http://atlanticfreepress.com/The mission of Atlantic Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried public discourse today. Atlantic Free Press provides a new venue for disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.enThu, 24 May 2012 01:48:56 PDTFeedCreator 1.7.2http://feeds.feedburner.com/AtlanticFreePress?format=skinChris,Cook,is,the,assistant,editor,of,Atlantic,Free,Press,and,hosts,Gorilla,Radio,airing,live,every,Monday,5,6pm,Pacific,Time,In,Victoria,at,101,9FM,104,3,cable,and,on,the,internet,at,http,//cfuv,uvic,ca,He,also,serves,as,a,contributing,editor,at,tNews & PoliticsSociety & Culture/HistoryReligion & Spirituality/OtherGovernment & Organizations/Nationaleditor@atlanticfreepress.comChris CookChris CooknoChris,Cook,is,the,assistant,editor,of,Atlantic,Free,Press,and,hosts,Gorilla,Radio,airing,live,every,Monday,5,6pm,Pacific,Time,In,Victoria,at,101,9FM,104,3,cable,and,on,the,internet,at,http,//cfuv,uvic,ca,He,also,serves,as,a,contributing,editor,at,tChris Cook is the assistant editor of Atlantic Free Press and hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca He also serves as a contributing editor at thChris Cook is the assistant editor of Atlantic Free Press and hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca He also serves as a contributing editor at the progressive web news site: http://www.pej.org. You can check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media. Some past guests include: M. Junaid Alam, M. Shahid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, David Barsamian, William Blum, Luciana Bohne, William Bowles, Vincent Bugliosi, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Michel Chossudovsky, Diane Christian, Juan Cole, David Cromwell, Murray Dobbin, Jon Elmer, Reese Erlich, Anthony Fenton, Jim Fetzer, Laura Flanders, Chris Floyd, Connie Fogal, Susan George, Stan Goff, Robert Greenwald, Denis Halliday, Chris Hedges, Sander Hicks, Julia Butterfly Hill, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Diana Johnstone, Kathy Kelly, Naomi Klein, Anthony Lappe, Frances Moore Lappe, Jason Leopold, Jeff Leys, Dave Lindorff, Jim Lobe, Jennifer Loewenstein, Wayne Madsen, Stephen Marshall, Linda McQuaig, George Monbiot, Loretta Napoleoni, John Nichols, Kurt Nimmo, David Orchard, Greg Palast, Mike Palecek, Michael Parenti, Robert Parry, Kevin Pina, William Rivers Pitt, Justin Podur, Jack Random, Sheldon Rampton, Paul Craig Roberts, Paul de Rooij, John Ross, Danny Schechter, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, Starhawk, Grant Wakefield, Paul Watson, Bernard Weiner, Mickey Z., Dave Zirin, and many others.53.21676.5500http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/fb_pwrd.gifAtlanticFreePresshttp://feedburner.google.comhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/4j_h0FvcYps/14004-atlantic-free-press-closing-doors.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:37:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14004-atlantic-free-press-closing-doors.html<div>Dear Readers,</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It's been six years and over 13,000 articles published by some 250 of the world's finest politically progressive writers - some 20 per cent with Ph.D.s.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It's been a labour of love for myself, doing my thing to help educate people to ideas that I believe needed to be shared - and some 2.5 million people read articles&nbsp; on this site over the years.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In 2011 Atlantic Free Press <a href="http://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/CWHONORS2011/35791/" title="" target="_blank">won a Computerworld Honors Laureate for Innovation</a> -&nbsp; honoured for visionary application of IT to promote positive social, economic and educational change including category co-winners from NASA and Duke University.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It's a fitting last act for Atlantic Free Press. And I say finale because I can no longer afford the time to dedicate to AFP with a young family and a career in technology that's just become to big a part of my life to pull the time needed to run this site pro bono. Thanks to all those who helped donate over the years - but this project still cost me money in server bills. I was just not able to make it a commercial viability. </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I will of course leave the site up for posterity. If anyone is interested, feel free to contact me. </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com" title="" target="_blank">Pacific Free Press</a> will live on - edited by Chris Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Please visit him and the writers there and feel free to contact Chris if you would like to write for <a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com" title="" target="_blank">Pacific Free Press</a>. editor@pacificfreepress.com</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div align="center"><a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com" title=""><img alt="" title="" src="http://atlanticfreepress.com/images/stories/pacificfreepresslogo.png" border="0" height="69" width="500" /></a>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Best</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Richard Kastelein</div> <div>EXPATHOS @ GMAIL dot COM</div> <div><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/expathos%20" title="" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/expathos </a><br /> </div> <div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kastelein%20" title="" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kastelein </a><br /> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lrjMbvoEMELdxadCbIAQ0qtF4vM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lrjMbvoEMELdxadCbIAQ0qtF4vM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lrjMbvoEMELdxadCbIAQ0qtF4vM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lrjMbvoEMELdxadCbIAQ0qtF4vM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4j_h0FvcYps:xDB-XYUwzes:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=4j_h0FvcYps:xDB-XYUwzes:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4j_h0FvcYps:xDB-XYUwzes:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14004-atlantic-free-press-closing-doors.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/r3gNZUvRhQE/14003-i-pledge-to-discriminate-and-support-bigotry-so-help-me-god-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:50:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14003-i-pledge-to-discriminate-and-support-bigotry-so-help-me-god-.html<div>by Mel Seesholtz Ph.D. </div> <div><!--[if gte mso 9]> <xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> <o:pixelsperinch>72</o:pixelsperinch> <o:targetscreensize>1024x768</o:targetscreensize></o:officedocumentsettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-GB</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> 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unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"/> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/B2TLaDERsEl2l5OR4io8cGwZpqQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/B2TLaDERsEl2l5OR4io8cGwZpqQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/B2TLaDERsEl2l5OR4io8cGwZpqQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/B2TLaDERsEl2l5OR4io8cGwZpqQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=r3gNZUvRhQE:j9BFXdkWr1I:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=r3gNZUvRhQE:j9BFXdkWr1I:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=r3gNZUvRhQE:j9BFXdkWr1I:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14003-i-pledge-to-discriminate-and-support-bigotry-so-help-me-god-.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/tZ1RT2-WGZI/14002-economic-end-times-lendman.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:29:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14002-economic-end-times-lendman.html<div> <div> <p>by Stephen Lendman</p> <p>Despite a deepening global depression, establishment economists are in denial. On June 9, the Wall Street Journal said those surveyed expected slow, steady growth through 2011, despite high US unemployment, a housing depression, European sovereign debt in crisis, and the unreported insolvency of major French and other banks.</p> <p>On June 8, testifying before the House Budget Committee, Fed chairman Bernanke fantasized about 3.5% US growth through 2011, stopping just short of ruling out the possibility of recession he called &quot;unlikely.&quot;</p> <p>And in 2007, when equity and housing bubbles peaked, neither he or Greenspan expressed alarm, destroying their credibility in the process.</p> <p>Based on an early August survey, establishment (in bed with Wall Street) economists now put the chance of &quot;another&quot; downturn at 30%, compared to 15% in May, expecting 2.5% growth over the next year.&nbsp;</p> <p>Some, in fact were sanguine, calling America's economy strong, attributing negative views to a crisis of confidence, not hard reality, signaled by the August 4 shot across the bow market rout.</p> <p>Despite a predictable rebound, it signified much worse to come because conditions are dire getting worse. Even manipulated data show enough to sound alarms, highlighted by economists like David Rosenberg.</p> <p>On August 15, he expressed surprise about so &quot;little reaction to the shocking US consumer sentiment data that were released on Friday - the worst since the tail end of the Jimmy Carter recession era in 1980.&quot;</p> <p>Moreover, consumer spending is weak even with suspect upward revisions. In addition, &quot;(n)ew mortgage and refinancing loan volumes fell 19% in Q2 to&quot; a three-year low. Further, auto buying plans declined to a decade low, likely headed much lower as economic conditions deteriorate. Other big ticket buying plans also dropped to 2008-09 depths when the economy falling off a cliff seemed possible.</p> <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14002-economic-end-times-lendman.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6ahrwJZJLihaOIL5JOnMs8xlGBA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6ahrwJZJLihaOIL5JOnMs8xlGBA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6ahrwJZJLihaOIL5JOnMs8xlGBA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6ahrwJZJLihaOIL5JOnMs8xlGBA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=tZ1RT2-WGZI:fROpYnKKqnI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=tZ1RT2-WGZI:fROpYnKKqnI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=tZ1RT2-WGZI:fROpYnKKqnI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14002-economic-end-times-lendman.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/5XO-oL5RwiQ/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Jul 2011 08:11:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.html<div>by Kourosh Ziabari</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div> <div>Abolghasem Bayyenat is an independent political analyst writing mainly on Iran’s foreign policy developments. Over the past decade, his political commentaries and articles have appeared in numerous popular media and online journals, including Foreign Policy Journal, Foreign Policy In Focus, Monthly Review, Eurasia Review, AntiWar.com, Tehran Times, Middle East Online, San Francisco Chronicle, Online Opinion, American Chronicle, and a number of other national newspapers and online journals across the world. He has also published a number of book chapters and articles in academic journals. Besides academic studies in political science and international relations, he has also practical experience in international diplomacy. In the past, he has worked for several years as international trade expert and researcher in Iran, as part of which he was involved in various bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations between Iran and its trade partners around the world. He is currently completing his Ph. D studies in political science at Maxwell School of Syracuse University. His latest articles can also be read on his own blog at <a href="http://www.irandiplomacywatch.com/">www.irandiplomacywatch.com</a>.</div></div></div> <div> <p dir="LTR">What follows is the complete text of my in-depth interview with Mr. Bayyenat in which we discussed the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, the prospect of Iran-West relations and the politics of Israel's nuclear activities. </p> <p dir="LTR"><strong>Kourosh Ziabari: The past decade has been witness to unending and unremitting clash between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear program. The West has constantly accused Iran of trying to build nuclear bombs while Tehran has persistently denied the allegation. What do you think about the nature of Iran's nuclear program? Why has it become so controversial and contentious? We already know that there are four nations in the world, who are not signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but nobody in <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IZf52mrjBVARqVISJj2WXqaMzBE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IZf52mrjBVARqVISJj2WXqaMzBE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IZf52mrjBVARqVISJj2WXqaMzBE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IZf52mrjBVARqVISJj2WXqaMzBE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=5XO-oL5RwiQ:_KlDZWZMuC8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=5XO-oL5RwiQ:_KlDZWZMuC8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=5XO-oL5RwiQ:_KlDZWZMuC8:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/wTNPIvG4MYQ/14000-aftermath-of-israeli-anti-free-speech-law-passage-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:14:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14000-aftermath-of-israeli-anti-free-speech-law-passage-.html<div> <div> <p>by Stephen Lendman</p> <p>Buoyed by passage of their anti-boycott bill, Knesset Yisrael Beitenu and Likud party extremists taste blood and want more. Most worrisome is a proposed measure to investigate leftist group activities, heading for a final vote next week.</p> <p>YNet News writer Moran Azulay quoted Meretz party chairwoman, Sahava Gal-On, calling it &quot;a political inquisition,&quot; adding:</p> <p>&quot;The Boycott Law has whetted the appetite of the settler Coalition. This is an attempt at perpetuating the persecution of left-wing and civil organizations. What will be the next step? Sham trials? Throwing people into gulags?&quot;</p> <p>Weighing in, Labor party MK Eitan Cabel said:</p> <p>&quot;The prime minister has lost control over his partners, who are running wild in the Knesset and taking advantage of the (tyranny) of the majority in order to trample the minority. We are in the midst of legislative anarchy.&quot;</p> <p>United Arab List-Ta'al party MK Ahmad Tibi wondered which ruling coalition partner was most racist, Yisrael Beiteinu or Likud, saying:</p> <p>&quot;In the beginning they were against Arabs. Now they're against leftists, and maybe tomorrow they will go up against the feinschmeckers of the Likud&quot; or anyone challenging them.</p> <p>According to Kadima party MK Ruhama Avraham:</p> <p>&quot;This government does not pursue peace or social justice, but rather its own citizens.&quot;</p> <div>Another measure proposes giving Knesset members veto power over High Court nominations. Likud's Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar called it &quot;dangerous, problematic, and creates a clear hazard of politicizing&quot; justice nominations.</div> <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14000-aftermath-of-israeli-anti-free-speech-law-passage-.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_OAxNcMZ2SCbld32RmYoU3C4owo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_OAxNcMZ2SCbld32RmYoU3C4owo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_OAxNcMZ2SCbld32RmYoU3C4owo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_OAxNcMZ2SCbld32RmYoU3C4owo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=wTNPIvG4MYQ:VBa1XCWXRGY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=wTNPIvG4MYQ:VBa1XCWXRGY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=wTNPIvG4MYQ:VBa1XCWXRGY:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14000-aftermath-of-israeli-anti-free-speech-law-passage-.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/nAipq7xjlcQ/13999-media-warfare-and-everyday-life.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 15 Jul 2011 07:36:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13999-media-warfare-and-everyday-life.html<div>by Bruce Campbell Ph.D.<br /> <br /> In the U.S., Rupert Murdoch's global News Corporation owns The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, the New York Post, MySpace.com, Barron's, TVGuide, HarperCollins Publishers, and 20th Century Fox, to name just a few of its extensive holdings. &nbsp;Amid revelations that News Corporation media entities hacked into the phone and medical accounts of British elected officials and private citizens, a former New York City cop alleges that he was approached by News Corporation employees who sought illegal access to the phone accounts of Americans killed in the 9/11 attacks.<br /> <br /> This is an ugly glimpse of the truth behind the liberal vs. conservative &quot;culture wars&quot; happily promoted by Murdoch's media enterprises and other corporate media concerns. &nbsp;The true culture war is not about religion or family values; it is about communication itself.<br /> <br /> Like it or not, you and I are combatants in a society-wide conflict over the means and ends of communication. Murdoch's News Corporation is the paradigm case. &nbsp;We must recognize this conflict and deliberately and collaboratively defend ourselves. I will call this conflict media warfare. Let me explain.<br /> <br /> Media are not corporations but those conduits of communication and cultural diffusion that are the modern internal wiring of the cultural landscape through which we move in our everyday lives. &nbsp; This cultural circuitry is not the problem, at least not by itself. &nbsp;Media by themselves - each medium a distinct channel of our collective messaging - could (and should) serve to ease and extend and give specific form to our efforts to interact meaningfully with each other.<br /> <br /> The conflict arises when speech and creativity are overrun by interests alien to our non-commercial and non-ideological interpersonal needs, to our concrete family and community <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/HzhDaZ4irI_cRIwYhskT2KEQwlI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/HzhDaZ4irI_cRIwYhskT2KEQwlI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/HzhDaZ4irI_cRIwYhskT2KEQwlI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/HzhDaZ4irI_cRIwYhskT2KEQwlI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=nAipq7xjlcQ:_kWMhvaLx8I:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=nAipq7xjlcQ:_kWMhvaLx8I:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=nAipq7xjlcQ:_kWMhvaLx8I:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13999-media-warfare-and-everyday-life.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/0dyRzyIS9DY/13998-empire-or-republic-from-joplin-missouri-to-kabul-afghanistan.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:46:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13998-empire-or-republic-from-joplin-missouri-to-kabul-afghanistan.htmlby James Petras Ph.D. <div> </div> <div> <p><strong><u>Introduction</u></strong></p> <p> On May 29, 2011, President Obama visited Joplin, Missouri, the site of a devastating tornado that killed 140 and pronounced it a terrible “tragedy”. But were the deaths the inevitable result of ‘natural events’ beyond the human intervention?</p> <p> Coincidentally the same week Afghan President Karzai condemned the killing of a family of 14 by a NATO fighter bomber, running the total to several hundred civilians killed so far this year and thousands over the decade.</p> <p> The relation between the civilian deaths in Joplin and Afghanistan raises fundamental questions about the priorities, character and direction of the US Empire and the future of the American republic.</p> <p><strong><u>Geography of Tornados</u></strong></p> <p> Every year at least 20 major violent tornadoes – with winds exceeding 200 mph – hit “tornado alley” and beyond, including central Texas, northern Iowa, central Kansas, Nebraska, western Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Each and every year at least sixty are killed and several hundred are maimed and injured. This year, through May 2011, over 519 have been killed, 25% of whom were in mobile homes, almost three times as many as those in standard houses.</p> <p> In other words, these tornado-related deaths are predictable, annual, and region-specific and have a higher incidence among low income households. Government agencies and academics have compiled data banks and time series information mapping the route, frequency and impact of tornadoes.</p> <p> Information about the nature of killer tornadoes is plentiful. Nevertheless deaths mount from year to year. Fear and insecurity stalks the region’s most susceptible to the violent whirlwinds, even as the Congress and White House have increased personnel and funding for ‘Homeland Security’ twenty fold over the decade .The current budget is over $180 billion. If we add the <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13998-empire-or-republic-from-joplin-missouri-to-kabul-afghanistan.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OLqmoYd5VmhMFEGl8D01oE5Nl3g/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OLqmoYd5VmhMFEGl8D01oE5Nl3g/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OLqmoYd5VmhMFEGl8D01oE5Nl3g/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OLqmoYd5VmhMFEGl8D01oE5Nl3g/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=0dyRzyIS9DY:B1VqdxYkPEY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=0dyRzyIS9DY:B1VqdxYkPEY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=0dyRzyIS9DY:B1VqdxYkPEY:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13998-empire-or-republic-from-joplin-missouri-to-kabul-afghanistan.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/JvIR4kQIk5w/13997-public-education-how-to-improve-it-and-cut-the-cost-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:35:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13997-public-education-how-to-improve-it-and-cut-the-cost-.html<div>by Peter Stern <div align="center">&nbsp;</div> The Fight Against a Mediocre Public Education is NOT working. We all know it. <p>For the majority of children and parents, who rely on it, public education continues to fail the needs and the learning outcomes of the children attempting to get a quality education. Believe me, I know first-hand. I graduated public education, barely. My high school had 6,000 kids enrolled. </p> <p>I forced myself to continue my education and received my first Masters Degree from New York University, one of the top colleges in the nation. I have 2 more post graduate degrees. I became a public school teacher and then a Principal. I was a Program Director for the Board of Education in a major U.S. city.&nbsp; I also became a University Professor.&nbsp; One sad day I finally left teaching because of politics and burnout trying to create positive change in a system that fights you every step of the way in providing a quality education for our children. Instead, I became a Director of Information Services and made a lot of money.</p> <p>Public education needs help. There have been many leaders who have tried to &quot;fix&quot; it, but all have failed for one reason or another. I have a simpler solution for success. It will save a ton of tax dollars and will achieve better learning outcomes. It will provide the public education the majority of our children need in order to succeed in life. It will work for all of them.</p> <p>• Teach children the basic needs in learning and life: reading, writing, math along with some basic science and core history. Do it so learning is fun.</p> <p>• Reduce class sizes in half.</p> <p>• Then give them one elective period where they can pursue whatever topic they, their parents <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13997-public-education-how-to-improve-it-and-cut-the-cost-.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hCY7ocPGUK21Ps73wClVeqeYdac/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hCY7ocPGUK21Ps73wClVeqeYdac/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hCY7ocPGUK21Ps73wClVeqeYdac/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hCY7ocPGUK21Ps73wClVeqeYdac/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=JvIR4kQIk5w:JDCNDB17qGY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=JvIR4kQIk5w:JDCNDB17qGY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=JvIR4kQIk5w:JDCNDB17qGY:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13997-public-education-how-to-improve-it-and-cut-the-cost-.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/EHh1yxeL7og/13996--warning-this-message-contains-democracy.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:34:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13996--warning-this-message-contains-democracy.html<div>by Susan Lindauer</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <p>No great civilization is ever destroyed from without, or conquered by external forces, until it first destroys itself from within. America's leaders should have thought long and hard about that before voting to extend the Patriot Act last week.</p> <p>Unhappily it's official. We the People are the enemy. We have dared to prod and examine government policy too closely. We have questioned government leadership when we should rightly have obeyed without challenge. Some of us have exposed wrongful government practices and deceptions, expecting to hold Congress and White House leaders accountable to voters. Foolish us!</p> <p>Last week Congress set the record straight. Breaking campaign promises to defeat the Patriot Act, Congress blocked hearings and debate on amendments that would fix problems in surveillance rules, and rammed a four year extension on the American People. Only 31 Republicans and 122 Democrats voted against the Patriot Act in the House.</p> <p><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p><strong>IMPORTING GESTAPO LAW </strong></p> <p>It's no exaggeration, unfortunately, that the Patriot Act is more dangerous to our way of life than any foreign enemy.</p> <p>Most ominously, entire sections of the Patriot Act are verbatim and identical to two of the most frightening laws in World History:</p> <p>• The <strong>1929 Bolshevik Communist Criminal Act</strong> established Communist control in the age of Joseph Stalin. It created a security apparatchik unparalleled in its intrusion into the lives of ordinary, non-political families. For enforcement, it created the Gulags, which quickly filled with intellectuals and dissidents, poets and hard luck Russian people who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was enough for a neighbor to point a finger secretly for that individual to disappear to the Siberian work camps for life. Secret charges, secret evidence, secret accusations figured prominently--- identical to the Patriot Act.</p> <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13996--warning-this-message-contains-democracy.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Isvh2gdwDUR0iz_vbzbZEEbIypU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Isvh2gdwDUR0iz_vbzbZEEbIypU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Isvh2gdwDUR0iz_vbzbZEEbIypU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Isvh2gdwDUR0iz_vbzbZEEbIypU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=EHh1yxeL7og:Kt0kSkktnUs:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=EHh1yxeL7og:Kt0kSkktnUs:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=EHh1yxeL7og:Kt0kSkktnUs:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13996--warning-this-message-contains-democracy.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/WSw2-5ONcLY/13995-god-bless-america-and-its-bombs.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:32:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13995-god-bless-america-and-its-bombs.html<div>by William Blum<br /> <br /> <p>When they bombed Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, El Salvador and Nicaragua I said nothing because I wasn't a communist.</p> <p>When they bombed China, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, and the Congo I said nothing because I didn't know about it.</p> <p>When they bombed Lebanon and Grenada I said nothing because I didn't understand it.</p> <p>When they bombed Panama I said nothing because I wasn't a drug dealer.</p> <p>When they bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen I said nothing because I wasn't a terrorist.</p> <p>When they bombed Yugoslavia and Libya for &quot;humanitarian&quot; reasons I said nothing because it sounded so honorable.</p> <p>Then they bombed my house and there was no one left to speak out for me. But it didn't really matter. I was dead. ^{<a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer94.html#note-1" id="link-1">1</a>}</p> <h3>The Targets</h3> <p>It's become a commonplace to accuse the United States of choosing as its bombing targets only people of color, those of the Third World, or Muslims. But it must be remembered that one of the most sustained and ferocious American bombing campaigns of modern times — 78 consecutive days — was carried out against the people of the former Yugoslavia: white, European, Christians. The United States is an equal-opportunity bomber. The only qualifications for a country to become a target are: (A) It poses an obstacle — could be anything — to the desires of the American Empire; (B) It is virtually defenseless against aerial attack.</p> <h3>The survivors</h3> <blockquote> <p>&quot;We never see the smoke and the fire, we never smell the blood, we never see the terror in the eyes of the children, whose nightmares will now feature screaming missiles from unseen terrorists, known only as Americans.&quot; ^{<a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer94.html#note-2" id="link-2">2</a>}</p></blockquote> <p>NASA has announced an audacious new mission, launching a spaceship that will travel for four years <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13995-god-bless-america-and-its-bombs.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EUvpBIxJ1cdPIqBstVKAA8nNg8E/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EUvpBIxJ1cdPIqBstVKAA8nNg8E/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EUvpBIxJ1cdPIqBstVKAA8nNg8E/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EUvpBIxJ1cdPIqBstVKAA8nNg8E/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=WSw2-5ONcLY:vkY-wcy5si0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=WSw2-5ONcLY:vkY-wcy5si0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=WSw2-5ONcLY:vkY-wcy5si0:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13995-god-bless-america-and-its-bombs.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/FdbKIgGirZg/13994-monsoon-the-indian-ocean-and-the-future-of-american-power-book-review-by-jim-miles.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:58:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13994-monsoon-the-indian-ocean-and-the-future-of-american-power-book-review-by-jim-miles.html<p><img alt="" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514Y94plPiL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" align="left" vspace="4" width="177" height="190" hspace="4" />by Jim Miles</p> <div>&nbsp;When I first read Robert Kaplan, it was shortly after 9/11 when a whole library of books became available about U.S. foreign policy and how it should deal with the terrorist threat presented to the U.S. and democracy. At that time, in his work “<strong>Warrior Politics</strong>” he reasonably recognizes that his perspective is but one of many and none can be truly objective. He recognized the reality of the “American imperium” in terms that imperialism is the “most ordinary and dependable form of protection for ethnic minorities and others under violent assault,” and “an imperial reality already dominates our foreign policy.” Towards the end of the work he quotes Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization,” and follows with his own summation that “the restraining power of our own democracy makes it hard for us to demand and orchestrate authentic transitions everywhere. Only through stealth and anxious foresight can America create a secure international system.”</div> <p>We have had in the intervening years since that publication a significant decrease in democracy within the U.S. (constitutional issues, international law, and human rights issues such as torture). Indeed if democracy is inimical to mobilization, then democracy needs to be avoided, and its “restraining” power has been greatly diminished (when were the people, the demos, last asked if they wanted the U.S. to go to war?) As for demanding and orchestrating authentic transitions, that has been exposed through global media as being very real, although always with unexpected outcomes - and notice that the “transitions” are not necessarily labelled as democratic, simply transitions. The record over the last decade would also show that stealth has not created a secure international system (secure for whom - the global elites, the corporate bosses?) While <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13994-monsoon-the-indian-ocean-and-the-future-of-american-power-book-review-by-jim-miles.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/P_nnrbZipe7in42frTv-7ARbAks/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/P_nnrbZipe7in42frTv-7ARbAks/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/P_nnrbZipe7in42frTv-7ARbAks/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/P_nnrbZipe7in42frTv-7ARbAks/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=FdbKIgGirZg:gNLHIor8G1w:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=FdbKIgGirZg:gNLHIor8G1w:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=FdbKIgGirZg:gNLHIor8G1w:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13994-monsoon-the-indian-ocean-and-the-future-of-american-power-book-review-by-jim-miles.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Ggu52IGBsqE/13993-interstates-and-states-of-grief.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:47:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13993-interstates-and-states-of-grief.htmlby Phil Rockstroh<br /> <br />I’m in Atlanta, Georgia, at present, among the scent of pine trees and the reek of southern denial. The moribund economy has thwarted the city’s manic drive to silence its resentful ghosts by means of constant motion … Below the lilting southern accents here, one detects rage … Not simply the ubiquitous hate-speak on right-wing talk radio. But an animus bred by truth-deferred … that southern pride is a lie of the mind — a blown banner … foisted skyward to distract the minds of my fellow southerners from the ground level truths of a system rigged to enrich the privileged few and keep the many working for their benefit. (How do you think they filled the ranks of the Confederate Army to kill and die for the rights of rich men to own slaves.)<br /> <br />I arrived in Georgia by route of the US interstate system.<br /> <br />Traveling US interstate highways one suffers a confluence of so much contemporary madness and tragedy extant in the land … so much suppressed fear and aggression. Yet, through it all, the heart still yearns to see what lies over the next horizon. <br /> Although, lamentably, what is revealed, all to often, proves to be as sterile, inhospitable, ugly, and inhuman as what was beheld at the last.<br /> <br /> <blockquote> <div>&quot;Who has twisted us around like this, so that no matter what we do, we are in the posture of someone going away?&quot; <br /> <div align="right">- Rainer Maria Rilke</div></div></blockquote><br /> <div> <p>Any situation, as is the case with interstate highway travel, in which to momentarily stop or even to slow down, one risks death should be regarded as an affront (if not anathema) to common sense and the longings of the heart. <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13993-interstates-and-states-of-grief.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LB16dQiERbYfDhGB8r8-UZnr4uQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LB16dQiERbYfDhGB8r8-UZnr4uQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LB16dQiERbYfDhGB8r8-UZnr4uQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LB16dQiERbYfDhGB8r8-UZnr4uQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Ggu52IGBsqE:xKjTU9jtLXU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=Ggu52IGBsqE:xKjTU9jtLXU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Ggu52IGBsqE:xKjTU9jtLXU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13993-interstates-and-states-of-grief.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/eW_fSR3bgTo/13992-naseer-aruri-phd-no-politician-with-an-qanti-zionist-mindsetq-could-ever-dream-of-living-in-the-white-house.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:39:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13992-naseer-aruri-phd-no-politician-with-an-qanti-zionist-mindsetq-could-ever-dream-of-living-in-the-white-house.html<p>by Kourosh Ziabari in Iran</p> <div> <p dir="LTR">Naseer Aruri is Chancellor Professor (emeritus) of Political Science, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He is president of Trans-Arab Research Institute in Boston. Prof. Aruri is the a contributor to the book &quot;Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War&quot; by the South End Press and the author of the book &quot;Palestinian Refugees: The Right of Return&quot; published by the University of British Columbia Press in 2001. Prof. Aruri is on the Advisory Board of the Council for Palestinian Restitution and Repatriation.</p> <p dir="LTR">Aruri has also written the book &quot;The Obstruction of Peace: The U.S., Israel and the Palestinians.&quot; Amazon.com has described this book &quot;a Palestinian perspective on the peace process in his Middle Eastern region which provides a different view for the reasons behind Palestinian-Israeli impasses.&quot;</p> <p dir="LTR">According to Wikipedia, Aruri contributed to the foundation of the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) in 1983. From 1984-1990, Aruri was elected to three consecutive terms on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International, USA, and served on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch/Middle East from 1990 to 1992. </p> <p dir="LTR">What follows is the complete text of my exclusive interview with Prof. Naseer Aruri in which we discussed a variety of topics including the prospect of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the role of the United States in the solving the crisis in Palestine and the performance of PLO as the defacto representative of the Palestinian nation in the international level. </p> <p dir="LTR"><strong>Kourosh Ziabari: Dear Prof. Aruri; there are various interpretations regarding the truth behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both sides of the conflict cite claims over the land which is known as the Land of Israel. So, from an impartial and objective point of view, which side is the righteous? Which <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13992-naseer-aruri-phd-no-politician-with-an-qanti-zionist-mindsetq-could-ever-dream-of-living-in-the-white-house.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IF5FVU5HLnhwcpxlsW7aahnrjfM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IF5FVU5HLnhwcpxlsW7aahnrjfM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IF5FVU5HLnhwcpxlsW7aahnrjfM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IF5FVU5HLnhwcpxlsW7aahnrjfM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=eW_fSR3bgTo:5X97pznPQNY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=eW_fSR3bgTo:5X97pznPQNY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=eW_fSR3bgTo:5X97pznPQNY:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13992-naseer-aruri-phd-no-politician-with-an-qanti-zionist-mindsetq-could-ever-dream-of-living-in-the-white-house.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Nrr39yzd0X4/13991-matter-of-policy-gaza-war-and-goldstones-moral-collapse.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:26:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13991-matter-of-policy-gaza-war-and-goldstones-moral-collapse.html<div>by Ramzy Baroud</div> <div><br /> Shocking is not a sufficient term to describe Justice Richard Goldstone’s decision to recant parts of the 2009 report on alleged war crimes in Gaza.</div> <div> <p>The document, known as the Goldstone Report, was compiled after a thorough investigation led by the South African judge and three other well-regarded investigators. They documented 36 incidents that occurred during the Israeli Operation Cast Lead, an unprecedentedly violent attack against small, impoverished and besieged Gaza. It resulted in the death of over 1,400 Palestinians, and the wounding of over 5,500.</p> <p>Goldstone is both Jewish and Zionist. His love for Israel has been widely and affectionately conveyed. In this particular case, he seemed completely torn between his ideological and tribal position and his commitment to justice and truth, as enshrined in the mandate of the UN Human Rights Council.</p> <p>After 18 months of what seemed a wholly personal introspection, accompanied by an endless campaign of pressure and intimidation by Zionist and pro-Israel Jewish groups from all over the world, the man finally surrendered.</p> <blockquote> <p>&nbsp;“If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document,” he wrote in the Washington Post on April 1. But what did Goldstone learn anew since he issued his 575-page report in September 2009?</p></blockquote> <p>The supposed basis of Goldstone’s rethink is a follow-up report issued by a UN committee chaired by retired New York Judge Mary McGowan Davis. Her report was not a reinvestigation of Israel’s —&nbsp; and Hamas’ — alleged war crimes in Gaza, but a follow up on the Goldstone Commission’s findings, which urged the referral of the matter to the International Criminal Court. McGowan Davis made this distinction clear in a recent interview with the Israeli Jerusalem Post. According to the post, she said, <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13991-matter-of-policy-gaza-war-and-goldstones-moral-collapse.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NSR5Gme5GVm-DOtknYAb-_iWGgU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NSR5Gme5GVm-DOtknYAb-_iWGgU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NSR5Gme5GVm-DOtknYAb-_iWGgU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NSR5Gme5GVm-DOtknYAb-_iWGgU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Nrr39yzd0X4:4kaxTz9qqjo:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=Nrr39yzd0X4:4kaxTz9qqjo:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Nrr39yzd0X4:4kaxTz9qqjo:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13991-matter-of-policy-gaza-war-and-goldstones-moral-collapse.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/NkG0am5EAM8/13989-now-israel-is-free-to-declare-its-innocence-before-the-international-court-of-justice.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:19:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13989-now-israel-is-free-to-declare-its-innocence-before-the-international-court-of-justice.html<div>by William A. Cook Ph.D. <br /> <br /></div> <div> <div>Thank God Judge Goldstone recanted his judgment on Israel and its IDF forces in the slaughter inflicted on Gaza during its Christmas invasion in 2008-2009; both are now innocent of wrongful intent to kill Palestinian civilians since the Israeli military courts investigated Goldstone’s allegations and determined he was wrong. Now the good Judge has found, with the military court, that the Israeli government, that refused to cooperate with the United Nations investigation, did not intentionally send its forces to kill and destroy but only to kill and destroy Gaza; that the civilians were killed is simply a sad consequence of war. How astute, how learned, how compassionate; how absurd, how facetious, how despicable.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div align="center">&nbsp;<img alt="" title="" src="http://atlanticfreepress.com/images/stories/WP412121EX27.JPG" width="400" height="300" /><br /> </div> <p>Yet, good may come of this decision. Now Israel is free to declare its innocence before the International Court of Justice since it is Israel’s investigation that can be presented as its case, with the good Judge as co-defendant. After all, isn’t this exactly what the Israeli government has wanted from the start, a way to demonstrate to the world that its Army is the most moral on the planet, its government the most democratic, acting only to defend its people, its weaponry the most sophisticated state of the art precision ordinance available, and its actions always proportionate to the crimes it seeks to address? Knowing now what they did not know before Judge Goldstone recanted his report, the government of Israel has nothing to fear from the ICJ but the justice it so rightfully deserves. Certainly it makes no sense for Israel or the UN to do nothing now that the report has been brought into question. The world has castigated Israel because of the <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13989-now-israel-is-free-to-declare-its-innocence-before-the-international-court-of-justice.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/H0oAgFoxlerNFdSN8jQ21rmjSBE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/H0oAgFoxlerNFdSN8jQ21rmjSBE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/H0oAgFoxlerNFdSN8jQ21rmjSBE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/H0oAgFoxlerNFdSN8jQ21rmjSBE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=NkG0am5EAM8:1vs-wXWudsI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=NkG0am5EAM8:1vs-wXWudsI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=NkG0am5EAM8:1vs-wXWudsI:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13989-now-israel-is-free-to-declare-its-innocence-before-the-international-court-of-justice.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/q2AmS_mz6qg/13988-usaid-sides-with-chevron-against-niger-delta-rebels-works-to-create-new-enemies-among-ijo-and-ogoni-tribes.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:12:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13988-usaid-sides-with-chevron-against-niger-delta-rebels-works-to-create-new-enemies-among-ijo-and-ogoni-tribes.html<div>by Matthew Nasuti</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><br /> In February 2011, in a little known development, the Obama Administration decided to seek new enemies abroad by choosing sides in a low level civil war being waged in southern Nigeria. Astonishingly, the U.S. State Department has publicly allied itself with oil giant Chevron, which is the target of a guerrilla war being waged by the fifteen (15) million Ijo tribesmen in the Niger River Delta. <br /> <br />Chevron is accused of environmental devastation, theft of resources and corruption. <br /> <br />While the formal U.S./Chevron alliance in Nigeria is new, the ties between senior Obama Administration officials and Chevon are long standing. On August 9, 2009, Hillary Clinton, while traveling in Angola, proclaimed that she and Chevron share “a common vision.” <br /> <br />Chevron pipelines and personnel in the Delta have been under attack for twenty years by local tribesman. What occurred in Nigeria in February 2011, is that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) entered into a partnership with Chevron Corporation. USAID contributed $25 million for a joint public relations effort called “the “Niger Delta Partnership Initiative.” Chevron press releases have since trumpeted the U.S./Chevron alliance. Chevron, which has an unsavory reputation within some segments of Nigerian society, is seeking to bolster its image by allying itself with the United States. <br /> <br />The Niger Delta dispute first came to the world’s attention in the early 1990's. At that time the one million plus Ogoni people had begun a mass peaceful protest against Shell Oil due to alleged environmental crimes. Led by poet/writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Ogoni pacifist movement came under increasing violent attack by government militias. In 1993, Mr. Saro-Wiwa was arrested, 2,000 Ogoni were massacred and 80,000 were evicted from their homes. In 1995, Mr. Saro-Wiwa <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13988-usaid-sides-with-chevron-against-niger-delta-rebels-works-to-create-new-enemies-among-ijo-and-ogoni-tribes.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-j4g8quRdoU20F4ShNxM8GgfyQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-j4g8quRdoU20F4ShNxM8GgfyQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-j4g8quRdoU20F4ShNxM8GgfyQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-j4g8quRdoU20F4ShNxM8GgfyQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=q2AmS_mz6qg:oEFFbsSOqO8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=q2AmS_mz6qg:oEFFbsSOqO8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=q2AmS_mz6qg:oEFFbsSOqO8:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13988-usaid-sides-with-chevron-against-niger-delta-rebels-works-to-create-new-enemies-among-ijo-and-ogoni-tribes.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Ur6Ggls7044/13987-why-the-obama-doctrine-wont-help-the-shia-majority-in-bahrain.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:03:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13987-why-the-obama-doctrine-wont-help-the-shia-majority-in-bahrain.html<div>by Franklin Lamb Ph.D.<br /> <br /> <blockquote> <p>Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi passed through Beirut a couple of weeks ago and gave a terrific lecture at the American University of Beirut entitled &quot;Preliminary Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011.&quot;</p></blockquote> <p>In response to a student's question, Khalidi disputed that there wasn't any &quot;Obama Doctrine&quot; worthy of that label and he predicted the White House would be much more tolerant of human rights abuses in Bahrain than say, in Libya and some other countries whose despotism indexes are no worse than the 200 year ossified Al Khalifa dynasty's war against its majority Shia population.</p> <p>After his talk, I reminded Rashid in our brief encounter that we had not crossed paths since that fateful summer of 1982 in West Beirut where we and our mutual friend, American journalist Janet Stevens, who had introduced us, all shared a similar experience of trying to do research amidst the Israeli bombing and intermittent electricity and water cuts.</p> <p>In those, now sometimes romanticized &quot;summer of '82 days&quot; Khalidi was an intense hard working young man and his 1982 research was published in his 1983 volume: &quot;Under Siege: P.L.O. Decision making During the 1982 War.&quot;</p> <p>It was during this period that Janet (Rashid was in no way involved!) and I committed at least four felonies (I was just following orders!) and broke into the abandoned AUB cafeteria &amp; AUB storage rooms and liberated maybe 500 cases of AUB bottled water and perhaps 50 large cartons filled with that nasty orange powdered drink stuff.<br /> Janet put me in charge of about 100 Fatah fighters who, wisely assuming the Israeli's would think twice before bombing AUB, had set up a base under the Bayan trees on campus and we all used to share the AUB beach <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13987-why-the-obama-doctrine-wont-help-the-shia-majority-in-bahrain.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lSOY4U5j72tjIW62a-pYN_7mkDw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lSOY4U5j72tjIW62a-pYN_7mkDw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lSOY4U5j72tjIW62a-pYN_7mkDw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lSOY4U5j72tjIW62a-pYN_7mkDw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Ur6Ggls7044:xvgo6aPhZJk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=Ur6Ggls7044:xvgo6aPhZJk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Ur6Ggls7044:xvgo6aPhZJk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13987-why-the-obama-doctrine-wont-help-the-shia-majority-in-bahrain.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/8Da8vtjvmWs/13986-james-petras-phd-washingtons-long-war-against-africa.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:47:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13986-james-petras-phd-washingtons-long-war-against-africa.html<div>by James Petras Ph.D.<br /> <br /></div> The US bombing of Libya in support of rebel clients in the spring of 2011 is part and parcel of a sustained policy of military intervention in Africa since at least the mid 1950’s. According to a US Congressional Research Service Study<a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="1" id="_ftnref1"> </a> published in November 2010, Washington has dispatched anywhere between hundreds and several thousand combat troops, dozens of fighter planes and warships to buttress client dictatorships or to unseat adversarial regimes in dozens of countries, almost on a yearly bases. <p>The record shows the US armed forces intervened 46 times prior to the current Libyan wars<a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="" id="_ftnref2"> </a>. The countries suffering one or more US military intervention include the Congo, Zaine, Libya, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Ruanda, Liberia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea. The only progressive intervention was in Egypt under Eisenhower who forced the Israeli-French-English forces to withdraw from the Suez in 1956. Between the mid 1950’s to the end of the 1970’s, only 4 overt military operations were recorded, though <u>large scale proxy and clandestine military operations</u> were pervasive. Under Reagan-Bush Sr. (1980-1991) military intervention accelerated, rising to 8, <u>not counting the large scale clandestine ‘special forces’ and proxy wars in Southern Africa</u>. </p> <p>Under the Clinton regime, US militarized imperialism in Africa took off. Between 1992 and 2000, 17 armed incursions took place, including a large scale invasion of Somalia and military backing for the Ruanda genocidal regime.<a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title="" id="_ftnref3"> </a> Clinton intervened in Liberia, Gabon, Congo and Sierra Leone to prop up a long standing stooge regime. He bombed the Sudan and dispatched military personnel to Kenya and Ethiopia to back proxy clients assaulting Somalia. Under Bush Jr. 15 <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13986-james-petras-phd-washingtons-long-war-against-africa.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/AWcNnz12_lZAmKP0l-FwMINPq7Q/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/AWcNnz12_lZAmKP0l-FwMINPq7Q/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/AWcNnz12_lZAmKP0l-FwMINPq7Q/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/AWcNnz12_lZAmKP0l-FwMINPq7Q/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=8Da8vtjvmWs:7_ZKbpViHX8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=8Da8vtjvmWs:7_ZKbpViHX8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=8Da8vtjvmWs:7_ZKbpViHX8:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13986-james-petras-phd-washingtons-long-war-against-africa.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/7lRlExn80eE/13985-inflation-hits-money-and-lies.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:46:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13985-inflation-hits-money-and-lies.html<div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">by Joel S. Hirschhorn</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">How do the powerful keep the US population dumb and distracted?<span>&nbsp; </span>A key tactic has been using methodologies that produce totally misleading underestimates of key economic factors.<span>&nbsp; </span>First we learned that official unemployment figures are too low by a factor of two.<span>&nbsp; </span>Now, understand that the official rate of inflation hitting consumers is even more inaccurate.<span>&nbsp; </span>You will hear about a low inflation rate of less than 3 percent.<span>&nbsp; </span>In reality, it is closer to 10 percent, according to the highly regarded analysis by <a href="http://www.shadowstats.com/" target="_blank">John Williams</a>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">It is difficult for any one of us to have first hand evidence that unemployment nationally is really much higher than what the government says, even though most of us know people who are out of work or taking part time work out of sheer necessity.<span>&nbsp; </span>But when it comes to rising prices hitting our pockets, credit cards and checkbooks we have a much clearer sense of what is really happening.<span>&nbsp; </span>Gasoline prices have jumped more than 10 percent in recent weeks and for most of us is about a dollar more a gallon than a year ago or so.<span>&nbsp; </span>Some experts are predicting that $4 gas will soon hit most of the nation and, even worse, that $5 gas may hit us this summer.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Food prices are also jumping like a frog on crack cocaine.<span>&nbsp; </span>Many of them are masked by smaller weight packaging.<span>&nbsp; </span>Health care costs, especially insurance premiums and drugs, have also hit many Americans substantially and painfully.<span>&nbsp; </span>High inflation especially hits hard those people who <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13985-inflation-hits-money-and-lies.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cs_MtHQuevW3vX8tHZyAPxYr2dA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cs_MtHQuevW3vX8tHZyAPxYr2dA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cs_MtHQuevW3vX8tHZyAPxYr2dA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cs_MtHQuevW3vX8tHZyAPxYr2dA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=7lRlExn80eE:EuN8AyDuJSc:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=7lRlExn80eE:EuN8AyDuJSc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=7lRlExn80eE:EuN8AyDuJSc:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13985-inflation-hits-money-and-lies.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/1_hde-SSqwQ/13984-where-did-the-towers-go-evidence-of-directed-free-energy-technology-on-911-book-review-by-eric-larsen-phd.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:32:00 PDThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13984-where-did-the-towers-go-evidence-of-directed-free-energy-technology-on-911-book-review-by-eric-larsen-phd.html<div><img style="margin: 5px" alt="" title="" src="http://wheredidthetowersgo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CoverPage_blue_s.jpg" align="left" border="0" width="150" height="211" />by Eric Larsen Ph.D.<br /> <p>What a complete, unmitigated disaster 9/11 and the ten awful years following it have been—ten years of murder, crime, lawlessness, deceit, stupidity, and blindness that are only now meliorated, at long last, by the publication of Dr. Judy Wood’s unique, revelatory, and unequivocally welcome book, <a href="http://wheredidthetowersgo.com/"><em>Where Did the Towers Go? The Evidence of Directed Free-Energy Technology on 9/11</em></a>.</p> <p>Allow me to make full disclosure now, so that those (and, believe me, there are many) who will choose not to read further can quit right away and save time.</p> <p>I, me, Eric Larsen, wrote the Foreword to Dr. Wood’s book. I wrote it partly because I have known for many years about Dr. Wood’s research; partly because I have followed the website that Dr. Wood has maintained (<a href="http://www.drjudywood.com/">http://www.drjudywood.com/</a>); and partly because I was lucky enough to be given the <em>opportunity</em> to write that Foreword.</p> <p>It wasn’t just an opportunity but a high honor. To give an idea of how great an honor it was, here is the first line of what I wrote:</p> <p>The book you now hold in your hands is the most important book of the twenty-first century.</p> <p>Let me go further and quote the two sentences also , since the same obligation pertains now as did when I wrote them<em>—</em>the obligation for me to explain why I said so unqualified a thing and what I meant by it. Here’s what I meant, and still do:</p> <p><em>Where Did the Towers Go? </em>is a work, assuming that its content and message are properly and fairly heeded, that offers a starting point from which those who genuinely want to do it can begin, first, to rein in and then, perhaps, even end the wanton <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13984-where-did-the-towers-go-evidence-of-directed-free-energy-technology-on-911-book-review-by-eric-larsen-phd.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1CGwwZee2iyeuzzIzmvGfDKR4go/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1CGwwZee2iyeuzzIzmvGfDKR4go/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1CGwwZee2iyeuzzIzmvGfDKR4go/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1CGwwZee2iyeuzzIzmvGfDKR4go/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=1_hde-SSqwQ:vdB05Qd_Iv4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=1_hde-SSqwQ:vdB05Qd_Iv4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=1_hde-SSqwQ:vdB05Qd_Iv4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13984-where-did-the-towers-go-evidence-of-directed-free-energy-technology-on-911-book-review-by-eric-larsen-phd.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/5t4ZtAT-92w/13983-george-katsiaficas-us-human-rights-policy-is-self-serving-and-duplicitous.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:49:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13983-george-katsiaficas-us-human-rights-policy-is-self-serving-and-duplicitous.html<div>by Kourosh Ziabari in Iran</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <blockquote>George Katsiaficas is a renowned university professor, sociologist, author and activist. He is a visiting American Professor of Humanities and Sociology at Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea where he teaches and does research on the 1980s and 1990s East Asian uprisings. <br /> <br />Katsiaficas has a Ph.D. of sociology from the University of California, San Diego. Since 1990, he has taught sociology at the Wentworth Institute of Technology's Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. During the period between 2006 and 2008, he was an Associate in Research at the Harvard University and Korea Institute. <br /> <br />He specializes in social movements, Asian politics, the U.S. foreign policy, comparative and historical studies and has written numerous books in these fields. <br /> <br />In 2003, he won the American Political Science Association's Special Award for Outstanding Service and in 2008, received the Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Fellowship. <br /> <br />Among his major books are &quot;The Battle of Seattle&quot; by the New York's Soft Skull Press, &quot;Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party&quot; by New York's Routledge Press and &quot;South Korean Democracy: Legacy of the Gwangju Uprising&quot; by London's Routledge Press.<br /> <br />What follows is the complete text of interview with Dr. George Katsiaficas on the recent uprising in the Arab world, its impacts on the international developments and its implications for the United States and its European allies.<br /> </blockquote><br /> Kourosh Ziabari: After Tunisia and Egypt in which the revolutionary forces and people on the ground succeeded in ousting the U.S.-backed puppets, several other Arab nations joined them and staged massive street demonstrations to call for civil liberties, improved living conditions, freedom and democratic governments. Now the whole Arab world is in a state of turmoil and unrest <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13983-george-katsiaficas-us-human-rights-policy-is-self-serving-and-duplicitous.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ACuwuwXgwOnG59zB6Rf0Bo-JQ0U/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ACuwuwXgwOnG59zB6Rf0Bo-JQ0U/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ACuwuwXgwOnG59zB6Rf0Bo-JQ0U/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ACuwuwXgwOnG59zB6Rf0Bo-JQ0U/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=5t4ZtAT-92w:SGzTNfDde-M:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=5t4ZtAT-92w:SGzTNfDde-M:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=5t4ZtAT-92w:SGzTNfDde-M:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13983-george-katsiaficas-us-human-rights-policy-is-self-serving-and-duplicitous.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/fWS6TXRlfUw/13982-the-enduring-mystique-of-the-marshall-plan.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:37:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13982-the-enduring-mystique-of-the-marshall-plan.html<div>by William Blum<br /> <br />Amidst all the stirring political upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East the name &quot;Marshall Plan&quot; keeps being repeated by political figures and media around the world as the key to rebuilding the economies of those societies to complement the political advances, which hopefully will be somewhat progressive. But <em>caveat emptor</em>. Let the buyer beware. <p>During my years of writing and speaking about the harm and injustice inflicted upon the world by unending United States interventions, I've often been met with resentment from those who accuse me of chronicling only the negative side of US foreign policy and ignoring the many positive sides. When I ask the person to give me some examples of what s/he thinks show the virtuous face of America's dealings with the world in modern times, one of the things mentioned — almost without exception — is The Marshall Plan. This is usually described along the lines of: &quot;After World War II, the United States unselfishly built up Europe economically, including our wartime enemies, and allowed them to compete with us.&quot; Even those today who are very cynical about US foreign policy, who are quick to question the White House's motives in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, have little problem in accepting this picture of an altruistic America of the period 1948-1952. But let's have a look at the Marshall Plan outside the official and popular versions.</p> <div>After World War II, the United States, triumphant abroad and undamaged at home, saw a door wide open for world supremacy. Only the thing called &quot;communism&quot; stood in the way, politically, militarily, and ideologically. The entire US foreign policy establishment was mobilized to confront this &quot;enemy&quot;, and the Marshall Plan was an integral part of this campaign. How could it be otherwise? Anti-communism had <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13982-the-enduring-mystique-of-the-marshall-plan.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ru5L-KREcPQeMUGYd5-TXCt4QeA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ru5L-KREcPQeMUGYd5-TXCt4QeA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ru5L-KREcPQeMUGYd5-TXCt4QeA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ru5L-KREcPQeMUGYd5-TXCt4QeA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=fWS6TXRlfUw:oIuPqp2bXKk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=fWS6TXRlfUw:oIuPqp2bXKk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=fWS6TXRlfUw:oIuPqp2bXKk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13982-the-enduring-mystique-of-the-marshall-plan.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/3X3S-CWAR6E/13981-indonesia-the-worst-example-for-revolutions-in-arab-world.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:35:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13981-indonesia-the-worst-example-for-revolutions-in-arab-world.html<div>by Andre Vltchek </div> <div> <p> As several revolts shook recently big part of Arab world, as Hosni Mubarak stepped down and the leaders of Bahrain and Libya could not think about anything better than to order bloody crack down against their own people, the world (read Western governments, media and academia) were watching with increasing doze of discomfort.</p> <p> Protests seem to be engulfing almost all countries in the region from Morocco and Tunis to Jordan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p> Staunch ally of the West – Saudis – feel suddenly 'vulnerable', even 'encircled'. No wonder – millions of the poor from all over the region are now marching and fighting for social justice or for justice in general. And there is hardly a place in the world with more striking inequalities than in this kingdom based on Wahabi conservative Islam, historically close ally of British imperialism. As is well known, Saudi Arabia is bathing in oil – that dark liquid which is both blessing and curse - enriching elites while helping to maintain apartheid between the natives and exploited migrant workers.</p> <p> For decades, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt (or more precisely their rulers and 'elites') – all of them served Western interests with zeal and efficiency. Now they are expecting helping hand, support in this complex and 'dangerous times'.</p> <p> While the White House was sending conflicting reports to its allies, well-disciplined mass media and academia rose immediately to the challenge and invented 'the best role model for the Arab world' – Indonesia.</p> <p> After all, Indonesia is home to more Muslims than any other nation on earth. It is rich in natural resources and after 1998 it holds multi-party elections. Its economy is growing at more than 6% a year and there seem to be <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13981-indonesia-the-worst-example-for-revolutions-in-arab-world.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Peq62sLBu-jaWogtiF0OX5ZTRwI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Peq62sLBu-jaWogtiF0OX5ZTRwI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Peq62sLBu-jaWogtiF0OX5ZTRwI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Peq62sLBu-jaWogtiF0OX5ZTRwI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=3X3S-CWAR6E:lNfRp4XpnNg:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=3X3S-CWAR6E:lNfRp4XpnNg:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=3X3S-CWAR6E:lNfRp4XpnNg:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13981-indonesia-the-worst-example-for-revolutions-in-arab-world.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/r1spSxLyYmE/13980-robert-jensen-consciousness-rising-world-fading.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:40:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13980-robert-jensen-consciousness-rising-world-fading.htmlby Robert Jensen Ph.D. &nbsp; <p>Our stories of awakenings -- whether moral, intellectual, religious, artistic, or sexual -- are tricky. Honest self-reflection doesn't come easy, and self-satisfied accounts are the norm; we love to be the heroes of our own epics. </p> <p>That's true of accounts of political awakening as well, especially for those of us born into unearned privilege as a result of systems of illegitimate authority. Not only do we love to tell stories in which we come out looking good, but we know how to decorate the narrative with the trappings of humility to avoid seeming arrogant.&nbsp; We use our failures to set up the story of our transformation; even when we speak of our limitations we are highlighting our wisdom in seeing those limitations.</p> <p>So, when I got a request from a researcher to tell my story about how my political consciousness was raised, I was hesitant. I don't like feeling like a fraud, and something always feels a bit fraudulent about my account, even when I am being as honest as I can. But, like most people, I feel driven to tell my story, mostly to try to explain myself to myself. So, here I go again:</p> <p>As a teenager coming of age in the 1970s in mainstream culture in the upper Midwest, I missed the United States' radicalizing movements by a decade and several hundred miles. I developed conventional liberal politics in reaction to the conventional conservative politics of my father and his generation. But in a more basic sense, I grew up depoliticized -- like most contemporary Americans, I was never taught to analyze systems and structures of power, and so my banal liberal positions seemed like cutting edge critique to me. After college I worked as a journalist at mainstream newspapers, which <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13980-robert-jensen-consciousness-rising-world-fading.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/36jGHgXNzsMfJ9xhSKqEBabw1Uc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/36jGHgXNzsMfJ9xhSKqEBabw1Uc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/36jGHgXNzsMfJ9xhSKqEBabw1Uc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/36jGHgXNzsMfJ9xhSKqEBabw1Uc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=r1spSxLyYmE:ZVtzHc4siiw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=r1spSxLyYmE:ZVtzHc4siiw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=r1spSxLyYmE:ZVtzHc4siiw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13980-robert-jensen-consciousness-rising-world-fading.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/n_2FOAxA6zo/13979-till-september-the-pas-meaningless-deadlines.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:37:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13979-till-september-the-pas-meaningless-deadlines.html<div>by Ramzy Baroud</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <p>Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his supporters in the Fatah party want us to believe that dramatic changes are underway in the occupied Palestinian territories. </p> <p>This is part of a strategy intended to offset any public dissatisfaction with the self-designated Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. The PA hopes the ‘news’ will create enough distraction to help it survive the current climate of major public-regime showdowns engulfing the Middle East. </p> <p>Anticipating a potential popular uprising in the occupied territories - which could result in a major revamping of the current power, to the disadvantage of Abbas - the PA is now taking preventive measures. </p> <p>First, there was the resignation of the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Ereka on February 12. Erekat was clearly implicated in negotiating, if not squandering, Palestinian rights in successive meetings with Israeli and American officials. This was revealed through nearly 1,600 leaked documents, which Aljazeera and the Guardian termed the ‘Palestine Papers’. </p> <p>Erekat was hardly representing himself, as he readily gave away much territory, including most of Jerusalem. He also agreed to a symbolic return of Palestinian refugees to their land, now part of today’s Israel. By keeping his post, the entire PA ‘peace process’ apparatus would have remained ineffective at best, and at worst entirely self-seeking, showing no regard whatsoever for Palestinian rights. </p> <p>With Erekat’s exit, the PA hopes to retain a margin of credibility among Palestinians. </p> <div>Erekat, who made his entrance to the world of ‘peace process’ at the Madrid peace conference in 1991, opted out in a way that conceded no guilt. He claimed to have left merely because the leak happened through his office. The PA expects us to believe that, unlike other Arab governments, it functions in a transparent and <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13979-till-september-the-pas-meaningless-deadlines.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/60Hd1liq7NSt_tA0SVuKilh_4Zo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/60Hd1liq7NSt_tA0SVuKilh_4Zo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/60Hd1liq7NSt_tA0SVuKilh_4Zo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/60Hd1liq7NSt_tA0SVuKilh_4Zo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=n_2FOAxA6zo:PbmEoG1P3oU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=n_2FOAxA6zo:PbmEoG1P3oU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=n_2FOAxA6zo:PbmEoG1P3oU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13979-till-september-the-pas-meaningless-deadlines.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/BpVeuPnqzQ8/13978-silvia-cattori-an-interview-with-gilad-atzmon-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:55:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13978-silvia-cattori-an-interview-with-gilad-atzmon-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.html<div> <blockquote> <div class="chapo">Gilad Atzmon is an outstandingly charming man. He is often described by music critics as one of the finest contemporary jazz saxophonists. But Atzmon is more than just a musician: for those who follow events in the Middle East, he is considered to be one of the most credible voices amongst Israeli opponents. In the last decade he has relentlessly exposed and denounced barbarian Israeli policies. Just before his departure on a European Spring Tour, “<em class="spip">The Tide Has Changed</em> “, with his band the <em class="spip">Orient House Ensemble</em>, he spoke to Silvia Cattori.</div></blockquote> <p class="spip"><strong class="spip">Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em class="spip">As a jazz musician, what brought you to use your pen as a weapon against the country where you were born and against your people?</em></p> <p class="spip"><span class="spip_documents_left spip_documents spip_document_1132" style="float: left">&nbsp; </span><strong class="spip">Gilad Atzmon</strong>: For many years my music and writings were not integrated at all. I became a musician when I was seventeen and I took it up as a profession when I was twenty four. Though I was not involved with, or interested in politics when I lived in Israel, I was very much against Israel’s imperial wars. I identified somehow with the left, but later, when I started to grasp what the Israeli left was all about, I could not find myself in agreement with anything it claimed to believe in, and that is when I realised the crime that was taking place in Palestine.</p> <p class="spip">For me the Oslo Accord was the end of it because I realised that Israel was not aiming towards reconciliation, or even integration in the region, and that it completely dismissed the Palestinian cause. I understood then that I had to leave Israel. It wasn’t even a political decision — I just didn’t want to be part of <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13978-silvia-cattori-an-interview-with-gilad-atzmon-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/u7R26E74MQQOHRoyZNukT2jmnIM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/u7R26E74MQQOHRoyZNukT2jmnIM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/u7R26E74MQQOHRoyZNukT2jmnIM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/u7R26E74MQQOHRoyZNukT2jmnIM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=BpVeuPnqzQ8:m_DIfQhg1WA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=BpVeuPnqzQ8:m_DIfQhg1WA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=BpVeuPnqzQ8:m_DIfQhg1WA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13978-silvia-cattori-an-interview-with-gilad-atzmon-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/X8TrGbiW01k/13977-gaddafi-aborted-venezuela-flight-after-uk-spies-discovered-escape-plans.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:06:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13977-gaddafi-aborted-venezuela-flight-after-uk-spies-discovered-escape-plans.html<div>by Roy S. Carson (<span style="visibility: visible" id="search">vheadline.com)</span><span style="visibility: visible" id="search"></span><span style="visibility: visible" id="search"></span></div> <div><span style="visibility: visible" id="search"><br /> VHeadline can exclusively reveal that diplomatic sources claim Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi aborted plans to flee to Venezuela when British MI6 intelligence agents monitoring communications out of Iran were told that Iranian officials were acting as intermediaries with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias to facilitate Gaddafi's escape from Tripoli.<br /> <br />Whether or not Caracas would have acceded to the Libyan leader's asylum request remains a matter of conjecture but plans had been sufficiently advanced by Sunday afternoon (local time Caracas) that the official Iranian Press/TV news agency jumped the gun to issue a News Flash at just after 10pm Central European time saying that Gaddafi had already left the country (Libya) headed either for Venezuela or Brazil.<br /> <br />British Foreign Minister William Hague, speaking at a Foreign Affairs conference in Brussels, Monday, had already been briefed by British security services to the extent that he said he had seen reports that Gaddafi was on his way to Venezuela although he was unable to substantiate the information at an official level.<br /> <br />It is understood that Gaddafi was in the final stages of his departure from Tripoli when a diplomatically embarrassed Venezuela denied his asylum request by which time he had also had second thoughts about the flight, fearing that the Americans would use the opportunity to cause an &quot;accident&quot; to happen to his plane en route to Caracas. <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13977-gaddafi-aborted-venezuela-flight-after-uk-spies-discovered-escape-plans.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/G8Tma73dku98LP5UTao5t7sUjfg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/G8Tma73dku98LP5UTao5t7sUjfg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/G8Tma73dku98LP5UTao5t7sUjfg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/G8Tma73dku98LP5UTao5t7sUjfg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=X8TrGbiW01k:suJTCOtoj-0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=X8TrGbiW01k:suJTCOtoj-0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=X8TrGbiW01k:suJTCOtoj-0:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13977-gaddafi-aborted-venezuela-flight-after-uk-spies-discovered-escape-plans.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Pe7WaXStu7o/13976-from-the-gulf-to-the-ocean-the-middle-east-is-changing.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:48:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13976-from-the-gulf-to-the-ocean-the-middle-east-is-changing.htmlby Ramzy Baroud <p>Now that the Egyptian people have finally wrestled their freedom from the hands of a very stubborn regime, accolades to the revolution are pouring in from all directions. Even those who initially sided with Hosni Mubarak’s regime, or favored a neutral position, have now changed their tune.</p> <p>“Arabs celebrate from the Gulf to the Ocean,” proclaimed a headline on Al Jazeera TV. The phrase “from the Gulf to the Ocean” is not a haphazard geographical reference, but very much a geopolitical one. Ever since former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat defied the will of the Arab collective and chose a self-serving (and according to popular Arab opinion, disgraceful) exit for his country from what was until then the ‘Arab-Israeli conflict’, the above phrase functioned only as an empty slogan. Saddat’s signing of the Camp David treaty in 1979 had effectively marginalized the most committed Arab country from a conflict that was previously defined by Egypt’s involvement. It thus left Israel’s weaker Arab foes as easy targets for uneven wars, and in a perpetual state of defeat and humiliation. </p> <p>Mubarak’s importance to Israel and the US stemmed from the fact that he guarded Israeli gains for the pitiful price of $1.8 billion a year. Most of this went to fulfill military contracts, upgrade military hardware and subsidize US military expertise aimed at ‘modernizing’ the Egyptian army. Israel, of course, was given almost double that amount and was promised, through a separate agreement with the US, a military edge against its foes, Egypt included. </p> <p>But Mubarak gained much more than hard cash. His greatest gains were related to US foreign policy in the region. While the US violated the sovereignty of various Arab countries, Mubarak’s regime was left largely unscathed. Free from any effective resistance at home, and <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13976-from-the-gulf-to-the-ocean-the-middle-east-is-changing.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w7hF3LwcJDLjGrqoA0KTazTSibo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w7hF3LwcJDLjGrqoA0KTazTSibo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w7hF3LwcJDLjGrqoA0KTazTSibo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/w7hF3LwcJDLjGrqoA0KTazTSibo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Pe7WaXStu7o:Rf3RxhVuFP8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=Pe7WaXStu7o:Rf3RxhVuFP8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Pe7WaXStu7o:Rf3RxhVuFP8:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13976-from-the-gulf-to-the-ocean-the-middle-east-is-changing.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/iHZ5vGaBeZg/13975-tawtin-or-return-divergent-views-from-lebanon-but-one-common-goal.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:41:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13975-tawtin-or-return-divergent-views-from-lebanon-but-one-common-goal.html<div>by Franklin Lamb Ph.D. at Shatila Refugee Camp, Beirut</div> <p>Lebanese opponents of civil rights for Palestinian Refugees often use less objective and more crude wording to define &quot;tawtin&quot; (&quot;settlement&quot;) than is normally employed in civil society discussions. During last summer's debate in parliament, which failed to enact laws that would allow the world's oldest and largest refugee community the basic civil right to work and to own a home, the &quot;tawtin or return&quot; discussion took on strident and dark meanings, which were largely effective in frightening much of the Lebanese public from supporting even these modest humanitarian measures. Right-wing opponents of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon often define tawtin during public discussions as &quot;implantation&quot; (as in inserting a foreign malignant object or virus into Lebanon's body politic), or &quot;grafting,&quot; &quot;insertion,&quot; &quot;impalement,&quot; &quot;forced integration,&quot; &quot;embedding&quot; &quot;impregnation&quot;, or &quot;patriation&quot;.<br /> <br /> The concept's varied meanings among a largely uninformed Lebanese public have by and large prevented a balanced consideration of the provision in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that includes &quot;a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UNGAR 194.&quot;<br /> <br /> The discussion in Lebanon has centered on presumed Palestinian desires to stay in Lebanon at all costs, as opposed to returning to their country Palestine. The large anti-Palestinian political community has kept the discussion focused on the API's language: &quot;the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation [tawtin] which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries.&quot;<br /> <br /> The concept, indeed the very word “ tawtin” , was used in the summer of 2010 as an emotional bludgeon or cudgel embodying all manner of dire social predictions from the political parties representing the Phalange, Liberal Party, Lebanese Forces, and Free Patriotic Movement's leader General Michel Aoun. </p> <div>Virtually <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13975-tawtin-or-return-divergent-views-from-lebanon-but-one-common-goal.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uWWmETgRQxPpypJa3coaY9OVdCA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uWWmETgRQxPpypJa3coaY9OVdCA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uWWmETgRQxPpypJa3coaY9OVdCA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uWWmETgRQxPpypJa3coaY9OVdCA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=iHZ5vGaBeZg:2lw_1iyKQuU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=iHZ5vGaBeZg:2lw_1iyKQuU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=iHZ5vGaBeZg:2lw_1iyKQuU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13975-tawtin-or-return-divergent-views-from-lebanon-but-one-common-goal.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/IpMFY02Tq5I/13974-sexual-assault-coverage-by-media-shows-double-standard-paternalism-and-sexism.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:37:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13974-sexual-assault-coverage-by-media-shows-double-standard-paternalism-and-sexism.htmlby Walter Brasch Ph.D. <p> </p> <p>Lara Logan, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent, was beaten and sexually assaulted, Feb. 11, while on assignment in Cairo to report on the revolution that concluded that day with Hosni Mubarak resigning as president.</p> <p>Logan, according to an official CBS announcement, was attacked by a group of about 200 Egyptians and &quot;suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers.&quot; The mob, probably pro-Mubarak supporters, but never identified by CBS—had separated Logan from her camera crew. </p> <p>About a week earlier, Mubarak's army detained, handcuffed, blindfolded, interrogated, and then released Logan and some of her crew after several hours. The government ordered her expelled from the country, probably for her on-air comments about the government intimidating and harassing foreign journalists. Logan returned to Cairo shortly before Mubarak resigned. She returned to the United States the day after the assault, and spent the next four days recovering in a hospital.</p> <div>The Mubarak administration at the beginning of the protests had expelled the al-Jazeera news network, and began a random campaign against all journalists, the result of the government believing that the media inflamed the call for revolution and the overthrow of Mubarak. There were about 140 cases of assault and harassment of journalists during the 18-day protest, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ahmad Mohamad Mahmoud, an Egyptian journalist, was killed by sniper fire, probably by pro-Mubarak supporters. Among American reporters physically assaulted were CNN's Anderson Cooper and photojournalist Dana Smillie, who was seriously wounded by what appeared to be a dozen BB-size pellets. Journalists displayed &quot;admirable levels of courage as they—initially as individuals and small groups, and eventually in droves—made statements and took actions that exposed them <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13974-sexual-assault-coverage-by-media-shows-double-standard-paternalism-and-sexism.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dgf04CpLoLFyAJiFGRfNSNXGRoQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dgf04CpLoLFyAJiFGRfNSNXGRoQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dgf04CpLoLFyAJiFGRfNSNXGRoQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dgf04CpLoLFyAJiFGRfNSNXGRoQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=IpMFY02Tq5I:ZkbOVFiZr4A:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=IpMFY02Tq5I:ZkbOVFiZr4A:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=IpMFY02Tq5I:ZkbOVFiZr4A:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13974-sexual-assault-coverage-by-media-shows-double-standard-paternalism-and-sexism.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/4U567vXYJcU/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:24:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmlby Kourosh Ziabari <p>Prof. Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh is a prominent Iranologist, geopolitics researcher, historian and political scientist. He teaches geopolitics at the Tarbiat Modares University of Tehran. He has been the advisor of the United Nations University and the founder and manager of the London-based Urosevic foundation. Mojtahedzadeh has published more than 20 books in Persian, English and Arabic on the geopolitics of Persian Gulf region and modern discourses in international relations. Since 2004, he has been a member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. Moreover, he has been a member of the British Institute of Iranian Studies since 1993. Prof. Mojtahedzadeh earned a Ph.D. in Political Geography from the University of London in 1993 and also obtained a Ph.D. in Political Geography from the University of Oxford in 1979.<br /> He has been a member of the board of the Society for contemporary Iranian Studies at the University of London and also a senior research associate at the Geopolitics &amp; International Boundaries Research Centre. <br /> <br /> Prof. Mojtahedzadeh has published scores of articles regarding the historicity and veracity of Persian Gulf name and the legality of Iran's ownership over the three Persian Gulf islands of Lesser Tunb, Greater Tunb and Abu Musa. He has delivered several international speeches in which he has scientifically repudiated the territorial claims of the United Arab Emirates government over the three Iranian islands and also confronted the psychological operation of the U.S.-backed Arab monarchies in the Middle East in distorting the historical name of the Persian Gulf.<br /> <br /> What follows is the complete text of my exclusive interview with Prof. Mojtahedzadeh in which we discussed the scientific, historical authenticity of Persian Gulf's name, the legality of Iran's ownership of the three Persian Gulf islands of Lesser Tunb, Greater Tunb <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/DAbRYwG6RSC8r2UkPZ4zAUz2q1M/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/DAbRYwG6RSC8r2UkPZ4zAUz2q1M/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/DAbRYwG6RSC8r2UkPZ4zAUz2q1M/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/DAbRYwG6RSC8r2UkPZ4zAUz2q1M/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4U567vXYJcU:S4US1ngC8Is:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=4U567vXYJcU:S4US1ngC8Is:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4U567vXYJcU:S4US1ngC8Is:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/jgEk8Mns4ZE/13972-lundberg-subtle-genocide-is-revisiting-cerro-rico-bolivia-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:21:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13972-lundberg-subtle-genocide-is-revisiting-cerro-rico-bolivia-.html<div>by Jan Lundberg<br /> <br />The scene of several million deaths at the hands of Spaniard invaders, Cerro Rico (&quot;rich hill&quot;) is just above the city of Potosí in Bolivia. In May 2010, I noted significant amounts of plastic debris all over the mountainside, but I couldn't guess the source. The answer, from my local driver, is that the miners working in the mountain constantly use plastic bags for their daily coca supplies. Chewing the leaves provides stamina and curbs hunger. <p> It is ironic that the seemingly harmless but unsightly plastic serves as a relatively new source of devastation to the health of the community and the ecosystem. For anyone to dismiss this concern as irrelevant compared to the poor miners' work conditions of yesterday and today is to let off the petroleum corporations and everyone down the line participating in a long-term tragedy affecting future generations.</p> <div align="center"><img src="http://www.culturechange.org/cms/images/stories/CerroRicoMinerosEnPotosi5inch.jpg" alt="Image" title="Image" border="0" width="367" height="291" hspace="6" /> <div align="center">Art courtesty Gratisescaro.wordpress.com</div></div> <div> Learning about Cerro Rico, the conical, sinister looking mountain above the highest city in the world (at 13,500 feet) was made possible by my hiring a taxi driver at random. First I needed to get out to the fancy new bus station to buy a ticket to my next city, Cochabamba, for a night departure. No more &quot;cama&quot; (sleeper) buses were available, so I got &quot;el normal&quot; to sit up all night. After that errand we drove up to Cerro Rico for a tour. My driver, Celso Cruzamos, had worked in the mines for four years. He looked older than his 27 years. Toward the end of our three hours together -- a strain on my poor Spanish but otherwise a good experience -- Celso was asking me more questions than I was asking him. He was <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13972-lundberg-subtle-genocide-is-revisiting-cerro-rico-bolivia-.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p9x9PQVbMKeSVqYQr1CW2kJvZeI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p9x9PQVbMKeSVqYQr1CW2kJvZeI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p9x9PQVbMKeSVqYQr1CW2kJvZeI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p9x9PQVbMKeSVqYQr1CW2kJvZeI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=jgEk8Mns4ZE:WyLdbGmRy9s:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=jgEk8Mns4ZE:WyLdbGmRy9s:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=jgEk8Mns4ZE:WyLdbGmRy9s:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13972-lundberg-subtle-genocide-is-revisiting-cerro-rico-bolivia-.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/E6jNQ7GKQCs/13971-scott-lively-and-bryan-fischer-sinking-to-new-lows.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:39:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13971-scott-lively-and-bryan-fischer-sinking-to-new-lows.html<div>by Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D.<br /> <p>After reading Elijah Friedeman’s promising, but somewhat confusing article “<a href="http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147501246">Hey, let's stop the gay-bashing</a>” on the American Family Association website – home of Bryan Fischer, arguably <em>T-H-E</em> most disgusting, hate-mongering homophobe masquerading as a “Christian” – I decided to take some time off. Would Friedeman’s article have any effect on AFA and Fischer?</p> <p>Friedeman argued that “Homosexuality isn't the biggest moral problem facing our nation. Homosexual marriage isn't the biggest threat to traditional marriage. And homosexual activists aren't the biggest threat to freedom. This may be tantamount to heresy to some people, but it's true.” He ended his article with “for some reason, a lot of Christians want to attack homosexuality exclusively. Not only is this harmful to Christianity, it's outright wrong and runs contrary to what Jesus taught.” </p> <div>But in between he made this bizarre statement: “I'm sure every homosexual will soon realize the error of his ways, because of the bombastic, invective anti-gay rhetoric coming from some Christians. But while that compassionately virulent language is working to change the hearts and minds of every homosexual…” One can only hope Mr. Friedman was being sarcastic.</div> <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13971-scott-lively-and-bryan-fischer-sinking-to-new-lows.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ENCYhomb7xX9KkkNuXf7ruhu0rU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ENCYhomb7xX9KkkNuXf7ruhu0rU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ENCYhomb7xX9KkkNuXf7ruhu0rU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ENCYhomb7xX9KkkNuXf7ruhu0rU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=E6jNQ7GKQCs:w6pyapgAuMM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=E6jNQ7GKQCs:w6pyapgAuMM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=E6jNQ7GKQCs:w6pyapgAuMM:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13971-scott-lively-and-bryan-fischer-sinking-to-new-lows.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/-Ty558HXxQw/13970-the-feds-policy-of-creating-inflation-a-massive-wealth-transfer.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:13:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13970-the-feds-policy-of-creating-inflation-a-massive-wealth-transfer.htmlby Rodrigue Tremblay Ph.D. <blockquote> <p>&quot;If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.&quot;</p> <p>Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd US President</p></blockquote> <blockquote> <p>&quot;If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.&quot;</p> <p>Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd US President</p></blockquote> <blockquote> <p>[Corruption in high places would follow as] &quot;all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.&quot;</p> <p>Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), American 16th US President (1861-65)</p></blockquote> <blockquote> <p>&quot;When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.&quot;</p> <p>Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), French economist</p></blockquote> <blockquote> <p>&quot;Inflation made here in the United States is very, very low.&quot;</p> <p>Ben Bernanke, Fed Chairman, Thursday, February 10, 2011</p></blockquote> <p>Let us begin with some macroeconomic indicators of reference.</p> <p>In October 2010, the world value of total production (all Gross Domestic Products or GDPs) was estimated to be $61.96 trillion U.S. dollars at current nominal prices. The U.S.GDP was estimated at $16.11 trillion or 26 % of world GDP.</p> <p>The two largest financial markets in terms of trading values are the global foreign exchange market (all currency markets) that has an average daily turnover in global foreign exchange transactions of about $4 trillion per day, and the privately-traded and mostly unregulated world derivatives market (all the derivatives <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13970-the-feds-policy-of-creating-inflation-a-massive-wealth-transfer.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2AD16qCP0AIYddKnUySIWoqJQHs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2AD16qCP0AIYddKnUySIWoqJQHs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2AD16qCP0AIYddKnUySIWoqJQHs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2AD16qCP0AIYddKnUySIWoqJQHs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=-Ty558HXxQw:PC2e3zJSk2s:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=-Ty558HXxQw:PC2e3zJSk2s:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=-Ty558HXxQw:PC2e3zJSk2s:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13970-the-feds-policy-of-creating-inflation-a-massive-wealth-transfer.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/qfDabnVM0Qs/13969-all-free-speech-systems-are-works-in-progress-prof-craig-lamay-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:58:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13969-all-free-speech-systems-are-works-in-progress-prof-craig-lamay-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.html<div>by Kourosh Ziabari </div> <div> <p dir="LTR">Craig LaMay is an associate professor of journalism at the Northwestern University. H is a former editorial director of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center and editor of Media Studies Journal; and a former newspaper reporter. LaMay's articles and commentaries have appeared on New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Communication and the Law and a number of other media outlets.</p> <p dir="LTR">LaMay has published several books on journalism and mass media of which we can name Journalism and the Problem of Privacy (2003), Commercial Transformation of the Nonprofit Sector, with Burton Weisbrod (1998) and Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment with Newton Minow (1995). </p> <p dir="LTR">Prof. LaMay joined me in an exclusive interview to discuss the constraints of journalism in the United States, freedom of speech in the EU, the performance of local magazines as opposed to the national news outlets and the gradual disappearance of traditional media with the emergence of new internet-based technologies.</p> <p dir="LTR">What follows is the complete text of my interview with Prof. Craig LaMay of the Northwestern University.</p> <p dir="LTR"><strong>Kourosh Ziabari: Dear Craig; there's a belief with regards to the mass media in the Western countries in general, and the United States in particular, which is undisputedly accepted by the international community: the widely-accepted belief is that the Western media are unrestrictedly free to publish whatever they want, to publish the viewpoints of the opponents of the government, the political dissidents and anti-governmental activists, without being harassed. Is it true that the mass media in the West are absolutely free to publish whatever they want? Isn't there any implicit pressure on the media to publish the news and analysis in a way which is favorable to the interests of the government?</strong></p> <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13969-all-free-speech-systems-are-works-in-progress-prof-craig-lamay-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lTXlYhShCPaWrO8-65uagWHdCQM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lTXlYhShCPaWrO8-65uagWHdCQM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lTXlYhShCPaWrO8-65uagWHdCQM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lTXlYhShCPaWrO8-65uagWHdCQM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=qfDabnVM0Qs:BGvTXVGMOCw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=qfDabnVM0Qs:BGvTXVGMOCw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=qfDabnVM0Qs:BGvTXVGMOCw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13969-all-free-speech-systems-are-works-in-progress-prof-craig-lamay-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/TbjT_GNyMRs/13968-egypt--social-movements-the-cia-and-mossad.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:34:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13968-egypt--social-movements-the-cia-and-mossad.html<div>by James Petras Ph.D.<br /> <br /></div> <div></div> <div><strong>The Limits of Social Movements<br /> </strong><br /> The mass movements which forced the removal of Mubarak reveal both the strength and weaknesses of spontaneous uprisings. On the one hand, the social movements demonstrated their capacity to mobilize hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in a successful sustained struggle culminating in the overthrow of the dictator in a way that pre-existent opposition parties and personalities were unable or unwilling to do.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, lacking any national political leadership, the movements were not able to take political power and realize their demands, allowing the Mubarak military high command to seize power and define the &quot;post-Mubarak&quot; process, ensuring the continuation of Egypt's subordination to the US, the protection of the illicit wealth of the Mubarak clan ($70 billion), and the military elite's numerous corporations and the protection of the upper class. The millions mobilized by the social movements to overthrow the dictatorship were effectively excluded by the new self-styled &quot;revolutionary&quot; military junta in defining the political institutions and policies, let along the socio-economic reforms needed to address their basic needs of the population (40% live on less than $2 USD a day, youth unemployment runs over 30%). Egypt, as in the case of the student and popular social movements against the dictatorships of South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia, demonstrate that the lack of a national political organization allows neo-liberal and conservative &quot;opposition&quot; personalities and parties to replace the regime .They proceed to set up an electoral regime which continues to serve imperial interests and to depend on and defend the existing state apparatus .In some cases they replace old crony capitalists with new ones. It is no accident that the mass media praise the 'spontaneous' nature of the <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13968-egypt--social-movements-the-cia-and-mossad.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/78cFtJfAcxCw7sVhl0-kKoAI_WM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/78cFtJfAcxCw7sVhl0-kKoAI_WM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/78cFtJfAcxCw7sVhl0-kKoAI_WM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/78cFtJfAcxCw7sVhl0-kKoAI_WM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=TbjT_GNyMRs:cdKjeXomPmo:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=TbjT_GNyMRs:cdKjeXomPmo:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=TbjT_GNyMRs:cdKjeXomPmo:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13968-egypt--social-movements-the-cia-and-mossad.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/FBlSLVdcCh4/13967-when-qgoodq-dictators-go-bad.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:29:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13967-when-qgoodq-dictators-go-bad.html<div>by Normon Solomon</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>A standard zigzag of political rhetoric went for a jaunt along Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday (Feb. 15) with a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at George Washington University. “Iran is awful because it is a government that routinely violates the rights of its people,” she declared. During the last few weeks, much has changed in the politics of the Middle East -- but not much has changed in the politics of Washington, where policymakers turn phrases on a dime.<br /> <br />The currency is doublespeak, antithetical to a single standard of human rights.<br /> <br />And so, the secretary of state condemns awful Iran, invoking “our sense of human dignity, the rights that flow from it and the principles that ground it.” But don’t hold your breath for any such condemnation of, say, Saudi Arabia -- surely an “awful” government that “routinely violates the rights of its people.”<br /> <br />It wasn’t long ago that Hosni Mubarak’s regime -- with all its repression and torture -- enjoyed high esteem and lavish praise in Washington. For Egyptians, the repression and torture went on; for the bipartisan savants running U.S. foreign policy, the suppression was good geopolitics.<br /> <br />As recently as Jan. 27, when Joe Biden appeared on the “PBS NewsHour,” the official U.S. line about the despot of Egypt was enough to make Orwell’s coffin spin. Was it time for Mubarak to go? “No,” Biden replied. “I think the time has come for President Mubarak to begin to move in the direction that -- to be more responsive to some . . . of the needs of the people out there.” <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13967-when-qgoodq-dictators-go-bad.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/THQL-2vJNmk2uJOCeT07xDytO8A/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/THQL-2vJNmk2uJOCeT07xDytO8A/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/THQL-2vJNmk2uJOCeT07xDytO8A/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/THQL-2vJNmk2uJOCeT07xDytO8A/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=FBlSLVdcCh4:Rvw0pshNiFU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=FBlSLVdcCh4:Rvw0pshNiFU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=FBlSLVdcCh4:Rvw0pshNiFU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13967-when-qgoodq-dictators-go-bad.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Xg-t4SiFU7o/13966-restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:11:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13966-restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks.html<div> <div>by Ellen Hodgson Brown </div></div> <div> <blockquote> <p>&quot;It is time to declare economic sovereignty from the multinational banks that are responsible for much of our current economic crisis. &nbsp;Every year we ship over a billion dollars in Oregon taxpayer dollars to out-of-state and multinational banks in the form of deposits, only to see that money invested elsewhere. It's time to put our money to work for Oregonians.&quot;</p> <div align="right">-- Bill Bradbury, former Oregon Senate President and Secretary of State, quoted&nbsp; in <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/banking-people">The Nation</a></div></blockquote> <p> </p> <p><em>Responding to an unfilled need for credit for local government, local businesses and consumers, three states in the last month have introduced bills for state-owned banks -- Oregon, Washington and Maryland – joining Illinois, Virginia, Massachusetts and Hawaii to bring the total number to seven.</em></p> <p>While Wall Street is reporting record profits, local banks are floundering, credit for small businesses and consumers remains tight, and local governments are teetering on bankruptcy.&nbsp; There is even talk of allowing state governments to file for bankruptcy, something current legislation forbids.&nbsp; The federal government and Federal Reserve have managed to find trillions of dollars to prop up the Wall Street banks that precipitated the credit crisis, but they have not extended this largesse to the taxpayers and local governments that have been forced to pick up the tab.&nbsp; </p> <p>In January, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576067602380461160.html">announced</a> that the Fed had ruled out a central bank bailout for state and local governments.&nbsp; The collective state budget deficit for 2011 is projected at $140 billion, a mere 1% of the <a href="http://www.thenation.com/print/blog/156794/feds-backdoor-bailout-provided-33-trillion-loans-banks-corporations">$12.3 trillion</a> the Fed managed to come up with in liquidity, short-term loans, and other financial arrangements to bail out Wall Street.&nbsp; But Chairman Bernanke said the Fed is limited by statute to buying municipal government <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13966-restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/E4t_r8oEZ4SUn8XJfzv6E-Q4R8g/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/E4t_r8oEZ4SUn8XJfzv6E-Q4R8g/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/E4t_r8oEZ4SUn8XJfzv6E-Q4R8g/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/E4t_r8oEZ4SUn8XJfzv6E-Q4R8g/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Xg-t4SiFU7o:d_DGHX_rFuM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=Xg-t4SiFU7o:d_DGHX_rFuM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=Xg-t4SiFU7o:d_DGHX_rFuM:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13966-restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/pUSoBbY288o/13965-palestinian-september-2011-deadline-doomed.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:05:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13965-palestinian-september-2011-deadline-doomed.html<div>by Nicola Nasser</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The international Quartet of the US, EU, UN and Russia on Middle East peace and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) seem set on an agenda that perceives September 2011 as an historical political watershed deadline. Among the partners to the Quartet – sponsored Palestinian – Israeli “peace process,” practically deadlocked since the collapse of the US, Palestinian and Israeli trilateral summit in Camp David in 2000, only the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu seems adamant to set a completely different agenda that renders any endeavor by the Quartet to revive the process a non – starter, thus dooming the September deadline beforehand as another missed opportunity for peace making.<br /> <br /> Denying they are containment measures aimed at political survival to avert potential Palestinian simulation in the aftermath of the regime changes in Egypt and Tunisia, the PLO is bracing for what it declares as indeed “the” watershed deadline in September 2011 that would make or break its decision to resume as a partner to the “peace process.” The PLO is reshuffling its negotiations department as well as the cabinet of the self-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) and has called for presidential, legislative and local elections by next September to empower itself with electoral legitimacy ahead of that deadline, encouraged by what the Quartet perceives as a “really important moment of opportunity,” in the words of the Quartet’s representative the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, which is an “opportunity” created by the Arab popular uprisings that so far have swept to the dustbin of history the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes, both considered for decades major pillars of the Middle East “peace process.” <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13965-palestinian-september-2011-deadline-doomed.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jNEs9F_LHqlzTOeAs-QKeeie_t0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jNEs9F_LHqlzTOeAs-QKeeie_t0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jNEs9F_LHqlzTOeAs-QKeeie_t0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jNEs9F_LHqlzTOeAs-QKeeie_t0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=pUSoBbY288o:vrA4sBNYs-4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=pUSoBbY288o:vrA4sBNYs-4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=pUSoBbY288o:vrA4sBNYs-4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13965-palestinian-september-2011-deadline-doomed.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/c1MpXtSaEpc/13964-the-shift-in-state-of-the-atmosphere.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:00:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13964-the-shift-in-state-of-the-atmosphere.html<div> <div align="left"></div> <div> <div align="left"></div> <div align="left">by Andrew Glikson Ph.D. -&nbsp; Earth and Paleoclimate science Australian National University</div> <div align="left">&nbsp;</div> <blockquote> <div align="left"><em><strong>What is needed are urgent measures including deep cuts in carbon emissions and down- draw of atmospheric CO2, fast-track transformation to non-polluting energy utilities (solar, solar-thermal, wind, tide, geothermal, hot rocks), global reforestation and re-vegetation campaigns, including application of biochar (pyrolysis of biomass). </strong></em><br /> </div></blockquote> <p>The release to the atmosphere and oceans of hundreds of billions of tons of carbon from fossil biospheres, at the rate of &gt;2 ppm CO2 per year, is unprecedented in geological history of Earth, excepting events such as asteroid impacts which excavated and vaporized carbon-rich sediments, interfering with the carbon and oxygen cycles, which led to mass extinction of species.</p> <p>The emission since 1750 of over 320 billion tons of carbon (GtC) from buried early biospheres, adding more than one half of the original carbon inventory of the atmosphere (~590 GtC), as well as the depletion of vegetation, are triggering a fundamental shift in the state of the atmosphere, tracking toward conditions which exceed interglacial temperatures over the last 400,000 years and are analogous to conditions of the mid-Pliocene ~2.8 billion years ago [1] (Figure 1), the last decade 2000-2010 being the warmest since instrumental measurements commenced (Figure 2).</p> <p>As stated by Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Climate Impacts Institute [2], <em>“<strong>we're simply talking about the very life support system of this planet</strong></em>”.</p> <div>Lost all too often in the climate debate is an appreciation of the delicate balance between the physical and chemical state of the atmosphere–ocean–land- cryosphere system and the evolving biosphere, which controls the emergence, survival and demise of species, including humans. By contrast to Venus’ thick blanket of CO2 and SO2 atmosphere, which exerts extreme pressure (90 <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13964-the-shift-in-state-of-the-atmosphere.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0ZqgRXc7V2FCSjWQBuffK8XzJ8M/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0ZqgRXc7V2FCSjWQBuffK8XzJ8M/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0ZqgRXc7V2FCSjWQBuffK8XzJ8M/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0ZqgRXc7V2FCSjWQBuffK8XzJ8M/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=c1MpXtSaEpc:tbawU2cGLKo:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=c1MpXtSaEpc:tbawU2cGLKo:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=c1MpXtSaEpc:tbawU2cGLKo:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13964-the-shift-in-state-of-the-atmosphere.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/u9N-aoAgRhU/13963-palestine-looks-abroad-for-rational-understanding.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:37:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13963-palestine-looks-abroad-for-rational-understanding.htmlby Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D.<br /> <blockquote> <p>&quot;What one misses in Arab and Palestinian culture is a moral and intellectual standard by which truth and falsehood can be distinguished and according to which intellectuals act regardless of profit or patronage.&quot;<br /> <br /> &quot;We Palestinians must still reconcile ourselves with our history, and with the perhaps futile sacrifices of the past century. And we must restore Palestine to its place not simply as a small piece of territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River but an idea that for years galvanized the Arab world into thinking about and fighting for social justice, democracy, and a different kind of future than the one that has been imposed on it by force and by an absence of Arab will.&quot; (Edward W. Said, Peace and its Discontents, 1996)</p></blockquote> <div>Palestine is one but Palestinians are &quot;scattered like seeds&quot; describes the distinguish professor of comparative cultures and civilizations - Dr. Shaw Dallal, the portrait of Palestinian lives ruined by the global politics of the few. When people are dispersed by force of political violence, they encounter insurmountable challenges and seem to build–up the momentum for unity of ideas and ideals and strive with strength of faith for a just cause and survival under tormenting conditions as persist in Palestine for over 60 years after the establishment of the State of Israel. The Jewish homeland in Palestine is outcome of the British- American complacency to avoid accountability for the centuries of conscious persecutions of the Jews in Europe. There was a culture of anti-Jewish religious metaphor across the European world that spilled over to America while Europeans migrated to the new world. Ironically, Arabs are the only people and civilization that enjoys a history of extending human dignity and equal treatment to Jewish people <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13963-palestine-looks-abroad-for-rational-understanding.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V809xg_CP0XTjb5y2M5oPIjycL4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V809xg_CP0XTjb5y2M5oPIjycL4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V809xg_CP0XTjb5y2M5oPIjycL4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V809xg_CP0XTjb5y2M5oPIjycL4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=u9N-aoAgRhU:8uldYRJ8lWk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=u9N-aoAgRhU:8uldYRJ8lWk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=u9N-aoAgRhU:8uldYRJ8lWk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13963-palestine-looks-abroad-for-rational-understanding.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/r4JoxjNnWao/13962-as-the-dominoes-flow-toward-israel.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:35:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13962-as-the-dominoes-flow-toward-israel.htmlby William A. Cook, Ph.D.<br /> <br /> While the people of the mid-east rise in protest against their respective American supported dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, with the American-Israeli attempts to control Lebanon on the brink of chaos and collapse, and the &quot;peace negotiations&quot; between the Palestinians and the Israelis torpedoed by both Netanyahu and Abbas, the confusion at the State Department could be eased if it spent some time reviewing the United States' prior efforts to control the people of the mid-east, especially in Iran. It's one thing for the Secretary of State and the President to reiterate America's purported policy on human rights and another to acknowledge the hypocrisy of it. <br /> <br /> After all, our policy appears clear, &quot;We have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and free of corruption; and the freedom to live as you choose. These are human rights, and we support them everywhere,&quot; Mr. Gibbs said, speaking on behalf of the President. America supports human rights everywhere, with words … as our dutiful TV channels give Gibbs, Crowley, Clinton and Obama extensive time to demonstrate … but there are no words directed at the Palestinian people's rights. <br /> <br /> How strange to watch our CNN talking heads, especially the Israeli trained Wolf Blitzer, former editor of AIPAC's in house &quot;Near East Report,&quot; stuttering before the cameras as he recalled the fall of the Shah of Iran, America's staunch ally for 25 years, as a direct result of similar riots by Iranian civilians, and the resulting loss of America's control in Iran. He failed <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13962-as-the-dominoes-flow-toward-israel.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/koIL6HVOT34dmS_F8UTC0XAAjYo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/koIL6HVOT34dmS_F8UTC0XAAjYo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/koIL6HVOT34dmS_F8UTC0XAAjYo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/koIL6HVOT34dmS_F8UTC0XAAjYo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=r4JoxjNnWao:mhWxG1H9_9k:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=r4JoxjNnWao:mhWxG1H9_9k:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=r4JoxjNnWao:mhWxG1H9_9k:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13962-as-the-dominoes-flow-toward-israel.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/4UWgk1n7xPc/13961-gilad-atzmon-discusses-american-foreign-policy-on-press-tv.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:27:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13961-gilad-atzmon-discusses-american-foreign-policy-on-press-tv.html<div>by Gilad Atzmon<br /> <blockquote>Gilad Atzmon (Hebrew: גלעד עצמון‎, born June 9, 1963) is a jazz musician, author and anti-Zionist activist who was born in Israel and currently lives in London.<br /> <blockquote>&quot;Anti-Semite is an empty signifier, no one actually can be an Anti-Semite and this includes me of course. In short, you are either a racist - which I am not - or have an ideological disagreement with Zionism... which I have.&quot;</blockquote> <div>He was born a secular Israeli Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. His service in the Israeli military convinced him Israel had become a militarized state controlled by religious extremists. In 1994, Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London, where he studied philosophy. Atzmon is an anti-Zionist who critiques Jewish identity issues and supports the Palestinian Right of Return as well as the establishment of a single state in Israel/Palestine. He is a signatory to the &quot;Palestinians are the Priority Petition&quot; which states “full and unconditional support of the Palestinian people is a condition sine qua non for activists to adopt.</div></blockquote></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The American foreign policy is at cross-roads. For decades, Washington has advertised equality and human rights in international circles. But, at times, the U.S. has contradicted its own alleged values, philosophy and democratic approach.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Some argue that America's self-interest supersedes the spread of democracy worldwide. However, there are those who say Washington's approach serves neither the national interest of Americans, nor does it promote equality and democracy.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> So, the question arises: who then benefits from current American policies?<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Press TV's U.S. Desk discussed the issue with Gilad Atzmon who is a political activist, musician and author in London.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> Atzmon argues that American policy is a 'total <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13961-gilad-atzmon-discusses-american-foreign-policy-on-press-tv.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8ypsO5N48k0uW_MgPi1XtP1B7hw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8ypsO5N48k0uW_MgPi1XtP1B7hw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8ypsO5N48k0uW_MgPi1XtP1B7hw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8ypsO5N48k0uW_MgPi1XtP1B7hw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4UWgk1n7xPc:DrzcYlwGhy4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=4UWgk1n7xPc:DrzcYlwGhy4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4UWgk1n7xPc:DrzcYlwGhy4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13961-gilad-atzmon-discusses-american-foreign-policy-on-press-tv.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/P6MIeXXcXNM/13960-egypt-and-tunisia--the-arc-of-crisis-being-radicalized.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:25:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13960-egypt-and-tunisia--the-arc-of-crisis-being-radicalized.html<div>by Zahir Ebrahim </div> <p> One can perhaps use the article &quot;<a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2011/01/unlayering-middle-east-war-agenda.html" target="_blank"><u>Unlayering the Middle East War Agenda: Making Sense of Absurdities</u></a>&quot; to make some sense of Egypt and Tunisia in some overarching context that is outside of their national boundaries. These countries are, after all, both along the <em>'arc of crisis',</em> in the <em>'global zone of percolating violence'</em> (Ibid.) – and it is percolating all right! </p> <p> While it is too early to call Egypt and Tunisia both, but like the Green Revolution which fizzled in Iran because the Iranians astutely understood that it was a CIA sponsored colored revolution brought on by their own fifth columnists, and acted accordingly, Egypt's and Tunisia's sudden flare-up sounds to me exactly like PNA's revolt against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, elected prime minister and dictator-in-chief of Pakistan – and a thorn in the side of the United States for his independent thinking – paid for by the bucket full of overnight dollars from the PL 480 fund. </p> <p> &quot;<em>PL-480 funds had also been released by the US. Over-night some JI workers were seen with pockets full of money and spending lavishly ... The US not only aided but also directed most of the PNA activities.&quot;</em> wrote Brig. Tirmazi, as the man on the watch for Pakistan's ISI, in his confessional autobiography <em>Profiles of Intelligence </em>(1996, <a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-killed-benazir-bhutto-herownwords.html" target="_blank"><u>read excerpt</u></a>).</p> <p> Those who don't know their history are condemned to fall to the butcher's knife already being sharpened by our own uncle toms, house negroes, and many a fifth columnist savant variously pitching 'secular humanism' vs. Islam through street revolution. These revolutions have no fundamentals to them except mob-power, and therefore, like the French Revolution, are almost always orchestrated with big money and big mobilizations to serve quite a different agenda. <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13960-egypt-and-tunisia--the-arc-of-crisis-being-radicalized.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/MF7bh5gFLp4k1V_e0lN_DvSsTB4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/MF7bh5gFLp4k1V_e0lN_DvSsTB4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/MF7bh5gFLp4k1V_e0lN_DvSsTB4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/MF7bh5gFLp4k1V_e0lN_DvSsTB4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=P6MIeXXcXNM:yqog8R-hgeA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=P6MIeXXcXNM:yqog8R-hgeA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=P6MIeXXcXNM:yqog8R-hgeA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13960-egypt-and-tunisia--the-arc-of-crisis-being-radicalized.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/VY8LaEerbJ8/13959--middle-east-at-strategic-crossroads-us-as-well.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:17:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13959--middle-east-at-strategic-crossroads-us-as-well.htmlby Nicola Nasser <p>The Arab world is the beating heart of the overwhelmingly Muslim Middle East, and the Arab masses are angrily moving for a change in the status quo, practically dictated by the military, economic or political hegemony of the United States, which in turn is whipped by the regional power of the Israeli U.S. strategic ally. But any change in the regional status quo would place the Middle East at a strategic crossroads that is not expected to be viewed tolerantly by the U.S. – Israeli alliance, a fact which expectedly would warn of a fierce struggle to come. Despite the U.S. rhetorical defense of the &quot;universal rights&quot; in the region, it is still premature to conclude that this hegemonic alliance will allow the Arab move for change to run its course, judging by the historic experiences of the last century as well as by the containment tactics the United States is now adopting to defuse whatever strategic changes might be created by the revolting Arab masses.</p> <p>The U.S. war on terror has preoccupied U.S. decision makers and embroiled regional rulers in their preoccupation to overlook the tinderbox of the double digit unemployment rate among Arab youth, double and in some cases triple the world average, according to the most conservative estimates, which under the U.S. – supported authoritarian regimes has been a ticking time bomb for too long. Now, the &quot;demographic tsunami to the south of the Mediterranean,&quot; as described by Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, has overtaken the west, but in particular the U.S. – Israeli alliance, by surprise, sending shock waves across the Middle East, shaking the pillars of what this alliance has taken for granted as a guaranteed geopolitical stability reinforced by the Israeli 34 – year old military occupation of the Palestinian territories, <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13959--middle-east-at-strategic-crossroads-us-as-well.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7Rm0tiipvBPxz2ZVvNM1H6NeARc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7Rm0tiipvBPxz2ZVvNM1H6NeARc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7Rm0tiipvBPxz2ZVvNM1H6NeARc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7Rm0tiipvBPxz2ZVvNM1H6NeARc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=VY8LaEerbJ8:lb7Xdhw6n7c:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=VY8LaEerbJ8:lb7Xdhw6n7c:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=VY8LaEerbJ8:lb7Xdhw6n7c:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13959--middle-east-at-strategic-crossroads-us-as-well.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/79lQwkX8gQg/13958-can-the-palestinian-authority-survive-our-leaders-are-negotiating-the-terms-of-our-imprisonment.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:15:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13958-can-the-palestinian-authority-survive-our-leaders-are-negotiating-the-terms-of-our-imprisonment.html<p>by Jonathan Cook in Nazareth<br /> <br /> With the 18-year-long Middle East peace process finally pronounced dead, is the Palestinian Authority finished too?<br /> <br /> That is the question being asked by Palestinians in the wake of a week of damaging revelations that Palestinian negotiators secretly made major concessions to Israel in talks on Jerusalem, refugees and borders.<br /> <br /> The PA -- the Palestinians' government-in-the-making, led by Mahmoud Abbas -- was already in crisis before the disclosure of official Palestinian documents by Al Jazeera television last week.<br /> <br /></p> <div> Now, said George Giacaman, the head of the Ramallah-based research centre Muwatin, which advocates greater Palestinian democracy, the PA's &quot;back is to the wall&quot;.</div> <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13958-can-the-palestinian-authority-survive-our-leaders-are-negotiating-the-terms-of-our-imprisonment.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Slorq728bnphgS25G3RefVB-el8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Slorq728bnphgS25G3RefVB-el8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Slorq728bnphgS25G3RefVB-el8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Slorq728bnphgS25G3RefVB-el8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=79lQwkX8gQg:HDCtndERXc8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=79lQwkX8gQg:HDCtndERXc8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=79lQwkX8gQg:HDCtndERXc8:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13958-can-the-palestinian-authority-survive-our-leaders-are-negotiating-the-terms-of-our-imprisonment.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/4Yv4RuGPAjg/13957-revolutionary-change-in-egypt-internal-or-made-in-usa-by-stephen-lendman.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:13:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13957-revolutionary-change-in-egypt-internal-or-made-in-usa-by-stephen-lendman.htmlUS imperial policy includes regime change, affecting foes as well as no longer useful friends. Past targets included former Philippines leader Ferdinand Marcos, Iran's Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), and Iraq's Saddam Hussein, among others. According to some reports, Mubarak is next - aging, damaged and expendable.<br /> <br /> George Friedman runs Stratfor, a private global intelligence service. On January 29, he issued a special Egypt report, saying:<br /> <br /> On January 29, &quot;Egypt's internal security forces (including Central Security Forces anti-riot paramilitaries) were glaringly absent&quot; after confronting protesters forcefully for several days. Army personnel replaced them. Demonstrators welcomed them.<br /> <br /> &quot;There is more (going on) than meets the eye.&quot; While media reports focus on reform, democracy and human rights, &quot;revolutions, including this one, are made up of many more actors than (Facebook and Twitter) liberal voices....&quot; Some are, in fact, suspect, using social network sites for other than purported reasons.<br /> <br /> Like Iran's 1979 revolution, &quot;the ideology and composition of protesters can wind up having very little to do with the&quot; behind the scenes political forces gaining power. Egypt's military may be preparing to seize it. Former air force chief/civil aviation minister Ahmed Shafiq is new prime minister, tasked with forming a new government, and intelligence head Omar Suleiman is Egypt's first ever vice president under Mubarak, effectively second in command.<br /> <br /> Moreover, Defense Minister Field Marshall Mohammed Hussein Tantawi &quot;returned to Cairo after a week of intense discussions with senior US officials.&quot; He heads the Republican Guard, responsible for defending major government and strategic institutions, the symbols of entrenched power. Also back is Lt. General Sami Annan. Both men with others &quot;are likely managing the political process behind the scenes.&quot;<br /> <br /> As a result, expect more political changes, military <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13957-revolutionary-change-in-egypt-internal-or-made-in-usa-by-stephen-lendman.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xpuwx10UCgYv1z7VVstteJRY23Y/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xpuwx10UCgYv1z7VVstteJRY23Y/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xpuwx10UCgYv1z7VVstteJRY23Y/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xpuwx10UCgYv1z7VVstteJRY23Y/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4Yv4RuGPAjg:SCsmlByqzSE:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=4Yv4RuGPAjg:SCsmlByqzSE:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=4Yv4RuGPAjg:SCsmlByqzSE:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13957-revolutionary-change-in-egypt-internal-or-made-in-usa-by-stephen-lendman.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/H9kX75URWpw/13956-one-more-year-of-inhumanity-coming-to-a-close-what-happens-next.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:30:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13956-one-more-year-of-inhumanity-coming-to-a-close-what-happens-next.html<div> <p> by Pablo Ouziel</p> <p align="center"></p> This year the list of atrocities committed under the guise of representative democracy is extensive, as anyone concerned in analyzing the actions of governments in the West can ascertain. If it was our wish, we could bombard the airwaves with images of suffering people from around the world, and swiftly link their pain to the corrupt institutions of government we have accepted as legitimate. With similar ease, we could trace the wealth accumulated by a small minority of ruthless economic elites, to their governmental bonds. But I see little need in contributing to this exercise considering the amount of relevant information already available. Instead, I find it more useful to speculate about what happens next. I am fairly confident that is what those bearing the brunt of our inhumanity must wonder. Will we end the bombs? Will we stop the banks? Will we transform our democracies? <br /> &nbsp;<br /> What a meaningless term democracy has become when uttered under the context of our 21st century Western reality. Do we really think the democracy we live embodies the dream our ancestors thought they were fighting for? I do not think it does. I think instead, that Western democracy, the democracy of imperial expansion embodies the violence and misery it claims to diffuse. The tragic thing is, that many Western citizens one speaks to, make similar observations, yet, the wheel continues to turn and its movement destroys many innocents. How can the wheel stop, when the citizenry goes along for the ride? When there is little will to change direction? <br /> &nbsp;<br /> Let us take for example the self-proclaimed left-wing progressives of the United States. Imbued by arrogance and complacency, two years ago, they went along with the message of hope communicated <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13956-one-more-year-of-inhumanity-coming-to-a-close-what-happens-next.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/99uMkbK4zFwpgb-Qc3lru-TJs5A/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/99uMkbK4zFwpgb-Qc3lru-TJs5A/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/99uMkbK4zFwpgb-Qc3lru-TJs5A/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/99uMkbK4zFwpgb-Qc3lru-TJs5A/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=H9kX75URWpw:TePbWWT_BnA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=H9kX75URWpw:TePbWWT_BnA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=H9kX75URWpw:TePbWWT_BnA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13956-one-more-year-of-inhumanity-coming-to-a-close-what-happens-next.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/FKTHx0Rnhs0/13955-americas-war-veterans-ptsd-and-its-cure.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 27 Dec 2010 04:10:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13955-americas-war-veterans-ptsd-and-its-cure.html<div>by Zahir Ebrahim</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <p align="justify"> The two American websites, <a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/" target="_blank"><u>Veterans Today</u></a> and <a href="http://www.salem-news.com/" target="_blank"><u>Salem News</u></a>, run by two former US Military veterans, contain some of the most outstanding RealitySpeak writings by both civilians and America's war veterans, presumably, all mostly being eagerly ingested by other American war veterans. In full disclosure, these websites also reprint my two cents every now and then. The Editors in chief of both websites whom I have never met but communicate with occasionally, very generously invited me to become Staff Writer on their respective panels, and I politely declined in each case. I prefer my lonely voice to stay independent – for it allows me to explore my own confusions as no one else can.</p> <p align="justify"> So, exercising that independence of thought, if I may be permitted to ask the next logical question to great penmanship and reportage by recovering war veterans, does such RealitySpeak affect a change in status quo?</p> <p align="justify"> Does all this verbiage ameliorate the suffering of the bemedaled American war hero who brought my fellow Muslim men, women, and children of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, perhaps Iran next, the 'liberation' depicted in the images?</p> <p align="justify"> Do the oft maligned liberators of truth from the sharp jaws of deceit, ever impact the inflexion of hegemonic power with mere moral words and intellectual theses which unravel the never ending lies of the hectoring hegemons du jour?</p> <p align="justify"> For, if words alone could make appreciable difference to the calculus of hegemony, then, the Ten Commandments would have surely eased mankind's journey over the past hundred years of successive world wars and vile deprecation of humanity. As the noted essayist and novelist Aldous Huxley had once observed when responding to the question “What does one do?”:</p> <p <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13955-americas-war-veterans-ptsd-and-its-cure.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1p-FrP_rqFmvIUGMueyuFErh69E/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1p-FrP_rqFmvIUGMueyuFErh69E/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1p-FrP_rqFmvIUGMueyuFErh69E/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1p-FrP_rqFmvIUGMueyuFErh69E/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=FKTHx0Rnhs0:TO3ImDNfods:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=FKTHx0Rnhs0:TO3ImDNfods:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=FKTHx0Rnhs0:TO3ImDNfods:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13955-americas-war-veterans-ptsd-and-its-cure.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/00z5m3kp7zc/13954-whitewashing-defeat-obamas-indecisiveness-defines-his-presidency.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 27 Dec 2010 03:50:00 PSThttp://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13954-whitewashing-defeat-obamas-indecisiveness-defines-his-presidency.html<div>by Ramzy Baroud <p>He may still possess the poise of a confident leader and an eloquent intellectual, but the presidency of Barack Obama is now suffering its most difficult phase to date.</p> <p>Certainly, Obama cannot solely be blamed for all the factors that have stifled his country’s chances of recovery from the failures of the Bush era. But the man who promised the moon has now extended the abhorrent and morally unjustifiable tax cuts for America’s wealthiest class. The “sweeping” $858 billion tax bill was signed into law on December 17. It includes an $801 billion package of tax cuts, extending Bush’s tax break for the rich for two more years – at a time when the majority of Americans are reeling under the weight of a failing economy and persistently high unemployment. </p> <p>Still, the tax bill was presented by the self-assured president as “real money that’s going to make a real difference in people’s lives.” The cuts will help stimulate an ailing economy, he claims, despite it being the rich who gambled with American wealth to increase their own, stimulating a market crash that led to millions losing their small investments and savings. All we know for sure is that the cuts will add a gigantic chunk to an already impossible deficit of $1.3 trillion, another Obama battle that is likely to be lost to the Republicans early next year. </p> <p>But this concession, and its presentation as a victory for America’s middle classes says more about Obama’s style than the weakening of the Democrats since the midterm elections. Even in his foreign policy management, Obama’s approach seems to teeter between giving face-lifts to ugly realities and postponing urgently needed action. The agent of change has become the quintessential American politician, who is more consumed with his chances <p><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13954-whitewashing-defeat-obamas-indecisiveness-defines-his-presidency.html">Read more...</a></p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/FBF9Z1hjN-_YpeixLo7OQ9xzQkM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/FBF9Z1hjN-_YpeixLo7OQ9xzQkM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/FBF9Z1hjN-_YpeixLo7OQ9xzQkM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/FBF9Z1hjN-_YpeixLo7OQ9xzQkM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=00z5m3kp7zc:zI_LbQjYUUA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?i=00z5m3kp7zc:zI_LbQjYUUA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?a=00z5m3kp7zc:zI_LbQjYUUA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AtlanticFreePress?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> </div>http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13954-whitewashing-defeat-obamas-indecisiveness-defines-his-presidency.htmlChris Cooknonadult