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NATO airstrike in Khost, Afghanistan, leaves 4 civilians dead

Javed Hamim Kahar & Muhammad Haroon
Pahjwok Afghan News
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:45 UTC
Image
© Unknown
NATO's weapon of mass destruction
A district development council head was killed in a militant attack in southeastern Paktia province while four people -- believed to be civilians -- lost their lives in a NATO drone strike in southern Khost on Tuesday.

Paktia police chief, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zaman told Pajhwok Afghan News the development council head for Syed Karam district Mirza Mohammad was shot dead by militants in the morning.

He said the militants were in a car and managed to flee after the attack. An Investigation into the incident is underway. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the assassination.

According to another report, four people believed to be civilians were killed in a drone strike in Ali Sher district of Khost province, the governor's spokesman said. Mubarez Mohammad added the four people were traveling in a car when they came under attack.

Comment: Meanwhile, Afghan, US, and NATO sign long-awaited pact to ensure war continues past 2014. The continuation of this illegal occupation will undoubtedly cost the lives of many more innocent Afghan civilians and U.S. troops. The psychopaths in power don't care about anyone else but themselves. When will the madness end?

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Safe

Over the past year, U.S. banks closed 1,600 branches to cut costs, redirect assets


Azcentral.com
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 21:07 UTC
U.S. banks cut their branches by 1.7 percent over the past year amid shifting customer choices. Arizona's branch total has been stable, reflecting population gains and the lack of major mergers here.
Image
© Getty Images
Banks closed more than 1,600 branches across the nation over the past year, as companies directed more attention to dealing with customers through digital channels.

The 1.7-percent reduction in the number of branches between mid-2013 and mid-2014 was reported by researcher SNL Financial and based on reports filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. SNL said the consolidation was fueled by banks' desire to cut costs and divert more resources to digital services. In some states, mergers and acquisitions resulted in the shuttering of some duplicative branches.

It was the largest annual branch reduction since the FDIC began reporting electronic records in 1994, according to SNL Financial's report. It brings the nation's branch count back down to 1996 levels. But it didn't dim the ability of banks to attract deposits. Overall deposits hit $10.1 trillion at midyear, up from $7.6 trillion when the number of branches peaked in 2009.

Among the big three banks operating in Arizona, Chase cut 15 branches nationally while Wells Fargo added 17, according to SNL Financial. Both moves represented changes of less than 0.5 percent in the branch totals of those two institutions. But Bank of America shaved 305 offices or 5.6 percent of its nationwide total.
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MIB

Pentagon sends counterinsurgency advisors to train fascists in Ukraine


RT
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:46 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Roman Baluk
A U.S. serviceman (front), accompanied by Ukrainian soldiers, takes part in military exercises outside the town of Yavoriv near Lviv, September 19, 2014
The Pentagon has supplied at least eight counterinsurgency and military-planning experts to Kiev to help Western-backed Ukrainian forces engaged in tense conflict with Russian-speaking populations in the east.

The US military staff will be split into two units. One team will help Ukraine with planning tactics, techniques, and other procedures, while gathering information on needs of Kiev security forces, Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez told the The Washington Times. The other team will assess how the US could offer medical assistance to Ukrainian forces.

The staff arrived in Kiev on Thursday and Friday, the Times reported, and are in the process of evaluating the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

"With support from Ukraine and the State Department, the security assessment team will also explore the potential of expanding our current Office of Defense Cooperation in Kiev, to enhance Ukraine's military capabilities and interoperability," Lainez said.

The operatives arrived in Kiev as US and allies completed several days of military training exercises in western Ukraine. A total of 1,300 troops from 15 nations, either active NATO members or candidate-countries, participated in the drills this month known as 'Rapid Trident,' which ended on Friday.

Comment: Aside from the US already investing $5 billion to destabilize Ukraine, the US is not only sending their terrorists to train Nazis, but a bill, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, is on the table to directly supply weapons to the fascists in Ukraine. It's clear the US is not supportive of any peace or cease fire.

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USA

Outrageous! U.S. Judge holds Argentina in 'contempt of court' over non-payment to 'vulture capitalists'


BBC
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:57 UTC
Image

A sign in Buenos Aires reads "Argentina or Vulture Funds'

Comment: Argentinian government bonds were bought at criminally low prices by US banks and other shady financial outfits under US-backed Argentinian dictatorships and client regimes in the 1990's. Government bonds were sold to these outfits for 30 cents on the dollar, with the promise of being paid back 100cents at a later date. Two of these 'vulture capitalists' are refusing to accept anything less than 100cents, and the corrupt US judicial system is backing them to the hilt and demanding that these two be paid before any of the other investors who are willing to accept a much more reasonable return.


Argentina has deposited $161m (£99m) in bond interest payments with the state-controlled Nacion Fideicomisos bank, in an effort to skirt US court rulings.

The country had previously kept its funds with US-controlled Bank of New York Mellon.

The move comes a day after a US judge ruled Argentina was in "contempt of court".

That ruling stated Argentina must repay two US hedge funds before repaying other bond holders.

"By making this deposit, Argentina confirms once again its unshakeable commitment to meet its obligations to bondholders," said Argentina's finance ministry in a statement.

Argentina is attempting to pay its bondholders in a second tranche of debt known as the Par series so as to avoid defaulting once more.
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Vader

Afghan, US, and NATO sign long-awaited pact to ensure war continues past 2014


RT
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:54 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Omar Sobhani
U.S. troops keep watch at the site of a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul August 10, 2014.
The new President of Afghanistan Ghani Ahmadzai has paved the way for US troops to stay in the country. He has signed a security deal with the US, which will see just under 10,000 American soldiers present, to help train and assist Afghan forces.

National security adviser Hanif Atmar and U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham signed the bilateral security agreement in a televised ceremony at the presidential palace, a day after Ghani was inaugurated as the new Afghan president.

"As an independent country, based on our national interests, we signed this agreement for stability, goodwill, and prosperity of the our people, stability of the region and the world," Ghani said in a speech after the signing, according to Reuters.

Aside from the 10,000 US soldiers, another 2,000 NATO troops will also boost numbers. They will stay on after the US and its allies formally end their combat mission at the end of 2012.

Comment: The US and NATO successfully managed to continue their war in Afghanistan. The slaughter will continue unabated.

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Eye 1

Poroshenko praises Nazi soldiers, awards them with medals for bravery

Damir Marinovic
Russia Insider
Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:41 UTC
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The news about neo-Nazi Azov Battalion keeps pouring in. In this video Ukrainian president Poroshenko decorates its members for valor.

In the first part of the video one can see Ukrainian soldiers wearing helmets with Nazi swastika and SS insignia, next to wearing Nazi Wolfsangel (wolf trap) symbol on their army coats.

Second part of the video shows Poroshenko praising neo-Nazis as Ukrainian heroes and awarding them with medals for their bravery.

We just wonder for what kind of Azov heroic deeds Poroshenko is proud of?

Is it related to neo-Nazis openly describing torture techniques, organising "human safaris", participation of foreign mercenaries or shocking revelations about tortured and killed anti-Kiev POWs?

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Vader

Obama has skipped the majority of his daily intelligence briefings


RT
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:09 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Kevin Lamarque

Comment: It shouldn't be that surprising to read this particular bit of news. Obama, like all recent presidents, gets his marching orders from above and regardless of what the "intelligence" states, he's going to do what he's told.


US President Barack Obama has attended only 42 percent of his daily intelligence briefings since assuming office more than five and a half years ago, according to a new study.

The Government Accountability Institute, a watchdog non-profit organization, calculated the number of times Obama has received daily oral intelligence briefings, or the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB). The group found that as of Sept. 29, the President had attended 42.4 percent of PDBs during his first term and 41.3 percent during his second term.

The report came days after Obama told 60 Minutes that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has "underestimated" the strength of Islamic State, the militant group currently the target of US-led airstrikes on its holdings in Syria and Iraq.

"I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria," Obama said.
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Star of David

Mossad will begin recruiting agents online


RT
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:53 UTC
Image
© Image from mossad.gov.il
Israeli intelligence has given up to modern trends and introduced an online questionnaire for would-be spies. Unlike the businesslike CIA or MI5 web draft campaigns, Israelis are luring volunteers with mystery halo always shrouding Mossad's activities.

Mossad has become one of the last intelligence agencies in the world that vouchsafed to recruiting volunteer spies online, facilitating the induction process for those who always wanted to be a secret agent, but considered it unattainable.

The agency's online recruiting website, available in Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Persian and Russian, looks like a creatively designed product, wrapping spy activities in bright and attractive packaging. The intelligence outlet calls on to potential candidates to "create history," make their life and "join the invisible to make the impossible."

The internet resource contains general information about Mossad, its history, directors and an initial online job application. In case a candidate is invited for an interview, there are three more detailed forms to be completed by hand: a medical confidentiality/information authorization, security questionnaire and another security questionnaire for a spouse/partner.

The promotional campaign of the Mossad recruitment site also implied production of a short video depicting the secretive activities of the agency's members, dealing with high-tech equipment such as drones and communication devices, called to inspire espionage enthusiasts to join Mossad ranks.


Comment: Mossad may not technically be an "assassination squad", but they certainly have no qualms about carrying out targeted assassinations and basically operating as a rogue terrorist group:

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Propaganda

Washington Post called out on its anti-Venezuela propaganda

Larry Birns, Frederick B. Mills & Ronn Pineo
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Lucas Jackson
Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro Moros addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Sept. 24, 2014.
By Larry Birns COHA Director; Frederick B. Mills, COHA Senior Fellow and Professor at Bowie State University; and Ronn Pineo, COHA Senior Fellow and Professor at Towson University

The Washington Post editorial, "Venezuela doesn't deserve a seat on the UN Security Council," combines ad hominem attack with misinformed smears. The Post's views appear to have been formed by uncritically accepting all of the propaganda offered up by the right-wing opposition press in Venezuela.

It should be beneath the Post to denigrate the recently elected Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, as an "economically illiterate former bus driver." Despite his lack of training in economics, Maduro is right that Venezuela is facing what amounts to internal economic warfare, with business hoarding, currency fraud, and contraband trading. The economic policies of Maduro, and those of former President Hugo Chávez, have certainly been experimental, even trial and error, but these policies have also reduced poverty by half and expanded access to the social goods long denied to millions of ordinary Venezuelans. These are real gains in terms of human development that are all too easily dismissed by the Post.


Comment: That's because real gains in terms of human development have no bearing on what the Washington Post publishes and what side they take in any story.


The Post might have mentioned that some of the "economic pragmatists" it champions are precisely those whose ideologically driven bad advice sent the global economy in its recent free fall. Deregulation of the financial sector was an epical disaster, in the United States, in Latin America, and around the world, yet orthodox economic advisors continue to call for free market solutions to any and all economic problems. This is really bad advice, and people around Latin America realize it: three-quarters of the region is governed by left-wing governments, which appropriately see a larger role for the state in guiding their economic fortunes.

Comment: In the geopolitical rat-race called US hegemony, any lie, any narrative, and any form of subterfuge is permitted, endorsed and implemented. The bullshit article from the Washington Post, referenced in the analysis above, is just one tool of many that the US employs to achieve the ends it seeks.

See also:

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Stormtrooper

Obama and the media propaganda machine created fake terror group 'Khorasan' to justify bombing Syria

Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain
The Intercept
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 18:55 UTC
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As the Obama Administration prepared to bomb Syria without congressional or U.N. authorization, it faced two problems. The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the "homeland." A second was the lack of legal justification for launching a new bombing campaign with no viable claim of self-defense or U.N. approval.

The solution to both problems was found in the wholesale concoction of a brand new terror threat that was branded "The Khorasan Group." After spending weeks depicting ISIS as an unprecedented threat - too radical even for Al Qaeda! - administration officials suddenly began spoon-feeding their favorite media organizations and national security journalists tales of a secret group that was even scarier and more threatening than ISIS, one that posed a direct and immediate threat to the American Homeland. Seemingly out of nowhere, a new terror group was created in media lore.

The unveiling of this new group was performed in a September 13 article by the Associated Press, who cited unnamed U.S. officials to warn of this new shadowy, worse-than-ISIS terror group:
While the Islamic State group [ISIS] is getting the most attention now, another band of extremists in Syria - a mix of hardened jihadis from Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Europe - poses a more direct and imminent threat to the United States, working with Yemeni bomb-makers to target U.S. aviation, American officials say.

At the center is a cell known as the Khorasan group, a cadre of veteran al-Qaida fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan who traveled to Syria to link up with the al-Qaida affiliate there, the Nusra Front.

But the Khorasan militants did not go to Syria principally to fight the government of President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials say. Instead, they were sent by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to recruit Europeans and Americans whose passports allow them to board a U.S.-bound airliner with less scrutiny from security officials.
AP warned Americans that "the fear is that the Khorasan militants will provide these sophisticated explosives to their Western recruits who could sneak them onto U.S.-bound flights." It explained that although ISIS has received most of the attention, the Khorasan Group "is considered the more immediate threat."


Comment: Another boogeyman the American government created to scare Americans so that they will accept the bombing of yet another nation and killing innocent civilians. You'd think by now most Americans would have wised up to this tired act, but since the majority of people are Right Wing Authoritarians they have an overwhelming propensity to believe what their government tells them.

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