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July 31, 2013
Open Thread 2013-16
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Lets no forget, the non-profit organization called Police Executive Research Forum, aka PERF I.E., the Israelification of America’s police force..
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 31 2013 18:26 utc | 2
Flack for Cannibal Party wins Peabody Award
When asked about such omissions by email, Glass replied, “I certainly know that history,” and admitted that he had talked “to Kate Doyle about U.S. participation in Guatemala.” Nonetheless, he and his co-producers “decided not to get into that in the program simply because we felt like we were throwing a lot of facts and history at our listeners and were worried about how much people could absorb.” He added, “It was a judgment call. And maybe we made the wrong call.”
Posted by: ruralito | Jul 31 2013 19:08 utc | 3
The latest from Commander Fidel
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/cuba-i/30jul-letter.html
on faith:
I therefore respect the right of human beings to seek divine answers, although I don’t agree with them. Questions may be asked, as long as they do not tend to justify hate or lack of solidarity in the heart of our own species, an error which many have fallen into, at one or another moment in history.
Posted by: ruralito | Jul 31 2013 19:16 utc | 4
The ‘infamous’ Wikileaks has released a cable from Afghanistan revealing U.S. government contractor DynCorp threw a party for Afghan security recruits featuring trafficked boys as the entertainment. Bacha bazi is the Afghan tradition of “boy play” where young boys are dressed in women’s clothing, dance for leering men, and then sold for sex to the highest bidder. Apparently this is the sort of “entertainment” funded by U.S. tax dollars when DynCorp is in charge of security in Afghanistan.
This isn’t the first time DynCorp has used U.S. tax dollars to support child sex trafficking. In Bosnia in 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac was fired from the company after blowing the whistle on DynCorp’s staffers pimping out girls as young as 12 from Eastern European countries.
http://omaymen.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/wikileaks-reveals-u-s-funded-child-sex-slavery/
Posted by: brian | Aug 1 2013 1:31 utc | 5
@5 When the history books are all written, this is the kind of thing that will make the US compare unfavorably even to to Nazis.
I sincerely doubt the world has ever produced such a foul combination of perversion for profit in the name of power.
I want to puke.
Posted by: guest77 | Aug 1 2013 3:43 utc | 6
West’s main aid group for Syrian rebels collapses into disarray
…its London operation is under threat of closure after falling foul of the Government. The Foreign Office has demanded the group repay thousands of pounds from a grant after determining that some of the money was improperly spent.
…the group turned its efforts from fundraising to pursuing large and controversial oil deals under the leadership of Brian Sayers, a former Nato official.
…the Foreign Office [took ojection] over the use of a British grant to establish an office overlooking Hyde Park for Mr Saffour (the Syrian opposition’s political representative in London). The office was on the same floor as Cherie Blair’s consultancy firm, Omnia Strategy. The Syrian Support Group’s European arm, founded by Mr Sayers and a veteran Whitehall lobbyist with ties to the oil industry, Andrew Gifford, has since been asked to reimburse the Foreign Office for parts of the grant.
The Foreign Office said it was not currently providing support for Mr Saffour and had recovered furniture and other equipment from the office.
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Aug 1 2013 9:00 utc | 7
Title: The NSA’s Overreach And Lack Of Transparency Is Hurting American Businesses.
– from the the-economy-has-been-drafted-into-the-War-of-Terror dept.
techdirt:
http://tinyurl.com/o34kuad
Posted by: Noirette | Aug 1 2013 13:41 utc | 8
In response to Uncle Scam at 1.
Yeah, the US police is becoming militarized. SWAT teams that dislodge recalcitrant in-arrears home-owners look just like Iraq home invasions to capture terrorists. Consider also: death by drone – soon coming to a city near you. Then there is Homeland Security with its control measures, for your safety, ha ha, the FBI with its lame terrorist plots and no doubt more one doesn’t wish to write about, the TSA (who is now charging ppl to be let thru, see link, interesting that), the NSA and spying, data collection, etc.
Excesses and dastardly/illegal behaviors are to be expected – where is the Judiciary in all this?
When Law Enforcement (police etc.) go off the rails there is supposed to be an independent apparatus that sanctions at the very least the worst crimes as examples. It seems to me that the Judiciary -from the Supreme Court down- has been captured. (Not that some local judges don’t continue to make courageous and ‘correct‘ decisions, but if they are in a minority it counts for little.) Legal redress is no longer possible imho. Not that it was ever high in the US. This is the most important failure… As for the Fourth Estate, the latest scandal comes from Eddy, stuck in Russia, and Greenwald, who lives in Brazil and publishes in the Guardian..
Some say the US is at a cross-roads, imho the tipping point has been passed.
If it still makes sense to talk in terms of countries vs. large Corporations / the 1% / the 20 % / the Deep State / other, the US has serious problems. The punitive, authoritarian mindset, often coupled with extortionate financial gain (e.g. prison industry, health insurance) is infecting all levels of society and leading to breakdowns that impact everyone, now and in the future – education scams and dumb authoritarian moves there come to mind.
Naturally it is a war on the poor, which is easy and brings no benefits at all, personal sadism set apart. But beyond that the enemy within has not been identified, agreed upon, legalised. The enemy without has become just as shadowy (see Syria or Egypt), in short the various factions in power in the US don’t have a road-map or agree or place their self-interest correctly. (Morality or consistency not being a consideration at all.) Ppl compare the NSA scandal to the USSR / Stasi / Nazi spying, control of information, but what is going on in the US is quite different.
It resembles more closely the Wild West, or The days of the Robber Barons, or, A Colonising Power that Kills off the Natives. Anarchic, murderous, huckster, capitalism, which now requires guns to effect it.
This model is of course quite popular amongst a certain set of poodles.
Title: Feel-free fee: TSA will grope you less for $85
from RT:
http://rt.com/usa/tsa-precheck-program-launch-437/
Posted by: Noirette | Aug 1 2013 13:51 utc | 9
The NSA’s Overreach And Lack Of Transparency Is Hurting American Businesses.
— from the the-economy-has-been-drafted-into-the-War-of-Terror dept.
From techdirt:
http://tinyurl.com/o34kuad
Posted by: Noirette | Aug 1 2013 14:54 utc | 10
Interesting story in the Guardianabout a certain Banana Monarchy that used to be independent
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden
Here’s a taster:
“GCHQ seems desperate to please its American benefactor and the NSA does not hold back when it fails to get what it wants. On one project, GCHQ feared if it failed to deliver it would “diminish NSA’s confidence in GCHQ’s ability to meet minimum NSA requirements”. Another document warned: “The NSA ask is not static and retaining ‘equability’ will remain a challenge for the near future.”
“In November 2011, a senior GCHQ manager working in Cyprus bemoaned the lack of staff devoted to one eavesdropping programme, saying: “This is not sustainable if numbers reduce further and reflects badly on our commitments to the NSA.”
“The overriding necessity to keep on the right side of the US was revealed in a UK government paper that set out the views of GCHQ in the wake of the 2010 strategic defence and security review. The document was called: “GCHQ’s international alliances and partnerships: helping to maintain Britain’s standing and influence in the world.” It said: “Our key partnership is with the US. We need to keep this relationship healthy. The relationship remains strong but is not sentimental. GCHQ must pull its weight and be seen to pull its weight.”
“Astonishingly, the document admitted that 60% of the UK’s high-value intelligence “is based on either NSA end-product or derived from NSA collection”. End product means official reports that are distillations of the best raw intelligence.
“Another pitch to keep the US happy involves reminding Washington that the UK is less regulated than the US. The British agency described this as one of its key “selling points”. This was made explicit two years ago when GCHQ set out its priorities for the coming years.”
The bit I like best is about how this prostitution (they are intercepting the transatlantic cables, from a base in the Bristol Channel: it is worse than prostitution) is essential in
“helping to maintain Britain’s standing and influence in the world.”
It has certainly left the world in no doubt as to precisely what Britain’s standing is. It would be hard to go any lower.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 1 2013 16:31 utc | 11
@10 This is serious. The BBC may have to stop castigating Zimbabwe.
Posted by: dh | Aug 1 2013 16:55 utc | 12
As the Angry Arab points out, today, the British media’s obsession with Mugabe looks very peculiar compared with its embrace of every manner of tyrant in the Gulf. They cry crocodile tears about Zimbabwe’s elections while the Queen embraces the butcher of Bahrain and London is a second home for the oil and gas tyrants.
Maybe Mugabe should buy Liverpool FC?
What is sad is that the rest of the world understands that this detestation of Mugabe has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with the fact that Zimbabwe was once full of British landowners, it offered hundreds of careers every year for dull younger sons in the Police Force or Customs and its British settlers were every bit as bad, as greedy, violent, bigoted and stupid as the whites in South Africans that Britain loved point out were Afrikaaners.
Every time the BBC denounces Mugabe what they are really saying is “This man stole Rhodesia from us all. And now we have to earn money by offering the US the moral equivalent of a tax free zone: a privacy law equivalent of the Cayman Islands.”
Posted by: bevin | Aug 1 2013 18:05 utc | 13
@13 Bevin
The funny thing about their wailings over Mugabe is that ultimately, Britain abandoned Rhodesia, in hope of making some hick farmers scapegoats for centuries of hideous colonial policies.
Zimbabwe has turned around in the last few years, things are looking good for them.
Posted by: Crest | Aug 2 2013 1:56 utc | 14
DynCorp and “Bacha Bazi” (Child sex slavery) In Afghanistan.
/www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1763243599027
Another American corp. winning hearts and minds..
Posted by: ben | Aug 2 2013 2:24 utc | 15
Try this…
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1763243599027
Posted by: ben | Aug 2 2013 2:26 utc | 16
Egypt has a great future when there is boys like this one. Watch it. Thanks to Angry Arab that armchair revolutionary!
Posted by: hans | Aug 2 2013 4:02 utc | 17
hans @ 17: Quite a video, thanks. Hopefully, this kid will get to grow up.
Posted by: ben | Aug 2 2013 4:23 utc | 18
Penny’s latest on Syria:
http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/
Posted by: ben | Aug 2 2013 5:28 utc | 19
@ 19.
The Homs explosion video tells us that NAZO’s ‘rabble’ are still as risk-averse as they ever were. Videos (shot from a safe distance) aren’t victories and victories have been few and far between for the ‘rabble’. The reason should be obvious but if it isn’t then just reflect upon the number of videos they’ve produced showing successful ‘rabble’ confrontations with the SAA.
My advice would be not to hold one’s breath waiting for the first such video.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 2 2013 6:53 utc | 20
One should never forget whose rabble NAZO’s ‘rebels’ really are.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 2 2013 6:56 utc | 21
another *regime change* feather to fukusi[ndia, srael] cap,
isnt democrazy wonderful ?
http://niqnaq.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/always-intriguing-to-hear-the-unverifiable-rumours-and-highly-plausible-theories-of-wayne-madsen/#comment-60402
do the techocrats in beijing stand a chance against the ruthless crime syndicates in fukusi ?
Posted by: denk | Aug 2 2013 8:56 utc | 22
Interesting attempt at trying to get an honest answer in an interview with ‘proclaimed nuclear expert’ David Albright at:
http://www.washingtonstakeout.com/index.php/2011/11/15/david-albright/
Spends the whole interview going to great lengths in avoiding answering any direct questions while smearing opponents, then finishes by threatening the interviewer…
—
The new Israeli ambassador to the US is the US born & raised Ron Dermer, an ardent neo-con with close ties to the Florida republicans. Add this to the “special peace envoy” Martin Indyk, a former Israeli ambassador & co-founder of zioninst think-tank WINEP, the ‘peace talks’ should just be renamed ‘further concession talks for Palestinians to their Zionist overlords’ & get it over with.
Likely result of this farce is that Islamic Jihad becomes the face of Palestinian resistance…
“Dermer is considered Netanyahu’s closest adviser and strategic consultant. According to The Jerusalem Post, he “runs much of the interference with the White House, and is intimately involved in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, [… and] writes many of Netanyahu’s speeches”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Dermer
Netanyahu aide with neocon links appointed as Israeli ambassador to U.S.
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/netanyahu-aide-with-neocon-links-appointed-as-israeli-ambassador-to-u-s.html
—
In other news, does anyone have any idea what’s going on with the US shutting down embassies all over the Middle East on August 4th, including Israel?
It sounds like there has to be something big in the works, but what?
http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/u.s._shuts_embassies_in_israel_elsewhere_aug._4
Posted by: KenM | Aug 2 2013 10:54 utc | 23
Stephen Colbert on the Manning Verdict:
“Here is what I don’t get. Manning is found not guilty of aiding the enemy, but he is found guilty of espionage. So then who was he spying for, when he told us what the government was doing? Oh my God! He was working for the American People! OMG We’re the enemy!
…
Now that we know who Manning was feeding all the govt secrets too, somebody should be keeping an eye on those people. Oh they are?”
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/428239/july-31-2013/bradley-manning-verdict?utm=share_twitter
Posted by: brian | Aug 2 2013 11:50 utc | 24
…but (Manning) is found guilty of espionage. So then who was he spying for, when he told us what the government was doing? Oh my God! He was working for the American People! OMG We’re the enemy!
Many a true word spoken in jest…
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 2 2013 13:33 utc | 25
23 “In other news, does anyone have any idea what’s going on with the US shutting down embassies all over the Middle East on August 4th, including Israel? It sounds like there has to be something big in the works, but what?”
Sounds like those coloured alert during Bush Jr era. The “let’s scare people a bit show time” is back.
Posted by: gregg | Aug 2 2013 14:55 utc | 26
@ 26.
Yeah … if nothing happens at closed US embassies it’ll be quite an improvement on the reverse Midas Touch outcomes infecting most dopey US plots at present.
Go home and stfu might just work in the Yankee’s favour.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 2 2013 16:01 utc | 27
23 Israel starting another war on Gaza. August is the time.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 2 2013 19:53 utc | 28
My goodness me, suppose the CIA has been apprised of another dastardly plot to hijack multiple airliners and tool around with them for hours in heavily guarded airspace before crashing them into important buildings?
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 2 2013 20:01 utc | 29
Why did Prince Bandar, Saudi Intelligence Chief, visit Putin in Moscow this week?
A fact that went largely unreported
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Aug 2 2013 23:02 utc | 30
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2382145/Nada-al-Ahdal-Doubts-raised-11-year-old-escaped-child-bride-telling-truth.html
a comment left on Dailymail: ‘There needs to be caution when accusing this girl of lying. She has had the courage to hit out at her situation where many others have been unable to. Whether it is exaggerated or not the truth of the matter is she was faced with the prospect of being married off when she is only 11 years old. That is the disturbing factor in this case. This young girl coming forward and protesting about her situation may hopefully prompt others to do the same and seek help. However others are not going to come forward if every time one does so they get accused of lying. Authorities need to encourage these girls to seek help and therefore they need to be supportive because otherwise other children, like this girl, will be too afraid to come forward and so the vicious cycle for them continues.
– JLD , Oxford, 01/8/2013 13:13
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2013 1:26 utc | 31
July 31, 2013, 1:58 p.m. EDT
25% of car crashes involve cellphones
Spanish train operator talked while driving—like many motorists
Despite all the warnings about the dangers of talking or texting while driving, transportation experts say the situation is only getting worse.
The driver of the train that derailed in Spain, killing 79 people and injuring many others, was talking on his cellphone to an employee of the state-run train company, Renfe, according to court statements released Tuesday. Francisco José Garzón Amo reportedly picked up his cellphone to receive directions on his route before the derailment, the official statement said. The train was moving 119 mph at the time—more than twice the recommended speed on that stretch, according to the court. This kind of cellphone distraction in all modes of transport is a growing problem in the U.S. too. “It’s on our most-wanted list of transportation-safety improvements,” says Terry Williams, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.
etc
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-car-and-train-drivers-keep-talking-on-phones-2013-07-31?link=sfmw
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2013 2:24 utc | 32
US Embassy – Just don’t see the logic in closing on Sunday, it Sunday the day that is only plausible day for an attack, if shut, would that not mean a greater risk to those needing Embassy assistance? The whole media around this is just idiotic, it gives an explanation (Of sorts) without facts and the ‘be-all’ to a ‘supposed’ Security risk is closing on a Sunday and every Sunday for the next month?
Posted by: kev | Aug 3 2013 3:59 utc | 33
Options
I Oppose the Expansion of US Bases in Okinawa
Protests and arrests have begun in Okinawa against the forced US imposition of 12 more V-2 Osprey sent to the prefecture for low-level testing and training…The accident-prone transport aircraft has been in development for over 3 decades.
Okinawans from all walks of life protested last year’s deployment of the accident-prone aircraft to Futenma, which the US military built on land they seized from Okinawan owners during the 1950’s period of “Bayonets and Bulldozers”.
Last year, two Marines were killed in an Osprey crash in Africa and Air Force members were injured in another crash in Florida. This year, a V-22 caused a fire in North Carolina. V-22 Osprey low-level testing in Okinawa have also caused fires (in Yanbaru, a subtropical rainforest in the north). Locals have expressed fears that V-22’s carrying concrete blocks may drop them. Training pilots have hovered over Okinawan residents, alarming them.
The US military has used Okinawa as a weapons testing and storage site as well as for war training since the end of the Second World War. Some of the bases were taken over from the wartime Japanese military, but much of the land the US military uses (including Futenma) was seized – at gunpoint or by threat of force – from civilian Okinawan owners.
http://henoko.ti-da.net/e5138738.html
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2013 7:47 utc | 34
Why did Prince Bandar, Saudi Intelligence Chief, visit Putin in Moscow this week? A fact that went largely unreported. Posted by: Pat Bateman | Aug 2, 2013 7:02:19 PM | 30
DEBKAfile are positively gurgling with delight about it, and they anticipate a Putin visit to Cairo next week. At least they have a proper picture (which you can blow up by clicking on it). The picture ITAR-TASS had wasn’t even of Bandar. God knows who it was.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 3 2013 8:42 utc | 35
More on djihadists
http://www.vice.com/read/i-ate-ice-cream-with-a-member-of-al-qaeda-in-syria
Posted by: Mina | Aug 3 2013 11:01 utc | 36
Incredible. I was checking out this wikipedia article on Black Propaganga and came across the following entry. I had posted the most ridiculous article by this obvious clown a few months ago (something about his characterization of Hezbollah as “Iranian backed terrorists” and the Syrian rebels as “Saudi funded opposition” or something) And now I see this! How does he still write! How does that paper still exist!?!?!?
“In November 1995, a Sunday Telegraph newspaper article alleged Libya’s Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (Muammar Gaddafi’s son) was connected to a currency counterfeiting plan. The article was written by Con Coughlin, the paper’s chief foreign correspondent and it was falsely attributed to a “British banking official”. In fact, it had been given to him by officers of MI6, who, it transpired, had been supplying Coughlin with material for years.”
Posted by: guest77 | Aug 4 2013 2:25 utc | 37
@35 – MK Bhadrakumar also has an article on it. Essentially puts the visit down to Bandar seeing how the Russians are taking the joint US-Saudi takeover of the Syrian destabilization & the sidelining of all other parties, especially the Muslim brotherhood.
Also seems to think the Russians are not buying anything Bandar is selling, as they regard him as completely untrustworthy.
Worth a read:
A spy who tried to scale Kremlin wall
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-01-020813.html
Posted by: KenM | Aug 4 2013 11:32 utc | 38
The Itar-Tass did a fine work of photo journalism with the picture of the portly figure of Bandar seated on a gilded chair lost in thoughts, presumably in an ante-room at Novo-Ogarevo – left to himself.
I say, it wasn’t Bandar. ITAR-TASS’ story is here. That’s not him. This is Bandar, in Moscow, here (from DEBKAfile)
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 4 2013 12:10 utc | 39
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/fbi-informant-crimes-report/2613305/
Exclusive: FBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes
WASHINGTON — The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation’s top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.
The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to begin tracking crimes by its informants more than a decade ago, after the agency admitted that its agents had allowed Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger to operate a brutal crime ring in exchange for information about the Mafia. The FBI submits that tally to top Justice Department officials each year, but has never before made it public.
Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants — who are often criminals themselves — to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations.
Posted by: guest77 | Aug 4 2013 16:59 utc | 40
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/03/world/europe/russia-us-flag-controversy/index.html
Right. “Stunt.” They’re “in trouble.”
Russia flag stunt gets Bloodhound Gang band in trouble
An American rock band, Bloodhound Gang, is in trouble with the Russian authorities over a stunt which saw one of its band members stuff the Russian flag into his pants and pull it out from his backside.
The band member told the audience “Don’t tell Putin” before whipping the flag between his legs — beneath his trousers — during a concert in Odessa, Ukraine, on Wednesday.
He then tossed the flag into the crowd.
“The band members were ‘beaten up’ by a crowd of men, he said, who punched and kicked them. Some of the attackers had whips.”
Posted by: guest77 | Aug 4 2013 17:21 utc | 41
West Acts Like ‘Bull in China Shop’ in Middle East – Russian PM
“Our Western partners sometimes behave like a bull in a china shop — they squeeze in, crush everything and then don’t know what to do next. I often find myself astonished at their analysts and how inconsistent their projects are that they push through by their superiors and at the outcomes they get,” Medvedev told RT.
Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/west-acts-like-bull-in-china-shop-in-middle-east–russian-pm/484021.html#ixzz2b1Xyvnm1
The Moscow Times
Full interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL6YNLeqyIQ&feature=youtu.be
Posted by: guest77 | Aug 4 2013 17:51 utc | 42
Gazan police officer abandons #Gaza to aid AlNusra Front with killing #Syria-ns pic.twitter.com/NkosCU2E6q
Posted by: brian | Aug 5 2013 16:14 utc | 43
i bet few have heard of Claude Eatherly, such has been the public and institutional amnesia:
Today is Hiroshima Day, and a fitting memorial is to unearth the letters of the only man of those who took part in the bombing of Hiroshima to feel remorse, reconnaisance pilot Claude Eatherly, who it was gave the all clear to the following Enola Gay: and spent the rest o his life an outcast seeking repentence in a country that refused to recognised its own guilt
Claude Eatherly and Gunter Anders: Letters
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/projects/anders/Anders1962BurningConscienceEatherlyOCR.pdf
Posted by: brian | Aug 6 2013 7:18 utc | 44
Not sure this has been mentioned
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23541341
Pot-smokers? Extreme right?
What are the Brits cooking?
Posted by: Mina | Aug 6 2013 7:55 utc | 45
I think that article is probably just trying to draw attention away from Tsarnaev’s very obvious CIA connections, which were originally uncovered by the idiosyncratic Mad Cow Morning News and subsequently spread by the restricted circle of webzines that are prepared to report these things.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 6 2013 10:19 utc | 46
Really? Usually when I see “extreme right” I know the institutions are not too far.
On another issue, Western medias make their best to please Erdogan,and ignore sensitive issues. After all, he is their proxy ally and that of Qatar for doing the dirty job in Syria.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/78459/World/Region/Analysts-slam-Turkey-coup-trial.aspx
Posted by: Mina | Aug 6 2013 16:46 utc | 47
The Sledgehammer plot documents were said by the defense for the generals involved to have been part of an elaborate, large exercise, in the course of which the military were to ‘discover’ a coup plot and neutralise it. So the documents detailing the intended Sledgehammer coup were like stage props, to make the exercise more realistic. But, insofar as the documents detailed the procedure for an Army coup, not just any old coup, the exercise would have had to involve the Army discovering a coup plot within its own officer corps. At this stage, it becomes a little implausible. As we should all know, exercises or simulations of terror attacks are often (and I mean literally, often) used as cover for real terror attacks, carried out by the very security services which are supposedly “running the exercises for training purposes.” In the same way, a Turkish Army exercise involving a coup plot inside the Army’s own officer corps is hard to interpret as anything other than a cover for a real Army coup plot. So we come full circle.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 6 2013 18:04 utc | 48
I think the bbc piece on the Tsarnaev brothers is an especially contemptible bit of propaganda, that is timed to come out in the same moment when there is all the artificial hysteria surrounding the embassy closings: the high panic specter of another 9/11 that the usual suspects are trying to sell to the usual chumps in this country.
The “friends” of Tamerlan are probably kids who have been grilled by the FBI until their pimples have burst, or else are just phantoms created as filler for the narrative. The dead brother is just being used as a cardboard cutout, onto which the myth makers are trying to paste several contradictory kinds of belief systems, the whole panoply of dissident belief, a weird haphazard mixing of things to make him seem equally amenable to hitlerism, the Tea Party, America-haters of all kinds, Islamic extremist bad guys, and last but not least, anyone possessing literature written by those who doubt the official stories about 9/11 and the Oklahoma Bombing.
Also the beeb gratuitously reprints, for the umpteenth time, the doubtful tale that the younger Tsarnaev ran over his brother, Tamerlan, with an SUV.
The Tsarnaev brothers are alleged to be connected to the Boston Marathon fiasco in some way (perhaps through the CIA, as Sybil Edmonds believes); but more questions exist than we have found answers for.
One of our best investigative reporters, Russ Baker, went to Boston to ask some questions concerning the shooting death of MIT police officer, Sean Collier. Officer Collier Shooting: “Rosebud” Moment of the Boston Bombing? The Contradictions Keep Coming
Saudi Arabia offers Russia collection of bribes to drop Assad
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Aug 7 2013 16:12 utc | 50
If you’re interested in Turkey, have a look at this:
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/08/07/turkey-the-repression-continues/
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 7 2013 18:44 utc | 51
The European Intelligence Service decided it won’t allow the Salafis who are fighting in Syria, to return to Europe.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920516000657
id prefer they did go back…to bring sharia chaos to eu
Posted by: brian | Aug 8 2013 11:38 utc | 53
But that’s a ridiculous story: though I don’t doubt the EU has some sort of intelligence apparatus, it has no power to determine who shall enter or leave any European state.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 8 2013 13:04 utc | 54
obama is a man of his word,
senator obama
*”If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistan] won’t act, we will.*
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/14912
the man told u upfront his agenda, so whats all these talk about his *betrayal* ?
Posted by: denk | Aug 10 2013 15:44 utc | 55
Another post of mine censored at Mondowiess. Here is a lionk to the thread that my post was not allowed to appear on….
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/08/bored-with-the-jews.html#comments
Here is the actual post that was not allowed. I would be extremely interested in the opinions of those here at M of A about whether or not this commentdeserved to be disallowed, and why. I have had many posts censored at Mondo, and can’t help but wonder about what other opinions may not be allowed on the Mondo slate…..
Blank State says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
August 10, 2013 at 6:04 pm
+ Show content
“…..discuss USA-Isr-Zionism as if it’s not connected to the Jews and the Jewish story. Just refuse to accept or even debate the holocaust justifcations, anti semitism they use and put the discussion on the here and now bottom line it really belongs on re the US and will likely get to eventually the Zio cabal’s/Israel interest vr American people interest…”
What??? And ignore the zionist policies that are marketed as the will of “the Jewish State”??? Do you think the parents of a child incinerated in white phosphorous can separate the zio from the jew when faulting the actual perpetrator of the crime? Or perhaps when a village is flooded with the raw sewage of its jewish settlement neighbors, the villagers can say to thier children, “It wasn’t the Jews, it was the zionists”..??? Until we see a majority of jews expressing the well deserved disdain for the policies of the self-proclaimed “Jewish State”, it is impossible not to associate “jews” with the actions of the “zionists”. Israel is on a path that produces anti-semitism as an inevitable bi-product of its policies, particularly among the people that are victims of Israel’s crimes and inhumane travesties against the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, we non-jew non-zionist members of American society have become victims of Israel’s crimes and policies as well, by our fiscal participation in the United states subsidation of Israeli policies, to say nothing of our government being goaded and bribed into participating in Israel’s aggressions against its nieghbors by our contribution of arms and armies. Until American “jews” express a unified desire to end the corruptive and corrosive influence Israel has on American foreign policy and our world standing, they must accept some responsibility for the actions and deeds of the so called “Jewish State”. After all, isn?t the subservience our politicians exhibit towards AIPAC a direct result of them wishing to win “the jewish vote”? When have you ever heard or seen “the zionist vote” offered as a rationale for that obscene subservience, and our despicable participation in Israel’s crimes
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Aug 11 2013 17:11 utc | 56
ha ha, it’s simple. You missed Phil’s point. It’s in the final paragraph:
An essential conversation … will never happen until US Jews, who wield such cultural power, are secure enough…
In other words, Phil’s great sin was to say that US Jews wield such cultural power. You’re not supposed to say that. But his solution is to give US Jews a feeling of security. That’s Phil.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 11 2013 18:21 utc | 57
Cos it makes “the Jews” (actually a fictitious entity, but real in Phil’s mind) feel less secure, which makes them less likely to make concessions (to common humanity, for instance). It’s the same logic that drives the US Government in its endless attempts to mount a ‘Middle East Peace Process’. You have to make “the Jews” feel secure, before you can expect them to admit anybody else even exists. And Phil is just the same. I have no time for him at all. I got kicked off there years and years ago, literally. But beware: there are people from MondoWeiss reading Moon of Alabama, at this very moment, looking for anti-Semites. They’re under every bed, these anti-Semites — some of them even posing as marxists!
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 11 2013 19:09 utc | 59
Why, you may ask, do I say that “the Jews” is “a fictitious entity”? Isn’t this just a pretentious way of saying they don’t exist? Well, first of all, “the Jews” is a polemical term, that is to say, a term only ever used to assert a political claim. It doesn’t have any exact denotation: that is, nobody can agree on who is a Jew. The Israeli government and the Orthodox Rabbinates have completely different definitions of “who is a Jew”, which as you can imagine leads to serious administrative problems. The definition of “anti-Semite” depends on the definition of “Jew” (even though literally speaking “Semite and “Jew” should mean completely different things with a very limited overlap). So, because there’s no agreed definition of what a Jew is, there’s no agreed definition of what an anti-Semite is, either. But as long as you don’t try to define “the Jews”, you can safely say that an anti-Semite is anybody who criticises “the Jews”, or makes this imaginary entity feel uncomfortable in its imaginary heaven. So that means you’re one.
😉
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 11 2013 19:27 utc | 60
Well, I’m sick to death of this horseshit. Its bad enough seeing him try to emulate Fox or Haaretz in his attempt to steer opinion, but really its the site’s cowardice that blows my mind. Email queries as to why certain posts are not allowed go unanswered. They also have the obnoxious habit of allowing posts to appear only after the thread has petered out. You will make a comment, and upon checking later, find that your comment has not yet appeared, yet comments made AFTER yours have indeed been allowed to appear. Then, after the thread has scrolled off the main page, you discover your comment has been allowed, sometimes fully a day later. Again, queries about this form of “moderation” go unanswered. I remember when Phil was sniveling about being banned from Daily Kos,and here he is practicing the same kind of chicken-shit moderation policies. Its too bad really, because I would love to see a site like Mondo succeed in changing the discourse about Israel and underscore the corrosive effect Israel and its lobbies have on our world standing and our government’s credibility. But with site operators like Phil exhibiting the same kind of tactics and underhanded censorship that the zionists and neocons resort to, one wonders if his “side” is any better than the “other side”.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Aug 11 2013 19:29 utc | 61
If Phil was to up sticks and move to the Zionist Entity, the govt there would accept him as being a Jew, but as I understand the law, his wife would not receive Israeli citizenship, or if she did, their children wouldn’t, and if they did, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbinate would still regard his marriage as invalid and their children as bastards. Life’s a riot when you’re (dubiously) “Jewish”. Phil knows that. But fortunately he has no intention of making aliya.
Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Aug 12 2013 5:51 utc | 62
media alert !!
been banned in atimes letter page for yrs
after they added comment feature in the articles
i’ve been postng via yahoo account for several months now,
but today cant do that either
just send them an enquiry
we shall see…..
Posted by: denk | Aug 12 2013 8:31 utc | 63