Submitted by GreatGameIndia, a journal on Geopolitics and International Relations.
In a major development brewing for sometime now, India and US have officially suspended Defense Cooperation after Americans refused to give India high-end jet-engine technology. At the heart of the Indo-US Strategic Partnership is what is known as the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative or DTTI. Under the 2012 DTTI, India and the US set up joint working groups (JWGs) for cooperation on aircraft carriers and jet engine technology, all of the 4 pathfinder projects have now been shutdown. The move comes days after former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger’s visit to India.
India and the United States have suspended cooperation on jet engine technology under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) that seeks to deepen bilateral cooperation and identify opportunities for sharing of high-end defence technologies, a senior Pentagon official revealed on Thursday. The US export controls is one of the reasons for dropping the cooperation on jet engine technology, she said.
“The original project (jet engine technology) we have is suspended right now but we are talking about other potential engine working groups. We could not come to an understanding of what exportable technologies will be useful to India and we did run into a challenge in terms of US export controls,” said Ellen Lord, the US under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.
She was interacting with a small group of reporters after holding talks with secretary (defence production) Subhash Chandra at the 9th DTTI group meeting held in New Delhi. She said there was an enormous amount of aircraft technology that India and the US could work on together. “I know that in the past, there have been frustrations with progress under DTTI, but I can assure you that we are making considerable progress.”
According to leaked information of a high-level meeting, the United States and India’s failure to reach a long-expected trade deal on Sept. 24 has sparked fears of a full-fledged India US #TradeWar.https://t.co/CusYEQWAdB
She said the two sides had come a long way since the JWG format began in 2015. “The JWG co-chairs are working hard to show progress on current projects and identify new ones. The technologies that they are discussing are significant…”
Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies, said, “It would have been over optimistic to expect the Americans to give us high-end engine technology — no one parts with such strategic know-how. We must go for realistic technologies that we lack — and there are many such techs which the US can give.”
Defense Technology and Trade Initiative
At the heart of the Indo-US Strategic Partnership is what is known as the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative. DTTI was launched in 2012 with Secretary Leon Panetta appointing the then Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to lead the ambitious initiative “to pursue four pathfinder DTTI projects for possible co-development and/or co-production, as well as cooperation on aircraft carriers and jet engine technology”.
Much has been written about the exciting carnival that is the Indo-US Strategic Partnership. However, not enough focus has been shifted to the actual practical concerns. So here is a cursory reality check of the much touted Indo-US Strategic Partnership.https://t.co/kX1mVQZ2zm
Seven joint working groups were also launched with the yearly meetings to take place alternatively in the two countries
Load Bearing Pillar
By all accounts, the defence partnership is the engine of bilateral ties — the “load-bearing pillar”, to quote Joshua White, a former administration official. But how solid is that load-bearing pillar in reality? Insiders say that contradictions, confusion, a mismatch of supply and demand and a lack of clearly defined objectives have restricted progress.
Jet-engine Working Group Shutdown
At its last meeting in July (2018), DTTI’s jet engine working group was shut down for lack of progress. They chose to call it a “strategic pause”. Apparently, the divergence between what India wanted and what the US and General Electric were willing to offer was too wide.
It’s obvious that GE will not part with its crown jewel having spent billions in R&D. As someone said, “it’s the one thing the company has”. GE executives saw it as a compromise of their intellectual property to even suggest improvements in an indigenous Indian engine (Kaveri). Differences also emerged because the US wanted a measure of where India was in terms of indigenous engine technology. India was not keen on open access and benchmarking.
US has put sanctions on several Chinese companies for shipping Iranian oil, putting dozens of Supertankers off limits to energy traders. As a direct impact of blacklisting of Chinese shipping company Cosco 145,000 tonnes of Indian Oil is at risk. #TradeWarhttps://t.co/3mkR2yPa4D
The four ‘pathfinder’ projects envisioned by DTTI were:
Next-generation Raven Mini UAVs (rejected by Indian Army as being low-tech)
Roll-on and roll-off kits for C-130 (not moved forward)
Mobile electric hybrid power source (closed)
Protector kit against chemical/bio/nuclear fallout (closed)
To add to the gloom, the India Rapid Reaction Cell set up by Pentagon to fast-track DTTI projects has been downsized.
Moreover, according to leaked information of a high-level meeting, the United States and India’s failure to reach a long-expected trade deal on Sept. 24 has sparked fears of a full-fledged India US trade war.
India US Trade War
On Sept. 24, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, raising expectations that the two sides were poised to reveal a new trade deal following months of talks. But according to information leaked from the meeting as reported by Stratfor, the negotiators failed to agree on Indian concessions on information and communication technology, dairy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, e-commerce, and data localization — in short, every bone of contention that have stymied an agreement for months. Still, U.S. President Donald Trump told visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same day that they would be able to announce a trade deal soon.
Bilateral trade, which totaled $142.1 billion last year, remains the major friction point in the U.S.-India relationship. India exported $83.2 billion worth of goods and services to the United States and imported $58.9 billion, resulting in a $24.3 billion surplus. Trump, pointing to the imbalance, has singled Modi out in the past as the “tariff king,” demanding that New Delhi reduce its trade surplus with Washington and lower tariff barriers for American commerce in India.
US oil refineries that are unable to sell dirty fuel waste product at home are exporting vast quantities of it to India. In 2016 US sent more than 8 million metric tons of dirty petcoke to India enough to fill the Empire State Building eight times. https://t.co/TPXrOcWEkn
The US imposed on India an additional tariff of 25% and 10% on import of steel and aluminum products in March last year. In April, a Congressional Research Service brief on US-India trade relations noted, “Bilateral tensions have increased over each side’s tariff policies.” Then, on May 31 – the day after the inauguration of NDA government to start its second term – the Trump administration announced that it was terminating India’s participation in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) which allows eligible developing countries to import to the United States duty free. Last year, the GSP accounted for approximately $5 billion of the $83.2 billion in imports India sent to the US.
In response, the government of India imposed retaliatory tariffs on 28 products originating or exported from the US with effect from 16th June this year. India is expected to get an additional $217 million of revenue from the retaliatory tariffs. This tit-for-tat created substantial tension in the India-US relationship going into the G20 Summit.
Here's Why Trump's "Secure Syria's Oil" Plan Will Prove Practically Impossible
The below analysis is provided by “Ehsani” — a Middle East expert, Syrian-American banker and financial analyst who visits the region frequently and writes for the influential geopolitical analysis blog, Syria Comment.
Much has been debated since President Trump tweeted that “The U.S has secured the oil” in Syria. Is this feasible? Does it make any sense? The below will explain how and why the answer is a resoundingNO.
An M1 Abrams tank at the Udairi Range Complex in Kuwait, via Army National Guard/Military Times.
Al-Omar and Conoco fields are already secured by Kurdish-led SDF and U.S forces. Some of the oil from these fields was being sold through third parties to Syria’s government by giving it in crude form and taking back half the quantity as refined product(the government owns the refineries).
Syria’s government now has access to oil fields inside the 32km zone (established by the Turkish military incursion and subsequent withdrawal of Kurdish forces). Such fields can produce up to 100K barrels a day and will already go a long way in terms of meeting the country’s immediate demand. So the importance of accessing oil in SDF/U.S hands is not as pressing any longer.
SDF/U.S forces can of course decide to sell the oil to Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) but Syria’s government now has control over the border area connecting Syria to KRG territory through both Yaaroubia and Al-Mallkiya.
The Syrian government also now has control over supply of electricity. This was made possible by taking control of the Tishreen and Furat dams. Operating those fields needs electric power supply and the state is now the provider.
5-#Syria ‘a Govt also now has control over supply of electricity. This was made possible but taking control of the Tishreen and Furat dams. Operating those fields needs electric power supply and the State is now the provider pic.twitter.com/8eeSVTBVLA
Securing and operating these fields also entails paying salaries to those operating the fields. International companies would be very reluctant to get involved without legal backing to operate the fields.
“Securing the oil” therefore can only mean preventing the Syrian state from accessing al-Omar/Conoco only (not oil in the north). It’s unlikely anything can be sold or transported.
And let’s not forget “securing” this oil would need ready air cover, and all for what?
The argument about oil was flimflam, but generals Graham and Keane just wanted Trump to walk back his policy of getting out of Syria. “While the emphasis on oil in Syria was intended to convince Trump that the U.S. military is valuable, securing the oil fields was not the purpose https://t.co/DJ3OaR5VRG
SDF composition included Arab fighters and tribes who accepted Kurds in leadership since they had American support and key cities in north. Many of those Arabs are already switching and joining the Syrian Army. “Securing” oil for benefit of the Kurds is likely to antagonize the Arab fighters and tribes in the region.
Preventing rise of ISIS is likely to entail securing support of the region’s Arabs and tribes more than that of the Kurds. This Kurd/Arab issue is yet another reason why President Trump’s idea of “securing” the oil for the benefit of the Kurds just doesn’t make sense nearly on every level.
It’s all happening, just as we predicted. Big Pharma is officially partnering with the tech industry to pair “immunization” with digital biometrics, meaning humans will soon be microchipped, tracked, and ultimately controlled through a global identification matrix.
The ID2020 Alliance, as it’s being called, is a digital identity program that aims to “leverage immunization” as a means of inserting tiny microchips into people’s bodies. In collaboration with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, also known as GAVI, the government of Bangladesh and various other “partners in government, academia, and humanitarian relief,” the ID2020 Alliance hopes to usher in this mark of the beast as a way to keep tabs on every human being living on Earth.
Similar to how cattle are marked with ear tags, this globalist alliance wants all humans to be “vaccinated” with digital tracking chips that will create a seamless monitoring system for the New World Order to manage the populations of the world with ease.
“We are implementing a forward-looking approach to digital identity that gives individuals control over their own personal information, while still building off existing systems and programs,” says Anir Chowdhury, a policy advisor at a2i, the Bangladesh government’s “Access to Information Program.”
“The government of Bangladesh recognizes that the design of digital identity systems carries far-reaching implications for individuals’ access to services and livelihoods, and we are eager to pioneer this approach,” he adds.
For more related news about the coming one world government and its biometrics component, be sure to check out PopulationControl.news.
ID2020 microchips are also being “vaccinated” into the bodies of homeless people in Austin, Texas
While the ID2020 program’s testing grounds are primarily in the Third World, the group says it’s also now working with governments here in the United States to start microchipping people through vaccination.
In Austin, Texas, for example, the homeless population is now being exploited as a collective guinea pig for ID2020’s microchip vaccination program, which the group claims will help to “empower” homeless people by supposedly giving them “control” over their personal identity data.
“The City of Austin, ID2020, and several other partners are working together with homeless people and the service providers who engage with them to develop a blockchain-enabled digital identity platform called MyPass to empower homeless people with their own identity data,” writes Chris Burt for BiometricUpdate.com.
ID2020 is also jabbing refugees with its microchip vaccinations through two inaugural pilot programs known as iRespond and Everest. According to reports, iRespond has “improved continuity of care” for more than 3,000 refugees receiving drug treatments for chronic illness. Everest, on the other hand, has “assisted with the provision of access to critical energy subsidies and a range of additional services with secure and user-centric digital identities without relying on a smartphone,” Burt writes.
All of this is priming the public for an eventual mandate of microchip vaccinations, which will be required for every individual in order to buy and sell goods. Chowdhury openly admitted this in stating that digital identity systems will be necessary for “individuals’ access to services and livelihoods.”
In other words, the Bible is right: A global identification system is in the works that will eventually be required for people to function in society, and ultimately survive. Without these microchips in their bodies, people won’t be able to work, let alone eat, and it’s all happening right before our very eyes.
Keep in mind that ID2020 is a part of the so-called “REAL ID,” which will soon be required for those who wish to travel. REAL ID will also be used as a backdoor method of implementing mandatory vaccination policies for adults.
Shortly after the tweet, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said that the President plans to make a “major statement” at the White House at 9 a.m. EST.
There are no details as to what either the president’s tweet or the statement are related to but some chatter on rumors around a raid in Idlib that could be related to the capture of al-Baghdadi (again), or something related to the impeachment inquiry hearings.
Shocking Satire Shows 'Boston Dynamics' Testing New Robotic Super-Soldier
Satire, or not, the following clip offers a tragicomical view of the world not so far in the future when a robot super-soldier “will take a lickin’ and keep on tickin'”, shrugging off bee attacks, hockey-stick hammerings, direct rear and frontal kick-boxing assaults, and still obey the three laws of robotics (to humans as well as dogs)…
Scared much?
As @CalebJHull tweeted: “Climate change isn’t going to kill us. These things are.”
We do wonder just how willingly the Military-Industrial Complex will transition forces to these ‘super-soldiers’ in the future – no MREs, no latrines, no mission-limiting fatigue – just non-taxpaying robots doing their overlords’ bidding.
The pharmaceutical industry is holding on to its title as the top lobbying force in Washington amid pressure from lawmakers at all ends of the ideological spectrum.Drugmakers have spent more than $129 million through September, slightly down from nearly $133 million at this time last year, but still far more than any other industry.
The larger pharmaceutical/health products industry, which includes medical devices and dietary supplement companies along with drugmakers, spent $228 million through the third quarter of 2019, a record-breaking pace that is up $10 million from this time last year.
House Democrats recently advanced legislation that allows the federal government to negotiate the price of drugs that lack generic equivalents. The bill passed the House Ways and Means Committee this week without a number of amendments proposed by progressive Democrats who argued the bill isn’t strong enough.
Senate Republicans have said the Democrats’ bill will not fly in the upper chamber. Although members of both parties in the Senate agree drug prices need to be lowered, they can’t agree on how to do it.
Some of the biggest increases from the industry came from Akebia Therapeutics (up to $1.5 million from $110,000 this time last year) and Humira manufacturer AbbVie (up to $5.4 million from $4.3 million). The industry’s main trade association, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, increased its spending by $930,750 to nearly $22.8 million. It is the fourth-highest lobbying spender so far.
That spending comes on top of the industry’s many ad campaigns designed to influence lawmakers and the general public. The industry fights threatening legislation in creative ways, including funding prominent but unrelated associations to push pro-industry messages on the airwaves.
Air transport is on pace to break its spending record this year, shelling out $79 million up from nearly $72 million this time last year. Powerful industry forces such as Airbus and FedEx are ramping up lobbying spending over President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Approaching a Congress that could become increasingly paralyzed amid Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, not every industry is increasing its spending.
Powerful business associations are spending far less than they did last year, down from their biggest years that came under the Obama administration. Most of that is due to a lack of spending from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent nearly $57 million through the third quarter, down from $69 million this time last year. Odd years are always down for Chamber, and the pro-business lobbying giant has been unable to gain traction with Trump or congressional Democrats.
Real estate also dropped off, spending less than $66 million, down from nearly $89 million this time last year, when the industry spent record lobbying numbers.
Overall lobbying spending is slightly down from last year, when it hit the highest level since 2010. But it remains steady in the Trump era after a dip during President Barack Obama’s second term. And these figures don’t include some “shadow lobbying” operations or “dark money” influence campaigns that often total millions of dollars.
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Some clients have increased their spending by massive amounts this year. Physicians for Fair Coverage, a coalition of physician staffing firms, spent nearly $4.3 million so far this year, up from only $270,000 a year ago, amid the surprise medical bills battle. A major air ambulance firm called Air Medical Group Holdings spent $1.2 million in the third quarter alone over the same issue after not reporting lobbying for three years.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) (L) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) reveal House Democrats’ bill to reduce drug costs on Oct. 16. The bill is fiercely opposed by the pharmaceutical industry. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
Facebook, whose chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was hit from all sides at congressional hearings this week, is certain to smash its record spending figure from last year. The firm has already spent $12.3 million, an increase of $2.5 million over last year.
Huawei has increased its domestic lobbying spending 16-fold from this time last year, shelling out nearly $1.9 million to push back on a partial ban from the Trump administration. Extensive lobbying by some American companies that do business with the Chinese telecom may have helped water down restrictions from the administration.
New Jersey's $5 Billion "American Dream" Mall Finally Set To Open After 17 Years
The 2.9 million square foot American Dream mall is finally set to be the biggest spectacle in the history of New Jersey malls. Malls have, for better or worse, become part of the fabric of New Jersey, with even a 1994 State Supreme Court ruling calling them “traditionally the home of free speech” in the state.
New Jersey malls are also notorious for their drama and the $5 billion behemoth opening 8 miles west of Manhattan – complete with its 450 shops and restaurants, amusement parks, ice rink and ski area – is likely going to carry the torch of that tradition forward.
There’s still skepticism about the mall’s location and long-term viability, however, especially since the project has hit endless setbacks and hangups since first being conceptualized 17 years ago, long before the current “age of Amazon”.
Retail historian Michael Lisicky said: “I looked at it almost like a freak show when it was under construction. This is the American dream, having what looks like a dog’s breakfast in the middle of the Meadowlands, that is of questionable ecological health? Then topping it off with a retail component closed on Sundays?”
Robert Kugler, a 46-year-old author and publisher from Virginia who has a shore home in New Jersey, said: “I can’t think of a reason I’d ever go to East Rutherford ever again in my life unless I was going to see the Eagles play.”
George Ritzer, a University of Maryland sociology professor who came up with the term “cathedrals of consumption” said: “What the new mall is trying to be is a spectacle — a number of different spectacles.”
And New Jersey malls are no stranger to spectacles. For example, in 2016, a costumed Easter Bunny at Newport Centre in Jersey City was smacked by an irate parent – and the video went viral on YouTube.
Lisicky said: “You’ve got to love these quirks of New Jersey. Maybe American Dream is going to be one of those quirks.”
Regardless, the mall’s arrival to the Northern New Jersey scene has nearby competitors scrambling to figure out ways to stand out.
The mall’s owner, Triple Five Group, is expecting 40 million visitors per year once the full map is up and running – a number that would surely devastate some of the nine nearby malls that are already competing for traffic out of the New York metropolitan area.
North New Jersey’s mall scene has survived off of a pulse from New York City, as New Jersey doesn’t implement a sales tax on clothing. In the city, shoppers pay 8.875%. This has helped fuel “continued demand” for malls in New Jersey, even as brick and mortar shops across the nation buckle. Nearby Paramus, New Jersey still boasts the busiest retail ZIP code in the country, despite the fact that many retailers stay closed on Sunday as a result of the county’s “Blue Laws”.
Whether or not the landscape will shift with the introduction of the American Dream mall remains to be seen. The mall will first see its theme part and ice skating rink open before its retail section opens up next year. The complex is 45% retail and 55% entertainment, including indoor snow skiing and a DreamWorks water park.
Rick Rizzuto, vice president at real estate research firm Transwestern in New Jersey, said: “I think the size alone is a pretty big draw.”
The Short Hills mall, about 30 minutes away, says it’s not worried about the new competition because it offers high end services and “experiences that enhance its appeal beyond just the merchandise itself.”
Short Hill mall General Manager Jamie Cox said: “Setting ourselves apart doesn’t necessarily have to do with the big roller coasters that American Dream is working on; it has to do with a differentiated shopping experience.”
Cox claims American Dream won’t be able to match features like the VIP lounge in its Chanel boutique and Canada Goose’s “Cold Room” where customers can test the company’s gear in temperatures as low as -13F.
Cox continued: “Our customers might go there once or twice for entertainment purposes, but when they want to shop they’re going to come to Short Hills.”
Goyal still thinks that higher end malls may be able to offer something that American Dream can’t. She said: “You go to American Dream for the entertainment. But I think if you want to go purchase something, you may not want that bigger presence where you might get lost.”
Paramus’ Garden State Plaza, about 20 minutes away, also strives to differentiate itself by having become a “mini city”, complete with residential spaces, public gathering spaces, restaurants and traditional retailers. Currently, it offers high end services like valet parking and a concierge.
Karen Bednarz, a sales development coach from Hawthorne, New Jersey, says that she thinks American Dream will still draw a crowd; at least, at first.
She said: ”It’s like the Stew Leonard’s that opened up last month. American Dream’s going to attract a lot of people because it’s brand new, but that newness will go away eventually. Unless it has something that you can’t find anywhere else, it may lose its sizzle.”
Rick Rizzuto agreed that the mall would draw people in, and even postulated that it could help other nearby malls: “It will have a large enough reach that people from Pennsylvania and Connecticut will come to see it at least once. It will draw a lot more people than the area is used to, which should result in spending at the other malls in the area.”
A recent memorandum authored by Attorney General William Barr announced a new “pre-crime” program inspired by “War on Terror” tactics and is set to be implemented next year…
Last Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr issued a memorandum to all U.S. attorneys, law enforcement agencies and top ranking Justice Department officials announcing the imminent implementation of a new “national disruption and early engagement program” aimed at detecting potential mass shooters before they commit any crime.
Per the memorandum, Barr has “directed the Department [of Justice] and the FBI to lead an effort to refine our ability to identify, assess and engage potential mass shooters before they strike.” The Attorney General further described the coming initiative, slated to be implemented early next year, as “an efficient, effective and programmatic strategy to disrupt individuals who are mobilizing towards violence, by all lawful means.” More specific information about the program is set to follow the recent memorandum, according to Barr, though it is unclear if that forthcoming document will be made public.
Barr also requested that those who received the memorandum send their “best and brightest” to a training conference at FBI headquarters this coming December where the DOJ, FBI and “private sector partners” will prepare for the full implementation of the new policy and will also be able to provide “new ideas” for inclusion in the program.
Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the memorandum is Barr’s frank admission that many of the “early engagement” tactics that the new program would utilize were “born of the posture we adopted with respect to terrorist threats.” In other words, the foundation for many of the policies utilized following the post-9/11 “war on terror” are also the foundation for the “early engagement” tactics that Barr seeks to use to identify potential criminals as part of this new policy. Though those “war on terror” policies have largely targeted individuals abroad, Barr’s memorandum makes it clear that some of those same controversial tactics will soon be used domestically.
Barr’s memorandum also alludes to current practices by the FBI and DOJ that will shape the new plan. Though more specifics of the new policy will be provided in the forthcoming notice, Barr notes that “newly developed tactics” used by the Joint Terrorist Task Forces “include the use of clinical psychologists, threat assessment professionals, intervention teams and community groups” to detect risk and suggests that the new “early engagement program” will work along similar lines. Barr also alludes to this “community” approach in a separate instance, when he writes that “when the public ‘says something’ to alert us to a potential threat, we must do something.”
However, the memorandum differentiates suspected terrorists from the individuals this new program is set to pursue. Barr states that, unlike many historical terrorism cases, “many of today’s public safety threats appear abruptly and with sometimes only ambiguous indications of intent” and that many of these individuals “exhibit symptoms of mental illness and/or have substance abuse problems.”
Thus, the goal of the program is ostensibly to circumvent these issues by finding new and likely controversial ways to determine intent. As will be shown later in this report, Barr’s recent actions suggest that the way this will be accomplished is through increased mass surveillance of everyday Americans and the use of algorithms to analyze that bulk data for vaguely defined symptoms of “mental illness.”
Barr also suggested the likely courses of action that would follow the identification of a given individual as a “potential mass shooter.” The Attorney General notes that in past cases individuals deemed a violent or terroristic threat before they commit a crime are subject to “detention, court-ordered mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling, electronic monitoring”, among other measures. Ostensibly, the new program would then apply these same practices to individuals in the U.S. that federal authorities believe are “mobilizing towards violence,” as Barr put it.
Bill Barr’s been busy
The memorandum, despite heralding a new era of Orwellian surveillance and “pre-crime” on a national level, has been sparsely covered by the mainstream media. One of the few reports that did cover the new Justice Department policy, published Wednesday by the Huffington Post, framed the new Barr-led initiative as largely positive and asserted that the “anti-terror tactics” to which Barr alluded could “help thwart mass shooters.” No mention was made in the piece of the threat such a program is likely to pose to civil liberties.
Furthermore, no mention was made of Barr’s clear push over the past few months to lay the groundwork for this recently announced program. Indeed, since becoming Attorney General under President Trump, Barr has spearheaded numerous efforts to this end, including pushing for a government backdoor into consumer apps or devices that utilize encryption and for a dramatic increase of long-standing yet controversial warrantless electronic surveillance programs.
On July 23rd, Barr gave the keynote address at the 2019 International Conference on Cyber Security (ICCS) and mainly focused on the need for consumer electronic products and applications that use encryption to offer a “backdoor” for the government, specifically law enforcement, in order to obtain access to encrypted communications as a matter of public safety.
Barr went onto say that “warrant-proof encryption is also seriously impairing our ability to monitor and combat domestic and foreign terrorists.” Barr stated that “smaller terrorist groups and ‘lone wolf’ actors” — such as those involved in the series of mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio that occurred in the weeks after his speech — “have turned increasingly to encryption.” Barr later noted that he was specifically referencing encryption used by “consumer products and services such as messaging, smartphones, email, and voice and data applications.”
To overcome the resistance by some private companies — who do not want to renege on their right to privacy by giving the government backdoor access to their devices — and American consumers, Barr tellingly anticipated “a major incident may occur at any time that will galvanize public opinion on these issues.” Shortly after this speech, several mass shootings, including one at an El Paso Walmart took place, which again brought the issue to the forefront of political discourse.
As MintPress reported at the time, Barr’s uncanny prediction and a litany of other oddities related to the El Paso shooting left many answered questions about the FBI’s foreknowledge of the event. In addition, the tragedy did appear to serve as the very “galvanizing” event that Barr had anticipated, as the solution offered by President Trump in the wake of the shootings was the creation of a government backdoor into encryption as well as calling for the very pre-crime system Barr formally announced just last week.
The pre-crime dragnet takes shape
More recently, Barr and U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel signed a data access agreement on October 3rd that allows both countries to demand electronic data on consumers from tech companies based in the other country without legal restrictions. It is the first executive agreement reached as part of the controversial Clarifying Overseas Use of Data Act or CLOUD Act passed by the U.S. Congress last year.
The CLOUD Act has come under fire from rights groups who have warned that the legislation gives “unlimited jurisdiction to U.S. law enforcement over any data controlled by a service provider, regardless of where the data is stored and who created it” and that this also “applies to content, metadata, and subscriber information”, including private messages.
Yet, Barr and Patel claimed that the data access agreement will instead “enhance” civil liberties and further asserted that the agreement would be used to go after “pedophiles” and “organized crime”, even though both Barr and his U.K. equivalent have shown minimal interest in pursuing the co-conspirators of child sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, whose sex trafficking network has been linked to both organized crime and the intelligence agencies of both the U.S. and Israel. Some have charged that the lack of interest on the part of William Barr is due to the fact that Barr’s father once hired the now deceased pedophile.
Notably, Jeffrey Epstein also had an apparent interest in pre-crime technologies, and was a key funder of the controversial technology company Carbyne911, along with former Israeli Prime Minister and close Epstein associate Ehud Barak. Carbyne911 is one of several Israeli companies that market their software products to the U.S. as a means of reducing mass shootings and improving the response times of emergency service providers. These companies boast numerous and troubling connections to the governments and intelligence communities of both the U.S. and Israel. Epstein, himself linked to the intelligence apparatuses of both nations, invested at least $1 million in Carbyne911 through a “data mining” company he controlled.
As was detailed in a recent MintPress exposé on these companies, Carbyne911 and similar companies extract any and all data from consumer smartphones for merely making emergency calls and then use it to “analyze the past and present behavior of their callers, react accordingly, and in time predict future patterns,” with the ultimate goal of smart devices making emergency calls to the authorities, as opposed to human beings.
Data obtained from these software products, already used by several U.S. counties and slated to be adopted nationwide as part of a new national “next generation” 911 system, will then be shared with the same law enforcement agencies who will soon be implementing Barr’s “national disruption and early engagement program” to target individuals flagged as potentially violent based on vague criteria.
Notably, following the El Paso shooting, President Trump has been mulling the creation of a new federal agency known as HARPA that would work with the Department of Justice to use “breakthrough technologies with high specificity and sensitivity for early diagnosis of neuropsychiatric violence,” specifically “advanced analytical tools based on artificial intelligence and machine learning.” The data to be analyzed would be harvested from consumer electronic devices as well as information provided by health-care providers to identify who may be a threat.
It is important to point out that such initiatives, whether HARPA or Barr’s newly announced program, are likely to define “mental illness” to include some political beliefs, given that the FBI recently stated in an internal memo that “conspiracy theories” were motivating some domestic terror threats and a series of questionable academic studies have sought to link “conspiracy theorists” to mental illnesses. Thus, the Department of Justice and “mental health professionals” have essentially already defined those who express disbelief in official government narratives as both a terror threat and mentally ill — and thus worthy of special attention from pre-crime programs.
Sleepwalking into a nightmare
This widely overlooked background is crucial to understanding William Barr’s recent memorandum and the massive and greatly underreported shift in the policy it heralds. Over a period of several months, Barr — aided by “private sector partners” as well as other current and former government officials — has been laying the groundwork for the system he has now formally announced.
Through the software products offered by companies like Carbyne911 and through Barr’s personal crusade to mandate government backdoors into encrypted software and products, Barr’s new pre-crime program already has the tools for the mass extraction and storage of consumer data by means of both private tech companies and public services like emergency call centers.
Through the already drafted plan for HARPA and its proposed solution to identifying “mental illness” via artificial intelligence and machine learning, this newly announced “pre-crime” program will have the means to analyze the mass of data harvested from consumer electronic devices from Carbyne and other means using vague “mental health criteria.”
While many of the specifics of the program remain unknown, the actions of Barr and others in government and private sectors show that this newly announced initiative is the product of years of careful planning and many of the tactics and tools it is poised to use have been in the works for months and even years.
In recent decades, and especially after the September 11 attacks, Americans have quietly traded an increasing number of civil liberties for increased government “counter-terrorism” programs and wars purportedly waged to “keep us safe.” Now, those same policies used to target “terrorists” are set to be used against ordinary Americans, whose electronic lives and communications are now set to be scoured for evidence of “mental illness.” If these untransparent algorithms flag an individual, that could be enough lead to court-ordered “mental health treatment” or even imprisonment regardless of whether or not a crime was committed or even planned.
As a consequence, William Barr’s coming “pre-crime” program is arguably worse than the stuff of dystopian science fiction novels and films as it not only aims to detain Americans who have committed no crime but will expressly target individuals based on their use of electronic consumer products and the contents of their communications with their friends, family, co-workers, and others.
Meet The Next WeWork: SoftBank's OyO Suffers "Massive Shortfall" After Labor Revolt
Even as Adam Neumann’s, and WeWork’s, 15 minutes of infamy are almost up, attention on the mastermind that enabled one of the biggest corporate travesties in the post-Lehman world, while blowing an unprecedented “private” valuation bubble by using his own company to singlehandedly create a Ponzi scheme in which he was the first, last and every buyer inbetween, is only now just starting to perk up. We are talking, of course, about Soft Bank and the person behind, Japan’s richest man (who after the dot com bubble burst almost went bankrupt for a good reason), both of which were profiled in our recent post “Is SoftBank The Bubble Era’s “Short Of The Century” (TL/DR: yes).
And while there is much to be discussed about SoftBank’s approach to investing (for those looking to literally laugh out loud, there are few things as entertaining as the Japanese bank/telecom/venture investor/whatever’s annual report), this is not the time to go on a tangent (we did that last week), and instead we will not that after the fiasco that was the Uber IPO, the snafu that was the Slack public offering, and the absolute disaster that was the WeWork non-IPO, another of SoftBank’s formerly marquee portfolio names is suddenly imploding.
As the Nikkei reports, a massive shortfall in the aggressive Japanese expansion plans of Oyo, the SoftBank Group-backed Indian hotel group, has snowballed into a nasty labor revolt.
Oyo Hotels & Homes, which seeks to become the largest hotel chain in the world – naturally, because how can Masa Son want anything except the biggest, fastest, mostest in the world, entered Japan in April. It laid out ambitious plans to become the country’s largest hotel operator with a target of signing up 75,000 rooms under its brand by March 2020, according to sources.
There was just one problem: as of Sept. 30, Oyo had signed up only 4,000 rooms, the Nikkei reports. Labor representatives said Oyo’s failure to meet this “very unrealistic goal” had subsequently led Oyo to renege on some employment contracts (because if there is one thing WeWork taught us is that while SoftBank’s ridiculous valuation marks are to be defended at all costs, even if it means doubling down on a disastrous investment, the employee s are always expendable).
In response to questions by Nikkei, an Oyo spokesperson called the figures “unsubstantiated” but said: “We are not able to disclose internal information on business plans.”
There’s a reason why he did not want to disclose anything: documents seen by the Nikkei showed that some staffers, especially in sales, were also asked to take 40% pay cuts.
Oyo’s growing pains in Japan are another headache for investor SoftBank, which this week agreed to bail out coworking startup WeWork by taking an 80% stake and providing a $9.5 billion support package, making its investment in WeWork over $17 billion for a valuation of less than$8 billion.
Like Oyo, WeWork was highly ambitious, aiming for global domination of the shared-office space. it is hardly a shock, then, that now Oyo is set to be the next WeWork.
Meanwhile, we have already discussed the labor bloodbath at the office sublettor which until a few months ago had an idiotic valuation of $47 billion, endorsed by the likes of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs no less: WeWork staffers now face the ax as the company massively scales back its expansion plans. As part of a turnaround strategy, it will cut 4,000 jobs, or just under 30% of its workforce, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, even as it paid founder, former CEO and Chairman Adam Neumann $1.2 billion just to leave the company.
That said, the chain of events at Oyo appears to have short-circuited that observed at WeWork,: Oyo’s employees say they are suffering because of the missed expansion targets: “The number of hotel rooms is very far from reaching the target,” one company executive said.
“Oyo has put an emphasis on increasing the number of salespeople in Japan, believing that as long as they can secure a face-to-face meeting [with potential partners] they will be able to sign contracts,” the official said. “But it’s not that simple.”
Oyo, founded in 2013 by Indian entrepreneur Ritesh Agarwal, then 19 years old – just the age group that Masa Son appears be utterly fascinated with – operates a franchise model by providing technology, brand and operational know-how to hotel owners. The company claimed earlier this month to be the world’s second-largest hotel operator, with a portfolio of 1.2 million rooms, including homes, in more than 80 countries.
However, its Japan plans have stumbled. At the same time, investors have begun to question its soaring valuation and lack of profits, just like WeWork… and soon SoftBank.
What happened?
With SoftBank’s mobile phone unit and SoftBank Vision Fund as its joint-venture partners in Japan, Oyo originally aimed to surpass local hotel chain Toyoko Inn, which has around 62,000 rooms, within a year. However, as Japan has enjoyed a surge in room bookings ahead of the 2020 Olympics, Oyo has been unable to attract many hotels to its platform, as they already have high occupancy levels. Oyo has also struggled to convey the benefits of its technology-driven operation to hotel owners in regional areas outside major city centers.
In emailed comments, an Oyo spokesperson said: “In Japan, we have in a short span of 6 months already opened over 100 hotels across 50+ cities, a testament to how our business is growing in the country.”
Oyo went on a hiring spree that saw 500 employees join the venture in just six months. Many of these employees, who signed up for full-time employment with Oyo, actually began under contract to a headhunting company, with the understanding they would be permanently employed by Oyo afterward, representatives of a labor union formed to address staff grievances told Nikkei. But Oyo later told some of those workers they might not be hired on a permanent basis after all, while others were offered direct employment only if they agreed to have their pay reduced by 30% to 40%.
Ironically, the avalanche at Oyo was also started by Adam Neumann: the cutbacks came as senior management was asked to keep a sharper focus on Oyo’s bottom line, given WeWork’s floundering plans to go public and growing investor unease about tech startup profitability generally.
“Oyo was told repeatedly by the director of human resources and by the headhunting company that sudden changes of contracts are illegitimate,” and the company finally relented after SoftBank stepped in and warned against the pay cuts, one labor representative said.
As of Thursday, Oyo had made 200 of the 500 workers direct employees.
Asked for comment, Oyo said: “There have been no salary deductions. In fact, we have made several merit-based salary increases.” Oyo added that “while there were early cases where the intention of certain agreements were misinterpreted, any outstanding ambiguities have now been resolved.”
* * *
The development is the latest in a string of bad news that has clouded Oyo’s prospects as it continues to follow an aggressive global expansion strategy, fueled by capital from SoftBank and its $100 billion Vision Fund.
Incidentally, if these disastrous, foundering “ventures” didn’t have virtually infinite capital to persist as zombies just so billionaire Son could feel good about his investing genius, the world would be a far more efficient place, and would certainly not be going through the bursting of the venture capital-to-public equity bubble.
Like in Japan, so in China, where Oyo claims to be the second-largest hotel chain after launching just two years ago, local media have reported that the company is planning large-scale layoffs. Oyo has said the reports are inconsistent, and that it has hired over 10,000 employees in China.
Some hotel owners in India, its home market, have meanwhile complained of hidden fees that were only discovered when they received their monthly income statements. A group representing hotel operators in Bengaluru has called for a criminal probe into Oyo, Reuters reported this month. Oyo has denied the allegations.
Of course, this being a SoftBank company which can only exist if its valuation keeps rising no matter the circumstances, despite these problems, Agarwal and SoftBank have continued to double down on their expansion plans.
Which of course means more good money after bad: earlier this month, Oyo said it was raising $1.5 billion in a financing round, with $700 million coming from Agarwal – reportedly supported by a consortium of Japanese banks and financial partners. The remainder will be provided by existing investors, including SoftBank.
By now the endgame should be clear: once the current liquidity bubble – the biggest of all time – pops, all of WeWork’s portfolio companies will follow in the footsteps of WeWork, and now Oyo, into the abyss of forgotten, overvalued unicorns, leaving countless workers unemployed. And since the ultimate casualties here are millions of Japanese pensioners and retirees whose money funded the biggest bubble of all – that of Masa Son’s hubris – the only thing that is not clear is when will the BOJ step in to bailout SoftBank.
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