Puppet MastersS


Attention

Push to Rid Universities of Alternative Medicine

Julia Medew
The Age, Australia
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:47 UTC
Homeopathy Vials
© John McNamaraHomeopathy is one of the 'Friends of Science in Medicine''s targets.
A row has erupted within the Australian medical community over ways to handle the growth in alternative and complementary medicine, with claims that some doctors are exploiting their power and trying to censor others.

A group of high-profile scientists, dubbed ''Friends of Science in Medicine'', has been calling for universities to dump courses on ''pseudo sciences'' that they say are not supported by valid scientific research.

The targets include homeopathy, naturopathy, iridology and chiropractic and osteopathy courses, although they acknowledge the last two have evidence for musculo-skeletal treatments.

Led by John Dwyer, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales, the group has also been campaigning for the federal government and health insurance providers to stop funding complementary and alternative medicine unless evidence is found to back them.

But the group - backed by renowned biologist Sir Gustav Nossal and cervical cancer vaccine creator Ian Frazer - faced criticism this week from a handful of doctors who say they are exploiting their positions in the community and engaging in censorship.

In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia, professor of medicine at Monash University Paul Komesaroff and bone marrow transplant physician Ian Kerridge accused the group of exceeding ''the boundaries of reasoned debate'' and risked ''compromising the values (they) claim to support''.
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Blackbox

Is Eurozone crisis spreading to Germany? Investor confidence declines for 3rd consecutive month

Eva Kuehnen and Sakari Suoninen
Reuters
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:44 UTC
German analyst and investor sentiment dropped for a third consecutive month in July, a survey showed on Tuesday, providing further evidence that the euro zone crisis is taking its toll on morale in Europe's largest economy.

But the ZEW think tank, which conducts the monthly poll, said expectations may have now hit bottom and that the outlook for the rest of the year should prove stable.

The main reading from the ZEW poll of economic sentiment slid to -19.6 from -16.9 in June, coming in slightly above the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 38 economists for a drop to -20.0.

The index measuring current conditions fell to 21.1, the lowest level since June 2010, and compared with 33.2 last month.

"The latest stock market stabilisation, the ECB's rate cut, the weaker euro exchange rate and lower oil prices have all not succeeded in brightening up German investors," said ING economist Carsten Brzeski.
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Footprints

U.S. Navy attack "threatens regional security": Iran foreign ministry

Marcus George
Reuters
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:51 UTC
Iran on Tuesday criticized the actions of a U.S. navy ship that shot at an approaching fishing boat off the United Arab Emirates, saying the incident showed foreign forces threatened regional security.

One Indian national was killed and three others injured on Monday when the U.S. refueling ship, the USNS Rappahannock, opened fire on a small motor boat which U.S. officials said ignored repeated warnings to halt its approach.

The United States has been building up its presence in the Gulf as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program which it suspects is aimed at producing nuclear bombs. Tehran denies the accusation.

"We have announced time and again that the presence of foreign forces can be a threat to regional security," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said during a news conference broadcast on state television.

"Certainly regional countries with the help of one another can provide security in the best possible way. If they join hands, with their defensive capabilities, they don't need the presence of foreign forces. Anywhere where you see insecurity we have always seen the hand of foreign forces there."
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Bizarro Earth

New Gaddafi Video? Footage Purportedly Shows Late Libyan Leader After His Death (GRAPHIC)


Huffington Post
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:16 UTC
A YouTube upload purporting to show new footage from after Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi's violent death last October has surfaced, allegedly providing a clearer view of the late dictator's bloodied body.

Activist Sami al-Hamwi (@HamaEcho) tweeted a link to the video, remarking that someone should show the footage to Syrian president Bashar Assad as a reminder of what befell another Middle East dictator.

Previous footage posted shortly after Gaddafi's death last year showed him on his knees, seemingly alive. In the clearer footage below, Gaddafi's shirtless body appears to be transported by a group of men in the back of a van.

Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya for almost 42 years, gaining a reputation as a colorful character and merciless dictator.

WARNING: Video below contains extremely graphic content. The footage below could not be independently verified and it's unclear why the video was only released now.


Comment: Gaddafi's killing may be a war crime: International Criminal Court

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Blackbox

India fishermen deny US ship warned them in UAE shooting


BBC News
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:26 UTC
Image
© UnknownMuthu Muniraj was shot in the legs when the USNS Rappahannock opened fire
Indian fishermen injured when their boat was shot at by a US Navy ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) say they received no warnings before they came under fire.

One fisherman was killed and three others injured when the USNS Rappahannock raked the small boat with machinegun fire near Dubai on Monday.

The US Navy says the boat approached at speed and ignored repeated warnings.

Indian and US officials have launched investigations into the incident.

The shooting comes as the US expands its military presence in the Gulf, ramping up pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme.
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Dollar

Blackwater Was Illegally Paid Millions in Taxpayer Money


RT
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Blackwater
© unknown
For half a decade, American taxpayers unknowingly spent millions of dollars every year to fund private security agency Blackwater's so-called "democracy building" missions in Iraq.

A new report completed by the US State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors Office of Inspector General shines light on a travesty involving the massive misuse of public funds.

Between 2004 and 2009, millions of dollars in taxpayer monies could have been saved had the International Republican Institute - a bipartisan, nonprofit organization chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) - used their federal funding more efficiently. Instead, however, the IRI handed over massive sums of money to the Blackwater security group so that they could send armed guards to Iraq.

While Blackwater's presence overseas has not gone unnoticed, the latest report shows that contract were made without the IRI considering any competitors' bids and in the end cost millions of extra dollars, all the while funding the same agency proved responsible for the massacre of Iraqi civilians.

The unclassified report, dated June 2012, describes how the IRI used $103.7 million in federal grants during fiscal years 2004-2010 to conduct democracy-building programs throughout Iraq. In only a few pages, CPA Clarke Leiper, PLLC, explains - along with the guidance of the Office of Inspector General - how millions of dollars was mismanaged by making payments to Blackwater without seeking outside bids.
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Bad Guys

US Government Claims it has Proof of Bradley Manning Aiding the Enemy

Ed Pilkington
The Guardian
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Bradley Manning
© unknownPfc. Bradley Manning
Claim could seal Manning's fate on most serious charge if proven he knew enemy groups could obtain leaked files

The US government claims to have proof that Bradley Manning, the WikiLeaks suspect, knowingly passed state secrets to a location where it was bound to be obtained by enemy groups, a military court in Maryland has heard.

Captain Joe Morrow, a member of the five-strong prosecution team assigned to the case, said that the government would show at court martial that Manning had knowingly "aided the enemy" - the most serious of the 22 charges facing the soldier that carries the death penalty. Morrow said the evidence would show that Manning sent the information to a "very definite place" that he knew was used by the enemy.

He did not mention al-Qaida, though the terrorist network has been explicity named by the prosecution in previous hearings.

The insistence by the US government that it can prove Manning had actual knowledge that the WikiLeaks dump would be used by enemy groups was instantly disputed by the lead defence lawyer, David Coombs. He demanded that the government produce the evidence to which it was alluding.

"We haven't seen any evidence that the government has provided by discovery that supports any knowledge that the information would be obtained by the enemy," he said.

Manning has been in military jail for more than two years after he was arrested at the Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad. He is accused of being the source of the massive trove of secrets passed to WikiLeaks, and in turn published by the Guardian and other international newspapers, including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs and thousands of embassy cables.
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Bizarro Earth

London's Militarised Olympic Games Conjures Up Orwell's 1984

Finian Cunningham
Global Research
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:36 UTC
London Olympics collage
© n/a
The London Olympics are fast taking on the appearance and tone of a full-scale land, sea and air military operation rather than an international sporting event.

With surface-to-air missiles stationed on top of residential apartment blocks, Royal Navy battleships on alert and Royal Air Force fighter jets and helicopters patrolling the skies over Britain's capital there is a foreboding sense of a nation at war instead of an occasion of internationalist fraternity that the ancient Games are supposed to embody.

The Games begin in just under two weeks. The latest development is the announcement by Britain's Ministry of Defence that 3,500 extra troops are to be deployed to ensure security at the 30 venues hosting sporting events. This is in addition to the 13,500 military personnel already assigned to protect members of the public and sports teams from the risk of terrorist attack.

British General Sir Nick Parker, overseeing the security arrangements, has said that one of the contingencies being planned for is dealing with a "9/11 type event".

The total troop deployment in and around London represents 7,000 more personnel than is currently on British operations in Afghanistan.

This figure is in addition to the 10,000 extra police officers and a division of 10,000 private security guards. It was the disclosure that G45, the private security firm with the Olympics contract, could not fulfill its manpower requirements to cover the Games that prompted the latest enlisting of additional soldiers.

The militarization of the Olympics was conveyed inadvertently by a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence when he said: "Many of the people whom the public will meet at the point of entry to any Olympic event will now be a serving member of the armed forces."
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Compass

Pentagon Sends Carrier to the Middle East Early

Luis Martinez
ABC Otus News
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:15 UTC
Image
© Agence France Presse/Ronald ReevesAmid tensions over Iran and Syria, the United States has brought forward the deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Middle East to shorten the time when a sole carrier is in the region.
The Pentagon is sending the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis to sea four months ahead of schedule to ensure that there are at least two carriers in the Middle East.

The U.S. Navy has had two carriers operating in the Middle East for quite some time. It usually rotates one of the two carriers into the Persian Gulf for several weeks at a time while the other operates in the Arabian Sea, providing air support for the war in Afghanistan.

Today, Pentagon spokesman George Little confirmed that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has agreed to a recent request from U.S. Central Command to maintain a two-carrier presence in the Middle East.

In September the U.S. was going to go down to one carrier, as the USS Enterprise would not be replaced after it left the region. To prevent that from happening the Stennis has had its deployment orders changed from the Pacific to the Middle East.
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Bad Guys

Libor Scandal: Was the petrol price rigged too?

Rowena Mason, Emma Rowley
The Telegraph
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 18:07 UTC
petrol pump
© AlamyPoliticians and fuel campaigners last night urged the Government to expand its inquiry into the Libor scandal to see whether oil prices have also been falsely pushed up.
Motorists may have been paying too much for their petrol because banks and other traders are likely to have tried to manipulate oil prices in the same way they rigged interest rates, an official report has warned. Politicians and fuel campaigners last night urged the Government to expand its inquiry into the Libor scandal to see whether oil prices have also been falsely pushed up.

Concerns are growing about the reliability of oil prices, after a report for the G20 found the market is wide open to "manipulation or distortion".

Traders from banks, oil companies or hedge funds have an "incentive" to distort the market and are likely to try to report false prices, it said.
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