6 June 2013 — Information Clearing House
Meet the ‘Friends of Jihad’
By Pepe Escobar
Western politicos love to shed swamps of crocodile tears about “the Syrian people” and congratulate themselves within the “Friends of Syria” framework for defending them from “tyranny”.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35189.htm
6 June 2013 — WashingtonsBlog
The Obama administration has been caught spying on the Verizon phone calls of tens of millions of Americans. But the government has sought to “reassure” us that it is only tracking “metadata” such as the time and place of the calls, and not the actual content of the calls.
That claim is patently absurd.
6 June 2013 — Mondoweiss
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discusses Middle East peace with Quartet Representative Tony Blair at the Villa Taverna, the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Rome, Italy, on May 9, 2013.
(Photo, and caption: U.S. State Department)
The recent World Economic Forum in Amman, Jordan, was billed as the Obama administration’s milestone moment for reviving the comatose US-led peace process. Announced days before in a nationally televised address by the President, Secretary of State John Kerry appeared at the forum to lift sinking hopes about the possibility of a two state solution.
Upon arriving, Kerry took in speeches by two billionaires who sought to claim leading roles in the cause of peace: the Israeli high tech baron Yossi Vardi, and Munib Al-Masri, the Palestinian oligarch known as the “Duke of Nablus” for his Italian revival style mansion, which sits on a hill above the poverty stricken Balata Refugee Camp. Continue reading
6 June 2013 —williambowles.info
WikiLeaks trial comes into focus
New Zealand Herald
Three days into Private Bradley Manning’s court-martial for giving thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, prosecutors have shown the soldier was trained to guard classified information and knew it could easily fall into enemy hands, yet defied …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10888732
6 June 2013 — williambowles.info
Bradley Manning remembered as a computer whiz
Los Angeles Times
MEADE, Md. — Bradley Manning’s former Army supervisor described him Wednesday as a highly competent computer whiz who could easily get around secret passwords to retrieve information about enemy terrorist cells. “He indicated to me he was very …
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-manning-trial-20130606,0,3183792.story
6 June 2013 — WSWS
Turkish police have rounded up dozens of young protesters in the western port city of Izmir on charges of “encouraging rebellion,” “inciting public hatred” and spreading “misleading and libelous information” for their use of Twitter and other social media during the mass demonstrations that have swept the country over the past week.
5 June 2013 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Shabak Head: “Abbas Does Not Believe Peace In Possible”
IMEMC – Speaking to the Israeli Knesset Foreign and Security Committee on Tuesday, head of the Israeli Security Agency (Shabak), Yuram Cohen, stated that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, does not really believe that reaching a peace agreement with Israel is possible, the Arabs48 News Website has reported. …
Continue reading
6 June 2013
Weaving together progressive jazz, early-American popular styles, Balkan folk musics, and the sounds of Brooklyn’s diverse contemporary music scene — from the dance-punk of LCD Soundsystem and experimental indie rock of Dirty Projectors to Missy Mazzoli’s blend of post-rock and quirky minimalism — Argue creates a vividly evocative musical narrative that is at once timeless and unlike anything heard before. Argue’s Secret Society is one of the most admired ensembles in contemporary jazz, having toured in Europe, Brazil, and North America and been twice featured at the Newport Jazz Festival. Its members include in-demand instrumentalists such as John Ellis, Ingrid Jensen, Ryan Keberle, and Sam Sadigursky. Continue reading
6 June 2013 — Daily Star
The Syrian army will confront rebels across the country after making a decisive victory in the key town of Qusair early Wednesday, further tipping the military balance in the regime’s favor in the country’s civil war, it said in a statement Wednesday.
6 June 2013 — New Left Project
Özlem Onaran is Professor of Workforce and Economic Development Policy at the University of Greenwich and until 2004 was based at Istanbul Technical University. She discussed the social, political and economic context to the Gezi Park protests with Anastasia Giamali in an interview for the Greek newspaper AVGI. Continue reading
5 June 2013 — Black Agenda Report
by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
The New Dark Age 