1. Here’s an interesting tidbit: Someone has been asking what would happen to the massive Internet cables strung under the sea when a big CME hits.
Things to keep in mind: The fiber optic cables are probably safe. However, the signal boosters strung at regular intervals along the cable are vulnerable. Sea water is no protection; it actually makes things worse. But for the most part, nobody knows what would happen, simply because during the entire life of the Internet, there have been no CMEs of significance. The current speculation is that the cables will be okay, but little else. Maybe local networking can survive in some places, but the global links would disappear. The big issue will remain the power grid itself.
2. I’m not surprised that the MSM is trying to suggest that the Taliban have been promoting the heroin poppy crops in Afghanistan. That’s an outright lie. The CIA have been promoting the heroin production to fund their rather extensive operations there. The heroin is shipped to Russia, China, Iran and so forth.
As one commenter said, let’s keep in mind that the CIA is no different from any other government agency. They’ve got a few talented people, a whole bunch of mindless bureaucrats, and plenty of outright political hires. They are no better at their work than any other federal bureaucracy. They simply have official permission to be evil and not have to report it. Pepe Escobar is a mixed bag of good and so-so reporting, but this article on Unz Review strikes me as pretty good reporting.
And the Taliban are not supermen either, but they are true believers in their mission. You can bet they’ll quickly shut down as much poppy agriculture as possible, which is what they did the last time they were in control of major portions of Afghanistan. They will also end the “dancing boys” culture again, and a lot of other socially corrupting things the CIA has promoted.
But the CIA will try to stick around and keep things stirred up.
3. Here’s one story that was actively buried by the right-wingers, all the way down to the grass roots: The CIA has killed numerous American troops intentionally. Throughout the Middle East and all the way back into Vietnam, there were incidents in which the CIA set traps and killed US troops. Part of the time it was for the obvious reason of blaming someone else, trying to get a story in the news about how this or that “evil enemy” did it. So when videotape evidence surfaced, people got killed again for trying to get the story out.
The estimates are all over the map, but a great many combat engagements in places like Iraq and Afghanistan were actually our troops being suckered by the CIA. I’m not going to tell you how I know about this, but it’s not news amongst folks who paid attention over the past two decades.
Think about this: The bombing outside the Kabul airport was blamed on ISIS-K (a nickname for ISIS in Afghanistan). The US government claims to have used drone missiles to take out the ISIS planners of that bomb. But people on the ground went and checked, and the drone missile killed an ordinary family with kids. From what I understand, it was the CIA that fed the drone pilots the data. At this point, I’d be willing to bet the CIA also set off that bomb near the Kabul airport.
There is simply way too much evidence of how the CIA not only sponsored, but actually took control of, the drug trade in Southeast Asia during the previous century, starting right after WW2. Any time there’s drugs involved, it’s almost guaranteed the CIA has their dirty hands on it. I keep saying this: The CIA has always been one of the greatest threats to the American people.
