America’s Dismal Future

By Paul Craig Roberts

Allegedly, the US is a superpower and Israel is a client state whose very existence depends entirely on US military and economic aid and diplomatic protection. Yet, in the real world it works the other way. Israel is the superpower and the US is its client state. Continue

From the River to the Sea

By Gilad Atzmon

Let’s once and for all stop getting excited about America mounting pressure on Israel to freeze West Bank settlements. The entire fascination with the topic is a product of Zionist spin. It is there to divert attention from the root cause of the conflict: Continue

How the US Funds the Taliban

By Aram Roston

"The American soldier in me is repulsed by it," he said in an interview in his office at FOB Shank in Logar Province. "But I know that it is what it is: essentially paying the enemy, saying, 'Hey, don't hassle me.' I don't like it, but it is what it is." Continue

A Morally Bankrupt Military
When Soldiers and Their Families Become Expendable

By Dahr Jamail

According to military records, over 43,000 troops classified as “nondeployable for medical reasons” have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Continue

Lack Of Health Care Killed 2,266 US Veterans last Year: Study

By AFP

The number of US veterans who died in 2008 because they lacked health insurance was 14 times higher than the US military death toll in Afghanistan that year, according to a new study. Continue

Slavery Still Has Defenders

Business Aims to Relax Bans on Products Made with Child & Slave Labor

By David Sirota
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That corporations' advocacy for deregulation has now become so brazen that they are effectively pushing the U.S. government to endorse child slave labor is predictable. Continue

27 killed in Waziristan assault: Pakistani troops have killed 22 Taliban militants during the ongoing military offensive the country's restive north-western region, the army said Thursday. Five soldiers also died and eight more were injured in the clashes that took place in various areas of South Waziristan

10 Pakistani soldiers killed in clashes: At least 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed today when troops encountered the stiffest resistance yet during a four-week offensive against the Taliban, military and security officials said.

Iran consulate official killed in Peshawar: Unknown gunmen have shot dead a local official at Iran's consulate in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar.

Afghanistan: Over 2,000 civilians killed in first 10 months of 2009: Armed conflict in Afghanistan claimed the lives of over 2,000 civilians from January to October 2009, and the numbers are rising, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

US Afghan mission 'not open-ended': President Barack Obama has warned that the US commitment to Afghanistan is 'not open-ended' and that he does not plan to accept any of the options presented by his advisors, a White House official says.

Obama Asks for New Afghan Options: Video: President Barack Obama won't accept any of the Afghanistan war options before him without changes as concerns soar over the ability of the Afghan government to secure its own country one day.

Blaming Karzai: : U.S. envoy to Afghanistan warns about sending more troops: Ambassador Karl Eikenberry had sent classified cables in the past week expressing strong reservations about President Hamid Karzai's erratic behavior and corruption in his government

Afghanistan’s Oil Binge: 22 Gallons of Fuel Per Soldier Per Day: The U.S. military consumes 22 gallons of fuel per soldier, per day. And each gallon costs $45 or more to haul to the battlefield. Actually, $45 per gallon is a lowball estimate; according to the Navy, it’s more like $300 to $400.

UK: Row over bonuses for MoD staff: "Every foot soldier is basically earning nothing. But they can give these huge bonuses while our boys give up their lives," the mother of three said.

Attacks kill 2 paramilitary members in Iraq: Two Awakening Council group members were killed and five people injured in two separate attacks in and near Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said.

US security firm in Iraq bribe row: The New York Times says quoting former top executives at Blackwater Worldwide that the US security contractor sent about $1 million to its Iraq office. The intention was to pay off officials in the country who were angry about the fatal shootings of 17 civilians by Blackwater employees in September 2007

Scahill: Obama may be afraid of Blackwater: "You know who's guarding Hillary Clinton in Afghanistan right now? Blackwater," Scahill told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Tuesday night. "You know who guards members of Congress? Blackwater. They have half a billion dollars in contracts in Afghanistan right now.

KBR improperly billed for security guards, senator says: KBR, the largest contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, improperly billed the Pentagon and was paid about $103 million for armed security guard services, a U.S. senator says.

U.S. adviser to Kurds stands to reap oil profits: Galbraith, 58, son of the renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith, stands to earn perhaps $100 million or more as a result of his closeness to the Kurds, his relations with a Norwegian oil company and constitutional provisions he helped the Kurds extract.

Iran consulate official killed in Peshawar: Unknown gunmen have shot dead a local official at Iran's consulate in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar.

Teheran urges Russia to deliver S-300: "We have a contract with Russia to buy S-300 missiles. I don't think it is right for Russia to be seen in the world as a country which does not fulfill its contractual obligations," AFP quoted Iranian Defense Minister Vahidi as telling the ILNA news agency.

Nasrallah slams Obama Israel 'bias': The leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah has accused Barack Obama, the US president, of "absolute bias" in favour of Israel and of disregard for the dignity of Arabs and Muslims.

Palestinian poll delay recommended: Electoral body informs Mahmoud Abbas about its inability to organise polls on January 24.

Alleged Jewish terrorist: I know God is pleased : Court charges Yaakov (Jack) Teitel with murdering 2 Palestinians, attempted murder and incitement.

Yemen, US sign military deal as country fights rebels: Yemen has signed an agreement with the United States for cooperation on military intelligence and training, its official news agency reported, as the Arabian peninsula state faces a worsening rebellion in the north.

Yemen seeks US help to quash Houthis: Under the military pact, Washington will provide the Yemeni army with intelligence and training to strengthen cooperation in the 'extermination of terrorism, smuggling and piracy', Saba quoted Yemen's Chief of Staff Ahmed Ali al-Ashwal as saying.

Judge shot dead in Somalia: A judge who jailed pirates and members of Somalia's anti-government group, al-Shabab, has been shot dead in Bossaso, a port in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, police say.

S Korea 'will pay dearly for sea clash': The navies of the two sides clashed off the countries' west coast Tuesday for the first time in seven years, leaving a North Korean naval boat severely damaged.

Ugly Truth: Most U.S. Kids Sentenced to Die In Prison Are Black: The U.S. stands alone in the world in condemning thousands of juveniles to life without parole. And race is a huge factor. Will the Supreme Court even consider it?

America's dirty little secret: Influence wielded by coal-producing states – 25 of them – is the big reason the U.S. is a climate-change laggard

Budget 'disasters' await ten US states: Nine US states have joined California in the club of the worst financially-hit states which face a fiscal 'disaster' over America's reeling economy, a report says.

November 11, 2009

US Is Doing No Good in Afghanistan

By Malalai Joya

As an Afghan woman who was elected to Parliament, I am in the United States to ask President Barack Obama to immediately end the occupation of my country. Continue

From Gaza to Pakistan
The Cost of War Abroad and at Home

Must Watch Video

Kathy Kelly co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare, and co-founded Voices in the Wilderness, a group which had openly defied economic sanctions from 1996-2003 by bringing medicines to children and families in Iraq. Continue

A Nation Of Destroyers

What You Didn't Know About The War

Video

Click to view

US Denies Pakistan Nuclear Report

By Al Jazeera

Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer prize-winning writer, said in his report that the US and Pakistan have agreed on a security protocol allowing a special US team to assist in the guarding of Pakistan's nuclear armaments. Continue

Remembering Veterans and the Dead

Blood on Their Hands

By Eamonn McCann

"I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust." Continue

1948 Again, in Sheikh Jarrah

Heroism in a Vanishing Landscape

By Ellen Cantarow

"Disputed” is a word often used about East Jerusalem and homes in Sheikh Jarrah. Would the international community have considered the homes of American blacks attacked by the Ku Klux Kla as “disputed”? Or those of Jews ejected by Brown Shirts in the early 1930s? Continue

Cut Off Economic and Military Aid to Israel?

Department of Meaningless Gestures

By Stephen M. Walt

There's no way to cut the aid package so long as Congress is in hock to AIPAC and the other groups in the status quo lobby. Continue

Day That Shook the World

By Eric Margolis

In 1975, physicist Andrei Sakharov and a group of fellow Soviet academicians warned the Kremlin leadership that unless the nation’s ruinous defense spending was slashed and funds refocused on modernizing the nation’s decrepit, obsolete industrial base and its wretched state agriculture, the Soviet Union would collapse by 1990. Continue

Mishkin's Bubblenomics and the Crash of '08

By by Mike Whitney

At some point, the avalanche of asset liquidation, writedowns and defaults will thunder from the mountaintop sending stocks into hibernation while the anemic greenback stages a comeback. Continue

Still Waiting for Health Care

By Ralph Nader

The House of Representatives debate on the health insurance "reform" is over with the Democrats failing the people and the Republicans disgracing themselves as having left their minds back in the third grade (with apologies to third graders). Continue

Hedge Fund Perps Walk Free

Will Anyone Ever Go To Jail In Connection With Wall Street Crimes?

By Danny Schechter

Senator Christopher Dodd and fellow Senate Democrats are proposing to scale back the regulatory authority of the Federal Reserve and eliminate the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, among many other provisions in a new 1,136-page bill made public on Tuesday. Continue

39 killed in Colombia clashes: Nine soldiers and at least 30 rebels were killed in clashes in the southwestern Colombian province of Cauca, the Colombian Army said Tuesday.

U.S. and Colombia bases deal signed, but what are the real intentions?: After several months of secrecy and controversy, on October 28th the US and Colombia signed an agreement to allow the US military extensive access to seven Colombian bases, notwithstanding serious concerns about true intentions and eventual consequences.

10 Pakistan troops killed: A LANDMINE and separate ambush killed 10 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border on Wednesday, in a sign that violence is spreading away from the frontlines of an anti-Taleban offensive.

9 killed in South Waziristan: : According to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) handout, the militants were killed in an intense exchange of fire that took place at a newly-established check post at Fort Knoll. Security forces lost two lives, including an officer.

Musharraf warrants to be executed, NA told: Opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was cheered by desk-thumping from both opposition and treasury benches as he lambasted Mr Musharraf for ‘using such (insulting) words against the elected president of Pakistan’ and, while demanding a government response to it, repeated his Pakistan Muslim League-N’s demand for a high treason trial of the former army chief for his violations of the Constitution.

Suicide raid against NATO occupation force troops kills 2 Afghans: A suicide bomber targeted a convoy of NATO-led forces in Zabul province south of Afghanistan Wednesday killing two civilians and destroyed a military vehicle, military officer at the site of incident Ghulam Jilani Khan said.

1 killed, 2 injured in roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan: A roadside bomb planted by Taliban militants in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province exploded, killing one person and injuring two others on Wednesday, provincial governor Mohammad Omar said.

Afghan Red Crescent angry after NATO-led occupation forces storm compound: The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) expressed anger on Tuesday at NATO-led troops who used explosives to storm a Red Crescent compound and temporarily detain two aid workers.

Taliban expands control of Nuristan: Taliban fighters are expanding their control of Afghanistan's Nuristan province, an area they claim to have recaptured from US occupation troops. Their leaders say they have appointed some local officials and reopened schools.

Veterans To Obama: Do Not Escalate: An Afghanistan War veteran will travel to D.C. to deliver this message to the White House. Make sure your voice is heard.

3 people killed in gunfire, bomb attacks in Iraq: Three Iraqi people were killed, two others wounded, and 16 more detained, including a dean of a college, in separate bomb attacks and gunfire in the provinces of Salahudin and Diyala on Tuesday, police said.

Blackwater Bribed Iraqi Officials After Killing 17 Civilians: Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

The plunder of Iraq’s oil: As the direct result of the Iraq war, major American and other transnational energy conglomerates are now gaining control over some the largest oilfields in the world.

US says Iran violated UN arms embargo: Speaking at the UN Security Council, US deputy ambassador, Alejandro Wolff, and British deputy ambassador, Phillip Parham, raised Israel’s seizure of the cargo vessel on 4 November, during a debate on implementation of the 2006 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli flights over Lebanon break resolution: UN: All Israeli military flights over Lebanon break a resolution aimed at ending the 2006 hostilities between the two neighbors, a UN envoy said Tuesday.

Iran 'ready to aid Yemeni security': Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, made the offer on Wednesday, a day after Tehran warned Middle Eastern governments against interfering in the affairs of the the Arab Peninsula country.

Israel wants answers from Solomon Islands over UN vote: ISRAEL is sending a foreign ministry official to the Solomon Islands next week to seek an explanation as to why it was the only country in Oceania to vote at the UN for the Goldstone report condemning Israel's assault on Gaza.

Power cut hits millions in Brazil: The blackouts came three days after a report on US TV network CBS said that several past power outages in Brazil had been caused by hackers attacking electricity control and distribution systems.

UK: Every phone call, email and internet click stored by 'state spying' databases: Every phone call, text message, email and website visit will be stored for a year for monitoring by the state.

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists: In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

American Sues F.B.I., Saying He Was Detained in Africa: A New Jersey man who contends that he was detained and mistreated in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia in 2007 with the approval of the United States filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against F.B.I. agents and other unidentified American officials who he says interrogated him and threatened him with execution.

Ted Rall: America Sneezes : Failure on H1N1 highlights a bigger crisis: America's lame (non-)response to the swine flu pandemic isn't a big deal. Not compared to, say, the melting of the polar ice cap. It isn't torture. Or war. It pales next to giving hundreds of billions of dollars to wealthy bankers and nothing to homeowners facing foreclosure. But it sure is interesting.

Dollar falls to 15-month low as euro rises: The dollar dropped to a new 15-month low as the the euro rose above $1.50 Wednesday morning, even as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated the administration's stance that a strong dollar is good for the U.S. economy.

November 10, 2009

Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran

US Rep. Cantor: Answer Enemies with Renewed Vigilance'

By Yoni Kempinski

Republican Whip Eric Cantor reminded the 2009 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "the man holding the gun with which he vows to kill Israel and the Jews." Continue

Israeli Jews and the One-state Solution

By Ali Abunimah

With the total collapse of the Obama Administration's peace efforts, and relentless Israeli colonization of the occupied West Bank, the reality is dawning rapidly that the two-state solution is no more than a slogan that has no chance of being implemented or altering the reality of a de facto binational state in Palestine/Israel. Continue

Denying Responsibility for the Wars One Cheers On

By Glenn Greenwald

The NYT columnist who has supported 4 wars on Muslims in 6 years decries the Islamic disregard for human life. Continue

Can Attacks on a Military Base Constitute "Terrorism"?

By Glenn Greenwald

If attacks on soldiers now qualify, how is it possible to exclude many American actions? Continue

Making Wall Street Pay

By Dean Baker

Wall Street's irresponsible bankers caused this economic crisis. It's only fair that they pay to clean up their mess. Continue

What Will It Take to Break Our Trance?

By Doug Page

We are a nation of millions of brainwashed individualists, living, working, and acting under false perceptions of reality as if we were all “Manchurian Candidates.” We have forgotten that government is the only effective institution that we have to protect us from the brute force of the Law of the Jungle. If we do not very quickly awaken from our trance, and act together in a cooperative human community, millions of us will perish. Continue

Suicide bomber kills 32 in Pakistan: Tuesday’s blast is the latest in a series of deadly attacks since the army launched an offensive against the Taliban in the restive tribal belt last month.

Pakistan: Militants killed in security operation in border area: At least seven suspected militants were killed and nine others injured as Pakistani security forces pounded militant hideouts in South Waziristan near the Afghan border

Militants open a new front: The attack appears to be part of a larger plan by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in and around Darra Adamkhel and their allies in Khyber Agency to demoralise the leadership and disrupt the local organised resistance to the militants’ onslaught on Peshawar from the south and south-west of the city.

Pakistani Taliban vow tough guerrilla war: "They thought they would capture Waziristan easily but the fight in Waziristan will be tougher than in Kashmir," he said

Afghan Taliban deny links with Pakistan militants: "Our mission is to eradicate from Afghanistan the US and allied forces … who had invaded our homeland. We have no influence over Pakistani Taliban based in the tribal belt."

US occupation force soldier killed: An American soldier was killed in a landmine explosion in Afghanistan on Tuesday. A statement from headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force

Obama narrows US Afghan strategy to 4 options: Gen. Stanley McChrystal — the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan — has told the president that the U.S. mission there is headed for failure unless the president sends an additional 40,000 troops. Sources tell The Associated Press that the president will add tens of thousands more forces, though probably not quite the 40,000 McChystal is seeking.

Gorbachev Says Obama Should Start Afghan Withdrawal : While he said President Barack Obama would be unlikely to take his advice, Gorbachev said he saw no chance of success even with more U.S. troops.

US will give Karzai measures to end corruption: Clinton signalled the Obama administration's growing impatience with Karzai, declared the victor of a fraud-marred election, when she said the steps are needed to leave "no doubt" as to what Washington expects from the relationship.

Karzai hits back against critics: Afghanistan's president has come out fighting against calls by the US to crack down on corruption, arguing that his government is not solely to blame and saying that the West is in his country only for its own ends.

3 people killed in gunfire, bomb attacks in Iraq: Three Iraqi people were killed, two others wounded, and 16 more detained, including a dean of a college, in separate bomb attacks and gunfire in the provinces of Salahudin and Diyala on Tuesday, police said.

Saudi to continue bombing Yemen rebels: minister: "We are not going to stop the bombing until the Huthis retreat tens of kilometres (miles) inside their border," Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan said on a visit to troops in the southwestern province of Jizan.

Saudi navy blockades north Yemen coast: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday imposed a naval blockade on the Red Sea coast of northern Yemen to combat Shiite rebels along its border, an adviser to the government said, in the latest escalation of fighting in the southern Arabian peninsula.

Iran warning over Yemen conflict: Unidentified parties were adding fuel to the crisis, and attempts to help or to take military action would have negative consequences, Mr Mottaki said. Correspondents say his comments appear to have been intended for Saudi Arabia.

Iran denies involvement in Yemen conflict: The Yemeni rebels said on Tuesday they had taken control of more territory on the border with Saudi Arabia. "Full control was taken last night over Qatabar directorate and control of all supplies and ammunition as well as buildings and other military sites," a rebel statement said.

Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran : U.S. Official Says IAEA Has Evidence Iran Sought Atomic Warhead: A U.S. arms-control official said today there is “strong evidence” Iran sought to develop the means to put a nuclear weapon on a missile prior to 2003 and perhaps afterward.

Obama-Netanyahu talks see no result: The latest attempt by the US president to salvage the Middle East peace talks appears to have come to nothing after his meeting with Israel's prime minister ended with only a brief statement from the White House.

Rahm Emanuel: Dialogue is the only path to peace: The U.S. will remain actively engaged, and Israel's one true friend. The Palestinians must come to the table, recognize Israel's right to exist and reject violence," he went on to say.

French FM: It seems Israel no longer wants peace: France fears that Israel no longer desires a Middle East peace deal, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Tuesday, adding that Paris remained deeply opposed to settlement building in the West Bank.

West Bank rabbi: Jews can kill Gentiles who threaten Israel: Just weeks after the arrest of alleged Jewish terrorist, Yaakov Teitel, a West Bank rabbi on Monday released a book giving Jews permission to kill Gentiles who threaten Israel.

U.S. State Department: Israel is not a tolerant society: Israel dismally fails the requirements of a tolerant pluralistic society, according to a new report from the U.S. State Department.

Benjamin Netanyahu heckled at major US Jewish Conference: Protestors shouted "Peace for everyone, shame on you!" as they were escorted out.

A million infected in Ukraine flu epidemic: minister: Ukraine's epidemic of flu and acute respiratory disorders has now affected more than a million people, the country's deputy health minister said on Tuesday. Vasyl Lazoryshynets said the death toll from the epidemic had risen to 174, as President Viktor Yushchenko warned the country must brace itself for a second wave of infections

Honduras deal collapses, and Zelaya's backers blame U.S.: A U.S.-brokered accord that was supposed to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power has collapsed and his supporters pinned much of the blame Monday on the Obama administration.

Obama honors Fort Hood victims, condemns murders: "No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor," Obama told the crowd on a steamy Texas afternoon. "And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice — in this world and the next."

Marine reservist accused of attacking Greek priest: A Marine reservist was charged with attacking a Greek Orthodox priest he said he thought was a terrorist. Jasen D. Bruce allegedly hit 29-year-old Alexios Marakis over the head with a tire iron and chased him for three blocks Monday evening before Tampa police officers intervened.

Torture Memos Author John Yoo Withdraws from Federalist Society Panel: John Yoo, author of the most infamous of the “torture memos” withdrew as a speaker at the conservative Federalist Society Convention where Alliance for Justice and human rights supporters are scheduled to take action.

UK internet surveillance plan to go ahead: The Home Office says it will push ahead with plans to ask communications firms to monitor all internet use.

China's Premier Warns Obama to Get America's Deficit to an "Appropriate Size": A clear message to the leader of the world's largest debtor nation from its largest creditor.

Commercial mortgage lending down 54%: Commercial and multifamily mortgage lending in the U.S. fell 12 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter and is down 54 percent from year ago levels, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

November 10, 2009

Afghanistan’s Sham Army

By Chris Hedges

American military advisers who work with the Afghan National Army, or ANA, speak of poorly trained and unmotivated Afghan soldiers who have little stomach for military discipline and even less for fighting. They describe many ANA units as being filled with brigands who terrorize local populations, exacting payments and engaging in intimidation, rape and theft. Continue

'These People Just Want To Be Left Alone'

By Real News

Sean Smith spent a month embedded with the US Army's 501st Parachute Regiment in June this year. With inadequate vehicles, relations with Afghan security forces at a standstill and the constant threat of IEDs, the soldiers are losing heart for a fight they feel their presence is only prolonging. Continue

Afghanistan: Karzai Rival 'Withdrew Under US Pressure'

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

The United States put pressure on Afghan president Hamid Karzai's rival, Abdullah Abdullah, to withdraw from the country's presidential race and hand victory to Karzai, sources have told Adnkronos International (AKI). Continue

Admiral Mullen Announces Afghanistan Strategy

Prepare to Nonviolently Resist
By Jeff Leys

Instead, it’s a matter of the Obama Administration now leading us down the path of the most expensive year in war funding since President Bush began the so-called “Global War on Terror” (now morphed into the “Overseas Contingency Operations” under President Obama). Continue

Air Force Document Reveals Intentions Behind the US-Colombia Military Agreement

By Eva Golinger

An official document from the Department of the US Air Force reveals that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon with “…an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America…” Continue

Kucinich Withdraws Amid Uproar over His Israel Stance

By George Bennett

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich lasted less than 24 hours as headliner for the Palm Beach County Democratic Party's annual fundraising dinner after some of the party's elected officials blasted the Ohio Democrat's stance on Israel and threatened to skip the event. Continue

Profit Not Solutions To Hunger

By GRAIN

Corporate investors lead rush for control of poor countries' farmland. Continue

Free Market Flawed, Says Survey

By James Robbins

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new BBC poll has found widespread dissatisfaction with free-market capitalism. n the global poll for the BBC World Service, only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said that it was working well. Continue

The Battle in Seattle; 10 years after WTO

By Mike Whitney

The images of cops dressed in black stormtrooper gear, firing concussion grenades, plastic bullets and tear gas at protesters, business people and shoppers on the streets of America's most self-consciously progressive (and white) city revealed how thoroughly infected the nation's police forces had become with these brutal tactics and anti-constitutional measures. Continue

NATO officials, Afghans claim 130 Taliban fighters killed in Kunduz: However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said only five fighters had died, and called the death toll given by NATO and Afghan officials "propaganda."

Allied occupation forces ‘may abandon most of northern Helmand’: A new strategy for Afghanistan that could lead to a British troop withdrawal from a former Taleban stronghold in northern Helmand province sparked immediate controversy yesterday.

Karzai Claims Mystery Helicopters Ferrying Taliban to North Afghanistan: While the Western press has been occupied recently with accounts of fraudulent elections in Afghanistan and the alleged role of President Hamid Karzai’s brother as a paid CIA agent, a stranger but perhaps more instructive story was playing out in Afghanistan that reveals the rather shallow penetration NATO and Coalition efforts have made in building trust and confidence in that country

Seven security personnel among 17 killed in Pakistan violence : Seventeen people, including six soldier and a policeman, were killed Monday when Taliban militants targeted security personnel with a suicide bombing, rocket attack and a roadside blast in restive north-western region, the officials said.

3 U.S. occupation force personnel killed in Iraq: Three American service members, including two pilots, were killed in two incidents in Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said Monday.

Ex-UK occupation force soldier says colleagues caused Iraqi's death: A former British soldier told an inquiry on Monday into allegations of abuse by British troops in Iraq that he saw two of his colleagues kick and hit a handcuffed Iraqi detainee shortly before he died.

U.S. top brass: Nuclear Iran is existential threat to Israel: Mullen said he would prefer that the U.S. work diplomatically to keep the country from acquiring nuclear weapons, but hinted that should such efforts fail, the U.S. air force and navy could be put into action as well.

Iran accuses Americans of spying: The US government and the families of Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, say they were on a hiking holiday and crossed the Iranian border by mistake.

Headlines Continued

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