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Watch the ‘left hand’ during election mania
by major mitchell Thursday, Oct 30 2008, 8:05am
international / imperialism / commentary

It really is too easy! Cynical social theorist, Leo Strauss, took the easy option. The masses should be ‘managed for their own good’ by benevolent, wise and intelligent, (SUPERIOR) ruling elites like dubya Bush, Rove, Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz, Rice, Rumsfeld etc. – get the picture? It is widely known today that far from ‘superior’ these elites are downright criminal AND incompetent! Yet most of us continue to take the bait each time these cynical manipulators offer it.

Bob Gates
Bob Gates

Almost the entire population has failed to see the left hand holding the dagger while the right offers fanfare! While the population is suitably distracted by the US elections, Bush is attempting to pardon himself and his entire administration from any and all future criminal prosecutions for war crimes and other crimes against humanity; he is rushing a Bill through Congress that would effectively achieve that end – but who is watching – certainly not the American people?

Bush has also applied pressure on member nations to admit two former Nazi allies -- Croatia and Albania -- into NATO, a quick look at an atlas reveals (strategic) Serbia/Kosovo sandwiched between these two ‘former’ fascist states.

However, the most alarming recent news relates to the content of a speech delivered to the Carnegie Endowment by serving Secretary of Defence, Bob Gates. Implied in the sub-text of Gates’ speech is a new American doctrine of total disregard for ALL international law and convention, especially those laws relating to the sovereignty of nations and the rights of free citizens.

Gates effectively stated the USA would disregard all laws and conventions and “.. hold any state, terrorist group or other nonstate actor or individual fully accountable for supporting or enabling terrorist efforts to obtain or use weapons of mass destruction - whether by facilitating, financing or providing expertise or safe haven for such effort!" These words are supported by recent criminal incursions and the murder of civilians in Pakistan and Syria, two sovereign states. [It should be noted that these and other US attacks make the International Criminal Court a complete joke or at best a political court of convenience and INJUSTICE!]

Gates also mentioned the need for the US to modernise its nuclear arsenal and referred to the modernisation programs of China, Russia and NATO allies in this regard. He lamented the fact that US weapons designers were getting old and that few have been trained to replace them. “The program we propose is not about new capabilities -- suitcase bombs or bunker busters or tactical nukes. It is about safety, security and reliability,” Gates said.

The fact the US supplied at least 30 newly developed bunker busters to Israel, would seem to contradict that weapons development is lagging behind. The mention of suitcase nukes definitely caught the attention of interested parties around the globe! It seems the old fart designers are not as burnt out as Gates would suggest.

The speech was nothing more than an exercise announcing to the world that America intends to COMPLETELY DISREGARD all law and convention and do as it pleases – the PIG and BULLY of the world has spoken!

However, it is clear to political commentators and analysts that 'sandwiching' Serbia and launching attacks on Syria are actions designed to test/provoke Russia and China.

Defining any nation that would dare defend against US imperialism/expansionism as terrorist, of course gives license to America to ‘defend itself.’

Gates seemed unaware that his speech was fraught with dangers, as the entire logic could easily be reversed and applied to America!

We are all anxiously awaiting a response from Russia and China. After failing ally Serbia over Kosovo and now the bombing of ally Syria, the challenge is clear. Perhaps the US is still ‘smarting’ over the routing it got in Georgia. We shall see!

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-28-voa59.cfm

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US embassy shut as Syrians protest over deadly raid
by staff report AFP via reed - AFP Thursday, Oct 30 2008, 8:55pm

DAMASCUS (AFP) — The US embassy in Syria shut its doors on Thursday as thousands marched through Damascus to protest at a deadly American raid on a village near the Iraqi border that Syria branded a barbaric act.

Security was boosted around the area housing the US embassy, which decided to close because of the potential threat of violence, although demonstrators stayed away from the mission.

"Colonialists, listen, the people of Syria will never be brought to their knees," cried youths as they massed in the city centre, waving Syrian flags and pictures of President Bashar al-Assad.

Demonstrators, including civil servants and students, waved Syrian flags and banners reading "No to American terrorism" and "American democracy -- the killing of civilians at Abu Kamal," the area targeted in Sunday's US raid.

"I want to denounce this act of American terrrorism. We are going to liberate Palestine, and Syria will liberate its occupied land," said a Palestinian woman named Shaimaa.

The protest wound down after several hours with no reports of violence, with security tight in the Abu Rumaneh area where the US embassy as well as the Saudi and Iraqi missions are located.

The US embassy announced on its website it had closed Thursday because of a possible demonstration and warned American citizens to stay away from the area.

It said the decision was made "due to past demonstrations which resulted in violence and significant damage to US facilities and other embassies," adding that the American school would also be temporarily shut.

In September 2006, a failed attack on the US embassy left four attackers and one Syrian security agent dead.

Damascus says eight civilians, including children, were killed in a helicopter assault on Sunday launched by US troops from Iraq on a Syrian village, which has provoked condemnation from a number of foreign governments.

A US official in Washington has said the operation targeted a top militant who smuggled arms and fighters into Iraq but officially the State Department and Pentagon have declined to comment.

On Tuesday, Syria protested to the UN Security Council over what it branded a barbaric action, with the official press calling it a "cold-blooded war crime".

US commanders say Syria is the main transit point for foreign jihadists crossing into Iraq and have blamed Damascus for turning a blind eye to the problem.

However, Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said a controversial security pact being negotiated Washington would prevent the US military from launching attacks on Iraq's neighbours.

"There is a very clear article in the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) draft that says the US cannot, should not, launch any operation from Iraqi soil against other countries," Rubaie said on Wednesday.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad said his government -- which has already demanded the closure of the American school and the US cultural centre -- is awaiting an explanation from Washington and Baghdad before deciding whether to take further retaliatory steps.

Syria and the United States have long had a rocky relationship.

In 2004, Washington imposed sanctions against Syria, accusing it of helping insurgents in Iraq and the Shiite Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

It recalled its ambassador to Damascus after the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri, reducing US diplomatic representation to charge d'affaires level.

On Thursday, North Korea -- accused by Washington of helping build a nuclear reactor in Syria -- condemned Sunday's raid as an "unpardonable, inhuman" act.

Parliament in neighbouring Jordan demanded that the international community take measures to stop such acts which MPs said "entrench violence and hatred" in the region.


© 2008 AFP


 
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