When I interviewed Dr. Khalaf a week ago, as Israel was bombing the Strip yet again, he stressed the prolonged and always worsening health care crisis, including the effect of the power cuts:

It is very critical, 180 of 450 of patients’ drug items are at zero stock; 200 of 900 of essential medical items are at zero stock. We lack many essential drugs, including those needed for anaesthesia, antibiotics, specialized milk for infants, treatments for neurological conditions like epilepsy, and cancer medications. No electricity means no medical service. Electricity is the life of medical service, for all machines; the ICU is completely dependent on electricity, as is the operating theatre, kidney dialysis…Over a month ago, when the situation was already grave after weeks without power, I wrote:

an 80% of patients in the Gaza Strip are threatened to terrible health status and possibility of death due to lack of electricity. …some 404 of dialysis patients are at risk of death for their treatment is totally based on electricity, …100 children exist in special care are threatened to death . …72% of the diesel storage has just run out from Gaza hospitals, …Gaza hospitals will be in a complete paralysis in case of not provided with more fuel.”

Photo: From the Kandahar massacre (Sunday, 11 March 2012). Seventeen civilians were killed by American soldiers and five wounded in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Among the dead were four men, four women, two boys, and seven girls. Eleven of these victims were from the same family. Some of the corpses were partially burned.

A new opinion poll shows the Americans’ support for the war in Afghanistan has plunged sharply, hitting a record low after the recent massacre of at least 16 civilians by US soldiers in the Asian country.

The latest New York Times/CBS survey found that 69 percent of the respondents believe the United States should not be fighting in Afghanistan any more. The poll, conducted among 986 adults from March 21-25, shows a 16-point increase in dissatisfaction with the decade-plus-long war, compared with a similar survey four months ago. The figure was 53 percent back in November. The costly war has forced the US government to engage the Afghan militants in dialogue in a bid to curb the violence in the war-ravaged country. The Taliban have suspended the talks with the US over the massacre that has sparked intense outrage among the people of the Asian country. Meanwhile, at least three US-led foreign soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan on Monday.

Besides waiting nearly a week before identifying the Army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers, the U.S. military scrubbed its websites of references to his combat service. - Gone were photographs of the suspect, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, as well as a recounting in his base's newspaper of a 2007 battle in Iraq involving his unit, a report that quoted him extensively. But they weren't really gone. Given the myriad ways that information remains accessible on the Internet, despite the best efforts to remove it, the material about Bales was still out there and available, such as in cached versions of Web pages. Within minutes of the Pentagon leaking his name Friday evening, news organizations and others found and published his pictures, the account of the battle - which depicts Bales and other soldiers in a glowing light - and excerpts from his wife's personal blog. So why did the Pentagon try to scrub Bales from the Internet in the first place?

On Monday while President Obama was taking part in a global nuclear security summit in South Korea, he was caught on tape asking for Russian President Dmitri Medvedev for “space.” “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility,” Obama implored. Obama assured the departing Russian President he will have the “flexibility” required to deal with missile defense issues after the 2012 presidential election. In the past Russia has strongly opposed the fortification being built in Europe to intercept ballistic missiles.Its leadership fears the US will use the system against Russia, but the US insists its intended purpose is strictly for defense against countries such as Iran. As RT reported earlier this month, American authorities could soon be involving Russia on their classified data regarding the missile defense system in Europe. The motion to recruit the former Cold War rival is part of an ongoing effort to re-tune the ties between the US and Russia. “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir,” Medvedev responded, referring to the soon to be Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[Editor's Comment:] Mr. Obama apparently takes for granted that he's going be around after the next "election". How can he be so sure of that? Maybe he knows something that many of us don't...

Russia Today: US missile shield branches into Asia, Middle East

This is footage of Israeli soldiers raiding a home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on the night of March 20th, 2012. This video captures a raid on the home of imprisoned Palestinian nonviolent leader Bassem Tamimi. His wife, children, and likely his mother, can be seen in the video reacting in horror to the ransacking of their home, albeit it rather common across the West Bank and in Nabi Saleh itself. This is an abridged version of the original.

Calev Myers, of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice traveled to Brussels on Thursday to hand the European Union a report urging future aid be based on the Palestinian Authority improving the human rights of Palestinians. [...] Asking donors to look into the human rights conditions and accountability is a good thing. No matter who it is. The Palestinian Authority, like all governmental entities should be held to account for how it treats it's citizens. It's also good to be held accountable to international law. But one must remember a simple fact. The Israelis are the ones in power in the West Bank. Is this taken into account as well? Are the human rights abuses perpetrated by Israeli polices accounted for in Mr. Myers report? More on that later. However, back in Jerusalem...Haaretz reported on Sunday that:

Israel is considering sanctions against the Palestinian Authority after the United Nations' Human Rights Council decided to establish an international investigative committee on the West Bank settlements.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called it "diplomatic terror" and on Sunday evening Foreign Minster Danny Ayalon tweeted that the UN team would not be allowed into Israel.

Uprooted Palestinians: Lobby: ‘Israel quits UNHRC, US should too!’

John Glaser: Israel Cuts Ties With UN Human Rights Council, Bars Entry into West Bank - The Israeli attempt to block an investigation of settlement policy looks like an admission that it violates human rights - Israel has severed working relations with the United Nations Human Rights Council and barred it from entry into Israel or the West Bank after it announced a plan to investigate Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Cutting ties and barring entry to the Human Rights Council is a revealing confession by the Israeli government that its policy of settlement expansion in Palestinian territory indeed violates human rights. Otherwise, the council would surely be welcomed to investigate.

From February forward, the Libyan revolution was recognized, to some extent, for an unsettling bias against Black people. The racism on display has deep roots in Libya’s identity as an “Arab” nation on the continent of Africa, and the pan-African policies of the Gaddafi government. Dismayed by black foreigners, about two million in a small nation of only six million, anti-regime activists have eagerly latched onto the idea of ubiquitous black mercenaries, hired to kill them and fit to be gotten rid of. One rebel fighter helping hunt down suspected mercenaries explained “There are a lot of black people that loved Gadhafi because Gadhafi loved black people and gave money to African governments.”

Across the country and the following months, when the villains were caught, they were shown as proof – terrified or dead black men, often with passports showing an African origin. That ignores the very real possibility the people were just a migrant worker looking for work in Libya or Europe, as they usually said when given a chance. Others would claim to be Libyans from Tawergha who never fought, or a naturalized citizen and a soldier who only fired in self defense, or who even surrendered. The various disguises would be seen through time and again as Free Libya grew. Mercenaries were consistently identified, collectively punished for reported atrocities, and often sent "back to Africa" with a bullet to the head.

Aftereffects of Libyan War and extensive training to the coup leader helped foment the toppling of the democratic Mali government. - While Mali seems geopolitically insignificant compared to many other countries in Washington’s purview, U.S. foreign policy helped lay the groundwork for this coup. The aftereffects of the U.S.-led NATO war in Libya which ousted Muammar Gadhafi had a strong hand in fomenting the coup and the coup leader, Captain Amadou Sanogo, received extensive training in the U.S. from 2004-2010.

John Glaser: US Suspends Some Aid to Mali, Refuses to Call it a ‘Coup’
AWIP: Military coup in Mali ousts democratically-elected president

Thousands of people took part Monday in a protest in Sanford, Florida, to demand the arrest of George Zimmerman, the killer of South Florida teen Trayvon Martin. - The march, which marked the one-month anniversary of Martin’s death, was accompanied by dozens of demonstrations involving tens of thousand of people throughout the country. The incident has sparked widespread popular indignation and international attention. “If Zimmerman won’t be arrested, anybody can get away with anything; anybody can get away with murder,” said Shylyndria Richardson, a local high school student who attended the rally.

CNN: Parents of slain Florida teen to appear on Capitol Hill

Over the last 10 years researchers have developed a decent narrative of the whos and whys of 9/11. Where we continue to spin round and round chasing our tails is with the hows. That's by design. Some of us are just curious in a scientific way so the hows will always be relevant. I'm not in the business of trying to convince anyone of certain viewpoints so I'll just link this new emagazine by Jeff Prager and anyone interested can take it how they will. At 247 pages and very detailed it's not an easy read but there are lot of excellent photos that make the downloads worthwhile even if you don't or can't take the time to read it. Since it's free, the only cost is in time. Mr. Prager has been variously described as one of the best 9/11 researchers ever to a disinfo shill. I'll leave it to each individual to make up their own mind. Input would be appreciated.

[Editor's Comment:] As regards the Twin Towers, they may may be a case apart from the rest of the World Trade Center complex. They collapsed and came down because of explosions alright, but the mid-air pulverization and the "ground-hugging" pyroclastic flows so evident in all the footage would strongly suggest thermonuclear detonations. Samples of the fallen dust were taken on 12 and 13 September 2001 from sites within a half-mile of Ground Zero. Analyses yet to be confirmed may prove that widespread molecular dissociation took place at Ground Zero in New York City. The Twin Towers probably were nuked. They were nuked because of the unfavorable height/footprint ratio. They simply were too tall to be demolished in the same controlled manner as WTC7. Non-conventional methods had to be used. (More HERE.)

We have mixed emotions. Dick Cheney lives on with a replacement blood pumper. He never had an actual heart. His was sold a very long time ago in exchange for something he decided was more valuable. Cheney's crimes are well documented. To paraphrase one of his partners, there are both the knowns and the unknowns. Kay Griggs and Cathy O'Brien added to the Cheney narrative the perverse nature of the man. His fingerprints and DNA are all over 9/11. His reprieve means that there is the slightest hope that he will face justice in the world he created but it's not likely. Taking Cheney to task could lead to a chain reaction involving others at the highest levels right up to this present time so it won't happen.

LA Times: Dick Cheney adjusting well to new heart

The Toulouse gunman who killed seven people, including three young Jewish children, visited Israel for three days in 2010, Israeli security officials told AFP on Monday. - They said that Mohamed Merah entered the Jewish state on a French passport in September 2010 through the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan where he was checked and given a tourist visa. He spent three days in Israel before leaving, again via the Allenby Bridge, they said. It was possible that he had come to Israel with other French nationals, they said. News that Merah had visited Israel was first reported on Saturday by French daily Le Monde, but Israeli officials did not confirm the report until now. [...] Local commentators speculated that he might have come to Israel to gather intelligence or undergo training with Palestinian militants Mossad.

Gilad Atzmon: Is it an Israeli False Flag Again?

Just months after the Israeli assault that killed 1,390 Palestinians, I visited Gaza. Among dozens of painful stories I heard, one family stood out. I spent several days with Kamal and Wafaa Awajah, playing with their children, sleeping in the tent they were living in, and filming their story. Wafaa described the execution of their son, Ibrahim. As she spoke, her children played on the rubble of their destroyed home. Kamal talked about struggling to help his kids heal from trauma. What compelled me to tell the Awajah family's story? I was moved not only by their tragedy but by the love for their children in Wafaa and Kamal's every word. Palestinians in Gaza are depicted either as violent terrorists or as helpless victims. The Awajah family challenges both portrayals. Through one family’s story, the larger tragedy of Gaza is exposed, and the courage and resilience of its people shines through. For more information or to purchase a DVD or organize a screening, please contact donkeysaddle@gmail.com

Gilad Atzmon's Blog: Seven Days From a Gaza Diary (Must Watch)

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- The Syrian TV screened a footage showing more aspects of falsification and fabrication of facts practiced by Arab and Western satellite channels as part of the media war launched against Syria. - The footage broadcast on Thursday, which filmed the process of sabotaging an oil transfer pipeline in al-Sulaymanieh region in Homs countryside by armed terrorist groups, revealed that the camera operators were CNN correspondents who entered Syria illegally through the Lebanese borders and seemed to have coordinated with the saboteurs to film a video of the attack and send it to their channel. Heard on the footage were the voices of CNN security affairs photographer Tim Crockett and correspondent Arwa Damon asking photojournalist Neil Hallsworth if he was ok as he felt suffocated by the smoke from the attack on the oil pipeline and if he needed to see a doctor. While Damon was reporting live on the CNN that claimed that the Syrian army was behind the attack to deflect suspicion of any coordination, if not to say involvement, with the terrorist saboteurs, the same footage- proved by comparisons highlighted by the Syrian TV, was then screened live from the same camera which seemed to have been set up a day before the attack in a place where the attack can be filmed.

Niall Green: US to give “non-lethal” aid to Syrian opposition
Stephen Lendman: No Letup in Western-Backed Syrian Violence

Hundreds of anti-war activists have rallied in Tel Aviv to warn the authorities of the Israeli regime against a potential military attack on Iran over its nuclear energy program. - The campaigners fear that mounting pressure on Iran can escalate into an all-out regional war, the effects of which will reverberate globally. The protest followed a recent spontaneous Facebook campaign in which a large number of anti-war activists working on the internet united in their opposition to potential war against Iran. On Saturday, the participants in the march held signs with captions such as "No to War with Iran," and "Talks, not Bombs," as well as “No to pre-emptive suicide.”

Haaretz: Hundreds of Israelis march in Tel Aviv to protest war with Ira

A leading US-based energy consulting firm says oil price may hit $240 a barrel and economic growth may fall by over 25 percent if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz in reaction to the Western sanctions.

Analysts at IHS Global Insight also told reporters that Iran can easily close the strategic strait and disrupt global oil supplies for up to three months by laying mines that the US and its allies would have to find and remove, USA Today reported.

“If Iran actually moves to close the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil prices may soar to $240 a barrel for some time,” said Sara Johnson, senior research director for Global Economics at IHS. She added that oil prices may stay as high as $160 in the second quarter of the year before reverting to somewhere around $120.

Such an oil shock, Johnson stated, can bring back gas lines in much of the world, and shave next year’s global economic growth to 2.6 percent from a current forecast of 3.6 percent. “If it [oil price] did hit $240 [a barrel], you're looking at about a doubling of where gas prices are now; and the US [gas price] is at $4 [a gallon]," said Jim Burkhard, managing director of the global oil group at IHS CERA, the firm's energy-research arm.

A former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency has challenged a report delivered by the IAEA in November on Iran’s nuclear activities, pinpointing that the agency receives unverified intelligence, mostly from the US and Israel. - In an exclusive interview with Qatar-based news network, Al Jazeera, on Saturday, Hans Blix stated that the IAEA received information from a variety of sources, mostly from the United States and Israel. “My view is that they must assess it very carefully and critically because otherwise they can be pulled by their noose,” he asserted. “I remember from inspections in 2002 and 2003 that there was a famous document that allegedly to be a contract between Iraq and Niger for the import of yellow cake of uranium oxide quoted by [former US] President [George W.] Bush in his State of the Union message. The IAEA had it for one day and concluded that it was a forgery. [Former IAEA head, Mohamed] ElBaradei then announced it was not authentic. That shows how careful you have to be,” Blix stated.

Oil has been discovered in Kenya after exploratory drilling by Anglo-Irish firm Tullow Oil, President Mwai Kibaki has said. - The discovery was made in the country's north-western Turkana region. Mr Kibaki said it was "the first time Kenya has made such a discovery" and called it a "major breakthrough". Kenya is a regional business and tourist hub with the largest economy in East Africa, although its relative wealth is not based on mineral riches. The Kenyan president said Tullow would drill more wells to establish the commercial viability of the oil. "It is... the beginning of a long journey to make our country an oil producer, which typically takes in excess of three years. We shall be giving the nation more information as the oil exploration process continues," he said. Tullow Oil, which also struck oil in neighbouring Uganda, said the Kenyan find had exceeded their expectations.

The official version of the Kandahar massacre becomes more improbable by the day:

It [...] raises new questions about how Bales, who was formally charged Friday with 17 counts of premeditated murder and other crimes, could have carried out the nighttime attacks without drawing attention from any Americans on the Kandahar province base.

Meanwhile, via the Agonist, Globalpost reports that local reporters were not allowed to interview the wounded witnesses held at a U.S. hospital. They did interview two witnesses:

[...] “I didn’t hear a lot of shooting and I didn’t hear helicopters,” Habibullah recalled. But he did see “two or three Americans” enter his compound, “using lights and firing at my father, who was wounded.”

[...] Massouma, who lives in the neighboring village of Najiban, where 12 people were killed, said she heard helicopters fly overhead as a uniformed soldier entered her home. She said he flashed a “big, white light,” and yelled, “Taliban! Taliban! Taliban!”

Xymphora: Lone nut, or at least 20 Americans, and helicopters? + Successful military exercises
Stephen Lendman: Afghanistan Crimes: Absolving Higher-Ups

CLG: Merah may not have been attached to al-Qaeda - Police said there was no sign he had been in contact with organized groups or 'jihadists.' 24 Mar 2012 Investigators in France have said a suggestion by gunman Mohamed Merah that he was linked to al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] may have been false. They have found no sign that the gunman was under the umbrella of al-Qaeda or any other militant terror group. In disputing Mohamed Merah's claim of terrorist ties police have had to fend off questions as to why they were not tracking Merah, who they had been aware of for many years due to his perceived dedication to radical Islam. [LOL, *awkward!* It becomes even *more* embarrassing for USociopaths when reports emerge that these supposed 'jihadists' are on the CIA payroll.]

Israel said on Monday it has severed contacts with the U.N. Human Rights Council after its launch last week of an international investigation into Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. - The decision, announced by a Foreign Ministry spokesman, meant that the fact-finding team the council planned to send to the West Bank will not be allowed to enter the territory or Israel, said the spokesman, Yigal Palmor. "We are not working with them any more," Palmor said about the Geneva-based forum. "We had been participating in meetings, discussions, arranging visits to Israel. All that is over."

An infant dies in Gaza City in the north of the Gaza Strip after the generator powering his respirator ceased operation due to the fuel shortage besetting the Tel Aviv-blockaded coastal sliver.

Gaza medical spokesman, Adham Abu Salmiya, said the seven-month-old died on Friday evening, Al-Aghsa TV, the official television channel run by the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, reported on Saturday. The respirator was used to remove the fluids formed by a congenital lymphatic disorder from the baby’s respiratory system. According to a statement issued by Gaza Power Authority, the besieged enclave’s sole power plant had shut down again on Sunday morning after a few days of sporadic operation. Hamas Health Minister Bassem Naim also announced on Sunday that the fuel shortage was placing lives in jeopardy. "Fifty percent of our ambulances and vehicles are immobilized…We are under constant strain from power cuts," he said in a statement.

The Turkish Interior Ministry says security forces have killed 15 Kurdish women during clashes in the southeastern province of Bitlis. - The fighting broke out in a rural area of Bitlis on Saturday. According to local security sources, the women were members of one of the women-only units of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Saturday clashes come a day after Turkish security forces carried out an operation against "the PKK terrorists" near the Iraqi border. Seven Turkish forces and six PKK members were killed during the operation. On December 29, 35 people were killed in a Turkish air strike near a Kurdish village in the Uludere district of Sirnak Province close to the border with Iraq. The Turkish military said it had targeted suspected PKK members. However, Turkish officials later acknowledged that “civilians” were killed during the attack. The PKK launched an armed campaign against Turkey in 1984 in a quest to gain autonomy for Kurds living in the southeast of the country.

Twitter Inc. refuses to give out information on Jeffrey Rae, a prominent OWS protester whose on-the-ground Twitter reporting is followed by thousands. Activists under police scrutiny say a political witch hunt has begun on behalf of “the 1 per cent”. - The microblogging service Twitter says it will not comply with the request two weeks ago by the New York District Attorney to hand over data about an Occupy Wall Street protester. Jeffrey Rae was among more than 700 activists arrested during a Brooklyn Bridge march in New York on October 1 last year. Bloggers now say it is the beginning of authorities’ digging into the social media black hole, as Rae is now part of a chain of similar privacy requests.

And the protesters who believed Twitter was a secure way to communicate during demonstrations may have another thing coming. Two weeks ago the New York District Attorney’s sent a subpoena to Twitter, seeking information about the account belonging to Jeffrey Rae. Rae himself received an email, which included a copy of a subpoena from the DA requesting data from his account. “You are commanded to appear before the criminal court of the County of New York as a witness in a criminal action prosecuted by the People of the State of New York against Jeffery Rae,” the subpoena reads. It also says the activist must “produce” in court all tweets that came from his account, @jeffrae, from September 15 to October 31 of last year, "as a witness in a criminal action.”

CAIRO: Israeli Border Police officers shot a rubber-coated bullet at 15-year-old Ezz Tamimi’s face from a distance of about 20 meters, during the weekly demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday, activists said in a press statement.

The bullet, which hit the boy’s cheek, “went through it, gouging a large hole in it.”

The Israeli army’s open-fire regulations forbid the use of rubber-coated bullets against minors.

The incident took place at the center of the village, hundreds of meters away from where a demonstration was taking place, when Border Police officers invaded the village.

For the first time in months, protesters managed to reach the vicinity of the contested water spring, which sparked village demonstrations over two years ago when taken over by settlers.

The protesters, mainly women from the village, managed to confound the soldiers by advancing towards the spring from an unexpected direction. The protesters who were held back by the soldiers meters away from the fountain proceeded to block the road leading to the adjacent Jewish-only settlement of Halamish for some 20 minutes.

The previous night, the Israeli army staged another nighttime raid on the village, an what has become an almost nightly practice in the past three weeks.

U.S. and French authorities said Mohammed Merah [the man suspected of murdering seven people who was killed in a shootout with police on Thursday] had traveled to Afghanistan around 2010 to obtain training from Islamic militants. He had spent time with militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border before being captured and returned to France. At some point after his capture, two other U.S. officials said, Merah was held in custody by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The officials declined to give details of how and when this occurred and what happened to him next. French authorities said he traveled to Afghanistan again more recently, but returned to France on his own after contracting hepatitis.

This is how it works: They put you in a dungeon and torture you. Then they come up with this deal. You're in no position to refuse. Go to so-and-so country and hit them hard. Then they'll promise to get you out of there and back to safety. - But that's not how it plays out as far as you are concerned. You were a patsy-kind-of operative and will be terminated. The media takes over and makes a story out of it. Everybody's happy.