News For October 02, 2010

Netanyahu Humiliates Obama Again

By MJ Rosenberg

According to Ha'aretz, the latest (and most cringe-worthy) moment in the saga came this week when Dennis Ross, the president's top adviser on Israel-Palestinian issues, convinced Obama that Israel would only agree to an extension of the settlements freeze if Obama would "come off as friendlier" to Bibi. Continue

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PLO Urges Abbas To Quit Peace Talks

By Al Jazeera

Reading from a statement on Saturday, Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee, said Israel's failure to extend a 10-month partial freeze in settlement construction in the West Bank has made the negotiations "devoid of any meaning." Continue

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The Impending Collapse of Israel in Palestine

By Francis Boyle

On November 15, 1988 the Palestine National Council (P.N.C.) meeting in Algiers proclaimed the Palestinian Declaration of Independence that created the independent state of Palestine. Today the State of Palestine is bilaterally recognized de jure by about 130 states. Continue

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Bob Woodward's Dark Side
Famed Reporter Carries Water for the Pentagon

By Russ Baker

For almost four decades, under cover of his supposedly "objective" reporting, Woodward has represented the viewpoints of the military and intelligence establishments. Continue

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Exclusive: Blackwater Wins Piece of $10 Billion Mercenary Deal

By Spencer Ackerman

Never mind the dead civilians. Forget about the stolen guns. Get over the murder arrests, the fraud allegations, and the accusations of guards pumping themselves up with steroids and cocaine. Through a “joint venture,” the notorious private-security firm Blackwater has won a piece of a five-year State Department contract worth up to $10 billion. Continue

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Fraud Factories:
How Banks Profit From The Foreclosure Crisis

By Rep. Alan Grayson

"There is one set of rules for the banks and another set of laws for everyone else" Continue

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18 killed in US attacks in Pakistan: At least 18 people were killed Saturday in three separate US drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal area bordering Afghanistan, a media report said.

Pakistani politicians / military sell out to US? : Pakistan: 120 people killed in 22 attacks in Sept alone: Pakistan has quietly cooperated with the CIA drone program which started under President George W. Bush. But the program is intensely unpopular in the country because of concerns about sovereignty and regular reports of civilian casualties.

Whistling in the dark: Pakistan to consider other options if NATO strikes again: Gilani: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday told the National Assembly that the government might consider other options if someone tried to interfere with the country’s sovereignty.
Outrage Intensifies in Pakistan Over NATO Strikes as Militants Attack Fuel Trucks: Khurshid Ahmed, a member of the opposition party in Pakistan, demanded that the NATO strikes stop. "We regard it as an act of war, and we have demanded that Pakistan government must take immediate steps," he said, "both stopping supplies to NATO and, No. 2, if our borders are violated we should strike back."
Key senator lashes out at Pakistan government: A top senator slammed Pakistan's government Friday, urging more action against terrorists and less complaining about American drone strikes.
Maddow: US quietly testing ‘scary new war in Pakistan’: "Borders matter" and "AfPak" is not the name of a single country. Contrary to popular and media opinion, America is now fighting in three countries: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Seven civilians killed in Somali fire fight: "At least seven civilians, two of them women, were killed and 31 others injured during heavy exchange of artillery and mortar fire today," said Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu's ambulance service.

Four Georgian, two Romanian occupation troops killed in Afghanistan: Four Georgian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, the defence ministry said Friday, in the biggest loss for the ex-Soviet republic’s military since it deployed in the war-torn country. It was unclear whether the Georgians were among six international soldiers that NATO announced Thursday had been killed in Taliban attacks.

Grisly photos show U.S. soldiers posing with Afghan corpses: - Those who have seen the photos say they are grisly: soldiers beside newly killed bodies, decaying corpses and severed fingers.

Pentagon burns book and makes it a best-seller: The Pentagon has only helped build buzz around "Operation Dark Heart," a firsthand account of special operations in Afghanistan, by burning 9,500 copies -- nearly all the first run. (Some review copies, released before publication, have filtered out and sold for more than $2,000 on eBay, according to Time magazine.)

Iran arrests 'nuclear spies' accused of cyber attacks: The report comes after the complex worm Stuxnet infected staff computers at Iran's first nuclear power station at Bushehr.
Iran spy chief: We are able to fight off Stuxnet computer worm: Iran's intelligence minister said the country has learned how to fight off a complex computer worm that some foreign experts have speculated was designed to target Tehran's nuclear program, state television reported Saturday.
Juan Cole: Iran Wins Iraqi Elections 7 Months Later: Although it make take some time yet to form a government in Iraq, Friday may have been a turning point. If so, it was a turning point in which Iran won decisively and managed to rebuild a Shiite fundamentalist coalition led by incumbent PM Nuri al-Maliki that, in partnership with the Kurds, could dominate Baghdad for the next four years.
Assad, Ahmadinejad: Israel's actions prove it doesn't want peace : Assad was further quoted as saying that the latest Israeli- Palestinian peace talks in Washington did not change the regional political status quo and were merely aimed at increasing support for U.S. President Barack Obama inside the United States.
PLO urges Abbas to quit peace talks : Reading from a statement on Saturday, Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee, said Israel's failure to extend a 10-month partial freeze in settlement construction in the West Bank has made the negotiations "devoid of any meaning."
Thousands of Yemeni children killed or injured, says Unicef Thousands of children have been killed or injured in fighting between government forces and rebels in Yemen, and many are suffering from water shortages and malnutrition, the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef) said on Friday.
Fmr. Intelligence Director: New Cyberattack May Be Worse Than 9/11: "The warnings are over. It could happen tomorrow," he said of a large-scale cyberattack against the U.S., which could impact the global economy "an order of magnitude surpassing" the attacks of September 11. McConnell, in a panel with Bush administration Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend
Be very afraid – we are being fleeced by purveyors of fear: To see what is happening we probably need to return to the old journalistic maxim, follow the money. There is now an extensive police and industrial lobby in Britain dependent for its resources on maintaining a high level of public fear.
Fears of Chinese land grab as Beijing's billions buy up resources: China is pouring another $7bn (£4.4bn) into Brazil's oil industry, reigniting fears of a global "land grab" of natural resources.
Are we raising a generation of nincompoops?: —Second-graders who can't tie shoes or zip jackets. Four-year-olds in Pull-Ups diapers. Five-year-olds in strollers. Teens and preteens befuddled by can openers and ice-cube trays. College kids who've never done laundry, taken a bus alone or addressed an envelope.