Insightful newsletter of Drishtikone: Issue #326 - #SanctionPakistan - The Why?

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“These questions must determine the accused’s fate. This is the sense and essence of red terror. . . . It doesn’t judge the enemy, it strikes him. It shows no mercy, but incinerates anyone who takes up arms on the other side of the barricades and who is of no use to us. . . . But it isn’t a guillotine cutting off heads at a tribunal’s instance. . . . We, like the Israelites, have to build the Kingdom of the Future” ― Donald Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him

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Work does not happen in elitist fluffy gibberish.  It happens in small acts and tasks.  The objective of establishing peace and justice is accomplished with action.

Not talk.

Neither writing of reports nor making speeches which contradict actions and often earlier speeches as well.

If an independent observer 100 years from now would look at the last 80 years of history in the Indian subcontinent and how it impacted the world, she would be aghast at the level of masochism and delusional story-telling that the top global organizations and Western countries indulged in.

There are actions, resolutions, frameworks and organizations committed to establishing peace, stopping terror, and drying up funding to the destabilizing regimes.

Yet one actor.  The main actor.  The one regime where every terror act in the world, as observed by the top US officials and global experts, lead to - remains unimpacted.

Pakistan.

Until sanctions against terrorism cover Pakistan and its military establishment (including the ISI), these sanctions - whether by US or the UN Security Council - remain arbitrary, biased and useless.

NOTE: I will be in India from Dec 31st to Jan 20th, 2022.  Would love to meet as many readers of the newsletter as possible.  Will be in Mumbai, Delhi/Gurgaon and Chandigarh area.  If you would like to meet - please write to me at ChiefEditor@Drishtikone.com - with the best dates, your city and your phone number.  🙏

Sanctions Galore - US actions on Foreign regimes

The most feared weapon that the US has against countries that don’t work per the needs of the US National Security are the economic and trade sanctions.  The Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") of the US Department of the Treasury administers these.

OFAC is the successor of the Office of Foreign Funds Control (FFC) started at the beginning of World War II.

OFAC is the successor to the Office of Foreign Funds Control (the "FFC''), which was established at the advent of World War II following the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The FFC program was administered by the Secretary of the Treasury throughout the war. The FFC's initial purpose was to prevent Nazi use of the occupied countries' holdings of foreign exchange and securities and to prevent forced repatriation of funds belonging to nationals of those countries. These controls were later extended to protect assets of other invaded countries. After the United States formally entered World War II, the FFC played a leading role in economic warfare against the Axis powers by blocking enemy assets and prohibiting foreign trade and financial transactions. (Source)

OFAC was officially created in December 1950 when China entered into the Korean War and President Truman froze all Chinese and North Korean assets which were subject to US Jurisdiction.

The OFAC is not the only body that makes sanctions work.  Here are the different bodies and the roles they play in any economic sanctions by the US. (Source)

• U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) – Regulatory agency responsible for publication and interpretation of sanctions regulations, issuance of licenses authorizing activities with parties subject to sanctions, and civil and administrative enforcement of penalties for violations of sanctions regulations.
• U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – Authorized to prosecute criminal cases involving knowing or willful violations of sanctions laws.
• U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) – May have parallel jurisdiction over U.S.-origin exports to countries subject to comprehensive sanctions (as described below).
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – Requires certain disclosures regarding business with sanctioned regions, countries, or targeted parties.
• U.S. Department of State (DOS) – Sets policy and may be involved in regulatory designations of parties under certain sanctions programs (e.g., Cuba sanctions, Countering American Adversaries Sanctions Act (CAATSA)).

When individuals, companies, organizations, government officials, or government bodies are put under the "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List" (SDN List), they are subject to several sanctions, asset freezes, blocks, restrictions on trade etc. Here is the latest SDN list (Source)

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also maintains other lists apart from the SDN list.

• Consolidated Sanctions List
• ​​S​ectoral Sanctions Identifications List
• F​​oreign Sanctions Evaders List
• Non-SDN Palestinian Legislative Council List
• No​n-SDN Iranian Sanctions List
• T​​he List of Foreign Financial Institutions Subject to Part 561 (the "Part 561 List")
• List of Foreign Financial Institutions Subject to Correspondent Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions (CAPTA List)
• Non-SDN Menu-Based Sanctions List (NS-MBS List)
• Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List (NS-CMIC List)

Some of the listings may overlap in these lists.  For example, for the Consolidated Sanctions List, the OFAC says “While the consolidated sanctions list data files are not part of OFAC's list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons "the SDN List," the records in these consolidated files may also appear on the SDN List.”

Whom does the OFAC put sanctions on?

Now, this is the tricky part.  Here is the main blurb.

The countries in the current list are: Balkans, Belarus, Burma, Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe.

The US sanctions directed against some countries can devastate their economy.  like that of Iran.

The real teeth for the sanctions come from US Dollar being at the center of the global economic system and the ruthless manner in which US administration goes about enforcing them against anyone who trades or deals with the sanctioned country, individuals and organizations.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) administers and enforces most economic and trade sanctions. Specifically, OFAC is responsible for civil enforcement of US sanctions laws, and its regulations are enforced on a strict liability basis, meaning that OFAC does not need to prove fault or intent to enter an enforcement action and issue a civil penalty. In addition to OFAC, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Attorney may pursue criminal investigations and enforcement actions for wilful violations of US sanctions laws. (Source)

Why are these sanctions levied?  It seems it has more to do with geopolitical aims of the US as opposed to any moral stance really.  Majority of the sanctions were about regime change.  Or rather, destabilization of the society that was sanctioned.  Not about punishing a country for terrorism, narcotics trafficking or creating and/or using weapons of mass destruction.

The most important objective of sanctions has been regime change.  80 out of 204 accounted for that. The authors had initially used the term “destabilization” but made it neutral in their 3rd edition.

Are these sanctions useful?  Well, they do end up impacting the economies of the countries sanctioned in a very effective manner.

It is obvious that the UN sanctions are far more effective than the US sanctions.  So what are the UN sanctions?

The Dreaded UN Sanctions

The UN Security Council sanctions a country to “maintain or restore international peace and security under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.”

Since 1966, 30 regimes have been sanctioned.  They are:

Southern Rhodesia, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia (2), Haiti, Iraq (2), Angola, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Eritrea, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Liberia (3), DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan, Lebanon, DPRK, Iran, Libya (2), Guinea-Bissau, CAR, Yemen, South Sudan and Mali, as well as against ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The entities to this list - those who form past of the regimes - are added or changed by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2140 (2014).

For example, earlier this month, three individuals were added for Yemen. (Source)

The UN Security Council exercises its power via Chapter VII.  This provides UNSC the power to “determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression.”  The specific articles that give UNSC the required teeth to go after regimes which are subject to sanctions are Articles 40, 41, and 42.

Not just economic sanctions, the UNSC can enable a military action against the regimes which create a threat to peace.

Global Terrorism as an instrument of state policy and an establishment that funds, trains, backs, creates, supports and provides safe haven to terrorists around the world include launch massive terror attacks such as 9-11 in the US and 7-7 London attacks should be covered by the UNSC action.

UN Terror Related Sanctions resolutions

Let us look at the whole issue a bit more deeply in terms of India’s neighborhood.

The UN Security Council resolution was adopted in 2001 post 9-11.  The Resolution 1373 was adopted with the call to adherence to Resolution 1368.

It clearly prohibited “any form of support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts, including by suppressing recruitment of members of terrorist groups and eliminating the supply of weapons to terrorists,” among other things.

Those things being:

• Prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts
• Criminalize wilful provision of collection of funds used in order to carry out terrorist acts
• Freeze without delay funda and financial assets or economic resources of persons who commit or attem to commit terrorist acts or participate in or facilitate the commission or terrorist acts
• Prohibit their nationals or any persons and entities within their terrorities from making any funds, financial assets or economic resources or financial and other related services valuable for the benefit of persons who commit or attempt commit or facilitate or participate in the commission of terrorist acts
• Refrain from providing any form of support, active to passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts, including by suppressing recruitment of members of terrorist groups and eliminating the support of weapons to terrorists
• Take the necessary steps to prevent the commission of terrorist acts, including by provision of early warning to other States by exchange of informtion
• Deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support or commit terrorist acts, or provide safe havens
• Prevent those who finance, plan, facilitate, or commit terrorist acts from using their respective territories for those purposes against other states or their citizens
• Ensure that any person who participates in financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts is brought to justice and ensure that, in addition rto any other measure gainst them, such terrorist acts are established as serious criminal offences in domestic laws and regulations and that the punishment duly reflects the seriousness of such terrorist acts
• Afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with criminal investigations or criminal proceedings relating to financing or support of terrorist acts
• Prevent the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups by effective border controls and controls on issuance of identity papers and travel documents and through measures for preventing counterfeiting, forgery, or fraudulent use of identity papers and travel documents.

Here is the extract.

The resolution also wants countries to be party to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism.

So who all have been working to support, fund, save, house, train, and create terrorists who do dastardly terror acts around the World?

Pakistan and case for sanctions under UN Security Council Resolutions

In March 2009, President Barack Obama made the most compelling argument about Pakistan’s role in supporting, backing and providing safe haven to Al Qaeda and terrorists perpetrating acts of terror in every part of the world.

Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan.  And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban -- or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged -- that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can. The future of Afghanistan is inextricably linked to the future of its neighbor, Pakistan.  In the nearly eight years since 9/11, al Qaeda and its extremist allies have moved across the border to the remote areas of the Pakistani frontier.  This almost certainly includes al Qaeda's leadership:  Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.  They have used this mountainous terrain as a safe haven to hide, to train terrorists, to communicate with followers, to plot attacks, and to send fighters to support the insurgency in Afghanistan.  For the American people, this border region has become the most dangerous place in the world. But this is not simply an American problem -- far from it. It is, instead, an international security challenge of the highest order.  Terrorist attacks in London and Bali were tied to al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan, as were attacks in North Africa and the Middle East, in Islamabad and in Kabul.  If there is a major attack on an Asian, European, or African city, it, too, is likely to have ties to al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan. (President Barack Obama in his speech on March 27, 2009  -Source / emphasis added)

So let us check Pakistan’s record with respect to United Nation Security Council resolution and directives on terrorism as shared by US Congress, UN Reports, mainstream media and think-tanks.

Pakistan’s violations of Resolution 1373

Prohibit their nationals or any persons and entities within their terrorists from making any funds, financial assets or economic resources or financial and other related services valuable for the benefit of persons who commit or attempt commit or facilitate or participate in the commission of terrorist acts

Pakistan funds and is the major financial and logistics support for the Taliban.

Pakistan continues to be a major source of financial and logistical support for the Taliban. The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has supported the Taliban from their inception with money, training, and weaponry. The ISI also maintains strong ties with the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, a militant group that works closely with the Taliban. (Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network, has also been a deputy leader of the Taliban since 2015.) The Taliban own real estate in Pakistan and receive large donations from private individuals in the country. (Council for Foreign Relations Source)

The Pakistan military establishment is the major backer and sponsor of the Haqqani Network.

Prevent those who finance, plan, facilitate, or commit terrorist acts from using their respective territories for those purposes against other States or their citizens

How are funds provided for AL Qaeda and other terror groups by Pakistan and its establishment?  It is a complex network of NGOs, charitable organizations with direct links to the Pakistani government and the establishment.

• Benevolence International Foundation (Saudi charity org) and a funding source for Al Qaeda based in Peshawar, Pakistan, Al-Haramain jointly designated by the US and Saudi Arabia as an Al-Qaeda funding source had its branches in Albania, Croatia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Kosovo, Indonesia, and Pakistan implicated (Second Report of the Monitoring Group Established Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1363 (2001) and extended by resolutions 1390 (2002) and 1455 (2003) on sanctions against Al Qaeda, S/2003/1070 dated 3 December 2003, Paragraph 46.),
• Rabita Trust with Pakistan's Minister of Finance and Interior as members reportedly financed Qaeda activities including training and recruitment in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. (Source)

Prevent the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups by effective border controls and controls on issuance of identity papers and travel documents and through measures for preventing counterfeiting, forgery, or fraudulent use of identity papers and travel documents.

The Al Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorists roam, work, train, plan and execute terror attacks from Pakistan, with the connivance, support, backup, funding and training from the Pakistani establishment (military, government and intelligence) openly.

For example, Al Libi. a senior al Qaeda leader believed to have plotted and executed attacks against U.S. and coalition forces, including a February 2007 bombing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, was killed by the CIA in Pakistan in 2008. (Source)  Before, of course, Osama Bin Laden was found in Pakistan.

Even the US Senate Committees have acknowledged that groups backed by the Pakistani establishment and military (like the Haqqani Network) provide sanctuaries to Al Qaeda and Taliban.

Now let us see how Pakistan supported and saved Osama Bin Laden.

Refrain from providing any form of support, active to passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts, including by suppressing recruitment of members of terrorist groups and eliminating the support of weapons to terrorists

Top Military officers have been implicated as handlers of Osama Bin Laden who was kept in an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Abbottabad.

Brigadier Ijaz Shah (Retd.), one of Pakistan's most notorious spies, may not be a militant or terrorist in a practical sense of the word, but he is alleged to have been linked with some of the most high profile terrorists and the terrorist acts in the region. The latest allegation came from Pakistan's former Army Chief General Ziaud Din Butt aka General Ziaud Din Khawaja who revealed at a conference on Pakistani-U.S. relations in October 2011 that the then Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Brigadier Ijaz Shah (Retd.), had kept Osama bin Laden in an IB safe house in Abbottabad [1]. In a subsequent, revealing interview with TV channel Dawn News, General Butt repeated the allegation, saying he fully believed that "[Brigadier] Ijaz Shah had kept this man [Bin Laden in the Abbottabad compound] and with the full knowledge of President Pervez Musharraf [2]." {Jamestown Foundation, A Snapshot of Brigadier Ijaz Shah: Bin Laden's ISI Handler, 31 January 2012, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f2a74132.html [accessed 14 November 2021]} (Source)

In 2018, US Military canceled $300m (£230m) in aid to Pakistan over Islamabad's failure to take action against militant groups.

"We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups," Col Faulkner said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the $300m aid - which had earlier been suspended - should be used elsewhere due to "a lack of Pakistani decisive actions" in tackling the issue. (Source)

Pakistani military establishment are the prime sponsors of the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Pakistan’s military establishment and intelligence agencies are primarily responsible for sponsoring groups such as the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network, LeT, and JeM. But the tendency of the legislature and the courts to expand the power of the executive and the military, and the police’s continued operational weakness and corruption have created a civilian counterterrorism bureaucracy that is beholden to the military and its sponsorship of militant groups. Therefore, each civilian institution involved in counterterrorism—the legislature, judiciary, and police—helps facilitate, rather than counteract, militant sponsorship. (CATO Report titled “Double Game: Why Pakistan Supports Militants and Resists U.S. Pressure to Stop”)

The “Twelfth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted pursuant to resolution 2557 (2020) concerning the Taliban and other associated individuals and entities constituting a threat to the peace stability and security of Afghanistan” (Source) was released on June 1, 2021.  It states clearly how Pakistan is the base for the combined forces of Taliban and Al Qaeda, along with their allies and joint conspirators Haqqani Network.

It is interesting to note that CATO suggests that Pakistan funds and sponsors the Haqqani Network - a fact that everyone knows - and UN states that Haqqani Network is the glue between Al Qaeda and Taliban and has fighters in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with criminal investigations or criminal proceedings relating to financing or support of terrorist acts

In the most significant operation - the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden, did the Pakistanis assist the US?

Let us check.

Obama said Pakistan had helped develop the intelligence that led to Bin Laden, but an American official said the Pakistani government was not informed about the strike in advance. “We shared our intelligence on this compound with no other country, including Pakistan,” the official said. (Source)

Contrary to President Obama’s statement post the Laden capture, his CIA chief Leon Pannetta described the workings of US with Pakistan in this operation very very differently.

In his first interview since commanding the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, CIA chief Leon Panetta tells TIME that U.S. officials feared that Pakistan could have undermined the operation by leaking word to its targets. Long before Panetta ordered Vice Admiral William McRaven, head of the Joint Special Forces Command, to undertake the mission at 1:22 p.m. on Friday, the CIA had been gaming out how to structure the raid. Months prior, the U.S. had considered expanding the assault to include coordination with other countries, notably Pakistan. But the CIA ruled out participating with its nominal South Asian ally early on because “it was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission. They might alert the targets,” Panetta says. (Source - Time)

After the strike and capture of Osama Bin Laden, President Obama was imploring Pakistan to reveal Bin Laden’s support network.  Shouldn’t this have been part of the “intelligence” that “Pakistan had helped develop” as stated by Obama in his speech earlier?

US President Barack Obama has called on Pakistan to investigate the network that sustained Osama Bin Laden in his hideout where he was killed last week. Mr Obama told CBS show 60 Minutes the government in Islamabad had to find out if any of its officials knew of the al-Qaeda leader's whereabouts. An Obama administration official said the US wanted to speak to Bin Laden's widows, who are in Pakistani custody. Pakistan has denied knowing Bin Laden was holed up in Abbottabad. (Source)

It is obvious that despite the reality, US officials have tried to underplay Pakistan’s complicity in this whole subterfuge.

Deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support or commit terrorist acts, or provide safe havens

In this report by the Congressional Research Service prepared for Members and Committees of Congress (Source), it is clearly mentioned that terrorist groups were working “with impunity.”

These are only some of the provisions in the UN Security Council Resolution 1373 that Pakistan has clearly and obviously violated.

This and the many other evidences make it necessary to apply economic, trade, and other sanctions against Pakistan, its military, intelligence (the ISI) and its officers immediately by the United Nations and the United States.

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market corner: 10 quick bytes

1. India needs $15 bn funding to set up 15 GW green hydrogen electrolyser capacity by 2030 (Source)
2. India On Way To Becoming Fastest Growing Economy In World: Finance Ministry Report (Source)
3. Adani to invest $70 bn in renewable energy, produce cheapest hydrogen (Source)
4. Govt buys over 209 lakh ton paddy so far this Kharif marketing season for Rs 41,066 cr (Source)
5. Around 7 bcm of LNG reserves likely to rein in fuel price volatility (Source)
6. Indian Railways introduces state-of-the-art Unified Command and Control Centre (Source)
7. SoftBank can invest $5 bn-$10 bn in Indian startups in 2022 (Source)
8. Nykaa shares list at a premium of almost 80%, market cap hits Rs 1 lakh crore mark (Source)
9. India Poised To Achieve Services Export Target Of $1 Trillion By 2030 (Source)
10. Paytm's $2.5 billion IPO mints new millionaires in India (Source)

nota bene

Strides in Electricity Supply: India has made massive gains in nationwide power supply in the last six years and reduced the power deficit down to nearly nil in the financial year 2020-21, the Centre said on Monday (8 November). "India had a massive power deficit of -16.6 percent in 2007-08. Even in 2011-12, it was -10.6 percent," the Ministry of Power said in a statement on Monday. "Through the multi-pronged, comprehensive and aggressive interventions of the government, this deficit is near about wiped out, consistently over the last three years: - 0.4 percent in 2020-21, - 0.7 percent in 2019-20 and - 0.8 percent in 2018-19," the ministry said.  (Source)

Dawood-Cricket-Sex links: The wife of underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Riyaz Bhati has filed an application with the Mumbai police accusing her husband of rape and running a high-profile sex racket. In the requisition, besides naming her husband, the other people she has accused of rape are the Indian cricketers Hardik Pandya and Munaf Patel, senior Congress leader and former BCCI chairman Rajiv Shukla and one Prithviraj Kothari. Rehnuma Bhati alleged that her husband, Riyaz Bhati, a suspected gangster, pushed her to have sexual relations with his business associates and other “high-profile” individuals. (Source)

Work from Home favored: Reed.co.uk, a UK recruitment website, polled 2,002 working adults for their views on remote working, pay, and how flexible they felt their employer had been. Of the people polled, 35% said that they were willing to take a paycut in exchange for permanent remote working. Slightly more, 37%, said they wouldn't, while 19% said they couldn't work remotely. The remainder said they weren't sure. Just over a quarter of respondents said people working full time from the office should be paid more - and 23% said that these people should be prioritized for promotion. (Source)

E-Amrit and COP26: India launched the ‘E-Amrit’ web portal on electric vehicles (EVs) at the ongoing COP26 Summit in Glasgow on Wednesday. The website is a one-stop destination for all information on electric vehicles, a government statement read. The E-Amrit portal contains information related to burst myths around the adoption of EVs, as well as their purchase, investment opportunities, policies, subsidies, etc. The portal has been developed and hosted by NITI Aayog, under a collaborative knowledge exchange program with the UK government and as part of the UK-India Joint Roadmap 2030 (Source)

Free Sex for a Jab: In an effort to pump up business once Austria introduces a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine pass in the coming weeks, one enterprising palace of pleasure is putting its money where, well, it will surely pay off. The FunPalast: Sex Star Sauna Club is offering a 30-minute voucher with the “lady of your choice” with every vaccine administered on-site, which the club is offering every Monday from 4 to 10 p.m. until the end of November when the vaccine rules take effect. (Source)

America’s Economic Mess: Inflation has reached its highest point in 31 years, as prices of everyday consumer goods rose 6.2 percent in October, with President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan expected to make things worse. The year-over-year increase in the consumer price index exceeded the 5.4% rise in September, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. From September to October, prices jumped 0.9%, the highest month-over-month increase since June. The increase in the cost of living has been fueled by gas prices jumping a whopping 59 percent over the last year and meat rising 24 percent. Inflation is eroding the strong gains in wages and salaries that have flowed to America's workers in recent months, creating political headaches for the Biden administration and congressional Democrats and intensifying pressure on the Federal Reserve as it considers how fast to withdraw its efforts to boost the economy. Job gains and pay raises have been much healthier during the pandemic recovery than they were after the Great Recession roughly a decade ago. But in contrast to the years that followed that downturn, inflation is now accelerating and diminishing Americans' confidence in the economy, surveys have found. Energy costs soared 4.8% just from September to October, with gasoline, natural gas and heating oil surging for the same reason that many other commodities have grown more expensive: Demand has risen sharply as Americans are driving and flying more, but supplies haven't kept up. (Source)

video corner: The Ningyo - Our Creative options?

I was listening to a new director’s interview recently and he was discussing how difficult it is for new movie directing aspirants to break into the Indian film world.  Also, how ill-equipped most are.

That, in this world?  Here is a brilliantly done video that was shot mostly in the living room of the creative team of the artist couple Tran Ma and Miguel Ortega.  It is a supernatural fantasy film involving a man’s search for a beast from Japanese mythology.  The total budget of the movie - $60,000.  The couple is now turning it into a television series

A 1911 Faustian tale about losing oneself in the process of achieving our goals. Told through the world of cryptozoology.

Marlowe has forsaken hunting to prove the existence of the real creatures behind the folklore and then protect them. But to do so, he might have to make a Faustian bargain with a man named H. Prestor Sealous. (Source)

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