Wednesday, January 7, 2015

How Eric Holder Facilitated the Most Unjust Presidential Pardon in American History

How Eric Holder Facilitated the Most Unjust Presidential Pardon in American History

51981192
Marc Rich
Photo by Guido Roeoesli/AFP/Getty Images
Crime is Slate’s crime blog. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @slatecrime.
Marc Rich, the man who got away with it, died last week, and I would be remiss if I let his death pass without comment. Rich became internationally notorious in 2001, when, as a fugitive from justice, he was pardoned by Bill Clinton in the last hours of his administration. What many don’t recall is that Attorney General Eric Holder, who was then a deputy attorney general, was instrumental in securing Rich’s pardon.
Rich was a pioneering commodities trader who made billions dealing in oil and other goods. He had a habit of dealing with nations with which trade was embargoed, like Iran, Libya, Cuba, and apartheid South Africa. Rich also had a habit of not paying his taxes, to the point where one observer said that “Marc Rich is to asset concealment what Babe Ruth was to baseball.” The United States indicted Rich in 1983, hitting him with charges—tax evasion, wire fraud, racketeering, trading with the enemy—that could’ve brought life in prison. Rich fled the country.
He remained at large for almost 20 years. (Rich’s obituaries have said that, for much of that time, he was on the FBI 10 Most Wanted List, a claim that I have not been able to independently verify. A Lexis-Nexis database search reveals nothing; a call to the FBI’s press office was not fruitful.) Rich lived in a big house in Switzerland and spent lots of money trying to make the charges against him go away, giving money to American politicians and to various Israeli causes, motivated at least partly in the latter case by the hope that officials in Israel might petition the United States on his behalf.
Finally, in 2000, he saw some return on his efforts. Eric Holder was the key man. As deputy AG, Holder was in charge of advising the president on the merits of various petitions for pardon. Jack Quinn, a lawyer for Rich, approached Holder about clemency for his client. Quinn was a confidant of Al Gore, then a candidate for president; Holder had ambitions of being named attorney general in a Gore administration. A report from the House Committee on Government Reform on the Rich debacle later concluded that Holder must have decided that cooperating in the Rich matter could pay dividends later on.
Rich was an active fugitive, a man who had used his money to evade the law, and presidents do not generally pardon people like that. What’s more, the Justice Department opposed the pardon—or would’ve, if it had known about it. But Holder and Quinn did an end-around, bringing the pardon to Clinton directly and avoiding any chance that Justice colleagues might give negative input. As the House Government Reform Committee report later put it, “Holder failed to inform the prosecutors under him that the Rich pardon was under consideration, despite the fact that he was aware of the pardon effort for almost two months before it was granted.”
On Jan. 19, 2001, Holder advised the White House that he was “neutral leaning favorable” on pardoning Rich. But the U.S. pardon attorney, Roger Adams, needed to sign the pardon, too, and a background check needed to be done. The White House waited to contact Adams until slightly after midnight on Jan. 20, hours before Clinton would leave office. Here’s how a recent American Thinker piece described the scene:
Adams would be required to sign the pardons, and when he was informed by White House staff that night, a perfunctory check was done. Adams was stunned to learn that Rich and [Rich’s partner Pincus] Green were both fugitives. He tracked down Holder and called him at his home at 1 a.m. that morning.
Adams informed Holder that Clinton was giving serious consideration to pardoning the two fugitives. Holder told Adams that he was aware of that fact, and the conversation abruptly ended. 
Later that day, Rich’s pardon went through.
Since then, Bill Clinton hasn’t stopped apologizing for the pardons of Marc Rich and Pincus Green. “It was terrible politics. It wasn't worth the damage to my reputation,” he told Newsweek in 2002—and, indeed, speculation was rampant that Rich (and his ex-wife) had bought the pardon by, in part, donating $450,000 to Clinton’s presidential library. Clinton denied that the donations had anything to do with the pardon, instead claiming that he took Holder’s advice on the matter. Holder, for his part, has distanced himself from the pardons as well. As the House Government Reform Committee report put it, he claimed that his support for the pardon “was the result of poor judgment, initially not recognizing the seriousness of the Rich case, and then, by the time that he recognized that the pardon was being considered, being distracted by other matters.”
The excuses are weak. In the words of the committee report, “it is difficult to believe that Holder’s judgment would be so monumentally poor that he could not understand how he was being manipulated by Jack Quinn.” And presidential pardons don’t just slip through like this, especially not pardons of wanted fugitives. If Holder had followed protocols and made sure the Justice Department was looped in, there’s no way that Rich would have been pardoned. Hundreds of thousands of men sit in American prisons doing unconscionably long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. DNA tests routinely turn up cases of unjust convictions. But Marc Rich bought his pardon with money and access, and the committee’s response to that purchase is worth quoting in full:
The President abused one his most important powers, meant to free the unjustly convicted or provide forgiveness to those who have served their time and changed their lives. Instead, he offered it up to wealthy fugitives whose money had already enabled them to permanently escape American justice. Few other abuses could so thoroughly undermine public trust in government.
But there was no real lasting damage to trust in government, or to anyone’s reputation, really. Bill Clinton retired to wealth and adulation. Eric Holder got his wish and eventually became attorney general. And Marc Rich died a wealthy man in Switzerland. He never came back to the United States—if he had returned, he would have been subject to civil suits, which would have ended up costing him money—but he was able to live out the rest of his life without having to worry about being arrested, having bought his freedom from craven politicians who were only too willing to sell.

Justin Peters is a writer for Slate. He is working on a book about Aaron Swartz, copyright, and the rise of “free culture.” Email him at justintrevett@fastmail.fm.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

BOMBSHELL: Obama Doesn’t Want You to See This Horrifying Revelation About His Past

BOMBSHELL: Obama Doesn’t Want You to See This Horrifying Revelation About His Past

Saturday, December 6th, 2014

It’s no secret that Barack Obama has left-leaning views — but a new report has documented just how socialist many of his mentors and connections really are.
If it is true that you can judge a person by who they choose as friends, then Obama is clearly a radical.

According to Western Journalism, the President has so many connections to known socialists and communists that he most likely would be unable to receive a government security clearance.
Of course, the President of the United States does not need to pass a formal background check. The question remains: Why didn’t the media report this radical background during two elections, when it mattered?
The most likely answer is that a large number of journalists have socialist leanings themselves. Reporters were so excited about the idea of Obama in the White House that they forgot to do their job — report.
Story continues below.
“Even though socialism /communism has caused at least 60 million deaths worldwide, our media has decided that it is more acceptable than racism,” wrote Western Journalism columnist Steve Baldwin.
“This is because many reporters are leftists who still believe in the socialist utopia dream. It should be clear by now that our media is treacherous and cannot be trusted to do what’s best for the country,” he continued.
Baldwin stated that Barack Obama quickly placed socialist-leaning people in key positions, with the knowledge that the media would ignore their radical positions.
“Once elected and knowing full well the media would dutifully refuse to report on the background of his own appointees,” stated Baldwin, “Obama appointed a slew of communists and socialists to key positions throughout his administration, who then proceeded to destroy our economy and our culture.”
Baldwin went on to chronicle all of Barack Obama’s known communist and socialist connections. The list is over a page long.
Here are just several of Barack Obama’s alarming connections, as reported by Western Journalism:
-Throughout his life, Obama worked with and for a variety of prominent communists and socialists.  He served on numerous boards – such as the Woods Fund — with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, who calls himself a “small c communist.”
-Obama’s father was a socialist economist for the Kenyan Government. His white mother was raised by socialists.
-His African grandparents were socialists.
-In Obama’s own biography, he says his main mentor from age 8 to 18 was Frank Marshall Davis, a card-carrying Communist Party leader (Party #47544) who hated everything America stood for. Davis practically raised Obama.
-Once out of college, Obama worked for and with a number of groups associated or founded by Saul Alinsky, a nationally renowned socialist community organizer.
-The Young Communist League USA (youth wing of the Communist Party) also endorsed Obama and worked hard for Obama’s 2008 campaign.
-Obama’s pastor of 20 years, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, is also a well known socialist who hates everything America stands for; that is why he screamed “God Damn America” in that famous tape Fox News uncovered during the 2008 campaign.
-Obama was an actual member of a Chicago-based socialist party called the New Party.  He attended their meetings and received their endorsement.  In 1996, its newsletter stated “New Party members won three other primaries in Chicago:  Barack Obama….”
-Obama was also a member of a socialist organization called “Progressive Chicago,” whose leadership  was dominated by DSA and Communist Party activists.
After surrounding himself with so many extremists, is it really so hard to believe that Obama himself is a left-wing radical?

RWW News: Larry Klayman: Obama 'Dismantled' US As 'Payback' For Racial D...

Top Attorney: Obama Is Destroying America as “Payback” For… [VIDEO]

Top Attorney: Obama Is Destroying America as “Payback” For… [VIDEO]

Thursday, January 1st, 2015

President Barack Obama, due to his socialist upbringing, believes that America is a racially unjust nation, one that must be “fundamentally transformed” for the better.
Obama’s views are disputed and quite contrary to that held by most Americans though, and many people are beginning to look past Obama’s rhetoric to see his true intentions.

During a recent interview with Newsmax, attorney Larry Klayman said that Obama’s constant focus on correcting the perceived racial and income inequality in America is because he is searching for “payback” for years of discrimination against black Americans in the past.
“If you’re talking about income equality all the time, that’s what he’s talking about, he believes in his heart, he sees everything in terms of race and religion,” he said. “And in my view, and this may sound harsh, but I think people are starting to believe it, is that he believes that this country had to pay back for years of invidious discrimination to African Americans — and it was terrible discrimination, I agree — and he has dismantled this country in many ways as a payback. And also with the Muslim world, he doesn’t like Israel, he’s done everything he can to harm them.”
“I don’t mean this in a racial way, but all of us are equal, we’re all the same, and he favors what he considers to be his people over everybody else,” he added. “It wasn’t right when white people did it to African Americans, it’s not right that he’s now doing it to others in this country.”
Story continues below.
Klayman is right.  Obama thinks that America is a bad country, full of racism and classism.  In his efforts to combat these though, Obama really just makes it all worse.  In essence, Obama has declared war on the American people, in order to right what he sees as wrong.
What happened in the past is just that…in the past.  There is no reason to now try and punish people for what their great-grandparents may or may not have done.  To do so now is to simply be a vindictive and small person, one ruled by emotion, instead of facts, logic, and reason.

Please share this on Facebook and Twitter if you agree that Obama is trying to get “payback” for all of the perceived injustices that have occurred throughout American history.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Different Presidents, a Different CorpsMarine’s Go Silent When Obama Walks In, But When Bush Does The Whole Room Erupts

Belatedly Released and Revealing Fast & Furious Docs

Belatedly Released and Revealing Fast & Furious Docs

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered in 2010 by illegal aliens armed with weapons sold by ATF Fast and Furious suspects.
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered in 2010 by illegal aliens armed with weapons sold by ATF Fast and Furious suspects.
The Department of Justice improperly withheld public documents related to Fast and Furious after the first Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for them several years ago. The agency was recently forced to produce some of the materials to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which filed a FOI lawsuit to obtain the information. (To date, the Justice Department still has not complied with FOI law in providing the same public documents to me as a FOI requestor.)
Fortunately, Judicial Watch has posted the documents for public review.
The Justice Department is still withholding thousands of documents. The thousands of documents provided are often heavily redacted. A review of hundreds of pages so far has revealed no obvious, legitimate basis under which President Obama should have invoked executive privilege, as he did, to withhold them public from congressional subpoena and other public reviews. 
Clues as to why President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder kept the public documents secret for so long may be found in one 60-page release examined below. Nearly three years after-the-fact, its news value is diminished. If these documents had been turned over when Congress subpoenaed them or when they were first requested under FOI law, they would have revealed damaging information in the lead-up to President Obama’s re-election in 2012. By exerting executive privilege, the President and Holder kept them hidden until the court challenge forced their release.
Links to Fast and Furious stories
The reason for the 60-page grouping of materials isn’t apparent. Documents that long predate Fast and Furious are mixed in with relevant documents. Redactions aren’t justified or explained. Inexplicably, even Congressional testimony that had been publicly presented to Congress was included in documents withheld under President Obama’s sweeping executive privilege.
Attorney General Eric Holder
Attorney General Eric Holder
Multi-Agency Participation in Fast and Furious
  • There is evidence of widespread knowledge of and participation by several federal agencies in the controversial Fast and Furious gunwalking case that let traffickers put thousands of weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
  • Agencies participating in Fast and Furious included the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch (ICE), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Phoenix Police Department.
  • A January 2011 “Key Messages: Tasking Points” memo (p. 14) generated by the Public Affairs Division at ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. stated:
“The Fast and Furious investigation is just one of a number of firearms trafficking cases perfected by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Strike Force, a multi-agency team of investigators from ATF, DEA, ICE, IRS, and the Phoenix Police Department.”
and
“In October 2009, Operation: Fast and Furious, an ATF lead OCDETF investigation into a firearms trafficking organization funded by the Sinaloa DTO, kicked off in Phoenix. Although this investigation was lead [sic] by ATF, it was a multi-agency effort involving DEA, ICE, IRS, and the Phoenix Police Department.”
  • The multi-agency participation makes Attorney General Holder’s claim of ignorance of the the cross-border operation all the more perplexing and, assuming it’s true, seemingly more egregious.
Read the 60-page released Fast & Furious Doc
Justification for New Gun Control Regulations
  • ATF’s internal Public Affairs Talking Points show the agency was using Fast and Furious to help justify new gun control regulations–without telling the public that ATF was actually facilitating the delivery of weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
  • The talking points (p. 15) state:
“These cases demonstrate the ongoing trafficking of firearms by Mexican DTO’s and other associated groups operating in Arizona and the need for reporting of multiple sales for certain types of rifles in order to ferret out those intent on providing firearms to these criminal groups.”
 Gunwalking Tactics
  • While the Department of Justice was still insisting the gunwalking was a renegade operation conducted by rogue agents in Phoenix, the documents make clear ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. knew that weapons were being allowed to flow to Mexican drug cartels.
  • For example, Fast and Furious began in October 2009. Washington D.C. talking points recount (p. 17) that:
“From October 2009 through October 2010, this organization, through the use of numerous straw buyers, purchased approximately 1.25 million dollars in firearms from FFLs [Federal Firearms License's] in the Phoenix area and trafficked the firearms into Mexico and other locations within the United States.”
  • Another example is an October 12, 2010 funding request to ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. (p. 40) from Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. It stated, in present tense (making clear that ATF was aware, in real time, that the weapons were being transported by ATF suspects to cartels on a continuing basis):
“The firearms are then being trafficked into Mexico using non-factory compartments in various vehicles through various Ports of Entry (POE’s) in Arizona and Texas. Since the ATF case was initiated, agents have identified approximately twenty-seven straw purchasers who have purchased a large amount of AK-47 style rifles and pistols from various FFLs in the Phoenix Metropolitan area and Prescott, Arizona, since September 2009.”
Millions of Dollars: Mission Not Accomplished?
  • The documents hint at the cost of the umbrella program that was responsible for Fast and Furious: Project Gunrunner.
(p. 6) The FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act provided ATF with an “additional $5 million for Project Gunrunner.”
(p. 7) The Stimulus plan provided ATF with $10 million more for Project Gunrunner.
(p. 29) ATF received $37.5 million for Project Gunrunner in the 2010 emergency supplemental appropriation for border security.
  • The documents discuss that ATF developed Project Gunrunner in 2006 to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico and thereby deprive the narcotics cartels of weapons. (Instead, ATF agents helped deliver thousands of assault rifles and other weapons into cartel hands.)
  • As ATF became better funded by tax dollars and better staffed, gun trafficking and drug cartel-related violence escalated.
Justice Dept. Withholding Statistics
The Justice Department has repeatedly refused Congressional and media requests for reports on the violent crimes in which “walked” guns have been used. The newly-released documents confirm ATF has meticulously collected and reported such data in the past (p.39). In a case called “Operation Zebra,” ATF stated that 338 illegally purchased firearms were associated with 63 deaths: “18 law enforcement officer sand civilians, and 45 cartel gunmen.”
Redactions
A number of mysterious redactions remain in the 60-page document grouping. These include:
  • (p. 15)
  • (p. 30)
  • (p. 39)
  • (p. 40)
  • (p. 43)
  • (p. 52) Internal document dated Jan. 10, 2011 mentions Fast and Furious connection to Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death, though the Justice Department had decided not to release that information to the public. The document contains redactions.

US Secretary of Defense: General for Iran to produce a nuclear bomb

US Secretary of Defense: General for Iran to produce a nuclear bomb



US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that the Iranians would need "about a year" to produce enough enriched uranium to make an atomic bomb, pointing out that Washington will "whatever it takes" to prevent it.
On the other hand expressed Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expressed optimism that the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran's nuclear facilities inspectors would produce an understanding.
Panetta said in an interview with CBS 'consensus reached is that if they decide to do so they will need probably about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then a year or two for processing in the form of weapon, "a rocket, for example.
He reiterated that "the United States, has been President and clear at this point, do not want Iran to develop a weapon atomic. This is a red line for us, and for the Israelis, too Panetta also is clear, if we share a common goal in this area."
And on possible military intervention, Panetta did not speak clearly about the strikes, saying only that certainly "all possibilities are open."
In his speech on the state of the nation Tuesday, President Barack Obama reiterated Washington's resolve to "prevent Iran from refueling nuclear weapons," but he pointed out that the finding "a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible."
Iranian optimism
In contrast, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said, "We are very optimistic about the mission and as a result," the International Atomic Energy Agency mission.


"We have always tried to put transparency as a principle in our cooperation with the agency, The Agency has questions and answers will give them necessary."
Salehi was pointed out yesterday that the International Atomic Energy Agency officials can inspect all the nuclear sites in Iran.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tehran that the mission is clear: to prove that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful as Tehran insists, did not deviate to military fields.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors arrived in Tehran early Sunday morning at the head of the mission of the inspectors, on a visit aimed at conducting talks on Iran's nuclear program.
The official Iranian news agency reported that the delegation's visit aimed at resolving "outstanding issues" related to the nuclear program, noting that Nakertis will meet with a number of Iranian officials during his visit which will last three days.

Obama paving of Australia to enter the massive ground in Iraq and Syria under the "pretext" to fight "Islamic state" in the event of control over nuclear weapons .. Where these weapons? It is owned by Israel? And why this condition now?

Obama paving of Australia to enter the massive ground in Iraq and Syria under the "pretext" to fight "Islamic state" in the event of control over nuclear weapons .. Where these weapons? It is owned by Israel? And why this condition now?

atwan ok

Abdel Bari Atwan

Those who live in the West, following the methods of governments in the progressive boot, or marketing of political and military specific public opinion stands, is well aware that US President Barack Obama when he says in a press conference held on the sidelines of the economic top twenty in the city of Brisbane, Australia on Sunday, "We will not hesitate to send ground units to the area in the event of "Islamic state" forces seized control of a nuclear weapon, for example, but we want the Iraqi security forces take office ", this means, At first glance, the decision to send US troops to Iraq and Syria may have been taken early and waiting for an excuse , and we are at the doors of the implementation phase.

President Obama has doubled the number of US ground forces in Iraq to 3,100, said a week ago that the number will rise, and that the other forces in the road, and justified the sending of these forces, old and new to train the Iraqi army and re-military rehabilitation so that he can address the forces of the "Islamic state".

***

We do not believe that the training of Iraqi forces needs to be this huge trainers and advisers number, unless the census this army will reach millions of officers and soldiers, and expect that there is a US-Iraqi joint plan, a strong return of Washington's military intervention in Iraq and Syria, but the "window" the fight against "Islamic state", that is, they will not be invading forces, but friendly, but what is the price you waiting for Washington?

What we tend to believe that several indicators of a large degree of importance are summarized in the following points:

First: There is a consensus among most military analysts Americans that the US aerial bombardment of gatherings "Islamic state" in Iraq, and Syria has not achieved little success in weakening it and reduce its strength, and it is no substitute for the presence of troops on the ground.

Second: The steady drumbeat of news for many, credible, from Western sources about the "advisers" Americans accompany Iraqi forces in the fight to restore the cities and towns in Anbar province, as well as break the siege of the city of Baiji oil refinery, which provides sixty percent of the country's needs of Petroleum products such as gasoline and the necessary fuel oil.

Third: Visit Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chief of Staff of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff suddenly to Iraq, and offer a bid for the involvement of US troops in battles that may be launched in dangerous places (Nineveh, the Iraqi-Syrian border) against al-Islamic state, a bid that Mr. Haider Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, he said rejected.

Fourth, most of the members of the coalition of Arabs, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates and Qatar refused Furthermore Turkey to send ground troops to Iraq and Syria, Mr. Abadi declined in contrast presence on the land of his country because he believed that "Iraq does not need any land by foreign forces, and Iraqi army, supported by the popular crowd and the sons of the tribes is able to accomplish its functions without external interference. "

Mr. Abadi's remarks about the rejection of any US ground forces may come to cover up the agreement reached actually during a visit by Gen. Dempsey flash to Baghdad to send more troops land of America, because denial is meaningless in practice, reflects the contradiction "incomprehensible" US forces land actually exist and increasing, and this first, and, secondly, we do not see any difference between the ground forces or air, Valastaana foreign troops have been, in principle, and the rest are details.

Another point can not be ignored and summed up in the words of President Obama, he would not hesitate to send US ground units to the region if it took control of the "Islamic state" on a nuclear weapon, where there is this even a nuclear weapon is controlled by the state? In Iraq or Syria or Iran?

The only country in the region that has nuclear weapons is Israel Is "Islamic state" and its forces have the ability at the moment to get to the Dimona reactor, or the Israeli nuclear warheads stores and grab them and how?

***

No doubt there is a "recipe" US being prepared for the entire region, entitled the return of US troops to Iraq, but under the pretext of protecting the region from the threat of "Islamic state", and was reported in more than a Western capital, that there is a plan already on the table to send eighty thousand troops, half the number of troops that occupied Iraq in 2003.

Perhaps not coincidentally feet "Islamic state" the execution of former US soldier who was held hostage to have (Peter Kaseg) in front of the cameras in the "glutinous" area and telling a spokesman that "the first crusader" buried there, and it was waiting for (any country) eagerly rest US soldiers to be buried in the same area.

President Barack Obama said in an interview with US television station that his country will move onto the offensive in the war against "Islamic state"? Is Gen. Dempsey carry this offensive plan and details to his Iraqi counterparts? Are we in front of New American occupation of Iraq and perhaps Syria as well? Is America will repeat the same mistakes, or you will learn them the next time?

Likelihood of sinking America in the bloody quagmire of Iraq Syrian again, and after three years of its withdrawal, a large, but very large, and it will enter costly for them and the people of the region, said this during the 2003 invasion, and repeat it now without hesitation, and the days and months ahead pregnant surprises.

President Obama Discusses Communities and Law Enforcement Working Together

Military thinktank sees dark future Brain-chipped middle class Goths in flashmob revolution by 2035

Military thinktank sees dark future

Brain-chipped middle class Goths in flashmob revolution by 2035

A UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) thinktank led by a controversial senior officer has issued some radical predictions for the future.
In its rolling Strategic Trends Programme document, the MoD's Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) seeks to outline the challenges the British forces might face in the period up to 2035. The DCDC is led by Rear Admiral Chris Parry, an Oxford history graduate, helicopter observer, and Falklands veteran.
Admiral Parry won some notoriety last year when he told a conference of security professionals that Britain and Europe were threatened by "reverse colonisation", in which huge waves of migrants would overwhelm the native culture of Western nations. These migrants, rather than being assimilated like many in the past, would remain connected to their home cultures by the internet and cheap flights, thus taking on the character more of colonials than new citizens. No specific groups were mentioned, but it's possible to speculate that the Admiral was referring to Australians and Kiwis.
Indeed, the MoD's Nostradamus went so far as to liken modern-day Blighty to the Roman Empire as it was overwhelmed by the Goths. In another historical allusion, he suggested that the Barbary corsairs might soon prowl the Mediterranean once again.
"At some time in the next 10 years, it may not be safe to sail a yacht between Gibraltar and Malta," he said.
Of course, many historians nowadays feel that the Goths were actually nicer than the Romans, and that Western democracy owes more to the relatively chilled-out "barbarians" than it does to the autocrats, tax farmers and slave traders of the Empire. Admiral Parry is clearly a member of the old school in this regard.
As for safety in the Mediterranean, he may have a point; modern-day piracy is definitely an increasing problem, and already there are many coasts where only a foolish blue-water yachtsman would stray too close inshore. That said, the modern European environment of instant communications, radar, fast-moving aircraft, and sizeable ex-Cold War navies looking for employment doesn't favour the surface raider. The North African corsairs of tomorrow will need to be on the top of their game if they plan to operate much beyond their home territorial waters.
Getting on to this year's predictions, Admiral Parry and his team of military prophets have mostly stuck to fairly well-trodden paths: China, climate change, competition for scarce resources, the burgeoning worldwide urban underclass, cheesed-off Muslims denied their shot at Western affluence – all are laid out as potential problems for the British forces.
But there are some relatively unconventional twists. The DCDC doom-mongers also see the middle classes as a possible source of strife.
"The middle classes could become a revolutionary class," says the report. "The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat...Faced by these twin challenges, the world's middle-classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest."
The report's authors, of course, are all British military officers: members of the middle classes. They seem to feel more sympathy with "beleaguered middle classes" than they do with the super-rich or the proletarian rabble. Admiral Parry and his team seem to be hinting that if the urban mob ever rises up against the super-rich, the fat cats will want to have kept the military middle classes on side - just as the Roman toffs had to.


Military thinktank sees dark future

Brain-chipped middle class Goths in flashmob revolution by 2035

There is also some conventional internet/sci-fi fare, probably seen as radical stuff in Whitehall but quite familiar to the average Reg reader.
For instance, Admiral Parry's crew flag up the threat of electromagnetic pulse weapons or other specialist new-wave kit against electronics-dependent societies, either by disabling backbone strikes or perhaps knockout blows against space infrastructure. They make the point that a sudden loss of satellites could cause multiple mass-transport accidents or "the collapse of international financial systems". They also suggest that: "Rapid mobilisation - 'flashmobs' - may be undertaken by states, terrorists and criminals...challenging security forces to match this potential agility and ability to concentrate."
Someone at the DCDC has clearly been reading classic cyberpunk, as well. "By 2035, an implantable information chip could be developed and wired directly to the user's brain," says the report. "Developments might include the invention of synthetic telepathy, including mind-to-mind or telepathic dialogue. This type of development would have obvious military and security, as well as control, legal and ethical, implications."
So obvious, in fact, that the MoD brain trust declines to say what they are.
The staff-college moguls of the DCDC also seem worried about some blasted boffin inventing something which they have failed to predict. To deal with this, Admiral Parry's crystal-ball-gazers include a splendid catch-all:
"A cheap, simple-to-make and easy-to-use weapon might be invented that is effective against a wide range of targets and against which established countermeasures are ineffective," they warn, without going into further detail. A superb bit of bureaucratic ass-covering, if not terribly useful for the military planners of the future.
All in all, the Strategic Trends programme is relatively lacklustre stuff. It's supposed to provide a firm basis for the MoD to make plans on, but you'd hate to be the person who had to use it for that purpose. Admiral Parry tells us that the document is "the result of over a year's research by my team and me".
Perhaps the biggest question that raises for ordinary taxpayers and servicemen is whether the DCDC thinktank, with all its expensively-trained staff brains, is genuinely worth the money.
The full report is available here (big pdf). ®