Invoking 'Appeasement,'
Republican Candidates Blast Obama At Jewish Forum

By Andrea Stone

U.S. President Barack Obama, the Republicans said, was making a comparable mistake by "appeasing" Iran, "appeasing" Islamist extremists, even "appeasing" other countries who want to take America's place in the world. Continue

Gingrich Calls For Joint Operations’ With Israel
To Attack Iran’s Nuclear Program

By Ben Armbruster

“I would rather plan a joint operation conventionally than push the Israelis to a point where they [the Iranians] go nuclear,” Continue

“Force, Might and Beatings”
Indelible Images of the First Intifada

By Ali Abunimah

December 9, 1987 – exactly 24 years ago – is the day Palestinians remember as the start of the first Intifada, or uprising, against Israel’s brutal and unending occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that had begun 20 year earlier. Continue

Pakistan Army Believes NATO Attack Planned: Reports

By Augustine Anthony

A senior Pakistani military officer said a NATO air strike killing 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border last month was pre-planned and warned of more attacks. Continue

Confrontation on the Frontiers of China and Russia
Obama Raises the Military Stakes

By James Petras

The age of Asian “comprador capitalists”, willing to sell out national industry and sovereignty in exchange for privileged access to US markets, is ancient history. Continue

AP Exclusive: Inside Romania's Secret CIA Prison

By MATT APUZZO

One of the CIA's most important secrets in the war on terrorism was hiding in plain sight, on a leafy residential street along a busy set of train tracks in Romania's capital. Continue

Top US General Worries About Euro, Potential Unrest

By AFP

Top US military officer General Martin Dempsey said Friday he was "extraordinarily concerned" about the euro's viability due to the potential for civil unrest and the breakup of the European Union. Continue

The Euro: That Procrustean Bed...

By Adrian Salbuchi

Efforts by European leaders to shoe-horn a range of diverse countries into a rigid financial cage are doomed to fail. But that’s all part of a long-term plan for a global super-currency which can only bring more hardship to ordinary working people. Continue

An Idiot’s Overview Of Why Western Capitalism Is Crashing

By Alan Hart

“Baring a miracle, an historic, world-changing event is about to end the American way of life as we know it. " Continue

We’re No. 1!

BY Cecil Acuff

Does America joyously lead the world in something? Yes, but ’tis not a joy, but the sad fact that the United States of America is a leader in incarceration. There are about 2.3 million people behind bars – one of every 100 citizens. Continue

Your Money or Your Life?
Humanity Nears a Deadline to Decide Which it Will Surrender

By Kellia Ramares-Watson

If we don’t see the folly of our monetary ways very soon, maybe as soon as this week or this month, our fates may be sealed for another century. Continue

"A Corporation Is Not A Person"
Sanders Offers Constitutional Amendment to Strip Corporations of "Free Speech"

By Pete Kasperowicz

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday proposed an amendment to the Constitution to exclude corporations from First Amendment rights to spend money on political campaigns. Continue

Land of the Free, Home of the Hungry

By Gary Younge

The sheer scale and intensity of the problem refutes any suggestions of the undeserving poor. Continue

Engineering Consent For Attack On Syria? Syria death toll rises to 24: Rights group: Syrian security forces opened fire on civilians in several protest flashpoints on Friday, killing at least 24 people including four children, a rights group said.
US concerned over imminent Syrian Assult: The US is 'extremely concerned' over reports of an imminent Syrian assault on the key city of Homs. Homs is at the heart of the revolt against Bashar el Assad's regime, where at least 10 people have been killed today alone.
Arab states won't allow Syrian "massacre"-Saudi prince: A senior Saudi prince said on Friday that Arab states would not allow "the continued massacre" of the Syrian people, while saying he believed President Bashar al-Assad was unlikely to step down voluntarily.
Syria opposition wants rebels to halt attacks: Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun said he pressed the leader of the Free Syrian Army, to rein in operations after they launched a series of attacks on troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Factional Splits Hinder Drive to Topple Syria Leader: Soldiers and activists close to the rebel Free Syrian Army, which is orchestrating attacks across the border from inside a refugee camp guarded by the Turkish military, said Thursday that tensions were rising with Syria’s main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, over its insistence that the rebel army limit itself to defensive action.
Pietton denies France recruiting Free Syrian Army members: French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton denied in remarks published Friday that France is recruiting members of the Free Syrian Army in Turkey and North Lebanon.
Seven die as clashes erupt in northern Yemen: At least seven people were killed when clashes escalated in northern Yemen between Houthi rebels and Islamists, media reported Friday
Mosque suicide attack kills six in Afghanistan: A suicide bomber on Friday attacked a mosque in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least six people including a district police chief, a government official said.
Bomb kills three Pakistani soldiers: Bombers killed three Pakistani soldiers Friday as firefighters battled to control an inferno at a NATO trucking terminal attacked two weeks after Pakistan shut the Afghan border to US supplies.
US drone attacks come to an end in Pakistan? : Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region near Afghan border has seen a halt in US drone attacks after Pakistan showed hostility in the wake of Nato attack in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 soldiers last month that led to suspension of Nato supplies.
Pakistan to deploy air defence weapons on Afghan border: Pakistan will deploy air defence weapons on the border with Afghanistan to pre-empt fresh attacks by NATO forces in the wake of a "pre-planned" air strike that killed 24 soldiers, a top military official has said.
Pakistani Editorial Says Nuclear War with India "Inevitable" as Water Dispute Continues: Potential nuclear war over water rights – such sentiments ought to light up switchboards from New Delhi to Washington.
Israeli raids kill three Gaza Palestinians, rockets fired at Israel: The latest fighting erupted on Thursday when an air strike on a car killed two Palestinians, one of them from Gaza’s governing Hamas.
Israeli attack kills Gaza boy : A 12-year-old boy who was injured in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier Friday has succumbed to his wounds, Palestinian medical officials said.
Muslim Brotherhood to 'Re-examine' Camp David Accords: The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt denies a report in Israeli newspaper Yediot Acharonot, according to which the movement has reached understandings with the United States and Israel, according to which the Muslim Brotherhood "understands the importance of safeguarding the peace treaty with Israel.'
Islamists: Egypt-Israel peace treaty needs to be reviewed?: - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said that the country's peace treaty with Israel needs re-evaluation by the country's new parliament, in press remarks by a senior member of the group published Friday.
Ambassador: Turkey 'cannot tolerate' Iran getting nukes: Turkey is committed to keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and has stopped other countries from taking materials in to help Iran’s nuclear program, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States said Thursday.
Gingrich wants Bolton as his secretary of state: Critics described him as hotheaded, and he famously loathed the U.N., which won him conservative fans. Bolton discussed a 2012 presidential run himself but decided against it.
Arab Spring brings distaste for US aid: “There is an interest in more autonomy and more transparency,” he said. “If you’re going to pump money in NGOs, who are you, why are you doing that, who are these NGOs, what are their agendas?”
Poll: 3/4 say don't reelect Congress: The anti-incumbent sentiment toward members of Congress has reached a 19-year high, with three out of four voters saying most lawmakers do not deserve to win reelection, according to a new Gallup poll Friday.
GOP seeks to cut unemployment benefits: The Republican proposal is expected to reduce the total number of weeks unemployed workers are eligible for aid by as much as 40 weeks and tighten rules for eligibility.
Local Labor Groups Call For Unemployment Insurance Extension: With the prospect of 305,400 Californians losing unemployment insurance on Dec. 31, local labor unions and unemployed workers held a candlelight vigil Thursday to urge Congress to extend their benefits.
Corzine can’t explain missing MF Global funds: Former Wall Street high-flyer and Democratic politician Jon Corzine told US lawmakers Thursday he did not know what happened to an estimated $1.2 billion that disappeared from the accounts of now bankrupt broker MF Global.