Gunshots have been reported in the Thai capital as clashes between thousands of protesters turned violent. While anti-government activists call for the removal of the Prime Minister, proponents took to the streets to “protect democracy.” One person was shot dead and at least 10 wounded in the outbreak of violence which took place between rival parties near a Bangkok stadium, according to hospital staff. Thousands of Red Shirt supporters of current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had been staging a rally at the venue. The shooting occurred after anti-government protesters waylaid and attacked several people who they had believed to be heading to the gathering, reported AP. At least five people received gunshot wounds and five others were injured by knives or rocks, according to officials at both the nearby Ramkamhaeng Hospital and the Dr Panya General Hospital who spoke to Reuters.

Russia Today: Ukrainian police violently eject pro-EU protesters from Kiev square (PHOTOS)

The Truthseeker: Michelle Bachmann Says Iran’s Nuclear Facilities “Must Be Bombed” ■ Talk about taking political bribes! Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Michelle Bachmann was given more than US$25,000 for a trip to Israel for herself and her son earlier in November. The $25,000 covered accommodation at the luxurious David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, shopping in Old City and visits to Joseph’s Tomb Overlook, Shiloh, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jordan Valley, Golan Heights, and a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. The U.S. Israel Education Association sponsored Bachmann’s visit along with that of other members of the U.S. House Representatives and their families. Their trip also included a tour of the Israel Aerospace Industries and the Defense Ministry. Of course nothing in life really comes for free, especially in politics and all the more so when Israel is involved. So in return for Zionist hospitality those Representatives making the trip were expected to return the favour, in one way or another. For some this may include voting for proposals that might favour Israel or opposing moves to relax sanctions on Iran. In Rep. Bachmann’s case she has already started to return the favour.

Anthony Lawson: Iran Bashing, Terrorism and Who Chose The Chosen People, Anyway? - VIDEO

Luxury home builders have discovered that buyers will pay top dollar for such extensively fortified mansions. One compound on hyperexclusive Indian Creek Island in Miami, Fla., completed in early 2012, includes a fully stocked safe room that operates on its own generator and has a separate ventilation system, a wine cellar wired with facial recognition software and an infrared surveillance system. The property traded last year for $47 million–the highest price ever paid for a house in Miami-Dade County. “In my opinion, will the buyer use [the panic room]? Probably never, realistically. But did it help sell the home? Yes, definitely,” says Oren Alexander, of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who cobrokered the sale.

Peter Symonds: Chinese fighters shadow US/Japanese warplanes in disputed ADIZ ■ The Chinese air force yesterday scrambled Su-30 and J-11 fighter jets after a dozen American and Japanese military aircraft entered the air defence identification zone (ADIZ) proclaimed by Beijing last weekend in the East China Sea. The incident is the first direct Chinese reaction to a US or Japanese incursion and heightens the danger of a miscalculation leading to a clash and conflict. Having declared the ADIZ, which overlaps with Japan’s own ADIZ and provocatively includes the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, the Chinese government has come under pressure from hawkish sections of the ruling elite not to back away. The Obama administration immediately challenged the ADIZ by flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers into the area on Tuesday without abiding by Chinese rules to provide flight plans, identification and maintain radio contact. Japan and South Korea followed suit on Wednesday, sending military aircraft to the zone. According to the Chinese Defence Ministry, the Chinese fighters identified two US reconnaissance planes and 10 Japanese military aircraft, including early warning, reconnaissance and fighter aircraft. The statement explained that the Chinese aircraft monitored their American and Japanese counterparts throughout their flights in the ADIZ.

SCMP: Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning takes up role in South China Sea
New York Times: Airlines Urged by U.S. to Give Notice to China
PressTV: James Petras: US involvement in East China Sea dispute ‘disastrous’ - Audio

China said it sent warplanes into its newly declared maritime air defense zone days after the U.S., South Korea and Japan all sent flights through the airspace in broadening defiance of rules Beijing says it has imposed over the East China Sea. ● China's air force on Thursday sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft on normal air patrols in the zone, the Xinhua agency reported, citing air force spokesman Shen Jinke. The report did not specify exactly when the flights were sent or whether they had encountered foreign military aircraft. The United States, Japan and South Korea have said they have sent military or coast guard flights through the zone without encountering any Chinese response since Beijing announced its creation last week. Shen described Thursday's flights as "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices." He said China's air force would remain on high alert and will take measures to protect the country's airspace. Chinese officials have said commercial flights are unaffected by the new rules.

Japan is ‘prime target’ in China's new air zone: state media

Mark Valencia: Time to regulate air defence zones to prevent conflict ■ From China's perspective, it was simply "levelling the playing field". China has a "right" by international precedent and practice to declare an air defence identification zone to protect its sovereignty over territory and the maritime areas it claims. Moreover, China said the zone rules would not affect normal commercial air traffic, implying that it applies to military aircraft only. [...] The US has five air defence identification zones around North America, including a large one off Alaska and the Aleutian Islands extending several hundreds of kilometres out to sea. In this zone, both foreign civilian and military aircraft are monitored and interrogated. The US zone is jointly administered by civilian air traffic control authorities and the North American Aerospace Defence Command. The US requires any aircraft entering its zone to radio its planned course and destination. Any aircraft in this zone without authorisation may be treated as a threat, potentially leading to interception by fighter aircraft.

John Chan: Tensions escalate over Chinese air defence zone ■ China’s declaration of an ADIZ last weekend was a calculated attempt to challenge Japanese control over the disputed islets, as well as Washington’s backing for Tokyo. It was also aimed against the frequent US military reconnaissance in waters and airspace just off the Chinese mainland. Asia in 2013 is increasingly resembling Europe in 1913. The global crisis of capitalism is greatly exacerbating the tensions between the rival powers that erupted in the barbarism of World War I.

China has sent warplanes to its newly declared air defence zone in the East China Sea, state media reports. ● The vast zone, announced last week, covers territory claimed by China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. China has said all planes transiting the zone must file flight plans and identify themselves, or face "defensive emergency measures". But Japan, South Korea and the US have all since flown military aircraft through the area. The new dispute in an already tense region has raised concerns it could escalate into an unplanned military incident. China's state news agency Xinhua quoted air force spokesman Col Shen Jinke as saying several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft had been deployed to carry out routine patrols as "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices". He said the country's air force would remain on high alert and would take measures to deal with all air threats to protect national security. In Xinhua's Chinese language version of the article, the colonel said the aircraft would "strengthen the monitoring of targets in the air defence zone and do their duty".

South China Morning Post: Seoul and Tokyo defy China’s air zone as Beijing insists it is in ‘full control’
South China Morning Post: China tells Japan it would ‘consider cancelling air zone in 44 years’
Russia Today: Defiant flights: Japan, S. Korea military planes fly into China's air defense zone
China Daily: Air zone 'not aimed at civilian flights'

Just last night the superstar Israeli hoopster helped the Rockets soar to victory over the growling Grizzlies | Superstar Israeli hoopster Omri Casspi is about to claim another remarkable honor in his stellar career: The White House has invited the Houston Rockets small forward to participate in the Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony on December 5. Each year, the Obama family has held a reception in honor of Hanukkah at an event featuring kosher food and a long list of dignitaries. Last year's featured members of Cabinet, Congress, two Supreme Court Justices, and other Jewish community leaders: this year will feature, among others, Casspi. Just last night, one day before Hanukkah starts, Casspi brought gratification to the people of Israel and presumably to fans of the Rockets by playing a central role in defeating the Memphis Grizzlies. Casspi's 16 points led the Rockets to soar from a double-digit deficit to a victory of 93-86. Casspi, 25 and towering at 6"9, scored 11 points in the last quarter.

David Duke: The Jewish War on Christmas! ■ Christmas traditions banned—Jewish symbols erected! Every year, the world’s biggest Menorah stands right across from the White House on government property. During the Christmas season Menorahs are displayed on prime public property across the United States. Thousands of Menorahs are placed in front of town halls, federal buildings and schools. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that Jewish Menorahs are allowed, but Christian-themed scenes and deco-rated crosses must be banned. Even beautiful Christmas carols that have been sung since the earliest days of America are now banned in most schools. Although it may come as a surprise to some Americans, the effort to destroy Christmas traditions has been led by the organized Jewish community. The American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the ADL and a host of powerful Jewish groups have led the attack against Christmas. [...] At the same time symbols of the birth of Jesus are torn down, symbols of anti-Christian Judaism are erected. A manger scene of a child being born in the name of love and joy; for peace on earth and goodwill toward men — is banned. And what is it replaced by? A symbol of Hanukkah celebrating the annihilation of Jewish enemies and fostering Jewish resistance to assimilation.

Over the last three years Cafe Palestine Freiburg has been harassed by both major and minor institutions in the City of Freiburg. We took the mayor and also the University of Freiburg, influenced by Holocaust scholar Dr. Schwendemann, to court and won both cases and we also easily survived Henryk M. Broder (infamous German Hasbara-Islamophobe), German Israeli Society and Antideutsche’s attempts to destroy the Cafe’s reputation. But apparently, Zionists and supporters of Israel, still determined to stop us, are now reverting to terror. Yesterday, we hosted Israeli filmmaker Yotam Feldman and his latest documentary " The Lab" – a film that discloses the Israeli military industry and presents Israel, its weapon dealers and death merchants in a very dark light. However, as soon as the screening commenced, we learned that alarm clocks had been planted in the hall, set to go off during the screening in order to evoke panic. Despite this shocking attempt at disruption we decided to continue with the screening. However, once the Q&A session with filmmaker Yotam Feldman was over we found a threatening note attached to one clock: Antisemitismus bleibt nicht ungestört (Anti-semitism will not go unchallenged). This incident has, of course, been reported to the Freiburg police and today it will be decided whether it will be forwarded to a government agency, passed onto the prosecuting authorities or buried in a filing cabinet. But whatever the outcome, it seems that in the light of the current growing affinity between the United Nations and Iran and the downfall of Israeli Hasbara, we are already encountering a new and vile wave of Zionist intimidation.

South Africa's former president claims that his country was asked to help Britain topple Robert Mugabe.
● Tony Blair’s Government asked South Africa to help Britain invadeZimbabwe and topple Robert Mugabe by force, Thabo Mbeki, the former president, has disclosed. When Zimbabwe began sinking into economic collapse and political repression in 2000, South Africa and Britain held starkly different views over how to respond to the crisis. Mr Mbeki favoured a negotiated settlement; Mr Blair wanted Mr Mugabe to go, by force if necessary. “The problem was, we were speaking from different positions,” said Mr Mbeki, who served as South Africa’s president from 1999 until 2008. “There were other people saying ‘yes indeed there are political problems, economic problems, the best way to solve them is regime change. So Mugabe must go’. This was the difference. So they said ‘Mugabe must go’. But we said ‘Mugabe is part of the solution to this problem’.” Mr Mbeki recalled an interview given by Lord Guthrie, who was Chief of the Defence Staff and Britain’s most senior soldier throughout Mr Blair’s first government. In 2007, Lord Guthrie disclosed that “people were always trying to get me to look at” toppling Mr Mugabe by force.

The world's leading Scientists, Physicians, Attorneys, Politicians and Environmental Activists expose the corruption and dangers surrounding the widespread use of Genetically Modified Organisms in the new feature length documentary, "Seeds of Death: Unveiling the Lies of GMOs".

In case you missed this absurd joke, the latest from yarmulke-wearing Rand Paul. On November 12, 2013 Rand Addressed Cadets at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C and gave these incredible comments:

"Amidst the chaos of the Middle East we have always had one friend that never leaves our side-Israel. As an ally, Israel has never wavered. One thing you can know for sure is you will never see an Israeli burning the American flag. America has never backed down from a fight-but we should never be a nation that is eager to get involved in nations' conflicts that work against our own national security. President Eisenhower said: "I have one yardstick by which I test every major problem - and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?" Is our current foreign policy good for America? Is our involvement in Egypt, Syria and Pakistan to our benefit-or our detriment?"

Randy also babbled about "When we finally caught Osama Bin Laden, it was in Pakistan..." The same day Rand gave the speech, Robert Wenzel of EconomicPolicyJournal.com reported that Rand "goes on an insane pro-Israel, militaristic tweeting binge." Last summer, Rand admitted that he visits with Israeli groups daily. As for the claims about 'never burning the American flag,' I guess Rand has never heard of the USS Liberty.

Surveillance during 2010 summit 'closely co-ordinated with Canadian partner' CSEC. ● Top secret documents retrieved by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden show that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government allowed the largest American spy agency to conduct widespread surveillance in Canada during the 2010 G8 and G20 summits. The documents are being reported exclusively by CBC News. The briefing notes, stamped "Top Secret," show the U.S. turned its Ottawa embassy into a security command post during a six-day spying operation by the National Security Agency while U.S. President Barack Obama and 25 other foreign heads of government were on Canadian soil in June of 2010. The covert U.S. operation was no secret to Canadian authorities. An NSA briefing note describes the American agency's operational plans at the Toronto summit meeting and notes they were "closely co-ordinated with the Canadian partner." The NSA and its Canadian "partner," the Communications Security Establishment Canada, gather foreign intelligence for their respective governments by covertly intercepting phone calls and hacking into computer systems around the world.

CIA Officer Craig Peters Osth has been revealed to be the
Chief of Station in Islamabad, Pakistan. He has also been
the COS of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. (Cryptocomb)

A political party in Pakistan has publicly identified the top CIA spy in the country—and it wants him interrogated and put on trial over a recent US drone strike, reports the Guardian. The PTI party, notably led by a former cricket star named Imran Khan, identified the Islamabad station chief in a letter to police. It named him and CIA chief John Brennan as responsible for a drone strike earlier this month that killed civilians along with militants. Wire services are not naming the station chief. PTI officials say he doesn't have diplomatic immunity and therefore should be tried for murder, reports AP. They also say he should be interrogated to provide the names of the drone pilots who controlled the plane from afar. Assuming the identity is correct, it would be the second time in three years that those opposed to drone strikes in the country have identified a station chief. The first one had to leave the country in 2010.

The Hindu: Imran's party files complaint against CIA station chief ● Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) has named the CIA station chief in Islamabad, Craig Osth and CIA Director John O. Brennan in a complaint lodged at Tal police station in Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday against the drone strike on November 21 which killed six persons. In a complaint filed for committing the offences of murder and waging war against Pakistan by Shireen Mazari, central information secretary PTI alleged that Craig Osth is running an illegal clandestine spying operation throughout Pakistan but specifically in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and annexed Tribal Areas, wherein Osth and his allies (names not known yet) throw a GPS (Global Positioning System) device at a targeted house/ car and the Drone (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), which is remotely controlled from an undisclosed location, strikes at the target. In the Hangu case it was Craig Osth and his clandestine network which threw a GPS device at the madrassa in Tal and further ordered the missile strike, which killed and injured a large number of those present including children.

Cryptome: CIA station chief in Islamabad (named leaked) is Craig Peters Osth
The News: CIA chief accused of murder over Hangu drone attack
CLG: CIA, DEA, operated without oversight in Brazil; Craig Osth identified as CIA head
No Right Turn: Burning the CIA

Document leaked by Edward Snowden shows agency sought out 'vulnerabilities' such as looking at explicit material online. ● The NSA has been collecting details about the online sexual activity of prominent Islamist radicals in order to undermine them, according to a new Snowden document published by the Huffington Post. The American surveillance agency targeted six unnamed "radicalisers", none of whom is alleged to have been involved in terror plots. One document argues that if the vulnerabilities they are accused of were to be exposed, this could lead to their devotion to the jihadist cause being brought into question, with a corresponding loss of authority. As an example of vulnerabilities, it lists: "Viewing sexually explicit material online or using sexually persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls." The names of the six targeted individuals have been redacted. One is listed as having been imprisoned for inciting hatred against non-Muslims. Under vulnerabilities, the unnamed individual is listed as being involved in "online promiscuity" as well as possibly misdirecting donations.

No Right Turn: The NSA, PRISM and porn

● This month, more Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles (MRAPs) have found their way from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the Main Streets of America. These are just the latest acquisitions in a growing practice by Pentagon that's militarizing America's municipal police forces.
● Police departments in Boise and Nampa, Idaho, each acquired an MRAP, as did the force in High Springs, Florida. The offer of war-ready machinery, at practically no cost, has proven hard to resist for local police departments. Increasingly, they are looking like soldiers equipped for battle.
● The growing similarity between our domestic police forces and the U.S. military is a result of the Pentagon's 1033 Program. This allows the Defense Department to donate surplus military equipment and weapons to law enforcement agencies. In addition to the frightening presence of paramilitary weapons in American towns, the program has led to rampant fraud and abuse.
● It does not have to be this way. Congress can, and must, take decisive steps to scale back the program and demilitarize American police forces. Here's how to do it.

If you live in the United States, you live in a high tech surveillance grid that is becoming more oppressive with each passing day. In America today, the control freaks that run things are completely obsessed with watching, tracking, monitoring and recording virtually everything that we do. If we continue on the path that we are currently on, we will be heading into a future where there will be absolutely no privacy of any kind. In fact, many would argue that we are essentially there already. Many people speak of this as being the “Information Age“, but most Americans don’t really stop and think about what that really means. Most of the information that is considered to be so “valuable” is actually about all of us. Businesses want to know as much about all of us as possible so that they can sell us stuff. Government officials want to know as much about all of us as possible so that they can make sure that we are not doing anything that they don’t like.

The Italian Senate has voted to expel ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament with immediate effect over his conviction for tax fraud. ● Berlusconi, who has dominated politics for 20 years, could now face arrest over other criminal cases as he has lost his immunity from prosecution. He told supporters in Rome it was a "day of mourning" for democracy. Ahead of the vote, he vowed to remain in politics to lead his Forza Italia in a "fight for the good of Italy". A defiant Berlusconi told supporters gathered outside his Rome residence that "no political leader has suffered a persecution such as I have lived through". He said: "It is a bitter day, a day of mourning."

The revelations that Hollywood producer and chair of New Regency Films Arnon Milchan, the man behind Pretty Woman, Fight Club, LA Confidential, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, was a Mossad agent, a spy, and an arms dealer are just hitting the mainstream press, but in 2011, Joseph Gelman and Meir Doron wrote a book called Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycooon–Arnon Milchan which made very little splash on Amazon. [...] I’m not an expert on espionage laws, but this raises some questions: Isn’t what Milchan did in the 1970s illegal?

Kenny's Sideshow: Tinker Tailor Terrorist Spy ■ Billionaire Hollywood producer and Israeli citizen, Arnon Milchan, who has long tinkered with the American mind and apparently tailored Oliver Stone's "JFK" to divert from Israel's and the jewish role in the assassination has finally admitted that he worked as a terrorist arms dealer and spy for his 'country.' Notice that in the US, western and Israeli main steam media reports, that while listing a number of films Milchan has produced, "JFK" is conspicuous by its absence. Shouldn't there be an immediate indictment issued for Milchan's arrest? If he ever sets foot again in this country shouldn't he be taken into custody for high crimes? He should share a cell with Jonathan Pollard. Of course it won't happen and we all know the reasons why. It does add to the list of why we should boycott all Hollywood films as they so often provide cover for the crimes and myths of Israel. Being a traitor to the country these propagandists work in is just business as usual.

“Enlightened and Christian Warfare in the 19th Century–
Massacre of Indian Women and Children in Idaho” pub-
lished in “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated,” August 1868.

The Defining and Enabling Experience of Our “Civilization” | As we again plan to celebrate what US “Americans”call Thanksgiving, let us pause for a moment of reflection. Let us recognize that accounts of the first Thanksgiving are mythological, and that the holiday is actually a grotesque celebration of our arrogant ethnocentrism built on genocide.

Native Americans in the Caribbean greeted their 1492 European invaders with warm hospitality. They were so innocent that Genoan Cristoforo Colombo wrote in his log, They willingly traded everything they owned . . . They do not bear arms . . . They would make fine servants . . . They could easily be made Christians . . . With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want. This meeting set in motion a 500+-year plunder of the Western Hemisphere, which then spread to the remainder of the globe. And it has not stopped!

Historian Hans Köning concludes that what sets the West apart is its persistence, its capacity to stop at nothing. Cultural historian Lewis Mumford declared, Wherever Western man went, slavery, land robbery, lawlessness, culture-wrecking, and the outright extermination of both wild beasts and tame men went with him.

Jump 129 years to 1621, year of the supposed “first Thanksgiving.” There is not much documentation of that event, apparently a three-day feast, but surviving Indians do not trust the myth. Natives were already dying like flies thanks to European-borne diseases. The Pequot tribe in today’s Connecticut reportedly numbered 8,000 when the Pilgrims arrived, but disease had reduced their population to 1,500 by 1637, when the first, officially proclaimed, all-Pilgrim “Thanksgiving” took place. At that feast, the whites of New England celebrated their massacre of the Pequots in the Connecticut Valley where the Mystic River meets the sea. The Indians were in fact celebrating their annual green corn dance ceremony. But it was to be their last.

According to an analysis of recent polling data conducted by Real Clear Politics, approximately 68 percent of all Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track and only 23.5 percent of all Americans believe that the country is on the right track. And of course our problems did not appear just recently. In fact, many of them are the result of decades of very foolish decisions and they are not going to be fixed easily. Unfortunately, there is very little consensus among Americans about how to fix any of our problems. There is more anger, frustration, hatred and division in the United States today than there has been in decades, and there is very little hope that the great storms that are looming on the horizon will be averted. Those that are wise are preparing for what is coming. Those that are not are going to be absolutely blindsided by what is rapidly approaching.

Keith Johnson: Israeli Data Spies Have Eyes Focused on U.S. Citizens ■ While the National Security Agency (NSA) spying scandal continues to grab national headlines, the equally egregious intelligence gathering on United States citizens by Israeli security firms has virtually flown under the radar. A recent article in Rolling Stone magazine, entitled “Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters,” comes close to scratching the surface by identifying the four major security contractors that have been aggressively hawking their invasive surveillance products at various trade shows and police conferences throughout the nation. However, they fail to mention that at least two of those companies are owned and operated by members of a foreign nation with a long and notorious history of spying on the U.S. government and its citizens.

The Hollywood producer behind box office hits including Fight Club, Pretty Woman and LA Confidential has spoken about his life as an Israeli secret agent and arms dealer, saying he was proud of working for his country. ● Arnon Milchan gave a lengthy interview to the Israeli documentary programme Uvda, broadcast on Monday on Channel 2, confirming claims made earlier in an unauthorised biography that he worked for an Israeli agency that negotiated arms deals and supported Israel's secret nuclear weapons project. Milchan, who was born in Israel, was recruited as a young businessman to the Bureau of Scientific Relations – known by its Hebrew acronym, Lakam – by Shimon Peres, now Israel's president, in the 1960s. The bureau, which worked to obtain scientific and technical information for secret defence programmes, closed in 1987. Milchan, 68, is the chairman of New Regency Productions, which has produced more than 120 Hollywood movies since the 1970s, working with actors and directors such as Robert de Niro, Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Oliver Stone, Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.

“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action (the title of the Iran-powers deal), and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Tuesday. She said that the four-page text under the name of the Joint Plan of Action (which has been released by the Iranian foreign ministry) was the result of the agreement reached during the Geneva talks and all of its sentences and words were chosen based on the considerations of all parties to the talks. In fact one of the reasons why negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 took so long pertained to the accuracy which was needed for choosing the words for the text of the agreement, Afkham said, explaining that the Iranian delegation was much rigid and laid much emphasis on the need for this accuracy.

US warplanes have directly challenged China’s claims of an expanding territorial air defence zone, flying dramatically and without incident on Monday over a disputed island chain. ● The incursion comes on the heels of a scathing statement over the weekend by defence secretary Chuck Hagel rejecting the expansion of the Chinese air defence zone into the East China Sea as a provocative threat to regional stability. But the Pentagon insisted on Tuesday that the overflight was not a reaction to the Chinese declaration. While US navy ships frequently traverse the Taiwan Strait, it is extremely rare for the US military to issue a blatant show of force near Chinese-claimed territory. For years the Pentagon has argued unsuccessfully for a direct military-to-military communications channel to prevent potentially catastrophic misunderstandings in the region.

John Chan: US sends B-52s to China’s air defence zone ■ In a deliberately provocative move, the US announced yesterday that two B-52 strategic bombers conducted a training mission over the disputed Senkakus islands (known as Diaoyu in China) in the East China Sea, just days after Beijing declared an “air defence identification zone” (ADIZ) covering the area. The Pentagon’s claim that it was a routine planned mission lacks any credibility. The overflight was clearly designed to challenge China, in line with US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel’s statement that the US air force would simply ignore the Chinese rules in the zone. Announcing Obama’s tour last week, US national security adviser Susan Rice declared: “Rebalancing toward the Asia-Pacific remains a cornerstone of the Obama administration’s foreign policy… No matter how many hotspots emerge elsewhere, we will continue to deepen our enduring commitment to this critical region.” Rice’s comments are a warning that the US will not hesitate to use every means to ensure its continued hegemony in Asia.

PressTV: US, China flexing muscles in Pacific

With all the dangers and possible pitfalls of modern life, none is so worrisome as possibly being selected to be the shadow government's next patsy. This short video should help with finding the warning signs, and what to look for when avoiding this potentially dangerous situation...Article written by Henry Makow, Ph.D.. Used with permission. Edited for video by "Betsy McGee"