Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Headlines for August 12 - August 18

A Stand For Justice


Iran's Nuclear Chief: Bushehr Plant Will Go Online by Month's End



Iran condemns possible US military action
Iran took its case against the United States to the United Nations on Wednesday and strongly condemned the top U.S. military chief for saying military action remains a possibility if the country develops nuclear weapons.



Russia defends Iran nuclear plant ahead of launch
In somewhat acid remarks typical of the Russian foreign minister's style, Lavrov added: "I would recommend all those who believe this to be a wrong signal to turn to classics, in particular former US president George Bush, who called the Bushehr project an example of cooperation with Iran, in particular in nuclear sphere."



Commentary: Guns of August?
There is little doubt that an Israeli attack on Iran would trigger mayhem up and down the Persian Gulf and trigger a third war that would be yet another force multiplier for the U.S. deficit: Federal spending is now at $3.6 trillion; the national debt, $13.4 trillion; cost per citizen $43,000; cost per taxpayer $120,000. Check the debt clock online -- in real time.


Point of Return: Israeli Generals and Intel Officials Oppose Attack on Iran



Israel has '8 days' to hit Iran nuclear site: Bolton
John Bolton (and all others like him) should be stripped of his US citizenship and put on the next plane to Israel.


Iraqi child cancer 'linked to US weapons'
A report published on The Independent says cancers and other diseases in the city of Falluja are higher than those recorded in the survivors of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.



The Weak Case for War with Iran
the Islamic Republic is not Hitler's Germany, particularly regarding Jews. No matter how many anti-Zionist or even anti-Semitic quotes Gerecht, Goldberg, and others may marshal from Iranian politicians, inconvenient realities undermine the Islamic Republic/Third Reich analogy: Roughly 25,000-30,000 Jews continue living in Iran, with civil status equal to other Iranians and a constitutionally guaranteed parliamentary seat. It is illegal in the Islamic Republic for Muslims to consume alcohol --but Jews (and Christians) are permitted wine for religious ceremonies and personal consumption.


Hillary’s Enemies List by Philip Giraldi
The State Department report sometimes seems like a press release for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Regarding the horrific Israeli invasion of Gaza and its aftermath...Nothing about Israeli provocations and no mention of the deliberate destruction of schools and infrastructure and the targeting of UN relief operations or the high level of civilian casualties.....The report suggests a new, heavily armed and malignant axis of evil. It clearly makes opponents of Israel the designated bad guys and fails to note that US intelligence has not been able to confirm Tel Aviv’s allegations, making one wonder why uncorroborated claims from biased foreign sources should appear in a United States government document without any additional caveats.....So Israel’s enemies are America’s enemies and Hillary won’t let you forget that fact. All Americans should read this.


A campaign for war with Iran begins
Obama administration officials, as well as U.S. lawmakers and European diplomats, passionately made the argument this spring that tough sanctions on Iran were necessary to avoid war. But contrary to their predictions, the drumbeat for war -- particularly from Israel – has only increased since the U.N. Security Council adopted a new resolution against Tehran in June.


Iran to build 10 uranium enrichments plants in mountain strongholds



Israel to buy world's most advanced warplane
Delivery of the first F–35s, which are still not yet operational, is expected only in 2015, the paper said.



Israeli Generals and Intel Officials Oppose Attack on Iran



Jobless millions signal death of the American dream for many
Joblessness has taken hold in America, with the numbers of long-term unemployed reaching levels not seen since the Depression of the 1930s. The figures are frightening and illustrate a society that remains in deep trouble......America appears to be a society splitting down the centre, shattering the middle class that long formed the cultural bedrock of the country and dividing it into a country of haves and have-notsAmerica appears to be a society splitting down the centre, shattering the middle class that long formed the cultural bedrock of the country and dividing it into a country of haves and have-nots This is hardly the time to get sucked into yet another war in the Middle East, at Israel's urging (again).


How Propagandists Function



John Bolton: Russia's Loading of Nuke Fuel Into Iran Plant Means Aug. 21 Deadline for Israeli Attack
News that Russia will load nuclear fuel rods into an Iranian reactor has touched off a countdown to a point of no return, a deadline by which Israel would have to launch an attack on Iran's Bushehr reactor before it becomes effectively "immune" to any assault, says former Bush administration U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton.


A Neocon Preps US for War with Iran
The neocons seem to be as strong now as under George W. Bush, with their Real-Men-Go-to-Tehran-type macho undiminished.


Iraq to Iran: Propaganda for War



Romania says it will stand by Israel in event of conflict with Iran



25,000 Jews live in Iran
25,000 Jews live in Iran. It's the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel. Iranian Jews are not persecuted or abused by the state, in fact, they are protected under Iran's constitution. They are free to practice their religion and to vote in elections. They are not stopped and searched at checkpoints, they are not brutalized by an occupying army, and they are not herded into a densely-populated penal colony (Gaza) where they are deprived of the basic means of survival. Iranian Jews live in dignity and enjoy the benefits of citizenship.


Repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran - CSMonitor.com



Israel, the bomb, and openness
It's time for Israel to come out of the closet. After five decades of maintaining a nuclear weapons program without acknowledging its existence, Israel should proactively announce and provide information about its nuclear weapons status. Though Israel's bombs have long been an open secret, unprecedented international scrutiny in coming years will make this "nuclear opacity" increasingly untenable.


How propagandists function Exhibit A - Glenn Greenwald
Goldberg wouldn't possibly claim what he claims now -- that the 1981 strike permanently halted Saddam's "nuclear ambitions" -- because, back then, his goal was to scare Americans about The Threat of Saddam. So in 2002, Goldberg warned Americans that Saddam had "redoubled" his efforts to turn Iraq into a nuclear power after the Israeli attack, i.e., that Saddam had a scarier nuclear program than ever before after the 1981 bombing raid. But now, Goldberg has a different goal: to convince Americans of the efficacy of bombing Iran, and thus, without batting an eye, he simply asserts the exact opposite factual premise: that the Israelis successfully and permanently ended Saddam's nuclear ambition back in 1981 by bombing it out of existence (and, therefore, we can do something similar now to Iran)....The purpose of this Atlantic article is as obvious as it is odious: to mainstream the debate over an Israeli or American attack on Iran by defending its rationale, all masquerading as objective reporting


Why Israel Wants a US War with Iran
Last month, in The Weekly Standard, Reuel Marc Gerecht made the case for an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear targets. With the publication of Jeffrey Goldberg's "The Point of No Return" in the Atlantic, the campaign for war against Iran is now arguing that the United States should attack so Israel won't have to.


AP: Arab nations lobby U.S. on anti-Israel vote
Islamic nations have long called for Israel – which is widely believed to have nuclear arms – to open its program. But the fact that the Arab League has directly approached Washington and other Israeli allies for support at the September meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency is significant, considering that President Barack Obama last month warned against using that forum to single out Israel.



Hamas leader: Ground zero mosque must be built
Mahmoud al–Zahar said Muslims "have to build everywhere" so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship.



Some Muslims question mosque near ground zero



How the US economy is being 'Japanised'
As things stand, the US is rapidly beginning to look like Japan (a country that has as yet failed to recover properly form a property and stock market bubble that burst in 1990). Like Japan, the US appears to be stuck with a zombie banking system, ineffective monetary policy, an ever-rising national debt and persistently low economic growth.


Economic Growth Prospects Dim in U.S. After Retail Sales, Trade Reports
America can ill afford another war in the Middle East.


US 'Virtually Certain' to Fall Into A New Recession: Rosenberg



US unemployment: Don't let the elite pass the buck
The point is that a large part of Congress, large enough to block any action on jobs, cares a lot about taxes on the richest 1% of the population, but very little about the plight of Americans who can't find work.


Pro-Mosque Mom Who Lost Pregnant Daughter In Trade Center: 9/11 Families 'Not Monolithic'
"There is no simple, singular 9/11 group who really should or could speak for all 9/11 family members," said Donna Marsh O'Connor of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a coalition of more than 250 families which recently endorsed the mosque. Since the endorsement, the membership numbers have grown, she said.


Barack Obama 'may be prepared to meet Iranian president’



Turkey to continue sending fuel to Iran



New intelligence on Iran antiaircraft missiles in Afghanistan
The WaPo is making the case for war.


When Shuls Were Banned in America
When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg stood on Governors Island, in sight of the Statue of Liberty, and forcefully defended the right of Muslims to build a community center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, he expressly made a point of distancing himself from an earlier leader of the city: Peter Stuyvesant, who understood the relationship between religion and state altogether differently than Bloomberg does.


Poll: NY voters opposed to mosque near ground zero
The Siena College poll showed 63 percent of New York voters surveyed oppose the project, with 27 percent supporting it. That compares with 64 percent opposed and 28 percent in favor two weeks earlier, results that are within the polls' sampling margins.



Obama warns Turkish PM over stance on Israel, Iran: report
President Barack Obama has warned the Turkish prime minister that Ankara's position on Israel and Iran could lessen its chances of obtaining US weapons, a report said Monday.



Republicans attack Obama over Muslim center comments



Muslims pray daily at Pentagon's 9/11 crash site
As part of its massive renovation, the Pentagon opened the nondenominational chapel in November 2002. The chapel hosts a daily prayer group and weekly worship service for Muslims and provides similar services for Jews, Hindus, Mormons, Protestants, Catholics and Episcopalians.

Pentagon officials say that no one in the military or the families of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has ever protested.



Facts don't calm debate over New York Islamic center

Former New York City Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on NBC Thursday morning, called putting a Muslim prayer space near ground zero a "desecration."

Giuliani failed to mention that such a prayer center already exists about six blocks from ground zero and has been in lower Manhattan since 1970, the year the World Trade Center opened to its first tenants.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/20/99457/facts-dont-calm-debate-over-new.html#ixzz0xZhvugZu



FACT CHECK: Islam already part of WTC neighborhood
A New York imam and his proposed mosque near ground zero are being demonized by political candidates – mostly Republicans – despite the fact that Islam is already very much a part of the World Trade Center neighborhood. And that Muslims pray inside the Pentagon, too, less than 80 feet from where terrorists attacked.



'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam Helped FBI With Counterterrorism Efforts



Culture Jihad by Patrick J. Buchanan
Indeed, if, as backers claim, the purpose of this Cordoba mosque and community center were healing, reconciliation, and harmony, it has failed in its purpose. It has already had the opposite effect, enraging and dividing the city and country. Patrick J. again weighing in on the mosque issue. The comments are interesting.


ADL Continues To Suffer Harsh Criticism for Its Opposition to Mosque Near Ground Zero
“It is a betrayal of our first principles, and it’s tearing the league apart,” said one board member, who asked not to be named.


Lebanon debates giving Palestinians rights



Iran sanctions helping Ahmadinejad: Karroubi



Ground Zero mosque as wedge issue Muslims vs. 'real' Americans - CSMonitor.com






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