Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya: Egypt's Constitutional Referendum!

Did President Morsi Hijack Democracy? President Morsi created a new constitution for Egypt on December 26, 2012. Prior to this, Morsi was forced by massive street protests in Egypt to rescind an executive decree, that granted him sweeping presidential powers. His opponents called it an empty gesture, as Morsi's government rolled out the tanks, and brought out the Egyptian military from their barracks into the streets. Opponents of Morsi and the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood accused him and his Freedom and Justice Party, of playing a game to stupefy Egyptians by consistently making propositions, then withdrawing them, and then making them again to create confusion. After calling out the military, Morsis government would then rush a constitutional referendum forward, that would guarantee him even more powers. The constitutional changes in Egypt have divided its society. Several Muslim Brotherhood offices have even been stormed by large groups of angry protesters. In what appeared to be a turning back of the clock to the Mubarak regime's use of brute force, reports of casualties caused by the attacks on protesters and activists were far spread. Morsis supporters and Egyptian security forces, would fight in the streets across Egypt with those opposing the new constitution. A peaceful sit in of activists in front of the presidential palace in Cairo even ended in violence and death as fighting broke out. So does Egypt's new constitution enjoy popular support? In the end, Morsi's new constitution appears to have become victorious. The way numerical information or data is presented or inferred, however, can be very misleading. In many cases, the data about the referendum was very selectively presented. An examination of the numbers through some elementary statistical data analyses says a lot about the support that the new constitution received from Egyptian society, and provides an important contextual answer to the question being posed. The new constitution won by a 63.8% approval of yes. This is very misleading, when the level of participation is used to generate further data. Only 32.9% of eligible voters cast their ballots for the election, and most important the new constitution was approved with the support of 20.9% of eligible voters.        

Shabana Syed: Sunni Shia Conflict and the Continuum

of an ideology: Sectarian conflict is not only tearing Muslim countries apart, like Iraq and Pakistan, but also brewing under the surface in London and European cities. Sunni and Shia groups view each other suspiciously across a widening gap of misunderstanding, propagated by Saudi financed British Sunni Mosques and madras's attempt to label Shias as kafirs or heretics. On the surface, there is a form of coexistence, but when the owner of a media group, with the ability to influence thousands of states "the biggest threat to world peace is Iran and Shias" it becomes a worrying fact. It's even more worrying when many Muslims, suffering discrimination and treated as the enemy within, cannot comprehend that Shia Sunni bloodshed is one of the many aims of the unending war on terror, unleashed against Islam and Muslims after 9/11. The west has reduced occupation forces in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, as they watch the rise of sectarian bloodshed which is a far worse weapon, fueled by CIA and Mossad mercenary groups and drone attacks. Daniel Mabsout writes in 'A world called Israel', "Now the Sunnis are mobilized against Shi'as in a conflict that had no precedent in the history between Sunnis and Shias in a conflict that had no precedent in the history between Sunnis and Shi'as. The Sunnis are mobilized by the world Order to defend Israel under the cover of sectarianism and anti Shi'ism. The war we witness between the two groups, is but a sparkle of what is happening actually and daily on the ground." The attacks against Hazara Shias in Quetta, Pakistan early January killed nearly a 100 part of systematic campaign against the community, whose particular look and the fact they speak Farsi, has made them easy targets for Sunni terrorists, like Lashkar e Jhangvi, known to have CIA and Mossad links. Ali Dayan Hassan of Human Rights Watch warned: "Last year was the bloodiest year for Pakistan's Shia community in living memory, and if this latest attack is any indication, 2013 has started on an even more dismal note." Last year, Dr Ismail Salami in his article "who's behind the Shia Massacres in Pakistan" wrote" more than 250 Shias' eyes were cut out of their sockets. Many of them died while their faces had been smashed with stones or sprayed with acid. The Wahhabi attackers were void of any mercy, the criminals are now free and keep on partaking in their feast of blood."  

Jim Fetzer: Zero Dark Thirty. The deeper, darker truths!

A film that may even take the Academy Award for "Best Picture of 2012"raises serious moral issues, glorifies a political stunt, and is based on an historical fiction. It is the latest in Obama propaganda. Osama bin Laden was not killed on 2 May 2011, during a raid on a compound in Pakistan. He actually died in Afghanistan, on or about 15 December 2001, and he was buried there in an unmarked grave. Local obituaries reported Osama's death at the time. Even FOX News subsequently confirmed it. He was buried in an unmarked grave, in accord with Muslim traditions. He did not die in Pakistan. Nick Kollerstrom has published about it, "Osama bin Laden: 1957-2001". David Ray Griffin has a book about it, "Osama bin Laden: 1957-2001". David Ray Griffin has a book about it, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive. And Scholars for 9/11 Truth has written about it. the film suggests that torture produces actionable intelligence, when virtually every military and intelligence expert will confirm that you are told, what those being tortured think you want to hear, to stop the pain. As TIME and The Huffington Post have reported, the film's depiction of torture has created a controversy, that may affect its chances for an Oscar. Among the most notable commentaries is one by Matt Tiabbi. A columnist for Rolling Stone, he has raised serious questions: "If it would have been dishonest to leave torture out of the film entirely, how is it not dishonest to leave out how generally ineffective it was, how morally corrupting, how totally it enraged the entire Arab world, how often we used it on people we knew little or nothing about, how often it resulted in deaths, or a hundred other facts? Bigelow put it in, which was "honest," but it seems an eerie coincidence that she was "honest" about torture in pretty much exactly the way a CIA interrogator would have told the story, without including much else." Osama was "our man in Afghanistan" even more important, the political context has been all but lost to history. Obama was on the hot seat for an apparently fake birth certificate, having troops in Pakistan, and not closing Guantanamo.

Joe Quinn and Niall Bradley: The Sandy Hook Massacre.

Unanswered questions. "Truth wears no mask, bows at no human shrine, seeks neither place, not applause, she only asks a hearing." Carl A Wickland. When 20 children and 8 adults were murdered in the tiny Connecticut community of Sandy Hook, we, like most other people, were shocked and horrified at what appeared to be a series of senseless acts of brutality. When a person experiences the tragic and untimely loss of a loved one, particularly in unusual or apparently inexplicable circumstances, the initial intense feelings of grief usually give way to a desire to understand How and Why the tragedy occurred, in an effort to make sense of it, and achieve some kind of closure. This is a very normal and natural human reaction. We have an innate need to understand the world us, and how things work. In our modern technological world, most of what we understand about our world and how it works, is provided to us by some authority or other, and most of us accept the conclusions of those authorities as being true. In some cases, those explanations are true. In relation to the Sandy Hook massacre,while the HOW of the attack has been explained, as yet, there seem to be few authoritative answers as to why the massacre occurred. That is to say, why a lone gunman decided to walk into a school and murder 20 children and 6 adults. At this point, three weeks after the event, it seems that the world will ultimately have to accept the narrative that a lone, disturbed individual murdered those children because he was, well, disturbed. Specifically, it is claimed that Lanza had 'Asperger's Syndrome', yet according to experts, people with this condition do not run the risk of killing others or themselves, and indeed that they 'rarely harm others'. The 'disturbed individual' is, therefore, a rather unsatisfactory one, but it's an answer nonetheless. But here's a question: What if the explanation provided by authorities about how something happened doesn't make sense in any truly objective way? More to the point, what if you have reasonable cause to suspect that the official version of events may not be accurate? Logically, you'd think that the same desire to make sense of the tragedy, and find closure, would remain unsatisfied in such a case. But you'd be wrong to think so, because it seems that most people, particularly those affected most directly by a tragedy, will gratefully accept the first plausible official explanation that is offered to them, even if, as in the case of the Sandy Hook massacre, it doesn't explain Why the tragedy occurred. The reason that most people react in this way, is probably due to the same desire to find closure and 'put it behind them'.     

Juan Cole: Global Warming Is a Domestic Crisis!

As President Obama made clear in his inaugural address Monday, failing to confront the threat of climate change in his second term, would be a betrayal of future generations. "Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science," Obama said, "but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought, and more powerful storms." Actually, there are some who can avoid fires, drought and storms, but most of them voted for Mitt Romney. At a time of continued unemployment and Republican assaults on workers' rights, the climate crisis may not seem like a pressing bread and butter concern. However it is vital for the president and his allies in Congress to remember that those Americans most defenseless against extreme weather and natural disasters form the backbone of the Democratic Party. That is the only conclusion one can draw from the draft of a new federal study on global warming growing impact on the United States. Those who stand for the workers and the middle class, and for the rights of minorities, women and the underprivileged in our increasingly unequal society, are facing yet another epochal struggle. The carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere by the coal, oil and gas corporations threaten the well being of the 99 percent on a whole range of new fronts. Climate change is provoking more and more drastic weather events. Residents along the coastal regions are at risk both from more violent storms, and from a projected 3 to 4 foot sea level rise over the next eight decades. The enormous storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy, is an example of these new threats. Hurricanes require warm water to remain active, and Sandy fed off of high Atlantic temperatures, in waters that have historically been much colder. The draft National Climate Assessment notes that people and neighborhoods along the coast were hardest hit, adding, "Many low to moderate income residents live in these areas, and suffered the damage or loss of their homes, leaving tens of thousands of people displaced or homeless." We saw with Katrina in New Orleans as well, how the least well off are often shunted to low lying and more vulnerable land. Most of New Orleans will be gone within a century, if we go on producing carbon dioxide at our current rate.  

Nicola Nasser: Qata, Sponsor of Political Movements

major ally of America. In his inaugural address on January 21, US President Barack Obama made the historic announcement that a decade of war is ending, and declared his country's determination to show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully, but his message will remain words, that have yet to be translated into deeds, and has yet to reach some of the US closest allies in the Middle East, who are still beating the drums of war, like Israel against Iran and Qatar against Syria. In view of the level of coordination and cooperation since bilateral diplomatic relations were established in 1972 between the US and Qatar, and the concentration of US military power on this tiny peninsula, it seems impossible that Qatar could move independently apart, in parallel with, away or on a collision course with the US strategic and regional plans. According to the US State departments online fact sheet, bilateral relations are strong, both countries are coordinating diplomatically and cooperating on regional security, have a defense pact. Qatar hosts CENTCOM Forward Headquarters, and supports NATO and US regional military operations. Qatar is also an active participant in the US led efforts to set up an integrated missile defense network in the Gulf region. Moreover, it hosts the US Combined Air Operations Center and three American military bases namely Al Udeid Air Base, Assaliyah Army Base, and Doha International Air Base, which are manned by approximately 5,000 US forces. Qatar, which is bound by such a most intimate and closest alliance with the United States, has recently developed into the major sponsor of Islamist political movements. Qatar appears now to be the major sponsor of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, which, reportedly, disbanded in Qatar in 1999, because it stopped to view the ruling family as an adversary. The Qatar Brotherhood marriage of convenience has created the natural incubator of Islamist armed fundamentalists against whom the US, since September 11, 2001, has been leading what is labeled as the global war on terrorism.   

Dr. Ismail Salami: US Weaves Nuclear Fairy Tale on Iran

In a 155 page report, four US nuclear experts have called upon the Obama administration to impose tougher economic sanctions against Iran, and resort to overt operations through using warplanes and missiles on Iranian nuclear sites. Apart from the fact that morbid mindset of this nature only helps fan up chaos, and serves as an impetus to widespread pandemonium in the region, any mention of any such policy, let alone an adoption of it will gradually terminate in an endless array of military legitimizations. Co-authered  by Mark Dubowitz, who runs the Zionist controlled Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) and David Albright, a physicist who heads the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), and who is responsible for concocting lies and myths about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, and drawing the country into an abysmal vortex of destruction and devastation, the report can be but seen in the light of yet another overtly brash attempt by the US to push ahead with further militarism in the Middle East. Dubbed as 'US Nonproliferation Strategy for the Changing Middle East,' the report falls short of mentioning any other Middle Eastern countries, which may be seeking a nuclear weapons program, and instead focuses heavily on the Islamic Republic of Iran. The authors of the conspiratorial report urge Washington to "undertake additional overt preparations for the use of warplanes and-or missiles to destroy regime change in Syria, and deepening Iran's diplomatic isolation." Naturally, the words have been deliberately and carefully chosen in the report. By 'overt preparations', the authors explicitly admit that the US government has in the past used 'covert operations' as well ie, assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, and infiltrating and disrupting the computer systems. Somewhere in the report, the authors unambiguously refer to Washington's sabotage activities in Iran. They say: "Press reports indicate that sabotage has been used to slow the Iranian nuclear program, including through infiltration and disruption of procurement networks and cyber attacks, designed to inflict physical damage to the program. Judicious use of this tool should be included in continued US efforts to constrain the Iranian nuclear program."         

Stephen Lendman: Netanyahu Rejects Palestinian

Sovereignty and Democratic Freedoms: On January 20, Netanyahu said no to independent Palestine, yes to settlement expansions. More on that below. Freedom House calls itself "an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world." It deplores what it claims to support. It gets State Department and other US agency funding. It serves Washington's dark side. It helps further its imperial agenda. In its January annual report, headlined "Freedom in the World 2013," It called Israel the Middle East's only "free" state. Doing so turns truth on its head. Free countries, it is said, are ones with "open political competition, a climate of respect for civil liberties, significant independent civic life, and independent media." Palestinians and Israeli Arabs have different views. So do most Jews mindful enough to know. "Neoliberal" harshness and broken electoral promises marginalize and harm them. Haaretz discussed "false economic promises." It said Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz "handed out money" to the usual interests, "and now the public will have to pay the price." It urged Israelis not to forget when heading to the polls to vote. They didn't pay attention before and don't now. They've got themselves to blame. Eva Berger is School of Media Studies dean, as well as College of Management Academic Studies. Until November 2011, she was Israel's press adviser. She quit over eroding press freedom. She said she wouldn't "lend her hand to this." She cited proposed legislation, enabling government to sue journalists, and media sources for libel. She mentioned shutting down a Jewish-Palestinian radio station. At the same time, others were threatened for reporting anti government views. Legislative proposals worried her. They are worse now than then. Freedom in Israel is fast eroding. Netanyahu and like minded extremists bear full responsibility. On January 22, Israelis vote. Ballot options largely exclude choice. Dominant parties control things. They reflect fascism, not democracy.      

Gilad Atzmon: Israeli Election: Time to bin Left and Right Terminologies!

Most commentators on Israeli politics fail to see that notions of Left and Right are pretty much irrelevant to the understanding of Israeli politics. Israel defines itself as the Jewish State and, as the years pass, Israel does indeed become more Jewish. Naftali Bennett, who, for a while , appeared to be the rising star of the current election, realized this all too well. He re-invented Jewish Home, a political party that celebrates the Israeli aspiration to fulfill his or her true Jewish destiny. He promises his followers that they can live as chosen in their Jew only state, regardless of ethical or moral concerns. But then most, if not all, Jewish participants in the Israeli political game are committed to the 'Jewish State' dream. Of course, they differ on some minor practical and pragmatic issues, but o the basics, they clearly agree. Here is an old Israeli joke: 'an Israeli settler suggests to his lefty friend "Next summer we should put all Arabs on buses and get them out of our land", Lefty: "Okay, but make sure the buses are air conditioned." In Israel there are no hawks or doves. Instead, all we have is a mild debate between a few interpretations of Jewish tribalism, nationalism and supremacy. Some Jews want to be surrounded by towering ghetto walls, they like it, it's cosy, it feels safe. Others prefer to rely on the IDF power of deterrence. Some would support the excessive use of White Phosphorous, others would like to see Iran wiped. The assumption that there is political division in Israel is just a myth that the "goyim" are happy to buy into, because it gives the impression of the possibility of political change, and even spiritual transformation. But the grave truth is that, when it comes to the real fundamentals, Israelis are pretty much united: Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich and war criminal Tzipi Livni, were both among those who rushed to support Netanyahu's Operation Pillar of Cloud. Yair Lapid, the leader of the second largest Israeli party, also identified as a centrist left, wouldn't refuse a ministerial job by Benjamin Netanyahu. Meretz which, though a Zionist party, is the only Jewish party in Israel that has even a trace of ethical, universal thinking, and values of equality, still comprises a mere 6 Knesset members out of 110 Jewish MKs.       

Helmoed Roemer Heitman: Mali, DRC, CAR and Some Lessons?

The recent events in Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, have produced some interesting lessons that Africa's leaders, political and military, should be studying: The 'Early Warning System' either did not provide early warning of impending crisis, or no one paid any attention to it. Not one of those three crises developed suddenly. All were foreseeable, even if timings were not exactly predictable. The rebel forces in Mali and the CAR moved very quickly indeed: In Mali they were able to seize control of two thirds of that very large country in just 11 weeks. In the CAR they seized control of two thirds of the country in just 19 days. In the DRC, the rebellion sputtered along for several months, but then it took the rebels just one day to take the city of Goma. The response was in all three cases too slow, too indecisive and too weak. It is not enough to stop rebels, they must at least be driven back,or preferably disrupted to the point, where a renewed rebellion is unlikely in the near term. In all three cases, the rebel forces proved to be rather better led, trained and armed than had be expected. The French learned this at the cost of a Gazelle shot down in Mali, apparently during a night attack on a rebel column. In the CAR and the DRC, the rebels would seem to have enjoyed at least some measure of foreign support: The main CAR rebel force advanced westwards from the Vakaga province that adjoins Sudan, suspected of providing logistic support for the rebels now and in the past; The CAR rebels reportedly included in their leadership General Mahamat Nouri, a Chadian dissident involved in the two fast moving, long distance attacks from Sudan on N'Djamena in 2006 and 2008, and whose expertise seems to be reflected in the speed with which they moved. In the DRC, there seems little doubt that Rwanda has provided training and logistic support to the M23 rebels. In Mali there is no sign of foreign support, and no likelihood at all of support by a neighboring country, but the rebels had clearly benefited from weapons that became available during the Libyan civil war, and the location of their first attacks equally clearly demonstrated their use of the borderlands of Algeria, Mauritania and Niger for assembly and the approach march. 

Michael Chester: Sandy Hook. The Truth, a Cruel Hoax,

or something in between? videos ask and answer the wrong questions. The tragic massacre at Sandy Hook has raised a lot of questions, and spawned a lot of theories, ranging from the official story, that a lone 20 year old carried out the entire incident, to the other end of the spectrum, where people claim that the entire incident was a cruel hoax perpetrated just so the president could propose gun control measures. There have been many opinions, with supporting videos on You Tube. You may have already seen one or both of them before, but I would ask that you look at them again, using maximum skepticism. Please keep in mind, that an important part of a disinformation campaign is use of the "controlled opposition." Around here, we are fond of quoting Vladimir Lenin, who said that the best way to control the opposition is to become the opposition. What, exactly, does that mean? When an intelligence agency or group wants to perpetrate a false flag operation or another deception, they often create what appears to be an opposition group, whose job is to create false leads that go nowhere, or make irrational claims that can easily be proven false. The hope there is that a legitimate person trying to find out the truth, will be lumped in with the tin hat gang, and not receive the legitimacy that his research deserves. I like to use the example of the Washington Generals Basketball Team. They travel with them, and their job is to make the Globetrotters look good. Of course, most people realize their role is this, as it is presented as entertainment. More subtle uses would include the Hannity and Combs show. The job of Combs was to provide a weak argument against Sean Hannity, thus making him look good. That is not an easy task. Further examples are anti gun legislation written by the NRA, just so they can defeat it in Congress, and look good to their members. The first video presents a lot of questions as to what actually happened that day, but all of the questions asked are, at best, tangential to the case. The real items that need to be answered are not asked. The second video does a pretty fair job of debunking the first video, and gives feasible explanations that the first one asks. Watch both of them now, and come back here for my take on them. There are many questions that need to be asked: 1. How did Lanza enter the school which was locked? 2. Why were the children all shot with .223 rounds, but Lanza's body was found with only handguns present? 3. Why would he shoot the kids, go outside, lock his rifle in the trunk of a car, then go back into the school and shoot himself? 4. Why did he have his estranged brother's ID? 5. How did he get to the school? Why was a car registered to him found in the Sandy Hook parking lot. 6. Chris Rodia is a convicted felon. Why was a car registered to him found in the Sandy Hook parking lot. 7. Who called authorities claiming to be the principal of Sandy Hook, and naming Adam Lanza as the shooter, after the real principal was already dead? 8. Since Lanza only attended the school briefly 15 years ago, and then home schooled, how could anyone at the school identify him as the shooter? 9. How could an occasional weekend shooter, such as Lanza, shoot groups on his victims that only highly trained shooters can accomplish? 10. If the case is settled, why are American intelligence agents actively pursuing international suspects? 11. Who has the most to gain by terrorizing the American people?           

Michel Chossudovsky: Al Qawda in the Islamic Maghreb

Who's Who? Who is Behind the Terrorists? Who is behind the terrorist group, which attacked the BP Statoil Sonatrach in Amenas Gas Field Complex located on the Libyan border in South Eastern Algeria? The operation was coordinated by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, leader of the Al Qaeda affiliated Islamist al Mulathameen (Masked) Brigade, or "Those who Sign with Blood." Belmokhtar's organization has been involved in the drug trade, smuggling as well as kidnapping operations of foreigners in North Africa. While his whereabouts are known, French intelligence has dubbed Belmokhtar the uncatchable. Belmokhtar took responsibility on behalf of Al Qaeda for the kidnapping of 41 Western hostages, including 7 Americans, at the BP In Amenas Gas Field Complex. Belmokhtar, however, was not directly involved in the actual attack. The field commander of the operation was Abdul Rahman al Nigen, a veteran jihadist fighter from Niger, who joined Algeria's Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in 2005. The In Amenas kidnapping operation was carried out five days after the conduct of air strikes by France, directed against Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) militants in northern Mali. French special forces and Malian troops regained control of Diabaly and Konna, two small towns North of Mopti. The town of Diabali had apparently been taken over a few days earlier, by fighters led by one of the leading AQIM commanders, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid. While the terrorist attack and kidnapping directed against the In Amenas Gas plant was described as an act of revenge, it was not in any way improvised, Confirmed by analysts, the operation had in all likelihood been planned well in advance: "European and US officials say the raid was almost certainly too elaborate to have been planned in so short a time, although the French campaign could have been one trigger for fighters to launch an assault they had already prepared." According to recent reports, January 20, 2012, there are some 80 casualties, including hostages and jihadist fighters. There were several hundred workers at the gas plant, most of whom were Algerian. "Of those rescued,only 107 out of 792 workers were foreign", according to the Algerian Ministry of Interior.         

Ron Kovic: The Vietnam War. The Things a Warrior Knows.

There is nothing in the lives of human beings more brutal and terrifying than war, and nothing more important than for those of us who have experienced it to share its awful truth. As the 45th anniversary of being shot and paralyzed in the Vietnam War approaches, I cannot help but reflect upon those years, and the many lessons I have learned. Nearly half a century has passed since I left my house in Massapequa NY, to join the United States Marine Corp, and begin an extraordinary journey that led me into a disastrous war that changed my life, and others of my generation profoundly and forever. The nightmares and anxiety attacks for the most part have disappeared, but I still do not sleep well at night. I toss and turn in increasing physical pain, but I remain positive and optimistic. I am still determined to rise above all of this. I know, like so many of my fellow veterans, that my pain and the horrors of my past will always be with me, but perhaps not with the same force and fury of those early years after the war. I have learned to forgive my enemies and myself. It has been difficult to heal from war, and I have often dreamed of moving to neutral ground, another country. Yet, I have somehow made a certain peace, even in a nation that so often still believes in war, and the use of violence as a solution to its problems. There has been a reckoning, a renewal. The scar will always be there, a living reminder of that war, but it has also become something beautiful now, something of faith and hope, and love. I have been given the opportunity to move through that dark night of the soul to a new shore, to gain an understanding, a knowledge, an entirely different vision. I now believe I have suffered for a reason, and in many ways, I have found that reason to be my commitment to peace and nonviolence. My life has been a blessing in disguise, even with the pain and great difficulty my physical disability continues to bring. It is a blessing to speak on behalf of peace, to be able to reach such a great number of people. The one gift I was given in a war was an awakening. I endured the War Around Us: About War Much has been Written. More must yet be said by those who saw them die, so that the dead may rest, and sight be gained, to see war for what it was, and is: War is not fighting, though fighting's what we see. Nor is It Death, for death is but its end. It   is the rancor of disunited hearts, the death of love, the end of hope. The war around us echoes in our hearts, and grants it life. Once, mortals dared to tame this ancient beast, and yet it thrives. Each age must fight this force again, or pay its price!    

Chris Hedges: A Time for Sublime Madness!

The planet we have assaulted will convulse with fury. The senseless greed of limitless capitalist expansion will implode the global economy. The decimation of civil liberties, carried out in the name of fighting terror, will shackle us to an interconnected security and surveillance state, that stretches from Moscow to Istanbul to New York. To endure what lies ahead, we will have to harness the human imagination. It was the human imagination that permitted African Americans during slavery and the Jim Crow era to transcend their physical condition. It was the human imagination that sustained Sitting Bull and Black Elk, as their land was seized, and their cultures were broken, and it was the human imagination that allowed the survivors in the Nazi death camps to retain the power of the sacred. It is the imagination that makes possible transcendence. Chants, work songs, spirituals, the blues, poetry, dance and art converged under slavery to nourish and sustain this imagination. These were the forces that, as Ralph Ellison wrote, "we had in place of freedom." The oppressed would be the first, for they know their fate, to admit that on a rational level, such a notion is absurd, but they also know that it is only through the imagination that they survive. Jewish inmates in Auschwitz reportedly put God on trial for the Holocaust, and then condemned God to death. A rabbi stood after the verdict to lead the evening prayers. African Americans and Native Americans, for centuries, had little control over their destinies. Forces of bigotry and violence kept them subjugated by whites. Suffering, for the oppressed, was tangible. Death was a constant companion, and it was only the imagination, as William Faulkner noted at the end of "The Sound and the Fury," that permitted them, unlike the novel's white Compson family, to "endure." The theologian James H Cone captures this in his masterpiece "The Cross and the Lynching Tree." Cone says that for oppressed blacks the cross was a "paradoxical religious symbol, because it inverts the wold's value system with the news that hope comes by way of defeat, that suffering and death do not have the last word, that the last shall be first and the first last." 

Tony Cartalucci: By Design: French Mali Invasion

spills into Algeria. Exactly as predicted, the ongoing French "intervention" in the North African nation of Mali has spilled into Algeria, the next most likely objective of Western geopolitical interests in the region, since the successful destabilization of Libya in 2011. In last week's "France Displays Unhinged Hypocrisy as Bombs Fall on Mali" report, it was stated specifically that: "As far back as August of 2011, Bruce Riedel out of the corporate financier funded think tank, the Brooking's Institution, wrote "Algeria will be next to fall," where he gleefully predicted success in Libya would embolden radical elements in Algeria, in particular AQIM. Between extremist violence and the prospect of French airstrikes, Riedel hoped to see the fall of the Algerian government. Ironically, Riedel noted: Algeria has expressed particular concern that the unrest in Libya could lead to the development of a major safe haven and sanctuary for al-Qaeda and other extremist jihadis. Thanks to NATO, that is exactly what Libya has become, a Western sponsored sanctuary for Al Qaeda. AQIM's headway in northern Mali, and now French involvement, will see the conflict inevitably spill over into Algeria. It should be noted that Riedel is a co author of "Which Path to Persia?", which openly conspires to arm yet another US State Department listed terrorist organization, the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK) to wreak havoc across Iran, and help collapse the government there, illustrating a pattern of using clearly terroristic organizations, even those listed as so by the US State Department, to carry out US foreign policy. Now, it is reported that "Al Qaeda linked" terrorists have seized American hostages in Algeria, in what is being described by the Western press as "spill over" from France's Mali operations. The Washington Post, in their article, "Al Qaida linked militants seize BP complex in Algeria, take hostages in revenge for Mali," claims: "As Algerian army helicopters clattered overhead deep in the Sahara desert, Islamist militants hunkered down for the night, in a natural gas complex they had assaulted Wednesday morning, killing two people, and taking dozens of foreigners hostage, in what could be the first spillover from France's intervention in Mali."       

Dean Henderson: Who is Behind the Mexican Drug Cartels?

By the time George W Bush moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2001, his Harken Energy scam had been brushed under the dirty rug that passes for history. But his allegiance to the Four Horsemen and the Houston oil mafia never wavered. Bush stressed the importance of Latin America throughout his campaign, and touted his Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed with Canada and Mexico in the 1990's. FTAA would create a free trade zone from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego, and would be a Big Oil bonanza. One of its biggest promoters was Bechtel. Four Horsemen executives began frequenting the offices of PEMEX, the Mexican national oil company. Thomas Clines' and Ted Shackley's Houston based API Distributors sold PEMEX oil drilling equipment, and gathered intelligence for Big Oil. Deals proceeded, including one that called for PEMEX to keep the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve fully stocked. Exxon bought Mexico's Compania General de Lubricantes in 1991. The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), would create a free trade zone from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego, and would be a Big Oil bonanza. One of its biggest promoters was Bechtel. Bush met with Mexican President Vicente Fox, former Coca Cola executive who owns a vast commercial farming empire, before meeting any other foreign head of state. While Bush touted FTAA, Fox hyped his Puebla to Panama free trade scheme for Central America. Key to the latter plan is construction of a dry canal across the Tehauntepec Isthmus from the oil port of Coatzacoalas on the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific port of Salina Cruz. Financial backing for the plan is pledged by the World Bank, World Trade Organization, and US Treasury Department. The plan would set up maquiladoras in southern Mexico, just as Fox's predecessor Ernesto Zedillo had done along the US Mexican border, following the 1995 implementation of NAFTA. Increasing worker demands and labor unrest at the northern plants, had multinationals looking south. Wages there averaged 40% less, and neighboring Guatemala could supply even cheaper labor. By the end of 2002, ninety two maquiladoras set up shop in southern Mexico. The new canal would be their shipping outlet.  

Jim Fetzer: Lunatics R US: The Santilli/Wood/ Sunstein Gambit

The latest hysterical tirade from Pete Santilli during his interview with Morgan Reynolds on Friday, 18 January 2013, which may qualify as the most irresponsible radio program in history, has demonstrated beyond any doubt that Santilli has no scruples about defaming those of us who have been dedicating our lives to exposing the fabricated events of 9/11, going so far as to claim that I was involved in the death of Michael Zebuhr, a graduate student of Judy Wood, in St Paul, MN, on Saturday, 18 March 2006. That I, among many others, have been doing my best to suppress the existence of "free energy" technology. There was more, but this gives you the general idea. The program can be accessed at American Freedom Radio, which gives you the general idea. The program can be accessed at American Freedom Radio, which has given him this podium. Here is his program on the 18th, featuring Morgan Reynolds: After listening to the show, Ben Collett, a long time student of 9/11, who has hosted Judy Wood and John Hutchison as speakers in Seattle, WA, where they even stayed in his home during their visit there, wrote the following to Morgan Reynolds: I gotta tell you, I was very disappointed by your performance on the Peter Santilli show today. You said absolutely nothing, as Santilli made the most outrageous accusations against Jim Fetzer, as well as Kevin Barrett and Gordon Duff. What could you have been thinking while Santilli accused Jim of being a murderer, the biggest psy-op in the world, and a traitor who should be put on trial! These are extremely serious calumnies, and they go far beyond anything I have ever heard from any other host of a radio program. If I were Jim, I would seriously consider taking legal action against Santilli for slander. There are few who have done more for the cause of 9/11 Truth, than Dr Fetzer as I'm sure you recognize. As far as I know,he has always defended you and your research from critics. He has invited you on his radio program, to his conferences, and to Scholars for 9/11 Truth. For you to now allow him to be so basely and falsely attacked, in your presence, and without a peep of protest from you is, frankly, disgraceful conduct. Yours Truly, Ben Collet.  

Jonas Alexis: Chuck Hagel and the Neoconservative Fifth Column!

When it was announced that former Republican senator from Nebraska Chuck Hagel was considered as a candidate for Secretary of Defense, neoconservative luminary Bill Kristal of the WeeklyStandard
was on the run to oust him. The Wall Street Journal, Jonathan S Tobin and Alana Goodman of Commentary, Nathaniel Botwinick of National Review, and an editorial in the Washington Post were doing almost the same thing. A swell of neo con apologists for Israel, such as Senator Lindsey Graham and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, went on CNN and NBC respectively denouncing Hagel. Senior analysts for Fox News Brit Hume did the same thing. The Republican Jewish Coalition called Hagel's nomination "a slap in the face for every American who is concerned about the safety of Israel." The Israel's Project president and CEO Josh Block, had done his best to spread the gospel that Hagel's nomination must be rejected. AIPAC had done the same thing. A panel of neoconservative propagandists for Commentary began to denounce Hagel. The neoconservative troops went on TV, denouncing Hagel at every opportunity. The legendary Alan Dershowitz declared that Hagel's nomination is "a policy mistake," and he would be more than welcome to testify against Hagel. Joseph Klein of neo con Front Page Magazine wrote an article entitled, "The Anti War/Anti Semitic Defense Chief." Jonah Goldberg of the National Review and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) denounced Hagel's nomination as "a petty pick." Eliot Cohen of John Hopkins University agreed. Danielle Pletka of the AEI said she doesn't know whether Hagel is an anti Semite or not, but she agreed with people who have called Hagel an anti Semite. Speaking of Hagel, Jewish journalist Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post declared, "Old soldiers don't make for good Pentagon chiefs." Why this madness against Hagel? He has said some damning things about the Israeli Lobby. Hagel is a Vietnam veteran champion who was wounded twice in battle. He supported Reagan, and was even named deputy administration of the Veterans Administration during Reagan. Not only that, Hagel is a champion of conservative ideas "with a voting record of 84 percent by the American Conservative Union."          

Colin Todhunter: The Lies of Democracy and the Language of Deceit

In an increasingly media driven age, language is everything, and is often used by officialdom to tyrannize meaning. With the deaths of millions on its hands since 1945, the US has become the world's number one terror state. By the 1980's, former CIA man John Stockwell had put the figure at six million. As a recent article has indicated, from mass bombing in Southeast Asia, to employing death squads in South America, the US military and the CIA have been directly and indirectly responsible for an updated figure of an estimated ten million deaths. But its not called mass murder these days. Ironically, the US has hijacked the word terror to justify its brand of tyranny through a war on terror. You can also add to that ten million, countless others, whose lives have been sacrificed on the altar of corporate profit, which did not rely on the military to bomb people and countries into submission, but on a certain policy. It's not browbeating, it's structural adjustment. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers have taken their own lives over the past decade and a half, largely as a result of US agribusiness manipulating global commodity prices, courtesy of policies enacted on its behalf by the US government, or due to the corporate monopoly, or frontier technology, of terminator seeds that also landed farmers in debt, which was too much to bear. The plight of Indian farmers is not unique. How many lives have been cut short across the world, because of the inherent structural violence, or silently killing of the everyday seemingly benign functioning of predatory capitalism? The built in inequalities of the system have effectively stolen years from people's lives, the health from their bodies, the livelihoods from their hands, the water from their taps, and food from their plates. From the UK to Africa, the subjugated classes, the now often discarded economic fodder during times of war, or the returning heroes to be thrown overboard by the system on coming home, the people who are to be manipulated and exploited at will, via bogus notions of nationalism or the national interest, have had their lives cut short, or stripped bare of opportunities due to the hardships imposed by the iron fist of capitalism.    

Paul Craig Roberts: Attack on Sovereignty. The Obama Regime and America's Unipolar World!

Those concerned about The New World Order speak as if the United States is coming under the control of an outside conspiratorial force. In fact, it is the US that is the New World Order. That is what the American unipolar world, about which China, Russia, and Iran complain, is all about. Washington has demonstrated that it has no respect for its own laws and Constitution, much less any respect for international law, and the law and sovereignty of other countries. All that counts, is Washington's will as the pursuit of hegemony moves Washington closer to becoming a world dictator. The examples are too numerous, someone should compile them into a book. During the Reagan administration, the long established bank secrecy laws of Switzerland had to bend to Washington's will. The Clinton administration attacked Serbia, murdered civilians, and sent Serbia's president to be tried as a war criminal for defending his country. The US government engages in widespread spying on Europeans emails and telephone calls that are unrelated to terrorism. Julian Assange is confined to the Ecuadoran embassy in London, because Washington won't permit the British government to honor his grant of political asylum. Washington refuses to comply with a writ of habeas corpus from a British count, to turn over Yunus Rahmatullah, whose detention a British Court of Appeals has ruled to be unlawful. Washington imposes sanctions on other countries, and enforces them by cutting sovereign nations that do not comply out of the international payments system. Last week, the Obama regime warned the British government, that it was a violation of US interests for the UK to pull out of the European Union or reduce its ties to the EU in any way. In other words, the sovereignty of Great Britain is not a choice to be made by the British government or people. The decision is made by Washington in keeping with Washington's interest. The British are so accustomed to being Washington's colony, that deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and a group of UK business executives quickly lined up with Washington. This leaves Great Britain in a quandary. The British economy, once a manufacturing powerhouse, has been reduced to the City of London, Britain's equivalent to Wall Street.    

JFK: An Open Letter to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. by Ralph Cinque.

When I published "JFK: What we know now, that we didn't know then" (21 November 2011), I had become convinced by the discovery of the obfuscated face of a figure in the doorway area of a famous photograph taken by AP photographer James "Ike" Altgens, together with having recently learned that Lee Oswald had told Will Fritz, the homicide detective who had interrogated him, that he had been "out with Bill Shelley in front" during the assassination, that this figure had to have been Lee himself. The only reason to have altered the photo, would have been that someone had been there who should not have been there, where the obvious candidate for that role was the designated "patsy". We now believe that that person was actually Bill Shelley, no doubt erased on the presumption that, if it were discovered that Bill Shelley had been there, too many questions would have been raised about what Lee had said to Fritz. It would therefore be more efficient to simply delete his image from the photo, and remove any reason for asking about it. Ralph Cinque read my article, however, and contacted me, explaining that, while he agreed with my conclusion that Lee was in the doorway was right, my premises about how we could prove that to be the case were mistaken, that the crucial question was the clothing, not the facial images, which were ambiguous, but were a close study of the clothing and build of the figure in the doorway were those of Lee Oswald. We would begin publishing a series of articles entitled, "JFK Special: Oswald wasn't even a shooter!" and "JFK: 49 Years in the Offing, The Altgens reenactment". We have gone far enough to establish that the man in the doorway was Lee Oswald, the designated patsy,, which means that he cannot have been on the 6th floor shooting at JFK. So not only was he not "the lone assassin", he wasn't even a shooter, where I provide an introduction to what we have discovered here. The strongest argument that has been advanced against the Altgens having been altered has been that it went out over the wire within 30 minutes or so, which would not have allowed enough time for that to have happened.

Dr. Kevin Barrett: Who is Allen Ruff and why dees he oppose Chuck Hagel?

Alleged pro Palestinian peacenik and enemy of 9/11 truth Allen Ruff wants to defeat Chuck Hagel;s nomination as Secretary of Defense. Why? I got to know Allen Ruff, a big, dark, hulking, bearded, scowling bully who looks a bit like the old Zionist media caricatures of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, only about 100 pounds heavier, at pro Palestine demonstrations in Madison, Wisconsin during the 1990s. Ruff took an instant dislike to me, if "dislike" isn't too weak a word. At first I couldn't figure out why. Gradually, it became apparent that Ruff was the leader of a gang of left wing Jews, who were trying to set themselves up as the local pro Palestine movement, and police the thoughts, words, and deeds of Palestinians, Muslim students and other goyim. As an articulate American Muslim, who shares the near unanimous position of the people of the Middle East, that "Israel" is a criminal enterprise, not a legitimate state, I must have rubbed Ruff the wrong way. He obviously didn't like me challenging his attempts to police the opinions of the foreign students and pro Palestine activists. In particular, he was incensed at my suggestion that Palestinians make common cause with Americans rebelling against Israel's influence in the USA. Any reference to the "Israeli lobby," made Ruff explode in volcanic vituperation. Any and all talk about how Israel dominates US policy, Ruff insisted, was anti Semitic slander. He claimed that US policy was set by wealthy WASP imperialists, and certainly not by the poor, powerless pro Israel Jews. In 2004, Ruff's hatred for me exploded into near psychosis, when I began leading 9/11 truth teach ins at the UW Madison campus. Just hearing me assert that 9/11 was an inside job made him wax apopletic, even more so than Kenneth Katzman! When I organized David Ray Griffin's 2005 "9/11 and American Empire" talk at UW Madison,, which was broadcast nationwide on C-SPAN, Ruff approached me, his face twitching in homicidal rage, growling: "We're keeping a file on you! That's right, we're keeping a file on you!" Immediately after the Griffin event, a stunning success attended by almost 500 people, Ruff launched an internet hate campaign, attempting to smear me and 9/11 truth as "anti Semitic." He even falsely claimed that I had accused him of being a Mossad agent!