Bev Harris talks to Lew Rockwell about why they need to be delegitimized.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told Ohio voters Tuesday he would win the November election, despite a new poll that shows his rival with a significant lead in the Buckeye State. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) said he didn't believe the margin between the candidates was so wide. "It's going to end up close," DeWine said. [Right, they're confident they can steal the 2012 'election' through dirty money from corpora-terrorists' PACs, GOP voter-suppression laws, and rightwing thuggery from 'True the Vote' sociopaths at the polls. Not that the Lord of the Killer Drone, Barack 'Chains We Can Believe In NDAA' Obama, is much better - he's not. --LRP]

The MEK is a private army used by the CIA and the Mossad to fight a covert terrorist war against Iran. - Its position on the American official list of terrorist organizations was an annoyance to MEK leaders, but has had no effect on the MEK's ability to commit violence against innocent Iranians. The Official Story accepted by both Right and Left in Washington is that the MEK was able to buy its way off the list by hiring expensive lobbyists. Expensive lobbyists were indeed hired, a collection of the vilest players hanging around American politics. How do you think the poor MEK managed to pay these many millions of dollars? No doubt money from the CIA and/or State Department. [...] The biggest joke of all is that the MEK hates the American government only slightly less than it hates the Iranian government, and will doubtless start attacking Americans again as soon as it is convenient.

The drone war has given rise to "anxiety and psychological trauma among civilian communities".

A new report by researchers at the Stanford and NYU schools of law has found that the drone program is “terrorizing” the people of Pakistan and that it is having “counterproductive” effects. The report’s conclusions are based on nine months of intensive research – including two on-site investigations in Pakistan, more than 130 interviews with victims and their relatives, eye-witness and expert accounts, and a deep review of media reporting. The US drone war in Pakistan not only kills and injures civilians, the report finds, but it traumatizes the population and has led people to keep their children home from school and to avoid any large grouping of people, however innocent. It also says the drone war has helped recruitment efforts of extremist groups like al-Qaeda. The report also finds that there is strong evidence that drone strikes have targeted rescuers running towards bombed sites in follow-up attacks, something Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, has said would constitute war crimes.

AWIP Google Search: pakistan drone
Medea Benjamin: Obama and Drone Warfare: Will Americans Speak Out?
Bill Van Auken: Obama’s role in the selection of drone missile targets

Terence Bunch: Afghanistan - the United States, and the Drone War in Pakistan - To date [21st December 2011] there have been over 300 separate remote attacks against the sovereign state of Pakistan by the United States with little or no evidence that the United States is actually pursuing a security agenda. In its 'drone war' against Pakistan, the United States continues to struggle with major and chronic intelligence failures that originate from the core failed ideology of the so-called War on Terror. Here, the United States is at war with an entity it can neither identify, control, manage nor influence. And it exploits these difficulties ruthlessly. In this image, a small child is recovered from the wreckage of a drone strike. To date, 175 children have been killed by the United States war-nexus in Pakistan and on each occasion, United States diplomatic staff have elected simply to lie about their identities, confirming an ultra-nationalist agenda deep in the heart of US foreign policy.

Last Friday, Pakistani police and paramilitary forces violently broke up protests by hundreds of thousands of people called by the Pakistani government against the anti-Islamic Innocence of Muslims video. Police left 23 dead and injured more than 200. The protests in Pakistan came as outrage erupted throughout the Muslim world over this video. The mass response to the protests reflected the seething anger among the Pakistani people against American imperialism. Washington is occupying Afghanistan and since 2009 has expanded the war into neighbouring Pakistan, with the collaboration of the Pakistani government in Islamabad. [...] In the past several months, Islamabad has been busy mending fences with the US after the diplomatic spat the followed the US killing of Pakistani soldiers last November. On Monday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A senior spokesman told the media that the situation was “moving upwards, in a positive direction.” Similarly, last week Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar made an official four-day visit to Washington to discuss improving US-Pakistani relations with Clinton.

Helen Thomas: "Mr. President, do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?"
Israel stooge Obama: "With respect to nuclear weapons, I don't want to speculate. [...]"

From New York, US President Barack Obama told the United Nations General Assembly that he advocates a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear conflict and condemns the anti-Islamic film that has sparked violent protests overseas.

Tuesday morning’s speech before the General Assembly marked President Obama’s last scheduled international address before he is up for re-election in November, and he used the opportunity to solidify the United States’ stance on several foreign policy issues while also clarifying his take on the Iranian nuclear conflict and the American-made movie that continues to fuel fiery rallies across the Muslim world.

President Obama began his address with words of admiration for Chris Stevens, the US ambassador slain earlier this month at a consulate building in Benghazi, and told the United Nations that while Mr. Steven’s diplomatic work represented America’s ideals as a whole, his execution has also affected those tied to not just the United States, but the United Nations as well.

John Glaser: Obama to UN: US 'Will Do What [Israel Says] It Must' on Iran
Bill Van Auken: Obama uses UN speech to threaten war against Iran

The Water Authority has approved a large rise in the quota for agriculture in 2013. - The Water Authority has approved a large, 25 million cubic meter, increase in the water quota for agriculture in 2013, from 455 million cubic meters to 480 million cubic meters. The Water Authority said that the increase was possible because Israel was emerging from its water crisis of the past decade. "Efficient management of the water sector, on the basis of the large increase in the amounts of desalinated water, continuing conservation by the public, and the extraordinary amounts of treated water recycled for agriculture, has enabled the Water Authority Council to make these decisions, which indicate the improvement and gradual emergence of the water sector from the crisis it has been in for the past decade," said the Water Authority in a press release. The Water Authority Council also approved another large increase, of tens of percent, in water allocated for nature to 25 million cubic meters in 2013.

[Editor's Comment:] "What they're after is the Litani River and the Bekaa Valley. Both will they take by force. They will divert the Litani, fill Lake Tiberias and strengthen the Jordan River. Their ill-gotten land will stretch from the Nile in the West to the Euphrates in the East. The Kingdom of Jordan will be forced to cede land – all of the Jordan Valley will be taken from this fated kingdom. War with Lebanon and Syria is inevitable." (09/2009)

Jason Godesky: Israel’s Water Wars
AWIP: Israel hogging Gaza water sources
AWIP: Gaza water too contaminated to drink, say charities
Mitchell Prothero & Peter Beaumont: Israel Will Go to War over Water

Insurgents in the Syrian capital Damascus have attacked Press TV staff, killing the Iranian English-language news network’s correspondent Maya Naser, and injuring its Damascus Bureau Chief Hosein Mortada. - Naser came under attack while reporting on air just hours ago. He was shot and killed by a sniper. Press TV and Al-Alam Damascus Bureau Chief Hosein Mortada also came under attack and was injured.

“We hold Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who provide weapons and militants to kill civilians, military personnel and journalists, responsible for killing Maya,” Press TV’s News Room Director Hamid Reza Emadi said. “Press TV will pursue the matter of the murder of Maya and would not let those who killed the correspondent feel like they can kill the media people and get away with it,” he emphasized.

PressTV: Press TV, Al-Alam Damascus bureau chief injured in Damascus

Yesterday after the Syrian Army cleaned al-Arqoub area in Aleppo of Islamist's terrorists, and Damascus countryside, I posted a vedio for Iblis Adnan Al-Aroor which was nothing more than a desoerate call to his thugs in Syria to "Kill 1, 2 3 ...or 4 ...burn Damascus ...burn the villages ...!", begging the Syrian army to defect. Today a twin blasts hit Damasucs near the headquarters of the army general staff in Umayyad Square. The attacks are nothing but a desprate attempt to cover-up the daily defeats in Aleppo, its also a bloody message to national Syrian opposition meeting in Damascus. Minister Al-Zoubi pointed out that the terrorist act took place in an important site but the terrorists as usual failed to achieve their goals, asserting that the aggressive project targeting Syria is integral and has its tools, means and persons therefore we should expect such kind of barbarian acts as we are facing a war...

Lebanese army has intercepted a vehicle laden with military equipment which was destined for the anti-government insurgents in Syria. - The army said on Tuesday that the vehicle was seized at a checkpoint near the al-Qaa border crossing in east Lebanon. Five Syrian nationals, who had been illegally residing in Lebanon, were also on board. The equipment seized includes hand grenades and communication hardware. Since the beginning of unrest in Syria, Lebanese army has seized a large number of consignments of weapons and ammunitions bound for insurgents in Syria. In April, Lebanese authorities held a Sierra Leone-registered ship, which was carrying weapons for Syrian insurgents. Damascus has repeatedly said that the arms used by insurgents are being smuggled from Lebanon into the country.

Tony Cartalucci: NATO Terrorists Bomb School in Syria
Chris Floyd: In Aleppo Once: Old Allies Reunite in Syria to Foment Future War

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for a total structural overhaul of the United Nations Security Council in order to facilitate the observance of the rule of law in international interactions. - Ahmadinejad made the remarks at the high-level meeting of the 67th session of the General Assembly.

“Today, we see that some veto holders remain silent over the atomic bombs of the fake Zionist regime or support the regime, but at the same time they hinder the scientific achievements of other nations,” Ahmadinejad noted. “By making false reference to the UN Charter and by misusing (the concept of) liberty, they remain silent over insults to the sanctities of humanity and the divine prophets or they lend support to offenders, infringe on the freedom of others, and allow insults against sanctities and people,” the Iranian president added.

Ahmadinejad censured the hegemonic powers for imposing their will on nations and violating the inalienable rights and liberties of the people of the world under the pretext of defending freedom and international security. He went on to say that all governments must be treated equally and should be committed to international law. The Iranian president also enumerated 10 proposals of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the better observance of the rule of law in international relations.

PressTV: UN beyond repair; Let NAM take over

Madrid riot police have cleared Plaza de Neptune of protesters, with about 200 officers securing the surrounding blocks. At least 60 people have been injured and 26 arrested as police used batons and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Local emergency services have confirmed that at least 60 people, including eight policemen, were injured in clashes between police and protesters, El Pais reports. One of the wounded is believed to be in critical condition, while one of the injured policemen suffered a severe concussion. Riot police dispersed the protesters, dragging some who had tried to get through police lines by their arms and legs. An uneasy order was restored and reinforcements were brought in to try and disperse the crowd.

Thirteen of those arrested have been detained after a group of protesters tried to break through the police barrier for the first time. Further arrests were carried out during the following clashes, bringing the total number of arrests to some 60, El Pais reported. Authorities estimate that about 6,000 people took part in Tuesday’s protest. Over 1,300 riot police officers were deployed in the capital, which is more than a half the country's riot police force. Protests organizers have decided to repeat the protest and block the Parliament once again on Wednesday.

Thousands of activists have congregated in Madrid’s Plaza de Neptune, 100 meters from the Congress building, to protest Spanish austerity measures. The demonstrators pledged to march around the building, and called for new elections. Metal barriers have been placed around the building to block access from every possible direction. Demonstrators waved banners with the slogan ‘No’ written on them, in reference to the austerity policies of the Spanish government. Protesters said that today is a key day to level criticism against politicians and the Spanish government. The city stationed armored police vehicles bumper-to-bumper around the parliament building, and announced that around 1,300 police would be deployed to counter the protesters.

Reuters: Spain prepares more austerity, protesters battle police
PressTV: Spain’s economy shrinks quickly in third quarter

New voting laws in 23 of the 50 states could keep more than 10 million Hispanic U.S. citizens from registering and voting, a new study said on Sunday, a number so large it could affect the outcome of the November 6 election. - The Latino community accounts for more than 10 percent of eligible voters nationally. But the share in some states is high enough that keeping Hispanic voters away from the polls could shift some hard-fought states from support for Democratic President Barack Obama and help his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. The new laws include purges of people suspected of not being citizens in 16 states that unfairly target Latinos, the civil rights group Advancement Project said in the study to be formally released on Monday.

Syria's ragtag rebel army is being turned into a disciplined military force, with the help of tens of millions of dollars of funding from the Middle East and under the watchful gaze of foreign former special forces. - Hidden under olive groves in the rolling countryside of Syria’s northern Idlib province, of which a vast swathe is now in opposition hands, more than a dozen training camps have been set up in which young men prepare for the fight against President Bashar al-Assad’s military. In one camp seen by The Daily Telegraph this week, recruits were put through their paces on an arduous obstacle course. Timed to the shouts of Commander Abdel Kadr, a military officer who has defected, the men vaulted walls, scrambled under razor wire mesh and swung along ropes in the tree tops. Two men looked on from the tented sleeping quarters nearby. Tall with shaven heads, fair skin, bulging pectoral muscles, and biceps covered in tattoos, they were incongruous among the scrawny young fighters. They could not speak Arabic and were extremely unhappy in the presence of The Daily Telegraph. The men, who use the code names Radwan and Mohammed, come from Scandinavia, but have requested that the country not be disclosed. Though they refused to speak, saying only that they were “here to help”, recruits in the Free Syrian Army told this newspaper that the men were ex-special forces working as military advisers.

Felicity Arbuthnot: The Neocon’s PNAC: Taking Syria Give US Further Strategic Depth in Region

Dozens of Taiwanese vessels and coastguard ships have entered waters around a disputed island chain also claimed by the world’s second and third largest economies, China and Japan. - "Tens of fishing boats entered the waters. They were accompanied by six Taiwanese coastguard ships," a spokesman for the Japanese coastguard said on Tuesday. The arrival of the Taiwanese boats may further escalate tensions in the region over the disputed islands. "We have made contact with the Taiwan authorities, and told them that they cannot enter our territorial waters," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. Media reports say the Taiwanese boats have finished their 'protest move' against "Japan's illegal purchase" of the Islands and will return to a port in northeast Taiwan's Yilan county at noon on Wednesday.

Reuters: Japan fires water cannon to turn away Taiwan boats

The Star: Who owns Diaoyu Islands? - Historical documents dating back to the Ming Dynasty establish Diaoyu Islands as Chinese territory. The challenge to Chinese ownership came from Japanese annexation of the islands in 1894-5 following the first Sino-Japanese War. It is a pity that this is happening especially when Chinese-Japanese economic ties have reached a new level since the end of last year with the two countries agreeing to use their respective currencies in their bilateral trade, instead of the US dollar. [-Cui bono?]

Report claims just one in fifty victims of 'surgical' US strikes in Pakistan are known militants. Jerome Taylor reports on a deadly new strategy. - As the drone circled it let off the first of its Hellfire missiles, slamming into a small house and reducing it to rubble. When residents rushed to the scene of the attack to see if they could help they were struck again. More and more, while the overall frequency of strikes has fallen since a Nato attack in 2011 killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and strained US-Pakistan relations, initial strikes are now followed up by further missiles in a tactic which lawyers and campaigners say is killing an even greater number of civilians. The tactic has cast such a shadow of fear over strike zones that rescuers often wait for hours before daring to visit the scene of an attack.

Glenn Greenwald: New Stanford/NYU study documents the civilian terror from Obama's drones

The doctors prescribing the drugs don't know they don't do what they're meant to. Nor do their patients. The manufacturers know full well, but they're not telling. - Reboxetine is a drug I have prescribed. Other drugs had done nothing for my patient, so we wanted to try something new. I'd read the trial data before I wrote the prescription, and found only well-designed, fair tests, with overwhelmingly positive results. Reboxetine was better than a placebo, and as good as any other antidepressant in head-to-head comparisons. It's approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (the MHRA), which governs all drugs in the UK. Millions of doses are prescribed every year, around the world. Reboxetine was clearly a safe and effective treatment. The patient and I discussed the evidence briefly, and agreed it was the right treatment to try next. I signed a prescription. But we had both been misled.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) Counter-Terrorism Division operates a controversial International Liaison Program (ILP) that places officers overseas, in at least 11 cities. None of the NYPD liaison officers has any legal standing for dealing with the local authorities. The detectives travel on tourist passports, stay in hotels, and do not report to the U.S. ambassador, nor to the CIA Chief of Station. The FBI would like to see all the offices shut down as they confuse foreign police forces as to whom they should be speaking to. There have been some memorable gaffes, as when NYPD officers show up at the scene of a terrorist attack, start waving their badges in the air, and demand access. The ILP has perhaps not surprisingly been most active in Israel, where it opened a branch in early 2003.

Ruling raises questions about the ability of the American justice system to seize material held by media outside the United States.

The BBC has been ordered by an American court to surrender unused footage filmed for a documentary about former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to American victims of suicide bombings in Israel. It now has until 1 October to lodge a further appeal or produce the material along with a sworn statement from a BBC employee confirming its authenticity. The Corporation said yesterday it was still considering the ruling. The material is being sought by lawyers representing victims and relatives of those killed by suicide bombs in attacks around Jerusalem. The group is attempting to bring a civil damages claim against the Palestinian Authority and others for allegedly funding terrorist groups behind the bombings. The victims believe that the BBC interviews with a leader of Fatah, the political movement founded by Arafat, and an alleged terrorist in the Al Aqsa Brigades in the West Bank city of Jenin, contain statements which will help prove a link between the bombings and the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The BBC resisted the application, arguing that complying with the demand would compromise its editorial independence and damage its ability to gather news. The judgment will have the effect of forcing a non-American broadcaster to surrender unbroadcast footage from a documentary - Arafat Investigated - made almost a decade ago for a British audience. It is part of a growing trend in America for courts to order the disclosure of journalistic material. Research has shown a sharp rise in subpoenas to media organisations, in particular broadcasters who receive 10 applications for every one sent to newspapers.

The European court of human rights has cleared the way for the extradition to the United States of five terrorism suspects, including Abu Hamza al-Masri and Babar Ahmad, after legal battles dating back to 2004. The decision was immediately welcomed by the home secretary, Theresa May, who said the Home Office would work to hand over the five to the US authorities as quickly as possible. The home secretary will be keen to avoid the confusion that delayed the removal of Abu Qatada to Jordan earlier this year. The five suspects are expected to be on a plane within weeks.

Colin Todhunter: Britain: A Client State of America

The cabinet today approved changes to cabinet protocol, which broaden the prime minister’s powers, giving him greater control over ministers’ work. The 51-page document lists amendments drawn up Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser as part of staff work to facilitate the cabinet’s decision-making process. These are the first changes to the cabinet procedures since Israel’s independence in 1948, when the original procedures were written. The amendments are even more significant at this time in view of reports of a possible strike by Israel against Iran within months.

■ The amendments allow the prime minister to decide, when distributing the cabinet agenda, that ministers absent from the meeting will not be allowed to vote in absentia, which they can currently do, and may only vote if they have prearranged another minister to vote on their behalf.
■ Another amendment allows the prime minister to change the agenda set by the ministerial committee, and decide whether to hold or to postpone a cabinet meeting “due to special grounds that will be notified to the committee chairman”.
■ The problem with this authority granted to the prime minister is that he will be able to submit an issue for a vote several times until it is passed; alternatively, he can remove an issue from the agenda at his sole discretion.
■ Other amendments state that telephone votes by the cabinet will be signed within 12 hours of the vote, and that the prime minister can shorten this time as he sees fit.
■ He also now has the right to appeal decisions by ministerial committees, and he will also have the right to decide that a cabinet decision against which a ministerial committee has appealed will not be valid until the cabinet again discusses the issue.

Swiss activist Manfred Petritsch says the West is waging a war against Islam and spirituality in general and Muslims are protesting against the attitude of the West toward Islam, Press TV reports. - In an exclusive interview on Monday, Petritsch told Press TV that “people are not protesting specially against the film, they are protesting against the whole attitude of the West towards the Islamic countries.” “A lot of people believe that the cause for all this protest is the film, but I think it’s not the film, the film was just the ignition point… There was a whole explosive mixture existing because of the American foreign policy or the foreign policy of the West as a whole against all Islamic countries; against the war they are fighting; against this double standard they are doing; against the killer drones, which are killing hundreds of civilians,” Petritsch said.

“We have to see this as a general picture of a war against spirituality. That means, they are not particularly attacking Islam, but they are attacking spirituality as a whole,” he added. He went on to say that the assault on Christianity began a long time ago and “Christianity is more or less destroyed,” adding that “they are now attacking Islam.”

Anti-Islamic advertisements will go up across New York City’s subway system next week after a federal judge ruled that the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority could not legally refuse to host the signs on the basis of "demeaning" language. As early as next Monday, ten NYC subway stations will showcase adverts declaring, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." The campaign was created by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), an organization considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center watch group. Pamela Geller, the executive director of the AFDI, stands by her signage despite rampant complaints circulating before the campaign has even begun. "I will not abridge my freedoms so as not to offend savages,” Geller tells Sky News. Geller has long advocated against so-called "Islamist propaganda" in America and has campaigned in the past to call for the shutting down of a Washington, DC museum exhibit that highlighted Muslim contributions to science. The installation was declared "Best Touring Exhibit" by the Museum Heritage Awards in 2011, but Geller claimed "It has indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of children into a rosy and romanticized view of Islam that makes them less appreciative of their own culture’s achievements and more complacent about Islamization in the West.”

For her overt actions waged against Islamic culture, the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League has said Geller "fuels and fosters anti-Muslim bigotry in society." Those ideals will be brought to New York subway stations next week despite a legal battle that ended in July with a Manhattan federal judge agreeing that the First Amendment allowed Geller to have her ads run in the metro system. "I live in America and in America we have the first amendment,” Geller tells Sky News. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, responded to the outlet by condemning Geller’s actions, but agreeing with the federal judge’s decision regardless. "Our basic position is that the first amendment means that everyone is free to be a bigot or even an idiot like Pamela Geller,” Hooper tells Sky. "We wish she wasn't provoking and inciting hatred, but in America that's her right." [Ad corrected: Anonymous Central]

ABC News: Controversial 'Support Israel, Defeat Jihad' ad could be headed to Chicago
PressTV: Anti-Islam advertisement banners appear in New York subway stations

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be transferred to the Ecuadorian embassy in Sweden in order to respond to sex crime allegations that he faces there. - Ecuador, which had granted the whistleblower political asylum, may ask Britain to transfer him under its protection, Ecuadorian Minister Ricardo Patino indicated on Friday. Patino told reporters that among different possibilities to end the stalemate over Assange’s case was "that his statement be taken in our embassy in London or that Ecuador get authorization to transfer him, if necessary, to our embassy in Sweden so that the case can proceed there with the protection of Ecuador and meeting the needs of Swedish justice." To date there has been no reaction from London. As for Sweden, its foreign ministry said it would not comment as they had not received any approach from Quito, AFP reports. The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital since June 19, as the UK authorities are trying to extradite him to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over sex crime allegations. Citing fears that he could be further extradited to the US to face charges over the release of thousands of sensitive US documents, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa decided to grant Assange political asylum.

Common Dreams: Ecuador Offers UK Compromise Over Sending Assange to Sweden