Max Keiser 's BBC show THE ORACLE January 23rd 2009 part 1of2 (~11 min.):
YouTube description: guests are : Sameh El Shahat, Stacy Herbert, Matthew Curtin; sujects are : banks problems of citigroup, bank of America, barclays, royal bank of Scotland, northern rock, Gordon Brown blames the foreigners; Jim Rogers says uk pound is doomed; greek riots; Marcus Schrenker captured faked his own death; SPAM sales are up big time; president Barack Obama; run on the british pound by April 2009 and the euro by December 2009
Max Keiser 's BBC show THE ORACLE January 23rd 2009 part 2of2 (~10 min.):
YouTube description: guests are : Sameh El Shahat, Stacy Herbert; sujects are : the Baltic Dry Index; importance of letters of credit in the shipping industry; empty shelves in "big box" stores of Los Angeles; Hank Paulson becomes an icon to university students and anti-capitalist activists around the world; crude oil price and Saudi Arabia; OPEC = organization of potentially explosive countries!; contango explained
Third/final prediction was cut . . . not by Stacy or Max . . . exclusive for you from MaxKeiser.com! The Oracle's missing (third) prediction (~1 min.):
25 January 2009
24 January 2009
GEORGE CARLIN NOT KIDDING AROUND "This country is finished" on Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann [video]
*THIS COUNTRY IS FINISHED* GEORGE CARLIN ON COUNTDOWN (~7.5 min.):
23 October 2007 Countdown
23 October 2007 Countdown
THE SOBER CONFIDENCE OF A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT Ron Paul on Obama's inauguration speech [video]
Dr. Paul on Obama's inauguration speech. 01/20/09 (~3.5 min.):
ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Galloway: West has DOUBLE STANDARDS when it comes to Israel [video]
George Galloway "The West has DOUBLE STANDARDS when it comes to Israel":
YouTube description: George Galloway's powerful speech in the House of Commons debate on Gaza, Thu 15 Jan 2009 (5.30pm), highlighting the hypocrisy and brazen double-standards of Western foreign policy towards Israel policies, including assassinations and other war crimes. George Galloway: "I say to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who is not in his place, that the international community is not impotent, but merely feigns impotence as an excuse for its failure to carry out its duties. Although the Minister's words were more robust, he essentially masked the same inaction as the languid and complacent Foreign Secretary, who performed in front of us on Monday ....."
YouTube description: George Galloway's powerful speech in the House of Commons debate on Gaza, Thu 15 Jan 2009 (5.30pm), highlighting the hypocrisy and brazen double-standards of Western foreign policy towards Israel policies, including assassinations and other war crimes. George Galloway: "I say to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who is not in his place, that the international community is not impotent, but merely feigns impotence as an excuse for its failure to carry out its duties. Although the Minister's words were more robust, he essentially masked the same inaction as the languid and complacent Foreign Secretary, who performed in front of us on Monday ....."
ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Buchanan Accuses Israel of Creating 'Concentration Camp' [video]
Buchanan Accuses Israel of 'Blitzkrieg,' Creating 'Concentration Camp':
YouTube description: Transcript from MSNBC's "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" (8 Jan. 2009) PAT BUCHANAN: Well, the difference is, in my judgment, Afghanistan, that was--al Qaeda was responsible for bringing down those towers. If the Afghans had dealt with them, given us Osama Bin Laden, then we would not have gone in. We had a justification. That was an act of war. The Israelis have been hit for six months with these little rockets that didn't kill anybody. It was outrageous, cruel and stupid, and they triggered a blitzkrieg against the Palestinians in Gaza, which in my judgment is an Israeli concentration camp, where a million-and-a-half people are locked up, cannot come out or go in. They've been controlling food, electricity, fuel. And the innocent people in Gaza are the ones suffering. SHUSTER: Concentration camp? Doesn't that diminish the significance of the real concentration camps? BUCHANAN: I'm not talking about a death camp. I'm talking about what the British had in concentration camps in South Africa, and what the Spanish had in Cuba, and what others have had where they bring all these people, lock 'em in there, and treat them with great cruelty, and a humanitarian disaster, despite what Tzipi Livni says. CLIFF MAY: The people of Gaza could have peace tomorrow, and they could have an independent state the day after. All it would take would be for Hamas to do two things. One: stop the missiles. You cannot have any country, even a country like Israel, simply accept that, OK, for the rest of our lives--and this has been going on for years now--we accept that they are going to be firing missiles at us. Some of them are small, some of them are bigger, they'll get bigger. But we accept this as a fact of life; we deserve to be hit with missiles. All Hamas would have to do is say: no more missiles starting tomorrow; we understand. And by the way, we accept Israel as a state, as a neighbor. Now, Hamas cannot do that because of its religious convictions that infidels may not, anywhere in the Middle East, be in power.
Note from HBAF: Buchanan is a double-edged sword at best, but in most of this clip he is spot on... I will give credit where due, but in the context of all the words I've heard come out of his mouth, it's interesting to ponder what kind of mind can produce such clear, strong positions in the midst of so much confusion.
YouTube description: Transcript from MSNBC's "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" (8 Jan. 2009) PAT BUCHANAN: Well, the difference is, in my judgment, Afghanistan, that was--al Qaeda was responsible for bringing down those towers. If the Afghans had dealt with them, given us Osama Bin Laden, then we would not have gone in. We had a justification. That was an act of war. The Israelis have been hit for six months with these little rockets that didn't kill anybody. It was outrageous, cruel and stupid, and they triggered a blitzkrieg against the Palestinians in Gaza, which in my judgment is an Israeli concentration camp, where a million-and-a-half people are locked up, cannot come out or go in. They've been controlling food, electricity, fuel. And the innocent people in Gaza are the ones suffering. SHUSTER: Concentration camp? Doesn't that diminish the significance of the real concentration camps? BUCHANAN: I'm not talking about a death camp. I'm talking about what the British had in concentration camps in South Africa, and what the Spanish had in Cuba, and what others have had where they bring all these people, lock 'em in there, and treat them with great cruelty, and a humanitarian disaster, despite what Tzipi Livni says. CLIFF MAY: The people of Gaza could have peace tomorrow, and they could have an independent state the day after. All it would take would be for Hamas to do two things. One: stop the missiles. You cannot have any country, even a country like Israel, simply accept that, OK, for the rest of our lives--and this has been going on for years now--we accept that they are going to be firing missiles at us. Some of them are small, some of them are bigger, they'll get bigger. But we accept this as a fact of life; we deserve to be hit with missiles. All Hamas would have to do is say: no more missiles starting tomorrow; we understand. And by the way, we accept Israel as a state, as a neighbor. Now, Hamas cannot do that because of its religious convictions that infidels may not, anywhere in the Middle East, be in power.
Note from HBAF: Buchanan is a double-edged sword at best, but in most of this clip he is spot on... I will give credit where due, but in the context of all the words I've heard come out of his mouth, it's interesting to ponder what kind of mind can produce such clear, strong positions in the midst of so much confusion.
ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) UK MP Kaufman: They are not simply war criminals, they are fools [video]
UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza:
YouTube description: "Israel was born out of Jewish Terrorism" Tzipi Livnis Father was a Terrorist" Astonishing claims in the House of Parliament. SIR Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP, yesterday compared the actions of Israeli troops in Gaza to the Nazis who forced his family to flee Poland. During a Commons debate on the fighting in Gaza, he urged the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel. Sir Gerald, who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, said: "My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town a German soldier shot her dead in her bed. "My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians." He said the claim that many of the Palestinian victims were militants "was the reply of the Nazi" and added: "I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants." He accused the Israeli government of seeking "conquest" and added: "They are not simply war criminals, they are fools."
YouTube description: "Israel was born out of Jewish Terrorism" Tzipi Livnis Father was a Terrorist" Astonishing claims in the House of Parliament. SIR Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP, yesterday compared the actions of Israeli troops in Gaza to the Nazis who forced his family to flee Poland. During a Commons debate on the fighting in Gaza, he urged the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel. Sir Gerald, who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, said: "My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town a German soldier shot her dead in her bed. "My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians." He said the claim that many of the Palestinian victims were militants "was the reply of the Nazi" and added: "I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants." He accused the Israeli government of seeking "conquest" and added: "They are not simply war criminals, they are fools."
ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Ron Paul: Israel Created Hamas! [video]
Ron Paul: Israel Created Hamas!:
January 09, 2009 C-SPAN
January 09, 2009 C-SPAN
ADMONISHING ISRAEL IN THE COURTS & PARLIAMENTS OF THE WORLD (GREAT SPEECHES!) Kucinich: Were Israel's Security Needs Influenced By The U.S. Calendar?
WATCH THIS ONE FIRST Kucinich: Were Israel's Security Needs Influenced By The U.S. Calendar?:
January 22, 2009 C-SPAN
Israel's War Crimes On The Record !! - Kucinich Documents:
January 09, 2009 C-SPAN
Kucinich: 50 Percent of the Population of Gaza Under 14 Years of Age!:
January 13, 2009 C-SPAN
January 22, 2009 C-SPAN
Israel's War Crimes On The Record !! - Kucinich Documents:
January 09, 2009 C-SPAN
Kucinich: 50 Percent of the Population of Gaza Under 14 Years of Age!:
January 13, 2009 C-SPAN
21 January 2009
UNDERSTAND WHY GAS PRICES DROPPED AND WHY THEY WILL SKYROCKET AGAIN... Max Keiser on the oil price manipulation in Wall Street [video]
Max Keiser on the oil price manipulation in Wall Street (~10 min.):
HOW DO YOU DEFINE GENOCIDE? Israel kept out aid for Gaza / U.S. complicit [news story]
Article: "Israel kept out aid for Gaza"Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Excerpt(s): ISRAEL deliberately blocked the United Nations from building up vital food supplies in Gaza that feed a million people daily before the launch of its war against Hamas, according to a senior UN official in Jerusalem. In a scathing critique of Israeli actions leading up to the conflict, the UN's chief humanitarian co-ordinator in Israel, the former Australian diplomat Maxwell Gaylard, accused Israel of failing to honour its commitments to open its border with Gaza during several months of truce from June 19 last year. "The Israelis would not let us facilitate a regular and sufficient flow of supplies into the Strip," Mr Gaylard said. The chief spokesman for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yigal Palmor, said the claims were "unqualified bullshit".
Link to Full Story: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/01/18/1232213448835.html
THE U.S. IS ON THE IMPERIAL PATH TO FASCISM Talk by Naomi Wolf - The End of America [video lecture]
Talk by Naomi Wolf - The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (~48 min. - well worth the listen!):
How To Become A Dictator In Ten Steps or Less...
In this concise lecture Naomi Wolf systematically goes through her 10-point list of actions that according to her research and analysis have been taken by would-be dictators in order to overturn the democratic (or at least more democratic) societies in which they operate and establish dictatorship. She uses as her main examples Italy in the 20s, Germany in the 30s, Russia in the 30s, East Germany in the 50s, Czechoslovakia in the 60s, Chile in the 60s and... of course... the United States today.
While I must put forth the caveat that I do not always appreciate her sometimes too-lighthearted personality (unlike her, I don't think it's amusing that she's OK with her daughter watching America's Top Model; behavior such as that definitely contributes to the distraction and apathy of the citizenry), I respect the depth of her research and her non-stop activism over the past couple of years, and think that this lecture provides an excellent introduction to how fascist societies have developed in the past. Furthermore, she makes it very clear that this is happening in the United States today, and puts forth the urgent call that the window of opportunity to stop this change is closing, and that we must RISE UP NOW!
I especially recommend this video to those who think that it's "crazy" when people make comparisons between the United States today and Hitler's Germany. The comparison IS clear. This IS happening now. As Wolf says, fascist states don't start off with midnight raids and domestic mass murder, they are able to develop to that stage because the people of those nations allow their own and others' rights to be slowly eroded away until they no longer even have the capacity to do anything about it. It is important to note that while fascism is set up slowly, once it really gets to the point of mass implementation, the process rapidly accelerates.
This lecture was fifteen months ago, and because of the aforementioned acceleration, it is important to understand these concepts now more than ever. We, in the United States, are every day confronted with more and more martial law, and of course we continue to allow our military to slaughter persons throughout the world. Although I will never give up the fight, there will be a point at which this process will become virtually irreversible, and every moment that we wait to STOP THE EMPIRE means more lives and liberties lost, and increases our impotence to do anything about it. Wake up!
Here are Wolf's 10 Classic Steps to Destroying a Democracy and Establishing Dictatorship:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (may be real or fictional, but is always hyped)
2. Create a secret prison system (gulag) where torture takes place that is outside the law
3. Create a paramilitary force (thug caste)
4. Establish a surveillance apparatus used against ordinary citizens
5. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens
6. Harass and infiltrate citizens groups (e.g. antiwar groups, environmentalists groups)
7. Target key individuals
8. Restrict and control the press
9. Make Dissent = Treason
10. Subvert the rule of law, declare martial law
If you prefer to read rather than listen, basically the same information may be found in the following article by Wolf:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/ten-steps-to-close-down-a_b_46695.html
How To Become A Dictator In Ten Steps or Less...
In this concise lecture Naomi Wolf systematically goes through her 10-point list of actions that according to her research and analysis have been taken by would-be dictators in order to overturn the democratic (or at least more democratic) societies in which they operate and establish dictatorship. She uses as her main examples Italy in the 20s, Germany in the 30s, Russia in the 30s, East Germany in the 50s, Czechoslovakia in the 60s, Chile in the 60s and... of course... the United States today.
While I must put forth the caveat that I do not always appreciate her sometimes too-lighthearted personality (unlike her, I don't think it's amusing that she's OK with her daughter watching America's Top Model; behavior such as that definitely contributes to the distraction and apathy of the citizenry), I respect the depth of her research and her non-stop activism over the past couple of years, and think that this lecture provides an excellent introduction to how fascist societies have developed in the past. Furthermore, she makes it very clear that this is happening in the United States today, and puts forth the urgent call that the window of opportunity to stop this change is closing, and that we must RISE UP NOW!
I especially recommend this video to those who think that it's "crazy" when people make comparisons between the United States today and Hitler's Germany. The comparison IS clear. This IS happening now. As Wolf says, fascist states don't start off with midnight raids and domestic mass murder, they are able to develop to that stage because the people of those nations allow their own and others' rights to be slowly eroded away until they no longer even have the capacity to do anything about it. It is important to note that while fascism is set up slowly, once it really gets to the point of mass implementation, the process rapidly accelerates.
This lecture was fifteen months ago, and because of the aforementioned acceleration, it is important to understand these concepts now more than ever. We, in the United States, are every day confronted with more and more martial law, and of course we continue to allow our military to slaughter persons throughout the world. Although I will never give up the fight, there will be a point at which this process will become virtually irreversible, and every moment that we wait to STOP THE EMPIRE means more lives and liberties lost, and increases our impotence to do anything about it. Wake up!
Here are Wolf's 10 Classic Steps to Destroying a Democracy and Establishing Dictatorship:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (may be real or fictional, but is always hyped)
2. Create a secret prison system (gulag) where torture takes place that is outside the law
3. Create a paramilitary force (thug caste)
4. Establish a surveillance apparatus used against ordinary citizens
5. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens
6. Harass and infiltrate citizens groups (e.g. antiwar groups, environmentalists groups)
7. Target key individuals
8. Restrict and control the press
9. Make Dissent = Treason
10. Subvert the rule of law, declare martial law
If you prefer to read rather than listen, basically the same information may be found in the following article by Wolf:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/ten-steps-to-close-down-a_b_46695.html
WORLD OF PROPAGANDA 'Wiped off the Map' – The Rumor of the Century [news story]
Article: "'Wiped off the Map' – The Rumor of the Century"Source: AntiWar.com / Arash Norouzi
Excerpt(s): Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's president has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map." Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made. On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a program, reportedly attended by thousands, titled "The World Without Zionism"... So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in Farsi: "Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad." That passage will mean nothing to most people, but one word might ring a bell: rezhim-e. It is the word "regime." pronounced just like the English word with an extra "eh" sound at the end. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime off the map. Ahmadinejad does not even refer to Israel by name, he instead uses the specific phrase "rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods" (regime occupying Jerusalem).
Link to Full Story: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025
16 January 2009
A GORY HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF Policy pursued in Afghanistan was a failure in Vietnam, Iraq [editorial]
Article: "Policy pursued in Afghanistan was a failure in Vietnam, Iraq"Source: StatesmanJournal.com
Excerpt(s): This time it's Afghanistan, with a foreign power, not to say an imperial nation, employing sophisticated weapons and military personnel to subdue a people and culture that it knows little about. Last time it was Iraq, when the American people were lied into a war by false claims about weapons of mass destruction and, before that, Vietnam, by a phony Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Both happened because the U.S. Congress passively tolerated and actively supported enormous troop increases and massive expenditures, as casualties mounted and countless civilians died in the crossfire. Today, as President Bush snores and President-elect Obama waits in the wings, the Pentagon plunges ahead, planning to add 30,000 more U.S. troops to the 31,000 already in Afghanistan. Supply operations and maintenance services for the Afghan National Army will cost American taxpayers an estimated $300 million over the next five years, according to Walter Pincus in the Washington Post. Yet there is little evidence that a military occupation, insensitive to the region's history and culture, can lead to democracy or economic development. Where is the justifiable outrage of American citizens the third time around? Let facts speak to a passive citizenry and a blood-soaked military-industrial-university-ecclesiastical complex.
Link to Full Story: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090115/OPINION/90113058/1049
Wake up O ye passive citizenry!
We must STOP the killing!
We must STOP the killing!
OUT OF IRAQ TODAY! Human rights in Iraq “extremely poor” [news story]
Article: "Human rights in Iraq "extremely poor" –HRW"
Source: News from Middle East
Excerpt(s): BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Human rights in Iraq remain "extremely poor" despite security gains in 2008, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report. "Security gains in 2008 did little to ease Iraq’s crisis of displacement, with about 2.8 million Iraqis displaced within the country and another 2 million abroad, mainly in Syria and Jordan," read the report that was received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency... "Government-run detention facilities struggled to accommodate over 24,000 detainees, and tardy judicial review of cases exacerbated overcrowding. The US military said in October its detainee population had fallen to about 17,000 from a peak of approximately 26,000 in late 2007. Some detainees have spent years in custody without charge or trial," according to the report. "As of mid-November 2008, Iraq’s parliament was preparing to vote on a security agreement with the U.S. to govern the presence of foreign troops when the UN Security Council mandate for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF) expired at the end of 2008," the report said.
Link to Full Story: http://newsfrommiddleeast.com/?xstart=b&new=50848
Source: News from Middle East
Excerpt(s): BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Human rights in Iraq remain "extremely poor" despite security gains in 2008, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report. "Security gains in 2008 did little to ease Iraq’s crisis of displacement, with about 2.8 million Iraqis displaced within the country and another 2 million abroad, mainly in Syria and Jordan," read the report that was received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency... "Government-run detention facilities struggled to accommodate over 24,000 detainees, and tardy judicial review of cases exacerbated overcrowding. The US military said in October its detainee population had fallen to about 17,000 from a peak of approximately 26,000 in late 2007. Some detainees have spent years in custody without charge or trial," according to the report. "As of mid-November 2008, Iraq’s parliament was preparing to vote on a security agreement with the U.S. to govern the presence of foreign troops when the UN Security Council mandate for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF) expired at the end of 2008," the report said.
Link to Full Story: http://newsfrommiddleeast.com/?xstart=b&new=50848
IRAQ STILL BURNS...EVERY DAY Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq-Thursday 15 January 2008 [news story]
Article: "Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq-Thursday 15 January 2008"
Source: McClatchy
Excerpt(s): BAGHDAD - Around 9 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted the convoy of the minister of higher education and scientific research near Al Andalus square in Karrada injuring two civilians. - Around 10 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army vehicle in Karrada near the white palace compound injuring one soldier and three civilians. - A roadside bomb targeted an American military convoy in central Baghdad near the ministry of industry. The bomb was seen by the guards whoc closed the road but it exploded as the convoy passed by killing one guard of the ministry, Ahmed Taieb Murad, according to a press release by the ministry. NINEVEH - Gunmen killed a policeman in Al Rasheedi neighborhood in Mosul city on Wednesday. - Police found one dead body in Wadi Egab cemetery on Wednesday.
Link to Full Story: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/59745.html
Source: McClatchy
Excerpt(s): BAGHDAD - Around 9 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted the convoy of the minister of higher education and scientific research near Al Andalus square in Karrada injuring two civilians. - Around 10 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army vehicle in Karrada near the white palace compound injuring one soldier and three civilians. - A roadside bomb targeted an American military convoy in central Baghdad near the ministry of industry. The bomb was seen by the guards whoc closed the road but it exploded as the convoy passed by killing one guard of the ministry, Ahmed Taieb Murad, according to a press release by the ministry. NINEVEH - Gunmen killed a policeman in Al Rasheedi neighborhood in Mosul city on Wednesday. - Police found one dead body in Wadi Egab cemetery on Wednesday.
Link to Full Story: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/59745.html
IS THIS THE BEST THEY CAN DO? Conflicting reports on military outsourcing / An attempt to cover-up monstrosities of war & misuse of gov't funds [news]
Article (propaganda source #1): "Report Details Iraq Contract Failures"Source: Washington Post
Excerpt(s): A $722 million contract to rebuild Iraq's oil and gas production facilities was marked by multiple changes, cost overruns, failure to meet schedules and lack of oversight, according to a new inspector general's report... The contract managers assigned about 30 specific task orders for KBR to carry out, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq, found. His report, released yesterday, found that the task orders "took longer than planned; were frequently modified, scaled back, and/or terminated; and increased in cost over time." The report also found that the Iraqi government "may not be properly maintaining the rebuilt facilities and equipment that cost hundreds of millions of dollars" and "does not appear to be committed to completing and using some projects."
Link to Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011302789.html?hpid=sec-nation
Article (propaganda source #2): "Inspector General Says Iraq Contract Going Well"
Source: Washington Post
Excerpt(s): The latest report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction offers something relatively rare: Good news about burgeoning contracts and the government's oversight... It seems that Aegis Defence Services, Limited, which has received about $624 million to provide security services to the Defense Department, has been found to perform "satisfactory to outstanding" on contract obligations. Government overseers, meanwhile, have properly awarded and monitored the Aegis contracts, according to the report. "SIGIR found well-supported contract awards to Aegis; appropriate government oversight of Aegis's bills, inventories, performance, and operations; and contract performance assessed as satisfactory to outstanding.
Link to Full Story: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/government-inc/2009/01/good_news_from_iraq.html?wprss=government-inc
Cartoon by khalil@bendib.com, click on image to see large version
15 January 2009
FALLING EMPIRE GRABS AT EVERYTHING IN REACH LIKE A DROWNING MAN U.S. Army chief expects rise in deployed troops [news article]
Article: "U.S. Army chief expects rise in deployed troops"Source: Reuters
Excerpt(s): WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army, already strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will likely deploy more soldiers in the next 18 months, the service's top general said on Wednesday. U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said the United States would likely send more troops to Afghanistan before it had pulled an equivalent number out of Iraq, resulting in the overall increase. "What I see is our committed strength going up slightly and staying up," until about the middle of 2010, Casey said at a breakfast organized by the Association of the United States Army, which represents current and former soldiers. "That's going to put continued stress on the force so we're not out of the woods yet." "We're probably not going to get everything out of Iraq on the timelines we need ... to have it in Afghanistan," he said after the breakfast. The U.S. Army provides more than 100,000 of the 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 23,000 of the 33,000 U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.
Link to Full Story: http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE50D65O20090114
Picture from Reuters, originally captioned: Soldiers with the US Army's 6-4 Cavalry leave Combat Outpost Lowell enroute to the nearby village of Kamu in eastern Afghanistan January 8, 2009.
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Demands for investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes [news story]
Article: "Demands for investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes"Source: Russia Today
Excerpt(s): With ever-increasing violence and pictures of civilian casualties within Gaza, there have been increasing calls from organisations around the world for investigations into whether Israel has committed war crimes. These have included United Nations relief agencies and international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International. Israel denies it has committed war crimes and rejects the need for any investigation. However, there have been calls to make some Israeli generals answer allegations at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, in the same way that politicians and military figures from the former Yugoslavia were. “What we see happening every day is definitely tantamount to a war crime. The killing of children, women and innocent civilians is happening every day,” said Dr. Rafiq Al Husseini, Chief of Staff of the Palestinian Authority, to RT.
Link to Full Story: http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/35885
Picture from Russia Today, originally captioned: A Palestinian woman cries after the death of relatives in front of the morgue in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city (AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)
PLAYING CHESS WITH THE WORLD Fighting over the Arctic [news story]
Article: "Fighting over the Arctic"Source: Russia Today
Excerpt(s): In the end of January Security Council’s new strategy of development of Arctic regions will be made public in Russia. Its main objective is participation in partition of natural recourses of the Arctic Ocean. However the USA are also not going to refuse their claims for Arctic regions. The President George Bush has published the instruction which contains the order to the Senate to ratify the international Law of the Sea Convention according to which the USA will participate in partition of Arctic regions with other countries in the nearest future, Kommersant business daily reports... Scientists consider that the continental shelf of the Arctic can contain about 20 per cent of world's reserves of hydrocarbons which are the main components of oil. Besides, on shelves of Barents and Kara seas unique gas deposits were found. Moreover the local fishing industry provides 15 per cent of total amounts of fish production in Russia... Until now the USA remains the last Arctic country which has not yet ratified Law of the Sea Convention. That interrupts international partition of the Arctic region. In May of last year five coastal countries of the Arctic Ocean - Russia, the USA, Canada, Norway and Denmark - have agreed to begin negotiations about partition of Arctic regions on the basis of existing conventions and have decided not to accept any new documents so far.
Link to Full Story: http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/35911
Picture from Russia Today
AMERICANS AND ISRAELIS MUST STOP THEIR OWN GOV'TS Ahmadinejad: Israelis should pour into streets [news story]
Article: "Ahmadinejad: Israelis should pour into streets"Source: Press TV
Excerpt(s): Iran calls on Israelis to take to the streets in protest at the war on Gaza, saying soldiers should also refrain from following orders. "I call on all those who live in the occupied territories, including Jews, Christians and Muslims to pour into the streets," said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a Thursday message. He added that Israelis should show their support for the Palestinian nation by joining the world in demonstrating against the crimes committed by Tel Aviv. "To the people who live under Israeli repression in the occupied territories, you are human beings no matter your religion, race for faith. It is time that you ponder and ask the leaders of the Zionist regime why it is that the people of Gaza are being treated in this way," said the Iranian president. Nearly 1,100 Palestinians -- many of whom are women and children -- have been killed and 4,700 have been wounded since Israel launched its offensive against the Palestinian territory on December 27.
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=82415§ionid=351020101
Picture from Press TV, originally captioned: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE France blasts Israel for targeting civilians [news story]
Article: "France blasts Israel for targeting civilians"Source: Press TV
Excerpt(s): France hammers Israel for its bombardment of civilian targets in Gaza after a building owned by the UN relief agency came under fire. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday issued strong condemnation of Tel Aviv over its targeting of several hospitals, a UN compound and a media building in the Gaza Strip, AFP reported. The comments come on the 20th day of the Tel Aviv offensive into the coastal sliver. So far at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed and around 4,700 others have been wounded, according to medics. Israel says it began the raids to stop Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel. Civilians, however, have suffered the brunt of the attacks. Hamas, the democratically-elected ruler of the coastal sliver, demands a cessation of an 18-month Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip before its fighters suspend the rocket attacks. While the strip has been denied electricity and drinking water supplies as a result of the blockade, Israeli naval forces have been intercepting humanitarian aid vessels to the area.
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=82420§ionid=351020202
Picture from Press TV, originally captioned: Israeli soldiers preparing to lead tanks into Gaza
MASS MURDER IN GAZA Professor of Int'l Law at the University of Illinois: "The US promotes Israeli genocide against Palestinians" [book excerpt]
Article: "The US promotes Israeli genocide against Palestinians"Source: Press TV
Excerpt(s): As long ago as October 19, 2000, the then United Nations Human Rights Commission (now Council) condemned Israel for inflicting “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” upon the Palestinian people, most of whom are Muslims. The reader has a general idea of what a war crime is, so I am not going to elaborate upon that term here. But there are different degrees of heinousness for war crimes. In particular are the more serious war crimes denominated “grave breaches” of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Since the outbreak of the first Intifada in 1987, the world has seen those heinous war crimes inflicted every day by Israel against the Palestinian people living in occupied Palestine: e.g., willful killing of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army and by Israel's illegal paramilitary settlers. These Israeli “grave breaches” of the Fourth Geneva Convention mandate universal prosecution for the perpetrators and their commanders, whether military or civilian, including and especially Israel's political leaders. But I want to focus for a moment on Israel's “crimes against humanity” against the Palestinian people-as determined by the UN Human Rights Commission itself, set up pursuant to the requirements of the United Nations Charter. What are “crimes against humanity”?... The doctrine of “humanitarian intervention” so readily espoused elsewhere when US foreign policy goals are allegedly at stake has been clearly proved to be a joke and a fraud when it comes to stopping the ongoing and accelerating Israeli campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people. Rather than rein in the Israelis - which would be possible just by turning off the funding pipeline - the United States government, the US Congress, and US taxpayers instead support the “Jewish” state to the tune of about 4 billion dollars per year, without whose munificence this instance of genocide - and indeed conceivably the State of Israel itself - would not be possible. What the world witnesses here is (yet another) case of “dishumanitarian intervention” or “humanitarian extermination” by the United States and Israel against the Palestinians and Palestine. In today's world genocide pays so long as it is done at the behest of the United States and its de jure or de facto allies such as Israel. Of course miracles can always happen. But I anticipate no fundamental change in America's support for the Israeli campaign of genocide against the Palestinians during the tenure of the Obama/Clinton administration. The article above is from “Tackling America's Toughest Questions.”
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=82097§ionid=3510303
Picture from Press TV
THIS IS WORLDWIDE ECONOMIC CONSOLIDATION Spanish industrial output plunges 15.1% [news story]
Article: "Spanish industrial output plunges"Source: BBC News
Excerpt(s): Spanish industrial output fell by 15.1% in November, compared with the same month one year ago, the biggest fall on record and a sign of a deep recession. Analysts had expected output in factories and mines to drop by 11%. On Thursday, figures revealed that the country's unemployment rate hit a 12-year high in 2008 of 3 million. Retail sales across the 15 nations that share the euro rose unexpectedly in November, defying the gloom that pervades the eurozone economy.
Link to Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7819569.stm
Picture from BBC News, originally captioned: Employment in Spain's construction industry has been hard hit
THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Irish home prices may fall 80% [news story]
Article: "Warning that house prices may fall by 80%"
Source: Irish Times
Excerpt(s): HOUSING MARKET: IRELAND WILL see more demolition than construction of houses over the next decade, as the economy struggles to recover from the collapse of the housing market and the emergence of “zombie” banks, UCD economist Morgan Kelly told the conference. In a presentation that drew several collective intakes of breath, Mr Kelly predicted that house prices would fall by 80 per cent from peak to trough in real terms. “Construction, but not demolition, of residential and commercial property will fall to zero for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Link to Full Story: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0113/1231738220759.html
Source: Irish Times
Excerpt(s): HOUSING MARKET: IRELAND WILL see more demolition than construction of houses over the next decade, as the economy struggles to recover from the collapse of the housing market and the emergence of “zombie” banks, UCD economist Morgan Kelly told the conference. In a presentation that drew several collective intakes of breath, Mr Kelly predicted that house prices would fall by 80 per cent from peak to trough in real terms. “Construction, but not demolition, of residential and commercial property will fall to zero for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Link to Full Story: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0113/1231738220759.html
SIGNS OF OUR TIME Investment demand for physical gold surges 121% in 3rd quarter 08 [news story]
Article: "Gold Rush: Buying the Real Thing"Source: Barron's
Excerpt(s): INVESTORS ARE TAKING A CUE FROM THE RAPPERS and adding more bling to their lives -- not to hang around their necks, but to stash away in safes. Physical gold is hot. Not gold stocks or ETFs, but the glittering stuff itself. You'll read about it in our write-up of the latest Barron's Roundtable, and the numbers are irrefutable. London-based World Gold Council said investment demand for gold, mainly bars and coins, surged 121% in the third quarter as investors rushed to safety.
Link to Full Story: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123154459401969559.html
Picture from Barron's
THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Greece sovereign debt downgraded, Portugal, Ireland and Spain put on negative watch [news story]
Article: "S&P cuts Greece's credit rating: Euro-zone bond spreads widening on credit worries"
Source: Market Watch
Excerpt(s): LONDON (MarketWatch) - Greece saw its key sovereign credit rating cut by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday, downgrading the debt to A- from A... The ratings agency had placed Greece on negative credit watch last week, along with Ireland. S&P also put Portugal on negative credit watch Tuesday due to high government debt levels, while Spain received a similar warning Monday... "While the ratings on the sovereign continue to be based on our opinion of [Greece's] relatively high economic prosperity and [European economic and monetary union] membership, the ongoing global financial and economic crisis has, in our opinion, exacerbated an underlying loss of competitiveness in the Greek economy," Standard & Poor's credit analyst Marko Mrsnik said in a news release.
Link to Full Story: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/sp-cuts-greeces-credit-rating/story.aspx?guid=%7B426527F7-AE23-44FB-AC59-A078A8C23974%7D
Source: Market Watch
Excerpt(s): LONDON (MarketWatch) - Greece saw its key sovereign credit rating cut by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday, downgrading the debt to A- from A... The ratings agency had placed Greece on negative credit watch last week, along with Ireland. S&P also put Portugal on negative credit watch Tuesday due to high government debt levels, while Spain received a similar warning Monday... "While the ratings on the sovereign continue to be based on our opinion of [Greece's] relatively high economic prosperity and [European economic and monetary union] membership, the ongoing global financial and economic crisis has, in our opinion, exacerbated an underlying loss of competitiveness in the Greek economy," Standard & Poor's credit analyst Marko Mrsnik said in a news release.
Link to Full Story: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/sp-cuts-greeces-credit-rating/story.aspx?guid=%7B426527F7-AE23-44FB-AC59-A078A8C23974%7D
14 January 2009
THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Shipping rates hit zero as trade sinks [news story]
Article: "Shipping rates hit zero as trade sinks"Source: Telegraph.co.uk
Excerpt(s): Freight rates for containers shipped from Asia to Europe have fallen to zero for the first time since records began, underscoring the dramatic collapse in trade since the world economy buckled in October. "They have already hit zero," said Charles de Trenck, a broker at Transport Trackers in Hong Kong. "We have seen trade activity fall off a cliff. Asia-Europe is an unmitigated disaster." Shipping journal Lloyd's List said brokers in Singapore are now waiving fees for containers travelling from South China, charging only for the minimal "bunker" costs. Container fees from North Asia have dropped $200, taking them below operating cost. Industry sources said they have never seen rates fall so low. "This is a whole new ball game," said one trader.
Link to Full Story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4229198/Shipping-rates-hit-zero-as-trade-sinks.html
Picture from Telegraph.co.uk, originally captioned: The cost of shipping goods from Asia to Europe has tumbled
THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Bank of England Cuts Rate to Lowest Since Bank’s Creation in 1694 [news story]
Article: "BOE Cuts Rate to Lowest Since Bank’s Creation in 1694 (Update3)"Source: Bloomberg
Excerpt(s): The Bank of England cut the benchmark interest rate to the lowest since the central bank was founded in 1694 as policy makers tried to prevent the credit squeeze from deepening Britain’s recession. The bank rate was reduced a half-point to 1.5 percent, bringing policy makers closer to the point at which they will run out of options to fight the financial crisis with conventional tools. The pound rose against the euro and the dollar because some investors had bet on a larger reduction... The European Central Bank has cut its key interest rate by 1.75 percentage points to 2.5 percent since early October, and may reduce it again next week. President Jean-Claude Trichet may provide clues on his thinking when he gives a speech in Bratislava at 8 p.m. local time today.
Link to Full Story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avTXAfm9.vhM&refer=home
IRAN BLOCKS CIA "Velvet Revolution" COUP? Iran: Gov't thwarts CIA-backed regime change plot [news story]
Article: "Iran thwarts CIA-backed regime change plot"Source: Press TV
Excerpt(s): Tehran has disbanded a CIA-backed network designed to orchestrate a 'Velvet Revolution' in the country, says a senior Iranian official. Iran's Judiciary Spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi, said on Tuesday that authorities have arrested four Iranian nationals who were plotting a regime change at the behest of the Bush administration. According to Jamshidi, the four were paid by the White House, the State Department and the CIA, to expand their network and topple the Iranian government -- irrespective of the Algiers Accord. Under the 1981 treaty signed between the US and Iran, Washington is obliged to refrain from interfering in Iran's 'internal affairs'. Washington, nevertheless, has not ceased its 'regime change' project in Iran and has reportedly appropriated more than $120 million to fund the initiative.
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=82085§ionid=351020101
13 January 2009
THE SIEGE OF GAZA MUST BE STOPPED NOW “Is Israel/U.S. 'testing the waters' with its destruction of Gaza? [commentary from HBAF research team]
Commentary from the HBAF Research Team: “Is Israel/U.S. 'testing the waters' with its destruction of Gaza? Why would Israel/U.S. annihilate Palestinians in front of the world? Could it be that the thousands of people in the Gaza strip that have, and are at this moment, being killed and injured as a 'test'? The economic depression engulfing the world seems like a strange time to invade Gaza (those who believe the invasion is a result of Hamas rockets are either ignorant, or insane), unless this particular attack by Israel/U.S. is a precursor to more heinous criminal invasions. How will the world react, especially in the middle east? What resistance can they expect from other sovereign Arab nations? HBAF has shown that many protests are going on in the world with NO effect whatsoever as the horrendous bombings continue. We see no unity between the sovereign nations in the middle east and abroad against this catastrophe, nor do we see any meaningful agreements being come to by supranational entities such as the U.N. or the Arab League. The sick, disturbing expectations resulting from a transparent massacre of an entire people may very likely be: ‘Who is next?’ The importance of stopping this from continuing can be found in recent history, when the Nazi state of Germany in 1936 simply invaded the Rhineland and continued to 'test the waters' until becoming an irresistible force in Europe- and from there WORLD WAR...Subcommentary: The above is something I wrote after the “it’s a test” idea was suggested to me, afterwards, when I was checking the date of the Rhineland invasion, I found this: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_Hitler_send_his_troops_into_the_Rhineland. Eerie how similar it is…
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Saudi: Gaza raids 'racist extermination' [news story]
Article: "Saudi: Gaza raids 'racist extermination'"Source: PressTV.ir
Excerpt(s): Saudi Arabia accuses Israel of 'racist extermination' in its attack on the Gaza Strip, which has so far left thousands killed and wounded. "The cabinet said the extermination Israel is launching upon the Palestinian people in Gaza has denuded Israeli leaders of humanity and places their policies in the ranks of racist extermination," a statement issued by the Saudi royal court and published by the state-run SPA News Agency said. Israel targets the coastal region with phosphorous bombs as resistance fighters prevent Israeli forces from advancing into the enclave. White phosphorus, classified as 'chemical weapon' by the US intelligence, is an inflammable material that causes horrific burns, severe injuries or even death when it comes in contact with human skin.
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=81987§ionid=351020205
Picture from Press TV, originally captioned: Medics warn that Israel is testing a new 'extremely nasty' type of weapon in Gaza.
THE FLAMES OF WAR SPREAD 'Israel forces under fire from Jordan' [news story]
Article: "'Israel forces under fire from Jordan' "
Source: PressTV.ir
Full "breaking news" article: Israeli troops have come under fire from Jordan at a border crossing with the kingdom, says an Israeli military spokeswoman. "Troops were fired upon from the Jordanian side of the border. It was unclear who the gunmen were," she said on Tuesday. According to the spokesman, no one was hurt in the incident.
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=82020§ionid=351020202
Source: PressTV.ir
Full "breaking news" article: Israeli troops have come under fire from Jordan at a border crossing with the kingdom, says an Israeli military spokeswoman. "Troops were fired upon from the Jordanian side of the border. It was unclear who the gunmen were," she said on Tuesday. According to the spokesman, no one was hurt in the incident.
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=82020§ionid=351020202
11 January 2009
END THE SIEGE ON GAZA NOW! Ever fastidious, Ron Paul in Russia Today Interview [video]
Interview with Ron Paul (~11 min.):
Superb. Ever fastidious, Ron Paul in interviewed by Russia Today regarding Israel's occupation and invasion of Gaza, and their occupation of Palestine in general.
Superb. Ever fastidious, Ron Paul in interviewed by Russia Today regarding Israel's occupation and invasion of Gaza, and their occupation of Palestine in general.
SRI LANKA AT WAR Sri Lankan air strikes hit retreating rebels: govt [news story]
Article: "Sri Lankan air strikes hit retreating rebels: govt"Source: Agence-France Presse
Excerpt(s): COLOMBO (AFP) - - Sri Lanka's military on Sunday launched air attacks against the last remaining jungle hideouts of Tamil Tiger rebels after driving them out of their main strongholds, officials said. Helicopter gunships supported ground troops advancing deeper into the Mullaittivu region, where the retreating Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces are holed up, a military official said. The defense ministry has said the security forces are ready to deal a "decisive blow" to the rebels after the capture of the strategic Elephant Pass on Friday. Losing control of the causeway was the latest in a series of defeats for the Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting since 1972 for a separate homeland... It added that troops had recovered the bodies of 11 rebels killed in recent battles in Mullaittivu after soldiers captured an abandoned Tiger camp. Casualty reports from the conflict can not be independently verified but government officials said security forces had met with sporadic resistance since Kilinochchi fell after months of heavy fighting. The LTTE, which has not commented on the latest military claims, accused troops of directing artillery fire towards an internally displaced camp inside rebel-held Mullaittivu on Friday, killing one man and injuring four others. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a New Year's address that 2009 would be the year of "heroic victory" over the Tigers.
Link to Full Story: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090111/twl-srilanka-unrest-4bdc673.html
Picture from Agence-France Presse, originally captioned: This handout picture released on January 10 shows Sri Lankan army troops at the entrance to the Jaffna Peninsula following the capture of Elephant Pass. Sri Lanka's military on Sunday launched air attacks against the last remaining jungle hideouts of Tamil Tiger rebels after driving them out of their main strongholds, officials said.
S.P.P. / NORTH AMERICAN UNION UPDATE Trans Texas Corridor Not Dead - Just Renamed [news story]
Article: "Trans Texas Corridor Not Dead - Just Renamed"Source: Dprogram.net
Excerpt(s): The announcement by TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz at the Texas Transportation Forum that the “Trans Texas Corridor, as it was originally envisioned, is no more,” is just another in a series of comments to lead opponents into believing the Trans Texas Corridor is indeed dead. TURF believes this is a deliberate move to dupe opponents into complacency, and we expect iron-clad action before we begin celebrating victory... No law has been changed, no minute order rescinded, no environmental document re-done (as is required by federal law), and there are still two contracts signed giving two Spanish companies the right of first refusal on segments of the corridor previously known as TTC-35 & TTC-69. So by every real measure, the Trans Texas Corridor goes on full steam ahead. What today’s hype was about is a political ploy to make the public go back to sleep while it gets built under a different name. While we welcome genuine responsiveness from TxDOT and a true repeal of the Trans Texas Corridor, this hardly qualifies.
Link to Full Story: http://dprogram.net/2009/01/07/trans-texas-corridor-not-dead-just-renamed/#more-6104
*** Further reading in their own words (12 page PDF): The 2007 Joint Statement by Prime Minister Harper of Canada, President Bush and former President Calderón of Mexico (pictured at right) outlining the completed and planned projects of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), an agreement between the "leaders" that aims to "harmonize" most all aspects of governance of the 3 nations. It is likely, or rather it is desirable to many elite powerful globalists (we'll see if they win!), that this partnership will develop into a full-fledged union similar to the EU.
OUT OF GAZA NOW! British MP George Galloway: "Victory To The Palestinian Resistance" 8 January 2009 [video]
British MP George Galloway: "Victory To The Palestinian Resistance" (~11 min.):
ECONOMIC CRASH The Oracle with Max Keiser - Episode One (as broadcast) [video]
Now I'm not exactly on the same page with Mr. Keiser with regards to what he thinks will happen in 2009, but I am a big fan of his, and think he's largely right on in his attitudes and ideas about the banking system. In this video I also highly recommend noting Jacques Attali's broadly-informed (both pessimistic and strangely optimistic) perspective about the future of mankind...
The Oracle with Max Keiser - Episode One (~22 min.):
The Oracle with Max Keiser - Episode One (~22 min.):
10 January 2009
EDITORIAL Martial Law, the Financial Bailout, and War [news story]
Article: "Martial Law, the Financial Bailout, and War"Source: GlobalResearch.ca / Peter Dale Scott
Excerpt: It is becoming clear that the bailout measures of late 2008 may have consequences at least as grave for an open society as the response to 9/11 in 2001. Many members of Congress felt coerced into voting against their inclinations, and the normal procedures for orderly consideration of a bill were dispensed with. The excuse for bypassing normal legislative procedures was the existence of an emergency. But one of the most reprehensible features of the legislation, that it allowed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to permit bailed-out institutions to use public money for exorbitant salaries and bonuses, was inserted by Paulson after the immediate crisis had passed... Even more reprehensible is the fact that since the bailouts, Paulson and the Treasury Department have refused to provide details of the Troubled Assets Relief Program spending of hundreds of billions of dollars, while the New York Federal Reserve has refused to provide information about its own bail-out (using government-backed loans) that amounts to trillions...
Link to Full Story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11681
09 January 2009
MEDIA EAST & WEST CONTINUES TO CONFUSE GAZA DEBATE “Debate: Diplomacy enforcing military action?” [video]
Debate: Diplomacy enforcing military action? (~9.5 min.):
Researcher #1 asks you to please note the following about this video: At 8 min. 17 sec. into this discussion a bar comes on the bottom of the screen, showing 660 people have been killed; 2,950 people injured. Tarazi and Bishara continue to speak of the 'political situation' in Gaza as if people being blown up by bombs and limbless tragedies laying on debris with the murdered and burnt alive is just some political maneuvering in a game! At the end Tarazi in effect says Israel simply winning a battle could lead to wars in the region shows that language is useless and morally inept when looking past murder and war towards a bigger picture.
Researcher #2 responds: I agree. They are playing the insipid game of telling a “kings and courts” version of history, wherein the vast majority of people are referred to, when they are mentioned at all, as pawns… In this video it is clear that members of the mainstream “Arab media,” as is so common in “the West,” suffer from the ailment of (i.e. use the propaganda technique of) babbling about insignificant but complex details therefore avoiding discussion of too horrific and/or incriminating subjects.
YouTube Description from AlJazeeraEnglish: Are diplomatic efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza simply supporting Israel's military offensive? Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's political analyst, and Michael Tarazi, a former legal advisor to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, debate the key issues.
Researcher #1 asks you to please note the following about this video: At 8 min. 17 sec. into this discussion a bar comes on the bottom of the screen, showing 660 people have been killed; 2,950 people injured. Tarazi and Bishara continue to speak of the 'political situation' in Gaza as if people being blown up by bombs and limbless tragedies laying on debris with the murdered and burnt alive is just some political maneuvering in a game! At the end Tarazi in effect says Israel simply winning a battle could lead to wars in the region shows that language is useless and morally inept when looking past murder and war towards a bigger picture.
Researcher #2 responds: I agree. They are playing the insipid game of telling a “kings and courts” version of history, wherein the vast majority of people are referred to, when they are mentioned at all, as pawns… In this video it is clear that members of the mainstream “Arab media,” as is so common in “the West,” suffer from the ailment of (i.e. use the propaganda technique of) babbling about insignificant but complex details therefore avoiding discussion of too horrific and/or incriminating subjects.
YouTube Description from AlJazeeraEnglish: Are diplomatic efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza simply supporting Israel's military offensive? Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's political analyst, and Michael Tarazi, a former legal advisor to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, debate the key issues.
U.N. FLOUNDERS FEIGNING HELPLESSNESS AS PALESTINIANS ARE SLAUGHTERED UN halts Gaza aid after convoy hit [news story]
Article: "UN halts Gaza aid after convoy hit"Source: Al Jazeera English
Picture from Agence-France Presse, originally captioned: Homes, mosques and government buildings have been hit in the Israeli bombardment
Excerpt: The United Nations has suspended its aid operations in the Gaza Strip in the wake of a series of Israeli attacks on its personnel and buildings. "Unrwa decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel," Adnan Abu Hasna, a Gaza-based spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said on Thursday. The move came after Israeli tanks shelled a UN convoy earlier in the day, killing a Palestinian UN worker and injuring two others, as lorries were travelling to the Erez crossing to pick up humanitarian supplies meant to have been allowed in during a three-hour suspension of fire. At least three UN-run schools have also been hit by Israeli fire, killing scores of civilians, during the 13 days of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
Link to Full Story: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009181482839688.html
U.N. FLOUNDERS FEIGNING HELPLESSNESS AS PALESTINIANS ARE SLAUGHTERED Gaza Silence Shows UN Lack of Power: Celestine Bohlen [news story]
Article: "Gaza Silence Shows UN Lack of Power: Celestine Bohlen (Update1)"Source: Bloomberg
Excerpt: Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Twice in the past five months, the United Nations Security Council has failed to call for an early stop to small wars that put the international community on edge. It isn’t for want of trying. Last year, ambassadors representing the 15 members of the Security Council met in the middle of the night to discuss the brewing conflict between Georgia and Russia. They adjourned at 2 a.m. on Aug. 8 without producing any kind of declaration, let alone a resolution. With Israel’s offensive in Gaza, a similar stalemate set in. Since Dec. 27, the Security Council met four times, including on two successive Saturdays and on New Year’s Eve, before finally approving a resolution yesterday for an immediate cease-fire by a 14-0 vote. The U.S. abstained, and Israel is pressing on with its military operation to end rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Casualties mounted as the world’s biggest international organization took its time to send a clear message to the combatants, raising concern -- once again -- about its effectiveness. The question is: What else could take its place? The paralysis at the heart of the 192-nation UN can be traced to the veto power held by the Security Council’s permanent members: the U.S., Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), China, the U.K. and France. This can hold the international community hostage to the five nations’ own interpretation of events, their own national interests and those of their allies. ‘Eternal Conundrum’--“It is the eternal conundrum at the UN,” says Stephen Schlesinger, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a public- policy research institute in New York. “As long as you have an international institution made up of states, you will always have state interests controlling the outcome.”
Link to Full Story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_bohlen&sid=aPQ3xbIU.eJw
U.N. FLOUNDERS FEIGNING HELPLESSNESS AS PALESTINIANS ARE SLAUGHTERED Diplomats say UN Gaza draft agreed [news story]
Article: "Diplomats say UN Gaza draft agreed"
Source: Deutsche Welle
Excerpt: Arab and Western UN diplomats say an agreement in principal has been reached on a draft resolution demanding an "immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire" in Gaza. During a recess in closed-door UN Security Council consultations, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters he hoped the proposal, which is sponsored by Britain and backed by the United States and France, would receive swift UN approval. A vote on the draft is expected within hours. Israeli officials meeting in Cairo to discuss a French-Egyptian ceasefire proposal have ended the talks without results. The plan, proposed by Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, calls for a cessation of violence and steps to get aid to civilians. It also seeks to initiate a discussion on ending Israel's blockade of Gaza.
Link to Full Story: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_3931796,00.html?maca=en-en_nr-1893-xml-atom
Source: Deutsche Welle
Excerpt: Arab and Western UN diplomats say an agreement in principal has been reached on a draft resolution demanding an "immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire" in Gaza. During a recess in closed-door UN Security Council consultations, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters he hoped the proposal, which is sponsored by Britain and backed by the United States and France, would receive swift UN approval. A vote on the draft is expected within hours. Israeli officials meeting in Cairo to discuss a French-Egyptian ceasefire proposal have ended the talks without results. The plan, proposed by Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, calls for a cessation of violence and steps to get aid to civilians. It also seeks to initiate a discussion on ending Israel's blockade of Gaza.
Link to Full Story: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_3931796,00.html?maca=en-en_nr-1893-xml-atom
08 January 2009
SRI LANKA AT WAR Sri Lankan editor shot dead [news story]
Excerpt: The editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper, strongly critical of the government, has been shot dead by armed men, police have said. Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper, was killed on Thursday as he drove to his office in the capital Colombo.Article: "Sri Lankan editor shot dead"
Source: Al Jazeera English
Picture from Reuters, originally captioned: The Sunday Leader exposed privatisation deals that were later overturned in court
Link to Full Story: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/01/2009186338574412.html
SRI LANKA AT WAR Sri Lankan military says its troops have captured another key Tamil Tigers base in the Jaffna peninsula [news story]
TODAY'S NEWS from Sri Lanka
Article: "Sri Lankan troops capture Tiger town"
Source: PressTV.ir
Link to Original Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=81186§ionid=351020406
Picture from PressTV, originally captioned: "The Defense Ministry said troops were now heading toward Soranpattu."
Full Article: The Sri Lankan military says its troops have captured another key Tamil Tigers base in the Jaffna peninsula after intense overnight battles. The rebel-controlled town of Pallai on the edge of the Jaffna peninsula was reclaimed by troops advancing southwards from Muhamalai on Thursday morning, the Defense Ministry claimed in a statement. Air force jets pounded the rebels as they fled from Pallai and the Elephant Pass battlefields late Wednesday. The government forces are now heading towards Soranpattu, the next Tamil Tiger stronghold in the peninsula, the statement added. Following a decision by Sri Lanka to nullify a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement penned in 2002 last year, Colombo began a fresh offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, vowing a complete crack down on the rebels by the end of 2008. The militant Tamil movement has been fighting to create a sovereign socialist Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for the ethnic minority of Tamils since the late 1970s.
IN THE NEWS ONE YEAR AGO (prev. posted on humanbeingsarefree)
Article: "Tiger suicide attack kills 27 in Sri Lanka"
Source: Agence-France Presse
Link to Full Story: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081006/twl-srilanka-unrest-blast-4bdc673.html
Excerpt(s): A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber triggered a blast inside offices of the main opposition party in Sri Lanka on Monday, killing at least 27 people, including a retired senior general, officials said. The attack in the northern town of Anuradhapura came as the Sri Lankan military appeared on the verge of capturing the Tigers' key headquarters as part of a major offensive in the drawn-out ethnic conflict... The army said at the weekend that its troops are within two kilometres (1.25 miles) of the northern rebel headquarters in Kilinochchi. Losing control of Kilinochchi would be a major blow to the Tigers, who took up arms in 1972, demanding minority rights. In 1976 they raised the stakes, demanding a separate Tamil state. As the political capital of the LTTE's northern mini-state, Kilinochchi is where the rebels have hosted visiting foreign dignitaries and peace brokers. The Tigers, who are known for their suicide attacks, have put up only intermittent resistance to the military advancing on several fronts in the north of Sri Lanka... Fighting across the northern frontier on Sunday left at least 13 Tigers and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said Monday. Since the Colombo government formally revoked a moribund truce in January, 7,196 Tigers have been killed, according to the military, which places its own losses at 704 soldiers. The casualty figures cannot be independently verified.
DOCUMENTARY FILM (highly recommended)
Circle of Violence - Sri Lanka (~27 min.):
YouTube description: Sep 2007 - This moving report looks back through 30 years of bloodshed in Sri Lanka to place today's violence in its proper context. Why did the ceasefire, agreed two years ago, falter? In 1956, an ambitious politician used the race card to be elected. He promised to make Sinhala the official language. Tamils who weren't fluent were dismissed, sparking a backlash that contributed to the emergence of the Tigers. In the war that followed, an estimated 40,000 disappeared. "We live in a country where anyone can take away another person, and nobody can do anything to stop it." From: Journeyman Pictures.
Article: "Sri Lankan troops capture Tiger town"Source: PressTV.ir
Link to Original Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=81186§ionid=351020406
Picture from PressTV, originally captioned: "The Defense Ministry said troops were now heading toward Soranpattu."
Full Article: The Sri Lankan military says its troops have captured another key Tamil Tigers base in the Jaffna peninsula after intense overnight battles. The rebel-controlled town of Pallai on the edge of the Jaffna peninsula was reclaimed by troops advancing southwards from Muhamalai on Thursday morning, the Defense Ministry claimed in a statement. Air force jets pounded the rebels as they fled from Pallai and the Elephant Pass battlefields late Wednesday. The government forces are now heading towards Soranpattu, the next Tamil Tiger stronghold in the peninsula, the statement added. Following a decision by Sri Lanka to nullify a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement penned in 2002 last year, Colombo began a fresh offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, vowing a complete crack down on the rebels by the end of 2008. The militant Tamil movement has been fighting to create a sovereign socialist Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for the ethnic minority of Tamils since the late 1970s.
IN THE NEWS ONE YEAR AGO (prev. posted on humanbeingsarefree)
Article: "Tiger suicide attack kills 27 in Sri Lanka"
Source: Agence-France Presse
Link to Full Story: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081006/twl-srilanka-unrest-blast-4bdc673.html
Excerpt(s): A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber triggered a blast inside offices of the main opposition party in Sri Lanka on Monday, killing at least 27 people, including a retired senior general, officials said. The attack in the northern town of Anuradhapura came as the Sri Lankan military appeared on the verge of capturing the Tigers' key headquarters as part of a major offensive in the drawn-out ethnic conflict... The army said at the weekend that its troops are within two kilometres (1.25 miles) of the northern rebel headquarters in Kilinochchi. Losing control of Kilinochchi would be a major blow to the Tigers, who took up arms in 1972, demanding minority rights. In 1976 they raised the stakes, demanding a separate Tamil state. As the political capital of the LTTE's northern mini-state, Kilinochchi is where the rebels have hosted visiting foreign dignitaries and peace brokers. The Tigers, who are known for their suicide attacks, have put up only intermittent resistance to the military advancing on several fronts in the north of Sri Lanka... Fighting across the northern frontier on Sunday left at least 13 Tigers and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said Monday. Since the Colombo government formally revoked a moribund truce in January, 7,196 Tigers have been killed, according to the military, which places its own losses at 704 soldiers. The casualty figures cannot be independently verified.
DOCUMENTARY FILM (highly recommended)
Circle of Violence - Sri Lanka (~27 min.):
YouTube description: Sep 2007 - This moving report looks back through 30 years of bloodshed in Sri Lanka to place today's violence in its proper context. Why did the ceasefire, agreed two years ago, falter? In 1956, an ambitious politician used the race card to be elected. He promised to make Sinhala the official language. Tamils who weren't fluent were dismissed, sparking a backlash that contributed to the emergence of the Tigers. In the war that followed, an estimated 40,000 disappeared. "We live in a country where anyone can take away another person, and nobody can do anything to stop it." From: Journeyman Pictures.
07 January 2009
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Kenyan Muslims condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza [news story]
Excerpt: NAIROBI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan Muslims on Tuesday condemned Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and called on the Kenyan government to suspend its diplomatic relations with Israel... "We call upon the international community and, particularly, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to step up pressure towards the Zionist regime of Israel to halt its campaign of murder and destruction against the Palestinian people and end the occupation and to boost efforts towards Palestinian statehood," they said in a joint statement. They also urged the government to send a strong letter of protest to Israel over the attacks meted out on the innocent Palestinians.
Article: "Kenyan Muslims condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza"
Source: News.Xinhaunet.com/english
Link to Full Story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/06/content_10614745.htm
Article: "Kenyan Muslims condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza"
Source: News.Xinhaunet.com/english
Link to Full Story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/06/content_10614745.htm
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Malian party condemns Israel’s aggression in Gaza [news story]
Excerpt: APA-Bamako (Mali) The African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI), a Malian opposition party, Tuesday strongly condemned the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip, saying it has all the ingredients of genocide. The party said the Israeli government is to blame for the resumption of hostilities with Hamas due to its "criminal blockade" over Palestinian territories and violation of the cease-fire with the various Palestinian factions. According to a press release copied to APA, the party "unreservedly" condemned "the monstrous crime" of the Zionist state of Israel", accusing its government of perpetrating "targeted assassination" and sabotaging any attempt to unify the Palestinians.
Article: "Malian party condemns Israel’s aggression in Gaza"
Source: APAnews.net
Link to Full Story: http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=84924
Article: "Malian party condemns Israel’s aggression in Gaza"
Source: APAnews.net
Link to Full Story: http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=84924
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Yemeni Jewish community people condemn atrocities on Gaza [news story]
Excerpt: AMRAN, Jan.06 (Saba) - The people of Jewish community in Kharef and Redah provinces condemned on Tuesday all the atrocities and murders on Palestinian people in Gaza Strip. Yemeni Jewish community people, numbering about 180 people, declared in a statement to Saba that the work of Israel's genocide and abuse in addition to the killing of innocent children and women is a crime against humanity and rejected by all religions. The massacres and genocide carried out by the Israeli forces in Gaza strips are brutal and horrible, they added.Article: "Jewish community people condemn atrocities on Gaza"
Source: SabaNews.net
Link to Full Story: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news173131.htm
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Mexico Zapatista leader slams Obama over Gaza silence [news story]
Excerpt: SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AFP) - - Mexico's Zapatista rebel leader "Subcomandante" Marcos slammed US president-elect Barack Obama for failing to speak out on Israel's bombing of Gaza, in a speech on Friday marking the 15th anniversary of his rebellion. The masked leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation -- which rose up in arms in Chiapas, southeast Mexico, on January 1, 1994 -- also critized a government clampdown on spiraling drug violence, in his first public appearance in more than a year. Obama "supports the use of force" against Palestinian people, Marcos said in a speech to some 2,500 leftist politicians and activists from 25 countries.Article: "Mexico Zapatista leader slams Obama over Gaza silence"
Source: Agence-France Presse
Link to Full Story: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090103/twl-mexico-rebels-zapatistas-us-mideast-7e07afd.html
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Denmark summons Israeli ambassador [news story]
Excerpt: Denmark has summoned the Israeli ambassador in Copenhagen in protest at recent attacks on clinics run by a Danish charity in Gaza. "We shall summon the Israeli ambassador because it (the bombing of the clinics) should not take place," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller told reporters on Tuesday.
Article: "Denmark summons Israeli ambassador"
Source: PressTV.ir
Link to Full Story:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=80940§ionid=351020202
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE S. Africa's ruling party condemns Israel's Gaza offensive [news story]
Excerpt: South Africa's ruling party on Tuesday condemned Israel's "horrendous attacks" in the Gaza Strip, saying that collective punishment of Palestinians would not solve the region's crisis. "The ANC (African National Congress) is unambiguous in condemning the horrendous attacks that are currently taking place in Gaza," the party said in a statement. "Collective punishment is not going to resolve the enmity between Palestine and Israel; what will move the peace process forward is addressing the root cause of the conflict," it said. "Israel is in violation of international laws governing retaliatory engagements and is creating a deep humanitarian crisis," the party added.
Article: "S. Africa's ruling party condemns Israel's Gaza offensive"
Source: AfricaAsia.com
Link to Full Story: http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=090106144126.x1jxv4kp.php
Article: "S. Africa's ruling party condemns Israel's Gaza offensive"
Source: AfricaAsia.com
Link to Full Story: http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=090106144126.x1jxv4kp.php
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Jewish Canadian and South Korean Protestors blast Israel, support Gaza [news story]
Excerpt: Jewish Canadians take to the streets to raise their voices against Israeli atrocities in Gaza while South Koreans hold a candlelit vigil. Hundreds of Canadians have attended a rally in the capital Ottawa in protest at the Israeli policies against Palestinians. The protest was organized to denounce the massacre of Palestinian civilians, to call for an immediate ceasefire and to demand that the Israeli blockade on Gaza be lifted.Article: "Protestors blast Israel, support Gaza "
Source: PressTV.ir
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=80936§ionid=351020202
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Indian Left front to protest Israel’s attack on Gaza [news story]
Excerpt: KOLKATA: The ruling Left Front in West Bengal will organise protest marches across the State on January 10 condemning Israeli attacks on Gaza. Biman Bose, Left Front Committee chairman, said here on Tuesday that processions would be taken out in the city and the districts and meetings held condemning the “brutal attacks on the Palestinian people.” He deplored the silence maintained by the United Nations as well as the Indian government on the matter and called upon the latter to immediately exert diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government to put a stop to the attacks on Gaza.
Article: "Left front to protest Israel’s attack on Gaza"
Source: Hindu.com
Link to Full Story: http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010760691400.htm
Article: "Left front to protest Israel’s attack on Gaza"
Source: Hindu.com
Link to Full Story: http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010760691400.htm
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Nicaragua and Peru denounce violence in Gaza [news story]
Excerpt: Mexico has condemned Tel Aviv's "excessive use of force" in the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in the death of 666 people in twelve days. "Mexico condemns the excessive use of force associated with the Israeli army operation in Gaza, " a statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday. It also condemned "the continued launching of mortars into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip". Latin American countries have largely condemned Israel over its launch of 'Operation Cast Lead' on Gaza on December 27. Immediately after Israeli warplanes attacked the strip, Cuba called the offensive an "act of genocide" and a "criminal military operation, the bloodiest one executed by Israel against the Palestinian people." Three day later, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry slammed the attacks as "crimes" that "represent a severe and massive violation of the International Humanitarian Law." The governments of Chile, Nicaragua and Peru have also officially condemned the bombardments.Article: "Mexico denounces violence in Gaza"
Source: PressTV.ir
Link to Full Story: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=80955§ionid=351020202
WORLD DENOUNCES GAZA SIEGE Chavez Expels Israeli Ambassador Over Gaza Conflict, Labeling It "Genocide" [news story]
Excerpt: Caracas, Venezuela (AHN) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday expelled Israel's ambassador to the country as he accused the Jewish nation of "genocide" against the Palestinian people. He described the Israeli army as "cowards."
Article: "Chavez Expels Israeli Ambassador Over Gaza Conflict, Labeling It "Genocide""
Source: AllHeadlineNews.com
Link to Full Story: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013618160
Article: "Chavez Expels Israeli Ambassador Over Gaza Conflict, Labeling It "Genocide""
Source: AllHeadlineNews.com
Link to Full Story: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013618160
Gulf states agree on monetary union [news story]
Excerpt: Gulf Arab states will maintain their 2010 deadline for a single currency, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has said. Leaders of GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain) approved a final draft of an accord on a monetary union agreement in their annual summit in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Tuesday. The agreement would pave the way for a single currency, which all GCC states but Oman are working towards launching.Article: "Gulf states agree on monetary union"
Source: Al Jazeera English
Link to Full Story: http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2008/12/20081230153346616980.html
06 January 2009
Stunning oratory by George Galloway / Stop Gaza Massacre Protest in London / HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [video]
George Galloway Stop Gaza Massacre protest part 08:
YouTube Description:
George Galloway's speech at Trafalgar Square London listened by 100s of thousands of supporters of truth and justice for Gaza.
YouTube Description:
George Galloway's speech at Trafalgar Square London listened by 100s of thousands of supporters of truth and justice for Gaza.
Doctor Decries Israeli Attacks / Israel Deliberately Targeting Civilians In Gaza [video]
Doctor Decries Israeli Attacks:
YouTube Description:
Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor in Gaza, tells Sky News that the number of civilians injured and killed in Gaza proves that Israel is deliberately attacking the population.
YouTube Description:
Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor in Gaza, tells Sky News that the number of civilians injured and killed in Gaza proves that Israel is deliberately attacking the population.
Top 5 Lies about Israel’s Assault on Gaza [news story]
Article: Top 5 Lies about Israel’s Assault on Gaza
Source: Les dessous de l’information mondiale-Downside World News (eldib.wordpress.com)
Link to Full Story: http://eldib.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/top-5-lies-about-israels-assault-on-gaza/
Excerpt:
Israel’s violation of the cease-fire predictably resulted in retaliation from militants in Gaza who fired rockets into Israel in response. The increased barrage of rocket fire at the end of December is being used as justification for the continued Israeli bombardment, but is a direct response to the Israeli attacks, notes Jeremy Hammond.
Lie #1: Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of property in the world. The presence of militants within a civilian population does not, under international law, deprive that population of their protected status, and hence any assault upon that population under the guise of targeting militants is, in fact, a war crime.
Source: Les dessous de l’information mondiale-Downside World News (eldib.wordpress.com)
Link to Full Story: http://eldib.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/top-5-lies-about-israels-assault-on-gaza/
Excerpt:
Israel’s violation of the cease-fire predictably resulted in retaliation from militants in Gaza who fired rockets into Israel in response. The increased barrage of rocket fire at the end of December is being used as justification for the continued Israeli bombardment, but is a direct response to the Israeli attacks, notes Jeremy Hammond.
Lie #1: Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of property in the world. The presence of militants within a civilian population does not, under international law, deprive that population of their protected status, and hence any assault upon that population under the guise of targeting militants is, in fact, a war crime.
05 January 2009
Dr. Ron Paul On Israel’s Invasion of Gaza / End the Occupation and Siege NOW [video]
Gaza Video_1-3-09:
YouTube Description:
Dr. Paul discusses the invasion of Gaza on January 3, 2009 and its implications for America.
YouTube Description:
Dr. Paul discusses the invasion of Gaza on January 3, 2009 and its implications for America.
"GOD HELP THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE - THE AMERICANS WON'T" [news article]
Excerpt: There is more debate inside Israel about their nation's illegal and immoral attack on the defenseless people of Gaza than here in the US. In America we witness a non-stop display of Israeli government spokespersons on TV justifying their murderous assault on the Palestinian people. I've seen nothing on TV or in the newspaper about protests in our country. Tonight I even heard Israeli government representatives on CNN and MSNBC denying that more than 400 Palestinian people had been killed in recent days by Israel's incessant bombing.
Article: GOD HELP THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE - THE AMERICANS WON'T
Source: Daily.pk
Link to Full Story: http://www.daily.pk/world/middle-east/9024--god-help-the-palestinian-people-the-americans-wont.html
Article: GOD HELP THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE - THE AMERICANS WON'T
Source: Daily.pk
Link to Full Story: http://www.daily.pk/world/middle-east/9024--god-help-the-palestinian-people-the-americans-wont.html
Living on Borrowed Time in a Stolen Land [news article]
Excerpt:Communicating with Israelis may leave one bewildered. Even now when the Israeli Air Force is practicing murder in broad daylight of hundreds of civilians, elderly persons, women and children, the Israeli people manage to convince themselves that they are the real victims in this violent saga.
Article: Living on Borrowed Time in a Stolen Land
Source: Daily.pk
Link to Full Story: http://www.daily.pk/world/middle-east/9033-living-on-borrowed-time-in-a-stolen-land.html
Article: Living on Borrowed Time in a Stolen Land
Source: Daily.pk
Link to Full Story: http://www.daily.pk/world/middle-east/9033-living-on-borrowed-time-in-a-stolen-land.html
04 January 2009
Russia calls for ceasefire in Gaza Strip - Foreign Ministry [news article]
Excerpt: "It is necessary to immediately stop the suffering of civilians on both sides, stop the bloodshed while ensuring a mutual ceasefire. Russia will keep actively pressing for it in contacts with all interested sides, in the UN Security Council and the Middle East Quartet," spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.Article: Russia calls for ceasefire in Gaza Strip - Foreign Ministry
Source: Rian.ru
Link to Full Story: http://en.rian.ru/world/20090104/119365553.html
Protests around the World - Worldwide backlash over Israeli offensive - Compiled by Russia Today News [video]
From Russia Today News: "Global protests are continuing against Israeli aggression in Gaza as Israeli forces have launched a ground attack into the region."
Worldwide backlash over Israeli offensive
CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO
McKinney does more good works -- Ship carrying aid to Gaza rammed by Israeli patrol boat [video]
VIDEO "cnn - mckinney ship rammed by israeli patrol boat":
YouTube Description:
Cynthia McKinney "tried to bring medical supplies to gaza. the boat was in international waters as it got rammed by an israeli patrol boat. 'i would like to ask my former colleagues in the united states congress, to stop sending weapons of mass destruction around the world..'"
YouTube Description:
Cynthia McKinney "tried to bring medical supplies to gaza. the boat was in international waters as it got rammed by an israeli patrol boat. 'i would like to ask my former colleagues in the united states congress, to stop sending weapons of mass destruction around the world..'"
DEMAND ISRAEL / U.S.A. CEASE ATTACK ON PEOPLE OF GAZA [video]
From AlJazeeraEnglish on YouTube:
YouTube Description:
"It is, according to Israel, just the beginning. A wave of missile attacks on the Gaza Strip, which began on Saturday morning, bombarded security compounds belonging to Hamas, which controls the coastal territory."
YouTube Description:
"It is, according to Israel, just the beginning. A wave of missile attacks on the Gaza Strip, which began on Saturday morning, bombarded security compounds belonging to Hamas, which controls the coastal territory."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
