Monthly Archives: January 2013

Africa’s Resources Beckon

"For the USA, its ambitions have a new locus in Africa. These wars, as in Libya and Mali, have not been joined by this trio of imperialists because of terrorism threatening Europe or the U.S. This is, for one thing, about controlling African governments and enabling the extraction of wealth from resources in this region of Africa. It was Gaddafi's (Libya's) sympathy and outreach toward these regions and peoples that helped bring about his downfall. He stood in the way of western business interests, and his ideas for controlling the resources for Africans could not be abided by the western business interests and their allies in government." Continue reading →

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Obama ‘guidebook’ for targeted killings to include exemption for CIA drone strikes in Pakistan

"The administration of President Barack Obama is completing a counterterrorism manual that will establish clear rules for targeted-killing operations, The Washington Post reported. But citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the guidebook would contain a major exemption for the CIA’s campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan. This exemption will allow the Central Intelligence Agency to continue striking Al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan for a year or more before the agency is forced to comply with more stringent rules spelled out in the document. Between 2,627 and 3,457 people have been reportedly killed by US drones in Pakistan since 2004." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama ‘guidebook’ for targeted killings to include exemption for CIA drone strikes in Pakistan

Who Says You Can Kill Americans, Mr. President?

"Presidents had never before, to our knowledge, targeted specific Americans for military strikes. There are no court decisions that tell us if he is acting lawfully. Mr. Obama tells us not to worry, though, because his lawyers say it is fine, because experts guide the decisions and because his advisers have set up a careful process to help him decide whom he should kill. He must think we should be relieved. Oddly, under current law, Congress and the courts are involved when presidents eavesdrop on Americans, detain them or harshly interrogate them — but not when they kill them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWho Says You Can Kill Americans, Mr. President?

Cameron targets terrorist ‘haven’ in Mali

"The Prime Minister said that Britain is now engaged in 'generational struggle' against al-Qaeda affiliates like the group behind last week’s Algerian hostage crisis, whose leadership is based in Mali. The National Security Council will today discuss boosting British assistance to the French intervention in Mali, he told MPs. Islamic militants who are threatening the government there raise the risk of 'a new terrorist haven developing on Europe’s doorstep,' Mr Cameron said. Mr Cameron also said that ministers could 'look again' at defence cuts and spend more on counter-terrorism capabilities and Special Forces like the SAS and SBS." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCameron targets terrorist ‘haven’ in Mali

Julian Assange calls WikiLeaks movie a ‘massive propaganda attack’

"Speaking to students at Britain’s prestigious Oxford University by videolink from the Ecuadoran embassy in London, Assange revealed that he had acquired a copy of the script for 'The Fifth Estate', due to be released in November. 'It is a lie upon lie. The movie is a massive propaganda attack on WikiLeaks and the character of my staff,' the Australian Internet activist told the audience at the university’s Oxford Union debating club. Assange, 41, also blasted the movie for 'fanning the flames' of war against Iran by implying that the Islamic republic was working on a nuclear bomb." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJulian Assange calls WikiLeaks movie a ‘massive propaganda attack’

Muslim Brotherhood: Another Meme Unraveled

"In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, 'To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers.' And even then, it was noted that the Brotherhood held close links with groups the US recognizes and lists as terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Al Qaeda. The report gives a disturbing foreshadowing of US support that would eventually see the Muslim Brotherhood rise as both a political and terroristic power across the Arab World, after decades of hard-fought attempts to crush the sectarian extremist organization. In fact, the 2007 article specifically noted that the US partnership could 'destabilize governments in Jordan and Egypt'." Continue reading →

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Michael Scheuer: In Mali, the interventionist establishment already is lying about “unintended consequences”

"When the relentless, war-causing interventionists in those places decided to remove Gadhafi in favor of a 'democratic revolution' that did not exist in Libya, or in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Pakistan, Syria or anywhere else in the Arab world, they ushered in everything that has happened since, and if they knew anything about history, the region, and the Islamist movement they would have known it. How could these genius Western interventionists know that they were deliberately opening Pandora’s Islamist Box? A few facts that should have been obvious to anyone with a bit of commonsense make a claim of 'unintended consequences' preposterous in the extreme." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Scheuer: In Mali, the interventionist establishment already is lying about “unintended consequences”