The Myth of the Surge – Mike Whitney

Posted on March 14, 2013 by kf1

How Bush Used PR to Conceal Massive Ethnic Cleansing in Baghdad

“I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated. It’s succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

– President Barack Obama

One of the enduring myths of the Iraq War is that George W. Bush’s “surge” of 30,000 US troops into Iraq in 2007, reduced the number of attacks on US troops and effectively defeated the Sunni-led insurgency in Baghdad. This is entirely false. The surge was largely a public relations campaign that was designed to conceal the activities of US-funded and trained Shia death squads that were killing or expelling millions of Sunnis from Baghdad in what turned out to be one the greatest incidents of ethnic cleansing in the modern era. Continue reading →

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An Invalid Reason to Rescue Mali – Paul Pillar

Posted on February 25, 2013 by kf1

Here we go again—another unstable Muslim-majority country wracked by violence and the excesses of Islamic extremists, and another round of anguishing over what the United States can do to keep the extremists from gaining more ground. We have been through this, or are still going through this, in Afghanistan, in northwest Pakistan, and in Yemen. And that’s in addition to places where similar issues were enveloped within a struggle to depose a secular dictator, as in Libya and Syria. Now the latest Islamic extremist threat-of-the-month is in Mali. Continue reading →

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Mali: Here we go again – Sheldon Richman – 29 Jan.2013

Posted on February 25, 2013 by kf1

In testimony before Senate and House committees, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton enthusiastically endorsed increased U.S. intervention in Africa. When government officials seem incapable of learning obvious lessons from the recent past, maybe their incentive is not to learn but to keep doing the same destructive things.

President Obama’s inaugural speech contained this line, which has gone quite overlooked: “America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe. And we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad.”

That’s a recipe for perpetual war and perpetual fiscal crisis. Continue reading →

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Israeli soldier posts disturbing Instagram photo of child in crosshairs of his rifle

Posted on February 19, 2013 by kf1

Full Story

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Will Washington Reciprocate? – The Iranians and Unconditional Friendship by FRANKLIN LAMB

Posted on February 19, 2013 by kf1

Truth be told, this American observer has attended his share of international  conferences and has traveled in more than 70 countries. But never has he  visited such a complex, evolving, striving and energized society, populated by idealistic people of great warmth, sense of humor and caring for those  in need as he has experienced in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Continue reading →

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Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden Come Clean on Iran? – Franklin Lamb

Posted on February 13, 2013 by kf1

Azadeh, a graduate law student from Tehran University, on the sidelines of Iran’s Third Annual Hollywood is reminded her interlocutors, of the obvious damming admissions last week by two US politicians: Continue reading →

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Atheism – Now Mainstream?

Posted on February 5, 2013 by kf1

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Rage escalates over sexual violence plaguing India – SMH – 29 Dec.12

Posted on December 31, 2012 by kf1

AS THE 23-year-old victim of a brutal gang rape nearly two weeks ago fights for her life in hospital, further cases of police indifference and political insensitivity to sexual violence in India continue to disturb the country.

The woman has ”significant brain injury”, infections in the lungs and abdomen and is “struggling against the odds” to survive, a hospital statement said on Friday. She was flown to Singapore for treatment overnight on Wednesday after her condition deteriorated.
Her case caused further political uproar when the son of India’s President, and a member of Parliament, Abhijit Mukherjee, was upbraided by his father, Pranab Mukherjee, his sister and his son for saying women protesting against sexual violence were ”highly dented and painted” and not real protesters. Continue reading →

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Justice, Peace and the Israeli State by WILLIAM A. COOK

Posted on December 4, 2012 by kf1

“As for the rights of Jewish people in this land, I have a simple message for those people gathered in the General Assembly today, no decision by the U.N. can break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.”

– Ron Prosor, United Nations Ambassador from Israel, November 29, 2012

In today’s world a tragic hero is a representative figure who stands before us as one speaking for his people, an Ambassador if you will, addressing the citizens of the world at the United Nations, enunciating the beliefs and demands of his nation as they must confront an event of great magnitude that appears to represent a reversal of their fortunes. Such a figure was Ronald Prosor, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations on November 29th, 2012, as he addressed the assembled delegates before their vote on the recognition of the state of Palestine. “No decision by the UN can break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel, “he arrogantly proclaimed, Continue reading →

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What Really Happened in Gaza by NORMAN FINKELSTEIN

Posted on November 30, 2012 by kf1

The official storyline is that Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense on 14 November, 2012 because, in President Barack Obama’s words, it had “every right to defend itself.”

In this instance, Israel was allegedly defending itself against the 800 projectile attacks emanating from Gaza since January of this past year.

The facts, however, suggest otherwise. Continue reading →

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