The New Dark Age

12 December 2011 — Information Clearing House

US Troops Begin Operations on the Jordan-Syria Border?

By Sibel Edmonds

During the last few hours foreign military groups, estimated at hundreds of individuals, began to spread near the villages of the north-Jordan city of “Al-Mafraq”, which is adjacent to the Jordanian and Syrian border. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29960.htm

Arab League’s Capitulation!

By Dr. M. Mahboob Hossain

The Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria’s membership, impose economic sanctions, and discuss transition-period arrangements with the opposition could pave the way to a military offensive by the Western powers in Syria, similar to what happened in Libya. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29963.htm

Newt Gingrich Condemned for Calling Palestinians ‘Terrorists’

By Phoebe Greenwood

The Republican frontrunner insisted at a candidate debate on Saturday – to warm applause from the audience – that “these people are terrorists. They teach terrorism in their schools.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29954.htm

US Outed, And Far from Drawn Down

By M K Bhadrakumar

An innocuous-looking thing happened on Sunday – Pakistan regained possession of the Shamsi air base in Balochistan near the border with Iran after evicting the US military presence. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29962.htm

The Washington – “Moderate Islam” Alliance: Containing Rebellion Defending Empire

By James Petras

Those who thought that the spontaneous pro-democracy movements spelled the end of the imperial order left out the role of organized “moderate” Islamist electoral parties as able collaborators of Empire. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29956.htm

Spinning The Conquest Of Iraq Into
A Win For Democracy And War With Iran

By Younus Abdullah Muhammad

If Iraq is what democracy looks like, most Iraqi’s would probably choose dictatorship.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29958.htm

In Case You Missed It
A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties

By Oded Yinon

A sad and very stormy situation surrounds Israel and creates challenges for it, problems, risks but also far-reaching opportunities for the first time since 1967. Chances are that opportunities missed at that time will become achievable in the Eighties to an extent and along dimensions which we cannot even imagine today.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1025.htm

Who Killed Che?
How The CIA Got Away With Murder

By Elaine Graham-Leigh

The latest documents surrounding Che Guevara’s death exposes the US government’s track record of assassinations since the 1950s, and demonstrates how the War on Terror is also a war on the rule of law. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29959.htm

Indefinite Detention of American Citizens
Coming Soon to Battlefield U.S.A.

By Matt Taibbi

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, bragged that the law “basically says … for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield” and that people can be jailed without trial, be they “American citizen or not.” http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29955.htm

Newburgh Four
Poor, Plack, and Jailed Under FBI ‘Entrapment’ Tactics

By Paul Harris in New York

In June, four men were jailed for 25 years over a US terror plot. The FBI painted them as dedicated fanatics, but were they lured by the promise of cash from a fake informant?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29961.htm

Depression and Democracy

By Paul Krugman

It’s time to start calling the current situation what it is: a depression. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29957.htm

Free Syrian Army inflicts heavy losses on al-Assad forces in southern Syria – Source: – Hundreds of Syrian army defectors fought pitched battles with Syrian army forces in southern Syria yesterday http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=27663

Syria: Major Battle Between Troops And Defectors As Municipal Vote Starts: – Fierce clashes between Syrian troops and army defectors spread to new areas Monday after a major battle in the south raised new fears the 9-month-old conflict was spiraling toward civil war, activists said. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/12/syria-major-battle_n_1142795.html

Syrian military vehicles set alight as violent protests spill over into Jordan: Syrian army vehicles were set ablaze yesterday as troops battled defectors during clashes that killed at least eight people across the country, according to activists. http://ind.pn/sSxJt6

Maliki, Obama differ on call for Assad to go: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki publicly differed with President Barack Obama’s call for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to step down Monday, saying he had no right to call for another leader’s ouster. http://news.yahoo.com/maliki-obama-differ-call-assad-191818359.html

Iran calls for prosecution of US officials: , Iranian Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei called on the Interpol to prosecute American officials over provoking US lawmakers to approve the targeted killing of Iranian authorities in a special committee meeting. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/215220.html

Republicans in the U.S. Go All the Way: Nuke Iran: When it comes to Republican candidates and their ideas about foreign policy, the recent contenders have reached the peak of shrillness and stupidity. http://huff.to/vPtgAh

Russians providing jamming equipment to Iran is worse news than downed spy drone: Bolton: “Some reports have said Russia sold (Iran) a very sophisticated jamming system a short time ago,” Fox News quoted John Bolton, as saying. http://bit.ly/tYJUvD

Israel approves houses in illegal settlement: Forty new units to be built in an illegal settlement as EU and US voice disappointment. http://bit.ly/vwRMQn

4 killed in Libya fighting: Four people have been killed when rival militias in an area south-west of the Libyan capital exchanged heavy gunfire.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1212/libya.html

Libyan commander: ex-rebels needed in Tripoli for now: “Libya is now a police-less state,” said Mokhtar Fernana who head the military council in western Libya. http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=49451

Thousands protest in Benghazi, Libya: Around 2,000 Libyans are protesting in the eastern city of Benghazi to demand transparency and justice from the country’s new leaders. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20111212/benghazi-libya-protest-111212/

Secret US-French drone base in Libya?: Craft from the secret base are allegedly flying missions to Niger, Mali and Mauritania, with the ostensible objective of seeking out Saharan arms trafficking networks of al-Qeada in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Algeria has reportedly refused to allow the drones to fly through its territory. http://www.ww4report.com/node/10635

Gunmen kill NATO driver in Pakistan: Gunmen have killed a NATO truck driver and burnt seven tankers carrying oil for Western troops in Afghanistan, the second such attack in southwest Pakistan in less than a week. http://bit.ly/u8ouNH

Rare Photographs Show Ground Zero of the Drone War: Be advised: Many of these pictures are disturbing. Some of them show dead children. http://bit.ly/rYK1f0

Pakistan decides to shoot down US drones?: Pakistan will shoot down any US drone that intrudes its airspace as per new directives, a senior Pakistani official said. According to the new Pakistani defence policy, “Any object entering into our airspace, including US drones, will be treated as hostile and be shot down,” http://bit.ly/tgfmOq

Billionaire and Ex-Minister to Oppose Putin in Russian Presidential Election:
Amid a crescendo of complaints from Russians fed up with the country’s tightly controlled political system, two prominent figures – a billionaire industrialist and the recently ousted finance minister – sought to fill a void in the opposition leadership on Monday. http://nyti.ms/uMN8bX

Senate Panel’s Probe Of CIA Torture Program Concludes It Was “Far More Widespread And Systematic Than We Thought”: It could have been big news, if U.S. torture weren’t so anathema to the press corps, such that reporting upon it is considered either a fruitless and unprofitable enterprise http://pubrecord.org/torture/9912/feinstein-senate-panels-probe/

Beyond Guantánamo, a Web of Prisons for Terrorism Inmates: It is the other Guantánamo, an archipelago of federal prisons that stretches across the country, hidden away on back roads. Today, it houses far more men convicted in terrorism cases than the shrunken population of the prison in Cuba that has generated so much debate. http://nyti.ms/ua0TGl

Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front:
Unmanned aircraft from an Air Force base in North Dakota help local police with surveillance, raising questions that trouble privacy advocates.
http://lat.ms/tfPXiR

‘Strip search’ claims prompt call for advocate at US airports: The proposal follows recent claims that elderly women were strip searched by security officials at Kennedy Airport http://on.msnbc.com/vETENH

Cost Of war

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq “1,455,590”

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq:
4,801

Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 2,825

Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan

Total Cost of Wars Since 2001
$1,290,785,292,388 http://www.costofwar.com/