A rescue helicopter hovers in the mountainous area near
the Transylvanian town of Bran, Romania on Tuesday
July 27, 2010. Photo by: AP (Haaretz)

A recent Israeli military helicopter crash in Romania reveals that Tel Aviv has operated other air exercises in European countries to prepare for "future wars." An article published on Israeli media outlet Ynet on Thursday said that the European states "never know what hides behind the training sessions held" in their territories. Hungary, Romania, Greece, Italy and Germany are among the locations where the Israeli Air Force has held military drills so far.

"In most cases, these training sessions do not include joint drills between Israel's Air Force and the hosting Air Force; rather, the host country provides [Israeli] Air Force with a training platform for two weeks or longer," according to the article. [Preparing for future wars]

The Romania incident, which killed six Israeli soldiers and one Romanian officer in July, shed light on the secret air operations carried out by the Israeli military in other countries. The article concluded that as the Israeli helicopters are "navigating through thousands of kilometers and unfamiliar routes while refueling in midair," Tel Aviv is getting ready to launch another military conflict in the near future.

Ynet News: [07.27.10] Romania replaced Turkey -Why Air Force helicopter pilots were training in Romania. Air Force helicopters hold special significance. Their missions include searching and rescuing pilots, transporting Special Forces to their destination, refueling, and intelligence gathering. To that end, chopper pilots must acquire the skills needed for long-range flights that comprise mid-air refueling, navigation through difficult mountainous terrain, challenging weather conditions, and cooperation with friendly Air Forces. This is why the Air Force has been sending its helicopter squadrons since the 1980s to deploy and train in distant states. Up until a year ago, most of these training sessions took part in Turkey. The mountainous terrain in the country is very similar to regions where the Air Force is supposed to operate in. Fighter jet and helicopter squadrons would deploy at Turkish Air Force bases and practice all sorts of possible missions – mostly navigation, low-altitude flights, and flying through borderline weather.

L: Doug, last time we conversed, you said: "Let's talk about what Clausewitz called ‘the extension of politics' next time – I think the odds are increasing that we may see war rear its ugly head again soon." There's been a lot in the news lately about Israel blockading the Gaza strip and about the potential for the Middle East to boil over. Is that what you had in mind?

Doug: I just got back from a trip to the Middle East – Iraq, actually. There's a feature article on what I found there in this month's Casey Report. Doing country studies has long been a specialty of mine, and I've got to say that most of what most people think they know about the place just ain't so. But yes, I do think there is a very significant chance that we are headed for something that might vaguely resemble WWIII.

Gwynne Dyer: Attacking Iran: US options. When Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest-ranking American officer, was asked recently on NBC’s Meet The Press show whether the United States has a military plan for an attack on Iran, he replied simply: “We do.” The US could “win” by dropping hundreds of nuclear weapons on Iran’s military bases, nuclear facilities and industrial centers (i.e. cities) and killing five to 10 million people, but short of that, nothing works..

AWIP: Former CIA and FBI officials predict that Israel will take America into war with Iran this month.

PressTV: 'Israel will be destroyed if it attacks Iran'. A group of ex-CIA officials have warned Washington against Tel Aviv's efforts to "mousetrap" the US on Iran, a mistake that would "destroy" Israel. In a memo to the US President Barack Obama, a group of former CIA intelligence officers at the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to go unilateral on Iran. "Blindsiding has long been an arrow in Israel's quiver," the group said on Thursday. To prevent such a 'disaster', the former officials wrote, the White House should "move quickly to pre-empt an Israeli attack by publicly condemning such a move before it happens." If Obama fails to do so "Israel's leaders would calculate that once the battle is joined, it will be politically untenable for you to give anything less than unstinting support to Israel," the memo continues.

Travel.State.Gov: Travel Warning: The West Bank and Gaza.

Last September, Reuters reported: “Israel has been developing “cyber-war” capabilities that could disrupt Iranian industrial and military control systems. Few doubt that covert action, by Mossad agents on the ground, also features in tactics against Iran. An advantage of sabotage over an air strike may be deniability.” Now it seems, such an attack may have occurred in recent months. War In Context: U.S. military cyberwar: What’s off-limits?

KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik issued orders to "law enforcement agencies" on Thursday to shoot "terrorists" at sight in order to control boost the growing wave of target killings and violence in the provincial capital that has claimed 85 innocent lives in the last four days, following the assassination of MQM MPA Raza Haider. He was talking to reporters during a visit to the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero. Separately, talking to reporters upon his arrival from Islamabad at the Jinnah International Airport, Malik claimed that several culprits involved in separate incidents of target killings, rampage and arson had been arrested, adding,

“These miscreants are being interrogated tortured by "investigators" as we have kept a close eye on what went wrong in Karachi.”

President Obama’s popularity among white voters has plunged to create a widening racial divide in America. While support from black Americans has remained steady, a new Gallup poll reveals that whites have become increasingly disillusioned with the president. By last month, a 50-point gulf separated the two racial groups. After Mr Obama’s inauguration in January 2009, he boasted a 62 per cent approval ratings among whites. But that percentage plunged in July to just 38 per cent. That compares to an 88 per cent job approval among blacks last month, only a slight dip from his high point of 92 per cent a year ago. The precipitous drop in support from whites comes at a critical time for the president as the key mid-term elections loom in November.

A ‘gender bending’ chemical in food and drinks containers could be behind rising male infertility, scientists say. Men with high levels of Bisphenol A (BPA) in their bodies are more likely to have low sperm counts, according to a study. BPA is widely used to harden plastics and is found in baby bottles, CD cases, plastic knives and forks and the lining of food and drink cans. The chemical mimics the female sex hormone oestrogen and interferes with the way hormones are processed by the body. Although some animal studies have shown it is safe, others have linked it to breast cancer, liver damage, obesity, diabetes and fertility problems. Experts estimate BPA is detectable in more than 90 per cent of people.

But while most of the country is pinching pennies and downsizing summer sojourns - or forgoing them altogether - the Obamas don't seem to be heeding their own advice. While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her "closest friends." According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort. Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times.

[Ma'an] Testimonials and events documented by human rights organizations show the abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons to be regular and widespread.

Physical abuse, sexual abuse, torture, threats and intimidation as well as the denial of basic basic human rights, such as access to education are the most common forms of abuse, documents show.

In 2009, a report from the UK-based children's rights group Defence for Children International found, there were 305 Palestinian children being held in Israeli jails. The US-based NGO Save the Children further estimates, that over 6,700 children were arrested between October 2000 and April 2009. Both organizations confirm Israel routinely prosecutes Palestinian children as young as 12, describing the ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children as "widespread, systematic and institutionalised."

Typical scenario: According to Save the Children, Palestinian children are typically arrested between midnight and 4a.m. without their families being notified where the child is being taken. The children are normally handcuffed, blindfolded, and subjected to physical abuse in addition to humiliating treatment during arrest and can be detained up to 90 days without access to a lawyer whilst being interrogated. Children can be detained for two years from the time charged until the trial.

The Bedouin village al-Arakib, in the northern Negev, was destroyed again today. Hundreds of policemen blocked the access to the village, removed the residents from the temporary homes they constructed, and razed the place with bulldozers. Al-Arakib was destroyed for the first time last week, only to be rebuilt later by residents and volunteers in the following days. According to news site Ynet, 10 temporary structures were constructed in al-Arakib in the past week. They were all destroyed today. Arab Knesset member Taleb El-Sana (Raam-Taal) fainted after being removed by force from one of the homes. He was evacuated to a hospital in nearby Beersheba. Al-Arakib spokesman and local resident Dr. Awad Abu-Farikh told Ynet that

“The black-clad special unit forces are the true face of (Foreign Minister Avigdor) Lieberman’s democracy. This operation is the first step in the uprooting of many villages. We shall return to our villages, build our homes and not leave this place”.

Israeli police announced that it will sue the village for the cost of its evacuation. the cost of last week’s operation alone was estimated at 2 million Shekels (500,000 USD).

Xymphora: Isn't it the Chinese who are supposed to send the relatives of an executed person a bill for the bullet? Israel intends to collect from the Bedouins for the expense of having to re-destroy their homes. Some Jew will no doubt write about how superior and humane the Jews are as the first illegal destruction was free.

Ketchup and cookies may be flowing to Gaza in slightly greater quantities than before. But so bloody what? Goods for export are not flowing out. Nor, for that matter, are people. So while there may be some semblance of civil life and stability in Gaza, there is absolutely no political horizon or true markers of freedom to speak of.

A group of former FBI and CIA officials have sent a memo to US President Barack Obama stating that Israel will bomb Iran later this month. Michel Chossudovsky says that it would be impossible for Israel to launch an attack on Iran without the US and NATO's green light.

AWIP: PHILIP GIRALDI and RAY MCGOVERN CALL ON PRESIDENT TO PREEMPT ISRAELI ATTACK ON IRAN.

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
SUBJECT: War With Iran

We write to alert you to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month. This would likely lead to a wider war. Israel’s leaders would calculate that once the battle is joined, it will be politically untenable for you to give anything less than unstinting support to Israel, no matter how the war started, and that U.S. troops and weaponry would flow freely. Wider war could eventually result in destruction of the state of Israel. This can be stopped, but only if you move quickly to preempt an Israeli attack by publicly condemning such a move before it happens. We believe that comments by senior American officials, you included, reflect misplaced trust in Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.[...]

Philip Giraldi: Another Cakewalk -This Time Against Iran... "The reality is that an Israeli attack on Iran will trigger an all-out war in the region, which will quickly include the United States." It would not bring down the Iranian regime and usher in reformers who would embrace Israel and the United States while singing "Kumbaya" around the campfire. It would be extremely nasty, would not solve any problems in the Middle East, and would kill tens of thousands of innocent people, if not more.

Political Theatrics: Attacking Iran: A Pending Mistake. The US will not act alone in instigating a war against Iran nor does it looks like the United States will be the one to spur a war. Israel, having proven its unwavering support of imperialistic terrorism, will be the one to ignite the match. Afterall, who’s to stop the illegal Zionist entity from doing to Iran what it has done to Lebanon, Gaza and every other precious inch of Occupied Palestine? September is but a short time away and we shall soon witness whether or not Israel and the United States will make good on their threats.

Les Visible: It's Going to Rock your World. "It shocks me when I look right at it. It stuns me that cooler heads do not see the position that Israel is putting the entire world into." War is looming and might be only one week away. I say this to put it in perspective. It stands to reason that it will surely happen before the November elections, for a variety of reasons. We know its coming because the chief drumbeaters are lunatics, drunk on megalomania and other hormonally secreted drugs. We see the image of Israel attacking Iran but I do not think we clearly see the implications of it and how it will change our lives in profound ways.

For most people in Britain and the US, Iraq is already history. Afghanistan has long since taken the lion's share of media attention, as the death toll of Nato troops rises inexorably. Controversy about Iraq is now almost entirely focused on the original decision to invade: what's happening there in 2010 barely registers. That will have been reinforced by Barack Obama's declaration this week that US combat troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq at the end of the month "as promised and on schedule". For much of the British and American press, this was the real thing: headlines hailed the "end" of the war and reported "US troops to leave Iraq".

Nothing could be further from the truth. The US isn't withdrawing from Iraq at all – it's rebranding the occupation. Just as George Bush's war on terror was retitled "overseas contingency operations" when Obama became president, US "combat operations" will be rebadged from next month as "stability operations".

Turkey's government is friendly with Iran and has fallen out with Israel. On 1 August 2010, Turkey's Supreme Military Council held the second day of its annual meeting to discuss promotions and dismissals of officers in the armed forces. The military wants to promote 11 generals who have been charged with plotting to bring down the government. Reportedly, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a cancellation of the promotions for the 11 generals. But he lacks the power to cancel appointments wanted by the generals.

WASHINGTON – The Defense Department is demanding that online whistle-blower WikiLeaks turn over its entire trove of classified U.S. government documents, an appeal aimed at preventing the release of 15,000 secret papers it claims to hold. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday that the government's demand also covers data in a massive encrypted file posted by the website. Morrell says the government is trying to stop any more classified documents from being released. It's also seeking to have WikiLeaks delete the classified material from its website and records. Last month the WikiLeaks website posted nearly 77,000 classified military and other documents, mostly raw intelligence reports from Afghanistan.

Yawen Wayeni was killed Aug. 3, 2009. Soldiers sliced open his stomach and intestines. The seven-minute video of his death recently circulated on the Internet has raised the social and political problem of the autonomous region of Papua. A seven-minute video clip of a group of soldiers slicing open the stomach and intestines of Papuan independence activist Wayeni Yawen (pictured) with a bayonet is circulating on the internet. The video shows Wayeni who, immediately before his death, utters the words

"Freedom, Papua... freedom”, and the response of the military:" What? You will never be free ... as long as there are still soldiers."

Papua, the western part of New Guinea island was annexed by Indonesia in 1969 with a referendum. Over 100 thousand people have since been killed. The Hub: The Killing of Yawan Wayeni -Video

A South African journalist who wrote an expose on the new chief of police has been arrested and is being held by the police even though a prosecutor has refused to press charges. Detention without trial.

Aboriginal disadvantage has not rated a mention during the Australian election campaign – there are few votes in it. But as the party leaders criss-crossed the country this week, shocking evidence emerged at a government inquiry: children in remote indigenous communities are starving. The claims were made by child protection workers, who said the situation was so dire that an international aid-style programme was needed – an extraordinary state of affairs in one of the world's most affluent nations. The workers called for essential food to be delivered by an organisation such as Oxfam or the Red Cross to ensure that children got enough to eat. The inquiry was established by the Northern Territory government, with the aim of strengthening the child protection system. It has already heard a series of disturbing allegations, including that children in remote communities are left to wander unsupervised at night, or are abandoned when their parents go on drinking sessions.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that physicians with the CIA's Office of Medical Services (OMS) played an even greater role in facilitating the torture of detainees than was previously recognized. As described in the (subscription required) study, "In 2003, partially in response to a CIA Inspector General investigation that questioned the use of enhanced interrogation methods and criticized the agency’s failure to consult with OMS about the risks to detainees of waterboarding, OMS physicians assumed another role, providing opinions to the agency and lawyers whether the techniques used would be expected to cause severe pain or suffering and thus constitute torture." This advisory function came in addition to the physicians' previous involvement in the torture of detainees through performing medical evaluations before and after interrogation, monitoring waterboarding sessions, and collecting information on the effectiveness and risks of various techniques.

The Afghan government has released the findings of an investigation into a deadly rocket attack by US-led forces in Helmand province last month. President Hamid Karzai's office said late on Wednesday the inquiry shows 39 civilians -- all women and children -- were killed in the attack. "Subsequently, one rocket hit the house in which 39 women and children were killed and four wounded," the presidential office said in a statement. The bombardment took place in the city of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand on July 23, 2010. Civilians crammed into a house to flee the exchange of fire between NATO troops and alleged militants when they were attacked. The death toll is fewer than first reported but is still dozens more than foreign forces admit. Civilians have been the main victims of violence in Afghanistan, particularly in the country's troubled southern and eastern provinces, where they fall victim to both militant and foreign fire. NYT: 32 Afghan Civilians Killed in New NATO Strikes.

UK media regulator, Ofcom, has lashed out at Press TV over a current affairs program discussing Israel's deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in late May. The media authority says Remember Palestine, a Press TV program presented by Tony Blair's sister-in-law, Lauren Booth, has breached impartiality rules. Ofcom's initial complaint focuses on Booth and her guest's choice of words, stressing that expressions such as "barbarous attack" were an overstatement of Israel's May 31 attack on the Freedom Flotilla that killed nine activists.

Press TV maintains that it has complied with broadcast codes, arguing that the program's guests, which include a host of journalist and pro-Palestinian activist, were entitled to freedom of expression. Press TV further adds that the "intensity of the descriptions in the program merely reflected the general atmosphere around the world." However, the UK media authority has concluded that the program is solely from the pro-Palestinian point of view, noting that broadcast codes on "due impartiality" were open to interpretation. "We considered the broadcaster did not provide sufficient evidence of alternative views within the program. Overall the program gave a one-sided view on this matter of political controversy." The media regulator says it launched the investigation after receiving 'one' complaint.

Gilad Atzmon: Press TV Under Attack. To tell the truth about Israeli barbarism is a breach of impartiality. The Guardian and the Jewish Chronicle reported today that, Ofcom, the UK broadcasting standards body, has ruled that Iranian-backed Press TV’s coverage of the Gaza flotilla incident breached guidelines on impartiality. You ask yourself why? Their coverage of the Flotilla wasn’t pro-Israeli enough.

For a second day running it snowed Wednesday in Southern Brazil and in twelve of Argentina’s 24 provinces including parts of Buenos Aires as a consequence of the polar front covering most of the continent’s southern cone with zero and below zero temperatures. Light snow storms in Brazil were concentrated in areas of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. O Globo network aired snow flakes falling in early morning, cars covered with a thin white coating and some roads dangerously slippery because of ice.

In Argentina the phenomenon extended to Northern provinces, geographically sub-tropical while in the Patagonia and along the Andes snow reached over a metre deep, isolating villages and causing yet undisclosed losses to crops and livestock. The extreme cold weather is expected to peak Thursday dawn with below zero temperatures and even lower with the wind chill factor. After a harsh weekend, Argentina’s National Weather Forecast Service announced the cold weather is expected to stay until Thursday although it could again reach a freezing peak over the coming week-end. Santa Cruz governor Ruben Costas said the province was suffering a “major environmental catastrophe” and warned the population not to make use of water from rivers (because of the dead fauna and flora) promising to send drinking water in municipal trucks. “The last time something of this magnitude happened was 47 years ago”, said governor Costas.