Dr. Stephen Frost: The Chilcot Inquiry. The British Government's Role in the War on Iraq.

Margaret Aldred  and the Judicial Coverup. The Chilcot Inquiry chaired by Sir John Chilcot, was launched in 2009, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, with the mandate to inquire into the role of British government in the Iraq War. There have been five inquiries into the role of British government in the Iraq War. There have been five inquiries in the in the United Kingdom into the Iraq War. There have been five inquiries in the United Kingdom into the Iraq War. the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC), the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), the Hutton Inquiry, the Butler Inquiry and the Chilcot Inquiry, the Iraq Inquiry. Not a single word of evidence at any of those inquiries has bean heard under oath. Sir John Chilcot, presently chairing the Chilcot Inquiry, the Iraq Inquiry. Not a single word of evidence at any of those inquiries has been heard under oath. Sir John Chilcot, presently chairing the Chilcot Inquiry, has the unique distinction of sitting on those inquiries: the Butler Inquiry and the Chilcot Inquiry. Does this not constitute a conflict of interests? The person running the Chilcot Inquiry on behalf of Chilcot is one Margaret Aldred, an unelected civil servant, who, in my opinion and in the opinion of others, is not fit to be running any inquiry, she has infamously ordered Came Ross before he gave evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry, not to mention Dr David Kelly and outlined the consequences if he did so, and certainly not the Chilcot Inquiry because of an overwhelming conflict of interests, and other reasons, as carefully outlined below. Margaret Aldred is fatally tainted by a huge conflict of interests. Stephen Frost: Elfyn Llwyd MP outlines in a Westminster Hall debate why Margaret Aldred should not be running the Chilcot Inquiry: Elfyn Llwyd: It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Williams, ably chairing this debate, as always. One of the vital prerequisites of a Government initiated inquiry is that it should be utterly independent and devoid of any conflicts of interest that might undermine its credibility and the veracity of its conclusions and findings. I shall detail why I have grave misgivings about the independence of the Chilcot inquiry process, may be flawed and even compromised from the beginning. I realize that those are grave allegations, but I do not make them lightly. Before I detail the problems as I see them,, I should mention that about three years ago, some documents were dispatched to my office from an unknown source, bearing a note saying that they were top secret. Some were British in origin, others may well have been from other intelligence sources. They showed that in 2001-02, active discussions were taking place on how to move against Saddam Hussein using overwhelmingly military force.

Shamus Cooke: Who Killed the Syrian Peace Talks?

The rebels have been defeated. Is the War  Over? The long awaited Syrian peace talks, instigated by power brokers Russia and the United States, had already passed their initial due date, and are now officially stillborn. The peace talks are dead, because the US backed rebels are boycotting the negotiations, ruining any hope for peace, while threatening to turn an already tragic disaster into a Yugoslavia style catastrophe, or worse. The US backed rebels are not participating in the talks, because they have nothing to gain from them, and everything to lose. In war, the purpose of peace negotiations is to copy the situation on the battlefield and paste it to a treaty. The army winning the war enters negotiations from a dominant position, since its position is enforceable on the ground. The US backed rebels would be entering peace talks broken and beaten, having been debilitated on the battlefield. The Syrian army has had a string of victories, pushing the rebels back to the border areas, where they are protected by US allies Turkey, Jordan, and northern Lebanon. Peace talks would merely expose this reality and end the war on terms dictated by the Syrian government. A rebel leader was quoted in The New York Times, revealing this motive for the rebel's abandonment of peace talks: What can we rebels ask for when we go very weak to Geneva for peace talks? The Russians and the Iranians and the representatives of the Syrian regime will say: You don't have any power. We are controlling everything. What are you coming to ask for? This is the reality as it exists in Syria, and realistic peace talks would recognize the situation in Syria, and end the conflict immediately. But first the rebel's supporters, the United States and its lackeys Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar must acknowledge this reality, and demand that the rebels forge ahead with peace talks, on threat of being cut off politically, financially, and militarily. If this happens, the war is over. But if the war ended tomorrow, Syrian President Bashar Assad, would still be in power, and President Obama has said repeatedly, Assad must go. Obama would be further humiliated by his Syria policy, if he had to again recognize Assad as president after spending a year recognizing a group of rich Syrian exiles as the legitimate government of Syria, and after his administration repeatedly announced that the Assad regime had ended over a year ago. More importantly, if Assad stayed in power, US foreign policy would appear weak internationally, which is one main reason that the US political establishment wants to go all in for regime change in Syria: Super powers must back up their threats, since otherwise other nations might choose to challenge the United States.

Michael Farrell: If you've been down this road before and it leads to an abyss,

figure second time's a charm? The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan largely because they were totally frustrated with their client state's inability to do just about anything that they expected them to do. The people of the former Soviet Union are still suffering the impact of that decision. Russia is still engaged in the continuing kerfluffle in the Caucasus, but that at least seems consistent. Chechnya is a small scale version of Afghanistan, but Russia has all the cards. We're not arming the Chechens, and the various Islamic cash cows have avoided providing a lot of support beyond prayer and some limited humanitarian. Part of that has to do with the global war on terror's chilling effect on dissident elements in various Islamic nations, part of it has to do with the fact that the Chechens have proven themselves to be basically threats to anybody they don't like very much. One would have thought that after the almost 12 years of war in Afghanistan with the ongoing unmentioned conflicts in Somalia and Yemen, and watching the emerging religious cleansing in Iraq, that we'd have learned to not get involved in another Islamic intramural cluster in Western Asia. The old saw about not getting involved in a land war in Asia really is about the continent of Asia, not just the parts we've already had our asses kicked in. Like it or not, global power projectors, none of our land wars in Asia have turned out well. At best, we've had a draw in Korea, lasting almost as long as I've been alive, I guess the Boxer Rebellion turned out ok, and of course, there was Vietnam. But now the US has decided that the Syrian government has crossed a red line and used chemical agents. This horrible crime against humanity that supposedly killed about 200 people in multiple attacks will not stand. Give Gordon, me and couple of other guys some .50 cal sniper rifles, Mk 19 Automatic grenade launchers, some mortars, some M2 machine guns, a lot of bullets and maybe some close air support, all of which the Syrians have or at least have the equivalents, and we'll deliver a helluva lot more than 200 casualties if you give us a village or six to take out, if we were the types of guys who slaughter civilians. The Syrian Army doesn't have that squeamish ethical reserve that we have. McCain and Co. are all in doing more in Syria and have been for a long time. In fact, the White House let him know that they had decided to start arming the rebels and he went on the Senate floor before either the President or the White House could make the announcement to complain that the offer of aid was obviously insufficient and we need a now fly zone and a CAP.

Matthias Chang: US Dollar Collapse and Japan's Sham Currency War.

The hidden agenda behind Japan's Kamikaze Quantitative Easing. US dollars have been flooding the financial markets ever since Bernanke launched quantitative easing, allegedly to turn around the US economy. These huge amounts of US$ toilet paper are mainly in financial markers, and in central banks, outside of the United States. A huge chunk is represented as reserves in central banks led by China and Japan. If truth be told, the real value of the US $ would not be more than a dime, and I am being generous here, as even toilet paper has value. That the US dollar is still accepted in the financial markets (specifically by central banks) has nothing to do with being a reserve currency, but rather that the US$ is backed, or supported by the armed might and nuclear blackmail of the US Military Industrial Complex. The nuclear blackmail of Iran is the best example following Iran's decision to trade her crude in other currencies and gold instead of the US $ toilet paper. If the United States were not a military threat and a global bully that can blackmail with impunity the oil exporting countries in the Middle East, the global financial system which hinges on the US$ toilet paper, would have collapsed a long time ago. The issue is why has the US$ not collapsed as it should have by now? When we apply common sense and logic to the state of affairs, the answer is so simple and it is staring at you. But, you have not been able to see the obvious, because the global mass media, specifically the global financial mass media controlled mainly from London and New York, has created a smokescreen to hide the truth from you. Let's analyse the situation in a step by step manner,  and apply common sense. The US is the world's biggest debtor. The biggest creditors are China and Japan, followed by the oil exporting countries in the Middle East. With each passing day, the value of the US$ toilet paper is worth less and less. As I said earlier, even toilet paper has some intrinsic value. It reaches zero value when everyone has to carry a wheelbarrow of US $to purchase anything. For the US$ toilet paper creditors, they cannot admit the fact that they have been conned by the global Too Big To Fail Banks, acting in concert with the FED and the Bank of England to accept US$ toilet papers. The central bankers of these countries have a reputation to preserve, not that there is in fact any reputation, for their so-called financial credibility is also part of the scam, and the political leaders that relied on them is in a bigger bind. How can the political leaders be so very stupid to trust these central bankers, who have stashed away in foreign tax havens huge US$ toilet papers as a reward for their complicity.    

Bashar al Assad: Syria: President Bashar Al Assad:

Full interview and Transcript. We bring to the attention of our readers, the full interview of President Bashar Al-Assad with the Lebanese al Manar Tv channel. The English transcript is provided below: Interview given by President al-Assad to Lebanese Al-Manar TV broadcasted on Thursday. Following is the full text of the interview: Al Manar: In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Assalamu Alaikum. Bloodshed in Syria continues unabated. This is the only constant over which there is little disagreement between those loyal to the Syrian state and those opposed to it. However, there is no common ground over the other constant over which there is little disagreement between those loyal to the Syrian state, and those opposed to it. However, there is no common ground over the other constants and details two years into the current crisis. At the same time, a great deal was said about the imminent fall of the regime. Deadlines were set and missed, and all those bets were lost. Today, we are here in the heart of Damascus, enjoying the hospitality of a president who has become a source of consternation to many of his opponents, who are still unable to understand the equations that have played havoc with their calculations and prevented his ouster from the Syrian political scene. This unpleasant and unexpected outcome for his opponents upset their schemes and plots because they didn't take into account one self evident question: what happens if the regime doesn't fall? What if President Assad doesn't leave the Syrian scene? Of course, there are no clear answers, and the result is more destruction, killing and bloodshed. Today there is talk of a critical juncture for Syria. The Syrian Army has moved from defense to attack, achieving one success after another. On a parallel level, stagnant diplomatic waters have been shaken by discussions over Geneva 2 conference becoming a recurrent theme in the statements of all parties. There are many questions which need answers, political settlement, resorting to the military option to decide the outcome, the enemy's direct interference with the course of events in the current crisis, the new equations on the Golan Heights, the relationship with opponents and friends. What is the Syrian leadership's plan for a way out of a complex and dangerous crisis, whose ramifications have started to spill over into neighboring countries? It is our great pleasure tonight to put these questions to H. E. President Bashar al Assad. Assalamu Alaikum, Mr. President. You are most welcome in Damascus. Mr. President, we are in the heart of the People's Palace, two and a half years into the Syrian crisis.

Roi Tov: IDF General Admits One Million Palestinians Expelled!

War is an area of uncertainty, three quarters of the things on which all action in War is based, are lying in a fog of uncertainty, Carl von Clausewitz. Why should one waste time reading an article celebrating the 100 birthday of a brigadier general? If he had been a full general that could be understood, but a mere tat-aluf in the IDF? Yet, faithful readers continuously praise my unusual choice of topics. That means harsh, painful sacrifices like reading the above mentioned celebration. A few pearls hid within the words of Yitzhak Pundak, who on June 13, 2013 celebrated his birthday. Allow me the little joy of beginning from his last words in the interview: I am proud up to the roof. I love my country. These words are a joy, because in the process of describing his unlikely source of pride, he nuked his beloved country twice. Yitzak Pundak. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee. 1948 Arab Israeli War. During the 1948 Arab Israeli War, unclear targets were hit by unknown forces, but maybe not, is the only authoritative summary of that war. Different sources portray different colors of the fog of war, but invariably, this sticky, though ethereal, substance is all over the books, binding unrelated pages, while covering others in such a dense manner that not even one letter can be read. Thus, testimonies of people like Big. Gen. Pundak are of importance, especially regarding his accounts about the Palestinians. Raising the Ink Flag at Umm Rashrash Eilat, Marked the end of the 1948 Arab Israeli War. 1948: A History of the First Arab Israeli War. The better way of illustrating this is by quoting the outrageous words of the original Iron Lady, the woman who got the title years before Margaret Thatcher, and who had been described by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion the best man in the government. Golda Meir said: There were no such things as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people, and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist. I dislike spoiling the irrational feasts of violent leaders, but just let me point a tiny, secondary, yet relevant fact: also the State of Israel never existed. The State of Israel is not the Kingdom of Israel. Sorry Golda, you need additional lessons from Goebbels.

Global Research News: Illinois illegally seizes Bees Resistant to Monsanto's

Roundup, kills remaining Queens. The Illinois Agriculture Department illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant, and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News. Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights, is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup's effects on bees, which he has raised for 58 years. They ruined 15 years of my research, he told Prairie Advocate by stealing most of his stock. A certified letter from the Ag Dept.s Apiary Inspection Supervisor, Stephen D. Chard, stated: During a routine inspection of your honeybee colonies by Inspectors Susan Kivikko and Eleanor Balson on October 23, 2011, the bacterial disease American Foulbrood was detected in a number of colonies located behind your house. Presence of the disease in some of your colonies was confirmed via test results from the USDA Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, that analyzed samples collected from your apiary. Ingram can prove his bees did not have foulbrood, and planned to do so at a hearing set in April, but the state seized his bees at the end of March. They have not returned them and no one at the Ag Dept. seems to know where his bees are. The bees could have been destroyed, or they could have been turned over to Monsanto to ascertain why some of his bees are resistant to Roundup. Without the bees as evidence, Ingram simply cannot defend against the phony charges of foul-brood. Worse, all his queens died after Kivikko, and Balson inspected his property outside of his presence, and without a warrant. Of note, Illinois beekeepers are going underground after Ingram's experience, and refuse to register their hives, in case the state tries to steal their private property on phony claims.

Timothy Alexander Guzman: The Cashless Society Arrives in Africa.

The Multipurpose Biometric National Identity Smart Card. Nigerian Government partners with MasterCard to launch Multipurpose National Identity Smart Card. It was recently announced at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, that MasterCard and the Nigerian National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) under the government of Nigeria would form a partnership to distribute a new identity card to every Nigerian citizen. The purpose of the card is to have all Nigerian citizens participate in the financial services sector under the control of MasterCard, a multinational financial services corporation headquartered in New York. MasterCard's press release MasterCard to Power Nigerian Identity Card Program, stated: As part of the program, in its first phase, Nigerians 16 years and older, and all residents in the country for more than two years, will get the new multipurpose identity card, which has 13 applications including MasterCard's prepaid payment technology that will provide cardholders with the safety, convenience and reliability of electronic payments. This will have a significant and positive impact on the lives of these Nigerians, who have not previously had access to financial services. The program is also designed to move Nigeria into a cashless society, one that is dependent on financial institutions, Wall Street and the Nigerian government. It will be managed by the financial elites of Wall Street, technocrats, and of course Washington. All forms of financial transactions would be exchanged through plastic credit and debit cards, that would have implanted RFID chips. Michael Miebach, President of the Middle East and Africa division at MasterCard supports the Nigerian government's decision for a new cashless society. Today's announcement is the first phase of an unprecedented project in terms of scale and scope for Nigeria, said Michael Miebach. MasterCard has been a firm supporter of the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) Cashless Policy, as we share a vision of a world beyond cash. From the program's inception, we have provided the Federal Government of Nigeria with global insights and best practices on how electronic payments can enable economic growth and create a more financially inclusive economy. The problem with a cashless society, is that the state can terminate your electronic financial lifeline if anything were to happen within the country, for example any form of protests, economic downturns, a war or if a financial institution such as MasterCard were to go bankrupt.   

Matthias Chang: The US Federal Reserve Does Not Print Money!

Says Dr. Lacy Hunt. In the Hoisington Quarterly Review and Outlook, Dr. Lacy Hunt wrote and we quote: The Federal Reserve is printing money. No statement could be less truthful. The Federal Reserve is not, and has not been, printing money, as defined as an acceleration in M2 or money supply. Just check the facts. For the first quarter of 2013, the FED purchased $277.5 billion in securities as their securities net, as their portfolio expanded from $2.660 trillion to $2.937 trillion. A review of post war economic history would lead to a logical assumption that the money supply (M2) would respond upward to this massive infusion of reserves into the banking system. The reality is just the opposite. The last week of December, 2012 showed M2 at $10.505 trillion, but at the end of March, 2013 it totaled only $10.450 trillion, which was an unexpected decline of $55 billion. Printing Money? No. Please read the words which I have highlighted in bold and underlined. Any novice in economics and monetary policy will have no difficulty in identifying the flaw in Dr. Lacy Hunt's contention, as he equated the printing of money, digital or otherwise, with the acceleration in M2 or money supply. The acceleration in M2 is a consequence of the FED printing money in certain circumstances. We will address this issue in a moment. But, to say that because there was not a corresponding acceleration in M2, therefore was no money printing by the FED, is to put it kindly, drawing on the wrong conclusions. But, first let us point out a critical fact which Dr. Lacy Hunt has not denied, and this is the fact that the FED has expanded the monetary base from $840 billion to $2.93 trillion. How did the FED increase the monetary base from a mere $840 billion to $2.93 trillion? The answer is simple. By a click of the computer mouse, thereby digitally creating virtual money, which enabled the FED to embark on its various bail-out schemes, following the financial tsunami of 2008, and thereafter the massive quantitative easing (QE) programs. The digital money was employed in two specific areas, first to purchase toxic assets from the insolvent Too Big To Fail Global Banks, and secondly to finance the US government debts by purchasing US treasuries. Purchase of Toxic Assets from Banks. Why did the FED print money to buy toxic assets? The banks were all insolvent, even till to-date. The toxic assets of banks in ordinary circumstances, Old Normal, would have to be written off, if marked to market. They were all junk assets, and ought to be treated as such.

Alex Quinn: Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) Extremely Low Frequency (ELF)!

and Radio-frequency (RF): What are the Health Impacts? Particularly now that wireless communications are so closely integrated into our daily lives, electromagnetic fields are all around us. Our cities, especially the larger ones, are perpetually shrouded in an invisible electro-smog, a sea of EMF's through which we swim every day. But does this momentous development in civilization come with health effects, and if so, can we do anything to reduce them? What is ELF-EMF and what are its sources? It's important to realize that there are two main forms of EMF: radio frequency (RF) EMF and extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs. The frequency range of ELF-EMF is 1-300 Hz, and the Earth's natural geomagnetic field strength varies from around 60 uT (microtesia) at the magnetic poles to around 30 uT at the equator. Many-man made sources of ELF-EMF exist. Prime among these artificial sources are power lines and electronic appliances, with vacuum cleaners, electric can openers, microwave ovens, shavers and hair dryers among the most powerful. These appliances emit ELF-EMF at field intensities ranging from 17.44 to 164.75 uT, measured from 5cm away. Since the intensity of magnetic fields decreases dramatically with increased distance from the source, the corresponding range of magnetic field intensities at 50 cm is 0.12-1.66 uT. The International Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (INCIRP) has set limits of 1mT( millitesia) for occupational exposure. While these limits are not breached by individual man made sources, additive effects must also be considered, as we shall see. What is RF-EMF and what are its sources? The frequencies of RF-EMFs are considerably higher than ELF-EMFs, ranging from 100 kHz to 300 GHz. As its name suggests, the main uses of RF-EMF are in broadcasting information. In today's data driven world, this means that RF-EMF is constantly around us: it is produced by things such as mobile phone base stations, cordless phones, utility smart meters, remote control toys, wireless networks, radar and baby monitors. In addition, there are various natural sources of RF-EMf, including the Earth, the Sun and other black body radiators. Here's a shocking statistic: did you know that  having a cordless phone base station in your house can expose you to the same level of RF-EMFs as having a mobile phone mast in your back garden? Do EMF's pose health problems? The mainstream view is that the only potential danger from EMFs stems from their heating effects on tissue, in the case of RF-EMF, or of electrical currents induced in the body for ELF-EMF. However, there is strong evidence to suggest that the a-thermal effects ELF and RF-EMFs also contribute to various heath problems.  

Stephen Lendman: Syria is Washington's war.

Israel's very much involved. It abhors peace and stability. Its history reflects belligerence. It's a direct threat. It borders Syria. Both countries are longstanding imperial partners. The Israeli Lobby plays a key role. Orwell once said, who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. Saving the future requires understanding both past and present. Preventing imperial annihilation depends on it. So-called rebel forces are no match against Syria's military superiority. Al Qusayr is a strategic western Syrian city. It's about 18 miles southwest of Homs. It's located on Lebanon's border. It links Damascus with government controlled Mediterranean coastal areas. It's a key smuggling route. Insurgents, weapons, munitions and supplies pass cross border into Syria. Stopping them is strategically important. Fighting for control continues. On May 21, Press TV said Syrian forces control over 70% of the city. According to a Syrian source: We managed to enter the city from several directions. We encountered heavy resistance but we overpowered them and seized control of these places, and we will pursue them and eliminate them wherever they go. According to Voice of Russia, Syria captured the city. Russia's Rossia-24 TV reported it. Insurgents controlled the city throughout the conflict. No longer. Capturing Al Qusayr prevents supplying insurgents from key parts of Lebanon. Voice of Russia and Rossia 24 reported mopping up operations around Aleppo. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, (SANA), Army units restored stability and security to the full eastern area of Al Qusayr in Homs Countryside after killing big numbers of terrorists and destroying their hideouts. A military source added that army units dismantled a number of explosive devices, planted by terrorists in al Souk area in the middle of the city. The source added that army units are continuing hunting the remnants of terrorists in some hideouts in the northern and southern areas of the city. Insurgents suffered heavy losses. Leadership elements were killed or captured. Tens of terrorist surrendered. Others were arrested. SANA said insurgents were routed in several provinces. Local journalist Abdallah Mawazini told Russia Today that Syria's army managed to make a full circle around the city, fighting the opposition fighters. The main achievement is to stop the line of supply chain between Lebanon and Syria. They started from the western side of the city, in the rural areas. They control this zone with some fighters from Lebanon. Some extremist groups were preparing to go into Syria to fight with the rebels, they were going to go make a bigger front in order to fight and expand the fighting line between the government and the opposition. America's war of words continues. Assad's wrongfully blamed for US backed insurgent crimes. They're US proxy foot soldiers. They're foreign invaders.

Stephen Lendman: The True Story of the Bilderberg Group,

and what they may be planning now. A Review of Daniel Estulin's book. For over 14 years, Daniel Estulin has investigated and researched the Bilderberg Group's far reaching influence on business and finance, global politics, war and peace, and control of the world's resources and its money. His book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, was published in 2005, and is now updated in a new 2009 edition. He states that in 1954, the most powerful men in the world met for the first time in Oosterbeek, Netherlands, debated the future of the world, and decided to meet annually in secret. They called themselves the Bilderberg Group, with a membership representing a who's who of world power elites, mostly from America, Canada, and Western Europe with familiar names like David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, Lloyd Blankfein, George Soros, Donald Rumsfeld, Rupert Murdoch, other heads of state, influential senators, congressmen and parliamentarians, Pentagon and NATO brass, members of European royalty, selected media figures, and invited others, some quietly by some accounts like Barack Obama, and many of his top officials. Always well represented are top figures from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), IMF, World Bank, Trilateral Commission, EU, and powerful central bankers from the Federal Reserve, the ECB's Jean Claude Trichet, and Bank of England's Mervyn King. For over half a century, no agenda or discussion topics became public, nor is any press coverage allowed. The few invited fourth estate attendees and their bosses are sworn to secrecy. Nonetheless, Estulin undertook an investigative journey, that became his life's work. He states: Slowly, one by one, I have penetrated the layers of secrecy surrounding the Bilderberg Group, but I could not have done this without help of conscientious objectors from inside, as well as outside, the Group's membership. As a result, he keeps their name confidential. Whatever its early mission, the Group is now a shadow world government, threatening to take away our right to direct our own destinies by creating a disturbing reality, very much harming the public's welfare. In short, Bilderbergers want to supplant individual nation state sovereignty with an all powerful global government, corporate controlled, and check-mated by militarized enforcement. Imagine a private club where presidents, prime ministers, international bankers and generals rub shoulders, where gracious royal chaperones ensure everyone gets along, and where the people running the wars, markets, and Europe and America say what they never dare say in public.   

Washington's Blog: Bush Versus Obama: Who's Worse?

Obama Names Top Fundraisers to Major Political Posts. Glenn Greenwald notes today: Last week, the Obama administration announced its choice to lead the Federal Communications Commission: Tom Wheeler, who is not only a former telecom lobbyist, but also a huge bundler for the Obama campaign. The New York Times Editorial Page today explains that this choice is raising serious questions about Obama's 2007 pledge that corporate lobbyists would not finance his campaign or run his administration. It also notes that "given his background, it is almost certain that Wheeler raised money for Obama from people whose companies he would regulate, creating potential conflicts of interest. Last week, President Obama named another big bundler of his, the billionaire heiress Penny Pritzker, to be his Commerce Secretary. At the Nation, Rick Perlstein details just some of the interesting questions about that choice that need to be explored. At this point, the only surprising thing is that need to be explored. At this point, the only surprising thing is that there are any more bundlers left for Obama to appoint to important administration positions. While despicable, this is nothing new. The Center for Public Integrity reported in 2011, that Obama had rewarded as many big money bundlers in 2 years, as Bush had appointed in 8: The Center wrote: As a candidate, Obama spoke passionately about diminishing the clout of moneyed interests, and making the White House more accessible to everyday Americans. In kicking off his presidential run on February 10, 2007, he blasted the cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests, who he said had turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. But: Overall, 184 of 556, or about one third, of Obama bundlers or their spouses joined the administration in some role.  But the percentages are much higher for the big dollar bundlers. Nearly 80 percent of those who collected more than $500,000 for Obama took key administration posts, as defined by the White House. More than half the ambassador nominees who were bundlers raised more than half a million. The big bundlers had broad access to the White House for meetings with top administration officials and glitzy social events. In all, campaign bundlers and their family members account for more than 3,000 White House meetings and visits. Half of them raised $200,000 or more. Some of Obama bundlers have ties to companies that stand to gain financially from the president's policy agenda, particularly in clean energy and telecommunications, and some already have done so. Level 3 Communications, for instance, snared $13.8 million in stimulus money.    

By Russia Today: Monsanto's Genetically Modified Wheat.

Threatens US Exports. The discovery of the Monsanto created, genetically modified strain of wheat in the US that was never approved by the United States Department of Agriculture has imperiled US exports of a staple world food commodity. Japanese authorities have already opted to cancel part of a tender offer to buy US western white wheat, and have suspended imports of both that variety and feed wheat. Reuters reported on Thursday. We will refrain from buying western white and feed wheat effective today, Toru Hisadome, a Japanese farm ministry official in charge of wheat trading, told the agency. Japan, the biggest buyer of US wheat behind Mexico, will continue buying hard red winter and spring wheat from the US as well as grains from Canada, which are used for the production of bread and noodles. However, Hisadome said the government has asked US authorities to provide more details of their ongoing investigation, and Japan will stop buying the suspended species of wheat until a test kit is developed to identify genetically modified produce. There is currently no US approved test kit to identify genetically engineered wheat. The USDA has said it is developing a rapid test kit. Other major importers like Korea, China and the Philippines said they were closely monitoring the situation, while the European Union is set to test any incoming shipments, saying it will block any containing GM wheat. Following the announcement, wheat for July delivery fell 8.25 cents to $6.945 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The wheat, created by Monsanto Co., appeared on an 80 acre farm in Oregon in April. On Wednesday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it had conducted a genetic test on the wheat, and found that it was an experimental type created by the US agribusiness giant which had never been approved for sale. Following the discovery of the GMO wheat, USDA Acting Deputy Secretary Michael Scuse said that state agriculture directors in Oregon, Washington and Idaho are now coordinating a multi-state investigation, and foreign trade representatives in Canada, Mexico and Asia have been contacted. The USDA has never approved any GMO strain of wheat to be grown in the US, but Monsanto field tested a genetically engineered variety from 1998 through 2005. It was never put into use however, due to global opposition to genetically engineered cereal grains. Wheat remains an exception however, as more than 60 genetically modified crops have been approved for US food and feed supplies.   

   

Washington's Blog: A Proxy War Is Raging in Syria!

Right now inside Syria, Hezbollah fighters backed by the Syrian government, Iran and Lebanon, are fighting Al Qaeda, and Muslim Brotherhood terrorist fighters, backed by the US, Israel, the Eurozone, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. BBC reports: The military chief of the main umbrella group of Syrian rebels claimed that more than 7,000 fighters of the Lebanese Shia movement were taking part in attacks on the rebel held town of Qusair. The French foreign minister has estimated the number at 3,000-4,000. Hezbollah fighters have been in Syria for some time now, but their numbers appear to have grown rapidly over the last few weeks. Not only did the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia largely create, sponsor and fund Al Qaeda, but also two other groups fighting on the side of the Syrian rebels: Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. This is a proxy war. As we have documented in detail, the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and their allies back the Sunni jihadists against Shia Muslims. Indeed, the US is involved in a religious war, between the two factions of Islam, and is actually backing the most violent elements, as part of a geopolitical strategy to exert control over the natural gas market. BBC notes: There is a growing concern in the US that the conflict in Syria is morphing into a complex regional war by proxy. ABC News reports: Hezbollah and Al Qaeda fighters edging closer to full scale confrontation. Syria's conflict is often described as a civil war, but that is only true insofar as it has yet to spill over into another country on a large scale or draw in too many different forces. But it is the quintessential proxy war, with the Alawite, an offshoot of Shia Islam Assad regime backed up by Shia allies Hezbollah and Iran, as well as Russia and China. The Sunni rebels are supported by the Islamist rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the US, France, Britain and others. In December, Syrian rebels burned down a Shiite mosque in northern Idib province. Fighting between Hezbollah and Jabhat al Nusra is being waged closer and closer to the Zeinab shrine. Shiite villagers are coming under attack by militants who praise Osama bin Laden and Sunni villagers are being slaughtered by regime loyalists. Sectarian fighting has already leaked across the border into northern Lebanon. For example, Syrian rebels, Sunnis, apparently shelled Shiites inside neighboring Lebanon. The stage has been set. When Hezbollah and Israel are both actively fighting in the same third country, writes Ramy Khoury, a professor of international affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Iran and the United States are both actively warning about their determination to act to protect their allies and their interests in that same third country, it is time to make another pot of coffee, and make sure you have plenty of fresh batteries at home for your transistor radio.

Kevin Zeese: Citizens of Wisconsin Deliver War Crimes Indictment

against President Barack H. Obama. Five arrested at Volk Field Calling for End to Killer Drones. Wisconsin Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars! Camp Douglas, WI: Five nonviolent activists attempted to deliver an indictment for war crimes to Volk Field Commander Colonel Dave Romauld. They walked peacefully onto the base with the indictment in hand, and asked for a meeting with Colonel Romauld. Instead They walked peacefully onto the base with the indictment in hand, and asked for a meeting with Colonel Romauld. Instead of a meeting, they were promptly arrested, taken to the Juneau County jail in handcuffs, and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. They were released several hours later after processing. Arrested were Bonnie Block, Madison, Joyce Elwinger, Milwaukee, Joy First, Mt Horeb, Mary Beth Schlagheck, Windsor, and Kathy Walsh, Madison. Between the five women , they have 25 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren that motivate them in this work. They are all members of the Wisconsin Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars, and they have vigiled at the gates of Volk Field monthly since December of 2011. The nonviolent solemn vigils are a way to remember the innocent lives that have been lost as a result of drone warfare. They believe that it is important to continue to act in resistance to the violation of international and human rights law, and that drone warfare is inherently in violation of these laws. Block said, We demand an end to the training of Shadow drone pilots that is going on at Volk Field. In this time, when many state and national elected officials preach austerity, the waste of $8 million of our tax dollars for the building of a huge training facility at Volk Field is obscene. They join activists around the world, calling for an end to US attacks by killer drones. There are thousands of documented deaths already in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and other places around the globe, including over 200 children in Pakistan alone. We are fulfilling our obligations under Nuremberg, and exercising our First Amendment rights by going to the base today with this indictment. We must speak out and act in resistance, when our government is breaking the law and murdering innocent children, women, and men, explained Walsh. War Crimes Indictment: To President Obama, to Secretary of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, to the full Military Chain of Command, including Commander Colonel Dave Romuald, and to all Service Members and civilian staff of Volk Field. Each one of you, when you became a public servant, serving in a government position or when you joined the United States Armed Forces, you publicly promised to uphold the United States Constitution. We take this opportunity to call your attention to Article VI of the US Constitution, which states: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States, which shall be made in Pursuance thereof, and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land, and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Eric London: US Attorney General Eric Holder Personally Approved Obama's

Secret Effort to Seize Email and Phone Records of News Reporters. US Attorney General Eric Holder personally approved the Obama administration's secret effort to seize email records of Fox News reporter James Rosen in 2010. The Justice Department was forced to admit this fact, following an NBC News report documenting Holder's role. In an unofficial statement, issued last Friday, the Justice Department hypocritically claimed it "takes seriously the First Amendment right to freedom of the press. In recognition of this, the Department took great care in deciding that a search warrant was necessary in this matter, vetting the decision at the highest levels of the Department, including discussions with the Attorney General. The announcement amounts to an admission that Holder lied when he testified before Congress on May 15 regarding the administration's crackdown on information disclosures, made by government officials to journalists. With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, Holder told Congress two weeks ago, that is not something that I've ever been involved in, heard of or would think would be a wise policy. In fact, my view is quite the opposite. In fact, Holder took part in extensive deliberations on the subject, according to the recent administration statement, before making the blatantly unconstitutional decision to spy on Rosen and his private communications. To obtain the warrant, it was necessary to claim that Rosen was likely involved in criminal activity, by seeking to obtain information from a government source. Holder's admission follows revelations by the Associated Press, that the Justice Department secretly used a subpoena earlier this year to obtain phone records of AP reporters and editors as part of an investigation to identify the source of a leak about the foiling of an alleged terrorist attack linked to Yemen. AP President and Chief Executive Gary Pruitt told a staff meeting Wednesday that phone records obtained by the government included thousands and thousands of calls in and out of the news organization, according to a staffer who attended. The Obama administration acted as judge, jury and executioner in secretly obtaining the news organization's records, Pruitt said. In an effort to deflect growing public opposition, the Justice Department issued a statement, saying it planned to establish standard operating procedures to monitor the activities of reporters. The department wanted to strike the appropriate balance between its obligation to enforce the laws, preventing leaks of classified information and First Amendment rights, and, through  a new media shield law and appropriate updates to the Department's internal guidelines, we are committed to achieving that balance.

Bill Van Auken: The FBI Murder of Ibrahim Todashev:

The Boston Witness Who Knew Too Much? FBI and other law enforcement officials revealed Wednesday that Ibrahim Todashev, the 27 year old Chechen immigrant, who was shot and killed after being interrogated for days about the Boston Marathon bombings, had been unarmed. The killing of Todashev, and the rapid disintegration of the government's official story, that he was shot after lunging after lunging at interrogators with a knife, is an extraordinary event. It casts into further doubt everything that has been said so far about the Boston Marathon bombings. The report that Todashev was unarmed, was followed Thursday by a press conference in Moscow, where the murdered man's father, Abdulbaki Todashev presented a series of photographs of his son's body taken at a Florida morgue, showing that he had been shot six times in the torso, and once in the crown of his head. I would like to say that looking at these photos is like being in a movie, he said. I only saw things like that in movies, shooting a person, and then the kill shot. Six shots in the body, one of them in the head. He added: Maybe my son knew something, some information the police did not want to be made public. Maybe they wanted to silence my son. Todashev, a mixed martial arts fighter, was acquainted with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston bombing suspect killed by police on April 19, as they were both ethnic Chechens and used the same gym when Todashev lived in the Boston area. In breaking the story, the Washington Post reported that An air of mystery has surrounded the FBI shooting since it happened in Orlando, Florida on May 22. This is a gross understatement. The entire affair reeks to high heaven of an extra legal execution and coverup. The admission that the FBI shot to death an unarmed man, led to calls by civil rights groups and Todashev's widow and family for an independent investigation into the killing. The Council on American-Islamic Relations held a press conference in Orlando, calling for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to launch a probe into how an unarmed man, who had not been charged or convicted of anything was shot seven times, once in the head. Meanwhile, at the press conference in Moscow, Zaurbek Sadakharov of the Moscow Interterritorial Bar Association, stated his belief that the case was one of extrajudicial execution, and urged Todashev's friend, who had taken the morgue photos, to return to Russia. Being a witness in the US is not safe, he said.

Center for Economic and Policy Research: Deadly Honduras Counterdrugs Operation

Raises new questions regarding US role. A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and Rights Action, raises new questions regarding a May 11, 2012 DEA related counter-narcotics operation in which four Afro-indigenous civilians were killed, and others were wounded in Honduras' Moskitia region. The report, Still Waiting for Justice, concludes that the Honduran Public Ministry's report, submitted to the US State Department, and now available online, has serious flaws, such as the omissions of critical testimony of police agents that suggests that US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents may be responsible for the fatalities and injuries that took place during the operation. The victims included two women, at least one of whom was pregnant, a man and a 14 year old boy. The Honduran government's official investigation and report into the tragic and unnecessary killing of four villages in Ahuas raises more questions than it answers, paper co-author and CEPR's Senior Associate for International Policy Alexander Main said. The Public Ministry's report doesn't even attempt to establish who is ultimately responsible for the killings. Instead, it appears to be focused on absolving the DEA of all responsibility in the killings, through the omission of important testimony. The investigation of the killings in Ahuas was biased at best, or intentionally manipulated at worst, Rights Action Co-Director Annie Bird said. In either case, it is disturbing that the State Department and DEA stand behind the investigation, even as a US police detective working for the US Embassy participated in it must have had full knowledge of its flaws. The CEPR/Rights Action report notes that several eyewitnesses, including shooting victims and DEA personnel have reported that at least one State Department titled helicopter fired on the passenger boat carrying the shooting victims. But the report states, the Public Ministry fails to mention any of these reports. Instead, the Ministry's report repeatedly seeks to validate the notion that all the shots that hit the victims and the boat, occurred on the same horizontal plane, even though the forensic evidence that is cited suggests otherwise. The CEPR/Rights Action report states: The Public Ministry is surely acutely aware that if one of the helicopters is in any way implicated in the shooting, then both the DEA, which reportedly determines when the helicopter guns may be used, and the State Department, which owns the helicopters and contracts its pilots, are implicated as well. 

Margaret Kimberley: UK: Soldier Killing Suspect Approached by MI5 to Become Informer.

Two British Nigerians frightened the great former colonial empire to death by nearly beheading a soldier, in London. Yet British and other western politicians have far more blood on their hands than the young Africans. This killing was no more awful than those committed by the military from the US or other NATO nations. If terrorism can be defined as the wanton killing of innocent people, then there are many terrorists around the globe. Most of those terrorists are not members of al-Qaeda, al-Shahab, or other organizations whose names the corporate media repeat ad nauseam. Neither are they the often decried homegrown, lone wolves, or free lancers. Instead they are otherwise respected presidents, prime ministers and cabinet secretaries, who serve the governments in the so-called civilized nations of the world. The killing and maiming they are responsible for is swept under the rug, known only to those who survive their acts of aggression. It is important to keep these facts in mind, after the killing of a British soldier near his barracks in Woolwich, London.Lee Rigby was first run over by a car, and then hacked to death by two men who immediately took responsibility for the killing. Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale calmly spoke to witnesses who recorded them blood soaked and armed with knives and meat cleavers. The howls of outrage spread from the UK to the US. The deed was called depraved, sick, disgusting, savage, horrifying, etc. Those adjectives are in fact correct, but this killing was no more awful than those committed by the military from the US or other NATO nations. Lee Rigby was decapitated in Woolwich, but bombs and bullets decapitate. Babies in Fallujah, Iraq are born without heads, because of the lingering effects of depleted uranium. In Gaza, the Israelis terrorize a civilian population with impunity, killing men, women and children, sometimes killing entire families who are defenseless. In the now famous Collateral Murder video revealed by Wikileaks, American troops can be seen running over an Iraqi they had just shot to death. The soldiers killed eight people in total, two of whom were journalist. They also shot two children and killed their father. Former American soldier Ethan McCord, tells the story of what he witnessed that day: One guy's head was off, the top of his head was completely off, and his brains were on the ground, and the smell still haunts me every day. I don't know how to describe it. Rigby faced the same fate as the men killed by American troops. He was no more deserving of such fate, but his death is not any worse!

Prof Don Huber: Genetic Engineering and Corporate Agrobusiness:

GMOs and the Impacts of Glyphosate Herbicide. Seeds evolved for millions of years, before humans invented corporate agribusiness. Genetic selection to improve crops began only when people invented farming. Early on, there was a vast germ pool, from which to select differences in vigor, growth, quality characteristics, yield or disease resistance. Even after years of extensive selection and later blending into hybrids by diligent researchers during the past century, most of this inheritance is unpatentable, and therefore useless as a source of power or corporate style profit. Genetic engineering to modify crops exists because most of the world's farmers depend on seeds, and as a novel way to manipulate genes it offered inviolate proprietary control. Two traits account for practically all of the genetically modified crops grown in the world today. One deploys herbicide tolerance, enabled by a glyphosate insensitive form of the EPSPS gene coding, key to this GMO is the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The other uses insect resistance, due to one or more toxic genes derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. It is the former that concerns us here, for without glyphosphate, the biotech industry would be an orphan, all dressed up with nowhere to go. Glyphosphate, often known as Roundup, after the popular Monsanto product, but available in many guises since its patent expired in 2000, is the partner GMOs must bring to the dance. It is a broad spectrum herbicide that ingeniously ties up nutrient access, rather than killing unwanted plants directly. It was heralded for many years as a relatively benign replacement for the horrific, dioxin based herbicides of the past. The figures don't lie, GMOs drive glyphosate sales. Enter Don Huber, a plant pathologist of 50 years standing, now Emeritus Professor at Purdue University, and enjoying an active post academic life. Huber is an international authority on nutrient deficiency diseases of plant and is particularly well situated to comment on glyphosate, as it functions through nutrient tie up, not inherent toxicity. Recently his retirement turned hyperactive, when a letter he wrote to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack leaked out. Although much of the mainstream media ignored it, the letter was an immediate sensation. Huber, not coincidentally a speaker at the 2010 Acres USA Conference, informed Vilsack that a new infectious agent had been discovered. It is widespread,very serious, and in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and corn, he wrote. He appealed to the secretary for help with resources and research capability.