Peter Symonds

Image: This courtroom drawing shows Mansour Arbabsiar (second from right), who holds both a US and Iranian passport, charged over an alleged plot to murder the Saudi Ambassador to the United States with explosives.

The FBI case hinges completely on one man, Arbabsiar.

Revelations by US Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday afternoon of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador have prompted calls in the American media for retaliation against Iran.

Two men—Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri—have been charged with multiple offences, including conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, namely explosives.

Arbabsiar, an American citizen, was arrested on September 29 with the assistance of Mexican authorities, after months of surveillance. He allegedly met several times with a confidential US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) source, believed by Arbabsiar to be connected to a Mexican drug cartel, to carry out the murder for $1.5 million.

Shakuri, who US officials claim is a member of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, is still at large. Arbabsiar only spoke to him over the phone or met with him during visits to Iran.

During yesterday’s press conference, FBI head Robert Mueller warned: “Although it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real and many lives would have been lost. We send a clear message that any attempts on American soil will not be tolerated.”

Attorney General Holder also declared that the US was “committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions.” As a first step, the Obama administration announced financial sanctions yesterday against five Iranians, including the two suspects charged.

In a lengthy interview with the Associated Press, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went on the diplomatic offensive, explaining that the US was “actively engaged in a very concerted diplomatic outreach to many capitals” to pre-empt any Iranian denial. Making clear that Washington intended to exploit the alleged plot to the hilt, she said that it created “the potential for international reaction that will further isolate Iran.”

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Stephen Lendman

Photo: Workers of the public and private sectors demonstrate in Paris, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011, during a national day of strike against government austerity measures. President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government says the cost-cutting measures are essential to reducing the country's debts and allowing France to remain a pillar of the troubled eurozone. (The Sacramento Bee)

For years, Progressive Radio News Hour contributor Bob Chapman warned about troubled Eurozone financial institutions and possible sovereign defaults.

Greece died months ago. Default is certain. Only its obituary hasn't appeared. Germany prepared contingency plans to reissue the Deutschemark if Eurozone stability crumbles.

Six possible sovereign defaults loom if contagion spreads out of control. "Considering the condition of other European banks, and the possibility that three major French banks may be purchased by China, we could see disruption in the global banking system," warns Chapman.

"The very fact that Germany is building a reserve of Deutschemarks has to spell the possible end of the euro."

If conditions keep eroding, its advocates will be discredited for believing its time had come. Without Germany as its lynchpin, it's heading for history's dustbin.

Markets know Greek default is certain, but haven't priced in Germany readopting its D-mark. Chapman "predicted it 12 years ago and many times since." Disruption will be severe if it happens. "Overall, we cannot imagine a euro without German involvement. Secretly, the Germans have already made the decision."

They're trying to save themselves financially and economically. An entirely new Germany will emerge. "We believe that (it's) on the cusp of taking care of domestic institutions and problems and protecting" domestic investors over others in troubled countries. In preparation, they're also protecting their banks. "At least six countries are going under, and all their debt will be worthless or near worthless."

Watch troubled Greece. When it goes, they'll "all go." If Greece doesn't get its (next infusion, it'll) happen quickly." Otherwise, it'll be delayed another six to 12 months.

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Alison Weir

On 14 May 1948, one day before the British Mandate expired,
David Ben-Gurion unilaterally declared the establishment of the
State of Israel, referring to the decision of the UN General As-
sembly as a legal justification for the establishment of the state.

[Detailed citations for the information below are available at "The History of Israel-U.S. Relations, Part One."]

To better understand the Palestinian bid for membership in the United Nations, it is important to understand the original 1947 U.N. action on Israel-Palestine.

The common representation of Israel’s birth is that the U.N. created Israel, that the world was in favor of this move, and that the U.S. governmental establishment supported it. All these assumptions are demonstrably incorrect.

In reality, while the U.N. General Assembly recommended the creation of a Jewish state in part of Palestine, that recommendation was non-binding and never implemented by the Security Council.

Second, the General Assembly passed that recommendation only after Israel proponents threatened and bribed numerous countries in order to gain a required two-thirds of votes.

Third, the U.S. administration supported the recommendation out of domestic electoral considerations and took this position over the strenuous objections of the State Department, the CIA, and the Pentagon.

The passage of the General Assembly recommendation sparked increased violence in the region. Over the following months the armed wing of the pro-Israel movement, which had long been preparing for war, perpetrated a series of massacres and expulsions throughout Palestine, implementing a plan to clear the way for a majority-Jewish state.

It was this armed aggression, and the ethnic cleansing of at least three-quarters of a million indigenous Palestinians, that created the Jewish state on land that had been 95 percent non-Jewish prior to Zionist immigration and that even after years of immigration remained 70 percent non-Jewish. And despite the shallow patina of legality its partisans extracted from the General Assembly, Israel was born over the opposition of American experts and of governments around the world, who opposed it on both pragmatic and moral grounds. Let us look at the specifics.

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Stephen Lendman

A Palestinian fishing boat after it was hit by Israeli army
naval fire at Gaza's seaport. (Reuters)

Israel is a repressive rogue state. Netanyahu bombs Gaza and attacks fishermen while talking peace.

On October 10, without provocation, Israeli jets bombed northern Gaza. An explosion rocked Rafah city. So far, no cause is known but Israel most likely is responsible.

Israeli bulldozers demolished a Palestinian home near Bethlehem after military forces invaded Jab'a village. Palestinians were prevented from entering or leaving.

On October 6, Israeli forces demolished homes, barns and barracks belonging to Palestinian shepherds in Wadi Al-Maleh and Al-Hamma north of the Jordan Valley.

At the same time, IDF troops stormed Beit Kahlil northwest of Hebron. Another Palestinian home was destroyed. Olive trees were uprooted and other property bulldozed. Soldiers fired tear gas at residents trying to stop them.

On October 8, Israeli gunboats opened fire on Gazan fishermen, causing extensive damage. No casualties were reported. At-Tawfeeq Society of Fishermen head Mahmoud Al Aassy said Israel terrorizes Gazans to deter them from fishing to earn a living and feed their families.

Similar incidents occurred earlier in October and many previous times, causing damage and casualties. In addition, dozens of fishermen have been kidnapped. Their boats and equipment were destroyed. As a result, Palestinians risk life and limb to fish.

Since the second Intifada began in September 2000, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said Israel attacked Palestinian fishermen 229 times, killing six and injuring 22. In addition, 29 fishermen were kidnapped and 67 boats confiscated without cause.

Israel contemptuously flouts the most fundamental international laws and norms, operating lawlessly with impunity. But Netanyahu wants peace. Correction: He wants unconditional surrender to Israeli demands like in decades of previous one-sided negotiations. Palestinians only were awarded the right to enforce their own occupation.

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Frances Thomas

Muammar Gaddafi is proven right yet again, when he
observed years ago that the UN wouldn't have the moral
courage to stand up to the powerful NATO nations.

The situation in Sirte is dire. Six weeks under siege after months of aerial attacks. Children and old people dead of hunger and thirst. Water supply hit. Hospitals without medical supplies to treat the ill and injured, and then bombed by NATO. The dead lying in the streets.

Constant ‘targeted’ nightly aerial bombardment by NATO air forces. Constant ‘fire at will’ daytime attacks from ill-disciplined NTC rebels using tanks, rockets, mortars and howitzers.

In their missile-launcher-laden graffiti-decorated pick-up trucks, the rebels drive into the city edges in the morn and back out by dark, hailed as ‘freedom-fighters’ by their embedded foreign press, they more resemble armed gangs. Some are Libyan, dissatisfied with policies of their current government. Some have returned after years abroad with historical differences to settle. Others are LIFG veterans wanting to set up a stricter Islamic fundamentalism. Qatari forces, UK SAS and CIA are known to have been on the ground in Libya. The battle-hardened are Al Qaeda and mercenaries on the pay-roll of interested parties, who follow where wars lead them, so long as they are paid well to kill, or have licence to loot and rape.

How did this ever come to be?

The specific phrases in UNSC resolution #1973, which NATO nations say permit them to conduct and support this military action in Libya, are “no-fly zone”,

“all necessary measures” and “to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack.”

That’s it. A few words. Innocuous enough until NATO twisted them beyond recognition.

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