10 December 2013 — Information Clearing House
Mass Murder in the Middle East is Funded by Our Friends the Saudis
By Patrick Cockburn
Everyone knows where al-Qa’ida gets its money, but while the violence is sectarian, the West does nothing.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37077.htm
Robert Fisk: How The West Lost Respect For International Law
By Robert Fisk
I wondered, reading this shameful narrative, why we were so surprised when we found that the American military were torturing and killing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37075.htm
Why Palestine Should Seek Justice at the International Criminal Court
By Bill Van Esveld
Why isn’t Palestine playing ball in The Hague? – The main reason, Palestinian officials say, is that Israel has threatened unspecified retaliation if it seeks the court’s jurisdiction, and the US has reinforced the threat.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37071.htm
America, Genocide, and the “National Interest”
By Jeff Bachman
It’s time for the United States to examine how its own foreign policy promotes genocide, and take the actions necessary to curb it.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37070.htm
Why the West Loves Mandela (and Hates Mugabe)
By By Stephen Gowans
Mandela made sure that the flow of profits from South African mines and agriculture into the coffers of foreign investors and the white business elite wasn’t interrupted by the implementation of the ANC’s economic justice program.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37074.htm
Obama, Cuban President Raul Castro Shake Hands at Nelson Mandela Memorial
Video
Obama stopped to shake Castro’s hand as he was walking to the podium to pay tribute to Mandela.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37068.htm
Snowden Document Shows Canada Set Up Spy Posts For NSA
By Greg Weston, Glenn Greenwald, Ryan Gallagher
CSEC conducted espionage activities for U.S. in 20 countries, according to top-secret briefing note.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37072.htm
America’s Gulag: Obama Sentences Political Prisoner Lynne Stewart to Death
By Stephen Lendman
Lynne’s crime was compassion. She was imprisoned for doing the right thing. She did it honestly, admirably and courageously.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37076.htm
New Corporate Powers In Secret Trade Deal
By Cenk Uygur
“New trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37073.htm
The Ayn Rand-Worshipping Sears CEO That Blew Up His Multibillion Dollar Empire
By Lynn Stuart Parramore
The invisible hand waves goodbye to America’s most delusional CEO.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37069.htm
Atheism: The Last Taboo
By JENNIFER MICHAEL HECHT
It’s harder in America to come out as an atheist politician than a gay one. Why?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37067.htm
Bush- Blair Legacy Continues As –
15 killed in attacks in Iraq:
In Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, unknown gunmen shot dead seven shepherds, mainly young men, in a rural area near the town of Abu Saida, some 90 km northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=186396
Bush- Blair Legacy Continues As –
Suicide bomber kills 11 at a Shi’ite funeral:
A suicide bomber killed 11 people and wounded 20 at a Shi’ite Muslim funeral in a city northeast of Baghdad today, police said, as Iraqi insurgents pursue a campaign of deadly attacks.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/9502610/Suicide-bomber-kills-11-at-a-Shi-ite-funeral
US kills another three people in Yemen:
Three suspected members of al Qaeda’s Yemeni cell were killed in an American drone strike in the country on Tuesday.
http://nationalyemen.com/2013/12/10/us-drones-kill-three-in-yemen/
Jihadists execute Syrian man for ‘blasphemy’: Activists:
“The fighters bought fuel from him and asked him why it was impure. He responded in the colloquial dialect by saying ‘How should I know? What am I, the God of fuel?'” the Observatory said.
To Syria’s Revolutionaries, Assad Isn’t Looking So Bad After All:
Hundreds of activists have watched in desperation as the revolution they launched to overthrow the repressive regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad threatens to deliver their country into the hands of equally oppressive Islamist radicals determined to turn Syria into an Islamic caliphate.
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-revolutionaries-choose-assad-over-islamist-rebels-080000396.html
Bishop: Christians should take up arms in Syria:
A senior Orthodox Church official has urged Christians to take up arms in Syria and defend themselves against extremists, condemning the international community for not stopping flow of arms to Syria militants.
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1542720
Syria army piles pressure on rebel-held Yabroud:
Syria’s army Tuesday turned its sights on the town of Yabroud, the last rebel stronghold in the strategic Qalamoun region near Lebanon’s border, as it moved to open a key highway to Damascus.
WH: Hersh report on Syria ‘simply false’:
The Obama administration on Monday flatly denied a report from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, who reported that the Obama administration “cherry-picked intelligence” when building its case for a military strike on Syria.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/192442-wh-hersh-report-simply-false
Iran’s Zarif says nuclear deal dead if U.S. passes new sanctions: –
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the Iranian nuclear deal would be dead if the U.S. Congress imposes new sanctions, even if they do not take effect for six months, Time Magazine said on Monday.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-iran-nuclear-zarif-20131209,0,3075688.story
Israeli defense minister: Iran uses embassies as ‘terror bases’:
Ya’alon accuses Iran of using diplomatic courier bags to smuggle bombs, weapons. Also claims Iranian embassies in South America used as espionage bases
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4463354,00.html
Hamas resumes ties with Iran after Syria dispute:
The Palestinian Hamas movement has resumed relations with Iran after a temporary disagreement over the Syrian conflict, a senior member of the Islamist movement said on Monday.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/12/10/Hamas-resumes-ties-with-Iran.html
Palestinians reject US proposal for 10-year IDF presence in Jordan Valley:
Official PA daily reports Kerry-Abbas meeting last week turned ‘worse than bad’ after proposal was pitched.
Israel: Mourning the lack of human rights:
Nothing better symbolizes Israel’s rejection of the universality of the Declaration of Human Rights than the closure of its investigation into the death of Mustafa Tamimi.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.562616
15 Insurgents Killed in Afghan Raids:
Nineteen insurgents were killed during a series of coordinated operations over the past 24 hours carried out by the Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan National Police (ANP) and National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Afghan Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Tuesday.
http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/13036-15-insurgents-killed-in-afghan-raids
Taliban rocket attack kills 6 Afghans: –
Rocket attack by Taliban militants on a village in Afghanistan’s Northwest Badghis province claimed the lives of six civilians on Monday night, the Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Tuesday.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=186293
Afghan president lashes out at US ‘threats’:
Karzai says the U.S. is “absolutely” acting like a colonial power in its attempts to force him to sign the bilateral security agreement by the end of this year. The paper quoted him as saying: “The threats they are making, `We won’t pay salaries, we’ll drive you into a civil war.’ These are threats.”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_FRANCE_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Kenyan police killed in ambush near Somali border:
Gunmen have killed five Kenyan police officers in the latest attack in the troubled northeast border region close to war-torn Somalia.
http://mg.co.za/article/2013-12-10-five-kenyan-police-killed-near-somalian-border
2 French soldiers killed in Central African Republic:
Five to 10 gunmen opened fire on the French patrol, which returned fire, he said. Two Frenchmen were wounded and taken to the hospital where they died. It was unclear whether anyone else died in the clash.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/french-soldiers-killed-central-african-republic
U.S. to airlift African troops to Central African Republic:
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel agreed to an emergency request from France to help transport African Union soldiers into Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic.
East Libya separatists set deadline for oil deal:
Leaders of a movement seeking autonomy for Libya’s Cyrenaica region yesterday said they could allow oil exports to resume on Sunday if Tripoli met their demands and allowed the region to take its share of crude.
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/east-libya-separatists-set-deadline-for-oil-deal
Seven killed in Argentina looting amid police strike:
Seven people died overnight in looting in northern Argentina sparked by a police strike, bringing the death toll to nine since the job action began a week ago, authorities said Tuesday.
Will Uruguay Trigger a Global Marijuana Revolution?:
Uruguay is poised to legalize recreational marijuana on Tuesday, an experiment that will force the United States to reevaluate its own international drug policies.
http://fusion.net/justice/story/legalizing-marijuana-uruguay-trigger-global-revolution-295940
Canada plans claim that would include North Pole:
Canada plans to make a claim to the North Pole in an effort to assert its sovereignty in the resource-rich Arctic, the country’s foreign affairs minister said Monday.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/12/09/canada-north-pole-arctic-claim/3933921/
Putin orders Arctic military build-up in 2014:
Russia is returning to the Arctic and “intensifying the development of this promising region” so it needs to “have all the levers for the protection of its security and national interests,” Putin said on Tuesday at an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry Board.
http://rt.com/news/arctic-russia-military-putin-000/
9/11 Link To Saudi Arabia Is Topic Of 28 Redacted Pages In Government Report;
Congressmen Push For Release: Since terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, victims’ loved ones, injured survivors, and members of the media have all tried without much success to discover the true nature of the relationship between the 19 hijackers – 15 of them Saudi nationals – and the Saudi Arabian government.
Obama and leakers: Who are the eight charged under the Espionage Act?:
Obama has prosecuted more people under the 100-year-old act than any other president
AT&T stores either five or twenty-six years of our data, not really sure which:
It used to be impossible for law enforcement agents to monitor all of the people all of the time, but now our cellphone carriers do it for them.
http://www.privacysos.org/node/1262
Data-sharing among US law agencies amounts to ‘organised chaos’ – report:
“This poorly organized system not only wastes time and resources; it also risks masking reliable intelligence that could be crucial to an investigation,” the report says, warning that a “din of data” is overwhelming law enforcement.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/data-sharing-law-enforcement-organised-chaos
Military secretly developed mobile app games that spied on users, report says:
The NSA document describing the efforts to spy on the private communications and activities of gamers does not include even one instance of the programs producing useful information for spies.
http://www.privacysos.org/node/1261
World’s leading authors: state surveillance of personal data is theft –
500 signatories include five Nobel prize winners – Writers demand ‘digital bill of rights’ to curb abuses
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/surveillance-theft-worlds-leading-authors
US prison population jumps 27% in a decade over harsh drug sentencing:
The number of Americans incarcerated in federal prisons throughout the country has increased by nearly 30 percent over the past ten years, according to a new report by an investigative arm of Congress.
http://rt.com/usa/prison-population-grows-thirty-963/
18 current, former L.A. County sheriff’s deputies face federal charges:
Prosecutors say they found a ‘wide scope of illegal conduct’ by deputies and supervisors that went beyond mistreating inmates.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-sheriff-arrests-20131210,0,4405792.story
In case you missed it:
Torture Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons:
Savaged by dogs, Electrocuted With Cattle Prods, Burned By Toxic Chemicals, Does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8451.htm
A Record Number of Americans Can’t Afford Their Rent:
Paying more than 30 percent of your income on rent is what experts call unaffordable. Yet the number of people who fall into that group has reached record numbers, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
http://www.alternet.org/record-number-americans-cant-afford-their-rent
NY Post Editorial Board: Homeless Shelter With Sexual Assault And Mice Is “Too Generous” :
The Times described the shelter as “a place where mold creeps up walls and roaches swarm, where feces and vomit plug communal toilets, where sexual predators have roamed and small children stand guard for their single mothers outside filthy showers.”
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/10/nypost-editorial-board-homeless-shelter-with-se/197213
30 Percent Of Americans Skip Out On Medical Care Because It’s Too Expensive;
About three in ten of all Americans forgo getting medical treatment due to the high costs of U.S. health care, according to a new survey by Gallup
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/12/10/3041821/americans-skip-health-care-2013/
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 : 3,397
Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan
Total Cost of Wars Since 2001
$1,495,889,385,595
The New Dark Age 