Stephen Lendman

They gave away the store to Wall Street...

■ From January 26, 2009 - January 25, 2013, he was Obama's Treasury Secretary. He and Fed chairman Bernanke engineered crisis conditions. Bankers profited hugely. They still do. Ordinary people were scammed. Geithner's gone. His legacy speaks for itself. His background showed what to expect. He spent three years at Kissinger Associates.
■ From 1988 - 2002, he held various Treasury posts. He left to become Council on Foreign Relations international economics department senior fellow.
■ From 2001 - 2003, he was IMF Policy Development and Review director. He left to become New York Fed president.

He partnered with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Bernanke. They planned the grandest of grand thefts. They implemented banker bailouts. They looted the federal treasury. They stuck taxpayers with the bill. They debased the currency. They transformed America into an unprecedented money making racket. As New York Federal Reserve Bank president/vice chairman of the Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC), Geithner helped engineer crisis conditions. As Treasury Secretary, he exacerbated them. He turned them into a protracted mainstream depression.

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Megan Rowling

Malians who have fled recent fighting in the central region of the West African country are arriving in towns without money, clothing or food, and in a condition of "utmost distress", the Red Cross said on Thursday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Mali Red Cross are distributing food, blankets, mosquito nets and other essential items to some 7,000 people -- those displaced by violence in the Diabali area and local families helping them -- in the towns of Niono, Kala Seguida and Mariko.

"These people are in the utmost distress," Abrao Cunga, an ICRC delegate in Mopti, said in a statement. "Most of them arrived without money, clothing or food, and they have no place to sleep. How to get food is one of their biggest worries." Some left on motorcycles, donkeys, in carts or even on foot, with one family of six arriving on a single motorbike, Cunga added.

A French-led military operation is underway in Mali [allegedly] to drive back Islamist fighters who launched a surprise push southward toward the capital Bamako two weeks ago. An African ground force is being deployed to support French and Malian troops. French and Malian forces have now taken control of several towns, including Diabali, Konna and Douentza.

Access has become difficult for aid workers amid increased insecurity and military restrictions, with some groups reducing or suspending their activities.

The Red Cross said its assessments show people have fled the fighting in and around Konna. There are almost 1,000 displaced people in Mopti and Sévaré, and some 5,000 further east, in the towns of Badiangara and Bankass - whom the Red Cross is preparing to help.

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Stephen Lendman

Lubna Hannash (21 yrs) Assassinated By Israel Near Hebron

Six-five years of mass slaughter, destruction, dispossession, occupation, persecution, apartheid, and slow-motion genocide is enough. Freedom requires committed activism. Liberation depends on working for what Israel denies. The alternative is more of what's too intolerable to bear.

Bi'in's weekly peaceful anti-Separation Wall protest was attacked. Friday's was dedicated to Lubna Hanash. On Wednesday, Israeli forces murdered her in front of Al-Quds University. They did so in cold blood. She was a fourth year political science student. She was walking peacefully with friends. Israeli soldiers approached her in a civilian car. They shot and killed her. They'll have to explain why.

Lubna's death wasn't an isolated incident. It's reflects daily repression. Palestinians are systematically brutalized. Intimidation, injuries, arrests and deaths follow. Daily headlines reveal what Palestinians endure: IDF invades Jenin pre-dawn. Homes were stormed and ransacked. Two Palestinian youths were arrested. Nearby villages were targeted. Nonviolent Palestinians were kidnapped. Media scoundrels ignore what happens. It's part of Palestinians' daily life. Most people can't imagine what they endure. They can explain best of all.

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