Is Obama Already a Lame Duck?
Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist, Says Federal Reserve System ‘Corrupt’
Ousted former Honduran leader to head Petrocaribe
Ousted former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is taking on a new role: leading an energy consortium allowing poor Caribbean and Central American nations to buy oil on preferential terms from Venezuela. Zelaya accepted the invitation from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a strong ally both before and after Zelaya was removed from office in a coup last June. Zelaya has been taking refuge in the Dominican Republic.
Chavez mocks Clinton as “blond Condoleezza”
Violent protests hit Greece as German backing sought
Greek Protests Mount as Parliament Passes Budget Cuts
Striking Greek workers shut down transport and tried to storm parliament as lawmakers passed 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in budget cuts, including wage reductions, needed to trim the region’s biggest budget deficit.
Our Own Greek Tragedy
While President Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care “summit,” thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split screen – because they’re part of the same story. It’s just that Greece is a little further along in the plot.
Brazil rebuffs US, says it will go own way on Iran
Brazil vowed Wednesday not to “bow down” to gathering international pressure to impose new economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program if further negotiations might be fruitful. With visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton standing beside him, Brazil’s foreign minister said his country is concerned about Iran’s nuclear intentions.
Empire and Oligarchy: Whatever Happened to “We the People”?
Morales in Mexico
It was a hot afternoon in central Coyoacán and the sun beat down heavily on the crowd as they awaited the appearance of charismatic Bolivian leader, Evo Morales. The public queued patiently and edged slowly into the Jardín Hidalgo, following mandatory security checks that are the norm at events of this nature. As the area filled, the more eager of the spectators began to climb onto the bandstand, trees and fences, to get a glimpse of their hero. The smaller members of the audience stood on their tiptoes in preparation for the Bolivian leader’s arrival. A scuffle broke out in the crowd, and the two perpetrators were comically berated by onlookers who reminded them that, “We are socialists, not neocons! Keep the peace.”
Behind Washington’s Iran policy: Myths and reality
While Washington’s Iran policy is often described as oriented toward containment of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the aims are much broader, and the assumption that Iran has nuclear weapons ambitions is without foundation. US policy is directed at eclipsing the rise of Iran as an independent economic, military and political power, and seeks as an ultimate objective the subordination of Iran to Washington, economically, militarily and politically.
Ralph Nader Was Right About Barack Obama
A New Era of South-Oriented Geopolitics?
GM to recall 1.3M compacts for steering problem
General Motors Co. is recalling 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compact cars sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to fix power steering motors that can fail.
4 NATO soldiers, 10 civilians killed in Afghan violence
6 NATO troops die in Afghanistan
Blair warned in 2000 Iraq war was illegal
An invasion of Iraq was discussed within the Government more than two years before military action was taken – with Foreign Office mandarins warning that an invasion would be illegal, that it would claim “considerable casualties” and could lead to the breakdown of Iraq, The Independent can reveal.
Argentina coup as Hillary Clinton calls for Falklands talks
Two Suspects Entered U.S. After Killing in Dubai
Dubai police chief says to seek Netanyahu arrest
Microsoft exec pitches Internet usage tax to pay for cybersecurity
Quake may have shifted Earth’s axis, shortened day
The NAACP House of Shame
Suppose the producers of a nominated picture like “Hurt Locker,” donated one million dollars to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and on the night of the Oscar presentations “Hurt Locker” received Oscars for best picture, best actress, best supporting actress and a special honor was awarded to the “producer.”
Who Cares About Child Rape and Sodomy by Afghan Security Forces?
Haiti’s Earthquake and Reconstruction Through the Eyes of Many
Hillary in Latin America
Hillary Clinton’s Latin America tour is turning out to be about as successful as George W. Bush’s visit in 2005, when he ended up leaving Argentina a day ahead of schedule just to get the hell out of town. The main difference is that she is not being greeted with protests and riots. For that she can thank the positive media image that her boss, President Obama, has managed to maintain in the region, despite his continuation of his predecessor’s policies.
How Food and Water Are Driving a 21st-Century African Land Grab
Water-Poor Australia Gets Pushed on Sewage-to-Tap Plan
Obama Must Scrap Costly Nukes
U.S. President Barack Obama will shortly issue a Nuclear Posture Review, a task each new president must perform. The Nobel Peace Laureate must decide what to do with America’s 5,500 nuclear weapons — enough to destroy the planet at least five times over. Obama, strongly influenced by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, will likely decide to spend $7 billion US modernizing nuclear weapons and plants. This when the U.S. is bankrupt and running on borrowed money.
Our World Balances on a Sea of Debt
British forces accused of torture and murder as inquiry opens
U.S. criticized on Iran sanctions
The Obama administration is pushing to carve out an exemption for China and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council from legislation pending in the Senate and the House that would tighten sanctions on companies doing business in Iran, administration and congressional sources said.
Iran, China sign $143mn drilling deal
Executing Handcuffed Afghan Kids?
When Charlie Company’s Lt. William Calley ordered and encouraged his men to rape, maim and slaughter over 400 men, women and children in My Lai in Vietnam back in 1968, there were at least four Americans who tried to stop him or bring him and higher officers to justice. One was helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr., who evacuated some of the wounded victims, and who set his chopper down between a group of Vietnamese and Calley’s men, ordering his door gunner to open fire on the US soldiers if they shot any more people.
Paul Craig Roberts Owes Iraqi People Apology
John Feffer, Can Japan Say No to Washington?
Michael Moore: There’s Going to Be a Second Crash
Death Squads by Invitation
Truth and Consequences in the Gaza Invasion
Vulture Funds Preying on African Debt Video
Everyone Hates Each Other – It’s Hollywood
New Grist for Hype on Iran
Hawaii issues tsunami alert, evacuating up to 100,000 residents and tourists
Why Chile’s Stronger Earthquake Won’t Be As Deadly As Haiti’s
Massive quake, aftershocks hit Chile; at least 122 dead
Massive earthquake kills 122 in Chile
Huge quake hits Chile; tsunami threatens Pacific
Asia braces for tsunami after Chile quake
Magnitude 8.8 – OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
Japan Earthquake: Tsunami Warnings Downgraded After 7.0 Quake Off Japan Coast
Weather: Hottest January Ever Say Climate Experts
The gun-toting boys from Brazil who rule Rio’s ‘Corner of Fear’
Sunrise or Sunset for Iraq?
Operation New Dawn. That is the name the U.S. military will give its operations in Iraq when U.S. military operations in that country end this September. Wait, what? Okay, once more, a little more slowly. The United States has nearly 100,000 military personnel in Iraq right now. In keeping with the January 2009 Security Agreement between Washington and Baghdad, the United States will withdraw all forces and contractors and turn over military installations to the Iraqi government by the end of 2011.
‘Post Disaster Needs Assessment’ – Whose Needs? Whose Assessment?
American Genocides: Is Haiti Next?
Distinguished historian, scholar and activist Gabriel Kolko studied “the nature and purpose of (American) power (since) the 1870s,” calling it “violen(t), racis(t), repressi(ve) at home and abroad (and) cultural(ly) mendaci(ous).” It’s been the same since inception, historian Howard Zinn calling colonial America: “a class society from the beginning. America started off as a society of rich and poor, people with enormous grants of land and people with no land. And there were riots, there were bread riots in Boston, and riots and rebellions all over the colonies, of poor against rich, of tenants breaking into jails to release people who were in prison for nonpayment of debt. There was class conflict. We try to” portray a benevolent nation. We weren’t then. We’re not now.
The Rationale for Keeping U.S. Forces in Iraq
Intervention and Economic Crisis
Washington Times Covers 9/11 Controversy
We have no idea what happened on 9/11. But since 9/11 Commission members have reportedly disavowed the full government’s story – and one has written a book claiming the commission was serially lied to by the Bush administration, the FBI, CIA, etc. – we have to conclude that there are elements of the official story that are not entirely accurate. We would think that the US government would want to get to the bottom of such a serious matter, in some way or other.
Zimbabwe: Sophists for sanctions
Venezuela: From Revolution sui generis to Fifth International
Why are we surprised that Mossad used fake passports?
Did Britain know about Mossad hit? Israeli agent claims MI6 was tipped off
Credit cards implicate Mossad in Dubai hit: report
Dubai wants head of Mossad arrested over Hamas assassination
Plane attack prompts debate over terrorism label
Budgets, War and Blind Ambition: The Limited Minds of the American Elite
The War on Toyota: It’s All Politics
Does anyone really believe that Toyota is being pilloried in the media for a few highway fatalities? Nonsense. If Congress is so worried about innocent people getting killed, then why haven’t they indicted US commander Stanley McChrystal for blowing up another 27 Afghan civilians on Sunday?
Dubai identifies 15 new suspects in Hamas killing
New Grist for Hype on Iran
Here we go again. A report issued Thursday by the new Director General of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, has injected new adrenalin into those arguing that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon. The usual suspects are hyping—and distorting—thin-gruel language in the report to “prove” that Iran is hard at work on a nuclear weapon. The New York Times’ David E. Sanger and William J. Broad, for example, highlighted a sentence about “alleged activities related to nuclear explosives,” which Amano says he wants to discuss with Iran.
US woos Brazil over Iran nuclear dispute
Iran says UN nuclear watchdog bends to political influence
Behind Clinton’s tough talk on Iran
Chossudovsky: US will start WW3 by attacking Iran
A UN nuclear watchdog report suggests Iran could be developing a nuclear bomb, apparently confirming long-held suspicions in the West. But Tehran denies the claims, again insisting that its atomic intentions are peaceful. Michel Chossudovsky, who’s from an independent Canadian policy research group, believes that what Iran says hardly matters, because the U.S. is planning for war.
A “Good” Terrorist Captured by Iran
Afghanistan slams US-led forces over civilian deaths
NATO says 27 civilians killed in Afghanistan air strike
Latin America backs Argentina as Britain begins Falklands oil quest
Latin America Eyes Integration Without U.S., Canada
Orca Resistance at Sea World
It was the first time that a trainer had ever been killed by a group of captive killer whales. There had been previous attempts, a great many actually. But the trainers involved, whether through rescue by other employees or a stroke of luck on their part, had always managed to survive. This attack, however, proved to be different and fatal. It occurred on February 21, 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific.
Round Midnight: Tortillas and the Corporate State
Officials puzzle over millions of dollars leaving Afghanistan by plane for Dubai
This Is One of the Biggest Wall Street Frauds Ever…
Stage is set in U.S. for a Greek tragedy
With uncharacteristic bluntness, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Congress on Wednesday that the United States could soon face a debt crisis like the one in Greece, and declared that the central bank will not help legislators by printing money to pay for the ballooning federal debt. Recent events in Europe, where Greece and other nations with large, unsustainable deficits like the United States are having increasing trouble selling their debt to investors, show that the U.S. is vulnerable to a sudden reversal of fortunes that would force taxpayers to pay higher interest rates on the debt, Mr. Bernanke said.
Challenging History: Why the Oppressed Must Tell Their Own Story
BBC signals an end to era of expansion
US Media Replays Iraq Fiasco on Iran
Robert Fisk: Britain’s explanation is riddled with inconsistencies. It’s time to come clean
France demands Israel explain Dubai passport affair
France demanded on Thursday that Israel explain how a forged French passport came to be used by assassins suspected of killing a Hamas commander in Dubai last month.
British threat to Israel over Dubai Hamas assassination
Britain will consider severing its intelligence-sharing agreement with Israel if Mossad agents are proved to have stolen the identities of British passport holders, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
Dubai: Hamas slaying nearly ‘100 percent’ Mossad
Interpol puts Dubai killing suspects on wanted list
The 11 people suspected of killing a Hamas commander in Dubai have been placed on international police organisation Interpol’s wanted list.
The murder of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh
The End of Obama’s Vision of a Nuke-Free World
Pilot Crashes Into Texas Building in Apparent Anti-IRS Suicide
Niger coup: “Tandja is not in a good position”
Pentagon Bracing for a Snap Offensive Against Venezuela
US black farmers seek compensation
Clinton clings to Bush ideals on Iran
The US policy of engagement with Iran never got off the ground – and now Hillary Clinton has resorted to Bush-era sabre-rattling
Hans Blix: ‘Iran Won’t Simply Sit There and Accept an Attack’
Iran: US acting as military dictatorship in ME
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says the US is acting as a military dictatorship in the Middle East by killing countless number of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.
U.S. Forces Kill Children, Other Civilians in Marjah, Afghanistan, with “Precision” Weapons
Issuer of 79.9% Interest Rate Credit Card Defends Its Product
Kenya police stop gay wedding, make arrests
Nuclear Iran: Fueled by Fear? Video
Terrorism: The Most Meaningless and Manipulated Word
Disgruntled Americans are the New Terrorists
Joe Stack, the man who recently flew a plane into an IRS building in Texas, has been described as everything from a true American hero to a ‘lone wolf’ style domestic extremist. However, most are reluctant to brand him with the label of terrorist, although that is the most apt description of Stack and his activities.
The Warning Video
World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists
The Long Arm of Israel Better be Amputated
Iran Looks Toward an Energy Alliance with China, India and Pakistan
While Western attention was focused on Saudi Arabia’s possible provision of energy guarantees to China in return for a “yes” vote on Iran sanctions, Iran was working to leverage its natural gas reserves into economic alliances with China, India and Pakistan.
US Media Replays Iraq Fiasco on Iran
Major U.S. news organizations, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, are engaged in a replay of the kind of slanted coverage that paved the way to war in Iraq, only this time regarding Iran.
The treatment of Iran’s election last June, the depictions of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the alarm over Iran’s nuclear program all parallel the one-sided coverage that the U.S. news media directed toward Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Iraq’s alleged WMD program before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
All Haitian ‘orphans’ with Baptists had parents
Kidnapping & Trading in Iraqi Children…
Passing the “Riot Test” in Haiti
Reflections on Past Assassination Attempts on Bangladesh Prime Minister
