Wednesday 11 August 2010

News For August 11, 2010

Saving Women and Preventing Genocide:
The Real Reasons We’re in Afghanistan Now

By Bretigne Shaffer


So now the cheerleaders for war would have us believe that they are more concerned for the welfare of Afghan civilians than are those who wish to end the US occupation. Continue

What They Do in Our Name

By Sheldon Richman

Thanks to Wikileaks and heroic leakers inside the military, we now know the U.S. government has killed many more innocent Afghan civilians than we were aware of heretofore. We also know that American military and intelligence personnel roam Afghanistan assassinating suspected bad guys. Continue

U.S. Urges Allies to Crack Down on WikiLeaks

By Philip Shenon

The Obama administration is pressing Britain, Germany, Australia, and other allied Western governments to consider opening criminal investigations of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and to severely limit his nomadic travels across international borders, American officials say. Continue

Change That's Not: 'Obama On Bush Route'

Video Interview With John Pilger

"For the first time in US presidential history -- it has not happened before -- a president has taken the entire defense department bureaucracy, and the Secretary of State for Defense, from a previous discredited administration. We have basically Robert Gates and the same generals running American foreign policy with a lot of help from people of like mind." Continue

Hopium and Hypocritium

By Cindy Sheehan

The arrogance of the Bush administration could never be surpassed, right? Wrong! Continue

Israel may not ask for American 'green light' to attack Iran

By Natasha Mozgovaya

Israel might attack Iranian nuclear sites within a year, if Iran stays the current course and the U.S. administration doesn't succeed in persuading Israel's leadership that U.S. President Barack Obama is ready to stop Iran by force if necessary. Continue

US -- Venezuela: The Empire Strikes Back (and Loses)

By James Petras

US policy toward Venezuela has taken many tactical turns, but the objective has been the same: to oust President Chavez, reverse the nationalization of big businesses, abolish the mass community and worker based councils and revert the country into a client-state. Continue

U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know

By Laurence Kotlikoff

The IMF has effectively pronounced the U.S. bankrupt. Continue

The Rubin Con Goes On

By Robert Scheer

The corruptions of journalism were on full display when CNN’s Fareed Zakaria turned to Robert Rubin this past Sunday for advice on how to fix the financial crisis that he, as much as anyone, caused. Continue

Reagan insider: 'GOP destroyed U.S. economy'

By Paul B. Farrell

We've arrived at a historic turning point as a nation that no longer needs outside enemies to destroy us, we are committing suicide. Democracy. Capitalism. The American dream. All dying. Why? Because of the economic decisions of the GOP the past 40 years, says this leading Reagan Republican. Continue

From Marx to Goldman Sachs
The Fictions of Fictitious Capital

By Michael Hudson

How has planning become centralized in the hands of Wall Street and its global counterparts, not in the hands of government and industry as imagined almost universally a century ago? And why has Social Democratic, Labour and academic criticism become so silent in the face of this economic Counter-Enlightenment? Continue

Russia's Agony a "Wake-Up Call" to the World

By Stephen Leahy

On Monday, Moscow reached 37 C when the normal temperature for August is 21 C. It was the 28th day in a row that temperatures exceeded 30 C. Continue

Iraq: 11, including 8 soldiers, killed in attack: An attack killed eight Iraqi troops and three other people in a house in the northern Diyala province on Wednesday, police said.
Manufacturing Consent For Continued Occupation: Iraq 'needs US military support until 2020': The Iraqi army will require American support for another decade before it is ready to handle the country's security on its own, Iraq's army chief of staff told AFP on Wednesday.
U.S. commander stresses importance of funding Iraq security forces: Gen. Ray Odierno and other American officials have been urging U.S. lawmakers to reconsider plans to substantially cut the amounts the military and State Department have requested for Iraq initiatives next year.
Iraq reconstruction 'hindered by shortfall in US funds': The reconstruction of Iraq is set to be hindered by a huge shortfall in American funds after US troops begin leaving the country later this month, senior officials in Washington have warned.
Three civilians killed in roadside bomb in Afghanistan: Three Afghan civilians were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, NATO said Wednesday.
Suicide Attackers Killed in a Mosque in Western Afghanistan: At least two suicide attackers were blown up Wednesday morning while wearing their waste-coats filled with explosives in the western Farah province
Amnesty International, Human Rights Groups Ask Wikileaks To Censor Civilians' Names: Human rights groups said Tuesday they've asked WikiLeaks to censor secret files on the Afghanistan war to protect civilians who've worked alongside the U.S. and other foreign forces from reprisals.
Russia Ready to Launch Iranian Nuclear Power Plant: The Iranian state owned FNA news service reports that the head of Russia's Atomic Energy Agency Sergei Kirienko will visit Iran in late August to attend a ceremony to inaugurate the country's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr.
Jeffrey Goldberg: More than 50 Percent Chance Israel Would Strike Iran in 2011: Goldberg writes that an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program could "stand a good chance of changing the Middle East forever; of sparking lethal reprisals, and even a full-blown regional war that could lead to the deaths of thousands of Israelis and Iranians, and possibly Arabs and Americans as well
Turkey backs gasoline sales to Iran despite sanctions: Turkish energy minister says will support sales to Iran; country's main gasoline exporter: Iran more important to us than the U.S.
Its a joke right? U.S.: Iran's actions compromise Lebanon's sovereignty: State Department spokesman responds to Iran announcement it will support Lebanon's army if U.S. halts its military funding.
Lebanon: We'll reject U.S. military aid if weapons can't be used against Israel: Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said he would reject any U.S. military assistance to Lebanon's army if it comes with conditions.
Libya to fund Gaza homes after Israeli freed: A rare deal between foes Israel and Libya to free an Israeli photographer will let Libya underwrite the rebuilding of 1,250 Gaza Strip homes destroyed in Israel’s offensive there last year, UN officials said on Tuesday.
Russia deploys missiles in Abkhazia: Russia has placed an air defence missile system to in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, bringing almost immediate condemnation from the government in Tbilisi.
Radioactive smoke? Russia wildfires rage near Chernobyl: Greenpeace says Russia wildfires are spreading across six provinces that were heavily contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Russia fires: Death rate doubles as acrid smog chokes Moscow : Russian officials acknowledged Monday that the daily mortality rate in Moscow had doubled as an acrid smog caused by a massive heatwave enveloped the city.
Greenland Ice Sheet Faces 'Tipping Point in 10 Years': Scientists warn that temperature rise of between 2C and 7C would cause ice to melt, resulting in 23ft rise in sea level
Venezuela and Colombia agree to renew diplomatic ties: Hugo Chávez and Juan Manuel Santos seal presidential summit with pledges of fraternal friendship
British taxpayers funding US arms lobbyists: Exclusive: Government paying a secretive lobbying firm to push American politicians to award contracts to British defence companies.
The Omar Khadr case makes a mockery of US justice: Omar Khadr was a badly wounded boy of 15 when, in 2002, US forces captured him in Afghanistan. As the dust settled on a suspected al-Qaeda compound after a firefight that July, troops discovered him slumped in the rubble among the dead, leaning against a wall.
Bob Herbert: The Unemployment Horror Show: “When you combine the long-term unemployed with those who are dropping out and those who are working part-time because they can’t find anything else, it is just far beyond anything we’ve seen in the job market since the 1930s.”

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