Peter Phillips: Desperate Times Demand Revolutionary Measures!

Chris Hedges, May 2012: Don't waste any more time or energy on the presidential election than it takes to get to your polling station and pull a lever for a third-party candidate-just enough to register your obstruction and defiance, and then get back out into the street. That is where the question of REAL POWER is being decided. Runaway capitalism is moving unrelentingly towards sociopolitical-environmental collapse, cheered on by a two-headed single party machine known as US Congress. Activists, who see the coming disasters as catastrophic, are seeking revolutionary change through non-cooperation, and occupy disruptions. Yet, many are the still delusional hopefuls desperately fumbling with traditional responses, including "Kum ba yah" marches, and the futile support for progressive left-leaning candidates seeking positions of influence inside the Washington beltway. Do we understand that habeas corpus is no longer a legal protection in the US, or that the US president can torture and kill American citizens, let alone anyone in the world? How can we ignore the inconvenient truths of warrant-less wire taps and electronic monitoring for everyone? Why do we tolerate that US-NATO forces killing people in over one hundred countries in the world using special service operatives, private assassins and drones - a million civilian deaths in Iraq alone? How can we be so blind as not to see our corporate media is a propaganda fog machine for the one percent? These questions, reflecting the reality of America today, are so far from the values of our traditions, that accepting any aspect of authority from Washington DC is a sacrilege to our honor. We are in desperate times!!    

Finian Cunningham: The Iran War Path Has Resumed!

You know when Western powers are getting trigger happy towards Iran again because the mainstream media propaganda machine starts cranking out lurid scare stories. The latest wheeze is based on computer-generated drawings allegedly depicting a nuclear explosion blast chamber that Iran has allegedly been using to test mini nukes. The drawings were provided exclusively to the Associated Press news agency by an unnamed official from a country tracking Iran's nuclear program, who said it proves the structure exists. Don't you just love the way unnamed sources are quoted, who go on to prove their own unverifiable claims? The AP story has since been picked up, predictably, by all and sundry Western media. Not only are the stories illustrated with computerized images of the alleged blast chamber, there are also mathematical details of chamber dimensions, design and structure. A good rule-of-thumb is that when western media and unnamed diplomats assiduously provide details on suspect installations, then it is a sure sign of desperation to convince the wider public about otherwise dubious claims. The template for this kind of "disinformation" stunt was the presentation by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell in February 2003 before the United Nations Security Council. Then, in a contrived performance that smacked of sheer theater, Powell presented audio recordings and satellite images to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's hysterical notion that Iraq had the capability of launching such weapons within 45 seconds. In sonorous tones, Powell declared to the world: "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, SOLID SOURCES.

Stephen Lendman: Israel's "Independence" The History of Palestine

For Palestinians, May 15 represents 64 years of Nakba suffering. Survivor testimonies bare witness. No words adequately explain their catastrophe. An unnamed Jew said: "I am writing through tears. I wept when I saw the photo of the ruined village of al-Sanbariyya because it was my former brother-in-law who helped destroy the village and the lives of those who lived there." "My now deceased brother-in-law was born in Los Angeles, and after World War II decided he wanted to live in Palestine. He met his wife-to-be at a training camp somewhere in the midwest." "While at the camp, many of the people decided they wanted to build a kibbutz in then Palestine. I am not sure that they gave a thought to the fact that they would be taking the lands of others. But then, I don't know. I wasn't there." "As a Jew who was raised to believe in justice for all people, I believe that it is my obligation to speak out about Israel and to try in whatever way possible to bring about Israel, and to try in whatever way possible to bring about a better life in Palestine for the people who belong there - The people who were cruelly evicted from their lands." A Palestinian also shared memories, saying: "I cannot forget three horror-filled days in July of 1948. The pain sears my memory, and I cannot rid myself of it no matter how hard I try." "First, Israeli soldiers forced thousands of Palestinians from their homes near the Mediterranean coast, even though some families had lived in the same houses for centuries." "My family had been in the town of Lydda in Palestine at least 1,600 years. Then, without water, we stumbled into the hills and continued for three deadly days." "The Jewish soldiers followed, occasionally shooting over our heads to scare us and keep us moving. Terror filled my eleven-year-old mind as I wondered what would happen." "I remembered overhearing my father and his friends express alarm about recent massacres by Jewish terrorists. Would they kill us, too?"  

Michel Chossudovsky: America's "War on Terrorism" The Truth Will Prevail!

"The livelihood of millions of people throughout the World is at stake. It is my sincere hope that the truth will prevail, and that the understanding provided in this detailed study will serve the cause of World Peace. This objective, however, can only be reached by revealing the falsehoods behind America's War on Terrorism and questioning the legitimacy of the main political and military actors responsible for extensive war crimes." In this expanded edition of Michel Chossudovsky's 2002 bestseller, the author blows away the smokescreen put up by the mainstream media, that 9/11 was an attack by "Islamic terrorists". Through meticulous research, the author uncovers a military-intelligence ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and the cover-up and complicity of key members of the Bush Administration. Chossudovsky starts by dispelling the fiction that the US and Al Qaeda have been long-term adversaries. He also probes US oil policy, which is obviously of particular concern to George W Bush. Chossudovsky argues that the US has a much different relationship between Russia and China than is ever indicated in the mainstream or progressive press. Simply put, the US is moving into the countries which neighbor Russia and China, in order to plunder natural resources and expand the reach of the US Empire. Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been playing a key role in destabilizing the region as well, as offering support in other intelligence matters. War and Globalization is full of surprises, even for those of us who consider ourselves well-informed. Chossudovsky is examining the true nature of US foreign policy and arguing that the terrible events of 9/11/01 have changed little of it. According to Scott Loughrey, from The Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel: "Canadian professor of economics Michel Chossudovsky contains that rare gift of a writer who can compile massive documentary evidence, propounding it in a succinct, lucid manner.     

Jill Treanor: Eurozone Banks Nearly Collapsed!

Benoit Coeure says conditions were very dangerous in autumn of 2011, and banks faced severe difficulties to fund themselves. A senior executive at the European Central Bank has admitted 'euro-zone' banks were on the brink of collapse last autumn. In an interview with the BBC to be broadcast on Thursday, Benoit Coeure, executive director of the ECB, said: "In the autumn of 2011, the conditions were very dangerous: European banks were facing severe difficulties to fund themselves, to access finance, and we were very close to having a collapse in the banking system in the euro area, which would have also led to a collapse in the banking system in the euro area, which would have also led to a collapse in the economy and to deflation. And this is something that the ECB could not accept." The concern about the state of the banking system led to C1tn being lent to banks through three-year loans and came as UK banks were told to make preparations for a potential exit from the single currency. In November Andrew Bailey, the Financial Services Authority's top regulator, told banks: "We must not ignore the prospect of the disorderly departure of some countries from the eurozone." Those contingency plans are now being dusted down amid speculation over a Greek exit. British banks have taken steps to reduce their exposure to Greek government bonds and other loans. Icap, the City currency broker, is ready to reintroduce a drachma trading facility by installing a new panel on its electronic screens. Michael Spencer, its chief executive, said: "I don't think it's going to happen in the next week, but I think it's going to happen."   

Emma Wall: Global Demand For Gold Grows!

Gold demand grew 16pc over the past 12  months, with $59.7bn spent globally on the precious metal. The figure was boosted by China upping their investment by 10pc in a bid to hedge inflation.Gold demand globally hit 1,o98 tons in the first three months of the year, 5pc off the record high, but a significant increase on the same period in 2011. The World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends report cited increased investment into the precious metal in China, as investor's continue to hedge against feared inflation. Jewelry demand in China also increased to 156.6 tons, 30pc of the global appetite. This increase places China as the largest jewellery market for the third consecutive quarter. Central banks across developed and emerging markets purchased 80.8 tons of gold in the first three months of the year, at an average price of $1,691, 22pc more expensive than in a year ago. Retail and institutional investors buying exchange traded funds (ETFs) accounted for $1.4 tons of gold purchased in the three months to the end of March, at a total value of $2.4bn. The World Gold Council stated that this movement was in stark contrast to the first quarter of 2011, when the ETF sector witnessed net outflows. How would a euro collapse hit us in the pocket? The only market to experience a downturn in gold demand was India, as high gold prices and the introduction of import taxed curbed appetites. Jewellery demand in the region fell 19pc and investment demand fell 19pc and investment demand fell a considerable 46pc. Marcus Grubb, from the World Gold Council said, "China and India have seen continuing economic growth, and while China's economy is expected to slow, it will nonetheless surpass the rates of growth in the West. 

Thomas Sowell: A Censored Race War!!

When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of young blacks, beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from work, that might sound like news hat should have been reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn't! The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel was the first major television program to report this incident. Yet this story is not just a Norfolk story, either in what happened or in how the media and the authorities have tried to sweep it under the rug. Similar episodes of unprovoked violence by young black gangs against white people chosen at random on beaches, in shopping malls, or in other public places have occurred in Philadelphia, New York, Denver, Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, Los Angeles, and other places across the country. Both the authorities and the media tend to sweep these episodes under the rug. In Milwaukee, for example, an attack on whites at a public park a few years ago left many of the victims battered to the ground and bloody. But when the police arrived at the scene, it became clear that the authorities wanted to keep this quiet. One 22-year-old woman, who had been robbed of her cell phone and debit card, and had blood streaming down her face, said, "About 20 of us stayed to give statements and make sure everyone was accounted for. The police wouldn't listen to us, they wouldn't take our names or statements. They told us to leave. It was completely infuriating."The police chief seemed determined to head off any suggestion that this was a racially motivated attack by saying that crime is color-blind. Officials elsewhere have said similar things!!