THE OBSESSED AMERICA: STILL THE HIGHEST % OF OVERWEIGHT ADULTS AT 70%

THE OBSESSED AMERICA: STILL THE HIGHEST  %  OF OVERWEIGHT ADULTS AT 70%

AMERICA LA OBESA, UN MAL EJEMPLO QUE URGE ABANDONAR

OBESITY QUADRUPLES TO NEARLY ONE BILLION IN DEVELOPING WORLD 

By BBC   2 January 2014  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25576400

[Here only extracts, go to the website above to read the full article] 

Introduction: By Hugo Adan, Jan 3, 2014

“Terminator technology is a threat to global food security because it is aimed for use in Africa, Asia and Latin America where over 1.4 billion people –primarily poor farmers- depend on farm-saved seed”  The Ecologist, Vol 28. N.5. 1998: Title “Monsanto a checkered history” and “Revolving doors: Monsanto and the Regulators”. Check also “A Seedy Business” in http://motherjones.com/news_wire/usda-inc.html

This research was censored in 1998. At that time, Monsanto got the monopoly of GMOs, so it became the major beneficiary of the neoliberal agenda approved in 1985 and known as “Washington Consensus”. More info in: Delta - Project Censored   www.projectcensored.org/tag/delta/  and in: Tom Ladegaard - Project Censored  www.projectcensored.org/tag/tom-ladegaard /‎  

Today Monsanto has been denounced worldwide for this new type of crime against humanity. There are reports calling Obesity 'equal to terror threat'

For more info Open:  http://www.naturalnews.com/Monsanto.html   

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Here the article  OBESITY QUADRUPLES……….  From BBC

The number of overweight and obese adults in the developing world has almost quadrupled to around one billion since 1980, says a report from a UK think tank.

The Overseas Development Institute said one in three people worldwide was now overweight and urged governments to do more to influence diets.

In the UK, 64% of adults are classed as being overweight or obese.

The report predicts a "huge increase" in heart attacks, strokes and diabetes.

The ODI's Future Diets report says this is due to changing diets and a shift from eating cereals and grains to the consumption of more fats, sugar, oils and animal produce.

See table on Percentage of overweight and obese adults with BMI greater than 25, from 1980 to 2008, by region

While North America still has the highest percentage of overweight adults at 70%, regions such as Australasia and southern Latin America are now not far behind with 63%.

Diet linked to income

The greatest growth in overweight people occurred in south east Asia, where the percentage tripled from a lower starting point of 7% to 22%.

Among individual countries, the report found that overweight and obesity rates had almost doubled in China and Mexico, and risen by a third in South Africa since 1980. Many countries in the Middle East also had a high percentage of overweight adults.

One of the report authors, Steve Wiggins, said there were likely to be multiple reasons for the increases.  In emerging economies, where a large middle class of people with rising incomes was living in urban centres and not taking much physical exercise.

The consumption of fat, salt and sugar, which has increased globally according to the United Nations, is a significant factor in cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers.

The world's top sugar consumers include the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

To combat the rising tide of obesity, Mr Wiggins recommends more concerted public health measures from governments, similar to those taken to limit smoking in developed countries.

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RELATED NEWS:

On this issue check this video: : THE HOW OF CHOW

http://rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/diet-food-health-challenges-125/

With more than a third of the world’s adult population overweight, obesity is rapidly becoming one of the greatest health challenges of the 21st century. And with the weight loss industry worth billions of dollars, it’s no surprise we’re always hearing about the latest fad diet. But is dieting a matter of reducing the quantity or increasing the quality of food? What can we learn from the country that has elevated eating to the level of a philosophy? To chew over these issues, Oksana is joined by Jean-Michel Cohen, a prominent French nutritionist and inventor of the Parisian Diet. 

COMMENT 1:

David Auner :  Good interview. Cohen has much to offer but misses the fundamental problem molecules which have driven the American crisis and are being exported around the world. 95% of Americans are contaminated with frankenfats and plastics which they can't metabolize or excrete slowly - they are sick. Food labels are a joke. One example is partially hydrogenated soy and corn oils, consumers who still have the energy to care avoid these. The food industry now in breads to yogurt and milk has broken the problem triglycerides into less regulated "mono and diglycerides" which still have the same problem chemical bonds - healthier?

WATCH also:
http://rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/
http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldsApartRT/videos

ON OBESITY AND MONSANTO check  this:

The Horrific Truth About Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/09/monsanto-roundup-herbicide.aspx

Monsanto’s GMO Corn Causing Weight Gain, Disrupting Organs   By Mike Barrett.  Infowars.com.  http://www.infowars.com/monsanto%E2%80%99s-gmo-corn-causing-weight-gain-disrupt-organs/

Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide Linked to Obesity, Cancer, Heart Disease and Autism  http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/monsantos-roundup-herbicide-linked-to-obesity-cancer-heart-disease-and-autism/

GMOs and Obesity - Monsanto in charge of food production ... - Videos  http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=52A55960E6B70FF7E3F374A892BB4617

GodSeedPlanet.com GMOs and Obesity Monsanto in charge of food production NaturalNews  By Michael Paul. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmJQVhZMMNs

Stop Subsidizing Obesity. OUR TAX DOLLARS HELP FUEL OBESITY EPIDEMIC. http://www.uspirg.org/issues/usp/stop-subsidizing-obesity

Obesity Quick Facts:

• High-fructose diets impair learning and memory.
• For each additional can of soda drunk daily, the odds of a child becoming obese increases by about 60%.
• Childhood obesity has quadrupled in the last 40 years.
• Drinking one or two sugary drinks per day increases the risk for type 2 diabetes by 25%.
• Once an adult problem, diabetes associated with obesity is increasing among children.

SchwartzReport: Supreme Court vs. Monsanto, Autisim, Obesity, & Premature Puberty All Because of Corrupt Food Practices  http://www.phibetaiota.net/2013/03/schwartzreport-supreme-court-vs-monsanto-autisim-obesity-premature-puberty-all-because-of-corrupt-food-practices/

Monsanto, the TPP, and Global Food Dominance | Max Keiser   http://www.maxkeiser.com/2013/11/monsanto-the-tpp-and-global-food-dominance/

10 Reasons why Monsanto is polluted and corrupted from its core  http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/Monsanto-corruption-gmo.php

What is Monsanto doing to decrease the raise of obesity? | GMO  http://gmoanswers.com/ask/what-monsanto-doing-decrease-raise-obesity

Top 10 GMO Foods to Avoid - Reader Supported News  http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/448-farm-and-food-policy/12676-top-10-gmo-foods-to-avoid

[The list continues…  Just Google search: Obesity and Monsanto]

MORE RELATED NEWS

Call for action as global obesity crisis grows   3 January, 2014 | By The Press Association   http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/clinical-zones/nutrition/call-for-action-as-global-obesity-crisis-grows/5066744.article 

·  Where are you on the global fat scale?   12 JULY 2012, HEALTH

·  'Tough action' needed on obesity   25 AUGUST 2011, HEALTH

·  BBC NEWS | Health | Obesity 'as bad as climate risk'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7043639.stm

·  BBC NEWS | Health | Obesity 'equal to terror threat'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7559420.stm ‎

COMPANIES INVOLVED in causing this crisis: Monsanto, McDonald's  related business

Monsanto:  http://www.naturalnews.com/Monsanto.html 

McDonald: 

·  McDonald's frantically shuts down website for employees after dietary advice embarrassment

·  97 percent of raw chicken is contaminated, but health officials still aggressively target raw milk

[The list continues,,,,]

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IGNORE SAUDI AND ISRAELI GOADING FOR A MORE MUSCULAR U.S. MIDEAST POLICY

IGNORE SAUDI AND ISRAELI GOADING FOR A MORE MUSCULAR  U.S. MIDEAST POLICY

By Ivan Eland.  January 01, 2014 "Information Clearing House   http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37272.htm

One of the most influential Saudi Arabian princes, Turki al-Faisal—the former Saudi intelligence chief who clearly reflects the Saudi royal government’s view—recently criticized President Barack Obama for weakness in the Middle East. Although not friendly with Saudi Arabia, the Israeli government is similarly disenchanted with Obama’s regional performance. Prince Turki’s comments are just the most recent installment of these governments trying to goad the United States into dubious actions in the region that would not be in U.S. interests.

According to Prince Turki, “We’ve seen several red lines put forward by the president, which went along and became pinkish as time grew, and eventually ended up completely white. When that kind of assurance comes from a leader of a country like the United States, we expect him to stand by it. There is an issue of confidence.” He added that when a country has strong allies, “you should be able to give them the assurance that what you say is going to be what you do.”

The Saudis have been unnerved by Obama’s understandable and wise decision to avoid deep U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war. The Saudis were angry that Obama didn’t strike the al-Assad regime militarily after it was accused of using chemical weapons on its own people. Yet military strikes on Syrian chemical weapons facilities could very well have released chemicals on the Syrian civilians the attacks were ostensibly designed to protect. In fact, the Saudis, who have a horrendous human rights record, likely don’t care, one way or the other, about harming Syrian civilians. In fact, despite their outsized reputation, chemical weapons usually account for only one percent of the people who die in the wars in which they have been used.

The Saudis, leaders of the Sunni Islamic bloc in the Middle East, want the United States to attack Syria to weaken the Shi’ite Syrian-Iranian axis—their arch rivals. That is why they also want the United States to bomb Iran over its nuclear program. Such a strike is less about the Iranian nuclear program and more about weakening a Shi’ite country that is more powerful than Syria. Any U.S. air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities likely would not take out all of them, some of which are deeply buried and maybe even unknown to U.S. intelligence, and would probably motivate Iran to make the decision to rapidly obtain a nuclear weapon—a choice U.S. intelligence believes that Iran has not made.

Although the Sunni Arab bloc and Israel are unfriendly to each other, they both share an interest in weakening the Shi’ite Syria-Iran axis. And they both want the United States to do their dirty work for them. Pointless bombing, merely to weaken Syria or Iran for Saudi Arabia and Israel, would not serve U.S. national interests—let alone that the American people are exhausted with terrorism-inducing U.S. military entanglements in a Middle East that is in perpetual conflict.

So Obama has rightly avoided getting sucked deeper than he already is into the potential Syrian quagmire—the U.S. has provided some limited lethal and non-lethal assistance to the Syrian rebels—by cooperating with Russia to compel Assad to get rid of his chemical weapons stockpiles. What is amazing is that essentially Prince Turki is criticizing Obama for not bombing Assad anyway, even after the Syrian dictator capitulated in this unlikely manner.

Reflecting the Israeli view, the New York Times, quoted former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Itamar Rabinovich, as saying that because Obama had refrained from attacking Syria, neither Israel nor Iran believed any longer that he might strike Iran over its nuclear program. However, even if this is true, Iran has nevertheless come to the negotiating table and reached an interim agreement to freeze its nuclear program and even roll back at least one part of it.

Even military theorists know that if you can get your opponent to do what you want, or most thereof, without the use of force, then you should avoid using it. In the cases of both Syria and Iran, the Saudis and Israelis don’t really like the progress Obama has made by negotiation, because it ruins their not-so-hidden agenda of inciting the United States to attack, and thus weaken, their regional rivals. Thus, U.S. military action against either Syria or Iran may be in the interest of Saudi Arabia and Israel, but it is not the interest of the United States or its people, who may be subjected to further blowback retaliatory acts of terrorism.

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Dr/ Ivan Eland is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at The Independent Institute.

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KING ABDULLAH & PRINCE BANDAR MASTERS OF JIHADIST TERRORISM WORLDWIDE

KING ABDULLAH & PRINCE BANDAR MASTERS OF JIHADIST TERRORISM WORLDWIDE, said Finian Cunningham (PTV)

According to Finian Cunningham, Saudi largesse is throwing money again – in a bid to cover up its bloodstained hands in violence hitting the Middle East and beyond.  How much $USD they invested in the destruction of Syria and more recently,  in terrorism in Russia? , nobody knows.

This time we have the “donation” of $3 billion to the Lebanese army made by Saudi King Abdullah is  twice the national military budget of Lebanon.  Again this dirty money comes with the complicity of some NATO allies in the West. 

The announcement of the $3 billion was made during a visit to Riyadh by French President Francois Hollande. The new Saudi military aid to Lebanon is tied to the condition that it must be spent on purchasing French weaponry. Mr  Hollande didn’t  mention the training of jihadists.  Read this:

HIDING ITS TERROR HAND; SAUDI ARABIA GIVES $3 BILLION TO LEBANESE ARMY 

By Finian  Cunningham. Dec 31, 2013  PressTV.com.  http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/30/342785/saudi-gift-to-hide-its-terror-hand/ and reproduced in    http://nsnbc.me/2013/12/31/hiding-its-terror-hand-saudi-arabia-gives-3-billion-to-lebanese-army/

[Here only extracts]

The above political actors have done much to destabilize Lebanon with violence, which is now being blamed on the wrong people – Shia Hezbollah – thanks to the deft finger work of billionaire Paris-exile Hariri. One of the main protagonists of terrorism – Saudi Arabia – now steps in with a military aid “gift” that will allow it to influence the Lebanese army to go after Saudi enemy Hezbollah.

Such an insidious interference by Saudi Arabia in the internal affairs of Lebanon can only but incite further sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia in that country, which is still recovering from a 15-year civil war.

Saudi blood money and sponsorship of terrorism are carrying out demonic work in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan and even it could be added in Iran’s peripheral southeast region.

Moreover, the Saudi terror connection can also be traced to the weekend double bombing in the southern Russian city of Volgograd where more than 30 people were killed. In October, a suicide bomber killed six also in a bus attack in Volgograd. Other cities have also been hit with deadly attacks in Russia’s Dagestan in recent months.

The likely Chechen perpetrators behind those attacks – led by Saudi-linked Doku Umarov – are also involved in waging the Saudi-financed terror war in Syria.

Recall, too, that Saudi spymaster Prince Bandar only a few months ago made veiled threats to Russian leader Vladimir Putin that the Sochi Winter Olympic Games were at risk to acts of sabotage. The Games are set to open on 7 February 2014.

France 24, among others, reported that the military boost “would help the Lebanese army fight … groups like Hezbollah, which has caused a wave of violence in the country.”  This  claim by France 24 is a risible distortion of the facts. Lebanon has indeed witnessed a wave of violence in recent months, but the main victims of the attacks have been Hezbollah and Shia communities in southern Beirut and Baalbek in the east of the country.

The primary source of this bloodshed in Lebanon is groups linked to Saudi, Israeli and Western intelligence.

For example, the double suicide bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut on 19 November, which killed at least 23 including Iranian cultural attaché [to Beirut Hojjatoleslam] Ebrahim Ansari, was claimed by the Saudi-backed al-Qaeda group known as Abdullah Azzam Brigade.

This pattern of fomenting sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia, as well as Christian, has been a staple of Saudi, Israeli and Western intelligence operating to destabilize Syria and Iraq over the past three years.

The recent donation follows the much bigger precedent of $100 million that Saudi Arabia doled out to the UN Anti-Terrorism Center last August. [Guess who control such UN Center]

In the previous four weeks before that “gift”, some 1,000 Iraqis were killed in terror attacks mainly committed by the Saudi-bankrolled al-Qaeda franchise known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

This same group has been engaging in similar atrocities in neighboring Syria, along with [so-called] al-Nusra Front, [so-called] Liwa al-Tawhid and [so-called] Ahrar al-Sham – all of them Saudi-sponsored.

The simple fact is that the sectarian bloodshed inundating Syria and Iraq, and increasingly now in Lebanon, as well as in countries as far apart as Yemen and Russia, would not be happening if it were not for the blood money flowing from Saudi Arabia.

Finian Cunningham, PRESS TV

RELATED ARTICLES:

Lebanon president under fire over Saudi Arabia aid  http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/31/342877/sleiman-under-fire-over-saudi-arabia-aid/
 

Lebanese Army arrests Suspect in Iran Embassy Bombing

Blast at Iranian Embassy in Beirut Kills 23, including Diplomat, 146 Injured

Saudi High-Level Intelligence behind Liwa-al-Islam Attack on Syrian Chemical Weapons Transport

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GEOPOLITICAL PANORAMA OF 2014. THE NEW GREAT GAME

GEOPOLITICAL PANORAMA OF 2014

From:

THE NEW NEW GREAT GAME  Geography, Energy, the Dollar and Gold

http://futurefastforward.com/images/stories/financial/TheNewNewGreatGame.pdf

December 2013

Tweaking Mackinder’s “Heartland Theory”

Oil & Gas: forgotten sector, strategic (and absolute?) value

By Janet Yellen and Bang-Bang Control

GEOGRAPHY, ENERGY, THE DOLLAR AND GOLD

Sir Halford Mackinder’s 1904 speach in which he outlined his “Heartland Theory” was a founding moment  for geo-politics. He argued that control of the Eurasian landmass (Europe, Asia and the Middle East), which contained the bulk of the world’s population and natural resources, was the major geo-political prize.

As time passed, energy (first crude oil then natural gas), became increasingly integral to this concept and its strategic significance cannot be overstated.

Remarkably, Mackinder’s theory has remained equally valid, if not more so, in the modern era - although key “pivot areas” for exercising control have evolved. In addition to Central Asia and Trans-Caucasus in Mackinder’s day, the oil producing nations of the Middle East took on increasing importance in the “New Great Game”.

The geo-political confrontation between the US on one hand and China (in increasingly close cooperation with Russia) on the other, is evolving rapidly. We see a “New New Great Game” (NNGG) emerging and have “tweaked” the Heartland Theory to include.

• An additional geographic “pivot”, the South and East China Seas, due to their importance in terms of world trade, oil and gas reserves and numerous territorial claims.

• A monetary “pivot”, the dollar-based system of world trade and its reserve status. China is taking the lead role in pushing ahead with its strategy of dismantling the dollar’s supremacy.

Geo-political tension in each of the pivot areas is escalating. For example Central Asia and Trans-Caucasus (Ukraine), Middle East (Iran) and South and East China Seas (Senkaku Islands). The rising powers, China and Russia, are adopting more aggressive geo-political tactics towards US/EU/NATO/Japanese interests. The more “dovish” US policy towards Iran, following the recent nuclear deal, is threatening to destabilize the decades-long status quo in diplomatic relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Just about every aspect of the escalating geo-political tension has an energy element, either directly or indirectly. Viewed from a “Mackinderian” perspective, the strategic value of the energy sector is immense. It begs the question whether, after five years of underperformance, the equity market is under-pricing energy assets, including those deeply out-of-favour integrated oil and gas stocks? Probably, in our view.

We believe that the significance of the monetary pivot in the NNGG is under-estimated as China accelerates preparations to undermine the dollar’s role in world trade. The other aspect of China’s strategy is its diversification into “hard assets” and, as far as we can tell, China is attempting to “corner” the market for physical gold. Its strategic significance is lost on most Western investors. We present some insights into today’s gold market which might shock Western investors - similarities with the run-up to the major lows in the gold price more than a decade ago - and China’s understanding of modern gold market mechanics.

The threats to the existing US-centric order are substantial and the geo-political sands are shifting. The US will respond and has the largest economy and military (with vast ocean-going naval advantage), most powerful investment banks and deepest financial markets and significant (albeit declining)  political/diplomatic influence. In terms of boxing metaphors, we wonder whether the Ali versus Foreman fight in Kinshasa in 1974 (knockout in the eighth) or the Leonard versus Hagler fight at Caesar’s Palace in 1987 (points victory where the argument as to who actually won continues) will be the parallel.

THOUGHT FOR THE REPORT THE FOOTSTEPS OF GIANTS

From an anonymous source prior to the major lows in the gold price more than a decade ago.

“Someone once said, ‘no one wants gold, that’s why the US$ price keeps falling.’ Many thinking ones laugh at such foolish chatter. They know that the price of gold is dropping precisely because ‘too many people are buying it’! Think now, if you are a person of ‘great worth’ is it not better for you to acquire gold over years, at better prices? If you are one of ‘small worth’, can you not follow in the footsteps of giants? The real money is selling ALL FORMS of paper gold and buying physical!

Why? Because any form of paper gold is losing value much, much faster than metal. Some paper will disappear all together in a fire of epic proportions! The massive trading continues at LBMA, but something is now missing...We have reached production costs...The great mistake by the BIS was in underestimating the Asians. Some big traders said they would buy it all below $365+/- and they did. That’s what forced LBMA to go on a spree of paper selling! Now, it’s a mess.”

Interesting?

The gold price is approaching production cost again.

We have the physical versus paper demarcation again (most commentators are clueless on this - the paper market is still determining the screen price, but it will probably die once and for all this time around – the question is at what level?).

The Asians are being underestimated again when the price is declining (although not by the BIS - China is buying physical gold in unprecedented volumes – at least 70-75% of world mining production this year).

See graphic:   GOLD: CHINA'S CUMULATIVE NET IMPORTS THROUGH HONG KONG (tonnes)

But accelerating developments in the monetary sphere is only one element of... 

THE “NEW NEW GREAT GAME”

Mackinder’s “Heartland Theory”

The traditional “Great Game” obviously dates back to the geo-political rivalry between Great Britain and Russia for supremacy in the central Asian region during the nineteenth and early part of the last century. In his famous speech, “The Geographical Pivot of History”, to the Royal Geographical Society in 1904, Sir Halford Mackinder outlined his “Heartland Theory. ” According to Wikipedia.

“This is often considered a, if not the, founding moment of geo-politics...”

Briefly, this posited that the major geo-political prize is Eurasia (the “World Island”), i.e. the European, Asian and Middle Eastern land mass, which contained the bulk of the world’s population and its natural resources. Mackinder argued that control of the “pivot area“ of central Asia was the key to controlling Eurasia.

This is taken from his paper published in the April 1904 edition of the “The Geographical Journal.”

See Map:  The Natural seats of Power

He also emphasized the important difference between sea power and land power. From Zurich-based ISN’s 2009 “Geopolitics and US Middle Eastern Policy: Mackinder and Brzezinski.”

“Mackinder’s theory was a counter-argument to notions that maritime supremacy was sufficient for a power such as Great Britain to safeguard its hegemony. He claimed that, with the emergence of new transportation routes [e.g. Trans-Siberian railway] and technology, a power that could control the centre (and the abundant resources) of the Eurasian landmass...would ultimately be able to attack the colonies of a sea power everywhere on the continent. “

See Map:  The Trans-Siberian Railway

In the wake of World War One, Mackinder argued the case for preventing a convergence of interests between Russia and new “pivot” states of Eastern Europe (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland). This led to his famous dictum.

“Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;

Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island;

Who rules the World Island commands the World.”

It’s important to emphasise that the pivot area does evolve/fluctuate with changes in geo-political reality.  Indeed, Mackinder included the Baltic states in one of his revisions.

As the world industrialised and became increasingly dependent on crude oil (and later, natural gas), energy resources became ever more integral to the Great Game. With such a large proportion of the world’s oil and gas reserves found on the Eurasian land mass, this was easily accommodated within Mackinder’s theory.

The period just before World War One, with the British Navy’s switch from coal to oil and the adoption of the automobile, set the stage for this. Indeed, in 1913, the British government acquired a 51% controlling interest in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the forerunner of BP.

Remarkably, the validity of Mackinder’s theory has stood the test of time, even though most people are unfamiliar with it. The following quote is from the Reagan Administration’s “National Security Strategy of the United States” published in January 1988.

“The first historical dimension of our strategy is relatively simple, clear-cut, and immensely sensible. It is the conviction that the United States’ most basic national security interests would be endangered if a hostile state or group of states were to dominate the Eurasian land mass – that area of the globe often referred to as the world’s heartland.”

Right now, it’s obvious that US national security interests are threatened by a combination of China and Russia.

This was the influential globalist (and former National Security Advisor), Zbigniew Brzezinski, writing in his famous 1997 book, “The Grand Chessboard.”

“Ever since the continents started interacting politically some 500 years ago, Eurasia has been the centre of world power… For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia – and America’s global primacy is directly dependent on how long and how effectively its preponderance on the Eurasian continent is sustained.”

In the “New Great Game”, (NGG) of the modern era, the major rivalry is between US/NATO on one side and China, Russia, other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the likes of Iran, on the other.

SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION See  MAP

The “pivot states” in the NGG are

• The key nations in Central Asia and the Trans-Caucasus: especially those with substantial energy resources and/or pipelines (e.g. Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan etc). Here is a chart showing the major gas pipelines.  See  MAP

And the major oil pipelines: See  MAP

• The major OPEC nations of the Middle East: here we borrow part of US geo-strategist, Nicholas Spykman’s, “Rimland” theory. Spykman, the “godfather of containment” was both a disciple and critic of Mackinder. He believed that the “Rimland”, European coast, Arabian-Middle Eastern desert and Asiatic Monsoon region was more important for controlling the Heartland.  See  MAP 

This was Brzezinksi on the Central Asian Republics, or “Eurasian Balkans” as he terms them in his book. This was in 1997, when China’s economic and military might was still a distant prospect.

“They are of importance from the standpoint of security and historical ambitions to at least three of their most important and more powerful neighbours, namely Russia, Turkey and Iran, with China also signalling an increasing political interest in the region. But the Eurasian Balkans are infinitely more important as a potential economic prize; an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals including gold.”

It’s a reminder of the strategic importance of energy and gold and puts the US-supported “Color revolutions” into sharper focus - Ukraine (Orange, 2004), Georgia (Rose, 2003) and Kyrgyzstan (Tulip, 2005).

It continues:  Tweaking the Heartland Theory  and on…   Go to : 

http://futurefastforward.com/images/stories/financial/TheNewNewGreatGame.pdf

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