[blogfocus tuesday] to go out this evening at 19:00, london time

I’m putting out the Focus earlier this evening because: 1] it’s ready; 2] I’m dog tired and am already falling asleep. The e-mail notifications might take until tomorrow morning, sorry.

Hope you enjoy this evening’s edition.

[china] tigers on the brink of extinction

Should large cats like this be kept in captivity?

"China was once home to a large Siberian tiger population, but rapid growth and a demand for animal parts has pushed the tiger to the brink of extinction. Growing up to three metres long and weighing just under half a tonne, the relentless search for food has given Siberian Tigers a reputation as one of nature's most vicious killers."

The problem is a combination of booming and rapidly expanding cities squeezing the tigers’ natural habitat, plus the market in tiger parts. As the dragon looms large, the tiger unfortunately diminishes. The government has taken some measures but it’s hard to see the process reversed or even halted and naturally, western pressure would have no effect.

It seems that unless some are bred in captivity, the species will perish. Wish raises the question asked at the beginning of the article: ‘Should large cats like this be kept in captivity?’

[stats] us dirtiest spammer, china up there with malware

This is being run without comment and slightly abridged:

Sophos said U.S.-based computers were responsible for sending 22% of the year's spam, with China second at 15.9% and South Korea third at 7.4%. Nine out of every 10 spam messages sent worldwide were sent from so-called "zombies," computers that were hijacked and sent messages without their owners' knowledge.

The United States also led the globe in hosting malware, reported Sophos; its servers accounted for 34.2% of all Web-based malicious code. China again held second place, with 31%.

"Thirty percent of the malware written during 2006 came from China," says O'Brien. "Most of it was designed to steal logons and passwords related to online games." When asked why Chinese malware targets online gaming rather than, say, bank accounts, O'Brien says games "seem to have more of a cultural significance than strictly finance. It's like an American hacking MySpace."

Brazil, meanwhile, accounted for 14.2% of the world's malicious code, and consisted mainly of Trojan horses that targeted online banking services. Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine came in third through fifth by producing 4.1%, 3.8%, and 3.4% of all malware studied by Sophos' forensics engineers.

But percentages don't tell the whole story. "Russia was responsible for some of the more malicious malware," says O'Brien. "In Russia, [hacking] is primarily an organized crime activity."

One of the few bright spots in 2006, says O'Brien, was the dramatic decrease in infected e-mail, messages that contain a malicious Trojan, worm, or virus payload. During 2005, one in 44 messages were infected (2.2%); last year, only one in 337 messages carried a malicious payload (0.3%).

[2012] why does this year keep cropping up

I’ve been asked what I mean by the ‘Big One’ in 2012. Firstly sorry - some of the links in the last post 'jumped' but have now been restored. Secondly, one or two more things on 7/7:

# Benjamin Netanyahu was on the way to a conference at the same hotel where Rudy Giuliani was also staying, when he received the warning. This doesn’t lead anywhere, it’s just interesting.

# The server in Houston [on which the Islamic organization claimed responsibility] has intriguing connections. Everyone's Internet was founded by brothers Robert and Roy Marsh in 1998 and by 2002 had an income of more than $30m (now about GBP17m).Renowned for his charitable work, Roy Marsh counts among his friends President George Bush's former sister-in-law, Sharon Bush, and the president's navy secretary.

# Many "Islamist extremist" websites are hosted in the United States - here's an interesting compilation.

If I had to put my money down to save my life, I’d go with this idea: Blair was in Singapore securing the Olympics, then flew to Scotland for the G8. He would have had his mind somewhat pre-occupied and any terrorism question would have been left to the professionals.

If it is admitted that Israel gave a warning six minutes before [which is very hard to deny on the evidence] or if it was given two days before [which has less supporting it], then for Blair not to have been instantly informed would have been impossible. The defence that he wasn’t informed because of the chance of disrupting the summit doesn’t wash. His underlings had to inform the PM of such a thing and at this time of heightened tension, the communication lines would have been instant.

As to whether Tony Blair ever lies, see the earlier post on the Bilderbergers. If we can assume, for the moment, that he knew, were there strategic reasons for him not to act? In other words, like in World War II, was it in the interests of the greater number of the populace not to act? Or did it suit his book not to act? Soon after, he pushed very hard for the ID legislation and all sorts of measures followed on. Again, assuming he knew, then by definition, the EU chiefs might have known too because their legislation followed hard on the heels as well.

Given the undeniable push for restructuring Europe and implementing draconian measures, for what purpose could that be? Because they’re expecting some sort of atrocity which they’ll either thwart or not? Matters little – it’s the Hegelian principle anyway. When? 2012? Too late. It has to come earlier so that the process of legislation can be given a chance to get through the Lords. It will take one parliamentary term to achieve that - to pull the last teeth from the Lords.

So what then is 2012? The new, ultra-secure, regulated Olympics possibly. The final joining with Europe in all respects, including the database on citizens of the union, Britain having already sundered as an entity. Whatever, they’re certainly in a hurry to get it all implemented.

[draconian measures] reasonable inferences or not

This blog has no time for surmise, which it defines as uninformed speculation. On the other hand, laying out evidence on the table, all of it, that is and drawing a conclusion from it - that is something else again. That is detective work.

There are different grim things going on in Britain right now and they are reflected in all the western nations. For every link in this post, one could be found about the US, for example.

What sort of things? The Guardian suggests we're sliding into a police state, for a start. Then there is the question of which particular definition of 'terrorist' is accepted, so the state forces can concentrate on that alone. The EU has acted to implement sanctions to streamline police procedures across Europe and give wider powers. Anti-terrorism measures are on the agenda, including vast diminishment of citizens' freedom to move.

There are pro-active moves towards preparing citizens for an emergency situation and the putting of the countries onto an emergency [read 'war' ] footing. Emergency powers and the adoption of temporary martial law is now in the process of implementation. Military exercises are now being carried out, one for the start of this February.

Police are to buy gas masks. These can be bought here. It goes on and on. On January 15th, Tony Blair tried to institute phone tapping on fellow MPs.

Why? For what purpose? Why such draconian measures and why at this time? Here was a society largely at peace and increasingly tolerant of other cultures, Despite the dumbing down and chav-producing dismantling of education, successfully producing a nation of bestial, ignorant, young, huggable, zombie ASBOs [future cannon fodder], why the pro-active moves to implement legislation and to put society onto an emergency footing?

One of the best articles I've read on 7/7, because it gives MSM links to everything claimed and finishes with a constructed 7/7 timeline, based on these links, is here.

The conclusion is that Tony Blair was either 1] quite ill-informed and unaware of clear prior knowledge or 2] he was in on it. Add to this his quite uncanny propensity to be both away from his desk and simultaneously within an hour's flight of 7/7 and out of the country on holiday during the subsequent thwarted simultaneous attacks and one is left with the detective's classic dilemma:

Can't be absolutely proven but sufficient indicators exist as to warrant suspicion and close scrutiny of the man's subsequent actions.

I was asked the question in the comments sections as to what I meant by 'the Big One in 2012'. I'd like to answer that by a series of questions: 1] what exactly do they feel sure is going to happen - another terrorist attack? Why so sure? 2] after all the measures linked to above have been passed, then what would be the government reaction to any 'terrorist' atrocity, vis a vis counter-measures after the event? 3] by the way, 7/7 occurred one day after what major event? 4] what major event for Britain is coming up in 2012, around the time of the election?

You might label the inference in these questions 'surmise'. I'd prefer to label it a fair and reasonable conclusion, given all which was presented in this post and having read every word at the end of each link.

[repeat after me] robots are our friends

What do you think of the group of university scientists from Warwick, Cardiff, Dublin and Newcastle universities, funded by the European Union, attempting to create a breed of robots designed to work together as hospital nurses by 2010, two years before the Big One?

I really love the explanation:

Project leader Thomas Schlegel explained the goal of the IWARD project was not to replace medical workers but rather increase the interaction within European hospitals. The idea is not only to have mobile robots but also a full system of integrated information terminals and guide lights, so the hospital is full of interaction and intelligence,' he said.

Won’t that be lovely? When you’re sick and dying in future, you can be attended, not by pesky human type entities with long legs and pretty smiles but by Medbot the Android who, like T-1000, can decide how much medication to administer, how to strike up a conversation with a human primitive and if necessary, when to terminate said HP, if it gets a bit uppity like.

Can’t wait and remember whom we have to thank for it – the lovely folk over at the EU.