Islamic State group: US hostage killed in Jordan airstrike
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31172706

Posted by: Yul | Feb 6 2015 19:01 utc | 3

The panopticon in action: 64% of journalists believe they have been surveilled; 14% admit fear of surveillance has kept them from pursuing stories/reaching out to sources/caused them to leave the field altogether
MOA is the first blog I know of to talk about the war on journalists, as far as I KNOW, BACK IN 05…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Feb 6 2015 19:12 utc | 5

@L.Bean/1:
I only saw the first 2 seasons of Downton Abbey. It was, imo, only “decent” for what passes for non-cable tv these days. Your point about the propaganda inserted in the recent season highlights why I chucked out my tv and possibly will never return. Our overlords are insistent and invasive with propaganda anymore.
NPR (or National Propaganda/Pentagon Radio) is useless insofar as “nooz” is concerned, utilizing Fox commentators doncha know (but they’re fair and balanced). I gave up on that nooz a long long time ago.
I still listen to some of the other NPR programming, like Sat quiz shows and such, but I duly note that similar sorts of propaganda are not so subtly inserted even in those programs. Insidious.

Posted by: RUKidding | Feb 6 2015 20:53 utc | 7

@5 another name for NPR = National Poison Radio. And you’re so right about the quiz shows. I wrote them last year when I caught them slagging off Muslims in some supposedly “humorous” way. I asked them if the word “Jews” was inserted in their little comedy sketch, would it be quite so funny? Anyway, happy non-listening! PS no tv here either. Sometimes I wonder if I can converse with the rest of the USA since I’m not up on the dreck they are consuming. But not willing to sacrifice my sanity to get my tv back.

Posted by: Linda J | Feb 6 2015 21:13 utc | 9

On February 5th it abruptly changed course, ending the daily auctions that had been supporting the currency and raising interest rates by 5.5 percentage points. The hryvnia promptly slumped against the dollar. The IMF is currently in Kiev negotiating a long-awaited financial rescue: it had better hurry up.
With the IMF rescuing your side the end should be near.
The hryvnia slumped 34% in an instant.
Wonder how much longer IMF hand puppet Porkyshenko leads?
source – http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/02/ukraines-currency

Posted by: Alberto | Feb 6 2015 22:27 utc | 11

Merkel & Hollande trip to Russia most likely has them carrying water for the IMF criminal element …
The IMF is supportive of the Ukrainian central bank’s latest decisions, Gerry Rice, an IMF spokesman, said at a briefing in Washington. A mission from the international lender is in Kiev to discuss extending and expanding a $17 billion bailout agreed on in April 2014.
“We will have a real foreign-currency market in Ukraine,” Vladislav Sochinsky, treasurer at Citigroup Inc.’s unit in Kiev, said by phone. “Banks will be back to the good old days when they used to quote and trade.”
source – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/ukraine-allows-hryvnia-free-float-raises-key-rate-to-19-5-
FOLLOW THE MONEY

Posted by: Alberto | Feb 6 2015 22:54 utc | 13

FROM COMMENT 12 TEXT …
Meanwhile, January footage from Ukrainian television shows U.S. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, handing out medals to wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxNa4wpgWL8&x-yt-ts=142128030&x-yt-cl=84411374#t=197

Posted by: Alberto | Feb 6 2015 23:27 utc | 15

@5 ‘I chucked out my tv and possibly will never return.’
Possibly? Wait a few months or years, you will never miss it. Believe me.
@7 ‘Sometimes I wonder if I can converse with the rest of the USA since I’m not up on the dreck they are consuming.’
You probably can’t … no problem, introduce them to the alternative world view that you have discovered. If you can get over your initial approach/avoid conflict on such conversation at all.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 7 2015 0:15 utc | 17

Kremlin trio meeting on Ukraine constructive: Russia

“On the basis of proposals made by the French president and German chancellor, there is currently ongoing joint work to prepare the text of a possible joint document on the implementation of the Minsk agreements – a document that would include proposals made by Ukrainian President Poroshenko and proposals put forward today by Russian President Putin,” [Kremlin spokesman Dmitry] Peskov said.

The most salient feature of these talks, to me at least, is the complete absence of representation of the Novorossians, who obviously will therefore be unbound by anything it may contain.
As for the agenda originating in Europe … the picture of Putin, Merkel, and Hollande all seated around the table prominently includes Merkel’s phone … NSA tap … right on the table.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 7 2015 0:52 utc | 19

“Sworn Frenemies”, or why Poland supports Ukrainian nationalism

The 21st century is picking up right where the 20th left off. Let’s not forget that the proximate cause of the Maidan had nothing to do with the United States, which exploited the situation rather opportunistically. It began with an effort to bring Ukraine into EU’s (and, therefore, Germany’s) sphere of economic influence through the so-called “association agreement.” If that agreement would not be signed by a democratically elected government of Ukraine, it would be signed by one brought into power by Ukrainian nationalists, while Germany “looked the other way”… So it would be entirely to simplistic to blame the Ukraine civil war solely on the Obama administration (though it had played a very destructive role as well). Certain European powers, including Germany and Poland, had their hand in it too, not because “Washington made them do it,” but because of their own long-standing political and economic interests.

The above quote is from the translator … whose moniker, “J. Hawk”, and diction make him out to be an American. So his placing ‘the ultimate blame’ for this monstrous exploitation on Ukrainian ‘nationalism’ by the NAZIs there on Germany rather than the US might be suspect … but there can be little doubt that Germany is at least a coequal with the US in the destruction and devastation of Ukraine. And in fact the EU was/is essential to that destruction and devastation. It seems unlikely that Merkel is in Moscow to disavow Germany’s perceived interests.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 7 2015 1:23 utc | 21

… the picture of Putin, Merkel, and Hollande all seated around the table prominently includes Merkel’s phone … NSA tap … right on the table.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 6, 2015 7:52:39 PM | 17
Short leash syndrome?
Could explain her apprehensive demeanor and not infrequent glances over the shoulder.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 7 2015 1:55 utc | 23

@Hoarsewhisperer@ 21
I noticed the phone too. My first thought was that Putin, being ex-KGB, knew they were being listened to. So I figured either the Russians have effective counter measures…OR he WANTED to make sure he was heard. It’s just my take on it.

Posted by: Scott | Feb 7 2015 2:11 utc | 25

5
Even though one of them has passed on, Klick and Klack (Car Talk) on NPR is your last and final image of an America that still just barely exists, one which Prairie Home Companion only alludes to now in the imagination (old MidWest values vaudeville).
When I was coming up, there was still an old river boat station at Golden Eagle, at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. You might still find elders from the Civil War era living in the outlying areas. I met an old timer who came there as a child in a Conestoga wagon, for cripes sake! And as he was telling me that, a 747 was lifting off from the St Louis airport, bound, no doubt, for London, with all of our last life savings.
It was a poor time, but rich in stories and experiences, and everyone talked to everyone.
However, back to NPR, come on, Radio Lab, you have to admit, is pretty exceptional radio- journalism in this day and age. And Hearts of Space has been bringing great music to the air for decades, along with Thistle and Shamrock for that auld lang syne weepy eye moment. If it’s all paid for by CIA:State:Defense:BigMIC propaganda, that’s a small price to pay.
But it will soon be gone, ‘wiped from the map of history’ in an augenblik, and replaced by a National Security State of 1000 Years, a Perpetual Interest-Only Paupery, for the USA’rs.
Then like the Cambodians before them, all things and thoughts of the past will be despised. The elderly people will be herded together, and starved. The children will be recruited in school and made part of the NSS before they’re old enough to think. Just 140-letter tweets from behind the razor wire, an Alls Quiet on the Western Front open-air concentration camp.
Live, Work, Die.
Arbeit Macht Frei.

Posted by: ChipNikh | Feb 7 2015 2:34 utc | 27

I think Hollande and Merkel are/were talking to Putin to buy time. They met with Kerry in Kiev. My hunch is that US/NATO will send more “defensive” weapons tomorrow, or the next day. And for sure they need a “ceasefire” if the 8,000 or so UAF are to be rescued from the cauldron. Nothing will come out of the three-way talks, imo – maybe enough time to re-arm Kiev, and that’s all.

Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 7 2015 4:40 utc | 29

Russian Spring
02/06/2015-23:16
Yesterday the Ukrainian side suggested a “day of ceasefire” in area of Debal`tsevo to evacuate locals from the combat zone.
In the morning a column of busses escorted by two SUVs of OSCE drove from the capital of Donetsk Republic toward Debal`tsevo… About 4 p.m. the column appeared on the horizon back from Debal`tsevo. Coming closer, it is quickly becoming clear all autos are practically empty…
The Ukrainian Media reported a successful evacuation of more than thousand people to the territory controlled by Ukraine. And people’s unwillingness to go to the “stronghold of separatism” – Donetsk Republic.
Russian Spring
02/06/2015-15:38
Commander of self-propelled cannon “Aleks” summarized the situation in Debal`tsevo:
“As the front line moves forth, the ring is locking up. When it is locked up, the operation to suppress the caldron will begin“- tells the combatant. “Everyone is given an option to lay down arms and leave in good will. Appropriate measures will apply to those who lack such goodwill.
Right now clashes take place in Chernukhino. Our people take outpost after outpost coming closer to the settlement to finally liberate. A little more, and it will be under our full control.
Our artillery strikes strictly the enemy positions. No one is scattering shots. It is not possible that we are hitting the settlement. As civilians stay in shelters, there must be no civilian casualties.

Posted by: Fete | Feb 7 2015 5:29 utc | 31

@26 demian.. not sure how the author sees it this way though.. thoughts?
“Kiev’s claims on Crimea and the rebel-held areas are legally indisputable, and the March 2014 referendum that Russia used as justification for Crimea’s annexation was a half-hearted imitation of a ballot carried out in the sights of Russian guns.”

Posted by: james | Feb 7 2015 6:25 utc | 33

@32 demian.. over at kremlin stooge (newest thread here they were talking about this guy Leonid Bershidsky – author of the bloomberg article.. i can’t remember the details as it was about a week ago and not on the thread i just linked to.

Posted by: james | Feb 7 2015 7:17 utc | 35

Facebook Shut Down Miko Peled’s page!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQLP53l1xBw&list=PLfrlsC1yJ2dRTiKTMbTqNeYOQU4-uURHO

Posted by: Tom Murphy | Feb 7 2015 8:25 utc | 37

“Germany is dedicated to the concept of ‘big Europe’ from Lisbon to Vladivostok, said the German chancellor, stressing that “security and cooperation in Europe are possible through dialogue.””
What they are omitting to say, but in fact intend, is: “[without Putin]”.
“Big Europe” (and little Stan’s) all the way east to Alaska is a continuation of Hitler’s dream world — the Third Reich. “Big Europe” is either eurAsia or WW3.
http://rt.com/news/230163-merkel-putin-hollande-meeting/

Posted by: x | Feb 7 2015 12:32 utc | 39

Is there any possibility that Ukraine will stay in part as apparently discussed by Germany and France according to the latest news? Seems not likely imo.

Posted by: Anonymous | Feb 7 2015 14:13 utc | 41

Greece. Events at the ECB, not reported in the media.
They just recently changed their voting mechanism. It’s difficult to explain shortly (haven’t found a link that does the job.) Basically, the argument was that there were too many voters at the ECB, the no. had to be reduced. – Which makes no sense at all, that is insane.
So a ‘turning mechanism’ was set up. The Board of Govs. retain their vote permanently, but the others submit to a rotation of exclusion of voting rights, month by month.
—Note, the principle of one member-one vote is now broken.
Now, the ECB voting rights in Jan. 2015.
See here, Rotation of voting rights in the Governing Council – ECB.
http://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/orga/decisions/govc/html/votingrights.en.html
Permanent voters (see top of the list), none excluded ever. Then:
Governing Council Group 1, excluded: Gov. of the Bank of Spain
Group 2, excluded: Gov. of Eesti Pank (Estonia), Gov. of the Central Bank of Ireland, Gov. of the Central Bank of Greece.
And for Feb. 2015: excluded: Gov. of CB of France, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus.
Doesn’t that seem extremely strange and sorta convenient? All are countries that might vote in favor of Greece, including G. itself! And the German Gov. votes until.. May!

Posted by: Noirette | Feb 7 2015 15:11 utc | 43

@42 McCain and Biden sound desperate. I wonder if the NAF has something big in the cauldron such as U.S. “advisers” not just random mercenaries recruited from one of the “annoying” type countries.

Posted by: NotTimothyGeithner | Feb 7 2015 15:23 utc | 45

People who believe that Merkel and Hollande are not a part of the US equation are naive. They’ve been SENT to Moscow for a purpose. They’re just puppets to their Washington masters.
Many seem to forget that in Kosovo, it was the BND (German intelligence) that did all the heavy lifting NOT the CIA. This and German NGOs all over Ukraine…the Germans present at the Maidan, the support for the coup d’etat in Kiev…the Germans are playing the game here, they’re not innocent bystanders.

Posted by: S-true | Feb 7 2015 15:54 utc | 47

@45 s-true/46 anon – here is what b and i said in the previous thread
“thanks b.
b quote “I have my doubts about their(germany/france) independence though and it may be that their appearance is is just part of the show.” that is how i see it too. in fact, i wouldn’t be surprised if they are delivering the usa message to putin directly.. i don’t think they represent europe. that is for sure..
@15 noirette.. every one ought to read your post over a few times. that is exactly how i see it too.. eastern ukraine aka ‘palestine’.. they are not interested in peace. it is like hearing israel say they are interested in peace.. there is only so much bullshit a person can tolerate listening to…
Posted by: james | Feb 5, 2015 2:53:12 PM | 34

Posted by: james | Feb 7 2015 18:19 utc | 49

Yes, now onto Kiev where the Nazis can be stuffed in trash cans and set fire to with gasoline. McCain and Nuland and can Kerry can be made to watch….that may sound harsh, but it would send an appropriate message.

Posted by: Nana2007 | Feb 7 2015 19:16 utc | 51

gersen at 52 —
I recall your original post, I believe it suggested a de facto arrangement will be made along the lines of the Transdniestr Republic. This is not to say the border will be along the line of the Dniestr or Dniepr. That is, the polit. fiction will be, it is technically in some vague way part of the Ukraine, but like Transdniestria, it will be under the protection of the Russian Federation and in fact if not name be autonomous, not to even independent.

Posted by: rufus magister | Feb 7 2015 20:53 utc | 53

Night shelling of Donetsk 06.02.2015

‘ ‘Bombs flew above the head, Donetsk was shelled from mortars. The adrenalin ran high. ‘

Death Toll in Syria Rises to Over 210,000 in Four Years

The death toll after nearly four years of civil war in Syria has risen to 210,060, nearly half of them civilians, but the real figure is probably much higher, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

A million, at least, dead in Iraq. How many in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Ukraine? … and absolutely no end in sight. Rather the Evil Empire, ‘my own’ United States of America, and its Nihilist Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, seeks more war. Seeks truly to devastate the entire world outside its borders, and to dispossess all its peoples.
It must be stopped. It is all based on the greenback dollar … and the Euro. Russia, China, the SCO, the BRICS … all the states of the world who hope to survive must divest themselves of $US and Euro denominated holdings, must use them to buy rubles, renmimbis, the currencies of their own countries, must redenominate world trade in their own currencies, must destroy the global hegemon and its European Unit.
Slay or be slain by the financial weapon. A case of do or die.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 8 2015 0:34 utc | 55

Daniel Sheehan, the Trajectory of Justice
In the spring of 2012, Daniel Sheehan taught a class at the University of California, Santa Cruz, outlining the major cases he has had a hand in over the last four decades. Titled “The Trajectory of Justice,” the class starts with Sheehan’s Harvard Law School days and works on through the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the Karen Silkwood case, and the Iran Contra scandal, just to name a few.

Posted by: guest77 | Feb 8 2015 3:54 utc | 57

why is it that whenever i heard about chinese are attacked and their properites targeted some where in the world, i immediately think of the
U[sual]S[uspects] ?
why is it that it always turns out to be correct ?
************************************************************
Taking a leaf from China’s book, the United States appointed Mr. Russ Feingold as a special envoy to the Great Lakes Region (meaning the region in and around Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Kivu, Lake Edward and Lake Albert; encompassing Burundi, the western part of Kenya, north western part of Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and parts of Eastern Congo).
Mr Feingold started his job by interfering in Congo’s internal affairs, a thing China would not do. For instance he told Radio France International on the sidelines of the France-Africa Security Summit held in Paris in December 2013, that the only solution for the Congo crisis to end is to change Congo’s borders. China would never say such a thing! China would never condone the split of Congo. Congolese people appreciate China’s support to their heroic resistance against foreign aggression, notably its opposition against the violation of Congo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity at the UN Security Council and its quiet diplomacy.
The United States exerted pressure on Joseph Kabila NOT to seek a third term and abide by the constitution. US Secretary of State John Kerry even pledged to give the DRC $30 million worth of aid for the next elections expected in 2016, but only “on condition that President Joseph Kabila does not seek a third term”. Western aid always come with conditionality and if it is elections and democracy we are talking about, why does Kerry not even refer to the point of view and will Congolese people? What kind of democracy is this?
However, when Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni (one of America’s mercenaries in Africa) stood for a third term, the United States said nothing. Double standard is the main characteristic of Western powers’ policies in Africa.
A few days after Minister Wang Yi’s visit, violent demonstrations broke out in the streets of Kinshasa the capital of the DRC, called for by a “group of opposition leaders, remnants of the Mobutu era”, including Jean-Claude Muyambo, José Makila, Vital Kamerhe, Martin Fayulu, and others. Their war cry: to protest against the adoption of the draft of the electoral law by the National Assembly. President Joseph Kabila’s Majority in Parliament says the move is necessary to update voter lists.
these opposition leaders called for protests the “Burkina Faso Way” to prevent the adoption of the draft electoral law. But the DRC is not Burkina Faso. The protest instead resulted in escalating unrest, assaults and vandalism by street children, demobilized soldiers and all the thugs that Kinshasa boasts, commonly known as “Nkuluna” who were recruited and paid “for the cause”.
The scene was therefore set for the escalation of unrest and vandalism: outright looting of shops, stores and properties belonging to Chinese nationals in the Ngaba, Kalamu and Limeté communes in the capital Kinshasa and those of Lebanese in the Masina township, including Hasson and Brothers.
Even the UN Mission in Congo accused the police of firing on protesters, an accusation the government denied. The United States, France and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had all called for Kabila’s government to show restraint in handling the protests and urged presidential elections to be held on time (AP, January 24, 2015).
Envoys from the United States, Britain, France [fukusf] and former colonial power Belgium met Kengo Wa Dondo, a diplomat told Reuters.
Western powers’ strategy in Congo now is to use Kamerhe, Muyambo, Fayulu and others to agitate in Congo in order to erase the genocide of 8 million Congolese committed by the Anglo-american-ugandan-rwandanTutsi coalition from the memory of the Congolese people.
The Catholic Church which is very powerful in Congo firmly backed the protests and never condemned the looting. The BBC reported on 21 January 2015 that the Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo has thrown its weight behind protests against President Joseph Kabila extending his rule. It called on people to peacefully oppose his move to delay presidential elections until a census is held.
So, why were Chinese traders’ shops and stores were targeted by the looters? As we know well, America and its Nato allies’ aggression against Libya was not part of Arab Spring. Their objectives among others, was to target China’s massive investments in that country. China lost a lot of money in Libya and Chinese workers had to leave.
The $9 billion Congo-China infrastructures for minerals deal was opposed by the United States and other Western powers through the IMF, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Paris Club of Lenders until it was reduced to $6 billion. The Nigeria-China oil infrastructures for oil also failed due to the United States and other Western powers’ pressure pilled on the Nigerian government through Western multinational oil companies. All the proxy wars waged by Africom in Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali also target China’s presence in Africa and to create a difficult environment for China-Africa relations to thrive
So we are not surprised that Chinese shops, stores and properties belonging to Chinese nationals were looted in Kinshasa. In fact, Chinese traders are often accused by Western media of engaging in unfair competition in Africa, not just in Congo, and of killing local industries.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/washington-drives-an-imperial-wedge-between-congo-and-china/5429886
moral of the story…
zwo watch rule 1

Posted by: denk | Feb 8 2015 4:44 utc | 59

@59: Is it the same Feingold who “reformed” election campaign financing (with McCain)?

Posted by: g_h | Feb 8 2015 15:30 utc | 61

gh 61
yes its the very same best buddy of mccain the insane. !
************
some time the ai does speak the truth, it has to earn some street cred after all…..
Amnesty International,
1996
*Throughout the world, on any given day, a man, woman or child is likely to be displaced, tortured, killed or “disappeared”, at the hands of governments or armed political groups.
More often than not, the United States shares the blame
courtesy of the unitedsnakes*

Posted by: denk | Feb 9 2015 4:10 utc | 63

Leader of German Social Democrats sides with right-wing Pegida movement

In an interview with the German magazine Stern, Social Democrat (SPD) leader Sigmar Gabriel responded to the question of whether the anti-Islamic Pegida movement should be regarded as an integral part of German society with the reply “most certainly. Regardless of whether one likes it or not, there is a democratic right to be right-wing or German nationalist.”
Gabriel’s comments are a deliberate attempt to legitimise fascist ideas. … right-wing and German nationalist politicians played a key role in the transfer of power to Hitler. The right-wing Centre politician Franz von Papen and the German nationalist Alfred Hugenberg led key ministries in Hitler’s first cabinet.
… As the Nazis once used anti-Semitism, so Pegida uses anti-Islamism to direct the anger of embittered layers of the middle class and declassed elements into racist and right-wing channels. Pegida’s founder Lutz Bachmann … was recently forced to resign after he referred to refugees as “cattle,” “trash” and “dirt,” and published a picture online of himself in a Hitler pose.
Fearful parents of immigrant children in Dresden … no longer allow their offspring out of the house on Mondays – the day of the regular Pegida demonstrations.
When Gabriel speaks of “democratic rights,” he is not talking about protection against state repression and persecution. Pegida is not being suppressed. On the contrary, the movement has enjoyed an incredible level of media publicity.
In other countries, leading Social Democrats are also collaborating with right-wing extremists and fascists. In France, President François Hollande of the Socialist Party used the terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to invite the leader of the far right National Front, Marine le Pen, to the Elysee palace, and to unveil a propaganda campaign against Muslims.

Are these willing and able to stand up to Obama/McCain?

Posted by: jfl | Feb 9 2015 12:17 utc | 65

The Ukraine is NOT “in the best of financial shapes”. some articles I came across today:
http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/sober-look/ukraine-s-impending-debt-restructuring
http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/sober-look/ukraine-brink-economy
http://soberlook.com/2012/03/ukrainians-learning-from-greece-about.html
DO look at the comments of the this article !!!!!! If the map provided is accurate then that provides an EXTRMELY GOOD reason why Russia is “hell bent” on maintaining control over the eastern part of the Ukraine. Keywords: “gas pipelines to Turkey”. In that regard control over eastern Ukraine is important for both Ukraine & Russia.

Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 9 2015 17:49 utc | 67

A senior Saudi official seems to have ties to Al Qaeda
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/02/04/al-qaeda-saudi-arabia-and-israel/

Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 10 2015 14:34 utc | 69

Argentine prosecutor Nisman was convinced the iranian government had carried out the attack on AIMA (1994) in Buenos Aires.
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/02/07/a-rush-to-judgment-in-argentine-bomb-case/

Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 10 2015 14:51 utc | 71

The U.S. Media and the 13-Year-Old Yemeni Boy Burned to Death Last Month by a U.S. Drone

I’d be willing to bet that the name “Mohammed Tuaiman al-Jahmi” is never uttered on mainstream American television. Most Americans, by design, will have no idea that their government just burned a 13-year-old boy to death and then claimed he was a Terrorist. If they do know, the boy will be kept hidden, dehumanized, nameless, without the aspirations or dreams or grieving parents on display for victims of America’s adversaries (just as Americans were swamped with stories about an Iranian-American journalist detained in Iran for two months, Roxana Saberi, while having no idea that their own government imprisoned an Al Jazeera photojournalist, Sami al-Haj, in Guantanamo for seven years without charges).
It’s worth considering the extreme propaganda impact that disparity has, the way in which the U.S. media is so eagerly complicit in sustaining ongoing American militarism and violence by disappearing victims of U.S. violence while endlessly heralding the victims of its adversaries.
In 2009, the U.S. got caught using cluster bombs in Yemen in an attack that slaughtered 35 women and children. Obama then successfully demanded that the Yemeni journalist who proved that the attack was from the U.S., Abdulelah Haider Shaye, be imprisoned for years. In December, 2013, a U.S. drone strike killed 12 people as they traveled to a wedding.
What’s confounding and irrational and inscrutable isn’t that people react by turning to “radicalism” and violence. It’s that many journalists and officials in western nations seem to think that they can go around for decades invading, occupying, imprisoning without charges and dropping bombs on multiple other countries around the world, regularly killing innocents, including children, and then act shocked and surprised when people in those countries, or who identify with them, want to bring violence back in return.

I believe that Greenwald is doing good work with his stone-cold revelations of US War Crimes that – magically – are ‘somehow’ overlooked rather than trumpeted as the vicious and brutal terrorist attacks that they are. And for those for whom the crimes themselves are not sufficient to end them he points out that what goes around comes around.
Farenthoold, Cornyn, Cruz (my Republicrat representatives in Washington DC from the Great State of Texas) and Obama – the murderers of Mohammed Tuaiman al-Jahmi and of thousands of other innocents under law – couldn’t care less of course. Still, it needs to be said and to spin like a dentist’s drill in the not-completely-mainstream-alternate-channel media until it finally causes enough discomfort to make us end the murder and mayhem, the death and devastation, daily meted out by our terrorist American government all around the world.
See also Burning Victims to Death: Still a Common Practice.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 10 2015 23:43 utc | 73

Was Maidan supposed to pull Ukraine away from … China?

Protesters roam the streets looking to provoke clashes with authorities, and Yanukovych left for a visit with China. In Kiev there are clashes with protesters. Yanukovych, on the way back from China, met in Sochi with Russian President, and then flies to Malta… What does it all mean?
It’s very simple. It turned out that China can offer Ukraine what Europe can’t – investment. And, including in those areas where even Russia would not invest, which is for the most part interested only in the Ukrainian pipeline [not true, actually -tr.].
The Ukrainian President’s visit to China became a turning point in the development of bilateral relations, believes the edition. Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China XI Jinping signed a joint Declaration on deepening strategic partnership that includes more than two dozen contracts, memorandums in the financial, industrial and energy sectors in excess of $30 billion dollars. Already next year Ukraine will receive $18 billion in loans and investments. How can you compare it with those $600 million, promised by Europe, while twisting Ukraine’s hands with her papers about the Association and Free Trade Zone (FTA)?..

An old – 2013 – article translated by Kristina Rus. Very interesting. It was a US aniti-China move … who’da thunk it? No wonder Obama and the neo-cons are so nuts. As has been endlessly observed, trying to thwart Russia China they’ve only succeeded in compounding ‘their problem’, pushing Russia and China into each other’s arms … but this article looks at the neo-con defeat from the Chinese perspective.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 11 2015 5:49 utc | 75

It doesn’t look very extensive in the photo. Repulsive as it is.

Posted by: Harold | Feb 11 2015 6:28 utc | 77

The ukrainian government is getting REALLY desparate. Poroshenko & Co. are building a new “Berlin Wall”. The Ukraine more and more is morphing into a totalitarian state like e.g. Nazi Germany was.
http://www.sovereignman.com/trends/checkpoint-charlie-is-back-ukraine-starts-building-a-new-berlin-wall-16114/

Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 11 2015 20:30 utc | 79

Roy Gutman (McClatchy Newspapers):
– The White House made some big mistakes. The CIA was ordered to bypass the leaders of the Free Syrian Army and to give the money to the fighting groups in Syria, creating a series of warlords. This also meant that there was no overall strategy & no coordination of the war plans. That allowed Assad to survive.
– The airforce bombed places without consulting the groups on the ground. And when those groups protested the US cut off the support to those groups.
– An alliance with Assad is the best of a whole range of bad choices.

Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 12 2015 0:41 utc | 81

Thorough, devastating analysis : The proof that Kramatorsk Tornado (Smerch) strike was a false flag by the Ukrainian side.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 12 2015 1:14 utc | 83

@82: Agree. Ukraine is becoming a failed state or is already a failed state since say 1991.

Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 12 2015 7:27 utc | 85

Here’s a link to the same story on the BBC news site if you prefer not to watch the video.

Posted by: Pat Bateman | Feb 12 2015 9:20 utc | 87

Chapel Hill murders motivated by hate against Muslims: Attorney

Mo Idlibby, an immigration attorney in Charlotte, who grew up playing basketball with 23-year-old Barakat, said on Wednesday, “This was cold blooded pre-calculated murder that was motivated by hate.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, shot dead Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
Police say initial probes suggest the deadly attack stemmed from a dispute over parking space, but have not ruled out the possibility that hatred of Muslims had motivated the shooter.
Idlibby said the parking lot story is just a fabrication of lies. “You don’t kill three people over a parking space.”
The lawyer said Barakat told his brother that Hicks hated Muslims and Islam and he had been nourishing hatred against them for years. “He said that the neighbor would confront them at various times and he would have a gun with him by his side.”
Earlier in the day, the families of the students called the tragic shootings “execution-style murders,” calling for a hate crime investigation.

What do you want to bet that the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and his new AG attend to the outrage and go after this guy on a federal hate crimes charge?
Black lives don’t matter to the Oreo in chief and his hand-picked Oreos in waiting, but they’re not tone deaf when it comes to international – that’s dollars and cents – opinion.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 12 2015 15:52 utc | 89

*Perhaps Washington should devote some of its diplomatic energies to facilitating greater economic development and integration among the BCIM countries, rather than fanning the flames and cynically seeking to profit from growing geopolitical rivalry between the rising Asian giants.*
kinda like asking dracula to stop sucking blood ?
http://nationalinterest.org/print/feature/chinas-biggest-fear-us-indian-encirclement-12225

Posted by: denk | Feb 12 2015 17:26 utc | 91

Militants ask Israel to bomb southern Syria: Report

Foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government have called on the Israeli regime to target the positions of the Syrian army and Hezbollah resistance movement in the Golan Heights, a report says.

Is there anyone who does not yet recognize that ISIS stands for Israeli Secret Intelligence Service?
ISIS slaughters Arabs – just as Israel does – and now calls in Israeli air-strikes against Arabs forces. Israeli State in Iraq and Syria, maybe. Islamic? Uh-uh.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 13 2015 1:07 utc | 93

And in a while those utter tards will pipe up again, and once again theyll be foisting upon us the very dubious benefit of their little pearls of “wisdom”, but next time theyll be pretending that it was obvious all along and that they certainly never evar believed otherwise, no siree
Despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary

Posted by: TLC | Feb 13 2015 1:32 utc | 95

[91]
kinda like asking dracula to stop sucking blood ?
http://nationalinterest.org/print/feature/chinas-biggest-fear-us-indian-encirclement-12225
dracula cant stop sucking blood even if he tries, coz thats his liveline !
likewise uncle sham cant stop faning flames coz thats how he make his living !
the world’s first fire brigade was started by crassus, a crook.
he was more interested in robbing the victim’s property than putting out fire. he’d offer the owner a pittance , if refused he’d simply let the house burned to ashes.
crassus soon became the richest man in rome. !
uncle sham otoh is in a league all by himself, his m.o. would make crassus blush….see, .the sob doesnt sit on his ass to wait for calls, he goes out and start the fires !
problem, reaction, solution,
uncle sham offers a one stop package deal !
that has been the way uncle sham made his living since 1898, a born n bred mafiaso.
but at least the mafia has a code of honor which they abide by, uncle has none. zero, zilch, nada.
the scope of uncle sham’s op would put al capone to shame,
general smedley butler, 1898
* Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.*
asking uncle sham to get a decent job is an exercise in futility, after amassing his ill gotten fortune for three hundred yrs by daylight robbery, he simply doesnt know any other way !
******************
+The US CIA is concerned that China will use Sri Lanka ports to secure safe passage in China trade routes with Chinese military fleet, [sic] but this is not a legitimate concern of Sri Lanka (or anyone other country for that matter) as ALL countries have a right to secure their trade with other nations as trade is the lifeblood of their economy.
What the US is REALLY suggesting is that they should have some sort of ‘empire rights’ in violation of well-established international law to militarily interfere with China trade routes, and this desired interference is more difficult for the US to do if China is able to port its naval and submarine vessels in Sri Lanka. Why in the world would Sri Lanka want to accommodate illegal US military aggression by making it easier for them to interfere with the lawful trade between nations?+
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/12/19/sirisena-seems-to-be-working-on-instructions-from-a-foreign-power/

Posted by: denk | Feb 13 2015 8:55 utc | 97

And the Islamic State still enjoys online publications…
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/122903/Egypt/Politics-/Islamic-State-publishes-report-about-Coptic-Egypti.aspx

Posted by: Mina | Feb 13 2015 11:29 utc | 99