Has anyone noticed the virtual silence on Libya among western news agencies? If Libya was today quiet, and without any conflict, we could believe the Lies on Sky and friends incorporated that a dictator had been toppled and his enraptured people freed, living now in peace, preparing for democracy. But this is not the case...

What I am about to say comes as no surprise at all for those of us who know Libya, know Colonel Gaddafi and who warned NATO about the monumental mistake being made before the invasion began, as indeed was the case before Iraq in this column back in 2003. NATO, however, in its greed, just does not learn.

As the IAEA invents lies about Iran, and includes in its team elements who are wholly unqualified for the task to monitor the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme,* we see the same old story being repeated. It begins with the lies about a bloodthirsty dictator or a dangerous regime posing a threat to the USA or its allies, the UNO is bullied into naming NATO as the world policeman, skulduggery and blackmail then replace diplomacy, after which NATO bombs the crap out of a country, murdering men, women and children alike, using DU, using cluster munitions, and breaching every rule in the book. Then in swing the kangaroo courts to clear up the mess and lo and behold, a country's sovereign funds have been literally stolen, its infra-structures destroyed with NATO military hardware, rebuilding contracts are handed out to bolster the economies of the invading forces and a nice puppet regime is installed.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called for closer cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in regional and international issues.

Putin called for enhanced Russo-Iranian partnership at the 10th meeting of the prime ministers of the intergovernmental Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Russian daily Izvestia reported.

He also endorsed remarks made by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi earlier at the November 6-8 meeting. Salehi had censured the double-standard policy adopted by the global arrogance vis-à-vis the international issues.

"Indeed, as you said those arrogant world powers supported the old regimes in North Africa but... they also supported the North African revolutions as well, the ones that overthrew the old regimes," said the Russian premier.

President Barack Obama said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed Afghanistan, Iran and Syria, among other topics, in their meeting on Saturday.

Obama said he and Medvedev "reaffirmed our intention to work and shape a common response so we can move Iran to follow its international obligations when it comes to its nuclear program."

Russia's government has been cool to any new U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran. On Tuesday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report Tehran had worked on developing a nuclear bomb design and may still be conducting such research.

Obama gave no details about the discussion on Syria. On Afghanistan, he said they discussed the importance of regional powers supporting the government in Kabul.

The real reasons behind the overthrow of Moammar Gadaffi's government are exposed in this episode of 'The Truth Is Viral'. Under orders from a cabal of international bankers, the CIA trained and equipped al-Qaeda terrorists and set them on a path of revolution that ended with a new Libyan Central Bank and the black flag of al-Qaeda flying over the Benghazi courthouse. Assisted by NATO forces and Qatari Army Soldiers and supplied with weapons by the Qataris, these al-Qaeda terrorists succeeded in removing the Libyan leader from power before brutally murdering him. Now, as the "legitimate" government of Libya, the NTC is waging a genocide against black Libyans, African guest workers, members of Gadaffi's tribe and his supporters. You'll never see this in the mainstream media.

Lawmakers possess many perks. However, legal insider trading may be the biggest fringe benefit of all.

A study by Professor Alan Ziobrowski at Georgia State University concluded legislators in Congress make "significant abnormal returns." Moreover, active traders outperform corporate executives. "We have every reason to believe they are trading on information that the rest of us don't have," reports Ziobrowski.

Here's an interesting 60 Minutes investigation which aired last night:

[Editor's note: Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has had many of his articles published by in the mainstream press over the past 15 years. Over the past few weeks however, all mainstream press outlets (including the supposedly 'liberal' ones) that were contacted with a view to publishing this particular piece refused to do so, for unspecified reasons.]

The picture on the left shows Matthew Gould, second from right, British Ambassador to Israel, at a meeting of the Leeds Zionist Federation that was also the opening of the Leeds Hasbarah Centre. The Leeds Zionist Federation is part of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, motto "Speaking Up for Israel." A collection was made at the meeting to send packages to members of the Israeli Defence Force.

On 29 May 2011 The Jerusalem Post reported: "British Ambassador Matthew Gould declared his commitment to Israel and the principles of Zionism on Thursday".

Remember this background, it is unusual behaviour for a diplomat, and it is important.

The six meetings between British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould and Minister of Defence Liam Fox and Adam Werritty together - only two of which were revealed by Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell in his "investigation" into Werritty's unauthorised role in the Ministry of Defence - raise vital concerns about a secret agenda for war at the core of government, comparable to Blair's determination to drive through a war on Iraq..

This is a detective story. It begins a few weeks ago, when the Fox-Werritty scandal was first breaking in the media. I had a contact from an old friend from my Foreign Office days. This friend had access to the Gus O'Donnell investigation. He had given a message for me to a trusted third party.

Whistleblowing in the surveillance state is a difficult activity. I left through a neighbour's garden, not carrying a mobile phone, puffed and panted by bicycle to an unmonitored but busy stretch of road, hitched a lift much of the way, then ordered a minicab on a payphone from a country pub to my final destination, a farm far from CCTV. There the intermediary gave me the message: what really was worrying senior civil servants in the Cabinet Office was that the Fox-Werritty link related to plans involving Mossad and the British Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould.

Controversial bills that would slash foreign funding for dovish Israeli groups have been put on hold after objections by some Cabinet ministers, the state's attorney general and foreign governments, an Israeli official said Monday,

The bills, approved Sunday by a ministerial committee, would limit donations by foreign governments or international bodies to a single group to 20,000 shekels, or about $5,200, a year. They would also slap a 45 per cent tax rate on the contributions.

Opponents see the measure as an attempt to muzzle dovish groups critical of the government - and as such, as a dangerous infringement on Israeli democracy. Since their initial approval, the measures have figured prominently in newspaper columns and on radio talk shows.

"The government fears for the security of its regime, not the security of the state," wrote Boaz Okon in Monday's edition of Yediot Ahronot newspaper. "It therefore exploits its power of legislation to shut people's mouths."

Taking the opposing stance, the paper's leading commentator, Nahum Barnea, wrote that "not only right-wingers, but almost every Israeli feels discomfort when a state such as Norway, Britain or the European Union funds left-wing political activity within Israel's borders."

Portland Police arrested more than 50 people on Sunday as the authorities cleared out and blocked off encampments of the Occupy movement that has been protesting nationwide over economic issues.

The Portland actions were among several by authorities around the country over the weekend to try to close down encampments occupied by demonstrators for weeks.

Encampments sprang up in several cities in recent weeks in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York in September to protest what demonstrators see as economic inequality and undue political influence by corporate interests.

In Portland the authorities had issued an eviction notice, and then moved to empty the camps and fence them off. Many protesters left on their own after the notice, but others chose to stay.

A police statement said: "the Portland Police Bureau has cleared both Chapman and Lownsdale Square parks. During today's operation, more than 50 arrests were made of people who either wanted to be arrested or refused to leave Chapman Square."

There were no injuries during the park clearance, police said.

But demonstrators regrouped in the streets, blocking traffic for hours in a standoff with ranks of Portland Police officers in riot gear.

Are they desperate enough to pull off another false flag? Set off an atomic bomb in Chicago and blame it on Iran. We know Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons... nobody is counting those because they refuse IAEA inspections... we know there is at least one nuclear weapon still floating around somewhere in the US intelligence network from that little exercises with the nuclear armed aircraft and somewhere along the way one went missing. The money junkies are desperate. Are they desperate enough to nuke the USA to get their war? Of course they are... they did it to New York. They suckered the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor and tried to act like it was a surprise.

These people have NO SOUL. Its worship of money and a reverence for other peoples blood to be spilled across the battlefields of the world... that's whats going on here... there may be a false flag, we don't know... but what there is going to be without a shadow of a doubt is a draft. In the USA they have to... because the American people are NOT going to volunteer to fight a war that they know is based on lies.

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said "All wars are based on deception."

What worked in ancient times more than ever applies now, given instant ways of communicating globally and super-weapons Washington and Israel threaten to use like hand grenades.

In Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe mentioned "the face that launched a thousand ships." He referred to Helen of Troy (formerly of Sparta).

To win her back, Greeks launched 1,000 warships. According to Greek mythology, the Trojan War followed.

Homer's Odyssey and Iliad recounted it. So did Roman poets Virgil and Ovid. Homer said it lasted 10 years. Mythological goddess quarrels started it.

Real, mythological, or fabricated reasons work equally well. Then it was Athena and Hera v. Aphrodite. Today it's "war on terror" fear tactics.

Near its end, Greeks entered Troy in a Trojan Horse. America's perhaps was 9/11. Both were duplicitous acts used to ravage targeted enemies.

The expression, "beware of Greeks bearing gifts" originated from back then. According to Homer and other Greek literature, they burned the city, captured Trojan women, rescued Helen, and returned her to Menelaus, her husband.

Fear, misinformation, and deceit work best enlisting popular support, whether in ancient China, Greece or modern times. Television today supplies it.

From its earliest days, it lied, distracted, entertained, and provided a platform for corporate America to control thought, manipulate public opinion, and sell people junk they don't need.

In a June 1950 commencement speech, Boston University President Daniel Marsh said, "If the (television) craze continues....we are destined to have a nation of morons."