Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Headlines for December 9 - December 15

A Stand For Justice


Saudi still favors $70-$80 oil, OPEC holds supply
The comments came as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed, as expected, to keep production restraints unchanged, despite a recent surge in crude prices to $90 a barrel.

All the more money sucked out of the American economy. Remember when gasoline was $4/gallon just before the economy tanked 2 years ago? See a correlation there? As soon as the economy tanked, so did the price of gasoline. Now that the economy is getting better, the cost of gasoline is getting higher. Soak the American Bloke. BS.


Obama condemns suicide bombing in Iran
"The United States stands with the families and loved ones of those killed and injured, and with the Iranian people, in the face of this injustice," he said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also condemned the attack and extended condolences to the families of the victims.




Sunni rebels claim Iran suicide blasts, 39 dead
Two suicide bomb attacks killed 39 people outside a mosque during a Shi'ite religious ceremony in south-eastern Iran on Wednesday, a strike Jundollah rebels said was retaliation for the execution of their leader in June.



Israel Seeks 20 Additional F-35s After Failure of U.S. Swap for Peace Plan
Defense officials from both countries are discussing ways to pay for the “expensive” jets because Israel lacks the funds, Oren said.


Espionage Act: How the Government Can Engage in Serious Aggression Against the People of the United States
Presidential candidate Eugene Debs received a ten-year prison sentence in 1918 under the Espionage Act for daring to read the First Amendment in public. The roundup of ordinary citizens -- charged with the Espionage Act -- who were jailed for daring to criticize the government was so effective in deterring others from speaking up that the Act silenced dissent in this country for a decade


Suicide bombers kill at least 39 in southeast Iran



Iran not a rogue state: Australia
Australia is at odds with its major security ally the United States over Iran, saying it is not a "rogue state" and its nuclear weapons program is for deterrence, not attack, according to U.S. cables released by WikiLeaks.




U.S. military angers Iran by calling Persian Gulf ‘Arabian Gulf’
The U.S. military found this out the hard way after the Navy shifted its official policy and began referring to the Persian Gulf as the "Arabian Gulf." The name change provoked outrage from the easily provoked government of Iran –– which was known as Persia from around the sixth century BC until 1935. The move also drew fire from Iranian advocacy groups. Many outraged partisans of the old name took to the Navy's Facebook page to slam the American government.




A Grim Record: One In Seven Americans Is On Food Stamps
Hey I know, let's shovel a few more billion to Israel, a prosperous country even despite the economic downturn.


US House Approves Large Increase in Military Aid to Israel
Most significantly, the House added $205 million in first-time funding for the Iron Dome project, a short-range rocket defense system. The money was pledged by President Barack Obama last May, but had been stalled until now.

In addition, military aid allocations from Israel should increase from 2010 levels of $2.775 billion to $3b. for fiscal year 2011, while those for Egypt and Jordan will hold constant from 2010. Look at the House vote -212-206?
Are our representatives finally starting to represent US, the AMERICAN people?



Italy PM said 'not even Obama can stop Israeli attack on Iran', WikiLeaks cable reveals
"No one, including [U.S. President Barack] Obama, can stop Israel if it feels an existential threat," Berlusconi is reported to have said.


Barak tells Gates: Hezbollah and Syria must not gain weapons supremacy over Israel
The two discussed continuing cooperation to build up Israel's active defense against missiles and rockets. They also resumed talks regarding the development of the Namer armored vehicle, and Barak advised his American counterpart to see the U.S. ground army equipped with one as well.


Obama withdraws offer to donate 20 F-35s to Israel



Lebanon Holds its Breath Over Leaked Revelations By Robert Fisk in Beirut
Now the US cables reveal that the UN has indeed been cooperating with the United States, asking for aerial reconnaissance pictures of the Bekaa Valley and sending DNA samples from Mr Hariri's suspected killer, Ahmad Abu Adass, to FBI headquarters for examination.......Yet more dangerous still is a 2008 cable stating that former Lebanese telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh provided the US with maps detailing locations of Hezbollah's communications network.

...There are some details in the cables on Lebanon which are provably wrong. A claim by Samir Geagea, a right-wing Christian politician
, that Iran had provided Syria with 15 submarines, was palpably untrue. Mr Geagea has refused to comment on this cable. Another allegation – that missiles were smuggled into Lebanon on board planes carrying first aid during the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli war – is provably untrue: Beirut airport was bombed on the first day of the battles and never reopened until the conflict had ended.


Israel was happy with Rudd's stance: WikiLeaks
The cables also indicate Mr Rotem was impressed with Prime Minister Julia Gillard's handling of Australia's response to fighting in Gaza while in the role of acting prime minister.

The Israelis told US officials she was far more supportive than expected.


Rudd calls for inspections of Israel's nuclear facility
FOREIGN Minister Kevin Rudd has arrived in Israel with a blunt message: allow international inspectors into your nuclear facility.

He has also called on Israel to stop building in Jewish settlements in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.


Leaks and Leakers by Philip Giraldi
Unauthorized release of classified information and what becomes of it was also the focus in the trial that was terminated in May 2009 of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, AIPAC employees who passed sensitive intelligence to Israeli government officials and to Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post. The very same people at the Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard who are now calling on the federal government to declare war on WikiLeaks and to summarily execute Julian Assange were at that time complaining about the fact that Rosen and Weissman had been charged with a crime because "everyone" passes around classified information in Washington.


Muslim hotel staff allege discrimination on Israeli visit
Muslim employees of a Washington hotel alleged that they were discriminated against when Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited at the weekend, a group representing them said Wednesday.

The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent a protest letter to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel's management on behalf of the employees who alleged they were barred from floors where the Israeli delegation was staying.




Iran Nuclear Talks: Senators Urge Obama to Stand Firm
On Monday, as Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili met in Geneva with E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, a group of prominent U.S. Senators – including John Kyl, Joe Lieberman, Kirsten Gillebrand and John McCain – wrote to President Obama urging him to reject any proposal under which Iran would maintain a uranium–enrichment capability AIPAC shills.


What really drives suicide terrorists by Robert Pape
After examining 2,200 suicide attacks around the world since 1980 – the most comprehensive analysis ever conducted – I've concluded that the answer is both simple and disturbing. What drives them is deep anger at the presence of Western combat forces in the Persian Gulf region and other predominately Muslim lands.

Popular accounts of these suicide terrorists give the impression that most of them are globe-trotting extremists radicalized by militant networks to strike outside their homeland for religious or other transnational causes. These accounts are false.


Market alarm as US fails to control biggest debt in history
The reality is, though, that the market is increasingly alarmed at the rate of increase of the US government’s already massive liabilities. America’s government debt is set to expand by a jaw-dropping 42pc over the next few years, reaching $19.6 trillion by 2015 according to Treasury Department estimates presented (amid very little fanfare) to Congress back in June Hey I know, let's send a few more billion to Israel.


Deputy FM: Iran-Venezuela Ties Threaten U.S., Entire World
Last month, sources in Latin America told Haaretz that a border incident between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and military pressure placed on Costa Rica, a country without an army, are the first step in a plan formulated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, with funding and assistance from Iran, to create a substitute for the strategically and economically important Panama Canal.

The plan has aroused concern in Washington, and the U.S. has begun behind the scenes efforts to foil such a move.

Sources in Latin America consider these events, and the power demonstrated by Nicaragua, as a trial balloon by the creators of the "New Canal Plan" – Venezuela, Iran and Nicaragua. Western intelligence agencies are closely following the path of heavy machinery equipment to Nicaragua as well as the activities of Iranians in the Nicaraguan capital Managua.


1 small NY town's battle for tolerance
Locals watched in horror as Sidney was branded as Islamophobic, backward and ignorant.

"It was sickening," says attorney Tom Schimmerling, 58, the son of Holocaust survivors, who immediately offered to represent the Sufis free of charge. "McCarthy was acting like this was Selma, Ala., in the '60s and he was Bull Connor."




More Money for Nothing by Philip Giraldi
Yesterday the US Congress approved $205 million for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system. That was on top of $200 million previously allocated for Israel’s Arrow and David’s Sling development programs. Now, one might question approving nearly half a billion dollars for a foreign country at a time when budgets for programs in the United States are being axed, so it is definitely convenient that the US public will not know about the vote as it has not been reported anywhere in the US mainstream media. The article I saw was in today’s Haaretz.


UPDATE: State Department Quakes In Terror As AP Asks About Imprisoned Palestinian Demonstrator -- Plus The True Story of the AIPAC-Drafted Berman Bill
Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is today rushing to the House floor with an AIPAC-drafted resolution condemning the Palestinians for publicly suggesting that, in the wake of Netanyahu's refusal to freeze settlements and negotiate, they will consider a unilateral declaration of statehood. (As is usual with Berman, his resolution exclusively blames Palestinians for the collapse of peace talks; not a word of criticism of Israel appears.)


Berman, Congressional Foreign Affairs Boss, Cites Israel as a Prime Motivator in His Politics, Then Calls Israel Lobby a ‘Total Canard’
Berman then assumed he was talking to a friendly crowd. He said Israel "is why I went on the Foreign Affairs Committee–" he corrected himself– "it’s part of why I went on the Foreign Affairs committee in the first place. I’m a great supporter of Israel." He hastened to add he was also a supporter of a "sensible" peace process that takes into account "Israel’s longtime security needs."


No Link Between Stopping Iran and Pushing Peace? Rabin Knew Better
“No, he had the diplomatic cables to prove that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was no obstacle to wide Arab backing,” Horovitz wrote. “Obama, that is, was not the prisoner of a misconception, convinced in absolute good faith” that Israeli concessions would bring the Arabs “on board for the battle with the mullahs.”

The pro-Israelis crave a US attack on Iran, as they did with Iraq but then later denied it.


The Biggest Pro-Israel Group in America? That’s Us, Says Christians United
Last year the group distributed, through its sister organization, John Hagee Ministries, more than $8 million to Israeli and Jewish organizations, according to CUFI. CUFI has stated that less than 5% of that sum went to settler organizations operating in the West Bank.




What’s Behind the War on WikiLeaks By Ray McGovern
So far, the question of whether an informed American public could put the country back on an honorable course has been an academic one rather than experience-based, because Americans have had very little access to the truth.


Nigeria Mulls $250 Million Deal to Drop Cheney Charges
The deal reached by officials from Nigeria and energy firm Halliburton, Cheney's former company, must still be approved by the West African country's government, said Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the anti-graft agency.


Rudd failed to consult Israel over call for nuclear inspection, Opposition claims
KEVIN Rudd's call for an inspection of Israel's nuclear facilities was made without any consultation with Jerusalem, the Opposition has claimed.

"If the reports are correct and Israeli officials were taken by surprise, it reveals Kevin Rudd has not learnt any lessons from his past mistakes," said the opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop.


YouTube Gives Users Ability To Flag Content That Promotes Terrorism



Former Congressman Paul Findley on Push for Iran War






No comments: