THE ROVING EYE How Osama re-elects Obama By Pepe Escobar A nuclear deal with Iran? An organized retreat from Afghanistan? The eurozone picking up a little bit of steam? Stable oil prices? Forget it. The crucial foreign elector recruited for Obama II at the White House is one Osama bin Laden. Call [...]
U.S. Hard Line in Failed Iran Talks Driven by Israel By Gareth Porter link http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31425.htm May 25, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Negotiations between Iran and the United States and other members of the P5+1 group in Baghdad ended in fundamental disagreement Thursday over the position of the P5+1 offering no [...]
(Photo: Greenpeace)A frontpage report in today’s New York Times paints the picture of a president eager to open a gateway to arctic drilling that members of his own energy and climate change advisory panel thought was both surprising and “improbable”. Ignoring Protest and Warnings, Obama Ushers in Era of Unprecedented Arctic Drilling The president, who once [...]
Photo by Reuters I’ve just returned home from the NATO summit and I can’t stop focusing on all that we don’t know after dozens of world leaders met for two days. I have to wonder if the Obama Administration is disappointed in the results. At the end of all of those hours of talking, the [...]
, May 22, 2012 Print This | Share This Following in the rich history of fake endings to wars during the Obama Administration’s first term, the US and other NATO member nations are loudly hyping their endorsement of a transition pact, which is being presented as an “irreversible pullout” of occupation forces. [...]
Seepage and Suffering: Obama’s Civil War Scenario for Afghanistan WRITTEN BY CHRIS FLOYD TUESDAY, 22 MAY 2012 16:37 “The winds in Chicago Have torn me to shreds; Reality has always Had too many heads.” – Bob Dylan, “Cold Irons Bound” So now we know the grand plan of the Peace [...]
Islamophobia: A New Form of Colonialism By Ismail Salami In an organized act of brutality, a number of US soldiers went on a house-to-house shooting spree in Zangabad village, Kandahar in March and massacred 16 people including nine children while they were sleeping and all Washington had to say were a [...]
Afghanistan: exit with no strategy The least one can expect of a president who prolonged Afghan suffering by ordering a surge of troops to finish the job, is that he has something that could be dignified with the name of an exit strategy It is disingenuous to claim, as Barack Obama did [...]
War and cheeseburgers By Pepe Escobar A specter haunts Europe. No, it’s not communism; it’s US rating agencies. Greece is bankrupt; the eurozone is about to crack; JP Morgan makes billion-dollar “mistakes”; there’s no (jobs) future for the new generations. And yet the weaponized arm of the Western 0.1% elites occupies [...]
Federal Court Enjoins NDAA An Obama-appointed judge rules its indefinite detention provisions likely violate the 1st and 5th Amendments By Glenn Greenwald May 17, 2012 “Salon‘ — A federal district judge today, the newly-appointed Katherine Forrest of the Southern District of New York, issued an amazing ruling: one which preliminarily enjoins enforcement of the highly controversial [...]
The G8 talks will be an opportunity for Barack Obama to vent US frustration at Europe’s failure to find a solution to the debt crisis. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP link http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/17/barack-obama-eu-growth-crisis Barack Obama is to put pressure on Germany to ease the pain of austerity with policies to boost growth, as he uses two days of talks with the G8 industrial nations [...]
A recent series of visits by US officials to Myanmar signaled the renewal of relations[GALLO/GETTY] Obama unveils ‘new chapter’ in Myanmar ties Rewards for reforms include first US ambassador to South Asian nation in 22 years and easing of investment sanctions. The ‘new chapter’ is finding another country to influence. Closed government means ‘not open [...]
Supporters of the Catholic Workers social justice and peace movement march on Randolph Street after a protest Monday outside President Barack Obama’s national campaign headquarters at Prudential Plaza, where eight demonstrators were arrested. (José M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune / May 14, 2012) From Afghanistan to Chicago, NATO‘s Hard Sell by Roxane Assaf & Michael Lynn [...]
JP Morgan protesters attempt to make their voices heard outside the shareholders’ meeting in Tampa. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images JP Morgan: justice department opens investigation into $2bn trading losses Chief executive Jamie Dimon sees off attempts by shareholders to strip him of his role as chairman – but pressure is mounting The US justice department [...]
Noam Chomsky (Credit: Reuters/Jorge Dan) Chomsky on Obama Bush disappeared and tortured those the US disliked, while the Obama administration simply “murders them” BY GLENN GREENWALD Appearing on Democracy Now this morning, Noam Chomsky said the following: If the Bush administration didn’t like somebody, they’d kidnap them and send them to torture chambers. If the Obama administration decides they don’t [...]
East Timor: a lesson in why the poorest threaten the powerful 5 April 2012 Milan Kundera’s truism, “the struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting”, described East Timor. The day before I set out to film clandestinely there in 1993, I went to Stanfords map [...]
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Illustration by Mr. Fish Colonized by Corporations By Chris Hedges In Robert E. Gamer’s book “The Developing Nations” is a chapter called “Why Men Do Not Revolt.” In it Gamer notes that although the oppressed often do revolt, the object of their hostility is misplaced. They vent their fury on a political puppet, someone who masks colonial power, [...]
link http://www.tothepointanalyses.com/1408 Part I – Liberal Games On 10 April 2012 the journalist Charles Davis did a guest posting on Glenn Greenwald’s website, Salon. The title of the piece is “The Liberal Betrayal of Bradley Manning.” Davis’s argument is that President Obama acts much like George Bush Jr. when it comes to “security” issues. He has, for [...]
WAR: The “Mutual Butchery” of the Poor and Working Class This is a war on all of us, and the struggle against war is really a struggle for a better life for the millions of folks who are in need here in this country. The fight against the [...]
Long Live “Our” Gulf Bastards by Pepe Escobar / May 12th, 2012 Life is a golden gift from Allah if you’re a certified member of the Gulf Counter-Revolution Club (GCC), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can torture, [...]
. Help Wanted: Strong Leadership on Climate Change, Starting Immediately by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez Now if only President Obama could show the same leadership on climate change as he has just demonstrated on the divisive same- sex-marriage issue The same narrow-minded interests that made same-sex marriage such a boogeyman for the President are also controlling the [...]
(Image: Johnny Selman) If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate. Game Over for the Climate The science of the situation is clear — it’s time for the politics to follow by James Hansen Global warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening. That is why I [...]
“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable [...]
Afghanistan: Obama’s ‘dumb’ war Mon May 7, 2012 1:9PM GMT Hamid Javadi U.S. President Barack Obama addressing the American public from Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan on May 1 Since taking office as president of the United States, Barack Obama made the war inAfghanistan his own war. He called the occupation of Iraq ”a dumb war”, but in Afghanistan he approved [...]
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern says the US will not stop its assassination drone strikes due to its profits for arms makers, Press TV reports. link to voice recording. Very good listening http://presstv.com/detail/240022.html “These drone strikes create more terrorists. So, the war will keep going on and the question is who profits? [...]
President Barack Obama greets troops on a surprise visit this month at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. America, one scholar says, is “addicted to war.” (Mandel Ngan, Getty-AFP photo / May 1, 2012) Steve ChapmanMay 6, 2012 Every president is a war president Politics protects the garrison state Ninety-six years ago, when President Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election, two notable things [...]
REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL The Nobel Peace Prize winner (Taken from CubaDebate) I shall barely talk about the Cuban people, who one day swept away United States domination of their homeland, when the imperialist system had reached the peak of its power. Men and women of all ages could be seen [...]
The President’s Private War Andrew Napolitano on drone killings: ‘What monstrous nonsense all this is’ By Andrew Napolitano May 05, 2012 “Information Clearing House” – Did you know that the United States government is using drones to kill innocent people in Pakistan? Did you know that the Pakistani government has [...]
John Brennan, chief counterterrorism advisor to President Obama. Photo Credit: Pete Souza/White House The Obama Team Just Doesn’t Get It: US Violence and Occupation Spark Terrorism There is almost no discussion about why so many people in the Muslim world object to U.S. policies so strongly that they are inclined to resist violently. May 3, [...]
US-Afghan Pact Won’t End War or Night Raids by Gareth Porter, May 03, 2012 Print This | Share This The optics surrounding the Barack Obama administration’s “Enduring Strategic Partnership” [.pdf] agreement with Afghanistan and the memorandums of understanding (MOU) accompanying it emphasize transition to Afghan responsibility and an end to U.S. war. [...]
Counterterrorism adviser John Brennan (second from right) in the Situation Room as President Obama and his national security team monitored the raid against Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011. (White House photo) Not Explaining the Why of Terrorism May 2, 2012 Exclusive: President Obama signed a U.S.-Afghan strategic agreement on May 1, committing U.S. combat forces [...]
Obama in Afghanistan to Sign Deal to Continue War Through 2024 President Sneaks Into Country to Sign Document, Bypasses Congress by Jason Ditz, May 01, 2012 Print This | Share This Months of “not quite public” Obama Administration efforts to negotiate a still-secret pact to ensure that US troops will [...]
The Obama Contradiction Weakling at Home, Imperial President Abroad By Tom Engelhardt He has few constraints (except those he’s internalized). No one can stop him or countermand his orders. He has a bevy of lawyers at his beck and call to explain the “legality” of his actions. And if he cares [...]
Make Love, then War By Linh Dinh April 27, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — In these days of a dying, raving and hallucinating empire, its best known poet, and a master at being anti-war, is accepting a Presidential Freedom Award from a cynical if affable, still, to many people, master of [...]
A Game of Drones More Sharing ServicesShare|Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on email Precision-guided mythology masks a brutal truth. By Ximena Ortiz | April 27, 2012 America’s recent foreign policy has been enabled by a central idea: the United States does things differently. It wages wars differently. It suspends habeas [...]
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has often been perceived as unwilling to negotiate with the US [REUTERS] Washington, DC - In January 2009, just before Gary Samore left his position as Vice-President for Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, he summed up his rather cynical view of how Iran would conduct negotiations. “The logical position [...]
How Obama Recycled a Lie about Iran By Elizabeth Murray April 26, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — In June 2007, Middle East expert and University of Michigan professor Juan Cole remarked that bad translations can sometimes start wars. Professor Cole, in this case, was referring to the misleading, yet widely circulated mistranslated [...]
US Hegemony in Latin America by Renee Parsons While the ‘misconduct’ of Secret Service agents with prostitutes in Colombia is a significant, if titillating scandal, most media reports have missed the tectonic political shift that surfaced at the recent Summit of the Americas meeting. The Summit, an offshoot of the Organization of American [...]
The Drone-Happy President: Obama Escalates in Yemen – Again by Glenn Greenwald Ten days ago, I wrote about a request made by CIA Director David Petraeus to expand the drone war in Yemen in accordance with the following, as expressed by the first paragraph of The Washington Post article reporting it: At the time, I wrote that “it’s [...]
A Conspiracy of Whores by: John Grant Whore: (verb) To debase oneself by doing something for unworthy motives, typically to make money. -The New Oxford American Dictionary It’s a challenge to make adult sense of the absurdities coming out of Colombia right now. I had first planned to write about the Drug War [...]
Below is a link to an excellent interview with Ray McGovern a former CIA analyst. He of course as a CIA employee reported directly to a President nd is an acknowledged expert in the field. Although this is only short you get a god sense of what is happening with the dissemination [...]
Image Credit: Luis Vazquez/©Gulf News Buying time in Palestine Neither Obama nor Abbas will be able to hold back the tide of a third intifada by the oppressed people By Abdel Bari Atwan, Special to Gulf News Published: 00:00 April 25, 2012 Be the first to comment Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare [...]
Abroad, as at Home, Obama Coasts on a Wave of Disappointment Significant hope was invested in Obama to repair America’s global reputation and reorient its foreign policy – but there’s been precious little return By Gary Younge April 23, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — In January 1903 the US signed a treaty [...]
Reagan‘s economics heralded a fundamental shift in the distribution of wealth in the United States [GALLO/GETTY] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/04/201242271320671637.html San Pedro, CA - Karl Rove was infamous for the strategy of attacking the strengths of political opponents, rather than their weaknesses. The 2004 Swiftboat attack on John Kerry, a genuine war hero, was the classic example of this. [...]
For more than thirty years, scientists have been trying to figure out how to efficiently replicate one of nature’s most fundamental processes: photosynthesis, the source of energy for nearly all life on earth. Finally, after much head-scratching, a breakthrough by scientists in Sweden could soon prove itself the key to unlocking the sun’s vast potential [...]
Text of AP Story on Afghanistan Agreement Translated into Human By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/text-ap-story-afghanistan-agreement-translated-human Here’s an Associated Press story on an agreement for another decade of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, an agreement between two governments that do not represent their peoples, a story that was clearly translated from the [...]
Electing the US candidate Jim Yong Kim to the presidency of the World Bank may have been a missed opportunity to ameliorate animosity stemming from the global economic meltdown [AFP] Santa Barbara, CA - The unsurprising announcement that the Board of the World Bank had voted in favour of the American candidate, Jim Yong Kim, presents [...]
Murder, Inequality, Corporate Profits and Free Trade Go Together Matt Stoller is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. You can follow him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/matthewstoller Here’s the President on Sunday on a new trade deal with Colombia. Obama says US trade deal with Colombia has strong protections for workers and the environment…. [...]
How Obama Became a Civil Libertarian‘s Nightmare Obama has expanded and fortified many of the Bush administration’s worst policies. April 18, 2012 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. When Barack Obama took office, he was the civil liberties communities’ [...]
AfPak: Mutiny on the Bounty By Eric Walberg – CairoKabul was cast into chaos Sunday as the Taliban began their spring offensive with attacks on US, British, German and Russian embassies, NATO headquarters, Camp Eggers, a hotel, President Karzai’s palace compound and parliament. “These are coordinated attacks that went just [...]
