Puppet Masters

$Blns Israeli gas grab at heart of 15 years war on Gaza

Sean Nevins
MintPress News
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 23:20 UTC

When gas was discovered in Palestine in 1999, Yasser Arafat proclaimed it was a "gift from God." So what's stopping the country from exploiting that gas to the tune of an estimated $2.5 billion to $7 billion, and relieving a host of development problems?

Energy consumption in the Mediterranean is estimated to increase by up to 50 percent over the next 25 years. The heightened demand comes at a time when gas in the Levant Basin, estimated to contain 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and an average of 122 trillion cubic feet of gas, is being divvied up among nations with territorial claims to the waters, including Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Cyprus, and Turkey.

With these claims, of course, comes potential for conflict. Michael Schwartz, Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University in New York and author of War Without End: The Iraq War in Context, told MintPress News that conflict for these resources has already begun. In fact, he explained, energy resources are the root cause of every conflict the Israelis have had with the Palestinians for at least the last 15 years.

Schwartz argues that natural gas located off the coast of the Gaza Strip in Palestinian waters is at the heart of the last five major Israeli military actions against Palestine: Former Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's orders for the Israeli navy to control Gaza's coastal waters in the early 2000s; Then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's blockade of the Gaza Strip on June 15, 2007; Operation Cast Lead in 2008; Operation Returning Echo in 2012; and Operation Protective Edge, which took place last summer.

Schwartz says an impending gas deal with Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest extractor of natural gas, was the precipitating factor behind Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip last summer, which led to the deaths of over 2,300 people and the displacement of another 500,000. Schwartz explained: "At the beginning of 2014, they [the Palestinians] had come to a preliminary agreement with Gazprom brokered by the Putin government with implicit promises that the Russian navy would protect their [Palestinian] facilities, and very explicitly saying, 'We're going to cut Israel out of it altogether.'"

Comment: Intervention - Deceit - Aggression - Invasion - War - Mass Murder - Destruction...
Sometimes we have to dig deep to find the impetus for senseless and insane acts against fellow humans. Sometimes we just have to scratch the surface to have it seep up into view. We have all heard that phrase, "its all about the oil!" When we truly examine motives for war, and acknowledge the bane-ness, singular mindset and pathology of our leadership, we come to the conclusion this simple phrase is one of the most fundamental of operative platforms. It may come disguised in more publicly-accepted packages, but the prize inside is still the unswerving, myopic power grab for resources regardless the cost, regardless the fallout. For Israel, there are no boundaries nor finesse, no conscience nor consequences. Oil: "My precious." (It may be better to be a "have not.")

Federal court rules top Bush-era officials can be sued for post-9/11 detentions

Sputnik
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:52 UTC

A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a group of immigrants can proceed with a lawsuit accusing top Bush administration officials of widespread abuses and racial profiling after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The plaintiffs are eight men who were arrested for minor immigration violations after 9/11 as a part of the government's aggressive effort to uncover terrorists. The men allege that they were held for months in New York and New Jersey solely because they were or were perceived to be Muslim or Arab.

"Detaining individuals as if they were terrorists, in the most restrictive conditions of confinement available, simply because these individuals were, or appeared to be, Arab or Muslim exceeds those limits," US District Judges Rosemary Pooler and Richard Wesley wrote in their 109-page decision.

"It might well be that national security concerns motivated the defendants to take action, but that is of little solace to those who felt the brunt of that decision. The suffering endured by those who were imprisoned merely because they were caught up in the hysteria of the days immediately following 9/11 is not without a remedy," the judges said.

Comment: Despite the fact that the majority of the Bush-ear officials should be locked up behind bars for war crimes, it's at least a little justice that these innocent victims are gaining some recompense for their victimization.

Prof. Stephen Cohen: Powerful people in the West and in Kiev do not want peace in Ukraine

RT
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:05 UTC

Arguing that there is a peace and war party in almost every capital, Professor Stephen Cohen, scholar of Russian studies at Princeton and New York Universities, told RT he believes the war party in Washington is against the Minsk agreement.

US policies in Ukraine have failed to achieve their goals. With violence flaring up once again, and relations fraught with tensions, diplomacy seems to be the best option. But is there a consensus in the US on the acceptable terms of a political settlement, and how are the dynamics of US internal politics likely to affect its policy toward Russia, especially as the 2016 presidential race heats up?

To find answers to these questions RT's program "Worlds Apart" talked to Professor Stephen Cohen, Professor of Russian Studies and History Emeritus at NYU, and Professor of Politics Emeritus at Princeton University.

NASA chief admits to existence of mysterious Area 51

Sputnik
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:39 UTC

Area 51 does exist, NASA Chief Major Charles Bolden tells British schoolkids - but there are "no aliens or alien spacecraft or anything" in there.

Speaking to a hand-picked group of British school children, Major Bolden said the US government was not hiding alien life in Area 51 - but said it does exist.

"There is an Area 51. It's not what people think. I've been to a place called that but it's a normal research and development place. I never saw any aliens or alien spacecraft or anything when I was there".

However when asked by a ten year old child if he believed in aliens. The response by the Major was that: "I do believe that we will someday find other forms of life or a form of life, if not in our solar system then in some of the other solar systems - the billions of solar systems in the universe".

Comment: See: Area 51 secrets revealed in unclassified documents

Putin: Russia seeks international relations based on equality, has no interest in hegemony

Sputnik
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:30 UTC

"Russia does not claim some sort of hegemony, it does not claim some kind of ephemeral superpower status," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

According to the president, Moscow has started to protect its interests in a determined way, but is not acting aggressively.

"We have begun to more persistently and consistently defend our interests," he stated. "We want relations based on equality with all members of the international community."

Moscow's relations with the US, the EU and NATO deteriorated since 2014 amid the Ukrainian crisis and Russia's reunification with Crimea. The West accused Russia of participating in the armed conflict in Ukraine and began boosting its military presence in Europe.

Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations, expressing concern over NATO's expansion and increased military presence in Eastern Europe near Russia's western borders.

Russia and Greece sign $2bn construction deal on Turkish Stream pipeline

RT
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:26 UTC

Russia and Greece have signed a deal to create a joint enterprise for construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline across Greek territory, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said. The pipeline will have a capacity of 47 billion cubic meters a year.

The construction costs are about €2 billion and the parties will sign a roadmap Friday, Novak told RIA at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

The Greek extension of the Turkish Stream project is called the South European pipeline in the memorandum signed on Friday, Novak said, adding that the construction will start in 2016 and be completed by 2019.

The two countries will have equal shares in the company, Novak said.Construction of the pipeline in Greece will be financed by Russia, and Athens will return the money afterward.

UN Commission clears Israel of war crimes for bombing elementary schools

Sydney Barakat
AntiMedia
Tue, 16 Jun 2015 17:48 UTC

The High Level International Military Group—a UN-commissioned group made up of 11 former chiefs of staff, generals, senior officers, and political leaders from the U.S., Germany, Spain, Holland, the U.K., Italy, Australia, and Colombia—dismissed all charges and allegations of Israel's war crimes after investigating last summer's attack on Gaza.

The report was issued on Saturday following the group's five-day trip to the region in March. It ultimately claims that Israel acted responsibly and with much restraint when the IDF bombarded Gaza last summer during what is known as "Operation Protective Edge." The report even refers to the attack as "legitimate."

An excerpt from the report states the following:

"We were well aware of the allegations made by some governments, the United Nations, human rights groups and the media, that Israel acted outside the laws of armed conflict in Gaza. Some have suggested that the IDF lacked restraint or even deliberately targeted innocent civilians."

Nevertheless, the investigators drew the following conclusion:

"We examined the circumstances that led to the tragic conflict last summer and are in no doubt that this was not a war that Israel wanted. In reality Israel sought to avoid the conflict and exercised great restraint over a period of months before the war when its citizens were targeted by sporadic rocket attacks from Gaza. Once the war had begun, Israel made repeated efforts to terminate the fighting. The war that Israel was eventually compelled to fight against Hamas and other Gaza extremists was a legitimate war, necessary to defend its citizens and its territory against sustained attack from beyond its borders."

The report appears to be nothing close to the results of a "fact-finding mission," as was claimed, but rather a written defense of the Israeli government.

French and Belgian asset freezes are a grotesque violation of Russia's sovereignty

Alexander Mercouris
Russia Insider
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:25 UTC

News about the freezing of Russian assets in France and Belgium will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the Khodorkovsky case.

The asset freezes will almost certainly be relaxed or lifted over the new few weeks because they are legally dubious.

To understand why, it is necessary to explain the nature of the case.

Comment: The pathological persistence of those 'pulling the strings' in the West is mind-boggling. Check out: Russia may counteract Belgian asset seizure with same

Conflict of interest - not just about money

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick
drmalcolmkendrick.org
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 21:09 UTC

There is a major spat going on at present around Conflict of Interest. The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) appears to be backtracking on the issue, and they are talking about relaxing their rules.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) is very 'heavy' on Conflict of Interest (COI) and has been somewhat critical of the NEJM approach - to say the least. See 13^th June edition of BMJ.

To give you a flavour, one article in the BMJ has the title 'Backtracking on conflicts of interest: a very bad idea... A series of articles in the New England Journal of Medicine has questioned whether the conflict of interest movement has gone too far in its campaign to stop the drug industry influencing the medical profession. Here three former NEJM editors respond with dismay.'

My sympathies are almost entirely with the three former editors: Robert Steinbrook, Jerome Kassirer and Marcia Angell. I think bias, and resultant distortion of medical research is a massive problem.

So massive that it has become difficult to believe most of the research that is published. I am not alone in my concerns. Here is what Richard Horton (Editor of the Lancet), has to say on the matter:

'The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.'

A half of medical scientific research may be untrue... think on the implications of that for a moment. However, before you focus all your efforts on trying to expose financial conflicts of interest as the solution to all problems, you need to take several steps back.

Think tank: U.S. the primary instigator of tension with Russia

Sputnik
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:45 UTC

The United States is the primary instigator of the current tension with Russia, Pere Ortega, the head of the Barcelona-based Delas Center for Peace Studies, told Sputnik Wednesday.

"The only one who benefits from all this pressure is the United States, which is the one straining the situation because it weakens Western Europe... Russia shouldn't fall into this trap," Ortega said.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would reinforce its nuclear potential in 2015 by adding more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles. Following the announcement, NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg vowed to respond to Russia's "assertive" rhetoric by building up a military presence in Eastern Europe.

"The escalation is verbal at the moment," but it is serious enough to "say that the leadership of both Russia and the United States especially and NATO, are in a very dangerous escalation [of the situation], which could put the threat of confrontation between Russia and Western Europe back on the table."

Russia's relations with NATO became strained after the start of the Ukrainian armed conflict in 2014. The bloc accused Russia or participating in the conflict, and froze contacts with Moscow. Russia, in turn, has denied any involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, calling it a purely internal affair.

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Puppet Masters

$Blns Israeli gas grab at heart of 15 years war on Gaza

Federal court rules top Bush-era officials can be sued for post-9/11 detentions

Prof. Stephen Cohen: Powerful people in the West and in Kiev do not want peace in Ukraine

NASA chief admits to existence of mysterious Area 51

Putin: Russia seeks international relations based on equality, has no interest in hegemony

Russia and Greece sign $2bn construction deal on Turkish Stream pipeline

UN Commission clears Israel of war crimes for bombing elementary schools

French and Belgian asset freezes are a grotesque violation of Russia's sovereignty

Conflict of interest - not just about money

Think tank: U.S. the primary instigator of tension with Russia

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