New Speculative Date Already Being Shrugged Off in Favor of Promises of Eventual Victory. The replacement of the July 2011 drawdown date with a more speculative 2014 date is scarcely completed, and already that date too is being disavowed by NATO Secretary General and Afghan War enthusiast Anders Fogh Rasmussen. According to Rasmussen, NATO troops will remain in the nation and will contiue their nearly nine year war “indefinitely,” pledging that the troops would only leave once it became impossible for the Taliban to take over in Afghanistan. It is perhaps inevitable that those officials with dreams of some ill-defined “victory” in Afghanistan would bristle at any drawdown date at this point, as the repeated escalations of the war have not brought victory any closer and have instead only made matters worse, with record death tolls coming virtually every month. Rasmussen, for his part, has predicted even more casualties in the months ahead, but claims that the large number of NATO troops being killed just proves how desperate the Taliban is getting. Armed with this assumption, he will no doubt continue to have such reasons for optimism as the war continues to worsen.

WSJ: Petraeus Sharpens Afghan Strategy. Gen. David Petraeus plans to ramp up the U.S. military's troop-intensive strategy in Afghanistan, according to some senior military officials, who have concluded that setbacks in the war effort this year weren't the result of the strategy, but of flaws in how it has been implemented. The officials said Gen. Petraeus, who took over as allied commander in Afghanistan this month and is conducting a review of the war, intends to draw on many of the same tactics he implemented to turn around the war in Iraq—and which his predecessor, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, introduced in Afghanistan. But the officials said Gen. McChrystal put too much attention on hunting down Taliban leaders, at the expense of the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy, which focuses on protecting civilians and bolstering popular support for the government. Supporters of Gen. McChrystal dispute that assessment, dismissing any notion there were flaws in how he fought the war.

[Editor's Comment:] This war was never meant to be "won". It was neither meant to be won or lost. Whatever we want to call this "war", it fundamentally was meant to be an occupation, an endless one at that. -That is, it was, and still is, meant to last until all the resources have been looted and until the territory has outlived its strategic usefulness to the people who started it. There will be no withdrawal until then. The occupation will undoubtedly outlast us all. There will be no peace in Afghanistan in our lifetime(s). This is the ugly truth.

China's largest reported oil spill more than doubled in size to 165 sq. miles (430 sq. kilometers) by Wednesday, forcing nearby beaches to close and prompting one official to warn of a "severe threat" to sea life and water quality.

The oil slick started spreading five days ago when a pipeline at a busy northeastern port exploded, sparking a massive fire that took more than 15 hours to contain. Hundreds of boats have been deployed to help with the cleanup.

At least one person has been killed in those efforts, a 25-year-old firefighter, Zhang Liang, who drowned Tuesday after a wave threw him from a vessel and pushed him out to sea, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Another man who also fell in was rescued. Beaches near Dalian, once named China's most livable city, were closing as oil started reaching their shores, Xinhua reported. "The oil spill will pose a severe threat to marine animals, and water quality, and the sea birds," Huang Yong, deputy bureau chief for Dalian, China Maritime Safety Administration, told Dragon TV.

Florida –Organizers today announced the formation of the North American Truth and Accountability Commission for Human Experimentation (NATAC). The Commission, nearly 8 months in the making, was first proposed after a number of people had read the recently published book by H.P. Albarelli Jr., A TERRIBLE MISTAKE: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments. Albarelli’s book details a number of shocking human experiments conducted during the Cold War years. Following a number of meetings in Los Angeles and New York City to discuss both past and on-going human experiments sponsored by the government, it was proposed that a formal commission be formed to further research government-sponsored human experimentation in the United States and Canada and to advocate for the demise of all such programs.

New details have emerged regarding the 2004 death of Egyptian-born scientist Muhammad al-Azmirly at a prison at a U.S. air base in Baghdad. Al-Azmirly died after his arrest by U.S. forces during the 2003 invasion. He is believed to have been a close confidant of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. A specialist in the field of chemistry, al-Azmirly was considered one of world's leading experts on polymers at the time of his death, and when the war began, was listed among the 200 people closest to the regime of Saddam Hussein. He was a member of the science faculty at the University of Baghdad before being arrested and taken from his home on April 26, 2003. His private office was set alight by American occupation forces after all of his books, papers, computers and family photos were confiscated. Zionist Intelligence [Israeli intelligence, the Mossad] then analyzed the information. He was held at the Abu Ghraib prison for ten days during which U.S. forces tortured him. Then he was transferred to a secret prison under the control of Zionist intelligence for questioning about his scientific activities.

There has been a strong revival in recent years of support among Palestinians for a one-state solution guaranteeing equal rights to Palestinians and Israeli Jews throughout historic Palestine. One might expect that any support for a single state among Israeli Jews would come from the far left, and in fact this is where the most prominent Israeli Jewish champions of the idea are found, though in small numbers. Recently, proposals to grant Israeli citizenship to Palestinians in the West Bank, including the right to vote for the Knesset, have emerged from a surprising direction: right-wing stalwarts such as Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin, and former defense minister Moshe Arens, both from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party. Even more surprising, the idea has been pushed by prominent activists among Israel's West Bank settler movement, who were the subject of a must-read profile by Noam Sheizaf in Haaretz ("Endgame," 15 July 2010). Antiwar: One-State Debate Explodes Myth About Zionist Left. Gilad Atzmon: On The Israeli Right's New 'Peace' Agenda.

[Editor's Comment:] We're posting these three links with some hesitation because none of the writers seem to understand that this talk about granting Israeli citizenship to Palestinians in the West Bank is nothing but a tactical maneuver to gobble up all of the West Bank (and later Gaza). The Zionists still intend to ethnically cleanse Palestine of the Palestinians. Until that happens, the Palestinians will not be granted full citizenship rights. They have been second-class citizens in the past, this is what they are now and this is what they'll be in any future Zionist-ruled state. -Let us be clear about this: People in Palestine have the right to define their own future and people on the left & right in both the "shitty little state" and in the West ought to shut up and desist from arrogantly talking about "solutions". This is for the Palestinians to decide upon and nobody else.

Amnesty International has today called on the Israeli authorities to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank, after a further 74 were destroyed in the Jordan Valley earlier this week. The demolitions were carried out by the Israeli military in the villages of Hmayyir and 'Ein Ghazal in the area of al-Farisiya on Monday, displacing 107 people, including 52 children. According to UN figures, at least 198 Palestinian structures in the West Bank have been demolished this year, resulting in the forced displacement of almost 300 Palestinians, half of them children, while 600 others have also been affected. "These recent demolitions intensify concerns that this is part of a government strategy to remove the Palestinian population from the parts of the West Bank known as Area C, over which Israel has complete control in terms of planning and construction," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa. Among the property destroyed by the Israeli military on Monday were residential tents, separate kitchens and washrooms, agricultural buildings, and animal pens.

Since taking office in January 2009, the Obama Administration has taken a number of steps dedicated to enhancing Israel’s security. Below are some facts, figures, and statements about President Barack Obama’s commitment to Israel’s security. This fact sheet is available to download as a pdf here.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli government has refused to provide the United Nations assurance to discontinue its illegal usage of internationally banned white phosphorus bombs, which it used heavily in its latest war on the Gaza Strip, causing hundreds of Palestinian deaths, in addition to serious environmental damage. Israel submitted an official report to the UN this week admitting its use of white phosphorus bombs in its war on Gaza after having previously denied such allegations, and assuring that it would use the bombs in a “restricted” manner, but refusing to assure complete discontinuation. The report said: “The army has taken measures to minimize civilian injuries and damage to their property in future military conflicts, including restricting the use of white phosphorus bombs in populated areas.”

"Her 12-year-old daughter, whom she did not want to appear on camera, was at Tampa International Airport on vacation with a family friend when a TSA officer chose her. "It's an image of a nude child that they're seeing. This is child pornography whether people want to believe this or not. How is this any different," said Nemphos."

Oil industry and engineering expert Bob Bea has a different view, according to a report published int he last 24 hours by the Times-Picayune:

BOMBSHELL: BP seabed survey BEFORE drilling well showed NO indications of seep 3 km away says former Shell exec

A new SoonerPoll finds that only 58 percent of those who attended high school in Oklahoma could pass the citizenship test that is required of all naturalized Americans, 42 percent failed the test. ““I think the results expose the fundamental lack of understanding our society has for its basic freedoms,” Bill Shapard, CEO of SoonerPoll, said. “The point we stop understanding those fundamental freedoms is the point that we lose them.” Respondents were asked ten randomly selected questions from the citizenship test. Questions in the survey were open-ended, which allowed the respondent being surveyed to provide the answer from memory.

Writing at the American Spectator yesterday, former Nixon speechwriter and TV personality Ben Stein downplayed the suffering unemployed Americans are experiencing by writing that the people who are unemployed right now are “generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities.” He claims the unemployed are Americans with “unpleasant personalities…who do not know how to do a day’s work“:

The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say “generally” because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job. Again, there are powerful exceptions and I know some, but when employers are looking to lay off, they lay off the least productive or the most negative. To assure that a worker is not one of them, he should learn how to work and how to get along — not always easy.

Daily Finance: The Jobless Effect: Is the Real Unemployment Rate 16.5%, 22%, or. . .?

Coalition in confusion as deputy prime minister pronounces invasion 'illegal' at dispatch box. Nick Clegg was tonight forced to clarify his position on the Iraq war after he stood up at the dispatch box of the House of Commons and pronounced the invasion illegal. The deputy prime minister insisted he was speaking in a personal capacity, as a leading international lawyer warned that the statement by a government minister in such a formal setting could increase the chances of charges against Britain in international courts. Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London, said: "A public statement by a government minister in parliament as to the legal situation would be a statement that an international court would be interested in, in forming a view as to whether or not the war was lawful."

An improvised explosive device (IED) has killed a US soldier in Diyala province, north of Baghdad. "A United States Division North soldier died today [Wednesday] in Diyala province when the soldier's vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device," a US military statement said. He was the 4,413th US soldier to die since the US-led war on Iraq began in 2003, AFP reported.

It is vengeance that preoccupies the mind of the colonizer. It is this fervor to show us who is boss that led to the massacre at Wounded Knee, the theft of the Black Hills, the establishment of boarding schools, and the criminalization of our languages and traditional ways. It is vengeance that armed the GOON squads, killed our leaders, and surrounded our people at Wounded Knee again in 1973. Revenge is why they today prosecute Indian people for the crimes they know the government committed during their murderous campaigns of the last generation. Vengeance is what killed Joe Stuntz, Anna Mae Aquash, Buddy Lamont and so many others. Getting even is what keeps me in prison. So don't forget. Not ever.

TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian nuclear scientist who returned home last week from the United States provided valuable information about the CIA, a semiofficial news agency reported Wednesday, adding that his spy's tale would be made into a TV movie. American authorities have claimed Shahram Amiri willingly defected to the U.S. but changed his mind and decided to return home without the $5 million he had been paid for what a U.S. official described as "significant" information about his country's disputed nuclear program. The Fars news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying that Iran's intelligence agents were in touch with Amiri while he was in the U.S. and that they won an intelligence battle against the CIA. Iran has portrayed the return of Amiri as a blow to American intelligence services that it says were desperate for inside information on Iran's nuclear program. Iran has sought to make maximum propaganda gains from the affair, allowing journalists to cover Amiri's return, sending a senior Foreign Ministry official to greet him and preparing to make a movie about the story.

"This was an intelligence battle between the CIA and us that was designed and managed by Iran," the source was quoted as saying. "We had set various goals in this battle and, by the grace of God, we achieved all our objectives without our rival getting any real victory."

CBC News: Iranian nuclear scientist spied on CIA: report.

Rokia Traoré is a singer/songwriter/guitarist /dancer from Mali. In many parts of West Africa, professional musicians are often from a certain lowly caste called the 'griots'. However, Traoré's family are from the Bamana ethnic group who do not observe this restriction so strictly. Therefore when Rokia was young she was able to sing with others at wedding celebrations, despite coming from a privileged background. As Rokia's father was a diplomat, her family spent a lot of time in different countries while Rokia was growing up. She came into contact with many local and international styles of music, although her parents were reluctant for her to become a musician. When she was a bit older Rokia stayed at the lycée in Bamako while her parents were in Brussels and there she developed her voice and first performed in public. In 1997 she met Ali Farka Toure who gave her quite a lot of guidance and then in 1998 she recorded her first album, Mouneïssa. The tracks on 2000's Wanita CD are all in Bamanan except 'Château de sable', which is in French. Her lyrics cover issues like respect, traditions and relationships. She is joined by Boubacar Traoré on the track 'Mancipera'. Coco Mbassi does the backing vocals on several tracks and Toumani Diabaté plays kora. Hauntingly beautiful gentle tracks make this a real treasure trove. The hallmark of Rokia's music is trance-like rhythms, in contrast to many of the other women musicians from Mali like Kandia Kouyate. [African Musicians Profiles] [Aimer; Dounia; Yaafa N'ma; Interview with Rokia Traoré - Victoires de la musique 2009 (in French)]