Stephen Lendman

Members of the Free Syrian Army fire on Syrian Army positions,
during fighting in Aleppo, Syria. Saudi Arabia is forging a new
alliance of Islamist rebels in Syria under a pro-Saudi warlord to
supersede the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army. (UPI/Ahmad Deeb)

Israel and Saudi Arabia are rogue states writ large. They're two of the world's worst. They deplore democratic values. They spurn rule of law principles. They commit horrendous human and civil rights abuses. They're responsible for daily crimes against humanity. They partner with Washington's imperial wars. They're an odd couple. They're strange bedfellows. Perhaps they're joining forces. Formal relations aren't maintained. Back channel secret ones substitute.

On October 2, Israel's Channel 2 TV news said senior Israeli security officials met with a high-level Gulf state counterpart. They did so in Jerusalem. The Arab official's name wasn't mentioned. It's believed to be Saudi Prince Bandar ibn Sultan. Representing his government, he's very much involved in Washington's war on Syria. So is Israel.

Bandar's visit broke a decades long taboo. It marks the first known time a Saudi official visited Israel. It's believed no others did so earlier. Bandar did it covertly, not openly. He came to discuss interests both countries share. They include toppling Assad and confronting Iran. Doing so involves forming a dark alliance. Including America, it's hard imagining a darker one. It's an axis of evil writ large.

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Paul Craig Roberts

In a speech to the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, November 23, 2010, Peter Dale Scott gave a history of the various directives concerned with government continuity during a state of emergency. He showed that these directives could be used to supersede the Constitution.

The ease with which both the Bush and Obama regimes were able to set aside the due process protections of the Constitution that prohibit indefinite detention and execution without conviction in a trial indicate that Professor Scott’s concern is justified that these directives could result in executive branch rule.

Scott describes how the executive branch efforts to provide government continuity in the aftermath of a nuclear attack dating from the Eisenhower administration were gradually converted into executive or national security (later Homeland Security) orders that confer secret powers to the White House for any event that the executive branch considers to be an emergency.

Generally these various executive orders and directives refer to “national emergencies,” or “national disasters.” However, President Bush’s National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20 issued on May 9, 2007 use the term “Catastrophic Emergency.”

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Ksenia Melnikova

What kind of monsters does US raise in Republic of Georgia?

The presence in Georgia of a US military bio-laboratory remains an obstacle to the development of economic ties with Russia. This came as a statement by head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko. In his opinion, the US military structures located on the Georgian territory are not controlled by the authorities of the Republic and are engaged in activities prohibited by conventions in the field of biology.

The Lugar Research Center is named among the most secret objects in Georgia. This center was built for the US money within the space of 5 years, and it immediately became surrounded by legends. Locals were wondering: Why does America need to allocate $ 270 million for building a laboratory in another country? Many suspect that the US spent this money for a good reason. One of the most wide-spread assumptions is that the Americans might produce biological and chemical weapons in Georgia. The great interest of the US in this institution on the Georgian territory is proved by the rank of the guests, who participated in the official opening of the center. Thus, the event was visited by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs Andrew Weber. Half of the staff of the research center consists of military specialists. In general, such a scrupulous attention on the part of the USA cannot but worry the Georgian population, former Minister of State Security of Georgia Valery Khaburdzaniya says.

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