by Hazel Burke, Unknown News November 9, 2007
I happened to catch a few minutes of "Lou Dobbs Tonight", which featured as (repeat) guest, Lt. David Grainger. The big "news" is that just as public opposition to the Iraq War has reached a new low of 68%, the U.S. is starting to do remarkably well. Wow! Good news, eh?Not. The only metric provided was that U.S. troop deaths have fallen sharply in recent months. That is how our success is being measured. And according to the Lt. Grainger, if we were to withdraw our troops the situation would deteriorate."We must reinforce success," he asserted. So that means that because our troops are not dying as fast as they were, they have to stay in Iraq! Wow! That's not good -- especially because this debacle is costing $200 billion a year and the U.S. public national debt just hit $9 trillion, up from $5.6 trillion at the start of the Bush "presidency" (presiding over a series of failures is the actuality).
We have seen casualty reductions before. They resulted from a shift in tactics from offense to defense ("force protection missions".) In fact, there have been reports that some troops are writing fake action reports, just going out to a safe place and waiting for the end of their shift to roll around. Those troops are probably in the tiny majority, but undoubtedly U.S. commanders have been ordered to reduce troop deaths for political reasons.There have also been reports of a major escalation in the air war, something which receives little coverage in Der Homeland. So, a shift from ground offensives to aerial bombardment can easily account for a temporary reduction in ground-combat troop deaths.The (near) completion of ethnic cleansing may account for some reduction in violence. As may the reports of armloads of cash handed out to former "insurgents" in an attempt to buy loyalty from those who previously fought against and killed American soldiers.All in all, not even counting Abu Ghraib, there is not a bit of glory in this war, and there is no victory in sight. We cannot leave because we are succeeding they say, and our success is measured by how few American soldiers are dying each month.According to the pro-war crowd we must continue to spend $200 billion a year to support what can at best be deemed a long term stalemate. In fact, a long term U.S. presence in Iraq amounts to a defeat for America. That is the truth about guerrilla war. The invaders are bled dry and eventually they leave. The guerrillas have nowhere to go and are motivated for reasons other than money. Strategically too, a long term occupation of Iraq is a total disaster because it destabilizes the Middle East and encourages people to hate America and all that it stands for.
Right now what America stands for is threatening and invading countries with oil, the use of internationally banned torture techniques and secret prisons where people disappear permanently, and an inability to manage its economy and finances (America has earned a reputation for gigantic financial frauds, and for rarely prosecuting rich white executives.)In the end the Iraqis don't need to defeat our soldiers, they just need to wait for the oil sheiks and the Asian exporters to cut off our financing. When the U.S. is no longer deemed creditworthy (any minute now), our global military empire will disband and disappear.Even worse for BushCo, did you hear about the Nazi war criminal that is still being sought? Sixty years after
the end of WWII and the people of Israel are still rounding these guys up and trying them! That ought to give the leaders of any soon-to-be ex-superpowers something to think about!I have long advocated turning over the American leadership to the International Criminal Court for trial as part of the Middle East peace process. We don't have enough money to pay reparations, but we could put on a helluva show with these blowhards on TV in orange jumpsuits and manacles!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
China deals blow to Western efforts to punish Iran
Excerpt
China has dealt a blow to Western efforts to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme by dropping out of a meeting to discuss tougher sanctions against Tehran.
Russia, which like China opposes further UN sanctions against Iran,added fuel to the fire by announcing on Friday that the UN nuclearwatchdog would soon start inspecting and sealing atomic fuel boundfor an Iranian reactor.
The West fears Iran wants to develop atomic weapons but Iran deniesthis. Tehran says it wants only to generate electricity.
Political directors from Britain, France, Germany, the United States,Russia and China were due to meet on November 19 to assess reportsabout Tehran's nuclear programme from the United Nations and fromEU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
"I think it's partly related to genuine travel difficulties, but alsolinked to resistance on the broader question of sanctions from thatquarter," a European diplomatic source said of China's decision.
Russian state-owned nuclear fuel producer TVEL said inspectors fromthe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will begin preparatorywork on November 26 until November 29 on a shipment of nuclear fuelbound for the Bushehr nuclear plant.
****
China has dealt a blow to Western efforts to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme by dropping out of a meeting to discuss tougher sanctions against Tehran.
Russia, which like China opposes further UN sanctions against Iran,added fuel to the fire by announcing on Friday that the UN nuclearwatchdog would soon start inspecting and sealing atomic fuel boundfor an Iranian reactor.
The West fears Iran wants to develop atomic weapons but Iran deniesthis. Tehran says it wants only to generate electricity.
Political directors from Britain, France, Germany, the United States,Russia and China were due to meet on November 19 to assess reportsabout Tehran's nuclear programme from the United Nations and fromEU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
"I think it's partly related to genuine travel difficulties, but alsolinked to resistance on the broader question of sanctions from thatquarter," a European diplomatic source said of China's decision.
Russian state-owned nuclear fuel producer TVEL said inspectors fromthe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will begin preparatorywork on November 26 until November 29 on a shipment of nuclear fuelbound for the Bushehr nuclear plant.
****
Cut Israel Off
by Charley Reese
It is long past time for American politicians to quit carrying water for the state of Israel and its powerful U.S. lobby. Congress' craven obedience to the lobby is a disgrace.
America's strategic interests in the Middle East lie with the Arab countries. Israel is a strategic and economic liability. The U.S. government's slavish support of Israel brands us as a hypocrite and is responsible for most of the hostility toward the U.S.
Americans have been brainwashed into believing that it's the Arabs, and the Palestinians in particular, who don't want peace. That is a big lie. The Palestinians made an enormous concession when they agreed to settle for a state on 18 percent of Palestine. Saudi Arabia proposed several years ago a peace plan in which all of the Arab countries would recognize Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. The Israelis rejected it out of hand, just as they reject Arab efforts to have the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.
Israel's goal is and always has been to take all of Palestine and to get rid of the Palestinians. The Israelis employed ethnic cleansing in 1948 and again in 1967 to make hundreds of thousands of Palestinians refugees. For 40 years, the Israelis have refused to give back the Palestinian and Syrian lands they seized in war. They have blatantly violated international law by building settlements on occupied land, and by violating the airspace of other sovereign countries.
Palestinians are the victims, not the villains, in this case. The Israelis make their lives miserable in the hope they will give up and leave. At the same time, the Israelis, in cahoots with the American government, maintain a charade of proposed peace talks. They of course never come to fruition. The Israeli government is not about to allow the Palestinians to have a viable state. If they give the Palestinians anything, it will be a patchwork of enclaves completely surrounded and controlled by Israel. Having created 700,000 Palestinian refugees, the Israelis have from the beginning refused to allow them to return to their homes, farms and businesses, all of which Israel confiscated on the specious grounds that they were "abandoned property."
Without U.S. aid, which now is conservatively estimated to total $108 billion (think of the infrastructure and schools that amount could build in the U.S.), and without the U.S. wielding its veto every time the United Nations tries to act, none of this would be possible.
It is not just the Muslim world that hates our pro-Israel foreign policy, for sound reasons that it is unjust and cruel. Europeans and others around the world are contemptuous of America's slavelike obedience to a small foreign power. It has gotten to the point that to be seen as an ally of the United States is viewed negatively.
The Arab and Muslim people, with the exception of al-Qaeda, don't hate America or Americans. It is the pro-Israel foreign policy and, of course, our invasions of two Muslim countries that they hate. Virtually all of the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim propaganda generated in this country has its source in the Israeli lobby and in Israel itself.
Thanks to the unconstitutional largess of the cowardly Congress, Israel is a rich country and one of the world's leading military powers. It doesn't need American aid. It is time to quit dancing to the tune of a lobby with dual loyalties and to pursue America's interests.
Americans are being betrayed by their own politicians, and it's time to treat those scoundrels with the contempt they deserve.
It is long past time for American politicians to quit carrying water for the state of Israel and its powerful U.S. lobby. Congress' craven obedience to the lobby is a disgrace.
America's strategic interests in the Middle East lie with the Arab countries. Israel is a strategic and economic liability. The U.S. government's slavish support of Israel brands us as a hypocrite and is responsible for most of the hostility toward the U.S.
Americans have been brainwashed into believing that it's the Arabs, and the Palestinians in particular, who don't want peace. That is a big lie. The Palestinians made an enormous concession when they agreed to settle for a state on 18 percent of Palestine. Saudi Arabia proposed several years ago a peace plan in which all of the Arab countries would recognize Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. The Israelis rejected it out of hand, just as they reject Arab efforts to have the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.
Israel's goal is and always has been to take all of Palestine and to get rid of the Palestinians. The Israelis employed ethnic cleansing in 1948 and again in 1967 to make hundreds of thousands of Palestinians refugees. For 40 years, the Israelis have refused to give back the Palestinian and Syrian lands they seized in war. They have blatantly violated international law by building settlements on occupied land, and by violating the airspace of other sovereign countries.
Palestinians are the victims, not the villains, in this case. The Israelis make their lives miserable in the hope they will give up and leave. At the same time, the Israelis, in cahoots with the American government, maintain a charade of proposed peace talks. They of course never come to fruition. The Israeli government is not about to allow the Palestinians to have a viable state. If they give the Palestinians anything, it will be a patchwork of enclaves completely surrounded and controlled by Israel. Having created 700,000 Palestinian refugees, the Israelis have from the beginning refused to allow them to return to their homes, farms and businesses, all of which Israel confiscated on the specious grounds that they were "abandoned property."
Without U.S. aid, which now is conservatively estimated to total $108 billion (think of the infrastructure and schools that amount could build in the U.S.), and without the U.S. wielding its veto every time the United Nations tries to act, none of this would be possible.
It is not just the Muslim world that hates our pro-Israel foreign policy, for sound reasons that it is unjust and cruel. Europeans and others around the world are contemptuous of America's slavelike obedience to a small foreign power. It has gotten to the point that to be seen as an ally of the United States is viewed negatively.
The Arab and Muslim people, with the exception of al-Qaeda, don't hate America or Americans. It is the pro-Israel foreign policy and, of course, our invasions of two Muslim countries that they hate. Virtually all of the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim propaganda generated in this country has its source in the Israeli lobby and in Israel itself.
Thanks to the unconstitutional largess of the cowardly Congress, Israel is a rich country and one of the world's leading military powers. It doesn't need American aid. It is time to quit dancing to the tune of a lobby with dual loyalties and to pursue America's interests.
Americans are being betrayed by their own politicians, and it's time to treat those scoundrels with the contempt they deserve.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
The Shame of Our Flag
The United States is the power behind world repression. Since World War Two we have made it our policy to support the corporate exploitation of resources and populations the world over, so long as the bulk of those riches flowed into the US to maintain US consumption and economic growth.
The US is the leading producer of greenhouse gasses. Yet the US is the one country that has refused to do anything about them. It is the top consumer of world resources, consuming at a level far exceeding the carrying capacity of the environment. As such, the US is largely responsible for resource depletion and mass extinction.
Yet even our gluttonous over-consumption is not enough to sustain economic growth. So we have turned to juggling bubbles of debt. The public is told that it is their patriotic duty to consume, consume, consume, even as their adjusted income continues to shrink. To fulfill our patriotic duty, we take out second and third mortgages, and we max out credit cards. Our debts are then repackaged and sold off as investments.
Now these bubbles are becoming unmanageable. Foreign investors, the other pillar of our economy, are beginning to divest themselves of the US dollar. A major economic crash is imminent, a crash that could make the Great Depression pale in comparison. Once this crash is complete, plans are already in place to replace the US dollar with the North American Amero, to establish the supremacy of the North American Union over the federal governments of the US, Canada and Mexico, and to keep the public in line through the establishment of a repressive police state.
Meanwhile the US Empire and the conquest of the rest of the world will continue. Under the guise of fighting a war on terror, we have assumed the right to attack any country we wish through so-called pre-emptive strikes. We can imprison anyone anywhere indefinitely, without filing formal charges. And we can use any amount of force necessary, even torture.
The country we live in has become a fascist empire. Our government and our corporations have joined together to commit crimes against humanity and crimes against the planet. If allowed to go on, all of us will suffer - all of us but our elite masters. That is, if their insane greed does not destroy this planet's ability to support complex life.
Something has to be done to stop this madness, the sooner the better. And that goal will not be achieved by voting, writing letters to our congresspeople, or marching on the capitol. Our only recourse to prevent the unthinkable is a major uprising.
The US is the leading producer of greenhouse gasses. Yet the US is the one country that has refused to do anything about them. It is the top consumer of world resources, consuming at a level far exceeding the carrying capacity of the environment. As such, the US is largely responsible for resource depletion and mass extinction.
Yet even our gluttonous over-consumption is not enough to sustain economic growth. So we have turned to juggling bubbles of debt. The public is told that it is their patriotic duty to consume, consume, consume, even as their adjusted income continues to shrink. To fulfill our patriotic duty, we take out second and third mortgages, and we max out credit cards. Our debts are then repackaged and sold off as investments.
Now these bubbles are becoming unmanageable. Foreign investors, the other pillar of our economy, are beginning to divest themselves of the US dollar. A major economic crash is imminent, a crash that could make the Great Depression pale in comparison. Once this crash is complete, plans are already in place to replace the US dollar with the North American Amero, to establish the supremacy of the North American Union over the federal governments of the US, Canada and Mexico, and to keep the public in line through the establishment of a repressive police state.
Meanwhile the US Empire and the conquest of the rest of the world will continue. Under the guise of fighting a war on terror, we have assumed the right to attack any country we wish through so-called pre-emptive strikes. We can imprison anyone anywhere indefinitely, without filing formal charges. And we can use any amount of force necessary, even torture.
The country we live in has become a fascist empire. Our government and our corporations have joined together to commit crimes against humanity and crimes against the planet. If allowed to go on, all of us will suffer - all of us but our elite masters. That is, if their insane greed does not destroy this planet's ability to support complex life.
Something has to be done to stop this madness, the sooner the better. And that goal will not be achieved by voting, writing letters to our congresspeople, or marching on the capitol. Our only recourse to prevent the unthinkable is a major uprising.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Wesley Snipes Seeks Change of Venue in Tax Fraud Trial from Ocala, FL to NYC to Avoid "Hotbed of Klan Activity"
From the Smoking Gun:
In a bid to get his criminal tax evasion trial transferred from Florida to New York, Wesley Snipes claims that prosecutors "deliberately chose the most racially discriminatory venue available," an area that the actor claims is a "hotbed of Klan activity" and where "substantial pockets of prejudice exist."
In a venue change motion filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Ocala, Snipes claims that government lawyers are angling to get an "all-white Southern jury" to hear its case against the 45-year-old performer. According to the November 5 Snipes motion, the Ocala area features statues honoring the KKK founder, and the hate group "adopted highways to commemorate the Klan." Additionally, he adds, "the Confederate Flag flies over government property."
To support the claim that he faces a possible judicial lynching, Snipes commissioned a public opinion poll comparing racial attitudes in the Ocala area and his preferred judicial jurisdiction, the Southern District of New York (which includes Manhattan, The Bronx, and a few outlying counties). The survey report, a copy of which you'll find here, includes New York-Florida comparisons on topics like interracial marriage, race-based hiring preferences, and whether the Confederate flag is a symbol of pride, not prejudice. Oh, and when asked whether burning a cross on someone's lawn should be a federal crime, the Snipes poll found that 23.8% of Ocala residents replied "No." That's compared to 13.2% of New Yorkers polled. Though a previous Snipes venue change bid was rejected, a federal judge recently allowed the refiling of motions after the actor fired his entire legal team for what he claimed was incompetence.
Read More
*******
IMO he has a point, the last thing I would want is a group of rednecks deciding my faith, No what I mean.
In a bid to get his criminal tax evasion trial transferred from Florida to New York, Wesley Snipes claims that prosecutors "deliberately chose the most racially discriminatory venue available," an area that the actor claims is a "hotbed of Klan activity" and where "substantial pockets of prejudice exist."
In a venue change motion filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Ocala, Snipes claims that government lawyers are angling to get an "all-white Southern jury" to hear its case against the 45-year-old performer. According to the November 5 Snipes motion, the Ocala area features statues honoring the KKK founder, and the hate group "adopted highways to commemorate the Klan." Additionally, he adds, "the Confederate Flag flies over government property."
To support the claim that he faces a possible judicial lynching, Snipes commissioned a public opinion poll comparing racial attitudes in the Ocala area and his preferred judicial jurisdiction, the Southern District of New York (which includes Manhattan, The Bronx, and a few outlying counties). The survey report, a copy of which you'll find here, includes New York-Florida comparisons on topics like interracial marriage, race-based hiring preferences, and whether the Confederate flag is a symbol of pride, not prejudice. Oh, and when asked whether burning a cross on someone's lawn should be a federal crime, the Snipes poll found that 23.8% of Ocala residents replied "No." That's compared to 13.2% of New Yorkers polled. Though a previous Snipes venue change bid was rejected, a federal judge recently allowed the refiling of motions after the actor fired his entire legal team for what he claimed was incompetence.
Read More
*******
IMO he has a point, the last thing I would want is a group of rednecks deciding my faith, No what I mean.
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