News For August 13, 2010

A Neocon Preps US for War with Iran

By Ray McGovern

Goldberg and the Israelis want us to buy into a syllogism without a valid major premise. Their argument presupposes that Iran has made the decision to develop nuclear weapons and is hard at work on such a program, which is what they want Americans to believe whether there’s evidence or not. Continue

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How Propagandists Function:
Exhibit A

By Glenn Greenwald

How many times can we be persuaded to attack the New Hitler? Continue

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Afghan Resistance Statement
Allies No Longer Willing To Cover Up Inevitable Defeat

By Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

It is believed that the US is on the verge of failure militarily and morally and every step taken by it arouses intense anger and strong resentment among Afghan nation Continue

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Dennis Kucinich Makes a Serious Push to Ban Govt. Assassinations of US Citizens

By Jeremy Scahill

Kucinich is putting his money where his mouth is. He just announced he has introduced legislation to "prohibit the extrajudicial killing of United States citizens." Continue

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Is Robert Gibbs Right About the "Professional Left"?

By Mike Whitney

Obama can talk-the-talk, but he can't walk-the-walk. He can roll up his sleeves, point at the horizon, and work his magic on a stadium full of fans. But he can't shut down Gitmo or indict a few bankers who blew up the financial system. Continue

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Countdown to Collapse:
The Recovery is Not Recovering

By Danny Schechter

The Congress returned from its recess to pass new monies to keep teachers teaching and cops patrolling. They did so by slashing food stamps so the unemployed and poor -some 41 million people who rely on them---will have to cut back further. Continue

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Every Click You Make

By Kevin Drum

How websites routinely track your movements on the web and collect a genuinely astonishing amount of personal information about you in the process. Continue

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3 occupation force troops killed in Afghanistan: British soldier, serviceman killed in separate incidents; NATO says reports death of third coalition service member

Afghanistan: villagers block road after claims of civilian deaths: A crowd of about 300 villagers blocked a main road in eastern Afghanistan Aug. 12 and chanted "Death to the US!" The protest came after a raid by US forces in which they said three innocent villagers were killed at Zarin Khil, Sayed Abad district, Wardak province.

Showcase Afghan army mission turns into debacle: An ambitious military operation that Afghan officials had expected to be a sign of their growing military capacity instead turned into an embarrassment, with Taliban fighters battering an Afghan battalion in a remote eastern area until NATO sent in French and U.S. rescue teams.

Polish soldiers blow up Afghan dwelling “for fun”: “What a beauty!” comments one of the soldiers when the building is blown to pieces in the 3-minute video (see here), recorded by Polish soldiers from the Army’s 6th rotation during their tour of duty between October 2009 and April 2010.
WikiLeaks preparing to release more Afghan files:WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said Thursday his organization is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents it has on file. The Pentagon warned that would be more damaging to security and risk more lives than the organization's initial release of some 76,000 war documents.
Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran: New intelligence on Iran antiaircraft missiles in Afghanistan: An intelligence report recently delivered to the NDS, Afghanistan’s domestic intelligence agency, says that Iran has supplied fresh batteries for some three dozen shoulder-fired SA-7 missiles stockpiled by Taliban forces in Kandahar, in anticipation of a U.S. attack.
The Weak Case for War with Iran: Jeffrey Goldberg's new article in the Atlantic is deeply reported -- and deeply wrong about the Middle East. But it's his misunderstanding of America that is most dangerous of all.
Least we forget: View of Hiroshima after Atomic Bombing : Panoramic view of Hiroshima after the atmoic bomb. It is many photos forming one 360 degree rotation of the city
Fact or propaganda? Barack Obama 'may be prepared to meet Iranian president’: Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Gen James Jones, has indicated the President may be prepared to meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if the regime resumed negotiations over its nuclear programme.
Turkey to continue sending fuel to Iran: Ankara not deterred by US sanctions on Islamic regime.
CIA evidence of an Israeli nuclear test: Since 2004, the CIA report on the double flash detected by a US Vela satellite on 22 September 1979, originating in the south Atlantic, has been declassified, albeit heavily redacted.
'Bushehr plant's main tests complete': "All the installations and tests are now complete and the plant is now headed for launch," he added.
Iran's Nuclear Plant to Get Russian Fuel Next Week: Russia has announced it will begin loading fuel into a reactor at Iran's first nuclear power plant on August 21 despite objections by the United States and other Western powers.
Two soldiers killed in Iraq violence: Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and five security personnel wounded in three attacks, including a suicide car bombing, in central and northern Iraq, police said.
Alleged Mossad spy granted bail in Germany, 'can return to Israel if he wants': Prosecutors accuse Uri Brodsky of illegally helping to procure a German passport used in connection with the slaying of a Hamas commander in Dubai.
Pakistan: We're dying of hunger': Surrounded by brown, fast-shifting water, the 40 or so families in the village-turned-island had received no food, no medicine and no news on when they might be rescued.
Why no rush to aid Pakistan?: The images are devastating, as are the numbers. The floods in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, by now reaching as far south as the Punjab, have affected more people than all major natural disasters in the past six years combined. Some 14 million people — 2 million displaced — and 300,000 homes have been hit, with 1,600 fatalities so far.
Global Warming and the Pakistani Flood: It’s impossible to look at the images coming out of Pakistan and not shake your head at the brutality of Mother Nature. But is it Mother Nature’s fault—or our own?
Errant climate may be sign of breakdown, scientists say: Floods, fires, melting ice, and feverish heat — from smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Iowa and the High Arctic, the planet seems to be having a midsummer breakdown. It is not just a portent of things to come, scientists say, but a sign of troubling climate change already under way.
'Blocked' jetstream to blame for freak weather in Russia and Pakistan, say scientists: A massive heatwave in Russia and the current devastating floods in Pakistan could be linked by the unusual behaviour of the jetstream, scientists believe.
Russia accused of masking heatwave death toll: Federal authorities have so far steadfastly refused to give details about any national death toll, although one Moscow official has said there have been hundreds more deaths each day in the capital alone due to the heatwave.
World feeling the heat as 17 countries experience record temperatures: 2010 sees record highs in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine but also many African, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries
Biggest relocation in China since Three Gorges: China's growing thirst for water is driving one of the world's biggest mass relocations, with 440,000 people leaving their homes to make way for a huge man-made canal project to channel water to drought-prone Beijing.
Gulf of Mexico `Dead Zone' Grows as Spill Impact Is Studied: The Gulf of Mexico faces a renewed and enlarged threat to marine life: a low-oxygen “dead zone” about the size of Massachusetts, caused by chemical runoff into the Mississippi River that flows into the sea.
Jersey Shore: Dead Fish Wash Ashore In Thousands For Second Time This Week On East Coast (VIDEO)": Fisheries in Massachusetts alleged low oxygen from warm waters was the cause of the mass kill in Fairhaven
Former Mexican president favors legalizing drugs: Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has come out in favor of legalizing drugs in an attempt to disrupt the illegal markets that have turned parts of Mexico into battlegrounds.
Senate passes border "security" bill: Congress gave final approval Thursday to a $600-million border security package that President Obama had sought to tighten the border with Mexico — a move supporters hope will open a broader political discussion on comprehensive immigration reform.
Florida Republican: Put immigrants in "camps": A Republican candidate for the Florida state Legislature stood by her controversial idea to arrest illegal immigrants and send them to "camps" where they can be held en masse.
Amnesty International says Omar Khadr trial should not go ahead : Amnesty said the USA had not listened to repeated appeals from the international community, including senior UN officials, about what it has called the "unfair trial of an individual accused of alleged war crimes committed when he was a child."
Stranger than fiction: US Judge: OK to extract confessions by threatening suspects with rape: In one of the first military commissions held under the Obama administration, a US military judge has ruled that confessions obtained by threatening the subject with rape are admissible in court.
Greece's economy deeper in recession than forecast: Record jump in Greek unemployment prompts that crisis could intensify social unrest
World stock markets on high alert as recession fears remain: Fears that Britain could slide into a protracted depression intensified last night after the Bank of England warned of a long and 'choppy recovery'
U.S. bailouts benefited foreign firms, report says: The federal government's effort to stabilize the financial system in 2008 by flooding money into as many banks as possible resulted in a boon to many foreign firms and left the United States shouldering far more risk than governments that took a narrower approach, according to a new report by a panel overseeing the Treasury's $700 billion bailout fund.
Paul Krugman: America Goes Dark: The lights are going out all over America — literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being contemplated across the nation, from Philadelphia to Fresno.
New claims for unemployment aid reach 484K: The employment picture is looking bleaker as applications for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in almost six months.