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Israel's Supreme Court orders state to dismantle largest West Bank outpost


Haaretz
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:23 UTC
Image
© Olivier Fitoussi
West Bank settlement outpost of Megron.
Unprecedented ruling states that Migron must be razed by April 2012; Israeli government had admitted outpost was built on lands belonging to Palestinians, but has thus far failed to dismantle it.

Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an unprecedented ruling ordering the state to dismantle the largest illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank by April 2012.

The decision follows a petition filed by Peace Now movement.

Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch harshly criticized the Israeli government for failing to dismantle the outpost of Migron, which is home to some 50 families, despite earlier promises it would do so and after it had admitted that it was in fact built on lands belonging to Palestinians.

Beinisch said the Supreme Court has tried to show restraint despite the blatant illegality of the outpost.
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Arrow Down

US is 'parasite' on global economy, Russian PM Vladimir Putin says


Reuters
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:14 UTC
Image
© Alexei Nikolsky / AFP - Getty Images
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tries to bend a pan as he visits a summer camp on Monday.
'They are living beyond their means ... Thank God that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision'

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused Americans Monday of "living like parasites" on the global economy, noting that Russia owns a large amount of the U.S. debt.

"They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy," Putin told the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi while touring its lakeside summer camp some five hours drive north of Moscow.

"They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar," Putin said at the open-air meeting with admiring young Russians in what looked like early campaigning before parliamentary and presidential polls.
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Alarm Clock

The Four Great Hypocrisies of the Debt Deal


Current.com
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:33 UTC
Keith's Special Comment covers the "four great hypocrisies" of the debt deal and the necessity of taking the governance of this nation back from politicians.
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Cult

America's own Taliban

Paul Rosenberg
Al Jazeera
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:49 UTC
A fast growing right-wing politico-religious presence plans to implement an end-times, Christian theocracy in the US.

Rick Perry
© GALLO/GETTY
2012 presidential hopeful, Texas Governor Rick Perry (left), will be hosting a prayer meeting called 'The Response' on August 6 with many sponsors from the New Apostolic Reformation
Prior to 9/11, the Taliban government in Afghanistan did not register very much on American radar screens, with one notable exception: when it blew up two colossal images of the Buddha in Bamiyan province in early 2001. But destruction of treasured artifacts isn't just limited to the Taliban.

There's a right-wing politico-religious presence centred in the US, but with a global reach, engaging in similar practises, destroying religious and cultural artifacts as a key aspect of its ideology of "strategic level spiritual warfare" (SLSW).

Until recently a fringe evangelical movement, warned against as deviant, "spiritual warfare" is rapidly positioning itself within America's mainstream political right. It's well past time for political journalists to start covering what this movement is up to.

Comment: And as far as our journalists here at SOTT, we've been hot on the trail of dominionism for some time now:

Mad as a Hatter: The Hidden Roots of the Tea Party Movement - Part 1

Hijacking The Holy - C Street, Dominionism and Sarah Palin

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People

Organic Versus Monsanto

Danielle Magnuson
Cornucopia Institute
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:22 UTC
Image
© Creative Commons/ NatalieMaynor
More than 270,000 organic farmers are taking on corporate agriculture giant Monsanto in a lawsuit filed March 30. Led by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the family farmers are fighting for the right to keep a portion of the world food supply organic - and preemptively protecting themselves from accusations of stealing genetically modified seeds that drift on to their pristine crop fields.

Consumers are powerful. For more than a decade, a cultural shift has seen shoppers renounce the faster-fatter-bigger-cheaper mindset of factory farms, exposéd in the 2008 documentary Food, Inc. From heirloom tomatoes to heritage chickens, we want our food slow, sustainable, and local - healthy for the earth, healthy for animals, and healthy for our bodies.

But with patented seeds infiltrating the environment so fully, organic itself is at risk. Monsanto's widely used Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola seed has already turned heirloom canola oil into an extinct species. The suing farmers are seeking to prevent similar contamination of organic corn, soybeans, and a host of other crops. What's more, they're seeking to prevent Monsanto from accusing them of unlawfully using the very seeds they're trying to avoid.
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Bad Guys

Afghan Civilians Pay Lethal Price for New Policy on Air Strikes

Brian Brady
The Independent
Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
Image

Afghan men carry the bodies of those killed in a coalition air strike on 14 July
Reducing 'collateral damage' is seen as a 'secondary consideration' as the coalition prepares withdrawal.

Civilians are bearing the brunt of the international forces' onslaught against the Taliban as the coalition rushes to pacify Afghanistan before pulling out its troops, it was claimed last night.

Human rights groups warned that civilians are paying an increasingly high price for "reckless" coalition attacks, particularly aerial ones. The Ministry of Defence confirmed last week that five Afghan children were injured in an air strike carried out by a British Apache attack helicopter.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) has found that the rate of civilian casualties has reached a record high, with 1,462 killed in January to June this year. But, while the number of civilian victims of "pro-government action" fell, those who died as a result of coalition air attacks were 14 per cent higher than in the same period in 2010 - despite the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) issuing "tactical directives" designed to minimise risk to civilians.
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Arrow Down

Deadly Syrian Crackdown Continues


Al Jazeera English
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:06 UTC

Syrian activists say at least eight people have been killed after government forces launched fresh attacks in several cities.

Six people were reported killed in Hama on Monday amid shelling by army tanks, with two more killed in Al-Bukamal and Deir ez-Zoor in the east.

Residents of Hama say the military resumed indiscriminate shelling and firing as residents were breaking their daily dawn-to-dusk fast on the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The attacks appeared aimed at preventing mosque gatherings during special evening prayers, which security forces feared could trigger large anti-government protests.

The latest deaths bring the number of people killed since Sunday to at least 150.

A witness in Deir ez-Zor told Al Jazeera that government forces launched fresh attacks on the town early on Monday morning.

"Military forces stormed the city from the west side and 25 people are killed and more than 65 injured," the witness said.

"Artillery and anti-aircraft weapons are being used. The situation in the city is very bad, and medical and food supplies are low."

Deir ez-Zor, Syria's main gas and oil-production hub in the east, has become a rallying point for protests along with Hama.

Activist group Avaaz cited unconfirmed reports on Monday that the resort town of Zabadani near the Lebanese border was also under seige by the army.
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War Whore

Lebanese President Blames Israel for 'Renewing Aggression' on Border

Jonathan Lis, Anshel Pfeffer, Avi Issacharoff, Eli Ashkenazi, Amos Harel
Haaretz.com
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 08:57 UTC
Image
© Reuters
Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman inspects the area where clashes between Israeli forces and the Lebanese army took place on Tuesday in southern Lebanon on August 7, 2010.
President Suleiman praises Lebanese Armed Forces for resisting Israeli 'attacks and provocations' after Monday's clash between Lebanese, IDF soldiers.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman blamed Israel on Monday for "renewing its aggression" on the border with Lebanon after Israel Defense Forces troops traded fire with Lebanon's army in the Mount Dov region on the border between the two countries.

Suleiman, who was speaking at a ceremony commemorating the 66th anniversary of the Lebanese Armed Forces, praised the army the army for standing guard against Israeli "attacks and provocations", as well as its resistance during the 2006 Lebanon war between Israel and Hezbollah.
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Evil Rays

Australia: Federal Transport Minister Launches Trial of Full Body Scanners at Sydney Airport

Tim Vollmer
News.com.au
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:13 UTC
Image
© Cameron Richardson
Full body scanner ... Sydney Airport will be the first in Australia to trial the scanner with Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese claiming privacy and health concerns have been addressed.
A full body scanner billed as "the most advanced passenger screening technology available in the world'' has been unveiled at Sydney Airport today as part of a two week trial of the equipment.

Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese said passengers would be able to volunteer to test the device, which uses low-energy radio waves to detect items concealed under clothing, as of tomorrow.

Despite emitting 10,000 times less radiation than a single mobile phone call, advanced computer software can detect miniscule differences in the radio wave radiation that is reflected from the body, highlighting suspicious objects on a "stick figure" outline of the person.

"We regard aviation safety and security as our most important priority,'' Mr Albanese said.

"It is safe, it is secure, privacy concerns have been addressed.''

While taxpayers will fund the trail and associated research, costing about $6 million dollars, Mr Albanese said the cost of any roll-out of the machines would be borne by private airport operators.

Comment: While government pathocarats are busy trying to assure everyone there is no danger from these scanners, there is abundant evidence to the contrary:

Is Anyone Surprised? TSA Misled Public on Dangers of Airport Body Scanners

Airport Body Scanners "Could Give You Cancer"

Body Scanners May be Emitting More Radiation Than What is Recorded

Cancer Cluster Possibly Found Among TSA Workers

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Cult

Pentagon to Use Genetic Code to Identify Perfect Soldier?

Joe Wolverton
New American
Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:59 UTC
Image
Old soldiers never die, they just pass on their genetic code?

A report issued by a defense science advisory panel suggests that the Pentagon may begin collecting DNA from military personnel to identify the genome sequence that defines a good soldier. Findings reported by JASON, an independent group of scientists which advises the U.S. government on matters of science and technology, recommends that the Pentagon take advantage of "the rapidly falling cost of gene sequencing by preparing to engage in the mass sequencing of the genomes" of the men and women of the armed forces.

The physicists, biologists, chemists, oceanographers, mathematicians, and computer scientists that comprise the JASON project, point out that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have access to an untapped source of valuable genetic information and are "uniquely positioned to make great advances" in the science of genetic research in this crucial field. Specifically mentioned are the decades of archived medical records and DNA samples already on file at the VA.

A commentary on the report published by the ACLU claims:
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