Echoes of the San Bernardino Working?

Another day, another mass shooting in these United States. Apparently the one that unfolded on December 2, 2015, was the deadliest in this nation since 2012's Sandy Hook shooting. The December 2nd incident unfolded in San Bernardino, CA, at the Inland Regional Center.

When it was all said and done, fourteen unfortunate souls lost their lives while an additional 17 were wounded. The alleged shooters were a husband and wife duo known as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and twenty-seven year old Tashfeen Malik. Both Farook and Malik were Pakistani, according to the present reports. Farook was a US citizen born in the state of Illinois while Malik was here on a visa, having apparently come to the United States with Farook after he had been traveling overseas over a year ago.

The specter of terrorism has already been raised due to Mr. Farook's company and travels in additional to how he met Mrs. Malik. MSNBC reports:

"Mr. Farook, a United States citizen, was born in Illinois to Pakistani immigrant parents. Family members said he had been a devout Sunni Muslim, and on a dating website several years ago, he listed Urdu as his mother tongue. He had gone to Saudi Arabia multiple times, including a 2013 trip for the annual hajj, the trip to Mecca that all Muslims are expected to complete at least once, federal officials said.

"Mr. Bowdich said that Mr. Farook visited Pakistan last year, and that he and Ms. Malik entered the United States from Pakistan in July 2014. She traveled on a Pakistani passport and entered the United States on a K-1 visa, a 90-day visa given to fiancés planning to marry Americans. The couple applied on Sept. 30, 2014, for a permanent resident green card for Ms. Malik, which requires passing pass criminal and national security background checks using F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security databases, and she was granted a conditional green card in July 2015."

The same article implies Mr. Farook may have also been in contact with radicals:

"The F.B.I. has begun treating its inquiry as a counterterrorism investigation, two law enforcement officials said Thursday. The suspects’ extensive arsenal, their recent Middle East travels and evidence that one had been in touch with people with Islamist extremist views, both in the United States and abroad, all contributed to the decision to refocus the investigation."

Farook

No doubt this will send most researchers scrambling for more Saudi links, though these avenues are becoming increasingly dated.

While the Saudis have given ample backing to Sunni extremists (the branch of Islam both Farook and Malik adhered too) over the years, they have become increasingly alienated from these factions in recent years. Indeed the Kingdom, at least publicly, had a full on break with the Muslim Brotherhood (the chief backers of Sunni extremism for decades) this past year. US foreign policy has played a key role in this break.

"All these recent developments are especially disconcerting because of the visible deterioration of governmental relations between Washington and the Gulf states, and the emergence of strong disagreements concerning the Muslim Brotherhood and the future of the region between the Gulf states themselves, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qater.

"Saudi-U.S. relations frayed after the Bush administration's adoption of the neocon agenda of change in the Middle East, particularly by the plans, which King Abdullah publicly oppose, for an Iraqi war in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein...

"In March 2014 Saudi Arabia designated the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists, along with two al-Qaedist groups (the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham) backed by Qater in Syria. This was after Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, in alliance with Qatar, hailed the Muslim Brotherhood as an ally for creating an emerging new order in the Middle East."

(The American Deep State, Peter Dale Scott, pg. 80)

the logo of the Muslim Brotherhood

Indeed, Turkey has emerged as a major backer of ISIS, as Russia has made abundantly clear during the past week.  Turkey is of course in the midst of controversy after it downed a Russian jet towards the end of November after it allegedly violated Turkish air space. Interestingly, Turkey has recently approached Pakistan for help in its war against ISIS and Kurdish guerrilla group PKK (of which the bulk of Turkey's military actions have been geared towards).

the Russian jet after it was hit

No doubt much will be made about the possible links to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks in regards to Farook and Malil's possible radicalism, but this researcher believes a probe of possible Turkish contacts would be far more revealing.

Ultimately, to little evidence is available to judge the true nature of this event in depe political context at present.

There are, however, some striking synchronicistic associations to the shooting spree that I would now like to address. These largely relate to a series of books that first began to be released in 2011 by former FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) agent Walter Bosley dubbed Empire of the Wheel. This researcher finds this series, which presently stands at three parts, rather dubious as well as the background of the writer.

As to the former, Bosley is knee deep in numerous Communistic-Masonic-NWO conspiracy theories, many of them dated as well as overly dependent on the research of his associate, Joseph P. Farrell, whose researcher on post-WWII Nazism at times borders on high camp. As to Bosley's background, this researcher will remind the reader of this researcher's chronicles of "former" FBI agents (such as here and here) who ran roughshod over the conspiratorial right for decades. The AFOSI has had a go at alternative researchers a time or two as well, especially in one spectacular instance chronicled on this blog before here and here.

So yes, Bosley's premise should be taken with a massive heaping of salt. Indeed, I am tempted to reject it outright had he not stumbled over several compelling threads concerning German WWI intelligence activities that correlated with research of my own. Presently, my view is that Bosely's take is badly mired by dubious sources, but may in fact have a basis in reality.

As to that premise, here is a brief rundown: Bosley became interested in a series of curious murders and suicides that unfolded in San Bernardino in 1915. Two deaths involved children who had been given poisoned candy while another was a suicide involving an enigmatic drifter who displayed his body in his Masonic regalia. Bosley essentially argues that these deaths were both related to WWI espionage activities as well as the dreaded occult ritual murder. Over the course of the series many of the usual suspects have made appearances: Aleister Crowley and the O.T.O, the Masons, Fabian Socialists, the Zodiac killer, Theosophists, H.P. Lovecraft, Spiritualists, UFOs, ley lines and even some of the lesser traveled paths such as Houdini and the mysterious Sonora Air Club (which some researchers have linked to the 1897 air ship mystery sightings).

Crowley

Properly addressing all of these threads and there varying degrees of legitimacy and probability are vastly beyond the scope of this present article so lets us focus on the foundation of Bosley's theory: that in 1915 a series of ritual murders (some of them labeled as murders, others as suicides) unfolded in and around San Bernardino at sites near telluric currents, which in occult traditions have long been mistakenly identified as ley lines (of which this blog has covered before here).

"... two of the lines passing through Disneyland continuing north and eastward into the Inland Empire. These lines pass within less than ten miles of downtown San Bernardino. A third line, emanating from another set of spiraling lines, passes along what used to be called Route 66, the legendary national highway. The ley energy that flows west-east along old Route 66 follows the road right into town along Fifth Street, bisecting the city with its energy path.

"If one accepts the notion of ley energy, the entire San Bernardino area is full of it, so to speak... an entire system of ley energy winds and loops throughout San Bernardino and neighboring areas. The main nodal point of power is to be found in the heart of our mystery: Urbita Springs Park...  

"... we propose that the perpetrator(s) of the deaths we suspect for murders were influenced by a belief in such a ley (telluric) power grid. Thus, we suggest Cora Stanton met her fate literally yards from what the perpetrator(s) believed was a ley nodal point. Their purpose was to prime the pump, so to speak, with the life energy of the victims to get the power grid going and serve their aim."

(Empire of the Wheel Book I, Walter Bosley & Richard B. Spence, pgs. 207-210) 

an example of possible ley lines

As for the current tragedy that unfolded in San Bernadino on December 2, 2015, it occurred at the Inland Regional Center. What Bosley believed was the key murder in what he dubbed the "San Bernardino Working" unfolded at a location known as Urbita Springs Park where the body of a mysterious woman known as Cora Stanton was found. Today the Inland Center Mall stands in the location of the former park. Inland Regional Center is only about two miles or less from the Inland Center Mall.

the Inland Center Mall

What's more, Farook and Malik met their ends during a shoot out with police in the nearby suburb of Redlands. Redlands also hosted several of the 1915 murder/suicides Bosley proposes. He notes:

"Orta Hedges died in Redlands, also crossed by leys and reputedly one of the most haunted towns in America known for rumors of devil worship as well as plentiful ghost stories. Her home sat upon an intersection of two telluric 'leys'.

"Likewise, the allegedly tormented E. P. Braid took his life in Redlands – his place of death also on the intersection of two such lines. Both telluric intersections where Hedges and Braid died included such lines following directly from the major nodal point in Urbita Springs Park."

(Empire of the Wheel Book I, Walter Bosley, pgs. 210-211)

One final synch that with Empire: Bosley believes that the Urbita Sprigs Park victim, known to posterity as Cora Stanton, was in fact the notorious Etta Place, the companion of Old West outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid! It has long been speculated Place was married to Sundance (a notion Bosley dismisses), thus potentially giving us another armed husband and wife duo wondering around San Bernardino a century ago.

And with that I shall wrap up for now. If more compelling information turns up I shall weigh in. Until then dear readers.

Sundance and Etta Place

The Hum -Updated 11/15/15

Note: Updates have been added at the bottom of the original article.


November 13, 2015 witnessed a series of horrific terror attacks around Paris that have left possibly over a hundred people dead and scores more wounded. This is potentially the third major terror attack to unfold in just a little over a month. On October 10, 2015, two bombs were detonated in the Turkish capital of Ankara during a peace rally primarily backed by the nation's Kurdish minority that left some 102 people dead. Then, on October 31, a Russian passenger plane known as Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Over 200 people were left dead.

the wreckage of Metrojet Flight 9268

The Russian incident is still under investigation, but there is mounting evidence of a bomb exploding in the plane. A branch of ISIS has reportedly claimed responsibility for the crash. As many conspiracy websites have noted, this incident occurred on Halloween. There is no dispute that the Turkish incident was a terror attack and there has also been a push to link this attack to ISIS despite targeting Kurds, an ongoing thorn in the side of Turkish national interests (as well as a dedicated advisory of ISIS).

the aftermath of the Ankara bombing

The bombing also aided the controversial reign of Prime Minister (and alleged NATO puppet) Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is interesting to note that there is growing evidence that Turkey is itself a major backer of ISIS. And of course, there are those pesky rumors that ISIS is simply an extension of Operation Gladio, sometimes referred to as "B." The previous link also notes the curious occurrence of terror attacks in France and Turkey toward the end of last year/beginning of this year as well (hint, one was the Charlie Hedbo shooting spree, which occurred fairly close geographically to the present attacks).

These latest incidents occurred on Friday the 13th, a date supposedly notorious due to the fact that the Knights Templars were officially suppressed on October 13, 1307 by King Philip IV. No doubt this will have the blogosphere buzzing as will early indications that the attackers may have been Muslims. If this is in fact the case, this could be a tipping point for Europe. Already the EU is overburdened with the migrant crisis (driven in no small part by American imperial aspirations) and there is already much suspicion that ISIS assets have been smuggled in with the migrants in mass. Already Europe's resurgent far right has made many gains via the migrant crisis and this may be the attack to push things into the black.

Of course, there is also much speculation that the US intelligence community assisted in the creation of ISIS. In going down this path, we are confronted with the specter of the US, via a revamped Gladio operation, instituting another Years of Lead on a global scale. Giving the growing instability in the world, especially the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria as well as the saber rattling in the South China Sea, this possibility carries a high probability for those who have studied Gladio.

On a personal note, this researcher finds it down right surreal that the rock band potentially involved in the Paris terror spree was the Eagles of Death Metal. This group was cofounded by Josh Homme, most well known for his work with Queens of the Stone Age, but whose work with the earlier Kyuss has long fascinated this researcher. Losing a visionary like Homme who was essential in creating the legendary Palm Desert scene would be further salt in the wound.

And of course, this would have been my father's eightieth birth day if he had lived to see it. These truly strange times we're living in indeed. Stay tuned dear readers for more updates as more information becomes available.

Homme

Update 11/14/15:

In an announcement that should surprise absolutely no one, ISIS has in fact be credited with the attacks, of which there six separate initiated at the same in Paris last night. Apparently there were eight perpetrators, all of whom are now allegedly dead. Presently the death count stands at 127, though the number has been projected as 150 at some points. Naturally, France has declared a state of emergency, the most rigid and far reaching since the attempted coup against de Gaulle in 1961.

There are also some interesting esoteric aspects to the date of November 13th involving the Egyptian god Osiris and his wife/sister Isis (har har), which I've addressed before here.

Update: 11/15/16:

The Eagles of Death Metal all survived the attack while Josh Homme himself was not touring with the group at the time. Their merch manager, however, lost his life. As someone who has attended plenty of shows featuring this type of music over the years, it deeply saddens me that the comradely and good vibrations this type of music inspires live could end in such bloodshed.

On a more serious note (har har), it has been reported that a passport allegedly identifying one of the attackers as a Syrian refugee has reportedly been found. Of course, many are already pointing out how terribly convenient it is that an almost fully intact passport would be found amongst such chaos...

It is also interesting to note that CIA director John O. Brennan met with his French counterpart shortly before the attacks. It has also been reported that French security services had been planning a drill involving terror attacks at multiple sites shortly before the actual attacks began. How fortunate...

CIA director Brennan, a man with extensive expertise and experience with special ops

Legends of Assassins Part III

Welcome to the third installment in my examination the infamous Nizari, an Ismaili sect more commonly referred to as the Assassins or Hashshashins. With the first part of this series I gave a brief run down of the history of the Ismaili branch of Shiaism with a special emphasis on their rule during the legendary Fatimid Caliphate. The second installment began to examine the Nizari in earnest with an account of the legendary dai and founder of the Assassin order, Hasan-i Sabbah.

As was noted there, many of the more sensational accounts of Hasan had little to no basis in reality. By all accounts, he was a brilliant tactician and scholar who lived a pious life that inspired the sect he founded. While possessing a esoteric doctrine, credible evidence of widespread libertinism amongst the Assassins during Hasan's era is none existent. The same can not be said for some of his successors, however.

Hasan-i Sabbah

But before getting to that, let us first consider Hasan-i's two most immediate successors who largely stayed the course. The first was one of Hasan-i's generals, Kiya Buzurgumid.

"Buzurgumid was one of Hasan's most trusted general; he had commanded the castle of Lammassar, the second most important Assassin fortress, for over two decades. During the last months of his fatal illness, Hasan summoned Buzurgumid to Alamut and appointed him his successor. Hassan is said to have whispered to Buzurgumid that as long as he remained worthy, Hasan's spirit would console him. Buzurgumid inherited the large Nizari Persian territories, composed of three regional centers some fifteen hundred miles apart: the first at Alamut; the second to the southeast in Girdkuh; the third in Quhistan farther to the southeast in central Persia. The fledgling Syrian branch of the Nizaris was also under his command. Confounding the expectations of his enemies, Buzurgumid was an able administrator and a courageous leader...

"The political and religious isolation of the Nizari community made their continual survival and expansion all the more unexpected. Under Buzurgumid's leadership, Alamut even operated its own mint. Buzurgumid remained a powerful force with which to be reckoned by both Sunni and Shiite powers, and he expanded the Nizari state to its ultimate territorial limits."

(The Assassins and the Templars, James Wasserman, pgs. 113-115) 

a portion of the Nizari state, i.e their castle strongholds

Buzurgumid's successor did not fare remotely as well.

"Just days before his death, Buzurgumid passed the leadership to his son Muhammad, a conservative man whose ascension to power indicated a new phase for the Nizari state. For one thing, the succession to the Master of Alamut would henceforth be passed from father to son. For another, Muhammad's overall ambition for expansion was limited. His military activity, for example, was considerably more provincial than his father's. Fourteen assassinations were recorded during his twenty-four year reign, most taking place during his first five years. No significant military operations were undertaken outside the region of Alamut and the other established Nizari centers, although some of his local campaigns were quite aggressive...

"An increasing number of Nizaris at Alamut began to feel frustrated that the fire had gone out of their movement. The limit of Muhammad's quest for territorial expansion seemed to be his mission to Afghanistan. To many it seemed that the grand vision of world conquest and domination had become trivialized into local raids and cattle theft. A nostalgia for the spiritual frenzy that had animated the community in earlier times became pronounced. People were impatient for the promised appearance of the long-awaited Imam."

(The Assassins and the Templars, James Wasserman, pgs. 115-116)

Alamut

It was Muhammad I's son who likely inspired the notorious reputation of the Nizari more than any other Lord of Alamut. Even prior to his accession as the Lord of Alamut he had inspired a devoted following amongst the Nizari. This caused his own father, Muhammad I, many sleepless nights.

"Among them there was still some who harked back to the glorious days of Hasan-i Sabbah – to the dedication and adventure of his early struggles, and the religious faith that inspired them. They found a leader in Hasan, the son and heir apparent of the Lord of Alamut, Muhammad. His interest began early. 'When he had nearly approached the age of discretion he conceived the desire to study and examine the teachings of Hasan-i Sabbah and his own forefathers; and... he came to excel in the exposition of their creed... With... the eloquence of his words he won over the greater part of the people. Now his father being altogether lacking in that art, his son.... appeared a greater scholar beside him, and therefore... the vulgar sought to follow his lead. And not having heard the like discourses from his father they began to think that he was the Imam that had been promised by Hasan-i Sabbah. The people's attachment to him increased and they made haste to follow him as their leader.'

"Muhammad did not like this at all. A conservative in his Ismailism, 'he was rigid in his observance of the principles laid down by his father and Hasan[-i Sabbah] with regard to the conduct of propaganda on behalf of the Imam and the outward observance of Muslim practices; and he considered his son's behavior to be inconsistent with those principles. He therefore denounced roundly and having assembled the people spoke as follows: "This Hasan is my son, and I am not the Imam but one of his da'is. Whoever listens to these words and believes them is an infidel and atheist." And on these grounds he punished some who had believed in his son's Imamate with all manner of torturers and torments, and on one occasion put 250 persons to death on Alamut and then binding their corpses on the backs of 250 others condemned on the same charge he expelled these latter from the castle. And in this way they were discouraged and suppressed.' Hasan bided his time, and managed to dispel his father's suspicions. On Muhammad's death in 1162 he succeeded him without opposition. He was then about 35 years old."

(The Assassins, Bernard Lewis, pgs. 70-71)

Initially Hasan II's rule was largely uneventful. But two and a half years into his reign a truly curious ceremony was held that forever changed the Nizari community.

"Ismaili accounts of what happened are preserved in the later literature of the sect and also, in somewhat modified form, in the Persian chronicles written after the fall of Alamut. They tell a curious tell. On the 17th day of the month of Ramadan, of the year 559 [8 August 1164], under the ascendancy of Virgo and when the sun was in Cancer, Hasan ordered the erection of a pulpit in the courtyard of Alamut, facing towards the west, with four great banners of four colours, white, red, yellow, and green, at the four corners. The people from the different regions, whom he had previously summoned to Alamut, were assembled in the courtyard – those from the East on the right side, those from the West on the left side, and those from the North, from Rudbar and Daylam, in front, facing the pulpit. As the pulpit faced west the congregants had their backs towards Mecca. 'Then,' says an Ismaili tract, 'towards noon, the Lord [Hasan], on his mention be peace, wearing a white garment and white turban, came down from the castle, approached the pulpit from the right side, and in the most perfect manner ascended it. Three times he uttered greetings, first to the Daylamis, then to those on the right, then to those on the left. In a moment he sat down, and then rose up again and, holding his sword, spoke in a loud voice.' Addressing himself to 'the inhabitants of the worlds, jinn, men, and angels,' he announced that a message had come to him from the hidden Imam, with new guidance. 'The Imam of our time has sent you his blessing and his compassion, and has called you his special chosen servants. He has freed you from the burden of the rules of Holy Law, and has brought you to the Resurrection.' In addition, the Imam named Hasan, the son of Muhammad, the son of Buzurgumid, as 'our vicar, da'i and proof. Our party must obey and follow him both in religious and worldly matters, recognize his commands as binding, and know that his word is our word.' When he had completed his address, Hasan stepped down from the pulpit, and performed two prostrations of the festival prayer. Then, a table having being laid, he invited them to break their fast , join in a banquet, and make merry. Messengers were sent to carry the glad tidings to the east and west. In Quhistan, the chief of the fortress of Mu'minabad repeated the ceremony of Alamut, and proclaimed himself as the vicar of Hasan, from a public facing the wrong way; 'And that day on which these ignominies were divulged and these evils proclaimed in the nest of heretics, Mu'minabad, that assembly played harp and rebeck and openly drank wine upon the various steps of the pulpit and within its precincts. In Syria too the word was received, and the faithful celebrated the end of the law."

(The Assassins, Bernard Lewis, pgs. 72-73)

Hasan II's proclamations curiously addressed djinns among other beings

Hasan II's proclamation, widely accepted by the bulk of the Nizaris, profoundly effected the ideology of the movement. In latter years Hasan II was credited as a biological descendant of the line of Ali and thus the Imam (which in Shiaism, as noted in part one, shares some overlap with the concepts of"Hidden Masters" and "Secret Chiefs" in the occult) but in Hasan II's time this seemingly had a more esoteric meaning. And that is if he in fact ever claimed to be the Imam.

"The new dispensation brought an important change in the status of the Lord of Alamut. In the sermon in the castle courtyard, he declared to be the vicar of the Imam and the Living Proof; as the bringer of the Resurrection (qiyama), he is the Qa'im, a dominating figure in Ismaili eschatology. According to Rashid al-Din, after his public manifestation Hasan circulated writings in which he said that, while outwardly he was known as the grandson of Buzurgumid, in the esoteric reality he was the Imam of the time, and the son of the previous Imam, of the line of Nizar. It is possible that, as some have argued,  Hasan was not claiming physical descent from Nizar, which in the age of the Resurrection had ceased to signify, but a kind of spiritual filiation. There are indeed precedents in early Islamic messianic movements of such claims to spiritual or adoptive descent from the house of Prophet..."

(The Assassins, Bernard Lewis, pg. 74)

Here's a bit more on the metaphysical significance of the "spiritual Imam":

"When Hasan II proclaimed the Great Resurrection, which marks the end of Time, he lifted the veil of Concealment and abrogated the religious Law. He offered communal as well as individual participates in the mystic's great adventure, perfect freedom.

"...  he acted on behalf of the Imam, and did not claim to be the Imam himself. (In fact he took the title of Caliph or 'representative'.) But as the family of Ali is the same as perfect consciousness, then perfect consciousness is the same as the family of Ali. The realized mystic 'becomes' a descendant of Ali (like the Persian Salman, whom Ali adopted by covering him with his cloak, and who is much revered by the sufis, Shiites and Ismailis alike). In reality, in haqiqah, Hasan II was the Imam because, in the Ismaili phrase, he had realize the 'Imam-of-his-own-being.' The Qiyamat was thus an invitation to each of his followers to do the same, or at least to participate in the pleasures of paradise on earth.

"The legend of the paradisal garden at Alamut where the houris, cupbears, wine and hashish of paradise were enjoyed by the Assassins in the flesh, may stem from a folk memory of the Qiyamat. Or it may even be literally true. For the realized consciousness this world is no other than paradise, and it's bliss and pleasures are all permitted. The Koran describes paradise as a garden. How logical then for wealthy Alamut to become outwardly the reflection of the spiritual state of the Qiyamat."

(Scandal, Peter Lamborn Wilson, pg. 40) 

The Prince of Persia provides the mythological perception of Alamut; was this perception never meant to be a reality, biut a state of being?

On the whole these proclamations were well received, but hardline dissidents would ensure that Hasan II's reign was short lived. But the genie was already out of the proverbial bottle and Hasan II's "heresies" would live on well past his expiration date. But for the survival of the Nizari community, they were greatly modified with an emphasis on a literal, exoteric interpretation of Hasan II's proclamation by his successors.

"In 1166 Hasan II was murdered after only four years of rule. His enemies were perhaps in league with conservative elements of Alamut who resented the Qiyamat, the dissolving of the old secret hierarchy (and thus their own powers as hierarchs) and who feared to live thus openly as heretics. Hasan II's son however succeeded him and established the Qiyamat firmly as Nizari doctrine.

"If the Qiyamat were accepted in its full implications however it would probably have brought about the dissolution and end of Nizari Ismailism as a separate sect. Hasan II as Qa'im or 'Lord of the Resurrection' had released the Alamutis from all struggle and all sense of legitimist urgency. Pure esotericism, after all, cannot be bound by any form.

"Hasan II's son, therefore, compromised. Apparently he decided to 'reveal' that his father was in fact and in blood a direct descendent of Nizar. The story runs that after Hasan-i Sabbah had established Alamut, a mysterious emissary delivered to him the infant grandson of Imam Nizar. The child was raised secretly at Alamut. He grew up, had a son, died. The son had a son. This baby was born on the same day as the son of the Old Man of the Mountain, the outward ruler. The infants were surreptitiously exchanged in their cradles. Not even the Old Man knew of the ruse. Another version was the hidden Imam committing adultery with the Old Man's wife, and producing as love-child the infant Hasan II.

"The Ismailis accepted these claims. Even after the fall of Alamut to the Mongol hordes the line survived, and the present leader of the sect, the Aga Khan, is known as the forty-ninth in descent from Ali (and pretender to the throne of Egypt!). The emphasis on Alid legitimacy has preserved the sect as a sect. Whether it is literally true or not, however, matters little to understanding of the Qiyamat.

"With the proclamation of the Resurrection, the teachings of Ismailism were forever expanded beyond the borders imposed on them by any historical event. The Qiyamat remains as a state of consciousness which anyone can adhere to or enter, a garden without walls, a sect without a church, a lost moment of Islamic history the refuses to be forgotten, standing outside time, a reproach or challenge to all legalism and moralism, to all the cruelty of the exoteric. An invitation to paradise."

(Scandal, Peter Lamborn Wilson, pgs. 41-42)

a depiction of al-Qiyama

After the death Muhammad II, Hasan II's son, there were repeated efforts to reinstitute the Shariah and bring the Nizari back in to the mainline Islamic community, with varying degrees of success. Hasan III, Muhammad II's son, would be the most successful in this regard. His successor, Muhammad III (often referred to as Aladdin) would attempt a middle ground.

"In the third and final phase of their history during the Alamut period, the Nizaris, who had become increasingly weary of their isolation within Muslim society, attempted a tactical rapprochement with the Sunni world. Immediately upon his accession in 1210, Jalal al-Din Hasan III (1210-21), the sixth Lord of Alamut, publicly repudiated the teachings associated with the declaration of the Resurrection and proclaimed his adherence to Sunni Islam, ordering his followers to observe the sacred law of Islam in its Sunni form. The Nizari community, viewing the unprecedented proclamations of their infallible imam as a reimposition of dissimulation (taqiyya), obeyed Hasan III's orders without dissent. The outside world too, accepted Hasan III's proclamations; and the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir (1180-1225), who in the aftermath of the disintegration of Saljuq rule was reviving the power and prestige of the caliph at Baghdad, issued a decree confirming the Nizari leader's new policy. Hasan III's bold accommodation to the outside world accorded the Nizari community a valuable respite from the continued Sunni persecutions. During the reign of Hasan III's son and successor, Ala al-Din Muhammad III (1221-55), however, enforcement of Sunni law was gradually relaxed and the Nizari  community openly reverted to its earlier traditions.

"The long reign of Muhammad III coincided with a turbulent period in the medieval history of Persia and the Muslim East, which now experienced a foretaste of the Mongol devastations. Muhammad III attempted in vain for some time to establish friendly relations with the Mongols and to save his community from their wrath. The Mongols had already been turned against the Nizari Isma'ilis by the Sunni scholars at their court; and fresh complaints about them from the Sunni judges of Qazwin and other Persian cities flowed into the Great Khan's court in Mongolia. As a result, when the Great Khan Mongke (1251-9) decided to complete the Mongol conquest of western Asia, he assigned first priority to the destruction of the Nizari community in Persia..."

(The Assassin Legends, Farhad Daftary, pgs. 42-43)

an image done by Marco Polo allegedly of Muhammad III (who died a year after Polo was born)

Under Muhammad III, the last major change to Nizari doctrine during the Alamut period occurred. Specifically, he tried to reconcile the proclamation of the Resurrection with Hasan III's about-face  reinstitution of the Shariah.

"The Nizaris developed a new doctrinal turn in order to reconcile the Qiyama teachings with the behavior of Hasan III. It was said that Qiyama was a time of the outward revelation of the true spiritual identity of the Imam in all his glory to the community, during which direct communication with God was possible. In periods of the radiant presence of the Imam, concepts like Shariah became meaningless, if not blasphemous. On the other hand, there are also periods of occultation, when the Imam chooses to conceal his true self from the community, even when he is physically present. During these times, the outward observance of Shariah is required to maintain the purity of the Law. This phase of  allegiance  to the sharia was designated as Satr, the period during which the Imam hides his true spiritual status by appearing to act merely as the worldly ruler of the Nizaris, rather than as the Qaim of the Qiyama, which is the true potential of every Nizari Imam. The alternation between the open and hidden phases of the Imam, between Qiyama and Satr, takes place at his discretion. Thus, under the reign of Muhammad III, as in pre-Qiyama Alamut, there was an observance of the Shariah, although not so strictly enforced as under his father's rule."

(The Templars and the Assassins, James Wasserman, pg. 124)

One suspects that the enforcement of the Shariah was very lax indeed under Muhammad III. He is generally viewed as a decadent ruler who's eccentric behavior earned him a reputation as a madman. He has also been described as a sadist as well as an alcoholic. Whatever the case, by the end of his long reign in 1255 the end was very near. His son, Khurshah, would only rule for a single year before Alamut fell to the Mongols. The rest of the Nizari state would soon follow. Khurshah, the twenty-seventh Nizari Imam, was murdered by the Mongols not long afterwards. The Nizari imamate continued amongst progeny, however, with its current head being Aga Khan IV. Today they are the second largest branch within Shiaism with an estimated fifteen million followers world wide.

Having now given a broad overview of the history of the Nizari I shall focus on some of the more fantastical claims concerning them in the next installment. Yes, hashish and the Templars will soon be discussed at length. Stay tuned dear reader.

Reflections on Umpqua

Like many, this researcher was feeling very bad vibes about the end of September. Mercifully, September proved to be rather uneventful (at least within these United States) but October has begun on an ominous note.

Against the backdrop of a declining economy and Russian intervention in Syria that may prove devastating to US geopolitical goals in the Middle East, another "lone wolf" killer has shot up a school. The killing field was located at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. Ten individuals were ultimately left dead, including the shooter who died via suicide after a shot out with police (at least in the current narrative on 10/3/15). Apparently the bulk of the victims came from an English class in which the shooter was enrolled.

True to form, this individual is another "three-named" murderer that the media is referring to as Chris Harper-Mercer. As can be expected, the mainstream and alternative media are already deeply engaged in another pointless and utterly frivolous debate concerning gun control that largely overlooks some of the more curious aspects of the shooting.

This researcher has been quite struck by some of the parallels between the Umpqua shooting and the one that unfolded at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012. Beyond the fact that both shooting sprees involved schools, there are some striking similarities between Harper-Mercer and the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza.

Adam Lanza

Both individuals were described as serious introverts and loners who displayed ample evidence of mental illness. Both individuals were living with their mothers at the time of the shooting, who in both cases seem to have served as the only real human contact either man had on a regular basis. And both mothers seem to have been serious gun enthusiasts. Lanza's mother, Nancy, was an avid gun collector who purchased the weapons Adam used in the school shooting.

Nancy Lanza

Apparently Harper-Mercer's mother had a similar fondness for firearms. MSNBC reports:

"The mother of the rage-filled loner who shot and killed nine people at an Oregon community college blasted opponents of open-carry laws and bragged about her personal arsenal of weapons online, according to reports.

"Laurel Harper, a nurse who shared an apartment near the Umpqua Community College campus with her troubled 26-year-old son Chris Harper Mercer, boasted on Facebook that she owned a stockpile of handguns and assault rifles, according to vocativ.com. 

" “And when the mood strikes, and as long as we’re tossing around brand names, I sling an AR, Tek-9 or AK over my shoulder, or holster a Glock 21 (not 22), or one of my other handguns, like the Sig Sauer P226, and walk out the door,' Harper bragged. 'I find the shotguns are a little too cumbersome to open carry.' "

allegedly Laurel Harper

Laurel Harper did not lose her life to her son as Nancy Lanza had, but one wonders how much of Harper-Mercer's arsenal was procured by mommy. Reportedly Harper-Mercer had a keen interest in the Sandy Hook shooting and had uploaded a video on the event to a blog three days before the shooting. Bizarrely, the top law enforcement official tasked with investigating Harper-Mercer's rampage, Sheriff John Hanlin, had vocally criticized the Obama administration's handling of Sandy Hook and allegedly had even endorsed a Sandy Hook truther documentary (i.e., the notion that Sandy Hook never happened). The latter report has been hotly contested, however.

To long time readers of this blog, however, what should be even more compelling is Harper-Mercer's ties to the US Army and interest in the far right underground. Like Wade Michael Page, Frazier Glenn Miller, Aaron Alexis, Nidal Malik Hasan and other recent mass shooters, Harper-Mercer had served in the US Armed Forces. Reportedly Harper-Mercer only made it roughly a month in the Army, attending basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, before being drummed out for failing to meet "administrative standards."

It is interesting to note, however, that Fort Jackson is a little less than three hours from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the staging ground for the bulk of the US special forces as well as home to the US Army's Psychological Warfare Center and School. The Joint Special Operations Command, which overseas US special forces and which guides much of the US's "counter-terrorism" and targeted assassinations programs, has a strong presence here. The Sikh temple shooter Wade Michael Page served at Fort Bragg in the psychological warfare department in the 1990s.

Page

Despite washing out of the Army rather quickly, it clearly seems to have left a lasting impression on Harper-Mercer. He maintained a military-style shaved head and frequently wore Army fatigues when out and about, according to many of his former neighbors. This combined with his obsession with target practice and physical fitness suggests and individual who went to great lengths to recreate military life in a civilian setting.

And then of course there are Harper-mercer's inevitable links to the far right underground. A self described gun enthusiast and conservative Republican, Harper-Mercer was reportedly quite critical of the Black Lives Matter movement despite early claims to the contrary by the political right. Despite being of mixed race (his father was a white Briton while his mother is African-American), Harper-Mercer used the handle "IronCross45" frequently online and may even have purchased Nazi memorably. There is also much controversy of a message reportedly left by Harper-Mercer in the class room he shot up. The Raw Story reports:

"The shooter left behind a “multipage, hated-filled” statement in the classroom, according to a Twitter message from an NBC reporter, citing multiple law enforcement sources who were not identified. CNN, citing sources, said the statement showed animosity toward blacks.

"Hanlin declined to comment when asked about the writings at a press conference."

Harper-Mercer

Harper-Mercer also expressed much admiration for the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has long been a fixture of the militia movement in the United States. According to David Hoffman in The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror, the IRA served as a "spiritual inspiration" to the Aryan Republican Army (ARA), a group widely linked to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. Certainly the prospect of a domestic militia waging a guerilla war against one of the chief supporters of "ZOG" (i.e. the United Kingdom) would have appealed to any number of American militant groups. More on the ARA can be found here.

I suspect Harper-Mercer was deeply fascinated by the United States' militia culture. Right wing groups have been quick to latch on to his reported shooting of Christians but there are plenty of secular libertarians (many of whom are militant atheists) that have found much to admire in the militia culture. This angle will likely be all but ignored by the "alternative media," which instead will focus on guns and the shooter's designation as "spiritual but not religious" on a dating website. I have recently addressed this topic before here.
And that is all for now dear readers.

Signs

A certain unease hangs in the air. Global conflicts seem to be breaking out everywhere and, even more ominously, the world's two leading nuclear powers --the United States and the Russian Federation --are effectively squaring off now in proxy conflicts in the Ukraine and Syria. In recent days reports have begun to emerge that Russia forces are not active in Syria, a region US forces have been engaged in for several years.

If these potential geopolitical nightmares are not enough, there's the growing economic uncertainties griping the world. China's market has been hammered for the past month all the while it has sold nearly $100 billion worth of US Treasuries. The US market has also been fluctuating frantically as investors nervously await the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting (September 16-17) in which a possible interest rate hike may be announced. Some fearmongerers have suggested that this could trigger a 40% drop in the market. But even mainstream sources have begun to acknowledge the prospect of another recession, even if they place it in 2018.

Meanwhile, civilians murdered by police in the United States continues at a breathtaking rate. Nearly 800 individuals have been murdered by police in this country in 2015, 161 of whom were completely unarmed. Predictably, this has triggered a rash of police killings that has further fueled the myth of the "War on Police." And then there's the specter of the US political scene in which the public seems to have a choice between decaying and corrupt political dynasties such as those of the Clintons and Bushs or the megalomaniac demagoguery of Donald Trump.

The Donald

Needless to say, this has more than a few people in both these United States and abroad feeling very uncertain about the near future. Christian fundamentalists have been having a field day with the four blood moons scheduled to unfold between 2014 and 2015. Three of them have come and gone and the fourth will be upon us on September 28th. Frequently Pope Francis' arrival in the United States on September 22 and following itinerary (which includes an address to a Joint Session of the US Congress on September 24, an address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 25 and a Sunday mass at the Ben Franklin Parkway on September 27) have fueled much speculation along the tired coming-UN-led-New-World-Order lines.

Yes, this researcher is not very impressed by these claims and even gets a sense of the Y2K and 2012 hysteria that promised FEMA-driven genocide but ultimately proved to be much ado about nothing. I do not foresee legions of UN Peacekeepers in America's immediate future, but perhaps attention directed at Pope Francis is not entirely undue. The highly controversial pontiff comes to the United States at a time in which Vatican observers have detected a growing schism within the Church's hierarchy that could have serious repercussions.

The extent of this schism became most evident this past October during a Synod concerning the family that turned into a direct challenge to Francis' papacy. The Spectator reports:

"The October synod was a disaster for Pope Francis. Before it started, he had successfully tweaked the Catholic mood music relating to divorcees and gay people. The line ‘Who am I to judge?’, delivered with an affable shrug on the papal plane, generated friendly headlines without committing the church to doctrinal change. Conservatives were alarmed but had to acknowledge Francis’s cunning. ‘Remember that he’s a Jesuit,’ they said.

"Then Francis did something not very cunning. Opening the synod, which would normally be a fairly routine affair, he encouraged cardinals and bishops to ‘speak boldly’. Which they did, but not in the way he intended.

"The Pope’s first mistake was to invite Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s 81-year-old retired head of ecumenism, to set the agenda for the synod by addressing the world’s cardinals back in February. Kasper told them that the church should consider giving Holy Communion to remarried Catholics.

"Even if Francis supports this notion — and nobody knows — his choice of Kasper was a blunder because the cardinal, in addition to being a genial and distinguished scholar, is leader of a German-led faction that represents, in Catholic terms, the far left of the theological spectrum. In 1993 Kasper, then Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, co-signed a letter by German bishops demanding that Catholics living ‘in a canonically invalid union’ should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to receive the Eucharist. The German church is a law unto itself: although its services are empty, it is rich, thanks to the country’s church tax, and arrogant. To cut a long story short, this faction — which had ruthlessly undermined Benedict XVI’s authority when he was pope –  tried to hijack the synod.

"They messed it up. The synod’s ‘special secretary’, the Italian archbishop Bruno Forte, wrote a mid-synod report suggesting that the participants wanted to recognise the virtuous aspects of gay unions. In doing so, Forte — an even more radical figure — overplayed his hand. Most synod fathers wanted no such thing. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal George Pell, head of the Vatican’s finances, were horrified. They ensured that the final report kicked Communion for divorcees into the long grass and did not even mention homosexual relationships. ‘Synod rebuffs Francis on gays,’ reported the media — the last thing the Pope wanted to read."

Cardinal Walter Kasper, a key mentor to Pope Francis

The disastrous October Synod was but one instance of a growing divide within the Vatican between liberal and conservative forces. The Washington Post notes:

"Yet as he upends church convention, Francis also is grappling with a conservative backlash to the liberal momentum building inside the church. In more than a dozen interviews, including with seven senior church officials, insiders say the change has left the hierarchy more polarized over the direction of the church than at any point since the great papal reformers of the 1960s.

"The conservative rebellion is taking on many guises — in public comments, yes, but also in the rising popularity of conservative Catholic Web sites promoting Francis dissenters; books and promotional materials backed by conservative clerics seeking to counter the liberal trend; and leaks to the news media, aimed at Vatican reformers.

"In his recent comments, Burke was also merely stating fact. Despite the vast powers of the pope, church doctrine serves as a kind of constitution. And for liberal reformers, the bruising theological pushback by conservatives is complicating efforts to translate the pope’s transformative style into tangible changes."

The Post goes on to note that this divide is already spurring intrigues within the Vatican:

"A measure of the church’s long history of intrigue has spilled into the Francis papacy, particularly as the pope has ordered radical overhauls of murky Vatican finances. Under Francis, the top leadership of the Vatican Bank was ousted, as was the all-Italian board of its financial watchdog agency.

"One method of pushback has been to give damaging leaks to the Italian news media. Vatican officials are now convinced that the biggest leak to date — of the papal encyclical on the environment in June — was driven by greed (it was sold to the media) rather than vengeance. But other disclosures have targeted key figures in the papal cleanup — including the conservative chosen to lead the pope’s financial reforms, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, who in March was the subject of a leak about his allegedly lavish personal tastes.

"More often, dissent unfolds on ideological grounds. Criticism of a sitting pope is hardly unusual — liberal bishops on occasion challenged Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI. But in an institution cloaked in traditional fealty to the pope, what shocks many is just how public the criticism of Francis has become.

"In an open letter to his diocese, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., wrote: 'In trying to accommodate the needs of the age, as Pope Francis suggests, the Church risks the danger of losing its courageous, countercultural, prophetic voice, one that the world needs to hear.' For his part, Burke, the cardinal from Wisconsin, has called the church under Francis 'a ship without a rudder.'

"Even Pell appeared to undermine him on theological grounds. Commenting on the pope’s call for dramatic action on climate change, Pell told the Financial Times in July, 'The church has got no mandate from the Lord to pronounce on scientific matters.' ” 

Cardinal George Pell

Further complicating matters for Francis is that his predecessor, Pope Benedict, is still very much alive and becoming increasingly vocal about his displeasure concerning the direction Francis has taken the Church in. The Spectator notes:

 "And now another voice is being heard. The last pope is neither dead nor senile nor as silent as we thought he was going to be. In the last month Benedict XVI has written to the ex-Anglicans of the Ordinariate expressing delight that they now worship in the former Bavarian chapel in Warwick Street, London; to Rome’s Pontifical Urban University about the dangers of relativism; and, most significantly, to supporters of the old liturgy. ‘I am very glad that the usus antiquior [the traditional Latin Mass] now lives in full peace within the church, also among the young, supported and celebrated by great cardinals,’ he said. In fact, very few cardinals celebrate in the old rite. But one who does is Raymond Burke. ‘Benedict is well aware of that,’ says a Ratzinger loyalist. ‘He’s not under the illusion that he’s still pope, but he was appalled by the sight of Kasper trashing his legacy and he is making his displeasure clear.’ "

In an earlier article from July 2015 The Spectator further elaborated upon Benedict's subtle digs at Francis:

"Last year, the Pope Emeritus slapped down his old adversary Cardinal Walter Kasper, a left-wing German theologian, for suggesting that, when he was still Professor Ratzinger, he supported communion for divorced and remarried Catholics — Kasper’s pet cause. He has warned the Church against ‘any wavering from the Truth’...

"Most of these interventions can be interpreted as implicit criticism of Pope Francis. The ‘wavering from the Truth’ comment was directed at Kasper, a mentor to Francis whose radical ideas provoked fury at last October’s Synod on the Family. (Significantly, the Vatican tried to keep Benedict’s words from reaching the press.) The Ordinariate letter is unlikely to have bothered the Pope, but the message to Latin Mass supporters will have annoyed him. When Benedict praised ‘great cardinals’, he had in mind the arch-conservative Raymond Burke — whom Francis sacked as head of the Vatican’s legal tribunal...

"Liberal Catholics will dismiss Benedict’s comments as the embittered musings of a disappointed 88-year-old and point instead to the million-strong crowd Francis drew in Ecuador this week. They overlook something obvious to visitors to many British parishes: younger clergy and worshippers in the West tend to be natural Benedictines, not Franciscans. My own parish is not ‘traditionalist’ but its liturgy has become more solemn, the music more classical and a crucifix has appeared on the altar: a trademark of the hermeneutic of continuity because the priest symbolically faces east, as once he did literally."

Pope Benedict in "retirement"

While mainline Vatican observers may be surprised by such developments, those who have studied the recent intrigues surrounding the papacy are well aware that Pope Francis is playing a dangerous game by moving so openly against conservative forces within the Curia. The last truly liberal pope to allegedly plot such radical overhauls was Pope John Paul I, who sat upon the chair of Saint Peter for all of thirty-three days.

Pope Jon Paul I

This cleared the way for the rise of Pope John Paul II and his close alley, Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. The papacies of both men pushed backed vigorously against the reforms instigated Pope John XXIII and Paul VI during the Vatican II period and which it has long been rumored Pope John Paul I planned on pushing into over drive.

For our purposes here, the ties Popes John Paul II, Benedict and Francis had to various secretive Catholic orders is most illuminating. The conspiratorial right has of course had a field day with Pope Francis being the first Jesuit ever to sit upon the chair of Saint Peter, the Society of Jesus being one of their long time whipping boys.

Indeed, as far as Catholic orders go, none draw the kind of attention from the "alternative" media as do the Jesuits. A quick Google search can find allegations accusing them of the formation of the Bavarian Illuminati and Freemasonry; of being pawns of a Zionist world conspiracy; of instigating the rise of Nazism; of being the puppet masters behind the JFK assassination and 9/11; and of course being key players in the Extraterrestrial Question (a notion that has gained further traction of late due to the interest expressed in alien life of late by several prominent Jesuits).

the emblem of the Society of Jesus

While there can be no doubt that the Jesuits were involved in a host of intrigues in the early centuries of the order, this research has found very little indication of such dirty deeds in the modern era. Indeed, the largest detractors of the Jesuits of late seem to be conservative Catholics, most notably former Jesuit Malachi Martin, enraged over the order's more progressive positions concerning sexuality and science and especially the order's oh-so-tentative support of Liberation Theology in the 1970s.

"Incidentally," it was Pope John Paul II and his close alley, Joseph Ratzinger, who lead the assault against Jesuit support for Liberation Theology in the early 1980s.

"In 1981, John Paul II did an extraordinary thing when he intervened with the Constitutions of the Jesuit order to impose his own leadership on their religious order. The Pope did not like the leadership of Father Pedro Arrupe, who encouraged Jesuits to embraced liberation theology and base communities. When Arrupe had a stroke in 1981, the pope appointed his own man to head the order and forbade the Jesuits to elect their own leader for two years.

"In 1984, Ratzinger attacked liberation theology in an article in the Communion and Liberation journal 30 Giorni in which he complained that the movement liberation theology 'does not fit into accepted categories of heresy because it accepts all the existing language but gives it new meaning.' In March, Ratzinger sent a delegation from his Inquisition Office to Bogota, Columbia, to push for a condemnation of liberation theology from CELAM, the conference of bishops of Latin America..."

(The Pope's War, Matthew Fox, pg. 27)

John Paul II

While Ratzinger would fail in that particular bid, he would manage to almost totally crush Liberation Theology during his own papacy. The movement was all but dead in the Church, until the coronation of the Jesuit Pope Francis. Since then it has begun to experience a bit of a resurgence.

It probably goes without saying, but neither Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict had much love for the Society of Jesus. As has been noted before here and here, both men seem to have had extensive ties to two even more mysterious Catholic orders: the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) and Opus Dei. The former is descendant from the Crusader-era Knights Hospitallers and is more commonly referred to as the Knights of Malta. Opus Dei does not have a nearly millennium spanning pedigree, but its sudden rise after being founded in Spain in the 1920s by the highly controversial Jose Maria Escriva has shocked many within the Vatican. Both orders have on occasion drawn many outlandish claims from the conspiratorial right, but it cannot be denied both orders are close to the inner most circles of power. The prior linked to articles at the beginning of this paragraph give an over view of the facts and fiction concerning either order.

emblems of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (top) and Opus Dei (bottom)

Both SMOM and Opus Dei likely played a key role in the sudden death of Pope John Paul I and the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II via their proxy, the very unconventional Masonic lodge known as Propaganda Due (P2). Much more on P2's role in these tow events can be found here, here and here.

a seal of the Propaganda Due Masonic lodge

The papacy's of both John Paul II and Benedict were greatly influenced by SMOM and Opus Dei. Prior to the ascension of JPII, some progressive forces inside the Vatican greatly disturbed by the sudden rise of Opus Dei had even fought to strengthen the Jesuit order as a counterweight to the far right leanings of the Opusians.

"Towards the end of Paul VI's reign a battle erupted in the Roman Curia between Progressive and Conservative factions. The Progressive faction, which wanted tighter financial controls and opposed greater influence for Opus Dei, was led by Paul's closest aide, Archbishop Benelli. He was credited with resolving one of the most serious crises is of the post-Conciliar Church – the break-up of the Company of Jesus, a project that allegedly had its roots inside the Villa Tevere. Benelli's efforts ensure that the 26,000 Jesuits remained under the command of one general superior, who at the time was Don Pedro Arrupe.

"Benelli was said to have wanted to keep the Company of Jesus intact because it represented the only effective counter-balance to Opus Dei. Moreover, Benelli also made known his distaste for the mercantile morals of Bishop Paul Marcinkus, the head of the Vatican bank whom he regarded as an Opus Dei sycophant..."

(Their Kingdom Come, Robert Hutchison, pg. 206)

Bishop Paul Marcinkus

Paul Marcinkus and his disastrous tenure as head of the Vatican bank wee discussed before here.

Fast forward some thirty years, and we find the Vatican bank once again accused of dubious accounting while the progressive wing of the Curia seems to have returned to power after several decades in the wilderness due to the sudden and almost unprecedented resignation of Opus Dei-backed Pope Benedict. Benedict is in turn replaced by the Jesuit Pope Francis.

This researcher suspects that this chain of events represents some kind of coup within the Vatican just as the sudden death of Pope John Paul I and the attempted assassination of John Paul II in the late 1970s and 1980s effectively concluded a successful conservative coup. But this time the Jesuits are in charge and the standing pope was merely forced to resign. Whether Benedict's resignation was triggered by financial improprieties or something more dubious remains in the air. In The Pope's War, author Mathew Fox chronicles the longstanding protection Benedict provided to pedophile's within the Church hierarchy. Certainly this may have also factored into Benedict's resignation.

But Pope Francis himself seems to have no illusions about the long term prospects of the plotters who backed him. Consider these enigmatic comments Francis made in late 2014:

"Pope Francis has said he might have only two or three years left to live.

"On a plane trip back from South Korea, he told journalists he believed he only had limited time left to complete his reforms of the Roman Catholic Church.

"Asked about how he copes with his popularity, he said: ‘I try to think of my sins, my mistakes, so as not to think that I am some- body important.’

"He then added with a smile: ‘Because I know this is going to last a short time, two or three years and then… to the house of the Father.’

"According to a Vatican source, the 77-year-old has previously told those close to him that he thought he only had a few years left."

Rumors of failing health have of course surrounded Francis as they did John Paul I after his death and Ratzinger at the time of his resignation. But few close to John Paul I give much stock to his alleged health problems (as noted before here) while Benedict has seemed rather lucid in recent public appearances. One suspects that Francis, aware of the intrigues behind John Paul I's death, may be expecting a similar fate.

This makes his up coming visit to the United States under such trying conditions most curious. Already members of Stormfront, a white nationalist website linked to almost 100 deaths in recent years, have called for the Pope's death. No doubt these threats are some what muted due to the abandonment of Francis' original plan to enter the United States via Mexico to express solidarity with migrants.

And of course there are countless rumors that a fair mount of ISIS supporters are among the migrants, ISIS being a group that has threatened the Pope's life, among many other things. Its interesting to note that ISIS has long been suspected of receiving extensive backing from NATO member Turkey. Turkey in turn is home to the fascist Grey Wolves movement that produced Mehmet Ali Agca, the attempted assassin to Pope John Paul II. Much more on Agca and the Grey Wolves can be found here and here.

Needless to say, while the prospect of Pope Francis being assassinated by a white supremacist would be dire, an assassination carried out by a suspected ISIS member would have utterly disastrous geopolitical repercussions. And this makes the final days of September that will witness Francis' US visit all the more volatile.