Imperial Hubris

Western diplomats report Israel behind bogus Iran nuclear data leak

"The leak's principal impact, a European diplomat told The Guardian, was that it compromised the UN nuclear watchdog's ongoing investigation. Despite increasingly heated rhetoric from Tel Aviv and Washington, the international community still lacks evidence that Iran has been working on nuclear weapons since 2003. However, the IAEA’s publication of summary intelligence on an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program helped the US and EU to impose a new round of sanctions against Tehran. Now, the 'amateurish hoax' is said to threaten the position of the IAEA's inspectors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWestern diplomats report Israel behind bogus Iran nuclear data leak

Glenn Greenwald: AP’s dangerous Iran hoax demands an accounting and explanation

"AP helped perpetrate a dangerous hoax, and owes an explanation and accounting for what took place, including identifying the 'officials from a country critical of Iran's atomic program' who made false claims about what this is. To begin with, the graph AP touted as reflecting some sort of nefarious, highly threatening and complex nuclear calculation is, in fact, widely available all over the Internet in the most innocuous places. At the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS), Yousaf Butt and Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress on Wednesday night wrote: 'Graphs such as the one published by the Associated Press can be found in nuclear science textbooks and on the Internet.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: AP’s dangerous Iran hoax demands an accounting and explanation

UK government pays Libyan dissident’s family £2.2 million over MI6-aided rendition

"Ministers have agree to pay more than £2m to the family of a prominent Libyan dissident abducted with the help of MI6 and secretly flown to Tripoli where he was tortured by the security police of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Having sought for years to avoid the agents of the Libyan dictator, Sami al-Saadi was forced on board a plane in Hong Kong with his wife and four young children in a joint UK-US-Libyan operation. They were then flown to Libya, where all of them were initially imprisoned. Saadi was held and tortured for years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUK government pays Libyan dissident’s family £2.2 million over MI6-aided rendition

US War Crimes Bring Huge War Profits

"It seems like just yesterday that President Clinton's moralizing humanitarian interventionists were taking the US into an illegal war in partnership with the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (a 1990s version of current US partner, the 'Free Syrian Army'). Now in Kosovo, where you can stroll down Bob Dole Street and Bill Clinton Blvd. while admiring the hulking and grotesquely cartoonish statue of our 42nd president, the 'liberators' of that tiny mafia state have returned to collect their rewards for bathing the Balkans in blood." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS War Crimes Bring Huge War Profits

U.S.-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell Into Jihadis’ Hands

"The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government. The experience in Libya has taken on new urgency as the administration considers whether to play a direct role in arming rebels in Syria." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S.-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell Into Jihadis’ Hands

Obama recognizes Syrian rebels as ‘legitimate representative’ of the people

"President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the Syrian opposition was now 'the legitimate representative' of the Syrian people, in the most significant US intervention yet in the brutal civil war. Though a minority, the Al-Qaeda-linked rebel group Al-Nusra has been one of the most effective rebel groups fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, raising concerns that hardline extremists are hijacking the 21-month-old revolt. Senior officials however said that despite the move on recognizing the opposition, Washington sticks by its policy of not directly arming the rebels." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama recognizes Syrian rebels as ‘legitimate representative’ of the people

Obama approved F-16 fighter jets as gift to Egypt

"Despite instability due to the new Islamic government in Egypt, the US is sending more than 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt as part of a $1 billion foreign aid package. The first four Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets are set to arrive in Egypt on Jan. 22, an unnamed source told Fox News. The new Islamic president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, has recently made political moves that have fueled anger and criticism both in the West and among secular Egyptians. Mass demonstrations are currently taking place in Cairo and several other Egyptian cities against Morsi’s decision to hold a referendum on a pro-Islamist constitution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama approved F-16 fighter jets as gift to Egypt

U.S. warns Egypt of return to ‘bad old days’ of Mubarak

"The United States warned Tuesday there must be no return to the 'bad old days' of the Mubarak era in Egypt, as the army there called for talks to resolve a crisis over a constitutional referendum. 'We continue to have deep concerns about the situation in Egypt,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. Tens of thousands of protesters filled Cairo streets to demonstrate for and against the referendum called for Saturday on a draft constitution backed by President Mohamed Morsi and his Islamist allies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. warns Egypt of return to ‘bad old days’ of Mubarak

Europeans outraged over the US using Patriot Act for worldwide spying

"Researchers from the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law say that legislation enacted to allegedly protect the security of US citizens has in the process eroded privacy protections on a global scale. As more and more companies and individuals across the world begin relying on cloud computing to store information digitally on remote servers, the Dutch researchers warn that the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allow for those files to be fed into the US intelligence community, disregarding privacy safeguards in place for others around the globe." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropeans outraged over the US using Patriot Act for worldwide spying

Pentagon to expand intelligence gathering to rival CIA

"The Pentagon, in a major expansion of its intelligence gathering activities, plans to assemble an espionage network rivaling the Central Intelligence Agency in size. Citing unnamed US officials, the Washington Post said that as part of the project, US military officials will send hundreds of additional spies overseas. They also plan to overhaul the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which has focused primarily during the past decade on activities related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the expansion is complete, the DIA is expected to have as many as 1,600 intelligence 'collectors' around the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon to expand intelligence gathering to rival CIA