● Six million still need relief
● Anger rising
● World Bank may redirect $900 million in aid
● 500 stranded fuel tanker drivers

SUKKUR, Pakistan Aug 14 (Reuters) - United Nations aid agencies have provided assistance to hundreds of thousands of victims of Pakistan's worst floods in decades but relief operations have yet to reach an estimated six million people.

The lives of 20 million people -- nearly 12 percent of the population -- have been disrupted by one of the worst catastrophes in Pakistan's history. Six million still need food, shelter and water, the UN said in a statement.

Highlighting the scale of the disaster, Prime Minister Raza Yusuf Gilani said in an Independence Day speech the country faces challenges similar to those during the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. Thousands of families were torn apart after the bloody partition into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-majority Pakistan that led to the flight of at least 10 million refugees in the greatest migration in recorded human history. The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours just over two weeks ago, engulfed Pakistan's Indus river basin, killing up to 1,600 people. GRAPHICS. Sky News: Six Million Still Need Aid. AP: Cholera confirmed in Pakistani flood disaster.

S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US. It is to our food what the bailout was to our economy, only we can live without money.

“If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes. It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God.” ~Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower

It is similar to what India faced with imposition of the salt tax during British rule, only S 510 extends control over all food in the US, violating the fundamental human right to food.

Romania's president said Thursday his country will be a loyal partner of Israel and NATO in the event of a conflict with Iran, but added that he hopes the dispute can be solved through diplomacy and sanctions.

"We hope that the sanctions imposed by the Security Council of the U.N. will create the correct solution in Tehran, not digging graves for American soldiers but starting transparent negotiations," said President Traian Basescu standing next to Israeli President Shimon Peres who is on an official visit to Romania.

AWIP: Israel getting ready for 'future wars'. 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 [...] 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.

The Polish Army is promising an investigation following the release of a video showing Polish troops blowing up an Afghan home. An officer serving at the time told the Polish daily that released the report that “it was done for fun.” Blowing up civilian homes is quite obviously a violation of the Geneva Convention and a potential war crime. The general in charge of the unit insisted that he was never consulted about the destruction, and that they had only “blown up a cave full of explosives.” The video clearly shows a home, however, not a cave.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has declared that the remaining 15,000 classified US military files will be released despite US pressure to withhold the documents. Assange made the announcement on a video link to a London audience, AFP reported. On August 5, US press secretary Geoff Morrell formally demanded that Wikileaks return all the classified documents in it's possession including the 15,000 unreleased cache that have not been released as of yet.

"If doing the right thing is not good enough for them, we'll figure out what other alternatives we have," Morrell threatened in a news briefing.

In response to US pressure, when asked whether Wikileaks would release the documents, Assange responded, "Absolutely."

The Afghanistan war logs obtained by Wiki-
Leaks revealed the existence of a secret US
Taliban “capture or kill” team called Task Force
373. Now SPIEGEL has learned that the German
government provided names to the hit list used
by the elite unit. This photo shows a raid by
US special forces and Afghan soldiers in Farah
province in October 2009. SFS.

Both the Obama administration and the Pentagon have opened a virulent attack on those who released the Afghan War Logs. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used a Pentagon press conference on July 29 to vilify WikiLeaks and its editor, Julian Assange, while vowing to crack down on anyone involved in making the documents public. Additional charges have been filed against SPC Bradley Manning, who is already accused of releasing a video showing a massacre in Iraq. The Army recently moved Manning from Kuwait to Quantico, Va., where it is holding him in prison.

According to the Pentagon brass, the Afghan war logs’ release has endangered NATO troops and Afghan collaborators because they reveal the "sources and methods" of U.S. intelligence units. The generals don’t seem to worry that using death squads against the people of a country that they illegally occupy is a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions and international law. Or that the Afghan people already know from bitter first-hand experience how these horrific war crimes have been committed — and by whom. What the brass really worry about is that the leaks will undercut political support for the war at home and around the world. Alex Lantier: Leaked documents expose imperialist war in Afghanistan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office today rejected media reports that they plan to offer 90% of the West Bank to the Palestinians in direct negotiations, calling the reports “unfouned.” [sic] But East Jerusalem aside, the 90% offer would have been a major upgrade from previous reports, which had Netanyahu standing firm at allowing the Palestinians to keep only 60% of the occupied territories.

[Editor's Comment:] The Palestinians won't be "allowed" even that. This talk about numbers is nothing but tactical propaganda. -Let's not fool ourselves: Unless Israel is destroyed as a political entity, every single Palstinian will be either ethnically cleansed from the West Bank or killed.

Iran warns that if Israel were to invade Lebanon, it would be counter-attacked by several countries in the region. Iran's Fars News Agency reported that Ramin Mehman-Parast, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, issued the warning yesterday, saying that while it's unlike Israel will invade Lebanon, the "Zionist regime would be slapped hard in the face by the regional states if it dares to attack Lebanon again."

"What the Zionist regime [Israel] should understand well… is that an aggression against any country in the region or against any Muslim nation in the region will cause the strong reaction of all the regional countries," said Mehman-Parast, when asked about how Iran would react were Israel to attack Lebanon. "Given the regional countries' preparedness and vigilance, they won't allow the Zionist regime and its supporters to make a move in this regard."

BEIJING: A Chinese General on Friday termed as "flagrant provocation" US plans to send a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea and said the country would retaliate if "offended". "A country needs respect, so does a military. We will retaliate if we are offended," Major General Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Academy of Military Sciences, wrote in an editorial in the PLA Daily. The US is "pushing its security boundary to the doorstep of others — the Yellow Sea, South China Sea and so on," Luo said. China had in the recent weeks voice its firm opposition to activities of foreign military vessels or planes in the Yellow Sea and China's coastal waters, saying they undermine it security interests. Despite China's warning, the US insists on sending the carrier ‘USS George Washington', he said. The General was reacting to remarks by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the carrier will always go into "international waters". AWIP: 'Carrier-killing' missile is China's game changer.

According to prepared remarks released by the White House, President Obama will support the building of Cordoba House -- the Islamic community center loosely described as a "Ground Zero mosque" -- during a dinner tonight celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The event, known as an Iftar dinner, marks the breaking of the daytime fast that observant Muslims are required to perform during this month. The guest list includes Muslim diplomats and representatives of community groups, as well as both Muslim and non-Muslim members of the administration and Congress. AWIP: 'Burn a Quran Day, a Zionist outlook'.

PressTV: Obama defends Ground Zero mosque. "As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," he said. "That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," Obama stated, adding that "this is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."

An interview with Khan's about his new film, "Peepli Live," which explores the deadly consequences of India's shift to a neo-liberal economic model. A tangible consequence of India's shift to a neo-liberal economic model has been the flood of suicides among farmers. The vast majority of the world's second most populated country still farms for a living, but are caught between deep debt and the erratic nature of seasonal change. Lured by the promise of greater production, farmers are pressured into mortgaging their farms to purchase genetically modified seeds, pesticides, and fertilizer from American companies like Monsanto. Since GM seeds are patented by Monsanto, their repeated use each year requires constant licensing fees that keep farmers impoverished. One bad yield due to drought or other reasons, plunges farmers so deep into debt that they resort to suicide. One study estimates that 150,000 farmers have killed themselves in the past ten years.