AS THE WORLD SQUIRMS

‘The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.’

~George Orwell

News & Comment

Tuesday: 40 Iraqis Killed, 52 Wounded

Israeli Jets Clash With German Ship Off Lebanon

10.25.06

BERLIN (Reuters) - Two Israeli warplanes and a German navy vessel have clashed off the Lebanese coast, the Defence Ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday without giving further details. Germany daily Der Tagesspiegel earlier on Wednesday quoted a junior German defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over the German ship and fired two shots.

Russia’s Support for Iran Locks UN

Russia’s declaration that it will veto any sanction proposed

against Iran has locked the U.N. Security Council.

10.25.06

“We cannot support and will actively oppose any attempt to use the Security Council to punish Iran or to use Iran's nuclear program in order to promote the idea of regime change,'' the Russian foreign minister said in an interview with the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA . China also opposes any possible sanctions against Iran.

US naval war games off the Iranian coastline:

A provocation that could lead to War?

October 24, 2006

By Michel Chossudovsky

There is a massive concentration of US naval power in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Three US naval strike groups off the Iranian coastline are deployed: USS Enterprise, USS Eisenhower and USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The naval strike groups have been assigned to fighting the "global war on terrorism."

Tehran considers the US war games to be conducted in the Persian Gulf, off the Iranian coastline as a provocation, which is intended to trigger a potential crisis and a situation of direct confrontation between US and Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf:

"Reports say the US-led naval exercises based near Bahrain will practise intercepting and searching ships carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles.

Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as describing the military manoeuvres as dangerous and suspicious.

Reports say the US-led naval exercises based near Bahrain will practise intercepting and searching ships carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles.

The Iranian foreign ministry official said the US-led exercises were not in line with the security and stability of the region. Instead, they are aimed at fomenting crises, he said." (quoted in BBC, 23 October 2006)

We have turned Iraq into the most hellish place on Earth
Guardian – London

10.25.06

Armies claiming to bring prosperity have instead brought a misery worse than under the cruellest of modern dictators.

· N. Korea Threatens War if South Joins Sanctions: North Korea warned South Korea on Wednesday against joining U.S.-led sanctions against Pyongyang and said it would take action after any such move by Seoul. South Korea’s participation in sanctions would be seen as a serious provocation leading to a “crisis of war” on the Korean peninsula, a North Korean spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

· Active-Duty Troops Launch Campaign to End War on Iraq: For the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, active- duty members of the military are asking Members of Congress to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and bring American soldiers home. Sixty-five active-duty members have sent Appeals for Redress to Members of Congress. Three of these people (including two who served in Iraq) and their attorney will speak about this on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. EDT. Under the Military Whistle-Blower Protection Act (DOD directive 7050.6), active-duty military, National Guard and Reservists can file and send a protected communication to a Member of Congress regarding any subject without reprisal. What: Three active-duty members of the military and their lawyer, a retired U.S. Marine Corps JAG, make comments and take questions from the media. When: Wednesday, Oct. 25, 11 a.m. EDT /Conference Call Details: 800-362-0574, Conference ID: "Active Duty"

· IRAQ: Talking To The Resistance (by Robert Dreyfuss – Tompaine.com): In an exclusive interview, a prominent Iraqi Baathist says that the Baathist resistance in Iraq is preparing a major offensive for January 2007, and that as long as the United States refuses to open an unconditional dialogue with the Baathists, the armed resistance and its allies, there will be no respite from the withering attacks that have left more than 85 U.S. troops dead this month alone.

· Iraq Prime Minister Criticizes U.S. Raid On Shi'ite Militia: Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister pledged on Wednesday to crack down on illegal militias but criticized a U.S. raid on a Shi'ite militia stronghold that killed at least four people. A day after U.S. officials assured Americans the prime minister had agreed "timelines" to help end sectarian militia violence, Nuri al-Maliki used his own news conference to dismiss talk of any "timetable" for action. The U.S. military said Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. air strikes conducted the raid in the Sadr City district of Baghdad "to capture a top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death squad activity".

· Magnetic storm: Something weird is happening to Earth: Scientists have made a startling discovery. It seems there's a storm brewing deep within the Earth, a storm that is weakening our vital magnetic shield.

· PETER OLSON (Johns Hopkins University): The Earth's magnetic field has been our protector for millennia, and now, it appears, it's about to go away.

· JOHN SHAW (University of Liverpool): The Earth's magnet field is getting weaker rapidly.

· MARIO ACUNA (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center): We cannot guarantee that the magnetic field of the Earth is still going to be there a thousand years from today.

· Sales of existing U.S. homes fall; median price drops by record amount:Sales of existing homes fell for a sixth straight month in September and the median sales price dropped on an annual basis by the largest amount on record, further documenting a lukewarm housing market.

Soros-backed American Jews to

Launch New Mideast Peace Initiative

10.25.06

The Israeli attacks on Lebanon that were quietly supported by the United States sparked hot debates on Israeli-American relations inside the American Jewish community.

The Financial Times claimed that some Jewish circles in the United States are trying to organize a new Jewish lobby that will spend efforts to maintain peace between Israel and Palestine. The paper also noted that the new initiative to be called “The New Israel Project” will be backed by the renowned Jewish tycoon George Soros, also known for his opposition to the U.S. President George Bush.

The paper reported Tuesday that within the Jewish community in the United States, a new initiative was launched with the support of Soros and Palestinians to lobby for a viable peace accord. According to the report, the new group, which will be designed as an alternative to other U.S. Jewish lobbies, will be lobbying for an initiative that will propose a two-state solution, and involve the United States.

An extraordinarily prescient TV interview with General Norman Schwarzkopf and Robert Gates - Deputy National Security Advisor to Former President George Bush Sr.

Why Invading Iraq Was A Very Stupid Idea…

(Click on blinking dot above for video)

“People should not be afraid of their government.

Governments should be afraid of their people.”