For many years now the American foreign policy has been characterized by the strong tie between the United States and Israel. Does the United States in fact keep Israel on its feet? And how long will it continue to do so? In March 2006 the American political scientists John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Steve Walt (Harvard) published the controversial article 'The Israel Lobby and US foreign policy'.

In it they state that it is not, or no longer, expedient for the US to support and protect present-day Israel. The documentary sheds light on both parties involved in the discussion: those who wish to maintain the strong tie between the US and Israel, and those who were critical of it and not infrequently became 'victims' of the lobby. The question arises to what extend the pro-Israel lobby ultimately determines the military and political importance of Israel itself. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (Colin Powell's former chief-of-staff) explains how the lobby's influence affects the decision-making structure in the White House.

With political scientist John Mearsheimer, neocon Richard Perle, lobby organization AIPAC, televangelist John Hagee, historian Tony Judt, Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth, colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Democrat Earl Hilliard, Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy and investigative journalist Michael Massing.

Deraa hit by shelling and heavy gunfire, as funeral processions for scores of people killed in protests get underway.

The south Syrian flashpoint town of Deraa has been hit by fresh shelling and heavy gunfire, as residents bury people killed in Friday's "day of rage" protests against the government, a witness tells Al Jazeera. The army has been firing at protesters in neighbourhoods in Deraa's old town and at least four houses in the Karak neighbourhood have been damaged by shelling, according to the witness.

"We are totally besieged. It is a tragedy. Many houses are levelled by shelling from the army. For the past six days we haven’t seen an ambulance," the witness said via telephone, while gunfire rang out in the background. "We are keeping the bodies of the dead in refrigerator trucks, but many bodies are still lying in the streets. Many of the bodies are bloated and are reeking."

A second witness confirmed that tanks as well as armoured personnel carriers had entered Deraa this morning as well as helicopters flying soldiers into the town.

"They are shooting at houses, both the tanks and the soldiers. The most intense fire is at the Omari Mosque," he said, the sound of gunfire audible over the phone line. "The bullets are flying straight over my head as we are talking: It's so close. The humanitarian situation is very bad: There's no food, no medicine, no electricity. We are collecting rain water to drink," the second witness said.

Stephen Lendman: US Intervention in Syria

Calling the IDF practice of siccing K-9 attack dogs on undocumented Palestinian workers (Hebrew) a “terror policy,” the Israeli NGO B’Tselem is appealing against its use to the army senior command. It should be noted that the victims are not security suspects, but rather day laborers seeking to enter Israel to find work and who do not have the proper permits to do so (which are practically non-existent anyway).

The U.S. economy is dying and we are heading for the next Great Depression.

The talking heads in the mainstream media love to spin the economic numbers around and around and they love to make it sound like the economy is improving, but the truth is that it doesn't take a genius to see what is happening to the U.S. economic system. All over the nation many of our greatest cities are being slowly but surely transformed into post-apocalyptic wastelands. All over the mid-Atlantic, all along the Gulf coast, all throughout the "rust belt" and all over the entire state of California cities that once had incredibly vibrant economies are being turned into rotting, post-industrial hellholes.

In many U.S. cities, the "real" rate of unemployment is over 30 percent. There are some communities that will start depressing you almost the moment that you drive into them. It is almost as if all of the hope has been sucked right out of those communities. If you live in one of those American hellholes you know what I am talking about. Sadly, it is not just a few cities that are becoming hellholes. This is happening in the east, in the west, in the north and in the south. America is literally being transformed right in front of our eyes.

If you still live in an area of the United States that is prosperous, do not mock the cities that you are about to read about. The cold, hard reality of the matter is that economic decline and economic despair are spreading rapidly and they will come to your area soon enough.

The Economic Collapse: 24 Signs Of Economic Decline In America

BP's refining operation, along with a refinery operated by Valero Energy Corporation, in Texas City, Texas, has once again polluted the air of local residents, this time with a discharge of 150,000 pounds of pollutants.

The releases by Valero and BP were caused by power troubles that forced the companies to shut down their operations. Texas City officials said the emissions did not reach harmful levels, although residents were warned to stay indoors following the industrial events. Some residents reported experiencing health effects, and at least 25 people went to the hospital.

Patrick Martin: Oil bosses rake in record profits as US economy stalls

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has criticised military operations in Libya as their gone beyond the UN mandate. “The military operations clearly exceeded the UN mandate. It was only intended to establish a no-flying zone and defend the population. With any regime, we should first of all seek a political decision. Southern Africa also has a number of violent dictators; however, military interference is not discussed. Why was this necessary in Libya?” president said Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse earlier this month, Presidential web site reported.

In the pages of the milestone Action Comics #900, longtime American icon Superman has renounced his citizenship of the United States. However, what the the mainstream media is failing to report is that Superman is doing so not as an act against the U.S., but as an effort to help it. In light of the recent Obama/birth certificate madness, it's rather amusing that a fictional political environment has become so worthy of discussion.

In the brief back-up tale called "The Incident," Supes involves himself in a conflict in the Middle East that Iran ultimately takes as an act of war because of Superman's association with the States. To avoid further conflicts like this, Superman reveals that he'll be letting go of his citizenship to operate on a wider scale.

This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about in a recent Hero Worship column; a much needed update of Superman's ethics. Superman has long since moved on from being merely an American icon -- he belongs to the world. Nevermind that, but this move also makes sense from a logistical storytelling standpoint. Plus, it follows in the footsteps of Bruce Wayne forming Batman, Incorporated, giving the DC heroes a global presence.

Facebook has removed dozens of profiles from its site, causing an outcry from campaigners trying to organise anti-austerity protests this weekend.

The deactivated pages include UK Uncut, and pages created by students during last December's university occupations. A list posted on the Stop Facebook Purge group says Chesterfield Stop the Cuts, Tower Hamlet Greens, London Student Assembly, Southwark SoS and Bristol Uncut sites are no longer functioning. Administrators for the profiles say hundreds of links between activists have been broken in the run up to the May Day bank holiday. When users click on URL links the message "the page you requested was not found" now appears.

Guy Aitchison, 26, an administrator for one of the non-functioning pages, said: "I woke up this morning to find that a lot of the groups we'd been using for anti cuts activity had disappeared. The timing of it seems suspicious, given a general political crackdown because of the wedding. It seems that dozens of other groups have also been affected, including some of the local UK Uncut groups."

NATO also reacts with scepticism to latest offer of conditional ceasefire and negotiations from Libyan leader.

Libya's opposition has rejected leader Muammar Gaddafi's latest offer of a conditional ceasefire and negotiations upon an end to NATO attacks. The opposition joined NATO on Saturday in dismissing Gaddafi's offer, saying the time for compromise had passed. "Gaddafi’s regime has lost all credibility," Abdul Hafidh Ghoga, vice president of the opposition Transitional National Council, said in a statement. The rejection came hours after Gaddafi announced in an address on state television that he would not leave Libya. But he added that he was ready for a truce once "all sides" are involved and NATO stops attacking his forces.

The Telegraph: Libya: Gaddafi clings to power in TV speech - Video