The vindictive humiliation of Pakistan's most popular politician shows the US government's intolerance for dissent

Imran Khan is, according to numerous polls, the most popular politician in Pakistan and may very well be that country's next Prime Minister. He is also a vehement critic of US drone attacks on his country, vowing to order them shot down if he is Prime Minister and leading an anti-drone protest march last month.

On Saturday, Khan boarded a flight from Canada to New York in order to appear at a fundraising lunch and other events. But before the flight could take off, US immigration officials removed him from the plane and detained him for two hours, causing him to miss the flight. On Twitter, Khan reported that he was "interrogated on [his] views on drones" and then added: "My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop." He then defiantly noted: "Missed flight and sad to miss the Fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance."

Greek prosecutors have issued a warrant for the arrest of one of the country's top journalists, after his publication Hot Doc released the so-called 'Lagarde list' containing the names of some 2,000 Greeks with funds hidden in Swiss bank accounts.

­Greek police aim to detain Kostas Vaxevanis, the owner and editor of Hot Doc, for alleged privacy violations from publishing the list of names dated to 2007. "Instead of arresting the tax evaders and the ministers who had the list in their hands, they are trying to arrest the truth and free journalism," Vaxevanis said in an interview published online.

The speaker of the Greek Parliament, several Finance Ministry employees and a number of business leaders all reportedly had Swiss HSBC bank accounts.

The UN has reported that over 22,000 people were displaced in a week of renewed sectarian fighting between Buddhists and Muslims living on Myanmar's west coast. The total number of displaced since violence erupted in June is now around 100,000.

­Around 22,500 people, most of them Muslims, were forced to flee the recent outbreak of ethnic violence in western Myanmar's Rakhine state. Satellite images from Human Rights Watch showed the coastal town of Kyaukpyu razed to the ground. Over 800 building were destroyed, adding to the roughly 4,500 houses demolished throughout this period of internal violence.

Lawrence Davidson views Israel's litany of savage behaviour, from the ethnic cleansing that started in earnest in 1948 and is ongoing to the starvation war waged on Gaza and numerous acts of wanton, petty cruelty.

Savagery ongoing

In my article "America's billboard wars: Zionists vs. the truth, I noted that a Zionist organization run by the Islamophobe Pamela Geller is posting messages on buses and subways calling for support for Israel. The messages claim that Israel represents the "civilized man" in a struggle against jihadist "savagery". I questioned Israel's qualifications for civilized status in the earlier piece, but am drawn back to the subject by the almost daily revelations of the Zionist state's questionable behaviour. It is not that the jihadist cannot be a savage at times; it is that the Israeli government seems quite incapable of being civilized. For instance:

Ethnic cleansing

On 16 October 2012 the Israeli organization Yazkern hosted dozens of veterans of Israel's 1948 "War of Independence" for a look at what that struggle really entailed. The veterans testified to what can only be called a conscious effort at ethnic cleansing - the systematic destruction of entire Palestinian villages and numerous massacres. A documentary film by Israeli-Russian journalist Lia Tarachansky, dealing with this same subject, the Palestinian Nakba or catastrophe, is nearing completion. It too has the testimony of Israeli soldiers of the 1948 war. These latest revelations lend credence to the claims of Israel's "new historians", such as Ilan Pappe, who have written books based on evidence gleamed from government archives showing that, even before the outbreak of hostilities leading to the creation of the state of Israel, the Zionist authorities planned to ethnically cleanse as much of Palestine as possible of non-Jews. The aim of Yazkern's effort at truth-telling is to break through the sanitized "mainstream nationalistic narrative" of 1948 and the accompanying denial of any legitimate Palestinian counter-narrative."

OK. The Israelis were savages in 1948 and only a small minority will admit it. What about after "the War of Independence"? As it turns out the ethnic cleansing never stopped. Conveniently, the long-standing denial that it ever started has helped to hide the fact of its ongoing nature. Yet just this week we received the news that Defence Minister Ehud Barak has given the order to demolish eight Palestinian villages with some 1,500 residents in the south Hebron hills. The excuse offered by Barack is that the land is needed for military training exercises. According to the "new historians", this is a standard Israeli government cover for ethnic cleansing. Sure, for a couple of years the Israeli army will use the land that held the demolished villages. Then, almost inevitably, the area becomes the site of a new Israeli Jewish settlement.

In the '70s, there was The Hustle. We've got a new dance here in the Homeland. It's called The Holocaust Shuffle. The steps are easy to learn. Just stand here, legs apart - and arms up. Say nothing - and do exactly as you are told. Now, freeze in place. There! You are almost ready... .

What are they normalizing? We all know, deep down - it's just that most of us don't want to face up to it. We can't bear to. It is inconceivable. Unimaginable. Impossible. It would upend the conditioning of a lifetime - our entire view of the world. Of our country and culture - of the people all around us.

Such things can't happen again. And certainly not here.

Ah, but they can. Right here, too.

They already are. And the process began long before the events of nineleven - the new High Holy Day here in the land of the formerly somewhat free. It has been a work in progress since at least the 1980s - when the notion of randomly stopping people - the first frontal assault upon the Fourth Amendment - was introduced and accepted by the courts and then the public. Got to get those dangerous drunks off the road, you see.

Fast forward 20 years and now people are randomly groped as a matter of routine. Got to get those dangerous terrorists now, you see. Personal space itself is no longer inviolate. They can literally spread your cheeks and jam a thumb up your anus now. Just to be "safe." Over a traffic stop. No, seriously. Don't believe it? Believe it. They can throw you over the hood of a squad car and draw your blood. They can kick in the door of your home. They can shoot your dog if they feel it threatens "officer safety." And they can shoot you, too. That's today.

Picture a country at the height of its international power and prestige. It has military forces stationed around the globe. It is an intellectual leader. Its citizens are pleased to insist that the national idea, their country's way of life, is a beacon of enlightenment and human rights for the rest of the world. Indeed, they are wont to harp on the notion that the country embodies the very concept of Western Civilization.

But beneath the façade of greatness there is creeping rot. The rich (who are accustomed to getting their way in all things) corrupt the system and buy the people's representatives in this venerable democracy. The country lurches towards political polarization and, predictably, the machinery of orderly governance becomes gridlocked. The politicians of the right, who take every opportunity to bellow for increased spending on the military, refuse to raise the revenues to pay for it. Why?

Because the wealthy citizens who happen to own these representatives refuse to pay a single cent in additional income taxes. Their class solidarity as alleged "'job creators"' who are owed unconditional deference outweighs their loyalty to the nation at large. They successfully demand that even the crushing expense of a long war should be paid for by loans from abroad (the interest payments on which merely add to the expense) rather than by direct taxes from those citizens best able to afford them. Naturally, a growing share of the population develops a visceral sense that the system is rigged.

This week financial news organization CNBC gave some mainstream attention to the largest money laundering and racketeering lawsuit in United States History, in which "Banksters" and their U.S. racketeering partners are being accused of laundering of 43 trillion dollars worth of ill gotten gains.

The lawsuit is said to involve officials located in the highest offices of government and the financial sector.

Since this information was surprisingly revealed by the mainstream news organization there has been a very suspicious and deadly fallout at the CNBC headquarters.

Within hours the original page for the article was taken down, and CNBC senior vice president Kevin Krim received news that his children were killed under very suspicious circumstances.

Secret legal advice states pre-emptive strike could be in breach of international law as Iran not yet 'clear and present threat'

Britain has rebuffed US pleas to use military bases in the UK to support the build-up of forces in the Gulf, citing secret legal advice which states that any pre-emptive strike on Iran could be in breach of international law.

The Guardian has been told that US diplomats have also lobbied for the use of British bases in Cyprus, and for permission to fly from US bases on Ascension Island in the Atlantic and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which are British territories.

The besieged Libyan city of Bani Walid has been plunged into chaos. RT sources say that the former Gaddafi regime stronghold is under attack by militias bolstered by foreign mercenaries, and they used banned weapons like white phosphorous.

­The sources denied reports of the last few days that Bani Walid was retaken by the Libyan government. Residents said that militia forces have continued their assault, while preventing the refugees who fled from reentering the city.

A man who claimed his relatives are trapped inside the besieged city spoke with RT, saying, "There is no food; there is nothing to support the life of people. And the militia does not allow anyone to come back to their homes."

"They are demolishing homes with machinery and tanks. There is no communication or internet so people are not able to connect with each other," the source said. He is currently in Egypt, and refuses to reveal his identity over fears of personal safety.

Brussels - Four Catalan MEPs have asked the European Commission to tell Spain it cannot use military force to stop Catalonia from splitting away.

The deputies - centre-left MEP Maria Badia, Greens Ana Miranda and Raul Romeva i Rueda and Liberal Ramon Tremosa - wrote to EU justice commissioner Vivianne Reding on 22 October.

The letter says: "We are writing to you to convey our deep concern over a series of threats of the use of military force against the Catalan population ... In these circumstances, the European Union should intervene preventatively to guarantee that the resolution of the Catalan conflict be resolved in a peaceful, democratic manner."

It notes that politicians from the centre-right People's Party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have spoken of article 8 of Spain's constitution, which says the army can be used to protect Spanish sovereignty.

It adds the commission should: "Make a public statement insisting on the withdrawal from the public debate of any military threat or use of force as a way of resolving this political conflict."

The letter met with ridicule in Madrid.