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Bilderberg: The Uberpowerful Global Elite Meet Behind Closed Doors in St. Moritz

Anne Fournier
Time
Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Miro Kuzmanovic / Reuters
Hotel Suvretta in St. Moritz, the site of the Bilderberg annual meeting, according to local media, June 9, 2011
This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global-news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in Le Temps.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be stepping out of a limousine this year. That much is sure about this year's Bilderberg conference, which the former IMF chief, awaiting trial for his alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York City, is said to have attended several times in the past. But little else is known about this secretly organized, unofficial meeting of some 100 powerful figures, slated to take place June 9 to 12 in a luxury hotel in the Grison station. Indeed, not even the dates of the gathering are confirmed.

The canton is to ensure the tranquility of its guests with the help of the federal security service. Two of its ministers will take part in some of the discussions. But the canton is not commenting on the measures in place or the cost of the operation.

The Bilderberg group is one of the world's most famous clubs. It gathers bankers, politicians, industrialists, media movers and shakers, scholars and billionaires in a different location each year, usually in Europe. All the attendees share one condition of membership: discretion.
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MIB

Arms flowing to Syrian agitators from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon


World Tribune
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:29 UTC
Syrian opposition sources said tribes in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon have been relaying weapons in an effort to oust President Bashar Assad. They said the weapons were sent to avenge the killing by Syrian security forces of tribal members over the last month.

"One of Assad's biggest mistakes is that his security forces have been killing members of powerful tribes with a presence in neighboring countries as well," an opposition source said.

The weapons smuggling to the Syrian rebels began in March when Assad forces shot and killed members of tribes in Dera near the Jordanian border. Some of the tribes in Dera have links with supporters in Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Middle East Newsline reported.

On April 19, a son of a powerful tribal chief, Saleh Al Fadous, was killed by Assad forces in the northern city of Homs. Fadous is a member of the Fawareh tribe with allies in Iraq and Jordan, including Duleimeh and Bani Hassan.

Comment: These "Syrian opposition sources" wouldn't happen to be the same London-based Syrian opposition group which the Washington Post says has received $6 million from the US State Department in recent years, would they?

As for the "tribes" running guns from Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan... let's remember that Iraq is a US military garrison, Lebanon is a hive of Israeli spies and Jordan is a loyal ally to Israeli/US interests, which explains why the protests there have hardly been mentioned by mainstream media.

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MIB

Washington Post: US funded Syrian opposition groups


al Jazeera
Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:22 UTC
Image
© EPA
Most Syrians opposed to the government of Bashar al-Assad actually live outside the country
Washington channelled money to organisations including dissident broadcaster, newspaper reports leaked cables as saying.

The US government has secretly funded Syrian opposition groups, including a London-based television station, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks to The Washington Post.

The newspaper reported on Monday that the US state department has channelled up to $6m since 2006 to a group of Syrian exiles to operate Barada TV, and to finance activities inside Syria.

The television station is closely affiliated with the Movement for Justice and Development, a London-based network of Syrian exiles, the paper said, and has ramped up operations to cover the mass protests in Syria.

It added that US money for Syrian opposition groups began under George Bush, the former US president, after ties with Damascus were frozen in 2005.

The financial backing has continued under Barack Obama, the current president, despite an attempt by his administration to rebuild relations with the Middle Eastern nation.

The article said it was unclear whether Washington was still funding Syrian opposition groups, but the cables indicate money was set aside at least through September 2010.
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Vader

America's Next War Theater: Syria and Lebanon?

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:53 UTC
Image
Washington and its allies, Israel and the Al-Sauds, are taking advantage of the upheavals in the Arab World. They are now working to dismantle the Resistance Bloc and weaken any drive for democracy in the Arab World. The geo-political chessboard is now being prepared for a broader confrontation that will target Tehran and include Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Palestinians.

Tying Hezbollah's Hands through External and Internal Pressure

In Lebanon, there is a deadlock in regards to the formation of a Lebanese government. Michel Sleiman, who holds the presidency and the new Lebanese prime minister have been delaying the formation of the cabinet in a political row with Michel Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement.

It may be possible that the formation of a new Lebanese cabinet is being delayed deliberately to keep Lebanon neutralized on the foreign policy front.

The U.N. Security Council and several U.N. bodies are all being used by the U.S. and the E.U. to put pressure on Lebanon. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is taking his orders from Washington. He has contributed to providing legitimacy to the U.S. and NATO wars. Moscow has openly accused Ban Ki-moon of treachery for his 2008 secret dealings with NATO.
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Dollar

China Ratings House Says US Defaulting: Report


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse
A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order
A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order.

"In our opinion, the United States has already been defaulting," Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., the only Chinese agency that gives sovereign ratings, was quoted by the Global Times saying.

Washington had already defaulted on its loans by allowing the dollar to weaken against other currencies -- eroding the wealth of creditors including China, Guan said.

Guan did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

The US government will run out of room to spend more on August 2 unless Congress bumps up the borrowing limit beyond $14.29 trillion -- but Republicans are refusing to support such a move until a deficit cutting deal is reached.
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Binoculars

Phil Giraldi Spills the Beans on Israeli Espionage in America

Jim W. Dean
Veterans Today
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:02 UTC
"Over 125 investigations into Israeli Espionage in America... stopped due to political pressure."...FBI Counter Intel Officer John Cole.
Phil Giraldi

Phil Giraldi
Phil Giraldi stepped out today to do his country a great service and save some honor for the American counter intelligence community.

He put the spotlight on America's greatest national security scandal, the decades old investment that Israeli Intelligence has made in attacking its so called America ally by stealing everything it can get it's hands on.

But there is a second darker side to this first betrayal, and that is their corruption of our own political, Justice and State Department organs to literally act as protectors for them.

As a group they have betrayed the American people, and all those involved should receive long prison sentences for high treason.

Comment: While the Veterans Today team do good work to bring home to Americans the decrepit state of their government, particularly in terms of its unholy alliance with the Israeli government, they have a tendency to fall into the kind of black and white thinking which sees "them foreign terrorists" being held exclusively responsible for America's woes, thereby painting US intelligence and military operatives as whiter than white. See if you can spot it in the above article. It begins in the first sentence: the notion that there is "honor" to be restored for the "American counter intelligence community" by its 'leaking' long-known 'revelations' about Israeli espionage is dangerously wishful thinking about the inherent interests of US national security state. The author talks about "our young aspiring counter intel people betrayed" like it's a good thing to aspire to join covert military units, fly to Muslim countries and blow up car bombs which are then blamed on the locals. For that is what "counter intel" means! "Taking back the country" by "hunting down" those agents of "socialist" Israel is a clarion call to revolution which, at this late stage, will play into the hands of the very "group" Veterans Today struggles against but does not understand.

Political Ponerology is essential reading towards understanding 'the enemy.'

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Vader

European parliament refuses to release expenses report

Bruno Waterfield
Telegraph UK
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:21 UTC
Image
© European Press Association
Parliament lawyers argued that publicising the report 'could be used to derail' decision-making in the EU assembly
The European Parliament is refusing to release a secret report detailing widespread abuse of MEPs expenses despite an EU court ruling that there is "overriding public interest in disclosure".

The existence of the document, written by Robert Galvin, a senior EU official who is the parliament's chief internal auditor, was first disclosed by The Daily Telegraph in 2008.

Despite public controversy across Europe over misuse of generous allowances paid to MEPs, parliament officials have fought tooth and nail to keep the Galvin report, number 06/02, secret.

During an internal investigation, Mr Galvin discovered large scale abuse of £185 million in MEP staffing allowances and general expenditure expenses, paid without receipts.

Parliament lawyers argued that publicising the report "could be used to derail" decision-making in the EU assembly.

"The use members make of the allowances available to them is a sensitive matter followed with great interest by the media," said a legal submission.

EU judges threw out the special pleading in a judgement on Tuesday but parliament officials yesterday continued to refuse to disclose the report until an administration decision on whether to appeal in August.
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People

TSA Considering Banning Photography Of Checkpoints

Carlos Miller
pixiq
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:01 UTC
The Transportation Security Administration is considering changing its policy on photographing security checkpoints after several videos depicting questionable incidents between passengers and TSA screeners were posted on Youtube.

News of the possible changes in policy was posted Friday on the TSA Blog, the same blog that posted that it is permissible to photograph checkpoints, even though most screeners act as if it has always been illegal.

The reason it is considering changing its policy stems from a Youtube video that was recorded in Phoenix when a woman opted-out of the metal detectors and chose to get patted down by a TSA screener.

The woman began yelling hysterically that she had been molested by the screener.

Meanwhile, the woman's son was recording the incident and continued to do so, even though several TSA screeners told him he was breaking the law.
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Family

You have too many housewives! Brussels sends memo to Germany, Austria and Holland ordering women to get jobs

Allan Hall
Daily Mail
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:42 UTC
Image
© Alamy
Back to work: Germany are encouraging mothers to head back to the office (posed picture)

The EU wants Europe's biggest economy to avoid looming labour shortages in future by dismantling barriers to women entering the workforce.

'Germany must better integrate women into the labour market," said the EU Commission, in a report on the German economy.

'Germany, but also Austria and the Netherlands, should look at the example of the northern countries," said President José Manuel Barroso, in a reference to Scandinavia.

'That means removing obstacles for women, older workers, foreigners and low-skilled job-seekers to get into the workforce. Excessive early retirement regulations need to be abolished.'
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Rocket

Nato warplanes bombard Tripoli after Gaddafi vows fight to the death

Xan Rice
Guardian UK
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:30 UTC
Image
© Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters
A truck damaged by coalition air strikes on Tripoli, according to the Libyan government.
Coalition forces carry out attacks within hours of Libyan leader's defiant television speech

Nato's intensified aerial bombardment of Tripoli continued early on Wednesday, hours after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi made a rare speech on state television vowing to fight to the death.

Loud explosions rocked the city before dawn, marking the heaviest 24 hours of air strikes in the capital since Nato's operation began in March. The alliance said it conducted 66 strike sorties on Tuesday, with many of them in daylight hours. Previously, most airstrikes have taken place at night.

The targets struck in and around Tripoli included six command and control centres, two anti-aircraft guns, a radar system and a vehicle storage facility, according to Nato. The heaviest damage occurred at Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, where several buildings were destroyed, sending giant plumes of smoke into the sky.
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