In another ridiculous moment of political trickery, Obama managed to dupe a major chunk of the American environmental movement yesterday by refusing to authorize the construction of the Keystone Pipeline now. The keyword in that sentence which seems like it is being largely ignored by the enviros is now, because what Obama did do is leave open the possibility of authorizing the construction of a pipeline any time in the future, say just after the election? And not that it matters much, as pipeline or not Tar Sands are already being refined all across the United States in increasing amounts. This great victory being celebrated by 350.org, Bill Mckibben and the no carbon crusaders out there is a complete farce to manipulate voters as we head into the latest corporate sponsored election.

Why is it so hard for seemingly good and well intentioned people to see the reality in front of them? Climate change will not be reversed by temporarily stopping this pipeline and Tar Sands are still moving forward full steam ahead. The Petrolarchs will get their Tar Sands Oil to market anyway they can pipeline or not. As was widely reported in the mainstream media, the state department made sure to leave the door open for Trans Canada to go ahead with another proposal for the construction of the pipeline. Trans Canada says they are preparing to start construction on schedule, knowing full well that this is already a done deal. Is it Obama's nurturing language that fools them? "The rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline's impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment," Obama said. How many times will these well intentioned people allow themselves to be fooled? It seems that many of these good folks often get swept away by the feel good headlines and rarely read beyond the first two paragraphs of an article. Obama should be thanking the idiot republicans for this one, as it was a good way to rally a part of his most gullible base.

On the pretext of policing upcoming G8 and Nato summits, Chicago's mayor has awarded himself draconian new powers

It's almost as if Rahm Emanuel was lifting a page from Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine - as if he was reading her account of Milton Friedman's "Chicago Boys" as a cookbook recipe, rather than as the ominous episode that it was. In record time, Emanuel successfully exploited the fact that Chicago will host the upcoming G8 and Nato summit meetings to increase his police powers and extend police surveillance, to outsource city services and privatize financial gains, and to make permanent new limitations on political dissent. It all happened - very rapidly and without time for dissent - with the passage of rushed security and anti-protest measures adopted by the city council on 18 January 2012.

Sadly, we are all too familiar with the recipe by now: first, hype up and blow out of proportion a crisis (and if there isn't a real crisis, as in Chicago, then create one), call in the heavy artillery and rapidly seize the opportunity to expand executive power, to redistribute wealth for private gain and to suppress political dissent. As Friedman wrote in Capitalism and Freedom in 1982 - and as Klein so eloquently describes in her book:

"Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When the crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function ... until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable."

Britain has for the first time admitted it was spying when Russia's state security service, the FSB, accused British diplomats of using a transceiver hidden inside a rock on a Moscow street.

Footage showing the alleged spies using the device was aired on Russian TV in January 2006. The FSB described it as "absolutely new spy technology."

The UK Foreign Office then denied the claims.

But in a BBC documentary due to be broadcast later today, Jonathan Powell, then Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief of staff, admitted the footage was genuine.

GOP leaders jumped on the news that President Barack Obama is stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada, and charged him with putting his political fortunes ahead of the good of the country.

In a tweet ostensibly directed at Obama, the National Republican Congressional Committee said, "U just turned ur back on 20k american workers & energy security what r u gonna do next? I'm going 2 Disney World."

On Thursday, Obama is schedule to fly to Disney World - locared in the swing state of Florida - to tout new regulatory initiatives.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also slammed the announcement, saying that "Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline is as shocking as it is revealing."

"If Americans want to understand why unemployment in the United States has been stuck above 8 percent for the longest stretch since the Great Depression, decisions like this one are the place to begin," Romney said.

Israeli hackers quickly retaliated yesterday against Monday's online disruption of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al Airlines' websites by launching a counterstrike, taking down the websites of the Saudi Stock Exchange and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

Going by the name "IDF-Team," the Israeli hacking group reportedly paralyzed Tadawul, the Saudi stock exchange site, and caused significant delays to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) in a series of coordinated cyberattacks, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

In a statement posted to Pastebin, the IDF-Team (named after the country's military, the Israeli Defense Force) said its hack was payback for the unsuccessful attempt to take down El Al and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

"If the lame attacks from Saudi Arabia will continue, we will move to the next level which will disable these sites longer term," IDF-Team wrote. That disruption "may come to weeks or even months. You have been warned."

Hackers disrupted online access to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, El Al Airlines and three banks on Monday in what the government described as a cyber-offensive against Israel.

The attacks came just days after an unidentified hacker, proclaiming Palestinian sympathies, posted the details of thousands of Israeli credit card holders and other personal information on the Internet in a mass theft.

Stock trading and El Al flights operated normally despite the disruption, which occurred as Israeli media reported that pro-Palestinian hackers had threatened at the weekend to shut down the TASE stock exchange and airline Web sites.

While apparently confined to areas causing only limited inconvenience, the attacks have caused particular alarm in a country that depends on high-tech systems for much of its defense against hostile neighbors. Officials insist, however, that they pose no immediate security threat.

"They have demanded an apology for Israel's defensive measures," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on his Facebook page, alluding to the conflict with Palestinians.

One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.

An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO.

Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

Beijing - Chinese authorities sentenced a democracy activist to 10 years in prison for subversion, a relative said Thursday, the third dissident found guilty of similar charges in less than a month.

A court in Wuhan sentenced Li Tie, 52, for "subversion of state power," according to a relative who did not want to be named for fear of punishment.

"Nothing in the world could prepare our family for this outcome; the tears from his mother's eyes haven't stopped running," the relative said in a phone interview. "This trial was never about the law; it has been about human decency -- the lack of it."

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The Federal Court of Canada. The Federal Court of Appeal. A federal commission of inquiry.

And now, the Supreme Court of Canada.

Abdullah Almalki just hopes this latest milestone lasts longer than a few short seconds. On Thursday, Almalki and two other men, who were tortured in Syria and Egypt, find out whether Canada's highest court will hear their appeal.

Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin are suing the federal government for complicity in their detention and torture in Syria and Egypt, cases that now date back more than a decade.

The men accuse the government of hiding behind Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act, which allows the government to withhold sensitive information to protect national security.

They are appealing a ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal that sided with the government in keeping information about their cases from being released.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the Pentagon is preparing new initiatives to try to curb sexual assaults in the military -- a problem he believes could be six times greater than reported.

Panetta said 3,191 sex assault cases were reported in the military last year, but because so few victims come forward, he believes the real number is closer to 19,000 assaults. In 2010, 3,158 cases were reported.

"It is an affront to the basic American values we defend and it is a stain on the good honor of the great majority of our troops and our families," said Panetta during a press conference at the Pentagon.