Category: Key Players

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Chuck Spinny: USA & Israel, Extrajudicial Killing

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Officers Call
Chuck Spinney

Obama's kill list policy compels US support for Israeli attacks on Gaza

The US was once part of the international consensus against extra-judicial assassinations. Now it is a leader in that tactic.

Glenn Greenwald. guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 November 2012 13.23 EST

Israel‘s escalating air attacks on Gaza follow the depressingly familiar pattern that shapes this conflict. Overwhelming Israeli force slaughters innocent Palestinians, including children, which is preceded (and followed) by far more limited rocket attacks into Israel which kill a much smaller number, rocket attacks which are triggered by various forms of Israeli provocations — all of which, most crucially, takes place in the context of Israel's 45-year-old brutal occupation of the Palestinians (and, despite a “withdrawal” of troops, that includes Gaza, over which Israel continues to exercise extensive dominion). The debates over these episodes then follow an equally familiar pattern, strictly adhering to a decades-old script that, by design at this point, goes nowhere.

Meanwhile, most US media outlets are petrified of straying too far from pro-Israel orthodoxies. Time's Middle East correspondent Rania Abouzeid noted this morning on Twitter the typical template: “Just read report in major US paper about Gaza/Israel that put Israeli dead in 1st sentence. Palestinian in 6th paragraph.” Or just consider the BBC's headline. Worse, this morning's New York Times editorial self-consciously drapes itself with pro-Israel caveats and completely ignores the extensive civilian deaths in Gaza before identifying this as one of the only flaws it could find with the lethal Israeli assault: “The action also threatens to divert attention from what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly described as Israel's biggest security threat: Iran's nuclear program.”

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DefDog: Anonymous Attacks Israel

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Ethics, Government, Hacking, IO Deeds of Peace, IO Deeds of War, Military, Peace Intelligence
DefDog

Anonymous takes down over 550 Israeli sites, wipes databases, leaks email addresses and passwords

When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) this week began taking military action in the Gaza strip against Hamas (as the IDF announced on Twitter), Anonymous declared its own war as part of #OpIsrael. Among the casualties are thousands of email addresses and passwords, hundreds of Israeli web sites, government-owned as well as privately owned pages, as well as databases belonging to the Bank of Jerusalem and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Read comments, claims, and press release.

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Rickard Falkvinge: Wendy Cockcroft on The Next Big Battles – Secret Trade Agreements Bad for People

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Commerce, Corporations, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, IO Impotency
Rickard Falkvinge

The Next Big Battles

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 11:26 AM PDT

Activism – Wendy Cockcroft:  Since ACTA was decisively beaten on 4th July 2012, the first time a free trade agreement had been scuppered by the people of EU member nations, the big business lobbyists have taken heed and resolved to change in order to be more successful. Hence the secrecy. CETA and the EU-India trade agreement are the next big battles. We need your help.

The term “Free Trade Agreement” is a misnomer. The idea is to remove barriers, taxes, and tariffs, but since people can end up being shackled to a multinational corporation’s agenda, the only freedom is in the ability of the corporations to operate in ways that often end up utterly destroying local economies or harnessing law enforcement agencies to protect their interests. The worst part is that we the taxpayers have to foot the bill for our losses of national sovereignty and civil rights. We saw ACTA off in July, but there are two more major agreements to deal with and we need to be ready to contact our M.E.P.s when the time comes.

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NIGHTWATCH: The Mali Expedition Begins – Illustrated – Is Niger Oil the Real Reason? 1:50,000 Charts?

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards
Cities Taken By Islamists
Click on Image to Enlarge

Algeria: The Algerian government has given tacit approval for an African-led military intervention in Mali so long as there are no troops stationed on Algerian soil.

Comment: This means that Algeria will try to help by sealing its border with Mali once the intervention begins [never mind the Tauregs behind their lines].

Mali: Update. News services reported today that the prospect of a war in northern Mali against fundamentalist Islamists and al-Qaida affiliates advanced significantly after European governments promised to back an international force to retake the region from Islamist groups, provided it is led by soldiers from African countries.

While preparations continue to retake the north, foreign jihadists reportedly are arriving in northern Mali to reinforce the Islamic militants.

Comment: This week's major development is that the Europeans promised to finance the operations. The problems of operating in northern Mali are enormous, requiring extensive resources just to sustain supplies of ammunition, fuel, food and water, not to omit coordination between forces from different states. The supply problems alone would tax a modern military force from a single nation.

A multi-national operation compounds the problems exponentially, especially if English-speaking and French-speaking forces try to cooperate. France and its NATO allies must provide the communications, maintenance, intelligence and supply backbone or this intervention will stand no chance of success. It looks like another Libya operation. No matter how the operations are presented to the public, the US will be doing much of the heavy lifting because no other nation in the world can. That is why the US has an Africa Command.

Below the line: various map images and airports with runway lengths.

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Gordon Duff: Benghazi Story Revisited — Military-Style Operation, Set-Up By Terry Jones, GOP and Romney Campaign Complicit? + Benghazi RECAP

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, IO Deeds of War, Officers Call
Gordon Duff

BACK-GROUND I

Military-style tactics seen in US Consulate siege

Read full article.

BACK-GROUND II

Terry Jones Loses it Again, Sets up the Film (YouTube 2:43)

BACKGROUND III

Newsweek Cover Alleged to be Actors

BACKGROUND IV

Death Photo of Ambassador Dragged by Mob in Hands of Romney Campaign Instantly

Read full article by Gordon Duff.

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David Isenberg: Heavy Metal in Iraq = 50% or More Babies with Congenital Birth Defects – Mercury, Lead, and Depleted Uranium

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, DoD, IO Deeds of War, Military
David Isenberg

Heavy Metal in Iraq

By David Isenberg, Oct. 22, 2012

Every war is hell, particularly for civilians. And while every war produces deadly familiar impacts on the civilian population whether it is death and injuries due to combat or subsequent illness and death due to destruction of infrastructure sometimes the impact can be unique.

Sadly, such seems to be the case in Iraq which links the past war there with a “staggering” increase in birth defects in areas of the country where bombing and heavy fighting occurred.

A recent study, titled “Metal Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth Defects in Iraqi Cities” was underwritten by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan and which was published in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, focused on the cities of Basra and Fallujah, where serious fighting occurred during the war.  According to the study:

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Koko: Fukushima Sinking and Unstable – Imminent Threat

07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards
Koko

Koko sad.

Fukushima Update: Unit 4 Is Sinking … Unevenly

Washington’s Blog

Oct 22, 2012

The spent fuel pool at Fukushima Unit 4 is the top short-term threat to humanity, and is a national security issue for America.  As such, it is disturbing news that the ground beneath unit 4 is sinking.  Specifically, Unit 4 sunk 36 inches right after the earthquake, and has sunk another 30 inches since then.  Moreover, Unit 4 is sinking unevenly, and the building may begin tilting.  An international coalition of nuclear scientists and non-profit groups are calling on the U.N. to coordinate a multi-national effort to stabilize the fuel pools. And see this.  Given the precarious situation at Unit 4, it is urgent that the world community pool its scientific resources to come up with a fix.

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