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"Religion: it is better to DIE in delusion than LIVE in REALITY" -- Anon
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 The rise and rise of Hamas
Stephen Zunes, Saturday, Jun 30 2007, 1:25am
Beginning in the early 1980s, with generous funding from the US-backed family dictatorship in Saudi Arabia, the antecedents of Hamas began to emerge through the establishment of schools, health care clinics, social service organizations and other entities which stressed an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam, which up to that point had not been very common among the Palestinian population.
international /
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other press
 Cults of Unreason and the End of Species
dreamboat, Friday, Jun 29 2007, 12:44pm
People today seem perplexed as civilisation as we know it plummets into the abyss. Yet, in the broad sense, the future is entirely predictable. The much lauded system of economic rationalism has resulted in huge disparities in wealth comparable to ancient societies; the wealth of Pharaoh-God-Kings of the past was staggering and in stark contrast to the wealth of their subjects. The peoples’ living standards were maintained at ‘adequate‘ levels to ensure a fit work/slave force for their rulers – remind you of anything, are you able to draw any comparisons today? In fact ancient Egypt (utilising modern poverty statistics) would have fared better in the social sense than most of today’s societies. So much for economic rationalism and laissez-faire capitalism! The inequity of today’s economic reality is far from mysterious; however, one mystery remains, the masses of today tolerate far greater inequities than the masses of yesterday. (story and 2 images)
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article
Subpoenas Sent to White House on Wiretapping
James Risen via rialator, Wednesday, Jun 27 2007, 11:27am
WASHINGTON, June 27 — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday issued subpoenas to the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and the Justice Department after what the panel’s chairman called “stonewalling of the worst kind” of efforts to investigate the National Security Agency’s policy of wiretapping without warrants. (story and 2 comments and 2 images)
Last Commented Thursday, Jun 28 2007, 12:10pm
international /
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other press
The Empire of Clowns ...
Arthur Silber via reed, Tuesday, Jun 26 2007, 12:03pm
At this moment in the monstrously bloody course of American Empire, I suppose I might take the sardonically grateful point of view. At least we now have some direct experience of how easy it was for nauseatingly corrupt Roman leaders to impose their will upon the ignorant hordes, and literally to get away with murder. Hell, who needed to "get away" with murder? Bloody, painful, lingering, ungraspably sadistic murder was one of the major entertainments. (story and 1 image)
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Murdoch’s Dealings in China: It’s Business, and It’s Personal
Joseph Kahn via rialator, Monday, Jun 25 2007, 1:38pm
BEIJING, June 25 — Many big companies have sought to break into the Chinese market over the past two decades, but few of them have been as ardent and unrelenting as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
Mr. Murdoch has flattered Communist Party leaders and done business with their children. His Fox News network helped China’s leading state broadcaster develop a news Web site. He joined hands with the Communist Youth League, a power base in the ruling party, in a risky television venture, his China managers and advisers say. (story and 1 image)
international /
mass media /
other press
Building a Justification for Waging War on Iran?
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky via rialator, Sunday, Jun 24 2007, 11:00am
"Another [9/11 type terrorist] attack could create both a justification and an opportunity that is lacking today to retaliate against some known targets" (Statement by Pentagon official, leaked to the Washington Post, 23 April 2006)
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Neo-cons Spinning Hearts and Minds
Khody Akhavi via rialator, Sunday, Jun 24 2007, 10:26am
WASHINGTON, Jun 24 (IPS) - As the George W. Bush administration struggles through its last two years in office, it appears that the agenda of neoconservative ideologues has finally lost its appeal among strategic parts of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus.
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Mind Slaves of Our Time
fish, Saturday, Jun 23 2007, 1:08pm
The title suggests the sci-fi genre or the paranoid delusions of conspiracy theorists; surely it couldn’t be possible that millions of people today are slaves to particular worldviews formulated by men in the distant past. Views that enslave, terrorise and create a subservient population. Intolerant views that challenge refutation with physical and psychological violence. Preposterous views that cripple the reasoning faculties and the intellect -- men flying and living inside whales, materialisations, stories relating to sociopathic, blood lusting, faecal-eating Gods.
Prior to the last reference most would have already guessed religion as the most likely pathogen responsible for most of today’s social ills. (story and 1 comment and 2 images)
Last Commented Sunday, Jun 24 2007, 9:44am
international /
social equality/unity /
article
The CIA and Fatah
Mike Whitney via rialator, Thursday, Jun 21 2007, 10:20am
"When Hamas gunmen stormed the Fatah security compounds in Gaza last week they found huge supplies of American-made weaponry including 7,400 M-16 assault rifles, dozens of mounted machine guns, rocket launchers, 7 armored military jeeps, 800,000 rounds of bullets and 18 US-made armored personnel carriers. They also discovered something far more valuable--- CIA files which purportedly contain "information about the collaboration between Fatah and the Israeli and American security organizations; CIA methods on how to prevent attacks, chase and follow after cells of Hamas and the Committees; plans about Fatah assassinations of members of Hamas and other organizations; and American studies on the security situation in Gaza." (Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily.com)
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Political Genius: credit where it’s due
finch, Tuesday, Jun 19 2007, 8:36pm
Few even know her name but she was responsible for the Roman Empire enduring for another fifteen hundred years as a theological empire. Most people and historical texts mistakenly refer to the Roman Emperor Constantine as the person who transformed the militaristic Roman Empire into the Holy Roman Empire, however, he was only a manipulated mommy’s boy. (story and 1 image)
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opinion/analysis
Unravelling
gan, Monday, Jun 18 2007, 10:19pm
As the wall approaches, or rather as we speed recklessly toward it, it serves no purpose to analyse how a nation, trillions of dollars in debt, remains in a position to offer billions to its enemies and try and buy its way out of inevitable collapse. The buy-off strategy is not new, what is new however is that the offers have been rejected – no amount of money could buy Kosovo from Serbia, what are a people without a heart or national identity? Condi Rice, with Israel’s whole-hearted support, today openly offered to buy-off Palestinians in the vain hope that western influence could be maintained in the region. For numerous reasons this strategy will also fail. (story and 1 comment and 1 image)
Last Commented Tuesday, Jun 19 2007, 2:04pm
international /
imperialism /
commentary
Peace is Dead, give War a Chance
nano, Saturday, Jun 16 2007, 1:16pm
As the Middle East explodes in factional and sectarian conflict the neo-cons gloat, John Bolton and Condi Rice revealed U.S. policy during the South Lebanon conflict, their non-interventionist policy encouraged the slaughter of children and civilians by Israeli forces – peace is clearly of no use to American interests! What does it matter if most of the Middle East tears itself apart, America stands to gain from the mayhem and bloodshed.
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opinion/analysis
Permanent Bases the World Over: Behold the American Empire
Tom Engelhardt via rialator, Friday, Jun 15 2007, 12:32am
Finally, the great American disconnect may be ending.
Only four years after the invasion of Iraq, the crucial facts-on-the-ground might finally be coming into sight in this country -- not the carnage or the mayhem; not the suicide car bombs or the chlorine truck bombs; not the massive flight of middle-class professionals, the assassination campaign against academics, or the collapse of the best health-care service in the region; not the spiking American and Iraqi casualties, the lack of electricity, the growth of Shia militias, the crumbling of the "coalition of the willing," or the uprooting of 15 percent or more of Iraq's population; not even the sharp increase in fundamentalism and extremism, the rise of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the swelling of sectarian killings, or the inability of the Iraqi government to get oil out of the ground or an oil law, designed in Washington and meant to turn the clock back decades in the Middle East, passed inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone -- No, none of that. (story and 1 image)
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Laissez-faire Capitalism, Desensitisation and Moral Bankruptcy
peptide, Wednesday, Jun 13 2007, 11:09pm
Two events in particular typify the modern age, the exploitation or rather the reduction of poor, exploited and victimised humans as body part suppliers -- kidneys in particular -- and the vacuous, worthless celebrity of a no-talent, mindless, American rich girl whose presence in the mass media is constant. While millions suffer injustices, tortures and hardships, Paris Hilton is served for mass consumption; coverage of the horrific trade in living human body parts is avoided for obvious and shameful reasons! (story and 1 image)
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human rights /
opinion/analysis
Tony Blair's little tantrum
The Age via rialator, Tuesday, Jun 12 2007, 10:49pm
A very ungrateful Tony Blair erupts over his perceived unfair treatment by the mass media. But not a mention of its support in promulgating his 45 minute lie regarding WMD and attack capability of pre-invasion Iraq. We also note that the media hasn't hounded Blair regarding his accountability for civilian causalities in the pre-emptive illegal invasion based on lies -- but who would expect integrity or gratitude from a prima donna? The following report is very revealing of a personality that should never have had influence over the lives of others. It is not the media that Blair should fear or berate, it is history that will portray him in grim detail and really expose the poodle who would have been a prime minister but for the very profound need to be a sycophant. (story and 2 comments and 2 images)
Last Commented Thursday, Jun 14 2007, 8:32pm
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Oil interests flout International Law in Balkans
fish, Sunday, Jun 10 2007, 2:42pm
Republican president Bush follows Democrat president Clinton’s course in the Balkans; oil pipelines and gas supplies take precedence over every other consideration including international law and the sanctity of human life. Bush has challenged Russia, Serbia and International Law by announcing during his recent visit to Albania that Kosovo, a Serbian province, would become independent in the near future, negotiations must result in “certain independence ... that’s what’s important to know”, he said! Bush’s grammatically woeful statements beg the question, why the need for negotiation if the Texan president insists that independence is “certain” for Kosovo -- which remains Serbian sovereign territory? (story and 4 comments and 2 images)
Last Commented Monday, Jun 11 2007, 10:49pm
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commentary
Remembering the USS Liberty: Four Decades Later
William Hughes via rialator, Saturday, Jun 9 2007, 12:55pm
[Ed. EVERYONE is expendable; the forces that control Washington and most of the world have no national allegiances, these organisations use nationalism and tribalism to achieve their ends, however, it should be clearly understood that these Transnational organisations have only one allegiance, PROFIT -- regardless of the cost in human lives!
The puppet Bush regime is the result of a devolution that started a long time ago; everyone is urged to investigate the USS Liberty and the Gulf of Tonkin 'incidents'. Know the nature of the beast and you will understand the nature of the game.] (story and 1 comment and 1 image)
Last Commented Saturday, Jun 9 2007, 2:56pm
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injustice/law /
news report
Bushed Army
Andrew J. Bacevich via rialator, Friday, Jun 8 2007, 9:40pm
The following article indirectly indicates that an attack on Iran followed by the use of nuclear weapons is imminent. The lunatic neo-cons like their historical Nazi counterpart will persist in their nihilistic pursuits till the bitter end.
Rather than face the reality that the Bush regime has been the most criminally incompetent in U.S. history, the neo-cons now grab at nuclear straws in the hope that the radioactive last resort will save them from the ignominy they deserve.
The most reviled government in the world is also the most inept. Perhaps a clear message from an ally -- the arrest and subsequent trial of an original member of the coalition of the willing, John Howard of Australia -- may inspire a similar response in America and the UK. The people of Australia may finally overcome the cringe that has haunted the nation since the needless slaughter at Gallipoli.
Arresting the prime minister John Howard for his part in an illegal invasion that resulted in a holocaust for the innocent civilian population of Iraq may have a sobering effect on people everywhere. Regardless of the garb, position or office, a criminal remains a criminal!
John Howard, Alexander Downer and Philip Ruddock are war criminals and no amount of spin or denial will change the historical fact. Their immediate arrest may serve to awaken civilised people everywhere and prevent a nuclear catastrophe. [Ed.]
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Social Mystery
harely quin, Friday, Jun 8 2007, 11:48am
The masses are considered to be moronic by political strategists and analysts of almost every persuasion and it’s easy to understand why. In full view of EXPOSED criminal governments, wholesale plunder, global exploitation, outrageous ‘salary’ contracts (hundreds of millions for corporate directors) the people, the herd, the sheep, the slaves, the ‘work force’ -- or whatever other fitting derogatory description you care to make -- sit in their socially underprivileged spaces eating ‘shit’, relatively speaking! In no way or by any stretch of the human imagination is a person who earns 100K/annum hundreds of thousands of times the inferior of a person who earns tens or hundreds of millions per year – that is patently obvious YET the sheeple tolerate that inequity and much more. (story and 1 comment)
Last Commented Friday, Jun 8 2007, 8:22pm
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social equality/unity /
opinion/analysis
US stocks tumble, global inflation fears grow
ABConline via rialator, Thursday, Jun 7 2007, 10:25am
United States stocks have taken a tumble overnight as Treasury yields surged above 5 per cent, reinforcing fears that global inflation will force borrowing costs to rise.
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