WTI-Brent Crude Spread Snaps After Forties Pipeline Closure For "Weeks, Not Days"

Following the discovery of a "small hairline crack" in The Forties Pipeline System - one of the most important oil conduits in the world - its operator Ineos has decided a total controlled shutdown "for weeks, not days" is the safest option. This has sent the spread between WTI and Brent soaring...

 

A “small hairline crack” was discovered during a routine inspection last week by Ineos contractors, just south of Aberdeen in Scotland. The pipeline’s pressure was reduced for a full assessment but during that time the crack extended.

As Bloomberg reports, Brent futures rose as much as $1.18 to $64.71 a barrel in London - the highest since June 2015...

“Despite reducing the pressure the crack has extended, and as a consequence the Incident Management Team has now decided that a controlled shutdown of the pipeline is the safest way to proceed,” Ineos said in a statement.

 

“This will allow for a suitable repair method to be worked up.”

The pipeline system feeds crude to the Hound Point export terminal near Edinburgh in Scotland.

At over 400,000 barrels a day, the supplies that flow through the link are the single largest constituent part of the Dated Brent grade that helps to settle more than half the world’s physical oil prices.

BREAKING: Keystone Pipeline Shut down After Leaking 210,000 Gallons of Oil

(ANTIMEDIA) — The contentious Keystone Pipeline has been temporarily shut down after a 210,000-gallon oil leak was discovered in South Dakota.

According to local ABC News affiliate KSFY:

“Brian Walsh with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources tells KSFY News they were alerted to the leak at 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning by TransCanada.

“The leak was in the Keystone Pipeline located in an agricultural area in Marshall County. There have been no reports of the oil entering any waterways or water systems at this time.

“Walsh said 5,000 barrels of oil have leaked, and at 42 gallons a barrel, that totals 210,000 gallons of oil.

“The pipeline has been shut off and the leak has been covered. An emergency response plan has been activated to get more staff and contractors to the site for clean up.”

The Keystone Pipeline, which carries crude oil from Canada’s tar sands to American refineries, has been a source of contention for years and was suspended under the Obama administration. One of President Trump’s first acts in office was authorizing the construction of both the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines.

Environmentalists and Native American groups in the U.S. and Canada opposed both projects. The recently completed Dakota Access Pipeline also experienced a leak, albeit a smaller one, earlier this year, joining numerous other pipelines across the country that have had spills in 2017.

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Hillary Emails Prove She Knew: “For Years, Our Government Supporting Al Qaeda, ISIS”

This article was written by Matt Agorist and originally published by The Free Thought Project.

Editor’s Comment: The absurdity is overwhelming. There’s no square deal or honest dealing in the region, yet we are supposed to get outraged about the actions of the man who is officially in power there – even if it means the U.S. is tacitly backing actual al Qaeda terrorists, along with the al Nusra front, whatever is left of the so-called “rebels” who’ve now been largely defeated militarily by the Russian/Syrian forces.

It is outrageous the pack of unbelievable lies that are to make up the current pretext for war, and the motivations for intervention there. The corporate interests and conflicts of interest are blatant and in your face. And yet the drums march ever onward…

‘Al-Qaeda is On Our Side in Syria’ — Email Shows Clinton Knew US Worked With Terrorists

by Matt Agorist

Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American policymaker and a senior policy advisor to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election campaign, who’s been seemingly attached to Clinton’s hip for nearly a decade.

Sullivan was widely rumored to be a front-runner for the position of U.S. National Security Advisor under a Hillary Clinton administration before she lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election. He was also Deputy Assistant to the U.S. President Barack Obama and National Security Advisor to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

He also served as the Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State, and as Deputy Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He was deputy policy director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential primary campaign and a member of the debate preparation team for Barack Obama’s general election campaign. 

For all intents and purposes, it is safe to call Sullivan a well-connected D.C. insider.

Now, according to a recently discovered email from WikiLeaks, he knew the US was working alongside Al-Qaeda in Syria — and, by proxy, so did then-Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

While it may come as no surprise, to those who’ve been paying attention, that the US has been arming and supporting terrorists in Syria, this email, confirming Clinton’s knowledge of it prior to Obama’s ‘red line’ in 2013, is nothing short of bombshell.

While the United States admittedly gave supplies to the ‘rebels’ as early as 2011, these supplies were all non-lethal, meaning they came in the form of food, trucks, and other rations. However, through covert lines, the CIA quickly began to dump cash, weapons, and eventually heavy artillery into the hands of the ‘moderate rebels’ over the course of the next few years.

What this email shows is that the US knew Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri called on Muslims in Turkey and the Middle East to aid the rebels in the Free Syrian Army. From this day forward, the lines between who Al-Qaeda or the ‘rebels’ actually were — became heavily blurred. But, according to the email, the state department did not care as they knew Al-Qaeda was on their side.

As the email states:

UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05789138 Date: 10/30/2015 AL-ZAWAHIRI URGES MUSLIM SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION (U) Al-Qaida leader al-Zawahiri called on Muslims in Turkey and the Middle East to aid rebel forces in their fight against supporters of Syrian President Asad in an interne video recording. Al-Zawahiri also urged the Syrian people not to rely on the AL, Turkey, or the United States for assistance.euters)

Once this wire went out to multiple departments in the form of an Ops Alert, apparently there may have been some original concern about Al-Qaeda joining the ranks of the US-supported rebels — which were being used by the American Deep State to destabilize Syria on behalf of special interests. However, Sullivan quickly replied to his master, Hillary Clinton, to let her know that Al-Qaeda “is on our side in Syria.”

This email adds credence to the claims of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — who was forced to take action to stop the US/ISIS collusion in Syria — by proposing a bill to “Stop Arming the Terrorists.” Last month, Gabbard called on President Trump to “end the regime change in Syria,” adding that this is what is causing the refugee crisis. While some were hopeful that Trump may comply, after last week, all hope was lost.

“For years, our government has been providing both direct and indirect support to these armed militant groups, who are working directly with or under the command of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, all in their effort and fight to overthrow the Syrian government,” Gabbard said in an interview last month.

Shortly after Gabbard proposed this monumental legislation, she received bipartisan support from Sen. Rand Paul. Paul, a Republican, and Gabbard, a Democrat, have symbolically joined hands in calling on the federal government to be more accountable with how and to whom it gives money and material support.

The S. 532, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, “Makes it illegal for any U.S. federal government funds to be used to provide assistance covered in the bill, including weapons, munitions, weapons platforms, intelligence, logistics, training, and cash, to terrorists.”

Going further, the bill, “Prohibits the U.S. government from providing such assistance covered in the bill to any nation that has given or continues to give such support to terrorists.”

Whether or not this bill will actually pass, or whether or not Trump will veto it after its passage, remains a mystery.

However, thanks to WikiLeaks, US citizens now have a far clearer picture of what is going on, and who exactly, is supporting whom in Syria.

This article was written by Matt Agorist and originally published by The Free Thought Project.

Hundreds of “Riot Gear-Clad Officers Move In With MRAPs” Against Dakota Pipeline Protests

This article was written Claire Bernish and originally published at The Free Thought Project.

Editor’s Comment: The powers that be are increasingly using military troops against the American people, and shutting down legitimate protests by force. Whether the issue is one you agree with or not, a militarized opposition to assembly is taking place.

Those standing against the Dakota Pipeline, including tribal members, having been speaking out against the contamination of the water supplies for tens of millions of people, while they have come to represent a new front in corporate-crony crackdowns on American dissent.

Dozens Arrested as Heavily Armed Cops Move In With MRAPs to Remove Water Protectors

by Claire Bernish

Heavily militarized police and National Guard forces moved in to raid camps at Standing Rock on Thursday morning, with hundreds of riot gear-clad officers marching in formation to clear camps of water protectors, journalists, and anyone firmly entrenched to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Ominously poised on Highway 1806, officers waited in formation with dozens of heavily armored vehicles for over an hour before eventually descending into the remnants of the largest Standing Rock camp, Oceti Sakowin, in recent days renamed Oceti Oyate.

Prayerful song eerily served as a backdrop for what constituted a military raid of land unceded to the U.S. government in treaties from 1851 and 1868.

In a livestream taken a slight distance from camp, Unicorn Riot explained a Bearcat armored vehicle on scene was likely the same from which an officer in a gun turret fired an alleged explosive device at Sophia Wilansky, ripping her arm to shreds on November 20, during a police offensive.

Just before noon local time — and under the watchful eye of snipers — officers in helmets carrying temporary zip-tie restraints could be seen roaming the camp, searching for stragglers to arrest under the premise water protectors are trespassing on land federally managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

With assault rifles and guns in hand — and helicopters occasionally just ten feet in the air above — militarized cops perched outside tipi and tent entrances, searching for violators of the eviction order. As the search continued, live video showed several water protectors joining hands in prayer before near certain arrest.

At 12:30 local time, dozens of officers approached a tiny group of water protectors — one of whom raised a sacred pipe in prayer as they closed in to make arrests. Reports more than 20 military veterans had been arrested were unconfirmed at the time this article was published, but images posted to social media did show police arresting an elderly Native grandmother and searching the pockets of her coat.

Grandmother arrested. Please don’t strip her & number her & put her in a dog kennel like you did the rest #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/4bBiQNNSYY

— Ruth Hopkins (@RuthHHopkins) February 23, 2017

Despite nearly a year of proving themselves unarmed, water protectors became the subject of utterly unfounded law enforcement rumors that an armed group of rebels could be hiding out in an unknown location within the camps.

UPDATE: At least 23 Natives have been arrested today at #StandingRock as oil police sweep through camp #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/DRHjmiRaWd

— #NoDAPL Resistance (@NoDAPL_) February 23, 2017

Thus, MRAPs (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles), Bearcats, and Hum-vees zig-zagged through the a complex of still-intact structures that had served as home for the protectors for months, making sure to evacuate everyone before razing the property.

National Guard and police were still searching through the property as of 1 p.m. local, and appeared to be secondarily kettling water protectors inside the camp, where arrests would be easier to effect en masse.

sooo how many highly militarized brutes does it take to untie a line? your tax dollars at work….#StandingRock – pic.twitter.com/l7rRSL9sRW

— T. Mettalig (@Mimiges) February 23, 2017

Sweeps of the territory will take hours, as officers move from structure to structure with assault rifles drawn — permission to use live fire was reportedly given months ago — in a methodical but deliberate process.

Just as law enforcement appeared to have gained a foothold of control on the camp, two of a handful of livestreams were suddenly cut. A third livestreamer, Hunter Nolan, recorded as authorities tried to determine how to extricate a lone water protector perched on the roof of a house in defiance of the eviction — whom Nolan described as ‘the last man in camp.’

UPDATE: At approximately 3 p.m., livestreamer Johnny Dangers reported in a live video Bureau of Indian Affairs police had begun to raid a second camp, Rosebud, in much the same manner as with Oceti Oyate camp.

This article was written Claire Bernish and originally published at The Free Thought Project.

Click here to subscribe: Join over one million monthly readers and receive breaking news, strategies, ideas and commentary.

Please Spread The Word And Share This Post

Author: Claire Bernish
Views: Read by 20 people
Date: February 24th, 2017
Website: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/62872-2/

Copyright Information: This content has been contributed to SHTFplan by a third-party or has been republished with permission from the author. Please contact the author directly for republishing information.

Not Just Standing Rock: Protesters Just Arrested for Blocking Pipeline in Florida

(ANTIMEDIA) As protesters at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline make their last stand against police crackdowns ordered by North Dakota’s governor to evacuate their campsites, protesters in Florida are also continuing their fight against another contentious pipeline.

Two protesters, Nicolas Segal-Wright, 26, and Karrie Kay Ford, 29, were arrested Wednesday after placing themselves 250-feet into a segment of the Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline, a joint project between Spectra Energy Corp., NextEra Energy Inc., and Duke Energy. According to ClickOrlando, a local Florida outlet, Marion County Sheriff’s office said Segal-Wright and Ford used a “device to lock each other up making it harder for law enforcement to get to them.”

“We’re staying here,” Ford said in a video recorded from inside the pipeline. “We are locking down. We’re not going anywhere.”

We"re revolutionizing the news industry, but we need your help! Click here to get started.

Ford claimed police aggressively attempted to remove her from the pipeline. “They’re banging on the pipeline with hammers,” she said in her video. “And they’re sending dogs to the entrance of the pipeline, threatening to send the dogs in. They’re threatening with tear gas. So just hold tight and, like, spread the word. Spread the word far and wide. And keep supporting us, and we’ll see if we can get you updates.”

Though the pipeline companies in charge of the Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline tout the project, claiming it will provide ample energy and economic benefits to the region, the 515-mile pipeline has faced previous protests over environmental concerns. According to the Ocala Star Banner, “the pipeline is a 515-mile, $3.2 billion endeavor that will snake through Alabama, Georgia and much of Florida, including through Marion County, while crossing 699 bodies of water along the way.” The Banner reports that at one time, “Officials with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission once shared concerns over the pipeline’s effect on the environment and karst terrain, but later flipped and approved it.”

Surrounding communities have also complained of the pipeline companies’ use of eminent domain to obtain property for the pipeline. Spectra Energy Corp., NextEra Energy Inc. (owner of FPL) and Duke Energy filed 160 lawsuits last year in attempts to seize 25 properties in Central Florida and 135 in Southeast Florida. The pipeline has also been criticized for Governor Rick Scott’s 2013 passage of two bills apparently intended to speed up the pipeline, a move considered suspicious because the governor had a stake in Spectra Energy when he approved the laws.

Though opposition to the Sabal pipeline has not received as much media attention as Dakota Access protests, there is still palpable opposition, like Ford and Segal-Wright’s demonstration Wednesday.

After refusing deputies’ requests to exit the pipeline, Marion County Fire Rescue was called to remove them. Nicolas was removed first, and Ford warned in her video that rescuers were coming for her next. She said she had “created a blockade of all our stuff so they are going to have to go through all our stuff to get to me.”

Nevertheless, she was eventually removed, and both were issued “three felony charges including grand theft for delaying the construction on the pipeline, trespassing on a posted construction site and criminal mischief. Ford is also charged with resisting without violence for refusing to unlock herself, preventing deputies from taking her into custody, according to the Sheriff’s Office,” ClickOrlando reported.

Ford was also previously arrested, along with 13 others, for protesting the pipeline in November. In the same vein, multiple protesters were arrested Wednesday in North Dakota as they peacefully resisted police encroachments on their camps.

Considering mounting environmental concerns surrounding massive pipelines throughout the United States, it’s doubtful demonstrations like these will cease anytime soon.

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL): Has the Standing Rock Resistance been Co-opted by the Non-Profit Industrial Complex?

“Perhaps the best answer is that Standing Rock is the killing of three birds with one stone. [1) Protection of BNSF profits, 2) Continued colonization of Indigenous Peoples, 3) An integral observation lab to study NVDA training impacts/results on non-Anglo cultures in recognition that NGOs are now rolling out NVDA training “programs” across the globe."

-from STANDING ROCK: PROFUSION, COLLUSION & BIG MONEY PROFITS [PART 1] by Cory Morningstar and Forrest Palmer

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Length (59:24)

Click to Download audio (MP3 Format)

Standing Rock Sioux Nation, in what is called North Dakota has become the centre of what’s been dubbed an unprecedented convergence of tribal communities from across the continent and around the world.

Hundreds of tribes and thousands of people rallied behind this community in its fight to frustrate the development of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a fracked oil pipeline they claim will desecrate their sacred sites and threaten the quality of water in the Missouri River basin.

Joining the frey have been prominent Non Profit organizations, including the Rainforest Action Network, 350.org, and the Sierra Club. These groups and others helped publicize the action, utilizing websites, social media and e-petitions. Soon, the world would connect Standing Rock with fundraising concerts and celebrity visits.

Optimistic prospects as to the success of a strategy centred around prayer, ceremony and Non Violent Direct Action (NVDA) appear to have hit a wall. The US Army Corps of Engineers under the new Trump administration just granted the easement to allow the pipeline to pass under Lake Oahe.

This week’s Global Research News Hour attempts to take a fearless look at the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance, and what is at stake, not just for the people in the area, but for the future of authentic environmental and Indigenous struggles.

In the first half hour, we hear from two water protectors, who identify as Cedar Woman (Lorraine Clements) and Wopilawin (Paula Antoine, an organizer and veteran of a similar anti-Keystone XL action). They spoke from their vantage point on how the camp came together, the violent actions against campers by law enforcement and security personnel, mis-portrayal of the camp by media as ‘riotous’, and the importance of remaining united in the face of this common struggle.

Later on, retired Canadian biophysicist Dennis LeNeveu utilizes his own research and provides an assessment of the hazards stemming from the pipeline if it proceeds along the projected path.

Finally, London, Ontario based writer and researcher Cory Morningstar, returns to the program with a critical evaluation of the many non-profits, celebrities, and even corporations like Unilever, which have jumped on the Standing Rock bandwagon, to the detriment of the Tribal peoples and ecological causes those ‘allies’ purport to support. Following up on her research into the “non-profit industrial complex” (NPIC) Morningstar reveals the hidden and unwholesome motives of Warren Buffett, and other ‘philanthropists’, who finance anti-pipeline activism to the tune of millions of dollars through their foundations.

Even though there are, according to John Schertow of Intercontinental Cry, as many as 15 other pipeline developments in the U.S. alone threatening Indigenous lands, #NoDAPL has become the focus of attention in mainstream and alternative media. Morningstar notes that blocking the completion of one pipeline will not stop the ongoing genocide of tribal peoples in and around the Bakken. She also postulates that the NPIC- boosted profile of the Standing Rock protest may signal that efforts are underway to socially engineer grassroots Indigenous resistance, arguably the one grassroots movement left posing a serious challenge to imperialist plunder of the planet.

Cory Morningstar, a past guest of this program, is a native of London, Ontario. An independent journalist and researcher, she is published at Counterpunch, and Wrong Kind of Green, as well as her own site, theartofanniliation.com. Her six part series: STANDING ROCK: PROFUSION, COLLUSION & BIG MONEY PROFITS first appeared at Wrong Kind of Green in early December, 2016.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Length (59:24)

Click to Download audio (MP3 Format)

The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca . The show can be heard on the Progressive Radio Network at prn.fm. Listen in everyThursday at 6pm ET.

Community Radio Stations carrying the Global Research News Hour:

CHLY 101.7fm in Nanaimo, B.C – Thursdays at 1pm PT

Boston College Radio WZBC 90.3FM NEWTONS  during the Truth and Justice Radio Programming slot -Sundays at 7am ET.

Port Perry Radio in Port Perry, Ontario –1  Thursdays at 1pm ET

Burnaby Radio Station CJSF out of Simon Fraser University. 90.1FM to most of Greater Vancouver, from Langley to Point Grey and from the North Shore to the US Border.

It is also available on 93.9 FM cable in the communities of SFU, Burnaby, New Westminister, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Surrey and Delta, in British Columbia, Canada. – Tune in  at its new time – Wednesdays at 4pm PT.

Radio station CFUV 101.9FM based at the University of Victoria airs the Global Research News Hour every Sunday from 7 to 8am PT.

CORTES COMMUNITY RADIO CKTZ  89.5 out of Manson’s Landing, B.C airs the show Tuesday mornings at 10am Pacific time.

Cowichan Valley Community Radio CICV 98.7 FM serving the Cowichan Lake area of Vancouver Island, BC airs the program Thursdays at 6am pacific time.

Campus and community radio CFMH 107.3fm in  Saint John, N.B. airs the Global Research News Hour Fridays at 10am.

Caper Radio CJBU 107.3FM in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia airs the Global Research News Hour starting Wednesday Morning from 8:00 to 9:00am. Find more details at www.caperradio.ca 

The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Michael Welch, Global Research, 2017

State Department: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Create 35 Permanent Jobs

January 27, 2017   |   Darius Shahtahmasebi

(ANTIMEDIA) — President Donald Trump’s decision to move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline may ultimately backfire, as the State Department has estimated the pipeline will only create 35 permanent jobs after the one or two years’ worth of construction work has been completed.

According to Census.gov, the current population of the United States is over 316 million. Congratulations – Donald Trump has successfully created jobs for 0.000011 percent of the American population.

Republican supporters have long argued that the pipeline project will be a tremendous job creator. In 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce took out a full-page ad in the New York Times warning Barack Obama not to say no to 20,000 jobs (the pipeline company’s estimate.)

The State Department’s recent estimate means the pipeline could bring in 42,100 jobs in total, but they would all be one-year only contracts. What happens to the 42,000 workers after that one year of construction? Do they build a new pipeline? This does not sound sustainable.

As noted by the Guardian, the proposed Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines will also create an enormity of blowback in other ways:

“Beyond risking our energy economy on what we now call ‘alternative facts,’ these pipelines pose specific risks to Indian Country – and President Trump ignores those risks at his own political peril. Keystone XL would run on top of the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast multi-state underground reservoir that provides water to millions of Americans, including many Native American tribes, across the midwest. Part of the Dakota Access pipeline would run under Lake Oahe, a major water source for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota. Consultation with Native American tribes in the construction of both pipelines has been feeble.”

This is quite humorous given that publications such as the Guardian and other corporate media outlets refused to report on the protests happening at Standing Rock in its early stages. It wasn’t until many alternative media organizations began to break the story, forcing the issue on social media, that these news outlets were willing to take notice of the situation.

Now that it is Trump ramping up these proposals, however, the media is suddenly on the side of the people again.

---

This article (State Department: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Create 35 Permanent Jobs) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Darius Shahtahmasebi and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

Intelligence Report Reveals US Urged Saddam Hussein to Attack Syria

January 24, 2017   |   Darius Shahtahmasebi

(ANTIMEDIA) — Despite what even some alternative media commentators might argue, the Syrian war is about oil, gas, and money. A secret 1983 intelligence report has confirmed that America’s distaste for the Assad family in Syria has always revolved around pipeline disputes — and this alone has given the U.S. cause to go to war with Syria.

Most disturbingly, the report revealed that the United States urged Saddam Hussein to attack Hafez al-Assad in Syria because of the closure of Iraq’s oil pipeline.

The report by former senior CIA official Graham Fuller urged the U.S. to consider “urging Iraq to take the war to Syria,” noting Saddam was “fighting for his life” in the Iran-Iraq campaign. The closure of the Iraq pipeline was seen to have a “hammerlock” on U.S. interests in the region.

Fuller said the U.S. should consider “sharply escalating the pressures against Assad” from three border states hostile to Syria – Iraq, Israel, and Turkey. The report claimed that faced with these “three belligerent fronts,” Assad would probably be forced to abandon his closure of the pipeline.

Sound familiar?

It is alleged that in 2009, Qatar put forward a pipeline proposal that would run through Syria and Turkey and be used to export Saudi and Qatari gas. The Syrian regime turned down this proposal, and instead, forged an agreement with Iran and Iraq to run a pipeline into Europe, cutting out the Gulf States completely. Since then, these regional players have been the most vehement opponents of the Assad regime because they view the expansion of the Shia-led bloc of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria as a major economic threat.

Anyone who claims the Obama administration and its allies, including Saudi Arabia, were motivated by human rights concerns in Syria is either misinformed or lying. It has been speculated that Israel has been looking to exploit the Syrian war by tapping into sources of oil in the Golan Heights area, which the oil company Afek claims is part of the “State of Israel”.

At the time U.S. intelligence produced the secret report on Hafez al-Assad, the U.S. was not only arming and supporting Saddam Hussein’s war of aggression on neighboring Iran (rife with the use of chemical weapons), they were also caught red-handed arming the Iranians in order to maximize the death toll.

According to the secret report, the U.S. was looking to expand the death toll in Iraq and Syria as well, all because of a pipeline closure.

It seems as though the same economic interests remain at the heart of America’s relationships with other nations. Perhaps U.S. allies in the Middle East should take note of this bipolar foreign policy and take heed of what happened to Saddam Hussein, who went from receiving unfaltering support from the U.S. to being public enemy number one. This is especially true with President Trump, who appears to have undone Obama’s cold war approach to Russia and thus far attempted to create a productive dialogue with Vladimir Putin. Trump also appears to differ with the Gulf States regarding the correct approach to the Syrian war.

It will be an unpredictable next few years. That being said, Trump already looks set to continue Obama’s most dangerous policies.

---

This article (Intelligence Report Reveals US Urged Saddam Hussein to Attack Syria) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Darius Shahtahmasebi and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

Cops Oppressing Water Protectors at DAPL Cost $22mn, Officials Now Want You to Pay For It

Standing Rock, ND — (RT) The price of policing the North Dakota Access Pipeline has been tallied at $22.3 million, a cost that North Dakota is not happy to pay.

On Monday, the Morton County Sheriff’s Office released their “By the Numbers” report, which details the costs that were diverted from normal operations to respond to “illegal activity since August 10, 2016.”

In total, the report says that $22.3 million of state and local taxpayer funds went to supporting the policing effort, with 91 different state agencies from nine other states providing support.

The amount is $5 million more than the entire state set aside last year, and it could fund the state treasury for more than two decades.

According to the report, the money was spent on 181,232 hours of policing over a period of 153 days. In that time, 581 protesters were arrested, 94.9 percent of whom came from out of state. Of those arrested, 182 had a prior criminal record, with 25 of those having a history of violence, including any history of domestic violence or child abuse.

All of the protest-related costs were decided by the state lawmakers, but North Dakota state representative Jeff Delzer (R-8th district), chairman of the state house’s appropriations committee, says state officials want the federal government to help pay for the costs.

“We’re not happy at all that the federal government is not ponying up. This should be their responsibility,” Delzer said, the Associated Press reported. “But the fact of the matter is, until they pony up we have to cover those costs.”

In response to the protests, then-Governor Jack Dalrymple (R) issued an emergency declaration under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) to ask for assistance with the protesters.

The bill, which was passed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 in response to devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew, was originally intended to allow states to ask for assistance with natural disasters, not protesters.

EMAC was also used by the police in Baltimore during Black Lives Matters protests in 2016. Officers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey were sent to assist, and afterward the state of Maryland fully compensated the out-of-state officers for their time and effort.

When Indiana agreed to send officers to assist with the DAPL protests, Griffith Police Chief Greg Mance said that their agreement included payments for “all wages, overtime and cost of benefits to the officers, meals while the officers are on duty, a per diem while they are off duty, lodging for the officers during their time of stay and mileage reimbursement for the communities who sent vehicles,” according to the Northwest Indiana Times.

Assurances for payments are also laid out in a Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement between the Morton County Sheriff’s Office and the city of Grand Forks, where Morton County agreed to “reimburse the city of Grand Forks for actual expenses incurred pursuant to this agreement.”

After months of violent clashes with the police, which were reported as “very aggressive” and caused 167 demonstrators to be injured, the $3.8 billion pipeline, which was planned to go through four different states, was put on hold.

Along with the money spent on policing, the report also details that 50 to 75 cars or structures were abandoned on the site of the protester’s camp, as well as one bull, two horses, three bison, four cows getting killed, while two cows were injured and 30 went missing.

Oil Pipeline Spills 170,000 Gallons Just Miles from Standing Rock

December 14, 2016   |   admintam

Monitoring equipment failed to detect the breakage, and it is unknown how long the pipeline was leaking before a landowner discovered it.

(COMMONDREAMS) A pipeline just two and half hours’ drive from the Indigenous water protectors’ ongoing stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline has leaked over 170,000 gallons of crude oil into a tributary of the Little Missouri River and into a hillside, it was reported late Monday.

Monitoring equipment failed to detect the leak, and it is unknown how long the spill near Belfield, North Dakota had gone on before a local landowner discovered it on December 5.

At least two cows have been confirmed dead near the site of the spill, reports the Pioneer Press.

The Belle Fourche pipeline is operated by the Wyoming-based True Companies, which is the same company behind the 2015 pipeline rupture in Montana that sent over 40,000 gallons of crude into the Yellowstone River. Indeed, at that time it was reported that the operator had a “checkered environmental history,” with 30 recorded pipeline leaks and multiple federal fines on its record.

Bill Seuss, an environmental scientist with the North Dakota Health Department, told the Associated Press that the investigation into the cause of the most recent spill is ongoing, and cleanup efforts may last into the spring.

Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, has repeatedly insisted that the pipeline is “safe,” but water protectors have argued that it is not a question of if it will leak, but when.

“But it will be safe THIS time, right?” wrote Honor the Earth national campaigns director Tara Houska on Facebook, sharing a report of the latest spill.

The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration notes that there have been over 11,000 reported “significant incidents” — meaning spills, injuries, deaths, and costly accidents—involving pipelines since 1996.

---

This article (Oil Pipeline Spills 170,000 Gallons Just Miles from Standing Rock) by Nika Knight originally appeared on CommonDreams.org and is licensed Creative Commons 3.0. Image Credit: . The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org

As Natives Declare Treaty Rights, Police Admit Defeat — Cite Lack of ‘Manpower’ to Remove DAPL Protesters

Authorities in North Dakota may be feeling the heat from the international attention the Dakota Access Pipeline is getting. They’re now saying they lack the manpower to remove the encampment of protesters located on federal land near the controversial pipeline. The announcement may signal a softening of the treatment the protesters, up until now, have been receiving.

For months now, The Free Thought Project’s spotlight has been shining on the, some might say, dark and dirty deeds of law enforcement and their treatment of largely Native American peaceful protesters. Attack dogs were unleashed on the protesters in September, injuring six, and an additional 30 protesters, including children, were sprayed with pepper spray. In all, more than 260 people have reportedly been arrested since the protests began in Morton County — over 100 this weekend alone.

The sheriff’s office’s announcement comes just two days after The Free Thought Project encouraged readers to contact Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier’s office demanding him to allow for peaceful protest, even providing a link to a petition for his removal. Spokeswoman Donnell Preskey told The Associated Press the department doesn’t “have the manpower” to remove the more than 100 protesters from the property. “We can’t right now,” she said.

Preskey said the land belongs to a Texas-based firm, Energy Transfer Partners, and was purchased from a local rancher for an undisclosed price. According to the AP, the Native Americans claim the land is theirs by way of an, “1851 treaty and they won’t leave until the pipeline is stopped.” “We never ceded this land,” said protester Joye Braun.

“The $3.8 billion pipeline, most of which has been completed, crosses through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Opponents worry about potential effects on drinking water on the Standing Rock Sioux’s reservation and farther downstream on the Missouri River, as well as destruction of cultural artifacts,” writes the AP.

The disputed ranch is more than 100 years old and was the first one to be inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. According to the AP, “It is within a half-mile of a larger encampment on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ land where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and hundreds of others have gathered in protest. Protesters do not have a federal permit to be on the corps’ land, but the agency said it wouldn’t evict them due to free speech reasons. Authorities have criticized that decision, saying the site has been a launching point for protests at construction sites in the area.”

While the announcement by the Morton County Sheriff’s office may signal a change in tone and the potential for more relaxed police tactics, it remains to be seen. Late Monday, Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault II issued the following statement, calling on the Obama Administration’s U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the militant treatment of its peaceful protesters, and asked for an injunction to the pipeline’s construction. Archambault wrote;

The militarization of local law enforcement and enlistment of multiple law enforcements agencies from neighboring states is needlessly escalating violence and unlawful arrests against peaceful protestors at Standing Rock. We do not condone reports of illegal actions, but believe the majority of peaceful protestors are reacting to strong-arm tactics and abuses by law enforcement.

Thousands of water protectors have joined the Tribe in solidarity against DAPL, without incident or serious injury. Yet, North Dakota law enforcement have proceeded with a disproportionate response to their nonviolent exercise of their First Amendment rights, even going as far as labeling them rioters and calling their every action illegal.

We are disappointed to see that our state and congressional delegations and Gov. Jack Dalrymple have failed to ensure the safety and rights of the citizens engaged in peaceful protests who were arrested on Saturday. Their lack of leadership and commitment to creating a dialogue towards a peaceful solution reflects not only the unjust historical narrative against Native Americans, but a dangerous trend in law enforcement tactics across America.

For these reasons, we believe the situation at Standing Rock deserves the immediate and full attention of the U.S. Department of Justice. Furthermore, the DOJ should impose an injunction to all developments at the pipeline site to keep ALL citizens – law enforcement and protestors – safe. The DOJ should be enlisted and expected to investigate the overwhelming reports and videos demonstrating clear strong-arm tactics, abuses and unlawful arrests by law enforcement.

The chairman’s request seems to validate many of the reports coming from the field, that peaceful protesters are being labeled as rioters and are not being treated with the dignity they feel they deserve. As The Free Thought Project reported two days ago, many of the protesters are being thrown to the ground, squashed underfoot, strip-searched, and forced to remove sacred hair braids — all considered “strong-arm tactics, abuses, and unlawful,” by Archambault.

This is Why They Protest — Pipeline Owned By People Behind DAPL Just Spilled 55,000 Gallons Of Gasoline Into Pristine River

Lycoming County, PA — On Friday, a broken pipeline in Pennsyvlvania dumped 55,000 gallons of gasoline into the Susquehanna River.

Charlotte Katzenmoyer, director of public works for Lancaster said in a statement that it is unclear whether or not the local drinking water supplies have been contaminated.

“With the amount that spilled, we certainly could see some impact on our intake along the Susquehanna River, We’ll continue to monitor it,” Katzenmoyer said.

Randy Gockley, director of the Lancaster Emergency Management Agency added that, “Certainly it’s something to be concerned about. We don’t know yet the speed it will travel down the river.”

“I’m sure they’re dealing with high velocity water flows because of the flooding. My gut tells me it will take a few days to reach us, but I can’t say that for sure. This far downstream, it’s hard to know,” he said.

According to Lancaster Online, the pipeline ruptured sometime around 3 am on Friday morning.

Hours after the breach, Sunoco Logistics, the company in charge of the pipeline, estimated that 1,300 barrels of gas, amounting to roughly 55,000 gallons spilled into Wallis Run, a tributary to the Susquehanna River.

The Department of Environmental Protection voiced concerns about the potential of drinking water contamination.

In a statement, the agency said:

“Sunoco Logistics emergency response crews are in the process of containment and collection efforts following a release of gasoline from an 8-inch pipeline in the vicinity of Wallis Run near the intersection of Wallis Run Road and Butternut Grove Road in Gamble Township, Lycoming County. Wallis Run is a tributary of the Loyalsock Creek.

The area received heavy rainfall overnight, resulting in flash floods, landslides and riverbank erosion. Crews will use skimmers to remove gasoline from the top of affected waterways and will erect containment booms downstream.

A drop in pressure in the pipeline was detected by the Sunoco Logistics Control Center shortly after 3 a.m. Friday, October 21. The pipeline was shut down and emergency response personnel were dispatched to the scene. Federal, state, county and local officials were notified and a Unified Command Center was established at the nearby Eldred Township Volunteer Fire Company. The agencies on scene include: Federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Safety and environmental crews are meeting with affected residents. Residents who have been impacted by the release can call a Sunoco Logistics representative at 1-800-759-5644.”

This spill comes at a time of great controversy for pipelines, with many rupturing across the country this year, and a massive protest surrounding the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

What makes this spill so highly controversial is that Sunoco Logistics is a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners — the company behind the heavily protested Dakota Access Pipeline.

According to their website, Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. is a master limited partnership that owns and operates a logistics business consisting of a geographically diverse portfolio of complementary crude oil, refined products, and natural gas liquids pipeline, terminalling and acquisition and marketing assets which are used to facilitate the purchase and sale of crude oil, natural gas liquids, and refined products. Sunoco Logistics’ general partner is a consolidated subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.

While Energy Transfer Partners continues to tout the safety of their pipelines, this spill hardly provides faith in their word.

Pipeline companies, like Enbergy Transfer Partners, do not want you to know the enormous amounts of oil and other toxic materials that spill from supposedly “safe” pipelines on a daily basis. The fact is, since 2009 when domestic oil production began ramping up, “the annual number of significant accidents on oil and petroleum pipelines has shot up by almost 60 percent, roughly matching the rise in U.S. crude oil production…”

The numbers are staggering. A 2015 analysis by the Center for Effective Government found:

“Since 2010, over 3,300 incidents of crude oil and liquefied natural gas leaks or ruptures have occurred on U.S. pipelines. These incidents have killed 80 people, injured 389 more, and cost $2.8 billion in damages. They also released toxic, polluting chemicals in local soil, waterways, and air.”

According to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, these spills and ruptures released over 7 million gallons of crude.”

The website displays a map of oil pipeline spills from 2010 to present, and it is discouraging to say the least.

Most of the spilled crude oil originates in Texas and…you guessed it…North Dakota – where DAPL will be carrying a half million barrels a day of crude oil from the Bakken and Three Forks fracking fields.

Clearly, the main selling point put forward by Energy Transfer Partners, and those who stand to reap billions from its construction, is a lie. Put in terms of the amount of crude oil spilled, pipelines are more dangerous than rail cars or trucks.

But this is not an appeal to continue relying on railroads and highways for transporting oil. The shocking data on oil spills, the threat to human health and the environment, and the assaults on the rights of landowners and Native Americans brought about by the DAPL construction point to one conclusion.

Now, more than ever, we need to speed our transition away from fossil fuels and fully embrace renewable energy. The technology is there, and the free market is making great strides to make this happen. But the corporatocracy still has an enormous grip in perpetuating the oil era, as we can plainly see in the construction of DAPL and the increased oil production through fracking.

The corrupt partnership of corporate behemoths and government players is keeping us mired in the era of oil, putting human and environmental health in ever greater risk with more and more pipeline construction.

Please help us combat the disinformation campaign of oil companies and the willful ignorance of mainstream media by sharing this article so the truth can be known about oil pipelines.

John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. John is currently battling cancer naturally, without any chemo or radiation, and will be working to help others through his experience, if you wish to contribute to his treatments please donate here.

Award-Winning Filmmaker Faces 45 Years in Prison for Reporting on the Dakota Access Pipeline

Filmmaker Faces 45 Years in Prison for Reporting on Dakota Access Protests

“They threw the book at Deia for being a journalist.”

In an ominous sign for press freedom, documentary filmmaker and journalist Deia Schlosberg was arrested and charged with felonies carrying a whopping maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison—simply for reporting on the ongoing Indigenous protests against fossil fuel infrastructure.

Schlosberg was arrested in Walhalla, North Dakota on Tuesday for filming activists shutting down a tar sands pipeline, part of a nationwide solidarity action organized on behalf of those battling the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“The actions of the North Dakota Police force are not just a violation of the climate, but a violation of the constitution.”
—Josh Fox,Gasland filmmaker

The filmmaker was held without access to a lawyer for 48 hours, her colleague Josh Fox wrote in the Nation, and her footage was confiscated by the police.

Schlosberg was then charged Friday with three felonies, the Huffington Post reported: “conspiracy to theft of property, conspiracy to theft of services and conspiracy to tampering with or damaging a public service. Together, the charges carry 45 years in maximum prison sentences.”

“They have in my view violated the First Amendment,” Fox told the Huffington Post, referring to the state’s Pembina County Sheriff’s Department. “It’s fucking scary, it knocks the wind of your sails, it throws you for a loop. They threw the book at Deia for being a journalist.”

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden observed that Schlosberg faces more years in prison than he does for leaking secret documents about the NSA’s mass surveillance program in 2013:

This reporter is being prosecuted for covering the North Dakota oil protests. For reference, I face a mere 30 years. https://t.co/GzMbwCVV40

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 14, 2016

“Deia isn’t alone,” observed Fox in an op-ed in the Nation. “The arrest of journalists, filmmakers, and others witnessing and reporting on citizen protests against fossil-fuel infrastructure amid climate change is part of a worrisome and growing pattern.”

Indeed, the news of Schlosberg’s arrest followed Democracy Now‘s Amy Goodmanannouncement earlier this week that she will return to North Dakota to combat charges she faces as a result of reporting on the Dakota Access Pipeline protest last month.

“Goodman, whose camera crew filmed a private security team attacking peaceful Native American protesters with dogs and pepper spray, faces charges of criminal trespassing—which many have said amounts to an assault on press freedom,” as Common Dreams reported.

It also emerged late Saturday that a North Dakota state prosecutor has dropped the trespassing charge and is seeking instead to charge Goodman with participating in a “riot,” Democracy Now reported.

“I came back to North Dakota to fight a trespass charge. They saw that they could never make that charge stick, so now they want to charge me with rioting,” said Goodman. “I wasn’t trespassing, I wasn’t engaging in a riot, I was doing my job as a journalist by covering a violent attack on Native American protesters.”

A warrant for Goodman’s arrest was issued September 8.

Meanwhile, actor Shailene Woodley was arrested Monday while live-streaming a prayer action at a Dakota Access construction site. “She was singled out, the police told her, because she was well-known and had 40,000 people watching live on her Facebook page,” Fox wrote. “Other filmmakers shooting protest actions along the pipeline have also been arrested.”

“Journalism is not a crime; it is a responsibility,” Fox said in a press statement about this pattern of arrests. “The actions of the North Dakota Police force are not just a violation of the climate, but a violation of the constitution.” 

Supporters have created a petition calling on the authorities in North Dakota to drop charges against Schlosberg, Goodman, and other journalists arrested for doing their work and reporting on the protests against Dakota Access.

Neil Young, Mark Ruffalo, Daryl Hannah, and other celebrities have also signed an open letter to President Barack Obama and North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple, calling on the leaders to intervene and for Schlosberg’s charges to be dropped. The charges were “unfair, unjust, and illegal,” the letter said, according to Reuters.

“This is not only about reporting on the climate-change movement,” Fox argued in the Nation. “Journalists have also been arrested reporting on Black Lives Matter, the movement for Native rights, and many other important movements the corporate media fails to cover. The First Amendment and the Constitution are at stake in this case. If we lose it, we lose America too.”