Barack Obama landed in Israel on Wednesday for the first time as US president, on a mission to ease past tensions with his hosts but facing skepticism about his plans to thwart Iran's [alleged] nuclear threat. - Air Force One landed at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv to kick off a three-day trip on which Obama will meet Israeli leaders and make a short visit to the West Bank, before heading to Jordan to consult with King Abdullah II. Obama's long-awaited visit, the debut overseas trip of his second term, may be marked more by symbolism than serious diplomatic substance and will expose diminished U.S. ambitions of forging peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Daily Star (Lebanon): Obama: US firm in commitment to Israel's security

In an interview with the U.S. Desk on Tuesday, Dr. Kevin Barrett, a founding member of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance said that the United States is “captive of the Zionist lobby.” The Zionist lobby, also known as Israel lobby or the Jewish lobby, is a diverse coalition of individuals and groups that seek to influence the foreign policy of the United States in support of Zionism and Israel. “Zionists in America own Congress. They donate half of the money that’s received by political candidates at the federal level and that includes both the Congress and the president,” Barrett said. “So they have tremendous leverage, especially over Congress.”

After 42 days on hunger strike, though acknowledged by the US military, the protest by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has so far been largely unacknowledged by international humanitarian organizations, a report said. - In a comment to RT the United Nations rights body said it is investigating allegations of mistreatment at America's detention facility in Cuba. "While aware of some of the allegations of mistreatment of inmates said to have provoked the hunger strike, which include undue interference with the inmates' personal effects, we are still trying to confirm the details," the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navy Pillay said.

Foreign Ministry.. Syria has warned of offering Chemical weapons to terrorists. - Terrorists on Tuesday launched a rocket containing chemical materials on Khan al-Asal area in Aleppo Countryside. The explosion of the rocket claimed the lives of 25 martyrs, while 110 citizens were injured, many of them in critical condition. Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on Tuesday sent two identical letters to President of the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General stating that in a dangerous escalation to the crimes perpetrated by the armed terrorist groups in north Syria, they launched a missile at 7,30 in the morning from Kfar Dael region into Khan al-Asal area in Aleppo governorate. "The missile fell in a region populated by civilians on a 300- m distance from the post of the Syrian Arab army soldiers," the Ministry said in the letters. It added that after the missile was exploded, a dense smoke has occurred which led to direct faint cases among citizens who were subjected to inhale those gases. The missile explosion and the gases have led to the martyrdom of 25 citizens until now while more than 110 others between civilians and soldiers were injured who were admitted to Aleppo hospitals.

ICH: Syria State TV Airs Footage of 'Chemical Attack Victims' - Video
PressTV: Syria condemns militants' use of WMD
Tony Cartalucci: NATO Proxies Using WMD's in Syria - Dozens Dead
Stephen J. Sniegoski: The Yinon Thesis Vindicated: Neocons, Israel, and the Fragmentation of Syria

The top U.S. military commander in Europe said Tuesday that NATO is conducting contingency planning for possible military involvement in Syria and American forces would be prepared if called upon by the United Nations and member countries. - The top U.S. military commander in Europe said Tuesday that NATO is conducting contingency planning for possible military involvement in Syria and American forces would be prepared if called upon by the United Nations and member countries. The Syrian civil war marked an ignominious two-year milestone this week with no sign that President Bashar Assad is close to giving up power. Adm. James Stavridis, commander of U.S. European Command, told a Senate panel that the United States is "looking at a variety of operations." "We are prepared if called upon to be engaged," Stavridis told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Stavridis, who is retiring soon, also said the option of assisting the opposition forces in Syria in ways that would break the deadlock are being actively explored by NATO members. A resolution from the U.N. Security Council and agreement among the alliance's 28 members would be required before NATO assumes a military role in Syria, he said.

Jason Ditz: US Commander: Working on Plans for Syria Intervention
Bill Van Auken: US, NATO prepare Syria intervention

The evil unleashed on the people of Iraq has been painstakingly obscured behind a tapestry of lies.

As British playwright Harold Pinter said in his 2005 Nobel Speech, "…my contention here is that the U.S. crimes… have only been superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognized as crimes at all." Pinter leads us to the central unmentionable problem of U.S. war policy, that it is in fact a crime, aggression, to attack or invade another country. The judges at Nuremberg called aggression the "supreme international crime", because, as they said, "it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." The Iraq Inquiry in the U.K. has declassified documents showing that Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw were warned consistently and repeatedly that invading Iraq would be a crime of aggression [6], which their legal advisers called "one of the most serious offenses under international law."

Dahr Jamail: In today's Iraq, it is unfortunately all too easy to find Iraqis who have had loved ones who have been detained and tortured, and the trend is increasing. Heba al-Shamary (name changed for security reasons) was released last week from an Iraqi prison where she spent the last four years. "I was tortured and raped repeatedly by the Iraqi security forces," she told Al Jazeera. "I want to tell the world what I and other Iraqi women in prison have had to go through these last years. It has been a hell." Heba was charged with terrorism, as so many Iraqis who are detained by the Iraqi security apparatus are charged. "I now want to explain to people what is occurring in the prisons that [Prime Minister Nouri al-] Maliki and his gangs are running," Heba added. "I was raped over and over again, I was kicked and beaten and insulted and spit upon." Heba's story, horrific as it is, unfortunately is but one example of what a recent report from Amnesty International refers to as "a grim cycle of human rights abuses" in Iraq today.

Dahr Jamail: 'Falluja Babies' and Depleted Uranium -- America's Toxic Legacy in Iraq - Two US-led wars in Iraq have left behind hundreds of tons of depleted uranium munitions and other toxic wastes. - Contamination from Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions and other military-related pollution is suspected of causing a sharp rises in congenital birth defects, cancer cases, and other illnesses throughout much of Iraq. Many prominent doctors and scientists contend that DU contamination is also connected to the recent emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in Iraq, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, and liver, as well as total immune system collapse. DU contamination may also be connected to the steep rise in leukaemia, renal, and anaemia cases, especially among children, being reported throughout many Iraqi governorates. There has also been a dramatic jump in miscarriages and premature births among Iraqi women, particularly in areas where heavy US military operations occurred, such as Fallujah.

Nothing depleted about 'depleted uranium'
Victims of war - Iraqi children and families - Depleted uranium and trauma

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem's response to the Cypriot parliament's decision to totally reject the Cypriot bank bailout deal today is only two sentences, and it offers no help at all:

I take note of the decision of the Cypriot parliament on the government's proposal for a oneoff stability levy. I confirm that the Eurogroup stands ready to assist Cyprus in its reform efforts and reiterate the position of the Eurogroup as I stated yesterday.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister, is of course a major power player in all of the EU bailout negotiations. His statement on the Cypriot parliament's decision to vote no on the deal today was similarly unhelpful. Cyprus is clearly in a bind, and it doesn't look like the EU has much figured out on what to do next.

SHTFplan.com: CONFISCATION: Panicked Europeans Rush ATMs as Leaders Move To Seize Funds Directly From Bank Account Holders
Zero Hedge: Nigel Farage Message To Europeans: "Get Your Money Out While You Can"
Daily Mail: Russia 'offers to write off debt if Cyprus opens up untapped oil fields to Gazprom
Cyprus Mail: Deputies throw out bailout deal
PressTV: Cypriot parliament rejects EU-IMF bailout tax on bank deposits
Russia Today: Cypriot parliament votes against deposit levy
Stephen Lendman: Grand Theft Cyprus
AWIP: ‘Blackmail has replaced solidarity’

Transportation Security Administration inspectors forced a wounded Marine who lost both of his legs in an IED blast and who was in a wheelchair to remove his prosthetic legs at one point, and at another point to stand painfully on his legs while his wheelchair was examined, according to a complaint a congressman has registered with the TSA. Rep. Duncan Hunter said in his letter Monday that the Marine, who is still on active duty and showed TSA agents his military identification, was still forced to undergo that scrutiny.

“A TSA office asked the Marine to stand and walk to an alternate area, despite the fact that he physically could not stand or walk on his own. With numerous TSA officers sitting and unwilling to assist, an officer then made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a secondary screening location where he was asked again to stand, with extraordinary difficult, while his wheelchair was examined for explosives,” Mr. Hunter said.