Robert Fantina: John Kerry Proposes Investments in Palestine,

while funding Israeli Apartheid Main Obstacle to Commerce. As US Secretary of State, John Kerry attempts to put his particular spin on resolving the generations old crisis of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, he has traveled to the World Economic Forum. There he waved the possibility of $4 billion investments in the Palestinian economy, from a worldwide conglomerate of investors, over a period of three years. Of course, he hasn't specified who these investors would be. It was reported that Kerry did not identify specific companies with plans to set up shop in the West Bank, or how he hoped to remove obstacles to Palestinian commerce. The US government in 2013, will give Israel over $3.15 billion, an increase over the billions it gave Israel last year. Yet the US doesn't ever seem to have any problem determining where that money comes from: the US taxpayer has for decades been funding the apartheid state of Israel. Regarding removing obstacles to Palestinian commerce, perhaps we could take a look at what some of those obstacles are. Israel has established countless checkpoints all over the West Bank. Customers wanting to get stores that may be a few blocks from their home, may have to travel miles to get to them, because IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces soldiers arbitrarily close checkpoints, whenever the mood so strikes them. Or, they might leave a checkpoint open, but prevent people from passing through by asking countless questions, demanding assorted identification, or simply telling them they have to wait until the soldiers are good and ready to speak to them. That could be today, or possibly, tomorrow. Or maybe the day after. And if a potential customer decides to try a different route, through a different checkpoint, there is no guarantee the response there will be any different. Merchants attempting to get to their own stores face the same checkpoints and challenges. Farmers need to plant seeds, irrigate crops, care for them and eventually harvest them. This becomes difficult, when they require permits from Israel to plant and harvest on their own land. A Palestinian farmer may request a permit to plant during planting season, but be granted the permit only long after planting season has passed. If he or she is fortunate enough to be given permission to plant at the appropriate time of the year, he or she must simply hope that permission to harvest will be granted when appropriate. It is not unusual for Israel to grant permission to a Palestinian farmer to harvest their crops long after they have spoiled in the field. If a farmer is sufficiently lucky to be permitted to plant and harvest on his or her own land at an appropriate time, the challenges do not end. Once the crops are harvested, and loaded onto vehicles, to be taken to market, the checkpoints challenge is then faced. Often, farmers are delayed so long by IDF soldiers at checkpoints that their produce spoils before they are allowed to pass through.

Washington's Blog: The real Reason Housing Prices Have Skyrocketed.

How another Housing Bubble was Blown, and why. Housing Prices: Up Or Down? Recovery, Or Artificial Housing Bubble Which is About to Pop? We showed that mortgage applications are down, and it is really institutional investors, driving the housing boom. Part 2 explains why. Housing prices have boomed because: (1) Lenders are artificially keeping vacant houses off the market and (2), The Obama administration has thrown all sorts of artificial incentives at institutional investors to pump up prices. Artificially Suppressed Housing Inventory: Naked Capitalism reported last August: To trends are apparent. One is that banks are delaying foreclosures, or not foreclosing at all, despite long term delinquencies. The other is that private equity firms flush with cash, thanks to Tim Geithners religious devotion to trickle down economics, and the resulting cascade of corporate welfare, have been bidding up and holding foreclosed houses off the marked. These two factors have artificially limited supply and, combined with cheap mortgages rates, driven up prices. While we can debate whether these strategies represent the best public policy, these policies are obviously not long term sustainable. Lenders argue the drop in foreclosures is caused by delays in the court system. However, Judge Jennifer D. Bailey, lead foreclosure judge in Miami-Dade County, epicenter of the foreclosure crisis, solidly rebuts that argument. Here in Miami Dade Countys Eleventh Circuit, there has been no delay in foreclosure case hearings for nearly two years, Judge Bailey said in an August 19, 2012 interview with the Miami Herald, If you want to see a judge to hear your trial or summary judgment, you get a prompt court date. This coincides with my own observations in foreclosure court, when judges rail at bank lawyers for repeatedly delaying their cases, even when borrowers are in now way contesting their foreclosures. Holding back inventory means that the houses that are put on offer, sell faster and at higher prices. That creates an incentive to delay foreclosures or not to foreclose at all, even when a home is delinquent. Indeed, in the real world, 12.6 million houses are vacant, 1.5 million more homes are than underwater. In other words, without artificial scarcity created by banks, there would be more available houses than there are underwater homeowners having problems paying their mortgage. There would in a word be a glut. Government is Secretly Helping Financial Companies to Snap Up Housing. There are realistic ways to help the economy. For example: Force the big banks to write down bad debt, Crack down on fraud, Break up the giant banks, Force Wall Street to reduce leverage. Stop encouraging business to send jobs and dollars abroad.

Rand Clifford, Nikola Tesla: Calling All Freethinkers!

Humanity's horizons glowed from the brilliance of Nikola Tesla. But to our horrible misfortune, the glow was much too bright for the Power Status Quo (PSQ). Money means power, and Tesla cost tycoons a lot of money, by slaying with alternating current (AC), the dead end direct current (DC) power distribution system of Thomas Edison, financed by JP Morgan. More than forty of Tesla's patents from 1888 cover the entire system of polyphase AC that, virtually unchanged, powers civilization to this day, a monumental lifetime achievement for any man. But poly-phase AC didn't lead directly to the PSQ's campaign of erasing Radiant Electricity. The ultimate forbidden technology, Aether and Radiant was a primary focus of Tesla's last forty years on Earth. By tapping the Aether, by touching the wheel-work of nature, Tesla illuminated visions of humanity freed from domination by the likes of Rothschild, Morgan, Rockefeller, the entire global tyranny machine powered largely by fossil energy, private central banking, war. One man found an antidote for pathocracy, humanity's premier poison. His name was Nikola Tesla, that remains one of the few things about the man that has not been altered by the PSQ. The name survives, but little else about Tesla has not been violated. His crime, or sin was competition tycoons couldn't control. Tesla always knew he would triumph. In his own words, regarding tycoons such as J.P. Morgan: I am unwilling to accord to some small minded and jealous individuals the satisfaction of having thwarted my efforts. These men are to me nothing more than microbes of a nasty disease. My project was retarded by laws of nature. The world was not prepared for it. It was too far ahead of time, but the same laws will prevail in the end, and make it a triumphal success. Tesla's triumphal success has the power to unwind tyranny. All we need is for enough humans to awaken from the PSQ's spell. Tesla obviously thought awakening was possible, even while insisting that, No free energy device will ever be allowed to reach the market. Tesla knew that mass awakening was the wildcard. If we let him down, we let humanity down. Tycoons throw enormous wealth at protecting people from reality, by keeping them asleep. But waking up is free, the only ticket to freedom of development of the human potential. Freedom, a gorgeous concept increasingly hollowed out by the PSQ. Try to imagine what humanity might achieve without being kicked in the face by the psychopathic elite.       

Gordon Duff: Israel's secret Doomsday Nuke base revealed by US!

An Israeli Patriot anti-missile system and an Arrow anti missile system are seen at an Israeli military base, May 12, 2011. From Sheera Frenkel at McClatchy News, the Obama administration had promised to build Israel a state of the art facility to house a new ballistic missile defense system, the Arrow 3. As with all Defense Department projects, detailed specifications were made public, so that contractors could bid on the $25 million project. The specifications included more than 1,000 pages of details on the facility, ranging from the heating and cooling systems to the thickness of the walls. A location and details of a top secret Israeli base which could be used to launch nuclear attacks on China or North America was published last week. Immediate moves were made to "spin" the story away. The base, intended to house Intercontinental ballistic missiles, (ICBMs) built in cooperation with India is also to include, not just a doomsday "Fuehrer bunker" for Netanyahu and the Zionist elites, but storage for nuclear, biological and chemical warheads as well. According to intelligence sources in Pakistan, India is supplying Israel with missiles capable of carrying 10 MIRV, Multiple Independent targetable Re-entry Vehicle warheads, each with a range of up to 11,000 miles. A single missile from a Bunker? We don't need no stinking bunkers. Arrow 3 system, courtesy of the Jerusalem Post. This US financed complex could knock out all major population centers on America's eastern seaboard. The thermonuclear warheads and guidance systems for these advanced weapons were made possible through espionage activities tied ti AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. Newspapers claim the underground base, one of a series being built across Israel, is part of an air defense system. This is, of course, utterly absurd. Air defenses are meant to protect, not to be the primary target. Scamming America to death! An Israeli program to use American funds, earmarked for missiles defense on a nuclear command bunker and ICBM silos was accidentally exposed by the Department of Defense last week. America needs more "accidents" of this kind. Detailed plans on the massive underground facility at Tel Shahar, intended to be Israel's answer to NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain fortress in Colorado, were made public when the US published over 1000 pages of documents, including key information on location, design and vulnerabilities to attack. 

Joan Walsh: Susan Rice is Promoted National Security Advisor,

and there is nothing Republican obstructionists can do about it. When ABC News published doctored emails about the development of Benghazi talking points, and the White House countered by releasing the originals, which told a very different story, the two versions agreed on at least one fact: UN Ambassador Susan Rice had nothing to do with the controversial description of the Benghazi attack that she shared in her five fateful Sunday show appearances last September 17. I thought at the time that Rice deserved an apology from Republicans who savaged her, once the truth about the talking points came out, but of course one never came. Senator Lindsey Graham countered by saying she deserved to be subpoenaed instead. Now she's gotten the next best thing: a promotion to National Security Advisor, once Tom Donilon leaves the job in July. The position needs no confirmation by the Senate, so Rice's GOP critics have nothing to say about her new role. Well, nothing to say that makes a difference, anyway. That didn't stop them from talking. Sen. John McCain was slightly conciliatory Tweeting that while obviously I disagreed w/POTUS appointment of Susan Rice as National Security Adviser, I'll make every effort to work with her on important issues. On the other hand, Senator Rand Paul insisted it undermined Obama's Moral Authority to promote basically the person who is guilty of misleading us over the Benghazi tragedy. By lying about Rice's role, she played no part in the behind the scenes controversy between the CIA and the State Department over how much, and what to say about the attacks, Paul undermines his own moral authority. But lately that's no impediment to influence within his party. It's possible that Paul isn't smart enough to understand the details of what the Benghazi emails revealed, but that's not a problem in his party either. Coming within 24 hours of the president's announcing that he's nominating three people to fill three long vacant US Court of Appeals Washington DC Circuit seats it's inevitable that Rice's promotion is being described as representing a new in your face approach to his opponents, in the words of James Carville on MSNBC. The timing may just be coincidence: it's long been assumed that Rice would succeed Donilon, and the outgoing security adviser always always planned to leave early in the second term. On the other hand, the fact that Obama didn't hesitate to announce his appointment of Rice on the day after he defied Republican obstructionists with his three judicial nominees is a good sign.

Chossudovsky: Who will be Attending the Bilderberg Meeting?

What will be discussed behind closed doors? Each year, the Bilderberg venue brings together members of the financial and corporate elite, politicians, hand picked scholars, journalists and scientists. It is An Anglo-Western European North American Venue, with participants from 21 Western countries, (i.e Western Europe, US and Canada). With the exception of British born Polish Minister of Finance, Jacek Rostowski, there are no participants from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, with the exception of Turkey. There are 14 women out of 140 participants. The official website of the Bilderberg describes the venue as a forum for informal, off the record discussion about megatrends and the major issues facing the world. Semi secrecy prevails: While crucial negotiations are undertaken, leading to far reaching decisions, Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers in attendance are participating in their personal capacity. They are required not to report to Cabinet or to the Legislature. This year's 61st meeting is scheduled to be held
at the Grove Hotel near Watford, Hertfordshire, UK, June 6-9, 2013. Various dimensions of the New World Order, including the global economic crisis, the wars in the Middle East, biotechnology, cyber warfare and Homeland security will be discussed behind closed doors. Thanks to the private nature of the conference, the participants are not bound by the conventions of office. or by pre-agreed positions
As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights. There is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued. The Venue will regroup some 140 participants, including George Osborne, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Henry Kissinger, Timothy Geithner, former Secretary of the Treasury, Gen, David Petraeous, former head of the CIA, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, Richard N. Perle, prominent adviser to the Bush Junior administration, Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Eric Schmidt of Google, two former presidents of the World Bank, Lames D. Wolfensohn and Robert B. Zoellick, among others. Prominent members of the Anglo American financial establishment include David Wright, Vice Chairman of Barklays, J. Michael Evans, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs, Douglas J. Flint, Group Chairman of HSBC, Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Lazard, Peter D. Sutherland, chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Edmund Clark, President and CEO of Canada's TD Bank Group, The Swiss banking establishment which overseas billions of dollars in undeclared numbered bank accounts, is represented by Dr. Thomas Jakob Ulrich Jordan, the recently appointed Chairman of the Governing Board of the Schweizerishen Nationalbank (Swiss National Bank).      

Eric Draitser: Zimbabwe, The Revolution Continues!

The coming elections in Zimbabwe are no mere referendum on the leadership of the coalition government. Instead, the decision before Zimbabweans is a clear one: continue on the revolutionary path of Mugabe and ZANU-PF or follow Prime Minister Morgan Tsangirais MDC-T and their pro US, neoliberal economic agenda. While much of Africa has been turned into a chaotic, war ravaged continent, stuck in the destructive cycles of violence, terrorism, and dependence on imperial powers, Zimbabwe has managed to maintain the fierce independence on imperial powers, Zimbabwe has managed to maintain the fierce independence and commitment to revolution espoused by President Mugabe, stretching all the way back to the post colonial liberation struggle. However, in order to fully understand the sustained campaign of destabilization and subversion by the Western imperialist ruling class, one must first examine the policies of Mugabe and ZANU-PF, that have earned them the ire of Washington and London. Mugabes Crimes: Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party emerged from the post independence conflict as the dominant political party in Zimbabwe, promising to finally address the most pressing issues facing black Zimbabweans who, despite making up the vast majority of the population, continued to be mostly landless, while the white, landowning class maintained their grip on the most arable land. This gross disparity in land ownership, a vestige of the colonial system, became one of the primary needs that the new leadership intended to address. However, the terms of the negotiated settlement of the war of liberation in 1979, known as the Lancaster House Agreement, essentially allowed the white farmers to retain their land, if they chose to do so under the willing buyer, willing seller principle. The system continued until 2000, when President Mugabe shifted the policy to a fast track land program, that sought to unseat white privilege, and restore ethnic balance to land ownership. It was precisely this policy shift, that earned Mugabe the ire of the imperial powers, particularly the British, which then sought to punish Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe, by instituting crippling sanctions that destroyed the Zimbabwean economy. However, this only strengthened the resolve of ZANU-PF, teaching them a number of important lessons. As Francis Chitsike of Midlands State University in Zimbabwe points out: What the Zimbabwean government learned from its own experience, is that in an agriculturally based economy, no development program will succeed if people are not given access to land.

Mike Whitney: Deflation Smackdown: Bernanke's Madcap Money Printing

Fails to boost inflation. Under a fiat money system, a government should always be able to generate increased nominal spending and inflation, even when the short term nominal interest rate is at zero. Ben S Bernanke, Deflation Making Sure it Doesn't Happen Here, November, 2002. The US economy is in a liquidity trap, which means that the demand for credit is weak, even though the Fed is increasing the money base, via the creation of reserves at the banks, and interest rates are at zero. This is a serious problem. When the private sector, businesses and consumers reduces its borrowing, activity slows, output shrinks, unemployment rises, and the economy slips into recession. That hasn't happened yet, mainly because government fiscal support and transfers have kept growth in the black. But there are signs that deflationary pressures are starting to build. The consumer price index (CPI) has dropped for two consecutive months, revolving credit is showing new signs of weakness, and deposits at banks still exceed loans by a significant margin. Add the $85 billion across the board budget cuts, and the prospects for a second half double-dip look quite good. Here's a clip from an article in Reuters that helps to explain what's going on: Consumer credit recorded its smallest increase in eight months in March, a possible hint that Americans are still trying to pare their debts. Revolving credit, credit cards, fell by $1.71 billion, after rising $453 million in February. Credit from depository institutions fell in March. Student loans have been the driver of any growth in credit to households, said Julia Coronado, chief North America economist at BNP Paribas. Non-revolving credit in March, which includes auto loans and student loans made by the government, rose $9.68 billion in March. That followed an $18.18 billion increase in February. Consumer credit posts smallest gain in eight months, Reuters. So credit growth is flagging and Obama's contractionary economic policies have only made matters worse. It's clear that slashing government spending, when the economy is still weak, and the only areas of credit growth are student loans and sub-prime auto loans, is pure folly. Note: Economists estimate that growth would be almost 2 percentage points higher, if Congress and the administration put off the tax hikes and budget cuts until the economy was stronger. The decline in credit card usage further illustrates that working people are still in deep distress, and cutting back wherever possible.    

Kevin Barrett: Osama bin Laden's Ghost!

Tim King, Salem News.com. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other human beings as an appreciable act. bin Laden. How many Americans know Osama bin Laden denied being connected to the attacks on the United States, Sept. 11th 2001? Is it possible to imagine a terrorist going to that much effort, knowing full well that the one and only result would be an attack on an unprecedented scale against two Middle eastern countries, and failing to claim it? The man, bin Laden, didn't deny it once, he denied it over and over again, but the United States media and press failed to divulge it in any meaningful way. George W. Bush told the public bin Laden claimed the act on the very same days that bin Laden issued statements saying he had nothing to do with it. Then, as if on cue, he would materialize in the bin Laden tapes, and Bush and Cheney would release them, always at key times to deflect attention from real issues. Obama played along and secured his second election for having captured and killed bin Laden, don't believe it for a second. Now prosecutors in the Bradley Manning trial, say Manning had directly communicated with bin Laden. That's pretty interesting, did he use a seance? Regardless of the non-illustrious lies of the Bush and Obama administrations, Usama or Osama, as the west likes to refer to him, has been a dead man walking for many years. Strong evidence points to bin Laden having been killed during the Northern Alliance period in the final days of 2001. It happened in the caves at Tora Bora, diring a series of ferocious attacks at the onset of the long running war in Afghanistan. I have spoken to two US Army Special Forces operators who were there, and while neither positively identified the body of this most wanted terrorist, they strongly believed that they successfully targeted his location. The terrorist's remains were sealed up in a collapsed cave. As you will note in the links below to past articles, there is another source that claims bin Laden's death was more recent, approximately six years ago. I was in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in 2007, in bin Laden's former training camp that the Afghan National Army (ANA) controls today. Here I had a first hand opportunity to talk to people and learn what they knew about this notorious war lord, who helped free the people and learn from a ten-year Soviet occupation that in spite of its brutality, failed to claim as many lives as the US war on Iraq alone.  

F. William Engdahl: The Monsanto Protection Plan: Monsanto's Deception Game

on GMO in Europe. On May 31, world media headlines read similar to this from Reuters: Monsanto backing away from GMO crops in Europe. The original source for the story is attributed to a German left daily, TAZ, which printed excerpts from an interview with an official spokeswoman of Monsanto Germany. Ursula Luettmer Quazane reportedly told TAZ. Which printed excerpts from an interview with an official spokeswoman of Monsanto Germany. Ursula Luettmer Ouazane reportedly told Taz: We have come to the conclusion that this has no broad acceptance at the moment. Her remarks were circulated worldwide and Reuters interviewed Monsanto corporate spokesman Thomas Helsher, who reportedly said: We are going to sell the GM seeds only where they enjoy broad farmer support, broad political support, and a functioning regulatory system. As far as we are convinced this only applies to a few countries in Europe today, primarily Spain and Portugal. Before the world opens the champagne to celebrate the death of GMO and its paired herbicides, such as Roundup, it is worthwhile to look more closely at what was officially said. What Monsanto itself says: A visit to the official website of Monsanto Germany presents an official company press release referring to the media statements: Aktuell ueberschlagen sich die Medien mit der Nachricht, dass Monsanto die Vermarktung von gentechnisch verbessertem Saatgut in Deutschland und Europa eingestellt haben soll. Das stimmt so nicht. Monsanto bieted schon seit einigen Jahren nur dort gentechnish verbesserte Sorten an, wo ein funktionierendes Zulassungssyystem und breite Unterstuetzung auf landwirtshaftlicher und politischer Ebene fuer the Technologie vorhanden ist. Aber grundsaetzlich ist es richtig, dass Monsanto sich in Deutschland und Europa auf die Zuechtung und Verkauf von konventionellem Saatgut und Pflanzenschutzmitteln konzcentriert. The essential part says: Right now the media is flooded with reports that Monsanto has stopped the marketing of GMO seeds in Germany and the EU. That is not correct.

Nikolay Malishevski: Finland, A Terrorist Haven!

Finnish officials started to interact with Chechen terrorists as far back as 1999. Rene Nyberg, a high standing official from the Finnish Foreign Ministry, first met Chechen representatives at the Helsinki EU summit by the end of 1999. When the criminal gangs of Basayev and Khattab invaded Dagestan from the territory of Chechnya, and then launched a string of bomb attacks across the territory of Russia from Volgodonsk to Moscow, the Northern Dimension European Union initiative, worked out by Finland's Foreign Ministry in November 1998, entered the phase of practical implementation. The initiative is targeted at drastic changes, related to defining the borders with Russia and encompasses Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus, the islands of the Finnish Gulf and Novgorod region, bringing all these territories into the Finnish sphere of interests. Finland plans to invest around 80 billion dollars into the program till 2020. In the summer of 2002, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) had to issue an admonition seriously warning Finland about brazen anti-Russian propaganda activities. But it was not followed, the activities went on. Some time later, the terrorist Internet media outlet started to function in Helsinki with the Finish authorities consent. In April 2013, the Guardian wrote, This call to global jihad may perhaps offer a motive for an attack inside the US. As perhaps were trips back to Caucasus by the two bombing suspects. The new generation of twenty something rebels is also exploiting a powerful new weapon, the internet. The main Chechen rebel website, kavkazcenter.com, posts reports from the jihadist movement worldwide: from Syria, where Chechen diaspora fighters are battling government forces in Aleppo, from Pakistan, and from Turkey. Antero Leitzinger Helsinki: the one hand with amazement and admiration because of the enormous bravery and determination shown by the Chechnyan freedom fighters in an unequal struggle, but at the same time, with deep grief and distress because of the human sufferings caused by this war. We Finns know from our own experiences during the first decades of this century and WW II, that a nation defending its liberty against a great power is often left alone in the hours of need. Why doesn't the world help? Don't they know? Such questions are just and human, they were asked by our people in 1899, 1917 and 1939, and in our hearts we can very well feel you asking us the same now. Therefore, I wanted to assure you by publishing this book, that you haven't been forgotten by the outside world, that the Finnish nation is closely watching your heroic struggle, and that we too are joining you in our prayers to God for granting you victory, peace and independence, which you truly have earned at such high sacrifices!

Sherwood Ross: Pacifist Terms Obama Force For Desrtruction.

Charlottesville, VA.  Overall, President Obama has been a force for destruction, who has advanced inequality, wealth concentration, deportations, imprisonments, and the defunding of basic services in order to fund banks, billionaires, and bombers, distinguished peace activist David Swanson says. In an exclusive interview with this reporter, Swanson, a former staff aide to Republican Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaigns, said Obama has done nothing to better the lot of the nation's poor, including Americans in the ghettos, apart from reducing the disparity in crack powder cocaine sentencing. Noting that Obama has attempted to identify himself with the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Swanson was asked if he saw any resemblance. His reply was Two eyes and two ears and two feet and in Obama's case two mouths. He got a Nobel Peace Prize before he did anything for peace, Swanson said. So did King, and King followed through and retroactively earned it. Perhaps that led to the ludicrous bestowing of the prize on Obama, who proceeded to give a pro war acceptance speech, in which he insultingly and arrogantly denounced King's approach to world change. Asked if either Obama or his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might carry out their threat to make a nuclear attack on Iran, Swanson said, I think they are willing to and would find joy in it. Watch the video of Clinton laughing over the killing of Libya's ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Watch the video of her talking about obliterating Iran. She takes obvious pleasure in such talk, as does Obama. I don't think it's at the top of their to do list, but as long as they allow Israel and Congress to roll ahead, as long as they support the propaganda against Iran, as long as they pursue sanctions as an alternative to war, that usually brings war closer, the danger will grow. Swanson was asked if the US could defeat powerful enemies Germany and Japan in three and one half year in World War II, how it has been in Afghanistan for well over a decade with no victory in sight, and whether this was not a deliberate plan to continue a high level of military funding. Motivations clearly include irrational masochistic power, financial profit, election campaigning, domination of territories and resources, and the inertia of the war machine, Swanson said. I don't think there is just one reason, but I think all the reasons are bad ones. He went on to say, I agree that many want to keep the wars going, including those so deluded as to imagine that wars produce jobs. Connecticut's new commission to plan economic conversion is the most encouraging step I have seen in a long time.

Hillary Clinton: We Created Al Qaeda. The Protagonist of the Global War on Terrorism are the Terrorists!

The following video features Hillary Clinton candidly acknowledging that America created and funded Al Qaeda as a terrorist organization in the heyday of the Soviet Afghan war. What she does not mention, is that at no time in the course of the last 30 years, has the US ceased to support and finance Al Qaeda as a means to destabilizing sovereign countries. The Global War on Terror (GWOT) is led by the United States. It is not directed against Al Qaeda. Quite the opposite: The Global War on Terrorism uses Al Qaeda terrorist operatives as their foot soldiers. Political Islam and the imposition of an Islamic State, modeled on Qatar or Saudi Arabia, is an integral part of US foreign policy. America is the Terror State. The GWOT is a diabolical instrument of Worldwide conquest. It is a means to destabilizing sovereign countries and imposing regime change. Clinton's successor at the State Department, John Kerry is in direct liaison with Al Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliated organization in Syria, integrated by terrorists and funded by the US and its allies. In a bitter irony, John Kerry is not only complicit in the killings committed by Al Nusra, he is also in blatant violation of US anti terrorist legislation. If the latter were to be applied to politicians in high office, John Kerry would be considered as a Terror Suspect. New Normal? Al Nusra is on the State Department blacklist of terrorist organizations, and the US Secretary of State is channeling money and weapons to Al Nusra. Support to Al Qaeda operatives in different countries by the US government is known and documented. In this upside down World, the Lie prevails: The Protagonist of the Global War on Terrorism and the Responsibility to Protect, are the Terrorists. Its a circular relationship, a vicious circle: Those who lead the Global War on Terrorism in the name of Democracy, are those who are supporting and financing terrorist organizations, which they themselves created. C'est le monde a l'envers.

Cem Ertur: The Role of Turkey in the US-NATO Israeli War on Syria!

Syria is worrying that it will be attacked by Turkey from above and by Israel from below. It is worrying that it will be squeezed between us like a sandwich. Israeli President Ezer Weizman, 1993-2000, interview with Guneri Civaoglu, Caesarea, Israel, 11 June 1996. Although Turkey has never taken part in a war alongside us, it is a positive factor for Israel that Syria has an enemy on its northern frontiers. Syria will never attack Turkey, but it cannot exclude the reverse, based on former Israeli Defence Minister Uri Or (1995-1996), interview with Alain Gresh, Tel Aviv, October 1997. When the US and its allies launched the covert war on Syria in 2011, they were expecting that either Syria's political establishment would collapse within a short duration, or they would find a way to ignite an open war. As Syria's leaders and people proved to be exceptionally resilient, increasingly more brutal means have been deployed to tear the country apart. Being at the forefront of this covert war in every respect, Turkey has been thoroughly complicit in monumental war crimes committed against the neighboring people of Syria. Turkey's phony peace with its neighbors Syria, since November 2008, came to an abrupt end in May 2011, when its central role in NATOs covert war against Syria became evident. As for Turkeys phony conflict with Israel, which began with the May 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre, has also been fully exposed, when Turkey overtly supported Israels blatant acts of military aggression against Syria in 2013. The repercussions of the May 2013
Reyhanli false flag bombing attacks near Turkey's border with Syria in 2013. The repercussions of the May 2013 Reyhanli false flag bombing attacks near Turkey's border with Syria is the latest evidence of a deep crisis of legitimacy for the United States, Britain, Israel and Turkey, the four countries whose alliance has been dominating the political scene in the Middle East and beyond since 1990. Israeli Air Attacks on Damascus: As NATO's international mercenary forces from 29 different countries started suffering heavy defeats against the Syrian Army, Israeli Air Forces came to their rescue, by launching two separate air strikes in Syria, both of which were blatant acts of war. After the first Israeli air attack on Damascus on January 30th, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made the following remarks: Why did the Syrian Army, which has been launching attacks on its own innocent civilian population for the past 22 months with jets from the air, and with tanks and artillery fire from the ground, not retaliate against this Israeli operation?

Mohamed Khodr: Parliamentarians Censor and Define Free Speech

against Israel as Anti-Semitism. We all know what Parliament is, and we are all ashamed of it, Robert Louis Stevenson. It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the policies of the State of Israel. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, April 28, 2004, OSCE Conference on Anti Semitism, Berlin, Germany. If liberty means anything at all,it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. George Orwell. The world of conscience, humanity, equality, and freedom of self determination for all people, urges world Parliamentarians to condemn and refuse to sign the London Declaration on Combating Anti Semitism. This prejudicial declaration that censors any free speech critical of Israel's illegal occupation and military brutality against millions of innocent civilians, the Palestinians, inhumanely places the sensitivities of Jews above the blood of their victims in Palestine and the Arab world. Til this day, the Middle East still suffers from previous London Declarations, the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes Picot Agreement. The world has had enough death and destruction that emanates from the civilized capitols of Europe and America. The dark southern hemisphere is saturated with the blood and bodies of hundreds of millions of millions of victims of western isms: Imperialism, Colonialism, Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, Nazism, Fascism, and the last seemingly insurmountable colonialism, that has defied the world: Zionism. The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. Dante Alighieri. You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind, next to honor, Dante Alighieri. You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor, Aristotle. To the misguided Parliamentarian signatories of the London Declaration on Combating Anti Semitism, the world asks why are you so blinded to the atrocities committed by Israel and your Jewish benefactors? I beg of you, if you have one shred of humanity left in you to at least spend two minutes watching this extraordinarily moving video, and let your conscience decide if you as elected politicians serve God, humanity, the good, or has the world lost you to serve the evil that is Israel. If criticizing, condemning, or hating Israel for its murderous and terroristic existence than I, A Semite, am a God Serving Proud Anti-Semite. Thruth, Justice,, Hypocrisy, and Double Standards have and will always be the enemies of oppressive empires, and in the long run will be their undoing. Only in an Orwellian world is free thought, free speech, academic freedom, academic freedom, free press, and the right to assemble, protest, and petition are crimes.

James Corbett and Michael Welch: Post Fukushima Japan:

Deap seated Economic and Social Crisis. Once an Asian Tiger, the East Asian nation of Japan has labored under a recession which has endured more than twenty years. Adding insult to injury, an earthquake and typhoon two years ago ravaged the country and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. The resulting radiation leaks left people in the vicinity to cope with the fall out, societal and literal. A right of center government, led by Shinzo Abe is now in power. The Abe government, working with Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Koroda has instituted a Quantitative Easing program, in which the Bank of Japan is doubling the country's money supply, and buying up the lion's share of newly issued government bonds. The moves resulted in an increase in the value of Japanese stock prices. Capital spending, however, remains weak and the debt to GDP ratio is estimated to be over 245%. These kinds of realities causing some to question whether the fundamentals are in place for an economic recovery, or whether the country is setting itself up for another major crisis. The precipitous 7.3% drop in the Japanese Nikkei stock market index on May 23 is not a promising sign. Then there is the wider regional and global context. The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in which Japan will soon be the twefth partner, the Japanese Chinese jurisdictional dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, the US Asia pivot, and the drama around North Korea, all factor into Japan's political landscape. James Corbett has lived in Japan since 2004. He is a GRTV producer and Global Research, journalist, researcher and broadcaster. His website Corbbettreport.com has been providing independent political and economic analysis since 2007. Corbett will spend the entire program providing his insights on what has happened to Japan, and where this unique island nation may be headed.

Robert Fantina: John Kerry Proposes Investments in Palestine,

while funding Israeli Apartheid, main obstacle to commerce. As US Secretary of State John Kerry attempts to put his particular spin on resolving the generations old crisis of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, he has traveled to the World Economic Forum. There, he waved the possibility of $4 billion investments in the Palestinian economy, from a worldwide conglomerate of investors, over a period of three years. Of course, he hasn't specified who these investors would be. It was reported that Kerry did not identify specific companies with plans to set up shop in the West Bank, or how he hoped to remove obstacles to Palestinian commerce. The US government in 2013, will give Israel over $3.15 billion, an increase over the billions it gave Israel last year. Yet the US doesn't ever seem to have any problem determining where that money comes from: the US taxpayer has for decades been funding the apartheid state of Israel. Regarding removing obstacles to Palestinian commerce, perhaps we could take a look at what some of those obstacles are: Israel has established countless checkpoints all over the West Bank. Customers wanting to get to stores that may be a few blocks from their home, may have to travel miles to get to them, because IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers arbitrarily close checkpoints whenever the mood so strikes them. Or, they might leave a checkpoint open, but prevent people from passing through by asking countless questions, demanding assorted identification, or simply telling them that they have to wait until the soldiers are good and ready to speak to them. That could be today, or possibly, tomorrow. Or maybe the day after. And if a potential customer decides to try a different route, through a different checkpoint, there is no guarantee the response there will be different. Merchants attempting to get to their own stores face the same checkpoints and challenges. Farmers need to plant seeds, irrigate crops, care for them and eventually harvest them. This becomes difficult, when they require permits from Israel to plant and harvest on their own land. A Palestinian farmer may request a permit to plant during planting season, but be granted the permit only long after planting season has passed. If he or she is fortunate enough to be given permission to plant at the appropriate time of year, he or she must simply hope that permission to harvest will be granted when appropriate.

Mike Whitney: Deflation Smackdown: Bernanke's Madcap Money Printing Fails to Boost Inflation!

Under a flat money system, a government should always be able to generate increased nominal spending and inflation, even when the short term nominal interest rate is at zero. Ben S Bernanke, Deflation: Making Sure it Doesn't Happen Here, November, 2002. The US economy is in a liquidity trap, which means that the demand for credit is weak, even though the Fed is increasing the monetary base, via the creation of reserves at the banks, and interest rates are at zero. This is a serious problem. When the private sector, business and consumers, reduces its borrowing, activity slows, output shrinks, unemployment rises, and the economy slips into recession. That hasn't happened yet, mainly because government fiscal support and transfers have kept growth in the black. But there are signs that deflationary pressures are starting to build. The consumer price index (CPI) has dropped for two consecutive months, revolving credit is showing new signs of weakness, and deposits at banks still exceed loans by a significant margin. Add the $85 billion across the board budget cuts, and the prospects for a second half double dip look quite good. Here's a clip from an article in Reuters that helps to explain what's going on: Consumer credit recorded its smallest increase in eight months in March, a possible hint that Americans are still trying to pare their debts. Revolving credit, credit cards, fell by $1.71 billion after rising $453 million in February. Credit from depository institutions fell in March. Student loans have been the driver of any growth in credit to households, said Julia Coronado, chief North America economist at BNP Paribas. Non-revolving credit in March, which includes auto loans made by the government, rose $9.68 billion in March. That followed an $18.18 billion increase in February. Consumer credit posts smallest gain in eight months, according to Reuters. So credit growth is flagging, and Obama's contractionary economic policies have only made matters worse. It's clear that slashing government spending, when the economy is still weak, and the only areas of credit growth are student loans and sub-prime auto loans, is pure folly. Economists estimate that growth would be almost 2 percentage points higher, if Congress and the administration put off the tax hikes and budget cuts, until the economy is stronger. The decline in credit card usage further illustrates that working people are still in deep distress, and cutting back wherever possible. Naturally, when consumer borrowing falters, aggregate demand weakens, and companies scale back on business investment, which is apparent by the reduction in equipment and software purchases, which slipped by 4.6% in the first quarter. 

Andrew Bacevich: America's Eternal War!

For well over a decade now, the United States has been a nation at war. Does that war have a name? It did at the outset. After 9/11, George W. Bush's administration wasted no time in announcing that the Us was engaged in a Global War on Terrorism, or GWOT. With few dissenters, the media quickly embraced the term. The GWOT promised to be a gargantuan, transformative enterprise. The conflict begun on 9/11would define the age. In neoconservative circles, it was known as World War IV. Upon succeeding to the presidency in 2009, however, Barack Obama without fanfare junked Bush's formulation as he did again in a speech at the National Defense University last week. Yet if the appellation went away, the conflict itself, shorn of identifying marks, continued. Does it matter that ours has become and remains a nameless war? Very much so. Names bestow meaning. When it comes to war, a name attached to a date can shape our understanding of what the conflict was all about. To specify when a war began and when it ended is to privilege certain explanations of its significance, while discrediting others. Let me provide a few illustrations. With rare exceptions, Americans today characterize the horrendous fraternal bloodletting of 1861-1865 as the Civil War. Yet not many decades ago, diehard supporters of the Lost Cause insisted on referring to that conflict as the War Between the States, or the War for Southern Independence, or even the war of Northern Aggression. The South may have gone down in defeat, but the purposes for which Southerners had fought, preserving a distinctive way of life and the principle of states' rights, had been worthy, even noble. So at least they professed to believe, with their preferred names for war reflecting that belief. Schoolbooks tell us that the Spanish American War began in April 1898 and ended in August of that same year. The name and dates fit nicely with a widespread inclination from President William McKinley's day to our own to frame US intervention in Cuba as an altruistic effort to liberate that island from Spanish oppression. Yet the Cubans were not exactly bystanders in that drama. By 1898, they had been fighting for years to oust their colonial overlords, and although hostilities in Cuba itself ended on August 12th, they dragged on in the Philippines, another Spanish colony that the United States had seized for reasons only remotely related to liberating Cubans.

Stew Webb: The Big One Holder's El Cid US Attorney Ron Machen Jr.

Why There Will Be No Grand Jury on Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the AP and Fox Wire Taps, or Judicial Corruption. At the center of today's headlines, the point man on the ground for the government is United States Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. US Attorney Machen obtained the AP and Fox News subpoenas and timed the leak of the AP surveillance to be the same day as the preplanned leak of IRS disclosures about Tea Party processing delays. The real story is bigger, and USA Machen holds the career futures of both Attorney General Eric Holder and Chief Supreme Justice Roberts in his capable hands. Like my Veterans' Today readership, I have been paying special attention to the news leading up to Memorial Day, that time when we remember our fallen comrades, and can't help but measure our own lives since leaving the service of our nation USMC. All of us wonder from time to time, but especially on the national holiday dedicated to the ones that sacrificed all, if we have upheld the values, the constitution, and the America they died defending. In the weeks leading up to Memorial Day, articles in this publication and others have revealed the top brass in all branches of the military having a Major General Smedley Butler-esque crisis over the lawfulness of their ordered prosecution of America's armed conflicts and the mass human suffering it caused. MCNBC's Rachael Maddow reported last week that other leader, that civilian General, Attorney General Eric Holder admitted for the first time, that the US killed 4 Americans with drone strikes,, despite having only targeted one. The following day, the Commander in Chief, President Obama, directed that operations of the drones will mostly be returned to military control, and never used against Americans on American soil. As Americans, we can be proud of a military that has always remained loyal to the constitution and the rule of law, and a national leadership that reflects openly upon its efforts and failures in measuring up to the legacy passed on to us. However, in this article, I am going to be calling your attention to something more related to the roots of Memorial Day. Decoration Day, as it used to be known, when our grand parents and great grand parents carried on the tradition of decorating the graves of America's civil war dead. A great way to memorialize why we never can tolerate such a conflict again. Because there were so many fallen.

Allen L. Roland: Prophet For A Dying Empire, Chalmers Johnson!

Every dying Empire has its truth telling prophet, and America had its own with Chalmers Johnson. Johnson correctly compared the decay of the American empire, with its well over 600 overseas military bases, with the fall of the Roman Empire, whereas the Senate becomes a wealthy corporate club and irrelevant compared to the ruling Military Industrial Congressional Complex. Chalmers Johnson was a truth teller and prophet in a political environment, where few would stand up to the interests and secrecy of the Pentagon and to the intelligence community, and since his passing in November of 2010, many of his prophetic fears have been realized in the Obama administration. Johnson, author of Blowback, Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis, The Last Days of the American Republic, talks in this video interview about the similarities in the decline of the Roman and Soviet empires and the signs that the US empire is exhibiting the very same symptoms, overextension, corruption and the inability to reform. Johnson's main points were: The United States is trading the same three steps as the former Soviet Union: Inability to deal with corporate corruption. Imperial over stretch is leading to fiscal insolvency, with 600 plus bases throughout the world. Inability to reform, thus accelerating the inevitable fall. Chalmers offered the solution, but suspected that it was already too late for America: Reform Congress, Reform corrupt election laws. Re-division of electoral college. Cutback funding of intelligence agencies and department of the defense and take steps to break up the Military Industrial Congressional Complex. Chalmers expected considerable resistance, but also said that only the truth could avoid the inevitable fall of the American empire, as it did in bringing down the Soviet Union. Thus, only the role of the alternative media in exposing the truth can rescue a crumbling Republic that has rapidly become a corrupt plutocracy. It is my opinion, that there is one central truth that can bring down America's Berlin wall of denial along with the deceit of the War on Terror, it's the big, big lie and America's greatest act of treason, it's the monstrous lie of 9/11 along with its unchallenged official story. America's present day prophet for our dying empire is Chris Hedges, America In the Time of Empire, who wrote in 2007, that all great empires or nations decay from within. By the time they hobble off the world stage, overrun by the hordes at the gates or vanishing quietly into the pages of history books, what made them successful and powerful no longer has relevance.