02/02/12

Permalink Petrodollar pumping US policy on Iran, backfire looms

As tensions between the US and Iran heat up, author Michael T. Winter believes the main reason behind America’s harsh stance is Tehran’s move to seek an alternative to the dollar as an oil currency. - Economic sanctions, spearheaded by the US and, less willingly, the EU could have a disastrous effect on both of their respective economies. If Iran cannot sell their oil to Europe, there are plenty of customers waiting in the wings, and if they come bearing not petrodollars, but gold and sovereign currencies, then all the better for Iran. These sanctions, if enforced, will in effect place a serious dent in the power of the petrodollar. Any rhetoric regarding Iran’s nuclear program and the insistence on crippling it is nothing more than a US attempt to force regime change for one more receptive to maintaining the hegemony of the petrodollar.


Permalink Mitt Romney: 'I’m not concerned about the very poor'

Romney told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien during a morning interview after his Florida primary win that his focus is on the middle class — and not on the “very poor.”

“I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor — we have a safety net there,” he said. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich — they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

O’Brien jumped in, asking him to clarify his statement that he’s not concerned with the very poor. “I think there are lots of very poor Americans who are struggling who would say, ‘That sounds odd,’” she said.

“Well, you had to finish the sentence, Soledad,” Romney replied. “I said, I’m not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, then I will repair it.”

AWIP: Devastating anti-Romney film surfaces (Video)
Boston.com: People with Bain Capital ties give $3m to Super Pac that supports Mitt Romney
Russia Today: When ignorance not bliss: US politicians without borders - VIDEO


Permalink Caleb Maupin: ‎US flag no longer represents citizens

I think what people in the Occupy movement mean when they burn the US flag is that they are saying that flag no longer and probably never did represent them.

It represents the US government which is a tool of the corporations and of the bankers and that they are rejecting it and they are saying; we are burning this flag because it no longer represents what we stand for. And they are saying rather we need to create our own institutions and our own society and we reject the society this flag stands for, which talks about freedom and then when we pour out in the streets and try to use that freedom, clubs us, maces us, and attacks us. You know, there is so much talk in the media right now that they are saying that the occupiers did not have the right to be in Zuccotti Park. But I disagree, because if you look at Zuccotti Park, every stone in Zuccotti Park was laid by mason workers, all of the iron handles were cast by iron workers, sanitation workers clean that park but Brookfield Properties a corporation that owns Zuccotti Park had nothing to do with it but the fact that they owned it and that is a real example of how every thing works in the United States. The 99 percent, the working class creates everything, but a small group does nothing but owns it. And we are trying to overcome that and as a movement where we are trying to get beyond the capitalist system, where 1 percent owns and the rest creates and gets nothing but a small bit of wages in exchange.


Permalink ‘If we kill them, they were al Qaeda…’

President Obama said that drones are used against “al-Qaeda operatives” engaged in “active plots against the United States.” We know from reporting by Pakistani journalists that the vast majority of suspected militants targeted are not members of al-Qaeda, nor are they involved in plots against the U.S. homeland. Many of the targets are actually anonymous, low-level militants who provide operational support to the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan.

The Obama administration’s claim boils down to “if they die from our drones, they were al Qaeda.” There is no gray area, no question of whether they were insurgents, suppliers of insurgents, the son of an insurgent, at the same party as an insurgent, an actual al Qaeda operative, or an al-Qaeda sympathizer, plotting to attack the homeland, or just documenting the aftermath of drone strikes, etc. If we kill them, clearly they were bin Laden reincarnated. The catchall claim, which so far no public official has been properly scrutinized for, is analogous to Richard Nixon’s claim that “if the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”

Bill Van Auken: Obama publicly embraces drone killings


Permalink ACLU Sues for Records on Assassination of US Citizens

The administration appears not to have responded to the requests, even to claim that the data was classified. The ACLU is preemptively arguing that the “secrecy” claim is not reasonable given the many relevant public comments made by President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit today in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, complaining that the Obama Administration failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests relating to the assassinations of three US citizens in Yemen. The ACLU condemned “the government’s self-serving attitude toward transparency,” arguing that the administration publicly and loudly releases bits of information related to the assassinations but declines to provide the full story, claiming the killings were “secret.” The requests centered around the September 30 assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born Muslim cleric that the administration regularly claimed was a “terrorist,” as well as his teenage son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki and US citizen Samir Khan. The ACLU sought information on the process through which the Obama Administration decides who lives and who dies, as well as on the legal rationale for “kill lists.”

PressTV: Rights group sues US for 'targeted killing' memos


Permalink US No-Fly list doubles in past year to 21,000 known or "suspected" terrorists

Even as the Obama administration says it’s close to defeating al-Qaida, the size of the government’s secret list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to or within the United States has more than doubled in the past year, The Associated Press has learned. - The no-fly list jumped from about 10,000 known or suspected terrorists one year ago to about 21,000, according to government figures provided to the AP. Most people on the list are from other countries; about 500 are Americans. The flood of new names began after the failed Christmas 2009 bombing of a Detroit-bound jetliner. The government lowered the standard for putting people on the list, and then scoured its files for anyone who qualified. The government will not disclose who is on its list or why someone might have been placed on it. The surge in the size of the no-fly list comes even as the U.S. has killed many senior members of al-Qaida. That’s because the government [says it ] believes the current terror threat extends well beyond the group responsible for the September 2001 attacks.


Permalink WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange appeals extradition before UK Supreme Court

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared before the UK Supreme Court Wednesday for the start of a two-day hearing to challenge his extradition to Sweden on trumped-up sexual assault charges.

The appeal to Britain’s highest court is the last legal avenue open to Assange in the UK to prevent his removal, after he was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Sweden on December 7, 2010. He has been held under house arrest ever since. However, the two-day hearing is restricted to the technical matter as to whether the fact that the EAW was issued by a prosecutor rather than a judge, or in Sweden’s case the National Police Board, makes the extradition request invalid. Any examination of the dirty tricks operation mounted against Assange, with the aim of silencing him and WikiLeaks, is out of bounds. Assange has never been charged with any offence, yet his name was released to the press as a potential rapist by Ny, triggering a campaign of vilification against him. Extradition to Sweden is widely considered to be only a prelude to Assange’s extradition onto the US, with whom Sweden has a “temporary surrender” agreement in place.

Justice for Assange - Website
WL Central: The Assange Extradition Hearing: Day 1
John Pilger: The Assange case means we are all suspects now
The Guardian: Julian Assange extradition appeal at supreme court - day two live blog


Permalink US intelligence: Iran could launch terror attacks on America

Iran could launch terror attacks on America if threatened, but has yet to develop a nuclear bomb, US spy agencies have announced. However, experts believe the report’s allegations are baseless and jeopardize the 5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear program. - Tensions have escalated between the two nations as the US applies pressure on Iran over its alleged atomic weapons program. Assessing external threats facing the United States of America, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reported on Tuesday that some Iranian officials might be willing to launch terror attacks on America. The official linked US suspicions with the thwarted assassination of the Saudi Ambassador in the United States in December, which America alleges was plotted by Iran, but which Tehran denies.

Alex Lantier: American intelligence agencies, media stoke war drive against Iran


Permalink The Israeli occupation forces arrest 320 Palestinians in January

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up 320 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and occupied Jerusalem in the first month of 2012, a researcher specialized in prisoners’ affairs said on Wednesday. - Riyadh Al-Ashqar said that 53 children were detained in this sweep the youngest being six-year-old Ali Al-Dirbasi in occupied Jerusalem. He added that the detainees also included four lawmakers, including parliament speaker Dr. Aziz Dweik, eight women, and an ex-prisoner who was liberated in the exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. Ashqar said that the Israeli courts passed and renewed administrative detention verdicts against 50 Palestinians.

PCHR: Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestine


Permalink The BBC Censors its own Report on Tunisia’s Jews Saying “No” to Israel

There was a moment in a report from Tunisia by the BBC’s Wyre Davies when I could not stop myself laughing. I was listening to it on the Corporation’s generally excellent World Service radio. (In my view this particular BBC service is generally excellent because unlike all other BBC news and current affairs outlets, radio and tv, it often reflects some of the truth about what is happening in and over Palestine that became Israel)....


Permalink U.S. military says Taliban set to retake power: report

The United States military has said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control over Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw from the country, Britain's The Times newspaper said Wednesday. - "Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban," the newspaper said, quoting the report. "Once ISAF (NATO-led forces) is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable," it quoted the report. The Times said the "highly classified" report was put together by the U.S. military at Bagram air base in Afghanistan for top NATO officers last month. The BBC also carried a report on the leaked document. Large swathes of Afghanistan have already been handed back to Afghan security forces, with the last foreign combat troops due to leave by the end of 2014.

NYT: Panetta Says U.S. to End Afghan Combat Role as Soon as 2013
John Glaser: Panetta: US to End Combat Role in Afghanistan Next Year
The People's Voice/ICOS/The Senlis Council: STRUGGLE FOR KABUL: THE TALIBAN ADVANCE [December 10th, 2008]


Permalink "Horse Back" - Neil Young and Crazy Horse

A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky.” ~ Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one. ~ Black Elk, in Black Elk Speaks


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