Bird Flu is Back, Drills, DHS News + Oil Scam: WWIV Pretext

How Well Can Wall Street Handle Pandemic Flu? Drill Results Are Mixed…

Employers ‘must prepare for flu calamity’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2896560.ece
http://www.wstonline.com/blog/archives/2007/11/_how_well_can_w.html

With bird flu outbreaks cropping up from Europe to Asia, scientists say the new pattern of spreading infection makes a worldwide human pandemic more likely. So how well prepared are U.S. financial firms for a pandemic?Well, 2,775 financial firms recently took part in a drill to try and answer that very question.
The U.S. Treasury, together with SIFMA and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (FBIIC) held a 3-week pandemic drill for the financial services industry, giving enough time to simulate a full pandemic wave and clarify its ripple effects within the markets and interdependent sectors.
Preliminary results of the three-week long exercise were mixed. (cont..)





"Noble Midas 2007" (NATO)

Croatia hosts major NATO exercise
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2007/11/19/reportage-01
"The live exercise included personnel from 12 NATO nations -- Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the United States -- as well as partnership nations Albania and Croatia. Forces included 60 aircraft, 40 ships and six submarines. Approximately 8,000 troops were involved in the exercise, with 2,000 of them participating directly in the area."

Bioterrorism drill tests teamwork (IL)
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/657119,4_1_1_JO19_HAZMAT_S1.article
"Around 180 people from over a dozen agencies practiced a bioterrorism hazardous material drill Saturday at the racetrack."

Bush Homeland Security Adviser Resigns
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111900475.html?hpid=moreheadlines

President Bush's chief terrorism adviser announced this morning that she is stepping down, becoming the latest in a series of high-level exits from the White House as the Bush presidency heads toward its final year.
Frances Fragos Townsend, the president's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, managed the White House response to all manner of natural disasters and extremist threats over the last 4 1/2 years. (cont..)

* Please see Nico's research for context:
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/ewing2001?id=4205

Barksdale to close today for exercise (LA)
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071119/BREAKINGNEWS/71119010

Homeland Security Technologies
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14827/security_technologies.html?breadcrumb=%2F

Introduction
Security experts emphasize that the “war on terror” is a different sort of conflict than wars past. Nevertheless, at least one commonality links the current struggle to previous wars: an army of private contractors has emerged to supply both governments and private companies with the products and services needed to make fighting more efficient. According to Homeland Security Research Corporation, a consulting firm, the U.S. market for homeland security products and services was $23.8 billion in 2006, and barring any future attacks, that figure is expected to increase roughly 50 percent by 2011 (PDF). Fueled by voracious government and private sector demand, this booming business features a bevy of cutting-edge products designed to perform new functions. (cont...)

Pretext for WWIV

Chavez, Ahmadinejad to Work Against US
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T107680&show_article=1

Chavez Tells OPEC to Use Politics, Curb `Imperialism' (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNmE.oybx0H0&refer=worldwide

OPEC Interested in Non-Dollar Currency
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071118/D8T0BC8O0.html

China voices alarm at dollar weakness
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8b1c17dc-96d1-11dc-b2da-0000779fd2ac,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F8b1c17dc-96d1-11dc-b2da-0000779fd2ac.html%3Fnclick_check%3D1&nclick_check=1
China on Monday expressed concern at the decline in the dollar, joining a growing chorus of global policymakers alarmed by the weakness in the world’s main reserve currency.
Premier Wen Jiabao told a business audience in Singapore it was becoming difficult to manage China’s $1,430bn foreign exchange reserves, saying that their value was under unprecedented pressure

Obama to the Hague with the rest of the lying frauds!

Obama: Takes Terrorism ‘Deadly Serious’
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/obama-takes-terrorism-deadly-serious/