The Culture of the Occupation

By Layla Anwar

Every time I attempt to write an overall picture of the Iraq of before and after, I need to take a break, a choking feeling grips me in my throat and the rage rises again, like some lava from a volcano unwilling to die down. Continue

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US Cable Reveals
Israel Deliberately Choked Gaza

By AFP

Israel deliberately maintained the economy of the Gaza strip "on the brink of collapse a leaked US diplomatic cable from 2008 showed Wednesday. Continue

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Any Respect For International Law Left In The US Congress?

By Franklin Lamb

The US administration, as revealed in a State Department cable posted by Wikileaks, has been working overtime with Israel to parry further condemnation of  Israeli crimes documented in the Richard Goldstone and Richard Falk Reports, among others. Continue

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The Paris Four
In the Land of Double Standards

By Lawrence Davidson

These four stalwart defenders of the homeland from terrorism were lending material support to a designated terrorist organization through speech that was coordinated to enhance the cause of that group. As Giuliani put it, "The United States should not just be on your [the MEK’s] side. It should be enthusiastically on your side. You want the same things we want." Continue

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Putin Prepares For War

By Mike Whitney

Putin: "One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?" Continue

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States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics. Continue

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Nader to the Times: 'There Is Too a Left!'

By Ruth Conniff

How can it be that in such dark economic times, most of the political energy in the country is focused on dismantling unions, undoing President Obama's modest effort at health care reform, and giving even more power and even larger tax breaks to the rich and big business? Continue

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Foreign occupation troops kill 3 civilians : Afghan residents Wednesday accused US-led troops of killing three civilians in an overnight raid in Afghanistan's restive south
Bombs kill three civilians: The three civilians were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Uruzgan province, provincial deputy governor Khodai Rahim said.
Two NATO Occupation Force Soldiers, UN Worker Killed In Afghanistan: Two NATO soldiers and a U.N. worker were among five people killed in separate bomb attacks by militants in Afghanistan, reports said.
'US killed 938 Pakistanis in 2010': The Islamabad-based NGO, Conflict Monitoring Center, revealed the details of the deaths by US drone attacks in its annual report. The report gives detailed accounts on how the CIA killed innocent people merely on the suspicion of being militants.
Rose petals for Taseer killer in court: Mumtaz Qadri appears unrepentant at hearing, as mainstream religious groups applaud Pakistani politician's murder
Muqtada Sadr, anti-U.S. occupation cleric, returns to Iraq: Muqtada Sadr, the cleric whose Shiite fighters battled U.S. troops at the height of Iraq's civil war, returned to the country on Wednesday, an assistant said. It was the militant religious leader's first visit to his homeland since 2007.
Pentagon in $9.1bn fraud case in Iraq: Iraq's Supreme Audit Court says the US Ministry of Defense has failed to account for the USD 9.1 billion misspent discretionary funds during Iraq's occupation.: According to Iraqi newspaper al-Bayanat al-Jadidah, this recent release follows the 2010 finding of USD 8.7 billion in Iraq funds not accounted for.
Egypt halts full aid delivery to Gaza: Egyptian authorities have prevented some convoy members, including Iranians and some Jordanians, from crossing into the besieged Palestinian territory and have refused to allow the convoy, which is worth some 1 million dollars of aid, to be delivered to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.
Former U.S. attorney general visit Gaza on solidarity mission: Ramsey Clark kicked off a three-day visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, for a solidarity mission that places him at odds with American foreign policy. Clark met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. He was also scheduled to meet with human rights activists and visit relatives of people killed during Israel's attack on Gaza two years ago.
Israeli lawmakers approve ‘McCarthy-esque’ panel to probe ‘left-wing’ groups: Israeli left-wing organizations warned that the legislatures approval of a commission to investigate certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would "destroy democracy" in the nation.
Fox News allows guest to promote ‘holy war’ on Muslims: "The war that is being fought now, the great global conflict in the world, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Gaza, this is one war and it is a religious war," May explained.
What About Pfc. Bradley Manning?: While Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, conducts international media interviews from a manor house in the English countryside, Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier the military reportedly believes is responsible for providing Wikileaks’ information, languishes in solitary confinement in a Marine brig.
Opposing war and occupation is not a crime: Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.
World food prices enter 'danger territory' to reach record high: UN food price index rises for sixth month in a row to highest since records began in 1990
Dramatic spike in gas prices forecast: Demand for oil keeps increasing: The former head of Shell Oil has warned that gas prices could hit $5 a gallon by 2012 because of fast-growing demand in emerging countries such as China and India, where more and more people are buying cars, combined with restraints on drilling in the U.S. in the wake of last year's disastrous Gulf oil spill.
Medical Neglect Stalks Georgia Prisons: Private prisons, as well as publicly-run prisons with privatized medical care have built-in reasons to skimp on diagnostic testing and all kinds of care. Medical care costs money, and they're in business to make it, not to spend it.
Budget cuts send prisoners to solitary confinement: Court upholds solitude for state's death-row inmates: A Department of Corrections decision to return a condemned prisoner to solitary confinement from a unit that gave him more freedoms but fell victim to budget cuts, did not violate the prisoner's rights, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
A note from Joe Bagent: Dear friends, associates and fellow travelers, As you may or may not know, I have been struck down by an extremely serious form of cancer.