Joseph Kishore

In a bellicose foreign policy speech Monday, Republican Party presidential candidate Mitt Romney threatened war with Iran, expanded military intervention in Syria, an unending occupation of Afghanistan, and the reintroduction of US troops into Iraq.

While framed as a criticism of the policy of the Obama administration, the main contours of Romney’s speech were in line with the agenda proposed by the current president. Romney’s remarks highlighted the bipartisan conspiracy against the American people, as both candidates plan an aggressive expansion of US militarism abroad, behind the backs of the public.

Romney delivered his speech at the Virginia Military Institute, continuing a tradition, shared by the current president, in which foreign policy speeches are delivered before a military audience. The military is treated as—and indeed is in fact—an independent and overriding power in the American political establishment.

After his speech, Romney held a closed-door meeting with retired generals, in which the war plans of a potential Romney administration were no doubt discussed with even greater candor.

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Stephen Lendman

Several previous articles said Venezuelans won't tolerate going back to their ugly past. On Sunday, they proved it. They voted in record numbers. Long lines queued hours before dawn. Polls stayed open well into the night so everyone coming out could vote. Turnout was nearly 81% of Venezuela's 19,119,809 registered voters.

US elections usually get around 50%. Off-year congressional races average under 40%. From 1960 - 2010, the highest percentage participation was 63.1%. It was in 1960 when Kennedy defeated Nixon. The lowest turnout was 49.1% in 1996 when Clinton bested Bob Dole. In the off-year 2010 congressional election, a meager 37.8% participated. America's electoral process lacks credibility. Duopoly power permits no choice. Big Money always wins.

Venezuelans get the real thing. Their electoral process is the best in the world. It's independently judged open, free and fair. Every vote counts. They're tabulated fully and honestly.

US elections are rigged. Politics in America reflect more hypocrisy than democracy.

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Wayne Madsen

The recent passage of a resolution by the Turkish parliament to authorize cross-border retaliatory military action against Syria after a recent barrage of mortar rounds from Syria into Turkey is a sign that Turkey, working with NATO's neoconservative Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is hoping to invoke for the second time in its history the NATO collective security authorization, Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty that stipulates an act of aggression against one NATO member is an attack on all. The first time Article 5 was invoked after the 9/11 attacks on the United States…

Rasmussen is the perfect facilitator to engineer NATO action in Syria. He was a leading cheerleader for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, including the shedding Danish military blood in the senseless military operations.

And after Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay was caught red-handed lying about Syria officially apologizing for the shelling when, in fact, the shelling was carried out by units of the Turkish-supported Free Syrian Army, Turkey is taking a page from the "false flag" military doctrine practiced for decades by Israel. Five civilians in the Turkish village of Akçakale were killed in the October 3 mortar barrage from Syria but in false flag actions, it is innocent civilians who are the key to success. Civilian deaths help whip up war fever by the general public against a real or imagined enemy. An October 5 mortar round from Syria landed in the Turkish village of Aşağıpulluyazı in the restive Turkish province of Hatay, where there exists a sizable Alawite community that feels a kinship with the dominant Alawite government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey’s standard response to any fire from Syrian territory – regardless of its source – would be met with Turkish artillery fire. Borrowing a page from Israeli “price tag” attacks on Palestinian Muslims and Christians, Davutoglu said that Turkey would respond one-for –one, for each artillery round from Syrian soil. The Turkish policy is obviously aimed at increasing tensions.

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