Stephen Lendman

Winston Churchill rightly explained that "a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." He said it perhaps before television. For sure before 24-hour cable TV and modern technology instantly communicating globally.

It applies to Obama's latest lie, announced at 11:35PM EDT on bin Laden, saying:

"Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children."

Highlighting 9/11, he painstakingly discussed everything but the truth. America's media repeated it. Celebratory crowds in front of the White House, in Times Square, and at "ground zero" cheered it past midnight, mindlessly believing a lie. More on that below.

On May 1, New York Times writers Peter Baker, Helene Cooper and Mark Mazzetti headlined, "Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama says", continuing calling him

"the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world," Obama announced his death Sunday night, declaring "justice has been done."

Cheerleading, not reporting, Baker, Cooper and Mazzetti called his demise

"a defining moment in the American-led fight against terrorism, a symbolic stroke affirming the relentlessness of the pursuit of those who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001."

New Year's eve arrived early in America, celebrating a lie, the "bewildered herd" again seduced by presidential deception.

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Stephen Lendman

In 1980, pioneer trends strategist Gerald Celente founded The Trends Research Institute. He also authored Trends 2000 and publishes quarterly Trends Journal updates, providing timely, comprehensive, accurate business, economic, political, social, technology, and other forecasts on "over 300 different trend categories."

His "1st Great War of the 21st Century" was just released, a comprehensive analysis discussed below, including facts like "(o)nly 45.4 percent of Americans had jobs in 2010, the lowest rate since 1983 and down from a 49.3 percent in 2000. Last year, just 66.8 percent of American men had jobs, the lowest on record."

Because of high unemployment and rising prices, especially affecting food, energy and healthcare, "the natives were more than just restless, they were in revolt." No longer believing rosy scenarios, "they took to the streets and manned the barricades," more abroad than at home.

It fulfilled the beginning of a Trends Journal prediction: "Off With Their Heads 2.0," saying:

"As long as economies decline, unemployment rises, taxes are raised while services are cut, and those at the top get richer and ever more powerful, what happened in Tunisia" will spread globally.

Years from now, this tiny MENA nation (Middle East/North Africa) fired "the first real shot of 'The 1st Great War of the 21st Century' " over poverty and democratic reform, not religion. Except for an insurgency/now imperial war in Libya, popular uprisings then engulfed the entire region.

In fact, however, in 2010, public outrage erupted earlier in, and continued sporadically in Greece, France, Britain, Iceland, and elsewhere over bread and butter issues, the same ones affecting billions.

However, the common "recipe for social upheaval" exists globally, including poverty, unemployment, rising prices, high-level corruption, and unresponsive governance has billions around the world near the breaking point, even in America and Western democracies.

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Paul Craig Roberts
Vdare

[Like the photos issued by the US government over the years, this photo (left) also may appear to be fake. Unlike the official forgeries though, this one is unofficial. It has attracted the ire of defenders of the US government because it might give the lie to the official propaganda & fairy tales surrounding the recent US special forces hit in Pakistan. It remains to be seen however whether the US Propaganda Ministerium eventually releases a series of manipulated images of a body alleged to be bin Laden's. ;-) Ed.]

Osama bin Laden’s death has the odor of a staged event

If today were April 1 and not May 2, we could dismiss as an April Fool’s joke this morning’s headline that Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight in Pakistan and quickly buried at sea. As it is, we must take it as more evidence that the US government has unlimited belief in the gullibility of Americans.

Think about it. What are the chances that a person allegedly suffering from kidney disease and requiring dialysis and, in addition, afflicted with diabetes and low blood pressure, survived in mountain hideaways for a decade? If bin Laden was able to acquire dialysis equipment and medical care that his condition required, would not the shipment of dialysis equipment point to his location? Why did it take ten years to find him?

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Vitaly Bilan
New Eastern Outlook

We can, of course, find our own objective social and economic causes for any given process. Various analysts have already identified a great number for the so-called “Arab revolutions.” However, if we view the situation from a global standpoint, we see that the further things progress the clearer their anti-China bent becomes.

A new “Great Game”

Let’s start with a little history. The 20th century was an era of competition between the British and Russian Empires for control of Central Asia. Western historians know it as the Great Game. Tournament of Shadows was the term of choice in Russia under the light hand of the then Foreign Minister Count Nesselrode because matters never reached the point of direct military confrontation.

“Great Game” was popularized by the British author Richard Kipling in his novel Kim: “Now I shall go far and far into the North, playing the Great Game.” Times have now changed, however. If Kipling were alive today, he would probably say “East” instead of “North,” because the Anglo-Saxons’ chief geopolitical rival is China now, not Russia.

After all, in their enthusiasm for combating the Soviet Union and then in delight at their victory in the 1990s, the Americans missed China’s sprint from the Third World to superpowerdom. According to some forecasts, China could become the world leader in industrial production by 2015. Even before that—by 2012—the Chinese stock market will outstrip Wall Street and take the top spot in the world.

Incidentally, Beijing is also progressing ideologically. China currently is actually developing its own brand of “Eurasian” ideology that is gradually squeezing out communism, which is increasingly at odds with reality.

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Nil Nikandrov

As of today, Libyan security service seems successful at keeping M. Gadhafi safe amidst the West's air raids. Targeting him, NATO drones dropped “point strikes” which left schools, hospitals, and shopping malls in ruins, but Libya's defiant leader remained unharmed. The Libyan security service also manages to shield Gadhafi from the death squads sent by the CIA, MI6, Mossad, and BND which are literally rivaling over his head.

Following a series of consultations, Pentagon chief R. Gates and UK Secretary of State for Defence L. Fox synchronously expressed the view that any shelters from which Gadhafi might be exercising control over his army are legitimate targets. British Foreign Secretary William Hague supplied the underlying political philosophy of the hunt for Libya's leader by pledging to pursue it until Gadhafi bows to the Western coalition's demands. The message to be heard is: if he does not capitulate, there is going to be no mercy. By the way, Commander of Operation Unified Protector, Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard from Canada faced a media quiz with less determination: he maintained that the coalition was not trying to kill Gadhafi but simply bombed the destinations from which his orders to open fire on civilians might be coming. Gen. Bouchard did not elaborate any further, essentially limiting his statement to something like: war is war, and Gadhafi may be unlucky to get hit like anybody else.

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