Yesterday Al Jazeera released the final cache of the Palestine Papers, the network's publication of secret documents culled from the last ten years of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the United States. Among some of the latest revelations are agreements between all three parties to push the United Nations Human Rights Council to delay a vote on the Goldstone report, the fact-finding probe of alleged war crimes committed during Israel's winter 2008-09 attacks on the Gaza Strip. Approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the 22-day assault, and more than 5,000 were wounded. Al Jazeera reported that documents prove the Palestinian Authority sacrificed potential legal accountability for Palestinian victims of Israel's attacks "in exchange for favorable assurances on negotiations from the United States and, they hoped, from Israel" ("PA stonewalled the Goldstone vote," S. Farhan Mustafa, 26 January 2011). Reporting for Al Jazeera, S. Farhan Mustafa wrote yesterday:

"What the Palestine Papers demonstrate is that, in the weeks preceding the vote, the United States apparently urged the PA to stall the report as a means of restarting negotiations with Israel."

[Remember this one?] "He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." "This famous quote was uttered by Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State from 1933-1944. Hull was referring to Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Molino Trujillo. Hull was also a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 for his work in originating the United Nations. The quotation is in line with the United States' foreign policy during the Cold War. Trujillo -- and many other Banana Republic dictators -- was oppressive, brutal, corrupt and greedy. The people they ruled generally lived wretched lives in abject poverty -- while the dictator, his family, and cronies had wealth beyond reason. But as long as US business interests were untouched and communism kept at bay, the US placed little pressure on these tyrants to reform. Often these regimes received economic and military aid from the US. Many would say that,"He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he is our son-of-a-bitch," is still a major consideration behind US foreign policy decisions." [everything2.com]

Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the PBS NewsHour tonight with the most direct US governent comments yet about the gathering Egypt protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 29-year reign. Mr. Biden's comments are unlikely to be well-received by regime opponents, as they fit a narrative of steadfast US support for a government they want to bring down. About eight protesters and one policeman have died this week as Egypt has sought to bring down the heavy hand of the state against opponents. Since the US provides about $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt a year, the repressive apparatus of the state is seen by many in Egypt as hand in glove with the US.

WikiLeaks/Aftenposten: 14/05/2007: PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION IN EGYPT

"Regardless of whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, or an Atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights, and you will have them one way or the other."

Al Jazeera: Live Streams

Egyptian security officials say police have put Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei under house arrest. Police stationed outside his suburban Cairo home told him he cannot leave the house after he joined tens of thousands of protesters in the capital Friday. ElBaradei returned to the country Thursday night from a month abroad and declared he was ready to lead the protesters to a regime change.

Government shuts down internet and mobile phones ahead of planned protests against President Mubarak's 30-year rule. Egypt is on edge as activists pressing for a change in government prepare to stage the biggest day of protests in the Middle East's most populous nation amid a security clampdown. Security forces are on high alert and internet, mobile phone and SMS services have been disrupted ahead of the planned demonstrations following Friday prayers. Dan Nolan, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from the capital, Cairo, said that internet access had been blocked across the country and the government had effectively wiped the country off the global digital map in a bid to prevent protesters from organising themselves. For the past three days, cities across Egypt have witnessed unprecedented protests against the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, the president. Apparently inspired by the recent turmoil in Tunisia, the determined protesters have stood their ground against heavily-armed police and are refusing to relent until there is a change in government. The violence has so far left seven people dead.

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt's interior ministry warned of "decisive measures" as dissidents planned to rally after Friday noon prayers for a fourth day in a row in the country's most serious anti-government protests in decades. The warning came as Internet services and cell phone text messaging, both used by organisers of this week's protests that led to deadly clashes between police and demonstrators, were cut across the country. As the unrest continued, US President Barack Obama warned that violence was not the answer, urging restraint on both sides, and also pressing President Hosni Mubarak to adopt political reforms.

The country's largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, said late Thursday that it would participate in Friday's protests, in a departure from the cautious approach it took towards the protests that started on Tuesday. At least 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested overnight Friday, its lawyer Abdelmoneim Abdel Maqsoud told AFP. Among those arrested at their homes were five former members of parliament and five members of the political bureau, whose best known leaders are Essam El-Eriane and Mohammed Moursi. The country's leading dissident, Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, also said he would take part in the protests after arriving late Thursday from a visit to Vienna.

"It is a critical time in the life of Egypt. I have come to participate with the Egyptian people," El Baradei, a vocal critic of Mubarak, said before leaving Cairo airport. "The desire for change must be respected," he said. "The regime must not use violence in the demonstrations."

Earlier, in Vienna, he told reporters he was ready to "lead the transition" in Egypt if asked.

● Twitter: We will soon release numerous cables on Egypt
● Newsvine: Provider: Egypt's Internet suffers severe outages
● ReadWriteWeb: Complete Internet Blackout in Egypt
● Yahoo: The day part of the Internet died: Egypt goes dark
● The Independent: The day that Egypt unplugged the Internet
● Yahoo: Egypt's online movement takes to the streets
● Businessweek: Egypt Holds Islamists, Restrict Internet Before Rally

Suez is burning, North Sinai is burning and Egypt is a state of zero tolerance. The government that justifies killing its own people does not have any right to exist, and it must be taken down! [AP Raw footage of a man shot down in protests]

The Algerian opposition is regrouping after thousands of police were deployed on Saturday to suppress several hundred demonstrators. They too are inspired by the Tunisian revolution. With public protests being so strongly suppressed some Algerians have turned to a more drastic demonstration of their opposition to the status quo. At least four people in Algeria have attempted self-immolation, some successfully, since Tunisia freed itself of Ben Ali. As with Tunisia and Egypt, activist in Algeria have been able to make creative use of the Internet to organize in spite of the governments best efforts to stop them.

Libya's Moamer Gaddafi may have hailed WikiLeaks for exposing US 'hypocrisy' back in December but since the cablegate exposures helped rally the people to throw out Ben Ali in January, he has been singing a different tune. Yesterday Gaddafi "said he feared that the Tunisian revolution which overthrew president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was being exploited by 'foreign interests'" according to France24. In an interview, he told the private Tunisian Nessma TV station “I fear for the Tunisian revolution." Because Libya has 5.9 million cell phone users but less than 400,000 Internet users, Anonymous OpLibya is adopting strategies that focus more on spreading information via SMS.

Tens of thousands of people, inspired by events in Tunisia, protest in Sanaa to demand President Saleh's resignation. Inspired by recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, opposition members and youth activists rallied at four different locations in Sanaa on Thursday, chanting for Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, to step down.

"Enough being in power for [over] 30 years," protesters shouted during the demonstrations.

They also referred to the ouster of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, saying he was "gone in just [over] 20 years".

"No to extending [presidential tenure]. No to bequeathing [the presidency]," they chanted.

An opposition activist said that the staging of the demonstration in four separate parts of the capital was aimed at distracting the security forces. One area chosen for the protest was outside Sanaa University. Security measures at the demonstrations appeared relaxed, but were tight around the interior ministry and the central bank.

Pakistani media say the US embassy official charged with the murder of two Pakistani citizens [allegedly] is an agent for the notorious security firm, Blackwater. The US official identified by police as Raymond Davis shot dead two men riding on a motorcycle in Lahore on Thursday in what he claimed was "self-defense" during an attempt robbery. A third Pakistani was run over and killed in the incident after being hit by a US consulate vehicle rushing to the scene to the American's aid. The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular official [Blackwater staff cannot be consular officials. The CIA has infiltrated the US embassy/consular system, dominating it completely. -So this thug is a CIA agent.] and says it is carrying out an investigation. Trying to avoid an anti-American reaction, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington will fully cooperate with Pakistani authorities and will explain about the incident to the Pakistani people. The issue of American diplomats carrying weapons inside Pakistan was a hot-button subject last year among certain politicians and sections of the media purportedly worried about the country's sovereignty. Many Pakistanis regard the United States with suspicion or outright enmity because of its occupation of neighboring Afghanistan.

PressTV: US official to face trial in Pakistan

Accused of killing 73 in an airline bombing, Luis Posada Carriles charged with immigration violations, not terrorism. On October 6, 1976 a bomb exploded on Cubana Airlines flight 455, blowing it out of the sky and into the waters off Barbados, killing everyone on board, including Fernandez's father, the captain of Cuba's national fencing team. Posada, 82, a Cuban-born Venezuelan-citizen, was considered the mastermind— a CIA-trained explosives expert who would stop at nothing in his personal vendetta against Cuban president Fidel Castro. Planned in Venezuela, the attack killed mostly Cuban nationals.

"The terrorist activities of Posada Carriles are part of the [current US court] indictment, but they are not what he is being prosecuted for," said José Pertierra, a Cuban-born Washington lawyer who is representing Venezuela's interests at the trial. "He is only being prosecuted for lying about them [attacks]… to an immigration judge in a naturalisation hearing."

Venezuela jailed Posada for the bombing, but the wily operative escaped from prison disguised as a priest and eventually fled to the US, stopping in other Latin American countries along the way where he continued his anti-Castro activities. Venezuela has repeatedly called for his extradition.

"For many years, the truth has been hidden," Fernandez said. "But I want people to learn that there are a lot of victims of terrorism in Cuba as well as in the US and other countries."

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's former chief of staff at the White House, will be allowed to stand for mayor of Chicago after the Illinois supreme court overturned an earlier ruling that he was ineligible under residency requirements. The decision of the highest court in the state clears the way for the famously straight-talking Chicagoan to press ahead with his bid to run the third most populous city in the US. There was jubilation at his campaign headquarters, and the candidate received a call on Thursday night from President Obama. The ruling comes not before time for Emanuel: early voting for the mayor's position opens on Monday, and the vote itself is on 22 February.

Stephen Lendman: Chicago's Mayoral Race: Rahm Emanuel's Eligibility At Issue

The U.S. economy is now operating like a finely tuned engine bent on dismantling the middle class and protecting the tiny elites in our nation that have learned to manipulate both political parties to their financial benefit. This did not occur over night but started in the 1970s when the U.S. government and investment banks juiced up the nation with deficit and debt spending. A single family cannot go into debt for a very long time without consequences but a rising housing market hid much of the inequality developing in our system for a very long time. It was an illusion of stability. The top 1 percent in our nation now control 43 percent of all financial wealth. These are levels not seen since the years before the Great Depression consumed the global economy. The fact of the matter is the top 1 percent has massively gained in real financial terms because of political maneuvering and selling out the middle class. Since these people protect their wealth through investment banks and tax breaks politicians have not dared touch these sacred cows or even asking banks to pay for their decades of personal irresponsible lending. In the end the elite have created a system where the working and middle class are paying for their own demise.

Yup it's true. $2.5 or $2.6, depending on who's counting, Trillion of our Social Security money is gone. Senator Mitch McConnell and his pals have spent it. All $2.5/$2.6 Trillion of it and gave us a IOU. That worked OK as long as there was more money coming into Social Security than going out. But now when there's less coming into Social Security than going out and the IOU's are due Senator Mitch McConnell and his pals worried about the solvency of Social Security. Really? It's sock it to Grandma time.

American industrial meat farms have grown exponentially in size and numbers over the last decade. The number of broiler chickens in industrial farms, for instance, has doubled to 1.1 billion between 1997 and 2007. And the number of hogs has increased by a third in the same period.

Overcrowded farms lead to spread of diseases and improper handling of meats and dairy that has resulted in an increased number of food recalls in the last decade. But as retail prices of meats have increased significantly, farmers might be adding even more livestock and poultry to their feedlots.

Factory Farm Map, a non-profit tracking the expansion of commercial farms, have collected impressive stats about how many millions of chickens, pigs, and cows farms have been added to the slaughter lines in the last 10 years.

[Comment from a Business Insider reader] jb (URL) on Jan 27, 10:29 PM said: The fact the US gov't continues to subsidize industrial farming (with taxpayor money) makes my blood boil, okay it just chaps my arse. Why? Animals are fed stuff they don't naturally eat and kept in crowded environments. The result:

1. More pollution - The animal's gas and excrement is worse. Their digestive systems are out of whack and shows up in what comes out the other end. The waste is much worse to deal with.
2. Quality of meat is decreased - NY Times ran an article that compared industrial beef vs grazed. Big difference in the quality of the meat. Industrial farming results in food that is less healthy for us.
3. Superbugs - 20 years ago the elderly in hospitals were dying from superbugs (staph infections), now its high school football players. The animals are fed unnatural feed and kept in overly crowded pens so they get loaded up with antibiotics which result in superbugs.
4. I assume the goal of the subsidies is the make the crap cheaper. Ok, that's great news for our obesity problems.
5. The animals are less happy.

Drop the subsidies, but if have to subsidize graze farming.

Bankers fund all sides of conflicts, promote war and people die. An estimated 60 million or more died in WWII alone. There were maybe 160 million killed in wars and genocides in the 20th century although that number is just an educated guess from many sources. One was too many. For all of this carnage for the profit of an elite few there is only one group of 'sacrificed' people who get their own international day of remembrance, the most publicity and funding. There's only one 'holocaust' that really matters and that's for the 'chosen ones' and their magic 6 million number.

The UN designated January 27 as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005 "to keep the memory alive in a bid to prevent future acts of genocide." This was in the middle of the Iraq war genocide of well over a million civilians for the benefit of the U.S. but mainly for Israel. Hypocrisy at best.

There are more 'holocaust' museums in the world than I care to count. The one in Washington DC costs taxpayers nearly $50 million a year. Any of those budget/deficit cutting reps in Congress calling to eliminate this? I didn't think so. Holocaust education in the public schools of the U.S. is big business. Some states require it by law, most defer to those who scream 6 million the loudest. The jewish holocaust is a new religion not to be blasphemed against. No state schoolbook in the country mentions the holocaust of Germans after WWII was over. The holocaust of Native American Indians is not taught as such. The holocausts of Stalin and Mao are glossed over as insignificant compared to that of the jews.

the Wolves: Palestine is a new Turkish movie portraying the Mavi Marmara massacre as a premeditated Israeli attack that was set to kill innocent peace activists.

An uproar has erupted in Germany in the last few days over the upcoming launching of the film. The film's intended release date in Germany is January 27, the same day as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Apparently the German distributor of the film confirmed that the company had been unaware of the sensitivity of the date. However, I actually think that linking between the events is not such a bad idea. If the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is there to remind us of crimes committed by a racist ethno-centric regime in the past, the Turkish film is there to awaken us to the colossal crimes that are committed by a racist ethno-centric regime in the present. If Germans are genuinely interested in the Nazi past, they better look closely at Israeli current brutality.

Some German politicians have condemned both the film and the date chosen for its release. PM Kerstin Griese, of the Social Democratic Party, criticized the film for inciting to violence and fomenting anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic sentiment. This is, no doubt, a clumsy statement. If anything, the film is there to condemn Israeli violence that is committed daily against the Palestinian people. I would also like to remind PM Greise that opposing Israeli policies and practice is totally legitimate. Moreover, the film is there to criticise the deep racial hatred that is imbued within the Israeli society. If Griese is, indeed, concerned with anti Semitism, he should actually advocate this anti racist film and the specific choice of the release date.