In an exclusive interview with RT, Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said that the Arab Spring has borne no fruit for any of the affected countries, so the ongoing process should rather be called the 'Israeli Spring', since no country now poses a threat to Israel. Furthermore, external forces seek to divide and weaken all the countries surrounding Israel in order to ensure her security.
Puppet Masters
© treehugger.com
Are food stamps lining the pockets of the nation's wealthiest corporations instead of closing the hunger gap in the United States? Why does Walmart benefit from more than $200 million in annual food stamp purchases in Oklahoma alone? Why does one bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, hold exclusive contracts in 24 states to administer public benefits?
These are a few of the questions explored in a new report called: "Food Stamps, Follow the Money: Are Corporations Profiting from Hungry Americans?" from Michele Simon, president of Eat Drink Politics, a watchdog consulting group. This first-of-its kind investigation details how the food stamp program - originally designed to help farmers and those in need - lines the pockets of junk food makers, food retailers, and banks.
Right now, Congress is debating the farm bill, including significant cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). Much attention has focused on how agricultural subsidies fuel our cheap, unhealthy food supply. In reality, the largest and most overlooked taxpayer subsidy to the food industry is SNAP, which comprised two-thirds of the farm bill budget in 2008.
In a few days, perhaps as early as Friday, June 15, at noon, the Syrians wanting to watch their national TV stations will see them replaced on their screens by TV programs created by the CIA. Studio-shot images will show massacres that are blamed on the Syrian Government, people demonstrating, ministers and generals resigning from their posts, President Al-Assad fleeing, the rebels gathering in the big city centers, and a new government installing itself in the presidential palace.
This operation of disinformation, directly managed from Washington by Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, aims at demoralizing the Syrians in order to pave the way for a coup d'etat. NATO, discontent about the double veto of Russia and China, will thus succeed in conquering Syria without attacking the country illegally. Whichever judgment you might have formed on the actual events in Syria, a coup d'etat will end all hopes of democratization.
© Guille3691
Just recently, following the scandal at Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) when CEO Aubrey McClendon made investments in drilling projects in which the company was involved, the issue was in the limelight again. Chesapeake, based in Oklahoma, has two powerful politicians on its board - former member of the Senate from Oklahoma, Don Nickles, and former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating. The company's board members used the firm's private planes for travel - a perk most governance experts frown upon. Perhaps the more salient question is why the two have stayed on the board under the current circumstances. It is equally reasonable to ask why politicians, with their backgrounds unrelated to running big companies, were even appointed to the board.
Many other politicians sit on the boards of America's largest public companies, and some aspects of their services raise troubling questions. Some are successful lobbyists because of their Washington connections. These firms could work for causes or companies that do not have identical interests to those of the corporations of the boards on which they sit. There are questions about the past ethical behavior of others among these board members. In most cases, the former politicians have no obvious backgrounds that qualify them to be on public companies' boards. A final problem is that some have done very well financially because they sit on several boards - another practice many corporate governance experts oppose.
Comment: While slightly off subject, in the following video there's a list of those coming from corporations and integrating into government to serve companies.
© Press TV
Armed rebels in Syria
Armed rebels in Syria
Tel Aviv has recently expressed concern about what it calls the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Israel says the weapons could fall into the wrong hands and that they may even be used by Syria to carry out an attack against Israeli forces.
The pretext is being used to justify a possible military assault on Syria even if it means triggering a broader conflict across the region.
Ayoob Kara, a senior member of the Israeli Likud Party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed in an interview with Israel Radio on June 9 that the Syrian government has used "chemical weapons against men, women, and children" during the past months of unrest in the country.
Vlad sez: the buck stops here
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday Washington was worried Russia may be sending attack helicopters to Syria and described as "patently untrue" Moscow's argument that its arms transfers to Syria are unrelated to the conflict there.
"We are not violating any international law in performing these contracts," said Sergei Lavrov, in response to a question about Clinton's comments at a news conference during a visit to Iran.
"They are providing arms and weapons to the Syrian opposition that can be used in fighting against the Damascus government," he said on Iranian state television, speaking through an interpreter.
Russia is one of Syria's principal defenders on the diplomatic front and, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with the power to veto resolutions, has stymied efforts by Western powers to pressure President Bashar al-Assad into stepping down.
The attack took place in the context of the build-up to elections on June 17, which are dominated by the threat of a Greek exit from the euro. Whatever the result, the election will be followed by a vast intensification of the austerity measures against the Greek population.
Golden Dawn spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris attacked Liana Kanelli of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and Rena Dourou of the pseudo-left coalition SYRIZA during a political debate on morning television last Thursday. Kasidiaris threw a glass of water at Dourou, after Dourou pointed out his well-documented links to acts of violence, and then hit Kanelli in the face on several occasions after she protested Kasidiaris's attack on Dourou.
Disgusting: it turns out that these children were executed from point-blank range and cut up with machetes by the Syrian 'rebels' directed by Washington, DC.
The report refutes the official account by the United States and other major powers and presented uncritically by the media. The massacre was attributed to pro-government forces and used to step up the propaganda offensive for military intervention against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Without providing any serious evidence, the US and its allies claimed that either the Syrian Army or pro-government Shabiha militas carried out the mass killing of over 100 people.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on June 7 published a report from Damascus by Rainer Hermann, who based his article on investigations by oppositionists who visited the area and took eye-witness testimony. They largely confirm the account of the events in Houla given by the Assad government.
Mi-35 Russian choppers, seen here in Afghanistan
The units being prepared for an intervention are the 76th Division of airborne forces (an especially experienced unit of the Russian army), the 15th Army Division, as well as special forces from a brigade of the Black Sea fleet, which has a base in the Syrian port of Tartus.
The details of the operational plan are being prepared by the working parties of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, to which most of the post-Soviet states belong, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to which China and Russia belong.
Alex Thomson in Syria. If only the few half-decent journalists in the MSM would bother to read Sott.net and other alt.news websites, they might learn a thing or two about who they're dealing with before walking into such traps.
"Yup - no problem Mark. Understood."
I always say that, sort of assuming it will never come to that in any case.
Just two UN plus the local police white patrol car marked "Protocol" as escort, moving south through the peaceful areas of Homs, unmarked by war.
Barely ten minutes south from the city and it's goodbye protocol. The last Syrian Army checkpoint is right on the main highway south to Damascus.
We're headed west - just follow the direction the tank barrel is pointing next to the parked protocol car and you get the idea.
There's always that slight tightening of the stomach across deserted no-mans-land, but this is open country, no sign of fighting.
Comment: There's the fantasy based on lies they create for you... and there's the reality: