The New Dark Age

27 January, 2011 — Information Clearing House

There is no Proof Iran is Building Nuclear Weapons: Medvedev
By The Associated Press
Medvedev said, “the international community so far has no information that Iran is building nuclear weapons.”
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27355.htm

America’s/Israel’s Useful Idiots.
Palestinian Distrust of Iran Revealed in Leaked Papers
By Ian Black and Seumas Milne
Mahmoud Abbas asked businessman to donate $50m to Mahmoud Ahamdinejad opponents, according to the documents –
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27356.htm

The US Role as Israel’s Enabler
By Mark Perry and Ali Abunimah
The series of six documents that provide a core element to understanding the debates that raged over Israeli settlements show just how willing the U.S. is to acquiesce to Israeli demands.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27357.htm

PA Stonewalled the Goldstone Vote
By S. Farhan Mustafa
PA, with US encouragement, delayed a UN vote on the Goldstone Report into war crimes committed during Israel’s Gaza war.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27354.htm

Final Stage Of The Struggle
The Stuttgart Declaration for a One-State Solution in Palestine
By Lawrence Davidson
When Yasir Arafat took over the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1969 he changed it from a tool of the Egyptian government to a dynamic united front seeking national liberation for the Palestinian people.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27359.htm

Sleeping Giant Wakes Up
By Yvonne Ridley
The pharaoh’s police state is now teetering after a second day of protests. Continue
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27358.htm

Hypocrisy – Democracy?
US Urges Reform in Egypt
Must Watch Al Jazeera Video Interview
PJ Crowley, the spokesman for the US state department, describes Egypt as “an ally and friend of the United States, an anchor of stability in the Middle East which is helping us pursue a comprehensive peace in the Middle East”.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27361.htm

Cow Most Sacred
Why Military Spending Remains Untouchable
By Andrew J. Bacevich
These four factors — institutional self-interest, strategic inertia, cultural dissonance, and misremembered history — insulate the military budget from serious scrutiny.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27360.htm

Could Bernanke Spark a Run on the Dollar?
By Mike Whitney
The Fed is planning to give every working man and woman in the US a big pay-cut so they can go nose-to-nose with foreign labor.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27364.htm

We Can’t Let the Banksters Walk Away from Their Crimes
By Danny Schechter
“It boggles the mind that $150 billion is vaporized…there haven’t been any arrests, any indictments, nor any convictions at any major bank or at any of the government-owned financial institutions Fannie, Freddie and AIG.”
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27363.htm

Justice Department Seeks to Have all Web Surfing Tracked
By Agence France-Presse
The US Justice Department wants Internet service providers and cell phone companies to be required to hold on to records for longer to help with criminal prosecutions.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27362.htm

Car bomb at Iraq funeral kills 80 & triggers clashes:
“People were angry after the explosion. They charged out into the streets to protest against the security forces,” said Nasser al-Sadi, the manager of Sadr’s office in Shula.
www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/01/27/135266.html

Six killed in a mortar attack in Pakistani agency: –
At least six people including women and children were killed Thursday night in a mortar attack in Pakistani tribal agency, close to Afghan border.
www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx

US diplomat kills two Pakistanis in Lahore:
An American diplomat in the Pakistani city of Lahore has shot and killed a Pakistani motorcycle rider and his pillion passenger, police say.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12298546

US Killed Over 2,000, Mostly Civilians in Pakistan Since 2006:
A new report from the Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC) has reported that 2,043 Pakistanis have been slain in CIA drone strikes in the past 5 years, with the vast majority of them innocent civilians.
warisacrime.org/content/report-cia-drones-killed-over-2000-mostly-civilians-pakistan-2006

2 killed, 12 detained in Afghanistan’s Takhar province:
Security forces during an ongoing military operation in Khwaja Ghar district of Afghanistan’s Takhar province, 245 km north of capital city Kabul, have killed two militants and captured a dozen others, district governor said Thursday.
english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7274619.html

Afghanistan needs 30-year commitment, EU envoy says:
The international community – including increasingly hostile public opinion in the European Union – needs to face the fact that Afghanistan will need support ‘for the next 30 years rather than 30 months,’ the bloc’s envoy to Kabul has said.
bit.ly/ePK8Pv

Palestinian teen shot dead by West Bank “settlers” :
Settlers reportedly shot a Palestinian to death in clashes that erupted near the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday, Palestinian eyewitnesses said.
bit.ly/fSFclz

The Palestine Papers: “The region is slipping away”:
There is little Arab unity on display in The Palestine Papers: The documents reveal a Palestinian Authority that is often critical and mistrusting of its “Arab brothers”.
english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/2011/01/201112618022814446.html

Palestine papers: Erekat asks US, UK and France for help to find leaker:
Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the three include a former British intelligence officer, a US employee of al-Jazeera TV and a French citizen. He said he is not accusing them of wrongdoing, but would like them to appear before an investigative committee.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/palestine-papers-erekat-leaker

Israeli Minister: Mubarak regime will prevail in Egypt, despite protests:
Egyptian security apparatus will use required force to retain control, says a minister in the Netanyahu government who insists on maintaining anonymity.
bit.ly/gubtob

Protesters torch Egypt police post:
Police post in city of Suez burnt down as angry protests continue to erupt despite security crackdown.
english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112734210243448.html

Egypt’s ElBaradei Returns to Cairo Following Protests:
The former head of the United Nations nuclear agency and possible presidential candidate has called for President Hosni Mubarak to leave office.
bit.ly/gGRGpZ

Anti-government rallies hit Yemen:
Tens of thousands of people, inspired by events in Tunisia, protest in Sanaa to demand President Saleh’s resignation.
english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011127100660857.html

Russia says awaiting Iranian response on fuel swap :
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said a revised fuel swap proposal, presented to Iran in Istanbul, could “create the atmosphere of trust needed for more productive dialogue.”
uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110127/tpl-uk-nuclear-iran-russia-81f3b62.html

‘NATO must probe cyber attack on Iran’:
Russia’s Ambassador to NATO has urged the organization to investigate the malicious malware that targeted some of the computer systems in Iran’s nuclear sites.
www.presstv.ir/detail/162280.html

Hariri bloc not to join new Lebanon govt.:
Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal (Future) Movement said on Thursday that it would not be part of the new government unless Prime Minister designate Najib Mikati, backed by the Hezbollah resistance movement, clarifies his position on US-sponsored Special Tribunal for Lebanon
www.presstv.ir/detail/162240.html

Unmanned plane patrolling stretch of Canada-U.S. border:
An unmanned plane the U.S. government has been using to patrol North Dakota’s northern border since 2009 is now flying along a greater section of America’s northern frontier, stretching from Spokane, Washington, to the Lake of the Woods region in Minnesota.
bit.ly/eQv3Yo

Modern-day slaves’ story repeats daily in plain sight:
They worked at posh country clubs across South Florida, then returned to deceptively quiet houses in Boca Raton where they were captives — and in the most dreadful cases, fed rotten chicken and vegetables, forced to drink muriatic acid and repeatedly denied medical help.
www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/23/2030710/modern-day-slaves-story-repeats.html

Japan downgraded over debt:
Standard & Poor’s downgraded Japan Thursday because it expects the country’s “fiscal deficits to remain high in the next few years” as it continues to deal with problems like debt, deflation and an aging population.
money.cnn.com/2011/01/27/news/international/s_p_japan/index.htm

U.S. budget deficit to hit $1.5 trillion:
A continuing weak economy and last month’s bipartisan tax cut legislation will drive the government’s deficit to a record $1.5 trillion this year, a new government estimates predicts.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41272983/ns/politics-more_politics/

Watchdog Says Bank Bailouts Made ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ Even Bigger:
Neil Barofsky, head of the group charged with overseeing the government’s handling of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) says the “too-big-to-fail” problem has not been solved; in fact, it’s gotten worse.
bit.ly/hF2A2N

Mortgage applications tumble 12.9% as refinancing activity falls 15.3%:
The number of refinancing applications fell 15.3% last week to the lowest point in 12 months, according to the MBA. And purchase applications didn’t fare any better dropping 8.7% to the lowest point since October.
bit.ly/gotH9x

U.S. Home Prices Keep Weakening as Eight Cities Reach New Lows in November:
Prices are now falling – and falling just about everywhere. As S&P noted “eight markets – Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Portland (OR), Seattle and Tampa – hit their lowest levels since home prices peaked in 2006 and 2007".
www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/01/case-shiller-us-home-prices-keep.html

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
$1,143,692,473,915
www.costofwar.com/