Police in Stockholm were surprised on Monday to find that a man they had arrested for buying sex from a prostitute was the duty prosecutor to whom they were obliged to report the crime. - The chief prosecutor spent Monday evening with a female prostitute in a central Stockholm hotel. A police squad, however, had been tipped off and was waiting for him in the staircase outside the room. Officers were surprised to learn of the man's status while arresting him, as he was the prosecutor on duty to whom they should report the crime. The man paid 1,500 kronor ($232) for the sex, according to the Expressen newspaper. He had allegedly found the escort online, when "surfing around on his iPhone" during a train trip, during which he consumed half a bottle of wine and a beer. "And then I did what I am suspected of - I went out into the staircase and the police arrested me there," the prosecutor told the Aftonbladet newspaper. He has confessed to the crime, and his family has been notified.

■ Even in his wild, stoned to death, easy rider cuckoo times, Jack Nicholson would never have imagined he would one day tag team with the First Lady of the United States to present an Oscar for Best Picture. ■ Those 6,000-plus Academy voters simply could not resist a plot loosely based in facts in which a patriotic and resourceful Hollywood saves the CIA. And with a certified Hollywood ending as a bonus. Thus, predictably, this was Hollywood awarding an Oscar to itself, to hyper-nationalism, to American heroes and of course to good (Americans) over evil (Iranians). ■ And how poetically towering this justice becomes when a movie about a fake movie that fooled revolutionary Iranians during the 444-day hostage crisis is crowned Best Picture just two days before the US and other members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, go back to the table to discuss whether Iran is now fooling them - and going for a nuclear weapon.

During upcoming visit, president will convey message that window for American military operation opens in June, TV report says. - When he visits Israel next month, US President Barack Obama will tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a "window of opportunity" for a military strike on Iran will open in June, according to an Israeli TV report Monday evening. Obama will come bearing the message that if diplomatic efforts and sanctions don't bear fruit, Israel should "sit tight" and let Washington take the stage, even if that means remaining on the sidelines during a US military operation, Channel 10 reported. Netanyahu will be asked to refrain from any military action and keep a low profile, avoiding even the mention of a strike, the report said, citing unnamed officials.

Jason Ditz: Obama To Tell Israelis of Plans for Iran War
Jonathan Cook: Obama’s Israel Trip: Four More Years of Settlement Growth

With her new weapons ban bill looming. It's time to know the real story. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) really wants to take your Constitutional right away. Making you defenseless.

■ Blackwater mercenaries are currently overseeing the police in Greece as rumours of a coup abound. We understand the situation is extremely tense and that the mercenaries [allegedly] are there mainly to protect the Government and parliament should trouble break out either in the form of a revolution or counter-revolution. Already, a destabilisation plot involving the far-right and police has been uncovered. ■ As we have said, there is a revolution taking place – a messy revolution . And it’s going to get messier, for the situation in Greece has now entered a critical phase. ■ Strategy of tension: A few days ago we reported on a plot by the police in collusion with the far-right to instigate a massacre of police, which would then be blamed on anarchists – presumably this would then be used as an excuse to introduce martial law or a state of emergency. The plot may have been foiled (23 persons were arrested) by Blackwater working in conjunction with police officers who are loyal to the Government. Blackwater are expected to continue monitoring police operations generally, to identify those officers who may be involved in other, similar plots.

Silvio Berlusconi has unnerved investors with his
strong polling. (Photo: AFP)

■The result of the Italian parliamentary elections on Sunday and Monday was still unclear on Monday evening, even though the polls closed at 3:00 p.m. All indications were that the electorate had inflicted a resounding defeat on incumbent Prime Minister Mario Monti and repudiated his agenda of austerity measures demanded by the European Union (EU). ■According to Italian electoral law, the party with the biggest share of the vote automatically receives 55 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house. This evidently leaves the 61-year Bersani with a secure parliamentary majority. ■When exit polls predicted a victory for Bersani at 3:00 p.m., the Milan stock index rose by 3 percent and the German DAX was up 2.3 percent. The euro rose against the dollar and the interest rate on Italian bonds dropped significantly. But when news emerged of a possible Berlusconi victory in the Senate, indexes turned negative.

Wall Street Journal: Berlusconi Shocks Italy With Another Political Comeback
New York Times: Split Vote in Italy Brings Political Deadlock
Russsia Today: Italy in political deadlock as vote brings no clear leader
Le Monde: Les incertitudes de l'élection italienne secouent les marchés

China took over management on Monday of Pakistan's Gwadar port, en route to key Hormuz Straits oil shipping lanes, in a move which has prompted nerves in India about its fellow Asian giant's growing strategic clout. - China financed more than 80 percent of the $248 million development cost of the port on the Arabian Sea, as part of a plan to open up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China. When complete, the port could be used by the Chinese Navy, analysts say, and Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told reporters on February 6 that Chinese control of the port was "a matter of concern." Indian policy-makers are wary of a string of strategically located ports being built by Chinese companies in its neighborhood, as India beefs up its military clout to compete. China has also funded ports in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, and Chittagong in Bangladesh, both India's neighbors.

Sampath Perera: Pakistan transfers strategic Gwadar port to China
The Nation/AWIP: Take note CIA: Gwadar Port control transferred to China!

A new report has revealed that Saudi Arabia has supplied foreign-backed militants in Syria with large cargos of infantry and heavy weapons through Jordan. - Citing anonymous American and Western officials, The New York Times newspaper reported on Monday that "the weapons began reaching rebels in December via shipments shuttled through Jordan." One Western official said "thousands of rifles and hundreds of machine guns" and an unknown quantity of ammunitions were among the weapons shipped to Syria. The daily quoted one senior American official as describing the shipments as "a maturing of the opposition's logistical pipeline." Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said that the recent Saudi purchase of heavy weapons from Croatia was "not in and of itself a tipping point." "I remain convinced we are not near that tipping point," the official added. The report confirmed that Persian Gulf Arab nations have been sending military equipment and other assistance to the militants fighting government forces in Syria "for more than a year," but the scale of the recent shipments is not comparable with the previous weapons supplies.

NaharNet: 'Extremists' in Syria Opposition Blocking Dialogue, Says Lavrov

The granting of the Best Picture Oscar to the Iranophobic movie "Argo" has long been foreseeable as the Machiavellian maneuvering of Hollywood propaganda harbors a much more elaborate imperialistic scheme, political analysts say. - “I put my money on this film to win the Best Picture Oscar (even though there is nothing remotely “best” about it) especially if Obama can pull off winning the Presidential election,” wrote cultural critic Kim Nicolini in an article published in October 2012. “Argo, above all else, is a piece of conservative liberal propaganda created by Hollywood to support the Obama administration’s conservative liberal politics as we move toward the Presidential election,” she said before Obama was re-elected for the second term. “It also primes the war wheels for an American-supported Israeli attack on Iran, so that Leftists can feel okay about the war when they cast their vote for Obama in November (2012),” the critic pointed out.

Global Post: Iran calls Oscar for 'Argo,' awarded by Michelle Obama, an ad for CIA
Fars News Agency: Critic: Argo Produced to Overshadow US Failure in 1979 Embassy Takeover
Fars News Agency: Former Canadian Ambassador to Tehran: Argo Full of Fabricated Scenes

■ Do you have a right to know where that steak on your plate came from? Should it be legal to photograph chicken farms and dairy cows? Big Agriculture says you don’t and it shouldn’t. Armies of Big Ag lobbyists are pushing for new state-level laws across the country to keep us all in the dark. Less restrictive versions have been law in some states since the 1980s, but the meat industry has ratcheted up a radical new campaign. ■ This wave of “ag-gag” bills would criminalize whistleblowers, investigators, and journalists who expose animal welfare abuses at factory farms and slaughterhouses. Ten states considered “ag-gag” bills last year, and Iowa, Missouri, and Utah approved them. Even more are soon to follow. Had these laws been in force, the Humane Society might have been prosecuted for documenting repeated animal welfare and food safety violations at Hallmark/Westland, formerly the second-largest supplier of beef to the National School Lunch Program. Cows too sick to walk were being slaughtered and that meat was shipped to our schools, endangering our kids. The investigation led to the largest meat recall in U.S. history. ■ More recently in Wyoming, video footage showed workers at a Tyson supplier kicking live piglets and pummeling mother pigs. The film led to criminal charges against nine employees, including two managers. In Pennsylvania, an investigation of a major regional egg supplier, Kreider Farms, showed decomposing birds packed into cages among the living. Other hens had their heads stuck in cage wire and were left to die. [Via: BLN]

The UN Middle East peace envoy has called for an "independent and transparent" probe into the death of a Palestinian man in an Israeli jail as anger mounts in Palestinian territories. - "The United Nations expects the autopsy to be followed by an independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mr Jaradat's death, the results of which should be made public as soon as possible," Robert Serry said on Monday. Arafat Jaradat, who was arrested on February 18 on suspicion he was involved in hurling stones at Israeli troopers, died on Saturday in Magiddo prison. Israel claims that Jaradat had died of cardiac arrest, a claim Palestinians deny.

UFree: Mass Hunger Strike in Israeli Jails - Captive Movement continued its mass hunger strike for the second day in a row in the Israeli prisons protesting the murder of the prisoner Arafat Jaradat from the city of al-Khalil in the southern West Bank territories on Saturday. The prisoners decided to step up their daily protests in protest against the Israeli repressive policy and the ongoing IPS aggressions against the prisoners, through refusing meals, impeding the daily count, and delaying the return to prison. The Captive movement stressed the prisoners' determination to go on a hunger strike on April 14 to mark the Palestinian Prisoners' Day, and the first anniversary of the Dignity battle.

PIC: Jaradat's martyrdom raises alarm bells
Occupied Palestine|فلسطين: UFree demands an international investigation into the death of captive Jaradat
Charlotte Silver: How Israel legitimises torturing Palestinians to death
Fars News Agency: UN Calls for Inquiry into Palestinian Death
Fars News Agency: Iran Strongly Condemns Death of Palestinian Prisoner in Israeli Jail
AWIP: ‘Palestinian detainee tortured before death’

One misconception about the use of torture in Myanmar is that it has been a form of human rights abuse most commonly associated with the cases of political prisoners, and therefore in the current period we should expect the incidence of torture to diminish as political conditions change. ■ However, the Asian Legal Resource Centre has long brought to the attention of the Human Rights Council and its predecessor that torture in Myanmar is not confined to any particular type of case but rather is systemic and ongoing. ■ The practice of extremely brutal forms of torture is systemic. Officials at all different levels of the police hierarchy, courts, administration and hospitals are aware of its occurrence, are involved actively or are complicit and condone it. Superiors do not prohibit the use of torture by subordinate officers but delimit it by warnings not that it is illegal or a violation of human rights but that if the torturers go too far and the victim dies then the police officers will, despite their pretenses to the contrary, have trouble.

Asian Human Rights Commission (website)

On Bastøy prison island in Norway, the prisoners, some of whom are murderers and rapists, live in conditions that critics brand 'cushy' and 'luxurious'. Yet it has by far the lowest reoffending rate in Europe. - The first clue that things are done very differently on Bastøy prison island, which lies a couple of miles off the coast in the Oslo fjord, 46 miles south-east of Norway's capital, comes shortly after I board the prison ferry. I'm taken aback slightly when the ferry operative who welcomed me aboard just minutes earlier, and with whom I'm exchanging small talk about the weather, suddenly reveals he is a serving prisoner – doing 14 years for drug smuggling. He notes my surprise, smiles, and takes off a thick glove before offering me his hand. "I'm Petter," he says. Before he transferred to Bastøy, Petter was in a high-security prison for nearly eight years. "Here, they give us trust and responsibility," he says. "They treat us like grownups." I haven't come here particularly to draw comparisons, but it's impossible not to consider how politicians and the popular media would react to a similar scenario in Britain.

WikiLeaks has published over 40,000 secret documents regarding Venezuela, which show the clear hand of US imperialism in efforts to topple popular and democratically elected leader Hugo Chavez. - The documents, which date from July 2004 to December 2011 and which were published through WikiLeaks twitter account @wikileaks and which are now available on WikilLeaks Global Intelligence Files online, are based on emails taken from the private US-based intelligence company, Stratfor. This company claims to provide analysis for multinational corporations looking to invest in Venezuela, and uses a number of local sources to develop their reports. However, their emails prove that their motives and objectives are far from independent, and they are working as an intelligence and strategy agency for those looking to develop suitable political conditions for economic imperialism, exploitation, and intervention in the country. WikiLeaks describes Stratfor as “a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency”. “The emails”, WikiLeaks goes on to explain, “show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods”.

■ While I oppose most gun control proposals, there is one group of Americans I do believe should be disarmed: federal agents. The use of force by federal agents to enforce unjust and unconstitutional laws is one of the major, albeit overlooked, threats to liberty. Too often Americans are victimized by government force simply for engaging in commercial transactions disproved of by Congress and the federal bureaucracy. ■ For example, the offices of Rawesome Foods in Venice, California, have been repeatedly raided by armed federal and state agents, and Rawesome’s founder, 65-year old James Stewart, has been imprisoned. What heinous crime justified this action? Rawesome sold unpasteurized (raw) milk and cheese to willing customers – in a state where raw milk is legal! You cannot even drink milk from a cow without a federal permit!

Further indication of the depraved nature of the West's campaign against Syria, and the depraved nature of its institutions, methods, and faux-NGOs, vindicating a growing trend of ejecting Western "journalists" and NGO's from an ever increasing number of nations, it is revealed that a French photographer recently killed in Syria was embedded with terrorist militants in Idlib, northern Syria, and was working on behalf of the US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded "Reporters Without Borders."

Daily Mail: French photographer killed by flying shrapnel in Syria as rebels launch fresh offensive on police academy in Aleppo

'Outside powers' have reportedly supplied heavy weapons to 'moderate' Free Syrian Army fighters, The Washington Post reports. Allegedly the arms have been delivered to Syria to counterweight radical Islamists high-jacking the rebel movement [war on Syria]. - The armaments are said to include anti-tank weapons and recoilless rifles and are thought to be the first such heavy weapons have been supplied from outside since the uprising against President Assad started two years ago, the newspaper reports. Its sources say the weapons have been delivered to FSA groups in the Syrian province of Daraa in the south of the country across the border with Jordan. The Jordanian government denied any role.

Washington Post: In Syria, new influx of weapons to rebels tilts the battle against Assad

As US troop levels are reduced and troops are actually now banned from at least one province, the occupation of Afghanistan is said to be “transitioning.” But to what, exactly? - The figures on 2012 attacks suggest that increasingly, Afghanistan is becoming a “drone war,” with a 72 percent increase in the number of drone strikes inside Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012, meaning drones now account for 12 percent of all air strikes in the occupied nation. Officials attributed the growth in the number of drone strikes to an increase in the number of armed drones in Afghanistan, which suggests that so long as they have the weapons they’re going to find a way to use them. Though still a small number overall, drone strikes are killing several times more civilian bystanders than in recent years as well.

The Afghan government has demanded the withdrawal of all US Special Forces on Sunday from the Wardak and Logar provinces within two weeks, accusing them of “harassing, torturing and murdering innocent civilians.” - A further statement released by the Afghan president’s office said that the decision to expel them was made by the National Security Council. “After a thorough discussion, it became clear that armed individuals named as US Special Force[s] stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people," it said.

Alex Lantier: Afghan regime accuses US forces of torturing, murdering civilians
Washington Post: Karzai orders U.S. Special Operations forces out of key Afghan province

The Palestinian Authority’s minister for prisoners’ affairs has said Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat was tortured before he died in an Israeli jail. - Late on Sunday, Issa Qaraqea revealed the results of autopsy at a press conference in the city of Ramallah in West Bank, The Guardian reported. Qaraqaa dismissed Israeli prison officials’ claims that Jaradat had died of "cardiac arrest" in Israel’s Magiddo prison. The Palestinian minister said Jaradat’s autopsy showed torture that caused fractures in his body and skull, while his heart was in good condition.

Stephen Lendman: Israeli Murder by Torture
Yahoo: Palestinians call for probe of Israeli prisons
UFreeNet:Israel tortures a Palestinian detainee to death
XinhuaNet: Autopsy shows Palestinian prisoner died of torture in Israeli jail
Russia Today: Israel demands Palestinian leaders quell unrest following prisoner death
Russia Today: Stun grenades and rubber bullets: IDF and Palestinians clash following prisoner's funeral

British MP George Galloway has walked out of a debate at Oxford University upon finding out that his opposite side is an Israeli. - According to Thursday reports, Galloway immediately left the discussion session at the university's Christ Church College, after Eylon Aslan-Levy, accidentally revealed his Israeli origins. The British lawmaker was arguing that the Israeli regime should immediately withdraw from the occupied West Bank when Aslan-Levy used the word "we" to describe Israel's stance on the issue. "You said 'we'," said Galloway. "Are you an Israeli?" "I am, yes," Aslan-Levy replied. Galloway then said, "I don't debate with Israelis. I have been misled, sorry," reiterating as he walked out that, "I don't recognize Israel and I don't debate with Israelis." "I never debate with Israelis nor speak to their media. If they want to speak about Palestine - the address is the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization]," Galloway later said on his Facebook page. He also stated the Christ Church College had never informed him that the debate would be with an Israeli.

Paul Larudee: George Galloway speaks for BDS as much as anyone - There is no single standard for BDS, no single person who speaks for the entire movement, no wrong way to practice BDS. No one can be excommunicated or found in violation of the movement's principles. All may participate in their own way. The error is to think that there is a formal apparatus or coalition that speaks for everyone.

Gilad Atzmon: BDS Against George Galloway - Anti-racism is certainly important except that Galloway did not once refer to Jews or to race. He referred to Israel and refused to debate an Israeli national. Now, I happen to think that Galloway was wrong but still, his decision, a purely political one, was entirely legitimate. ■ Let me be clear. I believe that BDS is a force for good but BDS leadership had better reflect a little and start to focus on the real enemies of justice and of Palestine rather than harassing the most dedicated voices in this discourse.

■ The massive stepping-up of arms supplies to the Gulf States by Germany reflects the geo-strategic interests of German imperialism, which is increasingly acting with military aggression to satisfy its hunger for raw materials and to impose its own interests against those of its rivals. ■ Last week, the financial daily Handelsblatt published an article headlined “Expedition raw materials: Germany's new course”, which laid out German imperialism’s new doctrine. The article states that German industry and government agree that the “securing of raw materials” is a “strategic theme for German foreign policy”. Securing them must also involve the use of “instruments of security and military policy”, the paper wrote. Handelsblatt placed the arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which has the world’s largest oil reserves, in this context.

The return of German imperialism
German industry, government planning for resource wars
German government decides on long-term military deployment in Mali

Drone Pilots Are Found to Get Stress Disorders Much as Those in Combat Do. - In the first study of its kind, researchers with the Defense Department have found that pilots of drone aircraft experience mental health problems like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress at the same rate as pilots of manned aircraft who are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. The study affirms a growing body of research finding health hazards even for those piloting machines from bases far from actual combat zones. ■ The Air Force has also conducted research into the health issues of drone crew members. In a 2011 survey of nearly 840 drone operators, it found that 46 percent of Reaper and Predator pilots, and 48 percent of Global Hawk sensor operators, reported “high operational stress.” Those crews cited long hours and frequent shift changes as major causes. That study found the stress among drone operators to be much higher than that reported by Air Force members in logistics or support jobs. But it did not compare the stress levels of the drone operators with those of traditional pilots.

CBS/DC: ‘I’m A Monster’: Veterans ‘Alone’ In Their Guilt - A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, former Marine Capt. Timothy Kudo thinks of himself as a killer — and he carries the guilt every day. “I can’t forgive myself,” he says. “And the people who can forgive me are dead.” With American troops at war for more than a decade, there’s been an unprecedented number of studies into war zone psychology and an evolving understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder. Clinicians suspect some troops are suffering from what they call “moral injuries” — wounds from having done something, or failed to stop something, that violates their moral code.

At least 13 Chadian soldiers have been killed in fighting in northern Mali, the heaviest casualties sustained by French-led African troops since the launch of a military campaign against rebels last month, Chad's army has said. - Sixty-five rebel fighters were also killed in the clashes that began before midday on Friday in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the border with Algeria. "The provisional toll is ... on the enemy's side, five vehicles destroyed and 65 terrorists killed," said a statement from the army general staff read on state radio. "We deplore the deaths of 13 of our valiant soldiers." Earlier this month, Chad deployed 1,800 soldiers in the northern city of Kidal to secure what had been the rebels' last urban stronghold, putting itself in the frontline in the fight against the rebels. Tuaregs in the north, who have long sought greater autonomy, rebelled against the federal government and swept across northern Mali in April last year, taking advantage of a power vacuum left by a military coup.

Stephen Lendman: UNESCO Peace Prize to a War Criminal - On February 21, the UN News Centre headlined "French President François Hollande awarded UNESCO peace prize." It's for his "valuable contribution to peace and stability in Africa." He's gone all out to wreck it. He's waging lawless imperial aggression. He's slaughtering innocent civilians. He's committing crimes of war and against humanity.

Deutsche Welle: Chadian troops battle Islamists in northern Mali
El País: Malí: nuevos combates, más militares
Le Monde: De nouveaux combats dans le nord du Mali
Le Monde: Pour le Quai d'Orsay, l'Afrique est une zone "rouge"
RFI: Mali : violents accrochages entre les Touaregs du MNLA et un groupe armé
Barry Grey: US deploys troops, drones to Niger
Zero Hedge: Obama Dispatches 100 US Troops To Niger To “Support Predator Drone Base”