Middle East

Iraq still using James McCormick’s fake bomb detectors at checkpoints

"A policeman in Baghdad knows the bomb detector he uses is fake, and will do virtually nothing to save anyone’s life, but he has his orders. 'If I were given a mop and told that it detects bombs in cars, I would still do it without any hesitation,' he told AFP, asking not to be identified. 'The device is a 100-percent failure and we know that, but it is imposed on us; we cannot disobey direct orders,' he added. James McCormick, a British businessman, made an estimated £50 million ($76 million/59 million euros) selling the 'bomb detectors,' based on a novelty golf ball finder, to Iraq and other countries. He was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in jail for fraud." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIraq still using James McCormick’s fake bomb detectors at checkpoints

Pentagon considers arming Syrian rebels again

"The United States is taking a fresh look at whether to provide weapons to Syria’s rebels after having rejected the idea previously, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday. At a news conference with his British counterpart Philip Hammond, Hagel was asked if the US government was rethinking its opposition to arming the rebels and replied: 'Yes.' After the White House acknowledged last week that US intelligence agencies believe the Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons on a small-scale, speculation has mounted that President Barack Obama could reverse his opposition to arming the rebels." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon considers arming Syrian rebels again

Turkey Said to Sign Oil Deal With Kurds, Defying Baghdad

"Iraq’s Kurdish region has signed a landmark agreement with Turkey to supply it directly with oil and gas, two people familiar with the matter said. The accord was signed last month when Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in Ankara. The Kurdish government will sell oil and gas directly to Turkey in a deal that so far has bypassed the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which has warned the Kurds not to sign separate energy accords. Turkey may also take the Kurdish government’s stake in concessions operated by Exxon Mobil Corp. on the enclave’s border with the rest of Iraq." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTurkey Said to Sign Oil Deal With Kurds, Defying Baghdad

Banking Crisis Awakens Hopes for Cyprus Reconciliation Between Turks and Greeks

"In 2008, when the Greek part of the island adopted the euro, the Turkish inhabitants of the northern part of the island felt duped. And, of course, this makes their schadenfreude regarding the southern part's current economic woes all the greater. 'With the referendum, the Greeks left us out in the cold. They wanted to profit from the euro by themselves,' says Efem Okiran, who runs a flower store in Gemikonagi. But now his neighbors can see what good that's done for them -- and where they've ended up. 'For 10 years, they made money thanks to the EU,' Okiran adds. 'And now they're supposed to bleed for 10 years.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBanking Crisis Awakens Hopes for Cyprus Reconciliation Between Turks and Greeks

Michael Scheuer: Limbaugh, Levin, and Hannity eager to see more dead Americans

"You will never hear directly from the mouths of Rush, Mark, and Sean what they are implicitly telling Americans; that is, that they hate virtually everything the Founding Fathers thought and prescribed for U.S. foreign policy — in short hand, do not stick your nose in other peoples’ affairs in which you have no interest — and that they do not mind how many Americans get killed as long as Washington keeps pursuing the interventionist foreign policy they believe benefits their friends overseas and their benefactors at home." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Scheuer: Limbaugh, Levin, and Hannity eager to see more dead Americans

Can You Name the One Nation in the World with a Higher Corporate Tax Rate than the United States?

"I’ve made the point before that the United States foolishly imposes the highest corporate tax rate of all developed nations. But that obviously means it is theoretically possible for there to be a nation in the developing world that has a higher corporate tax rate. It’s not China, which is nominally still a communist nation (though apparently with more of a pro-business mentality than the United States). It’s not Venezuela or Argentina, corrupt and thuggish Latin American nations. And it’s not Zimbabwe, a statist kleptocracy in Africa. The one nation in the world which is worse than the United States is the United Arab Emirates, with a corporate rate of 55 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCan You Name the One Nation in the World with a Higher Corporate Tax Rate than the United States?

UK businessman found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq

"A businessman has been found guilty of a multimillion-pound fraud involving the sale of fake bomb detectors to Iraq and around the world. A jury at the Old Bailey found Jim McCormick, 57, from near Taunton, Somerset, guilty on three counts of fraud over a scam that included the sale of £55m of devices based on a novelty golfball finder to Iraq. They were installed at checkpoints in Baghdad through which car bombs and suicide bombers passed, killing hundreds of civilians. Last month they remained in use at checkpoints across the Iraqi capital. McCormick also sold the detectors to Niger, Syria, Mexico and a UN agency in Lebanon." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUK businessman found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq

Cowardice Redefined: The New Face of American Serial Killers

"A little after 10:00 p.m., and a serial killer is getting ready to make his move. He has watched and waited for this moment for some time. He watches his victim get out of a cab and dig in his pockets for money. Two of his children run out to the porch to greet their daddy. The killer presses a button and watches as the victim, the taxi driver and the two children are vaporized. Other people in the house, the man's wife, parents and three other children are badly injured and burnt by the high explosive. The house next door partially collapses, killing an elderly woman and injuring her grandson. But this is just the beginning." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCowardice Redefined: The New Face of American Serial Killers

Syrian Rebels Claim Government Using Chemical Weapons; Hagel Takes Dictation

"Syrian rebels have been entrusted by US intelligence to collect information to show that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own citizens and, surprise, they have come back with the 'evidence' the warmongers have sought to satisfy rebel demands for a US attack. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, in a stunning about-face, has dutifully reported back to Congress these 'findings' as fact and in so doing has shifted the US war machine from 'neutral' into 'drive'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyrian Rebels Claim Government Using Chemical Weapons; Hagel Takes Dictation

Michael Scheuer: The Idea That They’re Attacking Us Because Of Our Freedom Is Insane

"We should have went to Afghanistan and won the war. We went to Afghanistan, spent 13 years and got chased out by guys with weapons from the Korean War. The Islamists started this war, they explained to us as clearly as General Giap and Ho Chi Minh explained to us why they were fighting us and we have ignored it. Mrs. Clinton has ignored it, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama. The idea that they're attacking us because of our culture is insane. We are now waging a war against them culturally. We're trying to impose democracy, women's rights, parliamentary systems on a people who don't want it. They're going to fight that." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Scheuer: The Idea That They’re Attacking Us Because Of Our Freedom Is Insane