Wednesday December 16th 2009 - links page

"British Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday apologized to MK Tzipi Livni and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for the arrest warrant issued against Livni in London earlier this week. He also promised Lieberman to begin working immediately to change the UK laws that enable the issue of arrest warrants against Israeli officials accused of war crimes."

“We, Palestinian Christians, declare in this historic document that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed and a call to justice and equality among peoples.” -- *Palestinian Christians*

Tuesday December 15th 2009 - links page

No posts. - mpg

Monday December 14th 2009 - links page

The Peace Prize goes to the commander-in-chief of invading armies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  ---  http://www.annarbor.com/community/news/opinion/the_peace_prize_goes_to_the_commander-in-chief_of_invading_armies_in_afghanistan_and_iraq/
Must Read - A quote...."Is this the best the world can deliver? -- A hypocrite who unsuccessfully tries to justify war and aggression on the starved and brutalized people of Iraq and Afghanistan? -- In a silent America, Obama is unchallenged and does all he can to strengthen U.S. ties with Israel (as the rest of the world contemplates boycotts of various kinds to deter Israel from committing more crimes). A year into his presidency, not only are the wars against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan going strong, but Obama is sending 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan. -- The American brand of “peace” has surely made a mockery of the word. No one in the Middle East is foolish enough to believe, for a second, that America wants “peace” when all that America, and her handsome new president, does is to reinforce its devastating military presence in countries where they are not welcomed. -- An Iraqi mother who lost every child she had (4 boys) as a result of the U.S. invasion in 2003 said: “don’t utter that word, it has brought us nothing but death and destruction”. -- She was referring to the word “peace”." -- also posted at Creative-i  ---  http://www.creative-i.info/?p=12827
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

'Just War' Is Just Words  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24170.htm
posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908
Special Note - A quote...."By Ralph Nader -- December 13, 2009 ""Information Clearing House" -- President Obama, the Afghan war escalator, received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, and proceeded to deliver his acceptance speech outlining the three criteria for a "just war" which he himself is violating. - The criteria are in this words: "If it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the force used is proportional; and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Wars or Jobs: Decide Now  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16527
Chris Hedges  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdeGUkoo0vA  ---  (YouTube - 6min 39 sec - December 12, 2009)
Alt/Text  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16527
Dennis Kucinich  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31UW0ghOdA  ---  (YouTube - 7min 6sec - December 12, 2009)
Cynthia McKinney  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CoRETXS4hA&feature=player_embedded  ---  (YouTube - 6min 37sec - December 12, 2009)
Gale Murphy  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c0wChxPme8  ---  (YouTube - 4min 7sec - December 12, 2009)
Brian Becker  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7mJVFMTJhw  ---  (YouTube - 6min 15sec - December 12, 2009)
Chris Hedges  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0SYCJ7RzNk  ---  (YouTube - 9min 24sec - December 12, 2009)
Ralph Nader  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvnQEd-L7O8  ---  (YouTube - 9min 53sec - December 12, 2009)
Must View Videos - A quote...."Can you imagine the outcries of national shame from liberal commentators if George W. Bush had accepted a peace prize by advocating for war and announcing his right to launch wars of aggression?  What an embarrassment that would have been!  -- But Bush would have made such a speech with fewer troops in the field, fewer mercenaries in the field, a smaller war budget, a smaller military budget, bases in fewer nations, the imperial powers of the presidency less firmly established, and -- of course -- worse pronunciation." --"
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

US 'sends special forces to Yemen' amid crisis  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=113672&sectionid=351020206
Special Note - And here's Obama's answer, anybody surprised by this? - mpg -- A quote...."US special forces have reportedly been sent to Yemen to train its army, as the Yemeni military backed by the Saudi Arabian army has been fighting local Houthi fighters in the north of the country."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Saudi Air Strikes Kill Up to 70 Yemeni Civilians - And the slaughter continues....mpg
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/12/13/saudi-air-strikes-kill-up-to-70-yemeni-civilians/
But what the heck, their strike on 9/11 in collusion with elements in this country killed almost three thousand, so from that perspective it's really no big deal. - mpg -- A quote...."Saudi warplanes launched a series of air strikes against a market in Northern Yemen’s Bani Maan today, with witnesses confirming that at least 35 civilians had been killed and dozens injured." -- also posted at AntiWar  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/212914
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Houthis: Riyadh Keeps Dropping Phosphorus Bombs - And continues....mpg
  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/12/13/houthis-riyadh-keeps-dropping-phosphorus-bombs/
A quote...."(PressTV) – Yemen’s Houthi fighters say Saudi Arabia continues to strike Yemeni villages using phosphorus bombs, as the fight between security forces and fighters goes on in northern Yemen."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Obama Declares War On Pakistan  ---  http://www.rense.com/general88/pak.htm  ---  Yep he sure did, but look at the article below. - mpg
Must Read - A quote...."WASHINGTON, DC -- Obama's West Point speech of December 1 represents far more than the obvious brutal escalation in Afghanistan -- it is nothing less than a declaration of all-out war by the United States against Pakistan . This is a brand-new war, a much wider war now targeting Pakistan , a country of 160 million people armed with nuclear weapons. In the process, Afghanistan is scheduled to be broken up. This is no longer the Bush Cheney Afghan war we have known in the past. This is something immensely bigger: the attempt to destroy the Pakistani central government in Islamabad and to sink that country into a chaos of civil war, Balkanization, subdivision and general mayhem. The chosen strategy is to massively export the Afghan civil war into Pakistan and beyond, fracturing Pakistan along ethnic lines. It is an oblique war using fourth-generation or guerrilla warfare techniques to assail a country which the United States and its associates in aggression are far too weak to attack directly. In this war, the Taliban are employed as US proxies. This aggression against Pakistan is Obama's attempt to wage the Great Game against the hub of Central Asia and Eurasia or more generally. "
also posted at DProgram  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/12/14/obama-declares-war-on-pakistan-webster-g-tarpley/
& Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/index.php?p=m61050&hd=&size=1&l=e
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

US to expand drone attacks into Pakistani cities  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=113676&sectionid=351020401
Special Note -- Here's another answer from good ol'Bombs Away O-bomb-a.  Sort'a unbelievable isn't it? Guess it's more ol'dat "change we can believe in", huh?  And for all you people out there who thought the civilian casualties were already too high, you ain't seen nothing yet. - mpg -- A quote...."After confirmation that the CIA has been operating drone strikes in Pakistani territory, a new report says the US is seeking to expand the attacks into the country's cities. -- The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that top US officials were pushing to expand the air strikes beyond Pakistan's tribal region and into the major city of Quetta to allegedly target the Taliban." - bold by website editor
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Two more US consulate vehicles intercepted in Lahore  ---  http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/
dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/metropolitan/12-two+more+us+consulate+vehicles+intercepted+in+lahore--bi-03
link posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908
Special Note - USTSFF -- A quote...."LAHORE: Security agencies on Saturday intercepted two more vehicles of US Consulate in two different localities of the provincial metropolis" -- For more on this recent issue see....USTSFF
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/mpgrapsheet-blogpg-mpg-012707#USTSFF
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

2 NATO tankers torched in SW Pakistan  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/15/content_12650360.htm
A quote...."ISLAMABAD, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Unknown assailants torched two NATO tankers in southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province on Tuesday, local TV channel reported. -- According to police sources, the tankers carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan were set ablaze on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, the private TV DAWN News reported."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Afghanistan: Germany says no to sending more soldiers to help US
  ---  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6803741/Afghanistan-Germany-says-no-to-sending-more-soldiers-to-help-US.html
link posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908
A quote...."Germany has cast doubt on the value of sending extra troops to Afghanistan despite pleas from the US for its Nato allies to bolster the fight against the Taliban."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

General says Afghan troop surge will take longer
  ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iIE29KvrMkQhd118TuP3ddanKkywD9CJAVPO1
A quote...."KABUL — The military may not finish its surge of 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan until nearly a year from now, a senior U.S. commander said Monday — a slower pace than President Barack Obama has described. The White House insisted it was sticking with a goal of completing the buildup by late summer."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

German DM Urged to Resign Over Kunduz Massacre  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/12/14/german-dm-urged-to-resign-over-kunduz-massacre/
A quote...."On September 4 a US warplane, operating under the orders of a German military colonel, attacked a pair of fuel tankers near a village in Kunduz Province. The ensuing fireball killed over 140 people, mostly civilians."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Foreign armies will leave Afghanistan though neighbors will remain Not if the US-NRE has anything to say about it.
  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20091214/157235508.html
A quote...."Thirty years ago was also the beginning of the last phase of the USSR's existence and the establishment of a completely different political model in Central Asia. This model is still being formed today, although some people may think that the American and NATO troops are the only important factor in this process. -- Nevertheless, a high-ranking Indian official recently reported that Indian public and private investment in Afghanistan has reached $1.3 billion to date. - There is also China, which will invest up to $3 billion into the Ainaka copper mine alone. Iran also maintains contacts in Afghanistan, albeit tacitly. -- The end of the war is nowhere near, but Afghanistan's neighbors behave as if shooting has already stopped."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Untouchable: Blair to give Iraq War evidence in secret  - And the whitewash/cover-up continues unabated. - mpg
  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/untouchable-blair-to-give-iraq-war-evidence-in-secret-1839289.html
A quote...."Former PM was happy to discuss invasion with Fern Britton on TV show – but the Chilcot inquiry will hear his crucial testimony behind closed doors."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Democracy in the New Iraq Equals Death and Repression
  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/democracy-in-the-new-iraq-equals-death-and-repression/
A quote...."(The Brussels Tribunal is reporting that up to 900 prisoners held in Iraqi detention centers are scheduled to be executed. Their report details a picture of a decaying Iraq, quite the opposite from the rosy picture of “post surge” success that both the past and current regimes in Washington would have us believe. The tribunal’s picture is one of a callous and malicious neoliberal dictatorship allowed to run rampant over any and all opposition, completely unchecked, unregulated, and unreported.  Opposition leaders being executed, assassinated, or arrested; “insurgents” being whisked away in the night by Iraqi police or by the CIA/Blackwater death squads. The social safety net, even in place under Saddam’s rule, is now gone."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

1.2 million Iraqis have fled to Syria, official says  ---  http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C%5C2009-12-12%5C%5Ckurd.htm
A quote...."Nearly 1.2 million Iraqis have fled their country for safety in neighboring Syria,  a high-ranking Syrian government official said.  The Iraqis fled following the 2003-U.S. invasion and the ensuing upsurge in violence and absence of law and order.  Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad said Iraqi refugees, though a strain on his country’s economy, had the right to enjoy public amenities like their Syrian counterparts. “Refugees in Syria have access to all the rights which Syrian citizens enjoy without any discrimination,” he said."
also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/index.php?p=m61054&hd=&size=1&l=e
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Despite Sense of Entitlement, US Companies Lose Iraq Oil Auctions
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/12/14/despite-sense-of-entitlement-us-companies-lose-iraq-oil-auctions/
The title says it all, over one million killed, almost five million displaced, over a trillion dollars in damages, and they feel "entitled" - mpg -- A quote...."In October, oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens expressed annoyance at the fact that US oil corporations were being asked to compete with foreign companies for oil contracts in Iraq." -- For more on this issue see....The Jackass Brays - 10-22-09 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/thejackassbrays-mpg-reficultnias-102209
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Hezbollah Fortifies Frontier Against Israel - They're getting ready. - mpg
  ---  http://original.antiwar.com/mona-alami/2009/12/14/hezbollah-fortifies-frontier-against-israel/
War Alert - A quote...."NABATIYEH, Lebanon – In the mountains towering above this southern city, Hezbollah (Party of God) is building a new line of defense on lands where a fierce war was once fought between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

China President opens Kazakh gas pipeline  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=113608&sectionid=3510213
Special Note - Oil & Gas Geo-Politics - A quote...."Chinese President Hu Jintao has inaugurated the Kazakh section of a 7,000km natural gas pipeline, a major pipeline to connect Central Asia to China. -- The 1,800 kilometers pipeline starts at Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan border and runs through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching the Chinese northwest region of Xinjiang, Chinese deputy foreign minister Wang Guangya told reporters on Sunday."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Croatia eyes South Stream share  ---  http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n203469
A quote...."Moscow.  In the frames of his visit to Moscow Croatian President Stjepan Mesic discussed with the Russian state leadership the possibility for Zagreb to join the South Stream gas pipeline project, Russian government daily newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes. -- An intergovernmental agreement is being worked out at the moment, a Russian high-ranking state official informed. During his visit to Moscow, President Mesic talked to his Russian counterpart and prime minister."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Leader of rebel Abkhazia 'wins reelection'  ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iZqllvySENmGFDZMPzM8TLBj4cHg
A quote...."SUKHUMI, Georgia — Separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh has won reelection by a crushing margin in rebel Abkhazia in a vote considered illegitimate by most of the world but hailed by Russia, officials said Sunday."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Chavez says Clinton threatens Venezuela over ties with Iran  ---  http://en.rian.ru/world/20091214/157225756.html
A quote...."MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said a recent statement by the U.S. secretary of state on ties with Iran was "a clear threat" against his country and Bolivia, the EFE news agency said on Monday. -- Hillary Clinton said on Monday that "if people want to flirt with Iran, they should take a look at what the consequences might well be for them." She expressed hope that they would "think twice" before doing so." - also posted at AlethoNews  ---  http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/chavez-says-clinton-threatens-venezuela-over-ties-with-iran/  ---  Ahhhhh, HH
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/hideoushillary-mpg-080107.html  ---  is now threatening Venezuela and no doubt the rest of Latin and Central America with the massive reemergence of the US-NRE's old fashioned Death Squads - mpg - For more on this issue see Hideous Hillary's New Death Squads.  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/#HHNDS
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

U.S. military bases in Colombia threaten regional peace: ALBA  ---  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/15/content_12651098.htm
A quote...."HAVANA, Dec.14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. military bases in Colombia are a grave threat to the peace, security and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean region, the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) said Monday."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Brazil: Dictatorship torture to be investigated
  ---  http://www.silive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-19/1260729892269660.xml&storylist=international
A quote...."(AP) — RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's government plans to create a truth commission to investigate torture used by military dictatorships of the past, the nation' human rights minister said Sunday."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

CLIMATE CHANGE:  Developing Countries Insist Kyoto Stays  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49678
Special Note - A quote...."COPENHAGEN, Dec 14 (IPS) - The U.N. Climate Change Conference enters its final week under a cloud of uncertainty as the Africa Group led a protest of the developing world against a perceived attempt to abandon the Kyoto Protocol." - also posted at CommonDreams   --- 
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/14-13  ---  It's starting, the thirty year plan to slowly destroy countries in Africa, just like the one they used to destroy the countries in the Middle East, is now being implamented. -- For more on this issue see....Africa - the Next Target - 02-28-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/africathenexttarget-blog-mpg-022808
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Engineer fires torpedos at the 9/11 lie  ---  http://factsnotfairies.blogspot.com/2009/12/engineer-fires-torpedos-at-911-lie.html
Vid#1  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=142Ati4GEJQ
Vid#2  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUiQcrL6vU8
Vid#3  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFmw71jU0EE
Vid#4  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5aPdWrWmtM
Vid#5  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqmJs8LTrbA
Vid#6  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyXTiqUN7Gs
Vid#7  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhRO0QeLjs4
Vid#8  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DleAQgtCYRI
Vid#9  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYgzYbFFqaQ
Vid#10  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_rKjK-NjDI
Vid#11  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ05j-q5Oe8
Videos - He starts out a little rough for the first ten minutes, but he warms up quickly enough. - mpg -- (YouTube - aprox 10min each - December 14, 2009) -- A quote...."Mechanical Engineer Derek Johnson gives his “Engineering Destruction” talk for Architects and Engineers for 9/11Truth."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

22 million missing Bush-era emails found, set for 2014 release  ---  http://rawstory.com/2009/12/22-million-missing-bushera-emails-set-2014-release/
A quote...."Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush and the Obama administration is searching for dozens more days' worth of potentially lost e-mail from the Bush years, according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system." -- Sooooo, they spent months carefully screening and sanitizing the e-mails....than they "found them".  Hopefully someone with integrity will be allowed access to the original databases before they're transferred to the National Archives and re-formatted, re-numbered, re-sequenced and stripped of all their origination and address information. - mpg
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Supreme Court Ruling Means Torture May Return  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/12/supreme-court-ruling-means-torture-may.htm
Police State / Midieval State Alert - A quote...."The Supreme Court has just ruled that four Guantanamo prisoners cannot sue the government for torture. The Center for Constitutional Rights notes:"
  ---  http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/supreme-court-refuses-hear-suit-seeking-accountability-guantanamo-torture


"As Raw Story notes,  ---  http://rawstory.com/2009/12/supreme-court-torture-suit/  ---  this means that torture could return."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

A Big Win For Our Restore Justice At Justice Campaign—Paul Minor Bribery Conviction Overturned By The Court Of Appeals  ---  http://www.velvetrevolution.us/#121109  ---  Action Update -- A quote...."Check out our Restore Justice at Justice Campaign, http://www.velvetrevolution.us/restore_justice/,  ---  http://www.velvetrevolution.us/restore_justice/  ---  and you will see three photos at the top — Eric Holder in the middle and Don Siegelman and Paul Minor on either side. When we launched this campaign, we demanded that Mr. Holder release all those politically prosecuted under the Bush administration, starting with Don Siegelman and Paul Minor. In our April 13th letter to Mr. Holder, we stated the following:"
also posted at AftrDwngSt  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/48408
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Pan-Arabism in context  ---  http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/976/op6.htm
Must Read - A quote...."A debate over Arab nationalism and its continued relevance, if any, was an inevitable corollary to the skirmishes between rival football fans in Om Durman. Some took the events in Sudan as a sign that Arab nationalism was over. Others said that Arab nationalism would survive all obstacles, presenting it as an immutable historical fact. There were still others who argued that it was time to pause and reconsider existing bonds without necessarily discounting the validity of pan-Arabism." -- also psoted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/index.php?p=m61036&hd=&size=1&l=e
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

World Needs More Like Him  ---  http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/12/world-needs-more-like-him.html
A quote...."Love this story. A man in Switzerland was so outraged that the government passed a law banning the Minaret on top of Mosques, that he decided to build one himself. He did so by extending his chimney and turning it into a "minaret." Now, here's the "awe bless him" moment, the guy is not Muslim, but he did this anyway to protest his government's actions and to send a message of peace to Muslims. Like I said, the world needs more like him:"
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Reports: UK issues arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni  ---  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=246803
Special Note - A quote...."Bethlehem - Ma'an - A British court has issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni over her involvement in Israel's assault on Gaza last winter, the Qatari network Al-Jazeera reported on Monday."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Israel confirms U.K. arrest warrant against Livni  ---  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134978.html
Related Article - A quote...."Senior officials in Israel confirmed reports on Monday that a British court issued an arrest warrant against opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni for her role in orchestrating Israel's military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More On The Palestinian Situation....

Another Childhood Nakba Memory  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15611
Must Read - A quote...."I remember it was one Sunday afternoon, sometime around one or two o'clock, when my father barged running into the house shouting "we have to leave, we have to leave". His face was all red; his eyes shined with piercing outrage, uncertainty and incredulity. -- I remember it was Sunday because my mother was fixing our special Sunday lunch that included meat –the only day in the week where we had a little bit of meat. Sundays were the only days in the week where the butchers would butcher fresh goat meat. I remember my mother had prepared a big kettle of “tabeekh” (stew of beans, tomato sauce and a bit of meat) with rice on the side. My village was mostly Christian with some Druze. We were a farming community relying, primarily, on olives and oil, without much cash." -- also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/index.php?p=m61038&hd=&size=1&l=e
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Bilin activist: "Words are not enough"  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10944.shtml?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+electronicIntifada+%28Electronic+Intifada%29
Must Read - A quote...."One night, the Israeli army surrounded my home, and took my father from his bed to come and knock on my door. They told him that because I was a child, they just wanted to speak to me for five minutes. Some of the soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes, and they grabbed me as soon as I opened the door. -- That five minutes became two years, in the worst place in the world -- Naqab prison [in the Negev desert]. I spent the first 20 days in solitary confinement. I was kept in a room I could only stand up in, with terrible food and no showers, and during the night in a room I could lie down in but had a hole in the roof, at a time when it was raining and snowing. Every day the soldiers were beating me, and every night they would bang on the door so that I couldn't sleep. The whole time, they were also asking me if I had thrown stones and what political party I belonged to, so in the end I admitted that I had, at some point, thrown stones. By the end of those 20 days, I smelled like an animal."
also posted at AlethoNews   ---  http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/bilin-activist-words-are-not-enough/
& WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/212973
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

For Palestinians, Every Day Is Kristallnacht  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24176.htm
posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908
A quote...."December 14, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- “Settlers attack West Bank mosque and burn holy Muslim books” was a London Times headline on December 11, 2009. -- These attacks, together with the demolition of Palestinian homes, the uprooting of Palestinians’ olive groves, the innumerable checkpoints that prevent Palestinians from accessing schools, work, and medical care, the Israeli Wall that denies Palestinians access to the land stolen from them, and the isolation and blockade of the Gaza Ghetto, are part of the Israeli government’s policy of genocide for the Palestinians."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

No freeze on Palestinian suffering  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/14/settlement-freeze-palestinian-west-bank
A quote...."Within minutes of our arrival in Tuwani, in the south Hebron hills of the West Bank, an army Jeep rolled into the village and shattered the mid-morning tranquillity. "We're turning this place into a closed military zone," announced the stern-faced commander to anyone within earshot. Brandishing his rifle in one hand and a military document in the other, he proceeded to explain that "I decide who can be here and who can't, and anyone who isn't a resident has to leave immediately". -- That meant us – me, my friend and our three guides from the Villages Group – as well as the other activists who maintain a permanent presence in Tuwani assisting the locals in their struggle to survive."
also posted at AlethoNews   ---  http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/no-freeze-on-palestinian-suffering/
& WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/212972
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Wall on Gaza Violates International Law  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24171.htm
posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908
A quote...."December 13, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- The collusion between Egypt and the U.S. to build a wall separating Egypt from Gaza not only threatens Gazans' health and quality of life, already severely deteriorated by the de facto Israeli blockade, it is a serious violation of international law." -- also posted at Uruknet  ---  http://www.uruknet.com/index.php?p=m61037&hd=&size=1&l=e
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

’A Horrifying Demographic Problem’  ---  http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1201
A quote...."A wave of recent studies from academics both sides of the wall have revealed ingrained racism in Israeli schools. Books authorised by the ministry of education habitually use geography, history, language and other methods to instil negative perceptions of Arabs and Palestinians."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Report: Israeli academic institutions' role in the occupation  ---  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10945.shtml?utm_source=
feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifada+%28Electronic+Intifada%29
Action Alert - Special Note - Boycott, Divest and Sanction - Because it's the ONLY action they understand - mpg -- A quote...."Through this report the Alternative Information Center (AIC) aims to inform and empower the debate on an academic boycott by giving information not on the Israeli violence and violations of International law and human rights, but on the part in the Israeli occupation played by the very academic institutions in question, and how vulnerable are they to a possible boycott." -- For more on how to Boycott, Divest and Sanction the state of Israel see the upper-left-corner of the "Front Page"  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/  ---  of this website. - mpg
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Haniyeh hails Hamas 'victory' on anniversary  ---  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=246895
A quote...."Gaza – Ma’an/Agencies – Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters gathered in Gaza City’s central square on Monday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the of the movement’s founding."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

'My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story' by Ramzy Baroud -- Available Now
  ---  http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/12185-preview-of-ramzy-barouds-my-father-was-a-freedom-fighter-.html
Book Review - From the history file -- Wednesday, 04 November 2009 06:37  -- A quote...."Many books covered the early years, but most were in Arabic. Baroud's [My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story  ---  http://books.google.com/books?id=V-VlPgAACAAJ  GoglBkSrch]  --- 
http://books.google.com/books?id=V-VlPgAACAAJ&sitesec=buy&source=gbs_buy_s&cad=0  ---  is one of the few in English "about the life, depopulation and (literal) struggle for survival of the people of a Palestinian village in southern Palestine." In spanning over seven decades of history and survivor recollections, "it stands out as an unblemished depiction of their plight" as only those who experienced it can describe."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

More on Obama's health non-care bill - "Breaking [News]: Dems consider dropping Medicare expansion  --- 
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6770155.html  ---  14 Dec 2009 The end game at hand, Senate DemocRATs appeared ready to jettison a proposed Medicare expansion from sweeping 'health care' legislation Monday in a bid to remove the largest remaining obstacle in the way of Christmas-week passage of the measure. [When no one is paying attention, this corporaterrorist giveaway is going to be forced upon us.]
Paragraph quoted from CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Killing the Currency  ---  http://www.amconmag.com/blog/killing-the-currency/
Special Note - A quote...."Bush and Obama have engaged in record peacetime deficit spending; so too did Herbert Hoover and then Franklin Roosevelt (even though in the 1932 election campaign, FDR promised Americans a balanced budget). Bush and Obama approved massive federal interventions into the financial sector, at the behest of their respective Treasury secretaries. Believe it or not, in 1932 the allegedly “do-nothing” Herbert Hoover signed off on the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which was given billions of dollars to prop up unsound financial institutions and make loans to state and local governments. And as with so many other elements of the New Deal, FDR took over and expanded the RFC that had been started under Hoover."
also posted at DProgram  ---  http://dprogram.net/2009/12/14/killing-the-currency/
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

2010: "The Year of Severe Economic Contraction"  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24174.htm
posted at ICH  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/ichsfundingpage-cached-reficultnias-111908
Special Note - A quote...."December 14, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- Upbeat reports in the financial media, belie the effects of the ongoing credit contraction. Massive injections of central bank liquidity have prevented the collapse of financial markets, but have done nothing to ease the deleveraging of households or stimulate activity the broader economy. The crisis has stripped $13 trillion in equity from working families who now find their access to credit either cut off or severely curtailed by the same banks that received hefty taxpayer-funded bailouts. The fiscal strangulation of the millions of people who are no longer considered "creditworthy" is progressively weakening demand and spreading pessimism across all income levels. Growing public desperation was the focus of a special weekend report by Bloomberg News:"
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN - Flow of funds  ---  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KL15Dj01.html
A quote...."The US Federal Reserve's third quarter Z.1 "flow of funds" report offers little positive news. At a 2.8% seasonally-adjusted and annualized rate (SAAR), total non-financial credit growth actually slowed from Q2's 4.5%. Non-financial credit was up $1.493 trillion, or 4.5%, over the past four quarters, a likely insufficient amount to spur self-reinforcing credit system recovery. Total (non-financial and financial) system credit actually declined $113 billion during the quarter to $52.617 trillion, the second straight decline (Q2 down $169 billion). Total system credit increased only $547 billion over the past year, or 1.1%, with financial sector credit down 5.2% y-o-y to $16.1 trillion. [and YET] The ratio of total system debt to gross domestic product (GDP) was at a near-record 369%."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

For Week Ending December 14, Insider Selling Outpaces Buying By A Factor Of 32
  ---  http://www.zerohedge.com/article/week-ending-december-14-insider-selling-outpaces-buying-factor-32
A quote...."While certainly a "slight" improvement from last week's ratio of 82 sales for every buy (in dollar value), this week we see a reversion back to the recent mean of about 30x, or a 32.4x ratio of insider selling to buying, to be specific. In the last week insiders sold $332.7 million worth of stock and bought $10.2 million. The recession continues being over."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Protesters in Seattle warned us what was coming, but we didn't listen
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/dec/13/copenhagen-seattle-climate-globalisation-protesters
A quote...."Ten years ago, protesters gathered in a port city; politicians arrived for intense backroom negotiations; the city's hotels were booked out by representatives of thousands of NGOs from all over the world. In 1999 Seattle, like Copenhagen this week, was a big international meeting attempting to exert some governance over globalisation. There's a fitting symmetry that these two meetings bookend this decade. For while the Seattle protests were deliberately misrepresented and widely misunderstood at the time, their agenda has proved unanswerable. Copenhagen is belatedly grappling with just one aspect of Seattle's unfinished business." -- also posted at CounterCurrents
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

US jobless claims rise, job openings decline  ---  http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/usec-d11.shtml
A quote...."Initial US jobless claims in the week ending December 5 rose 17,000 from the previous week, confounding economists who had predicted a decline. The increase in the number of workers filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits brought the total of such claims for the week to a seasonally adjusted 474,000."
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Sunday December 13th 2009 - links page

No posts. - mpg

Saturday December 12th 2009 - links page

Iran Deal on Brink of Collapse as West Condemns Compromise
  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2009/10/29/iran-deal-on-brink-of-collapse-as-west-condemns-compromise/
Must Read - (for the outrage) - A quote...."In September, Iran proposed a system of third party enrichment which would allow the nation to create medical isotopes without having to enrich any uranium to levels higher than needed for its energy generation program. After intense negotiation the draft agreement had Iran exporting much of its existing low-enriched stockpile to Russia and eventually France. -- The “eventually France” part was a stalling point for Iran however, as France had previously reneged on Uranium Hexafluoride shipments to them and Iranian MPs expressed concern that the French might simply keep the uranium once it got to them. -- This led Iran to propose today’s compromise deal, the chief aspect of which was that they would ship the uranium out in stages rather than all at once. This would have limited the potential losses to their stockpile in the event the deal fell apart. -- But for Europeans, getting Iran to hand over the bulk of its uranium all at once was the best part of the deal...." -- bold by website editor -- posted 10-29-09

What a bunch of lousy, little, snot-nosed, pieces, of dog poop.  The Europeans were OBVIOUSLY going to renege on the deal, they were going to steal Iran's uranium.  Once Iran handed over all its uranium they would have said "what uranium", snickered, and left Iran looking foolish.  This whole thing has just killed the NPT.  It’s all over folks, Europe and the US-NRE have very publicly, in front of the whole world, just shot the NPT in the head.  It's now dead as a door nail. It can never be revived.  No other country could EVER trust Europe or the US-NRE to be honest brokers regarding this issue again.  This particular incident will be remembered - forever - by everyone. – mpg
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

IAEA censures Iran over atomic site  ---  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/11/2009112710473030247.html
A quote...."The UN nuclear watchdog's governing body has voted overwhelmingly to censure Iran for developing a uranium enrichment site in secret, and has demanded it freeze the project immediately." -- By the way folks, you'll notice as you read this article that neither the IAEA, nor any of the countries who voted against Iran, stated Iran’s construction of the plant violated the NPT or in fact, any international laws, because it didn't.  In fact Iran is not required to inform the IAEA of the construction of enrichment facilities like this, nor any other members of the NPT, until six months  ---  http://www.twf.org/News/Y2009/0926-IranPlant.html  ---  before the scheduled introduction of nuclear material to the facility.  Iran informed the IAEA eighteen months before their projected introduction of nuclear material to the facility, assuming all goes well with the plants construction.  In actuality it'll probably take them longer than that to get the plant ready to start processing nuclear fuel.  Again this "special treatment" of Iran at the behest of Isreal and the US-NRE is just another nail in the coffin of the NPT. –mpg - posted 11-27-09
========= ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ====

Iran set to construct ten new enrichment plants  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112446&sectionid=351020104
Special Note - Related Article - This is simply the Iranian leadership venting their frustration's, a few of them, still, unbelievably, after all this time, must have actually thought some of the western powers were negotiating in good faith.  That they would at least make an attempt to follow the NPT’s rules and procedures, that they would at the minimum try to appear impartial.  Obviously as it turns out, the Iranians were just being silly.  The entire world is now discovering that following the US-NRE's lead on these sorts of issues, signed documents, treaties, covenants and agreements mean absolutely NOTHING to some of the western powers, their signatures mean nothing to them.  If it hasn't become clear yet to the world community, it should be crystal clear by now....the NPT is as dead as a door nail, it's finished, it's kaput....it's over. – mpg-- A quote...."Days after a new resolution by the UN nuclear watchdog called on Iran to halt the construction of its Fordo enrichment plant, the Iranian government tasks the Atomic Energy Organization (AEO) with building ten more nuclear enrichment sites." - posted 11-29-09

Friday December 11th 2009 - links page

In Missouri, about 100 percent who were eligible [for food stamps] that year took advantage of the program, the highest rate in the nation, followed by residents of Maine and Michigan, at 91 percent and 89 percent, respectively ...

"We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend."

"But the much more important point remains: how could we possibly have any idea how the war is going, here or anywhere else, when the bad guys seem only to die in groups of 30? The sheer ubiquity of that number in fatality and casualty counts is astounding, to the point where I don’t even pay attention to a story anymore when they use that magic number 30. It is an indicator either of ignorance or deliberate spin… but no matter the case, whenever you see the number 30 used in reference to the Taliban, you should probably close the tab and move onto something else, because you just won’t get a good sense of what happened there." -- *Security Crank*  --- http://securitycrank.wordpress.com/

“Israel, a rogue, racist and belligerent state, has no right whatsoever to deny any Irish Minister a visit to Palestine to see for himself or herself the humanitarian crisis that has been created by their criminal war actions."  ---  “No Irish Minister – with a scintilla of backbone – can allow matters to rest here. I am calling on Minister Micheal Martin to take a stand. It is high time that a hard line is taken on the issue of Israel – to stand out among European and world leaders – and to stand up for the people of Palestine."  ---   “He must demand access and make every effort to get to Gaza and Palestine despite what the Israeli authorities say. If the Israeli authorities refuse access again diplomatic relationships should immediately be broken off and the Israeli Ambassador sent home."

Thursday December 10th 2009 - links page