The New Dark Age

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 

The September 11 Orgie
By Michael Parenti
If the authorities really feel as deeply about it as they say, then why don’t they launch an investigation of the whole tragedy (not that dog and pony 9/11 commission engineered by George W.) http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29126.htm 

In Case You Missed It
Former U.S General Admits to America Foreign Policy Coup
Video
Former four star general and NATO commander Wesley Clark talks about the neocon plan to invade seven countries in five years. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29129.htm 

The Decline and Fall of the American Middle Class
By Paul Harris
The ranks of the poor and low-income earners are growing and the rich are doing just fine – and no one is talking about it, much less doing anything about it. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29130.htm 

Why Are Some Americans So Shockingly Cruel?
By John Thorpe
I am embarrassed, saddened, and yes, disgusted, by the behavior and beliefs of the majority of Americans. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29127.htm 

Corruption?
5400 Lawmakers Have Become Lobbyists in the Last Decade
By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
Lobbyists working for lawmakers working for lobbyists: it’s not exactly what the founding fathers had in mind. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29128.htm 

27 killed in bold attack at U.S. embassy in Kabul:
The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan on Wednesday acknowledged the Taliban gained a propaganda victory in a 20-hour assault focused on the U.S. Embassy, which left 27 police, civilians and insurgents dead. But he insisted the attack was not a sign of vulnerability in the Afghan capital. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110914/kabul-attack-embassy-NATO-110914/ 

Afghan police ‘killers and corrupt’:
The Age can reveal that only 80 men from Oruzgan province have joined the Afghan Army since 2009, and fewer are joining each year, figures show. http://bit.ly/oFn6C0 

Spanta hints at US bases in Afghanistan:
The United States may set up military bases in Afghanistan after the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement, President Hamid Karzai’s national security advisor said on Tuesday. http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/09/13/spanta-hints-us-bases-afghanistan 

Afghan Children Being Sold Into Forced Labor:
Endemic poverty in parts of Afghanistan is forcing many poor families to sell their children in order to survive http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan_children_being_sold_into_forced_labor/24326343.html 

Suspected Taliban kill three Pakistani intelligence officials:
Suspected Taliban gunmen ambushed a security vehicle on Wednesday, killing three intelligence officials in Pakistan’s north-western province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, police said. http://bit.ly/qLCsAC 

Blasts across Iraq kill 26, injure 70:
Some 26 Iraqis were killed and another 70 were injured, including soldiers, in armed and explosive attacks across western and southern Iraq on Wednesday. http://bit.ly/r4UVxU 

Clashes kill 12 in “liberated” southern Yemen city:
Fighting between the Yemeni army and militants in and around the southern provincial capital of Zinjibar killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, just days after the government declared it had “liberated” the city from Islamist fighters. http://reut.rs/oxuPcn 
7 civilians killed in Yemen airstrikes north of capital:
Yemeni military airstrikes on anti-government tribesmen killed seven civilians, medical officials said, as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country on Tuesday to protest the latest attempt by their president to evade pressure to step down. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44504372/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/#.TnD4LVudDzw 

Col Gaddafi ‘in Libya and readying forces’:
“The fight is as far away from the end as the world can imagine. We are still very powerful, our army is still powerful … we have huge areas of Libya under our control,” he said. “We are gathering our forces.” http://bit.ly/orWzTU 

Message from Libyan resistance movement: Video –
Moussa Ibrahim Speaks. Gaddafi Army http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIgFtazKVq8&feature=player_embedded#!

Leave now or be killed: Besieged Bani Walid residents told to flee:
NTC forces give civilians two days to escape as Gaddafi’s detained son Saadi is moved to Niamey, Niger’s capital. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/2011913142437846240.html 
Gaddafi Asks U. N. To Defend Sirte From Nato Attacks:
Muammar Gaddafi has asked the U.N. Security Council to protect his hometown Sirte, still controlled by loyalist troops, from what he described as NATO’s “atrocities” http://bit.ly/qYJDYI 

Gaddafi UN “message” – can’t surrender Libya to colonialism:
Moamer Gaddafi said Wednesday in a reported message to the United Nations that his hometown of Sirte was facing “unprecedented destruction and terrorism” from NATO, dpa reported. http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1931832.html 

Revenge Feeds Instability in Libya:
Rebels Burn Abandoned Homes in Loyalist Town as a Transitional Government Leader Stands By; ‘Tawergha Is No More’ http://on.wsj.com/nc0PnV 

Empty village raises concerns about fate of black Libyans:
What happened to the residents of Tawergha appears to be another sign that despite the rebel leadership’s pledges that they’ll exact no revenge on supporters of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s new rulers often are dealing harshly with the country’s black residents. http://bit.ly/rhlOJ8 

US envoy in Tripoli praises NTC over security:
Jeffrey Feltman says interim leaders are getting Libya’s many armed groups under control during visit to capital. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/2011914132633648113.html 

Syria Blames Gangs as Death Toll Rises:
As clashes between the Syrian military and protesters rage, residents continue mourning dead relatives. http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/14/166885.html 

Syrian forces hunt defectors in northern province of Idlib:
Syrian security and military forces intensified a house-to-house arrest campaign in the north-western province of Idlib on Wednesday, hunting down army defectors, according to opposition activists. http://bit.ly/pcxQYJ 

Syrian opposition forms military battalions:
In August, the Free Army said it established its first battalion in the northeastern city of Homs, a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/me_syria1147_09_13.asp 

Why many Syrians still support Assad:
Despite deepening international isolation, Mr. Assad’s supporters at home are likely to wield significantly more influence over his course going forward. http://bit.ly/pkJXXF 

Israel fears settlers in West Bank are using terror tactics:
Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, says that Jewish extremists are forming new “terrorist” groups that are deliberately targeting Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, intelligence sources were quoted as saying yesterday. http://ind.pn/o90hPl 

U.N. experts say Israel’s blockade of Gaza illegal:-
Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip violates international law, a panel of human rights experts reporting to a U.N. body said on Tuesday, disputing a conclusion reached by a separate U.N. probe into Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship. http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/un-experts-say-israels-blockade-of-gaza-illegal/ 

Israel warns PA of harsh consequences:
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has warned of what he calls harsh consequences if the Palestinian Authority goes ahead with its plan to seek UN membership as an independent state. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/199084.html 

U.S. Scrambles to Avert Palestinian Vote at U.N.:
The administration has spent months trying to avoid casting its veto in the Security Council to block membership of a Palestinian state. http://nyti.ms/nXdHbs 

Israels Useful Idiot:
Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen: We must stop Palestinians’ ‘dangerous scheme’:
 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is behind a bill that would cut U.S. funding for UN organizations who support recognition of Palestine as state. http://bit.ly/r0eVDf 

Erdogan to Abbas: The time has come to wave the Palestinian flag at UN:
Turkish PM meets with Palestinian president to discuss international support for Palestinians’ UN statehood bid. http://bit.ly/o9rNCQ 

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood criticizes Erdogan’s call for a secular state:
“Do not be wary of secularism. I hope there will be a secular state in Egypt,” Erdogan said. He stressed that people have the right to choose whether or not to be religious, adding that he is a Muslim prime minister for a secular state. http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/14/166814.html 

U.S. ‘Not Encouraged’ by India, South Africa, Brazil at UN: –
“Whether in the context of Libya, or Cote d’Ivoire or Sudan even,” Rice said, the countries have taken positions “that one might not have anticipated, given that each of them come out of strong and proud democratic traditions.” http://bloom.bg/qkLvoG 

CIA boosts covert operations in Somalia:
These operations allegedly include the rendition of suspected jihadists seized in East Africa and spirited to an underground CIA interrogation center in Mogadishu and using mercenaries to train Somali assassination teams to hit al-Shabaab, the main insurgent group and which is linked to al-Qaida. http://bit.ly/raRVMF 

Paronia in the USA:
Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit: .
I thought flying on 9/11 would be easy. – But then armed officers stormed my plane, threw me in handcuffs and locked me up. http://bit.ly/p377I1 

New York-to-Phoenix Flight Diverted to St. Louis:
US Airways flight 457 landed at Lambert Airport just before 8 a.m. after crew became concerned about the activities of three male passengers, all three of whom were Israeli citizens. http://bit.ly/rhsNP5 

Witness: Suspicious Men on Plane Were Federal Marshals:
Meyers said both men were in the bathroom on board the plane for some time and when they were confronted by airport personnel, they identified themselves as federal air marshals. But because they didn’t have any paperwork confirming that, they were removed from the plane in handcuffs. http://bit.ly/orVx30 

Vote on austerity plan sparks clash in Italy:
Demonstrators, some armed with smoke bombs, clashed with police in Rome near Parliament on Wednesday night as Italian lawmakers prepared to cast a final vote on a package of new taxes and spending cuts designed to fend off a financial crisis threatening much of Europe. http://bit.ly/qFnurZ 

Greeks Vow to Rebel Against New ‘Monster Tax’:
The Greek government’s new real estate tax, a desperate bid to meet its budget goals and secure fresh foreign aid, will hit the population hard. Greeks have almost their entire wealth invested in property — and are more worried about the tax than about the prospect of a national insolvency or leaving the euro. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,785993,00.html#ref=nlint 

UK unemployment increases to 2.51m:
According to the official figures published on Wednesday, the rate of unemployment in Britain has faced its largest increase in nearly two years. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/199149.html 

UK Unions Plot a Winter of Discontent:
Unions Ballot More Than a Million Workers for Biggest General Strike Since 1926 http://bit.ly/oAiTBN 

Decline in U.S. Household Income Raises Stakes for 2012 Presidential Race:
US yearly median household income at its lowest level since 1996. No income growth in 15yrs as inequality at 1929 level http://bloom.bg/q1aEjW 

Maintenance of low wages key to US auto profits:
“I was making more money as a door greeter at Wal-Mart than I am now” http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/auto-s13.shtml 

Retail Sales in U.S. “Unexpectedly” Stagnate:
Retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly stagnated in August as a lack of employment and limited income growth restrained demand, highlighting the risk the economy will stall. http://bloom.bg/qa5fWR 

Why A Working Class Revolt Might Not Be Unthinkable:
The loss of 8.75 million payroll jobs since the recession began should be a national emergency. But it’s not, and the question is why. Why has deficit reduction taken precedence over job creation? http://www.antiwar.com/ 

The GOP’s Genius Plan to Beat Obama in 2012:
Republican state legislators in Pennsylvania are pushing a scheme that, if GOPers in other states follow their lead, could cause President Barack Obama to lose the 2012 election-not because of the vote count, but because of new rules. That’s not all: there’s no legal way for Democrats to stop them. http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/gop-electoral-college-plan-beat-obama-2012 

SAT reading scores fall to lowest level on record:
SAT reading scores for the high school class of 2011 were the lowest on record, and combined reading and math scores fell to their lowest point since 1995. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/09/14/national/a100251D61.DTL