News For May 30, 2010

Gaza Flotilla Drives Israel Into a Sea of Stupidity

By Gideon Levy

The propaganda operation has tried to sell us and the world the idea that the occupation of Gaza is over, but in any case, Israel has legal authority to bar humanitarian aid. All one pack of lies. Continue

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The Freedom Flotilla

Video

Witness what happens on board the boats. Watch our videos everyday. Continue

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The Brazilian/Turkish Initiative
Rebalancing The World

By Richard Falk

Outside of Western diplomatic circles it is already widely appreciated that the May 17th agreement reveals the exciting reality of a new geopolitical landscape in which the countries of the global South are now beginning to act as subjects, and no longer content to be mere objects in scenarios devised in the North. Continue

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U.S. To Plan Pakistan Strike

By GREG MILLER

White House eyes retaliation if Taliban pull off major strike inside U.S. Continue

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Dollar Primed for Collapse by End June: Charts

By: Daryl Guppy | CNBC Contributor

The dollar index suggests the greenback will continue to stengthen until the end of June, with a target near $0.89-$0.91, before it collapses to a downside target of $0.81. Continue

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Is the U.S. Government Planning War to Quell the Tide of Economic Unrest?

By Gary D. Barnett

United States wars are virtually all wars of aggression, so it is quite evident that U.S. wars are “fought” for reasons other than self-defense. Continue

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U.S. Defence Spending Far Outpaces Rest of the World

By Amanda Bransford

The U.S. Navy can carry twice as many aircrafts at sea as the rest of the world put together, he said, and the navy's overall power is estimated to exceed that of the next 13 most powerful navies combined. This extreme dominance exists in all branches of the armed forces. Continue

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In Case You Missed It
Dick Cheney’s Song of America

By David Armstrong

The Plan is for the United States to rule the world. The overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely powerful. Continue

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Memorial Day:
Celebrating Militarism and the Weapons of War

By Camillo "Mac" Bica

Sadly, Americans need to be reminded that Memorial Day is not about sales at the mall, barbecues, and picnics. Neither is it a time to celebrate militarism, the machinery of war, or entice young people, through highly manipulative and deceptive practices, into enlisting in the military. Continue

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Pakistan: 44 militants, two soldiers killed in Orakzai: Forty-four militants and two soldiers were killed in clashes and shelling in upper Tehsil of Orakzai Agency on Saturday, sources said.
Six women among 19 killed in Pakistan clashes near Afghan border: At least 19 people, mostly Taliban militants but also six civilians, died on Saturday in clashes between Islamist insurgents and troops in Pakistan's tribal region along Afghan border, security officials and media reports said.
Suspected militants kill three policemen in Lahore: The attack occurred a day after heavily-armed terrorists stormed two mosques of the minority Ahmedi sect, killing 95 people and injuring over 100.
NATO airstrike kills 25 insurgents in northern Afghanistan: “At least 25 Taliban were killed in the airstrike,” he said, citing intelligence report provided to him from the area. He said two rebel commanders were also among those killed.
Seven police killed in Afghan blast - report: A roadside bomb struck a police patrol Sunday in the remote northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, killing seven officers, officials said, in the latest violence blamed on the Taliban.
US reprimands six drone operators for killing 23 Afghan civilians : A US military investigation said the order to attack was based on inaccurate information from the crew monitoring the convoy from an Air Force base in Nevada and on flawed analysis by Nato commanders.
Taliban Fighters Seize District In East Afghanistan: Taliban insurgents overran a remote district in eastern Afghanistan after days of heavy fighting in the area, a provincial police official said on Saturday.
Ahmed Wali Karzai — From waiter to ‘King of Kandahar’: With ties to his brother's government and links to local warlords and drug kingpins, Ahmed Karzai has become patron and a powerbroker on a grand scale.
Three killed as Turk forces clash with Kurd rebels: Three members of Turkey's security forces were killed and two soldiers were wounded in clashes with Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey, military sources told Reuters on Saturday.
Maliki rejects calls to quit: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said yesterday his party would not compromise on its choice of government leader, resisting pressure from potential coalition partners for him to step aside.
Iraq gov’t bank managers arrested, $360m missing: hree managers of state-owned Iraqi banks have been arrested on suspicion of using bogus transfers to siphon off billions of dollars of government money to invest in private business.
Official: Girl killed in Iranian shelling over northern Iraq: A 14-year-old Iraqi girl was killed Sunday and dozens of families fled their homes to escape Iranian artillery shells in northern Iraq, according to a Kurdish Regional Security Forces spokesman.
Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran: U.S. General Accuses Iran of Helping Taliban in Afghanistan: The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, says there is "clear evidence" that Iran is providing weapons and training to Taliban fighters in the war-torn country.
Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran: The submarines of Flotilla 7 — Dolphin, Tekuma and Leviathan — have visited the Gulf before. But the decision has now been taken to ensure a permanent presence of at least one of the vessels.
Turkish PM says West unfair, insincere in Iran row: report: Turkey's prime minister Saturday accused Western powers of lacking a "fair and sincere" approach on Iran in a mounting row over a nuclear swap deal with Tehran, Anatolia news agency reported.
Israel rejects Middle East nuclear talks plan: Israel says it will not take part in a conference aimed at achieving a nuclear-arms free Middle East, proposed at a UN meeting in New York. Nearly 200 nations, signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), backed plans for the meeting in 2012.
Israel rejects new drive to ban nukes from Mideast: An Army Radio reporter traveling with Netanyahu in Toronto said his office unsuccessfully lobbied the U.S. to block the resolution ahead of Friday's vote.
U.N. Nuke Meet Ends with Good Intentions and Empty Promises: "This is an action plan for treading water," said Jackie Cabasso, executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, which monitors U.S. nuclear weapons programmes and policies.
Gaza aid flotilla 'leaves Cyprus': A flotilla of ships sailing towards Gaza with aid and activists on board has left Cyprus and will reach its destination on Monday, organisers say.
Gaza Strip facing humanitarian tragedy, warns UN expert : There are 1.1 million refugees in the Strip, 320,000 of whom are living beneath the poverty line. According to UNRWA, 7,000 of those families are among the poorest in the world. Unemployment is 45 per cent.
Hamas leader says group has no problem with US: Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said his Palestinian group had no problem with the United States, but called Israel "the obstacle" to peace in the Middle East.
China refuses to criticise N Korea: The Chinese prime minister, gave no sign China is ready to back United Nations Security Council action against its ally over the sinking, that killed 46 South Korean sailors.
Did an American Mine Sink South Korean Ship?: In the recent U.S.-China strategic talks in Shanghai and Beijing, the Chinese side dismissed the official scenario presented by the Americans and their South Korean allies as not credible
Japan party quits coalition over US base: Japan's Social Democratic Party, SDP, has decided to leave the ruling coalition government amid a row over the controversial presence of the US military in the country.
Colombia begins national poll vote: Voters in Colombia have begun voting on Sunday in a national election that will see the end of eight years of conservative leadership under current president Alvaro Uribe.
Rotting bodies pile up in island capital Kingston: JAMAICA'S leader is facing growing criticism over a near week-long assault on a slum to capture a powerful drug don as decomposing bodies of civilians lay unclaimed for days.
Jamaicans see little to choose between drug gangs and bloodstained soldiers: Support for Kingston's war on crime ebbs after failure to capture drug baron and claims of extra-judicial executions
Gitmo ’suicides’ torture gone wrong?: In an appearance Thursday on Fox News' Freedom Watch, Horton stated that the only real question in his mind is whether the men's deaths were deliberate murders or were "negligent homicides" resulting from "some sort of procedure that was performed on them."
BP abandons 'top kill' effort: Oil giant says latest attempt to end worst spill in US history has failed.
Oil to spill into Gulf 'for at least two more months': Millions of gallons of oil could be gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for at least the next two months, as Barack Obama's top energy adviser said the spill was the biggest environmental disaster in US history.
Oil spill threatens 'total destruction': An ominous report by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources warned of the impending disaster resulting from the British Petroleum (BP) oil and gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico, calling it the worst environmental catastrophe in all of human history, the European Union Times reported.
US stockpile of money shrinks in Q1: New data presented by M3 Money Supply shows the stock of money in the United States has fallen from 14.2 to 13.9 trillion dollars in the first quarter of 2010.
When Rivers Flow Upstream: International Capital Movements in the Era of Globalization: Most developing nations receive, on net, little or no capital from rich nations, and many are large exporters of capital to the rich nations.
Five More Banks in U.S. Are Shut: State and federal regulators closed five banks in Florida, California and Nevada, bringing the nationwide total of failed institutions so far this year to 78, with 13 in Florida, six in California and two in Nevada.
The Canadian ‘good banks’ myth: We are, according to the IMF, actually the third worst of the G7 countries, behind the US and Britain, in terms of financial stabilization costs.
How and Why We Lie to Ourselves: Cognitive Dissonance: A classic 1959 social psychology experiment demonstrates how and why we lie to ourselves. Understanding this experiment sheds a brilliant light on the dark world of our inner motivations.