December 2007

Kenya in turmoil as riots greet Kibaki re-election
Posted: Sunday, December 30, 2007

¤ Kenya in turmoil as riots greet Kibaki re-election
¤ Kibaki declared winner, sworn in
¤ Kenya: President's Acceptance Speech
¤ Violence in Kenya over election wait
¤ Riots erupt across Kenya as rivals declare victory

¤ President heads for humiliating defeat
Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki appeared to be heading for a humiliating election defeat last night as voters signalled their discontent with his government by evicting most of the powerful political old guard from office.

¤ Kenya's president facing election defeat

¤ Anglo-American Ambitions behind the Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the Destabilization of Pakistan
¤ Musharraf cracks down on rioters
¤ Clinton demands international Bhutto probe
¤ Row breaks out over Benazir Bhutto's death

¤ Americans 'walk' from loans
¤ Bhutto's son, husband to succeed her

¤ 2007: The Year in Evidence
The past year has seen the public exposure of enough evidence of old, ongoing, and new crimes, abuses of power, and impeachable offenses by George Bush and Dick Cheney that in any remotely representative democracy, these two thugs would be out of office and behind bars. The chief reason this does not shock us is that the same could be said, and was said, of each of the previous six years. It's been quite a millennium so far for Washington, D.C.

¤ Bhutto, Bush, and Musharraf

¤ Pakistan and U.S. Foreign Policy
How is the press interpreting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan? Mainly in terms of domestic American politics. Mainly in short-sighted and short-term ways. Certainly it is not seen as indicating that there is anything fundamentally wrong with U.S. foreign policy.

¤ What Bhutto's Assassination Means to America

¤ With Bhutto Gone, Does Bush Have a Plan B?
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Thursday provoked rioting in Islamabad and Karachi, with her supporters blaming President Pervez Musharraf, while he pointed his finger at Muslim extremists. The renewed instability in Pakistan came as a grim reminder that the Bush administration has been pursuing a two-front war, neither of which has been going well. Bush’s decision to put hundreds of billions of dollars into an Iraq imbroglio while slighting the effort to fight al-Qaida, rebuild Afghanistan, and move Pakistan toward democracy and a rule of law has been shown up as a desperate and unsuccessful gamble. The question is whether President Musharraf now most resembles the shah of Iran in 1978. That is, has his authority among the people collapsed irretrievably?

¤ Pakistani Govt Reveals How Benazir Was Killed
¤ Options in America: Kill Yourself or Have a Baby

¤ The U.S. and Pakistan After 9/11
Immediately after 9-11 the U.S. government began barking orders to the world, especially to the Muslim world. Perhaps echoing unconsciously the Christian scripture passages Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23, it proclaimed, "Either you are with us, or with the terrorists." Remember those terrifying days, of omnipresent institutionalized ritualistic grief, anger and mandated unity, when any questioning was met with official indignation, threats, or punishment? When everything was supposed to be so clear? When above all, the national need to attack somebody---some Muslims---was supposed to be obvious, and the attack on Afghanistan in particular framed as common sense?

¤ Evaluating Bush with the Bhutto Corruption Standard
¤ Benazir and Indira as Papa's Puppets

Benazir Bhutto killed in suicide attack
Posted: Thursday, December 27, 2007

» Benazir Bhutto killed in suicide attack

Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's opposition leader and one of the country's best known political figures, was assassinated Thursday in a stunning suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a rally. The death of the charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary election into chaos and stirred fears of mass protests across Pakistan.

» Benazir Bhutto killed in gun and bomb attack

» Bush Condemns Bhutto Assassination

"The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy," he said. "Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice."

» Bhutto dies in suicide attack
At least 20 people were killed when the bomber struck after opposition leader Mrs Bhutto addressed a political rally, witnesses said.

» Who killed Benazir Bhutto? The main suspects

» She was shot once in the neck and once in the chest...

» Pakistan police tear gas protesters after Bhutto's assassination

» President Musharraf appeals for peace after Bhutto's death

Flashback:

¤ The Top Ten Comedic News Stories of 2007
¤ Huge turnout in Kenya vote
¤ Conscience and Empire

¤ CIA Torture and Other War Crimes
Personal accountability has all but disappeared from the American political system. Bill Clinton lied to his entire cabinet about Monica Lewinsky and not a single cabinet member resigned in protest after he was forced to recant. When Alberto Gonzales lied repeatedly during testimony before Congress everyone knew exactly what he was doing but no leading Democrat was willing to impeach him. The hopelessly incompetent Michael Brown was able to resign from FEMA without sanction to “avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission” and later even blamed everyone else for his shortcomings. Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Tommy Franks, George Tenet, and Paul Bremer were all rewarded for their incompetence, some with medals and some with promotions.

¤ Research Shows That War Isn’t Caused by Instinct

¤ In Diplomatic Coup, Chavez Says Colombian Hostages To Be Released
Three high-profile hostages held by Colombian rebels will soon be freed, perhaps as early as Thursday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Wednesday in Caracas.
The release of the three, including an aide to kidnapped former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, would be a major diplomatic coup for Chavez, who a month ago had been told to stay out of hostage negotiations by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe

¤ The Torture Tape Cover-up: How High Does It Go?
¤ The Defeat of the Latest Bush Administration Plan for New Nuclear Weapons
¤ why the CIA video scandal is going nowhere
¤ Analysis: Bhutto death deals blow to US
¤ Russia will supply new anti-aircraft missiles for Iran
¤ DEMOCRATS: THE OTHER WHITE MEAT

¤ Tiger beheaded in China zoo
¤ Zoo Officials Probe Killing by Tiger

¤ U.S. ties aid to support for AFRICOM
¤ Say No to Africom

¤ Fallujah, the Information War, and U.S. Propaganda
¤ 'Israel has megaton nuclear bombs'

Revolution Against Western Allies
Posted: Thursday, December 27, 2007

By Reason Wafawarova
December 27, 2007

The just-ended EU-Africa summit has left a clear message that the era of aid cemented relations between Africa and its former colonisers have come to an end. The refusal by African leaders to endorse the newly proposed Economic Partnership Agreements and the emphasis on a new era of a partnership of equals was indeed the right direction for African leaders to take.

For Europe the summit was about out competing China for the resources of Africa and the tradition of dangling aid to manipulate a good Samaritan-hapless man relationship between Africa and Europe did not work this time around. In fact Africa left the European imperial womb ovulating and totally refused to fertilise the imperial egg at the expense of African resources.

For Britain, particularly for its unelected Prime Minister, Gordon Brown (who must really thank President Mugabe for bringing his name into the international lime light) – the summit is one forgettable piece of history that has made a mockery of Britain's claim to the EU-super power mettle.

Brown vainly tried to use his assumed supremacy in the EU to unite Europe, divide Africa and isolate Zimbabwe and as Caesar Zvayi pointed out in one of his pieces, only the opposite was achieved. Gordon Brown, by declaring that only two summits could materialise – one with him present or another with President Mugabe present, managed to humiliate himself irretrievably as both Europe and Africa clearly preferred a summit with President Mugabe in attendance and there was no sign that anyone missed the unelected Brown in Lisbon. Gordon, by trying to replay the archaic colonial master tactic, only managed to unite Africa, divide Europe and hopelessly isolate himself – even to the dustbins of war torn Basra, Iraq, where he duly enjoyed the company of his inherited poodle Nouri Al-Malik.

The face-saving after thought gimmick by some European countries who are now claiming that Angela Merkel of German – who tried to convey the London message on Zimbabwe; was speaking on behalf of Europe falls hollow in that Europe clearly failed to speak on behalf of London all the time Brown was trying to rope everyone into his ban-Mugabe campaign. Africa had its way on the Mugabe issue and Britain did not.

Through Africa Zimbabwe had its way to Lisbon and through Europe Britain was handed its defeat in the diplomatic war with Zimbabwe. If Merkel spoke against Zimbabwe at the summit, so did President Mugabe against Brown's "gang of four" and so did Abdoulaye Wade against Merkel's assertions. That is how international gatherings proceed and it is plainly vainglorious for Brown or anyone else to claim any victory over Merkel's pronouncements.

The Lisbon diplomatic score by Zimbabwe can only be viewed as one more battle won in a revolutionary war whose ultimate victory is still coming.

It is a victory that has rekindled hope into some hearts that were failing at the ruthless suffering induced by the sanctions so systematically mobilised by Tony Blair against the people of Zimbabwe. It is a victory that can only fuel the Zimbabwean agrarian revolution to greater heights.

Now that the Lisbon victory was closely followed by Zanu-PF's extraordinary session of Congress at which President Mugabe was unanimously endorsed as the party's presidential candidate in March 2008, one has to look at the agrarian revolution from the proceedings at the congress.

The much-predicted fireworks against President Mugabe were not seen at the congress. What was seen was the solidarity from SWAPO of Namibia, ANC of South Africa, Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania, UNIP of Zambia, and the MPLA of Angola among other revolutionary people of Southern Africa. Such solidarity gives hope to Zimbabweans- hope that victory is certain.

However, the revolution can only succeed if that hope is strengthened by a strong sense of discipline as well as a commitment to innovation and imagination. There is no room for the kind of corruption that was chronicled by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Dr. Gono in a people's revolution – simply there is just no room for that. The revolution simply has to take a choice to keep its hope for survival alive. There is hope for the economy of Zimbabwe and it is highly dangerous when people are driven to assume that there is no more hope.

As the American renowned linguist and academic, Noam Chomsky says, "If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom; that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world. That's your choice."

The land reform programme was based on a conviction that economic freedom could only be achieved through repossession of Zimbabwe's stolen lands. Monopoly capitalism or imperialism was and is still dictating that Africans have no capacity to control the means of production – asserting the position that only Western innovation can sustain modern economies. It is Western innovation that created the wealth in many of the Western countries – all out of the resources of colonised territories and at a cost of so much ruin and slaughter.

Africa, like all other ex-colonies must realise here and now that the impious, criminal and ignominious deeds perpetrated so unjustly, tyrannically and barbarically by European settlers cannot pass for a blessing. John Sentamu, the yoked Anglican Bishop of York must also get this message clear and must stop acting like a perfect idiot.

The Zimbabwean revolution is not about Britain and her allies against Zanu-PF or President Mugabe. It is about Western imperialistic subversive and destabilising forces against a national-popular project. The bourgeoisie democracies in the West are stiff scared of the power of the poor masses and Zimbabwe's land reform programme is no exception. The land reform programme is a revolution that must draw its lessons from other revolutions.

Zimbabwe is not the first encounter with a national-popular revolution for Washington and its Western alliance. For Zimbabwe to survive, the revolution must be driven by hope, discipline and innovation. If corrupt officials pretend to be leaders, a revolution cannot succeed. If inept minds pretend to implement policy a revolution cannot succeed.

If leaders shield themselves from accountability a revolution cannot succeed. If structures thrive to manipulate people's votes through deception a revolution's victory can only be delayed. If political aspirants believe in buying votes a revolution cannot succeed.

It must be remembered that Jacob Arbenz's revolution in Guatemala lasted only three years (1951-54) before Washington overthrew Arbenz's government; the Salvador Allende government lasted two and half years (1970-73) before suffering the same fate; Nicaragua's Sandinista revolution resisted for six years (1984-90); the Bolivian revolution held out for twelve years (1952-64) while the Cuban revolution has triumphed for the past 48 years (1959 to date).

The Zimbabwean leadership, like that of Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba is in control of both the Government and state while Arbenz and Allende only controlled governments. The Zimbabwean revolution can draw lessons from the thwarted revolutions as well as from the Cuban revolution.

There is hope in the revolution of Zimbabwe – a hope manifested by the Million Men and Women March of November 30. It is hope rooted in the hearts of Zimbabwe's peasant population as well as many of its poor people – a people determined to suffer in the shaping of a better future for the coming generations.

It is this hope that will bring an election victory for the ruling party in March 2008. The MDC, united or divided cannot win an election, even one supervised by angels. This is squarely because a divided minority forms two smaller minorities and the reuniting of the splinters can only produce another minority, not a majority.

This, the bitter professor from Tsholotsho ought to know. The MDC is a minority opposition party and its splitting and reuniting cannot transform it into a majority party – only alternative policies can; and unfortunately the MDC does not believe in alternative policy.

It must be remembered that the winning of an election is not necessarily the success of a revolution; otherwise Allende and Arbenz could have triumphed to the end. The Zimbabwean leadership needs to learn fast that discipline is key to the success of a revolution and that lessons can be learnt well from Cuba and China.

A revolution that harbours thieves, robbers and traitors will decay from the core. This is why the Reserve Bank Governor, Dr. Gideon Gono must be courageous enough to name the corrupt leaders in his knowledge. Of course the Governor needs protection from the revolution and this writer believes that the vanguards of the revolution can provide such protection once required to do so.

Equally, the revolution needs policy implementers with a vision and a sense of imagination. Some of the inept ministers must just be rested to allow more innovative minds to spearhead the revolution. Commandant Fidel Castro is a firm believer in the power of an innovative mind and this is one of the reasons the Cuban revolution has succeeded to this day.

Yes, the Zimbabwean revolution has withstood the subversive and destabilising efforts of the US-led Western alliance for eight years but it is time such resilience is matched by the sacrifice that is needed to rid the revolution of the scourge of corruption and lack of innovation.

The Chinese arrest and even execute the thieves in their revolution and now China is growing from strength to strength. There are no passengers on a picnic in a revolution and the economy of Zimbabwe cannot be turned around by seed-eaters.

The time for people who resell farming fuel allocations for quick profit, hoard cash for speculative purposes, abuse Government resources or engage in fraudulent conduct is up if the revolution is to survive after March 2008.

The impending victory for Zanu-PF in March 2008 will come with new pressure from Washington, London and other outposts of imperial tyranny.

The talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC are in the context of the conflict that was created by the MDC's "defiance" campaign and they have nothing to do with the election result for 2008. The MDC has used the time between the last election and the 2008 election to confuse and scare away its supporters through the October 2005 split as well as its endless violent squabbles and fighting over access to Western donated resources.

The disgruntled MDC supporters are unlikely to come back simply on the basis of a new constitution or the presence of Westerners at election time. At any rate opposition parties cannot change constitutions until they first win elections and become governments and that is the trend the world over. The MDC must come up with a way of winning elections under the current constitution and they should forget about running government institutions outside government.

Instead of trying to appoint officers in commissions and public offices the MDC must be behaving like an alternative government, telling people what they will do if elected and not just concentrating on what President Mugabe should not be doing. Anyway, the current MDC cannot win an election in Zimbabwe and the major reason for that is that they do not know how to win an election.

It is this apparent weakness of the MDC that is driving Washington crazy and the Zimbabwean revolution should therefore brace for new subversive tactics after 2008.

This is why the revolution must rid itself of passengers on picnic because these have been used by Washington against revolutions elsewhere.

Washington will call the corrupt people in Zanu-PF reformists or democrats or whatever they can coin, if only they can lay their hands on them for purposes of using them to destroy the revolution.

We did hear before of plans for demonstrations against corrupt officials by war veterans and one would think that the move might now be overdue if the figures given over cash hoarding are anything to go by.

Together we shall overcome. It is homeland or death for the children of the revolution in Zimbabwe.

Reason Wafawarova is a Zimbabwean political writer and can be contacted on wafawarova@yahoo.co.uk

CIA Torture and other War Crimes
Posted: Wednesday, December 26, 2007

By Philip Giraldi

Personal accountability has all but disappeared from the American political system. Bill Clinton lied to his entire cabinet about Monica Lewinsky and not a single cabinet member resigned in protest after he was forced to recant. When Alberto Gonzales lied repeatedly during testimony before Congress everyone knew exactly what he was doing but no leading Democrat was willing to impeach him. The hopelessly incompetent Michael Brown was able to resign from FEMA without sanction to "avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission" and later even blamed everyone else for his shortcomings. Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Tommy Franks, George Tenet, and Paul Bremer were all rewarded for their incompetence, some with medals and some with promotions. Recent resignations from the Bush administration stemming from the massive policy failures of the past seven years have frequently been couched in terms of "wanting to spend more time with my family" though sometimes a bit of candor creeps in a la Trent Lott, who believes it is time to step down and follow the money as a lobbyist. Public Diplomacy Tsarina Karen Hughes arguably plans to do both, returning to Texas to rejoin her family while also cashing in through lucrative speaking engagements. During her two and a half years of Texas-style soccer mom diplomacy at State Department and in spite of a large budget, Hughes only succeeded in increasing the number of foreigners who actively dislike the United States. Never is a resignation from government service framed in terms of "Hey, I screwed up."
Full Article : huffingtonpost.com

The Torture Tape Fingering Bush As a War Criminal
Posted: Tuesday, December 25, 2007

by Andrew Sullivan

Almost all of the time, the Washington I know and live in is utterly unrelated to the Washington you see in the movies. The government is far more incompetent and amateur than the masterminds of Hollywood darkness.

There are no rogue CIA agents engaging in illegal black ops and destroying evidence to protect their political bosses. The kinds of scenario cooked up in Matt Damon's riveting Bourne series are fantasy compared with the mundane, bureaucratic torpor of the Brussels on the Potomac.

And then you read about the case of Abu Zubaydah. He is a seriously bad guy - someone we should all be glad is in custody. A man deeply involved in Al-Qaeda, he was captured in a raid in Pakistan in March 2002 and whisked off to a secret interrogation, allegedly in Thailand.

President George Bush claimed Zubaydah was critical in identifying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind behind 9/11. The president also conceded that at some point the CIA, believing Zubaydah was withholding information, "used an alternative set of procedures", which were "safe and lawful and necessary".
Full Article : commondreams.org

Africa must help Zimbabwe stave off neo-colonialists
Posted: Monday, December 24, 2007

Daily Trust (Abuja)
COLUMN
December 16, 2007

FOR seven years now, the British government has sustained a campaign against President Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

It describes his country as corrupt and non-democratic. It considers him a brutal dictator who must be voted out of power. In its estimation, he is too old; Zimbabweans deserve a democratic government, human rights, regular meals and a stable currency.

This is also the mindset of the British media on the matter. You cannot surpass the BBC or the Economist in this propaganda.

These foot soldiers of neo-imperial Britain have trekked miles to sell their campaign of calumny against (Cde) Mugabe. For example, the Economist of March 15, 2007 raised this alarm for the umpteenth time: "Once the bread-basket of southern Africa and one of the continent's wealthiest countries, Zimbabwe is now a basket-case and suffers a severe shortage of food.

"It is also the world's fastest-shrinking peacetime economy, with unemployment now standing at 80 percent. Its inflation rate is the world's highest: currently 1 730 percent, although the IMF thinks that figure could rise to over 4 000 percent by year's end.

"From infant mortality to life below the poverty line, the country's unhappiest trendlines run remorselessly upwards. To stifle dissent and quash opposition, Zimbabwe has been turned into a police state where elections are routinely rigged."

Two weeks later, on the 29 March, the tireless Economist said: "Zimbabwe's despotic leader, a man of puzzlingly different identities, is a past master at holding on." Certainly, when it comes to their interest, even the "civilised" will abandon etiquettes and embrace insults.

In its war against (Cde) Mugabe, Britain has succeeded in conscripting other European states.

Jose Barroso, the European Commission President, was reported by the BBC as telling representatives of over 80 EU and African countries that "Africa and Europe should be able to discuss human rights and governance in a true spirit of partnership... Frankly, we hope that those who fought for independence and freedom in their countries now can also accept this freedom for their own citizens."

Birds of the same feather, you will say. The occasion was a joint meeting to reinvent African dependence on Europe, now that China is stealing the show.

Yes. Let us speak frankly, Mr Barroso. What good has Europe in its suitcase that it did not offer for over 200 years now? Africans know the answer very well: nothing, but further exploitation.

And this is the crux of the matter when it comes to Zimbabwe. It is not Zimbabwe. It is not (Cde) Mugabe either. It is a long standing phenomenon of exploitation. Simple.

(Cde) Mugabe has understood this long ago. With seven degrees, he is not unlettered even by British standards.

He has read the history of his country since when Cecil Rhodes stepped his foot on his land.

Even the BBC could not hide telling us the fraud and pittance at which the British miner acquired the land from its ruler, Lobengula.

In a recent report, it said Cecil "obtained exclusive mining rights from the Ndebele king, Lobengula, in return for £100 a month, 1 000 rifles, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, and a riverboat."

Rhodes later claimed, in a typical colonial manner, that the deal included land. More settlers poured in the 1890s.

The Crown could not be left behind. It joined the loot by appropriating the entire land of Southern Rhodesia in 1918.

So (Cde) Mugabe was right when he demanded that land compensation due to white farmers should be paid by the British government. It caused the problem in the first instance, he rightly insists. It granted the settlers self government in 1923.

This was followed by a wild grab following the Land Apportionment Act of 1930, with Africans forcefully ejected out of the land they lived on for centuries. It is this robbery that is the basis of the crisis in Zimbabwe, not democracy or human rights.

The result of that grab is described in Wikepedia: "Zimbabwean whites, although making up less than 1 percent of the population, owned more than 70 percent of the arable land, including most of the best land.

However, in many cases this land was more fertile because it was titled, resulting in incentives for commercial farmers to create reservoirs, irrigate, and otherwise tend the soil.

Communal lands, with no property rights, were characterised by slash and burn agriculture, resulting in a tragedy of the commons."

This is the epitome of greed that is characteristic of British colonial practice. Yet, in spite of the robbery, it has the temerity to call Zimbabwe corrupt. Robbery is the worst form of corruption.

Therefore, Zimbabwe is not the problem as Germany's Markel put it. It is Britain.

The sins it committed in Africa will continue to haunt it. The problem in Zimbabwe is not (Cde) Mugabe. It is the injustice in land distribution which the British government is fighting hard to perpetuate in the manner poverty is perpetuated among South African black majority.

(Cde) Mugabe has refused to allow Zimbabwe to be like today's South Africa.

The British government reneged on its promise under the Lancaster Agreement of 1979. Out of the pledge of £630 million, Britain actually paid only £17 million, using cronyism as an excuse.

Lancaster, hinged on "willing seller, willing buyer principle" was one of those cleverly contrived colonial agreements which were impregnated with failure in the interest of the masters. So what Britain gave with right hand, it took away with the left.

Knowing that Zimbabwe would not have the funds to settle white farmers, it abandoned the agreement in middle of the river. Twelve years after Lancaster, less than half of the 160 000 families were settled. "Mr. Robert," it told (Cde) Mugabe, "you are on your own." The line was drawn, said the old Mr. Robert.

And (Cde) Mugabe proved a true son of Africa. I am proud of him. Ten years after Lancaster, he passed a new legislation, the Land Acquisition Act of 1992, in which he removed the "willing seller willing buyer" clause of fraud and gave government the power to acquire land compulsorily. Mu je zuwa.

The white farmers cried foul.

Wait, you will cry tears, (Cde) Mugabe silently replied. Five years later he published 1,471 farmlands that were penciled down for compulsory "purchase." The following year, (Cde) Mugabe published "the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme Phase II, which envisaged the compulsory purchase over five years of 50 000 km' from the 112 000 km' owned by commercial farmers (both black and white), public corporations, churches, non-governmental organisations and multi-national companies."

As usual donors made pledges at a conference on the programme in Harare, which, as usual, they did not redeem.

Now (Cde) Mugabe went for his last option: compulsory acquisition of land without compensation. However, a gang, composed of academics, unionists, white farmers and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), defeated a constitutional reform in the parliament that would have given him that mandate in 2000. I like the drama that followed.

The review in Wikipedia continued: "A few days later, the pro-Mugabe War Veterans Association organised like-minded people to march on white-owned farmlands, initially with drums, song and dance . . . A total of 110 000 km' of land was seized."

The British government should endure its own pill. As the white settlers gladly acquired the fertile land of Zimbabwe yesterday, the blacks have gladly retrieved it today. This is not a racial war, I must quickly add. It is simply balancing the equation of justice. (Cde) Mugabe cannot spend ten years in prison and fight another decade of guerilla war for nothing. He fought it to recapture the lands of Zimbabwe from the whites. He refused to be an indolent puppet.

Understandably, we should not blame Britain either for its support to white farmers. Blood, they say, is thicker than water. It is protecting the interest of its race and Crown – something it is good at.

The propaganda will therefore continue. In addition, some Africans, claiming to be the opposition, have been recruited as mercenaries. Britain is giving them all the support it can afford to defeat (Cde) Mugabe such that democracy will return and Zimbabwean economy will boom once more in the hands of its white farmers and multinationals. What a dream!

But Africa is never short of betrayers. They were there during the slave trade.

They are here today, as Abubakar Ladan said: "A cikinmu akwai wasu ‘yan iska/ Burinsu a karkasa Africa/ Su sayar da kasa eka-eka/ Su barmu a rabe cikin bukka/ Abadan ba a haka Afrika.(Among us there are rascals, whose interest is to divide Africa, to sell its land acre by acre, leaving us hiding in huts/ it will never be done (again) in Africa)."

(Cde) Mugabe will not budge either. He understands that there is an organic link between him and the African soil.

"Nothing frightens me," he told the Economist, "I make a stand and stand on principle here where I was born, here where I grew up, here where I fought and here where I shall die."

Africa understands the Zimbabwean game very well. That is why it sees (Cde) Mugabe as a hero. When the European Union barred (Cde) Mugabe from attending the "Lisbon café", other African leaders said to hell with the talks.

The Europeans acquiesced, though British Prime Minister failed to turn up. Oho dai.

At the 10th anniversary of South African independence in 2004, (Cde) Mugabe received "a deafening applause," according to the Economist. Britain and its allies could not hide their surprise that, despite the elaborate propaganda, the guy is the most popular leader in Africa.

The magazine reported Gareth Evans, former Australian foreign minister as saying: "I cannot figure out why he is being applauded when he has destroyed his country."

It is a matter of choice, Mr. Gareth. Possession is better than skill, as Abubakar Ladan said: Ai samu ya fi iyawa, shi/ Kwado bai mallaki do dukushi/ A ruwa aka sanshi makomarshi/ Nan ne zai samu abincin shi/ Yayi wasanni da nishadinshi.

It seems I have dwelled so much on the history and politics of modern Rhodesia. We are undoubtedly unhappy that fellow Africans are living in hardship there, as a result of British machinations.

Showing solidarity with (Cde) Mugabe is good, but Africa must do better. Zimbabweans deserve more. Our policy must not be restricted to politics. It must include economics too.

Africa can greatly help the situation by coming to the aid of Zimbabwe. (Cde) Mugabe has fought gallantly all his life. Despite the poor economy, he insists on educating his people. The literacy level in Zimbabwe is the highest in Africa: 85%! It is time we come to his aid and we have the resources to do so. If we must pay any compensation, it must not be more than the cost of the "1 000 rifles, 10 000 rounds of ammunition, and a riverboat" with which Mr. Rhodes bought the land of Zimbabwe in the 1880s. In fact, we must not pay any compensation. The lease has expired. Or we can argue that Lebengula agreed to the transaction under duress. Shi ke nan.

Instead, let us focus on equipping Zimbabweans with the resources they need to till its lands mechanically as Britain helped its white farmers. How much does it take? If we had resolved to do so since 1979, the problem would have been over by now.

A country like Nigeria was spending a million dollars in Liberia everyday for many years, just because it pleased the Americans.

It recently built a billion dollar stadium, squandered over $7 billion on roads, $8 billion on failed electricity, etc. A country that can afford these and has presently over $50billion in reserve can also be prompted by the African spirit of solidarity to spend a million dollars a day in Zimbabwe. Certainly. Certainly. Yar'adua, please listen. Just what sense does it make when Nigeria says Africa is the cornerstone of our Foreign policy when Zimbabweans are left to suffer in despair?

More so, Nigeria is not the only country that can do that without feeling the slightest pinch. Libya is there, wanting to become the leader of Africa.

To achieve his dream, Gaddafi must listen to al-Mutanabbi: the loyalty of free people is earned by generosity. Both Nigeria and Libya helped (Cde) Mugabe when he was a guerilla fighter. They should help him as a President. The war is not over. Let our leaders rise to the occasion. The wolf – Britain – that once lurch our backyard has eaten our ancestors and devoured our land. We cannot leave it to devour our Shona and Ndebele brothers.

It wants to install its puppet as it did in other parts of Africa. Giving the white farmers of Zimbabwe lands in Nigeria as their agent, Obasanjo, did is a slap on the face of Africa.

Nigerians should send them packing too. They cannot be bad for Zimbabwe and good for us.

The crown, if it has any sympathy for the white farmers, should recall them to England and distribute the royal property it usurped from peasants during the feudal past.

I am convinced that (Cde) Mugabe has fought gallantly. His defeat in the hands of imperialists, may God forbid, will be our defeat. We must come to his aid. Just as we successfully waded off British propaganda against (Cde) Mugabe, we must generously help Zimbabwe financially out of its present state of despair. – Daily Trust (Abuja).

Latin America breaks free of the US
Posted: Monday, December 24, 2007

¤ Burma is Not Back to Normal
¤ Not Getting It About New Orleans
It comes as no surprise when a major U.S. newspaper backs real estate developers over the rights and interests of the poor they have a long track record of doing so, while the poor are lectured in patronizing language to emulate the people the papers celebrate. This week the New Orleans Times-Picayune has an article on their website titled "Protests ignore realities." This article is a response to the struggle local residents have been waging against the planned demolition of their homes--protests which made national headlines this week. The "realities" these people supposedly ignore is that the government and wealthy real estate developers know what's best for them.

¤ Tony Blair and the Hawking of Religion

¤ Venezuela and Russia Voting on December 2 – Worlds Apart
Hugo Chávez lost the referendum on constitutional reforms. But is he really the loser? Putin's party, United Russia, won the election. Sure. But at what price?
Chávez is blacklisted by the western mainstream media, in particular by the U.S., as being anti-democracy, a dictator who just wants power for himself. However, he graciously conceded defeat even before all the votes had been counted, when it became obvious that the U.S.-supported opposition had carried the day. But dictators don't lose elections, do they? So what is the reality behind all this vilifying of President Chávez?

¤ There really is a War on Christmas- in Iraq!
¤ Sympathy for the Occupiers
¤ What has the US “surge” in Iraq accomplished?

¤ America on Steroids
¤ Bush's Class Warfare
¤ Ruthless, shadowy — and a U.S. ally
¤ U.S. objects to U.N. budget
¤ On the death penalty, U.S. sides with Iran, China
¤ This Is the Sound of a Bubble Bursting

¤ Funding Democracy Or War?
The 'Iran Democracy Fund' was recently awarded $60 million. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to this re-appropriation, especially since more than two dozen Iranian American and human rights groups appealed to Congress to eliminate the program given that the program had backfired, undermining democracy efforts in Iran and leading to wider repression of activists. It therefore begs the question why the United States would deliberately waste tax payers' money while causing hardship on aspiring democrats in Iran?
Perhaps the answer lies in the lead up to the Iraq invasion.

¤ The US Dollar: The Long Farewell?
It's just straws in the wind so far. India's Ministry of Culture announces that foreign tourists can no longer pay in dollars when visiting the Taj Mahal and other heritage sites; they have to pay in good, hard rupees.
Iran and Venezuela call for a joint OPEC statement on the weak U.S. dollar, and Saudi Arabian Foreign Affairs Minister Saud Al-Faisal warns that any public reference to the U.S. dollar's problems could cause the troubled currency to "collapse". Rap star Jay-Z's latest video shows our hero flashing a wad of euros, not dollars.

¤ Latin America breaks free of the US
¤ The Vote for Endless War

¤ The Butcher's Apron
Every four years the country is swept up in the pomp and pageantry of presidential elections. And every four years loyal Americans flock to the voting booths to select the candidate of their choice. Elections--we are told---are supposed to be the true expression of democratic government. But they aren't. They're a sham and most people know it. The balloting creates the illusion of choice where there is none. It's become a meaningless ritual that has nothing to do with representative government.

¤ Death Of The Dollar Video
¤ 'It's madness'
¤ U.S. fire kills civilian, injures another in Falluja
¤ Rice: US Has 'No Permanent Enemies'
¤ Congressman: 'We've Ethnically Cleansed Most of Baghdad' Video
¤ Politics and Profits: How the Oil Cartel Gets Its Way
¤ Tales of the Afghan Prisoners

Blood, Tears, Toys and NGOs
Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007

A series of recalls of toys and other products suggest that some manufacturing plants in China have quality-control issues. Often, Western media and politicians blame Chinese manufacturers for design flaws or incentives promoting speed that lead to sloppy work. "The neglect of safety standards in these factories used to be more severe before the big brand-name corporations that contract out their production to China-based factories came under attack in the 1990s in an anti-sweatshop campaign by Western NGOs," write Anita Chan and Jonathan Unger, academic researchers with Australian National University's Contemporary China Centre. Multinationals have adopted strict community-responsibility programs, and yet do not speak out for injured Chinese workers. Products will only be truly safe when companies extend respect to workers and consumers - monitoring all steps in the long supply chains that create many popular products. - YaleGlobal
Full Article : yaleglobal.yale.edu

Slave labour that shames America
Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007

¤ Dick Cheney's Fondest Pipe Dream, Revisited

¤ The Corporation Video
This is an extraordinary film about the creation of the American corporation, its legal organizational model, its global economic dominance and its psychopathic tendencies, and its incredible ambition to influence every aspect of culture in its unrelenting pursuit of profit.
After viewing this film, it becomes all too evident that these large corporations have too much power, whose mandate is not the common good of the people, and who will go to any lengths, legally and otherwise, in the pursuit of profit and the bottom line.

¤ MANUFACTURING THREATS - SUDAN, IRAN, AND THE WAR FOR CIVILISATION
¤ Slave labour that shames America
¤ Drivers who use mobile phones face jail
¤ Lakota Indians Withdraw Treaties Signed With U.S. 150 Years Ago
¤ Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune
¤ The Huckster and the Wreckage
¤ Standing Up to NAFTA
¤ Report: White House lawyers discussed destroying CIA tapesVideo
¤ Resisting the Globalization of Food

¤ Cuba Changes, US Policy Stagnates
Change and continuity are the two words that best describe Cuba and its relations with the United States.
After nearly 50 years of the predictable leadership of Fidel Castro, presidential power has transferred to his brother Raul. But this is not the topic of discussion; rather it is the official recognition of longstanding problems, the easing of restrictions on private businesses, and the official encouragement of public discussion that has everyone talking about change in Cuba.

¤ Is the NIE Bush's Watergate?

¤ Bush Still Spinning Iranian Nukes
The unanimous conclusion of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, that Iran ceased pursuing a program of nuclear weapons in 2003, has dealt a severe blow to the Bush-Cheney agenda of forcible regime change in Iran. For several months, the rhetoric emerging from the White House escalated to the point that many observers predicted Bush would attack Iran before he leaves office.

¤ Iraq is No Closer to National Reconciliation

¤ Britney Spears Little Sister is Pregnant
I do know that we are already hearing praises being heaped upon her for 'being responsible' and keeping the child. We rarely hear those praises for young Black and Brown mothers who have kids at a young age. We look at them and say the country is in crises. But let me not digress.

¤ Privatizing War Abroad, Invading Privacy at Home
¤ 35 die in Pakistan suicide blast near home of former minister
¤ Iraq, Afghanistan War Costs Top Vietnam
¤ Torture center found in northern Iraq

¤ Military Intervention against Iran?
The findings of the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which state "with high confidence" that Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003 clearly represent a major set-back to those arguing for military intervention against Iran in the coming months. However, if unchallenged, it is possible that the report might strengthen the case for military action against Iran in the coming years. By recognising that Iran has no current nuclear weapons programme the findings undermine the central argument of those arguing for tougher sanctions and precipitant military strikes.

¤ 9/11 Truth Manifesto
¤ All Iraqi Groups Blame U.S. Invasion for Discord
¤ Venezuela Says US Trying to Divide Latin America
¤ Venezuela and Brazil Strengthen Economic Ties
¤ Iraq government 'failing Falluja'
¤ Putin: US made big mistake in Iraq
¤ Authenticated Israeli Crime in Gaza

¤ Of Mice and Real Men
As we approach the first year since the murder of Saddam Hussain, one can only reflect of the events since as being driven by the most undignified beasts you can ever imagine.
If we truely look at those who are responsible and lets be honest here, the invasion, occupation, the trial and execution have all been carried out by men who lack both moral and physical backbone and would shit themselves at the physical sight of the youngest member of the Iraqi resistance.

¤ Iraqi Witnesses, Victims Describe Blackwater Shooting in Harrowing Detail
¤ Mirage Of Improvement In Iraq
¤ Colorado voting machines tossed out
¤ More women reporter KBR/Halliburton assaults in Iraq
¤ UK Guantanamo detainee near suicide after years of torture
¤ Fatwa Against The Dollar?
¤ Truth, Lies, Errors and Bullshit About Iraq and Iran
¤ 2007: The Test
¤ Iraqi Web reporter found dead in Baghdad
¤ Language And War in The Middle East
¤ The Iraq war is no longer newsworthy

Venezuela Says US Trying to Divide Latin America
Posted: Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the United States government yesterday of launching an attack against Venezuela and Argentina in an effort to damage their relations. US authorities made new charges on Monday regarding the infamous "suitcase scandal" but Venezuela and Argentina accused the US of engineering a campaign to divide them.

"We have seen in the last few days how the North American empire has once again launched an attack against the Venezuela and Argentinean governments," said Chavez in a speech on Monday. He accused the US of using "lies" and "garbage" in an effort to "damage not only Venezuela, but also Argentina."
Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com

Iraq Does Exist
Posted: Tuesday, December 18, 2007

¤ Russia warns of US missile shield retaliation
¤ UK has left behind murder and chaos, says Basra police chief

¤ Britain bows out of a five-year war it could never have won
Britain handed over security in Basra province yesterday, bringing a formal end to its ill-starred attempt over almost five years to control southern Iraq.
The transfer of power was marked by a parade of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police beside the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which runs past Basra. As helicopters roared overhead it was the biggest show of strength by the Iraqi army forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

¤ Bush Faces Pressure to Shift War Priorities

¤ The Shocking Stories of the Aid Workers Just Released From Gitmo
Two years after being cleared for release from Guantánamo by a military review board, Adel Hassan Hamad, a hospital administrator who worked for a Saudi charity, and Salim Muhood Adem, who worked with orphans for a Kuwaiti NGO, have been repatriated to the country of their birth, where, as lawyer Clive Stafford Smith explained, they are both "safe with their families."

¤ The Coming Collapse of the Modern Day Banking System
¤ Terrorism; CounterTerrorism: Excuses for Murder
¤ Police State America
¤ Bomb After Bomb

¤ Lying to "Reassure" the Public
Might it sometimes be appropriate for the government to lie in order to reassure the public? Asked this question during a Court of Appeals hearing yesterday in Benzman vs. EPA, the case brought by residents, students and office workers exposed to and in many cases sickened by the environmental hazards following 9/11,* EPA lawyer Alisa Klein answered, "Yes."

¤ Politics By Photo-Op
¤ Putin Says He Would Accept Job As PM

¤ Culling the Herd
In 1974, a year after orchestrating a mass terror bombing of Cambodia -- after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize -- Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and his National Security Council completed “National Security Study Memo 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” This document, whose sharp edges are dulled by page after leaden page of how to reduce over-population in the Third World through birth control and "other" population-reduction programs, was classified until 1989, but was almost immediately accepted as US policy, and remains the US blueprint for ethnic cleansing today.

¤ We've Been Suckered Again by the US.

¤ Is Bush Stopped in His Tracks on Iran?
The release of the National Intelligence Estimate concerning Iran's nuclear status marks the latest in a series of assaults by the Pentagon and the intelligence community against the war posturing of the Bush administration.
President Bush, seven years after assuming power, may finally be halted in his tracks - not by a resurgent Democratic opposition, sagging opinion polls, or an organized antiwar movement, but by the entrenched power structure in Washington he set out to emasculate. The tug-of-war between those within the administration who advocate as many as 1,000 air strikes on suspected Iranian nuclear facilities and those who oppose an attack will be the most dramatic battle of the final Bush years.

¤ Some Evolve and Some Don't
¤ The 'Body Contractors'

¤ Iraq Does Exist
The history of trying to obfuscate the truth and distort the image of Iraq has always been the aim of the U.S. aggression against the people of Iraq. There is the added factor now of new breed of 'journalists' and 'bloggers' ever on the lookout for a story that will tell Westerners all they need to know about Iraq, its problems, dangers, and prospects. Despite all of this, Iraq remains a nation of proud people struggling to liberate themselves from a murderous colonial Occupation.

¤ African Americans Bear Brunt of Subprime Crisis
¤ Bush 'twisting NIE to support Iran war'

¤ Destruction of evidence raises a presumption of guilt
It is a natural tendency to remember the good and forget the bad. If that tendency is allowed to play out its course, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney may go down in history as two of the greatest leaders of all time because they initiated the first military action against Middle Eastern religious zealots commonly called “terrorists”. Terrorism must be stopped, but the methods used by Bush and his henchman, Cheney, were based upon violence against the American people, murder of innocent Middle Eastern civilians, cover-up of the truth, lies, torture, and wrongful detention and surveillance. No impeachment proceedings will expose the American people to similar despotism from its future leaders.

¤ 5 million Iraqi orphans
¤ Fallacy of Terrorism
¤ NATO must lift game in Afghanistan

¤ Russia may dump weakening US dollar in its energy deals
It seems that the rejection of the US dollar has become a fashion trend in modern-day business relations. Several major oil and gas exporters have recently announced their plans to use a different currency in their deals with other countries. The heads of Iran, Venezuela and Ecuador expressed such an opinion at the OPEC summit in November. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad particularly stated that Iran needs to replace the dollar because of its ongoing setback. His Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, expanded on the idea and put forward a suggestion to change the dollar for the basket of currencies (apart from the dollar it includes the euro, the British pound, the Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan and the Venezuelan bolivar) to recalculated world prices on oil. Ahmadinejad continued with an idea to set up the OPEC Oil Exchange and the OPEC Bank.

¤ Russian general says Pentagon is seeking direct confrontation with Moscow
¤ China's Investment House
¤ Gaza blockade worsens health care
¤ Did Bush Eat Popcorn While Watching the Torture Tapes?
¤ EPA signed
¤ Caribbean in historic deal with EU
¤ Blood, Tears, Toys and NGOs
¤ Saudi king pardons rape victim sentenced to 200 lashes
Flashback ¤ Saudi Rape Victim Gets 200 Lashes

Venezuela and Brazil Strengthen Economic Ties
Posted: Monday, December 17, 2007

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Brazilian counterpart Luis Inacio Lula da Silva signed nine cooperative agreements last week in Caracas. Both countries agreed to strengthen ties in the areas of health and agriculture, as well as the joint construction of an oil refinery, a bilateral development fund, and cooperation in the petrochemical sector.

Both leaders described it as their most important meeting to date when they met for a few hours in Caracas last week. Lula and Chavez agreed to meet four times per year starting in 2008 and the two countries plan to create a joint development fund to finance future joint projects.
Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com

Bolivia Demands US Respect
Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007

La Paz, Dec 14 (Prensa Latina) The Bolivian government warned on Friday it favors relations with the US but only if based on mutual respect, and urged US ambassador Philip Goldberg to stop his interference in internal affairs.

Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca affirmed Bolivia demands that diplomatic relations be respectful, without interference.

US ambassador Philip Goldberg meets with and supports members of the Judicial Power, one of the country's most corrupt institutions, Choquehuanca denounced.

President Evo Morales on Thursday accused the diplomat of backing a conspiracy against the process of democratic changes in the country, and added Goldberg is more dedicated to politics than to diplomacy.

Morales reiterated the US Agency for International Development funds the Bolivia opposition through foundations where former ministers of previous governments work.

In the meantime, Choquehuanca respected the US government's decision to alert its citizens not to travel to the Andean nation due to the current political situation.

Source: www.plenglish.com

Political tensions rise in Bolivia
Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007

Political divisions appear to have deepened in Bolivia after four provinces controlled by the opposition put forward plans for greater autonomy from the central government.

The move comes as large rallies were held in the country both in support and opposition of Evo Morales, the president.

Thousands of Morales supporters marched through the city of La Paz to celebrate the unveiling of a new constitution that has divided public opinion in the country.

"This is a historic day ... the people will never again be marginalised," Morales told crowds outside the presidential palace after the president of the constitutional assembly submitted a copy of the new charter.

Morales accused his opponents of seeking to split the nation. "We're not going to let anyone divide Bolivia," he said.

The president has said a declaration of autonomy in the eastern city of Santa Cruz is illegal and unconstitutional.
Full Article : aljazeera.net

The USA's Human Rights Daze
Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2007

¤ House Judiciary Trio Calls for Impeach Cheney Hearings
Three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee have called for the immediate opening of impeachment hearings for Vice President Richard Cheney.

¤ U.S. paid $32M for Iraqi base that wasn't built
¤ One More Cruel Hoax
¤ FLASHBACK: Torture, Israeli style
¤ Websites pushing deliberate dsinformation harmful to serious researchers

¤ The Witnessing Of American Torture
The Brian Ross interview with former CIA interrogator, John Kiriakou, who tortured Abu Zubaydah, is well worth reading in full. You can download the transcript here and here.

¤ Black man on drugs!
¤ UK losing troops to drug abuse
¤ Jurors Deadlock in 6 of 7 Defendants
¤ Don't Buy Bush's War
¤ Clinton, Obama, Drugs and the Politics of Cynicism

¤ US Intelligence Usually Wrong
Would you buy a used car from the so-called intelligence community? Or a used spy? What reason is there to trust a National Intelligence Estimate created by the same crowd that said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Are we now to trust those who filled poor Colin Powell's U.N. presentation with what was, if one may not use scatology, rubbish? Mr. Secretary, I knew Adlai Stevenston and you are no Adlai Stevenson.

¤ The Africa Command Prospect and the Partition of Somalia
"The neocons' legacy, the DADD syndrome, or the Diplomatic Attention Deficit Disorder, is still propelling Washington's foreign policy and continues to project America negatively throughout the world, especially in the Muslim world and Africa."

¤ The USA's Human Rights Daze
¤ EU leaders sign landmark treaty
¤ Subpoenas for Al Sharpton's aides
¤ New Jersey to become first state in 30 years to repeal death penalty
¤ Miliband signs Britain away

Venezuela, Argentina Accuse US of Smear Campaign
Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007

by Chris Carlson
December 13th 2007
Venezuelanalysis.com

Government authorities from both Venezuela and Argentina accused the United States of carrying out a smear campaign against them yesterday after US officials arrested four individuals accused of being agents of the Venezuelan government. US officials alleged that the arrested individuals were involved in trying to cover up an "international scandal" between Venezuela and Argentina, but both countries have rejected the claims.

Three Venezuelan citizens and one Uruguayan citizen were arrested in Miami on Tuesday night and appeared before a federal court yesterday on charges of "acting and conspiring to act as agents of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela within the United States," according to an official statement from the US Department of Justice.

The Assistant US Attorney General for National Security Kenneth Wainstein accused the defendants of "coordinating and participating in a series of meetings" with the Venezuelan-American Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, who was involved in the illegal trafficking of nearly US$ 800,000 from Venezuela to Argentina last August.

Argentinean customs officials caught Antonini on August 4th of this year attempting to enter the country with a suitcase that contained US$ 790,000. Argentinean officials confiscated the money, but Antonini returned to his home in South Florida.

According to the Assistant Attorney General, the four defendants were working on behalf of the Venezuelan government to get Antonini's help in covering up the source of the money, which, according to US officials, was for "the presidential campaign of Cristina [Fernandez] Kirchner."

"The complaint filed today outlines an alleged plot by agents of the Venezuelan government to manipulate an American citizen in Miami in an effort to keep the lid on a burgeoning international scandal," said Wainstein.

But both the Argentinean and Venezuelan governments have rejected the claims, calling them a "desperate attempt" to tarnish the growing ties between the two countries. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro assured that the case was part of a U.S. plan to damage Venezuela's image.

"This information from Miami makes the role of the US government in this campaign to damage the relations between our governments very clear," said Maduros who assured that they have "no doubt" that the United States is behind the political scandal.

"We are seeing a desperate effort by the government of the United States, using delicate mechanisms of judicial power for a political, psychological, and media war against the continent's progressive governments," he assured.

President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez also rejected the claims, comparing them to an American movie in which "you never know how much is true and how much is a lie." The Argentinean president assured that she "would not be pressured," and insisted that she would maintain her close ties to the Venezuelan government.

"All of our convictions and policies are going to be deepened because Argentina has never needed anyone to tell her who she can be friends with," she said.

President Fernandez, without actually mentioning the United States, accused the country of wanting to subordinate them to their own interests.

"Instead of wanting nations of friends, they want nations of employees and subordinates," she said.

But the president assured that she would continue efforts to strengthen Mercosur, the Bank of the South, and the construction of a "multilateral world."

Argentinean cabinet member Alberto Fernandez, who called the case a "US intelligence operation," also explained that the accusations of the US officials are unlikely to be true. He pointed out that Antonini was detained by the Argentinean officials upon entering the country, and the money was confiscated. Fernandez explained that if the Chavez government wanted to bring in money to finance the campaign of Cristina Fernandez, they could have easily done it a few days later when President Chavez visited the country.

"If the objective was to enter [the country] with a suitcase of money he could have entered the next day in Chavez' airplane and no one would have noticed," he said.

"But this thing has the characteristics of being a dirty trick to tarnish the presence of Chavez in Argentina," said Fernandez. "I have no doubt of that."

Fernandez called on the United States to answer Argentina's request for the extradition of Antonini Wilson, so that they can carry out an investigation with regards to the $800,000.

"If the United States is really interested in the truth, they should extradite Antonini Wilson. But I'm afraid they are protecting him," he said.

Source: www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3001

Only Zimbabweans can choose their leaders
Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007

EDITOR — Allow me to salute His Excellency, President Mugabe, and fellow Zimbabweans for their determination and resilience in the face of externally induced economic hardships. True love for our country will see us through.

Of course, Westerners would want us to believe the economic hardships result from alleged human rights violations. The question is violations on whom, by whom?

We let the facts speak for themselves, because facts are more important than conjecture. If my memory serves me right, Charles Dickens repeated the word "facts" five times in the first paragraph of his book, "Hard Times".

Hard times like the ones we are experiencing. Of course, people are suffering but that is not because of what the West would like us to believe.

The truth of the matter is that the suffering results from the West's quest to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe. The British government and its allies wanted to launch a counter-revolution; a project aimed at trying to reverse the land reform programme.

Now according to Karl Marx, "revolution is always based on land. Revolution is never based on begging somebody for an integrated cup of coffee", and never on trumped-up charges of alleged human rights violations.

The intruders need to be reminded that regime change is the preserve of Zimbabweans. It is only Zimbabweans who can choose or reject their leaders.

Westerners must never forget that we, Zimbabweans, fought for the democracy and rights they enjoy today, while they (Westerners) overtly and covertly supported the Smith regime.

Zimbabweans took up arms because of grievances over land. Now these neo-colonials want us to believe they know best what is good for us.

Shame on them!

We prevailed against the settler regime because we identified land to be at the core of people's grievances, we have done so again and we shall overcome.

Tanonoka Gomo.

Kuwadzana 7,

Harare.

Bush's Phony Iran 'Threat' Exposed
Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007

¤ Bombed if you do, Bombed if you Don't
The latest National Intelligence Estimate has been greeted by a mixture of relief and alarm. As I have been saying all along, Iran indeed poses no quantifiable imminent nuclear threat to us or her neighbors. It is with much alarm, however, that we see the administration continue to ratchet up the war rhetoric as if nothing has changed.

¤ Dershowitz on Waterboarding

¤ CIA photos 'show UK Guantanamo detainee was tortured'
Lawyers for a British resident who the US government refuses to release from Guantanamo Bay have identified the existence of photographs taken by CIA agents that they say show their client suffered horrific injuries under torture.
The photographic evidence will be vital to clear Binyam Mohammed, 27, who the Americans want to bring before a Military Commission on charges of terrorism, say his lawyers.

¤ 'Well-Informed' Source Tells CBS That Tapes Were Destroyed To Prevent Prosecution

¤ Supporters of Evil
Torture is the deliberate infliction of unbearable agony on a human being -- a human being who is intentionally kept alive precisely so that he will suffer still more and for a longer period of time -- for no justifiable reason. This is the embrace of sadism and cruelty for their own sake, and for no other end whatsoever.

¤ Ifs and Buts

¤ Chaplain describes 'horror' of Guantanamo Bay
¤ What The Tapes Would Have Shown....
¤ Democratic complicity in Bush's torture regimen

¤ When governments substitute paranoia for law
¤ The Terror Within
¤ Modern drug addicts risk their lives trying unconventional drugs to get high
¤ Israel's Gaza thrust clouds peace talks
¤ Egypt 'fabricated terror group'

¤ Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR
¤ Musharraf rejects U.S. action on militants

¤ Israeli calls for assassinating Haneyya and Hamas political leaders escalate

¤ Gaza attacks leaves 8 Palestinians dead
¤ The grim reality in Gaza

¤ Poverty spawns more beggars in Iraqi streets

¤ The True Aim of Annapolis, and Why It Failed

¤ Ritual Gloating Postmortems - The Corporate Media v. Hugo Chavez
the corporate media is euphoric after Venezuelans narrowly defeated Hugo Chavez's constitutional reform referendum the previous day. The outcome defied pre-election independent poll predictions and was a cliffhanger to the end. Near-final results weren't announced until 1:15AM December 3 with about 100,000 votes separating the two sides and a surprising 44% of eligible voters abstaining. On December 7, Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) released the final outcome based on 94% of ballots counted.

¤ US gives blessing to France-Libya nuclear deal
The United States gave its blessing Monday to a civilian nuclear energy deal between France and Libya, saying it expected its former foe to respect its decision to renounce weapons of mass destruction.
"In light of Libya's historic decision in 2003 to rid itself of its WMD programs, we expect any cooperation with Libya on a peaceful secure and responsible use of nuclear power to be consistent with the highest standard of non-proliferation," said Kurtis Cooper, a State Department spokesman.

¤ Iraq Rejects Permanent US Bases

¤ Only one thing unites Iraq: hatred of the US
As British forces come to the end of their role in Iraq, what sort of country do they leave behind? Has the United States turned the tide in Baghdad? Does the fall in violence mean that the country is stabilising after more than four years of war? Or are we seeing only a temporary pause in the fighting?

¤ Zimbabwe: President raps 'gang of four'
President Mugabe yesterday castigated Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark as the "gang of four" for speaking on behalf of Britain while Europe's division over Zimbabwe was once again exposed at the EU-Africa Summit.

¤ What's Really Happened During the Surge?
¤ Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again!
¤ Disturbing the Peace, in Haiti and New Orleans

¤ Spinning Yarns of 'Good News'
When Kuwait was liberated in 1991 — a strange concept, Kuwait having been free neither before being invaded by Iraq nor since — its citizens lined up in the streets of their capital and waved thousands of American flags as troops drove by. "Did you ever stop to wonder," a man called John Rendon proudly asked during a speech to a government agency, "how the people of Kuwait City, after being held hostage for seven long and painful months, were able to get hand-held American and, for that matter, the flags of other coalition countries?" He answered his own question: "That was one of my jobs then."

¤ Death Squads, Disappearances, and Torture
¤ The US: All Power, No Influence
¤ Iran, Nukes, and the 'Laptop of Death'
¤ Bush's Phony Iran 'Threat' Exposed
¤ America: Are You F***king Brain Dead?!
¤ 6 shot after leaving Vegas school bus

Only One Thing Unites Iraq: Hatred of the US
Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Americans will discover, as the British learned to their cost in Basra, that they have few permanent allies

by Patrick Cockburn

As British forces come to the end of their role in Iraq, what sort of country do they leave behind? Has the United States turned the tide in Baghdad? Does the fall in violence mean that the country is stabilising after more than four years of war? Or are we seeing only a temporary pause in the fighting?American commentators are generally making the same mistake that they have made since the invasion of Iraq was first contemplated five years ago. They look at Iraq in over-simple terms and exaggerate the extent to which the US is making the political weather and is in control of events there.
Full Article : independent.co.uk

Zimbabwe: President raps 'gang of four'
Posted: Monday, December 10, 2007

From Itai Musengeyi in LISBON, Portuga
December 10, 2007

The Herald

President Mugabe yesterday castigated Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark as the "gang of four" for speaking on behalf of Britain while Europe's division over Zimbabwe was once again exposed at the EU-Africa Summit.

African leaders stood by Zimbabwe saying Europe was uninformed on the situation in the country.

In his response to the four countries' criticism of Zimbabwe, Cde Mugabe described them as "the gang of four which did not speak their own minds, but the mind of (British Prime Minister Gordon) Brown".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the attack on Zimbabwe when the summit opened on Saturday.

Reliable sources said Ms Merkel was given the burden to speak on behalf of the absent Mr Brown, who stayed away in protest against Cde Mugabe's presence.

She even requested South African President Thabo Mbeki to inform President Mugabe that she "shall be attacking Zimbabwe because her constituency" demands that, sources said.

Ms Merkel was also said to have asked Mr Mbeki to request President Mugabe not to be "hard-hitting" in his response to her comments.

But President Mugabe told the summit that the four were bidding for Britain although they did not have any problem with Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe also took the position that it also had a constituency which demands that it responds accordingly, sources said.

Europe's division over the Zimbabwe issue once again came to the fore at the summit as those countries in northern Europe attacked Zimbabwe while Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Belgium, Austria, Romania and Finland did not mention Zimbabwe.

Finland was the only Nordic country that refrained from attacking Zimbabwe.

This confirmed northern Europe as the hardliners while the southerners have a different approach on Zimbabwe.

Since the start of the bilateral dispute between Zimbabwe and Britain over the land issue, northern Europe has taken sides with Britain while southern Europe has kept an open mind.

President Mbeki, who is mediating in talks between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC, requested to be given the floor when he finished his prepared speech to respond to Ms Merkel's utterances.

He told her that "I am the mediator on Zimbabwe" and as such was well informed on the situation that was being discussed.

Mr Mbeki said the death of the son of Cde Patrick Chinamasa, one of the Zanu-PF negotiators, had delayed the signing of an agreement between the two parties.

In his intervention on the debate on peace and security, President Mugabe said Africa had already taken necessary steps to put up the required infrastructure.

"We know what the challenges are, what the strategies should be, and what the solutions should involve. Help in marshalling resources is what we need. Meetings such as this should do less of telling Africa what it already knows, and more of addressing this question of resources," Cde Mugabe said.

He disagreed with suggestions that the second EU-Africa Summit could not be held because of Zimbabwe.

"Many have regretted the failure to host this meeting on time, and some from the EU side have said the issue was Zimbabwe. I beg to differ. The problem was arrogance from the EU side.

"There were no preconditions from Zimbabwe, or Africa, for the holding of this meeting. Yet those who today talk rhetorically of equality, partnership and mutual respect would impose their will on Africa so very blatantly. And all that was done on trumped-up charges against Zimbabwe. Unbiased observers have commented very favourably on the state of democracy, respect for human rights, and rule of law in Zimbabwe.

"Why then the demonisation from Europe? Because Zimbabwe dared to repossess its land, which had been stolen by the colonialists at the point of the gun. Our fight is therefore with the former colonial power in Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom. Zimbabwe certainly has no quarrel with the four European countries that made hostile interventions against Zimbabwe yesterday (Saturday).

"The fiction they parade is either the result of British propaganda or perhaps a misguided sense of racial solidarity with the white farmers in my country," said Cde Mugabe.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who was in Zimbabwe two weeks ago, said Ms Merkel was speaking from an uninformed position.

He said Africa had spoken with one voice and got Zimbabwe to attend the summit but the Europeans had failed to convince Britain to come to the meeting.

African leaders refused to be lectured on human rights, governance, trade and peace issues by their European counterparts and flatly rejected being hurried into signing economic partnership agreements.

"I don't think we are here to receive lectures from you (European leaders). We are here as friends seeking to work together," said Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

He added: "Colonialism is intrinsically negative and Africa still suffers from it."

President Wade criticised European leaders for trying to pressure African countries into signing new trade deals saying China's approach was winning more friends.

"Today it is very clear that Europe is close to losing the battle of competition in Africa," he said.

AU commission president Mr Alpha Konare warned Europe to "avoid playing certain African regions off against each other".

"It's important we avoid patterns of thinking that belong to a different era. No one will make us believe we don't have the right to protect our economic fabric," he said.

The Ticking Lie Scenario
Posted: Sunday, December 9, 2007

¤ The Winter of the American Despot
Bush and Cheney and the rest of the Pod people are really starting to sound out of touch. They are crying about the recent National Intelligence Estimate and how wrong it is, how biased its creators, and how mistaken the world would be to believe a word of it.
Too bad they didn't have this reaction last time we got a long-delayed and highly politicized NIE.
Neoconservatives everywhere are getting eye tics and cocking their heads as if receiving encrypted messages from the mother ship.

¤ "Missing" Evidence Is Familiar Bush Pattern

¤ Final Disgrace for Bush & Co.
"Merry Christmas, Mr. President," hissed the men in cloaks as they plunged a dagger into George Bush's back.
America's spooks finally had their revenge. After being forced by the White House in 2002-03 to concoct a farrago of lies about Iraq, and then take the blame for the ensuing fiasco there, the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies struck back this week.
U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell made public a bombshell National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report that concluded "with high confidence" Tehran had halted its rudimentary nuclear weapons program in 2003.
If restarted, Iran is unlikely to produce any weapons before 2015.

¤ Tragedy of the Ridiculous White House
¤ Call for criminal inquiry as CIA destroys torture tapes
¤ New Imperialism, Old Justifications
¤ Zimbabwe dominates and divides at EU-Africa summit

¤ Israel now world's fourth largest weapons exporter

¤ Two Strikes
Well, it should be two strikes and you're out for the foam-at-the-mouth warmongers. It should come as no surprise that the same people who ranted and raved for war with Iraq were also ranting and raving for war with Iran.
Their much-touted weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were nonexistent, and now it turns out that Iran's nuclear-weapons program, the latest subject of their rants, is nonexistent, according to a consensus of America's 16 intelligence agencies.

¤ Bush Spins Iran's Centrifuges
¤ The Ticking Lie Scenario
¤ Gunman Kills 2 in Co. Missionary Center
¤ US, Iraq to begin 'cooperation agreement' negotiations early 2008
¤ Child Prisoners in Iraq Suffering Same Abuse as Adults
¤ Deposed Pak judge accuses foreign envoys of interference
¤ Suicide Car Bomber Kills 8, Including 2 Children, in Pakistan

¤ Iran drops dollar from oil deals
Major crude producer Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil transactions in dollars, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Saturday, labelling the greenback an "unreliable" currency.
"At the moment, selling oil in dollars has been completely halted, in line with the policy of selling crude in non-dollar currencies," Nozari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
"The dollar is an unreliable currency, considering its devaluation and the oil exporters' losses," he added.

¤ An Alleged "Two Party System"

¤ Bolivia assembly backs constitution

¤ The Hidden Holocaust--Our Civilizational Crisis

Concession Speech of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela
Posted: Saturday, December 8, 2007

December 8th 2007, by Hugo Chavez

President Chavez's historic concession speech, in which he had to concede, for the first time in nine years and after 12 nation-wide votes, that his side lost. The constitutional reform referendum, which Chavez described as the most important vote of his presidency, was to help bring about "21st century socialism in Venezuela.
Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com

Bush Spins Iran's Centrifuges
Posted: Saturday, December 8, 2007

By Ray McGovern
December 8, 2007

Without weaver-in-chief Karl Rove and former presidential spokesman Tony Snow, it is amateur hour at the White House. And the theater would be as funny as The Daily Show were the subject not so serious.

Judging from President George W. Bush's words and body language he is far from giving up on ways to "justify" attacking Iran's nuclear program–weapons-related or not. He appears convinced he must honor the pledge he has made to Israel's current leaders to eliminate what they have called an "existential threat" to Israel.

This came through in a particularly pointed way when an agitated president ad-libbed about the possibility of World War III, complaining loudly, "We've got a leader in Iran who has announced he wants to destroy Israel."

Not at all helpful to the president was the judgment of U.S. intelligence that the Iranians halted their nuclear weapons-related program in 2003, a judgment the administration made public this week.
Full Article : consortiumnews.com

No nukes in Iran, just as in Iraq
Posted: Saturday, December 8, 2007

¤ Blackwater's Bu$ine$$
Gunning down seventeen Iraqi civilians in an incident the military has labeled "criminal." Multiple Congressional investigations. A federal grand jury. Allegations of illegal arms smuggling. Wrongful death lawsuits brought by families of dead employees and US soldiers. A federal lawsuit alleging war crimes. Charges of steroid use by trigger-happy mercenaries. Allegations of "significant tax evasion." The US-installed government in Iraq labeling its forces "murderers." With a new scandal breaking practically every day, one would think Blackwater security would be on the ropes, facing a corporate meltdown or even a total wipeout. But it seems that business for the company has never been better, as it continues to pull in major federal contracts. And its public demeanor grows bolder and cockier by the day.

¤ $1B In Military Equipment Missing In Iraq
¤ No proof Iran had nukes: Russia

¤ Democrats demand CIA video inquiry
Democrats in the US congress have demanded an investigation into the CIA's destruction of videotapes showing detainees being subjected to "harsh" interrogations.
The US has been widely criticised by European allies and human right groups for methods like "waterboarding", in which prisoners are made to fear that they are drowning.

¤ CIA destroyed video of 'waterboarding' al-Qaida detainees
¤ US backs down over Afghan poppy fields destruction
¤ Bomb blast in popular department store in Sri Lanka kills 16, wound 20

¤ Anatomy of a Turnabout
The Bush administration decided to release new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) extracts reporting that Iran terminated its nuclear weapons program in 2003 at least in part because some officials feared leaks and accusations of a cover-up if the material were kept secret, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials.
The unexpected release of the new NIE on Monday comes just over a month after retired Adm. Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, issued a written order to all agencies under his supervision directing that it would be his office's policy that NIE extracts "should not be published."

¤ Piano Wire Puppeteers
It's been an odd week. For me, a particularly odd week. But that's another story. So, wait a minute. Iran DOESN'T have nuclear weapon capability??? So, who are we gonna bomb? I want to bomb somebody!
Didn't Senator Clinton just vote in essence to give President Bush the power to bomb Iran? If he had done it last week, would that have made her right? I mean, if she knew then what she knows now? Or am I getting that backward? Golly, I'm confused.

¤ No nukes in Iran, just as in Iraq

¤ White House Quietly Admits Bush Lied About When He Learned That Iran Had Suspended Its Nuclear Program
The White House has quietly admitted that George Bush lied to reporters at a news conference on Tuesday when he said he was not informed by intelligence officials that Iran's nuclear weapons program had been suspended in 2003.
On Tuesday, Bush denied he knew the program had been disbanded when he warned the American people in October that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons could unleash World War III. Now, as we reported last night at Pensito Review, Bush press flack Dana Perino confirmed off-camera to reporters that, in fact, Bush learned about the suspension of Iran's weapons program in August.

¤ Bush under fire over Iran claims

¤ You, Mr.. Bush, are a bald-faced liar.
There are few choices more terrifying than the one Mr.. Bush has left us with tonight.
We have either a president who is too dishonest to restrain himself from invoking World War Three about Iran at least six weeks after he had to have known that the analogy would be fantastic, irresponsible hyperbole -- or we have a president too transcendently stupid not to have asked -- at what now appears to have been a series of opportunities to do so -- whether the fairy tales he either created or was fed, were still even remotely plausible.

¤ Bush Reaction to NIE Reveals Him as World Warmonger No. 1
¤ Bush's Losing Iranian Hand
¤ No Iran Attack? Don't Be So Sure…
¤ Some Welcome News

¤ Telling the Truth About Iran
Even when George W. Bush tells the truth, he cannot quite bring himself to tell the whole truth. Although the White House released a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, indicating that the Iranians shut down their program more than four years ago, the president treated those conclusions as a vindication more than an embarrassment.

¤ The Iran Opening
¤ Omaha Mall shooter: 'I am a piece of s***. Now I'll be famous'
¤ Why poisonous, unregulated chemicals end up in our blood
¤ Ahmadinejad: rock star in rural Iran
¤ Female suicide bomber kills 16 in Iraq
¤ Teenager killed eight after losing job
¤ Israeli minister cancels UK trip in fear of arrest

¤ Pakistan courts frozen by lawyers' boycott
Pakistan's judicial system faced paralysis yesterday after protesting lawyers opposed to President Musharraf's military rule pledged to boycott courts presided over by judges and magistrates who have taken an oath of loyalty under the state of emergency.
The move by the lawyers came as negotiators from the country's two main opposition parties inched towards an agreement aimed at forming a united front to boycott the scheduled January 8 election and thereby, they believe, destroy its credibility.

¤ Rice tries to goad African leaders

¤ Kicking a Dead Man: The Sliming of Sean Taylor
¤ Why We Can't Trust Our Food
¤ The CIA 'War' on Bush: The New Neocon Ploy
¤ For Once, Let's Use Our Intelligence
¤ Iraq's Million
¤ Iran: Bush Loses Even More Credibility

¤ Why Americans Misunderestimate the Depravity of the President They Hate

¤ Milked! Supermarkets admit secret price-fixing

¤ Racism and the American Psyche
Race is in the news again. First it was the Jena Six, then Nobel laureate James D. Watson's assertion, that black are less intelligent than whites, and finally, a series of articles two weeks ago in Slate arguing that there was scientific evidence to back Watson's claim.
The reaction to these recent developments was predictable. There have been a number of heated debates on the internet concerning not only race and intelligence, but also the appropriateness of studying race and intelligence. Two crucial points have yet to be made, however. The first concerns the contentious association of intelligence with IQ score and the second is the equally contentious assumption that we have anything like a clear scientific conception or race.

¤ Bush, Iran and the Politics of Doomsday

The Iran Charade: So They Lied Again
Posted: Thursday, December 6, 2007

¤ Iran 'vindicated' by nuclear report

¤ Iranian president claims US report as a victory
¤ Iran's Nuclear Gambit: A Timeline of Events
¤ Played for Fools Yet Again: About that Iran "Intelligence" Report

¤ The Iranians Have Disappointed Us
Gosh, what a disappointment. You can't even trust the CIA anymore. Imagine, all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies agree that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Where is George Tenet when we need him - to give us a slam dunk or whatever we asked for? Or Saint Colin Powell who would vouch for the war program after some sobbing.
And the intelligence community has admitted it was wrong. That is no way to run a government operation. Rule number one: never admit a mistake. We pay them $44 billion a year to do what we order so the least they can do is give us the intelligence we need to get other nations to do what we want. Or else. As Don Rumsfeld always said, "You go with the intelligence you have, true and accurate or not. And if the other nations are not guilty of what we accuse them, they will be some day, so why wait?"

¤ The Iran Charade So They Lied Again
So they lied again. And again. Despite the fact that the Bush administration knew quite well that its very own intelligence estimate stated quite clearly that the Iranian government had halted its work on building nuclear weaponry, Mr. Bush told the world not more than two months ago that Iran was risking World War Three if it continued said work. On Monday, December 3, 2007, an report from Mr. Bush's own government said quite clearly that its intelligence proved that Iran halted nuclear arms work four years ago. Despite this knowledge, the Bush administration and its enablers in Congress have continued to move the United States closer and closer to war with Iran.

¤ It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One
Bush is such a liar. Or is he just out to lunch on the most important issue that he faces? In October, he charged that Iran's nuclear weapons program was bringing the world to the precipice of World War III, even though the White House had been informed at least a month earlier that Iran had no such program and had stopped efforts to develop one back in 2003.
Is it conceivable that Bush was telling the truth at his press conference Tuesday when he stated that he learned of the National Intelligence Estimate report, which contained that inconvenient fact, only last week? Even if Bush read the NIE report, he clearly doesn't respect it, for at his press conference he said "the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world-quite the contrary." Not that he has anything against the NIE, whose directors he handpicked. "I want to compliment the intelligence community for their good work. Right after the failure of intelligence in Iraq, we reformed the intelligence community."

¤ Despite Knowledge That Iran Halted Nuke Program
White House Continued To Warn Of False Threat

¤ Bush calls on Iran to 'come clean'
¤ Iran still dangerous, insists Bush
¥ And Bush continues to lie

¤ Bush Drops Standard on Iran as Credibility Questioned
President George W. Bush, his credibility under fire because of intelligence that Iran halted its nuclear weapons drive in 2003, adopted a new argument yesterday to justify tougher sanctions: Just knowing how to produce a bomb is dangerous.

¤ China Questions New UN Sanctions Against Iran After US Report

¤ Black is White. And (for Bush at Least) No Nukes is Bad News
¤ Iran Intelligence Report: Another Psychological Warfare?
¤ Report 'provides Bush an exit strategy'

¤ Empire and Nuclear Weapons
Over the past six decades, the United States has used its nuclear arsenal in five often inter-related ways. The first was, obviously, battlefield use, with the "battlefield" writ large to include the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The long -held consensus among scholars has been that these first atomic bombings were not necessary to end the war against Japan, and that they were designed to serve a second function of the U.S. nuclear arsenal: dictating the parameters of the global (dis)order by implicitly terrorizing U.S. enemies and allies ("vassal states" in the words of former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.) The third function, first practiced by Harry Truman during the 1946 crisis over Azerbaijan in northern Iran and relied on repeatedly in U.S. wars in Asia and the Middle East, as well as during crises over Berlin and the Cuban Missile Crisis, has been to threaten opponents with first strike nuclear attacks in order to terrorize them into negotiating on terms acceptable to the United States or, as in the Bush wars against Iraq, to ensure that desperate governments do not defend themselves with chemical or biological weapons.

¤ Venezuela Is Not Florida
Last Monday, with less than 90 percent of the vote counted and the opposition leading by just 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent, President Chavez congratulated his opponents on their victory. They had defeated his proposed constitutional reforms, including the abolition of term limits for the presidency.
No one should have been surprised by Chavez's immediate concession: Venezuela is a constitutional democracy, and its government has stuck to the democratic rules of the game since he was first elected in 1998. Despite the non-renewal of the broadcast license for a major TV station in May - one that wouldn't have gotten a license in any democratic country - Venezuela still has the most oppositional media in the hemisphere.
But the U.S. media has managed to convey the impression to most Americans that Venezuela is some sort of dictatorship or near-dictatorship.

¤ Chavez vows to turn a defeat into victory
¤ U.S. Headlines Read: CHAVEZ LOST!!! I don't TH*NK so...
¤ The Red Devil

¤ US Meddling in Australian Politics
¤ Why the Council on Foreign Relations Hates Putin
¤ The Hidden Truth About Genetically Modified Foods
¤ This Crisis Demands a Reappraisal of Who We Are and What Progress Means
¤ Nine dead in Nebraska mall shooting
¤ Putin's Landslide

¤ Dozens killed in China mine blast
An early morning gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China has killed at least 40 people and left more than 70 trapped underground, Chinese state media has reported.
The blast occured shortly after midnight on Thursday at a mine in Linfen city, a major coal mining area in northern Shanxi province.

¤ What Happens to U.S. Troops Who Commit Mass Murder?
¤ Eating Iraq: Corruption Rules and Cholera Rises While Insurgents Surf the Surge

U.S. report says Iran halted nuclear weapons program in 2003
Posted: Monday, December 3, 2007

¤ Venezuelans Reject Constitutional Change, Chavez Accepts

¤ Lessons for the Bolivarians
Hugo Chavez' narrow defeat in the referendum was the result of large-scale abstentions by his supporters. 44 percent of the electorate stayed at home. Why? First, because they did not either understand or accept that this was a necessary referendum. The measures related to the working week and some other proposed social reforms could be easily legislated by the existing parliament. The key issues were the removal of restrictions on the election of the head of government (as is the case in most of Europe) and moves towards 'a socialist state.' On the latter there was simply not enough debate and discussion on a grassroots level.

¤ Chavez: Plan May Have Been Too Ambitious

¤ Accepting loss gives Chavez democratic image as he pushes far-reaching reforms for Venezuela
In gracefully accepting his first electoral defeat, Hugo Chavez is casting himself as a true democrat and deflecting charges of despotism from Washington and critics at home.
But the Venezuelan president isn't pulling back from his socialist agenda, and his opponents - for now - have neither the cohesion nor the clout to stop him.

¤ Venezuela: Not What You Think
¤ Chavez renews wrath over CNN for caption allegedly inciting assassination

¤ Fear of Chavez is Fear of Democracy
The Bush Administration and its press puppies - the same ones who couldn't get enough of the purple thumbs of voters of Iraq - are absolutely livid that this weekend the electorate of Venezuela had the opportunity to vote.

Typical was the mouth-breathing editorial by the San Francisco Chronicle, that the referendum could make Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's President, "a constitutional dictator for life." And no less a freedom fighter than Donald Rumsfeld, from the height of the Washington Post, said that by voting, Venezuela was "receding into dictatorship." Oh, my!

¤ Prostitution ordeal of Iraqi girls
With their bright neon signs and glitzy decor, dozens of nightclubs line the streets of the Maraba district in the Syrian capital Damascus.
It's here that men come from far and wide - car number plates are not just from Syria but Iraq and Saudi Arabia - to watch young women dancing.
Most of the dancers are teenagers and many of them are Iraqi refugees.

¤ Allawi says: A new Iranian plot to assassinate me
¤ 950 juveniles in US prisons in Iraq -- general
¤ The Purge in Iraq is a Success Thanks to George Bush
¤ Third world warriors fight U.S. wars - for dollars a day
¤ "Gaza is a prison" isn't a metaphor

¤ A U.S. Colony
Two interesting and closely related news items concerning U.S. involvement in Iraq were announced this week. Individually they cause one to shake one's head in wonder, but together they show that Congress and President Bush have far more closely related ideas on the future of that country than one might otherwise think.

¤ Nonstop Theft and Bribery Are Staggering Iraq

¤ Bush Negotiates Permanent Presence in Iraq
¤ Party's Triumph Raises Question of Putin's Plans
¤ An Old Face Resurfaces
¤ Hillary's Defense Dough
¤ Perhaps if you add them all up, they will sound sane

¤ Fact-Based Intelligence Prevails on Nukes and Iran
For those who have doubts about miracles, a double one occurred today. An honest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)(.pdf file) on Iran's nuclear program has been issued and its Key Judgments were made public. With redraft after redraft, it was what the Germans call "eine schwere Geburt" - a difficult birth, ten months in gestation.I do not know how often Vice President Dick Cheney visited CIA Headquarters during the gestation period, but I am told he voiced his displeasure as soon as he saw the first sonogram/draft very early this year, and is so displeased with what issued that he has refused to be the godfather.

¤ U.S. report says Iran halted nuclear weapons program in 2003
¤ Russia finds US intelligence report on Iran''s nuclear weapons abilities
¤ A Manifestation of Evil or Just Plain Madness?
¤ Putin is Stalin?
¤ Eat, Drink and Be Miserable
¤ Civics 101: USA v. Al Arian
¤ Endangered Truth: Exposing the Administration's Lies on Science
¤ Musharraf Will Soldier On
¤ Third world warriors fight U.S. wars - for dollars a day
¤ Fact Check on War Spending
¤ National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute

Chavez Concedes Venezuela's Constitutional Reform Lost
Posted: Monday, December 3, 2007

Chavez Concedes Venezuela's Constitutional Reform Lost in "Foto Finish"

December 3rd 2007, by Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, December 3, 2007 - Venezuela's National Electoral Council Announced at 1:15am that the No vote against the President's constitutional reform proposal lost 49.3% to 50.7%, with 45% abstention. Chavez conceded that the reform proposal lost "for now."

The vote was divided into two blocks, whereby the first block included Chavez's 33 proposed article changes and the second block included changes proposed by the national assembly. The second block lost with a slightly higher margin, with 51.0% for "No" to 49.0% for "Yes".

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