24 December - Repression

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Iranian president: 'Sanctions have always failed'
In a speech during the  11th summit meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who now assumes the rotating presidency, pointed to the low levels of economic cooperation among member countries. "We need to develop the region and give back its former glory," he said, referring to the ancient silk and spice roads that ran through Central Asia.
Gul also called on member states that have not yet signed the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement to do so. A declaration was issued at the end of the summit calling on member countries to have closer economic cooperation.

Pakistan militants mount attacks on Afghan border

As drone strikes have increased, so have assassinations

As drone-fired missiles drop with furious frequency in the tribal area of North Waziristan, so do the bodies.As often as seven times a week, tribesmen there say, corpses appear in fields and on roadsides with dark warnings pinned to their tunics: All American spies will meet the same fate.

 The stepped-up strikes have perpetuated an entrenched culture of clan rivalry and retribution. With scant proof, militants are purging suspected moles, and their willingness to do so has made the accusation a valuable tool for people seeking revenge for land disputes or other personal enmities.
"They are just spreading terror by killing anyone," said Lt. Gen. Asif Yasin Malik, who commands all Pakistani troops in the northwest, including the semiautonomous tribal areas.
An intelligence official said 70 informants for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which provides intelligence to the CIA for drone strikes, have been assassinated in North Waziristan since 2004, making the area nearly a "black hole" for spies today.Image via Wikipedia

Pakistan Spy Chief to Ignore U.S. Summons

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed last month in a federal court in Brooklyn by relatives of victims of the Mumbai attacks, which left 175 people dead, including 9 of the attackers.
Claiming damages, the lawsuit names Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the director general of ISI; his predecessor Lt. Gen. Nadeem Taj; and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the banned militant group that India and the United States consider responsible for the attack on Mumbai, India’s financial capital.
The lawsuit alleges that the ISI is complicit because it nurtured Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Democracy Now!

FBI Expands Probe into Antiwar Activists

Electronic Intifada said, quote, "Although The Electronic Intifada itself has not been a target of any of the subpoenas, we consider the grand jury investigation and all of the subpoenas to be part of a broad attack on the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movements and a threat to all of our rights."

It’s kind of ironic that we are being subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury, when oftentimes we’re protesting outside of federal buildings, and we’re calling on our legislators and we’re being very vocal and public in our calls for a more just U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. So, I don’t think the government needs to subpoena us to find out what we believe in and what we do. And so, that’s why we think this is really about intimidating our movement and trying to silence our movement, because, you know, they know what we do, and we know what we do is just and peaceful. And what it’s really about is basically trying to silence our very strong and successful movement.

...Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent

After 9/11, we almost—there was a green light put on, and there was a very big blurring between protest, civil disobedience and terrorism. And you saw this in many ways. The door was open to basically targeting, without any level of factual justification, advocacy groups. And again, this began pretty quickly after 9/11.

It’s gotten to the point now, nine years later—and I wanted to mention the Washington Post is doing a pretty good job of exposing this, this top-secret America, this monitoring. Their most recent article in the Washington Post says there’s a hundred—the FBI has 164,000 suspicious activity reports. Again, these are things that just have no level of factual justification, that people call in, and the FBI is now keeping records on people. So, I think that, you know, this case will just be the start of targeting various groups like this.

 I wanted to turn to a clip of an interview we did recently when Bruce Nestor came into town, the former head of the National Lawyers Guild in Minneapolis. He’s representing those who have been summoned before the grand jury. Bruce Nestor talked about potential consequences the activists face for defying subpoenas.

BRUCE NESTOR: Three people are now being—looking at reappearing in front of the grand jury and likely being forced with the choice between talking about who they meet with, what the political beliefs of their friends and allies are, or perhaps risking contempt and sitting in jail for 18 months. These are people who are deeply rooted in the progressive community in Chicago and Minneapolis. These are grandmothers, they’re mothers, they’re union activists. They were some of the organizers of the largest antiwar march at the 2008 Republican National Convention.

And so—and they’re being prosecuted under this material support for terrorism law, a law that was really enhanced under the PATRIOT Act and that allows, in the government’s own words, for people to be prosecuted for their speech if they coordinate it with a designated foreign terrorist organization. What you run the risk of there is that even if you state your own independent views about U.S. foreign policy, but those views somehow reflect a group that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization, you can be accused of coordinating your views and face, if not prosecution, at least investigation, search warrants, being summoned to a grand jury to talk about who your political allies and who your political friends are.

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TSA: Think Security (But Don't Expect It)

The TSA has come down hard on a California airline pilot for posting video on YouTube pointing out the "smoke and mirrors" – down to medieval rescue ax in the cockpit – that is airport security. He also took video of four federal air marshals and two sheriff's deputies turning up at his house to confiscate his federally-issued gun – 'cause we all know how dangerous truth-tellers can be.

Jafar Panahi Jailed for Six Years & Banned from Filmmaking for Twenty

Panahi, an outspoken supporter of Iran’s opposition green movement, was convicted of gathering, colluding and propaganda against the regime

( Here's a  question. Since the Green RevolutionTM is a known CIA/NATO attack on the Iranian government...should anyone posit unfair conclusions?  I would remind you that  Sanctions are an economic component of war - as are assassinations another of war. Both are openly promoted against Iran. )

Iranophobia: ‘Figment of imagination’

“Death to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” a special prayer conducted in Ultra-Orthodox ‘Sukat David School in Jerusalem on Purim, February 25, 2007.

Professor Ira Chernus (University of Colorado), is a Jewish religious scholar, author and peace activist. He defines Iranophobia as “An excessive, irrational fear of Iran, almost always expressed as fear of a nuclear-armed Iran“.
Professor Ira in his latest artitle, titled Iranophobia: The Panic of the Hegemons provides some interesting Israeli reasons behind Zionist-regime’s ‘Iranophobia’ – but when discussing the Western ‘Iranophobia’, he tries to shy-away from mentioning the 'Jewish' and 'Christian' Zionist Israel Lobby groups in the US, Canada, Britain, France, German, Australia, Russia, etc.

AIPAC: ‘Thou shalt not recognize Palestine State’

Here is the latest case of the power of Israel Lobby (AIPAC). Last week the US lawmakers passed ‘unanimously’ Resolution 1765 – condemning unilateral measures to declare or recognize a Palestinian state. Incidently, the democratically elected Hamas government has not declared an ‘Islamic State of Palestine’, but Bolivia along with Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela has recognized Palestine as a “free and independent state within its pre-war (1967) geographical status”.

According to former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and intelligence adviser, Philip Giraldi PhD, Resolution 1765 was drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and sponsored by Congressman Howard Berman, currently Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. There were 53 co-sponsors.

Iran Election and the Twitter Revolution
This article of collected references shows that far from being a "revolution" fanned by Twitter and Facebook, these (un)social media networks delude only themselves, some of their followers, the western media networks (as we shall demonstrate) and even, it seems, western intelligence agencies.
The opposition to democracy in Iran, we will show, has long been established and comes from the west, while neither Twitter nor Facebook pose any real threat.
The greater danger comes from gullible western "MSM" news  networks giving in to the temptation of false information from unlimited fake accounts set up by intelligence agencies and activists and their uncritical subservience to those who finance them for "New World Order" objectives.
Don't be a useful idiot
Let us break a few assumptions that western TV couch and internet potatoes have about Iran. For those who realize that taking a position and voicing it toward others over the Internet is a responsibility which requires some informed opinion, you'll find the links and references in this document of great assistance.


Mongolia's "Color Revolution" & Banker Colonization
As the bipolar Cold War system ended, a transitory phase of globalization was initiated in order to pave the way for global governance.

The color revolutions of the 21st century were a highly sophisticated method of transforming nation states into such a world system.

Mongolia experienced the draft form of color revolution in its "Red Rose Revolution" in the 1990's. The sparsely populated country was easier to manipulate due to its corrupt politics and post-Communist identity crisis.

As with many buffer states, Mongolia regarded it as beneficial economically, geo-strategically and security-wise to cooperate with larger powers such as the U.S. [1]

The foreign aid and democracy promotion specter of guiding democratic non-violent transition and regime change was handled by the CIA-backed NED.

"The National Endowment for Democracy" worked for several years with the opposition to the governing Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party to achieve a very surprising electoral victory. In the six-year period leading up to the 1996 elections, NED spent close to a million dollars in a country with a population of some 2.5 million, uniting the opposition into a new coalition, the National Democratic Union. [3]

Simultaneously, the neo liberal Western-dominated economic model (Washington Consensus) was applied to the detriment of the country.

James Baker III, one of the world's most powerful men (according to Engdahl), traveled to Ulaanbaatar in 1990 to push this through. [4] Later, USAID provided assistance to some of the largest sell-offs and privatizations of 2003. [5]

This auction of valuable national assets is well documented by experts such as Jean Ziegler. [6] This stratagem was largely due to the MPRP, who also changed their flag emblem by placing a red rose at center.

Perhaps this was a shape of things to come. A decade later, Baker went on to visit Shevardnadze in Georgia ahead of the elections in what became the "rose revolution." [7] The privatization agenda, attributed to the Washington Consensus model of globalization, was in full swing. 

Not only does Mongolia have to deal with its own deep-rooted corruption but it also has to struggle with foreign feudalization. The price it pays for James Baker's Washington Consensus is dire. Mongolia's GDP of about $2 billion annually goes to service its foreign debt."

They Gave Us a Republic - Nightowl Newswrap
Why didn't we think of this 10 years ago? "The Central Bank of West African States has blocked Laurent Gbagbo's access to Ivory Coast's funds and has recognised Alassane Ouattara as president. The bank says only appointed members of Ivory Coast's "legitimate government" will have access to the deposits there. The BCEAO had been urged to restrict access as it will make it difficult for Mr Gbagbo to pay the military, and increase pressure on him to step down. Violence since last month's disputed election has left 173 people dead. A senior UN official said its investigators had also found evidence of extrajudicial executions, more than 90 cases of torture and 500 arrests, as well as abductions, kidnappings, acts of sexual violence, and destruction of property."
If the terrorists are trying to destroy us, they're in a race with the austerity jackals to get it done. "Italian police have been searching embassies and consular offices in Rome after parcel bombs exploded at the Swiss and Chilean missions. A Swiss man suffered serious hand injuries while a Chilean man was slightly hurt. Both were members of staff and had been opening packages at their respective embassies when the devices exploded. An Italian anarchist group said it was behind the attacks in a note found on the clothing of the injured Chilean. The message, written on behalf of the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), said: "We have decided to make our voice heard with words and with facts, we will destroy the system of dominance, long live the FAI, long-live Anarchy." "
This is truly extremely good news and we are thrilled. "The Obama administration has said it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants amid opposition from industry and Republicans in Congress. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it would regulate emissions from fossil fuel power plants by 2011 and petroleum refineries by 2012. President Barack Obama is pushing the EPA to cut emissions after a climate bill failed in Congress this year. But Republican lawmakers have said the EPA's new rules will harm the economy. The EPA said it would propose figures for emissions cuts in 2011 and finalise them in 2012. The new rules are expected to limit the amount of carbon dioxide a plant can emit per each megawatt hour of electricity produced. "We are following through on our commitment to proceed in a measured and careful way to reduce greenhouse gas pollution that threatens the health and welfare of Americans and contributes to climate change," EPA chief Lisa Jackson said in a statement. Collectively, fossil fuel power plants and petroleum refineries release nearly 40% of the total greenhouse gases emitted in the US."
 ( Sigh. When online friends are immersed in Political Correctness. )

The Great Islamophobic Crusade

Nine years after 9/11, hysteria about Muslims in American life has gripped the country. With it has gone an outburst of arson attacks on mosques, campaigns to stop their construction, and the branding of the Muslim-American community, overwhelmingly moderate, as a hotbed of potential terrorist recruits. The frenzy has raged from rural Tennessee to New York City, while in Oklahoma, voters even overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure banning the implementation of Sharia law in American courts (not that such a prospect existed). 

It’s the fruit of an organized, long-term campaign by a tight confederation of right-wing activists and operatives who first focused on Islamophobia soon after the September 11th attacks, but only attained critical mass during the Obama era. It was then that embittered conservative forces, voted out of power in 2008, sought with remarkable success to leverage cultural resentment into political and partisan gain.

 North Korea Resumes War Threats

Said Thursday that it was prepared to use its nuclear weapons if it was attacked.

China’s North Korea Shift Helps U.S. Relations

As evidence of the policy shift, officials pointed to recent remarks by China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, in which he urged the North and South “to carry out dialogue and contact.” Previously, Beijing’s response had been to propose an emergency meeting of the six-party group that negotiates with North Korea over its nuclear program, a step the United States opposed as rewarding the North’s aggression. 

( Talk is now a 'reward for aggression'. Yet there is no other way to get your attention  )

Rachel Maddow: Obama Has Accomplished 85% of First Term Agenda in 2 Years

The fair pay act for women, expanding children’s health insurance, new hate crimes legislation they said could not be done, tobacco regulation, credit card reform, student loan reform, the stimulus — which in addition to helping pull this country back from the brink of a great depression, was also the largest tax cut ever, the largest investment in clean energy ever, the largest investment in education in our country ever. There was also a little thing you may have heard of called health reform. Also, Wall Street reform, the improvements to the new G.I. Bill, the most expansive food SAFETY BILL SINCE THE 1930s. And tomorrow, President Obama will officially sign a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

 Dr. Gabor Maté on the Stress-Disease Connection, Addiction, Attention Deficit Disorder and the Destruction of American Childhood

Dr. Maté’s work focuses on the centrality of early childhood experiences to the development of the brain, and how those experiences can impact everything from behavioral patterns to physical and mental illness. While the relationship between emotional stress and disease, and mental and physical health more broadly, is often considered controversial within medical orthodoxy, Dr. Maté argues too many doctors seem to have forgotten what was once a commonplace assumption, that emotions are deeply implicated in both the development of illness, addictions and disorders, and in their healing.

 The hardcore drug addicts that I treat, but according to all studies in the States, as well, are, without exception, people who have had extraordinarily difficult lives. And the commonality is childhood abuse. In other words, these people all enter life under extremely adverse circumstances. Not only did they not get what they need for healthy development, they actually got negative circumstances of neglect. I don’t have a single female patient in the Downtown Eastside who wasn’t sexually abused, for example, as were many of the men, or abused, neglected and abandoned serially, over and over again.

And that’s what sets up the brain biology of addiction. In other words, the addiction is related both psychologically, in terms of emotional pain relief, and neurobiological development to early adversity.

If you look at the brain circuits involved in addiction—and that’s true whether it’s a shopping addiction like mine or an addiction to opiates like the heroin addict—we’re looking for endorphins in our brains. Endorphins are the brain’s feel good, reward, pleasure and pain relief chemicals. They also happen to be the love chemicals that connect us to the universe and to one another.

Now, that circuitry in addicts doesn’t function very well, as the circuitry of incentive and motivation, which involves the chemical dopamine, also doesn’t function very well. Stimulant drugs like cocaine and crystal meth, nicotine and caffeine, all elevate dopamine levels in the brain, as does sexual acting out, as does extreme sports, as does workaholism and so on.

Now, the issue is, why do these circuits not work so well in some people, because the drugs in themselves are not surprisingly addictive. And what I mean by that is, is that most people who try most drugs never become addicted to them. And so, there has to be susceptibility there. And the susceptible people are the ones with these impaired brain circuits, and the impairment is caused by early adversity, rather than by genetics.

 The human brain, unlike any other mammal, for the most part develops under the influence of the environment. And that’s because, from the evolutionary point of view, we developed these large heads, large fore-brains, and to walk on two legs we have a narrow pelvis. That means—large head, narrow pelvis—we have to be born prematurely. Otherwise, we would never get born. The head already is the biggest part of the body. Now, the horse can run on the first day of life. Human beings aren’t that developed for two years. That means much of our brain development, that in other animals occurs safely in the uterus, for us has to occur out there in the environment. And which circuits develop and which don’t depend very much on environmental input.

When people are mistreated, stressed or abused, their brains don’t develop the way they ought to. It’s that simple. And unfortunately, my profession, the medical profession, puts all the emphasis on genetics rather than on the environment, which, of course, is a simple explanation. It also takes everybody off the hook.

New solar fuel machine 'mimics plant life
The machine uses the Sun's rays and a metal oxide called ceria to break down carbon dioxide or water into fuels which can be stored and transported.Details are published in the journal Science.

The prototype is grossly inefficient, the fuel created harnessing only between 0.7% and 0.8% of the solar energy taken into the vessel.

Most of the energy is lost through heat loss through the reactor's wall or through the re-radiation of sunlight back through the device's aperture.

But the researchers are confident that efficiency rates of up to 19% can be achieved.

NYT

1. Medical Schools in Region Fight Caribbean Flow
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6. Shortcuts: How Not to Wreck a Nonstick Pan
7. With Common Application, Many Find a Technical Difficulty in Common, Too
8. Temperature Rising: A Scientist, His Work and a Climate Reckoning
9. Gillibrand Gains Foothold With Victory on 9/11 Aid
10. Skin Deep: Can We Feel Good About Our Necks?

Anonymous P2P

Anyone Notice That Sites Don't Have To Rely On Google So Much For Traffic Any More?

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