Nile Bowie: The Iran Nuclear Threat and The Second Hostage Crisis.

From talk of red lines and cartoon bombs, to having all options on the table, an undeniably delusional logic emanates from the leadership in Washington and Tel Aviv, regarding the alleged threat posted by Iran's nuclear program. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu famously took to the stage of the UN General Assembly with his doodled explosive, he claimed that Iran would soon have the capability to enrich uranium to 90 percent, allowing them to construct a nuclear weapon by early mid 2013. In his second administration, Obama, who recently said a nuclear Iran would represent a danger to Israel and the world, appears to be seeing eye to eye with Netanyahu, despite previous reports of the two not being on the same page. For whatever its worth, these two world leaders have taken the conscious decision, to entirely ignore evidence brought forward by the US intelligence community, as well as appeals from nuclear scientists, policy advisers, and IAEA personnel, who claim that the threat posed by Iran is exaggerated and politicized. Its common knowledge that Washington's own National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, which reflects the intelligence assessment of America's 16 spy agencies, confirmed that whatever nuclear weapons program Iran once had, was dismantled in 2003. Mr Netanyahu has not corrected his statements, insinuating that Iran once had, was dismantled in 2003. Mr Netanyahu has not corrected his statements, insinuating that Iran was nearing the red line of 90 percent enrichment, even when recent UN reports show Tehran has in fact decreased its stockpiles of 20 percent fissile material, far below the enrichment level required to weaponize uranium. Hans Blix, former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA) has challenged previous IAEA reports on Iran's nuclear activities, accusing the agency of relying on unverified intelligence from the US and Israel. Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Lecerett, former Washington insiders and analysts in the Clinton and Bush administrations, recently authored a book, titled "Going to Teheran", arguing that Iran is a coherent actor, and that evidence for the bomb is simply not there. Clinton Bastin, former director of US nuclear weapons production programs, has commented on the status of Iran's gas centrifuge facilities, would be highly enriched uranium hexa-fluoride, a gas that cannot be used to make a weapon. Converting the gas to metal, fabricating components and assembling them with high explosives, using dangerous and difficult technology, that has never been used in Iran, would take many years, after a diversion of three tons of low enriched uranium gas, from fully safeguarded inventories.         

By Ann Jones: Rape is Rape, and Domestic Violence is o

Plain old violence. Picture this. A man, armored in tattoos, bursts into a living room not his own. He confronts an enemy. He barks orders. He throws that enemy into a chair. Then against a wall. He plants himself in the middle of the room, feet widespread, fists clenched, muscles straining, face contorted in a scream of rage. The tendons in his neck are taut with the intensity of his terrifying performance. He chases the enemy to the next room, stopping escape with a quick grab, and thrust , and body block that pins the enemy, bent back,against a counter. He shouts more orders: His enemy can go with him to the basement for a "private talk", or be beaten to a pulp right here. Then he wraps his fingers around the neck of his enemy, and begins to choke her. No, that invader isn't an American soldier, leading a night raid on an Afghan village, nor is the enemy an anonymous Afghan householder. This combat warrior is just a guy in Ohio named Shane. He is doing, what so many men find exhilarating, disciplining his girlfriend with a heavy dose of the violence we render harmless, by calling it "domestic." It's easy to figure out from a few basic facts, that Shane is a skilled predator. Why else does a 31 year old man, lavish attention on a pretty 19 year old, with two children, ages four and two, the latter an equally pretty and potentially targeted little female? And what more vulnerable girlfriend could he find, than this one, named Maggie, a neglected young woman,, still a teenager, who for two years, had been raising her kids on her own, while her husband fought a war in Afghanistan? That war had broken the family apart, leaving Maggie with no financial support, and more alone than ever. But the way Shane assaulted Maggie, he might just as well have been a night raiding soldier, terrorizing an Afghan civilian family, in pursuit of some dangerous Talib, real or imagined. For all we know, Maggie's estranged husband or soldier, might have acted in the same way, in some Afghan living room, and not only been paid, but also honored for it. The basic behavior is quite alike. The goal, to control the behavior, the very life, of the designated target. The mind is set: A sense of entitlement, when it comes to determining the fate of a subhuman creature. The dark side, the fear and brutal rage of a scared loser, who inflicts his miserable self on others. As for that designated enemy, just as American exceptional fortune asserts the superiority of the United States over all countries and cultures on Earth, and even over the laws that govern international relations seems to inform so much in the United States these days!      

Jim W. Dean: Some Rare Regal Moments wirh King Adbullah II

Jordan king derides regional leaders, own family. I had to pinch myself when I first read this. I thought I might have been day dreaming with computer fatigue, and needed to splash some cold water on my face. But it was real. King Abdullah, in full Wizard of Oz style, has given us a rare peak behind the curtain into the insularity, and even insolence of some of the Mid East leaders, and even his own family. None of this should surprise anyone. Shallow leadership, and even sociopaths, rising up through political parties, to the top positions in the West, is something we have endured endlessly, so why should we think it would be any better in other regions. In the West, if they get caught looting, or even raping, they can actually be prosecuted. Then you take a place like Saudi Arabia, with its 10,000 princes, and what do you possibly think they could ever be prosecuted for? I can't think of anything, even murder. Years ago, the Saudis had a problem with one of their princes getting drunk, and then heading down to the local hospital in the middle of the night, to look for Western women in a coma, or similar state, that he could rape. There was not a problem, until one of the victims getting pregnant threatened a scandal. The family was paid a tidy sum, and the US embassy came up with an instant green card winner, for the third world nurse who was the only witness, and off she went to an American. I imagine the prince had his allowance withheld for a few weeks. Officially, the peretrator was never discovered. As Gordon likes to say,"Welcome to the real world." And it is not a 'Muslim thing', either. Despite the historical looting by Pakistan's political elite, President Zardari found himself being hauled into court for bribery corruption charges,that happened before he became president. He tried to claim immunity anyway, but no luck. While King Abdullah steered away from any princely looting, he is the first I know of the publicly admitted, that the days of Mid East royalty ruling over countries are numbered. Some might say, the wheels of time or progress are turning. I would prefer the analogy of the garbage disposal working properly, and able to handle larger items. Us older folks prefer Kirk Douglas as our Sparticus. I did a video interview with the King's older brother here, at Emory University in Atlanta about ten years ago, after watching him during a theater style panel discussion. 

Jill Richardson: How We Could Prevent Massive Bee Deaths

and save our food. This article was published in partnership with Global Possibilities.org.If you like almonds, then 2013 brought some bad news. Each year, honey bees from across the country, make the trek to California, which grows 80 percent of the world's almonds, to pollinate the almond crop, but bees have been dying in unusually large numbers for several years now, and this year appears worse than most. The problems we face, if we don't have healthy populations of pollinators, particularly honeybees, extend beyond almonds. Three fourths of the top crops grown in the world, require animals, mostly insects, for pollination. Odds are that most of your favorite fruits, nuts and melons, are pollinated by honeybees. Across the pond, the European Union, has made major strides in shedding light on the role of certain pesticides in honeybee deaths. In fact, the European Commission has proposed a two year ban on these pesticides. Meanwhile, at home, beekeepers remain frustrated that the US government is not as forward thinking. And for another year, the saga of bee deaths continues. The pesticides in question are called neonicotinoids. It's a mouthful, but the root word is nicotene, because they are chemically similar to the addicting tobacco compound. The most common of these is a pesticide called imidacloprid. Two others are clothianidin and thiamethoxam. New York beekeeper Jim Doan, ended last year with about 700 hives. He began the year with 900, but those numbers hide larger losses. A beekeeper can increase his or her number of hives by splitting them. Doan did so, building up to 2,300 hives by mid June. For a beekeeper, splitting your hives means a certain amount of sacrifice, because two smaller hives replace each larger one, and you must let each hive build up its numbers, and its honey, before you harvest any yourself. Now this will be the seventh year of extraordinary high losses. Every year we are making up bees, but at the sacrifice of not making honey. So both ways you have taken a beating and a loss, says Doan. From mid June onward, Doan watched his bees die. By October 15, he had only 1,100 hives. More than half of the colonies that were alive only four months before, were now dead. What happened? One can piece together part of the story, based on the bees' locations and their food sources. Although Doan is a New Yorker, his bees take a Florida vacation each winter. They only reside in in New York from April to September. While there, they first pollinate apricots, then cherries, pears, apples, and finally, squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins.  

Tony Cartalucci: Syria, US NATO Backed Al Qaeda Terrorists

Armed with WMDs. Chemical weapons against the Syrian people. After a 10year war and occupation in Iraq, the death of over a million people, including thousands of US soldiers, all based on patently false claims of the nation possessing weapons of mass destruction, it is outrageous hypocrisy to see the West arming, funding, and politically backing terrorists in Syria, who infact possess, and are now using such weapons against the Syrian people. At least 25 are reported dead, after a chemical weapons attack, targeting Syrian soldiers, was carried out by NATO backed terrorists in the northern city of Aleppo. Aleppo is located near the Syrian Turkish border. Had Libya's looted stockpiles of chemical weapons been shipped to Syria, they would have passed through Turkey, along with weapons being shipped to Syria, they would have passed through Turkey, along with weapons sent from Libya by the US, and thousands of Libyan terrorists who are admittedly operating inside Syria, and would most likely be used to target cities like Aleppo. Worse yet, any chemical weapons imported into the country, would implicate NATO, either directly or through gross negligence, as the weapons would have passed through NATO member Turkey, past US CIA agents admittedly operating along the border, and along side Western backed terrorists inside Syria. Libya's WMD's are in Terrorist Hands. Libya's arsenal had fallen into the hands of sectarian extremists, with NATO assistance in 2011, during the culmination of efforts to overthrow the North African nation. Since then, Libya's militants led by commanders of Al Qaeda's Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have armed sectarian extremists across the Arab World, from as far West as Mali, to as far East as Syria. In addition to small arms, heavier weapons are also making their way through this extensive network. The Washington Post, in their article, Libyan missiles on the loose, reported Two former CIA counter terrorism officers told me last week, that technicians recently refurbished 800 of these man portable air defense systems known as MANPADS, some for an African jihadist group called Boko Haram, that is often seen as an ally of al Qaeda, for possible use against commercial jets flying into Niger, Chad, and perhaps Nigeria. While undoubtedly these weapons are also headed to Niger, Chad, and perhaps Nigeria, they are veritably headed to Syria. Libyan LIFG terrorists are confirmed to be flooding into Syria from Libya.   

Jonas E. Alexis: How the Neoconservative Mob is Engendering America.

The demon is a mob, and the mob is demonic. It is the nihilistic mob of the French Revolution. It is the revolutionaries, who seized control of Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is the Maoist gangs looting villages and impaling babies in China. Ann Coulter, Demonic. How the Liberal Mob is Engendering America. Siegfried Kracauer. We saw in the article Neoconservativism is Trotskyisms, that the neoconservative movement was, and still is a Jewish political and intellectual movement. It started in the 1930s and the 40s, with a number of young Jewish intellectuals,known as The New York Intellectuals. These people, in a metaphysical sense, were intellectual terrorists and revolutionaries. New York's City College, and other campuses, were to a large extent revolutionary cells, where the study of the Mishnah and Maimonides' works, were of primary importance among those individuals. Irving Kristol, a Trotskyite at the time, would talk about trying desperately to manipulate students into the right position, and Irving Howe would talk about how students would change completely, after taking philosophy classes with Jewish professor Morris Cohen, who, like a fencing master, facing multiple foes, challenged students to his left and to his right, slashing their premises, destroying their defenses. You went to a Cohen class, in order to be ripped open and cut down. It was Cohen who taught Howe, that an intellectual life can be used as a form of combat. Jewish historian Howard M Sachar, calls this chapter in American history The insurrection of the intellectuals. University campuses, therefore, were bound to create revolutionary cells. For that very reason, many universities were hesitant to hire Jewish professors. Raised in a Stalinist family, Ronald Radosh tells us in his memoir, that many Jews like himself, were sent from New York to Wisconsin, to take over the university there. In a nutshell, anti Jewish reaction at that time was itself a reaction to Jewish revolutionary activities. This has largely been the issue throughout the centuries, even during the rise of Nazi Germany, when Jewish revolutionaries began to produce pornography to attack the German culture, which led Hitler to take drastic action against those revolutionaries. The German Jewish writer and sociologist at the time, Erwin J Haeberle, wrote an essay,in which he declared that Much early sexological research, indeed the very concept of sexology, was the work of German Jews.              

Joshua Holland: Are Americans Too Stupid for Democracy?

In 2011, Newsweek asked 1,000 Americans to take the standard US Citizenship test, and 38 percent of them failed. One in three couldn't name the vice president. A 2009 study in the European Journal of Communications looked at how informed citizens of the US, UK, Denmark and Finland were of the international news of the day, and the results weren't pretty. Overall, the scholars wrote, the Scandinavians emerged as the best informed, averaging 62-67 percent correct responses, the British were relatively close behind with 59 percent, and the Americans lagging in the rear with 40 percent. We didn't fare much better, when it came to domestic stories. Widespread ignorance of objective reality, poses a genuine threat to democracy. The people of the United States have ignorance in abundance. The way representative democracy is supposed to work is pretty simple. You protect the fundamental rights of the minority, so it doesn't become two wolfs and a lamb voting what to have for dinner, and then the majority of citizens, acting in their own rational self interest, elect representatives who will pursue the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens. That's the theory, but rational is a key word in that formulation. What happens when lots of citizens don't have a solid grasp of what's going on in the real world? Consider some examples that are especially relevant to our current political scene. People Don't Recognize Their Lack of Competence, Can't Judge the Competence of Politicians. Psychologist David Dunning of Cornell, and Justin Kruger of NYU, conducted a series of experiments, showing that incompetent people vastly overrate their own abilities. For people at the bottom, who are really doing badly, those in the bottom 10th or 15th percentile, think their work falls in the 60th or 55th percentile, so, above average. Dunning told the website Life's Little Mysteries. They do just as badly evaluating the competence of others, which poses a problem in a representative democracy. Or, as the Daily Mail put it in typical tabloid fashion, the theory of democracy has an unfortunate flaw, that most of the public are just too stupid to pick the right candidate. Dr Mato Nagel, a sociologist in Germany, recently implemented Professor Dunning and Professor Kruger's theories by computer simulating a democratic election. In his mathematical model of the election, he assumed that voters' own leadership skills were distributed on a bell curve, some were really good leaders, some really bad, but most were mediocre, and that each voter was incapable of recognizing the leadership skills of a political candidate as being better than his or her own. When such an election was simulated, candidates whose leadership skills were only slightly better than average always won!