Triangulating an Asian Conflict

By Chan Akya

One of the more predictable turns during any US presidential election year is the sheer speed with which issues of longer-term strategic importance are quietly subsumed by a global media fed a steady diet of soap-operatic drama on the candidates, their spouses, born and unborn children and so on. Continue

Obama: Nuclear Iran 'unacceptable'

'Iran a major threat; I would never hesitate to use our military force in order to protect homeland, US interests.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

Iran is a “major threat” and it would be “unacceptable” for the rogue nation to develop a nuclear weapon, Barack Obama said. Continue

Hypocrisy of this Magnitude has to be Respected.

By William Blum

Im sorry to say that I think that John McCain is going to be the next president of the United States. After the long night of Bush horror any Democrat should easily win, but the Dems are screwing it up and McCain has been running more-or-less even with Barack Obama in the polls. Continue

Randy Scheunemann: How Mccain Sees the World

McCain recognizes there are certain people in the world whom you can't use any word other than evil to describe.

By Adam B. Kushner

KUSHNER: Does McCain divide the world into good and evil?
SCHEUNEMANN: He believes deeply that America is a force for good, and he recognizes there are certain people in the world who send children off to be suicide bombers or repress their citizens viciously whom you can't use any word other than evil to describe. On the larger question—does he see the world in black and white, in dividing lines?—absolutely not. Continue

McCain and The Forrestal

By Robert Dreyfuss

Perhaps it is too much to expect McCain, born on a naval air station in the Panama Canal Zone and programmed virtually since birth for his part in the war, to have let his conscience get the better of him. Continue

And Then We Will Die

By Angie Riedel

The US government now confronts every minor inconvenience with brutality and force. With lies. With tricks. With deceit. With unrivaled hypocrisy. It speaks a scripted and rehearsed dialog of illogic and insults. It changes the meanings of words and uses those words as weapons to crush, to silence and oppress, to steal what it wants. Continiue

Jon Stewart : On Sarah Palin Hypocrisy

Video

On "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart hit Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly with damning evidence of their hypocrisy regarding Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Continue

Government to Wipe Out Fannie/Freddie Shareholders by Sunday

By Peter Cohan

And now what could become history's biggest transfer of tax dollars to bail out bad lending begins. Continue

Blast, clashes in northwest Pakistan kills 54: - A pickup truck packed with explosives blew up a police security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan Saturday, killing at least 30 people and injuring dozens more, the day after a foiled militant kidnap attempt led to another 24 deaths in the volatile region.

Pakistan cuts supply lines to Nato forces: In a major development, the federal government of Pakistan announced disconnection of supply lines to the allied forces stationed in Afghanistan through Pakistan in an apparent reaction to a ground attack on a border village in South Waziristan agency by the Nato forces.

Fuel supply to Nato forces ‘suspended’: “An order to this effect has come from Islamabad and the Frontier Corps has been asked to stop oil supplies to Nato forces forthwith,” a senior government official said

Zardari elected Pakistan's president: The widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto became Pakistan's new president after winning a landslide election victory that makes him a critical partner in the US-led war against terrorism.

'Beggar' suicide blast, other attacks kill 21 in Afghanistan: The disguised bomber gunned down a security guard and then detonated explosives at the government offices, with two state prosecutors among his victims, Nimroz provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said.

Two NATO occupation force soldiers killed in eastern Afghanistan: Two soldiers of the NATO-led occupation force were killed in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the alliance said.

US military trained Georgian commandos: The revelation, based on recruitment documents and interviews with US military trainers obtained by the Financial Times, could add fuel to accusations by Vlad­imir Putin, Russian prime minister, last month that the US had “orchestrated” the war in the Georgian enclave.

US unloads aid to Georgia, Russians eye every move: As nearby Russian forces watched intently, a U.S. Navy ship unloaded 17 tons of humanitarian aid to a strategic Georgian port that was devastated in last month's war between Russia and Georgia.

Kremlin-watchers warn of direct U.S.-Russia clash: In the aftermath of last month's war between Russia and U.S.-backed Georgia, Kremlin-watchers in Moscow are worried that Russia and America are closer to direct confrontation than at any point since the end of the Cold War.

Russia backed over Georgia, angry at US: Russia has won backing over Georgia from six heads of ex-Soviet states and hit out at the United States for sending a navy flagship to a key Georgian port where its troops have been patrolling.

Try not to laugh: Cheney says Russia's actions in Georgia an 'affront to civilized standards'. He also says NATO enlargement must continue as the allies see fit, despite Russia's

Russia a nation 'to be reckoned with': "Russia will never allow anyone to infringe upon the lives and dignity of its citizens. Russia is a nation to be reckoned with from now on," he said.

Try not to laugh: Cheney to Peres: Russia supplies weapons to terrorists: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Shimon Peres on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti forum on the edge of Italy's Lake Como on Saturday, telling the Israeli leader that Russia is selling arms to Damascus and Iran with the clear knowledge that they are being channeled to Hezbollah and terror groups in Iraq.

Allegations of Israeli Plan to Attack Iran from Georgia: Deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, Sergei Markov, seems to have alleged an even more aggressive plan on Israel's part.

Vladimir Putin set to bait US with nuclear aid for Tehran: The Kremlin is discussing sending teams of Russian nuclear experts to Tehran and inviting Iranian nuclear scientists to Moscow for training, according to sources close to the Russian military.

Ahmadinejad: US Empire sinking: "The era of (United States) unilateral supremacy on world affairs through flexing muscles has come to an end," President Ahmadinejad said during a visit to China on Saturday.

At least 9 killed, 50 wounded in another bloody day of US occupation: At least nine people were killed in three attacks in Iraq on Saturday, including a car bomb in a northern Iraq market that claimed six lives and wounded 50, police and security said.

'CIA helped draw up dodgy Iraq war dossier for No 10': MI6 chief John Scarlett, then chairman of the Government's Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), turned to the foreign country as final touches were put to the now discredited dossier, it has emerged

US spying on Maliki angers Iraq: "If it is true, it reflects that there is no trust and it reflects also that the institutions in the US are used to spying on their friends and their enemies in the same way," said Mr Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman of the Iraqi government.

Iraq does not need agreement violating country's sovereignty – Iraq’s Vice President : "We do not need the agreement unless it guarantees sovereignty conditions, taking Iraq out from the UN charter seven, and assures the implementation of the Iraqi law in general," al-Hashemi said during a visit to al-Adhamiya neighborhood in Baghdad

Report: UN to demand Israel pay Lebanon $1 billion in reparations: The United Nations will require Israel to pay Lebanon nearly $1 billion for environmental damages caused during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Saturday.

Biden: Israel will be more protected with Obama: Democratic vice presidential candidate addresses Jewish pensioners near Miami, declares Jewish state's security to improve if Obama is elected president

Haiti tropical storm toll soars to nearly 500: Nearly 500 people have died in the Haitian port city of Gonaives due to flooding caused by tropical storm Hanna, police have said, warning that more bodies could still be found.

U.S. to take control of Fannie and Freddie: reports: The two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) own or guarantee almost half of the country's $12 trillion in outstanding home mortgage debt.

Silver State Bank in Nevada is shut: Regulators shut failed Silver State Bank in Nevada; 11th bank failure this year

Bank Tied To John McCain's Son Goes Under: Andrew K. McCain, a son of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, sat on the boards of Silver State Bank and of its parent, Silver State Bancorp. Andrew McCain also was a member of the bank's audit committee, responsible for oversight of the company's accounting.

9% of homeowners are late with bill or in foreclosure, study says: An industry group says a record 9.2% of American homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, as damage from the housing crisis continued to mount.

05/09/08

Murder In Pakistan

US attack inside Pakistan threatens dangerous new war

By Peter Symonds

The attack was unprovoked. US troops landed by helicopter in the village of Jalal Khei in South Waziristan at around 3 a.m. and immediately targetted three houses. The engagement lasted for about 30 minutes and left between 15 and 20 people dead, including women and children. Continue

Turning Away From American State Terrorism

By: Peter Chamberlin

In Pakistan we find the complete history of the American “war on terrorism,” from its Cold War origins nearly thirty years ago to its present incarnation in the illegal American aggression in Pakistan’s Frontier region (FATA, Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and in American attempts to reignite the Cold War with Russia. Continue

U.S. Spied on Iraqi Leaders, Book Says

Woodward Also Reveals That Political Fears Kept War Strategy Review 'Under the Radar'

By Steve Luxenberg

During the interviews with Woodward, the president spoke of the war as part of a recentering of American power in the Middle East. "And it should be," Bush said. "And the reason it should be: It is the place from which a deadly attack emanated. And it is the place where further deadly attacks could emanate." Continue

10 Reasons Why We Need a New (Cold?) War

By Gary Corseri

Haven’t the Putin reforms gone far enough?  Wouldn’t we rather have a good-ole-boy vodka-boozer like Yeltsin in place, selling off the state’s resources to well-placed Russkie frat-boy-like oligarchs close to Western frat-boy-like oligarchs? Continue

Ichabod!

By Laurence M. Vance

It wouldn’t normally matter whom the Republican Part