Showing posts with label karzai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label karzai. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

nearly 500 taliban flee in 'daring' afghan jailbreak

surprise! signs of 'inside job' in afghan jailbreak
nearly 500 taliban flee in 'daring' afghan jailbreakfrom afp: Almost 500 Taliban fighters and commanders tunnelled out of a prison in an audacious jailbreak in southern Afghanistan which the government admitted on Monday was a security "disaster". The Taliban said it was behind the operation to free the inmates through a 360-metre tunnel into Kandahar prison which it been digging for five months. It claimed all those who escaped were Taliban, including over 100 commanders. The daring breakout in the Taliban's heartland, the prison's second in three years, threatens to undermine recent gains claimed by NATO forces in the area after a US-led troop surge, just as the annual fighting season begins. It is also a major embarrassment for Afghan forces who are due to take on greater responsibility for security in their country ahead of the planned withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014.

related geopolitiks updates:
color revolutions & the 'mystery gunmen'*

90 killed, 80 injured in syria clashes*
bush admin considered pakistan's spy agency, the cia-connected isi, a terrorist organization*
pakistan pushes karzai to drop US as ally, turn to china*
david rockefeller and now superman, globalist traitors*

Thursday, November 05, 2009

geopolitiks: rendition, selections, false flags & wargames

video: italian court convicts 23 americans in cia rendition case*
italian court convicts 23 americans in cia rendition casevideo: webster tarpley says italy has turned the table on the cia*
US & india: bonding over war games*
privatized foreign policy: the india lobby*
india buys 200 tons gold from imf*
karzai declared 'winner' of afghan election*
afghan president appears to win by default*
americans dressed as afghans caught with illegal weapons & explosives*
the kim jong-il that clinton met was a fake, says academic*
dyncorp sub-contractor inter-risk was behind oct10 suicide bombing of pakistan's army hq*
peres discusses terror with 'juniper cobra' soldiers*
US drops demand for israeli settlement freeze*
who controls congress – who controls the US president - who controls the un? no prizes for guessing!*
eu reform treaty passes last test*
former spy killed outside putin's office*
german high court outlaws electronic voting*
house resolution designates venezuela a state sponsor of terrorism*

11/5 update ... you can't make this stuff up:
israel proposes work camps for illegal migrants

from haaretz: The government is considering establishing work camps in the south of the country, where illegal migrant workers will receive shelter, food and medical care, Army Radio reported Wednesday. In exchange, illegal migrants would perform manual labor outside the camps, but would not earn a salary... "I fear how far we have fallen," said MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) in reaction to the work camp proposal, adding that he thinks the plan would encourage many more asylum seekers to try to enter Israel.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

geopolitiks: inside bombs, payrolls & the daily show of force

video: largest iraq bombing in 2yrs may have been inside job*
largest iraq bombing in 2yrs may have been inside jobtwin suicide car bombs in baghdad kill 136*
car bomb kills 90 in pakistan as hillary visits*
car bomb kills 100 in pakistani city of peshawar*
pakistan bomb kills 92 as clinton visits*
pakistan moves for maritime body to prevent terror attacks*
ex-cia agent robert baer confirms US ties with jundullah*
israel wants free warships from germany*
amnesty intl says israel 'cuts palestinian water'*
in israel, a key test of obama’s retooled missile shield*
rothschild zionist bolton: israel has a right to pre-emptively strike iran *
video: daily show under fire for covering israeli-palestinian conflict*
israelis at center of ecstasy drug trade*
mystery of the missing iranian scientist*
afghan police open fire at demonstration*
karzai's brother said to be on cia payroll: report*
afghan opium kingpin on cia payroll*
video: author on karzai’s brother: ‘the generals dropped the dime on the spooks’*
new US bases on the black sea*
czech pres klaus still holding out over lisbon treaty*
new US/eu energy council to be set up early november*
brown to 'buy off' germany & france to get president blair*
blow to blair's hopes of eu job*
US & eu ink extradition pact*
church of scientology convicted of fraud in france*
alleged intel adviser makes lurid claims about prince albert of monacco*
japan shoots down missile in test off hawaii*
china says two executed for tibet riots*
soros: china will lead new world order*

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

geopolitiks: proxy wars, rifts & runoff selections

US attacks iran via cia-funded jundullah terror group*
video update: webster tarpley on the al-ciada terror nexus*

eyeing iran: juniper cobra5 revolutionary guard commanders killed in iran bomb*
US denies involvement in iran suicide attack*
iran vows revenge after claiming bomb attack was carried out by uk*
USrael launch largest ever war game*
eyeing iran: juniper cobra*
turkey 'set to sue' israel as rift deepens*
israel wants law of war changed*
video: protesters hijack olmert speech as un body endorses war crimes report*
video: tony blair heckled - 'you are a terrorist'*
russia ready to abandon dollar in oil, gas trade with china*
live from honduras: an interview with berta caceres*
pakistani brigadier assassinated in the capital*
angry protestors set fires on the champs-elysees*
the power in 11/9*
video: karzai agrees to afghan presidential runoff*


10/22 updates:
mystery over uk nuclear expert's death plunge at un hq in austria
from metro.co.uk: A British nuclear expert has plunged to his death from the 17th floor of a United Nations HQ, just as top-level talks with Iran began. The 47-year-old official, only identified so far as Timothy H, toppled about 120ft from the UN's building in the Austrian capital yesterday. He is believed to have been a member of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation and was due to take part in the UN-Iran discussions starting today. Police revealed no further details, beyond saying an autopsy would be held. Reports suggest no suicide note had been found.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

selection '08: aftermath updates

obama advisers discuss preparations for war on iran
from wsws: On the eve of the US elections, the New York Times cautiously pointed on Monday to the emergence of a bipartisan consensus in Washington for an aggressive new strategy towards Iran. While virtually nothing was said in the course of the election campaign, behind-the-scenes top advisers from the Obama and McCain camps have been discussing the rapid escalation of diplomatic pressure and punitive sanctions against Iran, backed by preparations for military strikes. The article entitled “New Beltway Debate: What to do about Iran” noted with a degree of alarm: “It is a frightening notion, but it not just the trigger-happy Bush administration discussing—if only theoretically—the possibility of military action to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program… [R]easonable people from both parties are examining the so-called military option, along with new diplomatic initiatives.” Behind the backs of American voters, top advisers for President-elect Barack Obama have been setting the stage for a dramatic escalation of confrontation with Iran as soon as the new administration takes office. A report released in September (3mb PDF) from the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, argued that a nuclear weapons capable Iran was “strategically untenable” and detailed a robust approach, “incorporating new diplomatic, economic and military tools in an integrated fashion”.

dear barack:
please stop civilian casualties in afghanistan.
love, hamid

dear barack: please stop civilian casualties in afghanistan. love, hamidfrom danger room: More grim news from Afghanistan: An airstrike by U.S.-led forces may have claimed the lives of more civilians. The New York Times quotes Afghan officials as saying as many as 40 civilians were killed after a coalition airstrike hit a wedding party in Kandahar province. Details are still sketchy, and we were unable to reach U.S. Forces - Afghanistan for immediate comment. But civilian casualties have been causing serious friction between the U.S. and Afghan governments, particularly after a recent airstrike on the village of Azizabad claimed a number of innocent lives. In a statement congratulating Barack Obama on his election victory, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for a new strategy. “The fight against terrorism cannot be fought in our country, rather, our country is a victim of terrorism and we demand for civilian casualties to be eliminated,” he said.

obama urged to shape new economic order
from reuters: Political leaders urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday to help forge a new economic order to lead the world out of its worst financial crisis since the 1930s. Excitement about the election of Democrat Obama as the first black U.S. president was tempered by an awareness of the challenges he faces as the world's biggest economy labours in recession. "We need to change the current crisis into a new opportunity. We need a new deal for a new world," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. "I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to drive this new deal," he added.

bamalot: obama drafts star-studded short (shit)list for cabinet
from nbcnewyork: President-elect Barack Obama has drafted a star-studded short list of cabinet candidates... Illinois Democrat Rahm Emanuel has already accepted Obama's offer to be the next White House chief of staff, reports NBC. The President-elect is strongly considering Robert F. Kennedy to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and is weighing Kennedy's cousin, Caroline, for the position of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - a move that would please Sens. Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, Politico reported. If Obama chooses to oust Robert Gates as Defense Secretary, Gen. Colin Powell has been short-listed as a candidate... Sen. John Kerry is considered the front-runner for the nation's top diplomat... Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was named as a potential candidate for Secretary of Energy in late October. Others considered for top jobs are Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell for Secretary of Energy and Chancellor of New York City's Department of Education Joel Klein. Obama also is considering tapping high-level Clinton administration officials.

obama’s 1st appointee is son of zionist terrorist
obama’s 1st appointee is son of zionist terroristfrom paul joseph watson: President elect Barack Obama’s first appointment, Rahm Emanuel, who is set to become chief-of-staff, is the son of a member of the Zionist terrorist group Irgun, which was responsible for bombing hotels, marketplaces as well as the infamous Deir Yassin massacre, in which hundreds of Palestinian villagers were slaughtered. Revelations about Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers, a Weather Underground domestic terrorist, which dogged him during the final weeks of the campaign trail, pale in significance to his selection of Emanuel, whose father, Rahm Emanuel, was an Irgun member. Irgun has been labeled a terrorist organization by both The New York Times newspaper and by the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry... Rahm Emanuel is also an enthusiastic supporter of the United States Public Service Academy Act, a lobbying group founded in 2006 in order to promote the foundation of an American public service academy modeled on the military academies - a youth corps whose students would be trained in “civilian internship in the armed forces”. This rings the alarm bells when we recall Obama’s pledge to create a “civilian national security force” that is “just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the U.S. military. A creepy You Tube video of a brown-shirt style Obama youth brigade chanting and marching military style emerged last month, raising fears about where the messianic cult-like status of Obama’s image could eventually lead.

rahm emanuel: israel's bagman in the white house
from brasscheck tv: The Israeli war party wins again. Let's see... * Rahm Emanuel was (still is?) a dual US-Israeli citizen. * He fought in the Israeli army * His father was a member of the Irgun, an Israeli group the British called "terrorist." * Emanuel is considered AIPAC's "go to" guy in Congress. Now he's Barack Obama's first White House pick, his Chief of Staff. And the US news media has nothing to say about it?


update: rahmbo accepts chief of staff job

'impeach obama' groups hit facebook
'impeach obama' groups hit facebookfrom afp: Barack Obama has not even been sworn in yet as the 44th president of the United States but groups are springing up online calling for his impeachment. On Facebook, an "Impeach Barack Obama" group has attracted more than 700 members and a lively debate about the Democrat's election victory on Tuesday over Republican John McCain. Another Facebook group of the same name has 160 members and urges others to join because "we might as well get a head start on the impeachment of Obama... There are a lot of Americans out there that do not fully understand the concept of Socialism or Communism which is why they've elected Obama as president," it says. Yet another Facebook group, "Impeach Barack Hussein Obama," has 160 members. It decries that Obama "has voiced support for various unconstitutional programs such as the assault weapons ban, universal healthcare, and various schemes for wealth distribution."

obama: all hope gone for truth & justice
from daily dose of terror: The selection of Obama as the 44th President of the U.S. was not met with any jubilation from me. Yes I know it's historic to have a black man in the White House. Yes I know that Bush is finally gone. What makes me deeply depressed is that with Obama taking office, all the crimes of the Bush junta will get a pass and the slate wiped clean by the treasonous complicit Democrats. What about the mass murder of 3'000 Americans by our own military apparatus? Justice will not be served. The Patriot Act reversed? No chance. Wars ended? No dice. Will Obama reverse any of the crimes of the last 8 years? I see a broader war with Russia and China, an economy doomed to collapse, and a general false sense of ease among the masses since Bush is gone. Activism will remain only for those who never drank the Obama kool aid. We know the power structure would never let real change to occur, other than a cosmetic one. The criminals that have destroyed our country are still at large and will remain so. As long as we still have the Pentagon system (replete with the 9/11 criminals) America is not a free country. Dark dark days may be ahead...

obama & russia: alex jones on russia today
from infowars: Judging by Obama’s pre-election statements and the political advisers he has, one shouldn’t hope for any thaw in US-Russia relations, believes American political commentator Alex Jones.

president-elect obama: alex jones on press tv
from press tv: In a live TV appearance, investigative reporter and documentary filmmaker Alex Jones appears on Press TV’s Fine Print program, Nov. 5, to discuss the impact that the first black president, Barack Obama, will have on the United States’ foreign and domestic policy.

my rejected 'i, anonymous' for the portland mercury
from media monarchy: hey obamazoid, guess what? even if he wins, it won't make a goddamn bit of difference. if you weren't so busy projecting your hope & change onto obama, maybe you'd have time to look into who's behind this guy. and i don't mean wright, ayers, muslims or some other limited-hangout diversion. i'm talking about his chief foreign policy advisor who helped create al-CIAda. i'm talking about his skull & bones financial advisor. and i'm talking about his biggest campaign donor: goldman sachs. heard anything about them lately, you fuckin wannabe enviro-yuppie? so, moments before the (s)election, as you drive your fuckin' car by yourself (even though you claim you're sustainable) with your obama stickers on your bumper (which i'll have to look at for another 4yrs like kerry/edwards stickers if the fake-ass left blows another election), just remember that the lesser of 2 evils is still evil. don't blame me, i voted for kodos!

the men behind the man:
the obama campaign’s intelligence advisors

the men behind the man: the obama campaign’s intelligence advisorsfrom intellibriefs: Intelligence and security weren’t major themes in the U.S. presidential ballot. Even so, a number of experts dealt with the issues for the Democrat candidate. Alongside the very official Senior Working Group on National Security of the Democrat campaign an informal group came together to handle intelligence questions on behalf of the Democrat candidate for the presidency, Barack Obama (voting in the election was still underway when Intelligence Online went to press). First identified by Mother Jones’ national security correspondent Laura Rozen (IOL 579), the group has been coordinated by a former National Security Council staffer, Rand Beers (see our graph here). The lack of any burning debate on intelligence matters during the campaign rather limited the work of the members, who didn’t meet that often. Some of them could be appointed to posts in a future Democrat administration, but they won’t form part of the transition team-in-waiting on intelligence for Obama if he is elected. Numerous other figures are candidates for high-level intelligence jobs in a Democrat administration, such as the former representative of the 36th district of California, Jane Harman, who was ousted in 2006 from the post of chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence by the Democrat speaker in the House, Nancy Pelosi.

obama’s treasury candidates:
old guard of the corporate elite

from steve watson: All of the leading candidates for the position of Treasury Secretary under president elect Barack Obama directly represent the old guard of the corporate elite system that has used the American economy as it’s engine to drive their march toward a global empire for decades. Under the banner of “change” whichever of these candidates is appointed to the Treasury will continue to rapidly expand the empowerment of the Federal Reserve monetary system and institute the very policies that have led us to the brink of financial ruin to move the economies of the world toward a centralized global banking system. The Leading candidate for Obama’s Treasury Secretary is current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Tim Geithner. In 2001, after leaving Bill Clinton’s Treasury, Geithner joined the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department. He then worked for the International Monetary Fund as the director of the Policy Development and Review Department until moving to the Fed in October 2003. In 2006 he became a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, Group of Thirty, which was founded in 1978 at the initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation. Back in June of this year after attending the annual Bilderberg power brokers conference in Virginia, Geithner penned an article in the Financial Times in which he called for a worldwide financial overhaul and the implementation of a globalized banking system.

barack obama, neocon
from kurt nimmo: It’s too bad more Americans didn’t listen to the neocon wunderkind, Bill Kristol, before going to the polling places and voting for Barack Obama. Back in June, Kristol told the audience at an AIPAC conference there is little difference between Obama and McCain when it comes to Iran and the potential for conflict. “Obama’s not for cutting the defense budget,” said Kristol. “Obama’s not for pulling troops back from our forward positions around the world, with the exception of Iraq. Obama and McCain don’t actually differ, at least on paper, even on Iran, where they’re arguing about whether they would talk to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad or not — and I think that’s an important dispute. Still, at the end of the day, Obama doesn’t say he would rule out the use of force." Unfortunately, by the time election day rolled around, few people seemed to realize or care that Obama is essentially a neocon dedicated to the very same agenda as McCain, who was handled by a bevy of neocons.

congratulations to cynthia mckinney for getting 144,286 votes
congratulations to cynthia mckinney for getting 144,286 votesfrom 9/11 blogger: That means 144,286 people didn't follow the norm and vote for the "lesser of two evils." That means 144,286 people probably thought it was more important to find out the truth about 9/11 than making sure McCain didn't get into office. That should say something. Congratulations to Cynthia McKinney on her run for President.



ron paul: the republican party has ‘lost their way’
from raw replay: CNN’s John Roberts talked to Ron Paul to assess the future of the Republican Party after major losses on election day. This video is from CNN’s American Morning, broadcast November 6, 2008.

paul warns of great shift toward global govt under obama
paul warns of great shift toward global govt under obamafrom steve watson: Texas Congressman and 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul has warned that the euphoria surrounding the election of Barack Obama combined with the overwhelming fear of major international crises could facilitate a cataclysmic shift toward a new world order.

oregon win takes dems to 57 in senate
from nation: Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley, who The Nation profiled last month in a look at progressives who might take Republican Senate seats, has defeated incumbent Republican Gordon Smith in a closely contested race that took until Thursday to resolve. "This is the beginning of a transformational change for America," Merkley told supporters after learning that he had defeated Smith by 40,000 votes. Merkley campaigned as an anti-war, pro-civil liberties progressive who criticized the initial Wall Street bailout plan, arguing that in amounted to corporate welfare at a time when working families needed help.

marijuana makes moves in massachusetts & michigan
from townhall: Marijuana was embraced in two states in Nov. 4's balloting. In Massachusetts, voters approved a ballot initiative for a $100 civil fine to possession of an ounce or less of marijuana to replace criminal penalties. In Michigan, voters approved the use of marijuana for medical conditions, making it the 13th state in the nation to open a door for marijuana via the disputed medicinal rationale.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

selection '08: debates, deportation, hacks, raids & more

wwf stagematch, round2:
obama & mccain wage counterinsurgency

wwf stagematch, round2: obama & mccain wage counterinsurgencyfrom danger room: Last night's debate was supposed to be all about the economy, or about who had the scummier friends. But more than a few rounds of the showdown in Nashville were devoted to military matters -- specifically, on how best to wage a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan. John McCain repeated his call to broadly use the Iraq blueprint on the Afghan front:

"Now, General Petraeus had a strategy, the same strategy -- very, very different, because of the conditions and the situation -- but the same fundamental strategy that succeeded in Iraq. And that is to get the support of the people."

Obama didn't sound all that much different. He put a bit more emphasis on pouring more troops into Afghanistan, "because our bases and outposts are now targets for more aggressive... Taliban." He talked about "eliminat[ing] some of the drug trafficking that's funding terrorism" there. And he said that Afghanistan's political leaders had to be brought into the process. "You are going to have to do better by your people in order for us to gain the popular support that's necessary," Obama recently told Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

In essence, both Obama and McCain were quoting from the military's now-famous counterinsurgency manual, which talks about the people being the center of gravity for these sorts of campaigns. The old-style bombs-and-bullets operations have their place, of course. But the key to stabilizing a country is allowing the people to lead "normal, social, economic, political lives," as McCain noted.

It's certainly a far cry from the debates of 2000, when then-Governor George W. Bush said, "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building. I think our troops ought to be used to fight and win war. I think our troops ought to be used to help overthrow [a] dictator when it's in our best interests."

One could even argue that last night represented kind of a capstone victory for the U.S. military's cadre of counterinsurgency-focused thinkers. For years, they've been clashing with the armed forces' more traditional strategists, who think the future of conflict lies in big wars with conventional adversaries. In the debate, both Obama and McCain passed up on the chance to declare a new Cold War with Russia. They were too focused on the insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan to bother.


mccain linked to iran-contra, ‘nazi collaborators,’ & ‘right-wing death squads’
from newsbusters: On Tuesday, an Associated Press article featured on MSNBC.com and briefly as a top headline on the popular internet homepage MSN.com was titled: "McCain linked to group in Iran-Contra case." The subtitle read: "Organization had ties to former Nazi collaborators, right-wing death squads." The article attacked a group founded by retired U.S. General John Singlaub: "The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe." The AP appears to be getting its story tips from the Obama campaign, as Boston Globe deputy national political editor, Foon Rhee, reported: "The Obama camp today is sending around reports on Singlaub, founder of the US Council for World Freedom, which was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal during the mid-1980s and was criticized for supposed links to Nazi collaborators and right-wing death squads in Central America." The AP article justified reporting on the tenuous McCain connection by explaining: "McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago."

jerome corsi, anti-obama author, detained in kenya
from times online: A leading American neo-conservative author has been detained by immigration authorities in Kenya as he tried to launch a book smearing Barack Obama. Jerome Corsi, of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth fame, was this morning being held after failing to reckon with Obamamania. He had been planning to launch his book, entitled 'Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality', before travelling to one of Nairobi’s slums to donate money to the Senator’s half-brother George, who was found living in squalid conditions two months ago.


tennessee student indicted for hacking palin email
tennessee student indicted for hacking palin emailfrom threat level: David Kernell, the 20-year-old Tennessee student who has been under suspicion for allegedly obtaining unauthorized access into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's private Yahoo e-mail account, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Tennessee. According to a Justice Department spokeswoman, the grand jury returned the sealed indictment Tuesday afternoon, and Kernell turned himself into the FBI this morning, after which the indictment was unsealed. Kernell was arraigned in Tennessee today, and a tentative trial date has been set for December 16. Kernell, who is the son of Tennessee Democratic state representative Mike Kernell, is indicted on only one felony count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, but the indictment mentions an additional statute, the Stored Communications Act.

update: tennessee student accused of hacking palin account involved in another computer intrusion years ago

fbi raids investigates obama's friend's home
fbi investigates obama's friendfrom washington times: (Editor's note: The original version of this article has been corrected. The office of Larry D. Walsh was not raided.)

The FBI is investigating a former Illinois state senator who is a poker-playing buddy of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. According to Chicago authorities, the FBI visited the offices in Joliet, Ill., of a Will County auditor to ask questions about Larry Walsh, a longtime friend of Mr. Obama's, and his chief of staff Matt Ryan. Mr. Walsh, who served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2005, was endorsed by Mr. Obama in his county executive election bid. With the support of some of Mr. Obama's U.S. Senate volunteers, he easily defeated incumbent Republican Joseph Mikan. Will County auditor Steve Weber confirmed that his office had been asked by the FBI to assist in an investigation, but he did not elaborate on the specifics. Two FBI agents out of Chicago reportedly spent more than an hour in the Will County offices on Wednesday morning.


ron paul reacts to obama’s 'change'


nader challenges obama & mccain to visit mosque before elections
from votenader.org: Ralph Nader will be holding a news conference Friday, October 3 at 11 a.m. outside the Grand Mosque Islamic Center in Washington DC where he will challenge Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain to visit a mosque, like they have churches and synagogues, before the November election as a show of respect and tolerance. Nader recently wrote a letter to Obama and McCain asking the men to act on such a request.
“As you know, discriminatory acts against Muslim-Americans have soared in recent years. They emanate from stereotyping, ethnic profiling, bigotry and, unfortunately, actions by some local, state & federal officials. The documentation is broad and deep on this unfortunate situation that spreads fear and anxiety among millions of Muslim-Americans… Out of respect for Muslim-Americans who have served in all the dimensions of our society from the professions to the armed forces, from the trades to the arts and sciences, from blue collar to white collar work, while raising their children to surpass their own achievements as befits the American horizon, we urge you to visit a Mosque before November 4, 2008.”
The letter is published in its entirety [here].


satire video: gunman kills 15 potential swing voters
from the onion: The Obama campaign is cautiously optimistic after initial reports indicated that most of the people killed were registered Republicans.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

geopolitiks: drugwars, radar & private military

drug violence kills at least 49 in tijuana this week
from ap: Police have found nine more bodies dumped around the Mexican border city of Tijuana... More than 400 people have been killed in drug-related violence in the city across from San Diego, California, this year, including at least 49 this week... Execution-style killings, beheadings and shootouts have soared across Mexico since the army and federal police intensified their fight against the drug trade nearly two years ago.

reports link karzai’s brother to afghan heroin trade
reports link karzai’s brother to afghan heroin tradefrom nytimes: When Afghan security forces found an enormous cache of heroin hidden beneath concrete blocks in a tractor-trailer outside Kandahar in 2004, the local Afghan commander quickly impounded the truck and notified his boss. Before long, the commander, Habibullah Jan, received a telephone call from Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai, asking him to release the vehicle and the drugs, Mr. Jan later told American investigators, according to notes from the debriefing obtained by The New York Times. He said he complied after getting a phone call from an aide to President Karzai directing him to release the truck. Two years later, American and Afghan counternarcotics forces stopped another truck, this time near Kabul, finding more than 110 pounds of heroin. Soon after the seizure, United States investigators told other American officials that they had discovered links between the drug shipment and a bodyguard believed to be an intermediary for Ahmed Wali Karzai, according to a participant in the briefing. The assertions about the involvement of the president’s brother in the incidents were never investigated, according to American and Afghan officials, even though allegations that he has benefited from narcotics trafficking have circulated widely in Afghanistan.

pakistan's frontier turns into war zone
pakistan's frontier turns into war zonefrom iht: War has come to Pakistan, not just as terrorist bombings, but as full-scale battles, leaving Pakistanis angry and dismayed as the dead, wounded and displaced turn up right on their doorstep. An estimated 250,000 people have now fled the gunship helicopters, jets, artillery and mortar fire of the Pakistani Army, and the assaults, intimidation and rough justice of the Taliban who have dug into Pakistan's tribal areas.

blackwater machine gun found in raid on iraqi insurgents
blackwater machine gun found in raid on iraqi insurgentsfrom abcnews: An M4 machine gun sent to Iraq by the Blackwater private security firm somehow disappeared from the company's storage facility in Baghdad and was later discovered during a US military operation, apparently against suspected insurgents, people familiar with the situation have told ABC News. The incident, in 2006, has been kept secret until now but it raised more questions about Blackwater's operations in Iraq.

US radar in israel might be trained on russia
from israel today: A Time Magazine article citing Israeli military officials suggests a sophisticated long-range American radar system about to be deployed in Israel may be less about providing early warning of an Iranian missile attack, and more about hemming in Russia. The radar base will be the first permanent deployment of foreign troops on Israeli soil in the country's short 60-year modern history. Initial reports were that Washington offered the early-warning radar to Israel as compensation for not supporting plans to preemptively attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

US radar in israel: what's it for, really?

Sunday, July 20, 2008

brzezinski's envoy on 'campaign-season tour of war zones'

obama arrives in afghanistan
from ap: Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, the first stop on a campaign-season tour of war zones, a spokesman said. Less than four months before the general election, Obama's first visit to Afghanistan, with a subsequent stop in Iraq, was rich with political implications, although the Illinois senator flew as part of an official congressional delegation.

goldman sachs frontman meets with unocal executive
goldman sachs frontman meets with unocal executivefrom afp: US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Sunday met here with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has been criticised by the Illinois senator for not doing enough to rebuild his war-torn country. An official in Karzai's office told AFP the talks had taken place in the capital, but gave no details about the meeting. Obama has made Afghanistan a key focus of his foreign policy pledges, saying it - not Iraq - should be the focus of the so-called "war on terror" and promising to send more troops to battle insurgents here if elected.

mccain leaked details of obama's iraq trip
from huffington post: Reuters reports that McCain shared details of Obama's trip to Iraq at a fundraiser:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is likely to be in Iraq over the weekend... "I believe that either today or tomorrow - and I'm not privy to his schedule - Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.
Josh Marshall points out that there's something very wrong with this. The Reuters piece hints at it. But if Obama is going to be in Iraq this weekend, this is a major breach on McCain's part.

Monday, August 06, 2007

news on the march

nsa, dod, & fbi seek hackers as allies
nsa, dod, & fbi seek hackers as alliesfrom the age: US federal agents are reaching out to computer hackers for help fighting crime and terrorism as a tug-of-war between privacy and public safety continues on the Internet.

The National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Defense and the FBI were among the spy, military and police agencies represented at DefCon, an international gathering of hackers in Las Vegas.


china bans crude birth control slogans
china bans crude birth control slogansfrom ap: China's top family planning agency has cracked down on crude and insensitive slogans used by rural authorities to enforce the country's strict population limits, state media said Sunday.

Slogans such as 'Raise fewer babies but more piggies,' and 'One more baby means one more tomb,' have been forbidden and a list of 190 acceptable slogans issued by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Such slogans are often found painted on roadside buildings in rural areas.


karzai sees no gains in bin laden hunt
karzai sees no gains in bin laden huntfrom ap: In the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the United States and its allies have essentially gotten nowhere lately, Karzai said.

"We are not closer, we are not further away from it," Karzai said in an interview with CNN's "Late Edition," which aired Sunday. "We are where we were a few years ago."

Karzai ruled out that bin Laden was in Afghanistan, but otherwise said he didn't know where the leader of the al-Qaida terror network was likely to be hiding.

Bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is believed to be living in the tribal border region of Pakistan. His ability to avoid capture remains a major source of frustration for U.S.-led forces and a political sore spot for Bush.



colbert 'hopes to join' illuminati depopulation plan
from jones report: Stephen Colbert made heavy reference to the Illuminati and their plan to depopulate the world, noting that he too can make strange hand signs and wants to be recruited... Colbert brings up the Illuminati in conjunction with Benjamin Fulford, a former Forbes magazine writer, who alleges that the Illuminati network seeks to use race-specific biological weapons to decrease Asian populations to 500,000,000...

Fulford gave an exclusive six hour interview to the Jeff Rense Show on the subject, which can be found here.

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