Tag Archives: Conspiracies

The Doomsday Seed Vault?

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Just 810 miles from the North Pole lies one of the strangest and and most secure facilities in the entire world…a global seed bank of epic proportions. Could it one day save the Earth? Or is it at the center of a sinister conspiracy to gain control of the world’s food production?

The  Svalbard Global Seed Bank Conspiracy?

In 1984, the Nordic Gene Bank entered an abandoned coal mine on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, which is located in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago. Inside the mine, they secured frozen seeds of various Nordic plants. The location was chosen due to a lack of tectonic activity in the area as well as the permafrost.

By 2006, after many years of collecting and depositing seed samples, the Seed Bank decided it needed a new location to store its growing treasure chest. This facility, called the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, opened in 2008.

This seed bank cost $9 million to construct and is located within a sandstone mountain. At the present time, no research takes place within its walls. It’s just a vault, designed to duplicate existing seed banks from around the world. That way, if a regional seed bank is ruined via natural disaster, war, or in some other manner, it can be easily replenished.

Numerous high-security technologies protect the Vault from temperature fluctuations, changes in the sea level, and even terrorist attacks. It currently holds somewhere around 1.5 million seed samples with capacity to hold an additional 3 million samples. These seeds could last within the facility for several centuries, maybe even millennia.

Why do we need a Doomsday Seed Bank?

Collecting and preserving seeds has taken on increased importance these days, at least in the eyes of government officials and scientists. Specifically, fears over things like climate change, epidemics, and nuclear war, in the view of some, “creates the need for an inaccessible ark.”

“Seed saving and its role in preserving biodiversity is of utmost importance. We are in an era called the Holocene extinction, which is notable for its decline in biodiversity.” ~ Dornith Doherty, Photographer of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Dr. Wolfgang Stuppy, a seed morphologist, agrees.

“We are essentially up against a deadline to collect the seeds of plant species before they go extinct. The current worldwide economic crisis makes it difficult to raise the funds necessary for this kind of work.” ~ Dr. Wolfgang Stuppy

The Dark Side of the Doomsday Seed Bank?

However, there is a little known dark side to this story. The Vault is financially backed by a mix of governmental organizations and large corporations and foundations such as Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Gates Foundation. While these groups claim to have pure motives, others are not so sure.

“The whole research agenda of countries like India is driven by what is dictated by outside agencies with vested interests; they are using state-of-the-art laboratories and trained scientists to work toward the production and distribution of genetically modified seeds.” ~ Sunita Rao, Adjunct Fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Many researchers believe that Monsanto and other companies plan to use the Vault to eventually extend their control over the world’s food supply. And internal squabbles within the industry seem to bear this out. By gathering seeds from around the world and implementing international treaties, these companies will be able to conduct proprietary research with the purpose of creating and producing IP-protected, genetically modified seeds for all areas on earth. As you might expect, the money behind these seeds is immense.

“Monsanto, the corporate food giant with influence in the last three presidential administrations (including the current one), owns genes that can be found in 90% of America’s soy. Wind inevitably blows the seeds from Monsanto crops to those owned by smaller farmers, after which the company claims intellectual property rights over the land and forbids farmers to save seeds – a traditional agricultural practice – and even sues farmers for merely “encouraging” the violation of these patents.” ~ Anthony Gregory, Sustainable Living, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Urban Farms

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

Even putting that aside, I have to admit I’m still highly skeptical of the so-called Doomsday Seed Vault at Svalbard. If one wants to protect plants from going extinct, I can think of no worse way to do that than to turn over control of regional seed banks to a single, centralized fortress. While I understand the need for redundant facilities, Svalbard seems ill suited to the task.

A series of regional, independent banks freely trading samples with each other seems far more likely to help unique seeds survive disasters. In the end, the best way to ensure the future of the earth’s seeds is not to restrict them to one place…it’s to set them free and to spread them as far as possible.

Predicting “Future Crime?”

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In the popular television show, Person of Interest, a mysterious billionaire named Mr. Finch uses a secret computer program to identify people connected to “future crimes.” While Mr. Finch uses the program to save lives, it’s easy to imagine such a thing being used for evil (see: Minority Report). Fortunately, this frightening technology doesn’t exist in real life…does it?

FAST: Future Attribute Screening Technology…or Future Crime Technology?

In 2008, news began to leak out that the Department of Homeland Security was working on a program named Project Hostile Intent (now called FAST, or Future Attribute Screening Technology). Its purpose was to detect “‘mal-intent’ by screening people for ‘psychological and physiological indicators’ in a ‘Mobile Screening Laboratory.'”

Recently, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained an internal document from the Department of Homeland Security. It revealed that FAST is not just a piece of hypothetical technology. Future crime technology is real. And its being tested on real people, albeit voluntarily.

The concept behind FAST is fairly simple. Government agents will use “video images, audio recordings, cardiovascular signals, pheromones, electrodermal activity, and respiratory measurements” to examine individuals from afar. Advanced algorithms will then analyze this information. This will supposedly allow agents to “predict” future criminal behavior and give them a “head start to stop a crime or violent act in progress.”

Future Crime versus Criminal Profiling?

Technologies to predict the future seem to be all the rage in government agencies these days. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) is developing a program to detect traitorous insiders who plan to turn on their colleagues. Meanwhile, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) is working on technology to predict future global events and the “consequences of U.S. intelligence actions.”

Still, the government’s desire to predict the future isn’t new. After all, FAST is, in certain respects, just a more advanced version of the common yet controversial practice of “criminal profiling.” But while profiling usually focuses on just one or two factors, such as ethnicity or gender, FAST goes to a whole other level. It examines ethnicity, gender, age, occupation, breathing patterns, body movements, eye movements, changes in pitch, changes in speech, changes in body heat, and changes in heart rate among other things.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

So, it would appear that the government is laying the groundwork for a system to predict crime. Fortunately, it’s only confined to employees of the Department of Homeland Security at the moment. Right?

Wrong. It turns out that FAST “has already been tested in at least one undisclosed location in the northeast.” While the nature of this location remains unknown, the DHS claims it wasn’t an airport.

EPIC is concerned about the privacy implications and believes that FAST needs to be reviewed. And it’s hard to argue with them. The privacy concerns are mind-boggling to say the least, especially since the government plans to “retain information” that it collects. In addition, the idea of being spied upon, profiled, singled out, and questioned by government agents for a crime not yet committed is disturbing to say the least. The potential for abuse is alarming and real…Very, very real.

The Student Loan Conspiracy?

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As I write this, protestors are gathered around the United States as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. While they appear to lack a common platform, one of their primary concerns seems to be the enormous and growing debt load incurred by many students while attending college. Why is that load so enormous in the first place? Is there a Student Loan Conspiracy at work?

What is the Student Loan Conspiracy?

In 2009, the average college graduate had student loans totaling $24,000, up 6% from 2008. For postgraduate students, this figure rises substantially. Coupled with the challenging economic environment and the difficult job market, this has created a generation of heavily indebted students with few means to pay back their loans. Political circles have erupted with discussions of a “student loan crisis.” Heck, even professors are questioning the situation.

“Thirty years ago, college was a wise, modest investment. Now, it’s a lifetime lock-in, an albatross you can’t escape.” ~ Professor Fabio Rojas, Indiana University

All of this might be forgivable if students were getting good value for their money. However, the facts say otherwise. According to Richard Arum’s and Josipa Roksa’s book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, 45% of U.S. college students show “no significant gains in learning” after two years in college. 36% of students show no such gains after four years of college. That might be because today’s students spend “50% less time studying compared with students a few decades ago.” And the things that are learned aren’t necessarily helpful. There tends to be a gigantic mismatch between the skills acquired in college and the skills that students need and use after college.

How did we get into this situation? Why are high school graduates spending money they don’t have in order to obtain a college degree that in all likelihood, involves little to no self-improvement?

The Origins of the Student Loan Conspiracy?

The origins of the Student Loan Conspiracy can be traced back to 1944. Prior to World War II, higher education was a small, private, and rather expensive industry. Its services were of little value to most individuals and thus, were only utilized by about 10% of high school graduates. This all changed in 1944 when Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act. This Act, more commonly known as the G.I. Bill, gave educational subsidies to former veterans. More importantly, it marked the beginning of a “crony capitalism” relationship between college universities and the U.S. government.

With a precedent in place, it was only a matter of time before the U.S. government expanded its intervention in college education. In 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965 into law. It established several student loan and grant programs intended to make college more affordable. The increase of subsidies were a boon to the education industry and lifted enrollments. Unfortunately, this also had an unintended consequence. As subsidies increased, colleges realized they could raise tuition prices in response. And as they continued to raise prices, the government continued to increase subsidies, leading to an as-of-yet endless spiraling of education costs. As a result, since 1978, “the price of tuition at U.S. colleges has increased over 900 percent, 650 points above inflation.” Unfortunately, I was unable to find figures going back to 1965 but I imagine that the numbers would show a similar trend.

The Second Piece of the Student Loan Conspiracy Puzzle?

But that merely explains the origin of student debt in America. It doesn’t explain why so many people are willing to incur it. After all, its not like higher education is a necessity for most people.

“…the United States has become the most rigidly credentialized society in the world. A B.A. is required for jobs that by no stretch of the imagination need two years of full-time training, let alone four.” ~ James Engell & Anthony Dangerfield, Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money

This second piece of the puzzle can be traced to a 1971 Supreme Court case known as Griggs v. Duke Power. Up until that time, many companies used aptitude tests as a tool to screen potential employees. However, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Warren Burger (pictured above), changed that when it issued its opinion on Griggs.

“…in 1971 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling (Griggs v. Duke Power) saying that if companies use aptitude testing to screen potential employees, they must be prepared to show that their tests are precisely calibrated to the needs of the job. Otherwise, they will be guilty of employment discrimination if their tests screen out minority workers who might have been able to do the work. Rather than face discrimination suits by the federal government, most employers started using a less precise but legally safe method of screening applicants—college degrees.” ~ George C. Leef, Why on Earth Do We Have a Student Loan Crisis?

So, the Supreme Court basically forced companies to stop using aptitude tests for screening purposes. However, that didn’t end the need for screening. Firms still needed a way to whittle down ever-growing pools of applicants. Thus, companies started to make the “possession of a college degree a requirement for applicants – even for jobs that could easily be learned by anyone with a decent high school education.” And just like that, the cheap, quick, and focused aptitude tests were replaced by ultra-expensive, ultra time-consuming, and ultra-unfocused college degrees.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

In 1940, just 10% of high school graduates went to college. By 1970, that number was at 40%. And by the 1990s, it had risen to 70%. That’s because a college degree has become little more than a “signaling game.” By attending college, students “signal” to potential employers that they’re smart, hard-working, and easily trained. The ability to send that signal to employers, which was once accomplished via aptitude tests, is the sole reason that most students attend college in the first place.

The Student Loan Conspiracy isn’t a deliberate one. I don’t think any of the politicians or judges who created the current situation ever envisioned the full impact of their decisions. But unintended consequences can be harsh. The result is that many students who wish to work at regular jobs have no other choice but to waste four years of their lives at college. They end up studying subjects with little relevance to their futures and accumulating tens of thousands of dollars of debt for the privilege.

If politicians are serious about reducing student loan burdens (and this seems doubtful at best), they might consider removing themselves from the educational process. By re-legalizing aptitude tests, they can give employers a far cheaper and less time-consuming way of screening for employees. And if they remove themselves from the student loan business, colleges will be forced to slow tuition growth. Only then will the Student Loan Conspiracy finally, at long last, come to an end.

Did Hitler Fake His Death?

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According to history books, Adolf Hitler shot and killed himself on April 30, 1945 while residing in an underground bunker in Berlin. His remains were subsequently burnt. But this story has long been questioned. Did Hitler truly die in the bunker? Or did he escape to somewhere else, unidentified and unpunished? Was there a Hitler Death Conspiracy?

The Hitler Death Conspiracy?

While most people believe the official version of Hitler’s suicide, others are unconvinced. Perhaps the most diligent and respected researcher in this area is Argentina-based journalist and historian Abel Basti. In 2010, Basti published El exilio de Hitler / Hitler’s Exile: Las pruebas de la fuga del fuhre a a la Argentina, in which he claimed that the official story was a fabrication. In fact, he believes in a Hitler Death Conspiracy.

According to an interview with Deadline-Live, Basti believes that Hitler escaped the Allies and fled across the ocean, ultimately taking up residence in Argentina.

“Hitler escaped via air from Austria to Barcelona. The last stage of his escape was in a submarine, from Vigo, heading straight to the coast of Patagonia. Finally, Hitler and Eva Braun, in a car with a chauffeur and bodyguard—a motorcade of at least three cars—drove to Bariloche (Argentina). He took refuge in a place called San Ramon, about 15 miles east of that town. It is a property of about 250,000 acres with a lake-front view of Lake Nahuel Huapi, which had been German property since the early twentieth century, when it belonged to a German firm by the name of Schamburg-Lippe.”

Evidence Supporting the Hitler Death Conspiracy?

Here is some of the evidence Basti uses to back up his various claims of a Hitler Death Conspiracy.

  • Hitler escaped to Spain?: Several eyewitnesses, including a still-living Jesuit priest “whose family members were friends of the Nazi leader,” spotted him in Spain after his supposed death. FBI documents indicate they were looking for Hitler in Spain after the end of World War II. And an “authenticated secret German document…lists Hitler as one of the passengers evacuated by plane from Austria to Barcelona on April 26, 1945.”
  • The Secret Submarine?: A British secret services document indicates that a Nazi submarine convoy left Spain around that time. It stopped in the Canary Islands before finally reaching Argentina.
  • Life in Argentina?: Hitler’s post-war life appears to be a bit of a mystery. Basti has met numerous South American eyewitnesses who say they had known Hitler. They state that the former Nazi leader shaved his head and mustache and had several meetings with other Nazi officials. Also, FBI documents show that there were claims of Hitler living in Argentina after the war.

All in all, the evidence supporting a Hitler Death Conspiracy is pretty flimsy. And yet, so is the evidence that Hitler died in the bunker. It rests on testimony provided by fellow Nazis who were fanatical devotees of Hitler. As such, its not hard to imagine they might’ve lied to help their former leader. It’s also hard to ignore the fact that major intelligence agencies believed that Hitler might’ve survived the war. The FBI conducted “an extensive 11-year probe into the possibility that Hitler faked his own death with a bogus suicide in 1945.” Soviet officials gave conflicting reports on whether or not they had found Hitler’s remains. Meanwhile, Joseph Stain, Premier of the Soviet Union, maintained a strong belief that Hitler escaped Germany, a fact which he relayed to President Truman in 1945.

As for physical evidence, the Soviet Union has long been in possession of skull fragments taken from the bunker. These have always been considered definitive proof that Hitler committed suicide via gunshot. In 2009, forensic investigators examined these fragments and determined that they came from a woman instead. And just like that, all physical evidence pointing to suicide vaporized into smoke. If there is other physical evidence pointing to suicide (or to his escape), its either lost to time or locked away somewhere (the U.S. government continues to keep many of its Hitler-related files classified, supposedly for National Security purposes – this same obsession with secrecy led to the nearly century long classification of World War I documents showing how to create invisible ink).

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

So, did Hitler fake his death and escape to Argentina? Was there truly a Hitler Death Conspiracy? While it’s impossible to say for sure, it certainly seems reasonable. Lesser Nazi officials successfully fled Germany and took up residence in South America. And the testimony supporting the suicide theory seems questionable at best.

Basti is presently searching for Hitler’s grave in Argentina, hoping to prove his case once and for all. We here at Guerrilla Explorer wish him the best of luck. If Hitler escaped, the world deserves to know the truth about how he got away…and why his escape remained a secret for so long.

The Amanda Knox Trial?

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On November 1, 2007, an unknown person or persons murdered Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. Italian prosecutors charged Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito, and Patrick Lumumba with her murder. The tabloids quickly erupted with stories of witchcraft and Satanism. Yesterday, after four long years of prison, Amanda was released from jail in a stunning turn of events. Did she kill Meredith? And if not, who did?

Did Giuliano Mignini railroad Amanda Knox?

After Meredith’s murder, Amanda Knox attempted to help the police with their investigation. Little did she know that Giuliano Mignini had already decided she was guilty of the crime. Mignini tapped her phone (one of 39,000 conversations he tapped during the course of the investigation) and learned that her mother was coming to Italy and intended to get her a lawyer. Working quickly, he subjected her to a brutal interrogation which, according to Amanda, consisted of her being hit, shouted at, and denied water and the use of a bathroom.

It should be noted that Mignini, who recorded every other interview connected to the case, claimed that this particular conversation hadn’t been recorded and thus, Amanda Knox’s allegations proved impossible to prove. During the course of this interrogation, she eventually submitted answers to hypothetical questions where she essentially imagined what might’ve happened if her employer and bar owner Patrick Lumumba had been present at the murder. Despite this incredibly weak evidence, Mignini declared the case closed.

The Media Convicts Amanda Knox?

The arrest of Amanda Knox, Sollecito, and Lumumba caused a media sensation, especially in Great Britain, the U.S., and Italy. Italy has no laws against pre-trial publicity and jurors are allowed, even encouraged to follow the news while deliberating a case. Thus, Chief Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini immediately took his case to the press, spinning wild tales of witchcraft, Satanism, and a “sex game gone wrong.” Although these theories lacked any sort of factual basis, they were quickly eaten up and distributed without checking by reporters such as John Follain, Nick Pisa, and Libby Purves.

The Arrest of Rudy Guede and Mignini’s Bizarre Vendetta against Amanda Knox?

Two weeks later, Mignini’s case fell apart. Lumumba was able to furnish an air-tight alibi, making Amanda Knox’s so-called “confession” useless. More importantly, the police arrested the real killer, a drug-dealer named Rudy Guede. Guede’s fingerprints and DNA were discovered in Meredith’s room and on her body. When interrogated, he claimed he had sex with Meredith, left the room, and later returned to find someone standing over her with a knife. Months later, he changed his story, claiming that the mysterious man was Amanda’s boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and that Sollecito and Amanda Knox had killed Meredith after a sex game gone wrong.

Despite mounting evidence that he was wrong, Mignini stubbornly prepared his case. Italy’s Supreme Court threw out Amanda’s confession, but Mignini used a tricky legal maneuver to get it admitted into evidence. He also claimed that a knife found at Sollecito’s house was the murder weapon and that it had Meredith’s DNA on the blade and Amanda’s DNA on the handle. Furthermore, he stated that Meredith’s bra clasp contained Sollecito’s DNA. The DNA evidence proved powerful enough for a jury, which had already been swayed by months of Mignini’s leaked stories to the press, to convict Amanda and Sollecito in 2009. After the trial, psychoanalyst Coline Covington decided to add her two cents by comparing Amanda Knox, who she’d never met, to Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann.

“Knox’s narcissistic pleasure at catching the eye of the media and her apparent nonchalant attitude during most of the proceedings show the signs of a psychopathic personality. Her behaviour is hauntingly reminiscent of Eichmann’s arrogance during his trial for war crimes in Jerusalem in 1961 and most recently of Karadzic’s preening before the International Criminal Court at The Hague.” ~ Coline Covington, Signs that Suggest Amanda Knox is a Psychopath

The Vindication of Amanda Knox

Soon after, the evidence came under heavy fire. A witness who claimed to have seen Amanda Knox and Sollecito near the crime scene changed his story. The knife was found too large to fit the wounds and its blade contained no blood or DNA, in stark contrast to the prosecution’s claims. The bra clasp contained too little DNA to measure and video taken at the crime scene showed that it had been picked up by bare-handed police, tainting the evidence. Further analysis showed that the DNA evidence that convicted Amanda and Sollecito had been caused by lab contamination. Other witnesses came forth to reveal that Guede claimed responsibility for the murder. And on top of it all, Mignini was given a suspended 16-month sentence for “abuse of office” in regards to a separate case. Amanda Knox and Sollecito appealed their convictions and were finally freed on October 3, 2011.

But who Murdered Meredeith Kercher?

So who murdered Meredith Kercher? The most likely suspect is Rudy Guede. He changed his story at least once, his bloody handprint was found at the scene of the crime, and he supposedly told others that he had killed Meredith. But if Guede did it, then how did Meredith’s murder turn into such a sensationalized trial?

According to well-known author, Douglas Preston, the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of Chief Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. While investigating the as-of-yet unsolved “Monster of Florence” murders, Preston ran afoul of Mignini. Mignini had reopened the case and thought that the “killer or killers were Satanists from an ancient cult that harvested body parts.” During the course of is own research, Preston was arrested by Mignini and informed that he had to confess to “perjury or obstruction of justice.” Preston was ultimately given the choice of facing charges or leaving the country. Preston left and proceeded to co-write The Monster of Florence, with Mario Spezi, which detailed the case as well as Mignini’s highly questionable methods and vast wiretapping. In regards to the Meredith Kercher case, Preston has been quoted as saying:

“There was no evidence. I realized it was all bogus. Mignini believes that Satan walks the land and anyone who is against him must be working for the other side.” ~ Douglas Preston

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

It seems clear that there was an incredible amount of prosecutorial misconduct in this case. Mignini had it out for Amanda Knox and Sollecito from the beginning and when his case fell apart, chose to sacrifice their freedom rather than his own reputation. In addition, there are disturbing stories of Mignini and the police deliberately punishing and attacking anyone who tried to question the verdict. The media, outside of a few examples such as the heroic Frank Sfarzo who blogs about the case at Perugia Shock, have been complicit in the whole sad affair. John Follain, Nick Pisa, Libby Purves, Coline Covington and many others bear some moral responsibility for being more interested in creating sensational headlines than in uncovering the truth.

On October 3, 2011, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were finally released from jail. It is believed that Amanda has already left Italy and I’d advise Sollecito to do the same. Meredith’s murder was a sad, horrendous event. Unfortunately, the four-year imprisonment of two people who were in all likelihood completely innocent only made things worse. We may never know the full story of Meredith Kercher’s murder. And the blame for that fact lies solely with Chief Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini as well as the people who aided his vendetta against Amanda Knox and Sollecito.

U.S. Invasion Plans for…Canada?

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In 1930, the United States formally approved “War Plan Red.” Although never put into action, the plan caused a major international rift when it was declassified in 1974. Did the United States really plan to go to war…with Great Britain?

War Plan Red: The Most Sensitive Document on Earth?

My how times have changed. Today Great Britain is viewed by American political leaders as its greatest ally. But back in 1930, opinions were decidedly different. Americans harbored suspicious feelings toward its former ruler. In addition, Great Britain was indebted to America to the tune of £9 billion thanks to the so-called “Great War.”

But those things paled in comparison to the brutal, long-term economic and political oil war that was being waged between wealthy interests from both countries. On one side stood the Rockerfellers and Standard Oil, which had previously held dual monopolies in international crude and export oil markets. On the other side, the Morgans and the Rothschilds stood alongside the newly-formed British Royal Dutch-Shell company. In many ways, the tensions between the two nations can be directly traced to this expanding “oil war.”

As such, the American military prepared War Plan Red – a document once considered the “most sensitive on earth.” Military officers thought that in the event of war, Great Britain would most likely stage attacks from the north. So, America proposed an invasion of British-controlled Canada.

How did War Plan Red Work?

According to the initial plan, one force would swarm the port city of Halifax, effectively cutting off British support. A second force would seize power plants near Niagara Falls. Then troops would invade Canada in a three-pronged approach while the Navy annexed the Great Lakes and blockaded Canadian ports. Massive bombing raids and chemical weapon deployment would accompany the attacks.

In February 1935, the plan was updated and “the U.S. Congress authorised $57 million to be allocated for the building of three secret airfields on the U.S. side of the Canadian border, with grassed-over landing strips to hide their real purpose.” Also, “America staged its largest-ever military maneuvers, moving troops to and installing munitions dumps at Fort Drum, half an hour away from the eastern Canadian border.”

It’s impossible to know what exactly would’ve happened in the event of war. But the world as we know it would probably look very different today.

“Using available blueprints for this war, modern-day military and naval experts now believe the most likely outcome of such a conflict would have been a massive naval battle in the North Atlantic with very few actual deaths, but ending with Britain handing Canada over to the U.S. in order to preserve our vital trade routes.” ~ David Gerrie, Daily Mail

Defense Scheme No. 1: Canada’s Version of War Plan Red?

By the way, don’t feel too bad for Canada here. It turns out Canada had its own version of War Plan Red, which it called “Defense Scheme No. 1.” Created in 1921, it detailed a preemptive invasion of America in the event of a possible war. The idea was to send “flying columns” to Seattle, Great Falls, Minneapolis, and Albany. The Canadian military hoped this would distract and delay the more powerful American military, thus providing ample time for British forces to arrive. This plan was ultimately discarded in 1928.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

Interestingly enough, War Plan Red was just one of numerous contingency plans that are now known as the Rainbow Plans. For instance, War Plan Black was created before World War I to deal with a possible conflict with Germany. War Plan Orange considered how best to attack Japan. And most frightening, War Plan White was designed to suppress a domestic revolt.

As for War Plan Red, it became moot when World War II broke out and America threw its weight behind the Allies. But for a few short years, the economic ambitions and political power of the world’s largest oil industrialists nearly led to war. Such a war would’ve altered relations between the two countries…impacted the global balance of power…and changed the world forever.

A Machine that can Read Minds?

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Oneirology is the scientific study of dreams. It’s widely considered a protoscience, or a promising field of study that has yet to be firmly established. New research could change all that though. In fact, it could change a lot of things. What if technology existed that could read dreams? What if these “natural movies” could read entire minds?

What are Natural Movies?

Scientists at UC Berkeley recently created a computer program that can “translate brain wave patterns into a moving image.” They call these images “Natural Movies.”

In order to get these Natural Movies, subjects watched hours of Youtube videos inside a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. In the process, the MRI recorded the ways in which the subjects’ brains processed the visual imagery. The research team used this information to develop a computer program “that matched features of the videos – like colors, shapes, and movements – with patterns of brain activity.”

Afterward, the program was tested in reverse. The team “fed the computer 18 million one-second YouTube clips that the participants had never seen.” The program then attempted to reconstruct the clips using other YouTube scenes as well as the information provided by the subjects’ brain activity. This video shows some of these results. The movie on the left is a series of Youtube clips. The movie on the right is the reconstructed Natural Movie. The Natural Movie is blurry because it layers “all the YouTube clips that matched the subject’s brain activity pattern.”

“This is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery. We are opening a window into the movies in our minds.” ~ Jack Gallant, Professor of Psychology

The Future of Natural Movies?

Of course, this research is in its infancy. The UC Berkeley study only measured a small amount of total brain activity. More models will be needed to encompass the entire visual system and more computers will be required to analyze the data. And ultimately, our ability to record and watch inner imagery like dreams, memories, or thoughts will depend on “how close those abstract visual experiences are to the real thing.” Still, it looks promising.

“If you can decode movies people saw, you might be able to decode things in the brain that are movie-like but have no real-world analog, like dreams.” ~ Jack Gallant

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

This research is straight out of a science fiction novel and could end up having enormous ramifications on life as we know it. Natural movies could enable paralyzed individuals to communicate movements through visual thoughts, allowing machines to make those movements a reality. The Pensieve from the Harry Potter series, which enabled one to store and recall memories, could become a reality.

Unfortunately, natural movies could also become a nightmare. It might be used in harmful ways we can’t even begin to imagine. Even the researchers themselves seem a bit nervous about the whole thing.

“It is possible that decoding brain activity could have serious ethical and privacy implications downstream in, say, the 30-year time frame. As an analogy, consider the current debates regarding availability of genetic information. Genetic sequencing is becoming cheaper by the year, and it will soon be possible for everyone to have their own genome sequenced. This raises many issues regarding privacy and the accessibility of individual genetic information. The authors believe strongly that no one should be subjected to any form of brain-reading process involuntarily, covertly, or without complete informed consent. ~ Shinji Nishimoto, An T. Vu, Thomas Naselaris, Yuval Benjamini, Bin Yu & Jack L. Gallant: Reconstructing Visual Experiences from Brain Activity Evoked by Natural Movies

Will this research benefit mankind? Or will it lead to a future straight out of Minority Report? Only time will tell.

The Lost Nuclear Sub?

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On July 4, 1974, the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a deep-sea drillship vessel, dropped anchor in the Pacific Ocean. Its stated purpose was to mine the sea floor for manganese nodules. However, that was just a cover. Its real purpose was far more ambitious…nothing less than the salvage of a lost Soviet nuclear submarine known as K-129.

Disaster Strikes the K-129

Six years earlier, on March 8, 1968, the Soviet submarine K-129 sank in deep waters 1,560 nautical miles northwest of Oahu. 98 crewmen perished in the process. The loss wasn’t realized until the K-129 missed its second consecutive radio check-in during mid-March. About a week later, the Soviet Union launched a gigantic search and rescue effort to find the lost submarine.

The effort failed. However, it was noticed by U.S. intelligence who guessed the mission’s true nature. After checking archived acoustic records, the U.S. Navy discovered an unexplained event had occurred on March 8, 1968. After triangulating the signals, the Navy generated a search grid and initiated Operation Sand Dollar to find and photograph the Soviet sub. The U.S. submarine USS Halibut was sent to the vicinity and after just three weeks of searching, managed to locate the wreck at 16,500 feet below sea level.

The K-129 represented an exciting opportunity. It was believed to contain Soviet nuclear missile technology as well as cryptographic machines and a code book. As such, the United States decided to secretly recover the wreckage. Tasked with this responsibility, the CIA formulated Project Azorian in 1970.

Project Azorian & the Hughes Glomar Explorer: Salvage of the Lost Nuclear Submarine?

The CIA hired Global Marine Development to build a deepwater drillship vessel. The famous industrialist Howard Hughes lent his name to the project and claimed that the ship’s purpose was to mine for manganese nodules. On June 20, 1974, the newly-christened Hughes Glomar Explorer set sail from Long Beach, California. It was equipped with a large mechanical claw dubbed Clementine by the crew. The plan was simple, at least on paper. The claw would deploy to the ocean floor, wrap around part of the submarine, and then lift that part into the Hughes Glomar Explorer’s hold.

The salvage effort began on July 4, 1974 and lasted for over a month. Since the whole process took place underwater, it proved impossible for the Soviets to detect. The details of Project Azorian remain classified to this day so it’s uncertain what exactly was recovered from the wreckage. Officially, the operation was a failure (you can see one of the heavily redacted files here). Supposedly, Clementine broke down during the salvage, forcing the Hughes Glomar Explorer to abandon two-thirds of the K-129. But since the CIA is known for being extra secretive, many researchers have questioned the official account. Thus, there is speculation that Project Azorian was a major intelligence coup, leading to the capture of Soviet submarine technology, nuclear torpedoes, code books, and other items.

What caused the K-129 to Sink?

But how did the K-129 sink in the first place? The Soviet Navy believed that the sub simply sank too low and failed to handle the situation due to mechanical or crew failure. Other theories include the lead-acid batteries exploding while being recharged or an accidental missile detonation. A more controversial theory (and one privately believed by many Soviet officers) is that the sub sank after an accidental collision with the USS Swordfish.

But the most controversial theory by far was put forth by Kenneth Sewell in Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine’s Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S. Sewell postulated that the K-129 was captured by Soviet hard-liners. They planned to launch a nuclear missile on Pearl Harbor that would appear to have been fired by a Chinese submarine. The purpose was to bring about war between the U.S. and China. However, a fail safe device caused the missile to explode instead.

Sewell’s theory was bolstered by Dr. John Crane’s The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea. According to Crane, the real purpose of Project Azorian was not to recover the submarine but to find out why it sank in a part of the sea where it shouldn’t have been in the first place.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

Until the CIA releases more information, the true intent of K-129 as well as the strategic success of Project Azorian remain matters of speculation. However, from at least one vantage point, the Hughes Glomar Explorer had a tremendous impact. Prior to that time, the deepest successful salvage of a submarine was at 245 feet. At 16,500 feet, Project Azorian shattered that record and in the process set a new one that, as far as I know, continues to remain to this day.

The Guatemala Syphilis Scandal

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In 2005, Professor Susan Reverby made a shocking discovery. Between 1946 and 1948, the U.S. Public Health Service, with the blessing of Guatemalan officials, deliberately exposed 1,300 Guatemalans to syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. 83 people may have died as a result. How did the Guatemala Syphilis Scandal happen? And why does new evidence indicate that the experiments were “more shocking than was previously known?”

Dr. John Cutler & the Guatemala Syphilis Experiment?

Dr. John Cutler was a surgeon and acting chief of the U.S. Public Health Service’s venereal disease program. At one time, he was viewed as a respectable doctor and even rose to the rank of Assistant Surgeon General under President Eisenhower. Now, after being tied to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment as well as the Guatemala syphilis experiment, he is considered a monster.

Starting in 1946, Dr. Cutler and his researchers oversaw the deliberate infection of 1,300 Guatemalans with syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid. This was accomplished by paying prostitutes to sleep with prisoners as well as through direct inoculations. The goal, while somewhat unclear, seems to have been to determine the efficacy of penicillin in dealing with the various venereal diseases. While some Guatemalan officials knowingly participated in the conspiracy, they were not always privy to the experiment’s details. The so-called Guatemala syphilis experiments ended in 1948, due to increasing gossip about the study as well as difficulties in obtaining adequate amounts of penicillin.

News on the Guatemala Syphilis Scandal?

Recently, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, which had been tasked to investigate the experiments, announced its findings. Out of the 1,300 infected people, only 700 received treatment. It is unknown how many people died thanks to the experiment but at least 83 were deceased by 1953.

The Commission, which has yet to release its full report, also announced some particularly disturbing details. None of the victims gave their informed consent to participate in the project. Also, some of the subjects were treated in horrific fashion, including one terminally-ill woman who was “infected…with gonorrhea in her eyes and elsewhere.”

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

Five years after Professor Reverby began to unearth the decades-old conspiracy, it became national news. President Obama called Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom to apologize and ordered the Commission to begin reviewing the study. Guatemala is conducting its own investigation. Reparations are possible and I believe that surviving victims of the study are preparing a lawsuit against the U.S. government.

Unfortunately, there is no turning back the clock. Dr. Cutler’s experiments, which came in the wake of the horrific Nazi experiments, are a permanent part of American history, one that all of us wish we could forget.

Who Killed JFK?

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On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. Authorities blamed the JFK assassination on a man named Lee Harvey Oswald. However, legions of conspiracy theorists, as well as the vast majority of the American public, remain unconvinced. Now, newly-announced tape recordings from President Kennedy’s wife have added a new wrinkle to the case. Who did Jackie Onassis blame for her husband’s death?

The JFK Assassination?

John F. Kennedy was the thirty-fifth President of the United States. His term was marked with chaos and controversy, including the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the deepening of American involvement in Vietnam. These days, he’s a mythic figure in American politics, one who engenders cult-like fascination, thanks in no small part to his untimely death.

The story of the JFK assassination is a long one and indeed, thousands of books and tens of thousands of articles have already told the tale. So, I’ll stick to the basics of the official version. In 1963, President Kennedy was shot while riding in a motorcade in Dealey Plaza. Thirty minutes later, doctors pronounced him dead.

The police were provided with a suspect’s description. A short while later, Officer J.D. Tippit spotted Lee Harvey Oswald three miles from the crime scene. Since Oswald matched the description, Tippit attempted to engage him. But Oswald killed Tippit instead and fled to a movie theater where he was eventually arrested. Despite claims of being a patsy, he was formally charged that evening. But he never made it to trial. Two days after his arrest, he was shot and killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

The Lone Gunman Theory

President Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, established the Warren Commission to investigate the JFK assassination. Ten months later, the Commission famously concluded that Oswald acted alone, driven by insanity and a love for Marxism.

But the mystery was just beginning. The Lone Gunman Theory quickly came under attack and holes began to pile up. Then, in 1975, Good Night America showed Abraham Zapruder’s film of the assassination. It appeared to depict Kennedy being shot in the front rather than from the rear where Oswald had been positioned. Further bombshells followed, including the fact that Special Agent James Hosty of the FBI had been in contact with Oswald prior to the JFK assassination. Even more suspiciously, the FBI attempted to cover up this information.

Who was behind the JFK Assassination?

Despite the passing of nearly five decades, President Kennedy’s assassination continues to captivate the public. Conspiracy theorists have pointed to numerous suspects, including the CIA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the KGB, Fidel Castro, Anti-Castro Cubans, and the Mafia. It seems that practically everyone had a motive to kill the President.

New theories appear frequently, along with supporting circumstantial evidence. The latest theory arrives from Jackie Onassis herself, who at that time was President Kennedy’s wife. And her testimony promises to reignite even more interest in the case, especially since it comes from beyond the grave.

Jackie Onassis’ Theory?

You see, a historian named Arthur Schlesinger recorded an interview with Jackie back in 1964. She agreed to the interview although she stipulated that it was not to be made public until fifty years after her death. Since Jackie died in 1994, that meant a release date of 2044. However, her wishes have been subverted. Supposedly, her daughter Caroline agreed to release the tapes in exchange for ABC dropping a drama series about the Kennedy family. That’s a conspiracy in its own right, especially since there was never any word that ABC planned to show the miniseries in the first place.

Anyways, according to early reports, Jackie believed Lyndon Baines Johnson along with a group of southern businessmen were behind the assassination. While its not evidence, this revelation is nonetheless quite significant. Conspiracy proponents are often depicted as being on the fringes of society. As far as I know, Jackie is the first member of the so-called establishment to declare her belief in a prevailing conspiracy.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

So, where do we go from here? About 98% of all documents surrounding the assassination have been released to the public. The remaining documents will be released in 2017. It seems unlikely that these documents will add much to the debate. It will be up to independent researchers to continue investigating the case. If a conspiracy did exist, let’s hope they are able to uncover the necessary evidence. After all, America deserves to know who perpetrated it…

And why.