News For May 13, 2010

Still Fighting Them Here

By Jack Hunter

To what extent do our wars in the Middle East inspire attacks in the US? Aren’t we “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here? Continue

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Terminally Dumb People

By William Blum

If you shake your head and roll your eyes at the nonsense coming out of the Teaparty followers of Sarah “Africa is a country” Palin and other intellectual giants like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh … If you have thoughts of moving abroad after the latest silly lies and fantasies like “Obama the Marxist” and “Obama the antichrist” … keep in mind that the right wing has long been at least as stupid and as mean-spirited.  Continue

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Lost on the Fearless Plain

By Joe Bageant

Inside most Americans is a globally brattish child. Thanks to our endowed natural resources (since squandered) and to armed national theft abroad, the American has not suffered enough to become a responsible adult on the planet. Continue

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The Palin Principle – Bible trumps Constitution

By Rick Ungar

While the religious right are free to vote for candidates who share their reliance on religious belief, they are not free to re-imagine the fundamentals of this country -  at least not without putting their reinvention through the rigorous process of amending, or re-writing, our Constitution. Continue

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Financial Chaos And The Smell Of Napalm In The Morning

By Peter Ewart

Stop bailing out the banks and financiers. Let them fall. In their place, set up public non-profit banking institutions, similar to credit unions, and ban the hedge funds, currency manipulators, and other speculators as pirates who constitute a threat to human society. Continue

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Prognosis 2012: Towards a New World Social Order

By Richard K. Moore

The capitalist system is past its sell-by date, the banking elite are well aware of that fact – and they are adapting. Continue

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Elena Kagan and the Supreme Court
A Barnyard Smell in Chicago, Harvard and Washington

By James Petras

Elena Kagan joins a long list of key Obama appointees who have long-standing ties to the pro-Israel power configuration. Like Barack Obama, Elena Kagan started her legal apprenticeship with the Chicago Judge Abner Mitva, an ardent Zionist, who hailed the newly elected President Obama as “America’s first Jewish President”, probably his soundest judgment. Continue

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41 Taliban suspected militants killed in Afghanistan: Forty-one Taliban militants were killed in fighting with security forces in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz, police said on Thursday.

At least 36 suspected militants killed in Afghan raids: In southeastern Ghazni province, NATO and Afghan forces stormed three villages in Qarabagh district, killing 14 militants, said provincial police chief Khial Baz Sherzai.

Pakistani driver transporting fuel for Nato forces killed: The sources said that Izzatullah of Charbagh was driving his oil tanker to the US airbase in Bagram north of Kabul when Taliban fighters fired at the vehicle in Wrekhmin Tangi gorge near Sarobi. Izzatullah died on the spot while the oil tanker caught fire and was reduced to ashes.

Hague: British troops to stay in Afghanistan until "job is done": There will be 'no artificial deadline' for the withdrawal of British troops in Afghanistan, who would remain there until 'their job is done,' Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday.

US backs Karzai's offer to Taliban: Barack Obama, the US president, has said ties with Afghanistan remain strong and backed the Afghan government's efforts to engage with Taliban fighters who give up violence

Afghan war costs now outpace Iraq's: The monthly cost of the war in Afghanistan, driven by troop increases and fighting on difficult terrain, has topped Iraq costs for the first time since 2003 and shows no sign of letting up.

Three children among seven killed in Pakistan: Three boys died and two people were injured Wednesday when a bomb exploded in a camp of Afghan refugees in northwestern Pakistan, police said.

Twelve killed, 42 injured in Iraq bomb attacks: Twelve people were killed and 42 were injured Thursday in two separate bomb attacks in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Sadr City, Iraqi police and media sources said.

Iraq risks sectarian war, warns election winner Iyad Allawi: Iraq's former prime minister Iyad Allawi, who scored a surprise win in the recent general election, warned today that the country risks descending into a new sectarian war, with feuding politicians attempting to sideline his supporters and the international community standing idly by.

Iran says three-way summit could finalize nuclear deal with West: Weekend meeting with Turkish and Brazilian presidents could see Tehran agree to export uranium for enrichment.
More Dollars For Israel: Iron Dome defense system gets new backer: Barack Obama: U.S. agrees to fund anti-missile defense system, long delayed due to budgetary difficulties, beyond regular annual defense assistance afforded to Israel.
Human Rights Watch say destruction in Gaza 'unlawful': Israeli forces destroyed buildings that had "no military significance", a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, the report said.
Israel slams Medvedev's Hamas call: Israel's foreign ministry has rejected Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's call for immediate engagement with the Palestinian group Hamas.
Israel nuclear whistleblower to be jailed again: After having already served 18 years behind bars, a Jerusalem court convicted Vanunu and sentenced him to three months in jail or community service for meeting with a foreigner in violation of the terms of his release.
Moscow attack 'organisers' killed: Russia's security service says it has killed three people involved in March's metro attack.
Dissident Thai General Shot; Army Moves to Face Protesters: The general, Khattiya Sawatdiphol, 58, was struck in the head by a bullet during an interview with this reporter about 7 p.m. on the street in central Bangkok, near a park occupied by his hard-line followers.
Kyrgyzstan: Bakiyev supporters 'attempt coup': Hundreds of supporters of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstan's ousted president, have stormed a third regional government building in the south of the country.
Spanish prosecutors want 13 CIA agents arrested: Spanish prosecutors are asking a judge to issue arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents who they believe were involved in the spy agency’s 2004 “extraordinary rendition” of a German citizen, according to Spain's El Pais newspaper.
Andy Worthington: The Torture of Omar Khadr, a Child in Bagram and Guantánamo: Are we so inured to the implementation of torture by the Bush administration that we no longer recognize what torture is?
Times Square bomb plot probe: FBI arrest 3 after raids on Mass., N.J., L.I. locations: The raids on a gas station and a home outside Boston were tied to friends of accused terrorist Faisal Shahzad, arrested two days after the failed plot, sources told the Daily News.
U.S. frets anti-drug cooperation with Mexico won't last: President Barrack Obama will honor Calderon at the White House next Wednesday, hosting him at a state dinner, the second of Obama's presidency. The U.S. Congress has invited the Mexican leader to appear before a joint session, a rare honor for a foreign leader.
British ministers cut their own pay: Ministers belonging to Britain's new coalition government have agreed to cut their own pay by five per cent in a bid to help tackle the country's record budget deficit.
Right to Work Protest in Dublin Ireland: Thousands took to the streets to protest at the bailout of the banks and at the jobs crisis in Ireland. Watch some of the speeches, listen to the views of some of the protestors.
Bankers jailed, sued as Iceland seeks culprits for crisis: More than a year and a half after Iceland's major banks failed, all but sinking the country's economy, police have begun rounding up a number of top bankers while other former executives and owners face a two-billion-dollar lawsuit.
Stranger than fiction: California: Los Angeles Approves a Boycott of Arizona: The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to ban official travel to Arizona and block future contracts with companies there in protest of that state’s new immigration law
It's in Every One of Us: Five-minute clip reveals the beauty in every one of us.