The New Dark Age

18 November 2011 — Information Clearing House

Syria Targeted for Imperialist Intrigue after Arab League Suspension
By Chris Marsden
Wednesday’s three-day deadline by the Arab League for Syria to meet its terms is a political provocation. It presents terms that the Syrian government cannot possibly accept, to allow other Middle Eastern regimes to continue an imperialist-backed intervention against Damascus.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29761.htm

Cameron of Arabia, Sarkozy of Damascus
Guns Turn Towards Syria: End Violence or Else?
By RussiaToday on Nov 18, 2011
Russia has again warned foreign powers against intervening in Syria’s internal unrest. It comes after Jordan reportedly asked the UK to take the lead in a war of words against president Assad, in an effort to oust him from power.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29763.htm

U.S. Arms Persian Gulf Allies For Conflict With Iran
By Rick Rozoff
The withdrawal of American and allied troops from Iraq and the beginning of a drawdown of their counterparts in Afghanistan can also be seen in this context, as removing targets for possible retaliation should a large-scale attack be staged against Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29765.htm

Israel’s Secret Iran Attack Plan: Electronic Warfare
By Eli Lake
Any Israeli attack on hardened nuclear sites in Iran would go far beyond airstrikes from F-15 and F-16 fighter planes.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29756.htm

In Case You Don’t Realise How Dangerous the Israeli Lobby Is
By Gilad Atzmon
Israeli paper Israel-Ayom reports today about a new ‘Congressional bill’ that would require the “American administration to support Israel in a move deemed necessary to defend itself against the Iranian nuclear threat.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29758.htm

Military Budget Cuts Will Get Us All Nuked, and 4 Other Lies
By Spencer Ackerman
If you haven’t been following Washington’s agonizing debate over the defense budget, let us summarize it for you: Cutting the Pentagon’s allowance will kill your grandmother. Maybe the family dog, too. But definitely granny.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29762.htm

World Largest GDP and More Than 1 in 5 U.S. Children Poor, Census says
By Reuters
The number of children in the United States considered poor rose by 1 million in 2010, the U.S. Census said Thursday, with more than one in five of the youngest Americans now living in poverty.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29760.htm

The Great Awakening
First Steps in Reforming the U.S. Financial and Tax System
By Michael Hudson
When debts reach today’s proportions, a basic economic principle is at work: Debts that can’t be paid; won’t be. The question is, just how are they not going to be paid?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29764.htm

The Right To Dream
We Are Fighting For Justice
By Arundhati Roy
You have reintroduced the right to dream into a system that tried to turn everybody into zombies mesmerized into equating mindless consumerism with happiness and fulfillment.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29766.htm

Over 30,000 People Rally in New York City :
November 17: Historic Day of Action for the 99%
By MOD
Tens of thousands took action Thursday, November 17 to demand that our political system serve all of us – not just the wealthy and powerful.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29759.htm

Rebellion in the Air: Quan’s Quackery and Bloomberg’s Bull*hit
By Dave Lindorff
The scripted excuses provided by mayors around the country to justify their police-state tactics in rousting peaceful occupation movement activists from their park-based demonstrations now stand exposed as utter nonsense.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29757.htm

Hard News

Pakistan: US kills 32 people in short span of three days:
The predator planes killed as many as eighteen people when they targeted a house in Sararogha area, situated at the confluence of North and South Waziristan agencies, with a barrage of hell fire missiles.
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=125565

Secret Pakistan-US memo: President promised to create a “new security team” favorable to Americans:
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was so scared of a military coup after Osama bin Laden’s death that he was ready to create a “new security team” favorable to Americans and promised the US to hand over top al Qaeda and Taliban officials residing in Pakistan.
http://bit.ly/rFSwqC

Pakistan’s army enraged:
A secret memo indicated President Asif Ali Zardari’s government asked for U.S. help to prevent a military coup following the Navy SEAL raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden.
http://wapo.st/snlytY

Two roadside explosions kill seven Afghan children:
Seven children and an elderly man were killed in two separate roadside bombings on Friday in Afghanistan, officials said.
http://bit.ly/tIfREw

US wants news blackout on Afghan deal:
A senior Afghan official says that Washington wants a complete media blackout over the conditions set in its strategic long-term deal with Kabul
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/usa/1958547.html

Iraq bombs kill eight in worst violence in weeks:
Bombings against a policeman’s home and three mosques killed eight people and wounded 13 on Friday, security officials said, in the worst violence to hit Iraq in weeks.
http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-bombs-kill-eight-worst-violence-weeks-001815341.html

Syria ‘to accept’ Arab League monitoring mission:
Syria has conditionally accepted an Arab League plan to send a mission to observe the implementation of proposals aimed at ending violence, a Syrian diplomatic source has told the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15791532

Free Syrian Army “Deserters” Seeks No-Fly Zone, Vows to Reach Palace:
The group wants a buffer zone in the north, on the Turkish- Syrian border, and another in the south near the border with Jordan to help them bring the fight closer to Assad, Riad al As’ad, a former Syrian colonel who leads the Free Syrian Army, said in a phone interview from Turkey today.
http://buswk.co/t9P6g3

Turkey, Jordan to set up safe zones in Syria: diplomats:
Turkey and Jordan, backed by Western and Arab powers, are preparing to set up two “safe zones” for civilians inside Syria, diplomats said Friday.
http://bit.ly/vMuIYm

Free Syrian Army (deserters) video :
The video appears to show the moment a Syrian tank is hit by what appears to be a rocket-propelled grenade as it drives through a residential neighborhood in the central city of Homs
http://wapo.st/uOGOCt

Report: Russia warships to enter Syria waters in bid to stem foreign intervention:
Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move represented a clear message to the West that Moscow would resist any foreign intervention in the country’s civil unrest.
http://bit.ly/s3xqSy

Israel may target Iran civilian infrastructure as part of military strike, report says:
U.S. security sources quoted by The Daily Beast claim Israeli forces plan to use electronic warfare to shut down Iranian electrical grid, cellphone networks.
http://bit.ly/sqhxgO

Settlers ‘attempted to kill’ Israeli soldiers:
Donald Macintyre meets the reservist whose blog exposing the violence in the West Bank has shocked his country
http://ind.pn/sNA5Mu

The real cost of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians:
Palestinians are losing out on some $6.9 billion a year, a study shows, as restrictions on water use, resources and imports exact their toll.
http://bit.ly/tYw5x0

Reverend Allan Boesak calls Israeli apartheid “more terrifying” than South Africa ever was:
The Reverend Allan Aubrey Boesak is a veteran of the South African anti-apartheid struggle. He is the former president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and is a signatory of the South African Christian response to the Kairos Palestine Document.
http://bit.ly/tJyqb5

Nixon adviser Henry Kissinger branded Jewish as self-serving ‘b*******’, new documents reveal:
According to transcripts released by the State Department, Mr Kissinger – deputy national security adviser at the time – said to Mr Garment: ‘Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community?’ Mr Garment replied: ‘None in the world.’ The exchange was all the more remarkable because both Mr Kissinger and Mr Garment were Jewish.
http://bit.ly/uWXcbe

Tens of thousands of Egyptians protest army ‘dictatorship’:
Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied Friday in Cairo’s Tahrir square with Islamists in the forefront to protest against what they say are attempts by the country’s military rulers to designate themselves as the guardians of a new Egypt. It was one of the largest rallies in Egypt in recent months.
http://usat.ly/ucG7tU

Libya UN envoy says Qatar arming Islamists:
– Libya’s U.N. envoy Mohammed Abdel Rahman Shalgam on Friday urged Qatar to stop meddling in his country’s domestic affairs, accusing the fellow Arab nation of providing funds and weapons to Libyan Islamists.
http://bit.ly/rOo7Qt

Libyan militias march in capital to demand voice in forming new government:
Several thousand fighters armed with automatic weapons and accompanied by trucks mounted with mortars and heavy machine guns rallied late Thursday at Tripoli’s horse track, many of them saying they must approve of the new government.
http://wapo.st/sMF91E

Libya’s Muslim Brotherhood holds their first congress in Benghazi after 25 years:
Brotherhood officials said it was their first public meeting inside Libya in almost quarter of a century, although it met underground during Qaddafi’s rule for fear of reprisals or held their congress abroad.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/18/177829.html

U.S. defence chief calls China, India ‘threats’:
We face the threats from rising powers, China, India, others that we have to always be aware of,” Panetta said.
http://www.canada.com/health/defence+chief+calls+China+India+threats/5732020/story.html

Pentagon’s new bomb kills long before you hear it:
The US Army has tested a hypersonic missile, which travels six times faster than the speed of sound. It is part of a larger plan to have the capability to strike any place on the planet within an hour.
http://rt.com/news/pentagon-new-bomb-681/

US must safeguard military’s industrial base: Panetta:
“I need to be able in this country to produce our ships, to produce our submarines, to produce our planes, to produce our fighter planes, to produce our tanks, to produce what we need for the military.
http://bit.ly/vRT4gY

White House shooting suspect Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez says he’s Jesus:
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, the Idaho man charged with shooting the White House and trying to kill President Obama, claims in an internet video that he is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
http://bit.ly/vVGbH7

US lawmakers eye rules for terrorism prisoners:
A divided US Senate pressed ahead Friday with a sweeping military spending bill that has drawn a White House veto threat over new rules requiring suspected terrorists to be kept in military custody.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/us-lawmakers-eye-rules-terrorism-prisoners-153239722.html

Spanish Banks Have $41B of ‘Unsellable’ Real Estate:
Spanish banks, under pressure to cut property-backed debt, hold about 30 billion euros ($41 billion) of real estate that’s “unsellable,” according to a risk adviser to Banco Santander SA (SAN) and five other lenders.
http://bloom.bg/sKxHVl

Reforms spark riots in Italy, Greece:
Student protesters took to the streets in Milan when he first unveiled the measures, clashing with riot police and throwing flares at police as they tried to reach Bocconi University, Mr Monti heads. – At least 50,000 people marched past shuttered shops in central Athens beating drums, waving red flags and chanting “EU, IMF out!”.
http://bit.ly/s1PmON

UBS slashes jobs, cuts profit targets:
UBS said its investment bank staff would be cut to 16,500 by the end of 2013 and 16,000 by the end of 2016 from 18,000 now, with most job losses achieved by attrition and restructuring rather than redundancies.
http://business.financialpost.com/2011/11/17/ubs-slashes-jobs-cuts-profit-targets/

‘Public Repossession’: Occupy London protesters take over third space:
Occupy London has announced that it has taken over an abandoned office block in east London belonging to the investment bank UBS.
http://www.channel4.com/news/occupy-london-protesters-take-over-third-space

San Francisco police arrest 100 in Bank of America protest:
Protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement seized a Bank of America branch in the city’s financial district Wednesday, a demonstration that forced jittery customers and employees to flee and ended in nearly 100 arrests.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sf-occupy-20111117,0,5764736.story

Police cracking down on media at Occupy Wall Street :
Not only are police cracking down on the Occupy movement protesters but also on journalist. According to some reporters police have denied them access to cover the Occupy movement. In New York reporters with NYPD press passes are being physically removed from the scene and some even arrested. RT producer Lucy Kafanov is back in NYC to give us the latest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQHDk75oChI&feature=player_embedded

More on How Mayors and Police Chiefs Coordinated Crackdowns:
Today, the AP has a few more details on how the mayors of 18 cities “informally” coordinated and swapped advice for clearing out those pesky Occupy tents, including warning each other that the presence of homeless, the addicted and the ill would be a “tipping point.”
http://bit.ly/vDdwnG

Detroit mayor: 1,000 job cuts amid budget crisis:
Detroit plans to cut 1,000 jobs by early next year to help deal with the city’s budget crisis and avoid the possibility of a state-appointed emergency financial manager, Mayor Dave Bing announced Friday.
http://bit.ly/uADExR