Axis of Evil -- Signs of the Times News

Axis of Evil

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Paul Wood
BBC
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:23 EST

"We're here for some very specific reasons, some specific threats that the Israelis are interested in, that we're interested in. And that's as far as I want to go down that road."

Com Carl Meuser of the US Navy destroyer Higgins was interrupted at this point by an anxious public affairs officer. The scenario neither wanted to discuss with the circle of visiting journalists aboard his ship was this: Israel bombs Iranian nuclear facilities - and Iran hits back.

In that case, Israel would definitely need the missile shield - sophisticated long-range radars and Patriot anti-missile devices - being tested in joint war games this week.

YouTube/The Paradigm Shift
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:57 EST

Warning. This video contains images that depict the reality and horror of war.

Press TV
Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:50 EST

Saudi Arabia's King Abdallah receives the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as both countries become more involved in the deadly war in Yemen.

The meeting between King Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta took place in Riyadh on Sunday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Apparently, King Abdallah also held another meeting on the same day with the Head of Russian Federal Commission of Military and Technical Cooperation Michael Dimitriv.

The report, however, did not include any specific details about the topics that were discussed during the two meetings, simply announcing that there was an exchange of greetings between the king and US President Barack Obama through the CIA director.

Janine Zacharia
Bloomberg
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:09 EST

© Unknown
Dr. Robert Einhorn & MK Dr. Yuval Steinitz

2007 Herzliya Conference Series on the Balance of Israel’s National Security

A U.S. arms-control official said today there is "strong evidence" Iran sought to develop the means to put a nuclear weapon on a missile prior to 2003 and perhaps afterward.

Robert Einhorn, the State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, said the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna will report on the issue next week.

The IAEA will "address Iran's continuing failure to cooperate with the IAEA's investigation of the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program, including strong evidence that it has done work on a missile warhead for delivering nuclear weapons," Einhorn said.

Comment: Do you get the feeling you've heard this song before? Sounds remarkably like the run-up to the Iraq invasion. It's not surprising considering the company Mr. Einhorn keeps as a member of Cornell University's Quill & Dagger Society:

[Quill & Dagger] Society influence appears to be strongest in the U.S. government and large corporations.

From 1913 to 1984, Quill and Dagger had at least one member in the U.S. Congress every single year.[17] In recent decades, the society has had a strong presence in the U.S. State Department and related government positions, with two National Security Advisors[18], two Directors of Policy Planning, and numerous assistant secretaries and senior advisers. Additionally, two members recently served as World Bank presidents, and a large number of members serve on the Council on Foreign Relations. Many of these government officials interact regularly in their professional duties.[19] At least five prominent members of George W. Bush's administration are Quill and Dagger members: Stephen Friedman, Stephen Krasner, Paul Wolfowitz, Stephen Hadley, and Carol Kuntz.

During the 1930s through 1950s, the chairmen of Standard Oil[20], Sun Oil (now Sunoco)[21], and Continental Oil (now ConocoPhillips) companies were Quill and Dagger members, and many other advanced positions in these corporations were held by society members. Younger members who entered the oil industry at this time would gain industry prominence later in the century, with one becoming chairman of Amoco in the 1990s.[22] In the 1960s, the management of Union Carbide, the oldest chemical and polymer company in the country, passed directly from one member to another.[23] In recent years, similar networking appears to be at work in the leading investment banks. With a chairman and managing director at Goldman Sachs in the past decade, a number of recent graduates have received offers and signed there.

But we aren't going into Iran for the oil, or because Israel told us to, no sir!

Anshel Pfeffer
Uruk Net
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:49 EST

Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki

The Israel Defense Forces' chief rabbi told students in a pre-army yeshiva program last week that soldiers who "show mercy" toward the enemy in wartime will be "damned."

Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki also told the yeshiva students that religious individuals made better combat troops.

Speaking Thursday at the Hesder yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron, Rontzki referred to Maimonides' discourse on the laws of war. That text quotes a passage from the Book of Jeremiah stating:

"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord with a slack hand, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood."

Kim Zetter
Wired
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:03 EST

A group identifying themselves as "anti-fascist hackers" broke into the web site and AOL e-mail account of controversial British historian and accused Holocaust-denier David Irving and obtained his private communications as well as attendee lists for his current U.S. speaking tour.

The hackers posted Irving's e-mail correspondence online, as well as the user name and password for his web site account and AOL e-mail account, which shared the same password. The hackers also posted the e-mail addresses and other personal information - such as names, phone numbers and shipping and credit card billing addresses - of people who made donations through his web sites, purchased his books or bought tickets for his appearances.

Irving's username and password for his Authorize.net account, which handles the credit card transactions on his web site, were also exposed.

The data was posted on the WikiLeaks site Friday evening in advance of Irving's Saturday speaking engagement at the Catholic Kolping Society of America in New York City. The organization reportedly canceled the event on Friday after someone contacted it.

Is Israel too strong for Barack Obama?

The Economist
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:07 EST

As America drops its demand for a total freeze on the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, angry Palestinians say there is no scope for resuming talks

Five months after Barack Obama went to Cairo and persuaded most of the Arab world, in a ringing declaration of even-handedness, that he would face down Israel in his quest for a Palestinian state, American policy seems to have run into the sand. The American president's mediating hand is weaker, his charisma damagingly faded. From the Palestinian and Arab point of view, his administration - after grandly setting out to force the Jewish state to stop the building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land as an early token of good faith, intended to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiation - has meekly capitulated to Israel.

The upshot is that hopes for an early resumption of talks between the main protagonists seem to have been dashed. Indeed, no one seems to know how they can be restarted. The mood among moderates on both sides is as glum as ever.

Mr Obama's secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, made matters worse by actually praising Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, for promising merely to "restrain" Israel's building rather than stop it altogether, as he was first asked to do. Previously Mrs Clinton had insisted that stop meant stop. There should be no "organic growth" of existing settlements and no exceptions for projects under way. Nor did she specifically exempt East Jerusalem, which Palestinians view as their future capital but which many Israelis see as theirs alone. And she had earlier castigated Israel for demolishing Palestinian houses in the city's eastern part. Now, in Israel on October 31st, she changed her tune, seeming to acquiesce in Mr Netanyahu's refusal to meet those earlier American demands and congratulating the prime minister on his "unprecedented" offer to build at a slower rate than before.

Sarah Stricker
YNet
Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:16 EST

Left-wing groups enraged by Germany municipality's decision not to allow anti-Zionist Israeli historian to speak at governmental institution. Pappe writes to Munich mayor his policy reminiscent of Nazi Germany

Anti-Zionist historian Prof. Ilan Pappe, one of the most important "New Historians", was scheduled to speak last weekend at the Pedagogical Institute of Munich. But a letter received from the "Israeli-German association of Munich", claiming that Pappe's lecture would turn into "an anti-Israeli propaganda show," led the Munich Municipality to reconsider the event.

The municipality eventually did not let Pappe use the room, claiming its decision was prompted by fears of violent clashes breaking out in the area. The Munich police insisted that there was no danger of fear for the security of those attending the lecture.

DesertPeace
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:57 EST

Just my two cents.....

At one time I was impressed every time Noam Chomsky spoke. Seeing his name on lists endorsing political actions was most encouraging.... but NOT seeing him participate in those actions sort of put a damper on the situation.

In recent days he has been very vocal about the situation in Gaza. He speaks of International Solidarity as a new phenomena in People's Struggles. Did he never hear of the International Brigades that went to Spain to fight Franco? Did he not hear of the worldwide movement to eliminate apartheid in South Africa? Does he think Cuba could have survived as a free nation all these years without the support of International Support Groups?

Chomsky overlooks the movements of Palestinians within Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. He gives the impression that without his endorsements, nothing will change. So typical of so many 'ivory tower' dwellers. The problem with these people is that their views of reality are often obstructed and they never really see the entire picture of a situation.

Emptywheel
Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:33 EDT

I've put this detail in a series of posts, but it really deserves a full post. According to the May 30, 2005 Bradbury memo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

On page 37 of the OLC memo, in a passage discussing the differences between SERE techniques and the torture used with detainees, the memo explains:

The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.

Comment: Little wonder then that Khalid Sheik Mohammed confessed to masterminding thirty terrorist plots including an assassination attempt on President Jimmy Carter!

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