As for the catalyst the two carriers may be anticipating, we provide the following update from the Gulf Daily News where we read that Israel may be on the verge of an attack of Iran, with an incursion originating from military bases in Azerbaijan and Georgia...
We caution readers to take this news with a grain of salt as the Gulf Daily News' sister publication, Akhbar Al Khaleej, has a slightly less than stellar credibility rating. Then again, this is what some, Breaking News Online most notably, said about last week's carrier news, urging readers to ignore it.
Welcome to another important episode of New World Next Week - the weekly video series from CorbettReport.com & MediaMonarchy.com that covers some of the most important developments in alternative news & open source intelligence. This week:
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The Israeli military killed 34 and wounded 171 crew members aboard the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, during the Arab-Israeli war and suffered no consequence. Israel said it had confused the intelligence ship for an Egyptian vessel. Many intelligence and military officials dispute Israel’s explanation, but that does not matter. Israel has a carte blanche to murder at will. It is almost completely irrelevant when nations and aggrieved parties complain.
from msnbc: The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama "fully supports" the South Korean president and his response to the torpedo attack by North Korea that sank a South Korean naval ship.
update: blasts at jakarta ritz, marriott kill 9, wound 50 from ap: Bombs minutes apart ripped through two luxury hotels in Jakarta Friday, killing nine and wounding at least 50 more, ending a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation. At least 14 foreigners were among the dead and wounded. The blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located side-by-side in an upscale business district in the capital, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. Facades of both hotels were reduced to twisted metal.
from danger room: Two U.S. Navy vessels, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine and an amphibious transport dock, collided this morning in theStrait of Hormuz, which runs between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. According to a news release from the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain, the submarine USS Hartford collided with the amphibious ship USS New Orleans at around 1:00 a.m. local time. Fifteen sailors aboard the Hartford were described as being "slightly injured"; all returned to duty. No injuries were reported aboard the New Orleans, but that ship suffered a ruptured fuel tank, spilling 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel. This is not the first incident involving the Hartford. The boat ran aground in 2003 while performing maneuvers off Sardinia; the vessel was put out of commission for several months and two Navy officers were relieved of command.
The British government has always been evasive about the presence of munitions on Lusitania. Two cargo manifests were submitted; the second, filed after the ship sailed, indicated there were light munitions on board. Some believe the ship was carrying much more, however, and that the British Navy attempted to destroy the wreck in the 1950s to conceal its military cargo.
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 from 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 from 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 groupIrgun, 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?
'impeach obama' groups hit facebook from 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 from 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 from 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 from 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.
iran: intruding jet belonged to nato not US from belfast telegraph: A jet that violated Iranian airspace and was forced to land at an airport in Iran belonged to NATO, Iranian TV has reported. Iran's media claims the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Falcon jet, carrying military personnel from various nations including Hungary, was heading to NATO bases in Afghanistan. The plane reportedly took off from Turkey and then strayed into Iranian air space on September 30. Iranian fighter jets escorted the aircraft to Tehran's Mehrabad airport and forced it to land, the report said.
iran says it forced down western plane from ap: Iranian news reports claimed Tuesday that Iran forced down a Western aircraft that accidentally entered its airspace, then allowed the plane to continue to Afghanistan after questioning its passengers.
The state-owned Al-Alam, Iran's official Arabic-language television station, quoted an unidentified senior Iranian military official as saying the plane belonged either to a British or Hungarian relief agency and had been traveling from Turkey to Afghanistan.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "We're looking into the various and conflicting reports coming from the Iranian `news' agencies, but do not have any information at this time that would lead us to believe they are correct."
The U.S. military's Central Command said in a statement from its headquarters in Doha, Qatar that no American plane was involved in the incident, as some Iranian media initially reported.
pilot says US militaries on board falcon jet from fars news agency: Pilot of a Falcon jet, which was later forced to land down in an Iranian airport last Tuesday, had announced in its first radio contact with Iranian authorities that he had US militaries aboard.
US jets violate pak airspace again from intl news: Two US jetfighters Saturday night again intruded into Pakistan airspace over South Waziristan area, causing panic among the tribesman. However, neither the security forces nor the tribesmen fired upon the fighter planes. Sources in the tribal agency confirmed to The News that two US jetfighters for about 25 minutes hovered over Angoor Adda, Baghar and Momin Tangi area of the agency. The planes that came across the border from troubled Paktika province of Afghanistan, after the flight over the area went back without any action.
taseer says ‘will impose economic martial law, if empowered’ from daily times: Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer says if empowered, he will impose an ‘economic martial law’ and resolve the economic problems facing Pakistan. Speaking on Geo TV’s Aik Din Geo Kay Saath [A day with Geo], Taseer said he remained in prison when Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif was chief minister of Punjab, adding, “But neither I begged for pardon nor did I bow before anyone.”
pakistan on 'red alert' from cbs/ap: Pakistan's security officials put all of the country's airports on "red alert" Thursday after intelligence warnings of a suicide attack. "We had very credible information of a suicide attempt in Islamabad which prompted this step," a senior security official told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the matter
pakistan's soldiers fire on US copters from danger room: Their president may be getting all flirty with our VP candidate. In the meantime, Pakistan's troops and American forces are getting into firefights with increasing regularity. The latest incident: Pakistani soldiers fired on U.S. helicopters - while those choppers were still in Afghan airspace. The shooting comes just a day after an American Predator spy drone mysteriously went down in Pakistan, and a week after Pakistani generals ordered their soldiers to "open fire" if U.S. troops crossed the border. Reports of skirmishes between American and Pakistani forces have become more and more common. But mostly, they've been based on semi-reliable Pakistani accounts, or on second-hand information. American officials have been reluctant to confirm anything, on the record. But this latest incident was reported by the Pentagon's own Armed Forces Press Service...
UPDATE: As soon as this post was published yesterday, commenter Jim smelled something fishy with the Pentagon's version of what went down. He wrote, "Pakistan troops on the Pakistani side of the border initiated small arms fire against the helicopters while they were 'still a mile inside Afghan airspace.' Now, the range of most small arms is, at best, 1000 yards. A helicopter pilot would be lucky to even see an AK muzzle flash from a mile away, slightly more if its a heavier machinegun. Methinks someone is lying, and it isn't the Pakistanis." Turns out, Jim was dead-on. This was a firefight between Pakistani and U.S.-Afghan ground patrols, American officials tells the Washington Post.
update: pakistan replaces chief of powerful spy agency from afp: Pakistan has appointed a new head of its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, amid US accusations that the military spy organisation secretly backs Taliban rebels on the Afghan border. Lieutenant General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, formerly head of military operations, was named director general of the ISI late Monday, a terse military statement announced. He replaces Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj. The move is part of a major shake-up of the army's top brass after US, Afghan and Indian officials alleged in recent months that the shadowy organisation was complicit in the Taliban insurgency wracking the region.
update: several killed in US drone attack from bbc: A pilotless American drone has fired missiles in a border area of Pakistan, killing at least four people, Pakistani security officials say. Officials said a house was hit near the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan and nine people were injured. Reports say the missiles were fired after the drone was shot at. Tension between the US and Pakistan has increased over cross-border incursions against militants by American military based in Afghanistan.
update: continuing US losses will lead to military strikes on pakistan from daily times: If the United States forces in Afghanistan continue to suffer casualties inflicted by insurgents crossing over from Pakistan, the next administration, whether Republican or Democratic, will come under tremendous public pressure to make direct strikes on Pakistani targets, according to three South Asia experts. The observation came at a meeting organised by Khawaja M Ashraf, president of the Pakistani-American Congress, here on Sunday. The three experts who spoke on the prevailing situation in the region were, Walter Andersen of the Johns Hopkins University, Rodney Jones, who runs a local consultancy, and Jonathan Landay of McClatchy Newspapers, who has extensive experience of traveling in and writing about the region.
from ap: Iran's president accused "a few bullying powers" of trying to thwart his country's peaceful nuclear program and declared in a speech Tuesday before the U.N. General Assembly that "the American empire" is nearing collapse. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sharply attacked the United States and NATO, accusing them of acting as aggressors in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of starting those wars "in order to win votes in elections." "American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders," Ahmadinejad said. In a highly rhetorical speech, the Iranian leader again criticized archenemy Israel and showed no sign of reaching out to Western powers at the U.N., where the United States and its European allies are seeking a new round of sanctions if no agreement is reached on limiting Iran's nuclear capabilities. Some worry that Israel or the U.S. might resort to military strikes if they believe all diplomatic options have been exhausted.
un needed more urgently than ever, says bush
from guardian: George Bush today used his final speech to the UN before stepping down as the US president to defend the "war on terror" and urge other countries to support it. Bush said terrorism was the biggest challenge faced by the UN since its charter was drawn up in 1945. The US president - who ultimately ignored the UN in pressing ahead with the 2003 invasion of Iraq - said the scale of the threat illustrated that the UN and other multilateral organisations "are needed more urgently than ever". In a rebuff to those arguing that the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan had acted as a recruiting tool for extremists, Bush said: "Bringing the terrorists to justice doesn't create terrorism - it's the best way to protect our people."
huge truck bomb strikes marriot hotel in islamabad from winter patriot: A huge truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday evening, killing at least 40 people and wounding more than 150, the police said. This according to Carlotta Gall, who reports from Pakistan and Afghanistan for the New York Times: "The blast, one of the worst acts of terrorism in Pakistan’s history, went off just a few hundred yards from the prime minister’s house, where all the leaders of government were dining after the president’s address to Parliament." ... an address which was reported as a broadside against both terrorism and US intervention ...
In addition to the speech mentioned above, this attack comes mere days after Pakistan's announcement that its military would fight back if American troops attacked on its soil again, and a few days before a scheduled meeting between the presidents of Pakistan and USA, at which the fight against terrorism is on the agenda - or is the agenda! Thus, the timing can hardly be coincidental. And as you can see quite clearly from the photos posted here, this attack is orders of magnitude beyond the suicide terrorism which occurs in Pakistan on a regular basis. In other words, it appears to be state-sponsored. And you can probably guess which state. You might think everybody would hate these terrorists. But you'd be wrong. Some people like them. For some people, terror is good for business. The presidential candidates lost no time in pointing fingers - even though they can have no idea who was behind this atrocity... So there you have it: the government was "elected" and the threat is "enduring"; that's all the pretext these guys need for another hundred years of war. But what the heck? Your kids weren't planning to do anything different with their lives, were they?
the questionable timing of the pakistan blast from 9/11 blogger: Let me see if I got this straight now.
Over the past 7 years we have dumped billions and billions of dollars into Pakistan to help with the Global War on Terror™. Yet, we know that former President Musharraf spent much of that money beefing up his military presence on the border of India, while another large part of that money, just went missing. Some of that money was traced to election fraud attempts. All of this, and the accepted wisdom is that the Taliban and bin Laden, are in Pakistan (of course I think he is dead, but that is beside the point).
When Musharraf lost the election, he shut down the democracy in Pakistan and arrested judges and opposition party leaders. Eventually, Pakistan shamed us by actually impeaching their president for corruption, while ours gets off Scott-Free thanks to Nancy Pelosi and a complicit congress.
Along comes a new President, President Asif Zardari, one that isn’t in the pocket of BushCo and low and behold, we start ramping up the rhetoric about needing to attack inside Pakistan “when ever we feel like it“. They even get the leading “progressive” man-god, Obama, to spin the same bullshit story.
Now, after several weeks of international bad press because of drone planes being piloted by 19 year olds with joy-sticks in California, blowing up families in Pakistan willy-nilly, after all that, the “terrorists” in Pakistan decide to blow up a second rate hotel there, killing civilians, and making them the bad guys once again? How’s that for the worst timing ever, huh? Well, the worst timing for them and the best possible timing for those troubled U.S. Military PR guys and all the politicians who had been saying just a month ago we need to step up military action in Pakistan.
Let’s face it, the Global War on Terror™ is the biggest thing since sliced bread for making serious cash, removing those troubling restrictions, and undermining the constitution at every turn.
but before the bombing, all of this was going on...
washington is risking war with pakistan from robert baer: As Wall Street collapsed with a bang, almost no one noticed that we're on the brink of war with Pakistan. And, unfortunately, that's not too much of an exaggeration. On Tuesday, the Pakistan's military ordered its forces along the Afghan border to repulse all future American military incursions into Pakistan. The story has been subsequently downplayed, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, flew to Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, to try to ease tensions. But the fact remains that American forces have and are violating Pakistani sovereignty.
unknown powder sent to US diplomats in pakistan from ap: Two American diplomatic outposts in Pakistan received envelopes containing an unknown white powder last week, sparking a security scare, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Sunday. Tests are being conducted on the substance, spokesman Lou Fintor said. He declined comment on whether any embassy staffers had become ill or were under observation. The envelopes were sent to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi on Thursday and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Friday. Fintor said both facilities have remained open, with no plans to close them. "Embassy personnel followed established response procedures," Fintor said. "We applaud the rapid and appropriate response by our mailroom and security staff to contain any potential threats. We take threats of this type very seriously, hoax or not." He would not say where the envelopes had been mailed from, pending an investigation, or to whom they were addressed.
bhutto widower elected pakistan president from ap: Benazir Bhutto's widower swept Pakistan's presidential election on Saturday, offering hope for stability to a nuclear-armed country feeling intense U.S. pressure to crack down on Islamic militants. In a grim reminder of the problems awaiting Asif Ali Zardari, rescuers in the northwest dug with their hands for survivors after at least 30 people were killed in a massive suicide bombing. Already head of the main ruling party, Zardari becomes one of the most powerful civilian leaders in Pakistan's turbulent 61-year history. Last month, he marshaled a coalition that forced stalwart U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf to quit as head of state.
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from washington post: A vast treasure trove of secret State Department cables obtained by the Web site WikiLeaks has exposed the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy, as well as bluntly candid assessments by American diplomats, according to news organizations granted advance access to the more than 250,000 confidential documents. The documents suggest U.S. diplomats were ordered to engage in low-level spying by obtaining foreign diplomats' personal information, such as frequent-flier and credit card numbers, presumably to better track their movements. The cables also expose the sensitive diplomacy involved in winning sanctions against Iran; U.S. officials' attempts to remove highly enriched uranium from Pakistan; and new information on how North Korea is believed to have aided Tehran's weaponry program, giving it advanced missiles that could allow it to strike Moscow and major Western European cities.
