He may prove the most disastrous president in our history in terms of civil liberties. - President Obama not only retained the controversial Bush policies, he expanded on them... It's almost a classic case of the Stockholm syndrome, in which a hostage bonds with his captor despite the obvious threat to his existence. Even though many Democrats admit in private that they are shocked by Obama's position on civil liberties, they are incapable of opposing him. Some insist that they are simply motivated by realism: A Republican would be worse. However, realism alone cannot explain the utter absence of a push for an alternative Democratic candidate or organized opposition to Obama's policies on civil liberties in Congress during his term. It looks more like a cult of personality. Obama's policies have become secondary to his persona.

AWIP: August 1, 2007: Barack Obama on warrantless wiretaps. "The War We Need to Win" - VIDEO. Senator Obama: "I'll Stop Torture, Abide By The Geneva Conventions, Roll Back NSA Wiretapping Programs. No More Spying On Americans. No More ignoring the law when it's convenient. This is not who we are."]

Pakistan's intelligence chief says Islamabad will respond to any potential United States-waged military action against the country, responding to relevant threats by US officials. - Pakistan would not allow the situation to get to a 'point of no return,' should the US carry out an attack against the country, the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

"American attack on Pakistan in the name of (fighting) extremism is not acceptable," he said.

On Monday, the US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Washington had to consider military action against Pakistan in the event of, what he called, Islamabad's continued support for militant attacks against the US troops in Afghanistan. Graham said that the US lawmakers might support military options beyond the drone strikes, which the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been conducting against Pakistan for year.

At least four people have been killed and five others injured in the latest US drone strike in troubled northwest of Pakistan, Press TV reports. - The assault took place in Baghar village of South Waziristan tribal district on Friday when the drone fired two missiles at a vehicle. The US frequently carries out attacks by the unmanned aircraft on Pakistan's tribal regions, claiming the airstrikes target pro-Taliban militants. The aerial attacks, initiated by former US President George W. Bush, were escalated under President Barack Obama. Relations between Islamabad and Washington have soured over the attacks with Pakistan insisting that the airstrikes violate its sovereignty. US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday that there is growing support in the US Congress for expanding military options against militants in Pakistan beyond the drone strikes.

Sara Flounders puts it crystal clear. This is not a popular uprising against a “dictator”, but it is a 100% NATO war on a sovereign and independent country. People keep resisting because they don’t want their country to be in the hands of former colonial powers. They want to keep the independence that Muammar Gaddafi, their one and only leader, brought to them. NATO never intended to protect civilians. In the first place, because civilians were not in danger. And the white empire knew it. NATO miscalculated. They thought that having a bunch of Al Qaeda fighters on the ground fighting against the army (which was actually protecting civilians) and then bringing in their planes into the conflict, in order to bomb the hell out of the country, would make REAL LIBYANS shift and support the NTC (nothing more than a bunch of puppets, taking orders from their white masters). But no, Libyan people are strong. They are defiant. They are resilient. They resist. They know what is living under foreign occupation. They know what is living under the regime of a western puppet (King Idris). And they know what is living in absolute freedom, justice, independence and equalty. That is why they keep fighting. And that is why they’ll keep fighting, just as their leader said: “Fighting until victory or martyrdom” Defeat is not even an option.

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya: Libya and the Big Lie: Using Human Rights Organizations to Launch Wars
EmpireStrikesBlack: Mass killing and humanitarian disaster in NATO siege of Sirte

SANA, Yemen — In a significant and dramatic strike in the campaign against Al Qaeda, the Defense Ministry here said American-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, a leading figure in the group’s outpost in Yemen, was killed on Friday morning. - In Washington senior Obama administration officials confirmed that Mr. Awlaki was dead. But the circumstances surrounding the killing remained unclear. Mr. Awlaki’s Internet lectures and sermons have been linked to more than a dozen terrorist investigations in the United States, Britain and Canada. Faisal Shahzad, who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square in May, 2010, cited Mr. Awlaki as an inspiration. It was not immediately known whether Yemeni forces carried out the attack or if American intelligence forces, which have been pursuing Mr. Awlaki for months, were involved in the operation. A Defense Ministry statement said that a number of Mr. Awlaki’s bodyguards were also killed.

Arthur Silber: You Can't Think, and You're Goddamned Liars
Stephen Lendman: Targeted Assassinations: Challenging US Policy
Bill Van Auken: United States exporter of terrorism: Obama to escalate slaughter in Yemen
Antiwar/AWIP: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mulls Legality of Assassinating US-Born Cleric

Tom Eley: Obama orders assassination of US citizen - For the first time in history, an American president has officially ordered the assassination of a US citizen. "The public justification for killing Awlaki is based on bald assertions and hearsay from intelligence sources who refuse to even identify themselves. The executive branch arrogates to itself the powers of judge, jury, and executioner, and those targeted for liquidation have no right to question the supposed evidence against them."

Egyptian "security" forces have stormed the offices of Al-Jazeera Egypt, confining its journalists to one room and confiscating equipment. - Ahmed Zain said the officers entered the channel's new premises, roughed up staff, forced them into one room and took away their identity papers. One of the reporters, Hayat al-Yamani, asked for the security officers' identity papers but they refused and pushed her to the ground. Police at the nearby Agouza station later refused to take her statement, Zain said. Equipment including cameras and a laptop were also confiscated, he said. It was the second such raid on Al-Jazeera Egypt this month.

IN DARK days, people naturally seek glimmers of hope. So it was that financial markets, long battered by the ever-worsening euro crisis, rallied early this week amid speculation that Europe’s leaders had been bullied by the rest of the world into at last putting together a “big plan” to save the single currency. Investors ventured out from safe-haven bonds into riskier assets. Stock prices jumped: those of embattled French banks soared by almost 20% in just two days. But those hopes are likely to fade, for three reasons. First, for all the breathless headlines from the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, DC, Europe’s leaders are a long way from a deal on how to save the euro. The best that can be said is that they now have a plan to have a plan, probably by early November. Second, even if a catastrophe in Europe is avoided, the prospects for the world economy are darkening, as the rich world’s fiscal austerity intensifies and slowing emerging economies provide less of a cushion for global growth. Third, America’s politicians are, once again, threatening to wreck the recovery with irresponsible fiscal brinkmanship. Together, these developments point to a perilous period ahead.

Adnan Al-Daini: Economics of the Madhouse

Dear friends

We have seen extraordinary duplicity on the part of powerful Western interests throughout the events of the Arab Spring, from Washington's early defence of Mubarak to the continuing assault on oil-rich Libya by the US, British, French and Italian airforces.

Some may recall hearing or reading about the harassment and persecution experienced by Bahraini doctors who treated protesters at the Salamaniya hospital in the capital Manama earlier this year. The protests began, were brutally crushed by Bahraini security forces - with the support of Saudi troops - and have been virtually forgotten since.

Twenty of those doctors and their fellow nurses were sentenced by a Bahraini military court yesterday. Thirteen received sentences of 15 years for "crimes against the state." The remaining seven received sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years. Their crime was to speak critically about the brutality of the government attack on unarmed protesters that resulted in a flood of dying and severely injured civilians being brought to the hospital for treatment on March 16, 2011.

Yet again, the US has been conspicuously absent. It so happens that Bahrain houses the US Navy's Fifth Fleet with its 15 warships and aircraft carrier battle group. Over the past two years, hundreds of millions of dollars of deadly hardware have been sold to the Bahraini government by US armaments manufacturers. And another 53 million dollar deal is presently on the table.

This well produced, high quality 50 minute video documentary "Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark" was broadcast by Al Jazeera early last month. It shows much of what has been hidden from the rest of the world.

With best wishes

Vincent Di Stefano

Bahraini women hold protests in the country's capital against the detention of anti-regime protesters and the harsh sentences handed down to them as well as those, who helped them. - The demonstration was held in Miqsha just outside Manama on Thursday after Bahrain sentenced 20 doctors to between five and 15 years in jail for their treating anti-regime protesters, Reuters reported. The doctors, who denied the charges, were among dozens of medical staff arrested during protests, which have been raging on since February 14. Ahlam Al-Khezaei, the head of Women's Affairs for Al Wefaq, the biggest opposition party in Bahrain, called for the release of female prisoners. "We ask for all women prisoners to be freed and for all charges against them to be dropped. These cruel sentences of our doctors, nurses and teachers, Rola al-Safar, Jalila al-Salman and Dr. Nadi Dhaif, and everyone else," she said, referring to some of the detainees. Bahrainis have been holding the peaceful rallies since mid-February, demanding an end to the Al Khalifa's over-40-year-long rule over the Persian Gulf island. Scores of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested in a brutal Manama-ordered and Riyadh-backed crackdown in the country, which hosts a huge American military installation for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

BBC: Bahrain sentences medics who treated protesters (Video)
PressTV: Bahrain doctor shares Manama abuse (Video) - A female Bahraini doctor, who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for treating injured anti-regime protesters, recounts her mistreatment at the hands of government's forces.

Tony Blair’s job as a Middle East peace envoy is in jeopardy after officials in the Palestinian Authority accused him of acting like an ‘extreme’ Israeli diplomat. - Senior figures in the Palestine Liberation Organisation are reported to be planning to sever all contact with the former prime minister. They described Mr Blair as ‘persona non grata’ and said they were looking to isolate the former PM so his position became untenable on the international stage. Mr Blair has been viewed with an element of distrust by some Palestinians ever since his appointment as the envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East – the mediating body comprising the United States, the EU, the UN and Russia. He was handed the job the day he left Downing Street in June 2007. But antagonism has mounted over allegations that he lobbied European powers to vote against a Palestinian bid for statehood which was submitted to the UN last week. One senior Palestinian official told the Daily Mail yesterday: ‘He does not represent the international community but works according to his own opinion, which he shares with the more extreme Israelis. We see him as an Israeli diplomat.

PressTV: Tony Blair biased towards Israel

THIS IS REQUIRED WATCHING FOR ANY AMERICAN CITIZEN Parts 2-11 HERE

Admiral Mike Mullen's allegations of Pakistani-Haqqani collusion may have been knowingly inaccurate. - Admiral Mike Mullen’s speech to lawmakers last week accusing Pakistan’s intelligence service of colluding with the Haqqani insurgent group was inaccurate and overstated, according to anonymous officials speaking with the Washington Post. A senior Pentagon official with access to intelligence files on Pakistan said Mullen’s language “overstates the case,” because there is little evidence of direct control or cooperation with the Haqqanis. Mullen suggested otherwise and cited the recent 20-hour attack on the US Embassy in Kabul as a case in point.

Paul Craig Roberts: The Latest Orchestrated Threat and The End of History

ISTANBUL — Turkey officially accepted delivery of its first domestically manufactured warship Tuesday at a ceremony that underscored the country's push to become a regional power. - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the occasion to criticize oil drilling in the eastern Mediterranean by Greek interests. He pointedly noted that the ceremony took place on the 473rd anniversary of the Battle of Preveza in northwestern Greece, where a fleet from the Ottoman Turkish empire defeated a much larger Christian force. President Abdullah Gul said the delivery of the ship showed that Turkey was now capable of developing its own weapons. He urged his country to make greater efforts to develop an independent arms capability, no matter how much work that might require.

A Turkish newspaper published the names and photographs on Monday of more than 140 Israeli soldiers who the paper said took part in the raid on a Turkish flotilla to Gaza last year that ended with the death of nine passengers and created a diplomatic standoff between Turkey and Israel. - The newspaper, Sabah, said the Turkish government began searching for the soldiers’ identities after the Israeli authorities failed to cooperate in an investigation that prosecutors in Turkey said could lead to legal action. The newspaper report received scant attention in Israel, where officials declined to comment. Others there described it as a recycled conglomeration of similar lists that have been circulating on the Internet.

Obama gave his infamous UN speech - 'I'm a Jewslave and you are too' - to the American (and Israeli) people (or, rather, the American and Israeli Jews) on September 21. That provides the context. Obama abased himself so much it created a bit of a panic amongst the Zionists. The over-the-top ultra Zionism from the President of the United States in what is perhaps the most embarrassing speech ever given by an American President, and one which the history books may mark as a turning point in American decline, provided the final confirmation of everything Walt and Mearsheimer has written on Lobby power (not to mention everything that Gilad Atzmon, not confined by the self-censorship required by academia, has written). - One can only hope that all the Zionist nonsense will make Atzmon's book a bestseller.

William A. Cook: Gilad Atzmon's The Wandering Who? - Tearing the Veil From Israel’s Civility

NYPD officer Anthony Bologna faces two investigations as video emerges of a second pepper-spray incident. - The senior New York police officer at the centre of the Occupy Wall Street pepper spray controversy fired the gas at protesters a second time just moments later. After new video emerged on Wednesday showing the second incident, New York police commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters that the Civilian Complaint Review Board would investigate the officer, deputy inspector Anthony Bologna. The New York Police Department's own internal affairs bureau also plans to open an investigation, the New York Times reports. The investigations were announced after bloggers and activists drew attention to video posted online which showed that Bologna fired pepper spray on two occasions last Saturday as officers broke up a protest march through Greenwich Village.

New York Times: Officer’s Pepper-Spraying of Protesters Is Under Investigation - VIDEO
My Catbird Seat: Occupy Wall Street Protestors Take Fight to Broadway; 80 arrested - VIDEOS
WSWS: Growing anger over police attack on Wall Street protesters

The Yes Men have been blamed for Alessio Rastani's comments on the financial crisis. But sometimes truth outdoes satire. - This week, an insignificant market trader and self-proclaimed financial self-help guru, Alessio Rastani, rocketed to stardom after speaking frankly on the BBC about the collapsing market and his plans to make money from it. We Yes Men heard about it right away, because soon after the broadcast, people started emailing from all over the world to congratulate us on another prank well done. They couldn't imagine that a real trader could possibly speak so candidly about the market, so they assumed Rastani was one of our posturings. He wasn't. Rastani is small potatoes, but he's a real trader.

AWIP: BBC Speechless As Trader [?] Says: "The Collapse Is Coming...And Goldman Rules The World" - VIDEO

Two US drone airstrikes have killed at least 4 people and wounded 12 others in southern Somalia, Press TVreports. - Somali officials have confirmed US aerial attacks Thursday morning in an area between Kismayu and Dhoobley cities. The US has increased the number of its attacks by unmanned surveillance aircraft in Somalia. Many civilians have died as a result. Somalia is the sixth country where US military has engaged in unauthorized aerial bombing campaigns through the use of its remote-controlled aircraft. The United States has also deployed its so-called drones for aerial attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen. Washington claims the airstrikes target militants, though most of such attacks have mostly resulted in civilian casualties.

The French envoy to the UN has warned Iran that it risks a military strike if it continues pursuing its nuclear program. - "If we don't succeed today to reach a negotiation with the Iranians, there is a strong risk of military action," Ambassador Gerard Araud said on Tuesday during a panel discussion at the UN’s New York headquarters, AFP reported. The strike, he said, "would be a very complicated operation. It would have disastrous consequences in the region… all the Arab countries are extremely worried about what is happening."

A Saudi appeal court acquitted a local woman who was sentenced in January to three years in prison for severely torturing her Indonesian housemaid, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Thursday. - The court in the western town of Makkah upheld an earlier acquittal verdict by the appeals court in the nearby town of Madina, where the maid had worked. “The court in Makkah acquitted the defendant and decided to free her after it found no evidence of torture and the lawyer for the defendant failed to present any concrete evidence,” Sabq newspaper said. In April, the judge at the appeal court in Madina also said there was no evidence the 53-year-old woman tortured her maid while her lawyer said he would seek damages for his client who had spent several months in jail. In January, a court in Madina sentenced the woman to three years in prison for stabbing, beating and burning her 23-year-old Indonesian maid. The Saudi woman was arrested after allegedly beating Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa so severely as to break bones and cause internal bleeding, putting a hot iron to her head and stabbing and slashing her with scissors. Sumiati's case shocked and outraged human rights groups and labour activists as another example of the paucity of protection for millions of mostly Asian domestic workers, especially in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil producers.

The Guardian: Saudi woman to be lashed for defying driving ban
Newsweek/Daily Beast: Interactive: Best & Worst Places to Be a Woman

Libyan Rebels killing innocent Libyan prisoners

Waterput: NATO's war on the People of Sirte
Mathaba: Venezuela condemns U.S., NATO, UN over Libya War at UN General Assembly

A nationwide pro-Ghaddafi resistance movement is slowly gaining momentum as NATO-Al Qaeda and Rebel forces desperately pound southern Libyan cities loyal to Ghaddafi. - US-NATO have dispatched around 1500 foreign Al Qaeda mercenaries from Afghanistan to Libya when several hundreds of rebels were killed during recent offensive on Sirte, bani-Walid, Sabha and other towns loyal to Muamar Ghaddafi. Also the all important oil town of Ras Lanuf has been liberated by Ghaddafi forces and that oil exports by the National Transitional Council (NTC) - initially destined for western colonial masters - should now come to a standstill. In addition thousand of tribal fighters from Southern Sahara region are joining Ghaddafi forces and the beginning of a fierce counterattack against NATO-Al Qaeda-Rebel positions is reportedly taking shape with counterattacks to commence in the next few days. Meanwhile Muammar Ghaddafi has just delivered his latest radio message on Bani-Walid radio in which he promised to launch massive counteroffensive to liberate all of Libya. [Including: Gaddafi's Speech: Zero Hour will Inevitably Come]

The German parliament will hold a crucial vote today on whether to approve an extension of powers for the eurozone's financial rescue fund. - The Bundestag is expected to pass the legislation, backed by the opposition Social Democrats and the Green party – but the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is still struggling to persuade her own ruling coalition to vote in favour. If she is unable to win the support of her Christian Democrat party and their coalition partners, the Free Democrats, Ms Merkel would be expected to hold a parliamentary vote of confidence in her government. The expectation is she would lose such a vote, which would mean early elections.

RT: Germany boosts EU bailout fund
BBC: Greek economic crisis: Living on less
IRNA: UK worst quality of life in EU
The Independent: In Athens, 'austerity' remains a dirty word
Stephen Lendman: Imploding Bubble Economies

Just 60 babies a year adopted in England - Thousands of children are being held in limbo in care homes, secure units & temporary fostering. - The number of adoptions of babies under the age of one has fallen from 150 in 2007 – and around 4,000 in 1976. Prospects for adopted babies are considered strong, as they have fewer difficulties bonding with new parents. The slowing of the adoption system is causing many vulnerable children to spend much longer in government or foster care. There are currently 65,520 under-16s in care – the highest number since 1987, and 10 per cent up on 2008 – with 3,660 of them less than a year old. Children are waiting two years and seven months before being adopted, on average, with the process taking longer than three years in a quarter of cases, according to the Department of Education statistics. The average age at adoption now stands at three years and 10 months. The total number of adoptions has fallen significantly since 2007, down 8.4 per cent to 3,050.

American forces have carried out a military operation in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, leaving at least 10 Afghan civilians dead, Press TV reports. - The overnight attack took place in a district in Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan on Wednesday. Witnesses said US troops also arrested a number of Afghans during the attack. Local officials confirmed the attack and claimed that those killed were anti-government elements. However, the US Military has yet to confirm the assault. US warplanes also targeted a residential area in Ab Band district of the Ghazni province on Tuesday, leaving 35 people dead. The US military claimed it had targeted Taliban militants but villagers said civilians were also among the dead. Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming more and more outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.

A Syrian nuclear engineer was assassinated in a hail of bullets in central Syria Wednesday, the latest casualty in a string of murders this week of academics and scientists, Syria's state-run news agency and activists said. SANA said engineer and university professor Aws Khalil was shot in the head by an "armed terrorist group" operating in Homs, but activists accused the regime of going after academics in an attempt to terrorize the city's rebellious population. His killing came as fighting raged in the nearby town of Rastan for the second day between troops trying to enter the town and army deserters who have switched sides and joined the mass revolt against President Bashar Assad that began in mid-March.

Water is essential to life but in such places as India, Pakistan, China, and Thailand deluges have once again caused misery. Typhoon Nesat hit the Philippines earlier this week on its way to south China. In Pakistan, more than 5 million people have been affected by recent flooding, according to the aid agency Oxfam. Pakistan is still struggling to recover from the devastating monsoon rains in 2010. -- Lloyd Young (36 photos total)

Shaima Jastaina sentenced to 10 lashes after being found guilty of driving without permission. - The driver, Shaima Jastaina, who is in her 30s, was found guilty of driving without permission, activist Samar Badawi said. The punishment is usually carried out within a month. It was not possible to reach Jastaina, but Badawi, in touch with Jastaina's family, said she had appealed against the verdict. There are no written laws that restrict women from driving. Rather, the ban is rooted in conservative traditions and religious views that hold giving freedom of movement to women would make them vulnerable to "sins".

Libya's new rulers said on Wednesday they believed fugitive ex-leader Muammar Gaddafi was being shielded by nomadic tribesmen in the desert near the Algerian border, while his followers fend off assaults on his hometown. - Intense sniper and artillery fire from pro-Gaddafi fighters has so far prevented National Transitional Council (NTC) forces from taking Sirte despite more than two weeks of fighting and two full-on assaults. One of the last two bastions of support for the ousted strongman, it has withstood a siege by NTC fighters hitting it with tank and rocket fire as well as NATO airstrikes.

Mathaba: Muammar Gaddafi: Libya will never belong to traitors, Libya will be a hell for them

CIVILIANS pouring out of the besieged city of Sirte accused NATO of committing genocide yesterday as revolutionary forces reinforced their numbers and prepared for a new attack on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's home town. - Long lines of civilian vehicles were seen leaving after a night punctuated by NATO air attacks. Forces fighting for the National Transitional Council (NTC) added their own artillery and mortar rounds at regular intervals. Civilians, many looking scared or sullen, said that conditions inside Sirte were "disastrous". They made claims which, if verified, offer a conundrum for Nato, which operates with a UN mandate on the need to protect civilian life. "It has been worse than awful," said Riab Safran, 28, as his car was searched by revolutionary fighters. His family had been sleeping on the beach, he said. "They have hit all kinds of buildings: schools, hospitals," he said, referring to NATO airstrikes.

A majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation’s independent central bank, saying the U.S. Federal Reserve should either be brought under tighter political control or abolished outright, a poll shows. - Americans across the political spectrum say the Fed shouldn’t retain its current structure of independence. Asked if the central bank should be more accountable to Congress, left independent or abolished entirely, 39 percent said it should be held more accountable and 16 percent that it should be abolished. Only 37 percent favor the status quo.

A new study by Consumer Reports has documented a dramatic increase in the number of Americans forgoing needed medications and health care for financial reasons. - The Consumer Reports National Research Center found that over the last year nearly half of all Americans (49 percent) who were prescribed medication and other health procedures reported holding back for financial reasons, up from 39 percent a year earlier. Coming on the heels of census data showing a sharp increase in the ranks of the uninsured to 49.9 million, the Consumer Reports survey is yet another exposure of the right-wing character of the Obama administration’s health care “reform,” which will do nothing to rein in health care costs. More than one-and-one-half years after its passage, access to health care has become more financially onerous.

An unmanned U.S. spy drone has crashed in Somalia's southern port city of Kismayu, a bastion of the al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab Islamist group, a rebel official and residents said.

The incident over the weekend came as residents cited an increase in the frequency of drones flying over Kismayu in the past few weeks. The U.S. embassy in Nairobi declined to comment immediately. "This plane was a spy for the American government and by the will of Allah, it crashed near the airport," al Shabaab official Sheikh Ibrahim Guled told Reuters on Monday. Last week The Washington Post reported the United States was building a ring of secret drone bases in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula as part of an aggressive campaign against al Qaeda affiliates in the anarchic Somali state and crisis-hit Yemen.

The article said Washington had flown drones over Somalia and Yemen from bases in the African nation of Djibouti. Classified U.S. diplomatic cables show that unmanned aircraft have also conducted missions over Somalia from the Seychelles.

Al Shabaab launched an insurgency against Somalia's Western-backed government four years ago, in the latest cycle of violence to grip the country since the 1991 toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Fighting has killed more than 21,000 people since al Shabaab launched its insurgency in 2007.

Pepe Escobar: The age of the Reaper

The Prime Minister of democratically elected government, Ismail Haniya, has termed Mahmoud Abbas’ coming bid for a Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders “a compromise over historical Palestine”. He said Hamas will not back a UN membership bid, and warned that no Palestinian leader had a mandate to sacrifice fundamental Palestinian rights.

“There is no mandate for any Palestinian leadership to infringe on Palestinian national rights, nor is there a mandate for any Palestinian actor to make historic concessions on Palestinian land or the right of the Palestinians, foremost among them the right of return,” he warned.

Anyone who has studied the history of Palestinians’ struggle to recover their ancestral land stolen by foreign Jews from objective source – will know that both Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad don’t represent Palestinians but Israel-US interests in the region. Both lack legitimacy. Israel rigged Abbas’ January 2005 presidential victory. Moreover, his term expired in January 2009. Nonetheless, he’s still in office because Israel and Washington want him there.

Israel has approved the construction of 1,100 homes in the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the outskirts of Jerusalem. - The move comes days after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called for full UN membership for a Palestinian state. There has been widespread condemnation of the move by Palestinian and Western powers, including the EU and US. Almost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are deadlocked over the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Also on Tuesday, three UN special rapporteurs called for an immediate end to the demolition of Palestinian-owned homes and other structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Post: US ambassador to Israel supports continued Jewish settlements on West Bank
Khalid Amayreh: Abbas: Don't budge to American pressure
Stephen Lendman: Calls to Annex West Bank Settlements

Trader on the BBC says Eurozone Market will crash. - In a scary and painfully frank interview a freaked out BBC interviewer is visibly shaken when market trader Alessio Rastani predicts that the "Market is Toast." While we do not know who this trader is, one thing we can be 100% certain of is that he will never appear on CNBC.

LeadingTrader: About Alessio Rastani
Felix Salmon: Is Alessio Rastani a Yes Man?

James Stavridis, commander of the United States European Command (USEUCOM) and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), came to Ankara for a “routine visit,” Foreign Ministry officials said. He is due to have talks with Turkish officials on Tuesday, but there was no information regarding who he was schedule to meet with. - Turkish media speculated that Stavridis is expected to discuss the planned deployment of US radar on Turkish soil as part of a NATO-backed missile defense program designed to protect European allies of NATO against missile threats. A row between Turkey and Greek Cyprus over gas and oil exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and the future status of a NATO base in the western Turkish province of İzmir are also expected to be discussed in Stavridis' talks in Ankara.

Pakistan's foreign minister said on Thursday the United States risks losing an ally if it continues to publicly criticise Islamabad's performance in the war against militancy. "You will lose an ally," Hina Rabbani Khar told Geo TV in New York. "You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan, you cannot afford to alienate the Pakistani people. If you are choosing to do so and if they are choosing to do so it will be at their (the United States') own cost." Khar was responding to a Senate testimony by the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who said Pakistan's top spy agency was closely tied to the Haqqani Network, the most violent and effective faction in the Afghan Taliban insurgency.

Express Tribune: White House calls on Pakistan to break ties with Haqqani Network
AwamiWeb: Haqqani Network Was Set Up By USA: Hina Rabbani
IRIB: USA drohen Pakistan mit Angriff
The Nation: China supports Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity
Pakistan News Online: Top Chinese security official visits Pakistan
Jason Ditz: Pakistan Scrambles for New Allies as US Split Looms
Jacob G. Hornberger: Another Official Enemy for the Empire
Paul Craig Roberts: The Latest Orchestrated Threat and The End of History

The wreckage of a British cargo ship believed to be carrying up to 240 tons of silver [worth £155m or USD 242 million] has been discovered in the North Atlantic – 70 years after it was sunk during the Second World War.

SS Gairsoppa was steaming home from India in 1941 while in the service of the Ministry of War Transport when she was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat. She sank in icy seas more than three miles deep about 300 miles south west of Ireland. Only one of her 84 crew survived. U.S. salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration announced the find, about 4,700 metres, or three miles, below the sea, yesterday. In what is believed to be the deepest and largest ever retrieval of a precious cargo, the firm will next spring dive to recover a haul estimated to be worth £155million. Under its contract with the Department for Transport, Odyssey will keep 80 per cent of the value of the silver. The 412-ft steamship is sitting upright on the seabed, with its holds open. Odyssey said a robot submersible captured video footage showing tea chests, a sign that the heavier consignment of silver was underneath.

Iraq has finalized a deal to buy advanced U.S. fighter jets, the first step toward building a modern postwar air force, officials said. - Iraq has yet to publicly announce completion of the deal to buy 18 F-16s, but officials in Washington said an initial payment of $1.5 billion has been received. The deal is considered sensitive in Iraq, and the Pentagon and State Department have declined to comment until Baghdad makes a formal announcement. Iraq had plans to buy the planes earlier this year, but froze them for a time following the Arab Spring protests across the region. The decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to go forward with the purchase followed an unexpected surge in government oil revenue, officials said.

MSNBC: Iraq to buy US warplanes worth around $3 billion

Turkey's PM asks: Why are UN sanctions promoted as a means of dealing with Iran and Sudan, but taboo with regards to Israel? - Sanctions imposed by the United Nations on Israel would have resolved the issue of Mideast peace long ago, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview on Monday, adding that he felt the Quartet on the Middle East was not genuinely seeking to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Asked on the steps that could have been taken by the international community to further peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Erdogan reiterated claims made during a recent speech to the United Nations General Assembly, according to which the UN was not acting on anti-Israel resolutions.

"Until today, the UN Security Council has issued more than 89 resolutions on prospective sanctions related to Israel, but they've never been executed," Erdogan said, asking: "One might wonder why no sanctions have been imposed on Israel."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the West practices double standards in regard to Israel's nuclear arsenal. - In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Erdogan noted that Israel is the only player in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons and asked, “Why is it that countries banning Iran from having nuclear weapons don't also ban Israel from having nuclear weapons?” Turkey downgraded ties with Israel after Tel Aviv refused to apologize for its attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which left nine Turkish citizens dead on May 31, 2010. Earlier in September, the Turkish Economy Minister said Ankara would continue its “normal” economic ties with Tel Aviv. From January 2011 to July 2011, trade between Turkey and Israel reached $2.3 billion.

Hundreds of demonstrators continue their protests in New York City against the US financial system and Wall Street practices despite a heavy crackdown by the police, Press TV reports. - The anti-corporatism activists, camped out in Manhattan's financial district, have been marching towards the site of the New York Stock Exchange on a daily basis since September 17 in a protest movement dubbed “Occupy Wall Street.” The demonstrators came to the streets to protest the influence of corporate greed on American politics and the widening gap between the super rich and those struggling in the aftermath of the US financial crisis. At least 80 people have been arrested, as demonstrators continue to denounce the excessive use of force against them by New York police officers. During a violent clash with police on Saturday, dozens were corralled on a sidewalk and doused with pepper spray. The demonstrators are trying to keep their campaign alive by posting videos and images to make up for what they call a virtual media blackout on the anti-government demonstrations.

The whole family in this house was killed...This is the war of NATO and its Rebels...See what NATO and Armed Gangs has brought to Libyan people...

'We're Going to Punish Even Those That Supported Moammar With Words'. - That was the grim warning from one of the rebel fighters poised to attack Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte. It was warnings like these, as well as the violent depopulation of loyalist cities like Tawarga that has Sirte’s civilian residents hoping to flee, with many families looking to head out of town as the rebels move in. Getting out is easier said than done, however, as civilians trying to flee find themselves captured by the rebels and checked against long lists of dissidents which they intend to intern, and very few seem to be successfully fleeing.

In a truly stunning display of dishonesty, the BBC has reported, citing no evidence to back its claim, that a mass grave containing over 1,200 bodies has been found in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison complex. The BBC attempts to tie this ‘finding’ to the equally concocted ‘Abu Salim prison massacre’, as it claims that the bodies are those of the inmates supposedly killed in 1996. In a piece posted today after a NTC news conference, the BBC uses the headline: “More than 1,200 bodies found in Tripoli mass grave“. Categorically, absolutely, unequivocally, this is an out-and-out lie; 1,200 bodies have not been found. Not a single body has been found. In fact, no excavation has been performed, and no more than ‘several bone fragments’ have been discovered, according to the NTC.

CNN: Looks like next rebel lie is falling appart. CNN admits that bones are not human