European intelligence officials and senior Pakistan diplomats have accused the U.S. of crying wolf after it issued a terror alert for Europe earlier this week. The UK's Guardian newspaper goes on to allege the actual purpose of the alert was to justify a recent increase in drone attacks inside Pakistan. American-German historian F. William Engdahl, says the timing of the terror alerts has led to a questioniong of U.S. motives.
Puppet Masters
© AP Photo
Hundreds of tankers and trucks have been left stranded on highways and depots across Pakistan, with little or no security.
Taliban militants have regularly been targeting the convoys, even when they are heavily protected.
But many believe it is not just the militants who pose a security threat to the convoys.
The owners of oil tankers being used to supply fuel to Nato in Afghanistan say some of the attacks on their convoys are suspicious.
© Franck Prevel/Getty Images
Sarkozy orders French police to make a scene, sends his security goons onto the streets following fake US terror warnings
Sarkozy orders French police to make a scene, sends his security goons onto the streets following fake US terror warnings
European intelligence claims raised terror alerts 'nonsensical'
A US terror alert issued this week about al-Qaida plots to attack targets in western Europe was politically motivated and not based on credible new information, senior Pakistani diplomats and European intelligence officials have told the Guardian.
The non-specific US warning, which despite its vagueness led Britain, France and other countries to raise their overseas terror alert levels, was an attempt to justify a recent escalation in US drone and helicopter attacks inside Pakistan that have "set the country on fire", said Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to Britain.
Hasan, a veteran diplomat who is close to Pakistan's president, suggested the Obama administration was playing politics with the terror threat before next month's mid-term congressional elections, in which the Republicans are expected to make big gains.
He also claimed President Obama was reacting to pressure to demonstrate that his Afghan war strategy and this year's troop surge, which are unpopular with the American public, were necessary.
© AFP
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao is congratulated by his Greek counterpart, left, and President of Greek Parliament, right, after receiving the gold medal of the Parliament in Athens on 3 October 2010
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao is congratulated by his Greek counterpart, left, and President of Greek Parliament, right, after receiving the gold medal of the Parliament in Athens on 3 October 2010
Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, on an unusual visit to tiny Greece, a country which normally would never warrant such a high-level visit from the world's fastest growing economic giant, has pledged support for Greece and for the Euro. According to the official Chinese Xinhua News Agency (and China Daily), "China supports Greece in firmly carrying out structural reforms and cutting its fiscal deficits to improve competitiveness. China welcomes the EU and the IMF's rescue package for Greece and stands ready to help Greece out of recession."
Sandra Brown, author of Women Who Love Psychopaths, and Harrison Koehli, SOTT editor, discuss psychopaths, empathy, domestic violence, and other topics.
© Unknown
Mass protest in South Yemen
Mass protest in South Yemen
During the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which now has justified the presence of U.S. military "advisors" in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Colombia and why American napalm and green beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."[1]This is the nature of war of today: during King's time, the pretext for war was to stop the spread of Communism; today, it's done in the name of stopping the spread of terrorism. Terror has since time immemorial been a tactic used by states and governments to control populations. Al-Qaeda is no exception, as it was created and continues to largely function as a geopolitical extension of the covert apparatus of American empire. In short, al-Qaeda is an arm of the covert world of American intelligence agencies. In particular, the CIA, DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency], US Special Forces, and multinational mercenary companies such as Blackwater [now Xe Services]. Where they go, al-Qaeda goes; where al-Qaeda goes, they accumulate; where they lay the groundwork, the American empire stands behind.[2]
With more absurd reports surfacing recently of Osama Bin Laden publishing videos and the War on Terror propaganda in Europe being hyped up, we wonder whether the "private intelligence agencies" like Rita Katz's SITE Intelligence Group is really "monitoring Jihadist websites" or simply making this stuff up on the fly thanks to intelligence leaks and a vivid, though decidedly repetitive, imagination...
© Associated Press
A Saudi 'terrorist', brought to you by SITE Intelligence Group
A Saudi 'terrorist', brought to you by SITE Intelligence Group
Al-Bulani told Saudi newspaper al-Yaum on Saturday that the inmates were accused of illegally entering Iraq and cooperating in the terrorist attacks in the country.
Last month, Iraqi border guards arrested five Saudi arms dealers in the southern province of Najaf.
The smugglers were captured as they were traveling in a car, carrying drugs, explosive-laden belts and firearms fitted with silencers.
Iraq's Buratha news agency had earlier revealed documents indicating Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, who heads the Saudi National Security Council, appointed a new leader for the al-Qaeda cell operating in Iraq.
© Unknown
Frozen city
Frozen city
She may be the most powerful woman in Europe but that does not stop her from stockpiling food and cleaning products.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, who spent her first 35 years in communist East Germany, where people often queued for food, has admitted that the fear of running short of consumer goods continues to haunt her 20 years after unification.
In a magazine interview today, Merkel said that try as she might, she cannot break her hoarding habit. "I still buy something as soon as I see it, even when I don't really need it. It's a deep-seated habit stemming from the fact that in an economy where things were scarce you just used to get what you could when you could."
The leader, on an annual salary of €303,000 (£257,000), said that her diet continues to be shaped by foods with an eastern European flavour which were typical in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). "I'm particularly fond of solyanka (a meat and pickled vegetable soup), letcho (a Hungarian vegetable stew) and shashlik (a spicy kebab)," she said. Her comments came in an interview with the magazine SUPERillu - which was founded in East Germany and continues to focus on issues affecting former East Germans.
A Hamas official on Sunday said that Israel has several undercover spies operating in "sleeper cells" in the Gaza Strip, awaiting instructions to carry out special operations.
Speaking on Hamas television station Al-Aksa TV, the official said that the organization had a recording of one such operative speaking with Israeli intelligence officials.
The recording allegedly proves that Israel and Fatah cooperate to gather information on Hamas activities.
The Hamas official said that through the discovery of the "sleeper cells" Hamas has learned Israel's methods for connecting with spies in Gaza.
Speaking on Hamas television station Al-Aksa TV, the official said that the organization had a recording of one such operative speaking with Israeli intelligence officials.
The recording allegedly proves that Israel and Fatah cooperate to gather information on Hamas activities.
The Hamas official said that through the discovery of the "sleeper cells" Hamas has learned Israel's methods for connecting with spies in Gaza.
Comment: War is a racket.
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