January 2014

Moment of truth for Syria
Posted: Wednesday, January 22, 2014

US withholding Fisa court orders on NSA bulk collection of Americans' data
Justice Department refuses to turn over 'certain other' documents in ACLU lawsuit meant to shed light on surveillance practices

Google chief Schmidt 'literally outraged' by NSA activities
In an interview with The Guardian published on Tuesday, Schmidt said he and other Google executives have "complained at great length" to the U.S. government about the National Security Agency's surveillance efforts and have since started to encrypt internal communications.

Snowden to ask Russian police for protection after US threats – lawyer
NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, will ask Russian law enforcers to protect him, his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, has said. The former NSA contractor is concerned about his safety after seeing death threats coming from the US.

Major Syrian opposition party withdraws from coalition
The Turkish-based oppositional Syrian National Council withdrew on Tuesday from the Syrian National Coalition, the main opposition umbrella in exile, to protest the latter's acceptance to participate in the Geneva II peace conference on Syria's crisis, Arab media reports said.

Moment of truth for Syria, but Iran left in the cold by UN - and now Assad says he may stand in this year's presidential election
A long-awaited peace conference on Syria is likely to go ahead without one of the major participants of the conflict after the United Nations withdrew an invitation to Iran to attend the talks in Geneva.

Russia says Iran's absence from Syria talks is a mistake, not a catastrophe

Geneva II: Iran nixed proves US fixed
There is a good reason why Iran has been blocked from attending the Geneva II conference on Syria – because the meeting is not about finding a peaceful settlement. Rather, it is merely an American mechanism for engineering regime change in Syria.

"I Am Not the Kind of Person Who Clings to Power": President Bashar al-Assad
President Assad: The most basic element, which we continuously refer too, is that the Geneva Conference should produce clear results with regard to the fight against terrorism in Syria. In particular, it needs to put pressure on countries that are exporting terrorism, – by sending terrorists, money and weapons to terrorist organisations, – especially Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and of course the Western countries that provide political cover for these terrorist organisations.

Briefing: What's behind Iraq violence?
It's not strictly an Al Qaeda resurgence or a deep religious hatred: It's Syria, and it's politics.

Iraq says it intends to make 3 new provinces
Iraq's Shiite-led government said Tuesday it had decided in principle to create three new provinces from contested parts of the country in an apparent attempt to address Sunni grievances and counter the expansion of the Kurdish self-rule region.

Georgia protests as Russia expands border zone
Georgia has protested after Russia temporarily expanded its Olympic security zone into the breakaway Georgian territory of Abkhazia.

Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State is like saying the US is a White State
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is adding a fifth demand to his negotiations with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas: That the Palestinians recognize Israel as a "Jewish state."

US govt struck deal with Mexican drug cartel in exchange for info - report
Between 2000 and 2012, the US government had a deal with Mexican drug cartel Sinaloa that allowed the group to smuggle billion of dollars of drugs in return for information on its rival cartels, according to court documents published by El Universal.

U.S. Government and Top Mexican Drug Cartel Exposed as Partners
For over a decade, under multiple administrations, the U.S. government had a secret agreement with the ruthless Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed it to operate with impunity, an in-depth investigation by a leading Mexican newspaper confirmed this week. In exchange for information and assistance in quashing competing criminal syndicates, the Bush and Obama administrations let the Sinaloa cartel import tons of drugs into the United States while wiping out Sinaloa competitors and ensuring that its leaders would not be prosecuted for their long list of major crimes. Other revelations also point strongly to massive but clandestine U.S. government involvement in drug trafficking.

Rwanda in diplomatic trouble 20 years after genocide
As Rwanda marks 20 years since its 1994 genocide, the government is seeking to stress the strides the country has made since those dark days, despite international concern over its hardline leader.

The Inescapable Antagonism Between A Prosperous China and An Imperial U.S.
China has stated its goals quite unambiguously. "A moderately prosperous society by 2020" is the first goal and "a strong socialist nation by 2049" as the second. But this may be simplified: China's leadership wants its people to have a standard of living equal to that of the developed nations of the West.

Is The USA The World's De Facto Government?
It might not have seemed necessary in the 21st century to ask or answer such a ridiculous question. After all, in the last half of the prior century European colonialism collapsed politically, morally, and even legally, its pretensions and cruelties thoroughly exposed and totally discredited.

What really happened when a U.S. drone hit a Yemeni wedding convoy?
Four missiles fired from a U.S. drone hit a wedding convoy near the town of Radda' in the central province of al-Baydah, killing 12 men.

Nearly Half of All Black Men Are Arrested by Their Twenty-Third Birthday
About 49 percent of black men are arrested for non-traffic offenses by the time they turn twenty-three, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.

Big money behind war
Posted: Tuesday, January 14, 2014

US will not enter bilateral no-spy agreement with Germany, says media
Despite assurance from Barack Obama, United States has not ruled out bugging political leaders' calls, claims German paper

Russia may hit back at Saudi Arabia for Volgogard attacks
Russian intelligence has now reportedly obtained solid proof that Saudi Arabia was directly involved in the twin terror attacks on the city of Volgograd. The attacks killed more than 32 people and injured over 100 others. Most of the victims were civilians.

Big money behind war: the military-industrial complex
More than 50 years after President Eisenhower's warning, Americans find themselves in perpetual war.

Noam Chomsky: Obama Trade Deal A 'Neoliberal Assault' To Further Corporate 'Domination'
The Obama administration's Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is an "assault," on working people intended to further corporate "domination," according to author and activist Noam Chomsky.

CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Cartel
An investigation by El Universal has found that between the years 2000 and 2012, the U.S. government had an arrangement with Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed the organization to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs in exchange for information on rival cartels.

Iran nuclear deal to take effect this month
European Union confirms interim agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme will be implemented as of January 20.

Iran to start recovering frozen oil revenue amid nuclear talks
Tehran to receive first payment of $500 million on Feb. 1, report says.

Senate Dems key to Iran sanctions Obama poised to veto
Republicans say it is up to Democrats whether strengthened Iran sanctions pass the Senate and ensure that the country sticks to a deal with the White House to open up its nuclear program to inspections.

White House promises 'action' if nuclear talks fail with Iran
Iran's failure to uphold interim deal, reach final agreement, "would result in action by the US," says White House spokesman.

Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki to revive Sunni militia
BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, in a striking change of course, is embracing the Sunni tribal fighters whose role in combating Al Qaeda he had allowed to wither after US troops left two years ago.

Pressure mounts over UK's Iraq 'war crimes'
LONDON: Legal experts from around the world are to join calls for an investigation into whether British politicians and senior military figures should be prosecuted for alleged war crimes in Iraq.

Ariel Sharon and the Legacy of US-Backed War Crimes
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon died over the weekend. Much of the U.S. and Israeli media have whitewashed Sharon's legacy, erasing from history the fact that he was a wretched war criminal who was devoted to a Greater Israel and to massacring any civilians he perceived as obstructing that goal.

Israeli Arab Leaders Reject 'Land Swap' Plan
Expelling Villages to Palestine Is 'Ethnic Cleansing'

Sharon and a Nobel Prize for Nonsense
Until recently I thought Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had no rivals in the business of talking propaganda nonsense (Israel's Jews in danger of annihilation etcetera, etcetera, etcetera). But if there was a Nobel Prize for talking nonsense it does now seem that there would be a number of contenders.

How Ariel Sharon Shaped Israel's Destiny
In a bloody career that spanned decades, he destroyed entire cities and presided over the killing of countless civilians.

War Criminals Gather to Honor War Criminal
Paying Tribute To A Genocidaire

Major Parts of World Ignored by U.S. TV News in 2013
If people outside the United States are looking for answers why Americans often seem so clueless about the world outside their borders, they could start with what the three major U.S. television networks offered their viewers in the way of news during 2013.

Nigeria Bans All Things Gay
Not to be outdone by Russia or India or Uganda, Nigeria's president has signed a law criminalizing same-sex relationships, and arguably even worse, stripping gays of any sort of freedom of association with each other.

Phobias may be memories passed down in genes from ancestors
Memories may be passed down through generations in DNA in a process that may be the underlying cause of phobias

All in play in the New Great Game
Posted: Saturday, January 4, 2014

NSA seeks to build quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption
In room-size metal boxes secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world.

US spy court: NSA to keep collecting phone records

Demand An Unconditional Pardon for Edward Snowden

Dear Congress: don't sabotage our chance to end the cold war with Iran
The US has hardly been free of fault in its dealings with Iran. If Congress imposes more sanctions, it will be a step backward

All in play in the New Great Game
The big story of 2014 will be Iran. Of course, the big story of the early 21st century will never stop being US-China, but it's in 2014 that we will know whether a comprehensive accord transcending the Iranian nuclear program is attainable; and in this case the myriad ramifications will affect all that's in play in the New Great Game in Eurasia, including US-China.

'Chance of a Century': International Investors Flock to Tehran
Since the West reached a landmark deal with Iran on its controversial nuclear program late last year, many Iranians are hoping for an end to sanctions. Western companies are also gearing up to do big business.

Al Qaeda militants seize areas of two Iraqi cities
Iraqi security forces and tribesmen on Thursday battled against militants linked to Al Qaeda who seized parts of two Sunni-majority cities after days of violence that erupted after a year-old protest camp was removed.

42 Killed, 69 Wounded in Iraq Bombings, Shootings

'One in four US drone deaths in Pakistan are civilian', report suggests

India has become a dystopia of extremes. But resistance is rising
Neoliberalism has failed the vast majority of India's people. But the spirit that gave the nation independence is stirring

Chief of DR Congo troops fighting Ugandan rebels killed
The commander of Congolese government troops fighting Ugandan Islamist rebels in the restive east of country has been killed in an ambush, the government said.

Panama seeks international help in canal fight

Iraq slides toward civil war
Heavy fighting erupted Thursday between Iraqi government troops and Sunni militants who seized large parts of Fallujah and Ramadi, two cities in Iraq's western Anbar province that were at the center of the armed resistance to the US occupation a decade ago.

Egypt Gone Bad
This past week the confrontation between Egypt's ruling regime and the country's Muslim Brotherhood intensified. In an act that should make anyone familiar with this ongoing struggle sit up and shake their head, the "military-backed government" in Cairo declared Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood a "terrorist organization."

'Israel Can Do No Wrong': Jewish Dissent, Jewish Repression
American Jews are expected by the Israeli government and by its American lobbying arms, such as AIPAC, to unequivocally support Israel against its very real enemies, but also any against criticism whether from abroad or within the American Jewish community.

Yuppie Prohibition League Denounces Pot Legalization
With all the other nonsense going on in this country, it's amazing (but of course expected) that anyone with other things to do would find the time to denounce Colorado's legal marijuana experiment.

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