Russia, Turkey and the Great Game: Changing teams

by Eric Walberg 

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s visit to Turkish last month shows that Turkey and Russia are rapidly developing close economic and political ties, notes Eric Walberg

 

For all intents and purposes, Turkey has given up on the European Union, recognising it as a bastion of Islamophobia and captive to US diktat. As Switzerland bans minarets and France moves to outlaw the niqab, the popular Islamist government in Istanbul moves in the opposite direction -- supporting the freedom to wear headscarfs, boldly criticising Israel and building bridges with Syria. This is nothing less than a fundamental realignment of Turkish politics towards Turkey’s natural allies -- the Arabs ... and the Russians.

The Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 9/11 Truth Movement

by Elizabeth Woodworth

In the past year, in response to emerging independent science on the 9/11 attacks, nine corporate, seven public, and two independent media outlets aired analytic programs investigating the official account. Increasingly, the issue is treated as a scientific controversy worthy of debate, rather than as a "conspiracy theory" ignoring science and common sense. This essay, by Elizabeth Woodworth, presents these media analyses in the form of 18 case studies.

Eight countries – Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Russia – have allowed their publicly-owned broadcasting stations to air the full spectrum of evidence challenging the truth of the official account of 9/11.
This more open approach taken in the international media – I could also have included the Japanese media – might be a sign that worldwide public and corporate media organizations are positioning themselves, and preparing their audiences, for a possible revelation of the truth of the claim that forces within the US government were complicit in the attacks – a revelation that would call into question the publicly given rationale for the military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Finkelstein Banned in Berlin: A Democracy that isn't a Democracy

Anis Hamadeh, February 18, 2010

Dr. Norman Finkelstein wrote several books in the field Israel/Palestine/Holocaust and is one of the most sagacious analysts of our time. Similar to Professor Ilan Pappe, he formulates sharp criticism in respect to past and presence of the State of Israel, and both use very rational argumentations and are reliable researchers. Especially since the mass murders in Jenin and in Gaza, these two men and many other Jews (also in Germany) speak out, because they do not want to be counted among supporters of violence by a state that arrogates to itself the right to speak and act in the name of all Jews.

As is known now, both the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation have canceled Finkelstein talks that were already scheduled in Berlin. While the foundation close to the Green party did not even bother to explain its behavior, the board of the foundation close to the Left party explained its drawback in a media info with the empty statement that such a talk would be "explosive" ("brisant").

Northern Hemisphere Snow Extent Second Highest on Record - Watts Up With That?

According to Rutgers University Global Snow Lab, last week’s Northern Hemisphere winter snow extent was the second highest on record, at 52,166,840 km2.  This was only topped by the second week in February, 1978 at 53,647,305 km2.  Rutgers has kept records continuously for the last 2,227 weeks, so being #2 is quite an accomplishment.

According to Rutgers University data through mid February, Northern Hemisphere winter snow extent has been increasing at a rate of over 100,000 km2 per year.

Joseph Stiglitz: Why we have to change capitalism

In the Great Recession that began in 2008, millions of people in America and all over the world lost their homes and jobs. Many more suffered the anxiety and fear of doing so, and almost anyone who put away money for retirement or a child's education saw those investments dwindle to a fraction of their value.

A crisis that began in America soon turned global, as tens of millions lost their jobs worldwide – 20m in China alone – and tens of millions fell into poverty. 

The origins of Political Ponerology

source: Sott.net

Beginning immediately after World War II and continuing in the decades after the imposition of Soviet dictatorship on the countries of Eastern Europe, a group of scientists - primarily Polish, Czech, and Hungarian - secretly collaborated on a scientific study of the nature of totalitarianism. Blocked by the State Security Services from contact with the West, their work remained secret, even while American researchers like Hervey Cleckley and Gustave Gilbert were struggling with the same questions.¹ The last known living member of this group, a Polish psychologist and expert on psychopathy named Andrzej Łobaczewski (1921-2007), would eventually name their new science - a synthesis of psychological, psychiatric, sociological, and historical studies - "ponerology", a term he borrowed from the priests of the Benedictine Abbey in the historic Polish village of Tyniec. Derived from poneros in New Testament Greek, the word suggests an inborn evil with a corrupting influence, a fitting description of psychopathy and its social effects.

Most of what we know about this research comes from precious few sources. Łobaczewski's sole contact with the researchers was through Stefan Szuman (1889 - 1972), a retired professor who passed along anonymous summaries of research between members of the group. The consequences for being discovered doing this type of forbidden research were severe; scientists faced arrest, torture, and even death, so strict conspiracy amongst their little group was essential. They safeguarded themselves and their work by sharing their work anonymously. This way, if any were arrested and tortured, they could not reveal names and locations of others, a very real threat to their personal safety and the completion of the work. Łobaczewski only shared the names of two Polish professors of the previous generation who were involved in the early stages of the work - Stefan Błachowski (1889 - 1962) and Kazimierz Dąbrowski (1902 - 1980).² Błachowski died under suspicious circumstances and Łobaczewski speculates that he was murdered by the State police for his part in the research. Dąbrowski emigrated and, unable to find work in the States, took a position at the University of Alberta in Canada. A close reading of Dąbrowski's published works in English shows the theoretical roots of what would become ponerology.³

Leading Austrian Economist: Some Conspiracy Theories Are True

Quelle: Washington's Blog
Many people are starting to appreciate the Austrian school of economics, and its recognition that unrestrained bubbles lead to economic crashes.
But many of those who respect Austrian economics dismiss all "conspiracy theories" as being crazy.
But in fact, leading Austrian school economist Professor Murray N. Rothbard wrote in 1965:

It is also important for the State to inculcate in its subjects an aversion to any "conspiracy theory of history"; for a search for "conspiracies" means a search for motives and an attribution of responsibility for historical misdeeds. If, however, any tyranny imposed by the State, or venality, or aggressive war, was caused not by the State rulers but by mysterious and arcane "social forces," or by the imperfect state of the world or, if in some way, everyone was responsible

The Fun-Theory

We believe that the easiest way to change people's behaviour for the better is by making it fun to do. We call it The fun theory.



thanks to those creative people in Sweden !

Turkey seizes its moment By Ramzy Baroud

The assessment by veteran Israeli human-rights and political campaigner Uri Avnery of the recent Israel-Turkey diplomatic and political row - that "the relationship between Turkey and Israel will probably return to normal, if not to its former degree of warmth" - seems sensible and daring. In my view, however, it is also inaccurate.

Simply put, there is just no going back.

In a recent article entitled "Israel Must Get Used to the New Turkey", Suat Kiniklioglu, deputy chairman of external affairs for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party wrote, "Israel
 
appears to be yearning for the golden 1990s, which were the product of a very specific situation in the region. Those days are over and are unlikely to come back even if the Justice and Development Party (AKP) ends up no longer being in government."

This assessment seems more consistent with reality.

High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy Proven Effective

"My doctor doesn't believe in vitamins." Since when is medicine based on belief?

(OMNS, January 5, 2010) The medical literature has virtually ignored 75 years of physician reports and laboratory and clinical studies on successful high-dose vitamin C therapy.
Effective doses are high doses, often 1,000 times more than the US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Daily Reference Intake (DRI). It is a cornerstone of medical science that dose affects treatment outcome. This premise is accepted with pharmaceutical drug therapy, but not with vitamin therapy. Most unsuccessful vitamin C research has used inadequate, low doses. Low doses do not get clinical results.
Investigators using vitamin C in high doses have consistently reported excellent results. High doses were advocated almost immediately after ascorbic acid was isolated by Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, M.D. (1893-1986).

Germany's Unilateral Sanction against Itself and the Unspoken Moral of the Story - by Shirin Shafaie

by MR ZINE the monthly review
German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently claimed at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Germany has always called for transparency and cooperation with Iran, but unfortunately Iran has not responded.  Merkel also made it clear that her government will pursue unilateral economic sanctions in case China blocks an otherwise unanimous Security Council plan for more sanctions against Iran.¹
However, Jens Nagel, Managing Director of the Federation of German Wholesale and Foreign Trade (BGA), believes unilateral German sanctions against Iran to be totally incomprehensible because they will open Germany's lucrative slice of the Iranian market to Asian and European competitors.  According to BGA President Anton F. Boerner, Germany could be the biggest loser of a unilateral sanction policy against Iran because it could lead to the loss of 10,000 German jobs, in mostly medium-sized German companies, many of them family-owned businesses which depend heavily on trade with Iran. ²

Rothschild Australia and E3 International to take the lead in the global carbon trading market

Sydney, Australia - Rothschild Australia and E3 International are set to become key players in the international carbon credit trading market, an emerging commodity market that analysts estimate could be worth up to US$150 billion by 2012.
In a move that will re-shape the fledgling emissions trading market, Rothschild Australia and E3 International today announced their intention to launch the Carbon Ring Consortium -- an investment vehicle that will provide companies in the Asia Pacific Region with an innovative way of learning about and understanding their risks in the new carbon market.
The Carbon Ring Consortium is the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific Region, and is the first in a series of private investment vehicles that Carbon Ring Pty Ltd will launch in coming years.
Richard Martin, the chief executive officer of Rothschild Australia said,

A Statement from Jenny McCarthy & Jim Carrey: Andrew Wakefield, Scientific Censorship, and Fourteen Monkeys

Dr. Andrew Wakefield is being discredited to prevent an historic study from being published that for the first time looks at vaccinated versus unvaccinated primates and compares health outcomes, with potentially devastating consequences for vaccine makers and public health officials.
It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers reporting on the retraction of a paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues. 
The retraction from The Lancet was a response to a ruling from England’s General Medical Council, a kangaroo court where public health officials in the pocket of vaccine makers served as judge and jury. Dr. Wakefield strenuously denies all the findings of the GMC and plans a vigorous appeal.
Despite rampant misreporting, Dr. Wakefield’s original paper regarding 12 children with severe bowel disease and autism never rendered any judgment whatsoever on whether or not vaccines cause autism, and The Lancet’s retraction gets us no closer to understanding this complex issue.

******* Women Soldiers Break the Silence

by Ira Chernus            commondreams
remark substituded by lupo cattivo: the expression Israel, Israeli a.s.o.. by ******** because the same should be valid for EVERY COUNTRY

What's it like to be a woman serving in the Israeli occupation force in the West Bank? Is a woman's experience as an occupier any different than a man's? Yes indeed, say some women who have just broken their silence and offered a glimpse into the grim reality of the occupation.
"A female combat soldier needs to prove more," one explains. "A female soldier who beats up others is a serious fighter...When I arrived there was another female [who] was there before me...Everyone spoke of how impressive she is because she humiliates Arabs without any problem. That was the indicator. You have to see her, the way she humiliates, the way she slaps them, wow, she really slapped that guy."
This "impressive" woman is not a rare exception. "We discovered that the girls try to be even more violent and brutal than the boys, just to become one of the guys," says Dana Golan, director of Breaking the Silence, the ******* organization that has just released a report with testimony from some 50 ******* women who are veterans of the occupation.

Obama and ‘Redistributive Change’

Forget the recession and the “uninsured.” Obama has bigger fish to fry.
The first seven months of the Obama administration seemingly make no sense. Why squander public approval by running up astronomical deficits in a time of pre-existing staggering national debt?

• Why polarize opponents after promising bipartisan transcendence?
• why create vast new programs when the efficacy of big government is already seen as dubious?

But that is exactly the wrong way to look at these first seven months of Obamist policy-making.

Take increased federal spending and the growing government absorption of GDP. Given the resiliency of the U.S. economy, it would have been easy to ride out the recession. In that case we would still have had to deal with a burgeoning and unsustainable annual federal deficit that would have approached $1 trillion.

Instead, Obama may nearly double that amount of annual indebtedness with more federal stimuli and bailouts, newly envisioned cap-and-trade legislation, and a variety of fresh entitlements. Was that fiscally irresponsible? Yes, of course.

The Bankruptcy of the United States is Now Certain

by Porter Stansbury  silverbearcafe
It's one of those numbers that's so unbelievable you have to actually think about it for a while... Within the next 12 months, the U.S. Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt. And that's not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion.
Put the two numbers together. Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That's an amount equal to nearly 30% of our entire GDP. And we're the world's biggest economy. Where will the money come from?

How did we end up with so much short-term debt? Like most entities that have far too much debt - whether subprime borrowers, GM, Fannie, or GE - the U.S. Treasury has tried to minimize its interest burden by borrowing for short durations and then "rolling over" the loans when they come due. As they say on Wall Street, "a rolling debt collects no moss." What they mean is, as long as you can extend the debt, you have no problem. Unfortunately, that leads folks to take on ever greater amounts of debt... at ever shorter durations... at ever lower interest rates. Sooner or later, the creditors wake up and ask themselves: What are the chances I will ever actually be repaid? And that's when the trouble starts. Interest rates go up dramatically. Funding costs soar.
The party is over. Bankruptcy is next.

Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer, Scientists Warn

by david gutierrez /natural news
A report issued by the International Electromagnetic Field Collaborative and endorsed by 43 scientists from 13 countries has reviewed the evidence linking cell phone use to brain tumors, and refuting the methodology of a forthcoming industry-funded study expected to give the phones a clean bill of health.

"I fear we will see a tsunami of brain tumors, although it is too early to see that now since the tumors have a 30-year latency," study author Lloyd Morgan said. "I pray I'm wrong, but brace yourself."

Poisoning of Mankind: Blood Types, Copper Deficiency, Evolution Theory, Global Warming, Shroud of Turin & Illuminati

source: unveilingthem

The abomination that causes desolation (depopulation) spoken of through the prophet Daniel:  Eugenics program has been in operation for generations now.  The final extermination phase for the last remaining (Western) nations was set up in 2005 for the planned Flu Vaccine.  As of 2005 the Blood pH of Blood Types A, B & O was set up to life-critical levels in preparation for this precise moment in time. The vaccines, planned long ago, are formulated to push the blood pH past the critical points, in order to kill and disable MANY.  (Note:  Lead Flu Vaccine Maker Novartis Attended Bilderberg 2009)

The Blood Typing Farce:  Nearly 95% of the population, who have blood type ‘O’ and ‘A’ which are the thinnest blood and lowest blood volume, and blood type ‘B’, have copper deficiency, due to slow poisoning from blood thinners, alkaline & acidic chemicals (any non-neutral), copper binders, and copper antagonists, that they have completely and thoroughly saturated the food and food chain and water sources with.  These are in addition to wireless radiation and vaccine poisons – particularly the mercury, which are quicker and more effective methods for depleting copper, and are primary methods for expediting our death.  These poisons have altered and damaged the proteins/DNA of the blood and other tissues of the body, with the damage (and deficiency) passing down through the generations. Starting in 1996, the copper depletion rate was significantly increased and coincides with the onslaught of GMO foods, chemtrails, wireless technology, increase of diseases and debilitating symptoms, weakened immune system, and decreasing lifespan. 
Copper is essential.....

Vaccinations are causing impaired blood flow (Ischemia), Chronic Illness, Disease and Death for us all

This is a stern, yet humble, warning to all citizens of the globe. It is now proven that we are all being harmed by repeat vaccinations. This evidence must be circulated broadly in light of the imminent Fall, 2009 plan to turn North American schools into MASS vaccine centers to institute triple flu vaccine to us all. Children will be the first to be injected with experimental flu vaccines. The entire vaccine industry, as it turns out, has been experimental. We did not know that we were causing damages – for us all.   (source: vactruth)

In case you are wondering what will happen, the answers are contained in this article. The same thing will happen as has been happening with all vaccines. Clinically silent ischemic brain and body damages will happen. The only difference is that you can now see these damages, with your own eyes, in the here and now, in real time, and in your family photos going back fifty or more years if you have to.
ALL vaccines are causing immediate and delayed, acute and chronic, waxing and waning, impairments to blood flow, throughout the brain and body. This IS causing us all to become chronically ill, sick, and causing brain damages along a continuum of clinically silent to death. This is causing ischemic “strokes”. In some respects, this is also “aging.” Since the damages are microscopic, we cannot see them as they occur. However, we can now see the neurological aftermath of these damages – within hours and days of vaccination – all vaccinations.

In Revelations 18:4 by the epistle of Saint John we are told:

Haiti's future glitters with gold

Canadian company to explore for gold in Haiti

Port-au-Prince.– A Montreal-based mining company has announced plans to explore the mountains of north-eastern Haiti for gold and copper. Majescor Resources Inc will explore the site in a partnership with Simact Mining Holding Inc, a Long Island, New York-based consortium of Haitian-American investors.Majescor President Marc-Andre Bernier said the company is encouraged by explorations that Eurasian Minerals Inc is conducting at a nearby site.

Gold and copper were found in the Caribbean nation decades ago, but Haiti's instability and lack of infrastructure have discouraged investment. A Barrick Gold Corp site about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast in the Dominican Republic is estimated to contain 20.4 million ounces of gold.

LA MIEL, Haiti–Keith Laskowski bounds up the freshly-cut dirt road like a child at an amusement park. He stops at a patch of reddish rock, whacks at it with his miner's pick and slips a chunk into his pocket.
"This road exposure's great," he says, then laughs almost giddily.

The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti by F. William Engdahl

President becomes UN Special Envoy to earthquake-stricken Haiti.

A born-again neo-conservative US business wheeler-dealer preacher claims Haitians are condemned for making a literal ‘pact with the Devil.’

Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Bolivian, French and Swiss rescue organizations accuse the US military of refusing landing rights to planes bearing necessary medicines and urgently needed potable water to the millions of Haitians stricken, injured and homeless.

Behind the smoke, rubble and unending drama of human tragedy in the hapless Caribbean country, a drama is in full play for control of what geophysicists believe may be one of the world’s richest zones for hydrocarbons-oil and gas outside the Middle East, possibly orders of magnitude greater than that of nearby Venezuela.

Haiti, and the larger island of Hispaniola of which it is a part, has the geological fate that it straddles one of the world’s most active geological zones, where the deepwater plates of three huge structures relentlessly rub against one another—the intersection of the North American, South American and Caribbean tectonic plates.

Don't Get Fooled Again - Calling all bloggers – Help beat the gag on the BBC

You can help beat Trafigura’s gag on the BBC by embedding this Youtube video on your website…

…and linking to this pdf!
Here’s why…
Late last week the BBC chose to delete from its website a damning Newsnight investigation into the Trafigura scandal, following legal threats from the company and its controversial lawyers, Carter-Ruck.

HAARP, Haiti, Brzezinski and the NWO

On October 25, 2005, I wrote an article for Online Journal, headlined Is it the weather or government terror, detailing government manipulation of weather, including earthquakes, for terror and destruction, mentioning that “your local weatherman was surely not up to pointing this out,” and adding “let me help with the forecast, past, present and long-range. Well, déjà vu all over again seems to have struck in Haiti on January 12.

When I wrote that article, I was disturbed over the effects of Katrina, on August 25, 2005, not to mention the Indonesian tsunami preceding it on December 26, 2004. It seemed to me it would take a helluva lot more than the weatherman to explain such cosmic events within a year, four months and a day. Today, I ask you to read my first article to familiarize yourself with HAARP, the acronym for the government’s High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, which is about more than weather, but rather US Weapons of Meteorological Mass Destruction.

As I write that, I can hear the sirens of “conspiracy theory” going off on the airwaves as if a thief had broken into the dark hole of the Pentagon and was filling his pockets with all the secrets of these darker ops. Well, perhaps.

The Re-Education of Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski

By William Dean A. Garner 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2010




Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Center for Strategic and International Studies

1800 K Street

Washington, DC





Dear Dr. Brzezinski,


My name is William Dean A. Garner and I’m a NY Times bestselling ghostwriter and editor of many books. For example, I edited Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, among dozens of others. I’m also a former scientist (biophysics), US Army Airborne Ranger (C 1/75 Ranger Regiment), and corporate mercenary for international private military firms I designed and helped build. I did 211 overseas missions in extremely hostile territories over nine years, escorting important people so they could have a voice of peace, freedom and democracy, and a voice against fascism and dictatorial rule. 



• Please know that I am building a great case against you and your cartel, something the world will hear, even if you murder me and my family. 



As a Jeffersonian Patriot, I am prepared to do whatever it takes to defend Thomas Jefferson’s great cause, which is the firm establishment and maintenance of Peace, Freedom and Democracy all over this planet.



Could Vancouver 2010 be the next 9/11? (UPDATED 12AM EST 1-28-10)

WARNING: I now believe I have reasonable grounds to suspect there may be a “false flag” attack carried out during the Olympics in Canada. The games will take place in Vancouver and Whistler from Feb. 12^th until Feb. 28^th. Below, I have compiled the following suspicious activity by searching and analyzing the news from various media sources and by speaking with citizens in Canada themselves.

In my opinion, an attack on the Olympics while it is being highly guarded would be the perfect way to bring in more police state measure and to more fully integrate the US and Canada into a functioning North American Union. But the question remains, is that really what is happening right now?

I hope you will look at the information and make up your own mind as to what pattern you see unfolding, any information provided is for analytical and educational purposes only and is meant to raise public awareness of current events and the potential dangers they could present.

WARNING SIGNS:
1.)Two tons out of 6,000 tons of Ammonium Nitrate, (a material used in making powerful explosives) have gone missing from a shipment to a storage facility in the Vancouver area from a company that was recently bought out for $22 billion by some of the world’s largest financial companies.

Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows

By David Reilly

"Bloomberg" -- The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among conspiracy theorists who stockpile ammo, bottled water and peanut butter. After this week’s congressional hearing into the bailout of American International Group Inc., you have to wonder if those folks are crazy after all.
Wednesday’s hearing described a secretive group deploying billions of dollars to favored banks, operating with little oversight by the public or elected officials.

We’re talking about the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose role as the most influential part of the federal-reserve system -- apart from the matter of AIG’s bailout -- deserves further congressional scrutiny.

The kidnapping of Haiti -by John Pilger-

In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes the "swift and crude" appropriation of earthquake-ravaged Haiti by the militarised Obama administration. With George W. Bush attending to the "relief effort" and Bill Clinton the UN's man, The Comedians, Graham Greene's dark novel about exploted Haiti comes to mind.
The theft of Haiti has been swift and crude. On 22 January, the United States secured “formal approval” from the United Nations to take over all air and sea ports in Haiti, and to “secure” roads. No Haitian signed the agreement, which has no basis in law. Power rules in an American naval blockade and the arrival of 13,000 marines, special forces, spooks and mercenaries, none with humanitarian relief training.

The airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, is now an American military base and relief flights have been re-routed to the Dominican Republic.

Jews Against Zionism by Stephen Lendman / December 8th, 2009

They’re numerous, outspoken, and range from secular to orthodox to one group calling itself “True Torah Jews Against Zionism.”
They believe that “traditional” Jews don’t support Zionism, an ideology they call “contrary to Jewish law and beliefs and the teachings of the Holy Torah.” They say Zionism:

• advocates “a political and military end to the Jewish exile;”
• fosters “pseudo-Judaism” based on secular nationalism;
• coercively seeks “armed materialism” in place of “a Divine and Torah centered understanding;”
• endangers all Jews worldwide;
• wants to disassociate Jews and traditional Judaism from ideological Zionism; and
• calls Israel a “Zionist State,” not a Jewish one.

They:

• cite their concern for “peace and safety of all people throughout the world including those living in the Zionist state” and in Occupied Palestine;
  
  

What's Really Going On In Haiti?

by Chuck Baldwin
 

People of goodwill everywhere are rightly sympathetic to the plight of hundreds of thousands of innocent Haitians in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake that rocked the island country. Private donations and volunteer efforts are pouring into Haiti from all over the globe--especially from the United States. This is a good thing, right? So, why am I troubled?
Simply put, I cannot remember such an all-out "relief effort" by our nation's military and government forces following a natural disaster anywhere--ever! Not even New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding Gulf Coast communities here in the homeland received the kind of attention from Washington, D.C., that Haiti is receiving.
According to Agence France-Press (AFP),"The US military is ramping up its mission in quake-hit Haiti, with 20,000 US troops expected to operate on ground and offshore by Sunday [January 24], the US commander overseeing the region said."

The United States of Corporate America: From Democracy to Plutocracy by Prof. Rodrigue Tremblay

"The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."Plato, ancient Greek philosopher

...“The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”Alex Carey, Australian social scientist

“The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations.” Noam Chomsky, M.I.T. Emeritus Professor of Linguistics

On Tuesday, January 19 (2010), the Obama administration got a kick in the pants from the Massachusetts voters when they filled former Senator Ted Kennedy's seat by electing a conservative Republican candidate. The essence of their message was: stop dithering and start governing; stop trying to satisfy the bankers and please the editors of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, and start caring for the ordinary people.

Two days later, President Barack Obama seemed to have understood the people's message when he announced a “Volcker rule” that will forbid large banks from owning hedge funds that make money by placing large bets against their own clients, using information that these same clients gave them. It was time. Such a policy should have been announced months ago, if not years ago.

For Israel, a reckoning

by John PIlger
In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes the growing boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. Based on the anti-apartheid campaign that helped bring down the racist regime in South Africa, BDS is becoming a catch-cry for freedom in countries whose governments continue to ignore the Palestinians' struggle against another form of apartheid and which Nelson Mandela has described as "the greatest moral issue of our time".
 

The farce of the climate change summit in Copenhagen affirmed a world war waged by the rich against most of humanity. It also illuminated a resistance growing perhaps as never before: an internationalism linking justice for the planet earth with universal human rights, and criminal justice for those who invade and dispossess with impunity. And the best news comes from Palestine.

Palestinian resistance to the theft of their country reached a critical moment in 2001 when Israel was identified as an apartheid state at a United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa. To Nelson Mandela, justice for the Palestinians is “the greatest moral issue of our time”.