A US Senate committee had passed a bill that would allow, if signed for the Obama administration to supply arms to Syrian opposition — a move that could threaten the entire region if these weapons end up in terrorist cells operating on the ground. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 15-3 vote showed bipartisan support among US politicians for arming the rebels.

Pepe Escobar: Assad talks, Russia walks

Pakistani voters decisively repudiated the country’s outgoing Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government, which for five years served as a pliant instrument of US imperialism, extending the AfPak War across northwestern Pakistan and imposing IMF austerity measures. - Official results of Saturday’s national and four provincial assembly elections are not expected for several more days. But unofficial partial returns indicate that the PPP’s traditional electoral rival, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML (N), will obtain a strong plurality or possibly a majority of the seats in the National Assembly. The PML (N) also retained control over the government of the Punjab, home to 60 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people.

Hussain Yasa: Pakistan: Elections with Fragmented mandate [Saturday 11 May 2013]

The humiliation of Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf deepened today when he was arrested by police and taken before a judge - a day after he fled from court in an apparent bid to avoid detention. Police arrested the former dictator overnight at his “farmhouse” on the outskirts of Islamabad and took him to the court of a judicial magistrate. He was later allowed to return to his residence which has been classified as a “sub-jail” and where he will be held under house arrest. In a comment posted on social media following his arrest, Mr Musharraf claimed the charges against him were politically motivated. "I will fight them in the trial court, where the truth will eventually prevail" he said. Television footage showed Mr Musharraf being led to the office of the judge, walking past lines of police and paramilitary soldiers. He was taken inside the building and then later taken back to his house in the Chak Shahzad neighbourhood in a convoy of vehicles.

The Nation: Musharraf’s fate (Op-Ed)
The Nation: Musharraf shifted to police headquarters
The Frontier Post: Nawaz says 'Musharraf committed great crimes'
The Frontier Post: Treason case: Musharraf submits plea to form full bench
The News: Pervez Musharraf arrested, granted 2-day transit remand
The News: Pervez Musharraf arrested, in government’s custody: Habib

Glenda Jackson's attack on Baroness Thatcher drew jeers - but, she tells Andy McSmith, she has no regrets. - Glenda Jackson, the Labour MP who stole the show during Commons tributes to Margaret Thatcher, claimed that messages coming in from the public were ten-to-one in her favour. She was unrepentant about her attack on the “heinous social, economic and spiritual damage” which she said that Mrs Thatcher had wreaked upon the UK during her premiership, which caused uproar when she delivered it. She said she was also struck by the way the tributes are being led by the Conservatives, when it was the Conservative leadership that sacked Margaret Thatcher in 1990. “That’s another thing – the manner of her going hasn’t been touched on. I find that bemusing,” she said.

Whistleblowing group WikiLeaks unveiled plans on Saturday to field candidates in at least three states in Australia's elections and said it would be “embarrassing” if Julian Assange won but couldn't take his seat. - Assange, Australian-born founder of the controversial WikiLeaks site, announced that he would run for the Senate last year and is pushing ahead with the plan despite being holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June. Greg Barns, a lawyer who is Assange's newly-appointed campaign director, said the WikiLeaks Party had secured candidates to run in at least three states when Australia goes to the polls on September 14.

Sydney Morning Herald: WikiLeaks bid for Senate - VIDEO

Spanish Jews accused politicians in Galicia of blocking a resolution for commemorating the Holocaust because they oppose Israel. The speakers of the leftist AGE party and the nationalist BNG party in the parliament of Galicia -- an autonomous region in northern Spain -- vetoed a draft resolution commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, preventing it from going to a vote, according to the Federation of Jewish Communities (FCJE) in Spain.

Italy remains without a government four weeks after the country’s parliamentary elections. Last Friday, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano gave the head of the Democratic Party (PD), Pier Luigi Bersani, a mandate to form a government. Over the last two days, however, Bersani has been bluntly rejected by both potential partners in a government—the right-wing People of Freedom (PDL) of Silvio Berlusconi and the populist 5-Star Movement (M5S) of comedian Beppe Grillo. The basic dilemma Bersani confronts is that he is seeking to assemble a government to carry forward austerity policies demanded by the bank and the European Union (EU), although the Italian electorate repudiated such policies in the February 24-25 election.

Global democracy has neither advanced nor retreated substantially in the past year, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2012 democracy index, which was published on March 20th. Among the findings of our latest index, now in its fifth edition, are that democratisation prospects in the Arab world remain highly uncertain; that democracy has regressed in much of eastern Europe; and that there is a crisis in popular confidence in politics in the West. In short: it is not easy to build a sturdy democracy, and even long-established democracies are vulnerable to corrosion if not nurtured and protected.

In an extraordinary day in Australian politics, the prime minister, Julia Gillard has kept her job after a day of political wrangling that ended with a leadership contest where no one dared stand against her. - Julia Gillard announced a "spill" – declaring her position open and inviting rivals to nominate for the job of Labor leader and, thereby, prime minister. The dramatic move followed calls by a senior ministers in her government for her to be replaced in the top job by her predecessor, Kevin Rudd. But when the ballot took place two and a half hours later, Rudd refused to nominate.

The Guardian: Julia Gillard holds on as prime minister – in pictures

On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Jack Lew to be secretary of the Treasury, by a vote of 71 to 26... After serving in the Clinton Administration, Lew went to work at New York University. During his tenure as executive vice president for operations, from 2001 to 2006, the university came under scrutiny for making Citigroup the "preferred lender" for students, in exchange for getting a cut of loan revenue. After then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo started investigating these kickbacks, NYU returned $1.4 million to students and agreed to a $2 million settlement with the state. Lew's salary at NYU was more than $800,000--higher even than the university president's. When Lew left NYU in 2006 to work for Citigroup--yes, the same bank with which NYU had the preferred lender arrangement--the university gave him a $685,000 severance payment.

Italian voters have unambiguously rejected the politics of the Monti government and the European Union. This has triggered panic and outrage in Europe's capitals and unleashed ferocious tremors on the international finance markets. Some 55 percent of the electorate voted for parties that spoke out against the EU in their campaigns. The slate headed by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, which was supported by Brussels, Berlin, the Catholic Church and numerous Italian businessmen, only received 10 percent of the vote.

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

She was the woman of principle who implored Labor and Yesh Atid to join her in blocking Netanyahu. Now she’s traded her 'integrity' [sic] for two ministries and a meaningless promise to head peace talks. - Tzipi Livni’s decision to join Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is the first bombshell of the post-election, coalition-building season: In a reversal of her pre-Election Day stance, the woman who went on TV to implore the heads of the two leading center-left parties to join her and build an alliance to thwart the unsuitable Netanyahu’s return to the prime ministership is now the first to join the coalition, all but ensuring that Netanyahu will retain the post.

Haaretz: In first coalition deal, Livni set to be named justice minister

Both the Democratic and Republican leadership said they expect to confirm Hagel at the next vote - Senate Republicans on Thursday temporarily blocked the nomination to secretary of defense of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, with Democrats coming just one vote shy from blocking a filibuster. Congress is in recess all of next week, so another vote for Hagel’s nomination will take place a week from Tuesday, buying Republicans more time to question him and his Washington allies. The leadership of both the Democratic and Republican parties say they expect Hagel to be confirmed when the next vote takes place on Feb. 26. That would make Thursday’s obstructionism merely a political move to show the President and conservative constituents they stood against Obama’s Hagel nomination.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday narrowly approved the choice of Chuck Hagel to serve as President Barack Obama's next defense secretary, sending the controversial nomination to the full Senate. - Hagel's nomination cleared the committee in a straight party line 14 to 11 vote. No Republicans backed the former Nebraska GOP senator, a decorated Vietnam veteran who has come under fire on a range of issues relating to American foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, declared that he could not "in good conscience support this nomination because ... it is sending the worst possible signal to our friends [Israel] and our enemies [none] alike."

A little old, but critical to understanding the Wars For The Jews: "The Crown family: investing in weapons, war ...and Obama":

"One family stands out as playing exactly that role in the political career of Barack Obama: the Crown family of Chicago. The importance of this relationship in Obama’s career exposes some of the roots of his subservience to the government of Israel, his threats of aggression against Iran, his expansion of the JSOC/CIA targeted killing program, and his unswerving commitment to record military budgets in a time of economic and fiscal crisis." [and:] "Lester Crown was speaking to the Chicago Jewish News in 2008 to allay fears among American Zionists regarding Obama’s views on Israel and Palestine. He stressed that, “knowing him long before he got into politics, I know he is completely supportive, without any question or equivocation, of Israel’s security. He is only interested (in a two-state solution) if Israel’s security is absolutely assured, and that was his position long before he ever went into politics. His speeches to AIPAC are not new positions, merely the vocalization of what he has always believed..."

During the marathon confirmation hearing of Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense, Israel and Iran topped the list of issues with each being mentioned 166 and 144 times respectively. - The “ill-prepared” former Nebraska senator answered questions on Thursday in the Senate Armed Services Committee in a meeting that lasted roughly eight hours. Hagel was undoubtedly expected to face an uphill battle since his past policy comments against Israel and his opposition to White House’s decisions about Iran had assured the powerful Jewish lobby in the US, The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), that they needed all their ammunition for the fight against Obama’s nominee as the Pentagon chief. Several senators took aim at Hagel who had in the past branded the supporters of Israel as “the Jewish lobby” which “intimidates” US senators into doing “dumb things.”

■ Instead of asking about crucial issues like budget cuts in the Pentagon, US drawdown in Afghanistan and America’s new focus on Asia, Hagel faced “a risible array of hyperbolic, ill-informed, gotcha questions and expressions of narrow parochial concerns that had almost nothing to do with the challenges facing the next secretary of defense,” Michael Cohen wrote in the Guardian on Friday.

■ Professor Stephen M. Walt, who co-authored The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy with professor John Mearsheimer in 2007, wrote on the website of Foreign Policy on Friday that the hearing provided “such a compelling vindication” of the views they presented in their landmark publication. "The bottom line is that AIPAC, which bills itself as ‘America's Pro-Israel lobby' has an almost unchallenged hold on Congress ... Open debate about U.S. policy toward Israel does not occur there, even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world. (p. 162),” the duo wrote in the book.

Bill Van Auken: US Defense nominee Hagel bows to right on Israel, Iran and militarism - Thursday’s Senate confirmation hearing for Chuck Hagel at times assumed the tone of an inquisition, with Obama’s nominee for defense secretary pushed to recant previous positions critical of Israel and swear his support for unbridled US militarism. Hagel, a Vietnam veteran and former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, did his best to present himself as an unwavering proponent of the use of American armed might around the globe.

Justin Raimondo: Hagel Hearing: The War Party’s Waterloo - Interestingly, Hagel didn’t back down: He said "I don’t know." As to what motivates any particular member of Congress on any specific "dumb thing" they do – well, he couldn’t know, could he? But of course, everybody knows about the Israel lobby: and if its power and vindictiveness were ever in danger of being forgotten, then surely the battle over Hagel’s confirmation has reminded us. To anyone who lives outside the Washington bubble, there was something profoundly weird about the ritualistic invocations of undying loyalty to Israel.

Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense told Congress he will ensure the US can strike Iran, if necessary. Former Senator Chuck Hagel, who was criticized for his dovish stance on Iran, has made an apparent U-turn by saber-rattling towards Tehran. - Hagel addressed Congress ahead of his confirmation hearing on Thursday, stressing that although there is “time and space” for negotiation with Iran, “the window is closing” on a diplomatic solution. "If confirmed, I will focus intently on ensuring that [the] US military is in fact prepared for any contingency," Hagel said in a write-up of questions and answers for the confirmation hearing obtained by Reuters. He also wrote that Iran needs to show signs that it is ready to negotiate seriously: “If Iran continues to flout its international obligations, it should continue to face severe and growing consequences.” However, Hagel warned that the US must be “cautious and certain” before taking action. Hagel also outlined his “unshakable” commitment to maintaining the longstanding US alliance with Israel.

PressTV: Hagel’s new anti-Iran stance beggars belief

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to run for a seat in the Australian Senate in 2013, it has been confirmed on Wednesday. It is not yet clear how he will escape from London’s Ecuadorean embassy. - WikiLeaks representative Kristinn Hrafnsson confirmed to RT that Julian Assange will run for a seat in the Australian Senate. A native of Australia’s Queensland state, Assange said in March last year that he wanted to “bring liberty back to the center of Australian politics.” His Senate candidacy will help him defend free speech and the “right of citizens… to live their lives free from state interference,” he explained.

Naharnet: WikiLeaks' Assange to Run for Australian Senate

[Video] Heretic Productions present CNI - Council for the National Interest: Our uniquely massive support for Israel has cost trillions of dollars and multitudes of lives. It has diminished our moral standing in the world, lessened our domestic freedoms, and exposed us to unnecessary and growing peril. The majority of Americans -- as well as our diplomatic and military experts -- oppose this unique relationship. Yet, the lobby for Israel continues to foment policies that are disastrous for our nation and tragic for the region. If we are to have Middle East policies that serve the national interest, that represent the highest values of our founders and our citizens, and that work to sustain a nation of honor, decency, security, and prosperity, then it is essential that all Americans become active and informed.