Unholy hell: the EU Commission just approved Bayer’s $62 billion acquisition of Monsanto

From dw.com:

“We have approved Bayer’s plans to take over Monsanto because the parties’ remedies, worth well over €6 billion euros ($7.4 billion), meet our competition concerns in full,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s anti-trust chief.

She said the Leverkusen-based congolmerate had made commitments to dispose of key subsidiaries that overlap with Monsanto.

Vestager said the EU greenlight was subject to rules that ensure that “there will be effective competition and innovation in seeds, pesticides and digital agriculture markets.”

Monsanto accepted an offer from Bayer in September to pay €46 billion to its shareholders and assume €7.3 billion in debt, to create the world’s largest integrated pesticides and seeds company.

In an attempt to appease EU regulators, Bayer announced in October the sale of parts of its agrochemical business to German rival BASF, in a deal worth €5.7 billion.

Earlier this month, BASF also committed to buying Bayer’s vegetable seed business in a last-minute concession to Brussels.”

BASF is the largest manufacturer of chemicals in the world, and at the link above you’ll see what they paid for Monsanto’s seeds business ($7 billion) and the fact that they company has long wanted into the GMO seed business.  The corporation will also acquire Bayer’s herbicide business, commercialized under the Liberty, Basta and Finale brands, as well as several parts of its seed businesses in the Americas and Europe.

GM watchers and agroecology groups in Europe are fuming.

‘MEPs slam Commission approval of Bayer-Monsanto deal’, guengl.eu, (European United Left/Nordic Green Left European Parliamentary Group), 21/03/2018

“Today’s Commission approval of Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto was received with dismay and condemned by MEPs of the Left who warned of the consequences the decision will have on the integrity of the world’s food supply chain and the environment.
The €54bn deal is the latest in a string of mergers and acquisitions in the sector. Dow Chemical recently merged with Dupont and ChemChina acquired Swiss-seed-maker Syngenta.


Kateřina Konečná, member of the European Parliament Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, lamented the recklessness and disregard for the rights of citizens in the Commission’s decision:  
“This is a truly sad day for the EU and the citizens of Europe. Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto will create an oligopoly whereby three multinational companies will control two-thirds of the global production of pesticides and other agro-chemicals. The world’s biodiversity should not be in the hands of corporations. This signifies a clear shift in power from small and medium-sized farmers to large multinational corporations.”

“This oligopoly will have full control over our food value chain. It will create dependency in agriculture and stifle innovation in the chemicals sector. The Commission is giving a green light to GMOs and pesticides in our food.”
Once the deal is concluded, Bayer-Monsanto may end up controlling nearly a quarter of the world’s pesticides market and together with Dow-Dupont they may control 76 per cent of the market for corn and 66 per cent of the market for soybeans.”

From etcgroup.org March 20: ‘NEWS RELEASE: Europe bows to Bayer-Monsanto… US may follow; Civil society responds with call for a UN Treaty on Competition. a few highlights.  They’re the civil society group that had alerted us to the dangers of ‘gene-splicing’ earlier (at the Café and at C99%).

“Acceptance of the deal in Brussels and Washington will likely finalize the last of three mega-mergers that have been in play in the seed and pesticide industries since 2015. Whereas six global companies controlled about two thirds of the global seed market and more than 70% of global pesticides at the beginning of the merger mania, four companies will now be left: Bayer-Monsanto will dominate, followed by Corteva Agriscience (the spinoff agricultural enterprise resulting from last year’s Dow-DuPont merger), and  the earlier agreed merger between Swiss-based Syngenta and ChemChina (the  acquisitive Chinese chemical company that is expected to soon merge with the still larger Sinochem). The fourth player in the field will be BASF – the well-heeled German giant that is expected to scoop up all or most of the assets Bayer and Monsanto are asked to divest. After the dust settles, the ‘Big Six’ Gene Giants that ruled global seed and pesticide markets for most of this century will become a ‘Fearsome Four’ and will control the same share of the market.

Big Data Deals:  At their core, all the mega-merger moves have been about control of big data in agriculture. Big data is behind the new “digital DNA” technologies, including synthetic biology and gene-editing, that are transforming agriculture research as well as so-called ‘precision farming’ platforms. On March 20th, Monsanto’s venture arm announced it was putting US$25 million into a new crop gene-editing company (Pairwise Plants) and establishing Monsanto’s VP of global biotech as CEO. A few weeks ago, Bayer was said to be offering BASF an exclusive license to its digital technology interests. Most recently, there are rumours that, under pressure from the US Department of Justice, Monsanto may even surrender its major digital asset, Climate Corp. which it bought in 2015 for US$930 million.

“If Brussels and Washington think they can appease farmers by getting Bayer-Monsanto sell their assets to BASF, they are wrong,” says Pat Mooney of ETC Group. “There are no conditions under which these three mega-mergers are good for farmers or for world food security – and shifting assets to BASF accomplishes nothing.”

UN Treaty on Competition:  ETC Group has been following corporate concentration in agribusiness since 1977 and sees the current mega-mergers as proof that governments are toothless and must negotiate a UN Treaty on Competition. “Regulators around the world are painfully aware that they don’t have the tools to block the current mega-mergers or subsequent wave,” argues Neth Daño of ETC Group.”

Reuters had reported that besides the US, of course, both China an Russia still hadn’t sign on to the merger.  Wondering why, I only found sorta/kinda ‘why Russia’ at Bloomberg.com:

“Bayer and Monsanto must still convince U.S. regulators who are pushing for the companies to divest more assets to resolve antitrust concerns, a person familiar with the probe said last week. Bayer is suing the Russian antitrust watchdog over an order [subscribers only link] for it to share technology with Russian companies.

Any U.S. antitrust hesitation is probably “more about timing than about blocking the deal,” Ulrich Huwald, an analyst with Warburg Research in Hamburg, said of reports that the Department of Justice is taking a closer look at the deal. “A political delay.”

Given that Russia has outlawed GMO seeds and products, I have to wonder whassup with that?  Wish that story weren’t behind a paywall.  But more from Bloomberg:

“BASF is lined up to buy Bayer’s global broadacre seeds and traits, including its research and development operations. The divestment plan covers oilseed rape, cotton, soybean and wheat as well as Bayer’s research on genetically modified traits. BASF will also purchase Bayer’s glufosinate assets and three research lines for herbicides, designed to replace glyphosate, a weedkiller that some European countries are moving to ban.

BASF will also take over Monsanto’s Nemastrike unit to protect seeds from worms. It will license a copy of Bayer’s digital agriculture operations and research pipeline. This will allow “BASF to replicate Bayer’s position in digital agriculture” in Europe, the EU said, and ensure the race “in this emerging field remains open.”

We are positive that the glyphosate Roundup) ‘replacements’ will be far safer™, yes?/s

Now some had posited that the head of the US State Dept. would either approve or deny the merger, but it seems it’s in fact Jeff Session’s Justice Department.  And remember, the Tweeter-in-Chief-elect had met with the CEOs of Bayer and Monsanto (Werner Baumann and Hugh Grant) last year over Jobs!  Jobs! Jobs! for amerika.  Wooot!

But if confirmed, Pompous Pompeo might whisper some sweet everythings into the ear of the DoJ anti-trust chief.  He was an author of the ‘DARK act’ back in 2015 try to make it illegal to any mention of GMO labels on food (and declare ‘sole authority to mandate GMO labeling and sets forth particular standards for any label that contains claims that GMOs were or were not used in the production of the food— hampering any attempts by the Food and Drug Administration to pass legislation on the federal level) .  It passed the House, must have died in the Senate.

But back to the head of the anti-trust department, Bloomberger says that Bayer may face hurdles (mmm-hmmmm) because:

“The U.S. review is being led by Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who emerged as an aggressive enforcer after filing a lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s takeover of Time Warner Inc. That case is set to go to trial on Monday.

CEO Meetings

Delrahim has met with Bayer Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann and Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant. If the companies and the antitrust division can’t reach an agreement that resolves the government’s concerns, the Justice Department could file a lawsuit seeking to block the deal.

In its review of the proposed merger, the Justice Department is looking at horizontal antitrust issues, or competition in the same market, as well as vertical competition, or issues along supply chains, one of the people said.

Delrahim has taken a hard line on resolving vertical competition problems. These have typically been worked out through imposing conditions on how companies operate, but Delrahim has said he is concerned those kinds of fixes require antitrust enforcers to become regulators to monitor compliance. He prefers asset sales to resolve those issues.”  (and that the decision could take ‘months’.)

(Not that I know what all of that means exactly…)  How are you betting?  Myself, I’m quite bullish on the merger getting the Official OkeyDokey because … ♫’money make the world go around…world go around…♪♪, and after all, ‘the bidness of amerika…is bidness’ (h/t molly ivins)

(cross-posted from the ghost of a café babylon)

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This is what happens when the markets "regulate" themselves.

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wendy davis's picture

@BORG_US_BORG

ah, yes, the invisible hand of the free market™! thank you, borg: resistance is not futile...or is it 'resistance is fertile'? keep on keepin' on, in any event.

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@wendy davis Because the resistance genes can be passed into the weeds the herbicides are meant to kill.

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wendy davis's picture

@peachcreek

kill them, which is why 2-4D w/ agent orange was developed. beneficial soil microbes are murdered as well. kinda like antibiotics are indiscriminate bacterial killers, and kill the 95% or close of the beneficial gut bacteria.

now the gene drives are a whole 'nother ballgame, aren't they? good gawd all-friday, what could go wrong?

remember, too, that all sorts of insects adapted to bT corn, maybe bT cotton? cripes, even county ag agents in the plains were disgusted and had issued warnings. but in any event, you're putting those pesticide factories into your gut upon eating them.

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Song of the lark's picture

@wendy davis version of Xyklon B for your grain crops coming soon. What could go wrong?

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wendy davis's picture

@Song of the lark

chemical and cohorts, but same diff as bayer and BASF, really, as to their cavalier slow destruction of pests kinda equaling zyclon b 'pest killers'. jayzus christ in a canoe: one could say 'never again' and 'the unthinkable' as to nuclear conflagration, but one would always underestimate the power of evil, as well as 'the banality of evil' (hannah arrendt).

thanks for reading, song of the lark; what a gorgeous screen name. we heard our first meadowlark this week. sounded like a young un, a bit of a soprano, smile.

on edit: duh, you'd meant a 'new bayer, basf' killer; sorry to be such a slow-brain. but hell, it's all going so wrong already. mono-crop pandemics will become a new norm, though, one day soon. it has been written.

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Creosote.'s picture

@peachcreek
I can't link a source, but in the last week read that populations of many key European songbirds have declined by 47 percent in the last five to ten years, and are continuing to drop. The pesticides kill the insects birds feed their young with, just as they kill worms that other birds feed on. How many robins have you seen these last two years? I know I've seen far fewer spiders in the past two summers as their prey vanish.

More notes on how glyphosate affects our basic physiology (and mitochondria) here: https://tqidiet.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/do-not-microwave-cholesterol/#m...

Of course that's a small price to pay for having a lawn with no crabgrass. /s

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wendy davis's picture

@Creosote.

downthread, but here's a bit about insects on the decline in germany: ‘Warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbers
Three-quarters of flying insects in nature reserves across Germany have vanished in 25 years, with serious implications for all life on Earth, scientists say’, the guardian oct. 2017

is that the link you'd meant to bring? didn't see anything about glyphosate, but i only scanned, as: no paragraph breaks drive my eye/brain think bonkers.

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wendy davis's picture

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ggersh's picture

"THE CRASH HAS LAID BARE MANY UNPLEASANT TRUTHS ABOUT THE UNITED STATES. ONE OF THE MOST ALARMING IS THAT THE FINANCE INDUSTRY HAS EFFECTIVELY CAPTURED OUR GOVERNMENT—A STATE OF AFFAIRS THAT MORE TYPICALLY DESCRIBES EMERGING MARKETS, AND IS AT THE CENTER OF MANY CRISES. IF THE IMF’S STAFF COULD SPEAK FREELY ABOUT THE U.S., IT WOULD TELL US WHAT IT TELLS ALL COUNTRIES IN THIS SITUATION: RECOVERY WILL FAIL UNLESS WE BREAK THE FINANCIAL OLIGARCHY THAT IS BLOCKING ESSENTIAL REFORM." SIMON JOHNSON

jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

wendy davis's picture

@ggersh

but also the philanthrocapitalists like bill gates and other 'green revolutionaries' of his ilk, pierre omidyar, the rockefeller foundation, and on the list goes. for instance, see my link to 'the terrifying implications of gene drives'. gates figures prominently, the lying white savior bastid.

speaking of which, ukrainian oligarchs will be giggling like giddy school gurls at this news. omidyar and monsanto bought heavily into land there. might even get em enough money to be able to join NATO.

on edit: i liked the dostoyevski quote there (your café?):

"What is most offensive is not their lying— one can always forgive lying— lying can be a delightful thing, for it leads to truth. What is offensive is that they lie, and worship their own lying."

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Big Al's picture

@wendy davis

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wendy davis's picture

@Big Al

wanted to let you know that linda wood paid you a compliment on the
MAGA jobs trump inks and tra la la...as in hearing you loud and clear.

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ggersh's picture

@wendy davis been readin Jesse for years, he's one of a kind
and has quite the cafe, more people should visit. -g-

gates is another pure evil one as the list keeps growin
and growin, maybe its this centuries template?

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

wendy davis's picture

@ggersh

but yeah, evil stalks the planet in the guise of 'philanthropy'. that's why gates and the rockefeller foundation have their own tabs at the guardian. we are urged to genuflect, or at the very least, salute them.

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@wendy davis it was not possible for foreign persons or companies to buy land in The Ukraine.

National seed banks were destroyed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraqi scientists were able to send some of their stocks to the Syrian seedbank which has also been under assault. It is known that international biotechnology covets the historic grains and pulses of the Fertile Crescent for purposes of patenting. Syrian scientists sent some seeds to Svalbord (the storage facility in Norway which recently flooded) from which they were immediately requisitioned by a Monsanto funded so-called non profit institute which develops drought resistant crops. More recently, the Syrian scientists sent more of their seeds to a seed bank in Morocco, from where, we might hope, they won't be surrendered to international agribiz.

What I want to know is how much and what kind of influence are agribiz and biotech companies having on our foreign policy?

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Mary Bennett

wendy davis's picture

@Nastarana

and the keepers of svalbord doomsday vault simply complied with monsanto’s ‘requisitioning’ of the syrian seeds? it’s excellent to know that morocco has an heirloom seed vault, and yes, we can all hope and pray that those seeds won’t be raped and plundered!

it's constantly baffled me that monsanto can walk into india, say, and patent local seeds, including some that are sacred plants, and at least according to vendana shiva, 'win court cases' objecting to it. what sort of court, for instance? as far as i've seen, she's never specified.

as to your question, let me think about that, as my mind sees so many different players on different continents involved, especially in africa, india, mexico and south amercian once socialist nations at work. as in: there seem to be so many US-approved, neoliberal compradors willingly handing over food sovereignty to the green capitalists.

and speaking of The Sacred, ain't this sweet?

this part hadn't come through:

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@wendy davis

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

wendy davis's picture

@Ellen North
perhaps tribunal within WTO say, that are akin to the TTP investor state sort that called for allowing foreign nationals to do end runs around amerikan courts and laws, and demand cash compensation from us taxpayers for any law they think violates their new TPP privileges and rights as a foreign investor. And then they get compensated for lost future profits', (lori wallach, public citizen).

but i'd kept meaning to look up the 'monsanto exception act', and did so earlier: ‘Obama signs 'Monsanto Protection Act' written by Monsanto-sponsored senator’, 28 Mar, 2013 19:04, RT

“United States President Barack Obama has signed a bill into law that was written in part by the very billion-dollar corporation that will benefit directly from the legislation.
On Tuesday, Pres. Obama inked his name to H.R. 933, a continuing resolution spending bill approved in Congress days earlier. Buried 78 pages within the bill exists a provision that grossly protects biotech corporations such as the Missouri-based Monsanto Company from litigation.
With the president’s signature, agriculture giants that deal with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds are given the go-ahead to continue to plant and sell man-made crops, even as questions remain largely unanswered about the health risks these types of products pose to consumers.”

but sure, amerikan courts have upheld every monsanto case that's gotten to court. no it'll be 'upholding baysanto' or whatever adorable name they come up with.

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wendy davis's picture

@Ellen North

and the whole article is six miles long, mainly about bT cotton, but one paragraph:

“First, Monsanto undemocratically imposed the false idea of “manufacturing” and “inventing” a seed, undermining robust Indian laws—that do not allow patents on life—and by taking patents on life through international trade law. Since 1999, Monsanto has had the US government do its dirty work, blocking the mandatory review of the Monsanto Law in TRIPS (the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement implemented through the WTO).

here’s an open letter to narenda modi, et.al., from doctor shiva: ‘Violation of India’s IPR laws and Competition Act by MNCs; India is laws are been systematically violated by Monsanto, etc.

but it's more about royalties, if i remember the acronyms correctly, and by now mine eyes are purdy much shot for the day...

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k9disc's picture

I've seen people apologizing about using Zero Hedge as a source of late. It seems new. I know Johnson is featured there, but is he a fixture?

It would make sense with that kind of rhetorical and political bomb-throwing. Can't have that shit in a "respectable" conversation, amirite?

BTW, I'm right with Johnson & Hedges. We're in the Bathtub and Grover's buddies are coming to drown us - at this very moment.

@ggersh

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

wendy davis's picture

@k9disc

but he's not there now, and seems to be here at project syndicate for one place.

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ggersh's picture

@k9disc in the line until now.

Not sure about the Zerohedge connection, although at ZH one has to
be read through the chafe to find the one/two in ten good/truthful
editorials/articles. -g-

As for Simo and Hedges

BTW, I'm right with Johnson & Hedges. We're in the Bathtub and Grover's buddies are coming to drown us - at this very moment.

I totally agree.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Alligator Ed's picture

Delrahim has taken a hard line on resolving vertical competition problems. These have typically been worked out through imposing conditions on how companies operate, but Delrahim has said he is concerned those kinds of fixes require antitrust enforcers to become regulators to monitor compliance. He prefers asset sales to resolve those issues.” (and that the decision could take ‘months’.)

I prefer asset sales also, since the Trumpster will make short work of any necessary regulators to keep the "free marketeers" on the up and up.

In this particular instance of genetically monstracized agriculture, we find yet another path to our own destruction. By increasing reliance on herbicide/insecticide infested agriculture, we become susceptible to pandemic crop failures when the inevitable resistant pests arise sweeping our food supply like a swarm of locusts. Humand have yet to appreciate that in terms of life on earth, our presence is less than a pimple on the butt of an elephant. Yet "we" ( = PTB) try to make massive changes in a big hurry. Regardless of the particulars of this massive oligopolic market contraction, the end result, not the intermediate result, will be to make human existence more precarious than even climate change

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

and thank you for deciphering it for me (with humor even). but yes, GM seeds are the seeds of our destruction, and as henry kissinger said: 'he who controls the food controls the world'.

and just wait until some of those gene-drive critters get into the ecosphere! no tellin' what 'unintended consequences' (read: blowback from mama nature) there'll be. the current bug-pocalypse will look like child's play in comparison.

on evening edit: my apologies, gator, for giving your excellent comment short shrift, but i plead exhaustion from RL craziness.

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Song of the lark's picture

@Alligator Ed I must say I'm worried about those man, bear, corn hybrids. They are a little fat around the middle.

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Big Al's picture

about monopolies?
Talk about unholy hell, I was going to write an essay about this, but I'll just hide it in the comments of your essay because it's not about Bernie or the progressive democrats.
Trump is hiring Bolton as NSA. He really did it.

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wendy davis's picture

@Big Al

the new bosses were worse than the old bosses. (mountain bell)

yeah, mr wd had read me that bolton news, all of which orange man had denied was afoot. guess we should learn to watch what he denies, as in 'insiders say mcmaster will be fired soon', an tra la la, eh?

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wendy davis's picture

@Big Al

'teddy roosevelt, the trust-buster'.

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Bollox Ref's picture

thanks to farming monoculture and pesticides.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/catastrophe-as-frances-bir...

You'd think the EU might voice concern.....

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

wendy davis's picture

@Bollox Ref

sustainable pulse or GM watch had put this one up, too.

i can barely see by now, so...it might be time for this thread' lullaby. mr. wd had played this one t'other day. it will do just fine. makes my ♥ ache. peace and solidarity to all, and good night.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnj1zshmTE0]

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who is getting fired next.

“The U.S. review is being led by Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who emerged as an aggressive enforcer after filing a lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s takeover of Time Warner Inc. That case is set to go to trial on Monday.

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Mary Bennett

wendy davis's picture

@Nastarana

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. . . . that, among other things, brought us the Zyclon B gas used in the Nazi gas chambers during WWII.

After WWII, I.G. Farben was broken up into several companies.

Bayer was among those successor companies.

Perhaps, we should look at this as Bayer just carrying on a company tradition of destructive practices, especially those having to do with pesticides.

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mimi's picture

@SoylentGreenisPeople
Once a Nazi, always a Nazi, even the corn wears black moustaches now. It's trendy.

In an attempt to appease EU regulators, Bayer announced in October the sale of parts of its agrochemical business to German rival BASF, in a deal worth €5.7 billion.

Earlier this month, BASF also committed to buying Bayer's vegetable seed business in a last-minute concession to Brussels.

Real families: What happens in a (German) family, stays in a (German) family.
That's all I understand from Wendy's essay. For which I am grateful, even if I don't undestand the horizontal and vertical stuff. Bolton just planned the enemies to be and get his ducks in a row. Conveniently so.

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wendy davis's picture

@SoylentGreenisPeople

i do remember reading that. thanks for jolting my memory. might BASF have been another spin-off? but yes to your parallel: pesticides of a different sort.

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wendy davis's picture

@wendy davis

as germans = nazis, from my perspective it's not so. but the fact that nazi nationalists are on the rise again is cause for concern, as so many conditions socially and financially globally are akin to those pre-1939 in germany.

but the corn was designed by earth firsters protesting at bayer corporation, and what i see is the black, gaping maws of the corn cobs. not mustaches at all.

on evening edit: here's save our seeds in berlin on twitter; you might care to read the crispr bio-technology one from dec. 2017.

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mimi's picture

@wendy davis
I am not sensitive, you don't understand how I connect the dots and you don't understand when I try to speak sarcastically or not. I scanned your essay, while still thinking about Bolton and what he will be up to.

Right-wing Germans are self-confidently rising, a strong right wing shift is happening in Germany in the last couple of weeks and days (on top of them being on the politcal stage again for decades now). Unfortunately and disappointingly so.

But a rise in right-wingers in Germany will serve Bolten et al as an argument to create the new enemy to the US, ie Germany by reminding the Americans about Nazi Germany, while conveniently pointing out to the right-wing rise in Germany currently happening.

So far Trump has not showered the Germany with sanctions over steel and aluminum. But the deal is not over. And Trump is after all just a simpleton who wants to win a deal. Bolton will advise Trump to take on Europe. Because right now the EU is uniting because of how Trump behaves. And that's what Bolton will use to distract American voters. He wouldn't hesitate to stage a German-gate theater.

That's why I (sarcastically in my mind) talked about "once a nazi, always a nazi" etc. Believe me I couldn't care less about the Nazi slurs being used for anything by anyone as well as I don't care for using Russia slurs reminding Americans that Russians are dangerous, communists or oligarchs and never being trusted.

I will put in my snark tags in the future. I have stopped it, because folks here play games not putting them in their own comments. So they can say "aetchy baetchy, gotcha' if needed be.

I am glad I can watch and listen to other facts oriented documentaries on German TV. I can't stand Trump apologists, as much as I can't stand Russia
apologists or Clinton and Obama apologists.
I apologize myself now for having even said something o begin with.

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

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mimi's picture

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

sometimes n/t, iirc. what does it signify, mimi?

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mimi's picture

@wendy davis
it is meant to indicate that you don't have to open the comment body because there is nothing in there and to save you time.

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

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wendy davis's picture

@SoylentGreenisPeople

this is the most comprehensive and easist to read source, likely where i'd read about farben and zyclon b to begin with.

September 16, 2016 ‘The Ghost of IG Farben: Can Monsanto Reform Bayer?
by Victor Grossman, counterpunch who writes from berlin:

“IG Farben was also split up. But its three main components, now separate again, and urgently needed in a quickening Cold War, grew until each one became 20 times bigger than IG Farben as a whole was at its height in 1944, the last year of the war. By 1952 the new West German government of Konrad Adenauer had amnestied and released the last of those imprisoned, who were soon back in leading positions in the world of chemicals and pharmaceuticals.” [snip]

“A few years after his release from prison, Fritz ter Meer was reinstated as a managing board member of Bayer. All three sibling firms BASF, Bayer and Hoechst (which later merged with the French company to form Aventis) soon filled their highest positions with former Nazis.”

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@wendy davis

destroying human and environmental health for profit, knowingly sickening and killing millions, silencing scientists, buying governments, en route to destroying planetary life along with the rest of the worst of them, and the original Nazis? Why did Monsanto specifically get given this gene tech by the US government for commercialization to pollute the food supply in the first place? Why was Monsanto the go-to for the rainbow of deadly Agent Orange and others used in war-crimes? Why were EPA scientists like Cate Jenkins* silenced and fired to protect the rights of such as Monsanto to freely pollute and kill?

What else is this but psychopaths joining forces against humanity and the ecology? I'll bet that Monsanto shareholders retain a controlling interest, as they did when they sold off Pharmacia to J & J to proceed under the name of Pfizer - and what kind of a ?propagandist or ignoramus? or both? - could suggest that Monsanto might be a less pathological influence than identified original Nazis?

Gotta read this following in full at source to believe it - unless you happen to know anything about Monsanto, a company which has invariably behaved like this all over the world and got away with it, under US and other government protection. What follows the quoted portion in this document written by one of my long-favorite whistleblowers makes the pathology plain even in these few presented examples of the destruction that company has wrought, as does their virtual invention of internet trolling (Bivings) which is legendary but unmentioned here. Agent Orange and the others were the least of it. Monsanto occupies the deepest levels of my contemptuous disgust, despite heavy competition.

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

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
July 20, 1994

MEMORANDUM

Subject: The Monsanto Investigation

From: William Sanjour, Policy Analyst

To: David Bussard, Director
Characterization and Assessment Division

This is an analysis of the failure of EPA to investigate allegations that the Monsanto Company had falsified scientific studies on the carcinogenicity of dioxin.

Background and summary

Dioxins are highly toxic unwanted byproducts of certain industrial operations including the manufacture of some pesticides. Dioxins are unintentionally created in chemical manufacturing processes when chlorine combines with other chemicals at high temperatures.

Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used during the Viet Nam war by the United States to eradicate jungle hiding places of the Viet Cong, contained trace amounts of dioxin. Since dioxin was known to cause cancer and birth defects in some animals, veterans, who had contracted cancer and who had been in areas sprayed with Agent Orange, attempted to obtain compensation from the Veterans Administration and from the manufacturers of Agent Orange. These manufacturers included Monsanto, Dow, Uniroyal and Diamond Shamrock.

Since the chemical manufacturers were aware of the presence and toxicity of dioxin in Agent Orange and since the presence of dioxin could have been greatly reduced by more careful production techniques, a successful lawsuit by the veterans could have bankrupted some of the world's largest chemical manufacturing companies, just as a similar problem with asbestos had bankrupted the giant Johns Manville Corporation some years ago.

However, the veterans won very little from the Veterans Administration and less from their lawsuits against the manufacturers. Their principal problem was the insufficient scientific data showing that dioxin caused cancer in humans. Even more damaging to their suit was the fact that, of the few studies of human exposure to dioxin in existence at the time, the ones where there were the greatest exposure to dioxin showed no significant increase in cancer. These included Monsanto sponsored studies of Monsanto workers inadvertently exposed to dioxin.

Because of the sparsity of positive human data and the existence of the negative Monsanto data, the veterans, in 1984, had to accept a token "nuisance value" settlement. Eventually, scientific studies came to light which unambiguously identified dioxin as a human carcinogen, but it was too late for the veterans as the courts had closed the door on any further settlements.

In February 1990, Dr. Cate Jenkins, a chemist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, wrote to the EPA Science Advisory Board that there was evidence that the Monsanto studies were fraudulently done and that if the studies had been done correctly, they would have shown the connection between dioxin and cancer in humans. This accusation received considerable press attention. In August, 1990 EPA decided to launch a criminal investigation of Monsanto.(1)

Amid a furor of publicity and cries of foul and intensive lobbying by Monsanto the criminal investigation went on for two years. However, despite the government's assurances that it would "investigate any allegations of fraud and, if appropriate, evaluate the full range of enforcement options" it did nothing of the kind. Instead it investigated and illegally harassed the whistleblower, Cate Jenkins.

In August of 1992, EPA quietly closed the criminal investigation without ever determining or even attempting to determine if the Monsanto studies were valid or invalid, let alone fraudulent. However, the investigation itself and the basis for closing the investigation were fraudulent.

Jenkins' harassment was subsequently halted by order of the Secretary of Labor. The veterans were able to use her report to obtain increased Agent Orange benefits from Congress for Viet Nam cancer victims. Recent EPA reports say that there is now convincing human evidence of the carcinogenicity of dioxin, in contradiction to the Monsanto studies.

This investigation has left the unanswered question: did Monsanto manipulate their studies in order to play down the danger of dioxin so as to reduce their liability to the Viet Nam veterans? And it has raised two more questions. Are top EPA officials more concerned with protecting their employment prospects with the industries they regulate than in protecting human health and the environment? And, are EPA law enforcement officials being used as an internal KGB to silence dissent? ...

(Gotta read down to the cases on which she's demanded action and been ignored/reprimanded/penalized/fired.)
https://www.scribd.com/document/45178403/Jenkins-v-Epa-051894-Whistle-Bl...

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059987217

EPA
Agency mounts another effort to fire whistle-blowing chemist

Emily Yehle, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Friday, September 13, 2013

U.S. EPA is attempting to fire a longtime whistle-blower for the second time, characterizing the senior chemist as an intimidating employee who once threatened to kill her supervisor.

The charges are the same as those alleged more than two years ago, when EPA first fired Cate Jenkins. Jenkins appealed that dismissal to the federal Merit Systems Protection Board -- and won.

EPA reinstated Jenkins in May 2012 (Greenwire, May 7, 2012). But now the agency is starting the fight all over again, sending Jenkins a notice of proposed removal two weeks ago.

For more than a decade, Jenkins -- who worked in EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response -- has accused EPA of purposely downplaying the toxicity of dust at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The agency, she says, falsified weak alkaline corrosivity standards that subjected first responders to dust particles that were so caustic they caused severe respiratory disabilities and death.

In 2011, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility -- which is legally representing Jenkins -- filed a formal rulemaking petition demanding that EPA strengthen the standard (Greenwire, Sept. 8, 2011). That would alert future responders to wear special equipment to protect against lung and respiratory tract damage.

EPA has not yet responded. But it seems eager to refile its accusations against Jenkins, a move PEER argues is in violation of the MSPB's decision.

"These charges against Dr. Jenkins never made any sense but what makes even less sense is the EPA decision to re-bring them even before a decision has been made on her still-pending retaliation claims and in direct contradiction to the language of the MSPB order," PEER Senior Counsel Paula Dinerstein said in a statement. ...

... But even before that confrontation, Jenkins' relationship with the agency had been uneasy.

Most notably, Jenkins blew the whistle on Agent Orange two decades ago, alerting EPA's Science Advisory Board to manipulation in a study on dioxin from the Monsanto Chemical Corp. That led to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health deeming the Monsanto report invalid.

The Department of Labor later found that EPA had retaliated against Jenkins for her outspokenness, with one supervisor releasing a memo stating that she should be put in administrative position and "should not be involved with anything that puts her in direct contact with the regulated community or the public." Officials had also reassigned Jenkins and reduced her workload.

In 1992, DOL ordered EPA to reinstate Jenkins to her previous position, and noted that EPA officials at the time gave "begrudging respect" to Jenkins and her work.

A decade later, Jenkins was vocal in her assertion that EPA was downplaying asbestos contamination after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and recommended that Lower Manhattan be declared a Superfund site. A later report from EPA's inspector general found that the White House had pressured EPA to deem the air "safe" to breathe without sufficient data. ...

Yeah, this was common behaviour in US government. Non-wealthy American health and life has always been cheap to TPTB and profits valued over them.

But my computer keeps fouling up progressively more, so I'll hope that this, although not the best examples of my point by a long shot gets the idea across, if I can get this one to post.

Can't get pages to turn or videos to run for more than seconds at a time. Couldn't find the server but says good signal now; trying again, hope it goes through and doesn't double...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Creosote.'s picture

@Ellen North

and not a hint of any of it in what's left of serious media.

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from criminal corporations they don't want to support, at the expense of any remaining family farmers while poisoning the air, water, soil, food supply and gene pool. The end game being that sought-after food monopoly making those holding it king-or-have-no-even-poisoned-food in whatever remains of the properly subservient-or-starve countries of the world at that point - and it looks as though that's pretty much achieved.

The joke's on them; a safe food supply will no longer exist even for the wealthiest, as everything will be contaminated. On the other hand, we'll likely become nuclear sludge before then, so there's that. What a relief!

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

wendy davis's picture

@Ellen North

don't grasp. many who tout the green revolution, gates et.al. seem to believe that if they 'escape' to their imagined fenced cloisters NZ or wherever, they can eat, drink clean water, and escape the ravage of 'limited nuclear war', as if there's such a thing.

and they seem to pretend they suffer no cognitive dissonance in that thinking. baffling to the Nth degree to me, ellen. of course, it begs man other questions as to 'true belief', the profiteer usual cons, and so on. the evidence is already IN.

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@wendy davis

I suspect that they already live in Virtual Reality, believing that they can actually become figures in scenarios taken from their favorite speculative fiction. Not merely cognitive dissonance, but beyond, having entirely lost all concept of the key their minds should be playing in, to be in tune with anything real.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

wendy davis's picture

@Ellen North
of warring, competing beliefs (and is the definition as understand it), one remedy is converting others to your belief system or religion, and the green revolution IS by way of holy religion to these folks. 'lies told for the greater good is part of it, a well, a in bill gates Paying for studies to be altered, the epa equivalent in the EU to disobey their OWN protocols to declare glyphosate non-carcinogenic, etc. (just tried to find that story on twitter again, but failed).

thank you for the links above as well; i'll try to study them better, but as far as i can tell, the fix has been in since i began writing about this subject a decade ago, and monsanto flacks would get on my diaries to challenge my 'wrong thinking'.

on edit: ‘The Gene Drive Files Disclosed emails reveal military as top funder; Gates Foundation paying $1.6 million to influence UN expert process', etcgroup, dec. 2017

““Emerging Ag,” a private PR firm paid by the Gates Foundation, is working behind the scenes to stack key UN advisory processes with gene drive-friendly scientists, and has recruited ostensibly independent academics and public officials into a private collaboration to counteract proposed regulations and to resist calls by scientists and conservationists for an international moratorium. Some of those recruited entered into the UN discussions without divulging their conflicts of interest or the role that paid political consultants played in shaping their inputs.

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@wendy davis

They just can't kill off planetary life quickly enough, can they?

Bet you've seen this old thing or something of the sort, but I'm going to plunk it down anyway because it perfectly illustrates both the pathology and intent regarding the attacks on civilian populations in 'war', while laughable propaganda regarding 'noble purposes' as 'the world's policeman' and 'protectors of their country and the American people' (whom US industrialists routinely kill, if often incidentally and slowly, for 'cut costs' and increased profits for Those Who Matter, as well as by militarized police) are fed to the public:

https://dujs.dartmouth.edu/2013/03/genetically-engineered-bioweapons-a-n...

Genetically Engineered Bioweapons: A New Breed of Weapons for Modern Warfare

Posted by Mackenzie Foley '16 / In Applied Sciences, Winter 2013 / March 10, 2013

Genome sequencing has given rise to a new generation of genetically engineered bioweapons carrying the potential to change the nature of modern warfare and defense. ...

...Although bioweapons have been used in war for many centuries, a recent surge in genetic understanding, as well as a rapid growth in computational power, has allowed genetic engineering to play a larger role in the development of new bioweapons. In the bioweapon industry, genetic engineering can be used to manipulate genes to create new pathogenic characteristics aimed at enhancing the efficacy of the weapon through increased survivability, infectivity, virulence, and drug resistance (2). While the positive societal implications of improved biotechnology are apparent, the “black biology” of bioweapon development may be “one of the gravest threats we will face” (2).

Limits of Past Bioweapons

Prior to recent advances in genetic engineering, bioweapons were exclusively natural pathogens. Agents must fulfill numerous prerequisites to be considered effective military bioweapons, and most naturally occurring pathogens are ill suited for this purpose (3). First, bioweapons must be produced in large quantities. A pathogen can be obtained from the natural environment if enough can be collected to allow purification and testing of its properties. Otherwise, pathogens could be produced in a microbiology laboratory or bank, a process which is limited by pathogen accessibility and the safety with which the pathogens can be handled in facilities. To replicate viruses and some bacteria, living cells are required. The growth of large quantities of an agent can be limited by equipment, space, and the health risks associated with the handling of hazardous germs (1). In addition to large-scale production, effective bioweapons must act quickly, be environmentally robust, and their effects must be treatable for those who are implementing the bioweapon (3). ...

Breaking here to wonder how they're to 'treat' (for symptoms?) the perpetrators and Those Who Matter if their genetic material (and the ability of humans and other affected life to breed true ever again) has been altered by viral invasion. Does everyone intended to survive have to live in hazmat suits forever afterward, or are TPTB planning to have 'evolved' into machinery or recorded characteristics in computer programs by then?

To continue:

...Recent Advances

As researchers continue to transition from the era of DNA sequencing into the era of DNA synthesis, it may soon become feasible to synthesize any virus whose DNA sequence is known (4). This was first demonstrated in 2001 when Dr. Eckard Wimmer re-created the poliovirus and again in 2005 when Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger and Terrence Tumpey re-created the 1918 influenza virus (1). The progress of DNA synthesis technology will also allow for the creation of novel pathogens. According to biological warfare expert Dr. Steven Block, genetically engineered pathogens “could be made safer to handle, easier to distribute, capable of ethnic specificity, or be made to cause higher mortality rates” (2).

The growing accessibility of DNA synthesis capabilities, computational power, and information means that a growing number of people will have the capacity to produce bioweapons. Scientists have been able to transform the four letters of DNA—A (adenine), C (cytosine), G (guanine), and T (thymine)—into the ones and zeroes of binary code. This transformation makes genetic engineering a matter of electronic manipulation, which decreases the cost of the technique (4). According to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “the emerging gene synthesis industry is making genetic material more widely available […] A crude but effective terrorist weapon can be made using a small sample of any number of widely available pathogens, inexpensive equipment, and college-level chemistry and biology.” (5) ...

See, always thinking ahead, at least as far as deniability is concerned: "we've made it possible for anyone to do this, so it needn't be us and we can accuse any survivors of countries we'd like to invade."

Of course, you have to be certifiably insane to release any such thing - any novel organism at all - into the environment... we already knew what devastation and even outright ecological disaster had invariably been created where pre-existing, naturally evolving organisms were introduced into an environment where they hadn't already been present - and these were typically ordinarily innocuous organisms like rabbits, rats, sea urchins, starfish and the like, not novel pathogens (also likely to mutate as they spread) posing a direct threat to global human life, health and specifically human species survival, potentially in this variation of 'kill them all and let god sort them out' regarding the entire human species, in order to indirectly murder a single targeted victim... add in gene drives - and WHY??? all this if they are not actively trying to destroy planetary life by multiple means?

To continue:

... Techniques to Enhance Efficacy of Bioweapons

Scientists and genetic engineers are considering several techniques to increase the efficacy of pathogens in warfare.

1. Binary Biological Weapons

This technique involves inserting plasmids, small bacterial DNA fragments, into the DNA of other bacteria in order to increase virulence or other pathogenic properties within the host bacteria (2).

2. Designer Genes

According to the European Bioinformatics Institute, as of December 2012, scientists had sequenced the genomes of 3139 viruses, 1016 plasmids, and 2167 bacteria, some of which are published on the internet and are therefore accessible to the public (6). With complete genomes available and the aforementioned advances in gene synthesis, scientists will soon be able to design pathogens by creating synthetic genes, synthetic viruses, and possibly entirely new organisms (2).

3. Gene Therapy

Gene therapy involves repairing or replacing a gene of an organism, permanently changing its genetic composition. By replacing existing genes with harmful genes, this technique can be used to manufacture bioweapons (2).

4. Stealth Viruses

Stealth viruses are viral infections that enter cells and remain dormant for an extended amount of time until triggered externally to cause disease. In the context of warfare, these viruses could be spread to a large population, and activation could either be delayed or used as a threat for blackmail (2).

5. Host-Swapping Diseases

Much like the naturally occurring West Nile and Ebola viruses, animal viruses could potentially be genetically modified and developed to infect humans as a potent biowarfare tactic (2).

6. Designer Diseases

Biotechnology may be used to manipulate cellular mechanisms to cause disease. For example, an agent could be designed to induce cells to multiply uncontrollably, as in cancer, or to initiate apoptosis, programmed cell death (2).

7. Personalized Bioweapons

In coming years it may be conceivable to design a pathogen that targets a specific person’s genome. This agent may spread through populations showing minimal or no symptoms, yet it would be fatal to the intended target (4). ...

They have no problem with the concept of hazarding the global human population to try to sneakily murder one person; I suppose that might be some targeted whistleblower, a journalist, or perhaps somebody dissing the Clintons where simply dropping a nuke on their city might have bad optics and damage infrastructure...

And I suppose that's the sort of thing the Gate's Foundation, DARPA, whoever else's been testing out, using insects such as mosquitoes as vectors. While collecting the genetic material of everybody, going out of their way to get that of pesky Russians - whose ancestors thwarted the US industrialist's proxy-by-Nazi's Russian invasion and decided the defeat of their 1st global fascist take-over attempt, this appearing to be a possible factor (together, of course, with their population actually getting some essential benefits from their own resources, rather than only The Right Billionaires and Corporate Interests) in the degree of paranoid hatred consistently displayed by the Psychopaths That Be.

Thing is, mutant diseases such as these could be present in global populations already for all we know; there are already such an incredible number of industrial causal factors - and increasing nutritional deficiencies as well as toxicity weakening our systems - present for so many diseases, how would an uninformed population be able to tell... guess that's a good part of the point.

One more bit, from the end:

...Future of Warfare

“The revolution in molecular biology and biotechnology can be considered as a potential Revolution of Military Affairs (RMA),” states Colonel Michael Ainscough, MD, MPH (2). According to Andrew Krepinevich, who originally coined the term RMA, “technological advancement, incorporation of this new technology into military systems, military operational advancement, and organizational adaptation in a way that fundamentally alters the character and conduct of conflict” are the four components that make up an RMA. For instance, the Gulf War has been classified as the beginning of the space information warfare RMA. “From the technological advances in biotechnology, biowarfare with genetically engineered pathogens may constitute a future such RMA,” says Ainscough (2).

In addition, the exponential increase in computational power combined with the accessibility of genetic information and biological tools to the general public and lack of governmental regulation raise concerns about the threat of biowarfare arising from outside the military (7). The US government has cited the efforts of terrorist networks, such as al Qaida, to recruit scientists capable of creating bioweapons as a national security concern and “has urged countries to be more open about their efforts to clamp down on the threat of bioweapons” (5).

Despite these efforts, biological research that can potentially lead to bioweapon development is “far more international, far more spread out, and far more diverse than nuclear science […] researchers communicate much more rapidly with one another by means that no government can control […] this was not true in the nuclear era,” according to David Kay, former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq (7). Kay is “extraordinarily pessimistic that we [the United States] will take any of the necessary steps to avoid the threat of bioweapons absent their first actual use” (7).

“There are those who say: ‘the First World War was chemical; the Second World War was nuclear; and that the Third World War – God forbid – will be biological’” (2).

So it's OK if The Right Military unleashes bioengineered pathogens into the world?

I dunno about you, but I don't care whether the terrorists responsible for such releases are US or other military or independents; such things - and the concept of developing and using them - would not exist if the pathological had never been enabled to take power by using the very ruthlessness and lack of humanity that would forbid, in any sane world, their gaining the power to harm over anyone.

The blatant and mindless self-centric stupidity, ignorance and ugliness of the evil described in this excellent outline is mindboggling... none of this is containable, and TPTB, et al, know it - and it's virtually all directed against specifically civilians and - as always - to hell also with other planetary life.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

wendy davis's picture

@Ellen North

funding gene drives, and the potentials for bioterrorism...the creepiest one being 'personal targeting, of course. in the tinfoil hat category, there are not a few foks who believe that aids was developed to eradicate all blacks in africa.

and yes to your final rant and rave, it's all so psycho-pathological. but yes: the exposés of the ass-covering was almost hilarious. but seriously, even of the True Believers like gates could understand 'the cautionary principle', which ha been the bottom line ask from many of the civil society groups: they would stop this shit.

and yet gates is gonna release sterile mosquitoes into burkina faso, anyway...no benefits, just cuz they can...or something. loads of related links there, the one on dicamba and monsanto i'd meant to bring from twitter.

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