The New Dark Age

13 June, 2011 — Information Clearing House

Libyan Resource Nationalism
Why the NATO Powers are Trying to Assassinate Moammar Gaddafi
By Brian Becker
Wikileaks-released State Department cables from November 2007 and afterwards show the real reason for the mounting U.S. hostility to the Libyan government prior to the current civil war.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28323.htm

Ninety Percent of Petraeus’s Captured “Taliban” Were Civilians
By Gareth Porter
When Petraeus decided in mid-August to release the figure of 1,355 Taliban rank and file allegedly captured during the 90-day period, he already knew that 80 percent or more of that total had already been released.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28313.htm

Children and War
By Cindy Sheehan
Mr. Burns was wondering why the U.S. is bombing Libya, but not Syria, because Syria is, “torturing and killing children,” and Mr. Burns didn’t know how the people of the world could stand by and watch this happen.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28324.htm

War Is A Racket
Missing Iraqi Billions ‘Probably Stolen’
By Paul Richter
US defence officials still cannot say what happened to $US6.6 billion ($6.3 billion) of the cash. Federal auditors are now suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28322.htm

Palestinians March, Israelis Repress
By Merav Michaeli
We don’t speak about it, about how the mass marches by Palestinians to the border are a watershed event that have suddenly created a new option.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28316.htm

For The Sake Of Jewish Sensitivities
By Gilad Atzmon
Here is a question that I must address to righteous Jews and fellow Palestinian supporters around the world: do you really believe that the discourse of the struggle against the Jewish State should be shaped by ‘Jewish sensitivities’?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28315.htm

No Justice in Kafka’s America
By Chris Hedges
The draconian legal mechanisms that condemn Muslim Americans who speak out publicly about the outrages we commit in the Middle East have left many wasting away in supermax prisons.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28320.htm

Non-battle Scars:
US Military ‘Rape Victim’ Shares Her Pain :
Video:
1 in 3 Female Soldiers are Raped or Sexually Assaulted by Fellow US Servicemen.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28318.htm

On “The Issue of Character” and Empire
By Phil Rockstroh
Perhaps as a reminder, fleets of U.S. aircraft carriers should be christened with names such as, the USS Entitlement, the USS Displaced Resentment and the USS Willful Ignorance.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28321.htm

The Financial Road to Serfdom:
How Bankers are using the Debt Crisis to Roll Back the Progressive Era
By Michael Hudson
Financial strategists do not intend to let today’s debt crisis go to waste. Foreclosure time has arrived. That means revolution – or more accurately, a counter-revolution to roll back the 20th century’s gains made by social democracy:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28319.htm

Are We Entering an Economic “Ice Age”?
By Mike Whitney
Check out this brief summary of Republican proposals by the Tax Policy Center. It helps to reveal the hidden risks of austerity measures.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28317.htm

American Banks ‘High’ On Drug Money:
By Clarence Walker
A fraud investigator helped expose the shocking world of multi-billion dollar drug laundering by American banks and the surprising lack of oversight by the Feds.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28314.htm

32 “Militants”, 4 Soldiers Killed in Western Afghanistan:
Officials say four Afghan soldiers were killed and at least three other soldiers were wounded Sunday in the fighting in Badghis province.
http://bit.ly/m8I9bF

Manufacturing Consent For Continued Occupation Of Afghanistan::
After 10 years, no security unit is fit to take over from coalition in Afghanistan:
The 2014 troop exit is threatened by the poor state of local police and army
http://ind.pn/iS8Nu0

Secret US and Afghanistan talks could see troops stay for decades:
Russia, China and India concerned about ‘strategic partnership’ in which Americans would remain after 2014
http://bit.ly/kKxGsq

The Afghan war is lost. So now who’ll take the blame?:
There is no single villain. The military did the disastrous deed, but it was civilians who created and defined the mission
http://bit.ly/jMG8dk

Bomb destroys seven NATO oil tankers in Pakistan:
At least seven tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan were gutted Monday when a bomb planted in one of the vehicles exploded at a terminal in Pakistan, officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110613/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanunrestnatonorthwest

Four killed in three separate blasts in Pakistan:
In the first suicide attack in the Pakistani capital in nearly two years, a teenage bomber today blew himself up outside a private bank killing at least one person and injuring several others
http://bit.ly/iW1s3S

At least 23 rebels killed in fighting in eastern Libya:
A Libyan doctor says 23 rebels have been killed in fighting outside the eastern oil town of Brega.
http://bl117w.blu117.mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

Eight killed, 40 wounded in western Libya clashes:
Opposition broadcaster Libya TV said NATO helicopters targeted Gaddafi’s forces south-west of Misurata early Monday. Misurata, the country’s third-largest city, is 200 kilometres west of the capital.
http://bit.ly/lTtAfH

Libya ‘repulses rebels’ in Zawiya:
Rebels said there had been heavy fighting in the centre but journalists taken to the town said it appeared calm and under government control
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13745743

Germany recognises Libya rebels:
Germany today recognised Libya’s rebel council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people. lending heavyweight support to the leaders poised to run the country if Muammar Gadafy falls.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0613/breaking3.html

Just 26% Favor Continued Military Action in Libya:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters feel the United States should continue its military actions in Libya. Forty-two percent (42%) are opposed and 32% are undecided.
http://bit.ly/iF0Q53

‘140 killed’ in two weeks of Yemen clashes: –
At least 140 people have been killed in two weeks of clashes between Yemeni security forces and suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in the southern city of Zinjibar, a military official said on Monday.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=46667

Yemen’s Saleh to address the nation:
Yemen’s wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh, recovering in a Riyadh hospital from a bomb blast, is to address his people “very soon”, the defence ministry’s website reported.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/9633034/yemens-saleh-to-address-the-nation/

Yemen’s acting president meets opposition leaders for the first time:
Yemen’s acting president met opposition leaders for the first time yesterday, raising hopes for an end to the violence that has plagued the nation’s capital Sana’a and other major cities for week
http://tgr.ph/jlwIoh

Rape victim refuses to pay rapist:
Iraqis: We won’t “repay” U.S.:
The suggestion by a U.S. congressman that Iraq repay the United States for the money it has spent in the country has stirred anger, with an Iraqi lawmaker ridiculing the idea as “stupid” and others saying Iraqis should be compensated for the hardships they’ve endured.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56776.html

Lest we forget: U.S. Charged With War Crimes:
The Evidence File
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3450.htm

Making the world safe for dictators:
US approved $200m of arms to Bahrain: It was more than double the $89m (£55m) approved over the previous US financial year.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/105771

Syrian troops seize town, ‘mass grave’ found:
State television said that the Army now completely controlled Jisr al-Shughur and that troops were pursuing “armed elements” into the woods and nearby mountains.
hhttp://bit.ly/jr7lHn

Turkey leads anti-Syria smear campaign:
While Syrian officials and residents of crisis-hit Syrian regions have repeatedly said that armed groups are responsible for the deadly clashes in the country, Turkey has tried to portray Iran and the Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, as being behind the unrest in Syria and that they help Damascus quell protests.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184492.html

RAF pilots carried out secret raids in Yemen:
RAF pilots carried out unauthorised attacks deep inside Yemen in the 1970s without the advance knowledge of political masters in London, a new book has disclosed.
http://tgr.ph/kNNFGp

Eight killed in violent attacks across Iraq: –
Eight people were killed in Iraq on Monday in separate acts of violence which included a deadly car bombing, according to security sources.
http://bit.ly/k36cXQ

Bahrain puts two Shiite ex-MPs on trial:
They were both accused of “public incitement for regime change and deliberately spreading biased rumours, in addition to taking part in public gatherings,” BNA said, adding that they pleaded not guilty.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110612/wl_mideast_afp/bahrainpoliticsunresttrial

Bahrain woman gets year in jail for critical poems:
A 20-year-old woman who recited poems critical of Bahrain’s rulers – and later claimed she was beaten in jail – was sentenced Sunday to a year in prison as part of the kingdom’s crackdown on Shiite protesters calling for greater rights.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110612/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain

Lebanon PM: New government to liberate land under occupation of ‘Israeli enemy’:
“Let us go to work immediately according to the principles and basis that we have affirmed our commitment to several times, namely … defending Lebanon’s sovereignty and its independence and liberating land that remains under the occupation of the Israeli enemy,” Mikati said at the Baabda Presidential Palace.
http://bit.ly/mAFICM

Fatah expels former strongman accused of illicit financial dealings:
Mohammed Dahlan is dismissed over ‘criminal and financial cases’ and undermining President Mahmoud Abbas; His ouster could jeopardize talks on Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal.
http://bit.ly/jWZWjs

Good News:
German Minister Denies US Request for Execution Drugs:
For months, dozens of US states have been facing shortages of a drug necessary in lethal injections administered to death-row prisoners. But German Economics Minister Philipp Rösler this week declined a request from his counterpart, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, to help out.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,767613,00.html

F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/us/13fbi.html?_r=1

There’s No Such Thing as a Temporary U.S. Default:
What if the debt ceiling debate causes the U.S. to miss just a couple of interest payments, say for the months of August and September? As long as the Treasury resumes payments in October, then no harm done, right? This misconception was put to rest by the rating agency Fitch in a statement yesterday
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/06/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-temporary-us-default/240226/

Richest Americans Get $1.4 Million Tax Cut in Pawlenty Plan:
The top 0.1 percent of U.S. taxpayers would save an average of $1.4 million in taxes under the economic plan of Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, according to an independent analysis.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-10/pawlenty-to-give-richest-a-1-4-million-tax-cut.html

Number of the Week: Average Household Still Needs to Trim $26,172 in Debt:
$26,172: Amount of debt the average U.S. household would need to cut to bring balance sheets back to 1990s levels.
http://on.wsj.com/mERwFN