Secret HistoryS


Map

How Britain wrought destruction on the Palestinian homeland

Ramzy Baroud
Al Jazeera
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
Zionists claimed Palestine
© Getty Images"The Zionists claimed Palestine and renamed it 'Israel'"
When I was a child growing up in a Gaza refugee camp, I looked forward to November 2. On that day, every year, thousands of students and camp residents would descend upon the main square of the camp, carrying Palestinian flags and placards, to denounce the Balfour Declaration.

Truthfully, my giddiness then was motivated largely by the fact that schools would inevitably shut down and, following a brief but bloody confrontation with the Israeli army, I would go home early to the loving embrace of my mother, where I would eat a snack and watch cartoons.

At the time, I had no idea who Balfour actually was, and how his "declaration" all those years ago had altered the destiny of my family and, by extension, my life and the lives of my children as well.

All I knew was that he was a bad person and, because of his terrible deed, we subsisted in a refugee camp, encircled by a violent army and by an ever-expanding graveyard filled with "martyrs".
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Top Secret

In 1974 CIA said Israel had A-bombs that could hit its neighbors

Grant Smith
AntiWar.com
Mon, 19 Mar 2018 20:50 UTC
New York Times story from January 26, 1978 on the declassification of the “Summary and Conclusions
© The New York TimesNew York Times story from January 26, 1978 on the declassification of the “Summary and Conclusions” of SNIE 4-1-74
Newly released details link Israel's highly enriched uranium to Pennsylvania plant

The Central Intelligence Agency believed that by 1974 Israel could strike all of its bordering countries with nuclear-tipped two-stage Jericho missiles. Israel was viewed by the CIA as a proliferation threat via sales of turn-key nuclear weapons systems to its close allies such as apartheid South Africa. This was corroborated in a 2012 news reports revealing Israeli sales contracts. Although the now-defunct Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) demurred, the CIA also believed that a substantial quantity of weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium (HEU) was diverted from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) in Apollo, Pennsylvania to Dimona for weapons production. These stunning new revelations are contained in the top-secret report Special National Intelligence Estimate, "Prospects for Further Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons" otherwise known as the 1974 SNIE.

The National Security Archive at George Washington University obtained a heavily redacted version of the SNIE in 2008. Earlier the CIA accidentally released an excised version of the 1974 SNIE conclusions, which became the basis for the New York Times front page story, "C.I.A. said in 1974 Israel had A-Bombs." Late in 2017, responding to a broad year 2009 IRmep FOIA request for a variety of Israeli nuclear weapons program related files, the CIA released the least-redacted SNIE version yet (PDF) which included additional details on the Israeli and Indian nuclear weapons programs, including a map of the estimated range of Israel's Jericho nuclear missile. Also review side-by-side comparisons of the 2008 and 2017 releases of the 1974 SNIE. (PDF)

Israeli Jericho Missile map
1 Israeli Jericho Missile, 1974 SNIE released 12/07/2017, page 24
The CIA believed both India and Israel were "potential sources of assistance relevant to nuclear weapons proliferation." The CIA did not believe that Israel would openly help foreign countries with nuclear weapons development because they were "highly dependent on the U.S. for critical military items." But exports of complete "turnkey" delivery systems including nuclear warheads could help the Israelis keep the Jericho missile production line from shutting down. The CIA stated in a previously redacted paragraph that, "The Israelis have close ties both to Taipei and to South Africa and we cannot rule out bilateral or trilateral cooperation in the nuclear weapons field."
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Nuke

Looking back: Fault lies on both sides after 25 years of NK negotiations

Mike Chinoy
The Cipher Brief
Thu, 15 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
KimTrump
© extra.ieSoon it could be all behind them.
With the prospect of Donald Trump holding a summit with Kim Jong Un in the near future, it's worth looking back at the history of American negotiations with North Korea over the past 25 years.

The conventional wisdom says that whenever any agreement has been reached, North Korea has cheated. But the reality is more complex. Not all negotiations have failed - and the collapse of agreements during that time has been as much the responsibility of Washington as of Pyongyang.

Start with the Agreed Framework of October 1994. North Korea agreed to freeze its reactor at Yongbyon. In return, the Clinton administration promised heavy fuel oil, support for the construction of proliferation-resistant light-water reactors, and a gradual overall improvement in relations.

The North Koreans did indeed freeze Yongbyon for eight years, a time when they could otherwise have produced enough weapons-grade plutonium for dozens of bombs. Soon after the deal was signed, however, the Republicans, deeply skeptical both of the Framework and of President Bill Clinton, took control of Congress. In the following years, they repeatedly blocked funding for key elements of the deal, making it difficult for Washington to provide what it had promised.

Comment: It is a diplomatic failure to not be sensitive to and familiar with the cultural tendencies of other nations. With hubris, the US assumes all think and react like it does, therefore reaching out for further understanding is not necessary.

There is only one party at fault here.

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Eye 2

SOTT Focus: My Lai Slaughter: 50 Years Ago Today US Military Massacred A Village And Tried To Cover It Up

Christine Maguire
RT
Fri, 16 Mar 2018 15:25 UTC
my lai
Fifty years ago, a platoon of US soldiers stormed the quiet hamlet of My Lai in South Vietnam, unleashing a barrage of gunfire, grenades and sexual assault which left as many as 500 dead.

On March 16, 1968 an army unit entered My Lai. The troops were ordered to lay waste to anything "walking, crawling or growing" on a search and destroy mission that lasted four hours and left the village razed to the ground. Not even crops or livestock were spared. The atrocities of My Lai would remain largely hidden for 20 months, until vivid images and accounts of the massacre appeared in newspapers, shocking Americans and sparking massive anti-war protests.

THE MY LAI MASSACRE

US Infantry battalion Charlie Company entered the area under the erroneous understanding that Viet Cong guerrilla fighters were present. Instead, they found unarmed civilians, many of whom were children, women and the elderly.

Unleashing a hail of firepower from M-16s and an M79 grenade launcher, the soldiers rounded up villagers and killed them, not before sexually assaulting as many as 20 women and teenagers. The horror only began to die down when army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr landed between the soldiers and the villagers, threatening to fire at the troops.
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Cross

Shroud of Turin Research Project: Interview with Dr. Alan Adler, scientist responsible for investigating 'Blood on the Shroud'

Dr. Peter J. Shield
Ancient Origins
Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
Shroud of Turin
© CC BY-SA 3.0The Shroud of Turin: modern, digitally processed image of the face on the cloth [left] and the full body image as seen on the shroud [right].
In 1978 a large team of American scientists under the auspices of the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) spent over two years prior to embarking for Turin, planning a large number of specific data gathering tests, on the sacred Shroud of Turin, believed by millions of Catholics around the world to be the shroud in which the body of Christ was wrapped following his crucifixion.

In Turin, the expedition was joined by colleagues from around the world. This was to be the first extensive scientific examination of the shroud and remains to this date the most extensive study of the shroud ever undertaken. To support the effort, they carried several tons of equipment and scientific instruments. The team arrived in Turin in early October 1978. For five full days beginning October 8th and lasting through the 13th, the STURP team studied the Shroud around the clock in a room at the Royal Palace adjoining the Turin Cathedral.

Comment: See also: Historian: The Turin Shroud is a Fake....and It's One of 40

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Archaeology

Archaeologists at Oxford have unearthed vast discoveries which reveal what life was like in medieval times

David Keys
The Independent
Sun, 04 Mar 2018 20:41 UTC
medieval tile
© Oxford ArchaeologyArchaeologist Lisa Kennard with a medieval tile
Archaeologists have been unearthing the realities of daily life at Oxford University - as they were experienced some seven centuries ago.

In one of Britain's largest-ever urban excavations, investigators have found the writing equipment, refectory cutlery and even ceramic beer mugs used by students and teachers back in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

They've even been able to rediscover what Oxford's medieval scholars were eating - a very wide range of food including beef, lamb, goose, salmon, trout and eggs.

For the first time for many centuries, archaeologists were able to see substantial parts of one of the university's greatest medieval teaching institutions - a friary established by Franciscan friars in 1224.
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Question

Mystery of alien-like skulls from medieval Europe revealed after 50 years


RT
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 00:06 UTC
Specimens with strong (left), some (middle) and no (right) skull deformation.
© State collection for Anthropology and Paleoanatomy Munich, GermanySpecimens with strong (left), some (middle) and no (right) skull deformation.
Scientists have finally cracked the mystery of the 1,500-year-old egg-shaped skulls found in Bavaria almost five decades ago. The 'alien-like,' elongated crania were unlike anything seen in northern Europe at that time.

The technique used to form the women's spiked scalps, scientifically known as artificial cranial deformation (ACD), could have only been applied during childhood when the bones were still forming and the skull was still soft and malleable. Egg-shaped skulls, as with most body modifications in ancient times, were seen as a sign of beauty, status or nobility, the researchers reported. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

To unlock the mystery of the egg-shaped skulls, researchers looked at the DNA of 36 adults, 14 of whom had altered skulls, from six different Bavarian cemeteries. They also took DNA samples from a Roman soldier and from two women from Crimea and Serbia.

Comment: Elongated skulls and the practise of cranial deformation has been found all over the world covering wildly different time spans; who were the people with the naturally elongated heads? And why did people seek to imitate them?

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Footprints

CIA agents who were 'on the ground' prior to invading Iraq, knew it was going to be a disaster

Aaron Gell
Task & Purpose
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 16:50 UTC
UStroopsIraq
© Getty ImagesUS Troops in Iraq
Months before war was declared, a covert team of CIA paramilitaries and Green Berets slipped unnoticed into northern Iraq. They surveyed the battlespace, struck a deal with the enemy - and foresaw the disaster to come.

On March 20, America will be celebrating - if that's the right word for it - the 15th anniversary of our invasion of Iraq, one of the most well-executed projections of U.S. military might in history. Despite fears that we were underestimating Saddam Hussein's capabilities (not to mention an elaborate $250 million dress rehearsal during which the team playing the enemy quickly decimated the U.S. fleet), a coalition including American, British, Australian and Polish armed forces managed to seize control of the country within a mere 21 days, with relatively few casualties on either side.

Leaving aside the difficulties presented by the subsequent occupation, Operation Iraqi Freedom was an impressive feat of war fighting, arguably every bit the "cakewalk" that one widely mocked column predicted it would be.

But while military textbooks attribute the campaign's success to careful planning and coordination, an ability to improvise, superior personnel, air supremacy, and the deployment of overwhelming force, less commonly acknowledged is the role of a minuscule advance team made up of CIA special activities division forces and special forces operators, who spent nine full months in Iraq before the Tomahawks started flying, carefully preparing the battle space. Meanwhile, they also got a preview of the U.S. military's misguided view of the Iraqi Army, which would later lead to the undoing of so much good work.
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Archaeology

Fifth century mummy found to have human DNA but different anatomy


RT
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 15:44 UTC
mummy peru
© Jaime Maussan / Facebook
Russian researchers have analyzed tissue samples from one of the mysterious alien creatures uncovered in Peru last year. The mummy, with an elongated skull and only three fingers, has excited ufologists since its discovery.

Preliminary analysis of the tissue samples revealed that the mummy, found in a tomb near the Nazca lines of Peru and named Maria, is a "humanoid being" with 23 pairs of chromosomes - so far, so human. It dates back to about the 5th century AD, a full millennium before Europeans discovered America.

A professor of the National Research University in St. Petersburg, Konstantin Korotkov, and Natalya Zaloznaya, radiologist and specialist in computer tomography at the International Biological Systems Institute, collected the tissue samples in Peru and brought them back to St. Petersburg for analysis.
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Magnify

1978: The year today's world was made

Neil Clark
RT
Wed, 07 Mar 2018 14:48 UTC
Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski walk in Camp David 09 December 1978
© AFPIsraeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski walk in Camp David on 9 December 1978
It was the year of Three Popes, the battle between a dove and a hawk in the US, protests against the Shah of Iran and a fateful error by the UK Labour prime minister. The events of 40 years ago have had a lasting global impact.

On January 1 1978, the world appeared to be a relatively stable place. What could broadly be described as moderate governments held sway in the West. Global economic conditions were improving following the 1973 oil price shock.

There were renewed hopes of Middle East peace.

By the start of 1981 however, the situation had changed dramatically. Détente between East and West was over. Neoliberalism had asserted itself in the US and UK. The economic situation had taken a turn for the worse, with mass unemployment returning to developed countries. The Middle East was again a region of much instability, with a full-scale war between Iraq and Iran.
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