Stephen Lendman

Since 2008, Western nations have force-fed their people austerity poison. Decline replaces prosperity. Millions suffer. Living standards deteriorate. Societies become no longer fit to live in. Neoliberal and imperial priorities let essential public needs go begging. How much more people will take before erupting remains to be seen. The longer fiscal pain continues, the closer an ultimate day of reckoning approaches. It'll arrive disruptively. Perhaps people will recognize that throwing out bums for new ones accomplishes nothing.

America is Exhibit A. Political Washington is corrupt, immoral, degenerate, and unprincipled. Instead of helping people, they destroy them. They benefit from imposing misery. Allied with criminal bankers an other corporate predators, their policies made conditions for growing millions intolerable.

Imperial wars destroy nations. Austerity leaves "nothing to drive the economy," says Paul Craig Roberts. Washington's solution is increase it. Doing it is economically destructive. Only bankers, other corporate favorites, and war profiteers benefit.

Michael Hudson says austerity sacrifices the "production economy, the consumption economy, (and) the real economy...." Viable alternatives are ignored to benefit privileged elites at the expense of most others. Hudson calls it

"financial warfare against the entire society, not only against labor, but against industry and, most of all, against government." Productive "industrial capitalism" became predatory "finance capitalism." It's not financing industry. It's furthering "economic parasitism and overhead."

Politicians in Washington support it. Obama exceeds the worst of Bush. Europe is corrupted the same way.

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Stephen Lendman

Russia is Washington's main military rival. Each nation has powerful nuclear arsenals and delivery systems able to destroy the other.

On December 31, 1999, Russia's lost decade under Boris Yeltsin ended. Vladimir Putin replaced him. Yeltsin institutionalized "shock therapy." Economic genocide followed. GDP plunged 50%. Life expectancy fell. Democratic freedoms died. An oligarch class accumulated enormous wealth at the expense of millions of harmed Russians. Contemptuously ignoring essential needs, human rights and civil liberties, Yeltsin let corruption and criminality flourish. One scandal followed another. Money-laundering became sport. Billions in stolen wealth were hidden in Western banks or offshore tax havens. Nonetheless, Western governments and media scoundrels loved him. Decades more may be needed to recover from the human wreckage he caused.

Putin's governing style differs. He rejects US imperialism. He opposes foreign intervention. In 2007, he condemned Washington's quest for unipolar global dominance “through a system which has nothing to do with democracy."

He points fingers West. He says we're "witnessing an almost uncontained hyper-use of military force in international relations."

It's "plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts." Political settlements become impossible. America won't tolerate them.

Putin accuses Washington of spurning international norms and principles. It pursues a reckless arms race. It “overstepped its national borders in almost all spheres." It spurns "basic principles of international law."

It chooses war, not peace. It violates national sovereignty rights. It undermines global stability. It considers aggression a divine right. It threatens humanity.

Its humanitarian wars destroy nations to save them. At issue is global dominance, not liberation. Putin is fundamentally opposed. As a result, media scoundrels bash him.

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Stephen Lendman

Photo: A protester sits in front of Chicago police officers on State Street during a NATO summit demonstration in downtown Chicago, Saturday, May 19, 2012. Security has been high throughout the city in preparation for the summit, where delegations from about 60 countries will discuss the war in Afghanistan and European missile defense.

Through Monday, downtown residents live in occupied Chicago.

Secret Service agents, NORTHCOM and National Guard forces, as well as thousands of state and local police seem everywhere.

Getting around feels hazardous. Anyone may be stopped, searched, interrogated, even arrested.

Residents were advised to hunker down and stay out of harm's way as best as possible. For many, it's not easy. More on a city under siege below.

NATO is the world's first global war-making alliance. Largely a US imperial tool, it's a killing machine. Its 28 members and dozens of partner states comprise about one-third of the world's nations.

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Stephen Lendman

Since June 1967, Israel maintained total domination over Occupied Palestine. Lawlessly, it includes controlling essential resources, air space, Gaza's coastal waters, borders, who's allowed to cross them, political, economic, and financial activities, internal movement, public assembly and speech, Palestine's population registry, private property by seizures or demolition, and, of course, land. Priority one is stealing it. Palestinians are forcibly dispossessed and displaced to expand settlements and for other development. Israel wants all valued parts as well as Jerusalem as its exclusive capital. Overall, settlements, closed military zones, Jewish commercial areas, and others earmarked for development account for over 40% of West Bank land.

Since 1967, Israel established 121 settlements. Another 100 unauthorized outposts exist. In addition, Israel calls 12 annexed Jerusalem neighborhoods settlements. Settler enclaves also exist in Palestinian East Jerusalem.

Yet international law is clear. Fourth Geneva's Article 49 states:

"The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."

Moreover, in July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled:

"Recalling that the Security Council described Israel’s policy of establishing settlements in that territory as a “flagrant violation” of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Court finds that those settlements have been established in breach of international law. [...] It further considers certain fears expressed to it that the route of the wall will prejudge the future frontier between Israel and Palestine; it considers that the construction of the wall and its associated régime “create a ‘fait accompli’ on the ground that could well become permanent, in which case, . . . [the construction of the wall] would be tantamount to de facto annexation”"

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Stephen Lendman

The combination of America's rage for war, its nuclear arsenal, and global delivery systems makes the unthinkable possible - nuclear war.

On March 27, David Krieger and Daniel Ellsberg raised the possibility in their Christian Science Monitor article headlined, "For nuclear security beyond Seoul, eradicate land-based 'doomsday' missiles," saying:

"America's 450 launch-ready land-based nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are the opposite of a deterrent to attack. In fact, their very deployment has the potential to launch World War III and precipitate human extinction – as a result of a false alarm. We’re not exaggerating."

Indeed not. For decades, the threat's been real. Post-9/11, it's more than ever possible. Hundreds of ICBMs target Russia, China, and likely other countries like Iran. Launching them threatens humanity.

Leaders considering the possibility are deranged. Once heading for targets, it's too late. Presidents often rehearsed it.

In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis nearly brought nuclear war. An October 2002 Havana US/Russia/Cuba summit disclosed the close call for the first time.

Devastation was avoided because Soviet submarine captain Vasily Arkhipov countermanded an order to fire nuclear torpedos when US destroyers attacked Russian submarines near Kennedy's "quarantine" line. Had he obeyed, vast destruction or possible nuclear winter might have resulted.

Nuclear expert Graham Allison sees parallels between Iran today and Cuba then. Despite no threats then and now, heightened tensions risk potentially devastating conflict. When politics and heated rhetoric spin out of control, anything's possible, including nuclear war.

In 1995, Boris Yeltsin nearly launched missiles. He thought a US one targeted Russia. His fear turned out to be a Norwegian weather sounding rocket. Disaster was narrowly averted.

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Stephen Lendman

Free expression in all forms is fundamental in democratic societies. Without it, all other freedoms are at risk. Included are free speech, a free press, freedom of thought, culture, and intellectual inquiry. It also includes the right to challenge government authority peacefully, especially in times of war and cases of injustice, lawlessness, official incompetence, and abusive government behavior. Denying it risks tyranny.

Voltaire defended it, saying "I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Howard Zinn called dissent "the highest form of patriotism." It includes the right to speak and write freely, assemble, protest publicly, and associate with anyone for any reason lawfully.

Democracy depends on it. Bill of Rights freedoms affirm it. Nonetheless, US history is strewn with abusive laws. The 1798 Sedition Act criminalized publishing "false, scandalous and malicious writing" against President John Adams or Congress, but allowed it against Vice President Thomas Jefferson.

The 1917 Espionage Act imprisoned anyone convicted of "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or (encouraging) refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States."

It targeted First Amendment speech against WW I and American's participation in it. The 1918 Sedition Act went further. It criminalized "disloyal, scurrilous (or) abusive" anti-government speech.

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Stephen Lendman

Banner in Arabic, top, reads: "The prisoners were and
still are a symbol of steadfastness and tenderness, let
us stand by their side.". (M. Ballas/AP/SeattlePI)

■ Murdering Khader Adnan
■ Khader Adnan: Day 60 and Counting
■ Khader Adnan's Heroic Struggle for Justice
■ Khader Adnan: Israeli Prisoner of Conscience
■ Israeli Political Prisoner Khader Adnan Near Death
■ Israeli Hanging Judge Sentences Khader Adnan to Death

Day 62 and counting. Adnan's hunger strike continues. On February 15, Israel let his wife Randa see him for the second time.

She said "(h)is health has drastically deteriorated from the last time I saw him" a week ago. "I expect the worst. He insists on continuing with the hunger strike." He wants to live but will die for justice.

PLO official Saeb Erekat said Abbas pressed Russia, China, Britain, and EU authorities to help during meetings with acting EU representative to Palestine John Gatt-Rutter, UK Consul-General Vincent Fean, Russian representative Alexander Rudakov, and Chinese PA ambassador Yang Wei Guo.

He also contacted Washington, EU Secretary-General Thorbjørn Jagland, and France. Nothing so far materialized. Western leaders provide one-sided support for Israel. Expect nothing from them for Adnan.

He's held administratively without charge. He committed no crimes yet faces imminent death. He lost over a third of his weight. His life force is slowly ebbing. His muscles, heart, stomach, and immune system are dying.

His entire system could stop functioning any time. Israel wants him dead. So far, pleas on his behalf are ignored. The Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations (PCHRO) called for emergency action to save him. So did Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. It demanded his immediate release before it's too late.

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Stephen Lendman

A joint report was released by the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR), Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC).

Their mission investigated alleged widespread international law violations since mid-February 2011. Its mandate included investigating those committed by:

● the former government;
● NATO; and
● insurgents.

It also sought to identify human rights issues, requiring Lybian and international attention.

Investigators included "leading international jurists and lawyers with expertise in international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, transitional justice, and the development of legal systems in post-conflict environments."

Information obtained from witnesses, victims, and other parties were kept confidential unless already revealed and available.

Investigations weren't meant to be comprehensive. Rather, the mission tried "to convey the considered observations of its members, in order to facilitate, and prompt, the work of other bodies and authorities."

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Ola Tunander

Denver International Airport Mural. More images here

[This paper was prepared for submission] at the Fifth Pan-European International Relations Conference (Panel 28 Geopolitics) Netherlands Congress Centre, The Hague, 9-11 September 2004.

Securitization, Dual State and US-European Geopolitical Divide or The Use of Terrorism to Construct World Order

Abstract

In any state, certain areas are ‘securitized’ and by definition removed from the democratic political process. In an emergency situation – in short of war or terrorist attacks – the security sphere ‘invades’ the sphere of democratic politics. An autocratic security force or ‘security state’ appears to act in parallel to the regular democratic state, and this duality or ‘dual state’ was described by Hans Morgenthau already in 1955. After September 11, terrorism has become an instrument to ‘securitize’ what used to be public and tilt the ‘dual state’-balance in favour of the ‘security state’. The US ‘security state’ with its intelligence hegemony enters the scene as global protector that defines the world order in terms of a Pax Americana. Terrorism is used to construct a new world order. This development has been followed by mutual transatlantic accusations between European critiques and US neo-conservatives. According to the critiques, the Strategy of Tension, as we know it from Cold War Europe, has received a global dimension. During the Cold War, the US ‘dual security structure’ – with its specifically tasked units masquerading as ‘enemy forces’ – was developed by the US ‘security state’ in order to keep the political strength and the readiness and capability of the Western defences. Now, this structure has seemingly been made into a self-propelled mechanism that is able to transform the world order into a Pax Americana.

Introduction

In the USA, terrorism has replaced Communism as the new evil. In his famous speech on September 20 President George W. Bush promised to eliminate terrorism ‘and destroy it where it grows … and we ask every nation to join us’.1 This threat will be removed from our civilisation, he said and ‘we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven for terrorism. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists’.2 The US led antiterrorist ‘coalition of the willing’ is presented as a coalition for the 21 century replacing the structures of the Cold War. A new world order is emerging. President Bush’s speech on September 20, 2001, has been compared to the speech of President Truman 1947. Now, the Cold War is over, and the War on Terror has started.

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Stephen Lendman

Post-9/11, America waged war on Islam. Innocent victims are targeted for political advantage. They're called fundamentalists, extremists, terrorists and fanatics.

Why Muslims when, in fact, Islam teaches love, not hate; peace, not violence; charity, not selfishness; and tolerance, not terrorism?

Who knows though in today's climate of hate and fear at a time America wages global wars on Islam, including at home.

Perhaps Jose Pimental (aka Muhammad Yusaf) is the latest entrapped Muslim in a plot he never planned or intended. So far, it's unclear.

Born in the Dominican Republic, he's a naturalized US citizen convert to Islam. Except for five years in Schenectady, New York, he lived mostly in Manhattan.

On November 20, New York Times writers Joseph Goldstein and William Rashbaum headlined, "Man Arrested and Charged in Bomb Plot," saying:

NYPD authorities arrested Pimentel on Saturday. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly "announced the charges against (him) at a Sunday evening news conference at City Hall."

He'd been under surveillance for over two years. Authorities claimed he was close to completing at least three bombs.

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