Will Washington's Pharisees get their man? - This is the Great Divide, and it is this great yawning chasm that has given the neocons their power: for while a malignant dwarf like Bill Kristol, the little Lenin of the neocons, may inspire revulsion in the average American, in Washington he’s a respected and powerful figure, one whose lust for combat — albeit from a safe distance — counts for much in determining what course our foreign policy will take. In such a town, David “Axis of Evil” Frum, who has “spent his career,” as conservative columnist Timothy Carney put it, “singing odes to war and purging those who wanted peace,” is considered a “moderate” — because he’s calling for tax hikes in order to pay for his favorite pastime. If we allowed the soldiers in the field to vote on who should be the next Secretary of Defense, President Obama’s first choice, former Republican senator Chuck Hagel — a Vietnam veteran and the recipient of two Purple Hearts, whose work at the Veterans Administration during the Reagan years endeared him to vets — would win hands down. [...] It’s sickening to watch, this crucifixion of a man of integrity and honesty, at the hands of Washington’s Pharisees. But this isn’t about Hagel anymore: it isn’t even completely about foreign policy, although that’s the core of my own motivation in supporting him. It’s about how Washington embodies all that is evil, degenerate, and poisonous in our culture: it’s about the herd mentality that sniffs out anyone considered an “outsider” — i.e. anyone of independent mind — and seeks to destroy him. Outside the Beltway, Hagel is a logical choice for SecDef: inside that bubble of evil, he’s a candidate for demonization — and that should tell us everything that’s wrong with our degenerate political class. [...] That’s why I’m urging you to please sign — and circulate — the White House petition in support of Chuck Hagel — because it’s high time we sent the neocons packing.

For decades, the mainstream media in the United States was accustomed to being able to tell the American people what to think. Unfortunately for them, a whole lot of Americans are starting to break free from that paradigm and think for themselves. A Gallup survey from earlier this year found that 60 percent of all Americans “have little or no trust” in the mainstream media. More people than ever are realizing that the mainstream media is giving them a very distorted version of “the truth” and they are increasingly seeking out alternative sources of information. In the United States today, just six giant media corporations control the mainstream media. [...] In recent years the “alternative media” has exploded in popularity. People want to hear about the things that the mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about. They want to hear news that is not filtered by corporate bosses and government censors. They want “the truth” and they know that they are not getting it from the mainstream media. We are watching a media revolution happen, and many in the mainstream media are totally freaking out about it. In fact, some in the mainstream media have even begun publishing articles that mock the American people for not trusting them.

Who Decided That It Would Be A Good Idea...
Agenda 21 Is Being Rammed Down The Throats Of Local Communities All Over America

A woman wearing an Afghan police uniform has killed a US civilian employee of the international "security" forces in the country, Nato says. - It is believed to be the first such insider attack carried out by a woman. In a separate incident, at least six local policemen were killed by another officer in northern Afghanistan. There has been a rise in incidents in which Afghan security forces members have shot dead either foreign personnel or their own colleagues. In Monday's attack in Kabul, Afghan officials say, a female officer at the interior ministry came looking for the police chief at the heavily secured headquarters. The US "adviser" was thought to have been on his way to a canteen when she shot him with her pistol. The attacker has been detained. Officials say they suspect she has links with the Taliban. Initial reports suggested the victim was a military adviser, but Nato's Isaf force later described him as "a civilian employee" of Isaf. The incident is under investigation, the statement added.

The old stone-walled farming terraces of this scenic Palestinian village near Jerusalem stretch along the hillsides, fed by spring water flowing through a network of irrigation channels that dates to Roman times. Perched above a valley on the boundary with Israel, this community of 6,000 has become the focal point of a struggle pitting villagers and environmental advocates against the planners of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank, a complex of fences and walls built to keep out Palestinian attackers Palestinians.

At Battir, the planned barrier route — including 500 yards of concrete wall — would cut through the valley, scarring a rare surviving landscape of naturally irrigated terrace agriculture dating back thousands of years. It would also separate villagers from about one-third of their cultivated lands, which would fall on the other side of the barrier. This month, in response to petitions by villagers and the environmental group Friends of the Earth Middle East, Israel's Supreme Court gave the Israeli defense ministry 90 days to come up with an alternative to the planned wall that would take into account "the unique character of the area" around Battir. In its ruling — a rare intervention by the Supreme Court in the barrier project — the court urged security officials to reconsider "the nature of the divider and security arrangements" in the sensitive zone, which is a candidate for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The United States government has argued in court that current and former officials of Pakistan’s intelligence service should be immune from prosecution in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks. At least 166 people, including 6 Americans, were killed and scores more were injured when members of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba stormed downtown Mumbai, India, taking the city hostage between November 26 and 29, 2008. The Indian government has openly accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) of complicity in the attack, which has been described as the most sophisticated international terrorist strike anywhere in the world during the last decade.

Wayne Madsen: Xe cells conducting false flag terrorist attacks in Pakistan

Armed rebels released a second film on the Internet which shows them testing a poisonous chemical agent on an animal in Western Syria, media reports said. - The footage shows terrorists testing a chemical substance on a rabbit in the coastal city of Latakia, the Lebanese television al-Manar reported. In related development, the armed rebels used chemical weapons in their attacks against the Syrian army in Darya district of Reef (outskirts of) Damascus earlier today. "The terrorists have already thrown three cube-shaped plastic bags towards the (Syrian) army's forces that killed seven forces due to the gases emerging from the bags," a commander of the Syrian Presidential Guard told the Iran-based Arab-language Al-Alam news channel. The commander noted that a yellow button is installed on the bags and by pushing that a yellow gas came out and those who inhaled it died after nearly one hour. Since several weeks ago, different media had reported about the presence of chemical weapons in Syria and the possibility of its use by armed rebels.

PressTV: Syria militants film new chemical test, threaten to poison water supply - Video

Fighters from as many as 29 countries have filtered into Syria to join a civil war that has split along sectarian lines, increasingly pitting the ruling Alawite community against the majority Sunni Muslims, UN human rights investigators said today.

The deepened sectarian divisions in Syria may diminish prospects for post-conflict reconciliation even if President Bashar al-Assad is toppled. And the influx of foreign fighters raises the risk of the war spilling into neighbouring countries. Most of the foreign fighters slipping into Syria to join rebel groups, or fight alongside them, are Sunnis from other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the UN investigators found. “They come from all over, Europe and America, and especially the neighbouring countries,” said Ms Abuzayd.

Stephen Lendman: Piling on Syria
Tony Cartalucci: UN Defends NATO's Premeditated Genocide in Syria
PressTV: Pakistan Taliban members killed near Syrian capital
Voice of Russia: Western backed Free Syrian Army Threatens to Kill Russians and Ukrainians in Syria

NATO has reportedly agreed to increase Israel’s participation in its activities in 2013 after Ankara eased its opposition to the move following the alliance’s approval of the deployment of Patriot missiles to Turkey. - Citing Israeli officials, Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday that “the approval had come as Turkey’s request that NATO station Patriot missile batteries along its border with Syria was granted, leading them to assess that NATO was using the deployment as leverage to induce Ankara to thaw its relations with Israel.” Israel, a NATO partner participating in seminars, exercises and training courses, has been requesting to increase its role in the military alliance but it was met with an objection from Turkey, a full NATO member.