The New Dark Age

24 January, 2011 — Information Clearing House

‘Palestinians Agreed To Cede Nearly All Jewish Areas of East Jerusalem’
By Barak Ravid
The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the conflict has revealed that Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to accept Israel’s annexation of all but one of the neighborhoods, Har Homa, built in East Jerusalem.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27322.htm

Leaked Documents:
Who Was Serious About a Deal to End the Conflict?
By Harriet Sherwood
After the disclosure of these papers, it will be very hard indeed for the Israelis to deploy their standard argument that the Palestinians are not serious about negotiating a deal and that they have no “partner for peace”.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27325.htm

Secret Papers Reveal Slow Death of Middle East Peace Process
By Seumas Milne and Ian Black
Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to accept Israel’s annexation of all but one of the settlements built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem. This unprecedented proposal was one of a string of concessions that will cause shockwaves among Palestinians and in the wider Arab world.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27323.htm

Palestinian Leaders Weak – and Increasingly Desperate
By Seumas Milne
Increasingly, PA leaders resorted to warning US officials that if they failed to deliver an agreement with Israel, the door would be opened to Hamas and Iran.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27328.htm

Reaction to the Leaked Palestine Papers
By Chris McGreal
Palestinian negotiators have angrily dismissed accounts as lies, fabrications and half truths.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27326.htm

The Story Behind the Palestine Papers
By Seumas Milne and Ian Black
How 1,600 confidential Palestinian records of negotiations with Israel from 1999 to 2010 came to be leaked to al-Jazeera.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27324.htm

Where Liberals Go to Feel Good
By Chris Hedges
The moral outrage of the liberal class, a specialty of MSNBC, groups such as Progressives for Obama and MoveOn.org, is built around the absurd language of personal narrative-as if Barack Obama ever wanted to or could defy the interests of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase or General Electric.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27329.htm

The End of New Deal Liberalism
By William Greider
American democracy has been conclusively conquered by American capitalism. Government has been disabled or captured by the formidable powers of private enterprise and concentrated wealth.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27333.htm

Resolution Banning Corporate Personhood Introduced in Vermont
By Christopher Ketcham
Movements are afoot to reverse a century of accumulated powers and protections granted to corporations by wacky judicial decisions.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27327.htm

The Year of Living Dangerously
Rising Commodity Prices and Extreme Weather Events Threaten Global Stability
By Michael T. Klare
Get ready for a rocky year. From now on, rising prices, powerful storms, severe droughts and floods, and other unexpected events are likely to play havoc with the fabric of global society, producing chaos and political unrest.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27332.htm

Food Speculation:
‘People Die from Hunger While Banks Make a Killing on Food’
By John Vidal
It’s not just bad harvests and climate change – it’s also speculators that are behind record prices. And it’s the planet’s poorest who pay.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27330.htm

Driving Straight Into Catastrophe
By Julio Godoy
According to the latest statistics, unprecedented climate change has Earth hurtling down a path of catastrophic proportions.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27331.htm

At least 31 people killed as Moscows airport hit by deadly bombing: Warning: contains graphic footage –
Russian investigators said today’s explosion took place in the lounge area next to the international departure zone and close to the Asia cafe. Another source said “dozens” had been injured.
bit.ly/ic0hrD

26 Shiite pilgrims killed in Iraq car bombings:
Scores of pilgrims are attending an annual ritual marking 40 days of mourning to commemorate the death of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein, who is believed to have died during the famous Battle of Karbala in the year 680.
www.deccanherald.com/content/131746/26-shiite-pilgrims-killed-iraq.html

Critics alarmed as Iraq’s Maliki centralizes power:
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has won a court ruling placing independent bodies like the central bank and the electoral agency under the cabinet, a centralization of power that critics are calling a “coup.”
www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70M1MV20110123

Military says 14 Taliban killed in Afghanistan:
Afghan and NATO-led troops killed 14 suspected insurgents including two of their leaders in separate operations, officials said Monday.
bit.ly/hdGo05

US kills 11 people in Pakistan:
US drones carried out three strikes in the restive North Waziristan tribal region of northwest Pakistan today, killing 11 “suspected militants” even as tribesmen joined a protest in the area against the attacks.
bit.ly/esTpUk

Pakistan: thousands march against US drone strikes:
More than 10,000 marched in the northwest Pakistan city of Peshawar Jan. 23 to protest US drone attacks, a day after at least 13 were killed in three drone strikes in North Waziristan region.
www.ww4report.com/node/9374

Abbas: Concessions in Palestine papers came from Israel, not us:
PA president says that the documents leaked by Al-Jazeera purposely reverse the Israeli and Palestinian positions.
bit.ly/haZbEV

Obama urged to condemn settlements:
US academics and ex-government officials ask US president to support UN resolution against illegal Israeli settlements.
english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/20111227282201979.html

Hezbollah wins enough support to name new Lebanon PM :
Hezbollah has secured the support from a majority of parliament to nominate its candidate for prime minister, putting the Iranian- and Syrian-backed militant group in position to control Lebanon’s new government.
bit.ly/e2sGnS

Lebanon; U.S. may cut aid:
Talks on picking a new Lebanese prime minister were to begin Monday amid a report Washington may cut economic ties if a Hezbollah prime minister takes over.
bit.ly/dLWcr0

Anti-govt clashes erupt in Tunis:
Police fire tear gas at protesters who rallied at state buildings, demanding the ouster of interim ‘unity government’.
english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/20111247514476815.html

Is Yemen the next Somalia, or the next Tunisia?:
Tunisian-style protests erupted in Yemen over the weekend when thousands took to the streets to demand the removal of its autocratic president, who has held power for more than 30 years, joining leaders from Algeria to Jordan in the crosshairs of a popular revolt.
bit.ly/ftgVgn

Guns for hire:
Wikileaks: Jordan offered increased support in Afghanistan in exchange for econ aid :
A secret cable sent by U.S. Ambassador in Amman, Stephen Beecroft, to Washington earlier last year revealed that Jordanian government and military officials offered Washington a bundle of support measures in Afghanistan, including increasing the number of Jordanian troops there and sending fighter jets to participate in special missions.
en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=11387

WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning treatment ‘inhumane’:
The treatment of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning is branded inhumane by human rights groups. Campaigners tell Channel 4 News US custody conditions are “punitive”.
www.channel4.com/news/bradley-manning-treatment-inhumane

Bradley Manning’s Primary Visitor Detained at Quantico:
In December 2010, House came forward with testimony that he witnessed a deterioration in Manning’s physical and mental state due to the conditions of Manning’s solitary confinement. House traveled to the Quantico brig to check up on Bradley’s well-being after a week in which Manning’s lawyer filed an Article 138 complaint over Manning’s mistreatment at Quantico.
bit.ly/fPGxip

ACLU: ‘Unjustified homicides’ go unpunished at military prisons:
The American Civil Liberties Union has said it identified 25 to 30 cases of “unjustified homicide” in US-run prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/aclu-unjustified-homicides-prisons/

How Congress helped thwart Obama’s plan to close Guantánamo:
The camps at Guantánamo were supposed to close one year ago, by order of President Obama. Here’s the inside story of what happen
bit.ly/efXrnN

Report: Mexico let US question detained migrants:
Newly released U.S. diplomatic cables indicate Mexico allowed U.S. officials to question undocumented migrants detained in Mexican territory as part of anti-terror efforts.
www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110124/API/1101241940

Lethal injection drug production ends in the US:
Sole US sodium thiopental manufacturer, Hospira, has ceased manufacturing the drug used in administering death penalties
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/23/lethal-injection-sodium-thiopental-hospira

Fraud plagues global health fund:
A $21.7 billion development fund backed by celebrities and hailed as an alternative to the bureaucracy of the United Nations sees as much as two-thirds of some grants eaten up by corruption, The Associated Press has learned.
www.ctpost.com/news/article/AP-Enterprise-Fraud-plagues-global-health-fund-972977.php

China Bank Moves to Buy U.S. Branches:
China’s biggest bank signed an agreement that would make it the first Beijing-controlled financial institution to acquire retail bank branches in the U.S., though regulators could still block the deal.
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704754304576096002767228880.html

Fannie Mae OKs Foreclosure Delays for Hardest Hit Fund Assistance:
Fannie Mae has issued a notice to its servicers, instructing them to postpone foreclosure proceedings for unemployed homeowners who are receiving help through Hardest-Hit Fund programs run by state housing finance agencies.
bit.ly/hKYQxu

Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber-scepticism sweeps US:
Twitter and Facebook don’t connect people – they isolate them from reality, say a rising number of academics.
www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/22/social-networking-cyber-scepticism-twitter

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,421,933″
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq: 4,754
icasualties.org/oif/

Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 2,308

Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan
$1,142,269,589,084
www.costofwar.com/