Mayan descendants don’t seem to appreciate the government of Guatemala exploiting the Mayan 2012 charade for profit (sarcasm).

Posted by: lizard | Nov 24 2012 20:06 utc | 4

New: Houla Massacre: Burning the Hospital
Research done here

Posted by: CE | Nov 24 2012 20:33 utc | 6

Israel’s Gilad Sharon spills the beans
China’s aviation industry coming of age
Sun Tzu – The Art of War

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Nov 24 2012 23:07 utc | 8

Chinese trade + US military. The average Australian can probably live with that. As long as it doesn’t mean too much Asian immigration.
Posted by: dh | Nov 24, 2012 2:49:11 PM | 2
speaking as an australian .,…NO! to the US military presence

Posted by: brian | Nov 24 2012 23:21 utc | 10

Australians need to recognise that amerika has one interest and only one interest in Oz. That is to maintain their current hegemony over the resources contained within the Australian continent. China has to deal with amerikan corporations to buy australian resources. Anything else is just window dressing. Ask the Fijians what they think of amerikan intervention in the pacific. Frank Bainimarama staged fiji’s 4th and mmost corruptly inspired Fijian coup. The rest of the pacific nations hung tough on Bainimarama refusing him or his govt access to neigbours facilities because he is busy flogging off traditional lands to all comers. Some of whom were Chinese and Indian investors.
So once amerika decided that Hilary needed to make a show of buyin back into the pacific the first thing state dept did was bail out the dictatorship, right as the targetted sanctions against coup leaders and enablers was begining to gain traction and force a return to elections.
Why? For the same reason amerika and its english puppet organised a coup against Gough Whitlam in the 1970’s. It suited their strategic goals and fuck the people who live there, they don’t count.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Nov 25 2012 0:07 utc | 12

Marc — Do you think the Zero-Hedge story is right? If it is, how meaningful is it?

Posted by: Cynthia | Nov 25 2012 2:22 utc | 14

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-sends-warships-off-coast-of-gaza-2012-11
The most significant development from the Gaza war is that the position of the United States as a facilitator of peace has been dismissed and a new sheriff is in town: Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
It’s very difficult to find in the U.S. media the details of the ceasefire agreement arranged by Egypt, but those details signify just how powerful a broker Egypt has become and how Israel is weaker after Obama’s prejudicial actions and coverage in the world press. IOW, this was a dangerous escalating war with rising death tolls and because of a pro-Israel stance, the Obama Administration was powerless to stop the fighting, nor did it care.
The pro-Israel U.S. press misses the story and its significance; so to find this background one must go elsewhere. In this case, Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, today outlines the significance of the ceasefire agreement and the weaknesses that have come to Israel.
QUOTE:
Putting aside the precariousness of the current situation and the accompanying uncertainties, it still seems useful to look at the process by which the ceasefire was brought about, how this sheds light on the changing dynamics of the conflict itself, as well on some underlying shifts in the regional and global balances of forces.
First of all, the role and outlook of the Arab governments was far more pro-active than in the past interludes of intensified Israel/Palestine violence. During the just-concluded attacks, several prominent foreign ministers from the region visited Gaza and were received by the Hamas governing authorities, thus undermining the longstanding Israeli effort to isolate Hamas and exclude it from participation in diplomacy. Egypt played the critical role in brokering the agreement, and despite the Muslim Brotherhood affiliation of its leaders. Mohammed Morsi, the Egyptian President, emerged as the key diplomatic figure, widely praised by the West for his “pragmatism”, which can be understood as meaning his capacity to address the concerns of both sides without intruding his own pro-Palestinian outlook. Indeed, such a brokered agreement inverted what the Americans have brought to the table in past negotiations, a pretension of balance, a reality of partisanship.
Secondly, the text of the agreement implicitly acknowledged Hamas as the governing authority of Gaza, and thereby gives it, at least temporarily, a greatly enhanced status among Palestinians, regionally, and internationally. Its claim to be a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people has now become plausible, making Hamas a political actor that has for the moment been brought in from the terrorist cold. While Hamas remains formally “a terrorist organisation” in the eyes of Israel, the United States, and Europe, throughout this just-concluded feverish effort to impose a ceasefire on the conflict, Hamas was treated as “a political actor” with sovereign authority to speak for the people in Gaza. Such a move represents a potential sea change, depending on whether there is an effort to build on the momentum achieved or a return to the futile Israeli/US policy of excluding Hamas from diplomatic channels by insisting that it be classified as a terrorist organisation. Correspondingly, the Palestinian Authority, and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, have been awkwardly sidelined, overshadowed, and made to appear irrelevant in the midst of this latest terrible ordeal affecting the Palestinian people.
Thirdly, Israel accepted as integral conditions of the ceasefire two sets of obligations toward the people of Gaza that it would never have agreed to before it launched its Pillar of Defence operation: (1) agreeing not to engage in “incursions and targeting of individuals” and (2) agreeing to meet to arrange for the “opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and the transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents free movement, and targeting residents in border areas”. If implemented by Israel, this means the end of targeted assassinations and the lifting of the blockade that has tormented Gaza for more than five years. These are major setbacks for the Israeli policy. The political acceptance by Tel Aviv of a prohibition on targeted assassinations, if respected, renounces a favourite tactic of Israeli governments for many years, which although generally regarded as illegal was still practiced by Israel with impunity. Indeed, the most dramatic precipitating event in the recent controversial unfolding crisis timeline was the killing of Ahmed Jabari on November 14, a military/political leader of Hamas, who at the very time was negotiating a truce relating to cross-border violence.
Fourthly, the role of the United States, while still significant, was considerably downsized by these other factors, especially the need to allow Egypt to play the main role as arbiter. This suggests a regionalisation of diplomacy that diminishes the importance and seriously erodes the legitimacy of extra-regional interference. This is bad news for the Israelis. Turkey, also now a sharp critic of Israel, as well as Egypt played a significant role in defusing the escalating crisis. There exists a revealing gap between the US insistence all along that Israel’s use of force was fully justified because every country has the right to defend itself and the ceasefire text that placed restrictions on future violence as applicable to both sides. After the ceasefire, the United States must make a defining choice: Either continue its role as Israel’s unconditional enabler or adopt a more “pragmatic” approach to the conflict in the manner of Morsi. If it remains primarily an enabler, its diplomatic role is likely to diminish rapidly, but if it should adopt a balanced approach, it might still be able to take the lead in establishing a real peace process that considers the rights of both sides under international law. To make such a shift credible, President Obama would have to make a major speech to the American people explaining why it is necessary to choose between partisanship and diplomacy in reshaping its future relationship to the conflict. However sensible such a shift would be both for American foreign policy but also for the stability of the region, it is highly unlikely to happen. There is nothing in Obama’s resume that suggests a willingness to go to the people to circumvent a dysfunctional outlook in the US Congress.
Fifthly, the United Nations was made to seem almost irrelevant, despite the presence of the Secretary General in the region during the diplomatic endgame. Ban Ki Moon did not help matters by seeming to echo the sentiments coming from Washington, calling attention almost exclusively to Israeli defensive rights. The UN could provide more neutral auspices for future negotiations if it were to disentangle itself from Western geopolitics. To do this would require withdrawing from participation in the Quartet, and pledging a commitment to a sustaining and just peace for both peoples. As with United States, it is highly unlikely that the UN would make such a move, at least not without permission from Washington. As with Obama, there is nothing in the performance of Ban Ki Moon as Secretary General that suggests the willingness and capacity to act independently when the stakes are high.
Sixthly, the immediate aftermath of the ceasefire was a call from the Gaza streets for Palestinian unity, symbolised by the presence of Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine flags all flying in harmonious co-existence. As the New York Times commented, “a rainbow not visible here in years”. If Palestinian unity holds, and becomes a practical reality, including elections throughout Occupied Palestine, it may turn out that the ceasefire is more than a temporary tense truce, but is a new beginning in the long march toward Palestinian justice. (Zerohedge comment)

Posted by: Marc | Nov 25 2012 3:35 utc | 16

Great articles
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/21/presidential-memorandum-national-insider-threat-policy-and-minimum-stand
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/24/274332/aipac-decapitators-inside-us-govt/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/11/24/iran-and-obama-are-the-winners/

Posted by: Marc | Nov 25 2012 5:55 utc | 18

Israeli War Crimes against Palestine: Witness Testimonies

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Nov 25 2012 11:24 utc | 20

Sleepy @ 15 says: “The policies are a given, nothing at all for the electorate to worry its little heads over, despite the fact that in poll after poll, the US public supports deep cuts in military spending and no imperial expansion.”
Yep, and since I believe the long term goal of the trans-nationals is natural resource hegemony around the globe, ignoring the public’s wants will continue.

Posted by: ben | Nov 25 2012 14:41 utc | 22

@ Colm O’ Toole 23
Syrian rebels appear to have Russian SA-24 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
I posted on Oct 18:

I imagine that besides SA-7’s there were also Russian Igla-S (SA-24) shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles that had been sold to Libya and stolen from military warehouses during the rebellion there last year. The SA-24’s have shown up in Gaza. The SA-24 “Grinch” is very dangerous. It has a range of some three miles, a powerful warhead, and a guidance system that lets it find targets at night. It is similar to the U.S. Stinger that so distressed the Soviets in Afghanistan. Introduced in 1983, it can hit a plane at 11,000 feet. It can also down drones and cruise missiles, and helicopters are toast.
“A game-changer” for the Syria rebels, and so Stevens had to be there in Benghazi.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 18, 2012 11:11:45 PM | 12

and KenM came back with:

The Libyan Igla-S systems can’t be fired as stand-alone Manpads – they were part of a truck-mounted system without individual triggering mechanisms.
“>http://www.think-dash.com/2011/03/libyan-sa-24-cant-be-used-as-manpads.html

which linked to:
Libyan SA-24 Can’t Be Used as MANPADS

Libyan SA-24 Can’t Be Used as MANPADS: “A top official from Russian KBM Machine-building design bureau confirmed it was his company that supplied the Libyan government forces with the truck mounted short-range anti-aircraft Igla-S (SA-24 Grinch) missiles recently spotted by the international media.

But certainly the anti-Syria forces have trucks.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 25 2012 15:57 utc | 24

Reuters
China has carried out its first successful landing of a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 25 2012 16:44 utc | 26

There is a lot of psychological warfare going on just now, I guess.
If someone like the Director of Brookings Doha risks his reputation by retweeting stuff like this

Luisa Zangh ‏@LuisaZangh
#URGENT: Residents in #Damas being told either leave or evacuate loved ones as FSA plan major offensives in coming days. #Syria Pls. spread
Retweeted by Salman Shaikh
14h Al Sarraj Al Sarraj ‏@AlaaSarraj
#FSA is gaining ground in Syria. Expect dramatic changes in center of #Damascus soon. Please pray for #Syria and civilian Syrians
Retweeted by Salman Shaikh

then I assume the Syrian regime is pretty secure.
This here is filmed by Russians from the Syrian Arab Army side – use google translate – they seem to have cleared many areas around Damascus.
And this twitter account tried to spread the news that FSA fighters had got access to chemical weapons – he basically informed all the media twitter accounts with accompanying video – no reaction as far as I can tell.
And Turkey now has Kurdish fighters on its borders – clashing with Turkish supported jihadi fighters.
Plus Iran’s Parliament Speaker tours Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 25 2012 17:15 utc | 28

I think it’s possibly red pill versus blue pill time here in the Matrix. With one dose you are soothed by pleasing untruths; yet with the other you see things as they really are. Obama rooting out dual-national Israeli moles in the US government woodwork? Really? That’s maybe a story to feed the Iranians to lull them to sleep. The Iranians are probably not asleep; but they are nodding and smiling and catapulting the fairytale as if they believe it could be real. How stands Morsi and the MB on overthrowing Assad? How stands Turkey on overthrowing Assad? How stands US/Israel/NATO on overthrowing Assad? How stands Saudi Arabia and Qatar on overthrowing Assad? This is all you need to know. Keep your eye on the ball. Accept no substitutes. Half measures will avail you nothing!
The most inconsistent, illogical, erratic part of this fantasy ignores Russian minister Lavrov’s warning that a big war is looming, if the Turkish-Syrian border is more dangerously militarized; the fantasy ignores the Israeli government’s warning that it is about to sink a ship which it claims is bearing missiles to Gaza. There is a lull in the bombing and torment of Gaza. Don’t read too much into it.
Also I think it’s a mistake to underestimate the significance of Morsi’s seizure of illegitimate power; and it’s risky to believe he’s a peace maker, and it’s foolhardy to jump to conclusions as to where his alliances will finally come to rest. And then there is Netanyahu and Obama. Will Netanyahu give up targeted assassinations, ever? Will Obama give up the kill lists, ever? Will either of these men or their delusional societies concede that they are not necessarily God’s favorite people, and thus not divinely sanctioned to act with limitless impunity and savagery, in their own self interest.
I’m afraid that the demonic, banker and finance powers, could be setting the players up for a World War, with Russia , China, Iran & Syria on one end, and US/Israel/NATO and the fundamentalist Gulf States on the other. And Eygpt falling who knows where.

Posted by: Copeland | Nov 25 2012 18:16 utc | 30

@27
Clearly, the syrian army – after many months of good resistance and succesfull operations – is now losing this war.
Why?
Just look at the string of well-documented rebel successes all over Syria in the last 2 weeks alone:
– Capture of an oilfield and the Hamdan military airport in Deir al Zour province
– Capture of the key Mayadeen army base also in Deir al Zour
– Overrunning and keeping several border cities and key supply routes in the North: Maarat al Numan, Saraqeb, Ras al Ain
– The defeat and routing of the 46th regiment near Aleppo
– Attacks on the main military airport of Deir al Zour City
– Laying siege and mounting regular attacks on military airports such as Taftanaz
– As of today: Capture of an airbase including the destruction of some aircraft even close to Damascus
– Continueing inability of the syrian army including special forces to secure Aleppo and Damascus
– Almost on a weekly basis Migs or helicopters are shot down
…
What is puzzling and disturbing is that the retreating/escaping army units not even manage to blast their heavy weapons and ammunition stockpiles. Abandoned facilities are not booby trapped. While the pattern is always the same, namely that rebels – often in hundreds – move into captures compounds to take booty and videotape their victory the airforce regularly misses the opportunity to attack them there and kill huge numbers in addition to destroying the lost material.
Communication and intelligence are the keys, and even there the army is losing. How comes none of the many feared intelligence agencies and spy networks anticipates the rebel offensives? I am not talking about avoiding IED or suicide bombings but finding out in advance when key bases are close to a final attack and taking suitable measures.
In the mean time I am losing belief in the few remaining sites full of daily government victories. Where is the evidence? It´s sad but on video platforms you find hundreds if not thousand clips of succesful rebel operations and ambushes resulting in bombed tanks and APCs, downed aircraft, sniped soldiers, blasted patrols. Definitely some clips are blurry, shaky or otherwise unclear but a huge portion is credible wide-angle filming. It is definitely not any studio in Qatar, unfortunately.
On the other hand the government has not anything even remotely comparable. At best one sees soldiers going through destroyed neighborhoods and being greeted by people. Very rarely one sees one of those many “Dushka backed” jeeps that the army supposedly blasts in dozens every 2 days.
What is other readers opinion?

Posted by: KerKaraje | Nov 25 2012 20:34 utc | 32

@Lysander / 33
The problem is manyfold but the common thing is the apparent lack of coherent strategy and the necessary means on the side of the government.
The rebels are highly mobile and seldom appear anywhere in large stationary concentrations.
They neither have dug any “trenches” nor have they any mentionable fix installations like barracks, checkpoints, airbases, garrissons, intelligence buildings, “headquarters”. Without all these there are few worthy targets an airforce such as Syrias (lacking any precision “guided” missiles) could attack effectively.
The rebels strategy is actually smart, even though to my regret: They destroy or capture bases killing or routing the personell and looting the ammo, but they don´t want to keep them knowing well these places are easy to hit targets for the airforce.
The army failed to take the correct measures. The fear of taking relatively minor casualties resulted in game changes which to reverse would result in much bigger casualties, e.g. the army sent columns of 3-4 tanks along with 2 unarmoured jeeps on narrow roads leading through rebel held countryside. There was no vanguard and no air support. In addition the speed of the convoys was usually slow and the distances between the units too close. The outcome was mostly this: The rebels either set off an IED or blasted the first vehicle with an RPG. All other vehicles stopped immediately. From side valleys or near hilltops the rebels rained machine gun fire and RPGs on the convoy which either killed many and destroyed the vehicles. This pattern was repeated again and again often on the same roads maybe 2km further away in one direction.
The solution could have been sending bigger units with 1-2 helicopters securing the front and the rear. These small skirmished boosted the morale of the rebels and allowed them to take weapons from the army.
To me is totally clear that:
– In order to carry out so many almost simultaneous operations the rebels must have at least 70-80.000 men, much more than the 10-20.000 men as some readers here still believe
– with exception of coptors and jets the rebels weaponry is only slightly inferior to the army: By now they have many mortars and multiple rocket launchers. They lack tanks but they seem to have RPGs in masses, and given the 2-3 tanks they blast on daily average this “lack” seems to be an advantage.
– The rebels have devices that enable secure communication and they have intelligence info (sat or drone pictures…)
– They receive information that Nato, Turkey or other friendly intelligence networks have intercepted regarding the syrian armys movements
These are not formerly unarmed, peaceful, democracy demanding middle and low class workers, villagers or academics that turned to weapons for self-defence. These are (at least semi) professionals.

Posted by: KerKaraje | Nov 25 2012 21:33 utc | 34

there is a wikipedia entry on the battle for Battle of Maarrat al-Nu’man
Seems to have lasted for two month now. Sounds like continuous rebel attacks on supply lines to me.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 25 2012 22:06 utc | 36

@ somebody / 35&36
Thanks for the links, however, none of them shows Maarat was retaken. The second one in summary reports that 2 helicopters and several tanks were destroyed, while the rebels lost some ground on the perimeters of Maarat. At the same time they apparently have been able to attack the army base at Wadi al Deif again.
I think Aleppo will have fallen by mid February. Fallen in the sense that the rebels will gain upperhand and the army must either retreat completely or arm loyal local militias and let them engage the rebels in city fighting. If they do this well the rebels will let much blood in Aleppo.
It seems the syrian army is not in possession of (sufficient) paratroopers. Instead of combing off neighborhoods (which are shortly later “refilled” with new rebel snipers) the army should bring small mobile units to the rear of rebel held cities like Anaden that supply Aleppan rebels with men and weapons. The army should attack the supply lines and then go for the tunnels in the city itself.

Posted by: KerKaraje | Nov 25 2012 22:27 utc | 38

38 it is clear that is the narrative part of the media is pushing for
Though they admit that – on the other hand – it might not be the case.

It is even possible that the regime may yet survive, said Charles Lister of the London-based IHS Jane’s defense consultancy. “Taking a longer term view, you can’t look at an asymmetric conflict and determine whether there is going to be a winning side, and I don’t think we are near the end of the Syrian revolution yet,” he said.

Well it definitively is no “revolution”. The Washington Post is quite open about it:

U.S. and Syrian sources agree that to create military unity, the CIA will have to push friendly intelligence services to pool funding and other support behind a unified command. U.S. officials hope that process will happen over the next month, but rebel leaders fear that this could be too late.
A coherent, non-extremist military structure is crucial, finally, because it could provide the path for an eventual settlement that halts all-out sectarian war. Otherwise, this will be a fight to the death between Assad’s goons and radical jihadists — with poor Syria shattered in the process.

What I see is that Qatari media, think tanks, Washington Post has been pushing for US engagement in Syria recently. I am not sure the Obama administration wants to go there.
I am also not sure how Turkey feels about the independent Syrian Kurdish state on its borders.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 25 2012 23:09 utc | 40

On another subject: Black 9/11: Money, Motive, Technology, and Plausible Deniability
Just released today.

Posted by: Copeland | Nov 26 2012 0:22 utc | 42

Last month (October) the U.S. had receipts of $184,316mn and expenditures of $304,311mn, which resulted in a deficit of $119,995mn (119 billion) or about four billion dollars per day. That wasn’t as bad as February (short month) when the the US lost (and had to borrow) $8.2bn per day. The deficit for the last fiscal year Oct-Sep was about $1.1tn or $2.984 bpd. The U.S. National Debt has risen by $6.5 trillion, or 70%, since 2008.
http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts.pdf
Now you keep losing three or four billion dollars per day, year after year, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. (Don’t try it at home.)
There’s a new theory that says that this deficit doesn’t mean squat — Modern Monetary Theory. MMT says it’s important to understand the government, being sovereign, unlike EU countries for example, is self-funding and can’t run out of money. The government can simply print a trillion-dollar bill or mint a trillion-dollar coin and pay of a trillion dollars of debt. Just like that! Do you buy it?

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 26 2012 1:11 utc | 44

Several years ago on a visit to China, I found myself in a hotel elevator with several imposing gentlemen in the uniforms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There was an agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and China in 2008 to swap 10 million tonnes of copper ore for US$9 billion worth of mine and civic infrastructure. It didn’t work out too well. Meantime, the US got involved because DR Congo has lots of copper and cobalt.
Fast forward to today: The UN has 18,000 “peace keepers” in DR Congo, however they have been ineffective. Several thousand armed predators who call themselves the M23 Movement, supported and directed by neighboring Rwanda, which is supported by the US. In 2011, total US aid to Rwanda was $107.2 million; the 2012 figure is slated at $196.4 million. The M23 was launched by former fighters from the Tutsi ethnic group, the minority group that inhabits both Rwanda and DR Congo.
Inner City Press:
UNITED NATIONS, November 25 — The inaction of UN peacekeepers under Herve Ladsous as M23 mutineers took over Goma and then Sake is one of the biggest UN failures in some time.
latest news from al Jazeera
DR Congo fighters given deadline to exit Goma
Stay tuned. DR Congo will be in the news.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 26 2012 1:43 utc | 46

I liked the comment by Don Bacon at #43 when he said wars must have political coherence and the anti-Syria politics are incoherent. But after thinking about this some more, I think the anti-government politics in Syria is now coherently Islamic. Or at least it has the foundations in place to be so. The rebels are fighting for a new Islamic-type government, and not only do they have God on their side, they have the governments and people of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc on their side, politically, coherently.
Looked at from the angle of the US and UK governments’ point of view, the politics are intractably incoherent. But that’s unimportant if not completely irrelevant.
Most of the Syrian Sunni clerics have supported and continue to support the government. I can’t see them changing their minds about that. From that angle, the politics is incoherent, and it’s relevant.
I agree with KerKaraje that the rebels have recently been having successes, and it forces us observers to increase our foggy estimates about the number of rebels on the ground. KerKaraje estimates 75000 armed rebels. That number is not much less than the number of young men who were protesting on the streets on Fridays in summer 2011. Using that yardstick, there isn’t upside potential for the rebels to increase their numbers.

Posted by: Parviziyi | Nov 26 2012 1:58 utc | 48

Anti-Syrian politics are incoherent. The jihadists don’t like the freshened-up new-model SNC, formed in Doha, promoted by the US and recognized by France and Italy.

BEIRUT: A group of Islamist rebel factions in Aleppo has emphatically denounced the Syrian National Coalition and vowed to establish an Islamic state in Syria, highlighting the newly formed body’s struggle to shore up the ranks of the armed opposition.

The Kurds are fighting with the FSA, the FSA units don’t accept control from FSA HQ in Turkey — the list goes on. So military victories and numbers of terrorists don’t matter, without the politics. This truism has been proven over and over (in failure) by the US military.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 26 2012 2:14 utc | 50

in a typical *work* day, if they aint bombing the hell outta some
third world countries, murkans collar some poodles to play their
silly war *games*
u’d have thought that they do something less lethal for relaxation?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31939.htm
*”They want to be able to fly helicopters, drop out of planes and
shoot at things, and you can’t do that in crowded Okinawa,*
http://www.smh.com.au/national/us-marine-base-for-darwin-20111110-1n9lk.html
poor dears, with nothing to shoot at, what the hell are the *boys*
supposed to do with all that free time in okinawa?
*One recent survey by a school teacher on Okinawa found a
third of his female high school students had been sexually
molested by U.S. soldiers, a violation U.S. base officers have
often dismissed as ‘flirting, because boys will be boys.’ *
http://www.uli-schmetzer.com/vicenza.html
would oz be sofaed like japan, philippines, korea
or does sofa
only applies to the lowly asian n other undermechens ?

Posted by: denk | Nov 26 2012 2:40 utc | 52

Don 44, the question is whether there is any confidence in the currency. The dollar is a unique reserve currency in that, since 1971, it has not been “backed” by precious metals or other reserves. It might be argued that Washington’s hegemony in oil producing Arabia is what underpins the dollar, and that this explains why the US is so heavily invested in maintaining Israel as its enforcer in a widening region.
It also underlines Lysander’s point that the most efficient response to Saudi/Qatari adventures is to encourage opposition to their governments, whereas, in fact, Syria has always been at pains to appease states like the KSA and Jordan and has nothing to say about the enormous injustices of these societies.
The real danger to the dollar, however, comes from within: much of its credibility internationally is based upon the view that the US state is in no danger of being captured by critics of capitalism and that, come what may, the people who run Wall St, and depend upon the
dollar’s credibility abroad, will retain complete control over the government.
If the current bi-partisan campaign to cut social security pensions, medicare, unemployment and other publicly funded benefits is thwarted by popular outrage things might change. But “the markets” sense that the US government is about to take the lead again as every government in Europe, and many others beyond, promotes unemployment, insecurity and poverty while investing massively in the means of repression and social control.
What is going on is no secret: we have seen, with our own eyes, that capitalism has made good trillions of dollars of losses by putting our names, and the names of generations unborn, on the bottom of a pile of notes promising to pay off their gambling debts before spending a cent on such fripperies as health, education and welfare. So long as this continues, and capitalists milk the poor with impunity, there will be no fear that any debts they accumulate will not be paid.
But, just as Riyadh’s interest in Syrian democracy would not last a minute if the people of Riyadh were to insist on some and the National Guard were to refuse to shoot down protesters, so if America’s elderly were to insist on receiving their entitlements, and its youth were to insist on its right to work or to be educated and to share in the land’s bounty, the theory that governments can write any cheques they choose because the people are always dumb enough to honour them, without question, will be seen to be as lame today as it did to Tom Paine when he examined its parent theory- “The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance”- in 1796.

Posted by: bevin | Nov 26 2012 3:04 utc | 54

@51, have you been reading Mosler’s 7 Deadly Innocent Frauds?

This is what happens when all U.S. government debt
comes due, which happens continuously. The Fed removes
dollars from savings accounts and adds dollars to checking
accounts on its books. When people buy Treasury securities,
the Fed removes dollars from their checking accounts and
adds them to their savings accounts. So what’s all the fuss?
It’s all a tragic misunderstanding.

Posted by: ruralito | Nov 26 2012 3:29 utc | 56

Don @ 57,
First I thought I’d let you know that Arnold Evans over at Middle East Reality sees the Morsi situation the way you do. Arnold is right much more often than wrong, so who knows, but I still doubt it.
Second, regarding US healthcare costs, I’m convinced the biggest problem is the American diet. You almost never see that kind of obesity anywhere else, and that leads to enormous problems. In addition, I’m convinced processed foods lead to cancers and autoimmune diseases. Lastly, diet soda. (I confess, I’m an addict myself. It’s like smoking) That stuff can’t be good for you. And non- diet soda with its high fructose corn syrup sweetener. That’s got diabetes written all over it. Not that cane sugar is healthy, but it sure is better than HFCS.
On the medical side, there is a huge incentive to prescribe: I have my doubts about the effectiveness of the statin drugs. And the definition of hypertension always is changed to encompass more and more people.

Posted by: Lysander | Nov 26 2012 4:01 utc | 58

@Lysander 58
Thanks so much — I didn’t know Arnold Evans.

If Egypt can become free, that will be a great thing. Of course by now the US embassy is furiously working behind the scenes to prevent Egypt from producing political institutions outside of US control. Juan Cole and the US public foreign policy community are, I expect, cheerleading and justifying that effort.

For the record, I don’t include b in that organized effort, for obvious reasons.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 26 2012 4:12 utc | 60

Osama Bin Laden was a member of the Saudi Muslim Brotherhood
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/10/03/osama_bin_laden_and_the_saudi_muslim_brotherhood

Posted by: nikon | Nov 26 2012 5:12 utc | 62

The FSA way: blow up mosques…blame Assad
http://www.syrianews.cc/syria-free-syrian-army-blew-up-mosque-aleppo/

Posted by: brian | Nov 26 2012 7:37 utc | 64

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE AIRPORT IN MARJ SULTAN ..
Following viewing the video released from the Brotherhood Terrorists and broadcast by Al Jazeera, showing they have control over Military Hovercraft at the Airport in Marj Al-Sultan, we immediately communicated with our informed sources that confirmed to us, that the “Airport” in the Terrorists Video, is in fact an air strip which is out of service and used for Emergency Landings mainly ..
To prove this information:
1st – You will notice there are 2 Helicopters in their video that are missing the very important “Blades” ,, this would be the most damning evidence that confirms they are in fact “Out of Service” as our source stated ..
2nd: – Military Airports have strict Guidelines that require the distance between the Craft to be a minimum of 150m for safety during take-off and landing, and also to avoid esposure to air strikes, so they would not have them lined up next to each other as seen in the video ..
A FAKE REVOLUTION, CAN ONLY EVER HAVE FAKE MILITARY TAKEOVERS, THEY KNOW THIS AS THEIR ATTEMPTS KEEP FAILING, HENCE WHY THEY MAKE FAKE VIDEOS, TO HAVE FAKE “VICTORIES” … – M.D
HNN
By: Syria 24 English
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=452698818099239&set=a.298390980196691.60683.298382103530912&type=1&theater

Posted by: brian | Nov 26 2012 9:08 utc | 66

chinese out, fukus in
the congo chapter,
imf’s arm twisting had failed
time to send in the jackals
http://www.countercurrents.org/cooke261112.htm

Posted by: denk | Nov 26 2012 10:20 utc | 68

Western governments murdering Iranian children:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/26/274600/iranian-patients-victims-of-us-sanctions/

Posted by: Sasan Taymourian | Nov 26 2012 11:08 utc | 70

more video fun – Jihadi fighters return to Turkey from Ras Al Ayn – Turkish soldiers looking on

Posted by: somebody | Nov 26 2012 12:48 utc | 72

NY Mayoral Race With a Rarity: No Top Hopeful Who Is Jewish Great.

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Nov 26 2012 13:27 utc | 74

Copeland @ 42, just watched (most of) your video. Do you think there will ever be a critical mass of people who figure it out? Either world wide or in the US.

Posted by: Lysander | Nov 26 2012 14:18 utc | 76

@bevin 54;
Since this is an open thread, we can go wild in terms of the subject we talk about. So I am curious to know your opinion on the future of the capitalist economy.
There are two major schools of approach on the left to the crisis that capitalism is facing right now:
a)The current lack of growth is caused by a falling rate of profit (as a result of the falling percentage of the newly added value in the year in comparison to the value of the investment made at the beginning of the year or in other words the rising organic composition of the capital).
b)The current lack of growth is caused by there not being a final demand for the increased production and therefore a lack of availability of profitable productive investment opportunities (which in turn results in the profits being invested in speculation and ‘gambling’, rather than in productive activity)
Which one are you more inclined to agree with? And how do you think the short-medium term future of capitalism will likely be?

Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Nov 26 2012 16:23 utc | 78

Today the Syrian Information Minister, Al-Zoubi, admitted that the confrontation between the government and the armed rebels is “currently in its most complex stages, its highest and most difficult and violent points, and its widest in terms of geography, and in the quality of the weapons used, by all security and military criteria.” http://sana.sy/eng/21/2012/11/26/454364.htm (the same statement is in Arabic at http://sana.sy/ara/2/2012/11/26/454358.htm ).

Posted by: Parviziyi | Nov 26 2012 17:17 utc | 80

@Somebody:
Yes, there is.
Well perhaps I should have said there not being “enough” growth rate or in other words stagnation. Ever since mid-60’s the growth rate has been steadily on decline (ie. there has been stagnation). On this part actually most people agree. The link I gave you gives data from WB. According to the numbers given by The World commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization(taken from D. Harvey): in the 60s the av. global growth rate stood at:~3.6%, in the 70’s it decreased to~2.1%, in the 80’s: ~1.3%, 90’s ~1%, 2000-2003 <1%
The trend though is not disputed.

Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Nov 26 2012 17:22 utc | 82

Parviziyi, 81 that is possible. These videos are not much use to prove anything.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 26 2012 17:30 utc | 84

Pirouz_2, you would have to facture WWII, industrialised countries’ baby boom and the beginning of the use of contraception into those graphs ….

Posted by: somebody | Nov 26 2012 17:34 utc | 86

Jill Dougherty, working for CNN to promote Hillary Clinton, has a story out that it was Clinton not Morsi who brokered the Gaza cease-fire — “Behind the scenes of Clinton’s “shuttle diplomacy”

Clinton and her staff flew from Phnom Penh, via Mumbai, India, to Tel Aviv, Israel. As soon as they arrived, they drove directly to the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem for Clinton’s meeting with Netanyahu.. .Overnight, she and her staff mulled over what to propose to the Egyptians, . .The next day, Clinton traveled to Ramallah to meet with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbbas, and returned to Jerusalem for yet another meeting with Netanyahu . .Once again, Clinton boarded her plane for a short flight to Cairo, Egypt, carrying with her the terms of a possible cease-fire. “The Secretary met with President Morsy for about an hour, and they literally sat there with the paper in their hands, marked up with potential changes to it.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 26 2012 17:44 utc | 88

Parviziyi, maybe it is just that Syrian Information Minister, Al-Zoubi, is the new school of PR and the Minister of Defence is very old school?
I would not believe the videos showing off weapons as I think the US for the sake of Israel (and Jordan) makes sure nothing gets across the borders that could be used against Israel.
For the same reason I do not think the US would risk a breakup of the Syrian state.
What they are doing is psychological warfare trying to score negotiation points. At least as long as they cannot be sure to have a solid transitional government in place that can control militant groups.
The mess in Egypt should help Syria.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 26 2012 18:09 utc | 90

@sean 91
Regarding the non-response Marc’s listing of documents, without any comment, why should we take the time to parse the documents when Marc didn’t think it necessary?
Well I did it anyhow. The “insider threat program” was called for in Executive Order 13587, in October 2011 in the wake of the Wikileaks exposure of a cache of classified documents. The order’s goal is “to ensure the responsible sharing and safeguarding of classified national security information on computer networks.”
So it’s just a bureaucratic response to some embarrassing truth getting out. Big whoop.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 26 2012 18:53 utc | 92

@sean 91
“I understand that Lamb is problematic, so therefore probably to be written off…”
Why is it that Lamb is problematic ?

Posted by: ATH | Nov 26 2012 19:26 utc | 94

KerKaraje | Nov 26, 2012 2:33:06 PM | 95
Google maps are old views. The area had been overtaken by rebels that is known, it is cleared/devastated now. It is quite possible that the functional helicopters had been moved from the airbase and the airbase was deserted when the rebels filmed that video. Or it was filmed somewhere else.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 26 2012 19:52 utc | 96

Army mom: Military suicides ‘out of control’

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Nov 26 2012 20:28 utc | 98

Ugarit News (which copied SkyNews logo) has originated a lot of this propaganda. I have not been able to pin down who or where they are. But there’s this:
Ugarit News – English ·
July 22 at 12:40am ·
For more information or commentary, please contact:
Ausama Monajed, Executive Director of Strategic Research & Communication Centre.
Email: monajed@strescom.org
Ausama (or Osama) Monajed is a member of the Syrian National Council and the Executive Director of London-based Strategic Research and Communication Centre. (Of course it’s London-based, like the “Observatory” and also probably Ugarit.)
Monajed is a member of the SNC, adviser to its president, and according to his SNC biography, “the Founder and Director of Barada Television”, a pro-opposition satellite channel based in Vauxhall, south London. In 2008, a few months after attending Syria In-Transition conference, Monajed was back in Washington, invited to lunch with George W Bush, along with a handful of other favoured dissidents.
Barada TV gets a large chunk of its funding from an American non-profit organisation: the Democracy Council. One of the co-sponsors (with the MJD) of Syria In-Transition mini-conference.
From wikileaks, several US diplomatic cables from the embassy in Damascus reveal that the Syrian exiles received money from a State Department program called the Middle East Partnership Initiative. According to the cables, the State Department funneled money to the exile group via the Democracy Council, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit. The same report highlights a 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Syria that says that the Democracy Council received $6.3m from the state department to run a Syria-related programme, the “Civil Society Strengthening Initiative”. The cable describes this as “a discrete collaborative effort between the Democracy Council and local partners” aimed at producing, amongst other things, “various broadcast concepts.” According to the Washington Post: “Other cables make clear that one of those concepts was Barada TV.”
http://www.transcend.org/tms/2012/07/the-syrian-opposition-whos-doing-the-talking/
So we may conclude that this bogus propaganda about Syria losses is US-sponsored. But we knew that anyhow.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 26 2012 21:40 utc | 100