21 May 2013 — Information Clearing House
Noam Chomsky: Obama Was Willing to Start Nuclear War to Kill bin Laden
By Eric W. Dolan
MIT professor Noam Chomsky criticized the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Friday, saying President Barack Obama could have provoked a nuclear war.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35033.htm
No Act of Violence Is Too Big for the US
Video
Gerald Celente is on fire in this latest Trends Journal update.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35035.htm
Drones Are the Napalm of Our Crazy Time
By Ethan Casey
The common element is death rained down from the sky, and drones take this a step further by leaving the inflictors of it safe back in the States.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35034.htm
Evidence Of Iranian Arms Provided To Syria In The Past 18 Months?
By Brown Moses
It appears what we have here is an Iranian rocket manufactured in 2012, during the Syrian conflict, and the arms embargo, that has managed to find it’s way into Damascus.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35027.htm
Likud MK Feiglin: Israel Has Greater Morality Than US
It’s immoral for Israel to take US aid
By Raphael Ahren
Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin (Likud) also seemed to suggest that the US was doomed to fall due to its economic woes, but that Israel’s survival was guaranteed because the country “carries moral weight.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35031.htm
Al Jazeera Deletes Its Own Controversial Op-Ed, Then Refuses to Comment
By Glenn Greenwald
All of that is par for the course when it comes to debates over Israel and Palestine: as any writer who ever ventures into that topic well knows.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35025.htm
Julian Assange Says UK Government Messages Include Speculation He Was Framed
By UPI
The messages, included discussions by the government eavesdropping agency that speculated he was being framed by Swedish authorities seeking his extradition for questioning on rape allegations. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35028.htm
Bobby Sands Lives At US Gulag
The Reason for Hunger Strikes-from Northern Ireland To Guantanamo
By Ann Wright
President Obama would be wise to call former hunger striker and now Northern Ireland Parliamentarian Pat Sheehan!
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35026.htm
Obama Administration Spied on Fox News Reporter
By Olivier Knox
The details of the government’s strategy against Rosen sound like something out of a spy novel.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35024.htm
The US Is An Increasingly Unchecked Surveillance State:
By Murtaza Hussain
The US government extensively monitors its citizens’ internet activities, with dangerous effects on personal liberties.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35029.htm
The Globalization of Hypocrisy
By Paul Buchheit
As big business makes its way around the world like a modern-day Attila the Hun, pillaging and despoiling, it has the U.S. military covering its back with 900 overseas bases in 130 nations.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35032.htm
How America Became a Third World Country
By Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford
It’s 2023 — and this is America 10 years after the first across-the-board federal budget cuts known as sequestration went into effect.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35030.htm
Middle East
95 killed in Iraq blasts:
More than 95 people were killed in a series of car bombings and suicide attacks targeting Shi’ite Muslims across Iraq yesterday, police and medics said, extending the worst sectarian violence since US troops withdrew in December 2011.
Fresh bombings kill at least 13 :Tuesday: :
Two car bombs hit the northern town of Tuz Khurmato, a device went off in a cattle market in Kirkuk, and a suicide bomber struck in the town of Tarmiyah.
Iraqi tribal leaders demand federation:
Tribal leaders in Iraq are warning of war unless the country splits into a federation amid a deadly new wave of apparently sectarian violence.
Sectarian attacks in Iraq stoked by spillover from Syrian war:
A recent tide of sectarian tensions that erupted into the worst violence seen in Iraq in five years is testing the government of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose ability to contain the crisis could hinge on a conflict raging beyond his control in Syria.
Large-Scale Operation in Qusayr, Heavy Losses for Militants:
Abu Omar, al-Nusra front leader in Qusayr was reportedly killed following clashes with the Syrian army, Syrian state television stated this afternoon.
Hezbollah fighters killed in Qusair as battles continue:
Websites associated with Hezbollah announced the names of 16 killed yesterday, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed the figure was 23 dead and 70 wounded.
Syria claims destroyed Israeli vehicle inside its territory:
The Syrian army said that its troops had destroyed an Israeli vehicle which had crossed into its territory from the Golan Heights Tuesday morning, and warned that any attempt to invade its sovereignty would be responded to.
IDF chief issues stern warning to Assad over rapidly heating “border”:
Damascus will ‘bear consequences’ of further gunfire, says Gantz, after cross-border shooting; tensions ‘several times more explosive than they were this morning,’ says top Israeli analyst
Israeli soldier killed during land mine clearing near Syrian “border”:
A soldier in the Israel Defense Forces’ Yahalom Unit (an elite engineering unit) was killed Tuesday afternoon while removing a land mine near Moshav Yonatan in the Golan Heights.
Syrian Army Seizes Israeli Military Vehicle in Qusayr :
Footage posted by media outlets showed the Jeep-type armored military vehicle containing uniforms and communication equipment believed to be used for jamming or to spy on the Syrian army communications.
Fact or fiction:
‘Iraqi Shia fighters’ join regime in battle:
The BBC has seen evidence that the Syrian regime is getting support from Shia fighters crossing into the country from Iraq. In an interview with the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool, one man claimed to have recruited and prepared some of the “thousands” of Iraqi Shia fighters travelling across the border.
Evidence Of Iranian Arms Provided To Syria In The Past 18 Months? :
It appears what we have here is an Iranian rocket manufactured in 2012, during the Syrian conflict, and the arms embargo, that has managed to find it’s way into Damascus.
From his office in cloud cuckoo land:
William Hague seeks to change arms embargo on Syria: Britain is seeking to amend the EU arms embargo on Syria to press Bashar al-Assad into holding peace talks with the rebels because the escalating conflict is threatening a regional “catastrophe”, William Hague warned on Monday.
Britain asks EU to put Hezbollah armed wing on terror list:
Britain said on Tuesday it had asked the European Union to put Hezbollah’s military arm on its list of terrorist organizations, urging Europe to respond robustly to evidence of the Islamist group’s involvement in an attack that killed five Israelis.
Syrian opposition groups say Assad must go:
Dissidents meeting in Spain say they oppose negotiation with Syrian president unless it is aimed at his departure. Syrian opposition groups say they oppose all negotiation with President Bashar al-Assad’s government unless it is aimed at his giving up of power. The groups oppose Assad representatives taking part in the meeting.
Russia: Assad foes must come to Syria meeting without conditions:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday it is crucial for Syrian opposition envoys to engage in peace talks without setting preconditions, apparently referring to demands for President Bashar al-Assad’s removal.
Russian Med fleet returns – an unintended consequence:” Op-Ed:
Russian Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov has announced that a permanent staff was being set up, and the present force might eventually include their nuclear submarines. In speaking to RIA:
Syria top priority as Saudi crown prince visits Turkey:
The planned two-day visit comes as violence rages in Syria between Syrian government forces and rebels. The Crown Prince Salman is set to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a number of other Turkish officials. They are looking to discuss the two-year Syrian conflict and Iran’s nuclear program.
Syria’s Idriss warns Lebanon to restrain Hezbollah:
The defected Syrian General and head of the opposition Supreme Military Council has issued a stern warning to the Lebanese government to stop Hezbollah forces from entering Syria or risk bringing the Syrian war to its doorstep.
Obama voices concern to Lebanon on Hezbollah role in Syria:
U.S. President Barack Obama told his Lebanese counterpart on Monday he was concerned about Lebanese Hezbollah militants fighting in Syria to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the White House said.
Lebanon: 3 killed in Tripoli as war in Syria spills over.
Syrian activists say the latest fighting in Tripoli, where an Alawite minority lives on a hill overlooking the mainly Sunni Muslim port city, was ignited by tensions over an assault by Syrian troops backed by Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah group on the rebel-held Syrian border town of Qusayr.
Mortar bomb falls near Tripoli’s downtown area:
A mortar bomb fell near Downtown Tripoli Tuesday, security sources said, leading to a powerful explosion in the northern city.
No room at the inn:
Jordan keeps out Syrian refugees in border clampdown:
Jordan has turned away thousands of Syrian refugees in the past week in the first such clampdown since the crisis in Syria began more than two years ago, diplomats, activists and aid workers said on Tuesday.
Playing to the press:
Kerry reportedly raps Israeli ambassador over illegal outposts:
Kerry made the unusual move last Thursday to ask Oren for an explanation as to why the government is taking a step that he felt is likely to damage efforts to restart peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Haaretz reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous Israeli source.
Kerry names Ira Forman as U.S. anti-Semitism envoy:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry named Ira Forman, who led President Obama’s reelection campaign in the Jewish community, as his envoy to combat anti-Semitism.
Two “Al-Qaeda” militants killed SE Yemen:
Two Al-Qaeda militants were killed in an airstrike in southeast of Yemen, the defense ministry said Monday.
Egyptian troops mistakenly fire on Sinai funeral not militants:
The officials, said police and troops believed the funeral convoy of eight pickup trucks was carrying gunmen who refused orders to stop. The troops opened fire, and some among the mourners fired back before the funeral-goers fled. The officials said one dead body was left behind, and troops believed that they were the ones who killed him.
Saudi Arabia: ‘Five Yemeni robbers decapitated and crucified’:
Five Yemeni robbers were beheaded and crucified in the coastal city of Jazan, the official Saudi press agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday. Campaign group Amnesty International told Adnkronos International it was investigating reports it received that the executions took place early on Tuesday.
Saudi arrests 10 Iran spy suspects: ministry:
The eight Saudis, a Lebanese and a Turk bring the number of people arrested to 28, the official SPA news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.
U.S. ready to shut down gold sales to Iran:
A top Treasury Department official told lawmakers that, starting July 1, the U.S. plans to crack down on all transfers of gold to the Iranian government or its citizens.
Compromise with US would bankrupt Iran economy: Basij cmdr.:
“In the event of a compromise [with the US], oil prices will drop and the administration’s oil income will be halved and it will be followed by economic problems and pressure on the government and people,” the commander noted.
Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad ally barred from Iran election: –
Iranian authorities on Tuesday barred former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a relative moderate, from running in the June 14 election, along with a protégé of the current president, leaving mainly hardliners left to contest the vote.
Central and South Asia
30 killed in an Afghan district combat:
At least 26 Taliban militants and four Afghan police were killed Tuesday when the rebels assaulted a district in southern Afghanistan, an official said, dpa reported.
14 killed as Afghan suicide bomber strikes in Baghlan province:
A suicide bomber has killed at least 14 people in northern Afghanistan’s Baghlan province, including a senior local politician, police say.
Torture Victim’s Body Is Found Near U.S. Base, Afghans Say:
The footless corpse of an Afghan man missing since November was found on Tuesday near the former American Special Forces base to which he was last seen being taken, according to Afghan officials and victims’ representatives.
Number of Afghanistan women jailed for ‘moral crimes’ like fleeing abuse rises sharply:
The number of women jailed in Afghanistan for “moral crimes” such as fleeing abusive husbands has risen sharply, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, undermining claims that the status of women has improved.
Pentagon requests $US79bn for Afghanistan:
The proposed funding for Afghanistan operations is in addition to a $526.6 billion budget that the Pentagon has already submitted to Congress.
India will stand by people of Afghanistan, says president:
Mukherjee, who met Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, said India was prepared to increase bilateral contribution to institution-building, training and equipment in Afghanistan, said an official release.
Pakistan’s Sharif calls for Taliban peace talks:
Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s presumptive prime minister, on Monday called for peace talks with Taliban militants at war with the government, potentially charting a course that could put him at odds with the country’s powerful army.
Kyrgyz leader says US Manas air base will close in 2014; base supports Afghanistan operation:
President Almazbek Atambayev has repeatedly pledged to shut the Manas Transit Center next year, dismissing U.S. assumptions the base would remain in exchange for higher rent. The United States pays $60 million annually for the base.
Dagestan blasts kill four as Moscow ‘plot’ foiled:
Twin car bombs killed four people and wounded close to 50 Monday in Russia’s restive Dagestan region while the Kremlin also announced it had foiled a major attack on Moscow.
Russia says kills 2 Islamist insurgents:
Dzhamaleil Mutaliyev, a senior figure in a group fighting to establish an Islamist state, was killed along with another militant in a shootout in the town of Nazran in Ingushetia, a spokesman for local investigators said.
Africa
DR Congo fighting: Goma clashes ‘kill 19’:
Fighting between government and rebel forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has continued for a second day, near the regional capital, Goma. Four government soldiers and 15 rebels died on Monday, government spokesperson Lambert Mende told the BBC.
One killed as Salafist group clashes with police in Tunisia:
A Tunisian man has died after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of supporters of the group Ansar al-Sharia who defied a government ban of the group’s annual congress.
Catholic church bombed in Benghazi:
Exploding in the nave of the church shortly before midnight, the bomb shattered several windows in the church itself and the adjacent rectory, but no one was injured.
Libyan gas complex attacked by militants:
Militants stole as many as 20 military vehicles when they raided the Mellitah oil and natural gas complex in western Libya, a military leader said.
Libya – Law By The Gun: How does anyone run a country with more than 1,700 armed groups?
How can one pacify 1,700 armed militias, all with claims of entitlement, having fought for the exit of Gaddafi? Who would disarm them, when they appear to be the law, when they are the ones offering protection to everyone, at a price?
Mali government to resume talks with Tuaregs:
Talks will resume soon between the Malian government and an ethnic Tuareg rebel group whose influence has been growing in the country’s north, Burkina Faso’s foreign minister says.
EU mission seeks to rebuild Mali army after U.S. faltered:
A European Union training mission faces a considerable challenge as it seeks to succeed where years of U.S. instruction failed by turning Mali’s rag-tag army into a force capable of facing an Islamist threat stretching across the Sahara.
Juba summons Chinese ambassador over oil blockage:
Chinese companies dominate the South Sudanese oil industry having been welcomed into Sudan before the South seceded from the north in 2011 taking with 75% of the country’s 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.
Europe
UK intelligence agency staff scolded over emails claiming Julian Assange was framed:
One email sent in September 2012 by a GCHQ officer to a colleague, and which refers to the publication of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, says: “They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ… It is definitely a fit-up… Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate”.
The Americas
Guatemala overturns former dictator’s genocide conviction:
Trial of Efrain Rios Montt, convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in 1980s, thrown into disarray
Bolivia: New law backs President Evo Morales third term:
Bolivia has passed a controversial law which paves the way for President Evo Morales to be elected for a third time.
Troops flood western Mexico to “protect” towns:
Mexico’s top security officials gathered Tuesday in the western state of Michoacan to launch a campaign with thousands of army troops to rescue towns besieged, sometimes for months, by the powerful Knights Templar drug cartel.
USA
‘Guantanamo guards shot my client 5 times for no reason’:
What happened on that day according to Mr. Alawi is that in that process he was shot without any warning for absolutely no good reason by one of the US Army guards at dangerously close range
Bradley Manning prosecutors seek to prove WikiLeaks suspect ‘aided enemy’:
Military lawyers tell last hearing before trial they have dropped one of 22 counts but will still press most serious accusation
Glenn Greenwald: Obama DOJ formally accuses journalist in leak case of committing crimes: Op-Ed:
Yet another serious escalation of the Obama administration’s attacks on press freedoms emerges
Is the Government Spying on Reporters More Often Than We Think?:
There’s evidence that the Justice Department’s seizure of Associated Press phone records is far from unprecedented.
Real Outrage Is That Surveillance of AP Reporters’ Calls Was Probably Legal:
What about the constitution? The Supreme Court dispensed with your Fourth Amendment right to privacy in this area long ago in a decision, Smith v. Maryland. The Court ruled that phone company customers have no legitimate privacy interest in phone record data that are in the hands of a third-party, like a phone company.
White House knew IRS probe findings earlier:
White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler told White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and other top officials about the IRS findings nearly a month ago, press secretary Jay Carney said Monday.
Think the IRS Was Bad? Try the Spying on Occupy Activists:
With all the hullabaloo over the IRS’s special scrutiny of Tea Party groups, a far worse case of political meddling and governmental overreach has been going on: The spying on leftwing activists in the Occupy movement.
The scandalous erosion of US civil liberties: Op-Ed:
While the US media is focused on the latest political scandal, civil rights in the United States continue to be eroded.
Devastating Oklahoma tornado kills 24:
With winds at over 320 km/hr, the tornado – classified by the National Weather Service as the second most-powerful EF-4 type on the enhanced Fujita scale – flattened houses, blew off rooftops and tore through several schools.
Foreclosed homeowners ‘move in’ to the Dept. of Justice:
“Today we have taken over Eric Holder’s house. We’re sick of the banks taking over our house.”
More Poor People Are Now Living in Suburbs Than Cities:
Brookings Institution: In “Confronting Suburban Poverty in America,” Brookings researchers found that 16.5 million poor people live in suburbs now versus 13 million in cities. The number of poor people in the suburbs has surged 67% between 2000 and 2010.
Here’s why hospitals set high prices:
“The most expensive hospital in America is not set amid the swaying palm trees of Beverly Hills or the luxury townhouses of New York’s Upper East Side,” Julie Creswell, Barry Meier and Jo Craven McGinty wrote last week in the New York Times. “It is in a faded blue-collar town 11 miles from Midtown Manhattan.”
Vermont legalizes assisted suicide:
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has signed a bill into law that has legalized physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients who want to end their lives.
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: 4,883
Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 3,315
Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan
Total Cost of Wars Since 2001
$1,441,053,973,369
The New Dark Age 