"And so the question of who killed Alexander Litvinenko remains an impenetrable mystery. But at least it has thrown a flickering light on the borders of the shadowlands, a pale fire in which we can dimly perceive the ugly machinations, the violence and deceit, the crime and corruption that lie beneath the gilded images of the movers and shakers of the world."

See: Chris Floyd article (2006-11)

"At the time of 9/11, AIG, the world's largest insurance company, and subsidiaries Marsh McLennan, ACE, and Kroll, were run by the Greenberg family. With Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) member Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg as the AIG godfather, the Familia's tentacles curled around the heart of the tragedy."

See: Jerry Mazza article (2006-09)

"I've read a lot of commentary about the number of plotters it would have required to carry out an "Inside Job" black operation on September 11, 2001... I think 50 top specialists might carry out an operation like 9-11 successfully. Here's how it might be done."

See: Douglas Herman article (2006-09)

"Diebold included a "back door" in its software, allowing anyone to change or modify the software. There are no technical safeguards in place to ensure that only authorized people can make changes... Diebold spokesman David Bear admitted to the New York Times that the back door was inserted intentionally so that election officials would be able to update their systems easily."

See: David Dill article (2006-07)

"We have two simultaneous dynasties - the Bushes and the Clintons. The Bushes are the hand of the Republican arm and the Clintons the hand of the Democratic arm. The body is of course controlled by one mind that outranks them all, the corporate fascist elite... There has not been an occupant in the White House outside of the Bush or Clinton families since 1988. This will seemingly continue through [Hillary] to 2012 and beyond." (See photos)

Also recall that George Bush Sr. was "co-president" after Reagan was nearly assassinated in March 1981.

See: Steve Watson article (2006-05)

A DC-9 airplane carrying 5.5 tons (about 5,000,000 grams) of cocaine was busted in Mexico last week.

"The plane was purchased several years ago in a partnership between Royal Sons Motor Yacht Sales, Inc. and a company owned by Brent Kovar called Skyway Communications Holding Corp... Photos of the DC9, seized last Monday in Ciudad del Carmen, reveal that the plane is painted with the distinctive blue and white color scheme of official U.S. Government planes...[and] carries an official-looking Seal painted on its side."

In 2003, Congressman Tom Delay, Majority Leader, appointed Brent C. Kovar to serve as the Honorary Chairman, Business Advisory Council "in recognition of his valuable contributions and dedication to the Republican Party."

Valuable contributions, indeed.

See: Daniel Hopsicker article (2006-04)

"Smartmatic International [has acquired] California-based Sequoia Voting Systems, whose machines serve millions of U.S. voters. Smartmatic...has been accused by Venezuela's opposition of helping [president] Chavez rig elections in his favor. Yet somehow Smartmatic International and its Venezuelan owners were able to purchase Sequoia last year without the deal receiving any scrutiny from federal regulators. Smartmatic International is owned by a Netherlands corporation, which is in turn owned by a Curacao corporation, which is in turn held by a number of Curacao trusts controlled by proxy holders who represent unnamed investors, almost certainly among them Venezuelans Mugica and Anzola [the company founders] and possibly others." -- Richard Brand

According to Ion Sancho, supervisor of elections for Leon County, Florida, "Our findings show that it is possible to put an executable file on [the Diebold Accuvote] memory card which produces false results and leaves no trail that any violation of the system has occurred. Only the originally marked ballots show that the printed and computer-generated totals are incorrect."

See: Palm Beach Post article (2005-12-17)

"Founded by President Vicente Fox in 2001 in an attempt to end rampant corruption among Mexican police, the AFI is increasingly seen as being infiltrated by the country's powerful drug gangs. The agency became the center of a scandal this week after the attorney general's office said it had charged eight agents in the kidnapping of four presumed drug hit men and the videotaped killing of at least one of them."

These agencies are not "infiltrated by" drug gangs -- they are owned by the drug gang. It's only a temporary nuisance for leaders like Fox and Bush when internal "company business" gets exposed by the media.

See: Reuters article (2005-12-04)

"Uruguay's socialist President Tabare Vazquez is a Mason, and according to certain sources so is Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president...

"We don't appear in public like a political party..." IPS was told by Victor Higuera, the grand master of the [Masonic] lodge in Venezuela. President Chavez, a former lieutenant-colonel, served in the army division headed up by Higuera, a retired army general.

Masonic leaders meeting at the Bolivarian Masonic Confederation in Panama in August [2005] proclaimed that "Masonry as an order is essentially progressive, and therefore it is one of our vital concerns to participate in the vanguard of processes of social change."

In the 18th century several Masons were prime movers in the struggle for independence from Spain, including Simon Bolivar of Venezuela, Bernardo O'Higgins of Chile, and Jose de San Martin of Argentina."

-- Diego Cevallos, IPS News