Thursday 15 July 2010

News For July 15, 2010

Study: Attack on Iran Would be ‘Start of Long War’

By Daniel Tencer

Furthermore, the report suggested that any Israeli strike on Iran would cause a large number of civilian casualties because the Israeli strike would likely not be limited to the nuclear facilities themselves. Continue

The Shahram Affair

By Justin Raimondo


Kidnapped Iranian scientist exposes US government as a criminal enterprise. Continue

It’s Obama’s Empire Now

By Stanley Kutler

The American Empire is alive and well—and as expansive as ever. We have established more than 700 military bases across the world, largely encircling the peripheries of Russia and China, which are now central to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Continue

Classified Documents Reveal UK's Role in Abuse of its Own Citizens

By Ian Cobain and Owen Bowcott

The true extent of the Labour government's involvement in the illegal abduction and torture of its own citizens after the al-Qaida attacks of September 2001 has been spelled out in stark detail with the disclosure during high court proceedings of a mass of highly classified documents. Continue

Senate Records Show Doubts on ’64 Vietnam Crisis

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

In an echo of the debates over the discredited intelligence that helped make the case for the war in Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday released more than 1,100 pages of previously classified Vietnam-era transcripts that show senators of the time sharply questioning whether they had been deceived by the White House and the Pentagon over the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. Continue

Bush Should Have Been Indicted

Must Watch Video Interview

In a interview with Ralph Nader, Judge Andrew Napolitano said that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should have been indicted for "torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrant." Continue

The Motive Behind Whistle-blower Prosecutions

By Glenn Greenwald

In all of these cases where the Obama DOJ is persecuting whistle blowers, they're punishing the greatest sin there is -- exposure of high-level government wrongdoing -- not harm to national security. Continue

Tricky Bibi
Netanyahu is Mocking America and Leading us Astray

By Gideon Levy

No more claims that the Palestinians are to blame for the failure of the Oslo Accords. After years in which we were told that the Palestinians are to blame, the truth has emerged from the horse's mouth. Continue

1 Million American Households Likely to Lose Homes to Foreclosure This Year

By Associated Press

Nearly 528,000 homes were taken over by lenders in the first six months of the year. By comparison, lenders have historically taken over about 100,000 homes a year. Continue

US Deficit Reduction Painful, Commission Chiefs Warn

Eliminating mortgage interest deduction being considered

By Donna Smith

Restoring U.S. fiscal balance is going to be a painful process that mostly requires spending cuts, but also some tax increases, the leaders of President Barack Obama's deficit commission said on Wednesday. Continue

The IMF Is Coming for Your Social Security

By Dean Baker

Last week, the IMF told the United States that it needs to start getting its budget deficit down. It put cutting Social Security at the top of the steps that the country should take to achieve deficit reduction. This one is more than a bit outrageous for two reasons. Continue

Republicans Don't Give a Damn about the Deficit

By Sahil Kapur

The GOP's blocking of jobless benefits in the US Senate, while supporting huge tax cuts for the rich, shows its stance is political. Continue

Government for Sale:
How Lobbyists Shaped the Financial Reform Bill

By Steven Brill

Along a marble corridor in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, I watched about 40 well-dressed men (and two women) delivering huge value for their employers. Except that we, the taxpayers, weren't employing them. The nation's banks, mortgage lenders, stockbrokers, private-equity funds and derivatives traders were. Continue

Fifteen "militants" killed in Orakzai airstrikes: In fresh airstrikes, security forces killed 15 suspected militants in different parts of the Orakzai tribal region, DawnNews reported.
Suicide attack kills five in Pakistan's Swat valley: A suicide attack targeted a Pakistani military convoy on Thursday, killing five people in the northwestern Swat valley where the army put down a Taliban uprising last year.
Afghan strikes kill 8 U.S. troops: American forces suffered a deadly 24 hours in Afghanistan, with eight servicemen killed in attacks including a Taliban raid on a police compound in the key southern city of Kandahar, officials said Wednesday.
Eight killed, 14 wounded in Iraq attacks, say officials : A car bomb in executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's home city and two other attacks killed eight people, including four police officers, and wounded 14 others on Thursday, police said.
Iraq’s Allawi hopes for new govt in August: “The negotiations between the political groups entered their last phase and we wish to close this file as soon as possible,” he said after talks in Beirut with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
Iran FM: Nuclear fuel talks to commence in September: Last month, Iran President Ahmadinejad conditioned renewed talks on participating countries stating whether they opposed Israel's purported atomic arsenal.
An Attack on Iran: Back on the Table: "There really wasn't a military option a year ago," an Israeli military source told me. "But they've gotten serious about the planning, and the option is real now." Israel has been brought into the planning process, I'm told, because U.S. officials are frightened by the possibility that the right-wing Netanyahu government might go rogue and try to whack the Iranians on its own.
Israel firm charged in nuclear case: The investigation conducted by the Bureau of Industry and Security says Israeli company, Pelogy, attempted to export controlled goods to Israel, India, China and South Africa. It says in the case of Israel and India, the goods could have been used to make nuclear weapons.
Israel's nuclear program implicated in U.S. investigation : It is worth mentioning that in the 1980s, regardless of Jonathan Pollards' espionage activities for Israel, Israeli companies and individuals were involved many cases of technological espionage, steeling U.S. secrets, technology and equipment.
'Abducted' scientist arrives back in Iran: He said his captors wanted him to tell the US media that he had "defected on his own and was carrying important documents and a laptop which contained classified secrets of Iran's military nuclear programme." "But with God's will, I resisted," Amiri said
Iranian scientist claims US torture: An Iranian man who said he was kidnapped by the US has arrived home in Tehran, vowing to reveal more details of his claimed abduction while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia last year.
Fact or fiction? U.S. paid Iranian nuclear scientist $5 million for aid to CIA, officials say: The Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA before departing for his homeland Wednesday was paid more than $5 million by the agency to provide intelligence on Iran's nuclear program, U.S. officials said.
Amiri 'rejected bribe offer of USD 50mn': "They [US security agents] told me they would give me 50 million dollars and provide me and my family with proper living conditions in a European country if I reversed my decision to return to Iran," Amiri said in the press conference.
Russia: S-300 deal with Iran not off: "The contract on supplying S-300 air defense systems to Iran has not yet been cancelled," RIA Novosti quoted Sergei Chemezov, the chief of Russia's military conglomerate Rostekhnologii as saying. "The final decision on signing or dropping the contract must be made by the President."
Report: Israel struck deal with Egypt to let Libya aid reach Gaza: According to A-Sharq Al-Awsat, ship sent by Gadhafi's son agreed to dock in Egypt after receiving assurances that they could begin a building project in the Gaza Strip
Israel: Why we're so unpopular: If anybody tried to blockade our coast and our airspace, if anybody flew spy planes over us, if anybody blew up one of our nuclear installations, if anybody ruled our lives at gunpoint and built foreign settlements on our land, we’d kill whoever we had to kill to stop it.
Israel razes Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem : "They can build hundreds of settlements but I'm not entitled to live in a shack?" asked Linda al-Rajabi outside the demolished dwelling she shared with her husband and their five children.
Police suspect alleged Jewish terrorist killed four Palestinians: A right-wing Israeli extremist arrested this week over a string of stabbing attacks is suspected of murdering four Palestinians and attempting to murder another seven, according to details of the investigation released on Thursday.
IDF convicts commander, soldier in shooting of bound Palestinian: Lt. Col. Omri Burberg was filmed holding the blindfolded prisoner and ordering his soldier, Staff Sgt. Leonardo Korea, to fire a rubber bullet his leg in Na'alin two years ago.
The torture files: the interrogations: These documents detail for the first time the experiences of a detainee under interrogation. Omar Deghayes records his complaints about his treatment in the Bagram detention centre in Afghanistan in July 2002 and the willingness of MI5 officers to let him be removed to Guantanamo Bay
Omar Deghayes: 'He was brought in manacled and hooded': "He was treated better by the Pakistanis; what kind of world was it where the Americans were more barbaric than the Pakistanis?
Taranis: The £143million unmanned stealth jet that will hit targets in another continent: Looming ominously like a space ship from Star Wars, this is the future of unmanned flight.
Germany's Anonymous Mosque Watchers: Reinhard Werner doesn't trust Islam. The 70-year-old German is part of a group which keeps tabs on mosques across Germany, monitoring them for what he calls an "intolerant Islam of terror." Over the years, he has gained a certain amount of notoriety.
Violence flares in Northern Ireland: Around 82 police officers have been injured during the three days of rioting, which began on Sunday night
Argentina legalises gay marriages: Argentina has become the first Latin American nation to legalise same-sex marriages following a marathon Senate vote.
US government lifts lid on alleged leak to WikiLeaks: The Army alleges that he transmitted, "to a person not authorised to receive it", a classified US Department of State cable described as "Reykjavik 13". The US also alleges Pfc Manning obtained 150,000 US diplomatic cables without proper authorisation.
Former NSA executive Thomas A. Drake may pay high price for media leak: He is awaiting trial in a criminal media leak case that could send him to prison for 35 years. In his years at the NSA, Drake grew disillusioned, then indignant, about what he saw as waste, mismanagement and a willingness to compromise Americans' privacy without enhancing security.
BP says key test on blown Gulf well to start soon: BP Plc planned to launch a critical pressure test on its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well on Thursday after a delay to fix a leaking hose, the company said.
22 Statistics That Prove That The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America: Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
U.S. home foreclosures reach record high in second quarter: The number of U.S. homes taken back by banks through foreclosure hit a record high in the second quarter, even as lenders delayed more homes from entering the process through short sales and loan modification efforts, according to data to be released Thursday.
Home-buying applications sink to 13-year low: Demand for loans to purchase U.S. homes sunk to a 13-year low last week, and refinancing demand also slid despite near record-low mortgage rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

No comments:

Post a Comment