Such public displays have been incredibly common in recent years, but US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey’s emergency visit to Israel last week may well have had a sense of genuine urgency not often seen. - That’s because increasingly, the long-standing Israeli threats to attack Iran are being taken as a distinct and imminent possibility. Sanctions and announcements related to impending embargoes by the international community seem aimed more at placating Israel and convincing them to hold off on the attack.

Pepe Escobar: Iran Not Isolated - Audio
Jim Lobe: Growing Elite Opposition to Military Option Against Iran

Ministry of Defence says 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment soldier was shot during a foot patrol in Helmand province. - Officials have not yet released the identity of the soldier but said his family has been notified. Britain has about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, most based in the southern province. The death brings to 397 the number of British personnel who have died in Afghanistan since "operations" [the occupation] began in 2001.

For Republican candidates seeking Jewish vote in the 2012 US presidential election, it is an open season to launch scathing attacks on the Palestinians and to show the Zionist side of their faces. - These candidates have been competing with one another in a cannibalistic way for months to take the most hard line position against the occupied people of Palestine. In a TV talk show on Thursday, one of these candidates Mitt Romney, the most likely to represent his party in the election, said US president Barack Obama sacrificed Israel by his policies, while his party's mate Newt Gingrich reiterated his racist slurs against the Palestinians and labeled them as an invented people. Romney claimed that the presence of Hamas (a resistance movement founded in 1987 during the first intifada) and its supporters among the Palestinian leaders was the reason behind the absence of peace between the Palestinian and Israelis. During a debate aired by US TV channels, Romney also said the [occupied] Palestinians teach their school children how to kill Jews, while the Hamas-Fatah speeches deny the Jewish people their right to statehood and call for destroying Israel. He added that the Israelis would be happy to have a two-state solution, but the Palestinians reject this solution and want to eliminate the state of Israel.

In a speech Thursday to the Davos World Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged that his Conservative government will pursue a “transformative” big business agenda—austerity and tax cuts, radical regressive changes to public health care and pensions, and deregulation. In short, a social policy counter-revolution. With a significant cross-section of the world’s financial elite in the audience, Harper touted Canada as a haven for investors, where businesses already enjoy the lowest taxes on new investment of any G-7 country. But, he vowed, “We will do more, much more.”

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump: A World Heritage Site

Located 18 km north & west of Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada at a location where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains meet the great plains, one of the world's oldest, largest, and best preserved buffalo jumps can be found. Head-Smashed-In - a Unesco World Heritage Site - has been used continuously by aboriginal peoples of the plains for more than 5,500 years.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is an archaeological site known around the world as a remarkable testimony of prehistoric life. The Jump bears witness to a custom practiced by native people of the North American plains for nearly 6,000 years. Due to their excellent understanding of topography and bison behavior, native people killed bison by chasing them over a precipice. They then carved up the carcasses in the camp set up below the cliffs.

In 1981, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the Jump as a World Heritage Site placing it among other world attractions such as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge and the Galapagos Islands. For more information on UNESCO, go to www.unesco.org

No trial, no doctor, no judge: A man who spent two years in solitary confinement after getting arrested for DWI was awarded $22 million for suffering inhumane treatment in New Mexico's Dona Ana County Jail. - Stephen Slevin was arrested in August of 2005 for driving while intoxicated, according to NBC station KOB.com. He said he never got a trial and spent the entire time languishing in solitary, even pulling his own tooth when he was denied dental care. "'[Prison officials were] walking by me every day, watching me deteriorate," he said. "Day after day after day, they did nothing, nothing at all, to get me any help." Slevin said he made countless requests to see a doctor to get medication for his depression, but wasn't allowed to see one until only a few weeks before his release. He also never got to see a judge. The $22 million settlement, awarded by a federal jury on Tuesday, is one of the largest prisoner civil rights settlements in U.S. history, according to KOB.com. Slevin's attorney, Matt Coyte, told KOB.com, "I have never been with or seen a braver man who stood up to these guys for what they did to him ... [This case] It affects everybody and it's not good for this country. It's not good for Mr. Slevin for sure and it's not good for this country. It has to stop."

India has reportedly agreed to pay Tehran in gold for the oil it buys, in a move aimed at protecting Delhi from US-sanctions targeting countries who trade with Iran. China, another buyer of Iranian oil, may follow Delhi’s lead.

The report, by the Israeli-based news website DEBKAfile, states that Iran and India are negotiating backup alternatives with China and Russia, should the US and EU find a way to block the gold payment mechanism.

Delhi’s move is seen as surprising, as earlier India and Iran said they would switch to yen and rupees. China, another major importer of Iranian oil, may follow Delhi’s lead, the report adds. India and China need to switch from the dollar in bilateral trade, since the US and EU have issued unilateral sanctions against the Iranian oil industry and financial institutions. The sanctions would ban any bank involved in oil trade with Iran from dealing with American and European counterparts. Both India and China, two major buyers of Iranian oil accounting for 22 and 13 percent of its total export respectively, have refused to join such sanctions. This means they have to establish a reliable way of paying for crude, independently of the parts of the global financial system controlled by New York and London.

Delhi’s current plan is to effect payments through two state-owned banks, India’s UCO Bank and Turkey’s Halk Bankasi, Turkey being another country refusing to join the sanction spree.

PressTV: Algeria defies EU oil embargo on Iran

'No One Can Go Out' Insists Steinitz. - In an interview today with Bloomberg Businessweek, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz rejected the European Union’s ban on importation of Iranian crude oil, insisting it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Instead, Steinitz called for the international community to impose a full naval and aerial blockade across all of Iran so that “no one can even go out [sic].” This is the only option with any chance of success, he said. Steinitz said a good model for his plan was the Cuban blockade by the United States in 1962, an effort which nearly ended with the annihilation of all life on earth in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Peter Symonds: Israel prepares for war against Iran - Washington’s allies in Europe are getting ready for war as well. French and British warships accompanied the aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, into the Gulf last Sunday. British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond declared on Monday: “The UK has a contingent capability to reinforce its presence in the region should at any time it be considered necessary to do so.” [...] Claims that Iran is on the point of constructing a nuclear weapon are not supported by facts. The latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report—a political document designed to justify the latest US and European sanctions against Iran’s oil exports—provided limited evidence of Iranian research related to aspects of building a nuclear bomb. Much of the “evidence” came from US, European and Israeli intelligence sources. Most of the research projects were discontinued after 2003. Iran continues to deny any plans to build nuclear weapons.

The United States has been brought to the humble state of acting as an attack dog for the Zionist entity, an American political analyst tells Press TV.

The United States is no longer a super power that 'can make decisions that are in her own best interest,' but the country is like an 'unleashed dog' that is simply kowtowing to the Israelis, said Mark Glenn, of the Crescent and Cross solidarity movement in a Wednesday interview. The Idaho-based analyst referred to US President Barack Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union address as 'just one more proof in that direction [US obedience to Israel]'. Obama highlighted the US loyalty to Israel in his speech which was delivered to a joint session of Congress, saying "Our ironclad commitment -- and I mean ironclad -- to Israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history." The US president's speech is actually a speech "that was written by Israel's foreign policy planners and that means the United States is fighting Israel's wars for her, wherever they may be, if it's Iraq, if it's Afghanistan, if it is Libya, if it is Iran," Glenn said.

Canada and the U.S. have finalized one agreement and renewed another to better co-ordinate civilian and military forces against "threats". - Defence Minister Peter MacKay, speaking Tuesday night to a group of defence officials, diplomats and civil servants, said the two countries were expected Wednesday to renew the Civil Assistance Plan and sign off on the Combined Defence Plan. His office confirmed Wednesday they had been signed. The civil assistance agreement lets military personnel and equipment deploy rapidly to humanitarian events, MacKay said in notes prepared for his speech to the Permanent Joint Board on Defence. The defence agreement sets out the authority and means for the two countries to approve homeland military operations against "threats", as well as the process for sharing information.

The anti-corporatism Occupy movement has reportedly had more than 6,000 of its protesters arrested across the United States since the campaign's evolution in September 2011. - Occupyarrests.com, a website, which keeps track of the apprehensions, says the US police have so far laid at least 6020 Occupy protesters under arrest. The figure includes 37 people, who were arrested in New York City on Thursday, while demonstrating among others against an auction of foreclosed homes at Brooklyn Supreme Court. The protesters had begun chanting when the bidding started. At least three Occupy Minneapolis protesters were also arrested at the headquarters of the US Bank in the city on Tuesday. The protesters were demanding talks between bank officials and two people whose homes were being subjected to foreclosure. The Occupy movement emerged after a group of demonstrators gathered in New York's financial district of Wall Street on September 17, 2011 to protest against the excessive influence of big corporations on the US policies and the high-level corruption in the country. Despite police crackdown and mass arrests, the Occupy movement has now spread to many major US cities as well as to Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal as well as other countries.

Reporters Without Borders: 2011-2012 World Press Freedom Index
AWIP: After OWS, U.S. Drops in Press Freedom Rankings

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have poured into the streets of several cities in eastern Spain to protest against the government's austerity measures.

The protesters marched in the region's three largest cities of Alicante, Castellon and Valencia on Thursday chanting slogans and carrying large banners which read "No to cuts to public services." The rallies were organized by Spain's main labor unions. Union officials said around 200,000 people took part in the protests in the three cities. Unions' leaders called for the protests after the regional government of Valencia, Spain's most indebted region, announced deep spending cuts to health and education sectors. According to the Spanish daily El Pais, the regional government's debt to the area's roughly 400 schools is around 33 million Euros. Some of school teachers are buying chalk for blackboards and students are required to bring their own paper for exams. Hit by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, destroying millions of jobs.

Bloomberg: Unemployment in Spain Rises to 22.9%
Mike Jobson: Striking truckers, fishermen clash with Italian government

Twitter has announced it will begin restricting tweets in certain countries, marking a policy shift for the social media platform that helped propel the popular uprisings recently sweeping across the Middle East. - "As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," Twitter wrote in a blog post. It said even with the possibility of such restrictions, Twitter would not be able to coexist with some countries. "Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there," it said. Twitter gave as examples of restrictions it might cooperate with "certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content". A Twitter spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the blog.

BBC: FBI plans social network map alert mash-up application

Police have rescued Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard from angry Aboriginal protesters who were demonstrating on Australia Day against European settlers' “centuries-long persecution of the Aborigines.” - Scores of police escorted Gillard and the leader of the opposition Tony Abbott from the capital Canberra's Lobby restaurant after it was surrounded by around two hundred Aboriginal protesters. Gillard appeared distressed as she was pulled away from the encirclement of protesters but escaped unhurt.

Sydney Morning Herald: Aboriginal protesters torch Australian flag outside Parliament
AWIP: Australian Prime Minsiter Julia Gillard escorted by riot police amid angry Australia day protests in Canberra - Video

The Pentagon detailed the Defense Department cuts on Thursday that US President Barack Obama hinted at earlier in the month. - While the agenda for the DoD isn’t full of surprises, it exemplifies a trend that the military has seen more and more as of late: droves of drones replacing real-life soldiers. Under the Pentagon’s new budget plan, America’s war-time arsenal will see a drastic decrease in the number of servicemen, with the DoD instead spending money on robotic unmanned vehicles. Drone aircraft, drone submarines and drone helicopters will be added by the dozens while the US military eliminates around 100,000 positions. The Defense Department asks Congress for $525 billion, a smaller number than the $553 billion it wanted in 2011. Cuts will come in all divisions of the Armed Forces, with the Army losing 80,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps around 20,000. The Air Force will miss nearly 100 cargo planes and the Navy will retire an arsenal of cruisers earlier than it had planned. But as the Pentagon brings down its numbers and will save a few thousand men and women from the eventual onslaught of PTSD, it will focus its development not on bettering things for the human beings fighting America’s wars, but on a futuristic fleet of space-age weaponry. Come 2015, military pay raises will begin to stagger and, barring any unforeseen foreign involvements, the tally of troops will continue to shrink.

This is fascinating, a nuclear explosion from the Tumbler-Snapper tests performed in Nevada during 1952. It looks different from all nuclear explosions you've seen because it's what it looks like one millisecond after detonation. It looks like a skull by Tim Burton.

The face of atomic death just one second away from unleashing its absolute destruction. Only one millisecond after the bomb explodes, this 65.6-foot (20 meters) ball of fire appears in midair, with spikes that look like rotten teeth or stalactites of fire (called the rope trick effect). The explosion was captured by a Rapid Action Electronic camera—a high speed device designed to photograph nuclear explosions just milliseconds after ignition.

What's a Rapid Action Electronic camera? - The rapatronic camera, as it is called, was created by Harold Edgerton in the 1940s using two polarizing filters and Kerr cell instead of a shutter, which is too slow for this job. A Kerr cell is a panel that changes its polarization depending on the voltage applied. This acts as a very high speed shutter, which allows the perfect exposition to capture this moment.

A team of salvage divers has discovered an unexplained object resting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea near Sweden. - "This thing turned up. My first reaction was to tell the guys that we have a UFO here on the bottom," said Peter Lindberg, the leader of the amateur treasure hunters. Sonar readings show that the mysterious object is about 60 meters across, or, about the size of a jumbo jet. And it's not alone. Nearby on the sea floor is another, smaller object with a similar shape. Even more fascinating, both objects have "drag marks" behind them on the sea floor, stretching back more than 400 feet.

A prominent member of the Saudi royal family has called for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, warning of the potential for a nuclear arms race in the region. - An Iranian nuclear weapons program would certainly be a concern to Saudi Arabia, who competes with Iran for regional influence, but the opinion of the U.S. intelligence community, the Obama administration, and the latest IAEA report is that Iran’s enrichment is so far civilian in nature. In May 2010, all 189 signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – including Iran – tacitly agreed to a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East and called for a conference in 2012. Finland will be hosting that event this year. But Israel has refused to support a nuclear weapons-free zone for the region, reluctant to give up its own. Israel also is not a signatory to the NPT. These facts have arguably destabilized the region, leaving open the possibility of a nuclear arms race in the region, as Turki warned.

This is What Democracy Looks Like...

The nation drops 27 places in annual index thanks to the harsh treatment of reporters covering the protests.

The United States tumbled 27 places in the latest edition of the annual Press Freedom Index, thanks in large part to the rough treatment of journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street protests that took place around the country this past year. Last year, the United States came in 20th, sandwiched between the United Kingdom and Canada at 19th and 21st place, respectively. After 2011, however, the United States finds itself tied for 47th place with Romania and Argentina on the list, which is compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a not-for-profit advocating for press freedom around the globe. "The crackdown on protest movements and the accompanying excesses took their toll on journalists," the group explains in the annual report. "In the space of two months in the United States, more than 25 were subjected to arrests and beatings at the hands of police who were quick to issue indictments for inappropriate behaviour, public nuisance or even lack of accreditation." The drop is not unprecedented, however. In 2005, the United States ranked 53rd on the list as a result of the imprisonment of journalists and what the group called the "deteriorated" relationship between the press and the George W. Bush administration.

In a meeting on Monday between U.S. State Department and Israeli officials, the U.S. officials promised to extend loan guarantees to Israel for the next three years. The $3.8 billion in loan backing is in addition to the $3 billion a year in aid given to Israel by the U.S. government. - Israel is the only recipient of U.S. foreign aid and loans that is not considered a ‘developing’ nation, with an annual GDP of $235 billion ($29,800 per capita). In contrast, the next biggest recipient of U.S. aid, Egypt, receives less than half of the amount given to Israel and has a GDP of $6,200 per capita. Every other recipient of US aid has a GDP that is below that of Egypt. The U.S. Congress recently approved a guaranteed $30 billion in aid to Israel over the next 10 years. This aid, unlike assistance provided by the U.S. government to other countries, has no requirements, and is provided without stipulation as to how it should be used.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage (AFEH) has accused Jewish fanatics of destroying many headstones in the Islamic cemetery in Bisan. - AFEH said in a statement on Wednesday that it visits the deserted cemetery all yearlong and spray chemicals to combat weeds, adding that a delegation of the foundation visited the graveyard on Tuesday and discovered the destruction. It said that it maintains the graveyard within its annual maintenance program of sites of religious significance, adding that it rebuilt many graves over the past years that were the target of similar attacks.

In a move that has triggered outrage, Google has announced plans to bring all data collected from users’ separate accounts on its sites into a combined profile. Besides raising dubious questions about privacy, this offer is one you… cannot refuse. - The changes will take effect on March 1. Before that date, Google will notify its hundreds of millions of users about the new rules of the game. In preparation, the company is boosting its privacy policy and terms of service. Users will have to decide whether to agree with the new terms – or lose access to some of their favorite sites. There is no way of opting out of the changes. Some say Google’s privacy announcement is frustrating and a little frightening."Even if the company believes that tracking users across all platforms improves their services, consumers should still have the option to opt out,” said Common Sense Media chief executive James Steyer, as cited by the Washington Post.

After days of protests and hacker attacks, Poland has signed the controversial ACTA copyright protection treaty. Opponents call it an assault on online freedom, since it demands that internet service providers police user activity.

Warsaw’s Ambasador to Tokyo Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Japan on Tuesday. The treaty aims to harmonize international copyright protection standards in a number of industries from pharmaceutics to fashion. The agreement now has to be ratified by the parliament, which is unlikely to oppose it, reports RT’s Aleksey Yaroshevsky. The news came amid mass protests in Poland, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets, while many more joined online action against ACTA. Some 15,000 activists marched in Krakow, 5,000 in Wroclaw, and several thousand in other Polish cities. A number of websites, including that of Prime Minister Donald Tusk were attacked by hackers demanding that the country boycott the treaty. This however didn’t stop the authorities from proceeding with their plan. The agreement, which has already been signed by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, has been criticized by human rights groups for the secrecy, in which it has been developed, and the potential for abuse it poses. The deal has been compared to the SOPA/PIPA bills, which drew worldwide opposition and an internet strike, once the danger the posed became widely publicized. It the case of ACTA, the public remained mostly unaware of its nature, before the hacktivist group Anonymous spread the message.

On December 9th a group of internet hackers who go by the name Anonymous shut down biotech giant Monsanto’s public relations firm. Anonymous, who have temporarily shut down FBI and Justice Department websites are now targeting the GMO giant itself by attacking Monsanto.com. This group of hackers, seemingly working in the shadows, focus their efforts on corrupt organizations in all forms.