Stephen Lendman

Nothing less than liberation is tolerable after 63 years of persecution and denial.

Since Hamas captured Gilad Shalit on June 25, 2006, there have been on and off talks to negotiate his release. Hamas took him captive, responding to repeated Israeli attacks, including a widely reported beach shelling. It killed eight Palestinians, injuring 32 others, including 13 children. Israel denied responsibility, falsely blaming a Hamas mine despite forensic evidence proving otherwise.

In retaliation, Hamas struck an Israeli military post near Kerem Shalom crossing, southeast of Rafah. Two Israeli soldiers were killed. Several others were injured, and Shalit was captured. He's been held ever since because Israel refused to negotiate responsibly to free him. It preferred using his captivity to vilify Hamas until now.

On October 12, Haaretz headlined, "Israel cabinet approves Gilad Shalit prisoner swap,” saying, "Voting early Wednesday morning, Netanyahu's cabinet agreed to free over 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners in two waves in return for Hamas releasing him after over five years in captivity."

According to newly released figures, Palestinian Central Bureau Statistics said over 750,000 Palestinians were arrested and detained since June 1967, including those affected several times. They include about 12,000 women and "tens of thousands of children." Throughout Occupied Palestine and Israel, prisons, detention camps and interrogation centers were established to incarcerate, torture, abuse and humiliate them.

Currently, Israel holds about 6,000 detainees, including 35 women and 285 children. Others as young as 10 (and occasionally younger) remain until adulthood, losing out entirely on their formative childhood years.

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Tony Cartalucci

Unelected corporate-funded policy makers constitute the greatest threat to US national security.

October 16, 2011 - While US politicians grapple over the credibility of using the US DEA's bomb plot to assassinate a Saudi ambassador as a pretext to escalate tensions with Iran, America's unelected, corporate-funded policy makers have already announced their long, foregone conclusion. The DEA's entrapment case is decidedly to be used as a pretext for war with Iran.

The Foreign Policy Institute (FPI), just one such unelected, corporate-funded think tank, has released two statements calling on President Obama to use force against Iran. FPI director William Kristol states:

"It’s long since been time for the United States to speak to this regime in the language it understands—force. And now we have an engraved invitation to do so. The plot to kill the Saudi ambassador was a lemon. Statesmanship involves turning lemons into lemonade. So we can stop talking. Instead, we can follow the rat lines in Iraq and Afghanistan back to their sources, and destroy them. We can strike at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and weaken them. And we can hit the regime’s nuclear weapons program, and set it back."

Likewise, FPI's executive director Jamie Fly claims, in tandem with Kristol's unqualified, corporate-funded opinion, "It is time to take military action against the Iranian government elements that support terrorism and its nuclear program. More diplomacy is not an adequate response."

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Gilad Atzmon

Liam Fox resigned over links to close friend and 'adviser'
Adam Werritty. (Photo: PA)

[T]he tide has changed. The duplicity of our elected politicians and their ties with the Jewish lobby is now being closely scrutinized. The time has come for all of us in this country to put as much distance as we can between ourselves and Jerusalem.

A rather stinky Israeli espionage mole has just been exposed in Britain. Yesterday, Liam Fox the Defence Secretary resigned following revelations about his dubious relationship with Adam Werritty. Some 17 years younger than Fox, Werrity has been involved with Fox both in business and in the conservative Atlanticist think-tank ‘The Atlantic Bridge’. While Fox was Defence Minister, Werrity visited Fox at the Ministry on many occasions, accompanied Fox on numerous official trips, attended some of his meetings with foreign dignitaries and used official-looking business cards which announced him as an 'adviser' to Fox – and all despite having no official government post whatsoever. However, it has now also been revealed that Fox and Werritty were heavily financed by the Israeli lobby and ‘beyond’.

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Adnan Al-Daini

In my student days our thermodynamics lecturer gave us a little talk regarding examinations.  He started with the usual advice about reading the question carefully, not to panic if we could not initially answer the question, and to move on to another... etc.  Finally, he said- do not do what one student did who wrote to the examiner: “I am sorry I cannot answer this question but I can answer the following one”.  He then proceeded to write his own question, and to answer it perfectly.  The above story sums up the actions of politicians thus far as they respond to the economic crisis engulfing capitalism worldwide.  The politicians are unwilling, unable, or both, to tackle the causes of the problem which are the lack of demand as a result of unemployment, cuts in real wages and soaring energy prices, with profits rising by 700% since June 2011. Instead, they continue to pump more and more billions into the banks, with the gap between the poor and the super-rich that lies at the core of the problem forever widening.

Jeffrey Sachs, the well-known American economist, interviewed on BBC radio 4 Today programme (October15, 2011) about his book “The Price of Civilisation”, made some very telling remarks:

“International capital at the top is mobile, and is running circles around our government: this is the essence of globalisation”.

Of course, this clearly implies that democracy itself is being subverted and corrupted.  The ordinary citizen is no longer able to effect change through the ballot box.  Is it any wonder that people are taking to the streets in the U.S and Europe, in actions that mirror the Arab spring to demand that they should be heard?

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Gilad Atzmon

[RE: Jewish anti Zionists:] The tragic truth is that we are dealing with a bunch of compulsive liars.

I tend to agree with Shlomo Sand that Jews invented themselves as a nation over a century ago. But it was interesting to find out this week that Naomi Wimborne Idrissi and her three Jewish Anti Zionist comrades AKA AZZ (anti Zionist Zionists) were desperate to invent Gilad Atzmon.

For me, the Jewish anti Zionists, exhibit the most amusing ideological pathology of all Jewish collectives. On Monday morning, the Palestine Telegraph called Wimborne Idrissi and her mini clan not to picket my book launch. Wimborne Idrissi, was, seemingly, deaf to the Palestinian call. In the evening she appeared along side another three of her comrades at the resource centre, London. They were not alone. There were another three allies who identified themselves initially as ISM but later had to admit that they were actually representing themselves and themselves only.

I actually went out of the conference centre to meet my adversaries. I wanted to invite them in to take part in the discussion. I thought to myself that if they have a valid criticism, they may well want it to be heard in public. I thought that more than anyone else, they should join the gathering and understand once and for all what my writing is all about and why more and more people regard the AZZ as the enemy within.

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Stephen Lendman

The Saudi ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir speaks
during Middle East peace conference in Maryland in
2007 (AFP/Getty Images)

After Washington bogusly accused Iran of an implausible terror plot on US soil, America's media brazenly regurgitated official lies. It's nothing new. It's what they do instead of providing real news, information and analysis. Long ago they stopped trying, especially on television. It's little more than a worthless sinkhole no one should waste time on watching.

They don't inform. They lie, distract, entertain, and provide a platform for corporate America to sell people junk they don't need. Or as media critic George Gerbner once said, "they have everything to sell and nothing to tell."

In his book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death," Neil Postman said "Americans are the most entertained and least informed people in the world." As a result, they know little or nothing about what they most need to know.

No wonder they believe official lies, especially about alleged homegrown or foreign instigated terror plots. Iran's a favorite, beaten up on at well chosen strategic moments.

What better time than now. Main Street's in Depression. Public anger's raging across America because millions lost work and can't find jobs.

Millions more lost homes. Washington's doing nothing to help, and working households have to bite the bullet so bankers get paid, and Obama's free to wage multiple imperial wars with others planned and ready when fake reasons convince people about new nonexistent threats.

Strategically timed, new enemies are invented or old ones resurrected to incite fear, distract, and divert people from what matters most - fast disappearing social justice when it's most needed.

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Jeremy Kessler

Occupy Wall Street volunteer clean-up, October 13,
2011. (Stephanie Keith, flickr)

To the Men and Women of the New York City Police Department:

Last night, we learned that because of the complaints of Brookfield Properties, the company that owns Zuccotti Park, Mayor Bloomberg has ordered the Occupy Wall Street protesters to remove themselves and their supplies from the Park at 7 AM tomorrow. If the protesters don’t leave, Bloomberg likely will order you and your colleagues to forcibly remove and arrest the men and women who have come there to protest the policies, politicians, and financial leaders responsible for the continuing economic crisis. As concerned citizens, we ask you not to follow this order.

Bloomberg and Brookfield Properties claim that the protesters must be removed in order to clean the Park. Anytime thousands of people assemble in a small space, it is not easy to keep things neat. The Occupy Wall Street protesters, however, have shown their desire to maintain a safe and sanitary environment. They have organized sanitation and medical teams to remove trash, clean blankets and sleeping bags, and treat the sick and injured. They also have committed themselves to a sober, nonviolent, and respectful public assembly. As in any crowd, there are some who make the lives of police personnel harder than they ought to be. But as the police assigned to the Park over the last month can attest, the vast majority of protesters are peaceful, passionate, and good-humored. They have come to the park not to wreck property or insult hardworking citizens. They have come to the park because they believe in a fair shake, and know they haven’t gotten it.

Mayor Bloomberg and Brookfield Properties claim that the Occupy Wall Street protest will be able to continue—only without food, medicine, or shelter—after the Park is clean. This is not true. The purpose of the Occupy Wall Street protest is to secure a public space at the center of the American financial system in which ordinary Americans can speak and be heard. When 20,000 protesters marched on Wall Street in May, nobody listened. The reason why Occupy Wall Street has attracted so much attention and gained the support of workers and unions across the nation is because it has held its ground. Unlike the national politicians who caved to the financial elites when they demanded special treatment and the local politicians who caved to a billionaire mayor when he wanted another term, the Occupy Wall Street protesters have not caved. But without food, medicine, and shelter, the protesters will not be able to continue their peaceful assembly.

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Ismail Salami

Ali Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian philosopher, politician
and the chairman of the Iranian parliament. (Wikipedia)
Larijani said on Wednesday that the "fabricated allegations"
aimed to divert attention from Arab uprisings that Iran says
are inspired by its own Islamic revolution that toppled the
Shah in 1979. "[O]ur neighbours in the region are very well
aware that America is using this story to ruin our relationship
with Saudi Arabia." (Al Jazeera)

In a 'united against Iran campaign,' the US government has accused Tehran of orchestrating an assassination plot against the Saudi envoy in Washington, a move which is to be seen as part of a US stratagem to carry on with its plan of demonizing and isolating the Islamic Republic of Iran.

US Vice President Joe Biden said on "The Early Show" on Wednesday that "It's critically important that we unite the world in the isolation of and dealing with the Iranians. That's the surest way to be able to get results."

Obviously, the US officials will use the fabricated occasion to press for new international sanctions as they say that Iranian agents have sought to hire a purported member of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi envoy on American soil.

Regardless of the impertinence and hollowness of the claim, one should not disregard the influence of the powerful Zionist lobby in the new mudslinging plan which is, as Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani puts it, a 'tactless and childish game.”

To add more fuel to Iranophobia, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on other countries to work together against what is becoming a clearer and clearer threat" from Iran and said, “This really, in the minds of many diplomats and government officials, crosses a line that Iran needs to be held to account for.”

Washington, once again, went on a labeling spree and called Iran “the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.”

There is well-grounded speculation that the new move is meant to stir up dissension in the region so that the US may bolster its waning influence among the Middle Eastern countries as Iran wields a great amount of political muscle in the region. In other words, the US will then be in a position to fish in troubled waters.

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Le Monde diplomatique

« Ils n’étaient que quelques-uns.
Ils furent foule soudain.
Ceci est de tous les temps. »

Alors que des dizaines de milliers d’Américains manifestent leur exaspération et leur colère, nul ne sait encore si « Occuper Wall Street » constitue un moment de la politique américaine ou la promesse d’un mouvement qui la transformera.

Le rapprochement avec le Tea Party n’est pas absurde, même si les deux démarches semblent s’opposer: «Occuper Wall Street» met en cause la domination du capital et l’impuissance de l’Etat ; le Tea Party impute la crise économique à l’Etat et aux impôts. Ces deux mouvements antagonistes ont néanmoins en commun une profonde défiance à l’encontre du système politique, de l’establishment. La présidence de M. George W. Bush avait dégoûté une partie de la droite américaine du Parti républicain, jugé trop interventionniste, y compris en matière économique et sociale, et donc trop dépensier, trop étatiste. Là, avec « Occuper Wall Street », l’amertume et la colère suscitées par les tergiversations de M. Barack Obama, son centrisme, ses complaisances envers la finance, ont convaincu nombre des ses anciens électeurs que le système politique était non récupérable car contrôlé, quel que soit le parti au pouvoir, par le 1 % d’Américains les plus riches.

A l’évidence, ce dernier mouvement tire son inspiration des révoltes arabes, des manifestations espagnoles de la Puerta del Sol, des mouvements étudiants chiliens, des rassemblements israéliens contre la vie chère. Dans chacun de ces cas, les protestataires désespèrent de leur système politique, que celui-ci soit dictatorial, autoritaire ou d’apparence démocratique mais soumis au poids de l’argent. Ils n’acceptent pas que la crise économique et sociale épargne de manière ostentatoire les banques et les catégories sociales les plus privilégiées, jugées solidairement responsables de son déclenchement et de son aggravation.

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Bill Van Auken

This file photo shows Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the
United States Adel al-Jubeir speaks to the media at the
Mideast Peace Conference in 2007. (Reuters/Jason Reed)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented to the Associated Press: “The idea that they would attempt to go to a Mexican drug cartel to solicit murder-for-hire to kill the Saudi ambassador, nobody could make that up, right?” — That is precisely the question raised by the entire affair.

The White House announced Wednesday that it is imposing a new round of economic sanctions against Iran, while Vice President Joseph Biden warned that “nothing has been taken off the table” in regard to Washington’s response to an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, suggesting the possibility of military strikes.

Among the new targets of US sanctions is Mahan Air, Iran’s first privately owned airline, which flies to 12 countries. US officials claimed that the airline was involved in “secretly ferrying” members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Washington has seized upon the alleged plot to attempt to terrorize the American people, issuing a global travel warning against unspecified threats supposedly emanating from Iran while cautioning that attacks within the US itself are also possible.

The supposed terrorist plot was announced to the public by US Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday in Washington. The Justice Department’s case involves a wildly unlikely scenario involving a failed Iranian-American used car dealer from Texas, Manssor Arbabsiar, traveling to Mexico and attempting to enlist the feared drug cartel Los Zetas in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, by blowing him up in an unnamed Washington restaurant. The other relevant plot twist is the fact that the supposed representative of Los Zetas contacted by Arbabsiar happened to be a confidential informant for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

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Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Sirte must go down in history as one of the world's epic tales of heroism and bravery, the tremendous resistance of a handful of courageous and resolute warriors standing fast against the hordes of sheer evil, cowards cowering behind a relentless and inhuman NATO bombing campaign, strafing civilians and soldiers alike in support of terrorists.

The lesson from Sirte must go down in the annals of the collective identity of humankind as a classic and historic tale of resilience and virtue and determination, the fight to survive against the most tremendous odds - a handful of loyalists and Libyan Patriots standing fast against marauding gangs of cowards and traitors, foreign mercenaries, looters, rapists, murderers, torturers and terrorists which the TNC have revealed themselves to be throughout months of horrific human rights outrages.

The lesson from Sirte is an example in quite how low an evil invasion force - NATO - can become, for several reasons. How it can use military hardware to strafe anything that moves, how it can bomb civilian structures, how it can mow down Libyan heroes defending their homeland against foreigners and defending their homes and families against terrorists and rapists. It also shows up the connivance between NATO and Islamist terrorists (yet again visible since Afghanistan, since Kosovo, since Iraq) and it shows the callous cold-blooded disregard for human life demonstrated by a faceless and grey organization which thinks nothing of signing up desperate young men from across the Arab world, and beyond, and sending them to their deaths for a sign-on fee of 10,000 USD.

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Melanie Butler

A lot has changed since we started occupying Wall Street 24 days ago. Voices take much longer to echo through the masses of bodies in Liberty Plaza, requiring two or three layers of repetition via the people’s microphone. The kitchen staff, once limited largely to serving the now-famous “occu-pie” pizzas (99% cheese, 1% pepperoni) lovingly designed by Libretto’s, are now cooking full-balanced, vegan meals, composting the scraps, and washing the dishes through an on-site grey-water system. The once-quaint library that started out as a few rejects from someone’s bookshelf is now a full-blown, catalogued institution with sections ranging from anarchism to acupuncture. Celebrities are coming down for the second, third, and fourth visit not to make speeches, but to see how things are evolving.

When Eve Ensler came down for a repeat visit on Saturday night she asked if I could gather some people together to talk after the General Assembly. She and Naomi Klein sat with us on the concrete for the entire General Assembly, patiently listening to over two hours of working group report-backs, announcements, and general housekeeping. When we finally gathered on the steps by the library, Eve asked for ideas on how she could best support us. “Use your voice to say what you see,” said one woman. “Tell people we’re not a bunch of patchouli-wearing hippies doing hula hoops and dancing in a circle.” As everyone laughed, she quickly added, “there is that, and it’s beautiful, but there’s also real process, there’s real community.” “I have to say, more than I’ve seen anywhere” Eve said, nodding. Eve asked us to tell her what brought us here. One woman said she had just wandered over to see what was happening: “I’ve been trying to leave for the past four hours. Every step I take there’s something amazing happening.” As other people shared their stories a plan evolved to bring these “stories from the heart of the park” to a wider audience.

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Stephen Lendman

Photo: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged global leaders to condemn the alleged Iranian plot to kill a Saudi Arabian ambassador (Belfast Telegraph)

Since Iran's 1979 revolution and US hostage crisis, Washington's been spoiling for a fight. The Carter administration considered invading and seizing its oil fields.

Washington exploited Iran/Iraq tensions and encouraged Saddam Hussein to attack. Earlier Iran's Shah was supported. After 1979, US foreign policy shifted.

The Carter Doctrine pledged Middle East military intervention if US interests were threatened. Reagan escalated Carter policies short of committing US forces in combat. Saddam then got US backing. A decade of war followed. America pretended support for both sides, but mostly gave it to Iraq.

US/Iranian relations remain tense. Washington's sought regime change in Tehran for years. Various confrontational tactics include on and off saber rattling, sanctions, and direct meddling in Iran's internal affairs, perhaps including covert US Special Forces and CIA operatives there causing trouble.

Why not? They do it in dozens of countries globally, using death squads and other destabilizing tactics.

Washington also makes baseless accusations of anti-US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. It calls Tehran a threat to world peace, saying its commercial nuclear program plans nuclear weapons development. Unmentioned is Israel's known arsenal and willingness to use it preemptively.

US media scoundrels regurgitate official lies and suppress vital truths. New York Times writers and commentators play lead roles. The latest alleged plot is laughable on its face. But it's headline news across America, including on The Times' front page, saying "US Accuses Iranians of Plotting to Kill Saudi Envoy."

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Stephen Lendman

Fighting across Libya continues. NATO and cutthroat rebels commit daily war crimes. The appalling humanitarian crisis worsens. Diplomatic initiatives are absent to end it.

On October 9, BBC claimed National Transitional Council (NTC) forces

"made significant gains in the battle for the city of Sirte. (NTC) commanders said they had captured the main hospital, the university and the Ouagadougou conference center." Sirte is "close to falling." After it's taken, NTC officials "say they will declare national liberation, even if Gaddafi remains at large." "NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil told reporters in Tripoli" that Sirte and Bani Walid liberation "will happen within this week."

On October 10, BBC headlined, "Sirte ready to fall," repeating the same canard. More on that below.

On October 10, AP headlined, "Libyan revolutionary forces celebrate gains but fierce fighting persists over Gaddafi hometown," saying:

"Jubilant revolutionary forces have raised their tri-color flag over a convention center in Sirte that long served as a base for (Gaddafi) loyalists, even as fighting rages elsewhere in the fugitive leader's hometown." Sirte commander "Younis al-Abdally....says his troops have surrounded pro-Gaddafi fighters in a small area in the upscale neighborhood of Dollar Street."

On October 9, New York Times writer Kareem Fahim headlined, "Fighters Enter City Once Home to Qaddafi," saying:

Anti-Gaddafi "fighters battled their way into the heart of this coastal city on Sunday, seizing a sumptuous conference center (and) nearby Ibn Sina hospital...." "By Sunday afternoon, anti-Qaddafi fighters were speaking confidently about their chances of finally taking (Sirte), as a coordinated ring of troops closed in on loyalists in their remaining pockets."

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Rodrigue Tremblay

“Men accept change only when it is a necessity, and they see a necessity only in a crisis.” ~ Jean Monnet (1888-1979), French political economist and statesman

Our world has become very complex, and, as a consequence, it is increasingly open to macro crises of huge proportions.

Indeed, what makes our time such a dangerous period, I think, is the fact that we are facing simultaneously at least five intractable worldwide crises that it will take years to solve or to outlive. They are a financial crisis that it will take at least twenty years to jugulate, an energy crisis that's looming on the not too far horizon and which threatens the very foundation of the economic prosperity of the last half century, a double-barreled demographic crisis of a magnitude never encountered during the entire history of humankind, a political crisis that is related to the ingrained inability of governments most everywhere to solve society's problems, and, as a general background, a moral crisis that corrupts most institutions and makes them ineffective in promoting the common good.

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Peter Symonds

Image: This courtroom drawing shows Mansour Arbabsiar (second from right), who holds both a US and Iranian passport, charged over an alleged plot to murder the Saudi Ambassador to the United States with explosives.

The FBI case hinges completely on one man, Arbabsiar.

Revelations by US Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday afternoon of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador have prompted calls in the American media for retaliation against Iran.

Two men—Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri—have been charged with multiple offences, including conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, namely explosives.

Arbabsiar, an American citizen, was arrested on September 29 with the assistance of Mexican authorities, after months of surveillance. He allegedly met several times with a confidential US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) source, believed by Arbabsiar to be connected to a Mexican drug cartel, to carry out the murder for $1.5 million.

Shakuri, who US officials claim is a member of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, is still at large. Arbabsiar only spoke to him over the phone or met with him during visits to Iran.

During yesterday’s press conference, FBI head Robert Mueller warned: “Although it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real and many lives would have been lost. We send a clear message that any attempts on American soil will not be tolerated.”

Attorney General Holder also declared that the US was “committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions.” As a first step, the Obama administration announced financial sanctions yesterday against five Iranians, including the two suspects charged.

In a lengthy interview with the Associated Press, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went on the diplomatic offensive, explaining that the US was “actively engaged in a very concerted diplomatic outreach to many capitals” to pre-empt any Iranian denial. Making clear that Washington intended to exploit the alleged plot to the hilt, she said that it created “the potential for international reaction that will further isolate Iran.”

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Stephen Lendman

Photo: Workers of the public and private sectors demonstrate in Paris, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011, during a national day of strike against government austerity measures. President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government says the cost-cutting measures are essential to reducing the country's debts and allowing France to remain a pillar of the troubled eurozone. (The Sacramento Bee)

For years, Progressive Radio News Hour contributor Bob Chapman warned about troubled Eurozone financial institutions and possible sovereign defaults.

Greece died months ago. Default is certain. Only its obituary hasn't appeared. Germany prepared contingency plans to reissue the Deutschemark if Eurozone stability crumbles.

Six possible sovereign defaults loom if contagion spreads out of control. "Considering the condition of other European banks, and the possibility that three major French banks may be purchased by China, we could see disruption in the global banking system," warns Chapman.

"The very fact that Germany is building a reserve of Deutschemarks has to spell the possible end of the euro."

If conditions keep eroding, its advocates will be discredited for believing its time had come. Without Germany as its lynchpin, it's heading for history's dustbin.

Markets know Greek default is certain, but haven't priced in Germany readopting its D-mark. Chapman "predicted it 12 years ago and many times since." Disruption will be severe if it happens. "Overall, we cannot imagine a euro without German involvement. Secretly, the Germans have already made the decision."

They're trying to save themselves financially and economically. An entirely new Germany will emerge. "We believe that (it's) on the cusp of taking care of domestic institutions and problems and protecting" domestic investors over others in troubled countries. In preparation, they're also protecting their banks. "At least six countries are going under, and all their debt will be worthless or near worthless."

Watch troubled Greece. When it goes, they'll "all go." If Greece doesn't get its (next infusion, it'll) happen quickly." Otherwise, it'll be delayed another six to 12 months.

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Alison Weir

On 14 May 1948, one day before the British Mandate expired,
David Ben-Gurion unilaterally declared the establishment of the
State of Israel, referring to the decision of the UN General As-
sembly as a legal justification for the establishment of the state.

[Detailed citations for the information below are available at "The History of Israel-U.S. Relations, Part One."]

To better understand the Palestinian bid for membership in the United Nations, it is important to understand the original 1947 U.N. action on Israel-Palestine.

The common representation of Israel’s birth is that the U.N. created Israel, that the world was in favor of this move, and that the U.S. governmental establishment supported it. All these assumptions are demonstrably incorrect.

In reality, while the U.N. General Assembly recommended the creation of a Jewish state in part of Palestine, that recommendation was non-binding and never implemented by the Security Council.

Second, the General Assembly passed that recommendation only after Israel proponents threatened and bribed numerous countries in order to gain a required two-thirds of votes.

Third, the U.S. administration supported the recommendation out of domestic electoral considerations and took this position over the strenuous objections of the State Department, the CIA, and the Pentagon.

The passage of the General Assembly recommendation sparked increased violence in the region. Over the following months the armed wing of the pro-Israel movement, which had long been preparing for war, perpetrated a series of massacres and expulsions throughout Palestine, implementing a plan to clear the way for a majority-Jewish state.

It was this armed aggression, and the ethnic cleansing of at least three-quarters of a million indigenous Palestinians, that created the Jewish state on land that had been 95 percent non-Jewish prior to Zionist immigration and that even after years of immigration remained 70 percent non-Jewish. And despite the shallow patina of legality its partisans extracted from the General Assembly, Israel was born over the opposition of American experts and of governments around the world, who opposed it on both pragmatic and moral grounds. Let us look at the specifics.

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Stephen Lendman

A Palestinian fishing boat after it was hit by Israeli army
naval fire at Gaza's seaport. (Reuters)

Israel is a repressive rogue state. Netanyahu bombs Gaza and attacks fishermen while talking peace.

On October 10, without provocation, Israeli jets bombed northern Gaza. An explosion rocked Rafah city. So far, no cause is known but Israel most likely is responsible.

Israeli bulldozers demolished a Palestinian home near Bethlehem after military forces invaded Jab'a village. Palestinians were prevented from entering or leaving.

On October 6, Israeli forces demolished homes, barns and barracks belonging to Palestinian shepherds in Wadi Al-Maleh and Al-Hamma north of the Jordan Valley.

At the same time, IDF troops stormed Beit Kahlil northwest of Hebron. Another Palestinian home was destroyed. Olive trees were uprooted and other property bulldozed. Soldiers fired tear gas at residents trying to stop them.

On October 8, Israeli gunboats opened fire on Gazan fishermen, causing extensive damage. No casualties were reported. At-Tawfeeq Society of Fishermen head Mahmoud Al Aassy said Israel terrorizes Gazans to deter them from fishing to earn a living and feed their families.

Similar incidents occurred earlier in October and many previous times, causing damage and casualties. In addition, dozens of fishermen have been kidnapped. Their boats and equipment were destroyed. As a result, Palestinians risk life and limb to fish.

Since the second Intifada began in September 2000, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said Israel attacked Palestinian fishermen 229 times, killing six and injuring 22. In addition, 29 fishermen were kidnapped and 67 boats confiscated without cause.

Israel contemptuously flouts the most fundamental international laws and norms, operating lawlessly with impunity. But Netanyahu wants peace. Correction: He wants unconditional surrender to Israeli demands like in decades of previous one-sided negotiations. Palestinians only were awarded the right to enforce their own occupation.

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Frances Thomas

Muammar Gaddafi is proven right yet again, when he
observed years ago that the UN wouldn't have the moral
courage to stand up to the powerful NATO nations.

The situation in Sirte is dire. Six weeks under siege after months of aerial attacks. Children and old people dead of hunger and thirst. Water supply hit. Hospitals without medical supplies to treat the ill and injured, and then bombed by NATO. The dead lying in the streets.

Constant ‘targeted’ nightly aerial bombardment by NATO air forces. Constant ‘fire at will’ daytime attacks from ill-disciplined NTC rebels using tanks, rockets, mortars and howitzers.

In their missile-launcher-laden graffiti-decorated pick-up trucks, the rebels drive into the city edges in the morn and back out by dark, hailed as ‘freedom-fighters’ by their embedded foreign press, they more resemble armed gangs. Some are Libyan, dissatisfied with policies of their current government. Some have returned after years abroad with historical differences to settle. Others are LIFG veterans wanting to set up a stricter Islamic fundamentalism. Qatari forces, UK SAS and CIA are known to have been on the ground in Libya. The battle-hardened are Al Qaeda and mercenaries on the pay-roll of interested parties, who follow where wars lead them, so long as they are paid well to kill, or have licence to loot and rape.

How did this ever come to be?

The specific phrases in UNSC resolution #1973, which NATO nations say permit them to conduct and support this military action in Libya, are “no-fly zone”,

“all necessary measures” and “to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack.”

That’s it. A few words. Innocuous enough until NATO twisted them beyond recognition.

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