Karen J. Greenberg: How Washington Lost Faith in America's Courts!

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the unexpected extent of the damage Americans have done to themselves and their institutions is coming into better focus. The event that "changed everything" did turn out to change Washington in ways more startling than most people realize. On terrorism and national security, to take an obvious, if seldom commented upon, example, the confidence of the US government seems to have been severely, perhaps irreparably, shaken, when it comes to that basic and essential institution: the courts. If, in fact, we area "nation of laws," you wouldn't know it from Washington's actions over the past few years. Nothing spoke more directly to that loss of faith, to our country's increasing incapacity for meeting violence with the law, than the wildly hailed decision to kill rather than capture Osama bin Laden. Clearly, a key factor in that decision was a growing belief, widely shared within the national security establishment, that none of our traditional, or even newly created tribunals, civilian or military, could have handled a bin Laden trial. Washington's faith went solely to NAVY SEALS zooming into another country's sovereign airspace on a moonless night on a mission to assassinate bin Laden, whether he offered the slightest resistance or not. It evidently seemed so much easier to the top officials overseeing the operation, and much less messy, than bringing the confessed mass murderer into a courtroom in, or even anyway near the United States.

Pravda: Hugo Chavez To Hide Venezuela's Riches From the West

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has decided to secretly transfer the gold reserves and financial accounts of Venezuela, transferring them to Russia and China. His opponents in Venezuela refer to a document, which Chavez signed on August 12. Officials of the Venezuelan administration confirmed his intention. According to Jorge Giordani, the Finance Minister of Venezuela, the weakening dollar, the danger of default by our USA, and the ongoing crisis in Europe, have put Venezuela's national savings at risk. The savings, the minister added, would be safer at home, and in "allied countries". According to Jorge Giordani, the Finance Minister of Venezuela, the weakening dollar, the danger of default in the USA and the ongoing crisis in Europe put Venezuela's national savings at risk. The savings, the minister added, would be safer at home, and in "allied countries." According to various estimates, it goes about 11-29 billion dollars. Julio Montoya, a spokesman for the opposition in the parliament of Venezuela, said Chavez could invest as much as $6.3 billion in the developing markets. These cash assets are currently being saved on accounts in Western states: 59% in Switzerland, 18% in Britain, and 11.3% in the USA. As for gold reserves, they are expected to be delivered back to Venezuela too. High ranking opposition officials say that it goes about the withdrawal of gold bars (211 of the nation's 365 tons) from US, Canadian, British and Swiss credit organizations (JPMorgan Chase&Co., Barclays Pl, Standard Chartered Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia, and others.) Britain, for example, is the home of 99 tons of Venezuelan gold, which has been stored in that country since 1980! Financial analysts believe that Hugo Chavez's decision is based on the growing prices on precious metals, as well as on the weakening of the American dollar.

Global Research: More Lies, More Censorship, More Wars!

Once again, our country is tortured by war propaganda through the major media: Once again, in a country which does not advocate Western views and interests, a chaotic situation is created by the usual suspects, in the guise of "humanitarian intervention", the same crap given to me and my fellow soldiers, when I fought for the United States in Vietnam. The "social unrest" in Syria is described by the major media as a "peaceful protest movement", though the fact is that we are looking at an armed insurrection, which had been planned a long time ago, according to General Wesley Clark. Here is what he wrote in his book: "Winning Modern Wars", Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire. "As I went back through the Pentagon (yes, I was there too, in the company of CIA man Steve Mayfield, who had wanted me to spy in East Germany, against the wishes of my boss, Colonel Akkula, (who had the task of obtaining weapons to fight the Soviets during World War II). The colonel had talked me out of that spy job, and as the Intelligence Operations Officer, I knew that he always had my best interests at heart. But I digress: In a recent article on Global Research: A "Humanitarian War" on Syria, Military Escalation. Towards a Broader Middle East - Central Asian War? (Michel Chossudovsky revealed the underlying mechanisms of the "protest movement" in Syria, and its covert connections to Western Intelligence.)

AmyTeibel: Egypt Withdraws Ambassador to Israel over Ambush

Egypt recalled its ambassador from Israel Saturday to protest the deaths of at least three Egyptian soldiers, killed in a shootout between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants, who had launched an attack on Israel from Egyptian soil. The decision sharply escalated tensions between the neighboring countries, whose 1979 peace treaty is being tested by the fall of Egypt's longtime autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak. Egypt's interim government accused Israel of violating that treaty, and said the envoy would be withdrawn until Israel concludes its investigation into the Egyptian security forces' deaths. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the Israeli government was holding consultations on the Egyptian move. He had no further comment. The Cabinet, which was appointed by the ruling military council that took over power after Mubarak's ouster, revised an earlier statement, saying that the envoy, Yasser Reda, would be summoned for consultation, something that would have signaled a lower-level spat. Israel was likely to see that as a worrisome sign that Egypt's new leaders would be more responsive to public opinion about the Jewish state, which remains overwhelmingly unpopular because of its conflict with the Palestinians.

Susan Lindauer: NATO Gunship Slaughters Civilians in Zawia!

On August 18, Tribal Chief Dr. Moussa Ibrahim's younger brother was killed by NATO in Zawia. At the time, an Apache gunship fired on innocent civilians, while the people of that city were celebrating the timely departure of the NATO rebels, who were evicted by the Libyan army. As we all know by now, all Libyans are angry about NATO's bombing of electric power stations. The word on the street is: "How is NATO protecting civilians by bombing power grids?" In the hot desert, many of Libya's people have suffered from extreme heat, no water, no refrigeration, no lights, no phones to use in case of an emergency! This is going beyond the beyond's: This is just pure NATO terrorism. On a positive note, as soon as the Libyan Army arrived, all of the "so-called rebels" disappeared into thin air, and began running for their lives. One government source estimated that there were about 1,000 "rebels", most of them very young, between 15, 16, 17 and 18. Because of their youth and lack of military experience, the Libyan army estimates that despite NATO's rain of terror, the bloodshed would have ended months ago. Though the "rebels" are now desperate, NATO is becoming even more desperate, since they understand that their air cover is about to be withdrawn. The "big oil" companies had better wake up and lobby their governments, if they ever want to return to Libya!

Thierry Meyssan: Libya and The End of Western Illusions

Merely half of Europeans still support the war against Libya, and even then, their position is based on erroneous information: In fact, they still believe that the "Gaddafi Regime" crushed the protests in Benghazi with brutal force, and bombed civilian districts in Tripoli, while the Colonel himself was warning of: "rivers of blood", if his compatriots continued to challenge his authority. During his two month investigation on the ground, he was able to verify that these accusations were pure propaganda intoxication, designed by the NATO powers to create the conditions for war, and relayed around the world by their television media, in particular by Al-Jazeera, CNN, BBC, and France24. However, the reader who doesn't know where he stands on this issue, and who, despite the brainwashing of September 11, and Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, is reluctant to accept that the United States, France, the UK and Qatar were actually capable of fabricating such lies, will be able to forge an opinion over time. NATO, the largest military coalition in history, has failed after five months of bombardments to overthrow the one it designated as a "tyrant". Every Friday, a large demonstration in support of the regime is organized in a different city, and all experts are unanimous in considering that Colonel Gaddafi enjoys at least 90% of popular support in Tripolitania, and 70% across the entire country, including the "rebel" areas. These are people who every single day put up with the evil blockade, aerial bombardments and ground fighting. None of them would defend anyone who committed them to fight for someone who is a tyrant, or who is guilty of any crimes. The second illusion includes not only Israel, as well as the monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Turkey.