Robert Becker: Apocalypse Now Engulfs Chicken Littles!r

Is the sky falling on this Beacon on the Hill, ending a century of Yankee dominance, crushing the greatest, most brashly exceptional nation known to mankind? Is this worldwide wonder of freedom and democracy, the intersection of divine history and human destiny, kaput, on its last legs, about to implode? Not quite, not yet, and that's no endorsement of the status quo: powers-that-be hold high trump cards. Every generation endures end-of-the world scenarios, and we still dread last century's, nuclear holocaust. Drama, let alone anxiety, commands our attention and heartstrings, Pandemics, portable nukes, fiery asteroids, religious mania, starvation, right-wing  nuts, and looming climate change, all threaten millions. But anxiety, even nightmare projections, do not mean Armageddon is upon us, nor that pundits suddenly clasp reliable crystal balls. Discretion is the better part of this valor. Global warming looms, likely to cut world population and food production, but that's not extinction or end of times, or displacing destructive capitalism. Want good news? Harvard professor Steven Pinker argues our belligerent species has cut our wartime-violence killing sprees. Are we not exiting Iraq, sort of? Life expectancies, even for the impoverished, grow annually, if you count enough people. Only 43 Americans endured capital punishment in 2011, half the 2000 totals, mostly in W's Texas. Okay, we  live in grim times, but take heart: we don't guillotine yet. And most of life's simple pleasures haven't been banned, yet. No doubt, systemic cracks abound, thanks to myopic leadership  blunders, not just across state and national politics but corporate's best and brightest, sports leagues, and fundamentalist denominations that turn Jesus into a racist warmonger. Pedophilia, misogyny and reaction still stalk the west's oldest organized church. But even wobbly, distrusted centers, like moons and planets, can wobble in place a good long time. 

Tom Engelhardt: The Cheney Effect in the Obama Administration

Back in September 2001, Dick Cheney was, according to Jane Mayer in "The Dark Side" being chauffeured around Washington "in an armored motorcade that varied its route to foil possible attackers." In the backseat of his car, just in case, adds Myer, "rested a duffel bag stocked with a gas mask and biochemical survival suit." And lest danger rear its head, "rarely did he travel without a medical doctor in tow." Ah, weren't those the days? How quiet, how boring his life must be now, his new ticker in place, hosting fundraisers for Mitt Romney in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, auctioning off lunches with himself for charity, and, for a little genuine excitement, slamming President Obama as an "unmitigated disaster." And yet, what if thousands of miles from Washington, years from his "taking off the gloves" heyday, promoting "enhanced interrogation techniques," and plunking for invasions in the Greater Middle East, his ghost still lives in the nation's capital, and not in some vague way somewhere in the Republican opposition, but deep in the beating heart of the Obama administration. It's the sort of thought that should take you aback, and yet Michael Klare, TomDispatch regular and author, most recently of "The Race for What's Left: The Global Scramble for the World's Last Resources, makes the case that the Cheney ticker is beating hard right now in President Obama's chest. Don't believe it? Then, take a deep dive into Obama's world. Is Barack Obama Morphing Into Dick Cheney? Four Ways the President Is Pursuing Cheney's Geopolitics of Global Energy!    

Ellen Brown: Wall Street's Protection Racket of Covert Derivatives!

When Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase Bank, appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on June 13, he was wearing cufflinks bearing the presidential seal. Was Dimon trying to send any particular message by wearing the presidential cufflinks? Asked CNBC editor John Carney. Was he subtly hinting that he really was the guy in charge? The groveling of the Senators was so obvious that Jon Stewart did a spoof news clip on it, featured in a Huffington Post piece titled Jon Stewart Blasts Senates Coddling Of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and Matt Taibbi wrote an op-ed called Senators Grovel, Embarrass Themselves at Dimon Hearing. He said the whole thing was painful to watch. What is going on with this panel of senators? asked Stewart. They-re sucking up to Jamie Dimon like they're on JP Morgans payroll. The explanation in a news clip that followed was that JP Morgan Chase is the biggest campaign donor to many of the members of the Banking Committee. That is one obvious answer, but financial analysts Jim Willie and Rob Kirby think it may be something far larger, deeper, and more ominous. They contend that the $3 billion-plus losses in London hedging transactions that were the subject of the hearing can be traced, not to European sovereign debt, as alleged, but to the record-low interest rates maintained on US government bonds. The national debt is growing at $1.5 trillion per year. Ultra-low interest rates MUST be maintained to prevent the debt from overwhelming the government budget. Near-zero rates also need to be maintained, because even a moderate rise would cause multi-trillion dollar derivative losses for the banks, and would remove the banks chief income stream!  

Felicity Arbuthnot: Iraq War Crimes , Lies and Statistics

Recently a contradictory, but in important areas, remarkably sunny opinion poll on progress in Iraq, conducted in April, was released. It was, it has to be said, a divide and rule sort of survey as it split respondents in to Shia, Sunny, Kurdish. The Shia, obviously were largely supportive of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki, from the Iranian backed Dawa Party. However, for those in the West wishing a phoenix to rise from Iraq's ashes, the illegal invasion, occupation, destruction, resultant mass graves of maybe one and a half million beings, the million orphans, the over four million displaced, the unimaginable, near industrial scale, often daily carnage, nearly a decade on incredibly, things are looking up: Around half the respondents thought Iraq was going in the right direction, and that Nuri al Maliki was OK at the steering wheel. Don't mention torture, secret prisons, hasty swathes of executions and a largely more than questionable judiciary. Near three quarter polled said it: Was more important to have a strong leader to keep Iraq stable, even if it meant giving up some freedoms. Arguably then, they would have done better with President Saddam Hussein. He even managed to keep the lights and water on for longer, the streets safe and grenade and car bomb free, with the exception of the occasional car bombs, allegedly courtesy of CIA-backed, former post-invasion, interim, allegedly British passport holding Prime Minister Iyad Allawis Iraq National Accords handiwork. Seemingly, if an election were held immediately, al Malikis Dawa Party would be a popular choice. An unasked question was whether that would be because of of the cited fraud, death threats, confiscation of the life-line ration cards until people voted the right way, as in previous free and fair, post-invasion elections.     

Stanley W Henson III: D-Day, World War III and the Soviet Union

"The first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive, the fate of Germany depends on the outcome for the Allies, as well as Germany, it will be the longest day." Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. On June 6 1944, the armies of "Britain, the Empire, and America,"supported by mighty naval and air forces, were hurled across the English Channel to "exterminate" Nazi tyranny. During the preceding night, paratroopers and glider-born assault troops had boldly landed behind the invasion beaches. Allied naval flotillas comprising 7 battleships, 25 cruisers, 105 destroyers, 4,021 landing ships, landing craft, and barges, and with two prefabricated artificial harbors in tow, were unchallenged by the meager German naval units remaining in occupied France. The thousands of fighters and bombers of the western allies controlled the skies over the channel and far inland as well, making daylight movement by enemy ground units perilous. This titanic endeavor was, and remains, history's greatest amphibious invasion, but despite the overwhelming allied superiority on land, sea, and air, success was far from certain. Realizing the invasion could fail, General Eisenhower famously prepared a message accepting responsibility for the defeat of Operation Overlord. Thankfully, that message proved unnecessary. What many in the west fail to acknowledge is the central role played by the USSR in the allied victory on D-Day and throughout the war. On 6 June 1944, nearly two thirds of the German Army was far from Normandy, on the defensive and hard pressed by the Red Army and Red Air Force.

Lisa Karpova: Hollande, Putin and Ahmadinejad at Rio

From June 20 to 22, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio20, in Rio de Janeiro, will highlight the presence of more than 115 heads of state and government. They will focus on discussions on the defense of the environment with sustainable development and social inclusion. Attention will be focused on the presidents Francois Hollande (France) Vladimir Putin (Russia) and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran), among others. For the first time, Hollande, who took office in the last 15 days, will come to Latin America. In a speech in favor of sustainable development and efforts in search of the fight against hunger and poverty, the French have the sympathy of several Latin American presidents, including President Rousseff. For the second time in the presidency of Russia, Putin is considered one of the main leaders of the world. He promotes, along with China and Iran, actions to prevent military intervention in Syria, whose social and political crisis has been ongoing for the last 15 months. Russia is also responsible for preventing the adoption of more restrictive measures against the government of Syrian President, Bashar Al Assad. Ahmadinejad will travel to Brazil for the second time. The first was in 2009, when he met with then President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. His visit comes as Iran is to resume negotiations with the international community in trying to end the impasse over their nuclear program. The presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the President of China, Hu Jintao, and South Africa, Jacob Zuma, who make up the BRICS, a group formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Latin American presidents will also attend: Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador) and Jose Pepe Mujica (Uruguay), among others.  

Lawrence Sellin: How Barack Obama Avoids Prison

A political deal will be struck to save the Democrat Party from total collapse and protect the Republican Party from revelations of complicity in the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people. A growing number of Americans are now learning that Barack Obama, according to Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the US Constitution, is an illegal President. The law requires a candidate for the Presidency to be a "natural born citizen," that is, a second generation American, a US citizen, whose parents were also US citizens at the time of the candidate's birth. Obama's father was a citizen of Kenya and a British subject at the time of his birth, which made him forever ineligible for the Presidency. Practically speaking, that issue is not a problem for Obama, because the Republican Party also wants to violate the Constitution. Many Republicans are aggressively advocating Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential candidate. Rubio is ineligible because, even though he was born in the United States, his parents were Cuban citizens at the time of his birth. Since 1975, both Democrat and Republican politicians have been trying unsuccessfully to amend Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the US Constitution. The election of Obama has allowed them to do so, not legally, but by "fait accompli."According to the wishes of Democrat and Republican politicians, Anwar al-Awlaki, killed by a drone strike on September 30, 2011, was eligible to be President because he was born in New Mexico of Yemeni parents. Al-Awlaki was the "spiritual leader" of al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula, whose sermons at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia were attended by two hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks, Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour. Likewise, accused Fort Hood shooter and alleged al-Awlaki disciple, Nidan Malik Hasan, is eligible to be President because he was born in Virginia of Palestinian parents. There are also persistent questions about the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate, Selective Service registration and his use of a Social Security number not issued to him, all serious crimes with the potential for lengthy prison sentences.