MPG'S DAILY RAPSHEET AND BLOTTER  ON THE "GREAT GAME"  --  12-24-08  to 12-30-08 -- links page

@ www.reficultnias.org
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Editor's note : From now on each weekly blog page will have several items culled from the past called  "9/11 - From The History File" : It's for those who didn't know, and also for those who forgot....or are trying to forget.

Editor's note - War Update, War Alert, War Warning, Red War Warning and War Imminent - refer to articles regarding the upcoming war with Iran.  In the order they appear as shown above, they  represent less serious to more serious possible threats of war. - mpg

As of 08-08-08 a new category of war warning will be included, the above warnings will have the prefix (WWIII) added to them to indicate the possible outbreak of greater hostilities. - mpg
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Tuesday December 30th 2008

The Gaza Attack - 21 Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 4 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

From the ashes of Gaza
Must Read - A quote...."Tuesday 30 December 2008 08.00 GMT -- The assault on Gaza, planned over six months and executed with perfect timing, was designed largely, as Neve Gordon has rightly observed, to help the incumbent parties triumph in the forthcoming Israeli elections. The dead Palestinians are little more than election fodder in a cynical contest between the right and the far right in Israel. Washington and its EU allies, perfectly aware that Gaza was about to be assaulted, as in the case of Lebanon in 2006, sit back and watch." -- also posted at CommonDreams & CounterCurrents

Falling into the moral abyss
Must Read - A quote...."The gradual process of ethnic cleansing in the occupied Palestinian territories is accelerating, and with it so is the moral culpability of Israel and the supporters of its policies in the United States. More and more people from the mainstream of Israeli politics are voicing alarm. In the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg compared the situation in Israel today to Germany on the eve of Nazis coming to power. Writing for The Huffington Post, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy likened Israel to a drunk and the US to a friend who gives them bottle of vodka and keys to his car. Even current Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has ordered incessant attacks on Gaza since coming to power, has called recent attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank "pogroms."

Gaza: the logic of colonial power
Must Read - A quote...."Monday 29 December 2008 08.00 GMT -- Once again, the Israelis bomb the starving and imprisoned population of Gaza. The world watches the plight of 1.5 million Gazans live on TV and online; the western media largely justify the Israeli action. Even some Arab outlets try to equate the Palestinian resistance with the might of the Israeli military machine. And none of this is a surprise. The Israelis just concluded a round-the-world public relations campaign to gather support for their assault, even gaining the collaboration of Arab states like Egypt."

Voiceless in Gaza: Israeli Carnage and the American Courtiers
Must Read - A quote...."Dec 30 2008 -- Death and sorrow continue to pour down in torrents over Gaza. And every death is delivered with the backing of the full faith and credit of the United States. American money, American weaponry -- and unstinting, unquestioning American diplomatic support -- are underwriting the brutal carnage. There is scarcely a single voice along the commanding heights of American power to raise the slightest protest against a savage war crime being committed in broad daylight, day after day, with the approval and connivance of the "civilized" world. The hard, enclosed, impenetrable shell of American "bipartisanship" has achieved a steely perfection on the issue of Palestine; it is itself a missile -- a weapon of mass destruction -- falling on the people of Gaza."

Arab Connivance In The Gaza Massacre
Must Read - (For the outrage) -- A quote...."31 December, 2008 -- The alternatives to the Palestinians are clear : abandon Hamas or die, either by military means or by "civil" means like blockade and siege. A lesson in democracy in the purest form by the "Middle Eastern democracy" par excellence -- For that purpose it can count on its best allies, who are not, despite appearances, the United States or the European Union, but the reactionary Arab regimes. Saudi Arabia and Egypt were informed in advance of the attack, as the daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported in its edition of Sunday December 28th. As proof that they could hardly care less: one hour before the attack started, Saudi communications media were already blaming Hamas for what happened while their London newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an interview with Shimon Perez saying that Israel was not going to attack Gaza and that the Israelis were "ready for peace"." -- also posted at ICH & PaliestineChron

Mr. Mubarak, Tear Down That Wall!
Special Note - A quote...."19:15 12/30/2008  -- I'm not calling for a coup d'etat, but go talk to your leaders and tell them you do not accept what is happening in Gaza.' -- Hezbollah Sec-Gen Hasan Nasrallah calling for Egyptians 'in millions' to demonstrate their support for opening the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt, 28 December 2008"

Casualties cross into Egypt
Video - Special Note - A quote...."While Gaza's boundaries are closed, some casualties from the conflict have managed to be transferred into Egypt at the Rafah crossing."

Photo Gallery: Israel Bombards Ministries in Gaza - (22 Photos)
Must View - PhotoGallery - A quote...."Ísrael targeted numerous Hamas ministry buildings in the Gaza Srip on Tuesday, leaving many of them little more than piles of rubble. The air-raids began on Saturday in response to Hamas rockets being fired across the border into Israel."

Photo Gallery : Israel's "Operation Lead" - (23 Photos)
Must View - PhotoGallery - A quote...."As Israeli air strikes continued to rock the Gaza Strip on Monday, casualties and damage mounted. Israel has warned the fighting could go on until the "bitter end."

PHOTOS: Israel's Massacre of Gazan Children - (26 Photos)
Must View - PhotoGallery - Videos - A quote...."Israeli forces killed two girls in an air attack on Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip early Tuesday. Local sources report that a missile destroyed a house belonging to Talal Hamdan in Beit Hanoun today, killing his two daughters of 12 and 4 years old. A son is reported seriously injured. Yesterday Israeli forces killed four sisters and a four year old boy. Over 40 children have been killed since Saturday."

Slaughter in Gaza: Another Chapter in the Global Elite Master Plan
Special Note - A quote...."Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 -- It should be noted that Hamas claimed 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats in 2006, as the Washington Post reported at the time. Fatah won only 43 seats, mostly because many Palestinians realized the organization was heavily comprised, corrupt, and in league with Israeli intelligence and the CIA. Fatah’s relationship with the CIA became apparent last year when Fatah security compounds in Gaza were raided by Hamas — “they found huge supplies of American-made weaponry including 7,400 M-16 assault rifles, dozens of mounted machine guns, rocket launchers, seven armored military jeeps, 800,000 rounds of bullets and 18 US-made armored personnel carriers,” writes Mike Whitney, who cites Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily."

How Hypocrisy on 'Terrorism' Kills - posted at ConsortiumNews
Special Note - A quote...."December 30, 2008  -- Israel, a nation that was born out of Zionist terrorism, has launched massive airstrikes against targets in Gaza using high-tech weapons produced by the United States, a country that often has aided and abetted terrorism by its client military forces, such as Chile’s Operation Condor and the Nicaraguan contras, and even today harbors right-wing Cuban terrorists implicated in blowing up a civilian airliner."

A few things the MSM isn’t telling you about the Gaza Attacks
Fact Check - For all those fact-less, clueless, non-reality based bubble boys and girls out there....mpg- A quote.... "December 30, 2008 -- (Please feel free to help add to this list. This is just a primer course…)"

PJB: Bush, Obama and the Gaza Blitz
A quote...."December 30, 2008 -- Unwilling to control its fighters, who fired scores of missiles into Israel at the end of their six-month ceasefire, Hamas gave Israel the provocation it needed to deliver a savage blow to the Palestinian enclave in Gaza."

Party to Murder
A quote...."Posted on Dec 29, 2008 -- Can anyone who is following the Israeli air attacks on Gaza—the buildings blown to rubble, the children killed on their way to school, the long rows of mutilated corpses, the wailing mothers and wives, the crowds of terrified Palestinians not knowing where to flee, the hospitals so overburdened and out of supplies they cannot treat the wounded, and our studied, callous indifference to this widespread human suffering—wonder why we are hated?"

Israel Warns Attack on Gaza Has Just Begun
A quote...."Published on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 -- Israel warned today that the aerial attack on Gaza, which has now entered its fourth brutal day, is only "the first of several" military stages intended to wipe out Hamas."

375 Killed, Over 1,600 Wounded as Gaza Strikes Continue
A quote...."Posted December 29, 2008 -- Updated 12/30 1:15 PM EST -- Israeli warplanes pounded the Gaza Strip for a third straight day, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised that the war would continue “to the bitter end.” The death toll has continued to rise, with at least 375 killed and over 1,600 wounded."

Egypt arrests 23 opposition Muslim Brotherhood members
A quote...."Dec 30, 2008, 17:47 GMT  -- Cairo - Egyptian security forces on Tuesday arrested 23 members of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood group as they prepared to meet to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, according to a security source."

Kucinich criticizes Israel's killings
A quote...."Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:45:36 GMT  -- US Congressman Dennis Kucinich says the continuing Israeli attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip are an example of 'collective punishment'." -- also posted at RougeGov

McKinney relief boat hit by Israeli ship
A quote...."Monday, December 29, 2008 -- Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, standing beside a damaged yacht, Tuesday accused the Israeli navy of ramming the vessel to halt the delivery of medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip. -- “Our mission was a peaceful mission,” McKinney told CNN after she and 15 others aboard the boat made it safely to the harbor in the Lebanese seaport of Tyre."

Tuesday, December 30: National Day of Action in solidarity with the people of Gaza
Action Alert - A quote...."December 28, 2008 -- The time has come for the people of this great nation to stand up, and show the world who we really are. -- For too long we have sat quietly by and granted those who would call themselves our leaders, far too much leniency.  For they have abused our indulgence, using it to undermine our international integrity;  ultimately they are justifying their crimes against humanity by falsely portraying our indulgence as complicity."

End - The Gaza Attack - 21 Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 4 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

'Half of Pakistanis believe US missile strikes ineffective’
A quote...."LAHORE: Amid a surge in suspected US missile strikes in the Tribal Areas, a poll conducted by a US-based economic and socioeconomic research organisation shows that nearly half of the Pakistanis questioned (48 percent) do not believe the US missile strikes are effective, while just 5 percent say they are effective – with the remaining refusing to express an opinion."

Pakistan closes Afghan supply route
A quote...."Pakistan has suspended supplies to US and Nato forces in neighbouring Afghanistan as security forces launch a major offensive against suspected pro-Taliban fighters."

Pakistan, China sign security equipment deal
A quote...."ISLAMABAD: China and Pakistan on Monday signed a handing-over document for the security equipment supplied to Pakistan, after a meeting with Chinese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs He Yafei and Interior Adviser Rehman Malik."
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Security worsens in once violent Ramadi
A quote...."Attacks on government police and troops have escalated in the Province of Anbar of which Ramadi is the capital. The province, Iraq’s larges in area, was once a bastion of anti-U.S. groups namely al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Most attacks against U.S. troops originated in the province until Sunni tribal leaders, lured by U.S. promises and money, decided to take on al-Qaeda. But the groups have made a comeback, although not as ferocious as in the first four years of U.S. occupation of Iraq which started in 2003."

U.S. Losing 'Secret' War in Somalia
A quote...."For several years the U.S. military has fought a covert war in Somalia, using gunships, drones and Special Forces to break up suspected terror networks -- and enlisting Ethiopia's aid in propping up a pro-U.S. "transitional" government. It's a relatively unknown front in the "war on terror," and one where the U.S. and its allies are losing ground, fast." -- also posted at BLN

The Soaring Cost of the American Defense Establishment - The $775,000-a-Year GI
A quote...."The U.S. military is now spending more – on a constant dollar basis – than it did in 1968, when the Defense Department had more than 500,000 soldiers stationed in South Vietnam. If you include the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then the U.S. military spent about $580 billion in 2007; that’s about 33 percent more – again, measured in constant (year 2000) dollars – than the United States spent in 1968. Even without the cost of those ongoing wars, America’s military spending is higher now than at any time since 1945."

Add Up the Damage
A quote...."Does anyone know where George W. Bush is? You don’t hear much from him anymore. The last image most of us remember is of the president ducking a pair of size 10s that were hurled at him in Baghdad. We’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel is thrashing the Palestinians in Gaza. And the U.S. economy is about as vibrant as the 0-16 Detroit Lions. But hardly a peep have we heard from George, the 43rd." -- also posted at CommonDreams

Rare Suicide Bombing in Iran Kills 4
A quote...."TEHRAN — Employing a tactic not seen in Iran before, a suicide bomber affiliated with a Sunni militant group killed four people and wounded 12 in an attack early Monday in Saravan, a southeastern city, the official IRNA news agency reported. -- The group, Jundallah, has attacked Iranian armed forces and Revolutionary Guards in the past. But this was the first time it had used a suicide bombing similar to those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan."

MoveOn's [un-]shocking retreat from the battlefield - You just knew it was gonna happen. - mpg
A quote...."I'm not suggesting we pursue some animalistic joy of revenge. In fact, revenge has nothing to do with it. This is national self-preservation I'm talking about. For if we permit the Bush administration's darkest luminaries to walk away legally unscathed, we are inviting more of the same. And that "more" will return to haunt us in exponential spades."

Georgia tempting fate again?
A quote...."According to intelligence that is coming in, Georgia has moved 28 tanks into the city of Gori, where a tank battalion is deployed. Moreover, Cobra armoured personnel carriers have been detected in the village of Nikozi in the immediate vicinity of the Republic of South Ossetia’s borders," the press release said."

Georgia fails to honour peace deal - Lavrov
A quote...."Georgia hasn't fulfilled its obligations under the Medvedev-Sarkozy ceasefire plan, signed shortly after the war in South Ossetia, Russia's Foreign Minister has told Russian TV."

Ukraine says the money's in the pipeline...but Russia still waits...
A quote...."Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz says it has transferred more than $US 1.5 billion to a mediating company to settle payment for November and December. Russia's Gazprom, however, says it hasn't received the money yet."

The Mumbia Attack - 2 Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 33 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

Pakistan army: We must 'avoid conflict' with India
A quote...."Pakistan's army chief stressed Monday the need to avoid conflict with India, days after he ordered troops toward the rivals' shared border amid tensions following last month's terror attacks on Mumbai. - Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani made the remarks to a top Chinese diplomat who was visiting Islamabad to try and ease the situation between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India."

China steps up effort to ease India-Pakistan tension
A quote...."ISLAMABAD, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Indian and Pakistani military officials held an unscheduled hotline call, a Pakistani security officer said, as China joined efforts to ease tension between the neighbours inflamed by last month's militant attacks in Mumbai."

End - The Mumbia Attack - 2 Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 33 ] ========== ========== ==========

Gazprom, Once Mighty, Is Reeling
Special Note - A quote...."MOSCOW — A year ago, Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, aspired to be the largest corporation in the world. Buoyed by high oil prices and political backing from the Kremlin, it had already achieved third place judging by market capitalization, behind Exxon Mobil and General Electric." -- A tale of woe, Gazprom paid too much, they borrowed to much, and they borrowed from the wrong people. They might survive if they concentrate on their core business for the next several years.

Home prices off record 18% in past year, Case-Shiller says
A quote...."WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Home prices are back to their March 2004 levels, having dropped in 20 major U.S. cities by 2.2% in October and by a record 18% from the previous year, according to the Case-Shiller price index published Tuesday by Standard & Poor's."

Monday December 29th 2008

The Gaza Attack -14 Articles - Monday - [ Day 3 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

The implications of one of the largest one-day slaughter of Palestinians in the 60-year conflict with Israel
Must Read - A quote...."On the Israeli offensive in Gaza, and The Grand Chessboard:

      1) Setting The Stage.
      2) Political Status of Gaza.
      3) The Humanitarian Situation in Gaza.
      4) The Significance of Palestine.
      5) The Implications of the Most Recent Events. 

So, Who Wants To Wipe Someone “Off The Map”?
Must View Map - A quote...."December 29, 2008 -- As Rob Kall over at OpEdNews tries to shape the story about the Israeli bombing of Palestinians in Gaza, he conveniently forgets 90% of the story, as he tries to, like Condi Rice and Nancy Pelosi, cast the blame for this atrocity on the victims.   What Kall is forgetting (or simply omitting?) is that Gaza has been under siege for 18 months in a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions’ Article 33 (classified as a War Crime).  This, after Israel, by right of what someone claims is “God’s will” has been slowly removing a people from their sovereign nation, by violence and starvation,  for 60 years. Mr. Kall forgets to include that part of the story."

Israel’s subjugation of the Palestinians must end now - posted at the OnlineJournal
Must Read - A quote...."Israel pounded Gaza strip in retaliation for rockets fired at its Southern borders, killing over 280 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more, over half of whom were civilians, and bringing destruction to the already deteriorating Palestinian infrastructure. Israel used F16 bombers against an essentially defenseless population. The greatest weapon in the Palestinian arsenal is inaccurate makeshift rockets with an extremely short range that often miss their targets."

Before Our Very Eyes -- Israel's Attempted Endgame in Gaza
Must Read - A quote...."December 29, 2008 -- The intensity of the bombings on Saturday, which left over 230 people dead and 800 wounded, many seriously, was what struck one witness, R., who claimed never to have heard so many explosions so close together and for such an uninterrupted period of time inside the Gaza Strip. One after another, the explosions sounded, most of them near heavily populated areas; and in one case only 30 meters away from his daughter’s elementary school."

Paul: No such thing as an independent Israel
Interview - A quote...."Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:03:57 GMT  -- The following is an exclusive Press TV interview with US congressman Ron Paul, a unique conservative politician who wants an end to US military presence on foreign soil, advocates US withdrawal from the UN, NATO and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and opposes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). " -- also posted at ICH

Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored
A quote...."Monday, 29 December 2008 -- We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more – providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force." -- also posted at ICH & CommonDreams

Today I end my support of Israel
A quote...."December 29, 2008 -- Like davidminzer, I’m Jewish and descendant of holocaust survivors. Moreover, I’ve been a Zionist all of my life. I went to a Zionist school, I was active in Zionist youth groups. I’ve always been a fervent supporter of Israel as a refuge for Jews around the world who seek a place to exercise their traditions and embrace their identity in peace. -- I sang the Israeli anthem in the train rails of Aushwitz-Birkenau and I pledged to fight every day of my life to make sure the savage crimes that had taken place there would never happen again. Every year I pledged: Never Again. Remember and Never forget. -- Well, I haven’t forgotten. And so to honor that pledge, to honor the memory of my family members who died in those death camps and because “there comes a time when silence is betrayal”, today I finally and publicly end my support for the state of Israel."

Anarchy In The UK
Action Update - A quote...."December 28, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" -- THE murderous military campaign which has been unleashed by Israel has provoked people across the world to demonstrate, rally and protest in their hundreds of thousands. Soon the movement will turn into millions as more ordinary, decent citizens of the world show their disgust at the barbarism of Israel ... and the cowardly silence of our own leaders. This is no longer a political issue, or a Middle East issue. It is a case of what is right and what is wrong, and what is decent and what is inhumane. And ordinary people are now taking the initiative because they can no longer rely on their political leaders to show any of the human qualities demanded of them including strength, integrity or compassion. British people, normally reserved and controlled, brought anarchy to the streets of upscale Kensington yesterday as they stormed barracades and pushed past police to head towards the Israeli Embassy in London."

In response to Gaza raids, Hamas threatens to assassinate Livni, Barak
A quote...."Last update - 08:19 29/12/2008 -- Hamas on Sunday threatened to respond to an ongoing Israel Defense Forces assault on the Gaza Strip by assassinating senior Israeli officials. Senior Hamas official Fatah Hamad specifically threatened Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak."

Israel pounds Gaza for a third consecutive day
Video - A quote...."December 29, 2008  -- Israeli jets are again bombing targets in the Gaza Strip. The air assault is now into a third day. Warships have also been involved in the attacks, shelling the area around Gaza's port."

Over 345 Killed in Gaza as Israel Preps for Ground Invasion
A quote...."Posted December 28, 2008 - Updated 12/29 5:55 PM EST -- There are two reasons a Gazan is outside today amid continuing Israeli air strikes, to bury relatives or to search for food. Food continues to be in short supply and shops are closed in what the UN is describing as a “disastrous” humanitarian situation. Dead relatives to bury are sadly quite plentiful as the toll of two days worth of Israeli attacks has surpassed 345 killed and 1,550 wounded. For the rest of the tiny strip’s 1.5 million residents, life consists of remaining home and hoping the next bomb dropped doesn’t land on them."

Civilian death toll rises after second day of air strikes
A quote...."Monday 29 December 2008 -- To the doctors at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City it was another body on a chaotically busy day. By early Saturday afternoon the morgue was already overflowing so they laid out the corpse of 20-year-old Ali Abu Rabia on the floor outside. One of the hospital staff pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket, scrolled through the numbers, and called the young man's father." -- also posted at CommonDreams

A Hundred Eyes for an Eye
A quote...."Published on Monday, December 29, 2008 -- Israelis and Arabs "feel that only force can assure justice," I. F. Stone noted soon after the Six Day War in 1967. And he wrote: "A certain moral imbecility marks all ethnocentric movements. The Others are always either less than human, and thus their interests may be ignored, or more than human and therefore so dangerous that it is right to destroy them." - The closing days of 2008 have heightened the Israeli government's stature as a mighty practitioner of the moral imbecility that Stone described."

The neighborhood bully strikes again
A quote...."Last update - 00:22 29/12/2008 -- Once again, Israel's violent responses, even if there is justification for them, exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom.  What began yesterday in Gaza is a war crime and the foolishness of a country. History's bitter irony: A government that went to a futile war two months after its establishment - today nearly everyone acknowledges as much - embarks on another doomed war two months before the end of its term." - also posted at ICH

End - The Gaza Attack - 14 Articles - Monday - [ Day 3 ] ========== ========== ========== ==== 

Sunday December 28th 2008

The Gaza Attack - 16 Articles - Sunday - [ Day 2 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

Shock, Awe and Lies: The Truth Behind the Israeli Attack on Gaza
Must Read - A quote...."Mon Dec 28 2008 -- Here is a simple, stone cold fact. You cannot read or hear the truth about what is happening in Gaza from any corporate media in the United States. The only thing you will find there are regurgitations of Israeli spin, which are themselves only regurgitations of the kind of spin that American militarists have put on their own depredations -- for centuries now. Up and down the American media and political establishments, you will find nothing but bleatings about Israel being "forced" to launch its vicious blunderbuss attacks against heavily populated Gaza because of the "recent spate of Hamas bombings" since the end of a six-month ceasefire. -- This is of course a damnable and deliberate lie. Papers in Israel -- in Israel, but not the United States -- are reporting the truth: the murderous assault on Gaza was planned not only before the six-month ceasefire ended -- it was planned before the cease-fire even took effect. Indeed, the cease-fire was part of the military plan to decimate the civilian areas of Gaza; it was a hoax, a scam, a deliberate feint to buy time for military preparations -- precisely the same strategy followed by the Bush Regime (and its bipartisan Establishment supporters) in "going to the UN" to seek a "peaceful solution" to the "Iraqi crisis" -- when the invasion was already in the works." -- bold by website editor

Not by Might, and not by Power -- - OR: Israeli Gaza Strike Kills More Than 225
Special Note - A quote...."December 28, 2008 at 08:55:34....at least 225 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombs in one more attempt to quell by might and power the use of violence  (on a much smaller scale) by Hamas, in what Hamas sees as itself a retaliation against the Israeli blockade and semi-starvation of the people of Gaza."

Egypt accused of 'deceiving' Hamas
Special Note - A quote...."Published:     12.28.08, 09:11  -- London-based newspaper quotes sources who say Egyptian intelligence minister deliberately misled Palestinian organization about IDF intentions; Hamas sources say this is why movement's compounds were not evacuated."

Egyptian Border Guards Open Fire on Fleeing Gazans
To ad lib a quote from "A Man for All Seasons...."Why Mr. Mubarak, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world....but for a few billion dollars yearly from the US-NRE?" - mpg -- A quote...."As the Israeli military’s attacks on Gaza move into their second day, there is no sign that the international calls for calm are getting any consideration. Indeed, with Israel advancing tanks to the border and calling up reservists the hundreds of Gazans killed in the first 24 hours of the onslaught may soon be a drop in the bucket."

Death toll in Gaza rises to 313; over 1,000 injured
A quote...."December 29, 2008 -- Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli warships bombarded the headquarters of the Palestinian presidency on Monday morning in Gaza City."
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No Leadership From Obama. - Oh Contraire!
12-28-08 - revised 12-30-08
mpg

No Comment and No Leadership From Obama
That's not entirely true, he made his comments and indicated what would be acceptable to him and to the elites he represents during two recent presentations he gave before AIPAC.  Both of which were the most flagrantly craven, and disgustingly obsequious set of performances ever given by a candidate for the office of president of the United States for people that represent the interests of another national state....this attack by Israel against the people of Gaza was the forseeable and inevitable result.

By the way gentle reader if you didn't know that Hamas won a free, fair, and heavily monitored election in both the West bank and the Gaza Strip in 2006, whereupon the US-NRE, Saudi Royals, Egyptian elites and Israeli politicians immediately made a collective decision to supply billions of dollars worth of munitions and support to Hama's rival Fatah, while fomenting a vicious civil war between the two factions, eventually escalating in June of 2007 to a crushing blockade of the entire Gaza Strip and finally culminating in this latest massive attack by Israel, all actions which were designed to mercilessly eliminate Hamas.... ask yourself why. Really, truly, for once in your see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil lives, honestly ask yourself why.
A quote...."December 29, 2008 -- As President-elect Barack Obama vacationed in Hawaii on Dec. 26, stopping off to watch a dolphin show with his family at Sea Life Park, an Israeli air raid besieged the impoverished Gaza Strip, killing at least 285 people and injuring over 800 more."

This website editor hopes all you Obamatrolls out there appreciate Mr. Bombs Away's "God Father" like, Michael Corleone touch.  Just as the Caligula from Crawford attended the 2008 Olympics, his attendance perfectly timed for Saakashvili's US-NRE approved blitzkrieg against South Ossetia, so too has Bombs Away O-Bomb-a gone on vacation -- with his family....with his family no less!! -- while his counter part, the soon to be prime minister of Israel, Tzipi Livni, launches Israel's long planned, and US-NRE approved, blitzkrieg against the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip.

At least Tzipi Livni had the courage to go on camera from the start of this debacle to try to defend the indefensible, Obama on the other hand, who without a shred of doubt was informed of these plans of murder and mayhem some time ago, has chosen to hide behind Bush of all people and claim he can't do a thing about it, when we all know he's agreed with what's being done all along.  What a sniveling, conniving, coward he is.

You Obamatrolls must be very proud of your candidate right now, and of yourselves no doubt.  Probably you’ll keep all those gory pictures of the dead children murdered in the Gaza Strip right next to all your other memorabilia.  The campaign buttons, flyers, tee-shirts and other mementos of what you've done to further the PNAC Protocols and the ruthless, murderous ambitions of this nation's wealthy elites by campaigning and casting your vote for that monster.

What a proud and glorious day this is for the New Roman Empire and all its Neo-Roman Citizens. – mpg
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US veto blocks UN anti-Israel resolution
A quote...."Sun, 28 Dec 2008 08:17:23 GMT  - The UN Security Council has been unable to force an end to Israeli attacks against Gaza due to the intervention of the United States. Washington once again used its veto powers on Sunday to block a resolution calling for an end to the massive ongoing Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip.

Inside Gaza: 'The hospital morgues were already full. The dead were piled on top of each other outside'
A quote...."Sunday, 28 December 2008 -- I am safe, and yet I feel like a walking dead person. Everything around me shows it. It is hard to write something of any coherence while exposed to cold winter air and to the smell that lingers after the detonation of Israeli bombs. They must have been massive. During the bombing I opened all the windows around my apartment to avoid them imploding as a result of the vacuum shocks sweeping through Gaza City after each enormous bang." -- also posted at ICH

Gaza hospitals are overwhelmed, Red Cross says
A quote...."GENEVA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are overwhelmed and unable to cope with the casualties from Israeli air strikes, the international Red Cross said on Sunday."

Amira Hass / 'Gaza strike is not against Hamas, it's against all Palestinians'
A quote...."Last update - 01:49 29/12/2008 -- At 3:19 P.M. Sunday, the sound of an incoming missile could be heard over the telephone. And then another, along with the children's cries of fear. In Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, high-rise apartment buildings are crowded close together, with dozens of children in every building, hundreds in every block."

Israel Bombs Gaza’s Oldest University
A quote...."Posted December 28, 2008 -- Israeli warplanes attacked Islamic University of Gaza, the oldest university in the Gaza Strip today. No injuries were reported but the strikes destroyed several buildings on the female portion of the campus and damaged many other buildings near the university. Another college run by the university in southern Gaza City was also attacked."

Israel Using New US-Supplied Smart Bombs in Gaza Attacks
A quote...."Posted December 28, 2008 -- When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared Hamas responsible for all the killings in Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, it was easy to dismiss it as an expression of the Bush Administration’s “special relationship” with the Israeli government and knee-jerk support for any killings with the word terrorist remotely linked to them. Yet it seems there may have been a more practical concern of culpability at play."

Israel gears up for ground assault as death toll passes 300
Contains Video - A quote...."After two days of Israeli air strikes against Hamas, Gaza is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster, with more than 300 people killed and 1,000 injured. Overcrowded hospitals are running short of medicine and staff. "

UN blasts Israel over Gaza massacre - (RT Video YuTb - 2 min 40 sec - December 27, 2008)
Video - A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- The UN Security Council is holding a closed emergency session in New York to discuss the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza."

Gaza massacres must spur us to action
Action Alert - A quote...."Palestinians everywhere are asking for solidarity, real solidarity, in the form of sustained, determined political action. The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group reaffirmed this today as it "called upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it." -- also posted at CounterCurrents

Tuesday, December 30: National Day of Action in solidarity with the people of Gaza
Action Alert - A quote...."December 28, 2008 -- The time has come for the people of this great nation to stand up, and show the world who we really are. -- For too long we have sat quietly by and granted those who would call themselves our leaders, far too much leniency.  For they have abused our indulgence, using it to undermine our international integrity;  ultimately they are justifying their crimes against humanity by falsely portraying our indulgence as complicity. -- As Israel targets a captive, defenseless population, with weapons that the people of this nation supplied them in order that they may defend themselves against legitimate threats, our leaders blame the victims in Gaza. That will not do."

End - The Gaza Attack - 16 Articles - Sunday - [ Day 2 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

U.S. Considers New Covert Push Within Pakistan
A quote...."Published: January 6, 2008 -- WASHINGTON — President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan."

Our kids as mercenaries - links posted at BuzzFlash
A quote...."The Pentagon doesn’t talk much about it, but over half of America’s presence in Iraq today is made up of mercenaries. That’s how we keep down the number of actual troops. We now hire civilians to do for the soldiers many of the things they used to do for themselves. Everyone knows about Halliburton and Blackwater, and many have heard tell of scores of other companies that, at exorbitant rates, feed, house and supply our fighting men and women. There is even occasional note of the regiments of Bangladeshis slipped in to do the army’s scut work. -- But what about our heroic troops themselves? Surely, THEY’RE not in it for the money. Surely, they’re not abandoned at the end of their tours like so many paid contractors. Surely, we nurture them for the rest of their lives like the heroes that they are. Sure."

Indian parliament rushes through draconian “anti-terror” laws
A quote...."Barely three weeks after the Mumbai terrorist attack, India's Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government pushed draconian new "anti-terror" laws through parliament."

Poverty and Inequality Decline in Venezuela
A quote...."Mérida, December 24, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Over the last decade, Venezuela’s poverty has decreased, and this has seen a corresponding decrease in inequality and an increase in over all development. Poverty down by 24.5 percentage points."
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The Mumbia Attack - 3 Articles - Sunday - [ Day 31 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

Shut Down CIA Station In Islamabad
Must Read - A quote...."December 28, 2008...8:16 pm -- A war with Pakistan is India’s opportunity to legitimize action beyond its borders –which is what superpowers do – and launch its new career as a U.S.-propped [and Bollywood-propped] ‘superpower’.  Pakistan will have to match the challenge or accept Indian hegemony for the rest of the century. And while at it, time for Pakistani government and military to order the closure of CIA station in the Pakistani capital. The new American agenda in the region contradicts Pakistani interests. How can this be done? Please learn how the Saudis dealt with Edward W. Genhm." -- For more on this issue see....It Will Happen Every Single Time - 01-01-08 - mpg

Pak, India military contact cool down war hysteria
A quote...."MUMBAI,India, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Senior Indian and Pakistani military officers have made contact in an effort to cool down tensions following the Mumbai terror attacks that almost triggered a sub-continental war, reported local newspaper Times of India Monday on its website."

Pakistan - Jama't-ud-Da'wah, The Saudi Wahabbi Influence
A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- In the wake of the Mumbai attack on 10th December 2008, the UN Security Council's al-Qaeda/Taliban Sanctions Committee (the "1267 Committee") took several actions related to the terrorist group Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LET). It listed four of its members of the terrorist group Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LET) for targeted sanctions, including asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo."

End - The Mumbia Attack - 3 Articles - Sunday - [ Day 31 ] ========== ========== ==========

25% of [US] Retailers May Go Bankrupt
A quote...."Retailing has always been a tough business.  Now it's a brutal business.  Some observers now predict that more than 25% of retailers may go bust in the the next two years."

Saturday December 27th 2008 - links page

The Gaza Attack - 21 Articles - Saturday - [ Day 1 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

More Than 200 Killed As Israel Drops 100 Tons Of Bombs In Gaza City  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21546.htm
Must View Video -- A quote...."The BBC Reports December 27, 2008 -- Israeli F-16 bombers have pounded targets across the Gaza Strip, killing more than 200 people, according to local medical workers. -- Most of those killed were policemen in the Hamas militant movement, which controls Gaza, but women and children also died, the Gaza officials said. About 700 other people were wounded."
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Gaza raids expose Israeli failure  ---  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5404550.ece
Must Read - A quote...."December 28, 2008 -- The unprecedented wave of airstrikes yesterday could not have been a more dramatic indication of the failure of Israel’s policy to remove Hamas from power in Gaza."
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From Apartheid to Ethnic Cleansing; Israel Launches f-16 Strikes In Gaza
  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/from-apartheid-to-ethnic-cleansing-israel-launches-f-16-strikes-against-gaza/
Must Read - Action Alert - Photos - Videos -- A quote...."End the Occupation has sent out this information begging us to call our representatives. I hope you will avail yourself of this option."
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Gaza Today: 'This is Only the Beginning'  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14538
Special Note -- A quote...."21:41 12/27/2008 -- As I write this, Israeli jets are bombing the areas of Zeitoun and Rimal in central Gaza City. The family I am staying with has moved into the internal corridor of their home to shelter from the bombing. The windows nearly blew out just five minutes ago as a massive explosion rocked the house. Apache’s are hovering above us, whilst F16s sear overhead."
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Massacre In Gaza: 230 Killed  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/habeeb281208.htm
Special Note - A quote...."Gaza Strip, 27 Dec, 2008- Saturday morning started as usual but dramatically changed by 11AM. Sixty Israeli F16s bombarded around 100 police stations, civil and governmental offices across Gaza Strip. The bombardment which simultaneously took place left (at the time of writing)160 people killed and around 3 hundred wounded. A number of wounded are expected to die while many corpses still lie under the rubble of buildings. -- also posted at DesertPeace  ---  http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/eyewitness-report-of-the-gaza-massacre/
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Israeli Airstrikes Kills Hundreds In Gaza  ---  http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/12/israeli-airstrikes-kills-hundreds-in.html
Special Note - A quote...."After months of a sickeningly brutal blockade, in which more than a million people have been deprived of life's essentials, the blockaders have escalated the "conflict"."
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A year's intel gathering yields 'alpha hits'  ---  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111714969&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Special Note - A quote...."Updated Dec 28, 2008 5:59  -- At 11:30 a.m., more than 50 fighter jets and attack helicopters swept into Gazan airspace and dropped more than 100 bombs on 50 targets. The planes reported "alpha hits," IAF lingo for direct hits on the targets, which included Hamas bases, training camps, headquarters and offices. -- Thirty minutes later, a second wave of 60 jets and helicopters struck at 60 targets, including underground Kassam launchers - placed inside bunkers and missile silos - that had been fitted with timers." -- bold by website editor
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Stench of Death Hangs Over Gaza  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m49990&s1=h1
A quote...."28-dec-2008 08:24 ECT -- GAZA CITY — With thick clouds of smoke billowing into the sky and dead bodies littering into the streets, a stench of death rose from the ruins of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, December 27. -- "Where are my sons?" screamed Um Ibrahim as she ran hysterically looking for her little kids. -- She lives near a security compound Israeli planes pounded to the ground on Saturday."
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IAF strikes mosque, TV station in day 2 of Gaza offensive  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m49988&s1=h1
A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- Israel Air Force warplanes struck targets in Gaza early Sunday, including a mosque and a TV station, after a day of intensive air strikes that killed at least 230 Palestinians and wounded close to 800."
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On the ground in Gaza: Israeli strikes spread chaos, desperation  ---  http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m49988&s1=h1
A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- How do I describe a massacre? What do I tell you first? Do I first tell you about the dead people that I see in the streets? Or do I first tell you about the terror we are living? Where do I begin?"
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Israeli Jets Bomb Gaza; Honor The Three Voices  ---  http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2008/12/28/honoring-three-voices/
A quote...."Posted December 27, 2008 -- Christmas is supposed to be the season of peace but it symbolic value has been repeatedly devalued, first, with Richard Nixon defiling the holy day by bombing Hanoi and since then, this time of the year seems to motivate war makers to showcase exercises of brutality. It is also interesting that the right wing loudmouths who rail about a “war on Christmas” have nothing to say about wars that erupt during the Christmas season."
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West Bank rises up in response to massacre in Gaza  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11511
A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- In response to the bombing attacks that have left 205 people dead in Gaza, Palestinians across the West Bank and inside the ’48 have organized to protest the crimes. In almost every district, mass marches and clashes have occurred. The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign has joined networks and committees such as the National and Islamic forces, the Committee against the Siege in the mobilizations that are rocking the entire West Bank.
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Eyewitness: Chaos in Gaza  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21543.htm
A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- Israeli planes are still flying over Gaza and they have just targeted another Hamas [security] compound in the middle of the Gaza Strip, in a place called Khan Younis. -- We can see from our office here in Gaza, in the middle of Gaza City, ambulances are still evacuating the injured from buildings and school kids are trying to find secure places."
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Hamas Press Conference After Israeli Attacks On Gaza  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21542.htm
Video -- A quote...."Taher al-Noono, a Hamas spokesman, speaks to reporters in Gaza following Israeli attacks which killed more than 195 people and wounded more than 200 others."
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Bush Winks at Israel’s Slaughter in Gaza, While Obama and Clinton Are Silent  ---  http://www.progressive.org/mag/wx122708.html
A quote...."27 Dec08 -- Israel recklessly bombed Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 205 Palestinians and wounding at least 350 more, according to Palestinian health officials. -- This wholly disproportionate response to Hamas’s immoral but largely ineffective rocket attacks on Israel is guaranteed to further enflame the Middle East." -- also posted at ICH   ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21547.htm
& WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/185090
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Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us To Action  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21545.htm
A quote...."27 December 2008 -- I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing." Those were the words, spoken on Al Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of Israel's latest massacres were broadcast around the world."
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War on Gaza: A World Reacts  ---  http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/27/war-in-gaza-a-world-reacts/
A quote...."Posted December 27, 2008  -- Israel’s long-promised attack on the Gaza Strip commenced in earnest today, with over 200 already dead as of the most recent reports. But at the Israeli Foreign Ministry mounts its “emergency international PR effort” to secure international support for what Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised will be a “long and difficult” military campaign in the heavily populated strip, international opposition to the killings is already trickling in."
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Israel launches air strikes on Gaza  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZERDspeWfm8
RT-Video - (YouTube) -- A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- At least 155 people are reported to have been killed and more than 200 injured after Israel launched air strikes on Gaza city. The action targeting Hamas has caused widespread destruction and civilian casualties. It comes just a week after the collapse of a truce between Palestinian militants and Israel."
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Israeli air strikes kill 200 in Gaza
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM15T_qgY5k&eurl=http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&
  ---  as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&as_sitesearch=&feature=player_embedded
RT-Video - (YouTube) -- A quote...."December 27, 2008 -- At least 205 people have been killed and nearly 400 injured after Israel launched air strikes on Gaza City. Israeli military officials said more than 100 tonnes of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon on Saturday. Israel says the attacks are in retaliation for Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel."
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Massive Israeli air raids on Gaza  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=91&task=videodirectlink&id=706
BBC - Video
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Israel Kills Civilians in Gaza  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/38517
Video (YouTube) -- Looks like raw video footage. - mpg
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End - The Gaza Attack - 21 Articles - Saturday - [ Day 1 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

Funding, Arming, and Training Iraqis and Afghans to Fight Their Fellow Countrymen
  ---  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Funding-Arming-and-Train-by-Ron-Fullwood-081227-162.html
A quote...."A strategy which had the U.S. military effectively arming all sides of the civil violence in Iraq is emerging as the strategy of choice in Afghanistan for the military leadership Barack Obama has chosen to carry-over from the Bush administration. -- The proxy war that the military wants Afghans and Iraqis to fight for them is a reflection of their utter failure to produce any of the political reconciliation and progress they promised would occur behind the escalation of force they prosecuted in Iraq and the escalation they're planning for the cities surrounding their nation-building prize in Kabul."
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U.S. will give free weapons to Afghan civilians  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CNN_U.S._to_arm_Afghan_civilians_1226.html
A quote...."One way to quell a violent and deteriorating situation, according to the U.S. military, is to flood the place with guns. -- That's exactly what is planned for Afghanistan, where a rising tide of chaos is slowly pushing the country past Iraq as the most dangerous battlefield Americans tread upon."
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The US Army Document That Proves the US is the World's Number One Sponsor of World Terrorism
  ---  http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2008/12/us-army-document-that-proves-us-is.html
Special Note -- A quote...."In a 'manual' which is officially to be released only to 'students from foreign countries on a case-by-case basis only', the US Army outlines a program of what it now calls 'irregular warfare', in fact US state sponsored terrorism, insurgency, and PSYOPS." -- For more on the three articles shown above see also....Parable of the Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone   ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/werther01082007.html
& US Support of Terror  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306
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The Coming Surge Into Afghanistan Obama and the Graveyard of Empires  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp12262008.html
A quote...."Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen is reportedly recommending to President-Elect Obama that the U.S. increase by 30,000 its current force of 32,000 in Afghanistan. That, as Robert Dreyfuss points out in a recent column, is about 20,000 more troops than Obama was proposing while on the campaign trail. -- Obama, who has enthused about refocusing the “War on Terror” back on Afghanistan, is likely to accede to the admiral’s request."
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As Taliban nears Kabul, shadow gov't takes hold  ---  http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/27/as-taliban-nears-kabul-shadow-govt-takes-hold-2/
A quote...."Taliban shadow government wields growing influence in Afghanistan, moves closer to capital."
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Iraq Basra oil exports plunge 68pc  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/185093
A quote...."Iraq's oil exports from its southern Basra terminal fell by 67.5 per cent to 552,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Saturday, from 1.7 million bpd on Friday, said a shipper. The shipper told Reuters that he did not know the reason for the fall, but exports from the southern Basra terminal, which pumps about three quarters of Iraq's oil, have tended to be erratic in recent months."
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PAKISTAN:  Like Other Assassinations Bhutto's Remains a Mystery  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45236
A quote...."KARACHI, Dec 27 (IPS) - "The chapter is closed, and the Pakistan People’s Party [PPP] is dead. It doesn’t matter who killed her," said Mohammad Sharif, a young driver working for a voluntary agency, referring to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on Dec. 27 last year."
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Rahm Emanuel: Foot in the door  ---  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/rahm-emanuel-foot-in-the-door-1212436.html
A quote...."If you want, at the dawn of this brave new era, a sobering insight into the way Barack Obama will go about being the Most Powerful Man in the World, try sitting down with a copy of the official report into his office's dealings with the disgraced Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich."
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Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009  ---  http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2009
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The Noose Tightens -- Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and other top Bush officials could soon face legal jeopardy. @ BuzzFlash  ---  http://www.buzzflash.com/
  ---  http://www.newsweek.com/id/176044
Special Note -- A quote...."The United States, like many countries, has a bad habit of committing wartime excesses and an even worse record of accounting for them afterward. But a remarkable string of recent events suggests that may finally be changing—and that top Bush administration officials could soon face legal jeopardy for prisoner abuse committed under their watch in the war on terror."
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Yes We Can Unpardon War Criminals  ---  http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/38516  ---  But Bombs Away O-Bomb-a won't. - mpg
A quote...."On his third day in office President Grant revoked two pardons that had been granted by President Andrew Johnson. President Nixon also undid a pardon that had been granted by President Lyndon Johnson. There may be other examples of this, as these two have somewhat accidentally come up in a discussion focused on numerous examples of presidents undoing pardons that they had themselves granted, something the current president did last week. (See http://pardonpower.com ). In 2001, President George W. Bush's lawyers advised him that he could undo a pardon that President Clinton had granted."
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Internment And Interrogation of 13-Year-Old Canadian Teen At Guantanamo Raises Ethical Issues
  ---  http://www.medindia.net/news/Internment-And-Interrogation-Of-13-Year-Old-Canadian-Teen-At-Guantanamo-Raises-Ethical-Issues-45662-1.htm  ---  27 Dec 2008 The internment and severe interrogation of 13-year-old Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay raises serious ethical issues. His interrogators at the notorious camp have used snarling dogs against him. He was also placed in "stress positions," upended and used as a human mop to clean the floor. The U.S. forces were convinced he had thrown a grenade that killed an American soldier. Omar Khadr, originally hailing from Canada, is one of the 19 Guantanamo prisoners charged with war crimes. The tribunal has refused permission for the defence counsel to introduce as evidence photographs taken at the scene of the July 27, 2002, firefight near Khowst, Afghanistan – it was there Khadr is supposed to have thrown the grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer. The photographs taken by U.S. soldiers as they stormed the bombed-out compound show Khadr lying facedown in the dirt under the blasted remnants of a roof. Navy Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler, Khadr's lead defense lawyer argued Khadr could hardly have thrown the grenade that killed Speer if he was buried and unconscious when the Delta Force soldier entered. -- Paragraph quoted from CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
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The Mumbia Attack - 2 Articles - Saturday - [ Day 30 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

Pakistan calls for dialogue amid India tensions  ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jOpAuJZ8YXiAA9ooX3pbg2ADmjKA
A quote...."ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan's leader has pleaded for dialogue, not war, to fight terrorism in South Asia but told India not to push Islamabad too hard for action against extremists one month after the Mumbai attacks."
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Elements of an Inside Job in Mumbai Attacks  ---  http://waronyou.com/forums/index.php?action=printpage;topic=4902.0
Special Note - A quote...."Indian police last week arrested Hassan Ali Khan, who was wanted for investigations into money laundering and other illicit activities, and who is also said to have ties to Dawood Ibrahim, the underworld kingpin who evidence indicates was the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month."
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End - The Mumbia Attack - 2 Articles - Saturday - [ Day 30 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

A one-word explanation? Try ‘greed’  ---  http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/bookman/stories/2008/12/26/jay_bookman.html
Must Read - A quote...."In a capitalist system, the knowledge of greed’s dual nature — its power when harnessed, its danger when it is not — sets up a permanent, enduring tension. The trick is to give greed enough play to reap its benefits while minimizing greed’s danger. In that sense, a greed-powered economy is like a nuclear-powered submarine. Both are driven by a potentially boundless but destructive source of energy that must be kept within bounds to operate safely. -- But greed by its nature is seductive. Greed always seeks more, a little more, just a bit more, please. And greed can cause us to rationalize things that cannot and should not be rationalized."
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US holiday season retail sales plunge amid recession - Another one word explanation....try fear. - mpg
  ---  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_holiday_season_retail_sales_plun_12262008.html
A quote....."A dismal Christmas-New Year shopping season for American retailers -- that's what a preliminary poll showed Friday as the United States reeled from a prolonged recession that has cut jobs and spending."
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Asteroid Impact (HD)
  ---  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zvCUmeoHpw&eurl=http://www.huffingtonpost.com
  ---  /2008/12/27/watch-if-an-asteroid-hit_n_153724.html&feature=player_embedded
If you think this website's content is depressing, watch this video.  It's a vivid demonstration that things could actually be much worse. Hopefully that happy thought will cheer you up. - mpg
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Friday December 26th 2008 - links page

U.S. Draws India Into The Afghan "War"  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21532.htm
Must Read - A quote...."Islamabad will be chuckling with pleasure. The parameters of its foreign policy, which Indian diplomacy rubbished for decades, are finally gaining habitation and name. The heart of the matter is that India has made itself vulnerable to U.S. pressure. Of all Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries that are exposed to the danger of militancy, India is the only “non-combatant” threatened with a spill-over. The Central Asian countries bordering Amu Darya, though much weaker than India, have marvellously insulated themselves from the pernicious fallout from the Hindu Kush. So has China’s Xinjiang. So indeed has Iran despite robust efforts by the U.S.-British intelligence to inject the virus of terrorism into its eastern provinces. Certainly, Moscow managed to insulate Chechnya too." -- For more on this issue see....Viral-Neocons : A clinical medical diagnosis. - 05-25-06 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/viralneocons-essay-mpg-052606
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Herding Humans For Profit  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21538.htm
A quote...."December 26, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" -- - Basically, the Pentagon and the CIA are working in tandem to force targeted nations like India and Pakistan to accept the decision which has been made to "outsource" the terror war to them and other patsy nations like them. Agency contract hits like the Mumbai attack and bombings in FATA are blamed on "al Qaida" by the government-controlled media in the West and in the media controlled by the "patsy" foreign governments. Biased, hate-based reporting serves to drive patriotic fervor to a frenzied state. The duplicitous leaders in those countries then carry-out America's will, to set them upon a path to war, in effect, driving their own people into a "kill trap" where unwanted war is forced upon them. This pattern prevails all over the earth, wherever the US has imperial designs. We are all being herded into a global war trap, some call it world war III." -- also posted at Uruknet
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Must Read -- "US[-NRE is] a lying sack of warmongering sh*t, even in 1915: Secret of the Lusitania: Arms find challenges Allied claims it was solely a passenger ship   ---  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1098904/Secret-Lusitania-Arms-challenges-Allied-claims-solely-passenger-ship.html  ---  20 Dec 2008 Her sinking with the loss of almost 1,200 lives caused such outrage that it propelled the U.S. into the First World War. But now divers have revealed a dark secret about the cargo carried by the Lusitania on its final journey in May 1915. Munitions they found in the hold suggest that the Germans had been right all along in claiming the ship was carrying war materials and was a legitimate military target. Winston Churchill, who was first Lord of the Admiralty and has long been suspected of knowing more about the circumstances of the attack than he let on in public, wrote in a confidential letter shortly before the sinking that some German submarine attacks were to be welcomed. [Sound familiar?]" - Paragraph quoted from CLG  ---  http://www.legitgov.org/
Article also posted at ICH  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21530.htm
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Al Qaeda is More of a U.S. Propaganda Campaign than a Real Organization
  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/12/former-british-foreign-secretary-al.html
A quote...."Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote....

"Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."

"Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told the Senate that the war on terror is "a mythical historical narrative"."
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Is the ‘New World Order’ Changing Yet Again?  ---  http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/articles/2008/12/26/siddiqi_is-the-new-world-order-changing.html
Must Read -- Not if there's a single IOU, Bond, or Synthetic Debt Instrument, (CDOs, SIMs, CDSs, etc.) that can be sold to willing suckers so they can unwillingly help fund this nation's wealthy elites' relentless and bloody campaign to implement the PNAC Protocols.  Not while these wealthy elites have a single additional dollar they can print and pawn off to others.  Not while the DemoRepubs are in charge of this "Racket".
  ---  http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm  ---  Not while a single breath of political life remains in that murderous duopoly party's decayed, leprous, diseased, stinking corpse.....It's really that simple - mpg -- A quote...."All this was done for “good causes”, people of the world were told. It was necessary to “rid the world of terrorism”, to “liberate people from tyranny”, to destroy “the axis of evil” and to eliminate threats to the security of the West. --  The real agenda was, however, different. They were out to demolish unfriendly regimes under the garb of “ushering in democracy”, splinter and remap the Muslim world, crush Islamic groups opposed to US policies, grab energy resources, extend hegemony into former Warsaw Pact countries and Soviet Republics, promote the interests of American military industrial complex that thrives on war, terrorize the world into submission and financially gain from the resulting chaos. Like a drunken cowboy, America was wildly shooting off the hip – totally out of control."
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The Bloody Career of Admiral Dennis C. Blair - Obama's New Intelligence Chief Ran Interference for Indonesia's Butchers
  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/simpson12262008.html  ---  A quote...."Two days after the massacre, the Pentagon dispatched Blair two days later to meet with Wironto and demand that he disband the militias and allow a fair vote in East Timor. Instead, Blair offered assurances of continued US support for the TNI and invited Wironto to Pacific Command Headquarters in Hawaii as his personal guest. According to top secret CIA intelligence summary issued after the massacre, however (and recently declassified by the author through a Freedom of Information Act request), “Indonesian military had colluded with pro-Jakarta militia forces in events preceding the attack and were present in some numbers at the time of the killings.”
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Top Ten Myths about Iraq, 2008  ---  http://www.juancole.com/2008/12/top-ten-myths-about-iraq-2008.html
A partial list of some of the more egregious lies currently being circulated by this nation's mass-infotainment system, and its gunuflecting, utterly shameless presstitutes. - mpg
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Remembering Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter--Is Our Conscience Dead?  ---  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11497
A quote...."On the news today of the death of Harold Pinter, the winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature, I remembered hearing his Nobel Laureate lecture/acceptable speech. I was in London in December, 2005 speaking at the annual Stop the War conference when Pinter delivered his speech—not in Oslo, as Pinter was very sick and could not travel, but in London via TV link."
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Seymour Hersh: "After 9/11 We Became a Different Country" - posted at AlterNet  ---  http://www.alternet.org/images/home/splash/splash2.php
  ---  http://www.alternet.org/rights/114994/seymour_hersh%3A_%22after_9_11_we_became_a_different_country%22_/
A quote...."Asharq Al-Awsat, London -- In this interview, Asharq Al-Awsat speaks to veteran American reporter Seymour Hersh, who, four years ago, exposed the now infamous prison abuse scandal of Abu Ghraib in Iraq at the hands of U.S. soldiers."
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Bush's $1 Trillion War on Terror: Even Costlier Than Expected  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081226/us_time/08599186836700
Some quotes...."The news that President Bush's war on terror will soon have cost the U.S. taxpayer $1 trillion - and counting - is unlikely to spread much Christmas cheer in these tough economic times. A trio of recent reports - none by the Bush Administration - suggests that sometime early in the Obama presidency, spending on the wars started since 9/11 will pass the trillion-dollar mark." -- "But many Americans may suffer a moment of sticker shock from the conclusions of the CSBA report, and similar assessments from the Government Accounting Office and Congressional Research Service, which make clear that the nearly $1 trillion already spent is only a down payment on the war's long-term costs."
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Unscripted: Green Zone Theater and the Shoe Drama  ---  http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14527
A quote...."The plot, so unexpectedly, thickened in Iraq on a Sunday like no other. The two main actors - US President George W. Bush, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki – took to the stage to perform another well-rehearsed press conference. The scripts were ever so predictable: Bush to tout the ‘progress’ achieved in Iraq, while al-Maliki to express gratitude for the freedom bestowed on his country. Both men were to caution from overstated optimism, and to forewarn of the great challenges that are yet to come. The two partners were to shake hands, smile and walk away. Things, however, didn’t go according to plan on Sunday, December 14. -- A surprise appearance by till then little-known Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi provided a most unpredictable conclusion to the public performance regularly held in Baghdad’s Green Zone theater."
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Spain PM says no more troops for Afghanistan  ---  http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/26/europe/EU-Spain-Afghanistan.php
A quote...."MADRID, Spain: Spain's prime minister says he has no plans to expand his country's contingent of peacekeepers in Afghanistan. - Within days, the government will eliminate a 3,000-person limit on the number of Spanish soldiers who can be stationed abroad."
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Robert Fisk’s World: How can anyone believe there is 'progress' in the Middle East?
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-how-can-anyone-believe-there-is-progress-in-the-middle-east-1212434.html
Must Read - A quote...."Let's kick off with the man who is not going to change the Middle East, Barack Obama, who last week, with infinite predictability, became Time's "person of the year". But buried in a long and immensely tedious interview inside the magazine, Obama devotes just one sentence to the Arab-Israeli conflict: "And seeing if we can build on some of the progress, at least in conversation, that's been made around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a priority." -- What is this man talking about? "Building on progress?" What progress? On the verge of another civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, with Benjamin Netanyahu a contender for Israeli prime minister, with Israel's monstrous wall and its Jewish colonies still taking more Arab land, and Palestinians still firing rockets at Sderot, and Obama thinks there's "progress" to build on?"
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Israeli Gaza raid kills 180, wounds 800  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79641&sectionid=351020202
BREAKING NEWS - Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:55:33 GMT  -- A quote...."Israeli warplanes have carried out a massive airstrike on Hamas security compounds inside the Gaza Strip....." -- "At least 180 people have been killed and 800 other Palestinians have been wounded in the Israeli blitz, a Press TV correspondent reported from the Gaza Strip. Television footages showed the bodies of dead people including men, women and children on Gaza streets." -- "Israel F16 bombers and apache helicopters carried out at least 30 simultaneous raids on at least 30 separate targets in Gaza City." -- bold by website editor
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Q&A:  Israel Bars Credible Observers from Gaza  ---  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45232  ---  Well....now we know why, don't we? - mpg
A quote...."UNITED NATIONS, Dec 26 (IPS) - The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay last week lambasted the Israeli government for detaining and expelling a human rights expert, Richard Falk, who was on a U.N.-mandated assignment to probe the human rights situation in the occupied territories."
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No Democracy in Palestine as Fatah postones Convention
  ---  http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/no-democracy-in-palestine-as-fatah-postpones-convention/
A quote...."With the `peace process` going nowhere, and beset by chronic internal divisions, Fatah has once again postponed convening its long-overdue Sixth Congress. The last time Fatah held its general congress was in Algiers nearly 20 years ago."
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Russian president signs law to ratify Caspian gas pipeline deal  ---  http://en.rian.ru/business/20081226/119191548.html
A quote...."MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law to ratify an agreement with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to build a natural gas pipeline along the Caspian coast."
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Serbia joins Southern Stream  ---  http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20081225/119173060.html
A quote...."MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin) - On December 24, Catholic Christmas Eve, the Slavic gas transit system strengthened its position: Dmitry Medvedev and Serbian President Boris Tadic signed several agreements on oil and gas at a meeting in Moscow."
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Russia deploys 2nd S-400 missile system  ---  http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=79572&sectionid=351020602
A quote...."Russia deploys missiles fitted with S-400 Triumf air defense system, which can hit target at a distance twice the range of the US Patriot."
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Russia selling surface-to-air missiles to Libya, Syria: report  ---  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081226/wl_mideast_afp/russiaegyptsyrialibyavenezueladefence
A quote...."MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia has begun to fulfil a 250-million-dollar contract to deliver surface-to-air missiles to seven countries including Libya, Syria and Venezuela, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. -- Russia will also deliver the S-125 Pechora-2M missile batteries to Egypt, Myanmar, Vietnam and Turkmenistan under the contract, the newspaper said, citing a source in the state-owned Russian Technologies corporation."
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The Mumbia Attack - 2 Articles - Friday - [ Day 29 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

Welcome Mossad !  ---  http://www.countercurrents.org/gatade241208.htm
Must Read -- A quote...."The discussion and debate generated by the bloody terror attack in Bombay allegedly carried out by the dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba still continues. While relations between India and Pakistan have reached a new low, the only saving grace of the unfolding situation is that the war of words did not transcend the level of rhetoric and ruling elites of both countries showed wisdom in not precipitating the matter further. " -- Well it was a nice thought anyway, one which has just been eclipsed by more recent events.  See the article shown below....
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Pakistan Shifts Troops From Afghan Border to Indian Border - http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/26/pakistan-shifts-troops-from-afghan-border-to-indian-border/
A quote...."Following through on an action it threatened nearly a month ago, [Demonstrating the Pakies remarkable patience, despite India's repeated attempts to escalate the situation.] the Pakistani military today began shifting thousands of its troops away from the Afghan border region, where it has been mired in fighting against assorted militant groups, and massing them along the Indian border in preparation of a potential war with its long-time rival." -- bold/underline by website editor -- This action, part of a chain of events that started with what may very well turn out to be a "false-flag" operation which involved elements from within India, along with support from the Saudi Royals, Mossad and CIA, will increase tensions along the Pakistan and Indian borders and will help strengthen al-Qaeda's position in Pakistan and even possibly increase their stature versus the Taliban.  Such an outcome would be totally in keeping with all the other things that have happened during the last eight years of the US-NRE’s so-called "war on terror"
  --- http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306  ---   ....what an absolutely amazing coincidence. - mpg
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For more on this issue see also....Al Qaeda - Always There for the US Elites - 03-09-08 - mpg
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/blotterminiblogs/alqaedaalwaysthere4theuselites-blog-mpg-030908
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End - The Mumbia Attack - 2 Articles - Friday - [ Day 29 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

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9/11 - From The History File...Letter to Secretary Rumsfeld: DOD Contracts with ESSI
  ---  http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:Jfv0sZ9gYioJ:oversight.house.gov/documents/20060405095513-36226.pdf
PDF  ---  http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20060405095513-36226.pdf
Company's Work in Iraq Profited Bush's Uncle
  ---  http://articles.latimes.com/2005/feb/23/nation/na-bucky23
Alt  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0223-05.htm
Is What's Good for Boeing & Halliburton Good for America?
  ---  http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:pFpWj4QDWP4J:www.world
  ---  policy.org/projects/arms/reports/Is_What_s_Good_for_Boeing.pdf
PDF  ---  http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/Is_What_s_Good_for_Boeing.pdf
Ralph Forbes - “151 Congressmen Derive Financial Profit From War”
  ---  http://digitizedrevolution.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/ralph-forbes-151-congressmen-derive-financial-profit-from-war-2/
Boeing Co: Financial Statement - 10 Year Summary
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/results/statemnt.aspx?Symbol=ba&lstStatement=10YearSummary&stmtView=Ann
Boeing 10 Year Stock Chart
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/cachedfiles/boeing10yearstockchart-cached-122608
Who profits from the war in Iraq?
  ---  http://www.endevil.com/warprofiteer.html
War, Incorporated: the profits of mass destruction
  ---  http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol24no2/war.html
Cashing In on Terror
  ---  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071112/truthdig
Boeing - corpwatch - database
  ---  http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=10
Flog Is My Co-Pilot
  ---  http://seattleweekly.com/news/0648/boeing.php
SJ Company Said To Plan Alleged CIA Terror Flights
  ---  http://cbs5.com/local/2.449588.html
Boeing’s CIA ‘spook flights’
  ---  http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C10%5C29%5Cstory_29-10-2006_pg7_37
The C.I.A.’s Travel Agent
  ---  http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/30/061030ta_talk_mayer
Have a Nice Flight  -  Boeing helps CIA fly kidnapped suspects abroad for torture
  ---  http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0706,hentoff,75712,2.html
ACLU: Boeing subsidiary enabled CIA torture activities
  ---  http://www.king5.com/business/stories/NW_053007BUBaclu_boeing_cia_jeppesenJM.253c26f8.html

For more on this issue see....9/11 - NORAD
  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/911norad-weblist-mpg-091308
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En Route to Military Rule  ---  http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w68.html
Special Note - A quote...."We no longer have a civilian-led government." -- This ominous conclusion comes to us from Thomas A. Schweich, who held the title of deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement affairs in the Bush Regime, by way of a December 21 Washington Post op-ed column. Lamenting "the silent military coup d’etat that has been steadily gaining ground below the radar screen of most Americans and the media," Schweich describes the infusion of the military "into a striking number of aspects of civilian government" as "the most unnerving legacy of the Bush administration."
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Wait, Let me Get This Straight; Impeach Blago, But Don’t Look At the Evidence Against Him?
  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/wait-let-me-get-this-straight-impeach-blago-but-dont-look-at-the-evidence-against-him/
a.k.a. "A Gitmo Style Trial" -- A quote...."What? WTF? U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald sent a letter to the Illinois House of Representatives that are looking to impeach Gov. Blagojevich because he has been charged with 2 crimes after being arrested, and Fitzgerald asked them not to look at the details of those charges … when considering  Blogojevich’s impeachment?"  -- Blago's mistake was that he didn't record all of his conversations himself and keep detailed records of EVERYONE he spoke with along with all the deals he concocted in a nice safe place.  No doubt if he had, "they" wouldn't have touched him. - mpg
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A Closer Look at the Pentagon's 'Minerva Initiative'  ---  http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/earlier-this--1.html
A quote...."Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced the first Minerva Research Initiative awards, which will fund social science research on key strategic issues. -- Seven projects were selected out of a total of 211 proposals. The Pentagon will commit a total of up to $50 million to those research efforts." -- also posted at RougeGov  ---  http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=13405
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Islamic Banks Are Surviving the Financial Crisis Better Than Western Banks
  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-islamic-bankers-are-doing-better.html
A quote...."As I have previously written,  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/10/stunning-irony-of-financial-crisis.html  ---  the Islamic banking system may survive the financial crisis better than the Western system because it forbids usury and the buying and selling of debt."
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Visits to U.S. Retailers Fell 24% on Weekend Before Christmas  ---  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=auJbdfD2koc0&refer=home
A quote...."Traffic decreased 6.5 percent for the week through Dec. 20 from a year earlier, ShopperTrak said. The pre-Christmas weekend drop was the biggest since at least 2003. The company uses a sampling of more than 50,000 stores in shopping centers and malls to measure foot traffic, or count the number of customers that enter the locations."
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Japan factory output has biggest fall on record  ---  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmfkCQFvxtt6IXRmfAjmFGTya2yAD95AABU80
A quote...."TOKYO (AP) — Japan's contracting economy got a slew of bad news Friday when government figures showed that industrial production plunged by its biggest margin on record in November, the jobless rate jumped and household spending fell."
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Americans Prefer News From Web Than Newspapers  ---  http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-2764-0-3-3--.html
A quote...."The Internet has surpassed newspapers as the main source for national and international news for Americans, according to a new survey."
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Europe's rail system moving full steam ahead  ---  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/25/DDT114U0DO.DTL
A quote...."High-speed rail is moving ahead at high speed in Europe. Railroads there keep adding new high-speed lines and increasing service, while here in the United States, we keep fretting about the need for better transportation but do little about it. If you're heading for Europe next year, you can try out several new lines, and additional lines will open by summer."
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Thursday December 25th 2008 - links page

No posts. - mpg

 Wednesday December 24th 2008 - links page
Hey Reagan Democrats - Now Do You Get It?  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21528.htm
Must Read - A quote...."The Reagan Democrat (technically, Imbecelicus politici) was always the strangest and most contemptuous of species from the habitat of American politics, as you’ve perhaps already heard. Try to imagine another example from the animal kingdom that could be so readily counted upon to bring harm upon itself and others. There are some of course, but usually they are simply ignorant animals, often with very limited cranial capacity." -- also posted at CounterPunch  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/green12232008.html
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In The Great Tradition Obama Is A Hawk  ---  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20095.htm
Must Read - From the History File, and a good call. - mpg -- A quote...."14/06/08 "ICH" -- -In 1941, the editor Edward Dowling wrote: "The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it." What has changed? The terror of the rich is greater than ever, and the poor have passed on their delusion to those who believe that when George W Bush finally steps down next January, his numerous threats to the rest of humanity will diminish."
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Here Come the Progressives! -- Watch out!  ---  http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13945
Special Note - A uqote...."....what's rising on the left-end of the political spectrum is a new brand of neoconservatism, a "liberal" and even "enlightened" variety of the same old hubris-in-arms that animated the departed warmongers of AEI. You can forget AEI; it doesn't matter that much anymore, now that the Republicans are out of power – but get ready for PPI! -- What the heck is PPI? I can hear you asking that question, and the answer is simple: it's the neocons all over again, albeit this time in "liberal" drag.
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Washington Needs a Makeover  ---  http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/122408.html  ---  And Bombs Away O-Bomb-a ain't it. - mpg
posted at ConsortiumNews  ---  https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/consortiumnews/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2043
A quote...In four weeks, the long national nightmare of George W. Bush’s presidency will come to an end, but the big question then will be whether much will change – even with a solid Democratic majority in Congress and the nation’s first African-American President in the White House."
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Prosecute Bush, Cheney and Co.  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=11311
A quote...."In Your Heart, You Know It's Got to Be Done -- This is no time to let by-gones be by-gones. We must prosecute Bush, Cheney and Co for crimes against the people of the United States and Crimes against Humanity."
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Seasonal forgiveness has a limit. Bush and his cronies must face a reckoning
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/24/george-bush-guantanamo-bay-us-government
A quote...."Heinous crimes are now synonymous with this US administration. If it isn't held to account, what does that say about us?" -- also posted at CommonDreams  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/24-4
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War With Contempt for Civilians Torture, Slaughter and Lies  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley12242008.html
A quote...."In September an Afghan journalist, Jawed Ahmad, was released from a US military prison in Afghanistan where his jailers " broke two of my ribs during the beatings." He worked for Canadian TV and the BBC, among other media outlets, and he had done nothing wrong. That is obvious, because he was freed without charge after a year of hellish treatment at the hands of uniformed filth whose claim to being human is at best feeble. If there had been the slightest genuine suspicion that he had committed a crime he should have been put on trial, but that is not the way the US system works, in these horrible days. Bush policy in Iraq and Afghanistan is never to admit that anyone can be innocent because everyone arrested is automatically guilty. But will it get any better under Obama? Can he alter what has become normal behavior on the part of the robotic minions of the commander-in-chief?"
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Iraq story buried by US networks  ---  http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1770
Must View Video - A quote...."Major networks spend only 2 minutes per week on Iraq war coverage; Lara Logan of CBS joins critique." -- For more on this issue see....Fake Intel / Propaganda - Iraq Death Toll  ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/fakeintell-weblist-mpg-090206#IRAQDEATHS
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"Que Huevos!" Where's al-Zaidi's Pulitzer?  ---  http://www.counterpunch.org/ross12242008.html
A quote...."Que Huevos!" ("What Balls!") grinned Don Juanito the tailor, sipping his tea across the counter and extolling the bravery of Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter who gained instant hero status for hurling his shoes at U.S. president George Bush during a Baghdad news conference last week (Dec. 13th). "He should have thrown clown shoes - that way he wouldn't have missed Bush," Daniel the greeter chimed in. An avid wrestling fan, Daniel was impressed by Bush's stutter step dodge of the incoming missiles. "The shoes must be the weapons that Bush was looking for, no?" smiled Manuel the waiter, "now they will take all the shoes from Iraq!" Berta the nurse invited the crowd to bring their old shoes to the U.S. Embassy here to bid goodbye to George Bush.
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Amid wide Taliban rule, a NATO supply line in Pakistan is choked  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/184846
Special Note -- A quote...."PESHAWAR, Pakistan: This frontier city boasts a major air base and Pakistani Army and paramilitary garrisons. But the 200 Taliban guerrillas were in no rush as they methodically ransacked a NATO supply depot here two weeks ago. -- The militants began by blocking off a long stretch of the main road, giving them plenty of time to burn everything inside, said one guard, Haroon Khan, who was standing next to a row of charred trucks. -- After assuring the overmatched guards they would not be killed — if they agreed never to work there again — the militants shouted "God is great" through bullhorns. They then grabbed jerrycans and made several trips to a nearby gas station for fuel, which they dumped on the cargo trucks and Humvees before setting them ablaze."
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Strong explosions hit foreign trucks parking area  ---  http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2274&Itemid=48
Full quote...."Strong explosions hit the parking area of the foreign forces' supply trucks in Khost province *  ---  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khost_Province  ---  Two strong explosions hit the parking area of the foreign forces’ supply trucks in Khost city, the provincial capital of the eastern province of Khost on Tuesday evening. -- Quqnoos.com reporter said firing is still continuing in the parking area after the explosion. -- There are no reports about the cause of the explosion and the number of civilian casualties so far." - *link added -- also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/184845
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US to Fund Afghan Militias, Applying Iraq Tactic  ---  http://www.truthout.org/122408D  ---  a.k.a. The "Surge" Deux - mpg
Special Note - US-NRE Strategy Note -- The surge into Afghanistan of US-NRE troops means nothing, watch who the US-NRE chooses to back, bribe, co-opt or attack in Afghanistan over the next six to twelve months.  Playing off the ethnic and religious groups against each other in that country will be much more difficult this time around because the differences between them are much less sharply defined then they were in Iraq.  The US-NRE can't simply blow up another Al-Askari Mosque -- http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/falseflagops-weblist-mpg-082006#AL-ASKARI_MOSQUE  ---   to get the desired internal fratricide going.  But it may very well try to do something similar.  –  mpg -- A quote...."Kabul, Afghanistan - The Afghan government will formally start a U.S.-funded effort to recruit armed local militias in the battle against the Taliban in remote parts of the country, exporting the tactic to Afghanistan from Iraq." -- also posted at WarInIraq  ---  http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/184844  ---   For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror
 ---  http://www.reficultnias.org/mikesfiles/weblists/ussupportofterror-weblist-mpg-090306
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'Kidnapper of Iranian diplomat nabbed'  ---  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79435&sectionid=351020101
A quote...."A senior Pakistani official has announced that the mastermind behind the abduction of an Iranian diplomat had been arrested."
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Cold War shivers - posted at OnlineJournal  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3171.shtml
  ---  http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4167.shtml
A quote...."2008 will be remembered as a turning point in Russia’s relations with the West. It was a tumultuous year, with Kosovo, missiles in Europe and NATO’s seemingly relentless march eastward like thunderclouds gathering on Russia’s horizon, which finally burst 8 August over South Ossetia, bringing tragedy to Georgians, triumph and tragedy to Ossetians and Russians, as the Russian army stopped short of Tbilisi in their defence of the plucky Ossetians."
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Iran, Europe, and America After the August [Georgian - South Ossetian] War
  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/15673/iran-europe-and-america-after-the-war-in-august/
A quote...."In a situation where America’s strength becomes a dubious premise, European nations would be forced to revert to the old Eurasian geopolitics, and follow old Eurasian logic."
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Ukraine and Gazprom square off for annual gas row  ---  http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/35241
A quote...."Moscow is threatening to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine over unpaid bills. It follows a statement from Kiev that it won’t be able to clear its debt to Gazprom by the end of the year. Russia says European consumers won’t be affected by the dispute."
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Russia to put 3 Glonass satellites into orbit  ---  http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081225/119162794.html
A quote...."MOSCOW, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will launch a rocket on Thursday to orbit three Glonass navigation satellites from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, a space agency spokesman said. -- Glonass - the Global Navigation Satellite System - is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems allow users to determine their positions to within a few meters."
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U.S. Military Preparing for Domestic Disturbances  ---  http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/military_domestic_use/2008/12/23/164765.html
Military Coup / Dictatorship Alert - A quote...." A new report from the U.S. Army War College discusses the use of American troops to quell civil unrest brought about by a worsening economic crisis. - The report from the War College’s Strategic Studies Institute warns that the U.S. military must prepare for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States” that could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.”
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Will the U.S. Break Up?  ---  http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/12/will-financial-breakdown-cause-break-up.html
A quote...."America now has some 300 million people, 50 states, and more federal, state and local agencies than anyone can possibly list. It is hard to govern such a large, complex and populous system when anything goes seriously wrong. -- And a lot is going wrong right now.
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Five New Jersey men convicted in FBI-concocted Fort Dix “terror” case  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/fdix-d24.shtml
A quote...."A federal court convicted five young men from New Jersey Monday on conspiracy and gun charges for an alleged "terrorist plot" that would not have existed outside of the activities of undercover informants for the FBI."
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Why Al Franken Should NOT Be Riding Private Planes  ---  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/24
A quote...."The tragic and suspicious death of Karl Rove's election thief in chief should send a clear message to Al Franken and other key liberals: don't be riding in any small private planes. Death by air crash now seems to be the favored means of ridding the Rovian right of troublesome characters."
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Michael Connell and Juan Mouriño; What do They Have in Common
  ---  http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/michael-connell-and-juan-mourino-what-do-they-have-in-common/
A quote...."So little info out there on the Mike Connell story from the MSM. Like that is a surprise. Brad blog and few others are working on the story.  But when I first heard the story, I immediately thought of another story from south of the border that also didn’t get much press."
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The Mumbia Attack - 1 Article - Wednesday - [ Day 27 ] ========== ========== ========== ====

Pakistan urges India to accept help offer  ---  http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4BN1ZO20081224?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
A quote...."Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:56pm GMT -- ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's parliament called on India on Wednesday to respond positively to Pakistani offers of cooperation in investigating the Mumbai attacks and condemned "war hype" between the nuclear-armed neighbours."

End -  The Mumbia Attack - 1 Article - Wednesday - [ Day 27 ] ========== ========== ==========

Greed has pushed political credibility and financial trust into freefall
  ---  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/22/congress-us-economy-gary-younge
A quote...."'What an ideology is, is a conceptual framework with the way people deal with reality," Alan Greenspan told the Congressional House oversight and government reform committee on 23 October. "Everyone has one. You have to - to exist, you need an ideology. The question is whether it is accurate or not." As the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, from 1987 to 2006, Greenspan stood at the helm of US monetary policy during the time conditions for the current meltdown were being created." -- An ideology of self-interest is not an ideology, it's just a pathetic attempt to justify unbridled greed and avarice, and in the end, even murder and mayhem. Theories are better, paradigms are better, either they're predictive and accurate or they're not, either way you'll know soon enough. -- mpg
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'PONZI SCHEME' AT CITI  ---  http://www.nypost.com/seven/12042008/business/ponzi_scheme_at_citi_142511.htm
A quote...."A new Citigroup scandal is engulfing Robert Rubin and his former disciple Chuck Prince for their roles in an alleged Ponzi-style scheme that's now choking world banking."
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1/3 of Banks Will Disappear Next Year  ---  http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=975644719
A quote...."Many banks don't have enough money to survive in 2009, but mergers will keep their brands alive, said Ralph Silva of TowerGroup."
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The Fed Is Playing with Fire  ---  http://watchingamerica.com/News/15756/the-fed-plays-with-fire-endangers-the-world/
A quote...."Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, is putting all his eggs in one basket by reducing the interest rate to almost zero, and exhausting all other options."
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Commercial Loan Defaults May Triple as Rents Decline (Update1)  ---  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=78488
A quote...."Lenders that used optimistic rent estimates to grant mortgages beginning in 2005 stand to lose as much as $23.1 billion, or 7.02 percent, of total unpaid balances if landlords lose 5 percent of net operating income, according to Reis. Analysts examined data on 22,890 properties that together may account for unpaid loans of about $329 billion in 2009, said Victor Calanog, director of research." -- bold by website editor
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U.S. jobless claims surge to 26-year high  ---  http://uk.reuters.com/article/email/idUKTRE4BN2FX20081224
A quote...."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped by 30,000 to a 26-year peak last week, government data on Wednesday showed, as the country's year-long recession continued to chill the labour market."
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Australian bank fiasco—a warning of “tougher times” ahead  ---  http://wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/econ-d24.shtml
A quote...."A capital-raising debacle involving one of the country's "big four" banks, the former government-owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), has underscored the fragility of the entire banking and financial system amid rising bad debts and warnings of worse to come."
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Sadly, the worst for the [British] economy is yet to come
  ---  http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/edmund_conway/blog/2008/12/23/sadly_the_worst_for_the_economy_is_yet_to_come
A quote...."According to experts at Capital Economics, next year's gross domestic product will contract by a shocking 2.5pc - the worst single year for growth since 1947. I suspect they are more realistic than most. For digging down into the numbers, it is plain that the worst of the correction has not even been accounted for yet. The savings ratio is up, yes, but this is less a sign of thrift than a technical correction in dividends. As people truly start battening down the hatches in the coming months, that figure will rise more sharply - a good thing in the long run, but in the short run something that will yank down GDP growth even more dramatically."
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A heart-warming tale for the holidays: Fermat's Last Theorem  ---  http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1938
Contains Video - A quote...."Some of the most intense and passionate people that I have ever met in my life have been from the realm of mathematics, consequently over the years I have discovered that I love the story of how  the language of mathematics is used to unveil the unknown more than the intricate details of the language. The following documentary is about some of these people, and how one of humanities greatest mysteries was revealed to the world."
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