama needs to be a “war president.” When wars are in progress, the politics greatly favor the incumbent, be they Democrats or Republicans.

With the Afghan war in progress, Obama knows, at the cost of blood and money, he has a better chance of having his party, and himself, re-elected.

Baroness Vadera

England’s Baroness Vadera (as in the feminine of Darth Vader) has been called upon by Singapore to advise Temasek on its investments.

And so continues the parade of strange names such as Charles “Chip” Waterhouse Goodyear IV recruited earlier to save Singapore before “resigning.”  (Goodyear is now being considered as the next head of British Petroleum—a perfect position for a CIA operative.)

Like Goodyear IV, the origins of Baroness Vadera are clouded in mystery.

Lady Vadera aka Shriti Vadera was born in Uganda around 1962 of Indian parentage. Her family owned a small tea plantation but fled to India in 1971 or 1972, the year before Idi Amin’s expulsions of Indians.

According to the UK’s Telegraph

Lady Vadera’s family fled Uganda in 1971, and eventually moved to Northwood in north-west London.

She studied at a private girls’ school, Northwood College, and read politics philosophy and economics at the Oxford women’s college, Somerville.

She left Somerville with a second-class degree and a number of enemies. One woman who lived with her said: “She was the ringleader of a rather bitchy group, they wanted to rubbish everything. She boasted she’d only ever wear silk underwear and brought enough to last all term so she didn’t have to wash any.”

For over 14 years Vadera worked for the investment bank UBS Warburg.

Baroness "Green Shoots" Vadera

From April 1999 she was an adviser to Gordon Brown during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Following his appointment as Prime Minister in June 2007, Brown saw to it that Ms. Vadera was created a life peer on July 11, 2007 as Baroness Vadera, of Holland Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The Sunday Times reported that the Cabinet Secretary “flatly refused to allow her to cross the threshold of No 10 as policy enforcer” and “no Permanent Secretary could stand her” – although the Cabinet Secretary denied making these comments

Can Ho Ching "man up" to the challenge of Baroness Vadera?

On 14 January 2009 she gave an interview on ITV’s Lunchtime News, in which she said she saw “green shoots” (an improvement) in the British economy. Since this occurred just before the UK’s stock market crash, she was roundly criticized for this remark. This led to her being referred to as Baroness “Green Shoots” Vadera.

Other nicknames Baroness Vadera has earned are “Shriti the Shriek” and “Gordon Brown’s representative on earth.”

Can Madam Ho Ching, CEO of Temasek, “man up” to the challenge of Baroness Vadera? If looks mean anything, our answer to that question would be “yes!”

Singapore’s Indian population along with the incoming hordes of Indian immigrants should be pleased with Temasek’s hiring of Baroness Vadera.

Now Singapore has two Indians at the top—Dato Setia Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, Chief Advisor to the Sultan of Brunei, and Baroness Vadera.

Returning home

What we wrote about, yesterday, has come true today. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has held face-to-face talks with Sirajuddin Haqqani, Taliban leader in Pakistan of a particularly brutal militant group with ties to al-Qaida, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.

The Haqqani network, a group high on the CIA’s hit list is believed to have been behind some of the most sophisticated attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s army chief and the head of the country’s intelligence services are thought to have accompanied Haqqani to the talks, sources told Al Jazeera. Pakistan’s intelligence and military officials have long been known to foster close links with members of the Taliban and other militant groups working in Afghanistan.

The reports have fueled speculation that Pakistan is trying to forge a deal that would safeguard its interests in Afghanistan, according to Al Jazeera reporting directly from Kabul.

Obama and Biden on the White House putting green

U.S. Spin Doctor CIA chief Leon Panetta reiterated the narrow goal Mr. Obama set for the Afghan war: “The fundamental purpose, the mission that the president has laid out, is that we have to go after Al Qaeda. We’ve got to disrupt and dismantle Al Qaida and their militant allies so they never attack this country again.”

Doesn’t the CIA realize that Al Qaeda can and does operate in a number of countries – are we going to invade them all, including Pakistan?

Panetta is not completely stupid, just totally dishonest as he lies to the American people.

As we wrote only yesterday the current purpose of the war in Afghanistan is to help Obama politically—as cost and lives mean nothing to him.

The AP tag for this photo is GenPetraeus_061610_monster_397x224

Gen. Patraeus is going to modify Afghanistan Rules of Engagement.

Currently the Rules of Engagement are designed to prevent NATO from killing Afghan civilians.

The phrase, “modify Afghan Rules of Engagement” is government-speak for “make it OK to kill Afghan civilians.”

Ousted Gen. McChrystal was fired for wanting that the Rules of Engagement be changed. Patraeus is now taking a page from McChrystal’s rant because Patraeus knows we are losing the war in Afghanistan.

(Every reference to Patraeus mentions that he turned around the situation in Iraq—which has proven not to be true—see our post General Milquetoast).

Patraeus is abandoning his vaunted COIN counterinsurgency strategy, designed to win the “hearts and minds” of the people.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai knows we are losing the war in Afghanistan which is why he is negotiating with the Taliban.

Others agree:

• Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed that its outspoken special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Sherard Cowper-Coles, has taken an extended leave of absence after rifts with his U.S. colleagues in the region and his statement that the war in Afghanistan was doomed to fail.
• Canada is withdrawing all its forces next year.
• Poland’s interim president said Tuesday he will end his country’s military mission in Afghanistan in 2012, if he wins next month’s runoff election.
• The Netherlands will withdraw all its forces on Aug. 1, 2010

Pakistan knows we are losing the war in Afghanistan which is why it gives sanctuary to Al Qaeda.

At a briefing to US Ambassador Holbrooke this week at the headquarters of Pakistan’s premier spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, gave their view that the war that dovetailed neatly with the doubts expressed by Mr. Karzai. They depicted a stark picture of an American military campaign in Afghanistan “that will not succeed.”

In fact, Pakistan’s spy chief, Lt. Gen. Pasha, shuttles between Islamabad and Kabul, telling Mr. Karzai that Pakistan agrees with his assessment that the United States cannot win in Afghanistan.

Moreover Lt. Gen. Pasha is convincing Karzai that a postwar Afghanistan should incorporate the network of a longtime Pakistani asset, Sirajuddin Haqqani—a top Taliban commander in the North Waziristan tribal area of Pakistan. (A US drone killed Mr. Haqqani’s younger brother, Mohammed, in February 2010.)

So why are we in Afghanistan? Al Qaeda is mobile and can operate in many countries. Are we there for the opium, for the oil pipelines, for what?

No – we are there to make Obama look strong – to help Obama politically – at the cost of blood and money.

Milquetoast—a weak, ineffectual or bland person, derived from the character Caspar Milquetoast from the 1924 comic strip The Timid Soul.

On April 8, 2008, I wrote a post entitled, General Milquetoast & Tweedledum. General Milquetoast was Gen. David Petraeus, and Tweedledum was his boss, George Bush.

At the time, I decided not to publish the post because it seemed a bit too personal—maybe even a bit mean.

In light of recent events, however, it seems that I was spot-on about Petraeus.

Here are excerpts from my post, General Milquetoast & Tweedledum:

For the second time the nation was treated to testimony before Congress on Iraq from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. Petraeus, a bookish man, a helpless looking individual sunk into what appears an ill-fitting uniform again contributed non-informative answers to the cause—Casper Milquetoast personified. Gen. Petraeus’ partner, the buttoned-down Ambassador Crocker provided a low-key and colorless backup to Petraeus’ remarks—playing Tweedledee to Petraeus’ General Milquetoast.

Gen. Milquetoast and Tweedledee were careful to stay on point with their leader, President Bush, Tweedledum, as it were. The body language of these two insipid individuals, Petraeus and Crocker, was revealing. When one spoke the other turned to watch, hanging on every word, apparently to make sure their partner was on target—the target being conformity with the Bush campaign to stay the course.

It is unfortunate, in this time of need, that the nation is called to listen to Patraeus and Crocker parrot the Bush doctrine. Petraeus, in answer to a question from Sen. Warner, voiced his beliefs—or rather read them from a prepared statement. Even Sen. Warner, a very proper and diplomatic individual, became impatient with Patraeus’ non-answer, stating, “What I asked is a very simple question.”

In his report to Congress in September of 2007, Gen. David Petraeus claimed “the military objectives of the surge are, in large measure, being met.”

However, a report that same month by an independent military commission headed by retired U.S. Gen. James Jones attributed the decrease in violence to ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis by the Shiites—and not the “surge.”

Now, an interesting study by UCLA shows that Gen. Petraeus was wrong and Gen. Jones was right.

UCLA Study of Baghdad Satellite Imagery

By tracking the amount of light emitted by Baghdad neighborhoods at night, from publicly available satellite imagery, UCLA geographers have uncovered evidence supports the findings of Gen. Jones.

Night light in neighborhoods populated primarily by minority Sunni residents declined dramatically just before the February 2007 surge and never returned—evidence that ——ethnic cleansing by Shiites is the reason for the decrease in violence rather than the “surge,” for which Petraeus has claimed credit.

“Essentially, our interpretation is that violence has declined in Baghdad because of inter-communal violence that reached a climax as the surge was beginning,” said lead author John Agnew, a UCLA professor of geography and authority on ethnic conflict. “By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left.”

Baghdad’s decreases were centered in the southwestern Sunni strongholds of East Rashid and West Rashid, where the light signature dropped 57 percent and 80 percent, respectively, during the same period.

By contrast, the night-light signature in the notoriously impoverished, Shiite-dominated Sadr City remained constant, as it did in the Green Zone. Light actually increased in Shiite-dominated New Baghdad, the researchers found.

“If the surge had truly ‘worked,’ we would expect to see a steady increase in night-light output over time, as electrical infrastructure continued to be repaired and restored, with little discrimination across neighborhoods,” said co-author Thomas Gillespie, an associate professor of geography at UCLA. “Instead, we found that the night-light signature diminished only in certain neighborhoods, and the pattern appears to be associated with ethno-sectarian violence and neighborhood ethnic cleansing.”

“The U.S. military was sealing off neighborhoods that were no longer really active ribbons of violence, largely because the Shiites were victorious in killing large numbers of Sunnis or driving them out of the city all together,” Agnew said.

Back in 2008, I was right about Petraeus—the supposed expert tactician, the video-game General, the Corporate Man, the timid soul who sinks into his bemedaled uniform, the General who faints at a congressional hearing—General Milquetoast.

Louisana state record for Goodyear Capital Corporation

The elusive Charles Waterhouse “Chip” Goodyear IV reappears, but very quietly. We had read on the Internet that he was living in London, and we had heard that he turned down a job with a European company. Then those articles seem to have disappeared – at least we could no longer find them.

Thanks to one of our readers, however, we received some information about Goodyear – information that, on the surface, seemed quite trivial.

That is, until we dug a little deeper, based on information given to us by our informer (his comment is listed on this site).

Our informant wrote, “It seems that Goodyear Capital Corp is now ACTIVE again … with a c/o address instead of the original one you posted above. . . Check it out by typing in the keyword search for “Goodyear Capital Corporation” . . . with an ‘office’ address this time round . . . http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/819/default.aspx.”

Well, we checked. The Louisiana Secretary of State site showed that the registered office of Goodyear Capital Corporation is at 201 St. Charles Ave., Ste. 5100, New Orleans, LA 70170. This address is in a fancy office building in downtown New Orleans.

This is a far cry from Goodyear Capital Corporation’s former office which we mentioned in a former post as “as being a tiny run-down house in a very inexpensive neighborhood, in an out-of-the-way New Orleans, Louisiana – an ideal spot for a CIA safe house.”

Our informer added, “GOOGLEMAPS.COM now does not even go to street view for the 1st address registered …. interesting!”

We checked, and found that the former address of Goodyear Capital Corporation, 985 Walker St, New Orleans had been removed from Google’s street view. How often does something like that happen?

Common Street, New Orleans

Going one step further, we checked Google street view for Goodyear’s new location on Charles Street.

Charles Street does show on Google street view, but the little Google street-icon guy turned from yellow to gray, when we dragged him to Common Street, the side street to Goodyear’s registered office. The surrounding streets were lined with purple, indicating that Google street view was available on those streets. However, no purple on Common Street.

Again, how often does something like that happen?

A side entrance for CIA employees?

And why was the run down street of Goodyear’s former office removed from Google street view?

Your guess is as good as ours.

Anyone seen Elvis?

Daniel 2:33-45 – “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image … his feet part of iron and part of clay. … And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.”

Rod Laver

When Rod Laver got into the “zone”, he went for broke – not so with Roger Federer.

I had the opportunity to watch Laver, close up, and I have seen him go for broke more than once. It was a sight to be seen – something you don’t see with Federer.

Yes, Roger Federer can elevate his game a bit, but nothing like Laver, and that is the difference between them – it is a huge difference.

Unlike Laver, often Federer is playing not to lose, and he is pretty good at it.

In Federer’s loss to Robin Soderling in the French Open, it was Soderling who was pushing the envelope. Again, it appeared that Federer was playing not to lose.

In part, the reason for this may lie in Federer’s controlled on-court personality.

There may, however, be another factor at play – a fundamental flaw which prevents Federer from going deep into the “zone.”

The great Bill Tilden once said, “A player is as strong as his weakest stroke.”

Federer preparing to hit defensive slice backhand at Roland Garros

Federer’s weakest stroke is his classic one-handed backhand. It’s a beautiful stroke, but can break down against hard-hit shots especially those with heavy topspin, or even backspin. With a one-handed backhand, you can’t impart top-spin if the ball bounces too high due to topspin, or too low due to backspin . All you can do is be defensive. (Unless you were Don Budge who could blast back a high-bouncing serve with his great topspin backhand.) As for Laver, in his day, the heavy topspin of today’s groundstrokes did not exist.

The backhand is Federer’s flaw, his weakest stroke, his feet of clay. His problem is not an unwillingness to elevate his game; it is an inability to do so because of his weakest stroke – the backhand.

Soderling must have known this, as he played aggressively to Federer’s backhand from start to finish to take the match.

After losing the opening set 6-3, Soderling upped the ante with blistering groundstrokes forcing errors off Federer’s backhand.

A telling backhand wide by Federer gave Soderling his first break in the second set, which Soderling won 6-3. That established the pattern of what was to come, and Soderling’s eventual victory at 6 – 3   3 – 6   5 – 7   4 – 6.

“A player is as strong as his weakest stroke.” There is a lesson to be learned here – and not only for tennis.

President Obama during the BP crisis

On May 24, Mary L. Kendall, Acting Interior Department Inspector General’s memo to her boss, Secretary Ken Salazar, discussed an “Investigative Report,” titled “Island Operating Company, et al.”

Ordinarily, public release would have followed a formal MMS response, 90 days after getting it. But today’s events forced Kendall “to release it now,” saying her greatest concern is the “environment in which these inspectors operate – particularly the ease with which they move between industry and government.”

Kendall’s report stated, “Minerals Management Service (MMS) employees (in charge of inspections and oversight) accepted gifts from oil and gas production companies.”

Kendall found evidence that MMS and industry personnel fraternized and exchanged gifts, and have known each other since childhood. MMS staff used illegal drugs including cocaine and crystal methamphetamine and (just like the SEC) viewed pornography on their government computers.

Her findings were presented to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana, which declined prosecution.

Kendall discovered MMS falsification of offshore oil rig inspection forms.  On October 15, 2009, she presented her findings on this to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana who again declined the case for prosecution.

Read the report here.

This refusal to prosecute is the ultimate responsibility of Obama appointee, Attorney General Eric Holder. As we have mentioned previously, Eric Holder was was the lawyer who got the largest tax dodger of all time, Marc Rich who owed the IRS $100 million, a pardon from President Clinton.

While U.S. government employees spend their time taking bribes, flying to sporting events in corporate jets, and indulging in hard-core drugs and pornography the average American faces the worst of times.

If our Attorney General, Eric Holder refuses to prosecute wrongdoers, if a disconnected Obama caves in to British Petroleum, if the media states the flow from the well has been stopped – when the oil spill webcam proves them wrong, what are we to do?

It’s going to take a lot more than a couple of Tea Parties to set America right.

Obama and his advisors

California, May 25, 2010 1:40am

Black Tuesday is upon us, and the market will crash today.

The Great Recession – Phase 2 is thundering down upon us.

All along, the only indicator that has made any sense is the US Department of Labor’s advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims.

This is the US Department of Labor’s estimate of unemployment claims over a 4-week period.

Here is what the recent US Labor Department numbers look like:

4/3/2010       460,000
4/10/2010      484,000
4/17/2010      456,000
4/24/2010      448,000
5/1/2010       448,000
5/8/2010       444,000
5/15/2010      471,000

Yes, unemployment claims are down from the 540,925 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.

However, since 75% of the US economy is consumer-driven, with close to 500,000 layoffs during each 4-week period.

How can there be any evidence of a turnaround? There can’t.

Obama with his Bernankes and Geithners have been spreading the word of an economic turnaround.

Just look at the US Department of Labor’s unemployment claims figures and watch Black Tuesday’s stock market, and you will know that Obama and his advisors have been “misspeaking.”