4 December - Wikileaks Info Articles

Image via WikipediaWikileaks Cables Fallout: There is No International Consensus on an Attack Against Iran
Government officials in Beijing, Moscow, and Riyadh advise American diplomats to begin real talks with the Iranian regime, and nurture relations rather than imposing aggressive sanctions or taking steps to attack the country's nuclear facilities, which they believe would only drive the people towards radical hardliners within the regime and worsen chances for a future peace. They insist that the hostilities in the region stem from political problems that can be solved if both parties approach each other with respect and clear goals in mind.
The U.S. media has not concentrated on the warnings against going to war with Iran by Chinese and Russian officials. Rather, they have published reports about how Arab dictators want the United States to take out Iran, which fits in with the Israeli and U.S. narrative that Iran is an unstoppable menace that must be put down.
Image via Wikipedia
WHY SHOULD IRAN TRUST PRESIDENT OBAMA? 
In the run-up to a new round of nuclear talks between the P5+1 and Iran on Monday, Western commentators are re-hashing old arguments that the Islamic Republic is either too politically divided or too dependent on hostility toward the United States for its legitimacy to be seriously interested in a nuclear deal. From this perspective, the Obama administration has been more than forthcoming in its efforts to “engage” Tehran; the obstacles to diplomatic progress are all on the Iranian side.

But a sober examination of the Obama administration’s interactions with Iran since President Obama took office in 2009 reveals a dismaying mix of incompetence and outright duplicity that has done profound damage to American interests and credibility. In light of this record, the question is not whether the United States should have any confidence it can productively engage the Islamic Republic. The real question is: why should Iranian officials believe they can trust President Obama and his administration to deal with them straightforwardly and with a genuine interest in finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff?
( Begging the question of 'What standoff ?' That's because I don't believe for a heartbeat that there is a just case against Iran. Rather they are obstinately clinging to the terms they signed on to honour by international treaty - despite others  incessant lying about this for decades. )Image via Wikipedia
  
John Pilger - Wikileaks - The War You Don't See 

Wikileaks Special: How US Kept Banned Cluster Bombs in British Territory 

Wikileaks Iran Special: US Diplomats Assess the Green Movement and the Political Situation (January 2010) 

WikiLeaks Warning: State Department to Students "Link to Documents and You'll Never Work for Us" 

GORDON DUFF: The Wiki Hoax 

Tomgram: Andy Kroll, How the Oligarchs Took America 
Creating a Country of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Rich  
There is a war underway. I'm not talking about Washington’s bloody misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, but a war within our own borders. It’s a war fought on the airwaves, on television and radio and over the Internet, a war of words and images, of half-truth, innuendo, and raging lies. I'm talking about a political war, pitting liberals against conservatives, Democrats against Republicans. I'm talking about a spending war, fueled by stealthy front groups and deep-pocketed anonymous donors. It’s a war that's poised to topple what's left of American democracy. 

FARS
US: Iran Unrivaled in Asymmetric Naval Warfare 
A Washington-based think tank warned White House and Pentagon officials that Iran enjoys a unique power in waging asymmetric naval warfare, capable of defeating larger naval forces.

Ahmadinejad Calls on West to Take Exceptional Opportunity of Talks with Iran 
Bahraini Crown Prince Calls for Further Reinvigoration of Ties with Iran 
 Border Guards Seize 450kg of Drugs in Southeastern Iran
Jordan Reiterates Strong Support for Iran's N. Rights
Embassy in Moscow Condemns Terrorist Attacks against Iranian Scientists
Iran to Determine Future Path Based on Opposite Party's Attitude
FM Welcomes US Recognition of Iran's N. Rights, but Stresses Practical Moves
Top Lebanese Official: Written Testimonies on Hariri's Case "Unacceptable"
Senior MP Calls on G5+1 to Change Strategy in Talks with Iran
Iran Denies Report on Killing of Pilgrims in Iraq 
Image via Wikipedia
Rehmat's World
 U of T under fire for thesis on ‘Jewish Racism’
Paul Lungen, a reporter with the Canadian Jewish news (published on November 25, 2010) claimed that Canada’s oldest academic institution, the University of Toronto, has come under fire for awarding a Master’s degree to a Jew female student Jennifer Peto – for her thesis which claims that the Jews practice racism against non-Jewish communities. 
 I argue that today, Jewish people of European descent enjoy white privilege and are among the most socio-economically advantaged groups in the West. Despite this privilege, the organized Jewish community makes claims about Jewish victimhood that are widely accepted within that community and within popular discourse in the West. I propose that these claims to victimhood are no longer based in a reality of oppression, but continue to be propagated because a victimized Jewish identity can produce certain effects that are beneficial to the organized Jewish community and the Israeli nation-state.
 Chechnya – The Israeli connection
Iran and the ‘Zionist pranks’
Wikileaks: The US ‘spy nest’ in Tehran
Arundhati Roy: ‘Kashmir is not part of India’
Wikileaks: Turkey, Iran and the lies
The ‘Iran-AIPAC’ Affair
US dilemma – Attack or not attack Iran
Image via WikipediaSave a Jew, save yourself!
26/11 – Jews fighting over Chabad House

U.S. and NATO prolong and expand Greater Afghan War 

Climate Change affects Farmers, Food Security [Tomorrow's Table]

WikiLeaks Cables: UFO Files to be Released 

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Related articles

• Joseph Cook: Iranian signals gap ahead of global talks (washingtonpost.com)
• You: Iran's Mottaki: Sanctions had 'no impact' (washingtonpost.com)
• Wikileaks Cables Fallout: There is No International Consensus on an Attack Against Iran (disquietreservations.blogspot.com)
• You: Iranian official's speech highlights obstinence, isolation (washingtonpost.com)
• Iran Tries to Reassure Gulf States (nytimes.com)
• Why Iran Loves WikiLeaks (nytimes.com)
• WikiLeaks reveals secrets, backroom dealmaking - and cluelessness - Jewish Telegraphic Agency (news.google.com)
• Israel greets Wikileaks cables as vindication of its Iran policy - Christian Science Monitor (news.google.com)

30 November - Morning News Picks

Image via Wikipedia

Growing demand for resources 'threatens EU economy'

"We are consuming more natural resources than is ecologically stable,This is true for both Europe and the rest of the planet.  Europe's network of protected areas and habitats had been expanded to cover about 18% of the continent's landmass, yet the EU had failed to meet it target to halt biodiversity loss by 2010.Image via Wikipedia

Guidelines Call for Increase in Vitamin D

Institute of Medicine Wants to Raise the Recommended Dietary Allowance of Vitamin D and Calcium

recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin D to 600 international units (IU) for everyone aged 1-70, and raising it to 800 IU for adults older than 70 to optimize bone health.

Growing numbers of studies link vitamin D deficiency to diseases such as heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes.

Saputo races to limit Listeria damage
The recall was triggered by a sampling by the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency (CFIA) of packaged ham-and-cheese sandwiches sold in P.E.I. and Nova Scotia and found to contain the listeria bacteria, said Garfield Balsom, a food safety specialist with the agency.

The listeria bacteria is potentially deadly for people with weakened immune systems.

ADVICE TO ASTRONAUTS: EAT MORE FISH

In space, astronauts are susceptible to bone loss, which can lead to fractures or breaks. A simple change in diet, however, could mitigate that risk.
"The more omega-3 fatty acids consumed, the lower the rate of bone breakdown in those subjects.

A related study is under way to determine the role of salt in bone loss, which is particularly relevant because the space station's pantry is stocked with foods very high in sodium.

( Now, if we could the trash out of the oceans...and the Corexit )

Ontario to grant new powers to chief medical officer

The Ontario government is poised to grant sweeping new powers to the province's chief medical officer of health in the wake of last year's H1N1 pandemic.

The Canadian Press has learned that the governing Liberals will introduce legislation Tuesday that would allow extra powers to kick in during a public health emergency.

( Right. No questioning the fraud. )

Health-care privatization alleged by Alberta opposition

Fourth member of Alberta Health Services board resigns

The 27-page internal Alberta Health and Wellness presentation suggests the provincial government has a two-part plan to delist health services, legalize new kinds of private insurance and allow doctors to provide public and private health care at the same time.
Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky denied the allegations Monday, but exiled Conservative MLA Dr. Raj Sherman confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document and slammed the government’s plan.
“This is basically privatizing health care,” said Sherman, who was Zwozdesky’s parliamentary assistant until he was ousted from the Tory caucus last week for criticizing his own government’s record on health care.
“My understanding is that phase two is coming after the next election, and I absolutely can’t support that.”
The leaked document is a PowerPoint presentation dated July 12, 2010, and titled “Alberta’s Health Legislation: Moving Forward.”

NDP Leader Brian Mason said the document is proof the Conservatives cannot be trusted with health care.
“This is, in fact, the smoking gun,” he said. “In my view, this is more than a policy document. This is a strategic document, a political strategy, if you will.”Guardian UK

Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon North Korea'

China has refused to condemn the North Korean action. But today Beijing appeared to bow to US pressure to help bring about a diplomatic solution, calling for "emergency consultations" and inviting a senior North Korean official to Beijing.

China is sharply critical of US pressure tactics towards North Korea.

Younger generation Chinese Communist party leaders no longer regarded North Korea as a useful or reliable ally and would not risk renewed armed conflict on the peninsula.

( Don't take with a grain of salt....that's not nearly enough to allow for deliberately wishful thinking. For China, North Korea is a 'buffer zone' against foreign intrusion still.  People in the U.S. should recognize the phrase 'better to fight them over there than over here.' 

 Is that from 'intel'? Nope. I doubt the prior 'information' is of much value either. )

Wikileaks release 'shows China thinking on Korea'

Some Chinese officials were willing to "face the new reality" that North Korea was of little value to China as a buffer state.

But others appear not to welcome this position, including Wu Dawei, the senior Chinese official involved in talks aimed at getting rid of North Korea's nuclear weapons.

In another report from February Mr Wu is described as "an arrogant, Marx-spouting former Red Guard", referring to the youngsters who spearheaded Mao Zedong's chaotic Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.

Israel accused over 'cruel' Gaza blockade

Gaza's 1.5 million people are still suffering from a shortage of construction materials, a ban on exports and severe restrictions on movement six months after Israel agreed to ease its blockade on the territory, according to a report from 21 international organisations.

The loosening of the embargo has done little to improve the plight of Gaza's civilians, according to the coalition, which includes Amnesty, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid and Medical Aid for Palestinians. It calls for fresh international action to persuade Israel to unconditionally lift the blockade.

Exports remain banned with the exception of strawberries and carnations for European markets. Israel now allows clothing factories to import fabric, but blocks the export of finished items.

But some businesses are still unable to import raw materials they need. According to the report, two-thirds of Gaza's businesses have closed since the blockade was tightened in June 2007, and the rest are operating at restricted capacity.

Israel is maintaining an overall ban on the movement of people, with the number of permits granted to people to leave Gaza less than 1% of the number 10 years ago, the report says. There has been a rise in the number of businesspeople allowed to travel, "but ordinary Gaza residents are still denied access to their friends and family, and to educational opportunities in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and abroad".

Facebook Temporarily Denies Access to Users with Invalid Names

WikiLeaks founder could be charged under Espionage Act

No charges are imminent, the sources said, and it is unclear whether any will be brought.

Ecuador offers Wikileaks founder Assange residency

Another document published by Wikileaks, dated January 2008, detailed Brazil's co-operation with the US on counter-terrorism.

In it, the then US ambassador to Brazil, Clifford Sobel, informed Washington that the police often arrested individuals with links to terrorism but charged them with drugs or customs offences so as not attract media attention.

Brazil has a sizeable Arab population and has publicly denied taking part in counter-terrorism operations.

Pakistan Shuts the Door on Transparency

Sunday, Asian News International quoted Malik in a story accusing TI Pakistan, Transparency International's local affiliate, of acting like a "detective agency." Malik also made a not-so-veiled threat to kick the group out of the country. This comes just weeks after TI released its 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index. 

Packages like the one TI oversees are the sugar that make the bitter pill of war a little easier to swallow. Without such aid, it becomes harder for the Pakistani government to justify helping the US, and to sell its citizens on the idea that having thousands of Americans in the region serves a common interest. But without at the least the appearance of oversight, it becomes almostly politically impossible for the Obama administration to continue feeding the aid stream. Giving TI the job of keeping everything above board is the crucial variable in the Pakistan equation. Without it, the United States' uneasy alliance with the country could fall into jeopardy.

Read The 4th Amendment, Perverts

To silently protest your next holiday groping by the TSA, check out 4th Amendment Wear's underclothes for men, women and kids printed with the text of the 4th Amendment - in metallic ink, yet. More here.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

US military unveils 'smart gun'

Called the XM-25 it has been described by the US Army as a 'game changer'.

It uses a laser guidance system and specially developed 25mm high explosive rounds which can be programmed to detonate over a target.The weapon can be used to target insurgents hiding behind walls or in ditches without the need to call in air strikes.

New airships to protect British troops

A £350m contract's been awarded to American military contractor Northrop Grumman, one of the world's largest defence companies.

The deal will see three Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicles (LEMV) built for the US Army within 18 months and ready for operations by early 2012.

They will be able to stay in the air for up to three weeks at a time and provide what designers describe as an "unblinking eye" of surveillance for forces on the ground.

Americans less responsive to flood victims in Pakistan

Groups providing aid to millions of families displaced by flooding in Pakistan say their U.S. fundraising efforts for the disaster lag behind other recent major calamities.

In the 11 weeks after torrential rains in late July caused rivers to overflow and inundate villages and farmland across 62,000 square miles of Pakistan, U.S. groups raised $48.7 million, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

That compares poorly with fundraising measured after five weeks for Hurricane Katrina ($1.9 billion), 9/11 ($1.1 billion), the tsunami ($900 million) and the Haiti earthquake ($900 million), says Patrick Rooney, the center's executive director.

"It's a huge difference," and a major reason is political, he says.

Stern, too, has heard people say they don't want to give because of the country's politics.

Her response: "They're kids. I tuck my kid in every night with a cup of tea and a cookie by his night table, and in Pakistan a mother is standing with her family in a foot of water."

Urgent call to action on Senate Bill 510 Food Safety Modernization Act

Organic food will no longer exist on Monday, November 29, 2010, Senate Bill S.510

Web Delivery Firm Says Comcast Charging Unfair Fee For Data

"Comcast is effectively putting up a toll booth at the borders of its broadband Internet access network, enabling it to unilaterally decide how much to charge for content," said Level 3's chief legal officer, Thomas Stortz, in a statement.

Comcast called Level 3's position "duplicitous" and said a previous deal for the companies to handle traffic for each other had become unbalanced in Level 3's favor.

Level 3's main business is carrying Internet traffic across the country, charging Internet service providers like Comcast fees to connect to Web sites and other ISPs.

However, it is moving into the business of distributing Internet content such as movies for companies including Netflix. Under that business model, it is acting like a content-delivery network, which usually pays ISPs for fast access to their networks.

Level 3, which is based in Broomfield, Colo., is now pushing to Comcast five times the traffic that goes the other way.

"When one provider exploits this type of relationship by pushing the burden of massive traffic growth onto the other provider and its customers, we believe this is not fair," Comcast's senior vice president Joe Waz said in a statement.

Why we need Big Business and Big Government

The romantic critics of modern industrial agriculture have an alternative, however unworkable, in mind -- labor-intensive, premodern peasant cultivation. But what is the opposite of Big Oil? 

In a recent article in Forbes, Intel's Andy Grove argued that the American job creation machine is broken, because start-ups are no longer being scaled up into giant industrial enterprises within America's borders. Criticizing the journalist Thomas Friedman for arguing that the U.S. can forgo manufacturing and concentrate on innovation, Grove writes:

Friedman is wrong. Startups are a wonderful thing, but they cannot by themselves increase tech employment. Equally important is what comes after that mythical moment of creation in the garage, as technology goes from prototype to mass production. This is the phase where companies scale up. They work out design details, figure out how to make things affordably, build factories, and hire people by the thousands. Scaling is hard work but necessary to make innovation matter.

The scaling process is no longer happening in the U.S. And as long as that's the case, plowing capital into young companies that build their factories elsewhere will continue to yield a bad return in terms of American jobs.

Image via Wikipedia
Snow spreading across much of UK

Related articles

• Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D (nlm.nih.gov)
• New vitamin D advice raises some eyebrows (dispatch.com)

21 November - Remembering the Path of War in Today's News

Image by moggs oceanlane via FlickrA Nation Covered in Ash

Oregon Senator Wyden effectively kills Internet censorship bill

 Individual Senators can place holds on pending legislation, in this case meaning proponents of the bill will be forced to reintroduce the measure and will not be able to proceed until the next Congress convenes.

ctivist group DemandProgress, which is running a petition against the bill, argued the powers in the bill could be used for political purposes. If the whistleblower Web site WikiLeaks is found to be hosting copyrighted material, for instance, access to WikiLeaks could be blocked for all US Internet users, they suggested.

A group of academics, led by Temple University law professor David Post, have signed a petition opposing COICA.

"The Act, if enacted into law, would fundamentally alter U.S. policy towards Internet speech, and would set a dangerous precedent with potentially serious consequences for free expression and global Internet freedom," Post wrote in the petition letter (PDF).

"Blacklisting entire sites out of the domain name system," explained the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), a privacy and digital rights advocate group, is a "reckless scheme that will undermine global Internet infrastructure and censor legitimate online speech."

Image by ElectronicFrontierFoundation via Flickr 

North Koreans Unveil Vast New Plant for Nuclear Use

The speed with which it was built strongly suggests that the impoverished, isolated country, which tested its first nuclear device in 2006, had foreign help and evaded strict new United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed to punish its rejection of international controls.

A delegation of American experts that included Dr. Hecker has already reported that it confirmed satellite photographic evidence of another new advance by the North — a light-water reactor being built on the site of a facility the country had dismantled as part of an agreement with the international community to end its nuclear weapons program.

The White House is clearly eager to use the new information to show that North Korea, in violation of United Nations mandates, continues to make significant progress toward advancing its nuclear program, even though it remains under international sanctions for its past violations.

( Go for it : Spheres of InfluenceImage via Wikipedia

The USA has been at war with Korea through proxy war in South Korea for what, 58 years now without adhering to any agreements it makes to induce North Korea to stop using nuclear power - which is basically the way the USA/UK have perverted and trashed the Nuclear nonProliferation Treaty ; Third Pillar assuring unhampered use of peaceful civilian technology notwithstanding.  If a better demonstration exists that United States/United Kingdom/UN Security Council policies of sanctions, economic warfare, and propaganda fearmongering has instead spurred them to show that they can retaliate for nuclear aggression in kind  I would like to see it. And I'm sure Iran will be taking notes of the outcomes despite its greater interest in getting the Israeli nuclear threat gone. 

Nor is it likely that China has forgotten that it was her interest in preserving North Korea as a buffer zone and throwing out US led UN forces from North Korea that caused the everlasting stalemate. Adding expanding NATO resources openly to the US beck and call since is not likely to provide any reassurance lulling them into a false sense of security.  Taiwan is still a bone of contention as well.

A reality check that I have noted before

• "1945-1998" by Isao Hashimoto
  "2053" - This is the number of nuclear explosions conducted in various parts of the globe.)

  Russia to monitor nuclear programs jointly with NATO — Medvedev

  ( Anyone who has read 'The Guns of August' should recall the role of interlocking 'defensive' treaties in initiating World War I - The Great War. And it's only 10 days since the cautions of Remembrance Day...'Lest We Forget'  I added a piece from Doug's Darkworld that includes a shot of the beach landing in Normandy.  And for any youngsters who don't have a clue about these old stories, they are fine reading. 

  marjorie morningstar
  leon uris
  war and remembrance
  
  winds of war herman wouk
  Military Writers 
  
  James Albert Michener February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, ...
  
  Biography

   

  - Tributes

   

  - Works

   

  - See also

   
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Michener - 

• 
  W.E.B. Griffin :: The Official Site

  Book VI in THE PRESIDENTIAL AGENT series byW.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV. Published 28 December 2010. Things are not exactly what they used ...
  www.webgriffin.com/home.html
  )

   

  GORDON DUFF: Are Terrorists Supplying Our Airport Scanners?

  ( I think the answer should be 'Yes!' TSA is Reich government fearmongering from Fatherland Security aka 'Homeland' Security. And don't bother telling me I am making unwarranted references to Hitler. Who do you think backed Him way back when?

  American Nazi Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

   

  The American Nazi Party (ANP) was founded by retired U.S. Navy Commander George Lincoln Rockwell. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Rockwell initially ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Nazi_Party - )

  
  

  The New Great Game

  The Greater Indian Ocean - a region that stretches “eastward from the Horn of Africa past the Arabian Peninsula, the Iranian plateau and the Indian subcontinent, all the way to the Indonesian archipelago and beyond."

  Although it became something of a strategic backwater during the cold war, this maritime domain is emerging as the global system’s center of gravity. Through it pass huge tankers carrying a large fraction of the world’s energy. At its western end, from Somalia to the monarchies of the Persian Gulf to Iran and Pakistan along the shores of the Arabian Sea, lie the main sources of Islamist extremism. Most important of all, it is in the Indian Ocean that the interests and influence of India, China and the United States are beginning to overlap and intersect. It is here, Kaplan says, that the 21st century’s “global power dynamics will be revealed.”

   

  'Lost Canadians' seek citizenship at home

  Tessier found out she was stateless when her older sister applied for a driver's license in Manitoba, a process that requires proof of citizenship. The sisters appeared before a parliamentary committee studying the cases of "lost Canadians" in 2007.

  The committee was moved by their stories and offered the pair a special grant of citizenship. Her sister took it, but Tessier refused, on the grounds that if she deserves citizenship, so do all the others facing the same hardship.

  "They've not done the right thing," said the B.C. resident, who now has a British passport. "I'm waiting for them to do the right thing."

  
  

   

Marine whistleblower Franz Gayl: Security clearance removal is retaliation

Senators called him a hero for disclosures that helped get heavily armored vehicles known as MRAPs to the battlefield.

Copyright Expansion Through Misinformation Has Gone On A Long Time... And It Involved Pimps & Ferrets

 Alan Wexellat points us to the news that Anderson has now redone the paper as a book, and has released Pimps and Ferrets: Copyright and Culture in the United States under a Creative Commons license.

 

The financial and human costs of the tough on crime agenda

The Fear Factor, Harper's Tough on Crime Agenda Download address

   

Related articles

• Wyden's service to the net (ridenbaugh.com)
• Understanding COICA, America's horrific proposed net-censorship bill (boingboing.net)
• COICA - This Is Not The Way To Deal With Internet Infringing (lockergnome.com)
• The Case Against COICA (descentintodarkness.wordpress.com)
• Senator: Web Censorship Bill A 'Bunker-Busting Cluster Bomb' (wired.com)