News For September 10, 2010

Taliban And US Get Down To Talks

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

The Taliban are for the first time in serious negotiations with the US. The Pakistan military and Saudi Arabia are acting as go-betweens to facilitate the talks. Continue

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The ‘Meaning’ of 9/11

It’s not what you think

By Justin Raimondo

Today, nine years after the event, the Israel lobby is using the anniversary of the attacks to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria to a fever pitch, and they have plenty of bucks to do it. Continue

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Mideast Peace Talk Kabuki

By Eric Margolis

Egypt and Jordan, both close allies of Israel, have cooperated in the repression of the Palestinian movement Hamas. Neither wants to see a Palestinian state. Continue

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Let's Stop Fulfilling Bin Laden's Goals

By Ted Koppel

Bin Laden needed our unwitting collaboration, and we have provided it -- more than $1 trillion spent on two wars, more than 5,000 of our troops killed, tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans dead. Continue

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Walking in Reagan's Shoes
   
By Mike Whitney

Ordinary working people are hurting bigtime, still waiting for the prophet Obama to lead them to the promised land. But Obama has abandoned "Big Government" as the answer, whether it be a second round of stimulus, government jobs programs, or expanded welfare assistance. He'll have none of it. Continue

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Roubini and Bremmer
Financial Crisis Ended the Era of Free-Market Capitalism

By Matthew Scott

The global financial crisis just might give those in the U.S. who advanced the idea of a "new world order" their wish – but not exactly in the way they wanted. Continue

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Our 'War On Drugs' Has Been an Abysmal Failure.

By Simon Jenkins

It is wrecking the government of Mexico. It is financing the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is throwing 11,000 Britons into jail. It is corrupting democracy throughout Latin America. - It is the biggest man-made blight on the face of the earth. Continue

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Mexico's Drugs War: A Crime Writer's Perspective

BBC Interview with Paco Ignacio Taibo

"The president of Mexico is mad... he started, 3 years ago, a war against "narco"... 28,000 people have been killed in these 3 years" Continue

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Top Stories More Important than Quran-Burning Nut Job

By Juan Cole

The horrible era of anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States yielded a one-day silly season on Thursday. - The weird cultist Terry Jones, fired from his church in Cologne, Germany last year for abusing his congregants, preaching hate-filled sermons, and demanding absolute obedience, was favored by an unprecedented telephone call from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asking him not to burn the Quran. Continue

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The Lost Soul of the United States of America

By Maryam Sakeenah

The United States must stop presenting its warmongering as a result of misguided and ill-advised policies as if it were a clash between ‘our’ values and ‘theirs.’ It must get real and face the fact that it is not hated for its values, but for the lack thereof. Continue

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3 Afghan insurgents killed in NATO air strike: An Afghan insurgent commander who was purportedly planning bombings in Kabul on the eve of the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections and two of his associates have been killed in an air strike, NATO said Friday.

US-led troops kill Afghan protester: US-led troops used live ammunition to disperse Afghan protesters in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan Province, killing one person and injuring several others. The death toll is expected to rise as some of the wounded are said to be in critical condition.

Army: 12 soldiers killed Afghans, mutiliated corpses: Twelve U.S. soldiers face a variety of charges in what military authorities believe was a conspiracy to murder Afghan civilians and cover it up, along with charges they used hashish, mutilated corpses and kept grisly souvenirs.
Barf alert: Biden says Bush deserves 'a lot of credit': "Mr. President, thank you," Biden also said. "You've honored these guys. You've honored these women. You've honored these troops."
Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran : Opposition Group Claims Iran Secretly Developing 'Major' Nuclear Enrichment Site: The Iran Policy Committee hosted a press conference in Washington, D.C., where research from the Iranian resistance, known as the Mujahedeen Khalq, was unveiled. The findings could not be independently confirmed.
Iran denies running covert nuclear site: The terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) on Thursday had claimed that it had evidence of a new secret underground atomic site in the country.
U.S.: Newly revealed 'covert' Iran facility not nuclear: U.S. backs Iran's insistence that site 'exposed' by Iranian dissident group alleging secret uranium enrichment was in fact not a nuclear facility.
CNN report: IDF sexually abused Palestinian children: Explosive accusations on CNN: A CNN investigative report aired Thursday slammed the treatment of Palestinian children by IDF soldiers.
Colombian rebels mount offensive, 45 killed: Forty-five Colombian police, soldiers and guerrilla fighters have been killed over the past week as leftist rebels launch attacks meant to show they are still a threat after an eight-year U.S.-backed security push.
Obama: Mexico drug war not like Colombia: "Mexico is vast and progressive democracy, with a growing economy, and as a result you cannot compare what is happening in Mexico with what happened in Colombia 20 years ago," Obama told Los Angeles-based Spanish language newspaper La Opinion.
Mexico's Drugs War: A Crime Writer's Perspective: "The president of Mexico is mad... he started, 3 years ago, a war against "narco"... 28,000 people have been killed in these 3 years"
Weary of drug war, Mexico debates legalization: The debate is only likely to grow more animated if Californians approve an initiative on Nov. 2 to legalize marijuana for recreational use in their state.
Castro says he was misinterpreted on Cuban economy: Appearing at the University of Havana on Friday, the 84-year-old ex-president says he meant "exactly the opposite" of the quote contained in a blog by Atlantic magazine reporter Jeffrey Goldberg.
Peak Oil is History : At some point the economy shrinks so much as to invalidate the financial assumptions on which it is based, making it impossible to continue importing oil on credit.
Exclusive: WikiLeaks Collaborating With Media Outlets on Release of Iraq Documents: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, tells Declassified that his organization has teamed up with media organizations—including major television networks and one or more American media outlets—in an unspecified number of countries to produce a set of documentaries and stories based on the cache of Iraq War documents in the possession of WikiLeaks.
Pentagon Plan: Buying Books to Keep Secrets: Defense Department officials are negotiating to buy and destroy all 10,000 copies of the first printing of an Afghan war memoir they say contains intelligence secrets, according to two people familiar with the dispute.
N.Y. man alleges Homeland Security violated his rights during Newark airport search: To worries about full-body X-ray at airports, add this: little-known Homeland Security searches of travelers' laptops, cellular phones, digital cameras and other electronics — without a stated reason.
Obama wins the right to invoke "State Secrets" to protect Bush crimes: In a 6-5 ruling issued this afternoon, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Obama administration a major victory in its efforts to shield Bush crimes from judicial review, when the court upheld the Obama DOJ's argument that Bush's rendition program, used to send victims to be tortured, are "state secrets" and its legality thus cannot be adjudicated by courts.
Least we forget: Abu Ghraib abuse photos 'show rape': At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.
CIA papers reveal it ran prison facilities in Poland: AT LEAST one secret CIA prison operated on Polish territory between 2001 and 2003, according to a newly published internal document of the intelligence agency. An account of the document by the Associated Press (AP) agency suggests prisoners were not only held there but tortured. The Polish authorities have refused to confirm the story
Australian banks 'at risk': Australia's banks could be at risk to many of the factors that caused the near collapse of financial systems in many Western countries.
Can America Recover When The Majority Of Americans See A Double Dip, And Think The Country Is Fundamentally Broken?: Can the economy really recover when 92% of the population says the economy is garbage in a survey? That was the number in a WSJ/NBC poll, and it would seem to indicate a major headwind in terms of sentiment