US Sells 24 Apache Helicopters To Iraq - for $4.8 Billion -

US Sells 24 Apache Helicopters To Iraq - for $4.8 Billion - 



And just like that, slowly but surely, the entire US foreign strategy vis-a-vis Iraq and its weapons of mass diversion destruction, is becoming all too clear.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress today of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq for AH-64E APACHE LONGBOW Attack Helicopters  and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $4.8 billion.

The Government of Iraq has requested a possible sale of 24 AH-64E APACHE LONGBOW Attack Helicopters, 56 T700-GE-701D Engines, 27 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight, 27 AN/AAR-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors, 12 AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars with Radar Electronics Unit (LONGBOW component),  28 AN/AAR-57(V)7 Common Missile Warning Systems, 28 AN/AVR-2B Laser Detecting Sets, 28 AN/APR-39A(V)4 or APR-39C(V)2 Radar Signal Detecting Sets, 28 AN/ALQ-136A(V)5 Radar Jammers, 52 AN/AVS-6, 90 Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets, 60 HELLFIRE Missile Launchers, and 480 AGM-114R HELLFIRE Missiles. Also included are AN/APR-48 Modernized Radar Frequency Interferometers,  AN/APX-117 Identification Friend-or-Foe Transponders, Embedded Global Positioning Systems with Inertial Navigation with Multi Mode Receiver, MXF-4027 UHF/VHF Radios, 30mm Automatic Chain Guns, Aircraft Ground Power Units, 2.75 in Hydra Rockets, 30mm rounds, M211 and M212 Advanced Infrared Countermeasure Munitions flares, spare and repair parts, support equipment, publications and technical data, personnel training and training equipment, site surveys, U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services, design and construction, and other related elements of logistics support.  The estimated cost is $4.8 billion.

This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner.  This proposed sale directly supports the Iraq government and serves the interests of the Iraqi people and the United States. 

This proposed sale supports the strategic interests of the United States by providing Iraq with a critical capability to protect itself from terrorist and conventional threats, to enhance the protection of key oil infrastructure and platforms, and to reinforce Iraqi sovereignty.  This proposed sale of AH-64E APACHE helicopters will support Iraq’s efforts to establish a fleet of multi-mission attack helicopters capable of meeting its requirements for close air support, armed reconnaissance and anti-tank warfare missions.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The prime contractors will be The Boeing Company in Mesa, Arizona; Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando, Florida; General Electric Company in Cincinnati, Ohio; Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors in Owego, New York; Longbow Limited Liability Corporation in Orlando, Florida; and Raytheon Corporation in Tucson, Arizona.  There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of three U.S. Government and two hundred contractor representatives to Iraq to support delivery of the Apache helicopters and provide support and equipment familiarization.  In addition, Iraq has expressed an interest in a Technical Assistance Fielding Team for in-country pilot and maintenance training.  To support the requirement a team of 12 personnel (one military team leader and 11 contractors) would be deployed to Iraq for approximately three years. Also, this program will require multiple trips involving U.S. Government and contractor personnel to participate in program and technical reviews, training and installation.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.

Read more - 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-27/us-sells-24-apache-helicopters-iraq

NSA and GCHQ target 'leaky' phone apps like Angry Birds to scoop user data -

NSA and GCHQ target 'leaky' phone apps like Angry Birds to scoop user data - 



The National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have been developing capabilities to take advantage of "leaky" smartphone apps, such as the wildly popular Angry Birds game, that transmit users' private information across the internet, according to top secret documents.

The data pouring onto communication networks from the new generation of iPhone and Android apps ranges from phone model and screen size to personal details such as age, gender and location. Some apps, the documents state, can share users' most sensitive information such as sexual orientation – and one app recorded in the material even sends specific sexual preferences such as whether or not the user may be a swinger.

Many smartphone owners will be unaware of the full extent this information is being shared across the internet, and even the most sophisticated would be unlikely to realise that all of it is available for the spy agencies to collect.

Dozens of classified documents, provided to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden and reported in partnership with the New York Times and ProPublica, detail the NSA and GCHQ efforts to piggyback on this commercial data collection for their own purposes.

Scooping up information the apps are sending about their users allows the agencies to collect large quantities of mobile phone data from their existing mass surveillance tools – such as cable taps, or from international mobile networks – rather than solely from hacking into individual mobile handsets.

Exploiting phone information and location is a high-priority effort for the intelligence agencies, as terrorists and other intelligence targets make substantial use of phones in planning and carrying out their activities, for example by using phones as triggering devices in conflict zones. The NSA has cumulatively spent more than $1bn in its phone targeting efforts.

The disclosures also reveal how much the shift towards smartphone browsing could benefit spy agencies' collection efforts.

Read more - 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/27/nsa-gchq-smartphone-app-angry-birds-personal-data

Out Of Touch? - Hillary Clinton Hasn’t Driven A Car Since 1996 -

Out Of Touch? - Hillary Clinton Hasn’t Driven A Car Since 1996 - 



Speaking at the National Automobile Dealers Association in New Orleans today, Hillary Clinton showed just how Washington she’s gone over the past two decades, jokingly telling the audience about the fact that she hasn’t driven a car in over 17 years.

Maybe she put in a tape of The Macarena (which was on top of the charts) during her last time behind the wheel?



Read more - 

http://americarising.tumblr.com/post/74732549958/out-of-touch-hillary-hasnt-driven-a-car-since-1996

Scrambling Gold Mints Around The World Plead: "We Can’t Meet The Demand, Even If We Work Overtime" - 



One of the big disconnects over the past year has been the divergence between the price of paper gold and the seemingly inexhaustible demand for physical gold, from China all the way to the US mint. Today we get a hint on how this divergence has been maintained: it now appears the main culprit is the massive boost in supply by gold mints around the world working literally 24/7, desperate to provide enough supply to meet demand at depressed prices in order to avoid a surge in price as bottlenecked supply finally catches up with unprecedented physical demand.

Bloomberg reports that "global mints are manufacturing as fast as they can after a 28 percent drop in gold prices last year, the biggest slump since 1981, attracted buyers of physical metal. The demand gains helped bullion rally for five straight weeks, the longest streak since September 2012. That won’t be enough to stem the metal’s slump according to Morgan Stanley, while Goldman Sachs Group predicts bullion will "grind lower" over 2014." Odd - one could make the precisely opposite conclusion - once mints run out of raw product, the supply will slow dramatically forcing prices much higher and finally letting true demand manifest itself in the clearing price.

More from Bloomberg:

“The long-term physical buyers see these price drops as opportunities to accumulate more assets,” said Michael Haynes, the chief executive officer of American Precious Metals Exchange, an online bullion dealer. “We have witnessed some top selling days in the past few weeks.”
The propaganda is well-known: “Prices are likely to drop further as global economic conditions are stabilizing and tapering worries continue,” said Rob Haworth, a senior investment strategist in Seattle at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees about $110 billion of assets. “There is no doubt that physical demand has improved, but it will not be enough to support prices." Uhm, yeah. That makes no sense: what happens when global mints are hit by capacity bottlenecks from gold miners for whom it is becoming increasingly more economic to just halt production at sub-cost levels.

Meanwhile, here is a case study of how individual mints are working overtime to plug the unprecedented demand comes from Austria:

Austria’s mint is running 24 hours a day as global mints from the U.S. to Australia report climbing demand for gold coins even while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says this year’s price rebound will end.

Austria’s Muenze Oesterreich AG mint hired extra employees and added a third eight-hour shift to the day in a bid to keep up with demand. Purchases of bullion coins at Australia’s Perth Mint rose 20 percent this year through Jan. 20 from a year earlier. Sales by the U.S. Mint are set for the best month since April, when the metal plunged into a bear market.
It's not just Austria. Presenting the US Mint:

The U.S. Mint, the world’s largest, sold 89,500 ounces so far this month. The Austrian mint that makes Philharmonic coins, saw sales jump 36 percent last year and expects “good business” for the next couple of months, Andrea Lang, the marketing and sales director of Austria’s Muenze Oesterreich AG, said in an e-mail.

“The market is very busy,” Lang said. “We can’t meet the demand, even if we work overtime.”

The price for the Austrian mint’s 1-ounce Philharmonic gold coin slumped 27 percent last year, according to data from the Certified Coin Exchange.

“It’s been a very bad year for gold,” said Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC in Chicago. “People who bought coins have lost value, but they are not looking at short-term gains, and hope springs eternal.”
Tell that to China.

That said, keep an eye on GLD ETF holdings - for now the biggest marginal setter of gold price remains the paper ETF, whose "physical" gold holdings have cratered in the past year. Once this resumes going higher, buy.

Read more - 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-27/scrambling-gold-mints-around-world-plead-we-can%E2%80%99t-meet-demand

SHOCK CLAIM: Mouthwash Increases Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke... -

SHOCK CLAIM: Mouthwash Increases Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke... - 



CERTAIN types of mouthwash increase the risk of heart attacks and stroke and are a “disaster” for health, scientists have warned.

Used by millions of Britons every day, they can increase blood pressure by killing off “good” bacteria that help blood vessels relax.

Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, of Queen Mary, University of London, said: “Killing off all these bugs each day is a disaster when small rises in blood pressure have significant impact on morbidity and mortality from heart disease and stroke.

“We are not telling people to stop using antiseptic mouthwashes if they have a gum or tooth infection but we would ask why anyone else would want to.”

The shocking findings come as sales of mouthwash are booming. A third of adults use it, according to the British Dental Health Foundation, creating a market worth more than £150million a year.

The study, published in the journal Free Radical Biology And Medicine, tracked the blood pressure of 19 healthy people who started using Corsodyl twice a day.

Their blood pressure shot up by between 2 and 3.5 units. For each two-point rise in blood pressure, the risk of dying from heart disease rises by seven per cent and the risk of dying from stroke by 10 per cent.

Read more -

http://www.express.co.uk/news/health/456270/Mouthwash-users-risk-a-heart-attack

Ex-Marlboro Man dies from smoking-related disease... -

Ex-Marlboro Man dies from smoking-related disease... - 



Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.

Lawson died Jan. 10 at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday.

Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as "Baretta" and "The Streets of San Francisco" when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include "Charlie's Angels," ''Dynasty" and "Baywatch." His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a Western film ended his career in 1997.

A smoker since age 14, Lawson later appeared in an anti-smoking commercial that parodied the Marlboro man and an "Entertainment Tonight" segment to discuss the negative effects of smoking. Susan said her husband was proud of the interview, even though he was smoking at the time and continued the habit until he was diagnosed with COPD.

"He knew the cigarettes had a hold on him," she said. "He knew, yet he still couldn't stop."

A few actors and models who pitched Marlboro brand cigarettes have died of smoking-related diseases. They include David Millar, who died of emphysema in 1987, and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995.

Read more -

http://news.yahoo.com/ex-marlboro-man-dies-smoking-related-disease-034350253.html