Check out the chart below to see which country has been bombed the most often the last seven years (and maybe even from earlier on pretext of going after terrorists fleeing Iraq and into Syria), whether directly from above its skies or from Iraq or other neighbouring countries, and you will surmise that the powers-that-be have been doing nothing but going intensely after ISRAEL's arch enemy, SYRIA. Go to link below for the whole gory tale. One would have thought that the last 17 years of US+gang's wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, most of their WMDs would have polluted the grounds of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya .... but you would have guessed wrong. The country they have been poisoning the most is Syria.
Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies Bring the Troops Home But also Stop the Bombing As our nation debates the merits of President Donald Trump’s call for withdrawing
U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, absent from the debate is the more pernicious
aspect of US military involvement overseas: its air wars. Trump’s announcement
and General James Mattis’ resignation should unleash a national discussion about
US involvement in overseas conflicts, but no evaluation can be meaningful without
a clear understanding of the violence that US air wars have unleashed on the
rest of the world for the past 17 years. By our calculations, in this “war on terror,” the US and its allies have dropped
a staggering 291,880 bombs and missiles on other countries – and that is just
a minimum number of confirmed strikes. As we contemplate that overwhelming number, let’s keep in mind that these strikes
represent lives snuffed out, people maimed for life, families torn apart, homes
and infrastructure demolished, taxpayer money squandered, and resentment that
only engenders more violence. After the horrific crimes of September 11, 2001, Congress was quick to pass
a sweeping Authorization
for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). While three presidents have claimed
that the 2001 AUMF legally justifies these endless wars as a response to the
crimes of 9/11, no serious reading of the authorization could interpret it that
way. What it actually says is: That the president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force
against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized,
committed, or aided the terrorist
attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations
or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against
the United States by such nations, organizations or persons. As former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin
Ferencz told NPR a week after 9/11: “It is never a legitimate response
to punish people who are not responsible for the wrong done… We must make
a distinction between punishing the guilty and punishing others. If you simply
retaliate en masse by bombing Afghanistan, let us say, or the Taliban, you will
kill many people who don’t believe in what has happened, who don’t approve of
what has happened.” And yet here we are, 17 years later, mired in wars in which we are bombing
ever more “nations, organizations, (and) persons” who had absolutely nothing
to do with the crimes committed on September 11. We don’t have a single real
or lasting success we can point to in 17 years of war in 7 countries and “counterinsurgency”
operations in a dozen more. Every country the US has attacked or invaded remains
trapped in intractable violence and chaos. Please look at this chart, and take a few moments to reflect on the mass destruction
it represents:
Yup ... you bet it will. Nick Turse on Niger, Somalia ... USA's deadly rampaging all over in Africa and getting ready to invade certain countries on the pretext of a terror attack ( false flag attack) on New York's tunnel.
Let's get ready to welcome African refugees to USA, Canada, Australia. There's not enough room for them in EU.
A lot of harm is done in the name of "war on terror" on Muslim nations of the world while shamefully their own Muslim brothers cohort with the destroyers of their people and lands and more often than not, like in the case of the Sunni sheikdoms, gleefully join the destroyers in the destruction. Is it any wonder Muslims who are affected by this mayhem, dream of revenge either by foolishly going on a suicidal rampage and killing innocent civilians or those who are smart, bid their time by migrating and conquering the West by sheer numbers?
Millions of people are at risk of starvation in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen
IN FEBRUARY the UN declared a state of famine in parts of South Sudan. It is the first time the UN has officially deployed the term since 2011. But, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), which is run by the American government, 70m people worldwide will need food assistance this year.
In Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, FEWS Net states there is a
"credible risk of famine". Between them around 20m people are at risk of
starvation. The UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator, Stephen O’Brien, has
said that “the largest humanitarian crisis” since 1945 is unfolding this
year....
The US narratives for which there are as of yet no facts could lead to direct military conflict between Washington and Moscow.
.....The Russian adage “words are also deeds” is proving true, it seems. Trump’s missile attack on Russia’s ally Syria, despite its ramifying dangers, may have had a domestic political purpose—to debunk the narrative that is crippling his presidency, that he is somehow “Putin’s puppet.” If so, Cohen adds, the American mainstream media, which has promoted this narrative for months, is deeply complicit. Meanwhile, the Kremlin, which watches closely as these narratives unfold politically in Washington, has become deeply alarmed, resorting to its own fraught words. The No. 2 leader, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, declared that US-Russian relations have been “ruined,” a statement Cohen does not recall any previous Soviet or post-Soviet leader ever having made. Medvedev added that the two nuclear superpowers are at “the brink” of war. Considering that Medvedev is regarded as the leading pro-Western figure in Putin’s inner circle, imagine what the other side—state patriots, or nationalists, as they are called—is telling Putin. Still more, the Kremlin is saying that Trump’s missile attack on Syria crossed Russia’s “red lines,” with all the warfare implications that term has in Washington as well. And flatly declaring the mysterious use of chemical weapons in Syria a “provocation,” Putin himself warned that forces in Washington were planning more such “provocations” and military strikes. In short, while the Kremlin does not want and will not start a war with the United States, it is preparing for the possibility.
Cohen and Batchelor ended their broadcast as Trump’s new secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, had just arrived in Moscow, before his talks with .......
Ines San Martin at CruxNow Syrian nun honored by U.S. says Assad is ‘not a dictator’ Salesian Sister Carolin Tahhan Fachakh, from Syria, told reporters she doubts Syrian president ordered a chemical attack against civilians, and called the decision from the Trump administration to bomb an air base a "step back from peace." On March 29 she received the International Woman of Courage Award from first lady Melania Trump....
In October 1993, during the Battle of Mogadishu (the Black Hawk Down incident), 18 US soldiers were killed and 73 wounded, with a pair of Black Hawk helicopters shot down. The US responded by ceasing military operations, and within a few months had withdrawn all troops from Somalia. Today, they are headed back. The new deployment, which US African Command (AFRICOM) is presented as a simple training operation, will be the first time US ground troops are officially deployed to Somalia, though of course the US has had some special forces present on the ground on and off, conducting occasional operations and spotting for US airstrikes.
AFRICOM also insists the new deployment was at the request of the Somali government, though indications in recent weeks has indicated that military officials have been pushing for an escalation of US intervention in the country at any rate, aimed at fighting al-Shabaab...
Right off the bat, you may have realized that The Gulf of Tonkin is nowhere near Syria. But if you’re familiar with The Gulf of Tonkin Incident from 1964, in which the American public was duped by its government into believing that its Navy was fired upon by North Vietnam forces – a lie which resulted in the deaths of 58,000+ U.S. Military Boys, and several untold, uncounted, superfluous millions of Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians – you too may be doubting the official U.S. Government/MSM story about a recent sarin gas war crime, which allegedly took place in Syria. The built-in lie-detector in the pit of my stomach has been flying off the charts, as Lester Holt and his multi-network cadres in lies and deceit carefully recite the C.I.A.-issued song and dance, nightly, in four part harmony, each wearing his best ‘serious’ face, and with feeling: “The attack on Syrian civilians in Idlib was carried out by the Assad Regime and Russia.”…or words to that effect. Over and over and over and over again, ad infinitum, to the extent that it begins to interfere with all the important stuff: Namely sports, car thefts, kidnappings, and more localized murders Did I mention that no proof is ever offered?
And now Don Trump tells invites “all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed” in Syria. Pretty funny stuff, Don, considering the U.S.A. NEVER intervenes in the affairs of other countries for “humanitarian” reasons. When the Tomahawk Missiles are flying, they are not following a trail of blood and death nor truth and justice…their path follows the money. Syria; nothing but a thimbleful of semen in the 20-year-old wet-dreams of Cheney and his gang of thieves and thugs at The Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Far from being fired to end the slaughter and bloodshed, U.S. Tomahawk Missiles are out to complete the transformation of Syria into a pile of death and debris. Like Afghanistan, like Iraq, and like Libya. Wars are no longer waged with winning in mind. If you break it, you own it…and the U.S. Military’s goal is to break Syria and gain control of its strategic location, its oil, and its gas. To own it, my friends.....
Jonathan Marshall at ConsortiumNews The Trump administration’s growing use of military force in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen has neoconservative hawks rooting for armed confrontation with what they view as the root of all evil in the Middle East: Iran. Many of these armchair warriors recently cheered President Trump’s decision to take on the Assad regime — and Moscow — by firing 59 Tomahawk cruise missile at a Syrian air base alleged to be the source of a chemical weapons attack. But they urged him to do more.
Weekly Standard editor William Kristol tweeted, “Punishing Assad for use of chemical weapons is good. Regime change in Iran is the prize.”
Kristol co-founded the infamous Project on the New American Century in 1997 to promote American “global hegemony” and “challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values.” It began lobbying for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein as early as 1998, but always kept Iran in its sights as well.
With Saddam dead and Syria’s Assad stripped of much of his power, Iran is now at the center of neocon crosshairs. Kristol linked his recent tweet to a Washington Post column by two stalwart advocates of ousting the mullahs in Tehran: Reuel Gerecht and Ray Takeyh.
Titled “How Trump Can Help Cripple the Iranian Regime,” their article called for putting the nuclear arms deal with Iran at risk in order to “stoke the volcano under Tehran and to challenge the regime.” The centerpiece of their bizarre argument was that the Iranian people would gratefully welcome the United States imposing “crippling sanctions” to destroy their economy in the name of “human rights.”
The authors were vague as to the details, but suggested that Iran’s ruling clerics would quickly succumb to a “popular rebellion” by “Iranian dissidents,” particularly if the United States sent “more American troops [to] both Syria and Iraq” to reinforce its message.........
The Pentagon is pushing for increased U.S. support for an attack on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, despite the fact that this would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the country and hasten the onset of famine:
During the meeting on Thursday, convened at the request of aid agencies, a Pentagon official tried to ease those concerns by floating the possibility that the operation could be “clean” and result in the Saudis taking full control of the port in “four to six weeks.”
But aid groups view that forecast as wildly optimistic and fear the Pentagon is attempting to understate the complexity of the mission in order to win support for it inside the Trump administration.
It’s unclear where that four-to-six–week figure came from. One senior Pentagon official who wasn’t present at the meeting told BuzzFeed News that such expectations were unrealistic — and that retaking the port “could take months.” [bold mine-DL]
The Saudi-led coalition has already brought Yemen to the brink of famine, and according to the World Food Program there is famine in some parts of the country right now. The U.S. has aided and abetted the coalition in wrecking and starving Yemen for over two years, and helping them with this proposed assault would compound the error of supporting the intervention in the most destructive way at the worst possible moment. Aiding an attack on the port would be tantamount to being an accomplice in causing the massive loss of life that would result from an even more severe disruption of aid and food deliveries. Many thousands of innocent civilians would perish as a direct result of the proposed attack, and that isn’t even counting the civilians that would be killed by coalition bombs and shelling in the operation itself. Helping the coalition launch this attack would represent a cruel escalation of U.S. backing for an indefensible war, and doing this would advance no U.S. interests while more deeply implicating our government in the heinous crimes of the coalition.
The danger is that the Trump administration seems much more willing to indulge the Saudis and their allies in their Yemen campaign:.........
The lack of protests from the Left throughout the last 8 yrs reign of warlord Obama when countless thousands have died and millions have become refugees, has shone a very, very bright light on the minuscule morality of the Left. Even folks who don't like Trump can see through the hypocrisy of the Left and that makes the Left's voices now lose all the credibility they once possessed. A bright light has also been shone on the liar and hypocrite Trump. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from whence comes all that's wrong with Islam .... suicide bombings, headchopping, women stoning, burkha wearing, etc.etc. ... that country is not on Trump's list. Protests are (at this moment in time, Jan 29) going on at Detroit Metro Airport, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Boston airport, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and several other airports and in front of government buildings all over the USA. Being an immigrant myself, I can walk in the shoes of the incoming immigrants and refugees and can feel their pain and confusion. If people had protested against Obama's wars on Muslim nations, we wouldn't have been seeing uprooted people making their way to the safety of the West. Below some of vids relating to this event. I liked what comedian Jimmy Dore had to say.
Until today, our Second Tour of Peace had not been exposed to any semblance of military combat. We hadn’t heard a single rifle shot or the thud of any bombs or artillery shells. We hadn’t seen any armoured vehicles or warplanes in action in any of the liberated areas we travelled in Syria. In fact, in the government-held areas, you really wouldn’t notice there was a war going on (except for the endless checkpoints). The security situation in Syria, according to our hosts, had improved immensely since the agreement for a partial cessation of hostilities was signed in Geneva at the end of February, 2016.
Today would be a little different. Today, we were going to be the first group of tourists actually to tour the ancient site of Palmyra.
Like Damascus, Palmyra was a settlement built around an oasis in the desert. Both Damascus and Palmyra were important stops for caravans along the Syrian Silk Road. Palmyra was turned into a flourishing city, complete with two temples, an ampitheatre, and an arch of triumph by the Romans. It was renowned in the ancient world as “the bride of the desert.” Today, it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). Ever since the site was liberated by the Syrian Arab Army in heavy fighting two weeks ago, in coordination with bombing by the Russian air force, and support from Iranian, Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Palestinian allies, everybody in Syria wants to go there and see for himself and herself just how much damage the terrorist mercenaries caused. But it’s up to the Russian sappers to say when the site will be open to the general public....
On the Bilderbergers, from someone who has been talking about them for a long time at the risk of being labelled a "conspiracy agent".
The 13th report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Ukraine between 16 November 2015 and 15 February 2016, when the Minsk Agreements were in force, has come as a shock to Kiev.
According to the UN, more than three million people live in the areas directly affected by the conflict. The exact number of people who have left Ukraine-controlled territory is still unknown, although rough estimates range from 800,000 to 1,000,000 people. The Ukrainian government has estimated that more than a million people have left southeast Ukraine for Russia, Belarus and Europe. This figure does not match that of the Russian federal migration service, however: in 2015, around four million Ukrainians crossed the border, with nearly 2.6 million settling in Russia. More than a million people have arrived from southeast Ukraine. Residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are permitted to live freely in Russia....
.... Since the Minsk ceasefire agreements entered into force (i.e. since 15 February 2015), there have been 843 civilian casualties – 235 killed (216 adults and 19 children) and 608 injured (554 adults and 44 children). At the same time, the UN mission notes that it is unable to attribute some of the victims to either side of the conflict. It also emphasises that the real number of those killed and injured could be higher than that given in the report.
The number of people missing is particularly shocking. The Ukrainian side has reported 741 persons missing, while the DPR has registered 420 missing persons. In addition, the UN mission has ascertained that approximately 1,000 bodies held in morgues in government-controlled territory have still not been identified.....
Interesting vid. Abby Martin talks to Dr Mark Crispin Miller of NYU
The South Korean Navy filed a civil lawsuit against 116 individual anti-base protesters and five groups including the Gangjeong Village Association demanding $3 million in compensation for alleged construction delays caused by protests over the past eight years. In one of the longest, strongest protests against more military bases around the world, the villagers of Gangjeong, Jeju Island, South Korea, have achieved international recognition of their spiritual and corporal resistance and persistence in trying to preserve unique natural features of their community, the Gureombi Rocks.
Samsung, the primary contractor for the $1 billion project, precipitated the action by filing a lawsuit against the government for slowdown of work caused by the protests because Samsung’s profit margin was impacted by the protests....
Glenn Greenwald at TheIntercept Credibility of Brazil’s Interim President Collapses as He Receives 8-Year Ban on Running for Office It has been obvious from the start that a core objective of the impeachment of Brazil’s elected president, Dilma Rousseff, was to empower the actual thieves in Brasilia and enable them to impede, obstruct, and ultimately kill the ongoing Car Wash investigation (as well as to impose a neoliberal agenda of privatization and radical austerity). A mere 20 days into the seizure of power by the corruption-implicated “interim” President Michel Temer, overwhelming evidence has emerged proving that to be true: Already, two of the interim ministers in Temer’s all-white-male cabinet, including his anti-corruption minister, have been forced to resign after the emergence of secret recordings showing them plotting to obstruct that investigation (an investigation in which they, along with one-third of his cabinet, are personally implicated).
But the oozing corruption of Temer’s ministers has sometimes served to obscure his own. He, too, is implicated in several corruption investigations. And now, he has been formally convicted of violating election laws and, as punishment, is banned from running for any political office for eight years. Yesterday, a regional election court in São Paulo, where he’s from, issued a formal decree finding him guilty and declaring him “ineligible” to run for any political office as a result of now having a “dirty record” in elections. Temer was found guilty of spending his own funds on his campaign in excess of what the law permits.....
This is a transcript of the evidence I gave, at their request, to the Metropolitan Police. I published scans of the witness statements yesterday, and a commenter has kindly transcribed them to make them web searchable. I was interviewed by the Police both at my home and at their headquarters, and it was made very plain to me that not only Sir Mark Allen, but Tony Blair, Jack Straw and numerous officials in the FCO and the Security Services were in the frame. I confess I therefore always expected the Establishment would have the case dropped despite overwhelming evidence.
I first offered this evidence to the Gibson Inquiry, I was treated by that Inquiry as an important witness and Judge Gibson ordered the FCO to give me full access to all documents I saw while Ambassador, to refresh my memory. No. 10 panicked at this and other evidence that Gibson was doing a genuine job, and the Gibson Inquiry was closed down by Cameron with the active complicity of Nick Clegg. I was then told by the Gibson secretariat that the Metropolitan Police were taking over aspects of that inquiry. I was then contacted and interviewed by the Metropolitan Police and gave this evidence.
The Director of Public Prosecutions having corruptly closed down the criminal case, the matter is now purportedly under investigation by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament – consisting entirely of “trusties” of the security services. They have continually and repeatedly refused requests by me to give evidence. I last heard from them on 15 December 2015, a simple acknowledgement of a receipt of a communication.
As nobody can claim my evidence is untrue due to the amount of documentary report, the Establishment simply ensures it does not get heard by any inquiry or court. When the House of Commons ....
Wayne Madsen at IntrepidReport Second Zurich Insurance exec’s suicide amid renewed interest in 9/11 culprits Posted on June 2, 2016 by Wayne Madsen Amid renewed public interest in determining the identities of all the culprits behind the 9/11 attacks, comes word that a second executive with one of the World Trade Center’s insurers has died from “suicide.”
Zurich Insurance Group’s former CEO Martin Senn was reported to have shot himself at his vacation home near Davos in Switzerland. No suicide note was found by police. Senn resigned as CEO of the insurance giant last December after the company experienced losses from the still-unexplained large explosions in Tianjin, China, last August.
WMR reported on August 21, 2016: “WMR’s sources from throughout Asia are reporting the same thing: the massive August 12 explosion that completely obliterated the Binhai New Area of the special economic zone city of Tianjin appears to not have been the result of an accidental chemical explosion but from state-sponsored industrial sabotage. The initial explosion was followed by a series of other explosions, said to be from combustible materials stored in the port and warehouse area. Moreover, WMR’s sources report that the nature of the initial shock wave and secondary fireball indicates that the conflagration may have been caused by a tactical nuclear bunker buster bomb hidden in a shipping container.”
Our report continued: “Among the 117 deaths from the explosion were a number of firemen. Some 70 people, most of them...
Sophie Shevardnadze talks to Pakistan's ex-chief of spy bureau
Eric Zuesse at TheSaker Obama Slams Door in Putin’s Face: Says if Putin doesn’t want Russia’s retaliatory forces eliminated, he’ll need to be the one to press the nuclear button first
Actions speak louder than mere words, and U.S. President Barack Obama has now acted, not only spoken. His action is to refuse to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s biggest worry about recent changes in America’s nuclear strategy — particularly a stunning change that is terrifying Putin.
On Sunday June 5th, Reuters headlined “Russia Says U.S. Refuses Talks on Missile Defence System”, and reported that, “The United States has refused Russian offers to discuss Washington’s missile defence programme, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov was quoted as saying on Sunday, calling the initiative ‘very dangerous’.”
Russia’s concern is that, if the “Ballistic Missile Defense” or “Anti Ballistic Missile” system, that the United States is now just starting to install on and near Russia’s borders, works, then the United States will be able to launch a surprise nuclear attack against Russia, and this system, which has been in development for decades and is technically called the “Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System”, will annihilate the missiles that Russia launches in retaliation, which will then leave the Russian population with no retaliation at all, except for the nuclear contamination of the entire northern hemisphere, and global nuclear winter, the blowback from America’s onslaught against Russia, which blowback some strategists in the West say would be manageable probems for the U.S. and might be worth the cost of eliminating Russia.
That theory, of a winnable nuclear war (which in the U.S. seems to be replacing the prior theory, called “M.A.D.” for Mutually Assured Destruction) was first prominently put forth in 2006 in the prestigious U.S. journal Foreign Affairs, headlining “The Rise of Nuclear Primacy” and which advocated for a much bolder U.S. strategic policy against Russia, based upon what it argued was America’s technological superiority against Russia’s weaponry and a possibly limited time-window ....
From JudicialWatch Judicial Watch: Justice Department Documents Reveal Widespread Use of Fast and Furious Weapons by Major Mexican Drug Cartels – Linked to at least 69 Killings From December 2012 to March 2016, 94 Fast and Furious weapons were seized; Fast and Furious weapon found in “Chapo” Guzman hideout
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today released Justice Department documents showing that weapons sent from the U.S. into Mexico as part of the Obama administration’s Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning program have been widely used by major Mexican drug cartels. According to the new records, over the past three years, a total of 94 Fast and Furious firearms have been recovered in Mexico City and 12 Mexican states, with the majority being seized in Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa. Of the weapons recovered, 82 were rifles and 12 were pistols identified as having been part of the Fast and Furious program. Reports suggest the Fast and Furious guns are tied to at least 69 killings....
There's really no excuse for supporting the NATO/terror position. We've seen the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, now Syria, all built on lies, all beneath the guise of "humanitarian interventions". Since people with any sense of historical memory can not legitimately plead ignorance, supporters of the terrorist invasion of Syria fall into the category of "fake humanitarians". They aren't "progressive" or "left" when they support the criminal violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Canadian peace activist Ken Stone, recently returned from Syria, expresses similar sentiments in his newly released book, Defiant Syria|dispatches from the Second Tour of Peace to Syria. He explains,
“The point for me is to ask why otherwise intelligent people can fall for such shit (referring to a 2015 New Internationalist magazine article: “The forgotten revolution of Syria”), and not once but repeatedly. It’s not as if Syria is the very first government targeted for regime change by the USA. It’s not that people are unaware of the fact that the first casualty of war is the truth … there is never a shortage of “leftists” in the West who can be either bought or convinced through incredible naivété, warped political outlook, or Eurocentric arrogance, that the motives of Empire are good.”
People such as Ken, who have visited Syria and have seen with their own eyes the devastation wrought by Western-supported terrorists against civilization, have less tolerance for the lies, the propaganda and the “fake humanitarians” who enable it all.
Stone doesn’t mince words when he describes some of his on-the-ground observations of Homs, Syria; observations fortified by his historical memory of NATO's imperial destruction elsewhere:
“Judging from the many corpses found buried around the city, some of which were missing eyes and various internal organs, many have speculated that the mercenaries ran a lucrative trade in human organs, besides their human trafficking in Syrian women, boys, and children, and their other rackets such as rapine and pillage … The terrorist organizations were working in accordance with a well-rehearsed imperial script here in Homs. The KLA, NATOs foot soldiers in Kosovo (formerly part of Yugoslavia) also ran an organ smuggling operation out of a house in Pristina in 1999.”........
Ingrid Carlqvist brings us up to date on the rape epidemic in Sweden
Leading the charge against the U.S. “drone war” — now a key part of the Pentagon’s forward fighting strategy — is an unlikely individual, Colonel Ann Wright, who spent most of her adult life as a diplomat, working in the U.S. State Department.
Colonel Wright reopened the U.S. embassy in Kabul in 2001. But in 2003 she took an action that would transform her life. She resigned her position in opposition to the then-impending U.S. invasion of Iraq. Since then, she has become a full time global peace activist.
She also is one of the most vocal and convincing opponents of U.S. drone policy, a collection of activists who call themselves Creechers because – for seven years – they have marched on Creech Air Force Base, also known as Creech Drone Base, in the Nevada Desert, just 60 miles outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Creech is a key part of the extensive and expanding U.S. drone war operation, which launches lethal drone strikes half a world away.
The protests are spearheaded by Code Pink and are always peaceful, but militant and intense. They consider the U.S. drone war, supervised directly by President Barack Obama, as an ongoing war crime. They do not consider this hyperbole. They say it is a clear-cut case of the slaughter of hundreds of innocent civilians, with many fleeing women and children among the victims.
We caught up with Colonel Wright on her way to an anti-drone symposium at the .... Yves Smith at NakedCapitalism ...Amid growing pressure, Vancouver’s mayor, Gregor Robertson, has stepped up his call for a tax on empty homes, arguing that if a home is being treated like a business then it should be taxed accordingly. From Bloomberg (video above):
“We’re looking at new regulation and a carrot-and-stick approach to making sure that houses aren’t empty in Vancouver,” Robertson said, including a tax on vacant homes. “If you’re not using your property — either living in it or renting it out — then you have to pay more tax. Because effectively it’s a business holding, and should be taxed accordingly.”
UBC Professor, Tom Davidoff, has gone further, arguing for Vancouver to introduce taxes for those that own homes in Vancouver but do not pay taxes in the city:
“People who purchase homes but aren’t landlords, of course that would include vacant homes. But would also include homes run by so-called astronaut families, where people might actually live in the homes but nobody pays taxes in Canada”…
“If people who live and work here are being outbid for homes by people who do not live and work here and don’t pay taxes here, that other class of homebuyers ought to be paying higher property taxes”…
“We would take you to an extra 1.5% property tax if you’re not a landlord, if you don’t pay income tax, if you’re not a CPP recipient where you haven’t lived in the home for a long time. So we protect people who have been working in the community for a long time”…
Memorial Day is over. You had your barbeque. Now, you can stop thinking about America’s wars and the casualties from them for another year. As for me, I only wish it were so.
It’s been Memorial Day for me ever since I first met Tomas Young. And in truth, it should have felt that way from the moment I hunkered down in Somalia in 1993 and the firing began. After all, we’ve been at war across the Greater Middle East ever since. But somehow it was Tomas who, in 2013, first brought my own experience in the U.S. military home to me in ways I hadn’t been able to do on my own.
That gravely wounded, living, breathing casualty of our second war in Iraq who wouldn’t let go of life or stop thinking and critiquing America’s never-ending warscape brought me so much closer to myself, so bear with me for a moment while I return to Mogadishu, the Somalian capital, and bring you — and me — closer to him.
Boom! In that spring of 1993, I was a 22-year-old Army sergeant, newly married, and had just been dropped into a famine-ridden, war-torn Third World country on the other side of the planet, a place I hadn’t previously given a thought. ....
From ZeroHedge Does Bilderberg Really Run The World? One Chart To Help You Decide With the Bilderberg 2016 meeting now humming along at the Taschenbergpalais hotel in Dresden, deep behind closed doors and protected by heavily-armed guards, many have wondered: just how hyperbolic are allegations that the Bilderbergs run the world. To help readers decide, here is a chart laying out the linkages and various connections - financial, political, statutory and otherwise - between the handful of people who comprise the Bilderberg core and the rest of the world....
The state's genocidal attacks have continued in Sirnak for 88 days. State forces have continued to set fire to houses in many neighborhoods of city after the announcement of "operation ended" in the city. As many houses and workplaces have been set on fire in Gazipasa Neighborhood, the houses in Yenimahalle Neighborhood have been burned and demolished by diggers.
As many houses have been destroyed with explosives since morning, some houses have been set on fire by state forces.
Meanwhile, the houses and workplaces in Cumhuriyet, Dicle, Yesilyurt, Aydinlikevler and Bahçelievler neighborhoods have been demolished. Special forces have opened fire on houses and workplaces in Vakifkent, Tekser, Gündogdu, Ömerköy and Atatürk neighborhoods under the name of "fine-search".
As black smoke rises from the city, there is a burning smell all over the city....
Brian Becker at AnswerCoalition I was with Muhammad Ali on his hostage-release trip to Iraq — and the media has it all wrong The story of Muhammad Ali’s trip to “rescue American hostages” is back in the media since the June 3 death of this unique individual: boxing’s greatest fighter, and perhaps one of the most beloved and inspiring figures of the 20th century.
President Obama’s comments on the Iraq trip were republished in a USA Today article that ran immediately following the news of the champ’s death: “We admire the man who has never stopped using his celebrity for good — the man who helped secure the release of 14 [sic] American hostages from Iraq in 1990,” wrote President Obama.
Gone but a week and Ali's courage in the face of government opposition is quickly being re-written by the same forces that he stood up against. His legacy and courage demand that history be recounted truthfully.
I was the central organizer of Muhammad Ali's peace delegation that traveled to Iraq in 1990, the delegation to which Saddam Hussein released 15 American hostages.
The idea for the delegation came from former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who asked me to be the organizer of the trip on his behalf. Other anti-war activists joined us.
Unfortunately the current telling of this story largely misses or ....
From AraNews 400 ISIS militants killed, 90 villages liberated in the SDF-led battle for Manbij north Syria US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday that at least 400 militants from the Islamic State (ISIS) have been killed since the start of the ongoing military campaign aimed at liberating Manbij in northern Syria from ISIS.
In the ongoing operation, launched on 31 May, the Kurdish-led SDF and allied Manbij Military Council have recaptured some 90 villages and farms in the countryside of Manbij.
“Our forces have also cut off all roads linking Manbij with other Syrian cities, imposing a complete siege on ISIS inside the city after retaking the Manbij-Aleppo road,” SDF official Habun Osman told ARA News. ....
Nil Nikandrov at GlobalResearch Regime Change in Bolivia: US Intelligence Preparing to Oust President Evo Morales? US intelligence agencies have ramped up their operations intended to remove Bolivian President Evo Morales from office. All options are on the table, including assassination. Barack Obama, who sees the weakening of Latin America’s “hostile bloc of populist states” as one of his administration’s foreign-policy victories, intends to buoy this success before stepping down.
Washington also feels under the gun in Bolivia because of China’s successful expansion in the country. Morales is steadily strengthening his financial, economic, trade, and military relationship with Beijing. Chinese businesses in La Paz are thriving – making investments and loans and taking part in projects to secure a key position for Bolivia in the modernization of the continent’s transportation industry. In the next 10 years, thanks to Bolivia’s plentiful gas reserves, that country will become the energy hub of South America. Evo Morales sees his country’s development as his top priority, and the Chinese, unlike the Americans, have always viewed Bolivia as an ally and partner in a relationship that eschews double standards....
...The program’s first fruits have been the emergence of social protests (recent marches by disabled citizens were staged at the suggestion of the American embassy), although Evo Morales’s administration has evinced more concern for the interests of Bolivians on a limited income than any other government in the history of Bolivia.....
If not for wars inflicted by the warmongering powers-that-be on the Muslims in the Middle East and Africa, there wouldn't be deaths by drowning, by missiles, by headchopping, by car bombs, by suicide bombs ... and incidentally there would not be the millions of Shariah-loving folks making their way to the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and to the main warmonger, the United States of America. What's not to like about the situation, eh? STFU about refugees coming over and enjoy the coming shariah in every aspect of your lives. You didn't protest when your heroes were invading and bombing the Muslim lands, did you? So, why complain now about the consequences?
UNHCR figures also show that a record 58,000 irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees managed to make it to Europe by sea last year. The UN refugee agency on Tuesday released figures showing that more than 1,500 irregular migrants or refugees drowned or went missing last year while attempting crossings of the Mediterranean Sea.
“This makes 2011 the deadliest year for this region since UNHCR started to record these statistics in 2006. The previous high was in 2007 when 630 people were reported dead or missing,” Senior Communications Officer Sybella Wilkes told journalists in Geneva, while adding that at least 18 people had drowned this year to date after setting off from Libya for Europe.
“Our teams in Greece, Italy, Libya and Malta, warn that the actual number of deaths at sea may be even higher,” Wilkes said. “Our estimates are based on interviews with people who reached Europe on boats, telephone calls and e-mails from relatives, as well as reports from Libya and Tunisia from survivors whose boats either sank or were in distress in the early stages of the journey,” she explained.
Wilkes also revealed that a record 58,000 irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees managed to make it to European shores last year after setting off in boats from Asia or North Africa. The previous high was in 2008, when 54,000 people reached Greece, Italy and Malta.
During 2009 and 2010, border control measures sharply reduced the number of arrivals in Europe. The frequency of boat arrivals increased in early 2011 as the governments in Tunisia and Libya collapsed.
The majority of last year’s arrivals by sea landed in Italy (56,000, of whom 28,000 were Tunisian) while Malta and Greece received 1,574 and 1,030 respectively. The majority arrived in the first half of the year and most were migrants, not asylum-seekers or refugees. Only three smuggler’s boats arrived after mid-August.....
From the Guardian dated July 11, 2012 Fifty refugees drown in Mediterranean Asylum seekers from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan die after after boat capsizes en route to Italy. One man survives to tell the tale More than 50 asylum seekers trying to reach Italy died when their boat capsized, according to a man who has said he is the sole survivor.
Rocco Nuri, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tunisia, told the Guardian that the survivor, whom he named as Abbas, was spotted by Tunisian fishermen on Monday night clinging to a fuel tank and the remains of the boat. The 25-year-old Eritrean was taken to hospital in the town of Zarzis. After interviewing him, Nuri quoted the man as saying that he had set off from Tripoli in Libya with 55 others – 33 Eritreans, 20 Somalis and two Sudanese. At some point in the journey – "He is very confused about timing," said Nuri – the rigid inflatable boat on which they were travelling developed a puncture on one side. Many of the passengers fled to the opposite side of the vessel and the wooden base of the boat gave way under their weight.....
From UnitedAgainstRacism dated Jan 11, 2012 (list is from way back even before Empire's war on Afghanistan and documents until Oct 2012) The documented deaths of refugees up to that date is 17,306. But by this date now in 2016, I am willing to bet that that figure has gone well over 25K because of the intensity of the wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and renewed hostilities in Libya. List of 17306 documented refugee deaths through Fortress Europe
More than 1,750 migrants perished in the Mediterranean since the start of the year - more than 30 times higher than during the same period of 2014, says the International Organisation for Migration
More than 700 refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea since Wednesday attempting to reach Europe from Libya. It is the single deadliest week for refugee drownings this year, according to the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR.
Three shipwrecks in just three days account for most of the week’s enormous death toll. Other agencies, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSN), have estimated more than 900 deaths. “We will never know exact numbers,” MSN tweeted on Sunday, “Around 900 people may have died in the Central Mediterranean in the last week alone. Europe, this is unbearable.”....
If true, US managed to get rid of 150 jihadis in Somalia (see second link disputing that figure). If it could do this in Somalia, why wasn't it able to do same in Syria? Isn't the answer because USA and its allies had no intention of doing away with the headchoppers there until Russia showed up to show the world what many of us already knew?
Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the strike hit a training camp where a "large-scale" attack was being planned.
"We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces," Captain Davis said.
"Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated," he added.
Mr Davis said the strike, by both drones and manned aircraft, took place on Saturday and targeted Raso Camp, a training facility about 120 miles (195km) north of the capital, Mogadishu.
....Also on Monday, the Australian navy said it had seized a huge cache of weapons on a fishing boat off the coast of Oman that was apparently heading for Somalia.
Grenade launchers, machine guns, and 2,000 assault rifles were concealed under fishing nets, a Navy spokesman said.....
‘It was like a burnt house. Al-Shabaab fighters were collecting dead bodies’ Islamist group confirms attack but says death toll of 150 is exaggerated
A local cattle herder has given the first eyewitness account of the US airstrike on an Islamist militant training camp in Somalia that killed scores of fighters.
Pentagon officials claimed that more than 150 members of the al-Shabaab militant group were killed in the surprise raid by planes and unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drones near Raso over the weekend. The al-Qaida linked group confirmed the airstrike but rejected the death toll as exaggerated. Bashir Dhure, a herder living nearby, said the camp had been set up in a new and secret location in an attempt to avoid Somali and western intelligence, but was targeted on Saturday night.
“There were big explosions,” he told the Guardian. “All nearby places were caught on fire and no one knew what was happening. In the morning I could see the smoke coming from the bombarded training facility.
“It was like a burnt house. Everything turned burnt. I saw three vehicles burnt down. Al-Shabaab fighters were collecting dead bodies. They were put on trucks and took out of the village. We do not know where they were buried,” he said in a telephone interview.
Following the airstrike, angry al-Shabaab fighters started searching .....
Amanda Lindhout is a good woman and on hearing that the leader of the gang that kidnapped and tortured her, was in Canadian custody and awaiting our "special" brand of soft justice, she thanked the RCMP over and over again. Someone like moi would have screamed at the RCMP for taking this long and would have demanded that I get a big raw bloodied piece of the Somali so I could feed it to my dog.
One of my previous posts on Lindhout dated August 2013 is here and I am glad to see I haven't changed my views much besides no longer ranting at "lefties" whose opinions, at least a good chunk of them, I now take pretty seriously.
Amanda Lindhout crumpled to the floor, crying, as RCMP investigators broke the news to her on Thursday about the arrest of her alleged Somalian kidnapper.
One officer who had stuck with the case over the past five years asked her "Are you sitting down?," Lindhout recalled Sunday on social media.
"There were several RCMP officials on the line as he delivered the news. I was stunned that they'd made the arrest. I was even more stunned that the accused kidnapper was in my home country."
"I had forgotten to sit down, and my knees gave out. I lay on the floor crying, saying the words, "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much," again and again," said Lindhout in a statement that was posted on her Facebook page and was also released by her publicist.
The RCMP announced Friday that they had arrested Ali Omar Ader in Ottawa.
Authorities are saying little about how the Somalian national made his way to Canada, where he now faces a criminal charge of hostage-taking.
But seeing Ader in news coverage of the arrest sparked a range of emotions for Lindhout.
"I find it difficult to describe what it felt like to see his face again," she said...........
Countries involved in either major or minor roles: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Yemen, Nigeria, France with (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad ) Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Albania, Estonia, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Republic of Korea, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Norway, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Novorussia, Ukraine, Russia, Chechnya, Somalia, Iran, India, South Korea, North Korea, Central African Republic, Kenya, Tunisia, The Philippines, Egypt, Albania, Serbia, China, Sudan, South Sudan, Bukina Faso, Palestine, Georgia, Chad, Spain, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Nepal, Congo, Uganda, Romania, Mexico.....
How many of us had even the tiniest of thoughts that in this supposedly modern and enlightened age we would be looking at a nuclear war, and looking at it in our lifetime?????? Vid posted Dec 14
Over and besides the terrorism attack by the Taliban on innocent children in Pakistan, here's what the hateful are doing in Afghanistan. From Stripes: Taliban mount assault on Kunar border district, Afghan officials say Taliban insurgents launched a massive attack against local security forces in eastern Kunar province and Afghan army units have been deployed to repulse the assault, officials said Tuesday. Fighting broke out Sunday in Dangam district near the Pakistani border when fighters allied with the Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban attempted to infiltrate Afghanistan, Kunar province’s police chief, Abdul Habib Saidkhail, said. “About 2,000 insurgents are involved in the fight,” Saidkhail said in a telephone interview. Since Sunday, hundreds of local Afghan volunteers have poured into Dangam to shore up the district’s defenses, he added....... From Syria360: Kobani – The terrorist attacks by the Daesh / ISIS mercenaries attempting to occupy Kobani continued yesterday on the 91st day. On all the fronts of Kobani, our forces are leading frequent operations against the terrorists who are on the defensive position. Yesterday overnight clashes took place between our forces and the terrorist groups on the southern front of the city. Our forces were able to capture 2 firearms and a number of military equipment on this front, however the information on the casualty numbers for these battles were not immediately verified..... .....People’s Defense Units YPG / Women’s Defense Units YPJ ......The Syrian army started fresh military operations in Aleppo city in a bid to complete its siege of the city which is now under the control of the Takfiri terrorists. The army units made major advances in Aleppo countryside and killed at least 26 militants at the start of their operations...... From AlAkhbar: New Islamist coalition formed in Eastern Libya ahead of pro-gov't assault Islamist militias in the eastern Libyan town of Derna say they have formed a new coalition ahead of an assault by pro-government forces. "Everybody saw what happened in Benghazi: disaster; institutions destroyed; houses demolished; mosques and universities burned by the criminal hands of Haftar's supporters," said the newly formed Mujahideen Shura Council. Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar and Abdullah al-Thani, Libya's internationally recognized prime minister, are fighting to wrest full control of Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi from Islamist militants......... From IBTimes: Yemen: 15 school children among 25 killed in Radaa car bombs At least 25 people were killed when two car bombs exploded in the Yemeni city of Radaa, an al-Qaeda stronghold. The first bomb exploded close to a school bus that was passing a checkpoint in the city, killing 15 school children, Reuters news agency reported. A second car bomb exploded near to the house of an official rumoured to support the Houthi movement, killing a further 10 people. From FaceIraq: At least 12 people have been killed as Islamic State (IS) militants carried out two suicide-car bombs attacks in the western Iraqi province of Anbar where the extremists are gaining further ground, Al Jazeera reported Saturday..... From BBCnews: Yemen kills 'al-Qaeda militants disguised as veiled women' Several suspected al-Qaeda militants, disguised as fully veiled women, have reportedly been shot dead by Yemeni security forces near the Saudi border. The militants were killed after one of them opened fire on a soldier who was checking their vehicle, officials say. One report quoting a Yemeni official said three militants were killed - while another put the number at five. The Yemeni offshoot of al-Qaeda has exploited recent instability to seize parts of the country's south and east......... From Antiwar: US Stops Paying Northern Syrian Rebel Salaries Vetted Rebels Join al-Qaeda as US Funds Dry Up “Vetted, moderate” rebels in northern Syria are joining al-Qaeda left and right these days, according to commanders familiar with the situation, as the US has suddenly and without explanation stopped paying them salaries..... From Reuters: Somali al Shabaab militants behead two policewomen Al Shabaab militants have beheaded two Somali policewomen, prompting a policeman to kill five women linked to the group who were being held for a possible swap of captives, an official said on Wednesday. The policeman killed the women - all wives of rebels from the Somali Islamist group - after discovering the dead bodies of his policewoman wife and her colleague, Tayeglow district commissioner Mohamed Abdallah told Reuters. "We wanted to negotiate the release of the Somali policewomen but unfortunately they were beheaded," he said. The policewomen's bodies were found in the morning after they were abducted from their houses by rebels overnight.....
From BBC: Court tells France to pay damages to Somali pirates The European Court of Human Rights says France violated the rights of Somali pirates who had attacked French ships and has ordered compensation for them over judicial delays. The nine Somali pirates should get thousands of euros because they were not immediately brought before a French judge, the court ruled. One is to get 9,000 euros (£7,000) and the others sums of up to 7,000 euros. The judges faulted France for keeping them in custody for an extra 48 hours. The pirates had held French citizens hostage after seizing a French-flagged cruise ship and a French yacht in 2008. The French military captured the pirates on the Somali coast in two operations, after the hostages had been released for ransoms of $2.1m (£1.3m) and $2m. Indian Ocean shipping has been plagued by pirate gangs operating off Somalia in recent years, but international naval action in the region has sharply reduced the attacks. Before transferring the pirates to France, the authorities held one group for four days and the others for six days and 16 hours. But the extra 48 hours of custody on French soil violated the pirates' right to liberty and security under the European Convention on Human Rights, the court ruled.......
You know the saying, something that goes like this: "If you can't beat them, join them..." So, yup... I see things more clearly from the other side. After studying the root cause of the migration of Muslims and non-Muslims from Africa due to Muslim jihadis reign of terror (created mainly by Saudi Arabia and Qatar ... do your own research to find out how) and the upheaval in the Middle East (created solely by Israel and Saudi Arabia with the blessing of the USA .... again, do your own research to see how) .... the world is now awash with close to 55 M people whose status is considered to be either "displaced" or "refugee." It won't hurt Canada to import 1.5 M of these people and give them a home in our bountiful nation by our 150th birthday, will it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The world is a lovely place when you see the trouble makers of this world falling into a steaming hot pile they had meant as traps for others. HAHAHAHAHAHA
So .... to conclude: The people who are pro-Israel and anti-Muslim will be forced to welcome into Canada the very same people who have to be given shelter because of Israeli policies in the Middle East. Some heads are gonna explode. HAHAHAHAHA
From UNHCR: Canada got it right on immigration. Now it’s time to lead on refugees; Let’s renew our leadership in refugee resettlement and kick-start Canada’s150th anniversary by giving a home to 1.5 million refugees Publisher: The Globe and Mail Author: COLIN ROBERTSON Story date: 08/07/2014 Language: English The international refugee system needs a hand. "Humanitarians can help as a palliative but political solutions are vitally needed," remarked Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in recently releasing the UNHCR annual report. It is a challenge that fits "no longer just to go along and get along," the Harper government's bumptious mantra for multilateral affairs. Useful lessons can be drawn from our experience and recent reforms to the Canadian migration and refugee system. Not since the Second World War are so many displaced peoples – 51.2 million– sloshing within national borders and streaming across international frontiers........... .....Our refugee determination system is more expeditious, with improved tracking and information sharing. No system is perfect. A few jihadists holding, even burning, Canadian passports fuel headlines, but our risk-management system works. One in five Canadians is foreign-born. The visible diversity of our cities defines what the Aga Khan describes as our "robust pluralism." Mackenzie King's "none is too many" refugee policy has been exorcised, but as historian Irving Abella reminds us: "A nation cannot move forward without recognizing the darker parts of its past." With the courts to protect against the "cruel and unusual," we are finding our way......
....Let's renew our leadership in refugee resettlement. Kick-start our 150th anniversary by giving a home to 1.5 million refugees. Make refugees our standing issue on the international circuit......
and on the way to destroying those countries, how about a few more. We want to see a whole big pile of dead bodies all with different skin tones, don't we? It's a new form of art. The 5 years have gone into a decade+ because Syria threw a cog in the wheel and so did Iran's new peace-seeking initiatives. But ... hey, so what! There is other fish to fry all over the globe. Notice how Pakistan and North Korea are not on that list. Both have nuclear capabilities. Conclusion: Build nuclear capabilities if you want Uncle Sam to stay out of your backyard. Below are a few extracts from an interview given by Gen. Wesley Clark to Democracy Now in 2007
From GlobalResearch: ...So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” — meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office — “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.” And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, “You remember that?” He said, “Sir, I didn’t show you that memo! I didn’t show it to you!” AMY GOODMAN: I’m sorry. What did you say his name was? GEN. WESLEY CLARK: I’m not going to give you his name. AMY GOODMAN: So, go through the countries again. GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Well, starting with Iraq, then Syria and Lebanon, then Libya, then Somalia and Sudan, and back to Iran. So when you look at Iran, you say, “Is it a replay?” It’s not exactly a replay. But here’s the truth: that Iran, from the beginning, has seen that the presence of the United States in Iraq was a threat — a blessing, because we took out Saddam Hussein and the Baathists. They couldn’t handle them. We took care of it for them. But also a threat, because they knew that they were next on the hit list. And so, of course, they got engaged. They lost a million people during the war with Iraq, and they’ve got a long and unprotectable, unsecurable border. So it was in their vital interest to be deeply involved inside Iraq. They tolerated our attacks on the Baathists. They were happy we captured Saddam Hussein. But they’re building up their own network of influence, and to cement it, they occasionally give some military assistance and training and advice, either directly or indirectly, to both the insurgents and to the militias. And in that sense, it’s not exactly parallel, because there has been, I believe, continuous Iranian engagement, some of it legitimate, some of it illegitimate. I mean, you can hardly fault Iran because they’re offering to do eye operations for Iraqis who need medical attention. That’s not an offense that you can go to war over, perhaps. But it is an effort to gain influence. And the administration has stubbornly refused to talk with Iran about their perception, in part because they don’t want to pay the price with their domestic — our US domestic political base, the rightwing base, but also because they don’t want to legitimate a government that they’ve been trying to overthrow. If you were Iran, you’d probably believe that you were mostly already at war with the United States anyway, since we’ve asserted that their government needs regime change, and we’ve asked congress to appropriate $75 million to do it, and we are supporting terrorist groups, apparently, who are infiltrating and blowing up things inside Iraq — Iran. And if we’re not doing it, let’s put it this way: we’re probably cognizant of it and encouraging it. So it’s not surprising that we’re moving to a point of confrontation and crisis with Iran......
When the government officials themselves, starting from the very top, along with the country's police force and the army, are corrupt to the core ... what do you expect to happen in such countries? I wish those victimized in these countries had at least the money needed to buy firearms to defend themselves and their families. The sad truth is that, that the govts of such corrupt countries ... Nigeria and Somalia are two more from the long list of corrupt nations of Africa, do their best to keep the masses poor and ignorant because it serves their purpose of making untold amounts of money for themselves. Besides the disgusting corruption in the African countries, the recent rise of Muslim terrorist groups in these countries is because the police force, the army and the government bodies themselves are full of Muslim supporters of the terrorist groups. It's what is destroying these countries from the inside.... just like how it will happen when the Western countries come to those kind of percentages within our governments and security forces. Make no mistake about that.
From NBCnews: ....Kenya Massacre: Somali Extremists Targeting Christians Kill Dozens at Resort. Dozens of extremists attacked a Kenyan coastal town for hours, killing those who weren't Muslim and those who didn't know the Somali language, officials and witnesses said Monday. At least 48 people were killed and two hotels were set on fire..... ....Like the gunmen who attacked Nairobi's Westgate Mall last year, the Mpeketoni attackers gave life-or-death religious assessment, a witness said, killing those who were not Muslim. "They came to our house at around 8 p.m. and asked us in Swahili whether we were Muslims. My husband told them we were Christians and they shot him in the head and chest," said Anne Gathigi..... Another resident, John Waweru, said his two brothers were killed because the attackers did not like that the brothers did not speak Somali. "My brothers who stay next door to me were killed as I watched. I was peeping from my window and I clearly heard them speak to my brothers in Somali and it seems since my brothers did not meet their expectations, they sprayed them with bullets and moved on," said Waweru......
From KenyanRedCross: ....Situation Overview As the operational picture of the Mpeketoni attack that occurred in the night of 15th June 2014, addition two bodies were recovered on 19th June 2014 near Witu, bringing the death toll to 60. The bodies of the victims have been preserved at the Mpeketoni sub county hospital. Two Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Kitale-Mavuno area of Poromoko and at Poromoko centre with 506 and 100 households respectively continue to receive relief aid from Government, the Kenya Red Cross and well wishers. ........ From GlobalSecurity: .....Islamic jihadists struck Mpeketoni in Kenya and then began to slaughter Christians and non-Somali nationals according to local reports. Of course, in the hate inspired world of radical Sunni Takfiris then slaughtering is second nature. Indeed, recent images in Iraq testify to this just like the countless beheadings in Syria and in other parts of the world that are blighted by Takfiri jihadists. Therefore, innocents were slaughtered in Kenya based on being Christian and non-Somali. Of course, in Somalia the al-Shabaab (al-Shabab) hunts down all apostates to Christianity and then kills them in heinous ways. In other words, the al-Shabaab and other radical Takfiri Islamists enjoy butchering in the name of their God. Lee Jay Walker at Modern Tokyo Times says: “It is known that at least 50 individuals were slaughtered in Mpeketoni on the grounds of their religious faith. This sickening reality is all too common because minority Muslim groups like the Shia are often butchered in Iraq, Pakistan and in Syria by the same Takfiri mindsets. Therefore, if Sunni jihadi Islamists can slaughter minority Muslim groups and mainstream Sunni Muslim clerics with glee – then clearly butchering Christians isn’t difficult.” The BBC reports: “Anne Soy in Mpeketoni says she was told the gunmen shot dead anyone who was unable to recite verses from the Koran.” Benson Maisori, the local district deputy commissioner, reported to AFP news that: “There were around 50 attackers, heavily armed in three vehicles, and they were flying the Shabab flag. They were shouting in Somali and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ [God is Great].” The government of Kenya is clearly worried about religious tensions erupting because the al-Shabaab thrives on chaos and hatred. At the same time, the ethnic angle is another major issue. Similarly, given the loathing of Takfiri jihadists towards indigenous Islam in Somalia then clearly Gulf petrodollars are involved. Therefore, Muslim shrines are also being destroyed by the al-Shabaab in Somalia and this sums up their “year zero Takfiri” mindset............ From TheEconomist: ....Two nights of terror attacks on Kenya’s coast on June 15th and 16th left at least 65 people dead, prompting the Shabab, a Somali militia of extreme Islamists, to boast that it had turned the country into a “war zone”. The killings mark a change of gear. Previously the group has mainly committed sporadic acts of cross-border terror. Its latest massacres come closer to resembling a domestic insurgency. Yet Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, seems to be blaming his political opponents at home for encouraging the violence........
