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Hundreds in Rwanda march in protest over acquittals at genocide tribunal


CTV News
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:54 UTC
Image
© AP
Survivors of the genocide, youths and students march towards the offices of the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR), whom they accused of denying justice to genocide victims, in Kigali, Rwanda on Feb. 11, 2013.
Hundreds of Rwandans on Monday marched to the offices of the United Nations tribunal set up to try key cases related to Rwanda's 1994 genocide to protest the court's decision to acquit two former cabinet ministers accused of masterminding killings.

The protesters, bearing placards denouncing the Arusha, Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR), mainly constituted of survivors of the genocide, youths and students who accused the tribunal of denying justice to genocide victims.

"The international community failed in their response to protect the Tutsi from being killed and now it is failing to provide justice to survivors," one of the banners read.
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Colosseum

The NDAA and the Death of the Democratic State

Chris Hedges
Truthdig
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:17 UTC
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© Mr. Fish
On Wednesday a few hundred activists crowded into the courtroom of the Second Circuit, the spillover room with its faulty audio feed and dearth of chairs, and Foley Square outside the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in Manhattan where many huddled in the cold. The fate of the nation, we understood, could be decided by the three judges who will rule on our lawsuit against President Barack Obama for signing into law Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The section permits the military to detain anyone, including U.S. citizens, who "substantially supports" - an undefined legal term - al-Qaida, the Taliban or "associated forces," again a term that is legally undefined. Those detained can be imprisoned indefinitely by the military and denied due process until "the end of hostilities." In an age of permanent war this is probably a lifetime. Anyone detained under the NDAA can be sent, according to Section (c)(4), to any "foreign country or entity." This is, in essence, extraordinary rendition of U.S. citizens. It empowers the government to ship detainees to the jails of some of the most repressive regimes on earth.
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Stock Down

Market collapse in process? Billionaires continue to dump U.S. stocks, traders are betting against U.S. economy


InvestmentWatch
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:13 UTC
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Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why
Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.

Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of "disappointing performance" in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

In the latest filing for Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in "consumer product stocks" by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.

With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett's apparent lack of faith in these companies' future prospects is worrisome.

Unfortunately Buffett isn't alone.

Comment: Looks like the elite are preparing for their big move. The NDAA is in place, the drones are in place, the people are hysterical, and now the casino market 'movers and shakers' are calling in their chips.

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Eye 1

JSoc: Obama's secret assassins

Naomi Wolf
Guardian
Sun, 03 Feb 2013 09:33 UTC
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© Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
US Navy Seals on a night mission in the Middle East. Seal Team 6, which killed Osama bin Laden, is a secret elite unit that works closely with the CIA.
The president has a clandestine network targeting a US 'kill list' justified by secret laws. How is that different than a death squad?

The film Dirty Wars, which premiered at Sundance, can be viewed, as Amy Goodman sees it, as an important narrative of excesses in the global "war on terror". It is also a record of something scary for those of us at home - and uncovers the biggest story, I would say, in our nation's contemporary history.

Though they wisely refrain from drawing inferences, Scahill and Rowley have uncovered the facts of a new unaccountable power in America and the world that has the potential to shape domestic and international events in an unprecedented way. The film tracks the Joint Special Operations Command (JSoc), a network of highly-trained, completely unaccountable US assassins, armed with ever-expanding "kill lists". It was JSoc that ran the operation behind the Navy Seal team six that killed bin Laden.

Scahill and Rowley track this new model of US warfare that strikes at civilians and insurgents alike - in 70 countries. They interview former JSoc assassins, who are shell-shocked at how the "kill lists" they are given keep expanding, even as they eliminate more and more people.
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Star of David

Shawl male rule: Israeli police detain ten women over 'improper attire' at holy site


RT.com
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:45 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Janos Chiala
Israeli police arrest American Rabbi Susan Silverman (L), sister of comedian Sarah Silverman, and her teenage daughter Hallel Abramowitz (C), after performing Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, on February 11, 2013
Ten female activists have been detained by police for trying to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Authorities accused them of taking part in practices that Orthodox Judaism reserves for men.

The incident occurred at the Western Wall - a site that has welcomed prayers from Jews for centuries.

The women belong to "Women of the Wall," a liberal group which works for equal access for all Jewish denominations and practices at the sacred site. They conduct certain rituals, such as wearing prayer shawls and skullcaps and singing out loud.

While their activities may seem normal enough to many, there was a problem in the eyes of the Israeli police - strict Orthodox Judaism reserves their practices and garb for men.

It's precisely that rule on attire that the group was protesting while they attempted to pray at the women's section of the Wall - but Israeli police were anything but impressed with their efforts on Monday.

"They (police) said 'take off your prayer shawls', and we said 'no," Susan Silverman, who was among the detained, told Reuters.

Comment: That's not 'civil disobedience'; that's a display of total obedience towards a religion that was created to control people and justify every crime against humanity imaginable.

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Bizarro Earth

Drones to target suspected LAPD killer Chris Dorner?


RT.com
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:38 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Handout
Christopher Dorner
As authorities intensify the manhunt for accused LAPD-killer Christopher Dorner, law enforcement agencies are doing everything under the sun to search for their suspect, apparently even deploying drones.

The specifics regarding the tools being used to track Dorner, a 33-year-old former Los Angeles Police Department officer suspected in three recent murders, is a mystery for now. But with a $1 million bounty out for his arrest and a nation at high-alert, it's no surprise that the search for Dorner is on the way to becoming one of the most remarkable in ages. Now according to some reports, police are relying on high-tech unmanned aerial vehicles to snoop from the sky.

Britain's Daily Express cites a senior police source in a report this week as saying that the surveillance capabilities of UAVs might be the only option for locating Dorner, who has been at large since a string of murders that began last Sunday.

"The thermal imaging cameras the drones use may be our only hope of finding him. On the ground, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack," the source tells the paper.

Comment: One can't help but think of the possibility that the LAPD is intentionally botching the manhunt for Chris Dorner in order to further ramp up the momentum towards using drones on the civilian population of the U.S.

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Bomb

At least 13 killed, 33 wounded in bomb blast near Turkish-Syrian border


RT.com
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:34 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Cem Genco / Anadolu Agency
Damaged cars are seen after an explosion at Cilvegozu border gate on the Turkish-Syrian border in Hatay province February 11, 2013
At least 13 people have been killed and 33 others wounded in a bomb blast near the Turkish-Syrian border.

The blast occurred near the Turkish town of Reyhanli, at the Cilvegozu border gate. A Turkish government official has confirmed that the explosion originated from a vehicle, and was not a mortar round. "There was an explosion in the no-man's zone. It was not a mortar attack. It was very strong," a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The bomb reportedly went off in a car carrying a Syrian plate, Today's Zaman reporter Mahir Zeynalov quoted Turkish media as saying. Witnesses say they saw the car drive up to the border post shortly before the explosion. Television footage and photographs show heavy damage to cars at the border, where a gate was blown open and part of the roof collapsed.
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Star of David

Israel approves construction of 90 settler homes in the West Bank


Raw Story
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:53 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo
Israel has given final approval for 90 new homes in Beit El settlement near Ramallah in a move likely to spark tension ahead of a top-level visit by US President Barack Obama, officials and an NGO said Monday.

Hagit Ofran of the Peace Now settlement watchdog said the plans had been published for validation in an Israeli newspaper in what was the "final stage of approval", meaning construction of the new homes could begin "within a few days."

The plans were signed off by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak in August but received the final rubber stamp on Sunday by the Civil Administration's planning committee, she said.

The move comes just days after the White House announced that Obama would make his first-ever visit to Israel as president on a trip expected to take place in late March.
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Target

United States the target of a massive cyber-espionage effort: report


Raw Story
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:36 UTC
Image
© Shutterstock
The US intelligence community has concluded that America is the target of a massive cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening its competitiveness, The Washington Post reported.

Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said the conclusion is contained in the National Intelligence Estimate, a classified report that represents the consensus view of the US intelligence community.

The report identifies China as the country most aggressively seeking to penetrate the computer systems of US businesses and institutions to gain access to data that could be used for economic gain, the paper said.

Comment: Maybe if the United States wasn't breaking international law by invading and occupying multiple sovereign countries there wouldn't be countries that engage in these alleged cyber-espionage crimes. There's also the possibility that this report will be used as an excuse to further tighten controls in the U.S. when in reality there is very little espionage actually occurring.

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Snakes in Suits

Drone strikes against our own citizens: Should Americans care?

Samantha Kimmey
Raw Story
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:32 UTC
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On UP with Chris Hayes on Sunday night, the panel discussed the recent white paper on drone strikes obtained by NBC News and how concerned we should be regarding distinctions between citizens and non-citizens.

Hina Shamsi, Director of the ACLU's National Security Project, said that with regard to U.S. citizens, there are supposed limits of "imminence," as defined by a recent memo released by NBC News. However, the administration's definition of imminence seemed at odds with how most people define the term.

"Those terms are redefined in such a way that they are vague, elastic, and robbed of their plain meaning," Shamsi said.
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