Fascinating insight in to Iraq in the 1950s. The country is steeped in a rich history and culture. The very beginnings of civilisation started here and where man began cultivating the land and where writing was conceived. It even used to be a tourist hot spot.
27 Aug 2014
26 Aug 2014
25 Aug 2014
22 Aug 2014
Places That Don't Exist
Simon Reeve travels to a group of unrecognised nations -- countries so obscure they don't officially exist.
21 Aug 2014
20 Years on, Tyke’s Intense, Tragic Story Will Still Leave You Shocked
Tyke was an African elephant at a travelling circus in the US who had been abused for years. Like most elephants in circuses, her life consisted of endless beatings and constant confinement.
Eventually, she snapped.
On 20 August, 1994, she was forced to perform in Honolulu. This is what happened next.
Warning: upsetting footage
Tyke’s rampage killed her trainer and injured 13 other people. She collapsed and died after being shot nearly 100 times.
Animals do not deserve to live and die as Tyke did – abused, mentally and physically, until they go mad from the frustration, loneliness and pain.
20 Aug 2014
US and UK try to identify Isis militant with British accent who killied James Foley
British and US security services are trying to identify the Islamic State (Isis) militant with a British accent who appeared in a video of the apparent beheading of US journalist James Foley, the UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has said. Hammond said intelligence agencies were trying to unmask the fluent English-speaking militant in the propaganda footage.
Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, SO15, also launched an investigation into the video as leading linguistics experts said the man sounded like he was from London or the south-east of England. Hammond said: "All the hallmarks point to [the video] being genuine. We're very concerned by the apparent fact that the murderer in question is British and we are urgently investigating – agencies on both sides of the Atlantic – are first of all looking to authenticate the video, to make sure that it is genuine, and sadly it appears to be, and then to see if we can identify the individual in question."
19 Aug 2014
Ferguson, MO and Police Militarization
In the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, John Oliver explores the racial inequality in treatment by police as well as the increasing militarization of America’s local police forces.
Norman Finkelstein on Gaza conflict, Hamas goals and Iron Dome myth
As debate and international concern grow over Gaza, RT's Mona Zughbi sits down for an exclusive interview with American political scientist, activist, professor, and author Norman Finkelstein . We take a deeper look into the the war on Gaza that has left almost two thousand Palestinians, mostly civilians dead.
Finkelstein, who has extensively studied and written about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for over 3 decades explains the reason behind this offensive and what the end game will be for Gaza. In addition to this analysis, he answers questions about Hamas' rockets and tunnels as well as Israel's Iron Dome. We take a look at how these components came together resulting in the deadliest attack in Gaza.
Also see: American Radical - The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
'UFO' photographed hovering above Houston's stormy skies
Could a UFO have visited Texas this week? Several people have taken it to Twitter to post pictures showing a strange object floating through the Houston clouds during a storm last Monday.
Some of the pictures show a bright oval object hovering. An unrelated picture shows a similar object through clouds. There are others, some showing what appears to be lights underneath the 'thing.'
'I think the trick in UFO's is figuring out what else they could be,' Dr. Carolyn Sumners, vice president for Astronomy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, told KPRC.”If it's a real object and it looks like it is, the more people who see it in different directions, the more likely we are to 'figure out where it is, what it is and see if we can explain it,' she told KPRC. 'All the way back to recorded history, there are going to be things we can't explain,' she added.
18 Aug 2014
The Islamic State (Part 5)
On August 8, nearly three years after the United States pulled out of Iraq, President Barack Obama ordered airstrikes to commence on Islamic State positions in northern Iraq, as the group's fighters advanced towards the Kurdish capital of Erbil.
Saudi Arabia declares atheists terrorists under new laws
Saudi Arabia has officially identified atheists as terrorists in sweeping new laws that threaten up to 20 years in prison for almost any criticism of the government or Islam. The regulations place secular citizens who commit thought crimes in the same category as violent terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch and Saudi Hezbollah.
Under the new decree by King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia will jail for up to 20 years anyone who fights in conflicts abroad - an apparent move to deter Saudis from joining rebels in Syria. But the law also applies to any Saudi citizen or a foreigner residing in the kingdom that 'calls for atheist thought in any form or calls into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.'
The laws have been denounced by human rights groups for making no distinction between religious expression and violent extremism. 'Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism,' said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
17 Aug 2014
Wikipedia edits from government computers
Channel 4 News reveals controversial edits to the Wikipedia pages for Jean Charles de Menezes, Lee Rigby and Damilola Taylor have been made from government computers.
Israel Unleashes Death Ray on Gaza
Reports, including photographic evidence reveal that Israel is using an energy weapon to attack targets in Gaza. The destructive beam, thought to be a high energy laser, is emitted from a plane identified as a Boeing KC707 “Re’em,” originally configured for Electronic Warfare.
Those observing the attacks cite a beam from a 4 engine jet hitting a target which immediately turns “white hot.” After these attacks, the target area is then hit with either bombs or artillery to destroy evidence of the use of an American designed and built energy weapon illegally given to Israel.
16 Aug 2014
91yo Dutch man returns Israeli WWII medal after Gaza strike kills his relatives
A 91-year-old Dutch man who was honored with Israel’s Righteous Among the Nations medal for rescuing a Jewish boy during WWII, has returned the award, after he learnt his six relatives were killed in the Gaza strip by an Israeli missile.
14 Aug 2014
American Nuclear Weapons
America has over 4,800 nuclear weapons, and they don’t take terrific care of them.
It’s terrifying, basically.
One nation under SWAT: How America’s police became an occupying force
“I wonder if I can get in trouble for doing this,” the young man says to his buddy in the passenger seat as they film the Saginaw County Sheriff Office’s new toy: a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. As they film the MRAP from behind, their amateur video has a Red Dawn-esque feel, as if an occupying military were now patrolling this Michigan county’s streets. “This is getting ready for f**king crazy times, dude,” one young man comments. “Why,” his friend replies, “has our city gotten that f**king bad?”
In fact, nothing happening in Saginaw County warranted the deployment of an armored vehicle capable of withstanding bullets and the sort of improvised explosive devices that insurgent forces have regularly planted along roads in America’s recent war zones. Sheriff William Federspiel, however, fears the worst. “As sheriff of the county, I have to put ourselves in the best position to protect our citizens and protect our property,” he told a reporter. “I have to prepare for something disastrous.” Lucky for Federspiel, his exercise in paranoid disaster preparedness didn’t cost his office a penny. That $425,000 MRAP came as a gift, courtesy of Uncle Sam, from one of our far-flung counterinsurgency wars. The nasty little secret of policing’s militarization is that taxpayers are subsidizing it through programs overseen by the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Justice Department.
Take the 1033 program. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) may be an obscure agency within the Department of Defense, but through the 1033 program, which it oversees, it’s one of the core enablers of American policing’s excessive militarization. Beginning in 1990, Congress authorized the Pentagon to transfer its surplus property free of charge to federal, state, and local police departments to wage the war on drugs. In 1997, Congress expanded the purpose of the program to include counterterrorism in section 1033 of the defense authorization bill. In one single page of a 450-page law, Congress helped sow the seeds of today’s warrior cops.
The amount of military hardware transferred through the program has grown astronomically over the years. In 1990, the Pentagon gave $1 million worth of equipment to U.S. law enforcement. That number had jumped to nearly $450 million in 2013. Overall, the program has shipped off more than $4.3 billion worth of materiel to state and local cops, according to the DLA. In its recent report, the ACLU found a disturbing range of military gear being transferred to civilian police departments nationwide. Police in North Little Rock, Arkansas, for instance, received 34 automatic and semi-automatic rifles, two robots that can be armed, military helmets, and a Mamba tactical vehicle. Police in Gwinnet County, Georgia, received 57 semi-automatic rifles, mostly M-16s and M-14s. The Utah Highway Patrol, according to a Salt Lake City Tribune investigation, got an MRAP from the 1033 program, and Utah police received 1,230 rifles and four grenade launchers. After South Carolina’s Columbia Police Department received its very own MRAP worth $658,000, its SWAT Commander Captain E.M. Marsh noted that 500 similar vehicles had been distributed to law enforcement organizations across the country.
More about America’s police at Salon.com
Also see: The Military Occupation Of Ferguson, Missouri Is Just A Preview Of What Is Coming To America
12 Aug 2014
'Colossus' spotted on Google Moon
What looks like a towering human figure striding the deserted plains of the Moon has been spotted on Google Earth and bears an uncanny resemblance to what the ancient statue, "The Colossus of Rhodes", is thought to have looked like before it was felled into the harbor of the Greek island by a massive earthquake in 226 BC.
What is it? In the video posted here, published to YouTube on July 18, the unusual, shadowy figure was found by an intrepid anomaly hunter named Jasenko poring over the millions of images published by Google Earth that make up the Google Moon landscape.
Pinpointing a desolate stretch of the lunar surface, YouTuber wowforreeel zeroes in on the figure, orients it to a horizontal angle and zooms in on the increasingly odd shadow which looks like a statue of a man, giant legs spread apart and perhaps thousands of feet high.
Of course, the shadow might be explained in a number of ways, particularly as a trick of light or a camera lens glitch. But, if those explanations are ruled out, it still leaves the question of what this object is, since it appears to be rising a great distance from the surface of the Moon.
Also Watch:-
Neil Armstrong refused to swear on The Bible that he walked on the Moon.
Have you ever wondered why we haven't returned to the moon again? The truth is that NASA is hiding a very dark secret from us.
Is there an "Alien Base" on the Moon? More and more people are coming forward with stories that might prove this is true. Rumours say that there is an Alien Moon Base on the far side of the moon, the side we never see from Earth.
Did you ever wonder why the Moon landings stopped and why we have not tried to build a Moon Base? It does seem like a better and easier idea than a floating space station with no access to any raw materials or supplies? According to the NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong the aliens have a base on the Moon and told us in no uncertain terms to get off and stay off the Moon!
Sound far fetched? Milton Cooper, a Naval Intelligence Officer tells us that not only does the Alien Moon Base exist but the U.S. Naval Intelligence Community refers to the Alien Moon Base as "Luna," that there is a huge mining operation going on there, and that is where the aliens keep their huge mother ships while the trips to Earth are made in smaller "flying saucers".
LUNA: The Alien base on the far side of the Moon. It was seen and filmed by the Apollo astronauts. A base, a mining operation using very large machines, and the very large alien craft described in sighting reports as mother ships exist there. - Milton Cooper
11 Aug 2014
Hollywood Studios Blacklist Penelope Cruz over Gaza Letter Accusing Israel of 'Genocide'
Actress Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem have roused the fury of Hollywood producers, with pledges made to snub the Spanish couple. Oscar-winner Bardem and Cruz signed an open letter speaking against "the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation army".
The letter accused Israel of "advancing on Palestinian territories instead of withdrawing to the 1967 borders. "Gaza is living through horror… while the international community does nothing." The Spanish letter was signed by 100 leading figures in the film industry, including director Pedro Almodovar.
One top producer who has worked with Cruz says he privately has vowed not to hire her again, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Another top Hollywood executive also privately expressed his disapproval, saying he's "furious at Javier and Penelope" and wasn't sure about working with the Spanish couple again. Relativity Media chief executive Ryan Kavanaugh was the only studio head willing to go public with his views: "As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I know that anyone calling what's going on in Israel 'genocide' vs. self-defense is either ignorant and shouldn't be commenting or is truly anti-Semitic."
10 Aug 2014
Istanbul's Gentrification Wars
The mass protests surrounding Gezi Park, the corruption scandals, the Soma mining accident — none of these incidents will stop the majority of Turks from electing Recep Tayyip Erdogan as president. Among other things, this means that ambitious development projects will likely multiply — and with them, the controversies Erdogan’s AKP party aggressive policies routinely provoke.
The Gezi uprising that rocked Turkey in June 2013 was sparked by a government project to transform the park in central Istanbul into a gigantic mall. And while a relentless police crackdown has led many of last year’s protesters to abandon hope, the problems at the heart of Erdogan’s vision for Turkey's urban development have not gone away. Those directly affected by the aggressive development of their neighborhoods are often left with only one of two options: to despair, or to fight.
One group that has decided to take the fight to the government is the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front, or DKHP/C. This extreme-left party, labeled a terrorist organization by the EU, is entrenched in many of the disenfranchised neighborhoods that have become targets for ruthless urban development. To stave off the forced relocation of inhabitants, the DKHP/C militants are prepared to combat not only the police, but also violent drug gangs that terrorize their neighborhoods, which they believe are collaborating with the state.
9 Aug 2014
Dance Until We Die
Question:
Do you think that your government is NOT scaring you senseless and stealing your cash while screwing the population of your country in their collective arses? Do you believe the scary stories that Rupert Murdoch's commercial media is telling you? Do you believe that faceless, nameless terrorists want to blow up your family? Do you really believe that the CocaCola or the MacDonalds company gives a flying fuck about you or your obese children? Do you really believe that Royal families are chosen by God and deserve to take all our land and money? Do you believe that there is actually a world bank or multinational company out there which is NOT totally fecking Evil?
well...
if you answered yes, then... please don't listen to this song, because it will be a waste of your time! (and ours)
if you answered all of the above questions with a resounding "NO!" then enjoy the vid and OMNIA's 100% acoustic Pagan Hip-Hop Rap song! ;-)
Catholic Church increases exorcism training due to a rise of demonic possession
Whether you are a believer or not, the reality is that the Catholic Church is upping the training of their priests in the art of exorcism.
Following the 40th anniversary of the film "The Exorcist," the Catholic Church is ramping up their training for exorcisms in dioceses across Italy and Spain and other countries. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Church states that the increase in demonic cases is a direct result of a rise of people practicing "dark arts" like black magic, paganism, Satanic rites and Ouija boards. The Church notes that many of these people have found information readily available on the internet.
The Daily Telegraph also points out that the increase in training for exorcisms is happening around the world.
"The diocese of Milan recently nominated seven new exorcists, the bishop of Naples appointed three new ones a couple of years ago and the Catholic Church in Sardinia sent three priests for exorcism training in Rome, amid concern that the Mediterranean island, particularly its mountainous, tradition-bound interior, is a hotbed of occultism."
Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, the archbishop of Madrid, recently picked eight priests in May of 2013 to endure rigorous training to deal with an "unprecedented rise” in cases of “demonic possession”. Also in May of 2013, Father Gabriele Amorth, a priest from Italy, spoke with the Sunday Times and alleged that he had helped preform over 160,000 exorcisms and asked Pope Francis to give all priests the right to perform exorcisms to deal with the increase in demonic possession.
The rise of exorcisms is also something that American priests have been worried about. A 2011 report from the New York Times notes that 66 American priests and 56 bishops attended a conference to help prepare them for a massive increase in the demand for exorcisms in the United States.
Another reason the Catholic Church is increasing their exorcism training is to combat the rise of impostor exorcists. Catholic Online points out that "self-appointed exorcists, even people who pose as priests, and have not undergone appropriate training to perform the rite of exorcism. The Church is cracking down on this practice by training known, qualified clergy who answer to their bishops for performing the rites."
8 Aug 2014
Yezidis massacred by ISIS
Reports that Islamic militants have trapped up to 40,000 members of Iraq’s minority communities have spurred the US into considering a military-led humanitarian action.
Most of the trapped people are members of the Yazidi religion, one of Iraq’s oldest minorities. They were forced to flee to Mount Sinjar in the Iraqi north-west region, or face slaughter by an encircling group of Islamic State (Isis) jihadists. The UN has said that roughly 40,000 people – many women and children – have taken refuge in nine locations on the mountain, “a craggy, mile-high ridge identified in local legend as the final resting place of Noah’s ark”.
Gruesome images of brutally slain people have emerged in the past week, as local officials say that at least 500 Yazidis, including 40 children, have been killed, and many more have been threatened with death. Roughly 130,000 residents of the Yazidi stronghold of Sinjar have fled to Dohuk, in Iraqi Kurdistan to the north, or to Irbil.
Reports of violence, repression and murder by Isis and other extremist groups have become increasingly prevalent in Iraq. Christians have also been targeted for their faith. The country’s largest Christian city was all but abandoned on Thursday, as Isis advanced through minority communities in the north-west.
How Israel Used Its Own Civilians as Human Shields While Assaulting Gaza
Throughout the ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, perhaps no phrase has featured as prominently or persistently in the lexicon of Israeli propaganda as “human shields.” Repeated in stentorian fashion by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a heavily regimented army of 10,000 public relations flacks, the phrase has been ruthlessly deployed to shield Israel from responsibility for the bloodbath it has caused in Gaza. Israel has killed 1,800 civilians in a matter of weeks, including some 430 children, but it was Hamas that forced them to do it.
Like so many Zionist accusations against Palestinian society (“They only understand force,” “They teach their children to hate,” “They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”) the human shields slander is a projection. Israel is the most militarized society on earth, with soldiers and military installations honeycombed throughout its civil society. With full military conscription for all men and women and reserve duty required for all Jews until they reach their 40s, Jewish Israelis alternate constantly between the role of civilian and soldier, blurring the line between the two.
Within one of Tel Aviv’s most densely populated neighborhoods sits Ha’Kirya, the army’s headquarters, a gigantic complex of monolithic buildings that house the offices where attacks on Gaza are planned. The uniformed officers and soldiers who work inside take lunch in the cafes and shop in the malls surrounding their offices, embedding themselves among the civilian population. A military base is nestled in the middle of the campus of Haifa University while Hebrew and Tel Aviv Universities offer military officers free tuition, encouraging their enrollment and allowing them to carry weapons on campus. It is hard to find a henhouse, flophouse, or fieldhouse anywhere in Israel without some kind of military presence.
Does the presence of the IDF's HQ in Tel Aviv endanger the city's population? - Haaretz
7 Aug 2014
My Stealthy Freedom
حمایت دانمارکی ها از صفحه آزادی های یواشکی
This video is a Danish contribution to support stealthy freedom of Iranian women to have the right to select their own cover. In our point of view, Iranian women are deserved to have freedom as well as all other women in the world. Now they are raised to notice the world about their willingness, their beliefs and their opinion and we are ready to hear and support them. Of course this step is preliminary but this is just to say that world is aware about you. In this video, ladies from middle east expressing their freedom in daily life and their message is "This is your choice, which one to select is your right". Special thanks to Peter Bak (Production and Design) and Karen West (Interethnic Female Network).
'Ebola Could Solve America's Problems With Atheism And Homosexuality'
Right before chatting with a Republican congressman on his on “Trunews” program yesterday, End Times radio host Rick Wiles said that an outbreak of Ebola in the U.S. might actually be a good thing if it ends up giving an “attitude adjustment” to all the gays and atheists, along with people who use pornography or have had an abortion, who will die if they aren’t “protected by God.”
“Now this Ebola epidemic can become a global pandemic and that’s another name for plague. It may be the great attitude adjustment that I believe is coming,” he said. “Ebola could solve America’s problems with atheism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, pornography and abortion. If Ebola becomes a global plague, you better make sure the blood of Jesus is upon you, you better make sure you have been marked by the angels so that you are protected by God. If not, you may be a candidate to meet the Grim Reaper.”
Previously, Wiles linked President Obama to the Ebola outbreak.
6 Aug 2014
Senator Norris on Palestine, Israel, Syria, Ukraine
An outstanding speech by Irish Independent Senator David Norris on Palestine, Israel, Syria, Ukraine
Norris is a former university lecturer and a member of the Oireachtas, serving in Seanad Éireann since 1987. He was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in Ireland. Founder of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, he is also a prominent member of the Church of Ireland.
5 Aug 2014
4 Aug 2014
The Invisible War
An investigative and powerfully emotional documentary about the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the US military, the institutions that perpetuate and cover up its existence, and its profound personal and social consequences.
3 Aug 2014
Debunked: The Mendacious Propaganda Israel is Pushing to Justify Its War On Gaza
It is time to clarify the real facts on the aggression the Israelis started on the Palestinians. Unfortunately, the Israeli narrative has dominated in the global media. It’s very important to uncover the Israeli narrative and bring facts to the public’s attention. The world needs to differentiate between myths and truth.
The first and very important point is that it was Israel which initiated this war and not the Palestinians.
This is very different from what is presented in most of the media and it’s completely wrong to accept the Israeli narrative here. Israelis claim that Israel was subjected to rocket shooting from Gaza to which Israel responded by airstrikes. This is not true. The reality is that Israel initiated airstrikes on Gaza, several times, and assassinated people in Gaza, trying to provoke a reaction until they got rockets being shot at Israel. And then, it was spun in the media as Israel defending itself.
1 Aug 2014
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, August 1
Visit http://www.democracynow.org to watch the entire independent, global news hour. This is a summary of top news headlines from the U.S. and around the world on Friday, August 1, 2014. Visit the Democracy Now! website to read the complete transcript, search the vast news archive, and to make a donation to support our daily, non-profit news program.
CrossTalk: Target-Gaza
As Israel appears to be preparing for yet another assault on the Gaza Strip, what does it want to achieve? Is the goal to completely destroy Hamas? And should we expect Washington to stand by and watch the killing of civilians? CrossTalking with Dan Arbell, Norman Finkelstein and Mouin Rabbani.
The Filipino genocide
Photos of the American conquest of the Philippines, an episode also referred to as the Filipino Genocide.
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