May 2010

Preparing Haiti for Exploitation and Plunder
Posted: Wednesday, May 19, 2010

¤ Bill for Afghan War Could Run into the Trillions

¤ It's Too Bad Keynes Didn't Write in English

¤ Capitalism Without Capital
Volatility is back and stocks have started zigzagging wildly again. This time the catalyst is Greece, but tomorrow it could be something else. The problem is there's too much leverage in the system, and that's generating uncertainty about the true condition of the economy. For a long time, leverage wasn't an issue, because there was enough liquidity to keep things bobbing along smoothly. But that changed when Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy and non-bank funding began to shut down.

¤ The Goals of Ahmadinejad
¤ No Papers Required for CIA Hit List
¤ The Vicious Circle of Debt and Depression
¤ Civilian Casualties Raise Afghan Ire at U.S.
¤ Despite Knowing It Had a Damaged Blowout Preventer, BP STILL Cut Corners By Removing the Single Most Important Safety Measure

¤ Iran makes nuclear offer, but West unconvinced
¤ US Funds Israel’s Apartheid Roads Plan
¤ Thai govt rejects plea for talks, pushes crackdown
¤ The Vicious Circle of Debt and Depression – It Is a Class War
¤ How US Weapons Grade Uranium was Diverted to Israel
The 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is underway at UN Headquarters in New York. A working paper calls for a nuclear-free Middle East. It would require member states of the NPT to “disclose in their national reports on the implementation of the resolution on the Middle East all information available to them on the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear facilities and activities, including information pertaining to previous nuclear transfers to Israel.”

¤ Libya plane crash kills 103, Dutch boy survives

¤ Bill for Afghan War Could Run into the Trillions
The U.S. Senate is moving forward with a 59-billion-dollar spending bill, of which 33.5 billion dollars would be allocated for the war in Afghanistan. However, some experts here in Washington are raising concerns that the war may be unwinnable and that the money being spent on military operations in Afghanistan could be better spent.

¤ Itching to Fight Another Muslim Enemy
If you read the major American newspapers or watch the propaganda on cable TV, it’s pretty clear that the U.S. foreign policy Establishment is again spoiling for a fight, this time in Iran.
Just as Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was the designated target of American hate in 2002 and 2003, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is playing that role now. Back then, any event in Iraq was cast in the harshest possible light; today, the same is done with Iran.

¤ Mohammed Elbaradei On The Iranian Nuclear Issue

¤ Assassinating US Muslim Cleric is Illegal, Immoral and Unwise
Agents of the United States are openly trying to assassinate Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen, while he is in hiding in Yemen. Despite what the apologists for assassination argue this is illegal, immoral and unwise. Assassinating Awlaki in the US would be murder, a capital crime, punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty. Morally, few would argue that agents of the FBI or the CIA could murder the cleric in the US. If it is illegal and immoral to kill a Muslim cleric in the US why would it be legal, moral or wise to do so in Yemen?

¤ The Latest Official Report on Afghanistan

¤ "Progress Toward Security and Stability?" The Latest Official Report on Afghanistan

¤ 15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America

¤ Greece Considering Legal Action Against U.S. Banks for Crisis
¤ Thai govt rejects plea for talks, pushes crackdown
¤ Israeli Persecution of Human Rights Activists
¤ Terminally Dumb People

¤ Preparing Haiti for Exploitation and Plunder
¤ BP's Nuke-Powered Liability Cap
¤ U.S. Overflowing Prisons Spur Call for Reform Commission
¤ How Weak is the American Power Act?

¤ Hillary Clinton's Dangerous Defense of Afghan Women
Forgive my cynicism but we abandoned Afghan women many years ago, and greatly exacerbated their plight when we cynically used them as a justification to destroy their country and our continued military presence is only making things worse. This latest statement from Clinton reads like yet another ploy to use the lives of Afghan women as an excuse-this time for not talking to the Taliban. While I am in no way saying that we should condone the Taliban's misogyny, our military presence is not the key to addressing that issue. In fact it is likely making matters worse.

New Colonialism: Pentagon carves Africa into Military Zones
Posted: Sunday, May 9, 2010

¤ New Colonialism: Pentagon carves Africa into Military Zones
"The U.S. is not dragging almost every nation in Africa into its military network because of altruism or concerns for the security of the continent's people. AFRICOM's function is that of every predatory military power: The threat and use of armed violence to gain economic and geopolitical advantages."

¤ Racism, Reparations and the Politics of Blame
¤ Henry Louis Gates' Dangerously Wrong Slave History

¤ Iran, China and Israel's Weapons of Mass Disruption
There were two major nuclear non-proliferation conferences in April, one in Washington (President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit) and one in Tehran (International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation). A third, aka the Big One - the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference held in New York City under the auspices of the United Nations - is now taking place in New York.

¤ US, Iran Nuclear Punch-up at UN Conference
¤ Ahmadinejad: Osama Bin Laden Not in Iran, More Likely in D.C.

¤ Intel officials: US missiles kill 10 in Pakistan

Did You Hear the Joke About the Predator Drone That Bombed?
For people in Pakistan, where most of the drones are being used, the joke lost something in translation. According to Pakistani journalist Khawar Rizvi, few Pakistanis have ever heard of the Jonas Brothers or understood the reference to the President's daughters. "But one thing we do know: There's nothing funny about predator drones," said Rizvi. "They've killed hundreds of civilians and caused so much suffering in Pakistan. And that's no laughing matter."

¤ New York bomb case widens with Pakistan arrests
¤ Blowback in Times Square

¤ Terror Watch List Counter: A Million Plus

¤ US supported economics spurred Mexican emigration (YouTube)

¤ Meet Kanellos, the Greek protest dog

¤ Would You Put Up With What is Being Asked of the Greek People?

¤ Greece erupts as men from IMF prepare to wield axe
Anger is intensifying over cuts to be made as part of the EU deal to save the economy

¤ 3 die in Athens riot over cutbacks, debt crisis

¤ "Progress Toward Security and Stability?"- - The Latest Official Report on Afghanistan

¤ The Senate Should Debate "Too Big to Fail" On Live Television

¤ Neanderthal genes 'survive in us'
¤ Signs of Neanderthals Mating With Humans
Neanderthals mated with some modern humans after all and left their imprint in the human genome, a team of biologists has reported in the first detailed analysis of the Neanderthal genetic sequence.

¤ Dow Takes a Harrowing 1,010.14-Point Trip
¤ Stock Selloff May Have Been Triggered by a Trader Error

¤ U.S. Food Prices ‘Spiraling Out of Control’
¤ Food-stamp tally nears 40 million, sets record

¤ John Williams: A Hyper-Inflationary Great Depression Is Coming

¤ 15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America

¤ Yar'Adua, Nigerian President, Dead

¤ You Drill, You Spill
Sobering, is it not, to realize that the possible survival of a huge oil company, of several billion shrimp, assorted species of fish and birds, not to mention avoidance of a near lethal lurch in the fortunes of Louisiana’s fishing and ocean rec industries and the future of offshore drilling up the Atlantic coast could depend on a feat as tricky as rolling a condom on the end of a string onto the penis of a man at street level by remote control from the top of the Empire State Building.

¤ How Oil Companies Cheat

¤ How the US and Israel Draw Ever Closer Together

¤ A Fantasy
"No salvation will come from Barack Obama. The immensely powerful pro-Israel lobby will crush any attempt of his to exert pressure on Israel. Obama has already capitulated to Netanyahu, and he will continue to do so in the future....The real problem is that most Israelis do not believe that peace is possible. Dozens of years of propaganda have convinced them that “we have no partner for peace”. Events on the ground (as seen through Israeli eyes) have confirmed this view. If this perception is dissolved, everything is possible."

¤ When Will the Real Terrorists Stand Up?
I propose President Obama end the war against terrorism and admit the phrase means “Muslims should scare you!”
For example, the media recently showed a documentary film on Timothy McVeigh (April 19, Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC) that psychoanalyzed him. What happened in his past that provoked him to punish the US government and then want the government execute him?

¤ Police Attack Video Causes Firestorm Of Controversy

Venezuela is Not Greece
Posted: Friday, May 7, 2010

Given the Venezuelan government's low public and foreign debt, the idea the country is facing an 'economic crisis' is plain wrong

by Mark Weisbrot

With Venezuela's economy having contracted last year (as did the vast majority of economies in the Western Hemisphere), the economy suffering from electricity shortages, and the value of domestic currency having recently fallen sharply in the parallel market, stories of Venezuela's economic ruin are again making headlines.

The Washington Post, in a news article that reads more like an editorial, reports that Venezuela is "gripped by an economic crisis," and that "years of state interventions in the economy are taking a brutal toll on private business."

There is one important fact that is almost never mentioned in news articles about Venezuela, because it does not fit in with the narrative of a country that has spent wildly throughout the boom years, and will soon, like Greece, face its day of reckoning. That is the government's debt level: currently about 20% of GDP. In other words, even as it was tripling real social spending per person, increasing access to healthcare and education, and loaning or giving billions of dollars to other Latin American countries, Venezuela was reducing its debt burden during the oil price run-up. Venezuela's public debt fell from 47.5% of GDP in 2003 to 13.8% in 2008. In 2009, as the economy shrank, public debt picked up to 19.9% of GDP. Even if we include the debt of the state oil company, PDVSA, Venezuela's public debt is 26% of GDP. The foreign part of this debt is less than half of the total.

Compare this to Greece, where public debt is 115% of GDP and currently projected to rise to 149% in 2013. (The European Union average is about 79%.)
Full Article : commondreams.org

The Guantanamo Deception
Posted: Saturday, May 1, 2010

¤ Immigration debate shakes US to the core

¤ White House Says No New Offshore Drilling Until Investigation is Complete
¤ Oil Spill Reaches Mississippi River
¤ Gulf spill: Worse than Exxon Valdez?
Some say environmental impact could surpass '89 disaster

¤ Oil Leak in Gulf Worse Than Estimated...
Leak Now Estimated at 5,000 Barrel Per Day; Total Cost Could Hit $8 Billion

¤ Size of Spill in Gulf of Mexico Is Much Larger Than Thought

¤ Obama concerned about Greek debt, monitoring closely

¤ Markets hammer Greek debt, Germany sets tough terms

¤ Color-blind racial ideology linked to racism, both online and offline

¤ Graça Machel: 'Britain needs to stop being a big brother in Africa' Audio

¤ Why it's time to move away from McAfee

¤ Beginning of the end for Afghan war?
The war has dragged on long after the public turned against it – but a rebellion in the US Congress could speed our exit

¤ APNewsBreak: East Jerusalem construction frozen
¤ Don't talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking
¤ Arizona immigration law protesters urge action
¤ Sharpton vows to protest Arizona immigration bill

¤ Will Police Hate Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law, Too?
¤ Arizona governor signs immigration enforcement bill
¤ Arizona governor signs immigration law; foes promise fight
¤ Obama Seeks Immigration Overhaul, Slams Arizona Law
¤ Hispanics fear profiling under new Arizona law

¤ British family 'demanded white staff at Florida hotel'
¤ The Open Veins of Climate Change
¤ Bolivia's fight for survival can help save democracy too
¤ More than 30 killed in Baghdad bomb blasts

¤ Tony Blair stands accused

¤ Potentially deadly fungus spreading in US, Canada
¤ Obama suggests value-added tax may be an option
¤ Airports Reopen, Safety Debate Lingers

¤ Four of the Most Dangerous Fraudulent Scientific Theories That Must Be Confronted - Climate-induced earthquakes, bottomless pits of oil, pet dinosaurs and a miraculous energy source: For the sake of public policy, it's important to debunk the lies.

¤ The Psychiatric Drugging of Infants and Toddlers
¤ Priest Sex Tape Outs Altar Boy Abuse in Brazil
¤ Chavez hosts Latin American allies for summit

¤ Graca Machel: Britain 'stop being big brother'
Graca Machel has condemned Britain for taking a patronising "big brother" attitude to its former colonies, the Guardian newspaper reports.

¤ China's economy marches on as growth rate soars by nearly 12%

¤ Chavez: China to devote $20B to Venezuela projects
¤ Venezuela Coming Out of Electricity Crisis
¤ US: Felon accused of running animal-sex farm

¤ Recent Media Coverage of Cuba: Selective Commendation, Selective Indignation
The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti caused some 230,000 deaths, left 1.5 million homeless, and has directly affected 3 million Haitians—1/3 of the population. On March 31, representatives of over 50 governments and international organizations gathered at the United Nations Haiti Donor Conference to pledge long-term assistance for the rebuilding of Haiti.

¤ It's Now or Never: Hands Off Mother Earth!
The Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth recently held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, by the World's People - as opposed to the world's transnational corporations and their executive branches or 'Governments of, by and for the Elites' - has concluded with The People's Agreement on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (1).

¤ The Guantanamo Deception
Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, provided shocking new testimony from inside the Bush Administration that hundreds of the men jailed at Guantanamo were innocent, the top people in the Bush Administration knew full well they were innocent, and that information was kept from the public.

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