we discussed the merits of the MLMB the other day and today an interesting little success in the war against BBC 'propaganda' or 'inaccuracy':
This morning upon reading the headline "Rice seeks speedy Mid-East truce" prominently displayed on the BBC news website I posted this message on the board at 10:29 am (British time):
"Rice", "speedy" and "truce" all mentioned in same scentence: BBC in parallel universe
Isn't the BBC's Headline on the first story of their News Website glaringly inaccurate:
"Rice seeks speedy Mid-East truce"
given that "hostilities began on July the 12th" how is taking two or three weeks while people are dying to get a ceasefire "speedy" in any way?
(note to BBC ... it is now almost August)
Link to story
soon afterwards, two other contributors to the MLMB sent e-mails to the BBC news Online team:
"Dear Mr Herrmann, Ms Boaden,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5230192.stm
What, exactly, is speedy about Ms Rice's seeking of a UN security council resolution. It has been 20 days since Israel began bombing civilians in Lebanon, longer for its bombing and destruction of civilians and infrastructure in the Gaza strip.
The US (along with the UK) has so far refused to call for an immediate ceasefire. How is this interpreted by the BBC as 'speedy'?
If your house were burning down with your children inside, would you label the fire-brigade's response as 'speedy' if it turned up two weeks later?
Kind Regards,"
At 11:51 am (British Time) a message was posted reporting that the headline of the article had been changed to "Israel 'not ready for truce yet'" which at the time of writing was still the title of the article in question...
31.7.06
30.7.06
price worth paying.. keeping palestine jewish!
37 children, 4 UN staff, countless others slaughtered from the safety of the air-conditioned F-16.. and counting!
Lebanon described the bombing as a "heinous crime"
Lebanon's prime minister denounced "Israeli war criminals" and cancelled talks with the US secretary of state. Israel said it regretted the incident - but added that civilians had been warned to flee the village.
Several countries have condemned the attack and renewed their calls for an immediate ceasefire - opposed by Israel, the US and UK. [aka the league for peace]
Several thousand protesters chanted "Death to Israel, Death to America" outside the United Nations headquarters in downtown Beirut. [solving the terrorism problem once and for all]
oh dear!
apparently this isnt the first time this happened either- ten years ago, 1996, same place, 106 civilians dead, 2 UN soldiers injured.. looking like a dangerous season for the UN this time round..
"Amnesty International conducted an on-site investigation of the incident in collaboration with military experts, using interviews with UNIFIL staff and civilians in the compound, and posing questions to the IDF, who did not reply. Amnesty concluded, "the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound, although the motives for doing so remain unclear. The IDF have failed to substantiate their claim that the attack was a mistake. Even if they were to do so they would still bear responsibility for killing so many civilians by taking the risk to launch an attack so close to the UN compound."
these people have no idea what happened at stalingrad..
Lebanon described the bombing as a "heinous crime"
Lebanon's prime minister denounced "Israeli war criminals" and cancelled talks with the US secretary of state. Israel said it regretted the incident - but added that civilians had been warned to flee the village.
Several countries have condemned the attack and renewed their calls for an immediate ceasefire - opposed by Israel, the US and UK. [aka the league for peace]
Several thousand protesters chanted "Death to Israel, Death to America" outside the United Nations headquarters in downtown Beirut. [solving the terrorism problem once and for all]
oh dear!
apparently this isnt the first time this happened either- ten years ago, 1996, same place, 106 civilians dead, 2 UN soldiers injured.. looking like a dangerous season for the UN this time round..
"Amnesty International conducted an on-site investigation of the incident in collaboration with military experts, using interviews with UNIFIL staff and civilians in the compound, and posing questions to the IDF, who did not reply. Amnesty concluded, "the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound, although the motives for doing so remain unclear. The IDF have failed to substantiate their claim that the attack was a mistake. Even if they were to do so they would still bear responsibility for killing so many civilians by taking the risk to launch an attack so close to the UN compound."
these people have no idea what happened at stalingrad..
27.7.06
;-)
chinese activist beating self up - silly really
chinese journalist talking too much
Google censorship China: Search tiananmen square on
google.com
google.cn
chinese journalist talking too much
Google censorship China: Search tiananmen square on
google.com
google.cn
26.7.06
sonnet 76
Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?
O, know, sweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?
O, know, sweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.
25.7.06
OOOOOOOOOOOPS
Four United Nations peacekeepers have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an observation post in southern Lebanon, the UN has said.
Israeli bomb kills UN observers
More than 380 Lebanese and 42 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of conflict [war on civilians?]
they don't call it precision bombin' for nothing!
Israeli bomb kills UN observers
More than 380 Lebanese and 42 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of conflict [war on civilians?]
they don't call it precision bombin' for nothing!
23.7.06
if anyone is in any doubt....
...Who really lies behind the horror, destruction and killing occurring in Lebanon as we write, think and curse; the Bush administartion is rushing a new shipment of precison guided missiles to Israel. With virtually no debate the devices are being shipped to the middle east to maintain the bombardment. ( begging the scary and bemusing question; has Israel bombed Lebanon so much that there enormous arsenal is running out!!!???)
Actions such as these confirms Israels 'puppet state(us)' and make the prospect of a world war or of wider conflict ever more likely. The use of Israel to attack Syrian and perhaps Iranian targets also looks like a conceivable prospect at the current time. If Vietnam was the 'land that God forgot' what the hell is the Holy land?
20.7.06
Personal exposure
War crimes could have been committed in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza, a senior UN official has said.
Ms Arbour expressed "grave concern over the continued killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory".
Without pointing to specific individuals, she suggested that [world] leaders could bear personal responsibility.
country not a limited liability company?
Ms Arbour expressed "grave concern over the continued killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory".
Without pointing to specific individuals, she suggested that [world] leaders could bear personal responsibility.
country not a limited liability company?
Real-time, Verbatim Talks with "World Leaders"..
Washington, DC, 26 May 2006 - Today the National Security Archive announces the publication of the most comprehensive collection ever assembled of the memoranda of conversations (memcons) involving Henry Kissinger, one of the most acclaimed and controversial U.S. diplomats of the second half of the 20th century.
..who was never elected by anyone
..who was never elected by anyone
19.7.06
no escapin it!
An apartheid society existed in early Anglo-Saxon Britain, research suggests. Scientists believe a small population of migrants from Germany, Holland and Denmark established a segregated society when they arrived in England.
The researchers think the incomers changed the local gene pool by using their economic advantage to out-breed the native population. The team tells a Royal Society journal that this may explain the abundance of Germanic genes in England today.
Modern-day England has a population of largely Germanic genetic origin, speaking a principally German language.
The researchers think the incomers changed the local gene pool by using their economic advantage to out-breed the native population. The team tells a Royal Society journal that this may explain the abundance of Germanic genes in England today.
Modern-day England has a population of largely Germanic genetic origin, speaking a principally German language.
18.7.06
feminism, disgusting ;-)
Friedrich Engels analysed Bachofen's views as follows:
(1) That originally man lived in a state of sexual promiscuity, to describe which Bachofen uses the mistaken term "hetaerism";
(2) that such promiscuity excludes any certainty of paternity, and that descent could therefore be reckoned only in the female line, according to mother-right, and that this was originally the case amongst all the peoples of antiquity;
(3) that since women, as mothers, were the only parents of the younger generation that were known with certainty, they held a position of such high respect and honor that it became the foundation, in Bachofen's conception, of a regular rule of women (gynaecocracy);
(4) that the transition to monogamy, where the woman belonged to one man exclusively, involved a violation of a primitive religious law (that is, actually a violation of the traditional right of the other men to this woman), and that in order to expiate this violation or to purchase indulgence for it the woman had to surrender herself for a limited period.
(Friedrich Engels, 1891: see link)
17.7.06
:-)
We needed a breath of fresh air, an adventure. We knew there were others hoisting the same pirate flag as we did and that we had a mighty fleet. This is why we started the Pro Piracy Lobby.
13.7.06
Mumbai Bombings etc...
I will be trying to update my blog more regularly now that I am in India...
I've just posted a roundup of news on the Mumbai bombings and some other articles about migration and India.
Mumbai - 11-7
Madrid - 11-3
I've just posted a roundup of news on the Mumbai bombings and some other articles about migration and India.
Mumbai - 11-7
Madrid - 11-3
5.7.06
;-)
60th birthday of the bikini!
Brazilian waxing is a type of waxing involving the bikini area. This procedure involves the complete removal of hair from the buttocks and adjacent to the anus, perineum and vulva (labia majora and mons pubis). It can be thought of as an extreme form of bikini waxing. Most forms of Brazilian waxing leave a small line of pubic hair above the vulva, commonly known as the "landing strip". Waxes that completely remove the pubic hair are either termed 'Hollywood' or 'Sphynx' depending on the salon visited. Sometimes the term Full Bikini Wax or FBW is used.
now that explains everything!! hehe
21.6.06
when youve got some stupid yanks looking for osama..
Capture
El-Masri travelled from his home in Ulm to go on vacation in Skopje at the end of 2003. He was detained by Macedonian border officials on December 31, 2003, because his name was identical (except for variations in English spelling) to that of Khalid al-Masri, an alleged mentor to the al Qaeda Hamburg cell who has not been apprehended, and because of suspicion that his German passport was a forgery. He was held in a motel in Macedonia for over three weeks and questioned about his activities, his associates and the mosque he attended in Ulm.
The Macedonian authorities also contacted the local CIA station, which contacted the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. A December 4, 2005, article in the Washington Post said that an argument arose within the CIA over whether they should remove him from Macedonia in an extraordinary rendition. The decision to do so was made by the head of the al Qaeda division of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center on the basis of a hunch he was involved in terrorism. The Macedonians released him on January 23, 2004 and American security officials, described in an MSNBC article as members of a "black snatch team", came to Macedonia, and detained him. They beat him, stripped him naked, drugged him, and gave him an enema. He was then dressed in a diaper and a jumpsuit, and flown on a Boeing 737 N313P to Baghdad, then immediately to "the salt pit", a covert CIA interrogation centre in Afghanistan which contained prisoners from Pakistan, Tanzania, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Afghanistan detention
While held in Afghanistan, El-Masri wrote in the Los Angeles Times that he was beaten and repeatedly interrogated. He has also claimed that he was raped. He was kept in a bare, squalid cell, given only meager rations to eat and putrid water to drink. In February, CIA officers in Kabul began to suspect his passport was genuine. The passport was sent to the CIA headquarters in Langley where in March the CIA's Office of Technical Services concluded it was indeed genuine. Discussion over what to do with El-Masri included secretly transporting him back to Macedonia, without informing German authorities, dumping him, and denying any claims he made. In the end they did inform the German government, without apologizing, and were able to persuade the Germans to remain silent.
In March 2004 El-Masri took part in a hunger strike, demanding that his captors afford him due process or watch him die. After 27 days without eating, he forced a meeting with the prison director and a CIA officer known as "The Boss". They conceded he should not be imprisoned but refused to release him. El-Masri continued his hunger strike for 10 more days until he was force-fed and given medical attention. He had lost more than 60 pounds since his abduction in Macedonia.
In April 2004, CIA Director George Tenet learned that El-Masri was being wrongfully detained. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice learned of his detention shortly thereafter in early May and ordered his release. El-Masri was released on May 28 following a second order from Dr. Rice. American authorities met with him and agreed to release him if he agreed never to tell the story of his ordeal to anyone. They flew him out of Afghanistan and released him at night on a desolate road in Albania, without apology, or funds to return home. At the time he believed his release was a ruse, and he would be executed. He was eventually intercepted by Albanian guards, who believed him to be a terrorist due to his haggard and unkempt appearance. He was subsequently reunited with his wife who had returned to her family in Lebanon, with their children, because she thought her husband had abandoned them. Using isotope analysis, scientists at the Bavarian archive for geology in Munich analyzed his hair and verified that he was malnourished during his disappearance.
its gonna be even less easily digested than a bigmac, crown jewel of gringo cuisine!
El-Masri travelled from his home in Ulm to go on vacation in Skopje at the end of 2003. He was detained by Macedonian border officials on December 31, 2003, because his name was identical (except for variations in English spelling) to that of Khalid al-Masri, an alleged mentor to the al Qaeda Hamburg cell who has not been apprehended, and because of suspicion that his German passport was a forgery. He was held in a motel in Macedonia for over three weeks and questioned about his activities, his associates and the mosque he attended in Ulm.
The Macedonian authorities also contacted the local CIA station, which contacted the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. A December 4, 2005, article in the Washington Post said that an argument arose within the CIA over whether they should remove him from Macedonia in an extraordinary rendition. The decision to do so was made by the head of the al Qaeda division of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center on the basis of a hunch he was involved in terrorism. The Macedonians released him on January 23, 2004 and American security officials, described in an MSNBC article as members of a "black snatch team", came to Macedonia, and detained him. They beat him, stripped him naked, drugged him, and gave him an enema. He was then dressed in a diaper and a jumpsuit, and flown on a Boeing 737 N313P to Baghdad, then immediately to "the salt pit", a covert CIA interrogation centre in Afghanistan which contained prisoners from Pakistan, Tanzania, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Afghanistan detention
While held in Afghanistan, El-Masri wrote in the Los Angeles Times that he was beaten and repeatedly interrogated. He has also claimed that he was raped. He was kept in a bare, squalid cell, given only meager rations to eat and putrid water to drink. In February, CIA officers in Kabul began to suspect his passport was genuine. The passport was sent to the CIA headquarters in Langley where in March the CIA's Office of Technical Services concluded it was indeed genuine. Discussion over what to do with El-Masri included secretly transporting him back to Macedonia, without informing German authorities, dumping him, and denying any claims he made. In the end they did inform the German government, without apologizing, and were able to persuade the Germans to remain silent.
In March 2004 El-Masri took part in a hunger strike, demanding that his captors afford him due process or watch him die. After 27 days without eating, he forced a meeting with the prison director and a CIA officer known as "The Boss". They conceded he should not be imprisoned but refused to release him. El-Masri continued his hunger strike for 10 more days until he was force-fed and given medical attention. He had lost more than 60 pounds since his abduction in Macedonia.
In April 2004, CIA Director George Tenet learned that El-Masri was being wrongfully detained. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice learned of his detention shortly thereafter in early May and ordered his release. El-Masri was released on May 28 following a second order from Dr. Rice. American authorities met with him and agreed to release him if he agreed never to tell the story of his ordeal to anyone. They flew him out of Afghanistan and released him at night on a desolate road in Albania, without apology, or funds to return home. At the time he believed his release was a ruse, and he would be executed. He was eventually intercepted by Albanian guards, who believed him to be a terrorist due to his haggard and unkempt appearance. He was subsequently reunited with his wife who had returned to her family in Lebanon, with their children, because she thought her husband had abandoned them. Using isotope analysis, scientists at the Bavarian archive for geology in Munich analyzed his hair and verified that he was malnourished during his disappearance.
its gonna be even less easily digested than a bigmac, crown jewel of gringo cuisine!
8.6.06
fancy a world cuppa?
FEVER PITCH
So the bi-annual orgy of football-related marketing is with us once again. Becks, Lamps, Rooney et al will all be starring in a feast of slick new jingoistic advertising and merchandising (which happily can be completed without regard to injuries). Taking place at the same time is the FIFA World Cup, this
time to be held at adidas and Puma HQ - otherwise known as Germany.
A few billion will be glued to their television sets for a month - including many England fans in £40 replica kits made by Chinese workers on 40p a day - thrilling at the cheating, overpaid primadonna-wannabe-Maradonas. Their 'heroics' will provide the hook for heroic marketing campaigns from sponsors
like Coke, Gillette, McDonald's and a full rogues gallery of the biggest corporate baddies.
The ball in question will be made by some exploited child labourer in Pakistan more than likely, where 90% of the world's balls are made. Brief outrage during France 1998 at media exposure of sweatshop practices in Pakistan led to 'code of practice' being adopted by FIFA and the major sportswear multinationals,
promising no forced labour, equality of opportunity, work hour restrictions, minimum wages and all the rest. Backed up by independent monitoring of course!
Eight years later and... guess what, little's changed. Child labour and substandard working conditions are prevalent as ever, with subcontractors farming work out to villages away from the monitoring zones, while some companies are switching production to China where they get even less scrutiny.
At the end of the day, an event like the world cup is a business gravy train for corporate juggernauts - which has got nothing to do with helping the sport on a grassroots level. Corporate shareholders and corrupt officials in football associations around the world will make sure that precious little of the bonanza
reaches the bare-foot kids in the majority world, all huddled round one battered portable TV, dreaming of glory in the 'beautiful game'.
Nevermind, none of that's nearly so dramatic as a penalty shootout....c'mon Eng-er-land!
from the latest schnews
25.5.06
computer games, training, psy-ops and imperialism
Venezuelan anger at computer game article from the BBC
Venezuelan politicians have complained about a forthcoming "shoot-em-up" computer game that simulates an invasion of the South American nation. In production by Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames is based around the overthrow of an imaginary Venezuelan "tyrant".
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has long accused the US of planning to invade, something Washington denies. His supporters say the game aims to drum up support for a real invasion.
'Realistic possibility'
Pandemic has insisted that the title - due to be released next year - is solely about entertainment. "Pandemic has no ties to the US government," Greg Richardson, the firm's vice president of commercial operations, told the Associated Press. "Pandemic Studios is a private company, focusing solely on the development of interactive entertainment."
Yet Pandemic's publicist Chris Norris said its designers "always want to have a rip from the headlines". He added: "Although a conflict doesn't necessarily have to be happening, it's realistic enough to believe that it could eventually happen."
Messes with oil
Mr Chavez and the US have been at daggers drawn for most of the eight years since he came to power in 1998. In addition to repeatedly accusing Washington of seeking to overthrow him, Mr Chavez has greatly increased state control over its oil industry, the world's fourth largest, and responsible for 15% of US supplies.
In Mercenaries 2: World In Flames, gamers play soldiers sent to overthrow "a power-hungry tyrant [who] messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a war zone".
Venezuelan congressman Ismael Garcia, a supporter of Mr Chavez, said the computer game was preparation work for a real invasion. "I think the US government knows how to prepare campaigns of psychological terror so they can make things happen later," he said.
"no ties to the US government?"
Pentagon and CIA enlist video games Simulations developed for training and recruitment
By Matt Slagle
Updated: 11:10 a.m. ET Oct. 3, 2003
Oct. 3 - Hunched with his troops in a dusty, windswept courtyard, the squad leader signals the soldiers to line up against a wall. Clasping automatic weapons, they inch single-file toward a sandy road lined with swaying palm trees. The squad leader orders a point man to peer around the corner, his quick glance revealing several foes lying in wait behind a smoldering car. A few hand signals, a quick flash of gunfire, and it’s over. The enemy is defeated, but no blood is spilled, no bullet casings spent: All the action is in an upcoming Xbox-based training simulator for the military called “Full Spectrum Warrior.”
INCREASINGLY, THE PENTAGON is joining forces with the video games industry to train and recruit soldiers. The U.S. Army considers such simulators vital for recruits who’ve been weaned on shoot ’em up games.
Even the Central Intelligence Agency is developing a role-playing computer simulation to train analysts.
“We know that most of our soldiers know how to use a game pad,” said Michael Macedonia, chief scientist at the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation in Orlando, Fla. “Every kid figures out the controls pretty fast.”
For years, the U.S. armed forces have used big, sophisticated simulators with hydraulics, wall-sized video screens and realistic cockpits. But such gear costs millions of dollars — far too pricey even by military standards to be widely available.
And that’s why video games make sense.
THE VIDEO GAME CONNECTION
“Full Spectrum Warrior” was created through the Institute for Creative Technologies in Marina Del Ray, Calif., a $45 million endeavor formed by the Army five years ago to connect academics with local entertainment and video game industries. The institute subcontracted game development work to Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios.
The institute’s other training program, “Full Spectrum Command,” was released for military use in February.
That game, for the PC, is geared toward light infantry company commanders who lead about 120 people. Set in eastern Europe, it tests organization, decision-making and the ability to recognize threats in a peacekeeping setting.
With “Full Spectrum Warrior,” currently in testing at Fort Benning, Ga., squad leaders learn how to command nine soldiers in complex, confusing urban warfare scenarios. The game isn’t not about sprinting, “Rambo”-like, through alleys with guns blazing.
“It’s not really about shooting at things,” Macedonia said. “Learning how to shoot your weapon is easy. The challenging thing is leading.”
The game the Institute for Creative Technologies has been working on with the CIA for about a year — at a cost of several million dollars — will let agency analysts assume the role of terror cell leaders, cell members and operatives.
“Our analysts would be accustomed to looking at the world from the perspective of the terrorists we are chasing, and learn to expect the unexpected,” CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said.
RECRUITMENT TOOL
Training aside, video games are increasingly viewed by top brass as a way to get teenagers interested in enlisting.
Games such as “America’s Army,” developed and published by the Army, and “Guard Force,” which the Army National Guard developed with Alexandria, Va.-based Rival Interactive, can be downloaded or picked up at recruitment offices.
“America’s Army” has been a hit online since its July 2002 release, attaining 1.5 million registered users who endure a basic training regiment complete with barbed-wire obstacle courses and target practice.
“Guard Force” has been less successful. Released last year, it features bland synth-rock music that blares in the background. Between video commercials touting the thrills of enlisting in the Army National Guard, gamers pluck flood victims from rooftops or defend a snowy base. In the training mission, gamers deploy helicopters, even tanks, to rescue skiers trapped in an avalanche.
The creators of “Full Spectrum Warrior” hope their stint with the Army will also spur commercial sales.
Pandemic is already busy creating a retail version that will add multiplayer capability, streamline the controls and dispense with such realities as death from a single gunshot wound.
“The explosions will be bigger. Smoke will develop more quickly. A squad leader could call in an F-16 strike,” said Jim Korris, creative director for the Institute for Creative Technologies. “That doesn’t happen in the real world.”
THQ Inc. is expected to release the public version early next year. An early demonstration in May at Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game industry’s annual trade show, won “Best Original Game” and “Best Simulation” awards.
There are no plans for commercial release of the CIA game.
© 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Bono on board of directors?
Venezuelan politicians have complained about a forthcoming "shoot-em-up" computer game that simulates an invasion of the South American nation. In production by Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames is based around the overthrow of an imaginary Venezuelan "tyrant".
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has long accused the US of planning to invade, something Washington denies. His supporters say the game aims to drum up support for a real invasion.
'Realistic possibility'
Pandemic has insisted that the title - due to be released next year - is solely about entertainment. "Pandemic has no ties to the US government," Greg Richardson, the firm's vice president of commercial operations, told the Associated Press. "Pandemic Studios is a private company, focusing solely on the development of interactive entertainment."
Yet Pandemic's publicist Chris Norris said its designers "always want to have a rip from the headlines". He added: "Although a conflict doesn't necessarily have to be happening, it's realistic enough to believe that it could eventually happen."
Messes with oil
Mr Chavez and the US have been at daggers drawn for most of the eight years since he came to power in 1998. In addition to repeatedly accusing Washington of seeking to overthrow him, Mr Chavez has greatly increased state control over its oil industry, the world's fourth largest, and responsible for 15% of US supplies.
In Mercenaries 2: World In Flames, gamers play soldiers sent to overthrow "a power-hungry tyrant [who] messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a war zone".
Venezuelan congressman Ismael Garcia, a supporter of Mr Chavez, said the computer game was preparation work for a real invasion. "I think the US government knows how to prepare campaigns of psychological terror so they can make things happen later," he said.
"no ties to the US government?"
Pentagon and CIA enlist video games Simulations developed for training and recruitment
By Matt Slagle
Updated: 11:10 a.m. ET Oct. 3, 2003
Oct. 3 - Hunched with his troops in a dusty, windswept courtyard, the squad leader signals the soldiers to line up against a wall. Clasping automatic weapons, they inch single-file toward a sandy road lined with swaying palm trees. The squad leader orders a point man to peer around the corner, his quick glance revealing several foes lying in wait behind a smoldering car. A few hand signals, a quick flash of gunfire, and it’s over. The enemy is defeated, but no blood is spilled, no bullet casings spent: All the action is in an upcoming Xbox-based training simulator for the military called “Full Spectrum Warrior.”
INCREASINGLY, THE PENTAGON is joining forces with the video games industry to train and recruit soldiers. The U.S. Army considers such simulators vital for recruits who’ve been weaned on shoot ’em up games.
Even the Central Intelligence Agency is developing a role-playing computer simulation to train analysts.
“We know that most of our soldiers know how to use a game pad,” said Michael Macedonia, chief scientist at the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation in Orlando, Fla. “Every kid figures out the controls pretty fast.”
For years, the U.S. armed forces have used big, sophisticated simulators with hydraulics, wall-sized video screens and realistic cockpits. But such gear costs millions of dollars — far too pricey even by military standards to be widely available.
And that’s why video games make sense.
THE VIDEO GAME CONNECTION
“Full Spectrum Warrior” was created through the Institute for Creative Technologies in Marina Del Ray, Calif., a $45 million endeavor formed by the Army five years ago to connect academics with local entertainment and video game industries. The institute subcontracted game development work to Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios.
The institute’s other training program, “Full Spectrum Command,” was released for military use in February.
That game, for the PC, is geared toward light infantry company commanders who lead about 120 people. Set in eastern Europe, it tests organization, decision-making and the ability to recognize threats in a peacekeeping setting.
With “Full Spectrum Warrior,” currently in testing at Fort Benning, Ga., squad leaders learn how to command nine soldiers in complex, confusing urban warfare scenarios. The game isn’t not about sprinting, “Rambo”-like, through alleys with guns blazing.
“It’s not really about shooting at things,” Macedonia said. “Learning how to shoot your weapon is easy. The challenging thing is leading.”
The game the Institute for Creative Technologies has been working on with the CIA for about a year — at a cost of several million dollars — will let agency analysts assume the role of terror cell leaders, cell members and operatives.
“Our analysts would be accustomed to looking at the world from the perspective of the terrorists we are chasing, and learn to expect the unexpected,” CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said.
RECRUITMENT TOOL
Training aside, video games are increasingly viewed by top brass as a way to get teenagers interested in enlisting.
Games such as “America’s Army,” developed and published by the Army, and “Guard Force,” which the Army National Guard developed with Alexandria, Va.-based Rival Interactive, can be downloaded or picked up at recruitment offices.
“America’s Army” has been a hit online since its July 2002 release, attaining 1.5 million registered users who endure a basic training regiment complete with barbed-wire obstacle courses and target practice.
“Guard Force” has been less successful. Released last year, it features bland synth-rock music that blares in the background. Between video commercials touting the thrills of enlisting in the Army National Guard, gamers pluck flood victims from rooftops or defend a snowy base. In the training mission, gamers deploy helicopters, even tanks, to rescue skiers trapped in an avalanche.
The creators of “Full Spectrum Warrior” hope their stint with the Army will also spur commercial sales.
Pandemic is already busy creating a retail version that will add multiplayer capability, streamline the controls and dispense with such realities as death from a single gunshot wound.
“The explosions will be bigger. Smoke will develop more quickly. A squad leader could call in an F-16 strike,” said Jim Korris, creative director for the Institute for Creative Technologies. “That doesn’t happen in the real world.”
THQ Inc. is expected to release the public version early next year. An early demonstration in May at Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game industry’s annual trade show, won “Best Original Game” and “Best Simulation” awards.
There are no plans for commercial release of the CIA game.
© 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Bono on board of directors?
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