Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Israel forcing Palestinians out of East Jerusalem


TV NZ
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:45 UTC
Israeli flag
© Reuters
Israel is forcing Palestinians out of East Jerusalem as part of a deliberate policy that might constitute a war crime, a prominent Israeli non-governmental organisation said on today.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) has presented the United Nations with its findings and demanded an inquiry, saying Israel targeted Palestinians by demolishing homes, revoking residency and eroding quality of life.

"We are witnessing a process of ethnic displacement," said Michael Sfard, a lawyer who helped draw up a 73-page report into the issue. "Israel is manifestly and seriously violating international law ... and the motivation is demographic."

There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on the report other than a statement from the mayor's office which said that while East Jerusalem had suffered from a lack of investment in the past that had now changed.

"Jerusalem, under the leadership of Mayor Nir Barkat, has invested an unprecedented amount of resources and efforts to improve the quality of life of Muslim residents of Jerusalem after decades of neglect by previous administrations," it said.
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Laptop

Hackers Shut Down Palestinian Internet Network


CNN
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:40 UTC
Image
© unknown
Internet service is completely cut off in Gaza Tuesday and partially shut down in the West Bank after an attack on the main Internet provider to the Palestinian territories, according to a minister with the Palestinian Authority.

"This is a very serious and vicious attack," Dr. Mashour Abu-Daqqa, the minister of Communications and Information Technology, told CNN. The attack, which affected most of the Palestinian Internet communication network, also targeted domain addresses, said Abu-Daqqa.

The minister said hackers are using international IP servers originating in Germany, China, and Slovenia to send millions of attacks in the form of viruses to penetrate and disrupt the Internet communications.

There is no word on who, exactly, is behind the attacks.
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Stop

New Kyrgyzstan President Wants US Military Base Closed

John Glaser
Anti War
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00 UTC
Almazbek Atambayev
© unknownAlmazbek Atambayev
The president-elect promised to let the lease on the base, which provides a supply route to troops in Afghanistan, expire in 2014

Kyrgyzstan's president-elect firmly told the United States on Tuesday to leave its military air base just outside the capital Bishkek when its lease expires in 2014.

Almazbek Atambayev is the prime minister but won the presidential election on Sunday. "When I was appointed prime minister last year, and again this year, I warned employees and leaders of the US embassy and visiting representatives that, in 2014 and in line with our obligations, the United States should leave the base," he said.

Atambayev spoke about potential resentment towards his country from other players in the region for helping America conduct the war in Afghanistan. "We know that the United States very often participates in various military conflicts. It happened in Iraq, in Afghanistan and now there is a tense situation with Iran," he said. "I wouldn't want any of these countries one day to make a return strike on the military base."
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Target

Greece: Papandreou Being Asked to Resign by His Own Party


Breaking Economics
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:55 UTC
George Papandreou
© unknownGreek Prime Minister George Papandreou
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou faced calls from within his own party to step down on Tuesday after he threw his country's eurozone membership into jeoprady by calling for a referendum on a bailout package agreed to only last week, reports Reuters.

A leading lawmaker from Papandreou's socailist party resigned, while two others said that Greece needed a change of government and quick elections.

French and German officials were caught off gaurd by Papandreou's call for a referendum and expressed increduiltiy at the announcement.

"The Greek prime minister has taken this decision without talking it through with his European collegues," said Jean-Claude Juncker, chair of the eurozone finance ministers.
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War Whore

CIA Drone Assassinations Violate the Law of War

Michael Tennant
The Intercept
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© unknown
The constitutional arguments against the Central Intelligence Agency's assassinations of Anwar al-Awlaki and, two weeks later, his 16-year-old son have been widely discussed. Less well known, however, is the case against CIA assassinations to be made on the basis of the law of war.

Into the breach has stepped Howard University law professor Morris Davis, who in a recent column presented a well-researched case that the CIA's drone assassination program is illegal under the law of war and that, as a result, CIA personnel participating in drone strikes could be prosecuted for murder.

Davis knows his subject well. He was a U.S. Air Force judge advocate for 25 years and served as chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo Bay military commissions from 2005 to 2007, resigning from that post in disgust at the use of torture to extract evidence from prisoners and the interference in the proceedings from the Pentagon. He is now executive director and counsel of the Crimes of War Education Project. In other words, Davis' opinion on the matter of war crimes should not be taken lightly.

Central to Davis' argument is the indisputable fact that the CIA is not an arm of the military but "a civilian agency made up of civilian employees and civilian contractors." For those still not convinced, columnist Nat Hentoff reminds us that "when Gen. David Petraeus (who had led U.S. forces in Afghanistan) became the present head of the CIA, he removed his military uniform."
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Bad Guys

US: Pentagon Prepares for Economic Warfare

Helen Rumbelow
Poorrichards Blog
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-PresseTraders at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. The US fears China's ability to press the button on its Treasury bills.
The scene: the war games suite of the mightiest military power in the world.

The guests were assembled in the Warfare Analysis Laboratory, surrounded by uniformed officers from the highest levels of the Pentagon and a dizzying array of screens normally used to simulate nuclear world war.

The gentlemen were called to order and the games began.

"If you imagine the war room in Dr. Strangelove, you're not far off," says participant James Rickards.

Yet this was no traditional battle game, but rather the Pentagon's first economic war game, and the authorities are loath to talk about it.

Economic war? It sounds preposterous. Except it gets less so with every dollar of debt run up by the US.

Behind the scenes, the military are worried about the market. For who owns much of this debt? China, the US's most powerful rival and threat. And that makes America vulnerable to a new kind of bloodless but ruthless war.

Rickards is not a soldier but a banker. He was joined in the war game by dozens of his Wall Street colleagues, flown in from Manhattan to this bunker at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland for the two-day event in 2009, when the Pentagon started to get really alarmed.
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People

US: Members Of Congress Grow Wealthier Despite Recession

Luke Johnson
The Huffington Post
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:04 UTC
Image
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesRep. Darrell Issa
Despite the economic recession and declining household wealth, the net wealth of members of Congress continues to rise, according to a Roll Call analysis of financial disclosure forms.

Members of the House and Senate have a collective net worth of $2.04 billion, up from $1.65 billion in 2008. The vast majority of the increase goes to the wealthiest members of Congress, who also account for most of Congress' net worth.

Members' net wealth may be much higher, however, since Roll Call only used the minimum valuation of assets in the range required by disclosure forms, and disclosure forms do not include non-income-producing assets, such as a personal residence.
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Star of David

EU poll: Israel 'biggest threat' to world peace


World Net Daily
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 06:00 UTC
Israel, Iran, nuclear
© unknown
U.S. beats out 'axis of evil' in causing global instability

Over half of Europeans think Israel poses the "biggest threat to world peace," according to a controversial poll commissioned by the European Commission.

The same survey has the United States beating out Iran, Iraq and North Korea - the trio dubbed the "axis of evil" by President George W. Bush - as well as Afghanistan in a ranking of what countries contribute most to world instability.

EUobserver.com reports the survey, conducted between Oct. 8 and 16 by Taylor Nelson Sofres/EOS Gallup of Europe, consisted of 15 questions regarding "the reconstruction of Iraq, the conflict in the Middle East and World peace."

According to the website, the poll sparked controversy - not over its results, but over the release of its results. Namely, the European Commission was accused of suppressing the results revealing the extent of mistrust of Israel and the U.S. while the Bush administration was stumping for Iraq reconstruction assistance at the international donors conference in Madrid last week.
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Rocket

Feeling safer now?: Israel Improving nuclear abilities. Report


YNet
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:53 UTC
Nuclear submarine
© Illustration: AP
The Guardian quotes report claiming Israel extending Jericho III missile's range, developing ICBM capabilities, expanding nuclear-tipped cruise missile enabled submarine fleet.

Israel is extending its Jericho III missile's range, developing intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities and expanding its nuclear-tipped cruise missile enabled submarine fleet, The Guardian, quoting an independent committee report, said Monday.

According to the British newspaper, the report was prepared for the Trident Commission, an independent cross-party initiative set up by the British American Security Information Council (BASIC).

"In the case of Israel, the size of its nuclear-tipped cruise missile enabled submarine fleet is being increased and the country seems to be on course, on the back of its satellite launch rocket program, for future development of an inter-continental ballistic missile," the report said.
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Vader

Netanyahu Threatens Gazans with Death

Stephen Lendman
The Bob Tuskin Radio Show
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
Benjamin Netanyahu
© unknown
Throughout its history, Israel had belligerent, racist prime ministers, none worse than Netanyahu. He talks peace but mocks and spurns it.

His extremism heads Israel toward the brink. His worst ever government enrages global millions. Eventually, Israel may end up isolated and universally vilified as a pariah state.

Already, it's a regional menace. Lawlessly occupied for 44 years, Palestinians know it best. Gaza remains suffocating under siege. Militantly, Netanyahu wants harsher conditions.

On October 30, Haaretz headlined, "Netanyahu to Gaza militants: Israel's policy is kill or be killed," saying:

Netanyahu threatened attacks against "every attempt to fire against Israel and anyone who fires anyway."

He told ministers at a special cabinet session that Israel's defense policy stresses two principles: "Kill or be killed," and "He who harms you should bear the blood on his head."

So-called "militants" are freedom fighters. Hamas and other resistance groups respond only in self-defense. International law affirms it.

In December 2008, Israel waged preemptive war on Gaza. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other groups observed months of unilateral ceasefire, despite repeated Israeli violations. On November 4, it ended after the IDF invaded without cause, killing six Hamas members, allegedly to close tunnels.
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