News For August 12, 2010

Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran?
The Point of No Return

By Jeffrey Goldberg

As Washington and Jerusalem study each other intensely, here’s an inside look at the strategic calculations on both sides—and at how, if things remain on the current course, an Israeli air strike will unfold. Continue

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How Would Iran Respond to US Attack?

By Mahan Abedin

American political and military leaders would be mistaken if they believed they could get away with a “limited” military strike on Iran, designed to destroy that country’s nuclear infrastructure. Continue

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6 Million Pakistanis need Immediate Aid as 1/3 of Country is Submerged

By Juan Cole

I can barely believe the words I am writing are not a nightmare from which I will soon wake up. Continue

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News at 11: How Climate Change Affects You

By Amy Goodman

"We will start seeing more and more years like this year when you get these amazing events that caused tremendous death and destruction" Continue

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Party Like Its 1929

By Mike Whitney

The economy is on the rocks and another round of quantitative easing won't help. The Obama administration will have to toughen up and push through another fiscal stimulus program. It's the only way. Continue

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Is This Finally The Economic Collapse?

By Keith R. McCullough

According to economists Carmen Reinhart & Ken Rogoff, whose views we share, crossing the 90% debt/GDP threshold is the equivalent of crossing the proverbial Rubicon of economic growth. It's a point from which it's almost impossible to return. Continue

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The Big Things That Matter And The Little Things That Annoy

By Paul Craig Roberts

If Marx and Lenin were alive today, the extraordinary greed with which Wall Street has infected capitalism would provide Marx and Lenin with a better case than they had in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Continue

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The Raid on Food Stamps

By Joshua Green

The number of people receiving food stamps stands at a record 41 million, or one out of every eight Americans. Driven by the downturn, that number has risen every month for the past 18 months. Last year alone, it grew by 20 percent. It's grown by 50 percent since the recession began. Continue

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Post-Anti-Americanism

By Howard Fineman

Europe can’t even be bothered to hate America any more. Continue

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Twenty "insurgents" killed in Afghanistan "battle" - NATO: At least 20 "insurgents" were killed in Afghanistan's southeast in an operation against the Haqqani network, whose leader Washington wants designated a terrorist, the NATO-led alliance said on Thursday.

U.S. Soldier Killed in Afghanistan: A U.S. service member was killed Wednesday following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. The coalition didn't disclose the location or details of his death.

Afghans protest US killing of civilians: Hundreds of people in eastern Afghanistan have held an anti-US demonstration to protest the death of Afghan civilians at the hand of US forces.

Huge Oil Deposit Discovered in Northern Afghanistan: Officials in the Ministry of Mines and Industries say their studies have shown that a large deposit of oil with the capacity of 2 billion barrels is discovered in northern Afghanistan

Pakistan: 'Over 1,000 killed in seven months in Karachi’: More than 1,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence over the past seven months in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, according to its police chief, police Waseem Ahmed.

Two killed, nine injured in Iraq attacks: One soldier was killed and two others were wounded when gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul. Just north of Fallujah, a policeman was killed and five others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a patrol, according to officials at the scene.

Romania says it will stand by Israel if it attacks Iran: Romanian President Traian Basescu tells President Shimon Peres his country will stand by Israel if it attacks Iran.

The morning after the attack on Iran: How will the international community respond the next day?

Iran sanctions helping Ahmadinejad: Karroubi: Western countries' sanctions against Iran are boosting rather than hurting the Iranian government, opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi said in an interview with a British newspaper published Thursday.

Russia against unilateral Iran sanctions: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Borodavkin has reiterated Moscow's opposition to US and EU unilateral sanctions against Iran over its peaceful nuclear program.

Just get out: The Israeli authorities try to expel Hamas’s MPs from East Jerusalem

Turkey sets up own Gaza flotilla inquiry: On Tuesday Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday that Israel should admit sole responsibility for the deaths aboard the Mavi Marmara. "No one else can take the blame for killing civilians in international waters," Davutoglu told journalists.

Iran stoning woman tortured to confess on TV: lawyer: A lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning in the Islamic republic told a British daily she was tortured before confessing on state television to involvement in her husband's murder.

Africa’s Lord’s Resistance Army runs amok, 255 reported killed in last 18 months: Largely unreported campaign of abductions and massacres waged, scores of children have been forced to become child soldiers or sex slaves

23 killed in south Sudan ambush: The attack came less than a week after 21 others were killed in a cattle raid in the south, as concerns grow that continued violence could unsettle the semi-autonomous region ahead of a January vote on independence.

China braces for more floods as heavy rains predicted: Forecasters warn water levels could rise further and cause more destruction as rescue teams continue search for survivors

Russia fires ignite radiation fears: Wildfires are threatening to stir radioactive particles left over from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster back into the air over western Russia, authorities have said.

Ignoring the Obvious: The Floods and Fires, the Droughts and Disasters Will Continue: I've just returned from Niger. There, tens of thousands of people are facing extreme hunger because of the droughts of the last two years.

Honduras Down the Memory Hole: U.S. media ignore the aftermath of dubious elections they praised

UK: Report a crime and end up on a secret database: Police force has logged 180,000 names

U.S. military tribunal sentences bin Laden cook to 14 years imprisonment: Qosi, who served as cook, bodyguard and driver for bin Laden from 1996 to 2001, was captured in December 2001 in Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan. He has been held ever since.

Florida immigrant crackdown aims to outdo Arizona laws: State attorney general Bill McCollum promises harshest anti-illegal immigration legislation yet

Greek austerity measures hit GDP: Greece's economy has shrunk by a further 1.5 per cent in the second quarter of the year, as the country felt the painful consequences of the government's drive to reduce its debts with aggressive austerity cuts.

IMF blueprint for a global currency – yes really: In the eyes of the IMF at least, the best way to ensure the stability of the international monetary system (post crisis) is actually by launching a global currency.

U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to $49.9 Billion in June: Stocks plunged after the report, extending a global slide, on growing concern the recovery worldwide was slowing as a report showed output in China cooled and the leader of the Bank of England said U.K. growth will be weaker than previously forecast.

Study Looks at Tax Cut Lapse for Rich: Given the progressive nature of the federal income tax system, in which tax rates increase with income, even the richest households would continue to pay the four lower rates on up to the first $250,000 of their income, under the approach being pushed by Mr. Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress

Company job openings drop for 2nd straight month: Company job openings fell for the second straight month in June, a sign that hiring isn't likely to pick up in the coming months.

Californians' income falls for first time since WWII: California's decline was a third more than the national 1.8 percent personal income drop, reflecting the relative intensity of the state's recession.

For Section 8 WAITING LIST, Fights Break Out (VIDEO): Officials now estimate that a crowd of 30,000 turned out, three times what they had originally anticipated. Some in attendance may have been accompanying actual applicants even if they were not applying themselves. 13,000 applications were handed out.
Wells Fargo Must Pay Consumers $203 Million in Overdraft Case: A judge ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to stop manipulating debit-card transactions without consumers’ knowledge to increase revenue from overdraft fees while ruling the bank should pay about $203 million to customers because of the practice.