ICH: Bush Inauguration Speech by Zbigniew Brzezinski
If the speech was to be taken literally, then clearly it would imply commitment to some sort of a global crusade vis-a-vis a variety of states with many of whom we have all sorts of mutual concerns, even if we don't like their practical policies. I mean, take a few examples. Take China; we have a major state instability with China, but China is hardly a democracy. What about the Tibetans? Take Russia; we have a common stake with regards to terrorism, but what about the Chechens? They're being treated in a tyrannical fashion. Take an even more complex issue: what about Israel, which is a friend of ours, and its security against Palestinian terrorists? But what about the oppression of the Palestinians and their desire for freedom?The fact is that the speech was high-sounding. If it was to be taken literally, it would mean an American crusade throughout the entire world, and I don't know how that would be implemented practically. More Iraqs, perhaps, or is it just a general statement which doesn't give us much guide to policy, suited for the occasion but not to be taken as the point of departure for serious policy?...
Zbigniew Brzezinski, was national security adviser to President Carter and one of the key architects of the cold war and Latin American Terror
Monday, January 24, 2005
AD WATCH
LONDON (Revolution) - Volkswagen and DDB London are distancing themselves from a hoax viral commercial for the VW Polo, which features a suicide bomber. The ad plays on the established tagline for Volkswagen's Polo model, "small but tough". It shows a man in fatigues setting off in his Polo. He arrives outside a restaurant and pulls out a trigger. However, when he detonates the bomb, a flash is seen inside the car but the car itself does not explode. The strapline appears at the end. The campaign is the work of a duo known for their spoof advertising, called Lee and Dan. The pair run a website, LeeandDan.com, but the ad does not appear on the site at the time of writing. They have worked on a string of legitimate ads including Ford SportKa, BP and Casio G-Shock, among others. Dan, from Lee and Dan, said: "The ad got out accidentally and has spread like wildfire. It wasn't meant for public consumption. "We think the spot reflects what people see in the news everyday, and in this instance the car is the hero that protects innocent people from someone with very bad intentions. We're sorry if the ad has caused any offence." Volkswagen stressed that the spot, which has been doing the viral email rounds this week, was made without any involvement from the company whatsoever.
Watch the Ad here
So VW didn't have their hands on that whole story? Who believes that someone is spending tens of thousends of dollars to produce a little ad-spoof just for fun? Who benefits from the whole story when not VW? Bad PR is still better than no PR
Watch the Ad here
So VW didn't have their hands on that whole story? Who believes that someone is spending tens of thousends of dollars to produce a little ad-spoof just for fun? Who benefits from the whole story when not VW? Bad PR is still better than no PR
TERROR
Moscow Times: American Terror by Chris Floyd
More than two years ago, we wrote here of a secret Pentagon plan to foment terrorism by sending covert agents to infiltrate terrorist groups and goad them into action -- in other words, committing acts of murder and destruction. The purpose was two-fold: first, to bring the terrorist groups into the open, where they could be counterattacked; and second, to justify U.S. military attacks on the countries where the terrorists were operating -- attacks which, in the Pentagon's words, would put those nations' "sovereignty at risk." It was a plan that countenanced -- indeed, encouraged -- the deliberate murder of innocent people and the imposition of U.S. military rule anywhere in the world that U.S. leaders desired.
This plan is now being activated
CHECK IT
More than two years ago, we wrote here of a secret Pentagon plan to foment terrorism by sending covert agents to infiltrate terrorist groups and goad them into action -- in other words, committing acts of murder and destruction. The purpose was two-fold: first, to bring the terrorist groups into the open, where they could be counterattacked; and second, to justify U.S. military attacks on the countries where the terrorists were operating -- attacks which, in the Pentagon's words, would put those nations' "sovereignty at risk." It was a plan that countenanced -- indeed, encouraged -- the deliberate murder of innocent people and the imposition of U.S. military rule anywhere in the world that U.S. leaders desired.
This plan is now being activated
CHECK IT
BUSH
An Israeli Fanatic Is 'Bush's Brain'
By Michael Collins Piper
Supporters of Israel were delighted to learn that President George W. Bush's recent call in his much-heralded inaugural address for worldwide democratic revolution was based on the philosophy of Israeli cabinet minister Anatoly "Natan" Sharansky.
Although a recent popular documentary, Bush's Brain, suggested that Karl Rove, the president's political advisor, was the mastermind who tells the president what to think, it is now clear - based on solid evidence - that Sharansky is the one who actually has bragging rights to that title.
By Michael Collins Piper
Supporters of Israel were delighted to learn that President George W. Bush's recent call in his much-heralded inaugural address for worldwide democratic revolution was based on the philosophy of Israeli cabinet minister Anatoly "Natan" Sharansky.
Although a recent popular documentary, Bush's Brain, suggested that Karl Rove, the president's political advisor, was the mastermind who tells the president what to think, it is now clear - based on solid evidence - that Sharansky is the one who actually has bragging rights to that title.
HEALTH
Warning - Influenza Pandemic Likely Coming
The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the specter of human-to-human transmission of deadly H5N1 avian influenza following confirmation that two Vietnamese brothers had contracted the virus and one had died. WHO confirmed that laboratory results had found the two brothers from northern Vietnam had been infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. According to WHO, "All evidence to date suggests that isolated instances of limited, unsustained human-to-human transmission can be expected from avian influenza viruses in humans." Seven of Vietnam's total 27 H5N1-related human deaths have occurred in the last three weeks (first 3 weeks of January 2005).
The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the specter of human-to-human transmission of deadly H5N1 avian influenza following confirmation that two Vietnamese brothers had contracted the virus and one had died. WHO confirmed that laboratory results had found the two brothers from northern Vietnam had been infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. According to WHO, "All evidence to date suggests that isolated instances of limited, unsustained human-to-human transmission can be expected from avian influenza viruses in humans." Seven of Vietnam's total 27 H5N1-related human deaths have occurred in the last three weeks (first 3 weeks of January 2005).
IRAQ: ELECTIONS
Telegraph: US Forces Go On Offensive
Codenamed "Seeds of Liberty", the largest military operation in Iraq since the 2003 invasion has started. American-led troops are fanning across the country to secure the election, even as they try to persuade Iraqis that the United States has nothing to do with it.
Far from taking a back seat, US forces have adopted an aggressive strategy of disrupting insurgents in their heartlands, flooding soldiers into areas where previously there were no coalition troops.
"Hopefully we'll throw them off, so they can't throw off the election," said Lt Col Scott Leith, commanding the US Army's 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry from a makeshift base outside the Sunni bastion of Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad.
Codenamed "Seeds of Liberty", the largest military operation in Iraq since the 2003 invasion has started. American-led troops are fanning across the country to secure the election, even as they try to persuade Iraqis that the United States has nothing to do with it.
Far from taking a back seat, US forces have adopted an aggressive strategy of disrupting insurgents in their heartlands, flooding soldiers into areas where previously there were no coalition troops.
"Hopefully we'll throw them off, so they can't throw off the election," said Lt Col Scott Leith, commanding the US Army's 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry from a makeshift base outside the Sunni bastion of Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad.
Friday, January 21, 2005
USA VS. IRAN
Trinidat Express: Let's attack Iran! by Gwynne Dyer
The talk is still macho, but the performance is not there to back it up. What the US public gets for all the taxes it pays on defence - currently around $2,000 a year for every American man, woman and child- is armed forces that are barely capable of holding down one middle-sized Arab country
Check It
The talk is still macho, but the performance is not there to back it up. What the US public gets for all the taxes it pays on defence - currently around $2,000 a year for every American man, woman and child- is armed forces that are barely capable of holding down one middle-sized Arab country
Check It
IRAQ: DEATH SQUADS
Al Jazeera: The Salvador option by Scott Ritter
By any standard, the ongoing American occupation of Iraq is a disaster
The highly vaunted US military machine, laurelled and praised for its historic march on Baghdad in March and April of 2003, today finds itself a broken force, on the defensive in a land that it may occupy in part, but does not control.
The all-out offensive to break the back of the resistance in Falluja has failed, leaving a city destroyed by American firepower, and still very much in the grips of the anti-American fighters. The same is true of Mosul, Samarra, or any other location where the US military has undertaken “decisive” action against the fighters, only to find that, within days, the fighting has returned, stronger than ever.
And yet, it now appears as if the United States, in an effort to take the offensive against the fighters in Iraq, is prepared to compound its past mistakes in Iraq by embarking on a new course of action derived from some of the darkest, and most embarrassing moments of America's modern history.
By any standard, the ongoing American occupation of Iraq is a disaster
The highly vaunted US military machine, laurelled and praised for its historic march on Baghdad in March and April of 2003, today finds itself a broken force, on the defensive in a land that it may occupy in part, but does not control.
The all-out offensive to break the back of the resistance in Falluja has failed, leaving a city destroyed by American firepower, and still very much in the grips of the anti-American fighters. The same is true of Mosul, Samarra, or any other location where the US military has undertaken “decisive” action against the fighters, only to find that, within days, the fighting has returned, stronger than ever.
And yet, it now appears as if the United States, in an effort to take the offensive against the fighters in Iraq, is prepared to compound its past mistakes in Iraq by embarking on a new course of action derived from some of the darkest, and most embarrassing moments of America's modern history.
USA: BUSH REGIME
Village Voice: The Eve of Destruction
George Bush is getting four more years to remake the world in his image. (Too bad for us, he already started.)
You might wonder—were you someone unfamiliar with or in denial about the ways of the Karl Rove Mafia—how George W. Bush could blunder into nominating someone as attorney general so obviously implicated in the most legally questionable and morally indefensible practices of his administration. You might wonder, too, how the administration seemed to be caught unawares by the bottomless pit of scandal in the past of its initial nominee for Homeland Security secretary
CHECK IT
George Bush is getting four more years to remake the world in his image. (Too bad for us, he already started.)
You might wonder—were you someone unfamiliar with or in denial about the ways of the Karl Rove Mafia—how George W. Bush could blunder into nominating someone as attorney general so obviously implicated in the most legally questionable and morally indefensible practices of his administration. You might wonder, too, how the administration seemed to be caught unawares by the bottomless pit of scandal in the past of its initial nominee for Homeland Security secretary
CHECK IT
SADDAM ON TRIAL
Of President Saddam Hussein
Dr. Curtis F.J. DoebblerMember of the Legal Team
representing President Hussein
Although continued attempts are being made to establish access to the President of Iraq who has been held without access to a lawyer, only one meeting has been arranged more than one year after the detention began. This meeting took place with one of the lawyers of Committee under strict monitoring (both visual and audio) whereby two US military officials were present at all times. This meeting was not under conditions that meet the minimum standards for access to legal counsel provided by international law (e.g. in article 14 of the ICCPR).
USA: BUSH
Greg Palast: Oaf Of Office
Watching John Kerry lip-synch the oath of office, I couldn't help wondering, 'what if.'
Here on stage in Washington was the winner-class warmed and protected by cashmere and tax cuts against the strange, nipple-chilling cold. Hell had frozen over.
Our President said, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation." Well, no, it isn't.
Our President said, "We will widen retirement savings and health insurance." No, he won't.Our President said, "America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains." Yes, he will.
Our President said, "And our country must abandon all the habits of racism." Oh, sure.
He doesn't believe a single word he's saying. And all over America, everyone knows he's lying and America is truly relieved.
Watching John Kerry lip-synch the oath of office, I couldn't help wondering, 'what if.'
Here on stage in Washington was the winner-class warmed and protected by cashmere and tax cuts against the strange, nipple-chilling cold. Hell had frozen over.
Our President said, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation." Well, no, it isn't.
Our President said, "We will widen retirement savings and health insurance." No, he won't.Our President said, "America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains." Yes, he will.
Our President said, "And our country must abandon all the habits of racism." Oh, sure.
He doesn't believe a single word he's saying. And all over America, everyone knows he's lying and America is truly relieved.
IRAQ: FALLUJAH
WSWS: Fallujah 'City Of Mosques' Now 'City Of Rubble'
Channel Four News in Britain recently broadcast a short film report from inside Fallujah, showing the massive devastation wreaked on the city in last November's US-led assault.
The assault by US forces on the Iraqi city of Fallujah was one of the greatest war crimes since the Second World War. Over the course of nine days, Operation Phantom Fury, involving 10,000 US troops backed by 500 British soldiers, reduced the city, once famed for its 120 mosques and modern infrastructure, to ruins.
In the two months that have passed, little or nothing has been reported of the fate of Fallujah and its residents. In part, this is because the US military placed a cordon around the city and closely controls all movement in or out. But the silence is as much a result of the dishonest and servile attitude of the media.
Channel Four News in Britain recently broadcast a short film report from inside Fallujah, showing the massive devastation wreaked on the city in last November's US-led assault.
The assault by US forces on the Iraqi city of Fallujah was one of the greatest war crimes since the Second World War. Over the course of nine days, Operation Phantom Fury, involving 10,000 US troops backed by 500 British soldiers, reduced the city, once famed for its 120 mosques and modern infrastructure, to ruins.
In the two months that have passed, little or nothing has been reported of the fate of Fallujah and its residents. In part, this is because the US military placed a cordon around the city and closely controls all movement in or out. But the silence is as much a result of the dishonest and servile attitude of the media.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
USA
ICH: Coronation of Corruption by Manuel Venezuela
Celebration of Exploitation
At the apex of the highest mountain stand the facilitators of human corruption, in proud self-adulation, glorification and ego-driven debasement readying themselves with a forty million dollar celebration of pomp and circumstance, enjoying the comforts of luxury and unfettered power spun by the web of exploitation, for victorious do they see each other, this power-addicted and profit-hungry cabal of corporatist and elitist vermin, extolling both the virtues of immorality and policies of unscrupulous undertakings that have laid waste billions of lives in the present while condemning billions that have yet to exist. For like vultures attacking a dead carcass they have descended upon Washington to further empower humankind’s enduring romance with its self-corruption and the continuing decline into our moral abyss.
check it
Celebration of Exploitation
At the apex of the highest mountain stand the facilitators of human corruption, in proud self-adulation, glorification and ego-driven debasement readying themselves with a forty million dollar celebration of pomp and circumstance, enjoying the comforts of luxury and unfettered power spun by the web of exploitation, for victorious do they see each other, this power-addicted and profit-hungry cabal of corporatist and elitist vermin, extolling both the virtues of immorality and policies of unscrupulous undertakings that have laid waste billions of lives in the present while condemning billions that have yet to exist. For like vultures attacking a dead carcass they have descended upon Washington to further empower humankind’s enduring romance with its self-corruption and the continuing decline into our moral abyss.
check it
IRAQ
Al Jazeera: Deadly car bombs shake Iraqi capital
Five bombs, including one near the Australian embassy in Baghdad, along with a checkpoint shooting, have killed 26 people and wounded many, the US military says.
Five bombs, including one near the Australian embassy in Baghdad, along with a checkpoint shooting, have killed 26 people and wounded many, the US military says.
IRAQ
Dahr Jamail: Baghdat City of Car Bombs
The thundering blast rocks me awake at 7:05am. The first thing my eyes see are the curtains of my room flowing in, as if a strong wind is blowing into my room.
'Holy shit, they hit the embassy,' I think to myself, 'the blast was so close.'
I leave my windows cracked and curtains drawn for just this reason-while my door was blasted open, splintering the frame where it was locked shut, none of my windows shattered. Aside from small chunks from the ceiling of my room strewn about the floor, I am alright.
The thundering blast rocks me awake at 7:05am. The first thing my eyes see are the curtains of my room flowing in, as if a strong wind is blowing into my room.
'Holy shit, they hit the embassy,' I think to myself, 'the blast was so close.'
I leave my windows cracked and curtains drawn for just this reason-while my door was blasted open, splintering the frame where it was locked shut, none of my windows shattered. Aside from small chunks from the ceiling of my room strewn about the floor, I am alright.
IRAQ
Harry Browne: Can You Imagine?:
Hussein Was Right & Bush Was Wrong
You may remember that in 2002, the year before the Iraq War began, the United Nations Security Council ordered Iraq to produce a report detailing all of its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons — past and present. Iraqi officials complied and produced an 11,800-page report on Iraq's weapons programs. The report described all the chemical and biological weapons the country once had — where they came from and what was done with them — as well as what had happened to Iraq's nuclear weapons program
Hussein Was Right & Bush Was Wrong
You may remember that in 2002, the year before the Iraq War began, the United Nations Security Council ordered Iraq to produce a report detailing all of its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons — past and present. Iraqi officials complied and produced an 11,800-page report on Iraq's weapons programs. The report described all the chemical and biological weapons the country once had — where they came from and what was done with them — as well as what had happened to Iraq's nuclear weapons program
USA VS. IRAN
Truthout: Target Iran. War with No End by Steve Weissmann
Perhaps as early as his State of the Union address, Mr. Bush will promote this pre-emptive attack as the cutting edge of his "War on Terror." In fact, he knows that Iran and its Ayatollahs had nothing to do with 9/11. But neither did Saddam Hussein.
One indicator of Iran's stance - and of the Administration's - came in the summer of 2003, as I described in an earlier column. The Ayatollahs offered to give Mr. Bush five terrorists they had captured, including bin-Laden's son Saad and the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who now heads al-Qaeda's terror franchise in Iraq. In return, the Iranians wanted Washington to hand over members of the Mujihadeen Khalq, who were attacking Iran from their safe haven in occupied Iraq. The U.S. State Department had officially labeled the M.K. as terrorists, but Team Bush declined to make the exchange. According to the well-placed Jerusalem Post, a group of Neo-Conservatives headed by Michael Ledeen intervened to undermine the negotiations.
Perhaps as early as his State of the Union address, Mr. Bush will promote this pre-emptive attack as the cutting edge of his "War on Terror." In fact, he knows that Iran and its Ayatollahs had nothing to do with 9/11. But neither did Saddam Hussein.
One indicator of Iran's stance - and of the Administration's - came in the summer of 2003, as I described in an earlier column. The Ayatollahs offered to give Mr. Bush five terrorists they had captured, including bin-Laden's son Saad and the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who now heads al-Qaeda's terror franchise in Iraq. In return, the Iranians wanted Washington to hand over members of the Mujihadeen Khalq, who were attacking Iran from their safe haven in occupied Iraq. The U.S. State Department had officially labeled the M.K. as terrorists, but Team Bush declined to make the exchange. According to the well-placed Jerusalem Post, a group of Neo-Conservatives headed by Michael Ledeen intervened to undermine the negotiations.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
USA VS. IRAN
Guardian: US Ponders Attack On Iran
Hardliners In Pentagon Ready To Neutralise
'Nuclear Threat' Posed By Tehran
President Bush's second inauguration on Thursday will provide the signal for an intense and urgent debate in Washington over whether or when to extend the "global war on terror" to Iran, according to officials and foreign policy analysts in Washington.
That debate is being driven by "neo-conservatives" at the Pentagon who emerged from the post-election Bush reshuffle unscathed, despite their involvement in collecting misleading intelligence on Iraq's weapons in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.
Washington has stood aside from recent European negotiations with Iran and Pentagon hardliners are convinced that the current European-brokered deal suspending nuclear enrichment and intensifying weapons inspections is unenforceable and will collapse in months.
Only the credible threat, and if necessary the use, of air and special operations attacks against Iran's suspected nuclear facilities will stop the ruling clerics in Tehran acquiring warheads, many in the administration argue.
Hardliners In Pentagon Ready To Neutralise
'Nuclear Threat' Posed By Tehran
President Bush's second inauguration on Thursday will provide the signal for an intense and urgent debate in Washington over whether or when to extend the "global war on terror" to Iran, according to officials and foreign policy analysts in Washington.
That debate is being driven by "neo-conservatives" at the Pentagon who emerged from the post-election Bush reshuffle unscathed, despite their involvement in collecting misleading intelligence on Iraq's weapons in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.
Washington has stood aside from recent European negotiations with Iran and Pentagon hardliners are convinced that the current European-brokered deal suspending nuclear enrichment and intensifying weapons inspections is unenforceable and will collapse in months.
Only the credible threat, and if necessary the use, of air and special operations attacks against Iran's suspected nuclear facilities will stop the ruling clerics in Tehran acquiring warheads, many in the administration argue.
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