Puppet MastersS


Bizarro Earth

Growing criticism of Congo vote

Saleh Mwanmilongo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:06 UTC
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© unknownThe protesters are contesting the victory of Joseph Kabila
The chorus of voices calling into question the results from Congo's recent election is growing louder, and on Monday the country's influential clergy as well as the United Nations joined those that are now casting doubt on the victory of President Joseph Kabila.

Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo, the head of the influential Catholic Church in Congo, broke his silence to voice his concern. The church, which had deployed the largest observation mission, had earlier refused to disclose the results that their observers had tabulated, saying that their role was not political.

"After analyzing the results that were made public by the (election commission) this past Friday, Dec. 9, 2011, we could not help but conclude that the results are not founded on truth or justice," said Monsengwo on Monday.

He said that the church was willing to mediate the dispute between Kabila, who has been in power for 10 years and who was declared the winner of the November election with 49 percent of the vote, and longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, came in a distant second with 32 percent of the nearly 19 million votes cast.
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Stormtrooper

Newt Gingrich the Galactic Historian

Ray Smock
History News Network
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:10 UTC
Image
© N/A
The writer was Historian of the U. S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995. He was fired from that job as one of the first acts of Speaker Newt Gingrich when he took power. Speaker Gingrich hired his own historian, a fellow Georgian and member of his cadre who had served as a "down-link hostess" for Gingrich's controversial telecourse "Renewing American Civilization." Gingrich fired her during the first week she was on the job.

Trying to figure out Newt Gingrich has become a cottage industry now that he is running for president. He is a self-confessed revolutionary who wants to fundamentally change America. He is ambitious, power hungry, and ruthlessly focused. He is a natural for Washington, where such attributes are both feared and admired. How did Newt get this way? What makes him tick? Much has been written about him since he sprang into public consciousness in 1994 with his "Contract with America" that was instrumental in upsetting the Democratic Party's 40-year control of the House of Representatives and eventually gained him the Speakership. But little has been written about his big vision as a transformational figure not only for the United States but for the whole planet.

If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, Newt Gingrich is from the planet Trantor, a fictional world created by Isaac Asimov in his classic Foundation series about galactic empire. Newt's master plan for America does not come from a Republican Party playbook. It comes from the science fiction that he read in high school. He is playing out, on a national and global scale, dreams he had as a teenager with his nose buried in pulp fiction.
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Attention

Kabila Declared Winner of Congo Election


USA Today
Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
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© The Associated Press/Jerome DelaySupporters of President Joseph Kabila take to the streets in celebration Friday in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Provisional results published by Congo's election commission on Friday handed victory to President Joseph Kabila who won another term with 49% of the 18.14 million votes cast.

Longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi trailed with 32% of the vote, according to the final tallies released by election commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda.

Tshisekedi's supporters vowed to take to the streets if Kabila was declared the winner.
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Vader

Obama: We leave Iraq with "heads held high"

Brian Montopoli
CBS News
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:09 UTC

Obama
© unknown
President Obama marked the end of the United States' almost nine-year war in Iraq on Monday, saying at an appearance with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the final U.S. troops leave Iraq this year "with their heads held high."

Mr. Obama is taking something of a victory lap this week for fulfilling his campaign promise to end the war, which will effectively end when the several thousand remaining troops exit the country by December 31. On Saturday, he thanked service members at the annual Army-Navy football game; on Wednesday, he and first lady Michele Obama will visit Fort Bragg in North Carolina to speak to troops about the war.

"This is a season of homecomings," Mr. Obama said Monday at the White House, flanked by al-Maliki. "Military families across America are being reunited for the holidays."
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Red Flag

Best of the Web: Pakistan to Down American Drones, US Promises More Strikes - Don't They Call This "War"?


RT.com
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:08 UTC
Pakistani paramilitary soldiers
© AFP Photo / Rizwan TabassumPakistani paramilitary soldiers arrive to cordon off an area during an operation against criminal gangs in a troubled area of Karachi
The Pakistani military are under orders to take down any UAV they locate in the country's air space. So far, the only drones making incursions into Pakistani skies have been US Predators used to attack Taliban insurgents.

In a speech to troops on the border, Pakistan's Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani told them to use all means at their disposal to give a "shattering answer" to any aggression - whatever the price or consequences.

For his part, the Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, American General John R. Allen, said he did not rule out the possibility of a repeat of last month's NATO strike on Pakistani soldiers.

The news appears to be a development of the notorious friendly fire incident on November 26 on Mohmand frontier territory, when 24 border guards died and over 30 were injured after an American assault helicopter entered Pakistan territory and devastated a block post, taking servicemen for mujahedeen.
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Airplane

Pakistan Orders C.I.A. to Leave Base Used for Drone Strikes

Salman Masood
The New York Times
Sun, 11 Dec 2011 09:00 UTC
Pakistani soldiers
© ReutersPakistani soldiers at Shamsi air base on Sunday, in a photograph provided by the Pakistani military’s public relations arm.
Islamabad, Pakistan - The Central Intelligence Agency has vacated an air base in western Pakistan that it had been using for drone strikes against militants in the country's tribal areas, the Pakistani military said on Sunday.

Pakistan had ordered the C.I.A. to leave the Shamsi air base in protest over NATO airstrikes that killed at least 25 Pakistani soldiers near the border with Afghanistan on Nov. 26. Pakistan has also blocked all NATO logistical supplies from crossing the border into Afghanistan since the clash.

Pentagon and Obama administration officials declined to comment publicly on the departure from the Shamsi air base.
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Christmas Tree

US: The 1% Election

Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch
Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:32 UTC
US capitol/money
© n/a
How to Turn Election Year Into Election Life- Their Bread, Our Circus

Sometimes words outlive their usefulness. Sometimes the gap between changing reality and the names we've given it grows so wide that they empty of all meaning or retain older meanings that only confuse us. "Election," "presidential election campaign," and "democracy" all seem like obvious candidates for name-change.

I thought about this recently as President Obama hustled around my hometown, snarling New York traffic in the name of Campaign 2012. He was, it turned out, "hosting" three back-to-back fundraising events: one at the tony Gotham Bar and Grill for 45 supporters at $35,800 a head (the menu: roasted beet salad, steak and onion rings, with apple strudel, chocolate pecan pie, and cinnamon ice cream -- a meal meant to "shine a little light" on American farms); one for 30 Jewish supporters at the home of Jack Rosen, chairman of the American Jewish Congress, for at least $10,000 a pop; and one at the Sheraton Hotel, evidently for the plebes of the contribution world, that cost a mere $1,000 a head. (Maybe the menu there was rubber chicken.)

In the course of his several meals, the president pledged his support for Israel (in the face of Republican charges that he is eternally soft on the subject), talked about "taxes and the economy" to his undoubtedly under-taxed listeners, and made this stirringly meaningless but rousing comment: "No matter who we are, no matter where we come from, we're one nation. We're one people. And that's what's at stake in this election."
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Airplane

SOTT Focus: Policing the Herd: Domestic Drones for 'Domestic Terrorists'

Richard Swander
Sott.net
Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:42 UTC
cow drone
© SOTT.netWatch out Cattle, they're coming...
And so it begins... with news of the first known arrests of U.S. citizens with the help of a Predator spy drone. The unmanned Predator B drone was called from an Air Force base in North Dakota (along with Highway Patrol, a SWAT team, a bomb squad and deputy sheriffs) to locate three men accused of pinching some cows. Yes, that's right, cows.

To some it may sound like a neat way to track criminals, but I'm not sure they fully understand the implications that the forthcoming rapid deployment of drone technology in 'civilian' skies will have.

Drones have been developed and designed not to track American cow thieves but primarily for military applications on the battlefields of imperialistic aggression. The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases and it has already built 60 bases around the world for its unmanned, remotely controlled killer drone warplanes. With more bases under construction, defence contractor behemoths like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are competing for slices of the big fat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) pie. These companies can look forward to the profit windfall that the increasingly likely and long-planned military incursions into Syria and Iran will bring. They are now also exploiting new local markets that over-hyped illusory threats of domestic terrorism will bring to their balance sheets.

It's almost as if the contractors are colluding with Government and media to ensure they have a lucrative future for their shareholders...
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Cut

Calls for Britain to cut EU ties after veto drama

Danny Kemp
Agence France-Presse
Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Dan Kitwood/Getty Images EuropePrime Minister David Cameron
Britain's dramatic use of its European Union veto after years of threats has fuelled calls at home for a complete withdrawal from the bloc, with London left more isolated than ever.

Prime Minister David Cameron went further than even "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher ever did, leaving Britain alone in blocking a treaty across the 27-member EU to resolve the euro's debt crisis.

Cameron's position was largely dictated by the need to head off a revolt from the "eurosceptic" wing of his Conservative party, even if it could eventually weaken Britain's coalition government.

John Redwood, an arch Conservative eurosceptic, told AFP that Cameron "had to do what he did".

"It was very disappointing that the rest of the EU leaders rejected the PM's generous offer," he said, referring to Cameron's calls for an opt-out for Britain that would protect the City of London financial services hub.
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Chart Pie

US: Wall Street's Latest Shameless Ploy to Fleece You

Robert Reich
AlterNet
Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:34 UTC
greedy pig graphic
© n/a
Wall Street is its own worst enemy. It should have welcomed new financial regulation as a means of restoring public trust. Instead, it's busily shredding new regulations and making the public more distrustful than ever.

The Street's biggest lobbying groups have just filed a lawsuit against the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, seeking to overturn its new rule limiting speculative trading.

For years Wall Street has speculated like mad in futures markets - food, oil, other commodities - causing prices to fluctuate wildly. The Street makes bundles from these gyrations, but they have raised costs for consumers.

In other words, a small portion of what you and I pay for food and energy has been going into the pockets of Wall Street. It's just another hidden redistribution from the middle class to the rich.
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