Fires that have ravaged Russia this summer in midst of tremendous heat, having even prompted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to take action fighting the deadly blaze, have finally begun to subside. But the widespread destruction, in which an estimated 25 percent of the country’s crops have been reportedly destroyed, has caused some to question whether there is more taking place than just record heat: one scientist even thinks the cause of the fires was man-made, but not in the way accepted by conventional modern science.

Deputy director of the Strategic Culture Foundation Andrei Areshev has been catching heat in midst of his assessment of the blaze, which he says was not caused by global warming, but by a “climate change weapon” capable of projecting atmospheric extremities on other parts of the globe. “At the moment, climate weapons may be reaching their target capacity,” Areshev wrote in a recent article, “and may be used to provoke droughts, erase crops, and induce various anomalous phenomena in certain countries.” Areshev seemed hesitant to endorse his previous statements when questioned in a subsequent interview.

Temperatures this summer in Moscow have registered well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, topping at 104 last week. Crops, as stated previously, were badly damaged in the fires, and other economic fallout associated with the disaster have caused great concerns among Russians. According to a report by the Russian emergencies ministry, nearly 200,000 hectares of land were burning when the fires were at the peak of their devastation, though at present the situation has seen tremendous improvement. Still, there have long been suspicions about a military project used by the United States to control weather, namely in other parts of the world for causing economic duress.

Alaska’s High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, better known by its acronym HAARP, is a special project jointly operated by the US Navy, the Air Force, the University of Alaska and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The stated objective of HAARP is to enhance radio communications and surveillance systems through study of the ionosphere, but controversy has surrounded some of the methodology used to do so. For instance, some of the HAARP program’s various experiments have been believed to be capable of causing strange atmospheric phenomenon which might be similar to reported UFOs. However, most famous of all the suspected theories involving the HAARP program are the implications it may have on influencing weather; some conspiracies exist which tie HAARP directly to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

Russia is not the only nation to have been wary of U.S. government research causing what have appeared to be natural disasters. In 2008, earthquakes that occurred near Sichuan, China, as well as past earthquakes in Afghanistan, which harbors terrorist enemies of the U.S., have become targets for speculation among conspiracy theory advocates. Additionally, members of the Venezuelan media accused the HAARP program of causing the Haitian earthquake earlier this year, to which the United States subsequently began providing tremendous (and costly) relief efforts. Had this been the case, it might seem odd that the U.S., in midst of a recession, would no-less funnel altruistic aid and relief in untold amounts of cash to those affected in Haiti.

And yet, there are grounds, scientifically and historically, for this sort of thing to happen; potentially at least. Famed inventor Nikola Tesla had spent years researching earthquake generation in fairly localized regions, using pneumatic devices that would cause a resonant frequency capable of evoking tremors. This has long been one of the believed areas of focus undergoing regular study at the HAARP facility. However, the popular television program, MythBusters, took the idea to task by building small resonant devices from modified jackhammers. Fitting the devices to a large truss bridge, the resonance did manage to produce a vibration that was noticeable as far as 100 ft away. The bridge did not collapse, however, and the MythBusters team noted “Tesla’s tendency to exaggerate his accomplishments at the time of publication,” as fodder for a long-held belief that, among other things, theories of government projects harnessing the power of earthquakes have continued to prevail in the present day.

Though this doesn’t directly relate to the fires that have caused so much trouble in recent weeks, it does illustrate for us how simply claims can tend to be exaggerated, and myths promulgated thusly. Even anthropomorphic global warming is still hotly disputed among scientists, though rising temperatures might certainly be a better excuse for the heat that was conducive to an inferno erupting across the Russian countryside. But so far as the U.S. intentionally harnessing the forces of nature to cause fires, this theory, much like the ability to cause earthquakes from halfway across the globe, the validity of this theory will probably go up in smoke just as well.

Image by Edward Vielmetti via Flickr.

Truth Out reported today on the Gulf’s “Methane Monster,” warning that methane building there isn’t the only concern we have right now. “The Siberian Shelf alone harbors an estimated 1,400 billion tons of methane,” author Craig Collins wrote, noting this amount to be close to double the amount of carbon in all the trees, grasses and flowers on Earth. “If just one percent of this escaped into the atmosphere within a few decades, it would be enough to cause catastrophic, uncontrollable climate change.” Although the debate over the science behind anthropogenic global warming is still a point of partisan contention, are there certain natural occurrences that may occur in the future that indicate climate change, man-made or not, is inevitable?

Additionally, volcanic activity in various locales around the world poses a similar threat, albeit much smaller, according to most sources. Today, reports on Russia’s northernmost active volcano on Kamchatka Peninsula detailed how plumes of ash have continued to erupt into the atmosphere for days now. Scientists with the National Geophysical Service warn that “the volcano poses significant danger to villages in the area, just like the nearby Klyuchevskaya volcano.” However, the U.S. Geological Survey has stated that greenhouse gas emissions from volcanoes “make up less than one percent of those generated by human endeavors.” Additionally, the ash clouds and sulfur dioxide that emerge from such active volcanoes may even have a cooling effect, as did the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. On average, temperatures were found to be a half degree centigrade cooler than normal worldwide the following year, due to the shading effect presented by ash present in the atmosphere. Similarly, the upcoming lunar eclipse visible here in the Western hemisphere may be a little redder than usual, due to ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which erupted earlier this year.

Although the amounts in which various natural phenomenon may affect the planet vary, these, along with other concerning environmental and space-weather related phenomenon reported on this blog in recent weeks, have many 2012 “believers” up in arms. Earthquakes have ravaged the globe for the majority of 2010, volcanic eruptions have clouded the skies, record cold temperatures from the winter months have led to a hot, muggy summer that lends promise to a coming hurricane season, and there’s still no end in site to the damages incurred by the oil spill in the Gulf. Some fear things will get much worse before they’ll get any better.

Is this a sign of things to come? Or, is there merely a strange synchronicity afoot here, lending to a number of coincidences which, as they accumulate, may test the limits of human survival in the face of natural disasters… and all leading up to that pivotal year of 2012? Only time will tell…

“I’ll be speaking at the conference,” he posted at his online Fortean Calendar site. “The subject (is) my own, personal investigation of the Crop Circle phenomenon; which will include a discussion of official documents on such formations generated by Britain’s intelligence service, MI5. And by that, I mean the documents were generated by MI5, not the crop-formations…”

Redfern continues to shed a little sunshine on the mysteries of this world… digging through government files and uncovering covert secrets from yesteryear in an attempt to solve the riddles of time and space. For those of you who can be in the area, make a point of catching this presentation.

Interestingly, The Bambi Killers call their live show “The Patriot Act.” Enjoy this wild and very provocative bit of art-rock!

Thanks to Peter Bernard for sharing this link.

Therefore, other theories exist. An article appearing in the UK’s Daily Mail last week detailed the peculiar event, also making assertions brought forth in journalist Hank Albarelli’s 2009 book A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments, which makes the case for the events being the result of a classified CIA experiment involving LSD.

Looking at descriptions of some of the activity that occurred during the outbreak, this isn’t difficult to fathom:

Some ran screaming through the narrow, cobbled streets, crying out that terrible, flesh-eating demons were in hot pursuit. Others, wild-eyed and clearly deranged, jabbered that their brains had turned to molten lead and their internal organs were flowing, ablaze, from their ears.

Another man decided to take a dangerous leap of faith from a window, shouting ‘I’m an aeroplane’, before taking an unsuccessful landing into the street below. The Daily Mail article describes how the man got to his feet and staggered for 50 yards on broken legs before finally collapsing “in a pool of blood.” Another man, local stonemason Gabriel Validire, proclaimed to his wife that he was dead, and that “My head is copper! I’ve snakes in my stomach!” Strangely, animals suffered the unusual effects as well.

Albarelli claims the LSD theory is based on declassified CIA documents, as well as “coded White House papers ordering that the ‘Pont-Saint-Esprit incident’ be kept under wraps.” All evidence, he says, points to some kind of trickery involving a planned “experiment” at the modest French commune.

The horrors involving psychedelics used in this way–particularly those as potent as LSD–stand in stark contrast to the way they were perceived by the drug’s earliest advocates. In Magic, Mysticism and the Molecule, I discussed the many observations of Albert Hofmann, who is credited with the discovery of LSD. Hoffman called it “medicine for the soul,” and was saddened that it was later outlawed, in spite of its potential medical benefits, which remain widely unknown and under-appreciated today. “It was used very successfully for 10 years in psychoanalysis,” Hoffman said, explaining that the drug “was hijacked by the youth movement of the 1960s,” and though he was firm in his estimation that LSD can be dangerous in the wrong hands (as best evidenced, perhaps, by the events at Pont-Saint-Espirit in 1951, rather than that of the 1960s hippie culture), he felt that liberalization of its use by counter-culturists ultimately led to its prohibition.

Timothy Leary, who is credited with the very movement Hoffman opposed, viewed his work differently. During an appearance on William F. Buckley’s Firing Line in April of 1967, he argued that, “All the statistics that I’ve seen indicate that people who use psychedelic drugs are people who are pretty well adjusted by any standard or orientation you want to name: income, education, creativity, productivity; and they want more because what psychedelic drugs produce is not the dull, glazed three martini haze.” Nonetheless, those whom Leary hoped would lead the revolution of exploration of inner consciousness succumbed to both societal pressures, as well as the negative effects of the drug itself when used for mere recreation; circumstances under which LSD’s potential destructive side still pale when compared with the notion that such a thing might have been used for purposeful harm in the interest of measuring its effects on a foreign populace.

There is little argument that LSD has tremendous destructive potential, and if Albarelli’s assertions are correct, perhaps no greater example of this exists than the terrible mass-poisoning at Pont-Saint-Esprit. But what is even more alarming about this is that for it to become so destructive in a singular event, it must have been a planned and coordinated effort, used as a weapon against an unsuspecting citizenry. The substance alone is hardly any more dangerous unto itself than a pencil, an automobile, or a glass of water; it’s when an individual or organization with evil intent would use that pencil to stab someone’s eye out, mow pedestrians down with said automobile, or drown someone by forcing water down their throat that they become perceived as evil. Thus, Hoffman’s “medicine for the soul,” as well as Leary’s sophisticated class of people prone to the leanings of society’s intelligentsia, became demonized, and the drug itself may even have even been used for evil and destruction instead of the therapeutic treatments Hoffman had envisioned. Indeed, here history deals us a sad hand of warped affairs.

I have been repeatedly warned to NOT do the appearance I have planned for the last hour of COAST TO COAST AM tomorrow night, Thursday, February 18, 2010. That last hour will be 1-2am Pacific US time and 4-5am east coast (New York) time.

I will be exposing information regarding secret societies and the so-called “spy wires” I’ve been investigating. My site, www.JoshuaPWarren.com, usually gets swamped by COAST appearances, so this is your heads up to visit it now. I have scanned in some pages from a secret society handbook (that I’m NOT supposed to have access to) and posted 18 mins of audio from the “spy wires.” If you don’t know the background, then please tune into the show for more.

Honestly, I’m a little nervous about what I plan to discuss, but I feel the time has come. I need help from listeners to continue my investigation into these matters.

Although I have had knowledge of these resources for a few years now, it sounds like the information Warren will be releasing will provide new insight into his research and interests. Sounds like a good night to tune in…

Of the reports concerning missiles fired from the ocean near the Southern coast, journalist C.L. Cook quoted MacKay, who said “We [the Canadian government] will provide money to build a landing strip for UFOs at Harbour Mille.” The Defense Minister quickly added that this was a joke, and assured news agencies that he had “checked with foreign countries,” claiming there is “no cause for panic.”

Late last week, a few key witnesses suggested that Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials may have advised that a missile launch had taken place, but a spokesperson, Sgt. Wayne Edgecombe, quickly asserted that these were only rumors. Statements issued later were even less conclusive, merely explaining they had “gotten to the bottom” of the mystery, and forwarded further requests to Public Safety Canada. What is known, however, is that the RCMP is in charge of the official investigation.

Looking elsewhere, The French Ministry of Defence has also drummed up controversy, after posting a message on its website admitting to the launch of a missile from a submarine around the same time. However, according to the flight path described by witnesses of the Harbour Mille UFO, the French also advised that this could not have been the missile they launched.

Based on the evidence available at present, the objects seen over Newfoundland were, in all likelihood, missiles or other projectiles; who fired them, and for what purpose, remains a mystery. As concerned officials continue probing the situation to discover whether public safety was ever in jeopardy, perhaps more answers will come to light as to the identity of the strange “ghost rockets” seen over Newfoundland last week.

UFO Sighting Puzzles N.L. Residents

The photograph appears to show a missile or other elongated object, emitting flames or what has been described as “heavy smoke” illuminated by the light of sunset (keep in mind, the Trident II missile in the image to the right is merely for illustrative purposes). Another witness, Emmy Pardy, stated that “It appeared to come out of the ocean,” and “was like it was in the middle of the bay.”

This alone may be the most curious aspect of the sighting; however, if what it entails is of any merit, it may also be the most frightening. Gralien Report correspondent Christopher McCollum, who sent the story along, referred to the object as a “USO,” borrowing the term used by the late Fortean scholar Ivan T. Sanderson which denotes an “Unidentified Submerged Object.” Submarines with the Russian Navy operating in international waters throughout the Atlantic have reported an overwhelming number of “USO” encounters, as described in recently declassified documents released by naval officials in 2009. However, if this object weren’t some kind of “USO” or other unidentified object, what are the alternatives?

In William R. Forstchen’s 2009 novel One Second After, the United States falls victim to an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack that results from nuclear devices being launched into near-space above the United States. Destruction and devastation is limited to planes and other large craft falling to Earth due to failure of electrical systems, but in a country dependent on technology that is suddenly thrust into a modern dark age, all hell breaks loose as Americans struggle to exist in an environment where cell phones, computers, lights, televisions, stoves, and even cars are rendered useless.

In Forstchen’s “nightmare novel,” it is later learned that an “enemy of the United States” had launched the devices from ships far out at sea, hence any mention of objects firing out of the ocean–like the one described over Newfoundland–causes a bit of concern. Granted, if there had been any obvious danger associated with the object photographed by Mrs. Stewart, we surely would have known about it by now. However, the question lingers… what was it, and where did it come from? Was it evidence of some strange activity taking place beneath our oceans, or perhaps even worse, could it indicate militaristic activity that might warrant concern?

As you know, Johnson & Johnson was recently in the news after being forced to recall of a variety of OTC medicines which caused severe gastrointestinal illness and symptoms of neurological damage in a variety of consumers. It is also clear they have been aware of and hiding this problem for at least 6 months, and probably far longer. The initial explanation was problems with offgassing in ‘constructed wood’ pallets. I doubt this is the cause, however, it is very likely a contributing factor.

When I saw this problem arise, I knew immediately that

A: The problem was not limited to J & J products, or even to medicines.
B: The problem is at least 10 years old, and probably far older.
C: The problem’s current ‘acute’ phase is an indication of changes in both the agent and the human hosts.
D: The problem may have links to CCD in bee populations.

Let me explain my theories. Firstly, I am not a doctor or scientist. I am however a talented independent researcher, and I frequently solve problems in such a way as to often appear prophetic. I am familiar with a variety of current biomedical research and topics due to my position as a partner in a scientific editing firm. Obviously, I claim no supernatural abilities however, instead, I claim that there is nothing but supernature, since we have completely misunderstood nature. For at least the past 5 years I have been intimately concerned with the CCD problem (colony collapse disorder) and its possible relations to both human activity and human health. Part of my research has involved direct observation of beehives and direct communication with bees, hornets, bumble-bees, and other insect pollinators as well as their symbionts and predators.

A major factor in this problem appears to be the practice of feeding bees corn syrup during a particular phase of their seasonal cycle. This is incredibly stupid, and radically alters the microbial constituents of their digestive systems in such a way as to render them far more vulnerable to a variety of bacterial, fungal and perhaps viral agents which would otherwise be metabolized or rendered harmless. As you are probably aware, HFCS is and has been widely used throughout the food chain in the US and other industrialized countries for decades. Additionally, research in the past few years has proven HFCS to contain mercury.

HFCS & HMF in Corn Syrup and its relationship to bees:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090826110118.htm

Weak Colonies and HMF in honey:
http://www.beebehavior.com/weak_state_bee_colonies.php

HFCS/Mercury in Food products:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/587466

It is here that things get interesting. Firstly, as every good mother knows, one must never feed infants honey. The reason is that honey normally contains Clostridium Botulinum spores (which produce botrulin, the deadliest biologically produced poison known on Earth). Other foods such as pork and molasses are also dangerous. The organism is anaerobic, meaning that oxygen is toxic to it, and it thrives in nonoxygenated environments.

The damage to the bees’ digestive systems may render them vulnerable to the spores in their own honey, causing both developmental problems and severe health problems for adult insects. This may or may not be directly related to my primary concern, however, we should test honey to see if the common content of CB spores is on the rise, which it may well turn out to be.

Now I will turn to my primary concern. Without a long detailed history, let me simply say that approximately 1 year ago I began to notice a very strange phenomenon related to certain foodstuffs, particularly breads. When shopping, or having shopping done for me, I often noticed that the breads (which were usually freshly delivered to the stores either that day or 1 day previous) sometimes emitted a profoundly disturbing odor, which was not like bread mold, but something far more cloying and toxic. It appeared, strangely, to not involved the bread at all, but instead -the packaging-. This puzzled me for quite some time. Recently, I began testing different brands, at it was then when the light went on upstairs and the pieces appeared to me to fall into a very clear and surprisingly obvious pattern.

Something was infecting the packaging, and this was affecting the food within, but the food within was not the cause. This agent appeared to be present specifically upon surfaces printed with soy-based (or possibly other vegetable based) inks. In many cases, fresh loaves of bread smelled so “toxic” that a single loaf could devastate an entire room with spores or stench. Washing the outside of the packaging radically reduced but did not eliminate the problem, indicating that it was not merely superficial.

In December of 2009 and January of 2010, a large number of my friends became very seriously ill with symptoms somewhat akin to food poisoning, but which also were unlike any kind of food poisoning I am familiar with. I too succumbed. Many of us are still sick, and believe me when I tell you it is not food poisoning – it is a mycotoxin, or possibly mercury poisoning.

In short, I believe that an infective fungal agent, which is not entirely anaerobic, has infected the soy based inks or other inks used particularly on plastic packaging films, certain labels, and some plastics directly. I believe this organism is metabolizing vegetable proteins or other chemical resources and producing neurotoxins. Either the spores or the toxins or the organisms themselves are deeply imbedded in our food chain currently. There is probably a correlation between this problem and the methods of storage and transport, such that not all sources or stores with these products will be found to be affected. Nonetheless, those that are, are severe. In calling a few supermarkets and asking them to do the following test, I have received 3 of 3 positive results (i.e. problem is considered bizarre and is detectable by staff).

The test is this: go to a large supermarket’s bread aisle (preferably after it has been in darkness for a time) and physically smell the packaging of a variety of brands, but particularly those inclined to employ large quantities of soy-based inks on the plastic films used as the outer container. In many cases one may detect a very unusually powerful odor that is moldy, but not like bread mold. This is on -fresh bread-. It is more musty and dusty than mold, additionally, the bread inside will not be found to bear any obvious mold. This is more obvious at higher temperatures. Eating this food will often result in severe gastro-intestinal problems and symptoms not unlike mercury poisoning.

I have reason to suspect that this problem can spread from affected items to other items, and may involved anything with these inks, including non-food items. I consider this a deadly and highly distributed danger, and I am asking that we use every means at our disposal to discover and publicize the cause, immediately. I do not believe we can afford to wait for regulatory bodies to respond or admit this, and thus we must be active on each other’s behalf, immediately. I am not afraid to be proven wrong or even foolish in these suspicions; in fact, I very much hope this is the case. Nonetheless, I expect it is not. I may have some details confused or wrong, but the basic problem exists, is extremely dangerous, and is real.

In another excerpt, further speculation asserts how carbon offsets and other proposed methods of cutting back on green house gases may have been what spurred Russian opposition:

Russia, a major oil exporter, may be trying to undermine calls to reduce carbon emissions ahead of the Copenhagen summit on global warming. The CRU emails included remarks which some claim show scientists had manipulated the figures to make them fit the theory that humans are causing global warming.

Vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Jean-Pascal van Ypersele told the press that “he believed the theft of the emails was not the work of amateur climate sceptics,” lending further credence to the notion that an outside group may have been hired to complete the job. In the days following the initial appearance of emails and other data stolen from East Anglia’s servers on various websites, speculation that the release had actually been an “inside job” was issued by various reporters and members of the blogsphere. However, information has been released that shows the data first appeared on a small server based out of the city of Tomsk in Siberia.

One unnamed hacking “specialist” commented to the Times pertaining to Russian involvement:

There is no hard evidence that the hacking was done from Tomsk, though it might have been. There has been speculation the hackers were Russian. It appears to have been a sophisticated and well-run operation, that had a political motive given the timing in relation to Copenhagen.

Speculation as to who was behind the activity will no doubt continue, for months at very least, perhaps for years to come. The activity was obviously politically driven, but the motives for such actions are so many and varied that ruling out one potential source is complicated, and will take time. In the more immediate sense, how will this sort of information effect the outcome of the upcoming conference at Copenhagen?