30 Nov 2006
Keith Olbermann and the end of Free Speech
"Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime"
"Ignored by the mainstream media, many of the disturbing facts surrounding the 9/11 attacks raise deeply ethical questions associated with issues of accountability, justice and censorship in America." (Google video)
29 Nov 2006
Smart Police
Paul Watson (www.propagandamatrix.com) writes: "Uniforms begin to befit fascist policies abolishing freedom of speech"
"British police have been photographed wearing bizarre Nazi-like insignia on their uniforms as the attire of Tony Blair's enforcers begins to compliment the totalitarian society the Prime Minister is creating by openly abolishing freedom of speech and freedom of assembly under draconian crime and terror laws." More here!
But what about this SmartShield™ System for Law Enforcement. Scary!
Also see: ALL COPPERS ARE BASTARDS on londonclasswar.org: "The Metropolitan police are lobbying the attorney general to make chants and slogans that hurt someone'sfeelings a criminal offence.
Flag and religious texts burning are also up for banning."
28 Nov 2006
The End of Free Speech in the US
At a “First Amendment awards dinner,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said yesterday “the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.” He said a “different set of rules” may be needed to limit “terrorists’ ability to use the Internet and free speech.” More here
Visit FreeSpeech.org for as long as it still can.
Americas Third World War
How 6 million People Were killed in CIA secret wars against third world
countries.
John Stockwell, former CIA Station Chief in Angola in 1976, working for then
Director of the CIA, George Bush. He spent 13 years in the agency. He gives
a short history of CIA covert operations. He is a very compelling speaker and
the highest level CIA officer to testify to the Congress about his actions.
He estimates that over 6 million people have died in CIA covert actions, and
this was in the late 1980's
Japanese medical experiments
Akira Makino, 84, told Kyodo news agency he performed surgery and amputations on condemned prisoners, including women and children. More at BBC
But we knew this:
Japan's Medical Experiments on Prisoners
Why Japanese doctors performed human experiments in China 1933-1945
or Unlocking a Deadly Secret - The research was kept secret after the end of World War II in part because the U.S. Army granted immunity from war crimes prosecution to the doctors in exchange for their research data. Japanese and U.S. documents show that the United States helped cover up the human experimentation and instead of putting the ringleaders on trial, it gave them stipends.
The accounts now emerging are wrenching to read even after so much time has passed: a Russian mother and daughter reportedly left in a gas chamber, for example, as doctors peer through the thick glass and time their convulsions, watching as the woman sprawls over her child in a futile effort to save her from the gas. More
Kissinger is Papal Adviser
Over the course of his long and controversial career, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has had many titles. Now he reportedly has one more — adviser to the Pope.
According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Benedict XVI has invited the 83-year-old former adviser to Richard Nixon to be a political consultant, and Kissinger has accepted.
Quoting an “authoritative” diplomatic source at the Holy See, the paper reported Nov. 4 that the Nobel laureate was asked at a recent private audience with the Holy Father to form part of a papal “advisory board” on foreign and political affairs.
Black listed news
More (dirty stuff) about the man at www.henry-kissinger.com
26 Nov 2006
Future of Mankind
Michael Tsarion gives a talk at the Granada Forum in Los Angeles, 2006 (325 minutes long!)
Oil behind Darfur crisis
Muammar Gaddafi has accused the West of trying to grab Sudan's oil wealth with its plan to send UN troops to Darfur.
"The Libyan president, a mediator in several African wars, was echoing Sudanese criticisms of the proposed deployment as a Western attempt at colonisation. Gaddafi also urged the Khartoum government to reject the proposal.
"Western countries and America are not busying themselves out of sympathy for the Sudanese people or for Africa but for oil and for the return of colonialism to the African continent," he said."
Source: Al Jazeera English - Africa
Polonium-210 one of world's rarest elements
For days doctors struggled to identify the poison that led to the rapid deterioration of Alexander Litvinenko's health, and ultimately, his death late Thursday.
"On Friday, British police said trace amounts of polonium had been found in Litvinenko's urine, and that it had been deliberately used to kill him. "This seems to have been a substance carefully chosen for its ability to be hard to detect," said Dr. Philip Walker, a physics professor at the University of Surrey. The former Soviet Union reportedly used polonium in its space program in the 1970s, and it is used also in devices designed to eliminate static electricity.
Polonium is so exceedingly rare that only about 100 grams is believed to be produced each year, said Dr. Mike Keir, a radiation protection adviser at Royal Victoria Infirmary."Only a very, very small amount of this would need to be ingested to kill," Keir said. "Unless you can remove the material, there's very little you can do except treat the symptoms."
Source: Polonium-210 one of world's rarest elements - CNN.com
Michael Tsarion - The Subversive Use of Sacred Symbolism in the Media...
Learn that symbolism is all around us. Corporations and Government uses the signs of the occult, why?
See the whole presentation by Michael Tsarion at Conspiracy Con 2003 - The Subversive Use of Sacred Symbolism in the Media... in 6 parts (total 101 min - does that mean anything?)
It is fun to watch, it's scary to realize. Lots of pictures of logos with occult roots.
See also Michael Tsarion's website or MTSAR - the michael tsarion weblog
25 Nov 2006
Science Teachers Organization rejects Inconvenient Truth
In tomorrow’s Washington Post, global warming activist Laurie David writes about her effort to donate 50,000 free DVD copies of An Inconvenient Truth (which she co-produced) to the National Science Teachers Association. The Association refused to accept the DVDs:
In their e-mail rejection, they expressed concern that other “special interests” might ask to distribute materials, too; they said they didn’t want to offer “political” endorsement of the film; and they saw “little, if any, benefit to NSTA or its members” in accepting the free DVDs. …
[T]here was one more curious argument in the e-mail: Accepting the DVDs, they wrote, would place “unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters.”
As it turns out, those supporters already include “special interests,” including Exxon-Mobil, Shell Oil, and the American Petroleum Institute, which have given millions in funding to the NSTA. And while the NSTA showed no interest in helping educators get copies of Al Gore’s movie (which scientists gave “five stars for accuracy“), it has distributed oil industry-funded “educational” content.
Source: Science Teachers’ Organization Distributes Oil Industry Funded Propaganda, Rejects Copies of Inconvenient Truth - Think Progress
Suspect Nation
"Since Tony Blair's New Labour government came to power in 1997, the UK civil liberties landscape has changed dramatically. ASBOs were introduced by Section 1 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and first used in 1999. The right to remain silent is no longer universal. Our right to privacy, free from interception of communications has been severely curtailed. The ability to travel without surveillance (or those details of our journeys being retained) has disappeared, as Henry Porter (the Observer) reveals in this unsettling film."
CHINESE HAVE MOST MONEY
AMERICA NOW BIGGEST DEBTOR IN THE WORLD
$30million and $80 million. Two big numbers, and the end of the world as we have known it.
The first number is the rate at which China is adding to its reserves of foreign currencies—mostly dollars—every hour. The second number is the rate at which America’s capital—as measured by the current account—is being depleted, also by the hour.
In early November, China’s pool of reserves passed the $1 trillion mark, making it the largest lake of money in the world. The United States has a chain of great lakes too. But they are a different kind—vast sinkholes of debt that get bigger every day. The cost of the war in Iraq alone is $8 million per hour.
American Free Press: CHINESE HAVE MOST MONEY
Russia defends Iran
Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran, a Defense Ministry official said Friday, confirming that Moscow would proceed with arms deals with Tehran in spite of Western criticism.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue, declined to specify when the deliveries had been made and how many systems had been delivered. Ministry officials have previously said Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a US$700 million (€565 million) contract signed in December, according to Russian media reports. More in the Jerusalem Post
But already:" US, ISRAEL OPERATE IN IRAN"
"Behind the increasingly shrill rhetoric and saber rattling over Iran’s nuclear ambitions America and Israel are engaged in a secret war against Iran that has echoes of the years when the CIA supported the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet Union.
This time, the United States and Israel are running covert operations with the help of Kurdish militias and rebel Iranian fighters. For some observers, training and arming Islamic fighters smacks of the days of Soviet rule in Afghanistan." More
24 Nov 2006
Ancient Astronauts
"The term 'Ancient Astronauts' generally refers to extraterrestrials who came to Earth and were in some way responsible for seeding the human race.
There are references to these entities in the bible, in ancient art and other texts. They are all linked with myths about creation found in all ancient civilizations.
As we search to find the truth behind the illusion, who created the human race - or biogenetic experiment - we look to those who came from the stars - ancient astronauts - creational gods - for our answers. All is theory, virtual reality, consciousness, and for the most part not proveable - subject to the interpretation of the researcher or experiencer."
Much more information at Ancient Astronauts - Crystalinks
More than 200 dead in iraq bombings
"The death toll from a series of bombs in Sadr City, a poor Shia area of Baghdad, has reached 202. An estimated 250 people were wounded in Thursday afternoons attacks.
Iraqi police released the new figures on Friday. Doctors had said many of the wounded were seriously injured and unlikely to survive. Thursday was one of the bloodiest days in the country since the US invasion." Source: Al Jazeera English - Middle East
FIFA suspends Iran Football Federation
The FIFA Emergency Committee took this decision after determining that the IRIFF was not adhering to the principles of the FIFA Statutes regarding the independence of member associations, the independence of the decision-making process of the football governing body in each country and the way in which changes in the leadership of associations are brought about.
Source: FIFA.com The Official web site of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association
Poisoned Spy Dies In Hospital
"Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital after being poisoned. A spokesman for University College Hospital said the ex-KGB agent has died after his condition had been deteriorating throughout the day.
The Metropolitan Police are investigating his death as "an unexplained death".
Mr Litvinenko's supporters have accused the Russian government of poisoning the 43-year-old, who had been given asylum and citizenship in Britain after fleeing Russia." Source: Sky News: Poisoned Spy Dies In Hospital
22 Nov 2006
"As Long As You're Not Doing Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing To Worry About"
'I am personally sick of hearing the above phrase used whenever the latest surveillance tool is trotted out and used on the public as a means of control. It's worn out and doesn't work anymore. People are finally beginning to stop laughing at the madness of the big brother society, but will it be too late when people begin to see the seriousness of the threat?'
By Steve Watson Infowars.net: As Long As You're Not Doing Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing To Worry About
Like the tower on Infowars.com (read about it here)
Doctors in dark on poisoned ex-spy
'Alexander Litvinenko lying in a hospital Monday in a photograph distributed by his family. The Kremlin denied suggestions that it might be behind his illness.'
Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko has been moved to intensive care in a London hospital after his condition deteriorated, and friends said Monday that they suspected he had been poisoned on Kremlin orders.' The Moscow Times
'Doctors are still trying to determine how a former Russian spy and prominent Kremlin critic was poisoned, but they have discounted suspicions that the toxic metal thallium was used, hospital officials said Tuesday.
Litvinenko was once a colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB. He has been a defender of the Chechen separatists who have battled Moscow's rule for much of the past 15 years, and has accused the government of orchestrating the bombings of a string of apartment buildings as a pretext for its 1999 invasion of the breakaway republic.' CNN
Alexander Litvinenko at Frontline
During a recent debate at the Frontline club , a private members' club for foreign correspondents in London, on the murder of Anna Politkovskya, Mr Litvenenko was filmed standing up from the audience and saying: "I can directly answer you - it is President Putin of the Russian federation who has killed her". He goes on to make several more allegations against both Mr Putin and the Kremlin. (More at Infowars.net)
It is all part of Putin's crackdown on the free Russian Press. After the murder on Anna Politkovskaya and the poisoning case, now this:
Editor Jailed for His Coverage of Chechnya
Boris Stomakhin, a Moscow journalist was sentenced to five years in prison Monday on charges of inciting ethnic hatred in reports about the conflict in Chechnya.
Human rights activists and lawyers said the sentence for Boris Stomakhin, editor of Radikalnaya Politika, a Moscow-based monthly newspaper, was unprecedented in its severity.
Stomakhin, who also contributed opinion articles to the rebel Kavkaz Center web site, frequently called the presence of federal troops in Chechnya an "occupation," and compared President Vladimir Putin to Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic. More in The Moscow Times
21 Nov 2006
We. featuring the words of Arundhati Roy
WOW! Watch this very well made documentary!
Or download in better quality here: ' We. Featuring the words of Arundhati Roy' Or torrent here.
More about Suzanna Arundhati Roy, an Indian novelist and activist, who won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her first novel The God of Small Things on Wikipedia.
20 Nov 2006
Kissinger: Victory in Iraq no longer possible
In a BBC interview Sunday morning, Kissinger said the U.S. course needs to be redefined -- and the breakup of Iraq could be the eventual outcome. Source: Kissinger: Victory in Iraq no longer possible - CNN.com (see my earlier post about the partition of Iraq on 13-11-06).
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Henry Kissinger on Democratic Underground
Propaganda
U.S. & Israeli Propaganda Manufacturing Consent For War With Iran
Source: Black Listed News
19 Nov 2006
SPY IN POISON RIDDLE
In the UK "Scotland Yard and MI5 were last night investigating the attempted murder of a top Russian defector in London.
Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB Colonel, was thought to have been poisoned after meeting an academic in a West End sushi bar. Mr Litvinenko, 50, who fled Russia after criticising President Vladimir Putin's regime, was last night seriously ill in London's University College Hospital under armed guard. It is thought Mr Litvinenko was fed a colourless rat poison, thallium, in his food at the restaurant on November 1." Source: SundayMirror.co.uk - SPY IN POISON RIDDLE
More in The Herald Tribune: "Police suspect former Russian spy was poisoned in London"
Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian security agent fighting for his life in a UK hospital after allegedly being poisoned, has been a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin since before he became president in 2000. MORE ABOUT HIM AT THE BBC
Burqa Ban
It's just a remark of a right-wing politician in the heath of the coming elections, but now the world thinks that:
"The Dutch government has said it intends to ban the wearing of burqas and other Muslim full-face veils in public, justifying the move on security grounds.
Reports said on Friday that Rita Verdonk, the Dutch minister for immigration, would soon draw up legislation to implement a ban on the burqa.
This will make the Netherlands, once among Europe's most liberal states, the first European country to impose a complete ban on Muslim veil." Source: Al Jazeera English - Europe
Dutch seek ban on burqas in public - CNN / Dutch Muslims condemn burqa ban - BBC
Getting warmer, melting
"Iceberg off New Zealand becomes tourist mecca
Scientists sample to figure out where on Antarctica it, others came from.
A tourist helicopter sits Thursday on the far left side of a large iceberg, which was visible from the New Zealand coast and drifting about 60 miles offshore." More on MSNBC
"Scientists: Arctic getting warmer, melting - Signs of warming continue in the Arctic with a decline in sea ice, an increase in shrubs growing on the tundra and rising worries about the Greenland ice sheet. "There have been regional warming periods before. Now we're seeing Arctic-wide changes," James Overland, an oceanographer at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Washington state, said Thursday". Source: Scientists: Arctic getting warmer, melting - CNN.com
BUT....This week's U.N. climate talks kept a plan for fighting global warming on track for expansion beyond 2012, but breakthroughs look unlikely before U.S. President George W. Bush steps down, experts said on Saturday.(Reuters)
18 Nov 2006
Relentless: The Struggle For Peace In The Middle East
"Relentless" is an eye-opening documentary that will forever change the way you view the seemingly endless Arab-Israeli conflict. You will understand precisely why it is they are still fighting." It is somewhat Pro-Israel and Anti-Palestinian, the usual 'objective' western views about the history of the conflict but shows the double tongue and anti-Semitism of the Palestinians.
"Produced in 2003, Relentless is the prequel to the award-winning documentary, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West", www.ObsessionTheMovie.com"
Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld: The Nazi Prince
New on Jones Report this Reader Submission by Jurriaan Maessen
"The Dutch royal family had hauled in the Prussian prince, who was up to his eyeballs in the nazi swamp: he was a member of Hitler’s party as well as a devoted cavalry officer in the Reiter SS; he also enjoyed marching with Hitler’s street fighters (the SA) in his spare time. And as if this criminal track record wasn’t bad enough, he also began working as a part-time secretary of the board of directors of IG Farben, the German corporation that later supplied the patented Zyklon B, an infamous chemical which was used to systematically gas millions of Jews. But -as usual- only a very soft sound of protest could be distinguished amidst the hysterical cries of the Dutch, as they continued to wave their flags to their princess (later to become queen) and her Nazi husband (a lifetime globalist). Meanwhile, the Republic- or what was left of it- was strangled by the very people they cheered. The prince remained a loyal Nazi and even visited once or twice with the Führer himself.
It’s well known that Hitler didn’t think much of Bernhard. After one meeting the German dictator was heard to remark that he never wanted to see ‘that complete idiot’ again. As the German dictator increasingly guessed wrong in military affairs, he was evenly mistaken about the prince. Bernhard turned out to be everything but an idiot. To illustrate his cunning, the following example will suffice: when the second world war broke out in 1939, Bernhard flipped sides very quickly. In the blink of an eye he had changed from an outright nazi to an allied air force hero. A brilliant magicians trick, reflected by a mirror of lies and doublethink."
More at Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld: The Nazi Prince.
Iraq invasion was a 'Disaster'
Tony Blair, the British prime minister, has admitted in an interview with Al Jazeera English that events in Iraq since the US-led invasion have been a “disaster”. Source: Al Jazeera English - Europe
Storm over Blair 'Iraq disaster' remarks - CNN
Tony Blair has publicly agreed with the opinion that the violence in Iraq since the 2003 invasion has been a disaster. BBC
17 Nov 2006
Dutch Detention
"In recent years, Holland has embarked on a ruthless campaign to deter migrants. Policies like imprisoning asylum seekers in prison hulks or denying immigrants benefits have been introduced. At a refugee facility in Amsterdam, a family with a young baby are waiting to be made homeless. They’ve lived here for five years but their application for asylum has just been rejected. “The rules are they must be evicted”
Source: Dutch Detention - Google Video
Dutch military in Iraq abuse row
"Military interrogators from the Netherlands abused dozens of Iraqi prisoners following the 2003 invasion, according to a Dutch press report. Detainees were allegedly subjected to bright lights, soaked with water and exposed to high-pitched sounds, De Volkskrant newspaper said." Source: BBC NEWS
News.com.au knows:"Opposition politicians have alleged a cover-up, just one week before an election." More here
CNN - "Dutch demand 'Iraq abuse' probe - Balkenende supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and sent Dutch troops to the country in 2003. He withdrew the troops two years later as violence escalated and opposition parties -- which had supported the initial engagement -- grew skeptical.
Although there was originally a broad political consensus in favor of involvement in Iraq, the abuse reports could prove damaging to Balkenende -- leading his Labour rivals in opinion polls just five days before a general election on November 22.
"There is a smell of a cover-up coming off this," Labour leader Wouter Bos was quoted as telling Dutch radio." More
Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth
"It is the stuff of nightmares and, until now, Hollywood thrillers. A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs.
Matt Genge, a space researcher at Imperial College, London, has calculated that something with the mass, acceleration and thrust of a small car could push an asteroid weighing a billion tonnes out of the path of Earth in just 75 days." Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth | Guardian Unlimited
See also this: "Scientists are tracking a newly discovered Asteroid, 2002 NT7. Preliminary reports show this Asteroid, which is about two miles in circumference, is on a Collision Course with earth and early projections show Impact on 1 FEB 2019 AD." More about this here.
Buy Nothing Day
"Every November, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop, we make a small choice to participate by not participating. If you’ve never taken part in Buy Nothing Day, or if you’ve taken part in the past but haven’t really committed to doing it again, consider this: 2006 will go down as the year in which mainstream dialogue about global warming finally reached its critical mass. What better way to bring the Year of Global Warming to a close than to point people in the direction of real and effective alternatives to the unbridled consumption that has created this quagmire?"
Source: Buy Nothing Day - ADBUSTERS.ORG
16 Nov 2006
The Military Commissions Act in Action
"Today we got a taste of just how un-American President Bush's Military Commissions Act of 2006 is. After detailing the indefinite detention of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri — a legal US immigrant student who has been locked up for over 5 years without charges — Jack asks: Is it fair for immigrants in the US to be held "indefinitely" if suspected of terrorism? "
Source: YouTube - DoJ Takes The Military Commissions Act Out For a Spin
Patents vs Patients
Oxfam has said that Western nations are preventing poor people in developing countries from getting access to life-saving medicines.
Pharmaceutical companies must stop abusing the rules. Rich governments must live up to their promises to make sure that medicines are for life, not for profits.
Source: Oxfam - Make Trade Fair - Access to medicines
Aljazeera: "Patent laws kill thousands"
Bush meets Putin
"MOSCOW - President Bush, eager for Russian help in ongoing nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran, tended to the sometimes frosty Washington-Moscow relationship Wednesday by paying a quick call on Russian President Vladimir Putin." Bush, Putin lunch at Moscow airport - Europe - MSNBC.com
In fact they were there for this: "U.S. President George W. Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin confirmed at an airport meeting on Wednesday they plan to sign a bilateral deal next week for Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO)." Reuters
15 Nov 2006
The Death Squads of Iraq
"Channel 4" documentary "The Death Squads". The Civil War in Iraq continues while the US-Army is doing nothing about against it but is actively supporting it.
"This shocking film investigates the links between the death squads and high-ranking Shia politicians. It reveals how the Shia militia that these politicians control have systematically infiltrated and taken over police units and even entire government ministeries. It investigates how these units are closely linked to the death squads, indeed they often are the death squads. And the killers act with impunity -- there's little investigation into their activities." Black Listed News
Daddy Bush Slams Bloggers
H.W. BUSH: "It's true but that's not new really. I mean, you go back in history and you'll find that there was always adversarial politics. There was always gut fighting. And it's probably a little worse now given the electronic media and the bloggers and all these kinds of things."
Source: infowars
13 Nov 2006
Warlord emerges from jungle to meet UN official
"JOSEPH KONY is one of the world's most vilified rebel leaders. He stands accused of brainwashing children across northern Uganda, turning the girls into sex slaves and the boys into prepubescent killers. His Lord's Resistance Army has terrorised a corner of Africa for nearly 20 years, killing tens of thousands, burning down huts of villages and hacking off their lips.
That Kony, whose followers believe he is a prophet, rarely appears in public has only added to his brutal mystique. But on Sunday, he came out of the bush. At a camp deep in the forest on the Congo-Sudan border, Kony met Jan Egeland, the United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief."
Link to Warlord emerges from jungle to meet UN official - World - smh.com.au
The Partition of Iraq taking shape
"Democratic leaders in the Senate vowed on Sunday to use their new Congressional majority to press for troop reductions in Iraq within a matter of months, stepping up pressure on the administration just as President Bush is to be interviewed by a bipartisan panel examining future strategy for the war." Link to Democrats Push for Troop Cuts Within Months - New York Times
"Democrats called for an international conference composed of representatives from all the countries in the region with a stake in the outcome -- including Iran, Syria and Turkey -- to hash out details of a solution.
That concept was endorsed Monday by the prime ministers of two other nations with troops in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition, Britain and Australia, according to The Associated Press." (Full story on CNN)
On Spacewar "Iraq Partition Becomes Fashionable Policy In Washington"
by Martin Sieff, UPI Senior News Analyst, Washington (UPI) May 02, 2006
" Partitioning Iraq has become a new, fashionable policy in Washington, but it would easier said than done. The idea has been gathering steam in various think tanks over the past year and it took center stage this weekend when Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, advocated it." More here
On 31 October 2006 "Prince Turki al-Faisal (Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington) on Monday cautioned against the notion of splitting the war-scarred nation into three sectors for Kurds, Shia and Sunnis.
To envision that you can divide Iraq into three parts [Sunni, Shia and Kurds] is to envision ethnic cleansing on a massive scale, sectarian killing on a massive scale and the uprooting of families." More here
Already in 2004 Slate Magazine wrote: "Iraq is not salvageable as a unitary state." So writes Peter Galbraith, America's pre-eminent Kurdophile, in the May 13 New York Review of Books ("How To Get Out of Iraq"). Leslie Gelb, formerly an assistant secretary in Jimmy Carter's State Department and subsequently a diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times, made a similar point on the Times op-ed page in November. Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who writes on military strategy, has been calling for the breakup of Iraq for nearly a year. Reluctantly, Chatterbox is starting to think Galbraith, Gelb, and Peters have a point."
So Americans are made ready for this already from the start of the war. Like PurEnergy writes: "It’s time to call it quits on Iraq. No, I don’t mean that it’s time to bring the troops home in defeat, but to call it quits on Iraq as a viable nation-state. As vividly illustrated by the Golden Mosque bombing and its bloody aftermath, sectarian violence in Iraq has become increasingly bitter, savage and sadistic. It seems that the country is in the midst of a bourgeoning civil war, and our troops are caught in the middle." more
There is even a whole site about Partition Iraq among its neighbors
US criticised over British Iraq inquests
"A British minister has described as "unacceptable" the decision by US military officials not to send experts to give evidence at inquests into the deaths of British troops in Iraq.
The move comes after a UK coroner repeatedly commented on the American military's unwillingness to co-operate with inquests in Britain, which are required in law when a British citizen dies abroad and the body is repatriated.
Harman told ITV1 television in an interview on Sunday: "If our service people have died in Iraq, the very least we can do is to make sure there is a proper inquest, so their families can understand the truth of the situation of how their loved ones died."
It is obvious that the US don't want the truth to be known...
Source: Al Jazeera
12 Nov 2006
Americans are used to abuse their prisoners
This is why Americans abuse prisoners in Iraq, they are used to do it at home.
The Rory Peck Trust
"Freelance journalists and other independent media workers are vital to free expression, bearing witness to events in remote corners of the globe and telling the untold stories. The international newsgathering industry relies heavily on their contribution. In many parts of the world, where they often represent the only independent voice, freelancers struggle to work in the face of poverty, insecurity and repression. The Rory Peck Trust, established in 1995, is a registered charity with an ongoing commitment to the welfare and safety of freelance newsgatherers. The Trust subsidises training in hostile environments, provides financial and moral support to freelancers in need, and to the families of those killed, imprisoned or seriously injured during the course of their work. The Trust believes that by supporting the right of freelance newsgatherers to do their work freely and in safety, it is supporting the independent view, press freedom and democracy."
Link to The Rory Peck Trust More on the Rory Peck Awards a Channel 4 (also clips of all nominees)
IRAQ FOR SALE: The War Profiteers
Capitalism at its best.
"The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war.
Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed, and Uncovered) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so."
11 Nov 2006
Rwandan nun jailed over genocide
"A Catholic nun has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for helping Hutu fighters kill hundreds of Tutsi during Rwanda's 1994 genocide, an official said.
Theophister Mukakibibi was sentenced by the traditional gacaca courts on Thursday for helping Hutu fighters to kill Tutsi hiding in a hospital where she worked. She was also accused of dumping a baby in a latrine.
Jean Baptiste Ndahumba, the president of the local gacaca court in Butare town, said: "She would select Tutsi [and] throw them out of the hospital for the militia to kill. She did not even spare pregnant mothers."
Mukakibibi is the first nun to be sentenced by a Rwandan court for her role in the genocide."
Aljazeera.Net - Rwandan nun jailed over genocide See also The Triumph of Evil. More on the Rwandan Genocide on Wikipedia and Rwanda Information Exchange
10 Nov 2006
SANTA'S WORKSHOP - Inside China's SLAVE labor toy factories
Almost time to do your Christmas shopping
"SANTA'S WORKSHOP takes you to the real world of China's toy factories. Workers tell us about long working hours, low wages, and dangerous work places. Those who protest or try to organize trade unions risk imprisonment."
*ONLY A SHORT SEGMENT IN THE BEGINNING HAS ENGLISH SUBTITLES, THE REST IS SPOKEN ENGLISH*
Source: SANTA'S WORKSHOP - Inside China's SLAVE labor toy factories - Google Video
Israeli killings pass unnoticed
Gaza military siege ‘made in USA’
"Tel Aviv is carrying out a massacre in the Gaza Strip and there’s not a peep of protest from Democrats or Republicans in Washington—not even after Israeli troops opened fire on unarmed Palestinian women demonstrators.
Operation “Autumn Cloud”—the Israeli offensive against the population in the Gaza Strip—began on Nov. 1. Within six days, some 57 Palestinian women, men and children had been killed and hundreds more wounded. Metal shrapnel dug out of their bodies was stamped “Made in USA.” More on Workers World
This on AlJazeeera.Net:
"At least 19 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military on Friday November 3, 2006, including two women, and other civilians. No Israelis were killed.
Although photographs of Friday's attack on Palestinian women have been widely disseminated, the bigger story is still not being told.
These killings are part of a new, longer-term pattern; there has been a dramatic rise in the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military since Hamas took control of the Palestinian Authority seven months ago, despite the low number of Israelis killed by Palestinians during that time.
Palestinians, already subject to occupation by the Israeli military, have been killed at a rate of 26 Palestinians for every Israeli killed since Hamas took power on March 29, 2006.
Since July that ratio has risen to 76 Palestinians for every Israeli."
9 Nov 2006
Euthanasia for suffering disabled babies
We read all kind of ludicrous stories about the Dutch euthanasia rules. It is like babies can be legally killed in the Netherlands. We think it is criminal to keep people, babies or pensioners, alive while they are suffering and have no change of improvement. Even the Sunday Times headlines:
Doctors: let us kill disabled babies
"In the Netherlands mercy killing is permitted for a range of incurable conditions, including severe spina bifida and the painful skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa.
Dr Pieter Sauer, co-author of the Groningen Protocol, the Dutch national guidelines on euthanasia of newborns, claims British paediatricians perform mercy killings, and says the practice should be open."
Doctors: let us kill disabled babies - Sunday Times - Times Online
8 Nov 2006
Turkey and the EU
European report criticises Turkey human rights record
"Turkey was today strongly criticised by the European commission for undermining its EU membership talks by slowing the pace of reform on human rights, and for failing to open up its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots.
In a hard-hitting report (pdf) that censures Turkey across the board, the European commission set the stage for a showdown with Ankara by the end of the year." Guardian Unlimited
"German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Wednesday that Turkey would face consequences if Ankara failed to open its ports to ships and planes from Cyprus as part of a bid to join the European Union.
"Turkey must fulfil its obligations by the end of the year," said Merkel, adding: "Otherwise the EU will draw the appropriate conclusions." Expatica
Bush Family Fortunes (2003)
Democrats win the elections, Rumsfeld is gone (is he really?), the Bush-clan still in power in the US, and the Democrats will not do anything about it....
"This hour long documentary follows the award-winning reporter-sleuth Greg Palast on the trail of the Bush family, from Florida election finagling, to the Saudi connection, to the Bush team's spiking the FBI investigation of the bin Laden family and the secret State Department plans for post-war Iraq."
Italian toilet artwork
A toilet has been impounded by police in northern Italy, sparking great patriotic debate.
"The prosecution on the other hand argue the symbolism of playing the anthem while flushing a toilet is an offence to the nation and they have put forward a robust case.
They point to a decree issued this year by the former government of Silvio Berlusconi which defined the national anthem as an emblem and the property of the state."
Hacking Democracy
The documentary, Hacking Democracy, did air in the US on HBO Thursday, November 3, 2006. It is based on the research of Bev Harris and Black Box Voting (blackboxvoting.org), as well as that of other.
"While known problems with the electronic voting machines in 2000, 2002 and 2004 have been generically answered away with dubious ideas of 'incompetence' or 'confusion,'-- when these clearly at least raise serious questions, the companies like Diebold who manufacture these machines (see also ES&S, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia, all linked to the GOP) seem to hold a converse and hypocritical universal dismissal of any inquiries, tests or evaluations."
More of this on Jones Report
6 Nov 2006
Sandinista
"The Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional) is a Nicaraguan political party founded on broad socialist principles. It led a popular revolution that in 1979 overthrew the Somoza political dynasty. Following their seizure of power, the Sandinistas ruled Nicaragua for roughly 12 years from 1979 to 1990, during which time they established democratic elections and a national constitution, among other sweeping populist reforms." Source: Sandinista National Liberation Front - Wikipedia is a good place to start to learn more about Nicaragua's history.
BBC: "Nicaragua's former leader, Daniel Ortega, is heading for victory in the country's presidential polls, having won about 40% of votes counted so far.
The one-time Marxist revolutionary is leading his conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre by seven points, results from 40% of polling stations show.
Washington has warned that Nicaragua could lose American aid if Mr Ortega - a US foe in the 1980s - is elected." more
5 Nov 2006
Old Fish: Nazi 'master race' children
"A group of children selected by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime with the aim of creating an Aryan master race has met openly for the first time as adults.
Children from the Nazis' "Lebensborn" or "Font of Life" project gathered in the German town of Wernigerode to discuss the trauma over their origins". More: BBC NEWS | Europe | Nazi 'master race' children meet
Here a story about a Lebensborn child. - Wikipedia about Lebensborn
Transcript from CNN:
"OSTER (ph): A lot of us really, really had bad time. We were shuttled around like cattle, sent to people, they got money to have us. And the teachers and priests and everyone, they also treated us very badly.
ROBERTSON: The Lebensborn were denied basic rights, denied the opportunity to seek child support from fathers in Germany. Many even denied Norwegian citizenship.
OSTER (ph): We had an incident when we went to court. One guy rose from his chair, furious, and said, "You German kids, keep your mouths shut and be quite."
ROBERTSON (on camera): We're talking about a few years ago here.
OSTER (ph): Yes, just a few years ago.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Now she says she's skeptical the government will do anything more for the Lebensborn.
(on camera): As I look around Norway today, it's really hard to imagine that just 60 years ago this peaceful port was once teaming with German navy vessels and that this town was at the heart of a Nazi war experiment. But what I'm really struggling to come to grips with is that Sis can still find that people hate her for being a German child." Whole Story here
No more Fish
Study warns that all seafood stocks will have collapsed by 2048
"Fish stocks are declining so rapidly that scientists have predicted that they will disappear by the middle of the century unless radical measures are taken to protect them.
A study of more than 100 fishing regions, published in the journal Science, suggests that if current trends are maintained every seafood species will have collapsed below commercially viable levels by 2048." Source: Times Online
See also When Fish Disappear - The Scientist and this:
UN weighs trawling ban as fish disappear - "The United Nations needs to stop the destruction of deep sea ecosystems by banning fishermen from trawling nets on the ocean floor, Australia, New Zealand and Palau, joined by actress Sigourney Weaver, said on Tuesday." More on Independent Online
3 Nov 2006
American politician, John Kerry, apologizes for Iraq war remark
But he told the truth; "You know education," he said, "if you make the most of it, and you study hard, and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." He shouldn't have to apologize for that. Source: Wikinews. At least he said this:
The speech before the Senate, John Kerry in which he speaks out against the Bush torture legislation - the already infamous "Military Commissions Act 2006 - H.R. 6166".
Ted Haggard
Ooh, Ted is gay!
See this: 9news.com | Man claims 3-year sexual relationship with pastor.
and Ted's comments on this (video) and then see this: "Interim pastor says accused pastor admitted to some allegations"
"After Pastor Ted Haggard went public Wednesday night denying allegations of a homosexual affair, senior church officials told KKTV 11News Thursday evening, Pastor Ted Haggard has admitted to some of the claims made by a former male escort. The church's Acting Senior Pastor, Ross Parsley, tells KKTV 11 News that Pastor Haggard has admitted to some of the indiscretions claimed by Mike Jones, but not all of them.
One thing's for sure: there's nothing more entertaining than watching one after another of America's self-appointed moral scolds being exposed as hypocrites. Schadenfreude's sweet!" AlterNet
From his website:
"Haggard had experienced a vision in high school after he was born again.
He said he saw demons hovering over newborn babies at a hospital, waiting to instill in them negative character traits such as hatred, greed, drug use and masturbation.
These were the kind of spirits Haggard knew he had to fight. Haggard said he never thought of leading his own church."
Link to Ted Haggard :: The Official Site
He can learn on Answers.com the History of Christianity and homosexuality
Signs of Occupation
"Before / after satellite photos of Saddam's palace in Baghdad, Iraq. Note the new parking lots, modular housing, restoration of the waterworks, and other interesting markings of new tenants in the emperor's crib." (click on 'Change View')
More maps at Maps of War
Great Googlely Moogley! Don’t Use Their Name in Vain!
This on Medialoper:
"Sometimes even companies we love become too big for their britches. I guess that they get so used to having control of their environment and/or their market, they decide that they want to overreach and try to control things that they have no business trying to control.
The latest company guilty of trying to overreach: Google.
All they want to do now is control the English Language. Hey, let us know how that works out.
Essentially, it boils down to this: Google’s trademark lawyers want you to only use the word “google” when you are using Google to google something. If you use Yahoo! or A9 or MSN to google, say, the phrase — “bite me, Google”, you must use the word “search.”
Or in other words: Bow down to Google, English Language, BOW DOWN!! You must use words in only the matter that their trademark lawyers proscribe!!"
Source: Great Googlely Moogley! Don’t Use Their Name in Vain! | Medialoper
1 Nov 2006
Amnesty's "Call to Bloggers" to stand up for freedom
48 blogs that linked to ""Call to Bloggers" to stand up for freedom ahead of world meeting on future of ..." (Blogsnow)
This from Amnesty International's ‘Call to Bloggers’, asking them to get online and stand up for freedom of expression on the internet:
"Yahoo! via its Chinese partner company, Alibaba, has provided the Chinese authorities with private and confidential information about its users that has been used to convict and imprison journalists. It has also agreed to censor and deny access to information.
Microsoft shut down the blog of New York Times researcher Zhao Jing on the basis of a Chinese government request. The company has also admitted that it responds to directions from the Chinese government in restricting users of MSN Spaces from using certain terms. Google has launched a censored version of its international search engine in China.
Amnesty International is also highlighting the cases of prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for the expression of their peaceful views online.
Chinese journalist Shi Tao used his Yahoo! account to email a US-based website about an internal government directive instructing journalists how to handle media coverage of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities." Yahoo! provided information to the government that was used in his prosecution.
Tunisian lawyer and human rights defender Mohammed Abbou is serving a three and a half year prison sentence largely for publishing articles critical of the Tunisian authorities on the internet.
Vietnamese political dissident Truong Quoc Huy was first arrested in October 2005 with two other young people after chatting on a democracy and human rights website. He was held incommunicado for nine months then released, but on 18 August 2006 he was rearrested in an internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, where he had logged on to a chatroom. His whereabouts remain unknown and no charges have been publicised."