On top of the world

United Arab Emirates

My trip started in Trondheim with showers of snow which had been around for a few days. And still are!

Wideroe`s flight 354 from Trondheim to Copenhagen

Wideroe took me to Copenhagen airport, Kastrup, in short of two hours where I landed around 2:30 p.m. A go-around was made due to a departing aircraft still on the runway which gave us a nice view of the surrounding areas of  Kastrup.

 

Kastrup airport

My flight to Dubai was not leaving until 09:05 p.m. so I decided after a meal at Prego located in Terminal 3, to spend some time in Copenhagen. I took the train from the airport to Copenhagen. In ten minutes you are downtown and it costs 25 danish kroner or $5 if I remember correctly.

After having spent some time in Copenhagen I went back to the airport where I took in on the Hilton Copenhagen airport hotel for a few hours to get a shower and change my clothes. It is nice to have the opportunity to book a room for a few hours to have some rest and get freshed up.

 

Scandinavian Airlines`s SK961 waiting at gate 11 at Kastrup

The flight from Copenhagen to Dubai took 5 hours and 42 minutes because we had some tailwind helping us. Scheduled time was 6 hours and 25 minutes. Even with the tailwind the flight was as smooth as ever and I was able to get a few hours sleep before breakfast was served.

I arrived Dubai airport at 06.10 a.m. local time. Next step was to take a taxi from Dubai airport to Abu Dhabi. The drive is around 1 hours and 30 minutes depending on traffic. And traffic was medium in my opinion. You can expect to pay around 250 dirhams which is around $70. That is relatively cheap considering the distance (160 km).  I grabbed one just outside the terminal.

I recommend taxi but if you choose to rent a car you must expect the traffic to be a bit intimidating at first. Very aggressive driving and we almost collided with a car on the highway doing 120 km/h plus. It looked like the car to our right in front of us suddenly lost control and span round. My driver stepped on the brakes and avoided it narrowly. My first encounter with the UAE traffic and I am glad I was in a taxi with an experienced driver.

With six lanes in each direction there are plenty of drivers with a heavy foot. Stay away from the left lane while the rightmost are used by lorries, trucks and buses. With the accident rates increasing lately the number of radars along the Dubai/Abu Dhabi-highway are increasing. While the speed limit is 120 km/h, you can do 140 km/h before the radar catches you. The speedometer in the cars will also give the driver an alert if the car goes faster than 120 km/h.  Be careful though, those areas without radar seemed to have unlimited speeds – for some. And they have tendency to not use the  turn signal.

Remember that no taxi accepts any cards – only cash. If you forget it, no problem, they will make a stop at any gas station or similar for you to make a cash withdrawal.

 

Burj Khalifa, tallest man-made structure ever built

My return from Abu Dhabi to Dubai airport was with a car service, a bit more exclusive than the normal taxi. The driver was very friendly and we developed a small friendship on the way. He was kind enough to give me the scenic route in Dubai showing me the most famous buildings and sights. The price was fixed in advance and cost 400 dirhams / $108 but was well worth it. Nice car and friendly driver!

Downtown Dubai

If you want a an efficient way to explore Dubai, the Dubai Metro is highly recommended.  It was inaugurated in 2009 and is the world’s longest automated driverless train system and the first Metro in the Gulf region.

My return went from Dubai with a stop in Bahrain and then London Heathrow. The flight was operated by Gulf Air and departed 11:25 p.m.  The check-in opens three hours before the flight. Inside the airport there are as you would expect lots of various outlets and taxfree shops.

At Dubai airport I took the opportunity to use the shower and bath with the G-Force Health Club located after check-in at the second floor in conjunction with the Dubai International Hotel. If you have a few hours it is well worth the money. I spent 45 dirhams / $12 to use the bath and shower. You could also do a work-out at their gym.

Dubai International airport 

Dubai International airport

The transfer in Bahrain was only just over an hour, so all I could do was stand in line for another security check and then a check-in line for a new boarding pass. Then we were good to go again. While the flight over from Dubai to Bahrain was 1 hour, the flight up to London was just over 7 hours. It was a smooth ride once again. I arrived at Terminal 4 at 6:30 a.m. and had to take the Heathrow Express train from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 where my flight to Oslo went from at 10:20 a.m.

Heathrow Express between the different Terminals

 

Another swing at it: Money

Recently a question surfaced which has pondered our minds a lot lately. It asks how can nations, and rumours has it that Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi ( a Chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran) in a speech referred to these nations as a “true axis of evil”, consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel benefit from going in to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. If these axis of evil want something why bother go through all the trouble with creating a 911 so they can get an excuse to go in to a war that might last for years?

Total global military expenditure in 2009 is estimated to have been $1531 billion. This represents an increase of 6 per cent in real terms compared to 2008, and of 49 per cent since 2000. Military expenditure comprised approximately 2.7 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. All regions and subregions saw an increase in 2009, except the Middle East.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 2010 Yearbook [¹]

SIPRI reports that the worldwide military spendings increased with 49 % since 2000. It comes as no surprise that the United States has the largest military budget in the world which in 2009 reached a staggering $670 billion, nearly ten times as much as the second largest; China. These figures shows us that the United States spends each year half of what the entire world spends on its military.

The US spends around $ 43 billion each year on Afghanistan alone according to the Congressional Research Service. It is not unlikely that Iraq-numbers are in that ballpark.

During the eight-year presidency of George W Bush, US military expenditure increased to the highest level in real terms since World War Two.

In total, the 100 leading defence manufacturers sold arms worth $347bn during 2007, the most recent year for which reliable data are available. Almost all the companies were American or European. Some 61% of the total was accounted for by 44 US companies, with 32 West European companies accounting for a further 31%.

Military spending set new record, BBC News [²]

What is equally interesting now is who makes money on nations spending money on military weapons and commodities. As you can read in the Yearbook from SIPRI and what has been commented in the article from BBC News, 92 [ ninety-two ] out of the 100 leading defense manufacturers are American or European. The money which the United States and United Kingdom are spending are really put back into the US and UK while keeping 3,2 million ( in active duty and on reserve) men and women employed at the same time [ ³ ].

“Defense” manufacturers

It would be very interesting to see a total of the expenditures of the governments and the income from the defense manufacturers. Lockheed Martin who is one of the top three leading defense companies published in a press release (Jan. 27, 2011 – link)  on their website a total sale in 2010 of $ 45,8 billion.

Lockheed Martin headquarters are in Washington DC, US. They describe themselves in the press releases as a global security company and their motto is “We never forget who we`re working for”. Would it not be more suitable to replace the “who” with “what”? Considering they are a defense and security company manufacturing tools used to fight for freedom and defend innocent people?

So what are the United States and the United Kingdom doing in Iraq and Afghanistan in the first place. Afghanistan and Iraq was being targeted because of the events on September 9, 2001. A post previously published here has briefly touched the many subjects that more than suggests that the whole 9/11 was an event that more than likely was being orchestrated by powerful entities within the United States. Bin Laden was already mentioned on the day of the alleged terrorist attacks!

War in Afghanistan

Afghanistan was being invaded because it was where the US government believed the mastermind behind 9/11 and Al-Qaida head Bin Laden was suspected to be hiding. After years of military presence with the help from NATO forces they have yet to locate Bin Laden. But what have they discovered instead? Huge rich mineral deposits have been discovered recently in Afghanistan.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

U.S. identifies vast mineral riches in Afghanistan, NYTimes.com, June 2010

 

The estimated total worth of these discoveries are around $ 1 trillion and the lithium is also a key component in producing electronic articles. So they accidentally stumbled upon one of the world`s greatest mineral resources after invading their country based on what many now believe is a massive lie?

War in Iraq

Why were the United States targeting Iraq then? In the aftermath of 9/11 former President George W. Bush has admitted that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 even though Iraq had been mentioned as being behind plotting of terror against the United States several times, as well as described as part of the “axis of evil”.

The official reason became to invade Iraq because they were supposedly in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But wait, a few months before 9/11 the United States told us that Iraq poised no threat at all! And the then Secretary of State Colin Powell told on TV that he was intentionally mislead by forces within the intelligence community before the famous speech in the UN on Iraq and WMD.

Bloomberg reported in October last year that Iraq has a national crude oil reserve of 143 billion barrels which is the world`s largest oil reserve and five times as large to that of the United States. One close neighbour to Iraq is also very heavy on oil, the Saudi Arabia who is a close friend with the United States.

What they did not succeed with in Afghanistan however was to find and extract the main person, in this case Saddam Hussein. He was hiding near a small anonymous village, in a hole in the ground! And they can`t find Bin Laden yet? There are people who suggests Bin Laden is co-working with agencies from the United States and some say he is not real even (link Cnn). It is however things here that could suggest that sources in the United States had a goal to get control of these massive resources as well as trying yo re-establish US military powers.

Given the vast mineral rich deposits in Afghanistan and the oil reserve in Iraq estimated at unbelievable sums of money it is very clear what forces in the United States must have thought must be done.

Then someone might ask the inevitable question, why would someone sacrifice, or murder is perhaps the right word for it, good men and women just so they could start a war they wanted? You only have to look at how may men and women who has already been killed in different wars fought by the United States already. Those are people who are sacrified to protect dark entities`s interests within the United States.

And to give this an extra dimension, here is a short clip from the live broadcast from Fox News Studio 18 hours after the attacks. This was live at the following night into September 12th. Notice that already officials are 99 % sure Osama Bin Laden was behind theses terrorist attacks and that the terrorists which piloted those planes had taken flying hours here and there. And watch that screen graphic: TERRORISM hits America.

Sources

1. Military Expenditures – SIPRI Yearbook 2010, Chapter 5, Summary

2. Military spending sets new record – BBC News Online, June 2009

3. Total soldiers USA Armed Forces / Total soldiers in  British Armed Forces

How does this sit with you?

I have taken the time to collect a few of the most informative videos from the events on 9/11. A few years ago we were fascinated by the various conspiracy theories that existed about the 911 being a cover-up and a hoax. Now we are being pulled back in by a lecture held by David Icke. And we decided that we would try to read up on these theories and histories to find out if there was any truth to them at all. You probably have heard all about the 911 truthers movement on the internet. The conspiracy theories flourish – but there are in fact more and more people now questioning the official story of what really happened on that dreadful day. The reason for this is that the answers are right in front of you – we just need to open our eyes and see. Most importantly it is the neccesity of being able to think for yourselves and ask questions about what really is happening around you.

One can only try to imagine the horrors of the innocent people involved in 911 and that is also why we must see to it that the truth will be told and to prevent it from happening again.

There are huge amounts of official information already available to the public, but if you look at it critically there are many holes to the story. They are only repetetive histories about the terorist hijackers, which were already being presented to us by the media which in turn got it from White House officials that very same day. Take the report made by the 911 comission for instance. A comission set up by the White House itself to “investigate” these events. And in this report, one of the many smoking guns – the Salomon Building or Building 7, is not mentioned at all. Even though it played a huge part that day. It was the headquarter for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), among other offical agencies, and Silverstein (who owned the building) has revealed that they “pulled it” because of fear it would collapse due to damages made by debris from the Twin Towers collapsing. So now they just decided that afternoon to just pull it, a 47-story building? It takes weeks, even months to prepare a building for a demolition like that. It is not possible to rig a building that size for demolition in a matter of hours.

They even knew the Twin Towers were going to collapse, records show the then Mayor Guliani warning the press that they would fall.

So why are there so many holes in the official report? I mean, if the official story is true, then why don`t they publish every video, picture etc. so we can debunk these theoretics once and for all? And why has it not been asked questions about the large scale war games happening on that very day on the East Coast? War games involving hijacked planes and terrorists using planes as weapons of mass destructions? Was that part of the scheme, to establish chaos and mass confusion? To establish order out of chaos?

What has made me even more sceptic to the official story is the fact that the people behind “The Project for the New American Century” in September 2000 released a report called “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century”, which highlights the degrading of the armed forces and points out the need for a new Pearl Harbour to occur so that USA can re-establish their fundings to the military and reclaim their eminent global position. I hope you take the time to see through these videos which perhaps can make you ask questions too, and to push for a new and independent investigation of 911.

Did Bush administration have advanced knowledge on 9/11?

Senator cut off in the middle of 9/11 prior knowledge discussion

Reporter’s mic cut off after saying a “US Air 737″ at Pentagon on 9/11

Suddenly Bush talks about EXPLOSIVES in building (on 9/11?)

Bush Caught Lying About September 11th – see for yourselves

Then Bush Accidentally Admits Real Iraq War Plan

All of a sudden Bush admits that Iraq Had Nothing To Do With 9/11

Rumsfeld slips up and admits flight 93 shot down

911 Commissioner slips up, says missile hit Pentagon

Rare Pentagon surveillance footage 9/11

Famous: BBC Reported Building 7 Collapse 20 Minutes Before It Fell

9/11 Truth: What Happened to Building 7

Rare Amateur 911 Videos

Some bizarre theories revealed on 9/11 – MUST SEE

NYC.gov only from 2002?

This is weird, as I was searching the web for images of the terrible events that happened on September 11, 2001 in New York I visited nyc.gov. The official New York website. I figured that it would be a great place to find some official photos from the day of the events – but nothing?

 I searched their Photo Gallery and looked in the All Events – no pictures. Looks like they started fresh after Guliani left the office?

It is the same on the Department of Defence-pages. Let me know if you can find something. 

You should think that they would want to release and share everything from those events in order to stop the rumours and theories around 911. But hey, that`s me.



Egyptian Protests 2011 – Raw Footage

Egyptians in their thousands have taken to the streets to protest against the authoritarian regime of President Hosni Mubarak, in the most serious challenge to his 30-year rule. Here is a look at what is happening in Egypt and why it matters for the rest of the world.

→ Q & A from BBC on Egypt Unrest

What`s the fuzz in Ireland? Well, not the economy…

In a calender called “Puppy love” models pose in colorful costumes with dogs in unusual situations to say the least. There is especially one photo that has received the most heat. It is of a puppy and a model with bare breast.

Animal rights activists in Ireland and other places are disgusted by the obscene photo they say, and several Pet Shops in Ireland has banned this calendar (link).

For more, visit Puppy Love and order the calendar today! The revenue from the calendar will be donated to an animal rights organization called Ash in Ireland. They made initally 1000 calendars but are now making more to meet the increased interest these images has created the last days.

What do you think?

The Grand Awakening

David Icke is a British author, conspiracy theoretic and also known as a seer and prophet for The New Age-movement. Recently I got caught up in the various conspiracy theories consuming the web and found a few short films where David Icke lectures people on the grand awakening – how everything is connected and that the world is being maniulated by a small but extremely powerful society known also as the Illuminati movement.

I see him as a philosopher which makes some valid points and you need to really go beyond what he talks about – and really focus on the main thing he preaches, that is that people need to wake up and start to take responsibility for the world they live in and become involved in what happens around them. Far too many people are in my opinion behaving as puppets if you like, and spend their afternoons and evenings in front of the box.

Which reminds me of a french experiment I recently watched on TV (suitably enough you might add) which brought up the subject of how much power the media has on peoples lives. Nielsen Media Research Inc. revealed on September 21, 2006 the latest statistics about America’s TV habits. Americans now watch an average of 4 hours 35 minutes of TV every day up 3 minutes from 2005. I believe the trend is very representative for the rest of the western culture. Time to take charge of our own lives and become aware of what we are constantly being subjected to.

Take a moment to learn a few points from David Icke – he is very wellspoken!

Part 1/5

Part 1/5

Gumball3000 route 2011 released!

Staying true to their roots the Gumball rally this year will also start in their hometown, London. This year the racers will head down to Paris after the flag is dropped, then straight to Barcelona. After Barcelona they will have a grand event together with Monaco Grand Prix in Monaco. Then follows Venice, Belgrade and the mysterious and exotic Istanbul for the grand finale. This year the rally will once again be “a once in a lifetime” for those involved and drivers alike! Click on the map for more info!

A journey with Moe and Matt

Earlier this year I had a press pass and followed the Gumball3000 rally in London and Copenhagen which was an exciting adventure. One of the cars which impressed me the most was a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Convertible. Driven by two long-time friends who calls themselves Moe and Matt. On their website yo can take part in their excursions through the world, whether it is to the foot of Mt. Everest or participating in the Gumball3000 rally.

They explained earlier that they one day sat down and had all this energy and wanted to to more with their lives so they decided to write up things they wanted to do – and do it. How they came up with a way to actually came to do all this was to write down everything they wanted to do. Then they curled the note together and tossed it in a bin and saved it for later. Each time they had completed an object they reached for the bin and grabbed a new note – whatever that said they did. Amazing stuff – and an inspiration I think.