6 Feb 2013
Indigenous Mapuche People Struggle Against the Chilean State and Private Companies
Most recent hunger strike by imprisoned activists over “politically motivated prosecutions” and state application of Antiterrorist Law comes to a close as conflict between Mapuche communities and the Chilean state intensifies.
Full-scale invasion as the United States deploys troops in 35 African countries
A full-scale invasion of Africa is under way. The United States is deploying troops in 35 African countries, beginning with Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger. Reported by Associated Press on Christmas Day, this was missing from most Anglo-American media. The invasion has almost nothing to do with “Islamism”, and almost everything to do with the acquisition of resources, notably minerals, and an accelerating rivalry with China.
Unlike China, the US and its allies are prepared to use a degree of violence demonstrated in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Palestine. As in the cold war, a division of labour requires that western journalism and popular culture provide the cover of a holy war against a “menacing arc” of Islamic extremism, no different from the bogus “red menace” of a worldwide communist conspiracy.
Reminiscent of the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, the US African Command (Africom) has built a network of supplicants among collaborative African regimes eager for American bribes and armaments.
Last year, Africom staged Operation African Endeavor, with the armed forces of 34 African nations taking part, commanded by the US military. Africom’s “soldier to soldier” doctrine embeds US officers at every level of command from general to warrant officer. Only pith helmets are missing.
It is as if Africa’s proud history of liberation, from Patrice Lumumba to Nelson Mandela, is consigned to oblivion by a new master’s black colonial elite whose “historic mission”, warned Frantz Fanon half a century ago, is the promotion of “a capitalism rampant though camouflaged”.
A striking example is the eastern Congo, a treasure trove of strategic minerals, controlled by an atrocious rebel group known as the M23, which in turn is run by Uganda and Rwanda, the proxies of Washington.
5 Feb 2013
US States Considering Laws That Would Make it an Act of Terrorism to Report on Abuses at Factory Farms
How do you keep consumers in the dark about the horrors of factory farms? By making it an “act of terrorism” for anyone to investigate animal cruelty, food safety or environmental violations on the corporate-controlled farms that produce the bulk of our meat, eggs and dairy products.
And who better to write the Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act, designed to protect Big Ag and Big Energy, than the lawyers on the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force at the corporate-funded and infamous American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
New Hampshire, Wyoming and Nebraska are the latest states to introduce Ag-Gag laws aimed at preventing employees, journalists or activists from exposing illegal or unethical practices on factory farms. Lawmakers in 10 other states introduced similar bills in 2011-2012. The laws passed in three of those states: Missouri, Iowa and Utah. But consumer and animal-welfare activists prevented the laws from passing in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and Tennessee.
In all, six states now have Ag-Gag laws, including North Dakota, Montana and Kansas, all of which passed the laws in 1990-1991, before the term “Ag-Gag” was coined.
Ag-Gag laws passed 20 years ago were focused more on deterring people from destroying property, or from either stealing animals or setting them free. Today’s ALEC-inspired bills take direct aim at anyone who tries to expose horrific acts of animal cruelty, dangerous animal-handling practices that might lead to food safety issues, or blatant disregard for environmental laws designed to protect waterways from animal waste runoff. In the past, most of those exposes have resulted from undercover investigations of exactly the type Big Ag wants to make illegal.
Saudi Arabian Cleric Issues Fatwa Calling For Female Babies To Wear Burkas
Footage of a Saudi cleric calling for all female babies to have their faces covered with the burkha has surfaced. Sheikh Abdullah Daoud delivered the fatwa on Islamic al-Majd TV and stressed his belief the veil would protect baby girls from being sexually molested.
The clip, flagged up by Al Arabiya, sees him attempting to back up the ruling by quoting unnamed Saudi Arabian medical and security sources.
Jihad Watch points out comments made by Saudi marriage official Dr. Ahmad Al-Mu’bi which were aired on LBC TV in 2008. He said: “There is no minimal age for entering marriage. You can have a marriage contract even with a one-year-old girl, not to mention a girl of nine, seven or eight. This is merely a contract [indicating] consent.”
While Daoud’s comments were made in October last year, they have been revisited in light of the verdict against a Saudi cleric accused of raping and torturing his five-year-old daughter to death.
According to the Associated Press, Fayhan al-Ghamdi was ordered to pay $50,000 “blood money” to the slain girl’s mother, but was spared a jail sentence. He is said to have questioned the girl's virginity. Under Saudi Arabian Islamic law, a father cannot be executed for murdering his children or his wife.
4 Feb 2013
Zero Dark Thirty, Manhunt and Obama Admin. Justify Use of Torture
Recent films and Obama's lack of prosecution of CIA and Bush Cheney for torture is creating conditions for its public acceptance.
Watch full multipart The Ratner Report.
'Racism in their DNA': Israeli fan fury
A group of the Jerusalem-based Beitar fans have lashed out at the club's boss's decision to bring two Muslims from the Russian Chechen republic into the squad
EU to set up euro-election 'troll patrol' to tackle Eurosceptic surge
The Daily Telegraph has seen confidential spending proposals and internal documents planning an unprecedented propaganda blitz ahead of and during European elections in June 2014.
Key to a new strategy will be "public opinion monitoring tools" to "identify at an early stage whether debates of political nature among followers in social media and blogs have the potential to attract media and citizens' interest".
Spending on "qualitative media analysis" is to be increased by £1.7 million and while most of the money is to be found in existing budgets an additional £787,000 will be need to be raised next year despite calls for EU spending to reflect national austerity.
"Particular attention needs to be paid to the countries that have experienced a surge in Euroscepticism," said a confidential document agreed last year.
As Self-Immolations Near 100, Some Tibetans Ask, Is It Worth It?
A crowd of Tibetans came here to India’s capital last week, bearing flags and political banners and a bittersweet admixture of hope and despair. A grim countdown was under way: The number of Tibetans who have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule in Tibet had reached 99, one short of an anguished milestone.
Tibetan monks shout slogans as they take part in a rally during a four-day gathering billed as the Tibetan People’s Solidarity Campaign.
Yet as that milestone hung over the estimated 5,000 Tibetans who gathered in a small stadium, so did an uncertainty about whether the rest of the world was paying attention at all. In speeches, Tibetan leaders described the self-immolations as the desperate acts of a people left with no other way to draw global attention to Chinese policies in Tibet.
“What is forcing these self-immolations?” Lobsang Sangay, prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile, asked in an interview. “There is no freedom of speech. There is no form of political protest allowed in Tibet.”
3 Feb 2013
Still Waiting For A Whole Lotta Love
Sum 41 - Still Waiting
Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
Audio & video by DJ Schmolli.
Qatar's Agenda in Syria
Situation: Qatar continues to funnel weapons and facilitate other assistance to Syrian rebels and Salafi jihadists fighting the Assad regime in Syria.
Bottom Line: Determining the outcome of the conflict in Syria is very difficult due to the sheer number of private players in this theater and the varying agendas. Determining the extent to which Qatar is willing to go is made easier by understanding what it wishes to achieve: Global stature—and a pipeline through Syria.
Analysis: Right before the conflict in Syria broke out, Iran had cut a deal with Iraq for an Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline to pump natural gas from the world’s largest gas field, South Pars, which is shared by Qatar and Iran. Qatar could not allow this to happen. It would have given Iran the upper hand in its perceived quest to form a “Shi’ite crescent”. Qatar wanted the pipeline first. Qatar’s original plan was a pipeline from South Pars through Iraq and on to Turkey, and then to European markets. This pipeline, however, would have to traverse southern/central Iraq and Northern Iraq. This has become problematic due to the oil-resources power struggle between the Kurds of Northern Iraq and the Iraqi central government. A pipeline through Syria would be much easier. It would also be convenient for Jordan, which has apparently been promised free Qatari gas for its help in training Syrian rebels on its territory and allowing them to use Jordanian territory to launch offensives…
2 Feb 2013
Mysterious, purple sphere's found in the American desert
From 0:36 - It was a normal Sunday in Vail for Geradine Vargas. Normal, until she and her husband stumbled upon something kind of weird.
Is the Russia Prison System Working Pussy Riot Member to Death?
An incarcerated member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot has been hospitalized for illnesses related to prison work , reports the Associated Press . Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has reportedly been suffering severe headaches since last spring, when the 23-year-old began serving her two-year sentence on hooliganism charges.
Fellow band member Yekaterina Samutsevich, who was released on appeal in October, told the independent Russian news service Rain TV, "They don't allow [Tolokonnikova] to have any rest; she works nearly round the clock … She said she feels tired, extremely tired.”
Tolokonnikova’s conditions offer a window into Russia’s brutal modern prison system, which have been described as “ Gulag lite ,” referring to the notorious labor camps of the Soviet Union under Stalin.
Options for Consideration Active Shooter Training
Homeland Security Tip: Fend Off Shooter With Scissors
The Big Electron
Two legendary comedians offer their perspectives on life, through song. Bill Hicks and George Carlin by melodysheep
1 Feb 2013
Was Iran's monkey in space launch faked?
The veracity of Iran’s triumphant claims to have launched a monkey into space has been called into question by before and after pictures of the simian space-traveller that appear to show two different animals.
Iranian media claimed that the country's space agency had sent the monkey 75 miles (120 km) above the Earth in a Kavoshgar rocket capsule named Pishgam (Pioneer).
Ahmad Vahidi, the Iranian defence minister said of the launch: "This success is the first step towards man conquering the space and it paves the way for other moves", but added that the process of putting a human into space would be a lengthy one. He also reassured anyone concerned about the monkey’s well-being that it made it back to earth unharmed saying: "The monkey which was sent in this launch landed safely and alive and this is a big step for our experts and scientists."
Flower vendors refuse business to atheist teenager
There’s a war over roses in Rhode Island (USA), where a slew of flower shops allegedly refused to deliver a bouquet to a 16-year-old atheist who had fought to have a prayer banner removed from her high school.
The skirmish began when the girl’s school, Cranston West High School, hung a banner titled “School Prayer.” The banner’s text appealed to “Our Heavenly Father”--text that clearly violates the 1962 Supreme Court decision that prohibits mandatory religious prayer in public schools.
The 16-year-old student Jessica Ahlquist, who identifies as an atheist, fought to have the school banner removed--a court battle she won earlier in January.
But the victory party was cut short over discrimination by--of all people--the city’s flower vendors. When the group Freedom for Religion Foundation, a national organization that fights to keep the separation of Church and State, tried to send Ahlquist a congratulatory bouquet, no less than four local flower vendors refused to fill the order.
Russia’s Forces Are Ready for War
Russia’s armed forces are ready for a major war, Chief of the military’s General Staff Col. Gen. Valery Gerasimov said on Saturday. “No one rules out the possibility of a major war, and it cannot be said that we are unprepared,” Gerasimov said, speaking at an Academy of Military Sciences meeting.
His address covered key issues the armed forces face today – including outsourcing. Col.Gen Gerasimov conceded that outsourcing was necessary, in order to relieve soldiers of certain functions, but added that “outsourcing is only needed in peacetime and only at permanent bases.” He also stressed that these activities would be carried out by troops during combat or training.
North Korea imposes martial law, orders troops to ‘be ready for war’
North Korea has allegedly been placed under martial law and its ruler Kim Jong-un has ordered the army to “prepare for war”, a South Korean daily claims. The North Korean leader issued a series of orders to his top defense and security officials on Saturday to conclude preparations for a new nuclear test, the Seoul based Korea JoongAng Daily alleges citing an unnamed source.
The source reportedly said that Kim Jong-un issued a secret order to “complete preparations for a nuclear weapons test <…>and carry it out soon”. According to the source, Kim Jong-un also said, “The country will be under martial law starting from midnight January 29th and all the frontline and central units should be ready for war.”
The source told the South Korean daily that the nuclear test could come earlier than expected. Other analysts have said it would likely be held on February 16th, the birthday of the former leader Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011