Thursday, June 17, 2010

Headlines for May 20 - May 26

A Stand For Justice


Petraeus orders US spies to prepare for anti-nuclear strike on Iran
Teams of American special forces have been authorised to conduct spying missions intended to pave the way for a military strike on Iran in case President Obama orders one, US government sources have confirmed.


Obama: U.S. can't act alone in world
Obama: U.S. can't act alone in world

Reuters
Date: 5/23/2010

By Patricia Zengerle Patricia Zengerle – Sat May 22, 4:10 pm ET

WEST POINT, New York (Reuters) – President Barack Obama declared on Saturday the United States cannot act alone in the world and pledged to shape a new "international order" as part of a national security strategy to seal his break with Bush–era policies.

Setting out his vision for keeping America safe as it fights wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama stressed international engagement over predecessor George W. Bush's "cowboy diplomacy" and signaled his likely repudiation of Bush's justifications for pre–emptive war.

"The burdens of this century cannot fall on our soldiers alone, it also cannot fall on American shoulders alone," Obama told graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. "Our adversaries would like to see America sap its strength by overextending our power."



US/Israel Challenged on Iran
despite the rhetoric, Israel and its supporters in Washington do not view the current dispute over Iran's nuclear program as an "existential threat." Rather, it is viewed as another golden opportunity to bring "regime change" to a country considered one of Israel's adversaries, as Iraq was under Saddam Hussein
Ray McGovern is a former CIA analyst.


Congress OKs $205 million for Israel
Israel, facing the threat of a massive missile attack by Iran and its proxies, breathed a sigh of relief after the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly approved giving it $205 million to buy 10 batteries of a new missile-defense system.


Israel impatient with international effort to thwart Iran's nuclear ambition
Israel wants war.


'Israeli Retaliation Must Include Major Muslim Sites'
A new paper from the BESA Center for Mideast Security and Policy says any Israeli response to a non-conventional attack from Arab countries must include an attack on sites of “major symbolic importance for the Muslim world”.


PA's Abbas slams Iran
As to the Palestinian boycott on settlement products, Abbas declared that he too takes part in the campaign.


Shaping the Story on Iran by Philip Giraldi
There have been recent reports that Iran has enabled the travel of al-Qaeda leaders to Afghanistan and Pakistan where they will be able to confront and kill American soldiers. If you think you have heard the story before, you have, in another context. In the earlier rendition it was Saddam Hussein who was hand-in-glove with al-Qaeda, helping the group in its nefarious planning to attack the United States and kill Americans Another must read by Philip Giraldi.


Brazil: Iran is willing to talk, others must do the same
Photo by: Reuters

"Iran, which had been sold to the world as the devil... sat down at the negotiating table. I want to see the others comply with what they wanted Iran to do," Lula said during a speech to mayors in the capital, Brasilia.



U.S. Is Said to Expand Secret Actions in Mideast
The secret directive, signed in September by Gen. David H. Petraeus, authorizes the sending of American Special Operations troops to both friendly and hostile nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to gather intelligence and build ties with local forces. Officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate.


General Petraeus's Secret Ops
If President Obama knew about this, authorized it and still supports it, then Obama has crossed a red line, and the president will stand revealed as an aggressive, militaristic liberal interventionist who bears a closer resemblance to the president he succeeded than to the ephemeral reformer that he pretended to be in 2008, when he ran for office.


U.S. Media Censors U.S. Support of Iran Fuel Swap
But if you get your information from major U.S. media, here's something that you almost certainly don't know: Brazil and Turkey say that before they reached the deal, they understood that they had the backing of the Obama Administration for their efforts. The available evidence suggests that Brazil and Turkey had good reason to believe that they had U.S. support, and that the Obama Administration has taken a 180 degree turn in its position in the last few weeks, and is now trying to cover its tracks, with the active collaboration of major U.S. media.


Iran: No nuclear swap deal without support of Western powers



Syria's Assad says US has lost Mideast peace influence
Assad was quoted as telling the Italian daily La Repubblica that Washington "has no influence because they don't do anything for peace. But they remain the greatest power."




Take Iran’s Deal, Mr. President by Patrick J. Buchanan
Not only did Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Lula da Silva of Brazil put their prestige on the line by flying to Tehran, the deal they got is a near-exact replica of the deal Obama offered Iran eight months ago. Why is President Obama slapping it away? Does he not want a deal? Has he already decided on the sanctions road that leads to war?



BILL TITLE: To authorize assistance to Israel for the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system



From Times Square to Jacksonville: When Terrorism Is a Double-Standard
Few of you know that 10 days after the attempted terrorist attack in Times Square, an actual terrorist attack took place in Jacksonville when a firebomb exploded outside the city's biggest mosque, the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida. Some 60 worshippers were praying inside when the bomb went off and started a fire. No one was injured. The bomber is still at large.


Rand Paul and Israel



Getting Serious About Iran
There is no conceivable solution to the threat of a nuclear Iran that will not require American leadership. All of the options — whether economic sanctions or military action — are impossible without American support.


America Moves the Goalposts
If all the mistrust needed further illustration, it has just been provided by the Brazilian-Turkish deal on Iran’s low enriched uranium (LEU), the peevish U.S. reaction to it, and the apparent determination of the Great Powers, led by the Obama administration, to burrow deeper into failure.



Expert Advice from The Washington Times by Philip Giraldi
A copy of The Washington Times was on display with a large front page picture of yesterday’s Salute to Israel parade in New York. Next to the picture was an article by Rowan Scarborough entitled “Israel arms may not be enough to stop nukes.”


Syria defies Western pressure over Hezbollah
"A Scud missile is as big as this room. How could it be hidden and smuggled with Israeli planes and satellites all over the region?" Moualem asked, adding that cumbersome Scuds were not suited to Hezbollah's guerrilla tactics.



Iran sends letter to IAEA on swap deal
Iran Sunday handed over a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano on a nuclear swap deal reached with Brazil and Turkey, the Iranian state-run Press TV reported.



John Bolton's North Korea plan: Bomb Iran!
The former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. already advocated bombing Iran on the Wall Street Journal opinion page once this month (and last month, and the month before that), but North Korea's apparent torpedo attack on a South Korean warship earlier this year gives Bolton an entirely new reason to suggest an immediate preemptive strike against Iran:


Russian official: Iran's reactor ready by August
Russia's top nuclear official says that work on Iran's first nuclear plant is on schedule and the reactor will start operation by August.



Confiscating Your Property
"One of the main reasons they do this and why they love civil forfeiture is because in Texas and over 40 states and at the federal level, police and prosecutors get to keep all or most of the property that they seize for their own use," he said. "So they can use it to improve their offices, buy better equipment."


India snubs US, hails Iran's N-plan



PM: Radical Islam with nukes – danger to mankind
Amid international efforts to impose fresh sanctions against Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Russia to cooperate with Israel in order to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions.





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