Bulletin N°309
Subject: ON THOUGHT BEYOND THE PALE OF CORPORATE SOCIETY.
14 June 2007
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
The old adage, "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!" is still operational, today. In fact, a visit to the shopping center can only confirm there are more militant consumers than ever before in the societies that boast this label.
In his book, Friendly Fascism, Bertram Gross describes the repressive effects which consumer society has on citizens, which includes the international slave-labor market that keeps consumer society alive. Alternatives to our market-driven way of life are hardly imaginable for most of us today, so completely have we been brainwashed by the repetitions --both explicit and subliminal-- of the cardinal values of consumerism and the sacred crusade for low prices.
Low prices, however, mean different things to different people. . . .
Susan George, author of several influential books on the nefarious effects which monopoly capitalism has on societies, including How the Other Half Dies (Allanheld Osmun, 1977), the Lugano Report (Pluto Press, 2003), and most recently Another World Is Possible If (Verso, 2004), and Naomi Klein, author of No Logo (Picador, 2002) and The Shock Doctrine (Metropolitan Books, 2007) are two authors who have warned us repeatedly about the future that may lie ahead. Their message: capitalist solutions to capitalist problems bode ill for most of us.
To a very limited degree many of us are the beneficiaries of modern slave labor. (that includes Debt Slavery which, as we have seen in former discussions, is engineered by international financial institutions) And all of us are certainly its product --for better or for worse. Imagining alternatives to the modern capitalist system has become an exercise in mental health, for few of us wish to believe that life on our planet is coterminous with the capitalism (as it has morphed until its present state into an authoritarian, elitist system which enforces as many political obligations at the top as at the bottom.)
Below are 8 items which provide important discussions and analyses of corporate society. We think that these descriptions will be recognizable and hopefully useful to chart our own course in the coming era.
Item A. is a description of the U.S. military command zones created in 2002 and revised in 2007, to renew U.S. military focus on the African continent.
Item B. is from Council for the National Interest Foundation which is calling for a U. S. congressional investigation of the Israeli attack on the U.S. navy intelligence ship, U.S.S. Liberty, which killed 34 Americans and wounded 172 on June 8th, 1967.
Item C. is a Democracy Now ! debate between Israeli Historian Tom Segev, Palestinian Physician Mona El-Farra and U.S.
Scholar Norman Finkelstein on the 6-Day War and Its 40-Year Legacy
Item D. is an article by Robert Fisk on the political rewriting of history by Israeli nationalists and their army of eager collaborators, who turned to launch a slanderous attack on French President Charles De Gaulle after he attempted to set the record straight following "the Six-Day War" of 1967.
Item E. is a brief observation from author and media analyst, Robert Rodvik, on the "brave Lebanese Army".
Item F. is a series of instructive articles and essays from Information Clearing House.
And finally, item G. is a report by Greg Palast on the battle in England and the United States to end the "Vulture Funds".
We close this Bulletin by offering readers, by way of contrast, a glimpse of "thought within the pale of corporate society".
1) A short pod casts of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's press conference, following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Poutin at the G8 Summet held in Heiligendamm, Germany on the 6-8 June :
and 2) the remarkable proposal for new repressive rules and regulations which retiring administrators at UCSD have apparently been instructed to inflict on the community before leaving their jobs :
"We would like to invite the UCSD community to review the proposed revision to PPM 510 - Use of University Properties, Section IX, Speech, Advocacy and Distribution of Literature."
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professor of American Studies/
Director of Research
Universit Stendhal - Grenoble 3
http://www.ceimsa.org/
______________
A.
from Jim Stevenson :
11 June 2007
Subject: The Unified Central Command, from 2002.
http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom2/default.aspx
The United States is the only state which divides the entire globe into military commands with a general or admiral in command of each region and designated forces. This practice began during World War II when global warfare forced the U.S. armed services to change from small, separate branches into an integrated armed force that deployed vast land, sea, and air forces around the globe. This practice of assigning U.S. military forces responsibility for specific regions worldwide is known as the Unified Command Plan (UCP).
The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 requires the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to conduct a biennial review of the UCP to examine the force structure, missions, and responsibilities, including geographic boundaries of each unified command. The next review will take place in 2004.
From Oct. 1, 2002, The Unified Command Plan:
Map of the United States Unified Combatant Commands (click to enlarge image). Map reflects 2002 move of Syria and Lebanon to USCENTCOM; does not show USAFRICOM as announced in February 2007
-
United States Africa Command - USAFRICOM (opérationnel à partir du 30 septembre 2008)
Creates a new combatant command, U.S. Northern Command, and assigns it the mission of defending the United States and supporting the full range of military assistance to civil authorities.
Shifts U.S. Joint Forces Command's geographic area of responsibility to the U.S. Northern Command and U.S. European Command. This enables U.S. Joint Forces Command to focus on transforming U.S. military forces and conducting joint force integration, training, experimentation, doctrine development and testing activities.
The Commander-in-Chief of Joint Forces Command will no longer serve as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic.
The continental United States, Canada, Mexico, and portions of the Caribbean region (transferred from Southern Command) will be designated as U.S. Northern Command's area of responsibility. While Alaska will be included in this assignment, Alaskan Command forces will remain assigned to U.S. Pacific Command. The commander U.S. Northern Command will also be responsible for security cooperation and military coordination with Canada and Mexico.
Russia and the Caspian Sea will be included in the area of responsibility assigned to U.S. European Command, however U.S. Pacific Command will retain responsibilities for certain activities in Eastern Russia. Antarctica will be included in the area of responsibility assigned to U.S. Pacific Command.
Merges U.S. Strategic and U.S. Space Commands.
This means that from Oct. 1, there will be nine Unified Commands (composed of units from two or more military services):
Geographical Responsibilities:
Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)
Pacific Command (USPACOM)
Central Command (USCENTCOM)
European Command (USEUCOM)
Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM)
Functional Responsibilities:
Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)
Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM)
Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM)
Source: Department of Defense
For the May 2007 Report on the new Africa Command and "U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa" see:
B.
from Council for the National Interest Foundation :
Subject: Time for the Truth about the Liberty
8 June 2007
Council for the National Interest Foundation
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1 Washington, DC 20024
800.296.6958 202.863.2951 Fax: 202.863.2952
http://cnifoundation.org/
The CNI Foundation will be attending a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery for the 34 sailors who died that day, as well as a memorial service at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, DC, at 4 pm. Following the service, CNI Foundation board member Peter Viering will read remarks from former Congressman and CNI Foundation Founding Chairman Paul Findley (R-IL) on the fortieth anniversary of the attack.
Forty Years Later, Searching for Truth
by Ward Boston, Jr.
The San Diego Union Tribune
June 8, 2007
On that sunny, clear day 40 years ago, Israel's combined air and naval forces attacked our American intelligence-gathering ship for two hours, inflicting 70 percent casualties. Thirty-four American sailors died and 172 were injured. The USS Liberty remained afloat only by the crew's heroic efforts.
Israel claimed it was an accident. Yet I know from personal conversations with the late Admiral Isaac C. Kidd -- president of the Court of Inquiry -- that President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of "mistaken identity."
The ensuing cover-up has haunted us for forty years. What does it imply for our national security, not to mention our ability to honestly broker peace in the Middle East, when we cannot question Israel's actions even when they kill Americans?
On June 8th, survivors of Israel's cruel attack will gather in Washington, DC to honor their dead shipmates as well as the mothers, sisters, widows and children they left behind. They will continue to ask for a fair and impartial congressional inquiry that, for the first time, would allow the survivors themselves to testify publicly.
For decades, I have remained silent. I am a military man and when orders come in from the Secretary of Defense and President of the United States, I follow them. However, attempts to rewrite history and concern for my country compel me to share the truth.
Admiral Kidd and I were given only one week to gather evidence for the Navys official investigation, though we both estimated that a proper Court of Inquiry would take at least six months.
We boarded the crippled ship at sea and interviewed survivors. The evidence was clear. We both believed with certainty that this attack was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew.
I am certain the Israeli pilots and commanders who had ordered the attack knew the ship was American. I saw the bullet-riddled American flag that had been raised by the crew after their first flag had been shot down completely. I heard testimony that made it clear the Israelis intended there be no survivors. Not only did they attack with napalm, gunfire, and missiles, Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned at close range three life rafts that had been launched in an attempt to save the most seriously wounded.
I am outraged at the efforts of Israels apologists to claim this attack was a case of "mistaken identity."
Admiral Kidd told me that after receiving the President's cover-up orders, he was instructed to sit down with two civilians from either the White House or the Defense Department, and rewrite portions of the Courts findings. He said, "Ward, they're not interested in the facts. Its a political matter and we cannot talk about it." We were to "put a lid on it" and caution everyone involved never to speak of it again.
I know that the Court of Inquiry transcript that has been released to the public is not the same one that I certified and sent to Washington. I know this because it was necessary, due to the exigencies of time, to hand correct and initial a substantial number of pages. I have examined the released version of the transcript and did not see any pages that bore my hand corrections and initials. Also, the original did not have any deliberately blank pages, as the released version does. In addition, the testimony of Lt. Lloyd Painter concerning the deliberate machine-gunning of the life rafts by the Israeli torpedo boat crews, which I distinctly recall being given at the Court of Inquiry and including in the original transcript, is now missing.
I join the survivors in their call for an honest inquiry. Why is there no room to question Israel even when they kill Americans -- in the halls of Congress?
Let the survivors testify. Let me testify. Let former intelligence officers testify that they received real-time Hebrew translations of Israeli commanders instructing their pilots to sink "the American ship."
Surely uncovering the truth about what happened to American servicemen in a bloody attack is more important than protecting Israel. And surely forty years is long enough to wait.
______________
In addition to serving as chief counsel to the Navys Court of Inquiry into the attack on USS Liberty, Ward Boston served as a naval aviator in World War II on the carrier Yorktown, and as an FBI agent prior to his assignment to the Navys Judge Advocates General Corps. He is a graduate of the Law School of the College of William and Mary, and a resident of Coronado, California.
_____________________
C.
from Democracy Now !
7 June 2007
Subject : The 40th Anniversary of Israeli Conquest of West Bank and Gaza, Activists to March in DC for End to Occupation.
http://democracynow.org/
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/08/1512226
- This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Arab-Israeli
- War of 1967 which reshaped the map of the Middle East.
- Author Phyllis Bennis joins us to discuss how activists in
- this country are planning a march on Washington on Sunday
- to call for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank
- and Gaza Strip.
- War of 1967 which reshaped the map of the Middle East.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/08/1512231
- Actor and Comedian Roseanne Barr Urges End to Israeli Occupation*
- In a videotaped message to be played at the June 10th rally in Washington,
- actor and comedian Roseanne Barr says an end to Israels occupation of the
- West Bank and Gaza is the key to a just and lasting peace.
- In a videotaped message to be played at the June 10th rally in Washington,
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/08/1512241
- Israeli Historian Tom Segev, Palestinian Physician Mona El-Farra and
- U.S. Scholar Norman Finkelstein on 6-Day War and Its 40-Year Legacy
- Israeli historian Tom Segev, Palestinian physician Mona El-Farra and U.S.
- scholar Norman Finkelstein discuss the circumstances around the 1967 Six-Day
- war and its consequences in the ensuing 40 years.
- U.S. Scholar Norman Finkelstein on 6-Day War and Its 40-Year Legacy
D.
from Robert Fisk:
Subject: It was Israel which attacked Egypt after Nasser closed the straits of Tiran
10 June 2007
The Independent
by Robert Fisk
"Believe It or Not, in California, an entire museum is dedicated to candy dispensers ... Believe It or Not, a County Kerry man possesses an orange that is 25 years old ... Believe It or Not, a weather researcher had his ashes scattered on the eve of Hurricane Danielle 400 miles off the coast of Miama, Florida." Etc, etc, etc.
Incredibly, Ripley's column lives on, and there is even a collection of "Ripley Believe It or Not" museums in the United States.
The problem, of course, is that these are all extraordinary facts which will not offend anyone. There are no suicide bombers in Ripley, no Israeli air strikes ("Believe It or Not, 17,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon"), no major casualty tolls ("Believe It or Not, up to 650,000 Iraqis died in the four years following the 2003 Anglo-American invasion of Iraq"). See what I mean? Just a bit too close to the bone (or bones).
But I was reminded of dear old Ripley when I was prowling through the articles marking the anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Memoirs there have been aplenty, but I think only the French press - in the shape of Le Monde Diplomatique - was prepared to confront a bit of "Believe It or Not".
It recalled vividly - and shamefully - how the world's newspapers covered the story of Egypt's "aggression" against Israel. In reality - Believe It or Not - it was Israel which attacked Egypt after Nasser closed the straits of Tiran and ordered UN troops out of Sinai and Gaza following his vituperative threats to destroy Israel. "The Egyptians attack Israel," France-Soir told its readers on 5 June 1967, a whopper so big that it later amended its headline to "It's Middle East War!".
Quite so. Next day, the socialist Le Populaire headlined its story "Attacked on all sides, Israel resists victoriously". On the same day, Le Figaro carried an article announcing that "the victory of the army of David is one of the greatest of all time". Believe It or Not, the Second World War - which might be counted one of the greatest of all time, had ended only 22 years earlier.
Johnny Hallyday, France's undie-able pop star, sang for 50,000 French supporters of Israel - for whom solidarity was expressed in the French press by Serge Gainsbourg, Juliette Grco, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Valry Giscard d'Estaing and Franois Mitterand. Believe It or Not - and you can believe it - Mitterand once received the coveted Francisque medal from Ptain's Vichy collaborationists.
Only the president of France, General de Gaulle, moved into political isolation by telling a press conference several months later that Israel "is organising, on the territories which it has taken, an occupation which cannot work without oppression, repression and expulsions - and if there appears resistance to this, it will in turn be called 'terrorism'". This accurate prophecy earned reproof from the Nouvel Observateur - to the effect that "Gaullist France has no friends; it has only interests". And Believe It or Not, with the exception of one small Christian paper, there was in the entire French press one missing word: Palestinians.
I owe it to the academic Anciet Mob Fansiama to remind me this week that - Believe It or Not - Congolese troops from Belgium's immensely wealthy African colony scored enormous victories over Italian troops in Africa during the Second World War, capturing 15,000 prisoners, including nine generals. Called "the Public Force" - a name which happily excluded the fact that these heroes were black Congolese - the army mobilised 13,000 soldiers and civilians to fight Vichy French colonies in Africa and deployed in the Middle East - where they were positioned to defend Palestine - as well as in Somalia, Madagascar, India and Burma.
Vast numbers of British and American troops passed through the Congo as its wealth was transferred to the war chests of the United States and Britain.
A US base was built at Kinshasa to move oil to Allied troops fighting in the Middle East.
But - Believe It or Not - when Congolese trade unions, whose members were requisitioned to perform hard labour inside Belgium's colony by carrying agricultural and industrial goods and military equipment, often on their backs, demanded higher salaries, the Belgian authorities confronted their demonstrations with rifle fire, shooting down 50 of their men.
At least 3,000 political prisoners were deported for hard labour to a remote district of Congo. Thus were those who gave their blood for Allied victory repaid. Or rather not repaid. The four billion Belgian francs which was owed back to the Congo - about 500m in today's money - was never handed over. Believe It or Not.
So let's relax and return to Ripley reality. "Believe It or Not, Russell Parsons of Hurricane, West Virginia, has his funeral and cremation instructions tattooed on his arm! ... Believe It or Not, in April 2007 (yes, these are new Ripleys) a group of animal lovers paid nearly $3,400 to buy 300 lobsters from a Maine fish market - then set them free back into the ocean! ... Believe It or Not, in a hospital waiting room, 70 per cent of people suffer from broken bones, 75 per cent are fatigued, 80 per cent have fevers. What percentage of people must have all four ailments?" Believe It or Not, I don't know. And oh yes, "Geta, Emperor of Rome AD189-212, insisted upon alternative meals. A typical menu: partridge (perdix), peacock (pavo), leek (porrum), beans (phaseoli), peach (persica), plum (pruna) and melon (pepone)."
I guess after that, you just have to throw up.
_____________
E.
from Robert Rodvik :
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007
Subject: Lebanese Government and the Army of Valour
http://www.whatmatters.nu/wmemails/wmemails13.html
"Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth."
George Orwell - 1984
It should be noted that while the state of Israel bombed Lebanon in non-stop air raids last year, the pro-western Siniora government raised not a rifle in self-defense. This same bave army, however, today musters helicopter gunships, tanks, armored personnel carriers, mortars, and artillery pieces against a mainly small-arms opposition of a few hundred fighters; in the process killing dozens of Palestinian civilians and demolishing their homes and shops. Way to go, brave army. Show the world what you are made of!
***************************
Robert S. Rodvik
Author/media analyst
____________
F.
From: Information Clearing House <emailtom@cox.net>
To: francis.feeley@u-grenoble3.fr
Subject: ICH: Don't Trust Government
10 June 2007
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem.": Howard Zinn, from 'Failure to Quit'
=
"For those who stubbornly seek freedom, there can be no more urgent task than to come to understand the mechanisms and practices of indoctrination. These are easy to perceive in the totalitarian societies, much less so in the system of 'brainwashing under freedom' to which we are subjected and in which all too often we serve as unwilling instruments." Noam Chomsky
=
"With numbing regularity good people were seen to knuckle under the demands of authority and perform actions that were callous and severe. Men who are in everyday life responsible and decent were seduced by the trappings of authority, by the control of their perceptions, and by the uncritical acceptance of the experimenter's definition of the situation, into performing harsh acts. A substantial proportion of people do what they are told to do, irrespective of the content of the act and without limitations of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command comes from a legitimate authority" Stanley Milgram, 1965
Stanley Milgram was a psychologist who performed a series of experiments that proved conclusively that obedience to authority was so ingrained in the average US citizen they were prepared to cause lethal harm to others when instructed by authority figures to do so. All those who took part were first asked if they would be capable of killing or inflicting severe pain on their fellow human beings. 100% replied categorically 'no'. http://tinyurl.com/cm6xq
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Click here for text only version of the site (great for dialup users)!
http://www.ichblog.eu/text/
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Read this newsletter online http://tinyurl.com/dy6yy
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Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America's War On Iraq - At Least 655,000 + +
http://tinyurl.com/usq4x
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America'sWar On Iraq 3504
http://icasualties.org/oif/
The War in Iraq Costs
$432,805,108,172
See the cost in your community
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
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Don't Trust Government
By Charley Reese
In reading an excellent book, Satanic Purses: Money, Myth and Misinformation, by R.T. Naylor, I suddenly realized why Adolf Hitler was so popular during the first years of his administration.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17854.htm
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Lies, Sighs and Politics
By Paul Krugman
Folks, this is serious. If early campaign reporting is any guide, the bad media habits that helped install the worst president ever in the White House haven't changed a bit
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17851.htm
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Iraq: At least 48 killed in another bloody day of U.S. occupation:
Six civilian detainees were killed and at least 50 wounded when mortars or rockets were fired into the U.S.-run Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0961269.htm
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Suicide bomber kills another 12 south of Baghdad - police:
A suicide truck bomber killed 12 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 30 others in an attack on an army checkpoint south of Baghdad on Saturday, police
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09614506.htm
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U.S. Arming "Insurgents: : For U.S. Unit in Baghdad, An Alliance of Last Resort:
The Americans have granted these gunmen the power of arrest, allowed the Iraqi army to supply them with ammunition, and fought alongside them in chaotic street battles.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17852.htm
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Critics Say U.S. Focus On Al-Qaida In Iraq Is Overblown:
Nine out of 10 times, when it names a foe it faces, the U.S. military names al-Qaida in Iraq. - Critics say this is overblown and possibly a diversion.
http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGBBE0KJP2F.html
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White House pushes out head of armed forces:
The increasing weakness of the Bush adminstration was exposed again today with the forced retirement of General Peter Pace as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff over the Iraq war.
http://tinyurl.com/3bs6dl
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Have We Just Seen The Last U.S. Combat Injury In Iraq? :
This photo -- taken by embedded photojournalist Michael Kamber two weeks ago during a fateful patrol in search of missing U.S soldiers -- could well become the last visual evidence of U.S. casualties in the Iraq war.
http://tinyurl.com/28tvqz
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Iraq protests Turkish bombardment of Kurdish north:
"The foreign ministry delivered a letter to the charge d'affaires of Turkey protesting the bombardment of Iraq around Dohuk and Arbil which caused huge damage, fire and spread panic among the people," a ministry statement said.
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=180360
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Soldier morale damaged by Iraq:
BBC 7 Minute Video:
Mark Urban reports on how the Iraq conflict appears to be eroding the morale of some British soldiers.
http://tinyurl.com/2atmf4
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Attacks kill 23 in occupied Afghanistan:
Attacks across Afghanistan left 11 policemen and a dozen Taleban fighters dead, authorities said Saturday as the US military announced it had killed 'several' Taleban and Al Qaeda men.
http://tinyurl.com/2d4wq5
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More Taliban suspects allege abuse:
The Foreign Affairs Department has adjusted upward the number of detainees who have alleged they were abused after being captured by Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan and transferred to Afghan jails.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/06/09/afghan-detainees.html
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Ramzy Baroud: Losing Afghanistan: Firepower Doesn't Always Win Wars :
Foreign powers are clearly failing in Afghanistan; they neither won hearts and minds nor contributed to the stability and rebuilding of the country in any meaningful way - 60 percent of the country's economy is now dependent on narcotics exports.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/1634/1/
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Israel will pay the price for war in Iraq, former CIA official says:
"If al-Qaeda and Iran are the big winners of the war in Iraq, Israel is the strategic loser," former CIA official Bruce Riedel said in an exclusive interview with Ynet.
http://tinyurl.com/2c55z8
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Military Option on Table Concerning Iran :
Military action is one of the options in dealing with Iran's nuclear program, Israel's deputy prime minister said Saturday, after discussing the issue with senior U.S. officials.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6696659,00.html
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U.S. to Israel: will assess Iran sanctions at yr-end :
"Regarding a timeline,... we decided that the end of 2007 will be the point of assessing the effectiveness of the sanctions and the amount of influence they are having on the Iranians," Mofaz said. He did not say what other options, if any, would be considered at that point.
http://tinyurl.com/2ard7n
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No proof yet Iran's nuclear program has military dimension-Lavrov:
Nobody has been able to prove to this day Iran's nuclear program has a military dimension, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.
http://tinyurl.com/26zwcc
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US missile shield threatens resolution of Iran stand-off: :
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that US missile defence shield could worsen the Iranian nuclear stand-off and urged Washington to freeze work on the plans with the Czech Republic and Poland.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070609/ts_afp/irannuclearpolitics
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Moscow's proposal to use Gabala radar being distorted - Lavrov:
Moscow is dismayed that its proposal for the joint use of the Gabala radar instead of the deployment by the U.S. of anti-missile defense elements in Europe was perceived in the West as a sign of recognition by Russia of the existence of a real threat from Iran
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11766463
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Bush in "Fantasyland" :
"President Bush is rushing to deploy a technology that does not work against a threat that does not exist,"
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=203257
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Palestinians battle inside Israel:
At least four gunmen rammed the border fence at the old Kissufim crossing, near Deir al-Baleh even as Israeli soldiers in tanks invaded Gaza near the town of Rafah
http://tinyurl.com/yoq57j
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Israel 'tests' Syria peace aims ?:
Israel's government has sent secret messages to Syria about the possibility of renewing peace negotiations, the deputy prime minister has confirmed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6737065.stm
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Israel's Generous Offer:
New UN map charts West Bank reality
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1066
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Viewers get whitewashed version of Israeli history:
"PBS is really not a liberal left-wing broadcaster," says Fichman. "It's subscription and sponsor-based, with members of the Jewish community among its supporters." Fichman said that PBS demanded entire scenes and sequences come out, and others be softened.
http://www.thestar.com/article/222996
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Remi Kanazi : The Failure of the Israeli Left and the Two-State Solution :
The only way to break down a racist and exclusivist structure is to chip away at its base and force an alternative reality. This would require not only ending the occupation, but looking internally at the Israeli state, a Jewish state, a state which doesn't and can't function as democracy for all its people.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/1635/1/
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Time for the truth about the USS Liberty:
Forty years ago this week, I was asked to investigate the heaviest attack on an American ship since World War II. As senior legal counsel to the Navy Court of Inquiry, it was my job to help uncover the truth regarding Israel's June 8, 1967, bombing of the Navy intelligence ship Liberty.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070608/news_lz1e8boston.html
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Loss of Liberty : Video
'Loss of Liberty' dramatically attempts to prove, beyond any doubt, that the attack by Israel on June 8, 1967 against the US naval intelligence gathering ship USS Liberty, in which 34 Americans were killed and 171 wounded, was deliberate.
http://tinyurl.com/ynqawm
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Lebanon shells camp, three soldiers killed:
Lebanese troops shelled al Qaeda-inspired militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp on Saturday and three soldiers died in the heavy battles, security sources said.
http://tinyurl.com/yqeskp
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Report: CIA ran secret jails:
The CIA ran secret jails in Poland and Romania to interrogate key terror suspects, shackling and handcuffing inmates, keeping some naked for weeks, and reducing contact with the outer world to masked and silent guards, a European investigator said yesterday.
http://tinyurl.com/ythwnc
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Pentagon appeals Guantanamo case :
The Pentagon is to ask US military judges to reconsider a decision earlier this week to throw out charges against two Guantanamo Bay detainees.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6735505.stm
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Marjorie Cohn: The Prison is the War Crime:
No "Unlawful" Enemy Combatants at Guantanamo
http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn06072007.html
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Bureau of Prisons can suspend attorney-client privileges:
One month after the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Justice issued an interim rule that gave its Bureau of Prisons the right to scrap traditional notions of attorney-client privilege in order to monitor conversations between inmates suspected of terrorism and their lawyers.
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/may_07/bureau_prisons.html
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William Blum : Does the United States have an opposition media?:
If Chvez makes education more widely available to the masses of poor people, it's probably for the purpose of indoctrinating them.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/1636/1/
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Rage against injustice:
John Pilger's Freedom Next Time confronts some uncomfortable truths
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2098470,00.html
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Genetically Modified Food - Panacea or poison : Video:
A very interesting documentary on genetically engineer food or GE, GMO. GE food raise serious concern about its safety
http://tinyurl.com/2eesxo
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Peace & Joy
Tom Feeley
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G.
from Greg Palast :
Subject: The Battle to End Vulture Funds
12 June 2007
Investigative reporter Greg Palast looks at the battle to end "vulture funds,"
where companies buy up debts of poor nations cheaply and then sue for
the full amount.