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The World for People who Think
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A campaign trail of broken promises
Promise: Barack Obama promised to end the US occupation of Iraq and get US troops out by the time he became president.
What actually happened: Barack Obama left behind 18,000 State Department personnel to run the garrison fortress in Baghdad (officially an 'embassy'), America's largest in the world, along with thousands of armed private contractors who protect US corporate interests in the country. US Special Forces continue to be deployed to Iraq to ensure the puppet regime's full compliance.
Promise: Barack Obama promised to end the decades-long embargo on Cuba when he became president.
What actually happened: Obama Quietly Renews U.S. Embargo on Cuba, September 13th, 2011
Promise: Barack Obama praised the 2008 Supreme Court Boumediene v. Bush decision, which ruled that Gitmo detainees - who had been caged indefinitely without charge or trial - could challenge their detentions in US courts. Further, he promised to close the Guantanamo Bay torture facility altogether when he became president, and to restore habeas corpus.
But, Dan Halutz tells the Sunday Times, 'I hope Bibi is not mad enough to think about it'
Israeli leaders have concluded that conventional air strikes would be insufficient in curbing Iran's nuclear program, leaving only a deployment of either tactical nuclear weapons or ground forces, according to a report in the British Sunday Times.
Western "defense experts" quoted by the report pointed at the Iranian Fordo facility, which is located deep underground near the city of Qom, as a site that was immune to conventional air strikes.
© Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90Dan Halutz
Western "defense experts" quoted by the report pointed at the Iranian Fordo facility, which is located deep underground near the city of Qom, as a site that was immune to conventional air strikes.
Paula Broadwell
Two months after the storming of an US consulate in Benghazi, questions remain largely unanswered about both how and why insurgents entered the facility on September 11 and executed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The discussion became a heated issue on the campaign trail leading up to Election Day, and conflicting accounts from the White House, State Department and Congress all led to a mess of confusion that has only further spun out of control following the unexpected stepping down of Petraeus on Friday.
Interestingly enough, JC's Jessica Elgot who wrote the following piece prefers Zionist paedophile Savile over truth tellers such as prof' John Mersheimer or myself*.
The maneuvers will take place this week across 850,000 square kilometers (330,000 square miles) of Iran's northeast, east, and southeast regions, Iranian media reported.
Some 8,000 elite and regular army troops will participate, backed by bombers and fighter planes, while missile, artillery and surveillance systems will be tested, various media said.
Played out against a backdrop of high tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, the 'Velayat-4' maneuvers will involve the biggest air drills the country has ever held, Iran's English-language Press TV reported.
"These drills convey a message of peace and security to regional countries," Shahrokh Shahram, the spokesman for the exercises, told the broadcaster on Monday. "At the same time they send out a strong warning to those threatening Iran."
Last week, the U.S. Pentagon said Iranian planes opened fire on an unarmed U.S. drone over international waters on November 1.
Iran said it had repelled "an enemy's unmanned aircraft" violating its airspace.
© macrobusiness.com.auA snapshot of Japans recent economic activity up to mid 2012.
On an annualized basis, the world's No. 3 economy shrank 3.5 percent in the July-September quarter, in line with gloomy forecasts after Japan's territorial dispute with China hammered exports that were already weakened by feeble global demand.
The bad news will temper optimism over recoveries in China and the U.S., where some economists are predicting growth will top 3 percent in the third quarter. China's painful slowdown likely bottomed out in the third quarter, with recent indicators such as factory production and auto and retail sales showing improvement.
Japan's outlook remains bleak, with most economists forecasting a further decline in economic activity for the October-December quarter, which would officially put it in a recession according to the common definition of two consecutive quarters of contraction.
Consumer spending fell 0.5 percent in the third quarter, as subsidies for auto purchases expired, and corporate capital spending fell 3.2 percent. Spending on reconstruction from the country's March 2011 disasters has also weakened.
Privileged elites benefitted enormously on his watch. They'll get plenty more ahead. Others are enduring protracted hard times. Bipartisan complicity calls for making things worse, not better. Huge budget cuts loom. Social programs will be hit hardest. More on that below.
America's compromised progressive left hailed Obama's victory. Condemnation should have been headlined instead. Nation magazine lost its soul long ago.
Throughout its history, it pretended to have one. It scorns truth. It turns reality on its head. It ducks responsible reporting on issues mattering most.
Israel may launch a ground invasion into Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated, after a weekend of escalating cross border violence.
By lunchtime on Sunday, more than 70 rockets and mortars had landed in Israel from Gaza within 24 hours, leaving six Palestinians killed and eight Israelis injured.
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said: "The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to attack us. We are prepared to intensify the response."
One unnamed senior Israeli government official, said: "A ground incursion is certainly not out of the question although we hope it won't come to that."
© AFT/GETTYA Palestinian woman collects items from her home following an Israeli military air strike in Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip.
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said: "The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to attack us. We are prepared to intensify the response."
One unnamed senior Israeli government official, said: "A ground incursion is certainly not out of the question although we hope it won't come to that."
Terrorists in Syria exploded a bomb and killed all the civilian passengers, including women and children, of a bus in the Central province of Hama on Sunday.
The terrorist operation was carried out by the Al-Motasem group, affiliated to the al-Qaeda, in Cairo village in Hama province.
The terrorists have carried out similar attacks on defenseless Syrian civilians in numerous cases in the last two years since armed clashes started in Syria.
In a similar terrorist operation last week, the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) terrorists killed all the civilian passengers of a bus in a mortar attack in Southern Damascus.
The terrorists targeted the bus packed with civilians, including women and children, in al-Salasin street of al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Southern Damascus, killing all passengers onboard.
...
The terrorist operation was carried out by the Al-Motasem group, affiliated to the al-Qaeda, in Cairo village in Hama province.
The terrorists have carried out similar attacks on defenseless Syrian civilians in numerous cases in the last two years since armed clashes started in Syria.
In a similar terrorist operation last week, the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) terrorists killed all the civilian passengers of a bus in a mortar attack in Southern Damascus.
The terrorists targeted the bus packed with civilians, including women and children, in al-Salasin street of al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Southern Damascus, killing all passengers onboard.
...
Comment: History repeats itself. At the end of 2008 Barack Obama was elected as president of the United States. Shortly afterwards Israel launched a brutal attack on Gaza under the name Operation Cast Lead. Now that the US elections are over, Netanyahu feels he has 'permission' to make as much mess as he pleases, and he pleases to make war to appear as a strong leader before the elections in January. Back in 2008-2009 Obama did not have what it takes to stand up to Israel, even while most of the rest of the world protested vigorously. Do not expect that he will behave differently this time.
To put things in perspective, please take the time to watch the documentary Tears of Gaza. See for yourself what an invasion looks like and what the price to pay is in human lives and suffering.