<![CDATA[ConCen - All Forums]]> http://concen.org/forum/ Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:39:52 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Invisible world - how to gain access to it safely]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44517 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:54:56 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44517
"I have told you so often to be wary of those books on occult science that pretend to open the way to the invisible world but will only lead you dangerously astray. If you ever want to be able to leave your body and astral travel, so as to discover the splendours of the spiritual world, here is an exercise that is completely safe.

For example, on those mornings when a grey, misty sky makes you feel drowsy, instead of trying to concentrate and meditate – which is pointless, as the conditions aren’t right, and you won’t succeed – try to stop thinking. Allow your soul to expand into space, and imagine it is rejoining the universal Soul and fusing with it: it will bring back with it images of the regions it has been contemplating. But be under no illusion: the quality of what you see depends on you, on the nature and quality of your desires, your feelings and your thoughts. So, if you want to truly connect with the realities of the spiritual world, begin by purifying your inner world. "

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov]]>
"I have told you so often to be wary of those books on occult science that pretend to open the way to the invisible world but will only lead you dangerously astray. If you ever want to be able to leave your body and astral travel, so as to discover the splendours of the spiritual world, here is an exercise that is completely safe.

For example, on those mornings when a grey, misty sky makes you feel drowsy, instead of trying to concentrate and meditate – which is pointless, as the conditions aren’t right, and you won’t succeed – try to stop thinking. Allow your soul to expand into space, and imagine it is rejoining the universal Soul and fusing with it: it will bring back with it images of the regions it has been contemplating. But be under no illusion: the quality of what you see depends on you, on the nature and quality of your desires, your feelings and your thoughts. So, if you want to truly connect with the realities of the spiritual world, begin by purifying your inner world. "

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov]]> <![CDATA[Luminous Living: God’s Heaven On Earth - Our Golden Age]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44516 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:47:39 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44516
Represented within the pentagram of the living cosmos is the pentagram of the person with the five attributes of wholly empowered self-mastery: the Philosopher’s Stone, Fountain of Eternal Life, Universal Panacea, Magic Mirror and Magic Wand.

In the Courtyard

What is the collective dream of an enlightened humanity?
Wholly and completely. In full accomplishment.

Say it how you will: the Kingdom of God realized, heaven on earth, an advanced age of peace, world unity, light, spiritual love and universal brotherhood. A solar civilization, derived through our spiritual sun, which births and sustains our very lives and being.

Our magnificently beautiful, manifesting destiny. A dream of worthy outcome through expansively visioned, purposeful work, all life variously in complement to the divine goal.

In our work toward self perfection we have immense greatness welling forth, powerfully aided from extraordinarily illumined, loving beings ever near in the Tree of Living Splendor.

Luminous Living is an introduction to the universal wisdom beckoning our full preparation in accomplishment of the common goal. Each year people’s achievement of spiritual self-transformation accelerates.

The heavenly future is now.. the fiery synthesis of the millennia’s eminent universal initiatic wisdom is brilliantly cast now centuries ahead - bestowed through the 6000 talks of the initiatic master Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov - for immediate recognition and dutiful application. Living of unimaginably beautiful happiness awaits. What but to do as the exercise machine instructs: “Sit down and pedal”?

Our story aims toward urging and motivating the will, heart and intellect to recognize the beauty and immensity of what we have going for us, to discover and thrive in one’s happiest progress. In Part Two I apply the masterful teacher’s clairvoyant foresight in describing our lives years ahead.

As well too, by the way he lived and through what he gives humanity, the Master, Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov is the perfect model of future man. The Luminous World Family portrays an advanced era of Light-filled spiritually loving harmony.

The characters’ environment is real. These our blessings to come are real too, as seen through the clairvoyant foresight of our civilization’s leading initiatic teacher.

Continue to read the complete eBook here:
http://tinyurl.com/65tmq53]]>
Represented within the pentagram of the living cosmos is the pentagram of the person with the five attributes of wholly empowered self-mastery: the Philosopher’s Stone, Fountain of Eternal Life, Universal Panacea, Magic Mirror and Magic Wand.

In the Courtyard

What is the collective dream of an enlightened humanity?
Wholly and completely. In full accomplishment.

Say it how you will: the Kingdom of God realized, heaven on earth, an advanced age of peace, world unity, light, spiritual love and universal brotherhood. A solar civilization, derived through our spiritual sun, which births and sustains our very lives and being.

Our magnificently beautiful, manifesting destiny. A dream of worthy outcome through expansively visioned, purposeful work, all life variously in complement to the divine goal.

In our work toward self perfection we have immense greatness welling forth, powerfully aided from extraordinarily illumined, loving beings ever near in the Tree of Living Splendor.

Luminous Living is an introduction to the universal wisdom beckoning our full preparation in accomplishment of the common goal. Each year people’s achievement of spiritual self-transformation accelerates.

The heavenly future is now.. the fiery synthesis of the millennia’s eminent universal initiatic wisdom is brilliantly cast now centuries ahead - bestowed through the 6000 talks of the initiatic master Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov - for immediate recognition and dutiful application. Living of unimaginably beautiful happiness awaits. What but to do as the exercise machine instructs: “Sit down and pedal”?

Our story aims toward urging and motivating the will, heart and intellect to recognize the beauty and immensity of what we have going for us, to discover and thrive in one’s happiest progress. In Part Two I apply the masterful teacher’s clairvoyant foresight in describing our lives years ahead.

As well too, by the way he lived and through what he gives humanity, the Master, Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov is the perfect model of future man. The Luminous World Family portrays an advanced era of Light-filled spiritually loving harmony.

The characters’ environment is real. These our blessings to come are real too, as seen through the clairvoyant foresight of our civilization’s leading initiatic teacher.

Continue to read the complete eBook here:
http://tinyurl.com/65tmq53]]> <![CDATA[Police stop while exercising my right to travel [UK]]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44515 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:32:43 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44515
He said he was aiming to begin putting such practices as "de-registering" his "Vehicle" into place. Good to see it in action.











Good on ya man!]]>
He said he was aiming to begin putting such practices as "de-registering" his "Vehicle" into place. Good to see it in action.











Good on ya man!]]> <![CDATA[False Flag around the corner? Israel Puts Global Facilities On High Alert...]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44514 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:08:44 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44514 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/israel-put...ike-threat

Israel Puts Global Facilities On High Alert Following Warning Of Rising Iran Strike Threat

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/03/2012 17:06 -0500

While the world rejoices in the aftermath of the enjoyable diversion in which a fake market surges on fake, politically-motivated data, which incidentally refutes the warning voiced last week by the Fed Chairman who has a far better grasp of the economy than the BLS, warned last week, the confluence of real events continues to indicate that something is brewing in the middle east. Only this time it is not the US adding another aircraft carrier to the three already situated by the Straits of Hormuz. This time the smoke and fire come from Israel. ABC reports that "Israeli facilities in North America -- and around the world -- are on high alert, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News that predicted the threat from Iran against Jewish targets will increase. "We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and 'soft' sites," stated a letter circulated by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States. Guarded sites refers to government facilities like embassies and consulates, while 'soft sites' means Jewish synagogues, and schools, as well as community centers like the one hit by a terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people." Hopefully the head of security's prediction track record is better than that of the CBO, and that the very act of prediction does not in effect "make it so." At least courtesy of this latest escalation by Israel we get a clue of what to focus on, if not so much who the actual aggressors will be. In the meantime, Iran, which has been dealing with hyperinflation for weeks now, and likely has bigger problems to worry about than focusing on "soft sites" will naturally sense this escalation as the provocation it may well be meant to be, respond in kind, which will lead to further responses of definite attacks imminent by Iran's adversaries, and so on, and so forth, until finally the dam wall finally cracks.

Regarding who may be attacked, ABC had this to say:

The head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, told an audience at a closed forum in Tel Aviv recently that Iran is trying to hit Israeli targets because of what it believes are Israeli attacks on it nuclear scientists. Yoram Cohen said that Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the same militant wing of the government linked to the recent alleged plot against the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., is working tirelessly to attack Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in order to deter Israel.

And just how is attacking Jewish targets abroad detering Israel? Oh wait, the assumption is that Iran is completely irrational and willing to provoke anyone for the sake of converting itself into one big lake of glass. Or so the public should believe. Got it.

Naturally, the 'response' is already in play.

Local and regional law enforcement and intelligence officials in U.S. and Canadian cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Toronto have been monitoring the situation closely for several weeks, and have stepped up patrols at Israeli government locations and Jewish cultural and religious institutions. They have issued awareness bulletins reminding officers to stay vigilant.



Federal officials in those cities told ABC News that they have also increased their efforts to watch for any threat stream pointing to an imminent attack on either Israeli facilities, Jewish cultural or religious institutions or other "soft targets."



"When there is posturing like this, we always pay extra attention to any threat streams," one federal official said.



"The thwarted assassination plot of a Saudi official in Washington, D.C., a couple of months ago was an important data point," added the official, "in that it showed at least parts of the Iranian establishment were aware of the intended event and were not concerned about inevitable collateral damage to U.S. citizens had they carried out an assassination plot on American soil."



"That was an eye opener, showing that they did not care about any collateral damage," the federal official said.



After the disruption of the alleged plot, regional intelligence centers issued bulletins similar to the recent Israeli warning.

Here is what has to be accepted as fact for the narrative to work:

"In the past few weeks, there has been an escalation in threats against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world," one regional document noted. "Open source has reported many demonstrations against Israel are expected to be concentrated on Israeli embassies and consulates. Such demonstrations have occurred internationally as well as domestically. These demonstrations could potentially turn violent at local synagogues, restaurants, the Israeli Embassy and other Israeli sites. … Law enforcement should be vigilant when making periodic checks at all Jewish facilities.

Once that is engrained in the public conscience, the letter's climax become a foregone conclusion:

"In conclusion, we operate according to the information that Iran and Hezbollah are working hard and with great intensity to release a 'quality' attack against Israeli/Jewish sites around the world."

We've seen this play by play many times before and frankly at this point the posturing is getting just silly. What we do want to find out, however, is how will Russia get involved in all of this. Because if recent actions are any precedent, we fully expect Putin to send an aircraft carrier, purely symbolically, in the Arabian Sea himself, just to indicate that any invasion, pardon, liberation, of Iran crude, will first have to go through him. And not to mention China... or India.

Finally, because some have expressed curiosity why the USS Enterprise, the oldest aircraft carrier in the US Navy, will be the 3rd "supporting" carrier in the Straits area, when it is due for decommissioning next year, here is one video with a theory, whether correct or incorrect, on why events may be transpiring the way they are.



]]> http://www.zerohedge.com/news/israel-put...ike-threat

Israel Puts Global Facilities On High Alert Following Warning Of Rising Iran Strike Threat

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/03/2012 17:06 -0500

While the world rejoices in the aftermath of the enjoyable diversion in which a fake market surges on fake, politically-motivated data, which incidentally refutes the warning voiced last week by the Fed Chairman who has a far better grasp of the economy than the BLS, warned last week, the confluence of real events continues to indicate that something is brewing in the middle east. Only this time it is not the US adding another aircraft carrier to the three already situated by the Straits of Hormuz. This time the smoke and fire come from Israel. ABC reports that "Israeli facilities in North America -- and around the world -- are on high alert, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News that predicted the threat from Iran against Jewish targets will increase. "We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and 'soft' sites," stated a letter circulated by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States. Guarded sites refers to government facilities like embassies and consulates, while 'soft sites' means Jewish synagogues, and schools, as well as community centers like the one hit by a terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people." Hopefully the head of security's prediction track record is better than that of the CBO, and that the very act of prediction does not in effect "make it so." At least courtesy of this latest escalation by Israel we get a clue of what to focus on, if not so much who the actual aggressors will be. In the meantime, Iran, which has been dealing with hyperinflation for weeks now, and likely has bigger problems to worry about than focusing on "soft sites" will naturally sense this escalation as the provocation it may well be meant to be, respond in kind, which will lead to further responses of definite attacks imminent by Iran's adversaries, and so on, and so forth, until finally the dam wall finally cracks.

Regarding who may be attacked, ABC had this to say:

The head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, told an audience at a closed forum in Tel Aviv recently that Iran is trying to hit Israeli targets because of what it believes are Israeli attacks on it nuclear scientists. Yoram Cohen said that Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the same militant wing of the government linked to the recent alleged plot against the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., is working tirelessly to attack Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in order to deter Israel.

And just how is attacking Jewish targets abroad detering Israel? Oh wait, the assumption is that Iran is completely irrational and willing to provoke anyone for the sake of converting itself into one big lake of glass. Or so the public should believe. Got it.

Naturally, the 'response' is already in play.

Local and regional law enforcement and intelligence officials in U.S. and Canadian cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Toronto have been monitoring the situation closely for several weeks, and have stepped up patrols at Israeli government locations and Jewish cultural and religious institutions. They have issued awareness bulletins reminding officers to stay vigilant.



Federal officials in those cities told ABC News that they have also increased their efforts to watch for any threat stream pointing to an imminent attack on either Israeli facilities, Jewish cultural or religious institutions or other "soft targets."



"When there is posturing like this, we always pay extra attention to any threat streams," one federal official said.



"The thwarted assassination plot of a Saudi official in Washington, D.C., a couple of months ago was an important data point," added the official, "in that it showed at least parts of the Iranian establishment were aware of the intended event and were not concerned about inevitable collateral damage to U.S. citizens had they carried out an assassination plot on American soil."



"That was an eye opener, showing that they did not care about any collateral damage," the federal official said.



After the disruption of the alleged plot, regional intelligence centers issued bulletins similar to the recent Israeli warning.

Here is what has to be accepted as fact for the narrative to work:

"In the past few weeks, there has been an escalation in threats against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world," one regional document noted. "Open source has reported many demonstrations against Israel are expected to be concentrated on Israeli embassies and consulates. Such demonstrations have occurred internationally as well as domestically. These demonstrations could potentially turn violent at local synagogues, restaurants, the Israeli Embassy and other Israeli sites. … Law enforcement should be vigilant when making periodic checks at all Jewish facilities.

Once that is engrained in the public conscience, the letter's climax become a foregone conclusion:

"In conclusion, we operate according to the information that Iran and Hezbollah are working hard and with great intensity to release a 'quality' attack against Israeli/Jewish sites around the world."

We've seen this play by play many times before and frankly at this point the posturing is getting just silly. What we do want to find out, however, is how will Russia get involved in all of this. Because if recent actions are any precedent, we fully expect Putin to send an aircraft carrier, purely symbolically, in the Arabian Sea himself, just to indicate that any invasion, pardon, liberation, of Iran crude, will first have to go through him. And not to mention China... or India.

Finally, because some have expressed curiosity why the USS Enterprise, the oldest aircraft carrier in the US Navy, will be the 3rd "supporting" carrier in the Straits area, when it is due for decommissioning next year, here is one video with a theory, whether correct or incorrect, on why events may be transpiring the way they are.



]]> <![CDATA["Monsanto Go Away" Anthem - Performed by Human (Occupy Maui)]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44513 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:43:50 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44513



Uploaded by fiercelightfilms on 29 Jan 2012

As part of a week of action against Monsanto, musician HUMAN joins Occupy Maui in solidarity to sing their new anthem.

Shot by Ian MacKenzie. Help support the upcoming feaure doc OCCUPY LOVE http://www.indiegogo.com/Occupy-Love

The Human Revolution
http://www.thehumanrevolution.org/

Occupy Wallstreet Maui
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyMaui

GMO FREE MAUI
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mauigmofree/


Monsanto (Go Away!)
Words and Music by Human

You say you want to help our community
Help the farmers sell more food
But all you sell to us is lies
You're only looking out for you

You say its all about the children
And yet you feed them pesticides
We know its all about your profits
Because of you too many die

Chorus: Monsanto Go Away Go Away Go Away
You are NOT welcome on our land
Monsanto Go Away Go Away Go Away
You are trespassing on our land

You say you're all about democracy
But then you interfere in our political process
You may have fooled some politicians
You may have given them some money

But this is not Washington DC
You cannot bully this community
We are much stronger than you think that we are
We are everywhere and we know who you are

Chorus: Monsanto.....

So if you know what is best for you
You will take your lies and go back home
You cannot tell your lies to change our minds
We don't want your fucking poison seeds here in Mendocino

For many many years we grow our food the natural way
Earth she gives us all we need to sustain
We will not grow your chemi-crops, you take your herbicides and go
You will not poison our homeland we say its time for you to go.]]>



Uploaded by fiercelightfilms on 29 Jan 2012

As part of a week of action against Monsanto, musician HUMAN joins Occupy Maui in solidarity to sing their new anthem.

Shot by Ian MacKenzie. Help support the upcoming feaure doc OCCUPY LOVE http://www.indiegogo.com/Occupy-Love

The Human Revolution
http://www.thehumanrevolution.org/

Occupy Wallstreet Maui
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyMaui

GMO FREE MAUI
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mauigmofree/


Monsanto (Go Away!)
Words and Music by Human

You say you want to help our community
Help the farmers sell more food
But all you sell to us is lies
You're only looking out for you

You say its all about the children
And yet you feed them pesticides
We know its all about your profits
Because of you too many die

Chorus: Monsanto Go Away Go Away Go Away
You are NOT welcome on our land
Monsanto Go Away Go Away Go Away
You are trespassing on our land

You say you're all about democracy
But then you interfere in our political process
You may have fooled some politicians
You may have given them some money

But this is not Washington DC
You cannot bully this community
We are much stronger than you think that we are
We are everywhere and we know who you are

Chorus: Monsanto.....

So if you know what is best for you
You will take your lies and go back home
You cannot tell your lies to change our minds
We don't want your fucking poison seeds here in Mendocino

For many many years we grow our food the natural way
Earth she gives us all we need to sustain
We will not grow your chemi-crops, you take your herbicides and go
You will not poison our homeland we say its time for you to go.]]> <![CDATA[The Forgotten Man - Jon McNaughton ]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44512 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:33:53 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44512
]]>
]]> <![CDATA[Lake County Sheriffs Racist Towards Mexicans]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44507 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:27:46 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44507

]]>

]]> <![CDATA[Incredible story by Jason Verbelli]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44506 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:08:45 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44506













]]>













]]> <![CDATA[Why the world is hollow?]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44504 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:23:42 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44504

]]>

]]> <![CDATA[Im not even sure these people are for real?]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44494 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:47:03 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44494
http://www.landoverbaptist.net/showthread.php?t=24598]]>
http://www.landoverbaptist.net/showthread.php?t=24598]]> <![CDATA[Challenge – Is America the New Axis of Evil (videos) ]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44490 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:33:03 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44490 28

ANTHRAX WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS ACCEPTABLE
With America’s Stealth Dictatorship Now Visible, A Police State..

… by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

Though a GOP “insider,” I have always worked to represent reason and human values, or so I tell myself. In our government, military and intelligence services, people of courage and good will have been worn down, bullied, they look away.

Some were indoctrinated to the “right,” seeing the intellectual dishonesty and ineffectiveness of the left, now exposed as “controlled opposition.”

All opposition is controlled opposition. Real Americans wait by their door for when “their time” comes, and that time is closer than ever.

Once we used to fight over 9/11 as a “conspiracy theory.” So many went to defend America, believing 9/11. This will break your heart. Please accept my apology in advance:

Continue to read and watch the videos:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/02/01/...il-videos/]]> 28

ANTHRAX WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS ACCEPTABLE
With America’s Stealth Dictatorship Now Visible, A Police State..

… by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

Though a GOP “insider,” I have always worked to represent reason and human values, or so I tell myself. In our government, military and intelligence services, people of courage and good will have been worn down, bullied, they look away.

Some were indoctrinated to the “right,” seeing the intellectual dishonesty and ineffectiveness of the left, now exposed as “controlled opposition.”

All opposition is controlled opposition. Real Americans wait by their door for when “their time” comes, and that time is closer than ever.

Once we used to fight over 9/11 as a “conspiracy theory.” So many went to defend America, believing 9/11. This will break your heart. Please accept my apology in advance:

Continue to read and watch the videos:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/02/01/...il-videos/]]> <![CDATA[ACTA sucks ass, but now there´s HR 1981, a broad new Internet snooping bill.]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44489 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:29:06 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44489 the text of the bill can be found here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext...=h112-1981

Quote:"A direct assault on Internet users" is what the ACLU is calling it.

A U.S. House committee has already approved HR 1981, a broad new Internet snooping bill.

And get this -- it's also authored by SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith.

They want to force Internet service providers to keep track of and retain their customers' information -- including your name, address, phone number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses.

The Internet blew away the insiders with our work against SOPA. Let's do it again this time:

Please click here to urge your lawmakers to oppose the snooping bill -- it's already passed through committee.

The ACLU, the EFF, Demand Progress, and 25 other civil liberties and privacy groups have expressed our opposition to this legislation.

ISPs would collect and retain your data whether or not you're accused of a crime.

Supporters shamelessly dubbed it the "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act," but our staunchest allies in Congress are calling it what it is: an all-encompassing Internet snooping bill.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California -- a SOPA hero who also led Democratic opposition to this bill -- said, "It represents a data bank of every digital act by every American [that would] let us find out where every single American visited Web sites."

This legislation is appalling, and it's already passed through committee.

Thanks

link is working now.]]> the text of the bill can be found here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext...=h112-1981

Quote:"A direct assault on Internet users" is what the ACLU is calling it.

A U.S. House committee has already approved HR 1981, a broad new Internet snooping bill.

And get this -- it's also authored by SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith.

They want to force Internet service providers to keep track of and retain their customers' information -- including your name, address, phone number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses.

The Internet blew away the insiders with our work against SOPA. Let's do it again this time:

Please click here to urge your lawmakers to oppose the snooping bill -- it's already passed through committee.

The ACLU, the EFF, Demand Progress, and 25 other civil liberties and privacy groups have expressed our opposition to this legislation.

ISPs would collect and retain your data whether or not you're accused of a crime.

Supporters shamelessly dubbed it the "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act," but our staunchest allies in Congress are calling it what it is: an all-encompassing Internet snooping bill.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California -- a SOPA hero who also led Democratic opposition to this bill -- said, "It represents a data bank of every digital act by every American [that would] let us find out where every single American visited Web sites."

This legislation is appalling, and it's already passed through committee.

Thanks

link is working now.]]> <![CDATA[Trojan nicks blueprints as Win Update data, backdoors gov-targeted kit w/Adobe 0-days]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44488 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:47:14 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44488 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/01/...hing_rats/
Trojan smuggles out nicked blueprints as Windows Update data

Malware backdoors government-targeted kit 'using Adobe 0-days'

By John Leyden

Posted in Malware, 1st February 2012 09:04 GMT

Security watchers have uncovered a new highly targeted email-borne attack that uses a supposed conference invitation as a lure - and disguises extracted data as Microsoft Update traffic.

The spearphishing attempts, which have been levied against several government-related organisations worldwide, try to use alleged unfixed security flaws in Adobe software to implant a Trojan on compromised machines - ultimately opening a backdoor for hackers to take over systems.

Once loaded, the malware also cunningly attempts to escape detection by posing as a benign Windows Update utility. The attack was independently discovered by security researchers from Seculert and Zscaler, who issued a joint warning about the so-called MSUpdater Trojan assault on Tuesday.

"We were able to track similar attacks, from the same group of attackers, back to 2009," Aviv Raff, CTO at Seculert told El Reg.

"The method of operation of many of the attacks is similar – a spearphishing email is sent with a PDF attachment of a fake industry related 'Conference Invitation'. The PDF file exploits zero-day vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, and then installs the RAT [Remote Access Trojan] malware. The malware tries to stay under the radar of security products by pretending to be a 'Microsoft Windows Update' - hence the name 'MSUpdater' Trojan."

"One variant is using Windows Update-like HTTP requests to communicate with the command-and-control server. The other drops a file named msupdate.exe," he added. "The attacks' purpose was indeed industrial espionage, mainly for stealing intellectual property. One of the main functions of a variant of this malware was to steal specific files and upload them to the C&C server."

Analysis of the attack is ongoing [1], and Raff is yet to form a clear opinion on the likely perpetrators of the assault.

"We don't have information about the people behind those attacks, however as all of them are targeting government-related organisations, it is highly reasonable to suspect that the attackers are high profile, maybe even a country," he concluded. ®
Links

http://blog.seculert.com/2012/01/msupdat...nvite.html]]> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/01/...hing_rats/
Trojan smuggles out nicked blueprints as Windows Update data

Malware backdoors government-targeted kit 'using Adobe 0-days'

By John Leyden

Posted in Malware, 1st February 2012 09:04 GMT

Security watchers have uncovered a new highly targeted email-borne attack that uses a supposed conference invitation as a lure - and disguises extracted data as Microsoft Update traffic.

The spearphishing attempts, which have been levied against several government-related organisations worldwide, try to use alleged unfixed security flaws in Adobe software to implant a Trojan on compromised machines - ultimately opening a backdoor for hackers to take over systems.

Once loaded, the malware also cunningly attempts to escape detection by posing as a benign Windows Update utility. The attack was independently discovered by security researchers from Seculert and Zscaler, who issued a joint warning about the so-called MSUpdater Trojan assault on Tuesday.

"We were able to track similar attacks, from the same group of attackers, back to 2009," Aviv Raff, CTO at Seculert told El Reg.

"The method of operation of many of the attacks is similar – a spearphishing email is sent with a PDF attachment of a fake industry related 'Conference Invitation'. The PDF file exploits zero-day vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, and then installs the RAT [Remote Access Trojan] malware. The malware tries to stay under the radar of security products by pretending to be a 'Microsoft Windows Update' - hence the name 'MSUpdater' Trojan."

"One variant is using Windows Update-like HTTP requests to communicate with the command-and-control server. The other drops a file named msupdate.exe," he added. "The attacks' purpose was indeed industrial espionage, mainly for stealing intellectual property. One of the main functions of a variant of this malware was to steal specific files and upload them to the C&C server."

Analysis of the attack is ongoing [1], and Raff is yet to form a clear opinion on the likely perpetrators of the assault.

"We don't have information about the people behind those attacks, however as all of them are targeting government-related organisations, it is highly reasonable to suspect that the attackers are high profile, maybe even a country," he concluded. ®
Links

http://blog.seculert.com/2012/01/msupdat...nvite.html]]> <![CDATA[Cyberwar report: Israel, Finland best prepared for conflict]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44487 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:40:03 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44487 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/31/...ar_survey/
Cyberwar report: Israel, Finland best prepared for conflict

Do GCHQ and the NSA have some catching up to do?

By John Leyden

Posted in Security, 31st January 2012 16:01 GMT

Analysis Israel, Finland and Sweden are more prepared than larger nations to fight a conflict in cyberspace, according to a McAfee-backed cyber-defence study.

The cyber-security report (click to enlarge) [1]

The study, Cyber-security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules, is based on interviews with experts in the nascent field by by McAfee and Security & Defence Agenda, a defence think-tank. No metrics are involved in the study, which even McAfee admits is largely subjective [2]. Brussels-based SDA based its conclusions on "in-depth interviews with some 80 world-leading policy-makers and cyber-security experts" in government, business and academia in 27 countries as well as an anonymous survey of 250 world leaders in 35 countries.

For the record, among the key findings of the report are the contention that the state of cyber-readiness of the US, Australia, UK, China and Germany all rank behind that of smaller countries such as Israel, Sweden and Finland. The methodology used for rating various countries’ state of cyber-readiness was developed by Robert Lentz, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber, Identity and Information Assurance.

Hmmm.

Without knowing the capabilities of GCHQ and the NSA, and the cyber-warfare pundits quizzed by McAfee would be honour-bound not to disclose this if they did know, it is hard to even begin to understand where this conclusion comes from. Certainly the UK government's very public commitment to boost cyber-security – with an additional budget of £650m over the next four years on improved electronic defences, mostly earmarked for GCHQ and the intelligence agencies – would suggest it's no laggard when it come to repelling hacker attacks.

The UK and US, rated with four castles, are only just behind the top-ranked nations, which earn four-and-a-half castles. China and Russia get three castles, ahead of India (on two-and-a-half), and Mexico (two castles – the lowest rating of the 23 countries accessed).

Frankly the whole thing is like rating footballers after a match, which sports journalists routinely assign in a great hurry on the way to the boozer - only to find their musings are taken quite seriously by the players.

In other findings, the report found that most (57 per cent) global experts believe that an arms race is taking place in cyber-space. More than a third (36 per cent) reckon cyber-security is more important than missile defence. Nearly one half of them (43 per cent) identified damage or disruption to critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed by cyber-attacks. A similar percentage (45 per cent) of respondents said that "cyber-security is as important as border security" (try telling that one to border agents trying to keep Mexican drug traffickers from further encroaching into the US).
Cloud cast shadows over cyber-security picture

Experts quizzed by SDA agreed that greater use of cloud-based technologies and smartphones are complicating the already muddled cyber-security picture. The study highlights a looming skills shortage in cyber-security and a lack of private-sector involvement in cyber-security exercises as potential problems. Striking the difficult balance between maintaining security and protecting individuals' freedoms is also seen as a puzzler best achieved by "selectively reducing anonymity without sacrificing privacy rights".

The report goes on to list a series of recommendations including greater global information sharing; financial incentives for improvements in security for both private and public sectors; more powers to law enforcement in order to combat cross-border cybercrime; the formulation of best practice-led international security standards; and diplomatic efforts to resolve mediocre take-up of existing global cyber treaties. Some respondents advocated the establishment of cyber-confidence building measures as alternatives to global treaties.

Finally the report recommended the development of improved public awareness of cyber-security campaigns. Schemes such as Get Safe Online, in the UK, have enjoyed a greater push from security, financial sector firms and government over recent years so it's hard to see what more can be done in the area of eduction anytime soon.

The report's authors point to the need for improved real-time sharing of global intelligence as the single most important recommendation of the report.

"The core problem is that the cyber criminal has greater agility, given large funding streams and no legal boundaries to sharing information, and can thus choreograph well-orchestrated attacks into systems," said Phyllis Schneck, Vice President and CTO of global public sector at McAfee, in a statement [3]. "Until we can pool our data and equip our people and machines with intelligence, we are playing chess with only half the pieces." ®
Links

http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/01/31/mcafee_...raphic.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16787509
http://www.businesswire.com/news/mcafee/...-Sponsored]]> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/31/...ar_survey/
Cyberwar report: Israel, Finland best prepared for conflict

Do GCHQ and the NSA have some catching up to do?

By John Leyden

Posted in Security, 31st January 2012 16:01 GMT

Analysis Israel, Finland and Sweden are more prepared than larger nations to fight a conflict in cyberspace, according to a McAfee-backed cyber-defence study.

The cyber-security report (click to enlarge) [1]

The study, Cyber-security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules, is based on interviews with experts in the nascent field by by McAfee and Security & Defence Agenda, a defence think-tank. No metrics are involved in the study, which even McAfee admits is largely subjective [2]. Brussels-based SDA based its conclusions on "in-depth interviews with some 80 world-leading policy-makers and cyber-security experts" in government, business and academia in 27 countries as well as an anonymous survey of 250 world leaders in 35 countries.

For the record, among the key findings of the report are the contention that the state of cyber-readiness of the US, Australia, UK, China and Germany all rank behind that of smaller countries such as Israel, Sweden and Finland. The methodology used for rating various countries’ state of cyber-readiness was developed by Robert Lentz, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber, Identity and Information Assurance.

Hmmm.

Without knowing the capabilities of GCHQ and the NSA, and the cyber-warfare pundits quizzed by McAfee would be honour-bound not to disclose this if they did know, it is hard to even begin to understand where this conclusion comes from. Certainly the UK government's very public commitment to boost cyber-security – with an additional budget of £650m over the next four years on improved electronic defences, mostly earmarked for GCHQ and the intelligence agencies – would suggest it's no laggard when it come to repelling hacker attacks.

The UK and US, rated with four castles, are only just behind the top-ranked nations, which earn four-and-a-half castles. China and Russia get three castles, ahead of India (on two-and-a-half), and Mexico (two castles – the lowest rating of the 23 countries accessed).

Frankly the whole thing is like rating footballers after a match, which sports journalists routinely assign in a great hurry on the way to the boozer - only to find their musings are taken quite seriously by the players.

In other findings, the report found that most (57 per cent) global experts believe that an arms race is taking place in cyber-space. More than a third (36 per cent) reckon cyber-security is more important than missile defence. Nearly one half of them (43 per cent) identified damage or disruption to critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed by cyber-attacks. A similar percentage (45 per cent) of respondents said that "cyber-security is as important as border security" (try telling that one to border agents trying to keep Mexican drug traffickers from further encroaching into the US).
Cloud cast shadows over cyber-security picture

Experts quizzed by SDA agreed that greater use of cloud-based technologies and smartphones are complicating the already muddled cyber-security picture. The study highlights a looming skills shortage in cyber-security and a lack of private-sector involvement in cyber-security exercises as potential problems. Striking the difficult balance between maintaining security and protecting individuals' freedoms is also seen as a puzzler best achieved by "selectively reducing anonymity without sacrificing privacy rights".

The report goes on to list a series of recommendations including greater global information sharing; financial incentives for improvements in security for both private and public sectors; more powers to law enforcement in order to combat cross-border cybercrime; the formulation of best practice-led international security standards; and diplomatic efforts to resolve mediocre take-up of existing global cyber treaties. Some respondents advocated the establishment of cyber-confidence building measures as alternatives to global treaties.

Finally the report recommended the development of improved public awareness of cyber-security campaigns. Schemes such as Get Safe Online, in the UK, have enjoyed a greater push from security, financial sector firms and government over recent years so it's hard to see what more can be done in the area of eduction anytime soon.

The report's authors point to the need for improved real-time sharing of global intelligence as the single most important recommendation of the report.

"The core problem is that the cyber criminal has greater agility, given large funding streams and no legal boundaries to sharing information, and can thus choreograph well-orchestrated attacks into systems," said Phyllis Schneck, Vice President and CTO of global public sector at McAfee, in a statement [3]. "Until we can pool our data and equip our people and machines with intelligence, we are playing chess with only half the pieces." ®
Links

http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/01/31/mcafee_...raphic.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16787509
http://www.businesswire.com/news/mcafee/...-Sponsored]]> <![CDATA[Serial killer pythons stalk Everglades, Rapacious reptiles scoff mammal population]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44486 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:37:02 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44486 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/01/...l_decline/


Serial killer PYTHONS stalk Florida's Everglades

Rapacious reptiles scoff mammal population

By Brid-Aine Parnell

Posted in Biology, 1st February 2012 11:33 GMT

Pesky pythons are wiping out mammals and birds – some of which are protected species – in Florida's Everglades National Park, according to a new study.
Open-mouthed Burmese python
[Image: burmese_python.jpg]
What's for dinner? Credit: Mannes Fotos (GNU license [1])

Non-native Burmese pythons are chowing down on the local populace to such an extent that observations of many animals have declined by 99 per cent in the last eight years, and the poor old bunny rabbit hasn't been seen at all.

"Road surveys totaling 56,971 km from 2003–2011 documented a 99.3 per cent decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations, decreases of 98.9 per cent and 87.5 per cent for opossum and bobcat observations, respectively, and failed to detect rabbits," the study, published [2] in the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), said.

The researchers also found that more mammals were missing in areas where the snakes were well-established than in places where they had only been seen recently.

The Burmese python had been sighted intermittently in the Park for around 20 years until 2000, when nature-loving boffins first recognised it as an established species. Since then, the number of pythons removed from the park every year has risen dramatically, from just a few in 2001 to over 350 in 2009.

The study focused on animals like rabbits, possums and foxes because their populations are easy to monitor and they tend to come close enough to roads to be spotted. But the biology boffins are also concerned about the species being conserved in the National Park, which are harder to keep an eye on because there's less of them and they tend to be unevenly distributed.

"Pythons have been reported to consume leopards in their native range, and thus even top predators, such as the Florida panther, may be at risk," the study said.

"Approximately 25 per cent of all pythons found in the Park contain bird remains, and although quantifying impacts on birds is difficult, species such as rails, limpkins, grebes, herons, egrets, and the federally endangered wood stork may be particularly vulnerable to python predation."

The US has already taken steps against rapacious reptiles in the country, including the Burmese python.

Earlier this month, the US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced a ban on the importation and inter-state transportation of four non-indigenous constrictor snakes because of the threat they represent to existing ecosystems.

"Thanks to the work of our scientists, Senator Bill Nelson, and others, there is a large and growing understanding of the real and immediate threat that the Burmese python and other invasive snakes pose to the Everglades and other ecosystems in the United States," Salazar said in a canned statement [3].

"The Burmese python has already gained a foothold in the Florida Everglades, and we must do all we can to battle its spread and to prevent further human contributions of invasive snakes that cause economic and environmental damage."

The yellow anaconda and the northern and southern African pythons are the other three snakes being listed as sinister serpents on the "injurious wildlife" list.

Salazar said that millions of dollars had been spent in the Everglades alone trying to combat pythons.

Nobody is sure exactly how the snakes were introduced to American ecosystems, although it's likely that many of the species arrived as pets and then escaped or were released into the wild.

Any American who currently owns one of the newly restricted species of snakes will be allowed to keep them, but they won't be able to sell them or send them across state lines.

The Burmese python is one of the six largest snakes in the world and can reach [4] up to 7m (23ft) in length and a weight of up to 90 kilos (198lb).

When it's young, it hangs out in trees, but as it matures and becomes too heavy for tree-climbing, it moves down a floor and becomes ground-dwelling. It's also semi-aquatic, and is an excellent swimmer. The Burmese python is able to stay under water for up to 30 minutes before it needs to come up for air. ®
Links

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Common...icense_1.3
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/0...9.full.pdf
http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Sa...glades.cfm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/an...se-python/]]> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/01/...l_decline/


Serial killer PYTHONS stalk Florida's Everglades

Rapacious reptiles scoff mammal population

By Brid-Aine Parnell

Posted in Biology, 1st February 2012 11:33 GMT

Pesky pythons are wiping out mammals and birds – some of which are protected species – in Florida's Everglades National Park, according to a new study.
Open-mouthed Burmese python
[Image: burmese_python.jpg]
What's for dinner? Credit: Mannes Fotos (GNU license [1])

Non-native Burmese pythons are chowing down on the local populace to such an extent that observations of many animals have declined by 99 per cent in the last eight years, and the poor old bunny rabbit hasn't been seen at all.

"Road surveys totaling 56,971 km from 2003–2011 documented a 99.3 per cent decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations, decreases of 98.9 per cent and 87.5 per cent for opossum and bobcat observations, respectively, and failed to detect rabbits," the study, published [2] in the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), said.

The researchers also found that more mammals were missing in areas where the snakes were well-established than in places where they had only been seen recently.

The Burmese python had been sighted intermittently in the Park for around 20 years until 2000, when nature-loving boffins first recognised it as an established species. Since then, the number of pythons removed from the park every year has risen dramatically, from just a few in 2001 to over 350 in 2009.

The study focused on animals like rabbits, possums and foxes because their populations are easy to monitor and they tend to come close enough to roads to be spotted. But the biology boffins are also concerned about the species being conserved in the National Park, which are harder to keep an eye on because there's less of them and they tend to be unevenly distributed.

"Pythons have been reported to consume leopards in their native range, and thus even top predators, such as the Florida panther, may be at risk," the study said.

"Approximately 25 per cent of all pythons found in the Park contain bird remains, and although quantifying impacts on birds is difficult, species such as rails, limpkins, grebes, herons, egrets, and the federally endangered wood stork may be particularly vulnerable to python predation."

The US has already taken steps against rapacious reptiles in the country, including the Burmese python.

Earlier this month, the US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced a ban on the importation and inter-state transportation of four non-indigenous constrictor snakes because of the threat they represent to existing ecosystems.

"Thanks to the work of our scientists, Senator Bill Nelson, and others, there is a large and growing understanding of the real and immediate threat that the Burmese python and other invasive snakes pose to the Everglades and other ecosystems in the United States," Salazar said in a canned statement [3].

"The Burmese python has already gained a foothold in the Florida Everglades, and we must do all we can to battle its spread and to prevent further human contributions of invasive snakes that cause economic and environmental damage."

The yellow anaconda and the northern and southern African pythons are the other three snakes being listed as sinister serpents on the "injurious wildlife" list.

Salazar said that millions of dollars had been spent in the Everglades alone trying to combat pythons.

Nobody is sure exactly how the snakes were introduced to American ecosystems, although it's likely that many of the species arrived as pets and then escaped or were released into the wild.

Any American who currently owns one of the newly restricted species of snakes will be allowed to keep them, but they won't be able to sell them or send them across state lines.

The Burmese python is one of the six largest snakes in the world and can reach [4] up to 7m (23ft) in length and a weight of up to 90 kilos (198lb).

When it's young, it hangs out in trees, but as it matures and becomes too heavy for tree-climbing, it moves down a floor and becomes ground-dwelling. It's also semi-aquatic, and is an excellent swimmer. The Burmese python is able to stay under water for up to 30 minutes before it needs to come up for air. ®
Links

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Common...icense_1.3
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/0...9.full.pdf
http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Sa...glades.cfm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/an...se-python/]]> <![CDATA[Red Star Over Shambhala: Soviet, British and American Intelligence]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44485 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:28:31 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44485
BY DR. RICHARD SPENCE

On his way across the wastes of Mongolia in 1921, Polish writer and refugee Ferdinand Ossendowski witnessed some strange behaviour on the part of his Mongol guides. Stopping their camels in the middle of nowhere, they began to pray in great earnestness while a strange hush fell over the animals and everything around. The Mongols later explained that this ritual happened whenever “the King of the World in his subterranean palace prays and searches out the destiny of all people on Earth.”1

From assorted lamas, Ossendowski learned that this King of the World was ruler of a mysterious, but supposedly very real, kingdom, “Agharti.” In Agharti, he was told, “the learned Panditas [masters of Buddhist arts and sciences] write on tablets of stone all the science of our planet and of the other worlds.”2 Whoever gained access to the underground realm would have access to incredible knowledge – and power.

Ossendowski was not exactly a casual listener. As noted in a previous article [The “Bloody” Baron von Ungern-Sternberg: Madman or Mystic?, New Dawn No. 108 (May-June 2008)], during 1921 he would become a key adviser to “Mad Baron” Roman von Ungern-Sternberg who established a short-lived regime in the Outer Mongolian capital of Urga.3 A self-proclaimed warrior Buddhist who dreamed of leading a holy war in Asia, the Baron allegedly tried to contact the “King of the World” in hopes of furthering his scheme.

Ossendowski’s credibility later was assailed by the likes of Swedish explorer Sven Hedin.4 Among other things, Hedin accused the Pole of plagiarising the story of Agarthi from an earlier work by French esotericist Joseph Alexandre St.-Yves d’Alveydre.5 To one extent or another, that probably was true, but Hedin, a veteran seeker after lost cities, did not dismiss the possibility of a hidden Kingdom; indeed, he likely harboured the aim of finding it himself.

In any event, Ossendowski did not invent the story of a fabulous land secreted somewhere in – or under – the vastness of Central Asia, be it called Agharti, Agarttha, Shangri-la, or, most commonly, Shambhala.6 Some believed it to be a physical, subterranean realm inhabited by an ancient, advanced race, while to others it was a spiritual dimension accessible only to the enlightened. The Shambhala legend is firmly grounded in Buddhist tradition which vaguely puts the Kingdom somewhere to the north of India. The legend also proclaimed that a time would come when the King of Shambhala and his mighty hosts would come forth to vanquish evil and usher in a golden age guided by pure Dharma. As noted, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg envisioned himself as the initiator of this “Shambhala War.” So would others.

The tantalising possibility of a hidden trove of advanced knowledge and technical know-how did not just pique the curiosity of explorers and occultists. The practical advantages to be gained by accessing and exploiting such knowledge was not lost on certain politicians and intelligence officers, above all in Soviet Russia. But whatever attracted the attention of the Bolsheviks was bound to draw British curiosity as well, and where both those powers were concerned, the Americans, Germans and Japanese were unlikely to be far behind.

This article focuses on the activities of three men, two Russians and one American: Aleksandr Vasil’evich Barchenko, the so-called “Bolshevik professor of the occult,” the artist-mystic-explorer Nicholas Roerich, and the man often cited as the real-life model for Indiana Jones, Roy Chapman Andrews. While, so far as can be told, none of the trio ever met, all were involved with expeditions roaming the deserts of Mongolia and the high valleys of the Himalayas in search of lost civilisation and ancient man. In the case of Barchenko and Roerich, the specific object was Shambhala. As we will see, these explorations were only the tip of a clandestine iceberg of intrigue and hidden agendas which included secret societies and a host of spies. Just who was doing what for whom – and why – remains uncertain.

Continue to read:
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/...ntral-asia]]>
BY DR. RICHARD SPENCE

On his way across the wastes of Mongolia in 1921, Polish writer and refugee Ferdinand Ossendowski witnessed some strange behaviour on the part of his Mongol guides. Stopping their camels in the middle of nowhere, they began to pray in great earnestness while a strange hush fell over the animals and everything around. The Mongols later explained that this ritual happened whenever “the King of the World in his subterranean palace prays and searches out the destiny of all people on Earth.”1

From assorted lamas, Ossendowski learned that this King of the World was ruler of a mysterious, but supposedly very real, kingdom, “Agharti.” In Agharti, he was told, “the learned Panditas [masters of Buddhist arts and sciences] write on tablets of stone all the science of our planet and of the other worlds.”2 Whoever gained access to the underground realm would have access to incredible knowledge – and power.

Ossendowski was not exactly a casual listener. As noted in a previous article [The “Bloody” Baron von Ungern-Sternberg: Madman or Mystic?, New Dawn No. 108 (May-June 2008)], during 1921 he would become a key adviser to “Mad Baron” Roman von Ungern-Sternberg who established a short-lived regime in the Outer Mongolian capital of Urga.3 A self-proclaimed warrior Buddhist who dreamed of leading a holy war in Asia, the Baron allegedly tried to contact the “King of the World” in hopes of furthering his scheme.

Ossendowski’s credibility later was assailed by the likes of Swedish explorer Sven Hedin.4 Among other things, Hedin accused the Pole of plagiarising the story of Agarthi from an earlier work by French esotericist Joseph Alexandre St.-Yves d’Alveydre.5 To one extent or another, that probably was true, but Hedin, a veteran seeker after lost cities, did not dismiss the possibility of a hidden Kingdom; indeed, he likely harboured the aim of finding it himself.

In any event, Ossendowski did not invent the story of a fabulous land secreted somewhere in – or under – the vastness of Central Asia, be it called Agharti, Agarttha, Shangri-la, or, most commonly, Shambhala.6 Some believed it to be a physical, subterranean realm inhabited by an ancient, advanced race, while to others it was a spiritual dimension accessible only to the enlightened. The Shambhala legend is firmly grounded in Buddhist tradition which vaguely puts the Kingdom somewhere to the north of India. The legend also proclaimed that a time would come when the King of Shambhala and his mighty hosts would come forth to vanquish evil and usher in a golden age guided by pure Dharma. As noted, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg envisioned himself as the initiator of this “Shambhala War.” So would others.

The tantalising possibility of a hidden trove of advanced knowledge and technical know-how did not just pique the curiosity of explorers and occultists. The practical advantages to be gained by accessing and exploiting such knowledge was not lost on certain politicians and intelligence officers, above all in Soviet Russia. But whatever attracted the attention of the Bolsheviks was bound to draw British curiosity as well, and where both those powers were concerned, the Americans, Germans and Japanese were unlikely to be far behind.

This article focuses on the activities of three men, two Russians and one American: Aleksandr Vasil’evich Barchenko, the so-called “Bolshevik professor of the occult,” the artist-mystic-explorer Nicholas Roerich, and the man often cited as the real-life model for Indiana Jones, Roy Chapman Andrews. While, so far as can be told, none of the trio ever met, all were involved with expeditions roaming the deserts of Mongolia and the high valleys of the Himalayas in search of lost civilisation and ancient man. In the case of Barchenko and Roerich, the specific object was Shambhala. As we will see, these explorations were only the tip of a clandestine iceberg of intrigue and hidden agendas which included secret societies and a host of spies. Just who was doing what for whom – and why – remains uncertain.

Continue to read:
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/...ntral-asia]]> <![CDATA[Arkaim: Russia’s Ancient City & the Arctic Origin of Civilisation]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44484 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:20:22 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44484
By VICTORIA LEPAGE

Vast shadowy forces are moving in Central Asia – or rather in the greater region we call Eurasia – which may change the face of our global society and civilisation forever.

Even as the balance of geopolitical forces is shifting inexorably in favour of the Eurasian superpowers – principally Russia, China, the Central Asian states and India – a new spiritual wind is blowing out of Inner Asia and its many hidden mystical schools, promising to sweep the new entente into unprecedented heights of international power, politically and culturally. The immensity of the coming turbulence occasioned by this shift from West to East is incalculable, the outer symptom of a global revolution of consciousness.

Already the transformation of consciousness accompanying this hemispheric shift is creating both exaltation and unease in all people sensitive to evolutionary change. As the West moves through increasing economic and geopolitical tumult towards what many regard as a birthing into a new World Age, pressing questions are being asked. What are we mutating into and what kind of social realities will replace those we know? The mystery and the terror is not so much the speed of change as its unknown destination. Where are we heading? To what precipice sheer and awful, or to what blessed landfall?
Striving to answer such questions, many leading esotericists today have turned to certain very ancient traditions to throw light on the crisis of our times. Increasingly heeding the overwhelming evidence for their thesis, they suggest that the key to humanity’s future lies in its distant past, in the heritage of an unknown antediluvian race that lived in a time so remote that its existence has been erased from racial memory.1

Continue to read:
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/...vilisation]]>
By VICTORIA LEPAGE

Vast shadowy forces are moving in Central Asia – or rather in the greater region we call Eurasia – which may change the face of our global society and civilisation forever.

Even as the balance of geopolitical forces is shifting inexorably in favour of the Eurasian superpowers – principally Russia, China, the Central Asian states and India – a new spiritual wind is blowing out of Inner Asia and its many hidden mystical schools, promising to sweep the new entente into unprecedented heights of international power, politically and culturally. The immensity of the coming turbulence occasioned by this shift from West to East is incalculable, the outer symptom of a global revolution of consciousness.

Already the transformation of consciousness accompanying this hemispheric shift is creating both exaltation and unease in all people sensitive to evolutionary change. As the West moves through increasing economic and geopolitical tumult towards what many regard as a birthing into a new World Age, pressing questions are being asked. What are we mutating into and what kind of social realities will replace those we know? The mystery and the terror is not so much the speed of change as its unknown destination. Where are we heading? To what precipice sheer and awful, or to what blessed landfall?
Striving to answer such questions, many leading esotericists today have turned to certain very ancient traditions to throw light on the crisis of our times. Increasingly heeding the overwhelming evidence for their thesis, they suggest that the key to humanity’s future lies in its distant past, in the heritage of an unknown antediluvian race that lived in a time so remote that its existence has been erased from racial memory.1

Continue to read:
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/...vilisation]]> <![CDATA[In the Wake of Davos: "Strong Economic Medicine" for EU, Fed overshadows ECB]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44483 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:13:13 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44483 In the Wake of Davos: "Strong Economic Medicine" for the European Union
The Fed overshadow's the European Central Bank

By Bob Chapman


On Friday from the Bilderberg conclave at Davos, appointed European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi proclaimed that Europe had averted financial disaster and cited the improvement in euro zone markets in recent weeks. He said it was the ECB’s duty to guard against deflation as well as inflation. The fact of the matter is that he and his friends at the Fed arranged a currency swap of $1 trillion of which the ECB dispersed $660 billion to 523 EU banks, at 1% interest for three years. He also cut interest rates twice and extended loans for 1 to 3 years. Mr. Draghi could be expected to take the easy Anglo-American way out. He is fully Illuminati trained and that is where his orders emanate from.


He continued about how the conclusion of a fiscal pact, the ESM, the European Stabilization Mechanism, where budgets and fiscal spending policies would be determined by unelected, Treasury appointees, who have been officially immunized by the EU government. Mr. Draghi makes no note of these qualifications and forgets to let us know that in this new ESM pact all the nations lose their sovereignty.


As yet, after a month, there is no evidence that the funds had reached the real economy. The banks that just received the funds at 1% interest have been depositing them at ¼% interest with the ECB. They have not lent to each other because bankers say they do not trust each other. What a sad state of affairs. In addition to the above the ECB now accepts loan collateral of much lower quality than previously was approved. As you can see there were a lot of facts Mr. Draghi deliberately left out.


Now the banks have to use these funds to refund old and new debt and lend to keep the economies afloat. They also have to play their parts in keeping the six problem nations afloat.


Concerning the subject of Greece we were told last Friday a deal would be announced but nothing has happened as yet. The outlook is grim and the fundamentals are terrible. We won’t rehash Greece, because we have been over it so many times. We will wait to see what this week brings.


The Portuguese economy is falling deeper into austerity. Bank lending has fallen by the most on record. It fell $6.5 in December the biggest monthly decline since December 197, when the ECB began collecting data. Portugal, if they’ like to recover, should be using the LTRO funds to make loans to small and medium sized companies.


The Kiel Institute for the World Economy says Portugal would have to have a budget surplus of 11% of GDP annually. If they had 2% growth, which is a tall order, it would need a 56% haircut on its debt to get back on a sustainable path to recovery.


Gold finally out of that early on mess, finally had a good month, up just under 10%. That is the best January since 1980. We remember January 1980 well – it was the final month of the gold rally. Oddly enough the shares topped out in June with gold trading at $680 to $720. We would like to say that the 3 gold and silver suppressions of this past 2011 and 2012 has pointed out in stark relief that the US government has been very actively manipulating gold and silver prices, legally, since 1980. We mention this because short-term charts are terribly distorted and for us you cannot use them. The advocates are out again with their charts and believe we hope they are right. As usual as they have been, they will be wrong. They’ll soon call for reversal and as they do gold and silver will go higher.


After having loaned the ECB $1 trillion they now tell us we’ll receive QE 3. In fractional banking that could be $10 to $20 trillion. Any substantial part of those funds are used and monetized you’ll see some stunning inflation.


Election is in view and employment is not improving. The Fed has pledged that it is prepared to provide for further monetary accommodation. Inflation is headed higher, not lower. All that money and credit will influence inflation. Yes, the EU, US and UK economies will be flat this year and probably slightly higher. What we are doing with QE 3 and other types of stimulus is just extending the game.


If everything is fine why did the US Mint sell 114,500 ounces of American Gold Eagles with still two days left in January to accommodate buyers? Maybe the total will be 145,000, the largest sale in 1-1/2 years. It’s because people do not trust their economies and their governments that is why and they are buying gold and silver coins to protect themselves. They only have to look at the Republican Presidential primaries where votes are stolen by computer, dead people vote and Ron Paul doesn’t get a chance to state his case. Our government is a criminal syndicate. All those American gold and silver buyers know this, and that is why they want gold and silver coins, not fiat dollars.


Finally we are starting to see money managers, hedge funds, and others getting more bullish on gold. This should lead to short covering in gold and silver and the shares


Here we have QE 3 in the works as we predicted months ago. We said it would consist of the Fed buying the banks garbage so they have cash to follow the Fed’s orders. Those orders will be to buy Treasuries, Agencies and to make loans to small and medium companies. Before the Fed bought $1.4 trillion of this paper, mostly MBS and CDO’s. We never found out what the Fed paid for previous purchases and we won’t this time either. This is another gift the Fed, or should we say taxpayer gives the to the banks. What we are seeing in Europe and again shortly here is another stuffing of the system with money and credit. The Fed is headed down the road of no return and they know exactly what they are doing. That is playing money and credit creation to the bitter end. Historically no central bank has had the power to do this. If played out to the end we have to expect hyperinflationary depression, which will end in a deflationary depressionary collapse. This will destroy the value of the US dollar and its purchasing power. The entire system will probably collapse to a great extent including perhaps 60% of commerce, 40% to 50% unemployment, and the end of the financial system and resorting to bartering, the social support system and government. They will all collapse, so you had better prepare for it. All this will be expedited if Ron Paul is not elected our next president. If he were to be elected he could short-circuit many programs and policies that are destroying our nation.


The moves by the elitist Fed via the ECB to cover-up the monetary and financial chaos in Europe and in the US via QE 3 is in part political. Political in France and toward the next elections. France is a nightmare for the elitists and obviously those in power want Obama returned. He having done everything asked of him.


As we predicted last fall that QE 3 will come in the form of another bank bailout. This time it will be the clearing of toxic bonds from the banks’ books, which was done by buying $1.4 trillion in these bonds previously. We expect $800 billion to $1.3 trillion this time around. The disbursement of these funds should last 12 to 18 months. These moves were in part responsible for our change in GDP for the US this year from minus 1-1/2% to 2% to plus 1-1/2% to 2%.


In the latest out of Europe, Germany is pushing Greece to relinquish control over its budget policies to a euro zone “budget commissioner,” who would be able to veto domestic fiscal decisions, similar to the powers they want to grant to the ESM.


German logic is if further funds are not dispersed, Greece cannot threaten its members with default, but will have to accept outside fiscal control with funs. The game being paid by Germany is dangerous and could lead to immediate default. In addition any deal made in February by the PASOK government is subject to change in two months by a new election victor and party in charge. The German position is dumb and ultimately won’t work.


The Greeks are not going to like or accept the German demands. There will be demonstrations and the new policies may go nowhere. From the Greek side, when you have lost almost everything there is little more to lose. Unfortunately, we predicted all this but few were listening.


After putting the present regime in power 25 years ago in Iran the US has had nothing but problems, the latest and most important has been the sale of oil in currencies other than the US dollar. Asked many times, Iran refuses to comply. This is the main reason the US and Europe are so aggressive in pursuing Iran. Underneath it all it is all about petrodollars. This is why Iraq was destroyed and Libya as well. The US could not tolerate Iraq selling oil in euros. Anyone who steps out of line gets zapped, no matter who it is. At the IMF a year ago director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for a different currency to, a new world currency, to end the dominance of the dollar. As a result he was set up in a hotel in NYC for rape. We immediately pointed out this was a bag job and so it was, but it got him out of his IMF job, he couldn’t run for the French presidency and they destroyed his reputation. This shows you how far and even further the US Illuminists will go to protect their oil monopoly and fixed oil payments in US dollars only. Strauss-Kahn is a top Illuminist and they still destroyed him. If the dollar becomes only one of many currencies in which oil is sold, the dollar will then collapse. For the US, the barn door has closed, but the farm animals are already loose.


At Davos this past week the US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, urged the euro zone to boost its cache of bailout cash and protect Italy and Spain against the threat of a market rout. At the same time the new IMF leader Christine Lagarde urged Greece and its creditors to agree on cutting debt burdens.


What we see here is a request for more funds. The Fed just did a swap, a loan, for $1 trillion for the ECB in behalf of 523 EU banks. Obviously it wasn’t enough and obviously they would rather borrow from the ECB and the Fed rather than go the fractional route. We will see more money spilled but never really enough.


While these events ran paramount on Friday night, while most everybody was enjoying themselves, Fitch cut Italy’s rating 2 notches to A minus. Joining the group n being downgraded we saw the same medicine applied to Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus.]]> In the Wake of Davos: "Strong Economic Medicine" for the European Union
The Fed overshadow's the European Central Bank

By Bob Chapman


On Friday from the Bilderberg conclave at Davos, appointed European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi proclaimed that Europe had averted financial disaster and cited the improvement in euro zone markets in recent weeks. He said it was the ECB’s duty to guard against deflation as well as inflation. The fact of the matter is that he and his friends at the Fed arranged a currency swap of $1 trillion of which the ECB dispersed $660 billion to 523 EU banks, at 1% interest for three years. He also cut interest rates twice and extended loans for 1 to 3 years. Mr. Draghi could be expected to take the easy Anglo-American way out. He is fully Illuminati trained and that is where his orders emanate from.


He continued about how the conclusion of a fiscal pact, the ESM, the European Stabilization Mechanism, where budgets and fiscal spending policies would be determined by unelected, Treasury appointees, who have been officially immunized by the EU government. Mr. Draghi makes no note of these qualifications and forgets to let us know that in this new ESM pact all the nations lose their sovereignty.


As yet, after a month, there is no evidence that the funds had reached the real economy. The banks that just received the funds at 1% interest have been depositing them at ¼% interest with the ECB. They have not lent to each other because bankers say they do not trust each other. What a sad state of affairs. In addition to the above the ECB now accepts loan collateral of much lower quality than previously was approved. As you can see there were a lot of facts Mr. Draghi deliberately left out.


Now the banks have to use these funds to refund old and new debt and lend to keep the economies afloat. They also have to play their parts in keeping the six problem nations afloat.


Concerning the subject of Greece we were told last Friday a deal would be announced but nothing has happened as yet. The outlook is grim and the fundamentals are terrible. We won’t rehash Greece, because we have been over it so many times. We will wait to see what this week brings.


The Portuguese economy is falling deeper into austerity. Bank lending has fallen by the most on record. It fell $6.5 in December the biggest monthly decline since December 197, when the ECB began collecting data. Portugal, if they’ like to recover, should be using the LTRO funds to make loans to small and medium sized companies.


The Kiel Institute for the World Economy says Portugal would have to have a budget surplus of 11% of GDP annually. If they had 2% growth, which is a tall order, it would need a 56% haircut on its debt to get back on a sustainable path to recovery.


Gold finally out of that early on mess, finally had a good month, up just under 10%. That is the best January since 1980. We remember January 1980 well – it was the final month of the gold rally. Oddly enough the shares topped out in June with gold trading at $680 to $720. We would like to say that the 3 gold and silver suppressions of this past 2011 and 2012 has pointed out in stark relief that the US government has been very actively manipulating gold and silver prices, legally, since 1980. We mention this because short-term charts are terribly distorted and for us you cannot use them. The advocates are out again with their charts and believe we hope they are right. As usual as they have been, they will be wrong. They’ll soon call for reversal and as they do gold and silver will go higher.


After having loaned the ECB $1 trillion they now tell us we’ll receive QE 3. In fractional banking that could be $10 to $20 trillion. Any substantial part of those funds are used and monetized you’ll see some stunning inflation.


Election is in view and employment is not improving. The Fed has pledged that it is prepared to provide for further monetary accommodation. Inflation is headed higher, not lower. All that money and credit will influence inflation. Yes, the EU, US and UK economies will be flat this year and probably slightly higher. What we are doing with QE 3 and other types of stimulus is just extending the game.


If everything is fine why did the US Mint sell 114,500 ounces of American Gold Eagles with still two days left in January to accommodate buyers? Maybe the total will be 145,000, the largest sale in 1-1/2 years. It’s because people do not trust their economies and their governments that is why and they are buying gold and silver coins to protect themselves. They only have to look at the Republican Presidential primaries where votes are stolen by computer, dead people vote and Ron Paul doesn’t get a chance to state his case. Our government is a criminal syndicate. All those American gold and silver buyers know this, and that is why they want gold and silver coins, not fiat dollars.


Finally we are starting to see money managers, hedge funds, and others getting more bullish on gold. This should lead to short covering in gold and silver and the shares


Here we have QE 3 in the works as we predicted months ago. We said it would consist of the Fed buying the banks garbage so they have cash to follow the Fed’s orders. Those orders will be to buy Treasuries, Agencies and to make loans to small and medium companies. Before the Fed bought $1.4 trillion of this paper, mostly MBS and CDO’s. We never found out what the Fed paid for previous purchases and we won’t this time either. This is another gift the Fed, or should we say taxpayer gives the to the banks. What we are seeing in Europe and again shortly here is another stuffing of the system with money and credit. The Fed is headed down the road of no return and they know exactly what they are doing. That is playing money and credit creation to the bitter end. Historically no central bank has had the power to do this. If played out to the end we have to expect hyperinflationary depression, which will end in a deflationary depressionary collapse. This will destroy the value of the US dollar and its purchasing power. The entire system will probably collapse to a great extent including perhaps 60% of commerce, 40% to 50% unemployment, and the end of the financial system and resorting to bartering, the social support system and government. They will all collapse, so you had better prepare for it. All this will be expedited if Ron Paul is not elected our next president. If he were to be elected he could short-circuit many programs and policies that are destroying our nation.


The moves by the elitist Fed via the ECB to cover-up the monetary and financial chaos in Europe and in the US via QE 3 is in part political. Political in France and toward the next elections. France is a nightmare for the elitists and obviously those in power want Obama returned. He having done everything asked of him.


As we predicted last fall that QE 3 will come in the form of another bank bailout. This time it will be the clearing of toxic bonds from the banks’ books, which was done by buying $1.4 trillion in these bonds previously. We expect $800 billion to $1.3 trillion this time around. The disbursement of these funds should last 12 to 18 months. These moves were in part responsible for our change in GDP for the US this year from minus 1-1/2% to 2% to plus 1-1/2% to 2%.


In the latest out of Europe, Germany is pushing Greece to relinquish control over its budget policies to a euro zone “budget commissioner,” who would be able to veto domestic fiscal decisions, similar to the powers they want to grant to the ESM.


German logic is if further funds are not dispersed, Greece cannot threaten its members with default, but will have to accept outside fiscal control with funs. The game being paid by Germany is dangerous and could lead to immediate default. In addition any deal made in February by the PASOK government is subject to change in two months by a new election victor and party in charge. The German position is dumb and ultimately won’t work.


The Greeks are not going to like or accept the German demands. There will be demonstrations and the new policies may go nowhere. From the Greek side, when you have lost almost everything there is little more to lose. Unfortunately, we predicted all this but few were listening.


After putting the present regime in power 25 years ago in Iran the US has had nothing but problems, the latest and most important has been the sale of oil in currencies other than the US dollar. Asked many times, Iran refuses to comply. This is the main reason the US and Europe are so aggressive in pursuing Iran. Underneath it all it is all about petrodollars. This is why Iraq was destroyed and Libya as well. The US could not tolerate Iraq selling oil in euros. Anyone who steps out of line gets zapped, no matter who it is. At the IMF a year ago director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for a different currency to, a new world currency, to end the dominance of the dollar. As a result he was set up in a hotel in NYC for rape. We immediately pointed out this was a bag job and so it was, but it got him out of his IMF job, he couldn’t run for the French presidency and they destroyed his reputation. This shows you how far and even further the US Illuminists will go to protect their oil monopoly and fixed oil payments in US dollars only. Strauss-Kahn is a top Illuminist and they still destroyed him. If the dollar becomes only one of many currencies in which oil is sold, the dollar will then collapse. For the US, the barn door has closed, but the farm animals are already loose.


At Davos this past week the US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, urged the euro zone to boost its cache of bailout cash and protect Italy and Spain against the threat of a market rout. At the same time the new IMF leader Christine Lagarde urged Greece and its creditors to agree on cutting debt burdens.


What we see here is a request for more funds. The Fed just did a swap, a loan, for $1 trillion for the ECB in behalf of 523 EU banks. Obviously it wasn’t enough and obviously they would rather borrow from the ECB and the Fed rather than go the fractional route. We will see more money spilled but never really enough.


While these events ran paramount on Friday night, while most everybody was enjoying themselves, Fitch cut Italy’s rating 2 notches to A minus. Joining the group n being downgraded we saw the same medicine applied to Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus.]]> <![CDATA[Obama’s Nobel Win Leads to Formal Investigation of Award]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44482 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:04:39 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44482 WHEN WAR BECOMES PEACE: Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Win Leads to Formal Investigation of Award


Global Research, February 2, 2012
Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) Nobel Peace Prize officials were facing a formal inquiry over accusations they have drifted away from the prize’s original selection criteria by choosing such winners as President Barack Obama, as the nomination deadline for the 2012 awards closed Wednesday.

The investigation comes after persistent complaints by a Norwegian peace researcher that the original purpose of the prize was to diminish the role of military power in international relations.

If the Stockholm County Administrative Board, which supervises foundations in Sweden’s capital, finds that prize founder Alfred Nobel’s will is not being honored, it has the authority to suspend award decisions going back three years – though that would be unlikely and unprecedented, said Mikael Wiman, a legal expert working for the county.

Obama won in 2009, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won in 2010, and last year the award was split between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.

For this year’s award, Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina, jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Cuban rights activists Oswaldo Paya and Yoani Sanchez are among the candidates who have been publicly announced by those who nominated them.

The secretive prize committee doesn’t discuss nominations – which have to be postmarked by Feb. 1 to be valid – but stresses that being nominated doesn‘t say anything about a candidate’s chances.

Fredrik Heffermehl, a prominent researcher and critic of the selection process, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “Nobel called it a prize for the champions of peace.”

“And it’s indisputable that he had in mind the peace movement, i.e. the active development of international law and institutions, a new global order where nations safely can drop national armaments,” he said

Especially after World War II, the prize committee, which is appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, has widened the scope of the prize to include environmental, humanitarian and other efforts, he said.

For example, in 2007 the prize went to climate activist Al Gore and the U.N.’s panel on climate change, and in 2009 the committee cited Obama for “extraordinary efforts” to boost international diplomacy.

“Do you see Obama as a promoter of abolishing the military as a tool of international affairs?” Heffermehl asked rhetorically.

Nobel, a Swedish industrialist and inventor, gave only vague guidelines for the peace prize in his 1895 will, saying it should honor “work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Nobel said the peace prize should be awarded by a Norwegian committee, and the other Nobel Prizes by committees in Sweden. The two Scandinavian nations were in a union at the time.

Geir Lundestad, the nonvoting secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, dismissed Heffermehl’s claims.

“Fighting climate change is definitely closely related to fraternity between nations. It even concerns the survival of some states,” he told AP.

Still, the County Administrative Board decided to send a letter to the Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation, which manages the prize assets, requesting a formal response to the allegations.

“We have no basis to suggest that they haven’t managed it properly. But we want to investigate it,” Wiman said.

“The prize committee must always adjust its rules to today’s society,” he said. “But peace work has to be at the core – it can’t deviate too much from that,” Wiman said.

The peace prize and the Nobel awards in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and economics are always handed out Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death]]> WHEN WAR BECOMES PEACE: Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Win Leads to Formal Investigation of Award


Global Research, February 2, 2012
Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) Nobel Peace Prize officials were facing a formal inquiry over accusations they have drifted away from the prize’s original selection criteria by choosing such winners as President Barack Obama, as the nomination deadline for the 2012 awards closed Wednesday.

The investigation comes after persistent complaints by a Norwegian peace researcher that the original purpose of the prize was to diminish the role of military power in international relations.

If the Stockholm County Administrative Board, which supervises foundations in Sweden’s capital, finds that prize founder Alfred Nobel’s will is not being honored, it has the authority to suspend award decisions going back three years – though that would be unlikely and unprecedented, said Mikael Wiman, a legal expert working for the county.

Obama won in 2009, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won in 2010, and last year the award was split between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.

For this year’s award, Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina, jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Cuban rights activists Oswaldo Paya and Yoani Sanchez are among the candidates who have been publicly announced by those who nominated them.

The secretive prize committee doesn’t discuss nominations – which have to be postmarked by Feb. 1 to be valid – but stresses that being nominated doesn‘t say anything about a candidate’s chances.

Fredrik Heffermehl, a prominent researcher and critic of the selection process, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “Nobel called it a prize for the champions of peace.”

“And it’s indisputable that he had in mind the peace movement, i.e. the active development of international law and institutions, a new global order where nations safely can drop national armaments,” he said

Especially after World War II, the prize committee, which is appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, has widened the scope of the prize to include environmental, humanitarian and other efforts, he said.

For example, in 2007 the prize went to climate activist Al Gore and the U.N.’s panel on climate change, and in 2009 the committee cited Obama for “extraordinary efforts” to boost international diplomacy.

“Do you see Obama as a promoter of abolishing the military as a tool of international affairs?” Heffermehl asked rhetorically.

Nobel, a Swedish industrialist and inventor, gave only vague guidelines for the peace prize in his 1895 will, saying it should honor “work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Nobel said the peace prize should be awarded by a Norwegian committee, and the other Nobel Prizes by committees in Sweden. The two Scandinavian nations were in a union at the time.

Geir Lundestad, the nonvoting secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, dismissed Heffermehl’s claims.

“Fighting climate change is definitely closely related to fraternity between nations. It even concerns the survival of some states,” he told AP.

Still, the County Administrative Board decided to send a letter to the Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation, which manages the prize assets, requesting a formal response to the allegations.

“We have no basis to suggest that they haven’t managed it properly. But we want to investigate it,” Wiman said.

“The prize committee must always adjust its rules to today’s society,” he said. “But peace work has to be at the core – it can’t deviate too much from that,” Wiman said.

The peace prize and the Nobel awards in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and economics are always handed out Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death]]> <![CDATA[Meditation at Sunrise]]> http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44481 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:23:08 -0500 http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=44481
Meditating at dawn, in the living presence of the rising sun, is the method the Master urged all disciples to practice; it lies at the heart of his teaching.

He gave it the name ‘Surya Yoga' from the Sanskrit, 'Yoga of the Sun’ and it is practised at all brotherhood centres between the Spring and the Autumn equinoxes.

By concentrating all our thoughts and forces on the sun, the centre of our solar system, we gradually reinforce our connection with our spirit, the centre of our own being. In this way a bridge is formed between our higher and lower natures allowing paths of communication to be established.

The rays of the sun and the ‘prana’ that is present in the air at sunrise are able to renew and transform us.

‘Each morning, when you go to the sunrise, think of nothing but renewing yourself. Leave everything else to one side, everything that is old and mouldy, so you can once and for all receive this new life and enter into communication with that great current coming from the heart of the universe. In springtime, the early morning rays send you all the energies and stimulus you need for the rest of the year. Don’t let them pass you by without benefiting from them. Open yourself to these rays and allow the forces of light, joy and resurrection to pass through you.’

The following formula is one of many we have been given to use at the sunrise:
As the sun rises over the world, so may the sun of truth, freedom, immortality and Eternity, rise in my spirit.

As the sun rises above the world, so may the sun of love and immensity rise in my soul.

As the sun rises above the world, so may the sun of intelligence, light and wisdom rise in my intellect.

As the sun rises above the world, so may the sun of gentleness, kindness, joy, happiness and purity rise in my heart.

As this luminous, radiant sun rises over the world, so may the sun of strength, power, force, dynamic energy and activity rise in my will.

And as this luminous, radiant, living sun rises over the world, so may the sun of health, vitality and vigour rise in my body.

Amen. So be it, for the kingdom of God and His righteousness

Amen. So be it, for the Glory of God!


Extracts from A New Earth – Volume 13

Meditation with Music
Collective meditation in brotherhood centres begins with 10 to 15 minutes of inspiring music, usually choral pieces by the great classical composers such as Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The music is an aid to relaxation and stimulates the work of the imagination, enabling everyone present to project luminous, beneficial images for the good of their immediate environment and the good of humanity.

‘Learn to work with music in order to enrich your spiritual life. Once you sense that a piece of music purifies you, strengthens you, gives you greater clarity of mind, and allows you to modify and unite the elements of your inner life, try to make full use of it. Sustain a noble image, a revelation or thought within your heart, mind and soul, and music will be there to help you, to lead you forwards, and project you heavenwards.’

‘Laser’ Meditation

Meetings include a short period of intense, silent meditation during which everyone present is united in concentrating on the same image, a dazzling white light, or the sun.

The Master named this special type of meditation the ‘laser’
When everyone meditating concentrates on the same image at the same time they also vibrate at the same wavelength, like a laser, and therefore project a more powerful light.

Master Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov stressed that the power of spiritualists lies in their unity and concentration. By projecting light out towards the world we are able to counteract negative forces and currents.

http://www.dovesnest.org/meditation.html


Surya Yoga - Meditation on the sun
http://www.dovesnest.org/suryayogatheme.html
http://web.me.com/daynalove/the_daily_su...our_Tim...

Toward a Solar Civilization
http://www.fbu-usa.com/Books/IZ201.aspx

The Yoga of Nutrition
http://www.fbu-usa.com/Books/IZ204.aspx

Light is a Living Spirit
http://www.fbu-usa.com/Books/IZ212.aspx]]>
Meditating at dawn, in the living presence of the rising sun, is the method the Master urged all disciples to practice; it lies at the heart of his teaching.

He gave it the name ‘Surya Yoga' from the Sanskrit, 'Yoga of the Sun’ and it is practised at all brotherhood centres between the Spring and the Autumn equinoxes.

By concentrating all our thoughts and forces on the sun, the centre of our solar system, we gradually reinforce our connection with our spirit, the centre of our own being. In this way a bridge is formed between our higher and lower natures allowing paths of communication to be established.

The rays of the sun and the ‘prana’ that is present in the air at sunrise are able to renew and transform us.

‘Each morning, when you go to the sunrise, think of nothing but renewing yourself. Leave everything else to one side, everything that is old and mouldy, so you can once and for all receive this new life and enter into communication with that great current coming from the heart of the universe. In springtime, the early morning rays send you all the energies and stimulus you need for the rest of the year. Don’t let them pass you by without benefiting from them. Open yourself to these rays and allow the forces of light, joy and resurrection to pass through you.’

The following formula is one of many we have been given to use at the sunrise:
As the sun rises over the world, so may the sun of truth, freedom, immortality and Eternity, rise in my spirit.

As the sun rises above the world, so may the sun of love and immensity rise in my soul.

As the sun rises above the world, so may the sun of intelligence, light and wisdom rise in my intellect.

As the sun rises above the world, so may the sun of gentleness, kindness, joy, happiness and purity rise in my heart.

As this luminous, radiant sun rises over the world, so may the sun of strength, power, force, dynamic energy and activity rise in my will.

And as this luminous, radiant, living sun rises over the world, so may the sun of health, vitality and vigour rise in my body.

Amen. So be it, for the kingdom of God and His righteousness

Amen. So be it, for the Glory of God!


Extracts from A New Earth – Volume 13

Meditation with Music
Collective meditation in brotherhood centres begins with 10 to 15 minutes of inspiring music, usually choral pieces by the great classical composers such as Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The music is an aid to relaxation and stimulates the work of the imagination, enabling everyone present to project luminous, beneficial images for the good of their immediate environment and the good of humanity.

‘Learn to work with music in order to enrich your spiritual life. Once you sense that a piece of music purifies you, strengthens you, gives you greater clarity of mind, and allows you to modify and unite the elements of your inner life, try to make full use of it. Sustain a noble image, a revelation or thought within your heart, mind and soul, and music will be there to help you, to lead you forwards, and project you heavenwards.’

‘Laser’ Meditation

Meetings include a short period of intense, silent meditation during which everyone present is united in concentrating on the same image, a dazzling white light, or the sun.

The Master named this special type of meditation the ‘laser’
When everyone meditating concentrates on the same image at the same time they also vibrate at the same wavelength, like a laser, and therefore project a more powerful light.

Master Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov stressed that the power of spiritualists lies in their unity and concentration. By projecting light out towards the world we are able to counteract negative forces and currents.

http://www.dovesnest.org/meditation.html


Surya Yoga - Meditation on the sun
http://www.dovesnest.org/suryayogatheme.html
http://web.me.com/daynalove/the_daily_su...our_Tim...

Toward a Solar Civilization
http://www.fbu-usa.com/Books/IZ201.aspx

The Yoga of Nutrition
http://www.fbu-usa.com/Books/IZ204.aspx

Light is a Living Spirit
http://www.fbu-usa.com/Books/IZ212.aspx]]>