Stephen Lendman

This type militarism is unheard of in peacetime. It reflects readiness for war, not public security.

Olympism today differs vastly from its Athens roots. A previous article explained it's more about profiteering, exploitation, and cynicism than sport. Militarized London reflects something more.

A 2011 "Total Policing" brochure explained. In September 2011, Bernard Hogan-Howe became Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. Straightaway he announced a "total policing" policy. Effectively it means anything goes. He said it's "about total war on suspects and total victim care." Take the latter concern with a grain of salt.

An 11-page brochure said police intend to use Section 60 of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. It gives them "the right to search people in a defined area at a specific time." It also "provides powers to require the removal of disguises at public order events." Essentially it gives cops and other security forces carte blanche to enforce police state authority. Increasingly they're taking full advantage.

From July 27 - August 12, London will host the Games of the XXX Olympiad. The city is militarized and ready.

More »

Moon of Alabama

Tremseh "Massacre" Was A Legitimate Military Operation

The false reporting on the Tremseh "massacre" was supposed to put pressure on Russia and China to agree to a Chapter 7 UN Security Council resolution. Chapter 7 [of the UN Charter] allows the use of force and such a resolution could be used as an excuse for armed intervention. Kofi Annan took that position when, after Tremseh, he urged the UNSC to threaten Syria with "consequences" for not retreating from cities and villages. Annan and Ban Ki Moon were dispatched to Russia and China to further press the issue.

But the Tremseh information operation fell apart when the UN observers confirmed the Syrian government version of the story. Writes the Wall Street Journal:

New evidence on last week's killings in a village in central Syria suggests the bloodshed followed a raid by government forces to arrest male rebels, rather than a deliberate massacre of around 200 civilians as some Syrian opposition leaders and their Western allies first reported.

The findings could ease the pressure on Russia and China to back tougher measures against Bashar al-Assad's government, underscoring how competing narratives and interpretations of events in Syria continue to divide world powers over how to end a conflict now recognized by most as a civil war.

The Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to meet with Kofi Annan tomorrow. He just held a press conference in which he laid out the Russian and Chinese position.

More »