Absolutely MINDBENDING "Syriana" info...Really! REALLY!

[Gloria]

Happened across this while putting together the World Media Watch this evening...ironically, I had just seen...Syriana!


http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=75148&d=23&m=12&y=2005

Friday, 23, December, 2005 (22, Dhul Qa`dah, 1426)
‘Syriana’: The Plot Behind the Movie’s Plot

SNIP

However, a most intriguing twist to the presentation of “Syriana” to the public is the creation of a congruent social action group to further refine and complement the message that “Syriana” conveys to the public. In January of 2004, Jeff Skoll one of the cofounders of eBay, the online sales giant, formed Participant Productions which was the primary financier of “Syriana”. Skoll who retired from eBay before age 35 with reportedly almost $4 billion, decided to use a significant portion of his fortune to “use the power of cinematic storytelling to stimulate involvement in social issues.” After a couple of other film attempts, Skoll connected with Clooney on “Syriana”.

Skoll and his cohorts then formed Participate.net, a sister organization to stimulate popular action based on his films. If one goes to the Warner Brothers (distribution company) official “Syriana” site, you will find that Participate.net has formed yet another specific social action group especially for this movie called Oil Change. Oil Change is organizing environmental groups and their supporters to seemingly shift their message from just cutting down on fossil fuels on environmental concerns, to national security concerns. And when one looks even deeper into sister advocate groups behind Oil Change, you find the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) and Set America Free.

IAGS is headed by Gal Luft, a former lieutenant colonel in the Israel Defense Forces and Ann Korin. Korin acknowledged to the Associated Press that she “couldn’t care less” about global warming or protecting the environment from oil drilling. “I’m involved in this because most of the world’s oil reserves are owned by countries that finance people that want to kill us, that finance radical Islam,” she said.

And IAGS organized the Set America Free coalition which includes neocons Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, Thomas Neumann of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum, Meyrav Wurmser of the Hudson Institute and R. James Woolsey of the Committee for the Present Danger amongst others.

If it looks strange to see all of these hardcore right wing neocons going “green”, you weren’t the first to notice this. But, you see, truth is often stranger than fiction. And real life is sometimes more complicated than movies like “Syriana”.

[sasha031]

1. this is a fantastic find

[BrklynLiberal]

2. When I see this reported on at least one other news source, I might

become curious about it. Not exactly an objective source of information.

[papau]

3. sister advocate groups behind Oil Change??? - what is not a "sister"

group????

This is a GOP quality spin.

The Arab press would get more miliage out of truth telling - or must everything be written in the Arab press for maximum applause from the choir.

[Extend a Hand]

4. wow, that sudden change of heart

and 'greening' of the neocons really had me baffled. Now it makes sense.

They are such creeps.

[dusmcj]

5. buttcovering

The neocons have gotten the result they wanted (a US military presence in the center of the Middle East), they know their PR values can't get any lower, and they suspect that enough of the mainstream public has heard of their antics such that they stand a good chance of being chased out of town by crowds with torches for "stealing American foreign policy for Israel" (a way too crude way of describing what's at best only a part of their agenda). So what are they doing now ? Nimble-footed damage control. They're smart enough to understand that the oil goys will keep ruining the world until the West's energy structure changes, and that while oil prices are rising, temperatures will be too. Being smart politicians, they've identified what they consider the "right" (correct) side of various issues, and are now making a beeline there. The fact that their mode is no longer the "fuck you liberal pussy, we're the neocons" line they held for the last 20 years is just a reflection that they do whatever they need to to secure their goals, even if it isn't very related to the truth. Hey, just like Papa Leo taught them...

[Gloria]

6. Spooky to see the ads for Oil Change on Kos, though....

with this background info now, if true...

[dusmcj]

11. it's cooptation, momentum, controlling the initiative

the neocons are smart, and shrewd political players. They look inward amongst themselves to identify their agenda, and then treat all outsiders as the enemy, or at any rate just another player to factor into the equation. They aggressively pursue their identified aim, and if other parties can usefully contribute to reaching them, then those parties will be used as allies of convenience. They understand innately that conflict is about seizing the advantage, the initiative, and not static defence. I would predict that here they are trying to seize the initiative on new energy and global warming so that they can control steps in those direction rather than let people run them who would not adequately respect the neocons' buddies right to profit, for example, or otherwise damage the socioeconomic power status quo from which the neocons get their influence, which they manipulate for their own ends, and which they work to some extent at least to perpetuate.

They have acquired a significant amount of influence since 2001 (having been handed control of US foreign policy and therefore energy policy), and it's understandable that they wouldn't want to surrender that.

[aquart]

8. "stealing American foreign policy for Israel"...

Well, someone managed to shoehorn an attack on Israel into this discussion. Well, done. Subtle. Someone else is enlisted to carry those torches.

I'm impressed.

[dusmcj]

9. thanks

were you anticipating one because of all the PNAC luminaries that were mentioned jumping ship to get in early on the next public issue of importance ? Maybe they'll be able to manipulate how the US develops alternative energy and prevents global warming, I'm sure there's money to be made there, so given the neocons' past behavior, that should be a motivator, they don't seem to worry too much about whether something is a mitzvah or not.

Oh by the way, the notion that PNAC and the neocons stole American foreign policy (or were handed it by the idiots in the Bush administration) for the sake of Israeli security interests, or precisely Likud's version of same, isn't something I just invented, it's a common assessment of their motivations. I noted that it was far too crude and incomplete to be useful. So who are you addressing with your comment ?

Edited to note that I was attacking PNAC and the neocons, not Israel - as my text would seem to make obvious. Just as I wonder if the ultraconservative flatulence that Likud frequently tries to pass off as being in the best interests of both Israel and Jews across the world is warmly received by, all Israelis and Jews across the world, I wonder whether, assuming the noted premise for the moment that PNAC was freelancing overseas for what it perceived as being optimal outcomes for Israel's security condition, that activity would be universally appreciated by, Israelis for example. Since Mr. Van Creveld recently expressed his um, concerns about the US presence in Iraq, I suspect the answer might be "no".

If the world is not allowed to talk about Israeli security and foreign relations, then that is to the detriment of Israel and its advocates. Figure it out.

[NJCher]

7. I can see the neo-con logic in that

These people are motivated by fear. Their whole mindset is that someone's out to get them. Of course it makes sense to be afraid that a country that is dependent on oil should be afraid when the people who have the oil have such unstable governments (thanks in no small part to us).

This quote illustrates their mindset perfectly:

Korin acknowledged to the Associated Press that she “couldn’t care less” about global warming or protecting the environment from oil drilling. “I’m involved in this because most of the world’s oil reserves are owned by countries that finance people that want to kill us, that finance radical Islam,” she said.

Fear! Fear! Fear!




Cher

[NVMojo]

10. There was a special about this on Iconoclast recently ...

[texpatriot2004]

12. Syriana was a great film. Can't wait to see it again. n.t