Image by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center via Flickr.More duplicity from Obama administration on Yemen
A top aide to President Obama gives a speech on Yemen policy -- but leaves out a key fact exposed by WikiLeaks
JUSTIN ELLIOTT
Earlier this month we noted discrepancies between an Obama administration official's statements about a conflict in Yemen and the fact that, as exposed by WikiLeaks, the administration provided weapons to fuel that same conflict.
Now, another top official, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan, has made a similarly misleading statement in a speech on Yemen at a Washington think tank.
At issue here is a conflict in northern Yemen that has for years pitted the central government against the Houthis, a Shiite rebel group. In late 2009, Saudi Arabia also began a series of devastating attacks on the Houthis in the two countries' border area. That's where, according to one WikiLeaks cable, the U.S. played a role by providing emergency weapons shipments to the Saudis:
During the campaign, the Saudi military turned to the U.S. for emergency provision of munitions, imagery and intelligence to assist them to operate with greater precision. The U.S. military responded with alacrity to the extent possible, primarily by flying in stocks of ammunition for small weapons and artillery. However, the great majority of Saudi requests remain bogged down in the FMS contacting process or in interagency reviews.
But in his speech today at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Brennan cast the U.S. in the role of peacemaker in the same conflict:
We frequently push the Yemenis to move further and foster along the path of economic and political reform, to reach a peaceful accommodation with the Houthis and southern oppositionists ...( There's a shock )
U.S. State Department said on Friday that the United States is prepared to impose "targeted sanctions" on Cote d'Ivoire's incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters, if he refuses to step down.
Gbagbo and his rival, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, both claimed victory in the presidential run-off on Nov. 28, and formed their respective government, leading to a political impasse in the country.
Image by Shabbir Siraj via FlickrWar Is Business: The Blog
new watchdog media start-up
Check out a defense firm in its searchable database
BALFOUR BEATTY: BIG BROTHER’S BUILDER
This UK-based infrastructure company, with housing contracts at 44 US military bases, is the lead contractor on a new, $1.2 billion data center for the National Security Agency in Utah. The company isnow hiring skilled tradesman who don’t mind moving to an arid, remote Mormon capital and participating in the construction of a 100,000-square-foot monument to the modern surveillance state.
TO CATCH A THIEF? CAN’T BE BOTHERED
a summary of one investigation by the IG reveals that military officials let an unnamed Turkish fuel contractor get away with theft because it would be “too difficult” to figure out how much was stolen.
WHY CORRUPTION PERSISTS: IT’S LUCRATIVE
•• Why America provides protection to a top Afghan opium trafficker.
FORMER BUSH ADMIN. LAWYER WILL KEEP TABS ON BLACKWATER
Wendy Wysong, is now responsible for making sure that Blackwater doesn’t continue to illegally export weapons, under a $42 million settlement agreement between the infamous mercenary company and the US State Department. She also happened to be the US Commerce Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement for several years when Blackwater happened to be—that’s right—illegally exporting weapons.
The Russian Navy plans to participate in a number of joint drills with NATO countries as well as with the Ukrainian Navy, Black Sea Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Vladimir Korolyov said Friday.
The Black Sea Fleet will take part in five drills next year, including NATO's Bold Monarch-2011 maneuvers and the Farvater Mira-2011 Russian-Ukrainian exercises, Interfax news agency reported.
Russia also will take command of the "Blackseafor" six-country group, a naval cooperation task group established in 1998 that is comprised of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia.
eijing is ready to establish an annual conference mechanism between the two countries' leaders and a regular dialogue framework between their foreign ministers.
China appreciates the strong support Pakistan has long been offering on issues concerning China's core interests, and will continue backing Pakistan's efforts in defending national sovereignty, maintaining social stability and achieving independent and sustainable economic development, Wen said.
Noting that Pakistan has made huge sacrifice for and important contributions to the global counterterrorism campaign, the Chinese premier said his country is ready to work together with Pakistan to promote regional peace and stability.
Swarm satellite mission to try to sense ocean magnetism
European scientists are going to try to measure the movement of the oceans by tracing their magnetism alone.
The effort will be achieved using three super-sensitive spacecraft called Swarm, which should launch in 2012
French National Assembly Approves Internet Censorship Law
We were just talking about how Thai government officials were admitting that internet blacklists simply don't work, and along comes France's National Assembly to approve a law to set up a blacklist allowing the government to censor any website it doesn't like.
It seems odd to see our government pushing for privacy and civil liberties at the same time that it's been working so hard to dismantle many aspects of the 4th Amendment, which is used to protect Americans' privacy. It makes you realize that many of the decision makers in the government probably don't even realize how its actions have regularly gone against the 4th Amendment and basic civil liberties. The administration seems to be offering lip service to the concept of privacy -- and I have little doubt that they actually mean what they say. But, what they don't realize is how their actions, when it comes to specific situations, appear to violate those very concepts. In many ways, it's like those who crusade for stronger copyright laws, but regularly infringe themselves. They rationalize it away, by saying that there's a "good reason" for doing what they do, without realizing that it highlights what appears to be hypocrisy between their words and their actions.
The US Government Talks Newspeak
BuzzCoastin , Dec 17th, 2010 @ 6:02pmThe author's confusion is caused by a lack of understanding of Newspeak:
doublethink - A simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas.
bellyfeel - Full emotional understanding. Blind, enthusiastic acceptance of a concept.
blackwhite- The ability to accept whatever "truth" the party puts out, no matter how absurd it may be.
privacy - the right to have your personal information reviewed by Big Brother for your protection.
The 1st Amendment - the right to remain silent.
The 4th Amendment - the right to be molested at the airport, the right to have the police in your house in the middle of the night, the right to share your personal information with Big Brother.
The better wee understand Newspeak, the better off wee will all be.
doublethink - A simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas.
bellyfeel - Full emotional understanding. Blind, enthusiastic acceptance of a concept.
blackwhite- The ability to accept whatever "truth" the party puts out, no matter how absurd it may be.
privacy - the right to have your personal information reviewed by Big Brother for your protection.
The 1st Amendment - the right to remain silent.
The 4th Amendment - the right to be molested at the airport, the right to have the police in your house in the middle of the night, the right to share your personal information with Big Brother.
The better wee understand Newspeak, the better off wee will all be.
"For whom, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder, was he writing this diary? For the future, for the unborn? ...For the first time the magnitude of what he had undertaken came home to him. How could you communicate with the future? It was of its nature impossible. Either the future would resemble the present in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless." - Winston Smith, from Orwell's 1984
Excerpt from
"The Principles of Newspeak"
An appendix to 1984
Written by : George Orwell in 1948
"The Principles of Newspeak"
An appendix to 1984
Written by : George Orwell in 1948
American Newspeak
"The Orwell Awards" for cutting edge advances in the mangling of meaning by members of the Empire.
Doublethink
doublethink is the act of simultaneously accepting as correct two mutually contradictory beliefs, often in distinct social contexts[1]. It is related to, but distinct from,hypocrisy and neutrality. Its opposite is cognitive dissonance, where the two beliefs cause conflict in one's mind.
California approves extensive carbon-trading scheme
State regulators passed a "cap-and-trade" framework to let companies buy and sell permits, giving them an incentive to emit fewer gases.
The aim is to create the second-largest market in the field, after Europe's.
State officials hope the scheme will be copied across the US, but opponents warn it may harm California's growth and lead to higher electricity prices.
The scheme means that from 2012 California will allocate licences to pollute and create a market where they can be traded.
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