Media: The Leveson Inquiry: Should We Care? By Des Freedman

2 September 2011 — New Left Project

I have written elsewhere that the aftermath of the phone hacking scandal and the establishment of the Leveson Inquiry, ‘is a hugely significant moment both for the British media and for British democracy’ and that ‘the spell of media power is facing its most serious challenge to date’. Given that official inquiries rarely generate genuinely radical proposals and we have seen no evidence that press proprietors and media executives are willing to give up their privileged positions, was this simply wishful thinking? The evidence, I would suggest, is mixed.

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Interrogating Contemporary News: Asking the Right Questions By Natalie Fenton

14 September 2011 — New Left Project

The Leveson inquiry has been launched to investigate phone hacking and the culture, practices and ethics of the press; there is a Lords Select Committee on the future of investigative journalism; a joint Select Committee on privacy and injunctions; all of which will feed into a Communications Review leading up to the New Communications Act in 2013 and bring with them unprecedented opportunities to interrogate contemporary news. So what questions should we be asking?

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NATO’s client regime in Libya confronts divisions as military offensives stall By Peter Symonds

15 September 2011 — WSWS

The military push by Libya’s NATO-backed National Transitional Council (NTC) to take control of the remaining pro-Gaddafi strongholds appears to have stalled. NTC militias have encountered strong resistance in their advances on Bani Walid, about 150 kilometres south-east of Tripoli, and coastal city of Sirte, the birthplace of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

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The New Scramble for Africa By Conn Hallinan

15 September 2011 — Foreign Policy in Focus

Is current U.S. foreign policy in Africa following a blueprint drawn up almost eight years ago by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, one of the most conservative think tanks in the world?  Although it seems odd that a Democratic administration would have anything in common with the extremists at Heritage, the convergence in policy and practice between the two is disturbing.

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Dmitri Sedov – In and Around Libya

15 September 2011 — Strategic Culture Foundation

The sliding of the civil war in Libya into a new phase tilted considerably the balance of forces in the country. Some of Gadhafi’s supporters continue to mount stiff resistance in Bani Walid, Siret, and Sabha and at least so far manage to keep attackers out of the strongholds. A few days ago they even launched an offensive against a refinery sited in the Mediterranean city of Ras Lanuf.

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Libya: If democracy is the keyword used to justify the destruction of human lives and property, then God help us all!

Global Researchnews.peacefmonline.com

Ghana Joins Nigeria and Does Obeisance To NATO

After what recently happened in Libya, one is apt to wonder what democracy really stands for. If democracy is the keyword used to justify the destruction of human lives and property, then God help us all!

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Libya Newslinks 14-15 September 2011

15 September 2011 — williambowles.info

15 September 2011

NATO’s client regime in Libya confronts divisions as military offensives stall
World Socialist Web Site Today at 14:07
The fragility of the new regime in Tripoli was underscored by its announcement yesterday that it would remain in Benghazi until after the seizure of the remaining pro-Gaddafi strongholds. Continue reading

Wikileaks Newslinks 15 September 2011

15 September 2011 — williambowles.info

Ethiopian journalist named in WikiLeaks flees country
AFP
ADDIS ABABA — An Ethiopian journalist identified in a diplomatic cable released last month by WikiLeaks has fled after being questioned by authorities, a media rights watchdog said Thursday. Argaw Ashine was questioned last week by government …
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hPUU1ouLkRUZJg6xEXLd2CGD9k7g?docId=CNG.c3d28c9ce20f22f00e7bae9c0b328b07.11

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Independence for England? By Craig Murray

15 September 2011 — Craig Murray

Unemployment fell in Scotland on yesterday’s new figures, while it rose everywhere else in the United Kingdom. There is no doubt that the difference was caused by the fact that the Scottish government has a (limited) ability to effectively spend forward and thus postpone the results of the Osborne public spending cuts. But the interesting result of that, is that the employment increase in Scotland was in the private sector, not the public sector, while private sector employment fell in England.

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Syria Newslinks 13-15 September 2011

15 September 2011 — williambowles.info

EU sanctions on Syria oil and gas industry come with loopholes
Los Angeles Times
(AFP/Getty Images) By Paul Richter and Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times The European Union, which buys 90% of Syria’s oil exports, has slapped sanctions on the nation’s oil and gas industry, but loopholes allow European energy companies to pull back only …
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-us-syria-sanctions-20110915,0,4271401.story

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Britain: The Health and Social Care Bill and the Negation of Democracy By Colin Leys

15 September 2011 — The Bullet • Socialist Project – E-Bulletin No. 544

In voting, in the British House of Commons, for the third reading of Andrew Lansley‘s Health and Social Care Bill last week MPs voted to replace the National Health Service (NHS) as a public service with a system of competing businesses – foundation trusts, social enterprises and for-profit corporations. The government’s claim that the Bill does not mean privatization is plainly specious: the truth of the matter is to be found in what Lansley’s health minister, Lord Howe, told a meeting of private health businessmen on the day the Bill was approved. He said it presented ‘huge opportunities’ for the private sector, and noted that commissioners of health care would be barred from favouring NHS providers. The truth is also to be found in the government’s leaked plans to hand over the management of NHS hospitals to private companies, and in the current and promised large-scale opening up of NHS work to ‘any qualified provider.’

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Black Agenda Radio 14 September 2011: Fauntroy's Libya Massacres Story: No Time for Teasing

14 September 2011 — Black Agenda Report

Due to technical problems, this week’s BAR is a limited edition

Fauntroy’s Libya Massacres Story: No Time for Teasing
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Rev. Walter Fauntroy has so far failed to follow up on his abbreviated tale of witnessing European special forces troops on an orgy of massacres and beheadings in Libya. The former DC congressional delegate’s story loses credibility with each day that he withholds further information. “It is mind-boggling to imagine why the French and the Danes would need to commit on-the-ground atrocities of their own, when they have at their disposal thousands of bloodthirsty Arab jihadis who have no problem doing their own massacres.”
Audio
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20110914_gf_FauntroyLibyaStory.mp3
Text
http://blackagendareport.libsyn.com/fauntroy-s-libya-massacres-story-no-time-for-teasing

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Information Clearing House Newsletter September 14, 2011: Col Gaddafi 'in Libya and readying forces'

14 September 2011 — Information Clearing House

Israel is Paying For War On Gaza
By Gideon Levy
During Hanukkah 2008, Israel attacked Gaza in Operation Cast Lead. Now it is eating the bitter fruit of that operation, which was the turning point in the attitude of the world and the region toward Israel and its belligerent and violent policies. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29125.htm 

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Updates on Libyan war/Stop NATO news: September 15, 2011

15 September 2011 — Stop NATO

  • Canada To Extend Libya War Mission To End Of Year
  • NATO Moving Missile Shield Into Black Sea, Asiatic Turkey
  • Boeing To Double Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Interceptor Missile Production
  • U.S., NATO Allies Ready To Test MEADS Interceptor System
  • AFRICOM Commander Wants ‘More Special Operation Forces Now’ Continue reading