WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Wants To Spill Your Corporate Secrets

In a rare interview, Assange tells Forbes that the release of Pentagon and State Department documents are just the beginning. His next target: big business.

Early next year, Julian Assange says, a major American bank will suddenly find itself turned inside out. Tens of thousands of its internal documents will be exposed on Wikileaks.org with no polite requests for executives’ response or other forewarnings. The data dump will lay bare the finance firm’s secrets on the Web for every customer, every competitor, every regulator to examine and pass judgment on.

(For the full transcript of Forbes’ interview with Assange click here.)

When? Which bank? What documents? Cagey as always, Assange won’t say, so his claim is impossible to verify. But he has always followed through on his threats.

Read more on Forbes

Bradley Manning Support Network

Bradley Manning is a US Army intelligence analyst. Moreover, he has risked his well-being by attempting to expose certain questionable actions of the U.S. Military. Manning is currently being held in a brig at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, awaiting court marshal.

Bradley Manning Support Network

Support Private Bradley Manning

I Support Army Specialist Bradley Manning

Iraq Has Most Disappeared Persons in World

A forced disappearance (or enforced disappearance) is defined in Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly On 20 December 2006, as the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law. Often forced disappearance implies murder.

The victim in such a case is first abducted, then illegally detained, and often tortured; the victim is then killed, and the body is then hidden. Typically, a murder will be surreptitious, with the corpse disposed of in such a way as to prevent it ever being found, so that the person apparently vanishes. The party committing the murder has deniability, as there is no body to prove that the victim has actually died.

Article 1 of the Convention further states that No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.
Neither Iraq, nor the USA have signed or ratified this convention

Full story on Uruknet

Nato: Going Global

AlJazeera

"Cablegate" is an "attack on the international community"

In the first response from the White House following the release of the cables, she said the US was taking "aggressive steps" to find those responsible for the leak. "The United States strongly condemns the illegal disclosure of classified information," Mrs Clinton said.

Sky News

Just who the hell do you think you are?

"Famous euroskeptic Nigel Farage in just under 4 brief minutes tells more truth about the entire European experiment than all European bankers, commissioners, and politicians have done in the past decade." More on zerohedge.com

Secret US Embassy Cables

The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in "client states"; backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries; lobbying for US corporations; and the measures US diplomats take to advance those who have access to them.

This document release reveals the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors – and shows that if citizens in a democracy want their governments to reflect their wishes, they should ask to see what’s going on behind the scenes.

Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington – the country’s first President – could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today’s document flood would be a mere embarrassment. Instead, the US Government has been warning governments -- even the most corrupt -- around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposures.

The full set consists of 251,287 documents, comprising 261,276,536 words (seven times the size of "The Iraq War Logs", the world's previously largest classified information release).

The cables cover from 28th December 1966 to 28th February 2010 and originate from 274 embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions.

See for yourself at cablegate.wikileaks.org

Israel opens fire on Gazan scavengers

On Sunday, the Israeli military shot and wounded four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old, in the town of Beit Hanun in the north of the coastal sliver, AFP reported.
"The troops fired towards their lower bodies and identified several hits," a spokesman for the military said about the incident.

The scavengers, including women and children, sell the materials that they glean from the remnants of Israeli settlements to contractors and factories in Gaza as a coping strategy against Tel Aviv's blockade on the enclave.
The all-out land, aerial and naval restrictions have been depriving 1.5 million Gazans of food, fuel and other necessities for more than three years now.
Tel Aviv has, however, declared a "restricted" zone in the border area, occasionally opening fire on the debris collectors.

Full story on PressTV

Hillary Clinton's orders to U.S. diplomats to spy on UN

Hillary Clinton ordered American officials to spy on high ranking UN diplomats, including British representatives.

Top secret cables revealed that Mrs Clinton, the Secretary of State, even ordered diplomats to obtain DNA data – including iris scans and fingerprints - as well as credit card and frequent flier numbers.

All permanent members of the security council – including Russia, China, France and the UK – were targeted by the secret spying mission, as well as the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon.

Work schedules, email addresses, fax numbers, website identifiers and mobile numbers were also demanded by Washington. The US also wanted ‘biographic and biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives’. The request could break international law and threatens to derail any trust between the US and other powerful nations.

Requests for IT related information – such as details of passwords, personal encryption keys and network upgrades - could also raise suspicions that the US was preparing to mount a hacking operation.

It is set to lead to international calls for Mrs Clinton to resign.

Much more leaks on Mail Online

"Cablegate" goes live

The Guardian: US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomacy crisis

"The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.

At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables - many of which are designated "secret" – the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN's leadership.

These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistlebowers' website, also reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues."
Read more

The job of the media is not to protect power from embarrassment
The Guardian's Simon Jenkins writes: "Perhaps we can now see how catastrophe unfolds when there is time to avert it, rather than having to await a Chilcot report after the event. If that is not in the public's interest, I fail to see what is.

Clearly, it is for governments, not journalists, to protect public secrets. Were there some overriding national jeopardy in revealing them, greater restraint might be in order. There is no such overriding jeopardy, except from the policies themselves as revealed. Where it is doing the right thing, a great power should be robust against embarrassment."

Further coverage from The Guardian:
Diplomats ordered to spy on UN leaders
Saudis repeatedly urge attack on Iran
How 250,000 US embassy cables were leaked
Siprnet: America's secret information database
Explore the US embassy cables database

Follow it all via WL Central An unofficial WikiLeaks information resource

Wikileaks ‘Hacked Ahead of Secret U.S. Document Release’

Gorillaz Interview

Official Channel 4 Interview (2002?) with Gorillaz. For more information on Gorillaz, check the official website.

Oregon: FBI Thwarts Own Car Bomb

The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) claims to have thwarted their own car bomb Friday, November 26, 2010 at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon's Pioneer Courthouse Square.

A 19 year old man, Mr. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, was in contact with undercover FBI agents since June of 2010. FBI agents claim they were acting as an accomplice of a supposed Pakistani terrorist that Mr. Mohamud had been in contact with as early as 2008. Unlike the supposed Pakistani terrorist Mr. Mohamud was in contact with, the FBI actually supplied him with a bomb.

According to the FBI, their undercover agents had decided to meet with Mr. Mohamud in Portland in July 2010, where Mr. Mohamud expressed a desire to conduct "Jihad" against non-Muslims. The story fast-forwards to Friday, November 26, 2010, when Mr. Mohamud was arrested after trying to detonate an inert bomb supplied to him by the FBI, on the corner of Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue -- in full view of the ceremony.

Perplexing is why the FBI, knowing Mr. Mohamud's criminal intent, and upon delivering the bomb to the willing would-be terrorist, would allow him to approach a large public venue and attempt to detonate the device in public view. While the US Attorney's Office maintains that "the public was never in danger," they apparently didn't read the news about a recent stampede in Cambodia that cost 450 panicked people their lives.

Activist Post

Reloaded

Electronica-duo Baskerville, - Clip made by Marieke Verbiesen

(Found on The Amazing Retecool)

Mainstream Media Propaganda and Brainwashing

(3 parts)

David Icke Website

Egypt's discredited elections blighted by shadow of police violence

Something is rotten at the heart of Alexandria, one of the great metropolises of the ancient world and Egypt's modern gateway to the Mediterranean. The country goes to the polls today to elect a new parliament in a ballot widely condemned by human rights groups as being blatantly rigged in favour of Mubarak's ruling NDP party, and which has been marred by violent clashes on the street between government security services and opposition supporters.

With more than 1,200 Muslim Brotherhood supporters arrested in recent weeks and prominent dissidents, including former UN nuclear inspectorate chief Mohamed ElBaradei, calling for a boycott of the vote, international analysts are watching this election closely – not for the final results, but to pick up clues about Egypt's political direction as it enters the final days of Mubarak's reign. The three-decade-long leadership of the 82-year-old president, who is believed to be seriously ill, could come to an end next year when a presidential poll is scheduled. Possible successors, including his son Gamal, are jockeying for position.

But as more than 50,000 polling stations open today, allegations of police torture are disrupting the government's carefully constructed narrative of a nation on the brink of democratic reform. "These are the stories our regime does not want you to hear," says Ahmed Nassar, a lawyer who has represented victims of police abuse and tried unsuccessfully to get his name on this year's parliamentary ballot paper. "On the streets of Alexandria these days, brutality counts for more than the law."

More on The Observer

A Different Legal System for the Rich

Imagine Getting Off Easy for Hit-and-Run Because You Run a Hedge Fund

It's not just the recession that's killing the middle class -- it's how the legal system is being used to establish a two-tiered society.

Our lopsided wealth distribution makes the U.S. look more like a banana republic than one of the richest, most highly developed nations in the world. But having a small, wealthy elite living it up among a nation of struggling workers doesn't make a country a banana republic. In a true plutocracy, you also need a bifurcated legal system, with one philosophy of justice for the wealthy and another for the little guy.

While that’s the case to (greatly) varying degrees in every justice system in human history, in a banana republic that class divide is systemic -- it’s baked into the cake. And that may be exactly what’s developing, gradually, in the United States.

Full story on AlterNet

Hate E-mails with Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins reads some of his hate mail. An excerpt from the video entitled "Richard Dawkins Answers Reddit Questions," which can be found on from the RichardDawkinsDotNet channel.

They call them “bogus trend stories.”

Saturday Night Live has a track record of sending up broadcast news with its long-running “Weekend Update” sketch. But every once in awhile it takes the skewering a step further, like the “Headline News” skit from the Oct. 23 show.

Even though it’s parody, there are several elements there you’d expect in an actual, overdone broadcast story: ominous lead-ins, emphasis on certain words, the shot of students from the neck down, dramatic black-and-white shots, interviews with a frantic mother and a seemingly confused teenager.

Broadcast outlets have plenty of horrifying, great-for-TV, rumored trends to chase down — spunkball, shooting up shampoo, getting high on Coca-Cola and aspirin, consuming vodka through the eyeballs or vagina, rainbow parties, and jelly bracelets, to name a few. Shouldn’t they be doing some fact-checking first?

News Mockers

Social Engineering in the 20th Century

'Human Resources explores the rise of mechanistic philosophy and the exploitation of human beings under modern hierarchical systems. Topics covered include behaviourism, scientific management, work-place democracy, schooling, frustration-aggression hypothesis and human experimentation.' (Icke website)

Full movie on Metanoia

UK police chief warns of new era of unrest

Britain's most senior police officer warned today of a new era of civil unrest as the national campaign against university fee increases and education cuts gathered momentum.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said the two large-scale student demonstrations of the past fortnight had been marred by a previously unseen level of violence, adding: "The game has changed."

His comments were seized on by critics, who said the hard-line rhetoric risked escalating tensions with students organising the nationwide grassroots campaign against education cuts.

More than 11,000 students have signed up to another wave of classroom walkouts and marches planned for next Tuesday. The demonstration will coincide with a Commons debate staged by Labour in a bid to expose Lib Dem divisions over the coalition's plans to dramatically increase tuition fees.

The Guardian

South Korea Fired the First Shot

While North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is a madman, and while North Korea was the first to kill anyone in today's skirmish, it was actually the South Koreans who fired first.
As AP notes:

The skirmish began when Pyongyang [i.e. North Korea] warned the South to halt military drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul [i.e. South Korea] refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters, albeit away from the North Korean shore, the North retaliated by bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations....

And see this: ”S.Korea says it test-fired in area before N.Korea firing” (Reuters).

In addition, the two South Koreans killed were marines, not civilians, stationed in a military town.

Washington's Blog

Indian 'child sacrifice' murder claims

Police in central India reported a second case of suspected child sacrifice on Thursday, casting a spotlight on witchcraft and occult beliefs that persist in some impoverished areas.

Police in the central state of Chhattisgarh said they had arrested 11 people including a "witchdoctor" and his wife after the body of a two-year-old boy was discovered in their house on Wednesday.

Further searches of the property in the industrial town of Bhilai, about 45 kilometres (30 miles) from state capital Raipur, revealed the skeletal remains of a second victim, a six-year-old girl.

The accused man had confessed to killing both children to acquire "occult power and good fortune," police told AFP on Thursday, adding that there was a "worship room" in the home.

"The witchdoctor, his family and six other people have been arrested on suspicion of holding human sacrifices," district police chief Amit Kumar told AFP.

Art

Belgium joins financial markets' hit list

Hold the moules et frites: Belgium has joined Portugal, Spain and Italy on the hit list of countries that may be heading for financial crisis.

In the bars of Antwerp and the cafes of Bruges, the talk is less of Christmas markets and hot chocolate than of the rising cost of financing a national debt which has reached 100% of annual national income.

Like Ireland, struggling to fend off criticism of its austerity package, there are signs that international bond investors are starting to view Belgium as living on borrowed money and borrowed time.

To make matters worse, it has a broken political system and is without a government since April. International money market traders today pushed the cost of insuring Belgium's debts to record levels. The interest payments still fall short of those charged for Spain's government the Portuguese, but analysts said the gap was narrowing quickly.

"Belgium is having to pay a political risk premium, because it still doesn't have a government in place to make decisions over how to curb its spending and its debts, which is what the market wants to see," said one analyst.

More on The Guardian

The Simpsons gets Fox News good. Really good.

If you haven’t heard yet, Fox News (and a lot of news outlets) got absolutely trashed by The Simpsons last night. The show has parodied Fox News before, but frankly, I’m surprised the show was allowed to go as far as it did putting down a component of the same company. That’s not to say, however, that it was untrue.

Is Fox News really biased? Read it on News Mockers

Thanksgiving

The reality of Thanksgiving

Top Secret UFO Nasa Tapes

Paradise

By Firewater - Concert Oct. 2008 Flex / Vienna

Tent Cities, Homelessness & Soul-Crushing Despair in the USA

For decades, our politicians have been deeply addicted to government debt, they have stood idly by as millions of our jobs have been shipped overseas and they have passed countless business-crushing regulations and they never thought that it would catch up with us.  Well, it has.  America has been living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world, and now that bubble is starting to pop. 

There has never been such an extended period of unemployment in the United States since the Great Depression, and millions of Americans are losing their homes.  Homelessness is skyrocketing, tent cities are popping up everywhere and countless numbers of American families are experiencing the soul-crushing despair that comes from desperately trying to hang on for month after month after month.

Read the full story and more video on BlackListed News

British House of Lords and Foundation X

Lord James of Blackheath describes a Private "Foundation" which has more money than all the governments of the world put together. This "Foundation X" willing to bail out the world "for nothing". What a lovely sounding old Lord this man is BUT is he seriously this naive?
Nevertheless, why is all this so top secret if it is a real, honest offer by a Private Group of people who should never have achieved such an amount of money in the first place (for what I hope are obvious reasons). Further, if such a Foundation exists (which it certainly seems to) then they can only have gained this amount of wealth over a very significant period of time (thinking in decades to centuries here) and it will have been, without a shadow of a doubt, ill-gotten. So the question is: Why don't we simply hold a gun at their heads fully loaded and say "Hand it over! What's preventing you?" Because if they need to talk to a Head of state before they do it then there must simply be conditions.

And lastly, WHO are these top 6 people of the world? You may say "it said top 6 security clearance" but so what? How many nations are there? So HOW can there be only 6 people with a Worldwide top security clearance? From what nations and what has security got to do with it? Probably very much the same as what the Official Secrets Act has to do with the Bank of England eh?
For more on a possible connection to this see Earthlinggb's Blog

Rothschild And The Absolute Necessity Of Protecting Himself

Our earlier story on the IMF bailout for billionaire bondholders uncovered that the Rothschild Group is one of the Anglo-Irish bank creditors getting paid 100 cents on the dollar by U.S. taxpayers (thru the IMF) for their failed investments.  So let's hear some bank-loving nonsense from E.D. Rothschild himself.  Notice the date on both clips.  This one came after Congress passed TARP, and Rothschild seems quite relieved that bank bondholders were not asked to take any losses.

• "Let's get back to capitalism for the good of all..."

• At 1:35 - "You have to face up to the fact that you couldn't let these people (banks) collapse..."

More on The Daily Bail

Chomsky on U.S. Global Policy

Noam Chomsky: U.S. still wants to dominate but cannot order other big powers as it pleases; Iran war threat is real.

The Real News Network

Kim Jong-Un: The Next Heir of North Korea, What Does It Mean?

Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of North Korean’s current leader, is the apparent heir—and in light of North Korea’s recent militaristic attack on the Yeonpyeong Island of South Korea—South Korea may face additional acts of aggression.

Many media outlets, such as the Huffington Post, have concluded that North Korea’s military attack on Nov. 23, in which two South Korean marines were killed and 15 injured, may have been caused by Kim Jong Il’s wish to provide his son a reminder of what is expected of him.

Historically, the North Korea leader has repeatedly tested South Korea’s and the West’s patient with capricious actions—including sinking South Korea’s ship, the Cheonan, in March.  The latest attack may be to pass on to the new heir how to conduct international relations, as Kim Jong-un was reportedly confirmed in his future leadership role when he attended the 65^th anniversary celebration in October.

South Korea has since denounced the attack in Seoul, saying that "indisputable armed provocation against the Republic of Korea. Making matters worse, it even indiscriminately fired against civilians. Such actions will never be tolerated."

Full story at ThirdAge

Know Where You Stand

More video and images on How to be a Retronaut

Villagers publicly humiliated for obstructing government construction

November 2, 2010, Hanbin District Government, Ankang City, Shaanxi Province held a public general assembly. 17 villagers who obstructed the important construction project were held in criminal custody. The police said the public security authorities will crack down on criminals who threaten the construction company in order to meet their personal desires and to demand for reasonable high amount of compensation. (Pictures from CFP)

According to chief of branch police station Gu King, October 31, the police received a report that the construction site for the new freeway was taken over by over 50 villagers. No vehicles could pass. The police tried to persuade the villagers electing an spokesperson to negotiate with the construction company. However villagers snatched away and destroyed the video camera polices had brought in, in order to record the situation at the time. The police booked the villager who stanched the camera, but the villagers at the scene began to retaliate, some people were yelling, even pushing and shoving the police. Soon after, 40 additional police rushed to the site. Eventually, 9 villagers were arrested as suspects of obstructing construction.

More on ChinaHush (read the blogger comments)

The World in Review

Rothschild's bankrupt Inter-Alpha Group, now controlling 70% of the worlds banking functions is about to either go under, or take over the other thirty percent, and gain complete control over all nations on the planet. China is not the problem the British (Rothschild) monetary system is the problem.

LaRoucheisright

Idiocracy

More Idiocracy on YouTube

More Idiocracy on Wikipedia

Were Fake Documents Planted to Encourage an Attack on Iran?

Since 2007, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - with the support of the United States, Israel and European allies UK, France and Germany - has been demanding that Iran explain a set of purported internal documents portraying a covert Iranian military program of research and development of nuclear weapons.

The "laptop documents," supposedly obtained from a stolen Iranian computer by an unknown source and given to US intelligence in 2004, include a series of drawings of a missile re-entry vehicle that appears to be an effort to accommodate a nuclear weapon, as well as reports on high explosives testing for what appeared to be a detonator for a nuclear weapon.

More on AlterNet

Inside the dark legacy of US "School of Assassins"

For 62 years, the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, has trained some of the worst human rights abusers in the hemisphere. From Pinochet's soldiers in Chile, D'Aubuisson's death squads in El Salvador, Banzer's minions in Bolivia, Galtieri's operatives in Argentina and Rios Montt's soldiers in Guatemala to the present-day generals responsible for the coup in Honduras and the drug war killings in Colombia, the School of the America has a dark legacy. Renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the school has graduated 65,000 soldiers from 18 countries. This weekend, tens of thousands of activists will converge at its gates to demand an end to the militarization and the massacres, the human rights violations and the secrecy... and fight to close the School of the Americas.

Russia Today

DPRK fires on ROK

North Korea fired artillery toward its tense western sea border with South Korea on Tuesday, killing at least one South Korean soldier, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Two civilians and 13 other South Korean military personnel were injured, with three of the soldiers seriously hurt, Yonhap said.

At least 200 rounds of artillery hit an inhabited South Korean island in the Yellow Sea after the North started firing about 2:30 p.m. local time, Yonhap said.

South Korea's military responded with 80 rounds of artillery and deployed fighter jets to counter the fire, the report said.

The South Korean army also raised its alert condition, the report said.

CNN.com - twitter

News From KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK

Canadian health official is eating a cookie

The president and CEO of Alberta Health Services refusing to answer reporters' questions because he is eating a cookie.

The Globe and Mail - Statement from Dr. Stephen Duckett

Fighting for animal rights in Lebanon

"Grooming is a social thing, a friendly thing, it calms chimpanzees down," says Jason Mier director of animal rights NGO Animals Lebanon.

As Mier talks, Omega, a 12 year old chimpanzee, picks through Mier's hair, occasionally yanking out the offending strand. It's one of the few displays of natural behavior that Omega has shown in over a decade.

Omega used to serve customers at a café in southern Lebanon until some got him drunk. As a result he turned aggressive, attacked some clients and was sold to a small, decrepit zoo.

Mier, who first met Omega six months ago, points to trash littering the floor of the 5m by 10m cage, a putrid blend of old food, water bottles and plastic bags.

"There is cement, there are metal bars, there is nothing natural whatsoever," he says.

More CNN.com

Enemies Inside the Gates

Recently, political pressure has been brought to bear against a trades unionist for attempting to express his views about the events of 9/11, on Australia's publicly funded broadcaster, the ABC. This video redresses the balance, and makes it clear that Australia's prime minister is either ignorant, beyond belief, or she is putting the interests of nuclear, Apartheid Israel ahead of Australia's.

More at alawson911

Mr. Brightside

The Killers

Israeli soldiers 'walk free' in Gaza human shield case

Two Israeli soldiers received suspended sentences and demotions on Sunday for using a Palestinian child as a human shield by making him check for bombs during the 2008-2009 Gaza war, army radio said.

The radio's correspondent, who attended the sentencing in a military court, said the two were each given suspended terms of three months imprisonment and were demoted from the rank of staff sergeant to sergeant.

The military spokesman's office had no immediate comment on the sentencing of the two men, who were convicted on October 3 for forcing a nine-year-old boy to search bags believed to be booby-trapped during Israel's 22-day war on Gaza which erupted in December 2008.

Gerard Horton, a spokesman in the West Bank for Geneva-based rights group Defence for Children International (DCI), described the sentence as "unbelievable."

"Do the Israeli authorities think that a three-month suspended sentence is an appropriate punishment for two heavily-armed soldiers treating a nine-year-old boy as a human shield?"

France24

Secret Map Of Britain

Activist comedian Mark Thomas draws up a map of Britain that reveals the places the government and the establishment do not want the public to know about, disproves the claim that the government is an 'open' institution, and looks at the secret democracy that Britain really is. (Channel4, 2002)

The Afghan war and the 'Grand Chessboard'

Brzezinski: America must dominate the world for a generation to prevent global anarchy.

The Real News Network

Irish Minister Suffers Humiliating Take-Down on Prime-Time Television

Pat Rabbitte gives Pat Carey a piece of his mind on RTE Prime Time. Found via AlterNet

Pope Benedict condones condom use in some cases

Pope Benedict XVI has said the use of condoms is acceptable "in certain cases", according to a new book. He said condoms could reduce the risk of infection with HIV, such as for a prostitute, in a series of interviews he gave to a German journalist. The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts on Saturday.

The comments appear to soften the Roman Catholic Church's hardline stance, which until now had banned the use of any form of contraception.

When asked whether the Catholic Church is "fundamentally against the use of condoms", the Pope is said to have replied, in the book entitled Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times: "It of course does not see it as a real and moral solution. In certain cases, where the intention is to reduce the risk of infection, it can nevertheless be a first step on the way to another, more humane sexuality," he said.

The Pope gives the example of the use of condoms by prostitutes as "a first step towards moralisation", even though condoms are "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection". The pope says that the "sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalisation of sexuality" where sexuality is no longer an expression of love, "but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves".

BBC News

Children Of The Congo - From War To Witches

This documentary is available to watch now for Free and this movie highlights the awful things that are happening to Congolese kids : You can directly help this situation by donating to an amazing Congolese organization. Make a direct donation to the charity at here. Renderyard is also donating money raised from each view the film gets to the Eastern Congo Initiative so start watching today.

Critics Slam Obama Administration for 'Hiding' Massive Saudi Arms Deal

The Obama administration has quietly forged ahead with its proposal to sell $60 billion worth of fighter jets and attack helicopters to Saudi Arabia unhampered by Congress, despite questions raised in legislative inquiries and in an internal congressional report about the wisdom of the deal.

The massive arms deal would be the single largest sale of weapons to a foreign nation in the history of the U.S., outfitting Saudi Arabia with a fully modernized, potent new air force.

"Our six-decade-long security relationship with Saudi Arabia is a primary security pillar in the region," Defense Sec. Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote in a Nov. 16 letter to congress. "This package continues that tradition."

More on ABC News

'Open prison' for Indonesia's rich

Corruption has always been a big problem in Indonesia, and it seems that the issue runs deep, even in prisons.

In the latest scandal to shock the country, a detained tax official - on trial for corruption involving millions of dollars - was photographed at a tennis tournament in Bali wearing a wig and glasses. After days of denial, he admitted that he had taken a holiday from prison.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, has made combating corruption one of his main priorities. But he says he cannot interfere in the legal system.

A special team established by him has announced plans to improve the system, but as Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports from Jakarta, so far no concrete steps have been taken to stop wealthy detainees from taking a break from prison.

Al Jazeera

Silvio Berlusconi in ‘protection deal with mafia’

The billionaire Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, once met a leading mafia godfather to ask for protection, according to testimony gathered over several years by crime prosecutors.

Mafia informants claim the meeting took place in Milan in 1974, when Berlusconi was already a wealthy entrepreneur, at the offices of his property company. The informers say Berlusconi met Stefano Bontade, then one of the mafia’s most powerful bosses, because he feared for his family’s safety at a time when Italy was plagued by a wave of high-profile kidnappings.

Francesco Di Carlo, one of Bontade’s henchmen who is now in jail, told prosecutors that he was at the meeting. He claims Berlusconi asked for help to ensure that neither he nor his children would be abducted by other mafia clans.

According to the henchman’s testimony, Bontade gave his word that he would personally ensure Berlusconi’s safety. In return Berlusconi told the mafia godfather that he was “at his disposal, for anything”.

More on Times Online

U.N. Official Admits: We Redistribute World’s Wealth by Climate Policy

“This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy.”

Is this quote from a) a climate change skeptic, or b) an official from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change?

Climate change skeptics have long theorized about ulterior motives behind attempts to legislate and regulate man-made global warming. This speculation reached a fever pitch after data from the University of East Anglia — widely referenced by the United Nations — was found to be flawed and private emails pointed to a broader conspiracy to falsify the so-called evidence.

But this speculation is only likely to grow after a leading member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told a German news outlet, “[W]e redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy.” Via the Media Research Center, Swiss NZZ Online Sunday interviews Ottmar Edenhofer of the U.N. (emphases mine):

(NZZ AM SONNTAG): The new thing about your proposal for a Global Deal is the stress on the importance of development policy for climate policy. Until now, many think of aid when they hear development policies.

(OTTMAR EDENHOFER, UN IPCC OFFICIAL): That will change immediately if global emission rights are distributed. If this happens, on a per capita basis, then Africa will be the big winner, and huge amounts of money will flow there. This will have enormous implications for development policy. And it will raise the question if these countries can deal responsibly with so much money at all.

(NZZ): That does not sound anymore like the climate policy that we know.

(EDENHOFER): Basically it’s a big mistake to discuss climate policy separately from the major themes of globalization.

The Blaze

Haitians Barricading Streets With Coffins as Protests Against the UN

Protests are continuing in Haiti over the cholera outbreak that has now killed more than 1,100 people and infected some 17,000. On Wednesday, residents in the city of Cap-Haitien clashed with U.N. troops for the third consecutive day. Crowds have taken to the streets expressing anger at the Haitian government and the United Nations for failing to contain the disease. Democracy Now! goes to Cap-Haitien to speak with independent journalist Ansel Herz. 

DemocracyNow.org

Family waits to see if mother, accused of blasphemy, will be hanged

This month a Pakistani court sentenced 45-year-old Asia Bibi, to death not because she killed, injured or stole, but simply because she said something.

Prosecutors say Bibi, who is a Christian, broke Pakistan's strict blasphemy law by insulting Islam and the prophet Muhammad, a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment according to Pakistan's penal code.

The alleged incident happened in June 2009 when Bibi, a field worker, was picking fruit in a village two hours west of Lahore. Prosecutors say when Bibi dipped her cup into a bucket of drinking water during a lunch break, her co-workers complained the water had been contaminated by a non-Muslim.

Court records show the women got into a heated argument. Magia Satar said she was there and heard Bibi's insults. "She said your Muhammad had worms in his mouth before he died," Satar told CNN, a crude way of saying Muhammad was no prophet.

The town cleric, Qari Muhammad Salim, reported the incident to police who arrested Bibi. After nearly 15 months in prison came her conviction and the death sentence.

See video on CNN.com

Thank god she already paid back her loan…

Egypt blogger released after 4 years in jail

An Egyptian blogger has been released after serving four years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and the president, a human rights group and an interior ministry source said on Wednesday.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil, 26, known as Kareem Amer, was in bad health and was beaten by security officers before his release on Tuesday.

A Cairo-based source from the Interior Ministry confirmed Amer had been release on Tuesday but denied the blogger was beaten by officers. A student at the state-run religious al-Azhar University, Amer was arrested in 2006 on charges of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak in his blog posts. He was sentenced to four years in prison and expelled from the university.

"Kareem was released on Tuesday morning and his health is bad but he is safe now," Gamal Eid, head of ANHRI, which represented Amer at court, told Reuters. "He was detained for 11 days beyond his court sentence and beaten by officers who did not give any reasons," Eid added.

The first blogger to face trial in Egypt for online content, Amer was first released on November 5 from Alexandria's Borg el-Arab prison where he stayed for four years.

Reuters

'Sometimes Dictators Have Good Ideas'

Nevada Republican Sharron Angle found herself back in the spotlight on Wednesday after questionable comments she reportedly made towards the end of her campaign came to light.

"Sometimes dictators have good ideas," explained the Tea Party darling at a private campaign event, according to Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston. At the Las Vas Sun, he writes, "Her staff fretted the line would get out. It did not. Until now."

Angle, who developed a reputation for sparking controversy over the course of her campaign, reportedly made the remarks in arguing that the country's Social Security system should be privatized. She cited right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet and a system he implemented in Chile in 1981 to make her point.

More on The Huffington Post

Dr Kelly was murdered

Drugs experts leading an inquiry into the death of Britain's former weapons inspector in Iraq, David Kelly, say his death was “murder” and not suicide.

Experts also called on the police to launch a murder inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, casting serious doubt on the official claim the scientist overdosed on painkillers.

According to Dr Andrew Watt who is a top clinical pharmacologist, Kelly could have only take a “safe” dose of coproxamol painkiller tablets as there was so little of the substance in his blood after he died.
“I reported to the Thames [Valley Police] force that I believe that the death of Dr Kelly may have been murder. I have received an acknowledgement and they have given me an incident number,” Watt said.
He added he has been “told that the inquiry is being conducted by a very senior officer”.
This comes as other reports strengthen doubts about the validity of the verdict by the Hutton inquiry which took priority over an inquest normally required for cases of suspicious death.

PressTV

Friends of Muad'Dib

The Irish Supreme Court ruled today to uphold the extradition of Anthony John Hill, also known as Muad'Dib, for sending DVDs of the widely popular "7/7 Ripple Effect" to the jury foreman and judge, in c/o a British courthouse.

The Irish Supreme Court's decision was to facilitate the British government's demand, through Westminster Magistrates Court, and an European Arrest Warrant, and surrender Mr. Hill to face charges for simply mailing DVDs of the "7/7 Ripple Effect” (with no letter) to the Kingston Crown Court, during the original trial of Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil. The British government had hoped to use the trial to lend credence to their "official story", which they failed to do when the 3 young men were found innocent.

Friends of Muad'Dib

Fucking Kate Middleton

Lucky TV

Nazis Who Hid Still Get U.S. Government Cover

To whatever degree the U.S.knowingly or carelessly sheltered Nazi murderers after World War II, it’s a national shame. “America, which prided itself on being a safe haven for the persecuted, became -- in some small measure -- a safe haven for persecutors as well,” according to a 607-page Justice Department report made public this week by the New York Times and National Security Archive, a private research group.

Astonishingly thorough and readable, the 2006 draft report tells the story of how hundreds of Nazis came to be admitted into the U.S. following the war and what the government did about it.

It lays out how Otto von Bolschwing, a former deputy to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, went to work for the Central Intelligence Agency abroad and then entered the U.S. with the CIA’s help.

The report offers details on the case of Arthur Rudolph,who brought forced labour into the munitions factory he ran in Germany. He later worked as a U.S. rocket scientist, helping to make the first moon landing possible.

In both cases, Justice investigators finally uncovered the extent of their wartime past and acted to have both men stripped of their citizenship and deported.

More on Bloomberg

Reel Injun

At the star-studded 25th Annual Gemini Awards, Reel Injun took home three awards, including the prestigious Canada Award, a prize designed to recognize work that explores the racial and cultural diversity of Canada (and whole North America) by fostering greater awareness.

Reel Injun Website

.. and remember Wounded Knee

Doncamatic

Gorillaz Featuring Daley performing Doncamatic

Thailand Sends 'Merchant Of Death' To U.S.

Thailand extradited accused Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout to the U.S. on Tuesday to face terrorism charges, siding with Washington in a tug of war with Moscow over whether to send him to stand trial or let him go home.

The Cabinet approved Bout's extradition Tuesday after a long legal battle, and police said the 43-year-old was put aboard a plane that departed Bangkok at about 1:30 p.m. (0630 GMT; 1:30 a.m. EST) in the custody of eight U.S. officials. In New York, a law enforcement said Bout was expected to arrive there around 9 p.m. EST Tuesday (0200 GMT Wednesday). The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, declined to name the airport.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his Cabinet had approved extradition after acknowledging an earlier appeals court decision that Bout could be legally extradited.

Bout, a former Soviet air force officer who is reputed to have been one of the world's most prolific arms dealers, was arrested at a Bangkok luxury hotel in March 2008 as part of a sting operation led by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

huffingtonpost.com

The Coming Sell-Out to the American Super Rich

Mr. Obama seems to be campaigning for his own defeat! Thanks largely to the $13 trillion Wall Street bailout – while keeping the debt overhead in place for America’s “bottom 98%” – this happy 2% of the population now receives an estimated three quarters (~75%) of the returns to wealth (interest, dividends, rent and capital gains).

We are dealing with shameless demagogy. The financial End Time has arrived, but Mr. Obama’s happy-talk pretends that “two years” will get us through the current debt-induced depression. The Republican plan is to make more Congressional and Senate gains in 2012 as Mr. Obama’s former supporters “vote with their backsides” and stay home, as they did earlier this month. So “two years” means forever in politician-talk. Why vote for a politician who promises “change” but is merely an exclamation mark for the Bush-Cheney policies from Afghanistan and Iraq to Wall Street’s Democratic Leadership Council on the party’s right wing? One of its leaders, after all, was Mr. Obama’s Senate mentor, Joe Lieberman.

More on AlterNet

British author arrested in Singapore over death penalty book

A British author promoting his book on the death penalty in Singapore was arrested there on Sunday for alleged criminal defamation.

Alan Shadrake's arrest came two days after the government's Media Development Authority lodged a police report. The Foreign Office said it was seeking further information from Singaporean authorities. The 75-year-old has also been served with an application by the attorney general for "an order of committal for contempt of court", police said. Mr Shadrake, who was arrested at a hotel on Sunday, remained in police custody as the investigation was ongoing, a police spokesman said. More on Telegraph 

The book contains interviews with human rights activists, lawyers and former police officers, as well as a profile of Darshan Singh, the former chief executioner at Singapore's Changi Prison. It claims he executed around 1,000 men and women from 1959 until he retired in 2006.

"I think I've been given a fair hearing," Shadrake told the media after the verdict was issued last week. US-based Human Rights Watch and other rights groups had urged Singapore to exonerate the author. Separately, Shadrake is being investigated by the police for criminal defamation; his passport is being held by the police. BBC

Free Alan Shadrake 

Singapore introduces death penalty for use of irony (newsbiscuit) and Capital punishment in Singapore (wikipedia)