Leaks Suggest Iran Is Now Winning in the Middle East

If our citizens no longer believe that we are "The land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave", as our National Anthem boldly advertises to the rest of our world's citizens, what can we truly tell those of our world which we have now become. If you truly read this blog, and take my advice I try to give to our world, here's "de" story: The "Wikileaks documents, though they have been leaked, as their name suggests, say that Iran is winning and Israel is losing in the mind of the rest of our world's citizens. That is the startling conclusion we reach if we consider how things have changed in the Middle East in the two years since most of the WikiLeaks State Department cables about Iran's regional difficulties were written. Lebanon's Sunni prime minister, once a virulent critic, quietly made his pilgrimage to the Iranian capital last week. Moreover, Israeli hopes of separating Syria from Iran have now been dashed. Turkey, once a strong ally of Israel, is now seeking better relations with Iran and with Lebanon's Shiites. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's visit to Iran was in part an attempt t reach out to a major foreign patron of his country's Shiite Hezbollah Party. Hariri's father, Rafiq, was mysteriously blown to kingdom come in 2005, and a United Nations tribunal is now rumored to be leaning toward to be leaning toward implicating Hezbollah.
Please click on my headline to read the full story by Juan Cole at truthdig.com.

Survey reflects Afghans' mixed views!

According to Rajiv Chandrasekan and Jon Cohen of the Washington Post, Afghans are now more pessimistic about the direction of their country, less confident in the ability of the US and its allies to provide security, and more willing to negotiate with the Taliban than they were a year ago, according to a new poll conducted in all of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, but residents of two key southern provinces that have been the focus of US military operations over the past year say aspects of their security and living conditions have improved significantly since last December. The new poll, conducted by The Washington Post, ABC News, the BBC and ARD television of Germany found a particularly notable shift in public opinion in Helmand province, where Marines have been conducting intensive counterinsurgency operations. The number of people in Helmand describing their security as "good" jumped from 14 percent in a December 2009 poll to 67 percent now. Nearly two-thirds of Helmand residents now say that Afghanistan is "on the right track". In Helmand and in neighboring Kandahar, the percentage of residents reporting threatening night-time letters from the Taliban has been sliced in half. Public assessment of the US military efforts in the area have also improved over the year, but 79 percent of people in the two provinces say American and Allied troops should start their withdrawal next summer or sooner!

World Hero Assange responds to Guardian Newspaper Questions!

The following is taken from the website of The Guardian newspaper in Britain, based on reader questions for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: As an Australian passport holder, Julian misses his country, but questions a possible return to his homeland, since both their Prime Minister and their Attorney General are actively working to assist the United States in its attack on him and his followers. Julian believes that the Australian politicians are not interested in democracy, but rather that the Australian leaders are more concerned to continue to be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties, in other words, human rights are not as important as shallow and frivolous events. For the past four years, Julian has been dedicated to work on his goals to lionize the source who takes the REAL risks in nearly every journalistic disclosure, and without whose efforts journalists could not effectively practice their important profession. Please click on my heading to read the full story of the heroism of Julian Assange and the other heroes, like the young soldier Bradley Manning, in our mercenary army on whom he depends for much of his anti-war information!!

The Beginning of the End of the "American Empire!"

In 1962, the historian Barbara Tuchman published a book about the start of World War I, and called it "The Guns of August". Soon afterward, that book went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. By looking back at events that had occurred almost 50 years earlier, she had at her disposal documents and information that were not available at the time of that horrible war. So were we this August 2010, with guns blazing in our war in Afganistan, while we were still trying to extricate ourselves from Iraq! Where are we, as we impose sanctions against Iran and North Korea, while we are sending our latest "wonder weapons", pilotless drones armed with bombs and missiles, into Pakistan's tribal borderlands, Yemen, and who knows where else, tasked with endless "targeted killings" which, in blunter times, used to be called "assassinations"? Where exactly are we, as we continue to garrison much of the globe, even as our country finds itself incapable of paying for basic services? Think about it!

Martin Luther King on War

Unfortunately, "President Obama" has cast a cloud over Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Though he gave an eloquent speech in Oslo, he appeased our corporate masters, who crave distant wars, never risking their own lives (as I did in Vietnam) and fortunes as the poor are routinely sacrificed for power and energy supremacy. Obama undermined the honor, justifying his own quagmire, the vacuous war in Afghanistan, which he had inherited from George W. Bush. Avoiding the truth that we have much to lose (like the arms and legs, as well as the lives of our brave soldiers), Obama smeared the success of King's victory, which proved that nonviolent action is the moral, rational and pragmatic answer to oppression and conflict. Obama dismissed the fact that war is evil, futile and disastrous, denying that nonviolence, as taught and waged by King and Gandhi, has not failed when relentlessly and patiently practiced. Saying that Hitler could not have been stopped by nonviolent resistance, Obama slighted Norway, whose people did exactly that, sparing their country Nazi domination and the devastation suffered by countries with powerful armies. Jimmy Carter, my personal hero, a former commander-in-chief, said, when he received the Peace Prize in 2002, "War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children." We must all pray together to deserve another Jimmy Carter!!"

Perpetual War, No Jobs, No Justice =No Peace

One of the most bitter ironies of our 21st century is how skillfully corporate politicians in this nation have ushered in a state of perpetual war, without jobs or justice. None of our laws have anything to do with social, economic, or political justice for the black, white, brown, or yellow citizens of our state. While we wage war and occupy Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries, the citizens of our nation lack decent jobs, housing, education and the human rights accorded to the citizens of other nations. It is time for the citizens of our nation to cast their votes as hostage for decent treatment by their government. They should not be surprised that our citizens are often routinely degraded and humiliated in our airports by the Transport Security Administration, and handled as second-class citizens. We should also fear that our political parties are dismantling and destroying Social Security, while the Wall Street vultures in our insurance companies live in luxurious surroundings. Meanwhile, the White House, as well as our courts, make a mockery of democracy, justice, and human rights in our nation!
Please click on my headline to read the full story by Larry Pinkney, whose book: "Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker."

Harvey Wasserman: The War in Afghanistan is about Perpetual War!

The war in Afghanistan is about perpetual war, not Afghanistan! It's about preventing democracy in the United States, not bringing it to Southwest Asia, and it is the tombstone of the Obama Presidency. To justify the fight, and make the sacrifice of our soldiers palatable to an ignorant public, they've rounded up the usual suspects: Terror, Oil, Minerals, Poppies, and last, but not least: Democracy. Our subservient "news media" keeps the public frightened and dependent, and it also keeps the wheels of industry turning, without increasing the real wealth of the world: Goods must be produced, , but they must never be distributed to our ignorant masses, who are only concerned with keeping their underpaid jobs. It is better to destroy these goods, than to distribute them, so that our citizens can hope to make more, in order to feed their destitute families. A truly prosperous society, educated and secure, can not be ruled by the few: Poverty, ignorance, and fear are the three pillars of authoritarian control! Without wars, they would all disappear. Thus Afghanistan, as we once had the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, and Central America. Afterwards, who ever is handy! Our wonderful oligarchs will let us know when that time is once again upon us! Please check the recent books by Howard Zinn on the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as David Swanson's update on Orwell's analysis. Though he passed away earlier this year, Howard's People's History of the United States continues to shape our understanding of this nation's true core. In narrating the hidden, bloody past of our compromised democracy, he warns us that an end will come, even for our United States: "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."