Background

9/11 Cover-up
(coming soon)

Weaponry & Warfare

The Big Picture

Q & A

Future Prospects

Conclusions

The Science of Religion

Further Research
 

Events

02 Nov:
-US Presidential Election

21 Nov:
-Runoff Vote in Ukraine Presidential Election

24 Dec:
-European Space Agency Probe will detach from Cassini before plunging into Titan atmosphere in January

Jan 2005:
-Democratic elections in Iraq to elect a transitional government

Apr 2005:
-Parliamentary elections in Afghanistan

2005:
-Completion of the critically significant BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline which will transport oil from the Caspian Sea Basin to the West
 

I've posted a new article discussing the eternal debate; science vs religion.  It attempts to describe how science and religion fit into modern society and where they are heading.  Click here to read.

Regrettably some unfortunate news regarding The Looking Glass.  Priorities have recently shifted and I will no longer be able to update the website.  I'd like to say a quick thank you to everyone who visited and got something out of the site, it will remain available until Tripod decides to delete it.  I know I got more then I could have imagined out of creating The Looking Glass.  I should be able to release a version 3.0 sometime in the future, who knows what the world will look like then.  In the meantime continue to research for yourself, question everything and deny ignorance.

<UPDATE> Wanted to link to this post about the Ukrainian elections.  Read the first reply by 'Cascadian1' who posted a letter from a friend in the Ukraine giving an exclusive first hand look at the horrors taking place over there that have been completely overshadowed in the western media by the US election.  There is a power struggle between the soviet-styled dictators (Russian backed and currently in power) and the democratically inclined populous (with EU support), and if these elections turn out the wrong way things are set to explode.

<UPDATE> Last one I promise ;)  Thought I should bring attention to the growing threat of a worldwide flu pandemic.  The World Health Organization has called an unprecedented summit, set for Nov 11, for flu vaccine manufacturers and nations to discuss plans for dealing with the threat.  Oct 30th the Chief of the UN health agency warned "we believe that we are closer to the next pandemic than we ever were."

Three major flu outbreaks occurred during the 20th century, with the worst being the Spanish flu from 1918-1919 where 50 million people worldwide are thought to have died.  Russia has recently warned we are on the brink of another epidemic and claims it could kill up to 1 billion in 6 months!!  Human infections of H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, are increasingly common in south east Asia and around the world and concern is growing that a full blown human flu pandemic will be triggered.  Current stocks of vaccine in the US do not immunize against the H5N1 strain.
 

The NATO Response Force is a first for NATO and was proposed during the NATO summit held in Nov 2002.  It is intended to increase the deployability, sustainability and combat capability of NATO in the face of new threats as they arise by providing the Alliance with a rapid-reaction military force.  Barely a year after the proposal to create such a force, the first prototype was inaugurated Oct 2003 numbering roughly 9500 strong.  The NATO website states the NRF "will be a coherent, high readiness, joint, multinational force package, technologically advanced, flexible, deployable, interoperable and sustainable."  13 Oct 2004 it was announced the NRF had achieved initial operational capability and was ready to take on a full range of missions. 

The specialized force combines elite land, air and sea units into a single entity that can be deployed anywhere in the world in five days and sustain itself for up to 3 months, before needing re-supply, on a wide range of missions.  Allies will rotate their soldiers through the NRF for 6 month periods.  NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer claims "the NRF will be, and indeed it is already, a highly ready and technologically advanced force that the Alliance can deploy quickly wherever it is needed.”  The NRF will fulfill a key role in the war on terror and be able to respond to threats from weapons of mass destruction.  Already elements of the NRF were used to ensure security during the Olympic Games in Athens, while an Italian NRF battalion is currently in Afghanistan providing short-term reinforcement during the election period.  The NRF currently numbers 17 000 troops which is expected to rise to 21 000 once it reaches it's full operational capability in 2006.

The EU is currently establishing a rapid-response force of their own which will hopefully compliment the NRF and not establish a priority over it among European nations, robbing the NRF of it's troops.

Though the competition has ended it has been announced that the "X-Prize Cup" will take place annually in New Mexico beginning 2005-2006.  Teams will compete in five different categories to win the overall cup: fastest turnaround time between the first launch and second landing, maximum number of passengers per launch, total number of passengers during the competition, maximum altitude and fastest flight time.  Organizers hope it becomes one of the largest space-related events on the calendar, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to cheer for their favorite team.  In addition to the X-Prize Cup, Robert Bigelow chief of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, has announced a $50 million "America's Space Prize".  The America's Space Prize asks teams to build an orbital vehicle capable of carrying up to seven astronauts to an orbital outpost by the end of the decade.  Winners would also obtain options to service inflatable space habitats under development by Bigelow Aerospace.  On top of all that NASA is planning a possible 15 challenges with prizes up to $30 million.  These challenges could include a soft lunar landing and bringing back a piece of an asteroid.

Upon the success of SpaceShipOne Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, announced he would invest $25 million in a new space venture called Virgin Galactic.  The project will license Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne technology adapting it for safe, reliable commercial sub-orbital tourism flights to space, which are rumored to initially cost $200 000 per passenger.  Designs for the craft are already being researched at Burt Rutan's headquarters in Mojave, and should be finalized in early 2005 with the unveiling of the maiden ship, the "VSS (Virgin Spaceship) Enterprise".   The first flights are planned to begin in about 3 years and Branson expects to be able to fly about 3000 people/year within 5 years.  "The development will also allow every country in the world to have their own astronauts rather than the privileged few," he said.

The success of SpaceShipOne and the x-prize is likely to have been the spark that commercial spaceflight has needed.  With the success of Virgin Galactic a new generation of space race is due to unfold; fought this time between corporations, not countries.  The development of sub-orbital space tourism, however, is merely the the first step in the right direction.  A development path for space tourism has already been conceptualized consisting of four phases: low Earth orbit, highly elliptical orbits with apogees providing views of distant Earth, orbital accommodation, and lunar excursions.   The results will be immense as we witness the availability of affordable commercial spacecraft capable of ferrying passengers anywhere on the globe in a couple hours, space cruise ships, orbiting hotels, etc.  Who knows what might be developed in the years to come, but you can already observe the plans being laid today.  Just as our last century was the century of air travel, this new century is sure to be the century of space travel.

In Afghanistan, however, British resources will be drastically increased.  Plans are in place to send an additional 8000 soldiers to the region in early 2005.  The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Mike Jackson, stated "the Army is only as big as it is, but one-offs like this can be done.  We have got to prioritize if we have to make a sustained contribution to Afghanistan.  We couldn't have a sustained brigade in both Iraq and Afghanistan; the balance depends on events."  These 'events' are centered around Afghanistan's parliamentary elections which are scheduled for April 2005.

Next month Afghanistan will hold its first ever national Presidential election where current interim President Hamid Karzai is widely expected to be re-elected.  Though there is a considerable security threat during this period, and the US is sending an additional 1100 soldiers to help deal with the situation, the extent of that threat pails in comparison to the instability expected surrounding parliamentary elections next year.  The parliamentary election is predicted to cause widespread violence between regional warlords as they fight each other for power.  As well Hamid Karzai, once re-elected, is expected to deal with these warlords who have failed to disarm, and crack down on the booming narcotics trade which will likely ignite rural resistance.

Currently in Afghanistan a NATO led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of more then 8000 soldiers from 36 nations are restricted to securing the the Kabul area, while about 18 000 US soldiers hunt remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda throughout the rest of the country.  There has been minimal progress made on establishing a national Afghani security force.

Afghanistan obviously requires more attention then led to believe by local media, but will it be at the expense of stability in Iraq?  Will the reduction of British troops in Iraq result in other coalition members reducing their own commitments?

We'll first take a look at a brief history.  "The notion of Moscow as victim in this conflict is inaccurate.  The Chechens were forced into the Russian empire in 1862, after 45 years of bloody resistance. They were granted independence in 1918, but in 1920 the Soviet Union invaded the country again and brutally suppressed periodic revolts. In 1944 Joseph Stalin applied a Stalinist solution to the Chechnya problem. He deported most of its inhabitants to Central Asia -- more than a half-million -- and burned their villages to the ground. (Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, allowed the survivors to return to their lands in the late 1950s.) In 1990, as the Soviet Union was breaking up, a national conference of all Chechen political groups declared independence. Russia refused to recognize it and in 1994 launched the first Chechen war. After two bloody years Moscow was unable to win and signed a peace treaty with the Chechens. In 1999 Russia reinvaded Chechnya, and since then it has had 100,000 troops in this republic, the size of Vermont. Over the course of the past decade, it has killed an estimated 100,000 civilians -- almost 10 percent of the prewar population -- displaced more than 200,000 and turned more than a quarter of the tiny republic into an ecological wasteland."  -Bout Time, ATSNN

The question now arises, what is the Russian infatuation with the Chechen region, considering other former Soviet Republics gained their independence with ease in comparison???

The answer is simple: Moscow believes that if Chechnya goes so will the other Russian republics of the Caucasus region, which is the only remaining Russian region bordering the largest untapped energy resource on the planet, THE CASPIAN SEA BASIN.

This basin is the source of much of the Chechen violence and the reason Russia will not allow Chechen independence.  At one time the West had covertly supported the war in Chechnya hoping for an independent state in order to gain a foot hold on the worlds largest untapped energy resource, which at the time was exclusively tapped by Russia and Iran.  However, with the soon to be completed BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline (2005) there is little reason for the west to support any further Chechen uprising.  The pipeline will carry 1 million barrels of oil per day through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey to tankers in the Mediterranean Sea which will bring oil to the world markets for an estimated 40 years.  It is being built by 11 international partners, led by UK based BP, and is built entirely underground.  The BTC pipeline is a strategic pipeline to the west, tapping into previously only Russian and Iranian resources.

With little reason for the west to continue its support for the Chechen rebels it's likely their financial backing and support is now originating from a new source, Osama bin Laden.

The West's focus should now be on increasing cooperation with Russia, aiming for eventual inclusion into the NATO and EU partnerships.

It's also interesting to note American marines are currently stationed in Georgia (just across from a still occupied Russian base in Georgia!) 'officially' training Georgian soldiers in order to thwart future attacks against the government and help stabilize the region.  In reality, however, are training the troops to protect the pipeline.  Now this is the area that has me a bit worried, stationing Americans on former Soviet territory, in a region where rebels in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia are fighting to become a part of Russia again.  Now say tensions in the region get out of hand, who intervenes?  Russia, who has been accused of being behind the South Ossetia violence, would likely side with the South Ossetian fighters, and America would obviously side with the Georgians to protect their strategic pipeline.

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to the rapid success of this site, however, for the next 2-3 months I will be away and unable to post during this time.  The Looking Glass will remain online and I encourage readers to use the links provided and continue researching for themselves.  Question Everything.

I'll leave you with a recent must-read article written by Nerdling for ATSNN outlining a very real and imminent terrorist threat predicted to occur mid-July, after the expiration of Bin Laden's proposed truce to Europe.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of YUKOS and Russia's richest man, is currently being held on charges of fraud and tax evasion.  It's said Khodorkovsky is being singled out by Russian President Vladimir Putin for having political ambitions.  In addition, despite Putin's warnings Yukos was about to 'merge' (get bought out) with Rockefeller's ExxonMobil, so it makes sense that Putin wants to keep Yukos oil revenues inside Russia, especially with the increasing US demand.

On paper Iraq is now a sovereign nation, in reality however the interim council has extremely limited power.  They cannot make long-term policy decisions, are unable to make or change basic laws (including at least 100 western style laws put in place by Paul Bremer) and do not have any control over the 160 000 coalition troops (now called the multinational force) who will remain in Iraq.  The current UN resolution states the sovereign interim government will take full responsibility for governing Iraq while "refraining from taking any actions affecting Iraq's destiny beyond the limited interim period until an elected Transitional Government of Iraq assumes office."  Direct democratic elections are to be held no later then January 2005 to elect a Transitional Government, who will have the responsibility of drafting an Iraqi constitution leading to a constitutionally elected government by 31 December 2005.

Don't expect the 'multinational force' to be going anywhere before then, especially since the US is now constructing 14 permanent military bases across the country and one of the largest US embassies in the world with the most staff in diplomatic history.  The 2000-3000 personnel at the embassy will include a large contingent of CIA agents and contractors charged with putting an end to the insurgencies.  It seems the coalition is digging in for a lengthy stay, some project could last until 2010 and beyond.  The construction of these permanent military structures are likely being built to maintain a strategic foothold in the middle east since the US is slowly pulling its forces out from Saudi Arabia.  Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt has called it "a blueprint for how we could operate in the Middle East."

Many suggest an imminent US invasion, but with the thinning US troops stationed in South Korea, (due to the high demand for troops in Iraq) the current/growing $500 billion US deficit, and the unlikely support of the American populace, I can't see this happening.  That's not to say they don't have the capacity to conduct war in 2 theatres, just that doesn't seem to be a very beneficial play, also considering NK is on the brink of complete bankruptcy.  It's interesting to note the movement of F-117 bombers into the western pacific region however.

Here's an extremely interesting theory; the invasion of NK by China!  Associated Press reports, "China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. All agree with the United States that a denuclearized Korean peninsula is a worthy goal."  Not only is there next to nothing in the way of defenses along NK's border with China, but China would likely have the support of the US and international community (or at least no one would lift a finger to get in there way...well maybe France, heh) and would also be sending a message to Taiwan, not to mention the improved relationship with the Americans.  China has always wanted political influence in Korea, and Kim Jong Il is becoming an increasing embarrassment.  This to me seems like a logical turn of events, but with NK's deranged dictator behind the wheel there's no telling what could unfold.

If anyone can find any info on recent Chinese troop movements along the NK border region, send it my way.

24 June 2004: The First of the X-Men? raven

Scientists at John Hopkins University had previously done similar experimentation with lab mice which lead to increased muscle growth, but were unsure if the same effect would occur in humans.  This discovery is the first documented human case of the mutation and could likely lead to drugs to treat muscular dystrophy and other muscle-destroying conditions from cancer and aging, and a drug for athletes similar to steroids.

Scaled Composite's SpaceShipOne is now one step closer to claiming the famed $10 million Ansari X Prize, which would be awarded to the first team to send a spaceship carrying a pilot and the weight of two passengers to an altitude of 100 kilometers twice within two weeks.  This flight did not qualify for the prize since only Melvill was aboard, but the team is said to make a formal attempt at the prize later this summer.

The Ansari X Prize was introduced in May 1996, and 20 teams from 7 countries are competing for the $10 million prize.  X Prize is meant to encourage the development of commercial space travel.  Scaled Composites sees the development of a scaled up version of the technology behind SpaceShipOne capable of bringing several tourists to the edge of space.  Scaled Composite's Burt Rutan believes "within 10 to 15 years there will be affordable suborbital flights like the one you see today....once the X Prize is won, that opens up a whole host of opportunities to do other things."

Some rumors suggest that Iran is reinforcing its massive oil reserves along the border region in case of a US invasion.  Some go so far as to say that Iran is preparing an invasion of its own into Iraq once the US pulls out, though not for some time, since Iran now has the support of China due to it's recent negotiations to supply oil to the Chinese in return for nuclear technologies and components.

More believable is that Iran is positioning troops to secure its border from an influx of refugees due to the likelihood of increased civil uprisings after the June 30th handover.

Among the many influential topics discussed this film links the Bush family with prominent Saudis including the Bin Ladens, discusses the effects of the Patriot Acts, questions the US foreign policy, etc.  Fahrenheit 9/11 received Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival and a 20 minute standing ovation from the audience including Quentin Tarantino!  This will likely be one of the most far-reaching and influential films of our time.  Check out the trailer here!!

BUSHGAME - be sure to check this out, an amazing game which explains the staggering atrocities committed by the Bush administration!  An all-star cast including Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, He-man, and Howard Stern to name a few!  Play it!!!

Our aim remains the same:  to dispel the smokescreen and inform the public by providing factual research, exposing hidden agendas, foreign policies, disinformation, red herrings, cover-ups, etc, and generally hope to encouraging people to ask questions.  We are involved in an awareness campaign taking place across the internet and are a gateway for the general public to become informed.  This time in history can be compared to 1933 Germany, only we have the paramount advantage of information technology.  Do not become a victim of propaganda and disinformation campaigns as the Germans once did.  Dispel the smokescreen, Question Everything.

If anyone has anything they'd like to contribute or post send to cj_dew@hotmail.com.