Jonathan Easley: Ron Paul says Defense Bill assures Descent into Totalitarianism!i

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul warned that the National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by Congress this month, will accelerate the country's "slip into tyranny" and virtually assures "our descent into totalitarianism." "The founders wanted to set a high bar for the government to over -come in order to deprive an individual of life or liberty," Paul, the libertarian congressman from Texas, said Monday in a weekly phone message to supporter. "To lower that bar is to endanger everyone. When the bar is low enough to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually assured. The Patriot Act, as bad as its violations against the Fourth Amendment was, was just one step down the slippery slope. The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act continues that slip into tyranny, and in fact, accelerates it significantly." The NDAA is the nearly $670 billion defense bill that covers the military budget, and funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One controversial provision  mandates the detention of terror suspects, and reaffirms the administration's authority to detain those suspected of having ties to terrorist organizations. "The Fifth Amendment is about much more than the right to remain silent in the face of government questioning," Paul continued. "It contains very basic and very critical stipulations about the due process of law. The government cannot imprison a person for no reason, and with no evidence presented, and without access to legal council. The danger of the NDAA is its alarmingly vague, undefined criteria for who can be indefinitely detained by the US government without trial."

Robert Johnson: US Civilians Decide Whom to Kill with Military Drones!

President Obama's enormous expansion of the US drone program may be pushing too fast for military staffing to keep up: David S Cloud of the Los Angeles Times reports that the military is now forced to rely on a string of civilian contractors placed at all levels along the "kill chain." These are the people who analyze incoming drone video, and decide when to fire Hellfire missiles. According to Cloud, an American civilian played a "central role" in the Predator attack that accidentally killed 15 Afghans in 2010, information that "surprised" the investigating Army officer. Manning the drone fleet is a mounting issue in the Air Force. It takes more staff to fly a drone than an F-15, and with more drones than ever in the air, non-government employees are increasingly employed to analyze video, and keep the UAVs in the air. The Air Force says it takes 168 people to fly a Predator for 24 hours, and 300 people to keep a Global Hawk aloft for the same time. The Air Force owns 230 Reapers, Predators, and Global Hawks, flying 50 of them at any given time, but the 730 more drones being added to the fleet over the next ten years explains why military personnel are now being asked to fly four drones at once! 

The Telegraph: US Eyes first BP Criminal Carges over Gulf Oil Spill!

US prosecutors are readying criminal charges against British oil giant BP over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident that led to the catastrophic Gulf oil spill, the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday. The charges, if brought and prosecuted by the US Justice Department would be the first criminal charges over the disaster: Prosecutors are focusing on US-based BP engineers and at least one supervisor, who they say may have provided false information to regulators on the risks of deep water drilling in the Gulf. Felony charges for providing false information in federal documents may be made public early next year, said the Wall-Street Journal. A conviction on that charge would carry a fine and up to five years in prison, the newspaper said. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has already issued a second list of violations regarding BP's operation of the Macondo well that blew out in April 2010, causing the worst maritime environmental disaster in history. The US drilling safety agency has said it determined BP failed to conduct an accurate pressure integrity test in one area of the well. In four different sections of the well, BP failed to suspend drilling operations at the Macondo, when the safe drilling margin was not maintained, the agency said. An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, 2010, killed 11 people, and the well gushed oil into the ocean for 87 days, polluting the southern US shoreline, and crippling the local tourism and fishing sectors.

Tony Greenstein: In Israel They Shackle Palestinian Children!

Perhaps the most shocking of all things in Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is the way that children are treated. It is unimaginable that a Jewish Israeli child would be brought to court in shackles, or even be placed in a court of law. Beatings and abuse of children by the Israeli military is common, and judges, such as the one below, don't even blink an eye. Thus is legal racism established! Below is a paper circulated by Dr Derek Summerfield from Defense for Children International, Palestine Section, on the shooting of children working near the northern border of Gaza. True, in the military courtroom itself, Palestinians are neither shot nor beaten. They are not 'targeted for elimination' nor even sentenced to death, at least not in the courtroom. But the military court is also a place where all illusions die, and hopes! Because that is where Palestinians learn that injury caused them is no error, nor misunderstand -ing, but a matter of policy. That is where they learn that law, regarding Palestinians is nothing short of another kind of weapon, one of many. Among the tanks and planes, and cluster bombs and checkpoints and Separation Walls and white phosphorus and the IOF spokesman: The military court is the end of ends, the last judgment, the final accusation, apriori, of Palestinians only because they are Palestinians. In courtroom number 2, where children are put on trial, is the place beyond that end. Only two family members are allowed to come to the trial. This is usually the only time they can come to see their son, and they do! Time after time. They may bring cigarettes and money for the long day awaiting them. Nothing else! Not even medication, tissues, food, a book or a newspaper. Visitors are allowed to bring a notebook and a pen, but no tissues. We have no privileges concerning tissues!     

The Independent: The Battle for Israel's Soul!

If the State of Israel is threatened, the assumption has been, that threat comes from outside, from militant Palestinian groups vowing to drive it into the sea or, more recently, from Iran. It is increasingly apparent, however, that the survival of Israel as a democratic and modern state  is also threatened from within, specifically by its own ultra-Orthodox minority. Economically, a far larger proportion of ultra-Orthodox Jews rely on the state for support than do other Israelis. They represent a diplomatic and security liability, spearheading unauthorized settlements and refusing military service on conscientious grounds. In their politics and social mores, they are deeply conservative, and their big families mean that their influence is growing faster than that of any other group. This is leading to more and more conflicts within Israel itself. Scuffles in Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem this week, and a protest rally against the harassment by ultra-Orthodox men of girls on their way to school are just the latest, and most virulent instances of this culture clash spilling out on to the street. While many senior politicians, including President Shimon Peres, and the opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, have come out in spoken support of Israel's secular democracy, their efforts only illustrate how difficult it is to defend moderation against zealotry of whatever kind. This is a struggle for the soul of Israel, and it is not going away.  

Nile Bowie: Naked Neo-Imperialism for Post-Gadhafi Libya!

While the unconcealed hypocrisy that led to the emergence of a new Libya fades from the public consciousness, the governments of the West are beginning to reap the the profits of their invest -ments. Under a mandate to protect civilians, these allied forces armed radical factions of Islamist fighters, and showered white phosphorus tipped ordnance onto densely populated residential areas. While sponsoring politicians equated the Libyan rebels to "heroic" advocates of western democracy, fighting for freedom, these "men"committed racially motivated beheadings and executions of migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa, and filled mass graves with the corpses of their fellow countrymen, especially Gaddafi loyalists. Before being sodomized with a combat knife and extra judicially assassinated by foreign funded rebel fighters, Muammar Gadhafi oversaw one of Africa's most prosperous nations. With an annual economic growth of 10% and extensive programs for social welfare, public healthcare and education, Libya was viewed as a place of relative opportunity with numerous jobs for migrant workers from neighboring countries in the region. Gadhafi advocated the creation of an African Union with its own Central Bank and Monetary Fund, and a Gold Dinar currency, a move that would directly threaten the financial oligarchy of the Franco-Anglo-American powers that funded his demise.

E. J. Dionne: Obama: The Conservative In 2012!

Obama, the conservative in 2012: At a moment when the nation wonders whether politicians can agree on anything, here is something that unites the Republican presidential candidates, and all of them with President Obama: Everyone agrees that the 2012 election will be a turning point involving one of the most momentous choices in American history. True, candidates and columnists regularly cast the impending election as the most important ever. Campaigning last week in Pella, Iowa, Republican Rick Santorum acknowledged as much, but he insisted that this time, the choice really was that fundamental. "The debate," he said, "is about who we are." Speaking not far away in Mount Pleasant, Newt Gingrich went even further, and was more specific. "This is the most important election since 1860," he said, "because there's such a dramatic difference between the best food-stamp president in history, and the best paycheck candidate." Thus did Gingrich combine historic sweep with a cheap and inaccurate attack. Nonetheless, it says a great deal that Gingrich chose to reach all the way back to the election that helped spark the Civil War.

Veterans Today: How Zionism Infiltrated the US!

Mark Bruzonsky, a Jewish-American Scholar and Journalist, has been a key member behind the scenes of the Israeli Palestinian peace initiative in the 1980s, meeting with Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and with Palestinian officials. In an exclusive interview with Press TV's Autograph, Mr. Bruzonsky talks about challenges and missed opportunities he witnessed first
-hand, and how Zionist groups infiltrated American politics, US institutions and organizations. He goes further to explain the specific time and day Obama sold out to the AIPAC (American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee) lobby, and how President Obama would never dare oppose the stronghold of the Zionist, Israeli Lobby in the US. Press TV: "In 1982, Mr. Bruzonsky, you authored the Paris Declaration, a breakthrough event that greatly contributed to political developments of the time. Please tell us about that." Bruzonsky: In the 1980's, in a sense, a lot of us knew there was this political cancer. It was very bad, it was eating up the patient and needed to be dealt with and cured. I was in Paris, sitting in a hotel room, a big event in my life, with four very important people. I was there to do the work and write the document: These people were the former president of France, Pierre Mendis France, the founder of the World Zionist Organization and the World Jewish Congress - Nahum Goldman, his successor, who was the only Jewish leader in America who had ever been president of B'nai Brith and World Jewish Congress and Secretary of Commerce.

The Staff of AFP: American Jews and Uranium Stockpiles.

Recently declassified documents analyzed by the Institute for Research on Middle Eastern Policy reveal a surprising fact. The Israeli government used American Jews and its own intelligence agents to infiltrate American uranium stockpiles in the 1950's and 1960's to steal 269 kilograms of weapons-grade material. That led to the creation of the Zionist state's first nuclear bomb. According to hundreds of documents from the FBI, CIA and other agencies recently declassified under the Freedom of Information Act, the United States contracted oversight of its nuclear materials stockpile to Zalman Shapiro, president of Numec Inc., an Apollo, Pa.-based company that US intelligence suspected had ties to the newly formed Zionist government in Palestine. Over the next 11 years, 269 kilograms of enriched uranium were stolen from the plant, in an operation guided by four known Mossad Israeli intelligence agents: Rafael Eitan, Avraham Ben-Dor, Ephraim Biegun and Avraham Hermoni. Eitan went on to become the Mossad director who commandeered intelligence operations that kidnapped Adolf Eichmann from his home in Argentina in the 1960's. Eitan also headed the Lekem, which is a Jewish intelligence bureau in charge of stealing nuclear secrets from the United States and other nations.

Henry Makow Ph.D.: Illuminati Will Burst China's Bubble!

The Illuminati have chosen China to be the main producer/manufacturer of the NWO. China's economy is completely artificial. The stated economic justifications for China's current rise are lies, and a veil for an agenda. The mainstream media generally portray the US as a dying giant, and China as an unstoppable rising power. And yet, both countries have virtually the same debt-to -GDP levels. The US has $15 trillion worth of debt and a GDP of just over $14 trillion, while China has a GDP of $5.8 trillion, and debts of $5.7 trillion. So why is China portrayed as being strong? Because, as the Goldman Sachs graph shows, over the the next 40-years the Illuminati plan to weaken the US and strengthen China. Economics are a veil for an agenda. China is picked to be the economic powerhouse of the New World Order. A 2003 projection of the world's economies by Goldman Sachs 'predicts' that China's GDP will overtake the US in 2040. By 2050 China's GDP will have reached $45,000 billion, leaving the US a distant second with $35,000 billion. Germany, the powerhouse of the EU, will only have a GDP of $2,500 billion. This projection is at odds with China's current economic weakness. The economy is fueled by a construction bubble that should have burst years ago.

S.M. Hali: Serving as a Contingent and Sector Commander!

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's statement regarding the constitutional role of the Pakistani Army has put to rest rumors and speculation of an army takeover. It has also refuted Yusuf Raza Gillani's charge of the Army plotting to throw the political government out when Kayani declared "Army has no desire to derail democracy." Pakistan Army's past role in the six and a half decades of Pakistan's existence does spell doom and gloom for democratic institutions at the hands of the Army, since there have been four military takeovers, and Pakistan has been ruled by the army for over 33 years. With such a track record, the current dispensation in the government was wary of Pakistan Army's intentions, but it should not have denigrated the Army, forcing a clash between institutions. One would expect that those who claim to be champions of democracy would endeavor to keep the banner of democracy aloft, but it appears that the same democrats are sacrificing the notions at the alter of their own self-preservation. With the memo-gate scandal being examined by the Supreme Court, one would expect that the current political dispensation ruling in Islamabad would let justice prevail, and the judicial proceedings take their legitimate course, instead of busy hurling impediments in the way of the judicial system. Why are these people against against the judicial process? Do they fear the exposure of their own veiled complicity in the macabre plot to upstage the military? The "Mossad" plays an important role in the operation of "ISRAEL", and similarly Indian security agency RAW has a significant task in the Indian system of government. One never hears the Israeli government or Indian administration castigate Mossad or RAW, but in Pakistan!

Chossudovsky: Preparing to Attack Iran with Nuclear Weapons!

The world is at a dangerous crossroads. America is on a War Path. World War III is no longer an abstract concept. The US and its allies are preparing to launch a nuclear war directed against Iran with devastating consequences. This military adventure in the real sense of the word threatens the future of humanity: The Pentagon's global military design is one of world conquest. The military deployment of US-NATO forces is occurring in several regions of the world simultaneously. War pretexts and "justifications" abound. Iran is heralded as a threat to Israel and the World. The war on Iran has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for more than eight years. In recent developments, a renewed set of threats and accusations directed against Teheran have been launched. A"war of stealth" has already commenced. Mossad intelligence operatives are on the ground. Covert paramilitary formations are being launched inside Iran, CIA drones are being deployed. Meanwhile, Washington, London, Brussels and Tel Aviv have launched specific destabilizing initiatives "to choke Iran diplomatically, financially and economically" A stepped up economic sanctions regime has been formulated by the US Congress. A bipartisan consensus has emerged in Washington in favor of strangling the Iranian economy, by making it virtually impossible for Teheran to sell its oil. This new wave of diplomatic hype, coupled with the threat of of economic sanctions, has also contributed to triggering an aura of uncertainty in the market for crude oil, with potentially devastating consequences on the global economy.

The Telegraph: China Launches Rival to GPS Satellite System.

China took a further step on Tuesday toward ending its dependence on US satellites to provide navigation and positioning services with the start of trial operations of its home-grown Beidou system. Ran Chengqi, spokesman for the new system, told reporters that Beidou, or "Big Dipper", would cover most parts of the Asia Pacific by next year, and then the world by 2020. China has already launched 10 satellites to support Beidou, and would launch another six next year, he said. State media have said the system will eventually comprise 35 satellites, which will be used for a variety of sectors including fisheries, meteorology and telecommunications. China has ambitious plans for space, including a space station and a manned trip to the moon. While China has vowed never to militarize space, experts say it is ramping up the military use of space with new satellites. The successful missile kill of an old satellite in early 2007 represented a new level of ability for the Chinese military, and last year China successfully tested emerging technology aimed at destroying missiles in mid-air.

Shashank Joshi: Arab Spring - The Revolution has only Just Begun

The Middle East faces a long, bumpy and bloody ride, as nations struggle to build a new order while battling internal factions and outside interference. This year, the certitudes of the old Middle East dissolved with unseemly haste. A regional order frozen in place since the death of Egypt's Colonel Nasser 40 years ago finally thawed. It produced a torrent of uprisings, coups, standoffs, civil wars, and an orgy of state-sponsored bloodletting. This was the earthquake. In 2012, prepare for the aftershocks, but revolution is not, and never has been, an event. It is a project, and one whose gestation spans not only months, or even years, but decades. The raw violence of the Arab awakening is uncomfortable for those of us accustomed to a different sort of revolution. This month, Vaclav Havel died. His was the era of the pure revolution. The dissolution of the Soviet empire in Europe, and Havel's ascent to the Czech presidency, was tidier than we had any right to expect. It was the age of prison-to-presidency leaps by distinguished statesmen, not undignified rabbles. Today, we confront slow-burning revolutions of barbed wire and blood, not velvet. In Egypt, the army began the year as a savior of the revolution; it ended it as tormentor.

Sayanim: How the Israeli Lobby leads the Effort to take America to War!

A review of Guilt by Association reads: " This book contains so much amazing detail, that it takes a while to absorb it all. The author's background gives him credibility, and the connections between the political class, organized crime, corporate media and Israeli connections are well researched." "This explosive tour de force by Senate Finance Committee counsel Jeff Gates will rattle the bones of Washington's political establishment as never before. With meticulous analysis, Gates' non-partisan straight talk presents a fearless and unparalleled expose of rampant deceit, corruption and treason infecting the American body politic for many decades. Writing a review simply cannot do justice to this book. Read it for yourself and prepare to have the curtain lifted on years of deceit and corruption: The Motto of the Mossad, Israel's Intelligence Agency is: "By Deception, Thou Shalt Make War". Israel is doing all it can to to make Iran the next disastrous 'war for control' and the 85% of corrupt US politicians will vote it in, when the time comes. It is 'support the war or lose your seat': Americans know that something fundamental is amiss. They sense, rightly, that they are being misled, no matter which political party does the leading. A long misinformed public lacks the tools to grasp HOW they are being deceived. Without these tools, Americans will continue to be frustrated at being played for the fool. When the "con" is clearly seen, "the mark" (that's us) will see that all roads lead to the same duplicitous source: Israel and its operatives!

Devvy Kidd: Overlooked Language In NDAA!

The Internet has been literally burning up over the National Defense Authorization Act, another monstrous bill with language like: "Obama is going to ship Americans to Gitmo, and Americans will be detained indefinitely in secret without due process." Storing 7 days of Food could send you to Gitmo Indefinitely. "The real danger lies in the government's definition of what a suspected terrorist is." "According to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY): We're talking about American citizens who can be taken from the United States and sent to a camp at Guantanamo Bay and held indefinitely. There are laws on the books right now that characterize who might be a terrorist: Someone missing fingers on their hands is a suspect, according to the Department of Justice. Someone who has guns, someone who has ammunition that is weatherproofed, someone who has more than seven days of food in their house, can be considered a potential terrorist. If you are suspected because of these activities, do you want the government to have the ability to send you to Guantanamo Bay for indefinite detention? Paul says this is why he and twelve other senators voted against the bill, because they saw the dangerous implications of this provision, which was designed to give the military certain powers during the current conflict with al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

Fars News Agency: Pirate Attack on Saudi Oil Tanker!

The Iranian Navy has thwarted a Pirate Attack on a Saudi Oil Tanker in International Waters. An attempted hijacking of a Saudi oil tanker by unknown pirate boats was foiled after an Iranian fleet of warships present in the region rushed to the scene. "After the regional center of Chabahar coast guard watch announced last night that a Saudi oil tanker had asked for help due to the suspicious approach of several unknown boats, a Jamaran destroyer was dispatched to the area swiftly," Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Seyed Mahmoud Moussavi told reporters on Monday. "After the presence of the destroyer on the scene, the unknown boats fled the area, and the entire region came under the control of the Iranian Navy forces," he added. Moussavi did not mention the specific coordinates or region of the international waters that the Saudi oil tanker was saved by the Iranian destroyer, but the development has most likely taken place in the Sea of Oman, where Iran is presently staging massive war games. Iran's naval forces have deployed in the international waters of the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, after they started massive war-games in international waters on Saturday.

Lisa Karpova: Hugo Chavez Rips Into Obama!

Chavez: Obama is an irresponsible phony who shames the USA. On Monday the 19th, Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, heavily criticized the US president, Barack Obama, in response to his warning of the alleged restrictions on the rights of Venezuelans. Chavez called Obama "irresponsible and fake":"Obama will get involved with his things. He dedicates himself to his country, where he has practiced a disaster. Now he comes seeking votes by attacking Venezuela. Do not be irresponsible, boy," said Chavez in a Council of Ministers, broadcast on state television. In an interview with the Venezuelan daily "El Universal" on Monday 19th, Obama said the United States increasingly believes that the close ties between Venezuela, Iran and Cuba do not benefit the Venezuelan people. In May, the US imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA for disrespecting US legislation by selling $50 million in oil derivatives to Iran. "Venezuela is a sovereign country, proud. The US has no intention to intervene in the external relations of Venezuela," Obama said in a brief interview with the newspaper. "However, I think the government's ties with Iran and Cuba are not beneficial to the interests of Venezuela and its people." Chavez, however, was angered by statements of the President of the United States. "In fact, Obama, does he know what provokes me? Suffer, I pity you. Let us be calm and quiet, we are free and we will never be a colony of his," he answered.

Jeff Gates: Israeli Operatives in the US!!!

Jeff Gates documents how the Israeli Lobby led the effort to take America to war in pursuit of Tel Aviv's Expansionist Agenda, in his blockbuster book: Guilt by Association: How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War. A Review of Guilt By Association on Amazon reads: "This book contains so much amazing detail that it takes a while to absorb it all. The author's background gives him credibility, and the connections between the political class, organized crime, corporate media and Israeli connections are well researched." "This explosive tour de force by former Senate Finance Committee counsel Jeff Gates will rattle the bones of Washington's political establishment as never before. With meticulous analysis, Gates' non-partisan straight talk presents a fearless and unparalleled expose of rampant deceit, corruption and treason infecting the American body politic for many decades." "Writing a review simply cannot do justice to this book. Read it for yourself and prepare to have the curtain lifted on years of deceit and corruption." Israel is doing all it can to to make Iran the next disastrous 'war for control' and the 85% of corrupt US politicians will vote it in when the time comes as seen in the Press TV report below. It is 'support the war or lose your seat'. This is why I have decided to do a rerun of Jeff Gates' timely article. Sayanim-Israeli Operatives in the US, which best describes why Israel is successful in the US.

Incog Man: Perfidious Israel Sells US Patriot Missiles to China!

Finnish authorities, during a routine search, uncovered a shipment marked "fireworks" aboard a ship bound for Shanghai, China. The cargo was 69 US "Super" Patriot missiles and 160 tons of dangerously packed high-end explosives, capable of all sorts of bomb making, including plutonium devices. The originating port in Germany is fairly close to Schipol Airport in the Netherlands, where US Air Force transport command personnel say high tech transfers to Israel are routinely offloaded at Israeli maintained "secure facilities." Supposedly, the Netherlands and Germany are sovereign nations, but then again, so is the US. "Precious Jewry" thinks they can do as they please in Western countries. From the particulars coming out of Europe, there can be no doubt that Israel was selling these missiles to China. Jews would sell their mothers to make a buck, and then have the GN nerve to cry bloody murder about what happened to her later. Face the facts, America: Israel and the Jews are freely ripping off this country, left and right, have been for quite some time actually. No other nation is supposed to get this level of Patriots (PAC3), except "tiny, besieged" Israel, whom we're always told is constantly threatened by its neighbors.

Branden Moore: Soros' Hand Seen in Anti-Putin Protests!

It appears that Global financial oligarchs, obsessed with erasing national sovereignty world wide, like George Soros and others are instigating another revolution in Russia under the veil of "free and fair democracy". On December 24, 2011 a second opposition rally was held in Moscow, with an estimated 28 to 120 thousand protesters, over the alleged "vote-rigging" that occurred on the December 4th election, won by Putin's United Russia party. As reported by Reuters, the Russian novelist Boris Akunin asked protesters from a large stage: "Do you want Putin to return to the presidency?" Whistling and jeering, protesters chanted: "No!" Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili, a writer, essayist and literary translator. As of now, he is the most commercially successful writer in Russia, selling around 15 million books in Russia, and more than 1 million abroad. He also happens to be the former chairman of the board for a Soros fund, called the Pushkin Library, where he helped compile a 100-volume edition of the best works of Russian Literature of all time. Marianna Tax Choldin, chair of the Soros Foundation's Network Library Program, was quoted in an article back in August of 2000, after being awarded the Pushkin medal by the Russian government. "Through the Soros program, we've helped dozens of libraries in many areas of library development, including automation, collection development, preservation, Internet access and training."

Stephen Lendman: EU Protests Israeli Occupation Policies

On December 23, Haaretz writer Barak Ravid headlined,"EU voices protest over Israeli policies in East Jerusalem, West Bank," saying: "A day after four European Union members of the UN Security Council strongly criticized Israel's decision to speed up construction of settlements." "EU ambassador to Israel Andrew Standley on Thursday submitted a formal protest to the Foreign Ministry over evacuating Bedouins and tearing down Palestinians' houses in the El area near" Ma'aleh Adumim settlement. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Director Jeff Halper called it a major development, saying: "The significance of this development is not only the creation of a greater Jerusalem that controls the center of the West Bank, but the emergence of Israeli Occupation territorial contiguity, that effectively eliminates the two state solution." ICAHD's Co-Director Itay Epshtain added: "ICAHD has long cautioned about the emergence of a greater Jerusalem linking the Judaization of East Jerusalem and displacement of Bedouins in E1, with the development of Ma'aleh Adumim, all the way to the Jordan Valley." On December 20, Washington vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israel's latest settlement expansion plans. In response, all 14 other SC members rebuked America's decision. Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called the move "historic." Dismissing a 14-1 vote, Washington called the SC divided. In fact, nearly the entire world's on one side, America and Israel on the other. The same's held earlier for decades. Palestinians are denied justice. Israel denounced EU members' criticism. A Foreign Ministry statement said they should refrain from "interfering" in Israel's "internal" affairs, and focus solely on restarting peace talks.

Tom Burghardt: Making Wars Happen - US War Plans Against Iran!

Before the first bomb falls, disinformation specialists prepare the ground. Leading media outlets, foreign policy journals and a phletora of think-tanks funded by elite foundations, energy and weapons' conglomerates, 'right,' 'left' or center, take your pick, churn out war propaganda disguised as "analysis." From the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute to the neo-liberal Center for American Progress, rhetorical skirmishes aside, the line is remarkably similar. Indeed, for conservative and liberal elite blioviators alike, Iran poses an "existential threat" to Israel and America's regional "allies," a disparate crew of land-grabbing colonizers, murderous princes and profligate potentates. Only US intervention, in the form of an overt military attack now, or crippling economic sanctions, followed by military action later, can save the day, and bring "democracy" to the benighted Iranian people. If we were to believe neo-con acolyte Thomas Donnelly, "The rapid ticking of the Iran nuclear clock also marks an increasingly dark hour for the United States and its closest allies and partners, because it coincides with a third clock, the timetable of retreat set in motion by Barack Obama. Meanwhile liberal interventionists Rudy deLeon and Brian Katulis over at CAP tell us that "President Barack Obama and his administration are ratcheting up the pressure on the Iranian regime, building an international coalition that is increasingly isolating and weakening Iran, making it pay a price for not living up to its "international responsibilities."

Rob Crilly: US Admits Mistakes in Deadly Pakistan Air Strike!

The 60-page document has not yet been released, but The Daily Telegraph has been told it will say that both the United States and Pakistan must share the blame for a catalog of communications failures: The cross-border attack plunged relations between the two countries to a new low, provoking a round of tit-for-tat allegations about who was responsible. However, the findings of an American investigation show that the US and Afghan forces wrongly concluded that there were no Pakistani forces in the border area, where the coalition was conducting an operation on Nov 26, according to US officials talking to The Wall Street Journal. That assessment cleared the way for an air strike that destroyed two Pakistani border posts. Pakistan responded angrily to the attack, closing its land crossings into Afghanistan to NATO supply convoys, and announcing a review of all relations with Washington and NATO. American officials are still braced for diplomatic expulsions. In the meantime, Cameron Munter, the US ambassador to Islamabad, is believed to have ordered a halt to CIA drone strikes in the border areas of Pakistan, as he tries to patch up relations.

Nadir Mir: Pravda.ru Next War Iran!!!!

The Geopolitics of the times may indicate that the next war is Iran. Although Pakistan, being an established nuclear power, would logically be higher on the scales of "denuking agenda" for so called globalists. Still, Geopolitical logic dictates otherwise. In Iran's case, the American agenda is to prevent it from going nuclear, something which Pakistan achieved over a quarter century ago! American election fervor, meaning attacking Iran, indicates air and missile strikes and a "limited" invasion. Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Advisor Uzi Aradand Defense Minister Ehud Barak, plus numerous Israeli leaders, want a nuclear strike against Iran. For nearly a decade, Iran "going nuclear" has been on the minds of Israeli legislators. This time, the possibility may actually be real: Both Israel and Iran are confident and itching to fight! The "point of no return" was an article by the Atlantic, and it appears clear that there is a high possibility of such an adventure. The Israelis are evasive, but an Israeli strike appears imminent now. The initial strategic moves have already been initiated: Though NATO is planning to intervene, this will be only be to deprive Iran of its chief ally Syria.

Patrick Cockburn: Iraqi PM Escalates Crisis, Ultimatum to Kurds!

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded the Kurds hand over his Sunni Vice
-President, Tariq al Hashemi, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued on charges of terrorism Mr. Maliki said ominously that Mr Hashemi, who has taken refuge in Kurdistan, will receive a fair trial, as that of Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006. Mr Maliki is deliberately escalating the political crisis, which is seen by the Sunni minority as a bid by the Shia dominated government to marginalize them. The Kurds, who have total political and military control of most of northern Iraq, are likely to refuse to hand over Mr Hashemi, and are seeking to act as mediators between him and the Prime Minister. Mr Hashemi said the accusations against him, that he ran death squads made up of his bodyguards against his opponents, are fabrications. The charges are based on confessions from his guards, who said that he personally paid them for the attacks, but these allegations may well have been extracted by torture or the threat of it. Mr Maliki had earlier claimed that an attempt to assassinate him with a remotely detonated bomb three weeks ago outside the parliament building inside the closely guarded Green Zone had been arranged by Mr Hashemi's guards. The details revealed about the alleged plot suggest that, if it was an assassination bid, it was a poorly organized one unlikely to succeed!

Sebastian Abbot: Pakistani Army Denies Intention to Oust Government

Pakistan's army chief has denied accusations that the military is working to oust the country's civilian government amid tensions over a secret memo sent to Washington earlier this year about an alleged coup, the military said Friday. The memo scandal has heightened long-standing tensions between the army and the government at a time when the country is struggling to deal with a violent Taliban insurgency, a stuttering economy and deteriorating relations with its most important ally, the United States. Pakistani Taliban fighters attacked a paramilitary fort in north-western Pakistan on Friday, killing one soldier and kidnapping 15 others, police said. The brazen attack was followed by a statement to media in which the militants said they would kill the abducted troops. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani claimed Thursday that there was a conspiracy under way to topple the government. He did not specifically point to the military, but said the army must be answerable to the parliament and cannot operate as "a state within a state." Army chief Gen. Pervez Ashfaq Kayani denied the allegations, and pledged the force would continue to support democracy in Pakistan. "The army is fully cognizant of its constitutional obligations and responsibilities," Kayani said Thursday, during a trip near the Afghan border. His remarks were cited in an army statement Friday.

Pravda.ru: A Nightmare Scenario for America!!

Imagine one day that suddenly, and without warning, every single vehicle in the United States built after the 1970's were totally incapable of running. No going to the grocery store, in fact no more food deliveries by truck to your local store. There would be no trains, planes or buses running, only muscle powered canoes on the waterways. Imagine that there is no longer any electricity. You cannot keep your food from spoiling in the refrigerator. There is no heat, no air conditioning, no electric tools or appliances work. There is no way to pump water to your house, so you are also without water. Imagine that there is no telephone service. You cannot communicate with anyone unless you walk to where they are, which means no computers, no internet, no cellular phones or iPods, no television or radio. Your world would be silent, except for the occasional bird chirp or dog barking, which won't last long with no food for the dog. Perhaps there might be human screams of hunger, or despair. The country has been transported back into the stone age: Your ability to grow your own food is limited to your access to seeds, and whether or not you get enough rain. There are riots in the cities. The only people who have access to fresh food are those with guns who can hunt, and those near bodies of water with edible fish. Does that seem like science fiction? It's not. In fact, it may be right around the corner. This is what would happen if someone exploded a nuclear weapon 300 miles up in the atmosphere above our country, which would involve every single state on our continent, including parts of Mexico and Canada!

Tom Squitieri: JFK Files May Shed Light on Witness's Death.

On the morning of March 29, 1977, the House Assassinations Committee phoned the Florida home of George de Mohrenschildt, "a crucial witness" in the panel's John F. Kennedy assassination probe, to arrange a meeting. It never reached him. That afternoon, de Mohren -schildt, described in CIA and FBI memos obtained by USA Today as being close to accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, was found dead, killed by a blast to his face from a 20-gauge shotgun. De Mohrenschildt, a Russian exile with murky ties to the CIA, has become a central figure for some promoters of conspiracy theories in the JFK slaying. "I would say he was a handler for Oswald," says Oliver Stone, director of the movie JFK, which has renewed debate about the assassination. A CIA memo describes de Mohrenschildt as "well-acquainted" with Oswald since 1962, another says he was briefed about Oswald by a CIA agent months before the November 22, 1963 assassination. Details of de Mohrenschildt's death, ruled a suicide, and his relationship with Oswald, may be clarified when sealed files on the JFK shooting are opened. A congressional resolution ordering the files opened, delayed in recent weeks, is now expected to be introduced Wednesday. Quick passage is predicted. The resolution is being delayed to provide time for Rep. Louis Stokes, D-Ohio, a key sponsor, to win the approval of all affected agencies. There is no deadline in the resolution for opening the documents, but agencies are expected to comply "as quickly as they can," said Sen. David Boren, D-Okla., Senate Intelligence Committee chairman.

Dean Henderson: The Untold Story - Enron, Taliban and Warburg!

In 1985 Drexel Lambert S&L crook Michael Milken helped Houston Natural Gas to merge with Internorth to create Enron. Kenneth Lay headed Houston Natural Gas and became chairman and CEO of the new company. Enron was the biggest corporate contributor to George W. Bush's campaign to become Texas Governor. Bush won, and Texas led the way in a nationwide deregulation of energy markets, which Lay advocated. Deregulation allowed Lay to pioneer energy trading via Enron Online. Throughout the political career of George W. Bush, Lay was his largest financial supporter, personally giving Bush $650,000. In 1993 Wendy Gramm, wife of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm (R-TX), joined the board of Enron where she was chair of Enron's Audit Committee. Wendy Gramm came to Enron straight from her job as 12-year chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where she ostensibly aided in the cover -up of BCCI, Capcom, Mena drug trade and S&L scandals. At CFTC Gramm's main task was to oversee the complex derivatives market, a favorite haven for drug money laundering due to its opaque nature. While Wendy was covering tracks at CFTC, husband Phil was busy blocking key money laundering legislation and pushing for bank deregulation: He pushed passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which severely reduced government oversight of the derivative and futures markets.