Former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas referred in a book he published entitled Coups et blessures (Assaults and Injuries), that "The "Israelis" are doing whatever they want in France, and are controlling the French Intelligence with what serves them".

On another hand, Dumas confirmed that the "Israelis" are mistaken not to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even if the latter refuses any kind of agreement. He also added, "I made some special relations with him [Bashar al-Assad] like those I had with his father (President Hafez Assad)".

Furthermore, Dumas revealed in the same book that when current Zionist President, Shimon Perez was still the entity's Foreign Minister, he advised Dumas to pay President Hafez Assad a visit in 1992. At that time Perez was aware that the US is seeking a new way to understanding with Damascus, so he [Perez] believed that France could also gain interest through being involved in the Middle East peace process.

In this context, Former French Minister added, "The deceased Syrian President had little faith in Perez, and he knew the mazes of the internal "Israeli" relations". Hafez al-Assad was aware that the "Israeli" Foreign Minister might adopt unilateral initiatives, and therefore it won't lead into anything effective".

Chief adviser to Turkish PM nevertheless cautions that normalization will not happen unless Israel apologizes, offers compensation and lifts the blockade on Gaza.

Dr. Ibrahim Kalin, the chief adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, emphasized Wednesday in a conversation with Haaretz that Turkey intends to normalize its relations with Israel across the board. "From the return of the ambassador, the renewal of joint military maneuvers, military and civilian cooperation, ministerial visits, and to all other areas, relations will return to how they were before the flotilla incident" of 2010, Kalin said.

Kalin emphasized that normalization between Israel and Turkey will not happen unless Turkey's three conditions are met: an apology, compensation and the end of the Gaza blockade. He stressed that Turkey's position on these conditions have not changed.

Norway is understandably in deep shock following the horrific shooting spree and bomb attack in Oslo last Friday 22 July. The worst terrorist atrocity in Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings has left the country reeling. An enormous bomb exploded somewhere within a complex of government buildings at 3.30 in the afternoon. The offices of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg appear to have been the main target, although the Oil Ministry's building across the road was also destroyed. The blast was so powerful that windows were blown out along several blocks. Seven people were killed and many more injured by flying glass and debris. The perpetrator(s) chose a public holiday to carry out the deed, so most government employees were not working that day. But the open layout of government buildings in Norway, reflecting of the relatively open nature of Norwegian society, meant that security is very low compared to anything most countries' citizens are used to in this totalitarian age.

In response to the media's leading questions about this being 'Norway's 9/11', the Associated Press quoted a Norwegian police official as saying that the terror attack was more like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing than the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. It's a curious comparison to make because, as Stephen Lendman explained in an interview he gave to Press TV, the Oklahoma bombing was blamed on a right-wing extremist and his huge car bomb, but the explosives evidence later pointed to something else entirely:


There have been numerous mass shootings in recent years, but the massacre on Utoya island is the worst yet. The camp on this tiny island, which lies just 700 meters from the shore, was organised by the AUF, the youth wing of the ruling Labour Party. In fact, the island was owned by this organisation; it has held regular summer camps there for decades and is well known to Norwegians. Most of the attendees were 14 to 19 year olds with an interest in politics attending seminars, partying, taking part in debates, playing music and listening to speeches on everything from local issues to international politics. In attacking the government's headquarters in downtown Oslo and then the gathering place of the country's political future, those responsible have managed to pierce the beating heart of Norwegian society.

More than 36 years later, the secret grand jury testimony of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal was ordered released on Friday by a federal judge because of its significance in American history.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a request by historian Stanley Kutler, who has written several books about Nixon and Watergate, and others to unseal the testimony given on June 23 and 24 in 1975.

Nixon was questioned about the political scandal during the 1970s that resulted from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington.

The scandal caused Nixon to leave office on August 9, 1974, the only resignation of a U.S. president. The scandal also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction and imprisonment of a number of his top officials.

The House Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) to collect and retain records about Internet users' activity.

CNET reported the bill would require ISPs to retain customers' names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses for 12 months.

The bill passed by a vote of 19 to 10, and is aimed at helping law enforcement track down pedophiles.

Detroit's Democratic mayor, David Bing, revealed further details Wednesday of his plan to shrink the city by forcing residents out of neighborhoods deemed too poor or underpopulated. Under the "planned contraction" scheme, the city will reduce or eliminate trash pickup, street lighting, fire and police protection, public schools and other essential services to drive residents out.

The Motor City, which has been decimated by decades of factory closures and downsizing, is being used as a model by the Obama administration to drastically reduce spending to blighted urban areas. Far from reviving these cities - through government spending to create jobs and expand services - Detroit is one of several hard-hit industrial cities, including Youngstown, Ohio and Flint, Michigan, targeted for "right-sizing."

The scheme, which is being funded by a "public-private partnership" of the federal government and the multibillion-dollar Kresge and Skillman Foundations, will divide Detroit into three "market-type" categories, according to analysis of the plan by the Detroit News.

The first, deemed "steady" neighborhoods, would include those with a higher level of owner-occupied homes. These would see "more code enforcement, debris cleanups, streetlight repairs, business recruitment and commercial area improvements," the newspaper reported.

With the world concerned about US financial credibility and the poor outlook for the US economy, now is not the time for the Republicans to grandstand on the public debt. The debt ceiling needed to be quietly raised. Instead, the Republicans started a fire and then threw gasoline on it, creating an inferno that could burn up the US social safety net or the US Treasury's credit rating and the US dollar's role as reserve currency or what remains of the separation of powers.

Consequently, world financial markets, currency markets, commodity markets, central banks, and mutual fund money market and bond funds are on pins and needles.

This level of irresponsibility is seldom seen even from American politicians.

Republicans have created a totally unnecessary crisis and turned it into compelling political theater. Will the US default? Will entitlements be slashed? Will Obama seize the power of the purse from Congress in order to save the dollar and the US credit rating? None of these questions needed to arise.

The federal government is planning to introduce new behavior detection techniques at airport checkpoints as soon as next month, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole said Thursday.

TSA already has "behavior detection officers" at 161 airports nationwide looking for travelers exhibiting physiological or psychological signs that a traveler might be a terrorist. However, Pistole said TSA is preparing to move to an approach that employs more conversation with travelers - a method that has been employed with great success in Israel.

"I'm very much interested in expanding the behavior detection program, upgrading it if you will, in a way that allows us to....have more interaction with a passsenger just from a discussion which may be able to expedite the physical screening aspects," Pistole said during an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. "So, we've looked at what works around the world, some outstanding examples and we are planning to do some new things in the near future here."

Will the real Topiary please stand up?

The 19-year-old Scotsman fingered Wednesday as a central figure of the LulzSec hacking crew is a fall guy who was framed to take the heat off the real culprit, according to unconfirmed claims from a rival group.

"We believe MET Police got the wrong guy and it happens because of lot of disinformation floating on the web," a Thursday post on the LulzSec Exposed blog said. "LulzSec and Anonymous members are Master trolls and they are good at this."

According to the post, penned by members of a group calling itself the Web Ninjas, the real LulzSec figure known as Topiary is a 23-year-old Swede, who stole the handle from a low-level member after he ran afoul of its parent group Anonymous. The mistaken identity was part of an elaborate ruse to confuse authorities about Topiary's true identity, the speculation claims.

Local equivalent of Facebook hit: Fingers point at China

Personal information on as many as 35 million users of a South Korean social network site may have been exposed as the result of what has been described as the country's biggest ever hack attack.

Local authorities were quick to blame hack attacks against the Cyworld social networking website and the Nate web portal - both of which are run by SK Telecom - on Chinese hackers, the BBC reports.

Names, phone numbers, email addresses, and other details may have been exposed through the Cyworld hack, which follows previous attacks against South Korean government sites and financial service firms. North Korea has been implicated in some of these hacks.