Ashurst: Criminal cartel border warfare allowed by the US Feds http://www.federalobserver.com/2010/07/27/ashurst-a-border-manifesto/

Ashurst: A Border Manifesto You could ask, “So what does this have to do with us living north of the border fence?” Plenty! The situation on the border isn’t just about a few workers walking north. It has everything to do with big business. Billions of dollars are being made trafficking humans, drugs, and contraband across the International Boundary. The Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Chapo Guzman and others, is reaping huge profits doing business along the border. The average coyote charges $1500 - $2500 to guide an illegal alien north to find work; usually abandoning them a short distance north of the line. A young man willing to pack dope north can make more than a construction worker or a teacher in the U.S. and only work a day or two a week.

Hungry Like the Wolf: Obama's Legacy of Hope and Change in Honduras http://uruknet.info/?p=m68365&hd=&size=1&l=e

'In the first year of his presidency, the first year of the "hope and change" he promised to bring to the conduct of American affairs, Barack Obama countenanced -- and abetted -- a coup in Honduras that ousted a mildly reformist, democratically elected president and replaced him with a clique of thuggish elites who now rule, illegitimately, through repression, threat and outright murder.

Since the installation of these throwbacks to the corrupt and brutal 'banana republics' of yore, Obama's secretary of state, the "progressive" Hillary Clinton, has spent a good deal of time and effort trying to coerce Honduras' outraged neighbors in Latin America to "welcome" the thug-clique, now led by Porfirio Lobo, back into the "community of nations." Let bygones be bygones, Clinton says, as Lobo's regime murders journalists (nine so far this year), political opponents and carries on the wholesale trashing of Honduran independence (such as sacking four Supreme Court justices who opposed the gutting of liberties and the overthrow of constitutional order). '

Obama Sells Out US Coasts & Great Lakes To UN http://www.morphcity.com/home/79-national-ocean-council

'Thirty states will be encroached upon by Obama's Executive Order establishing the National Ocean Council for control over America's oceans, coastlines and the Great Lakes. Under this new council, states' coastal jurisdictions will be subject to the United Nations' Law Of Sea Treaty (LOST) in this UN Agenda 21 program. America'a oceans and coastlines will be broken into 9 regions that include the North East, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, the Gulf Coast, West Coast, the Great Lakes, Alaska, the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii) and the Caribbean.

Because of the decades of difficulty that the collectivists have had trying to ratify the Law Of Sea Treaty (LOST), Obama is sneaking it in through the back door, by way of this Executive Order establishing the Council. Because LOST is a treaty, Obama's Executive Order is not Constitutional as treaty ratification requires 2/3 approval from the Senate. Michael Shaw said that the Agenda 21 Convention on Biodiversity treaty of 1992 failed to pass Congress so it was executed through soft law and administratively on local levels, and Obama's Executive Order is a similar soft law tactic to enact the LOST treaty.'

CASE ORANGE: 60 Years of Geoengineering Goes into Hyperdrive as ‘Plan B’ http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/case-orange-60-years-of-geoengineering-goes-into-hyperdrive-as-‘plan-b’/

At an international symposium held in Ghent, Belgium May 28-30, 2010, scientists asserted that “manipulation of climate through modification of Cirrus clouds is neither a hoax nor a conspiracy theory.” It is “fully operational” with a solid sixty-year history. Though “hostile” environmental modification was banned by UN Convention in 1978, its “friendly” use today is being hailed as the new savior to climate change and to water and food shortages. Military forces stand poised to capitalize on controlling the world’s weather.  “In recent years there has been a decline in the support for weather modification research, and a tendency to move directly into operational projects.”

Assumptions in the European Union biofuels policy: frictions with experiences in Germany, Brazil and Mozambique http://www.crepeweb.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/franco-et-al_eu-biofuels_jps_prodn-corr.pdf

Each argument in turn involves several assumptions about what these putative benefits mean and how they can be fulfilled. In major respects, such assumptions are contradicted by practices, experiences and effects. Policy aims are sometimes impeded by conflicts among biofuel promoters, as well as between others who may be adversely affected. More than simply inconsistencies, here contradictions mean frictional encounters and practical dilemmas. For example, treating land as ‘marginal’ can justify its appropriation for agro-industrial biofuels, but may provoke protest from local poor people being dispossessed

Costa Rican Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Entry of US Military http://www.narconews.com/Issue66/article4169.html

The Costa Rican Supreme Court last week agreed to take a case challenging the constitutionality of a US-Costa Rican agreement that would allow for a massive US military presence. The agreement cannot go into effect until the Supreme Court rules, thus postponing the arrival of US forces.

“I just have to say, I just have to say, this happened in the context of Plan Colombia.” http://www.lawg.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=765&Itemid=68

A human rights activist I know saw me sitting in the back and grabbed my shoulder. “I just have to say, I just have to say, this happened in the context of Plan Colombia.” And indeed, this brutal killing and many others occurred as the United States heavily backed a Colombian army offensive into Putumayo in the early years of Plan Colombia, an offensive which expanded side by side with an increased paramilitary presence in the region.

West Rubber Stamps Ethiopia’s 99% Election http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=744

Worse yet, as is the case here in Eritrea, genuinely popular leaders are condemned when they refuse to allow the west to determine how our country will be run. Eritreans have seen to many examples of “western democracy” leaving death and destruction in its wake to desire such. When the west can rubber stamp “democracy” on a regime run by a genocidal killer like Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia, it seems like being declared a “dictatorship” by the west is a requirement for determining if real democracy is being practiced on the ground in today's Africa.

Ctr. for Constitutional Rights’ Letter to Sec. Clinton Concerning Readmission of Honduras to OAS http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/ctr-for-constitutional-rights-letter-to-sec-clinton-concerning-readmission-of-honduras-to-oas/

“The United States is taking a dangerous approach in leveraging its influence to lobby for the normalization of relations by the OAS,” stated CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren. “It rewards illegal, anti-democratic and violent regime change and should be abandoned.”

Colombian social organizations say that there is no political independence to celebrate in the Bicentennial http://www.radiomundoreal.fm/What-Independence

“Plan Colombia”, “Fatherland Plan”, seven US military bases in the country go against the official celebrations of the bicentennial of the Colombian independence

Who’s afraid of Iran’s civilian nuclear programme? by Thierry Meyssan http://www.voltairenet.org/article166428.html

According to Thierry Meyssan, the debate around the possible existence of an Iranian military nuclear programme is nothing but a smokescreen. The great powers suspended all transfer of technology with the overthrow of the Shah and the Islamic Revolution repudiated the principle of the atomic bomb. The feigned suspicions of western countries are merely a ploy to isolate a state which calls into question the military and energy dominance of the nuclear powers and their veto rights at the Security Council.

Once again, is the West's Frankenstein out of control? http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/76842

"While Israel demolishes Palestinian homes and expropriates the properties of absent Palestinians by forcibly expelling them from their homes, it demands that Arab countries return the possessions of the Jews who used to live in them. It expels African children from Israel so that it remains ‘Jewish and white’. Reading Mya Guarnieri’s article “children are just Israel’s latest victims” in The Guardian (July 20, 2010) makes you disgusted at a policy that does not give value to any human being or any human relationship. What makes you angry is that such a policy receives support and funding from most western countries which never tire of talking about human rights and freedom."

New EU police investigation co-operation alarms civil liberties watchdogs http://euobserver.com/9/30553

Long a refusenik in the realm of European co-operation on justice and home affairs, the UK has decided to opt in to a proposal that will simplify requests by police in other EU member states to investigate suspects in criminal cases.

Mexico: Prison Official Sent Inmates to Conduct Birthday Party Massacre http://cryptogon.com/?p=16673

A prison director is suspected of arming inmates and sending them on the July 18 Mexico birthday party massacre that killed 17. To some, Mexico’s drug war seems ‘the script of a science fiction movie.’When gunmen burst into a private birthday party on July 18 and opened fired on guests, killing 17, the attackers were initially suspected to be members of one of Mexico’s drug gangs, which have killed thousands of people in escalating violence over the past several years.Nobody could have guessed they were jail inmates on assignment from their prison director.

Protest Against Canadian Mine in Mexico http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2606-protest-against-canadian-mine-in-mexico

Activists in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico, blocked a highly unpopular gold mine on July 22 that continues to operate despite government orders to desist. Activists announced that if the Canadian company, New Gold Inc., and its subsidiary, Mineria San Xavier, continue their illegal operations, there would be more blockades of the mine in the future.

comment-also see...Canadian Mining Crimes in Mexico http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2602-canadian-mining-crimes-in-mexico

Mass Graves and Alleged Extrajudicial Executions in the Macarena, Colombia http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-nicholls/mass-graves-and-alleged-e_b_660158.html

U.S. government must fully implement the Leahy Law, which requires suspending assistance to brigades for which there is credible evidence of extrajudicial executions committed by its members - as appears to be the case for many brigades operating in the Macarena and the surrounding region - until and unless those killings are fully investigated and the civilian justice system reaches a judgment. Furthermore, the USG should strongly encourage Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, to ensure the protection of human rights is a central focus of his security policy.

Panama: General Strike Rejects Killings, Anti-Labor Laws http://www.zcommunications.org/panama-general-strike-rejects-killings-anti-labor-laws-by-frederico-fuentes

When right-wing billionaire Ricardo Martinelli was elected Panama’s president in May 2009, political commentators heralded it as a sign that Latin Americans were becoming disillusioned with the “pink tide” of progressive and leftist governments...But one year later, the Martinelli government is facing a wave of resistance to its anti-labour and anti-union laws. Resistance has grown in the face of deadly repression.

comment-also see...Grant military and police aid to Panama, All Programs, 2006-2011 http://justf.org/Country?country=Panama  1,000,000 1,400,000 2,100,000 6,815,000

Anglo-American Political Philosophy 101: The Poor Must Die http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd07272010.html

The savage cutbacks and vast, churning upheavals being pushed through, at breakneck speed, by [Britain's] new Conservative government...will send millions of people tumbling down into a permanent underclass -- and...gut the national health service with a stealth "Americanization" that will turn the operation of local doctors' offices over to private firms...and privatize public hospitals, allowing them to "fail"...if they don't produce enough cash for their elite shareholders.

European Police to Spy on Britons: Now Ministers Hand Over Big Brother Powers to Foreign Officers http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297621/Ministers-hand-Big-Brother-powers-EU-police.html

'Ministers are ready to hand sweeping Big Brother powers to EU states so they can spy on British citizens. Foreign police will be able to travel to the UK and take part in the arrest of Britons.They will be able to place them under surveillance, bug telephone conversations, monitor bank accounts and demand fingerprints, DNA or blood samples. Anyone who refuses to comply with a formal request for co-operation by a foreign-based force is likely to be arrested by UK officers.'

US Led Wars to Receive Billions More http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136459&sectionid=3510203

'The US Congress has approved an extra multi-billion dollar spending package for the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US Congress passed a $60 billion war-funding bill amid attacks on President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policies inflamed by leaked reports suggesting that Pakistan is aiding Taliban forces, reported Bloomberg on Wednesday.The new money is in addition to about $130 billion Congress already approved for Afghanistan and Iraq for this year. Congress has appropriated over $1 trillion for the two wars since 2001.'

The US Treasury Running on Fumes: The Obama regime has made War the Business of America http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20306

'The White House is screaming like a stuck pig. WikiLeaks’ release of the Afghan War Documents “puts the lives of our soldiers and our coalition partners at risk.” What nonsense. Obama’s war puts the lives of American soldiers at risk, and the craven puppet state behavior of “our partners” in serving as US mercenaries is what puts their troops at risk.

Keep in mind that it was someone in the US military that leaked the documents to WikiLeaks. This means that there is a spark of rebellion within the Empire itself. And rightly so. The leaked documents show that the US has committed numerous war crimes and that the US government and military have lied through their teeth in order to cover up the failure of their policies. These are the revelations that Washington wants to keep secret.'

Israel Destroys a Whole Negev Village – 200 Children Left Homeless http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/07/israel-destroys-a-whole-negev-village-200-children-left-homeless/

'Early this morning police raided the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Arakib in the Negev, destroyed all 40 of its houses, and evicted more than 300 residents. The residents, mostly children, were left homeless. The unprecedented raid began at about 4:30 in the morning, residents were surprised to wake up surrounded by a huge force of 1,500 police with guns, stun grenades, helmets and shields, including hundreds of Special Riot Police (Yasam) as well as mounted police, helicopters and bulldozers.At the residents’ call, dozens of left-wing activists and volunteers arrived from all over the country, helping them to offer non-violent resistance.

Several residents were bruised and beaten by police, thjough not needing medical attention. One woman demonstrator was detained by the police. The police removed the residents’ property into prepared containers, and bulldozers demolished the residential buildings and sheepfolds and destroyed the residents’ fruit orchards and olive tree groves.The villagers, mostly children and old people, were left stunned near the destroyed village, shelterless and waterless under the blazing sun.'

Congressman Mark Kirk - Accomplishments of a Pro-Israeli Whore http://www.kirkforsenate.com/?page_id=489

'Congressman Kirk led the bipartisan effort to secure “Eyes in the Sky,” real-time satellite early-warning data, for the State of Israel. With access to “Eyes in the Sky,” Israel’s warning time of an Iranian missile launch grew from less than one minute to a full 11 minutes.In 2008, Kirk led a bipartisan effort to deploy the X-Band AN/TPY-2 radar system to Israel. The radar, America’s most advanced system, doubledIsrael’s intercept range – giving the Jewish state at least two engagement windows to bring down an Iranian salvo.Earlier last year, Kirk helped reverse the Administration’s cuts to Israel’s Arrow-3 upper tier missile defense system – securing full funding for the program to continue.'

Israel: Global NATO’s 29th Member http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/israel-global-natos-29th-member/

Extending Article 5 protection, hitherto limited to full member states, to Israel was being advocated with the inescapable implication that a coalition of most of the world’s most powerful military nations, led by the self-designated world’s sole military superpower, would retaliate against Iran if it responded to an Israeli first strike attack"1994 was the same year that the North Atlantic bloc launched the Partnership for Peace (PfP)....Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – became full NATO members in the decade ending last year after passing through the PfP."

Black Sea US military build-up, missiles in Romania, radar in Israel http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/eo20100726a2.html

It is important to note that all these moves represent only the initial step that Washington has taken to expand its military presence in the Black Sea region. Upon completion of these base expansion projects in 2012, two-thirds of the highly mobile Rapid Reaction Corps of the U.S. Army in Europe will be concentrated in Romania and Bulgaria.This means that the U.S. front line of defense is shifting from the eastern border of Germany to the Black Sea, which is adjacent to the Middle East, the Caucasus and Russia.

7 crew reported dead in Israeli chopper crash http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/news/international/15292-7-crew-reported-dead-in-israeli-chopper-crash.html

The wreckage of an Israeli military helicopter that slammed into a mountain in central Romania has been found and none of the seven soldiers aboard - one Romanian and six Israelis - appear to have survived, officials said Tuesday.The helicopter, a Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion, crashed Monday during a military aviation exercise in which crews are trained to fly at low altitudes. The joint exercises which were due to end on July 29 were suspended after the crash.

Romanian search teams and Israeli representatives arrived at the crash site in a remote, mountainous area on Tuesday morning. An Israeli military statement said that no survivors were found and that the search was ongoing.Earlier, an Israeli military official in Jerusalem said all on board were believed to be dead. "We have reason to believe that all seven crew are dead," said Brig. Gen. Relik Shafir, a reserve officer with the Israeli air force. "It's been a black day for all of us."

Imperial Overkill and the Death of US Empire http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/27-7

In the face of enormous budget constraints, the Pentagon still manages to receive the equivalent of what all of the other nations around the globe spend on their militaries. While the United States remains the overwhelming leader in military exports to the tune of 70 percent of the weapons market, it also continues to flout international treaties, such as those on cluster bombs. By ignoring these accords, the United States thereby erodes international legal standards.

To project its forward-basing power, the Pentagon garrisons the globe with what Chalmers Johnson calls an "empire of bases." This land presence - massive permanent bases like those in Germany and Okinawa, smaller "lily-pads" that now dot Central Asia, seven new bases in Colombia - is complimented by naval flotillas, particularly evident in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.

WikiLeaks exposes occupiers’ war crimes in Afghanistan http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=223727

The documents make clear that the occupation of Afghanistan is a filthy imperialist war. Popular resistance and protest demonstrations are drowned in blood, U.S. death squads operate at will under a media blackout, and Washington and NATO collaborate with a narrow elite of corrupt warlords and Afghan officers, the World Socialist Web Site reported.

A Dirtier War: Colombia's Fake "Peace Process" and US Policy http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/791-a-dirtier-war-colombias-fake-qpeace-processq-and-us-policy

Nor do the Democratic proposals appear to include any new mechanisms for ensuring that remaining military aid is not used to commit human rights abuses. The Democrats claim to be devoted to justice for Colombia's struggling social movements; yet, as evidence presented in this article amply demonstrates, the military and government they're funding continues to collaborate with deathsquads in violently suppressing those activists brave enough to speak out. Democrats claim to be especially concerned about labor rights;

yet, the President they're prepared to hand some $600 million to has presided over the assassination of some 400 trade unionists, almost all of which have been carried out with impunity. As in the past, the majority of these killings are blamed on deathsquads allied with the Colombian state and, as has become clear recently, Uribe's political network in the government. (7)

Mexico-The militarization is part of the global war driven by the United States http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/19/18654252.php

It might sound exaggerated to talk about “new slavery”, but it is the wager of those in power: the big national and foreign businessmen, the US government and the Mexican promoters of neo- liberalism are determined to take down every obstacle which prevents them from increasing their profit and their control over the country. It’s all about taking over the natural wealth of the country and exploiting the Mexican workers even more. There are examples to spare. Let’s take a look at the extent of the landlord, boss and politician offensive against the whole population:

Secret CIA Paramilitaries' Role in Civilian Deaths http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26019.htm

They range from the shootings of individual innocents to the often massive loss of life from air strikes, which eventually led President Hamid Karzai to protest publicly that the US was treating Afghan lives as "cheap". When civilian family members are actually killed in Afghanistan, their relatives do, in fairness, get greater solatia payments than cans of beans and Hershey bars. The logs refer to sums paid of 100,000 Afghani per corpse, equivalent to about £1,500.

comment-1500 euros for the life of a human being!!!!

Colombian peasants break silence and denounce massacres http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2010/07/colombian-peasants-break-silence-and.html

Colombian peasants from the northern area of San Onofre, Sucre department, broke the silence and decided to express their complaints to the media regarding the massacres committed by the paramilitaries since their incursion into this territory for over 10 years. The Movement of Victims in Colombia, recorded more than 75 massacres with more than 4000 victims since the rightwing paramilitaries arrived at the village where many of the dead are buried in mass graves , meanwhile people have been displaced unable to return home because State does not offer sufficient guarantees. Several people surrendered their testimonies about the murder and mutilation of some of his colleagues and burial in mass graves and the burning of farms at the hands of the paramilitaries to disappear any evidence of concentration camps and training they used in that area. 

"Here they were buried, made a small hole, pecked people inside them and buried them in pieces," he told exclusively to teleSUR, Jairo Aranda, a farmer in the area. "Here we took some and down in the camp  four bodies were removed, and we assume there must be more so it is best to seek the missing bodies , "said the villager. TeleSUR correspondent in Colombia, Angie Camacho, reported the testimony of the people in San Onofre, where several farmers urged others to express what they know about the murders of his colleagues even though they are threatened with death. 

Eder Torres, a worker in the area, said people  "remain silent if they're going to kill them  and they will take their lands," adding that "if this continues, we will tell the international community truly the humanitarian crisis that exists in this region. " Meanwhile, relatives of one of the leaders of the Movement of Victims in Colombia, who is presumed lost their lives because of the paramilitaries in the village reported that persistent presence of these illegal groups in the territory and assume the existence of complicity with part of the authorities. 

Different families of murdered leaders are demanding that the Colombian government to order a commission to investigate the facts for over a decade have occurred in that place and filled people with fear  who are silent because of the possibility of retaliation by paramiliares. On the other hand, human rights activists (HH.RR.) Colombians on Monday rejected allegations the government of President Alvaro Uribe, of being mouthpieces for terrorism and demanded that investigated the mass grave is largest in Latin America, found in the town of La Macarena (in the southern department of Meta). 

In this regard, Colombian Senator Gloria Inés Ramírez, the Polo Alternativo, said that "to qualify the victims as terrorists, human rights advocates and lawmakers convening of the hearing (the Government) would be telling them clearly and directly that the troops under his command and officers that these people  are military objectives. " He also recalled that the Head of State Administration has not expressed condolences to the families of those killed and said the urgency of initiating the necessary research to explain the remains found in La Macarena. 

"I can not hear in the presidential address a single line of condolence to the victims who reported crimes (...) we consider this of vital importance and a need for  an integration of an international forensic commission to monitor the procedures developed by the Colombian authorities." Ramíez Senator announced that the group of defenders sent a communication to the European Parliament to express complaints about the huge mass grave and require forensic investigations. 

A delegation from the United States and Europe, led by six MEPs, certified last Friday after a public hearing in the town of La Macarena (southeast) Colombia, the existence of a mass grave containing two thousand unidentified bodies.  The representative of the Center for Research and Popular Education for Peace Program (Cinep-PPP) Colombia, Javier Giraldo, said that 52 statements were delivered by relatives of the victims. The peasants of La Macarena have been victims of armed conflict since 2003 wich intensified with the advent of Plan Colombia led the U.S. to pursue an alleged fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.

Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA and Army Experiments By Hank P. Albarelli and Zoe Martell http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/dengue-fever-outbreak-leads-back-to-cia-army-experiments/

The recent outbreak of dengue fever is being portrayed by the media as a fortuitous reemergence of the disease in Florida and elsewhere in the United States after 75 years. Yet Hank Albarelli and Zoe Martell’s probe reveals that the US Army and CIA have been experimenting with dengue fever for years with the aim of weaponizing insects to be released against unwitting populations, as was previously done in Florida and elsewhere. Moreoever, they draw attention to the eerie similarity between dengue fever symptoms and those linked to the toxic emanations in the Gulf of Mexico and warns of the looming disaster that could unfold from the overlap

Colombia & United States threaten attack -- Stop the lies and aggression against Venezuela! A statement from the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network http://links.org.au/node/1805

 Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network -- On July 22, Venezuela broke off all diplomatic relations with Colombia and placed its national borders on high alert. This follows accusations made by the Colombian government that Venezuela is harbouring “terrorists” from the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), and hosting several “terrorist training camps” near the border region that divides the two countries.

At an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington on July 22, called for by Colombia, Colombia’s ambassador to the OAS, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, presented television and video images allegedly taken from computers confiscated during the Colombian military’s illegal invasion of Ecuadorian territory in March 2008, as well as some computer-generated maps and photographs of alleged members of the FARC, which he said were taken inside Venezuela. Hoyos called for “international intervention” in Venezuela, and gave a “30-day ultimatum”.

Who Is Behind the 25,000 Deaths In Mexico? http://www.thenation.com/article/37916/who-behind-25000-deaths-mexico

No one seems to know, but on the ground it is death. Calderón's war, assisted by the United States, terrorizes the Mexican people, generates thousands of documented human rights abuses by the police and Mexican Army and inspires lies told by American politicians that violence is spilling across the border (in fact, it has been declining on the US side of the border for years).

We are told of a War on Drugs that has no observable effect on drug distribution, price or sales in the United States. We are told the Mexican Army is incorruptible, when the Mexican government’s own human rights office has collected thousands of complaints that the army robs, kidnaps, steals, tortures, rapes and kills innocent citizens. We are told repeatedly that it is a war between cartels or that it is a war by the Mexican government against cartels, yet no evidence is presented to back up these claims. The evidence we do have is that the killings are not investigated, that the military suffers almost no casualties and that thousands of Mexicans have filed affidavits claiming abuse, often lethal, by the Mexican army. 

comment-also see...Obama's Role in the Militarization of Mexico; An Interview with Laura Carlsen http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16654

Bolivia: remains of "disappeared" socialist leader at military high command? http://www.ww4report.com/node/8884

Hugo Rodas Morales, author of Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, socialismo vivido, a new biography of the Bolivian socialist leader who "disappeared" in the military coup d'etat of July 1980, says that the martyred activist's remains are buried under the central flagpole at the headquarters of the armed forces high command in the Miraflores district of La Paz. Rodas cites a confession by School of the Americas graduate Col. Édgar Franco Montenegro that Quiroga Santa Cruz was buried below the high command flagpole after the coup. "We know that the remains are hostage of the armed forces," said Rodas. "The recognition of this reality is documented, there is no doubt that the remains are there."

: Colombia - Uribe’s Farewell Spectacle http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=729

The absurd claim from Uribe, an inveterate liar, comes like manna from heaven in Washington’s push to destabilize the Chávez government before the crucial Venezuelan elections scheduled for September 26th and at the same time, it legitimizes the impressive program of U.S. militarization that is being imposed on Latin America; one of whose leading examples has been the signed Obama-Uribe treaty through which Colombia is ceding at least seven military bases for the use of U.S. armed forces.

This is why those in the U.S. government pretend to consider the proof behind Uribe’s denunciation as “serious and overwhelming,” knowing that it is completely unfounded and nothing more than pure verbiage backed up with photographic montages. But lies are part of official U.S. discourse, essential elements in granting an aura of legitimacy to U.S. imperial designs, for a variety of reasons.

comment-also read...What is CIA trying to hide in Colombia? http://www.tiwy.com/news.phtml?id=162

EU lawmakers urge probe of Colombian intelligence operations http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5795337,00.html

EU parliamentarians have called on the Commission to look into Colombian intelligence operations in Europe designed to ‘neutralize the influence' of critics of the Colombian government in parliament, the UNHCR and NGOs.

comment-DAS the equivelant of FBI in Colombia was funded by US taxpayer and working together with CIA and GLOBAL CST(israeli security firm)

The Latest Provocation of Colombia Against Venezuela http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/the-latest-provocation-of-colombia-against-venezuela-support-the-venezuelan-revolution/

He claimed that these images had obtained from the computer of Raul Reyes, the FARC leader killed during an illegal incursion of Colombian troops in Ecuadorean territory in March 2008. Already at that time, a report from Interpol made it clear that no proper computer forensic methods had been used in handling the seized computer and that its contents had been changed between its seizure on March 1 and March 3 when its contents were made public. In other words, this “proof” is as good as the “proof” that there were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.

“There is no evidence, not a single piece of proof, of where those photographs were taken”, responded Venezuelan ambassador to the OAS Roy Chaderton. He added that the Venezuelan army had verified and thoroughly inspected the locations and coordinates provided by the Uribe administration on Thursday and had found none of the alleged “terrorist sites”, “camps” or “guerilla presence” claimed by Colombia.

Israel’s Anti-Boycott Legislation http://mostlywater.org/israel’s_antiboycott_legislation

Israel has initiated strong legislative measures to combat the growing momentum in support of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli policies. The Land of Israel lobby...recently promulgated the “Prohibition on Instituting a Boycott Bill” which, if passed, will criminalize any call for an economic or academic boycott of Israel, and Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar has said that the government will begin taking action against academics joining the call for boycott.

Kabul: US-led Forces Kill 52 Civilians http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136331&sectionid=351020403

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed that a recent US-led NATO air strike killed at least 52 civilians including several women and children. Karzai said on Monday that NATO troops fired a rocket that killed "52 innocent civilians" in southern Afghanistan. The government sources say that the attack happened on Friday when civilians crammed into a house to flee the exchange of fire between NATO troops and alleged militants.'

Is Weed Killer in Drinking Water Dangerous? Govt. Is Letting the Chemical Industry Come Up with the Answer http://www.alternet.org/story/147540/

'Companies with a financial interest in a weed-killer sometimes found in drinking water paid for thousands of studies federal regulators are using to assess the herbicide’s health risks, records of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show.Many of these industry-funded studies, which largely support atrazine’s safety, have never been published or subjected to an independent scientific peer review.'

Judge Faces anti-Semitism Probe After Speech Attacking Israel Helps Free Arms Factory Protesters http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297219/Judge-faces-anti-semitism-probe-speech-attacking-Israel-helps-free-arms-factory-protesters.html#ixzz0uojzyocU

'A senior judge was under investigation yesterday after being accused of making anti-Semitic remarks in court that may have swayed his jury into acquitting a group of protesters. Judge George Bathurst-Norman was said by critics to have persuaded a jury to clear a group of campaigners who smashed up a factory making parts for Israeli warplanes. Summing up in the criminal damage trial, he compared Israel to the Nazi regime and accused the country of ignoring international law.'

Does event honoring Israeli spy suggest another Israeli operation? http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6151.shtml

Less than two weeks prior to the mass murder of September 11, 2001, the Israeli government made a $1 million grant to Israeli super-spy Jonathan Pollard. In retrospect, the facts suggest that grant may well have served as a signal to Israeli operatives inside the U.S.

The Sinking of the Cheonan, too Weird to Make Up By Timothy V. Gatto http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/the-sinking-of-the-cheonan-too-weird-to-make-up-by-timothy-v-gatto/

I was completely astounded this evening when I came about an article that questioned the “scientific inquiry” into the sinking of the Cheonan, the South Korean corvette allegedly sunk by the North Korean navy. The validity of the investigation was questioned by two American investigators from John Hopkins University and the University of Virginia. Researchers J.J. Suh and Seung-Hun Lee cast doubts over the investigation conducted by the South Korean Joint Investigation Group (JIG). According to Suh and Lee:

Appeal to Investigate Hudbay Minerals Role in Human Rights Violations http://intercontinentalcry.org/appeal-to-investigate-hudbay-minerals-role-in-human-rights-violations/

This is an appeal from Rights Action, concerning Hudbay Minerals' alleged role in serious Human Rights Violations of an Indigenous Mayan-Qeqchi community in Guatemala.According to community testimony collected by Rights Action and students from the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in May 2010, the Canadian company is directly involved in violent, illegal forced evictions and the gang rape of several women from the community.

US Federal Agents Nationwide Bilked by Brazen Ponzi Scheme http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2010/07/us-federal-agents-nationwide-bilked-brazen-ponzi-scheme

Law Enforcement Agencies Actually Paid Crook to Sponsor “Seminars” Used to Hook His Marks

U.S.-backed War in Somalia Comes to Uganda, Threatens to Set Whole Region Aflame http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/us-backed-war-somalia-comes-uganda-threatens-set-whole-region-aflame

The U.S. war against Somalia expands outwards and “has now blown back to Uganda,” the U.S. ally that, “along with the minority Tutsi dictatorship in Rwanda, is America's most reliable mercenary force in Black Africa.” Ethiopia and Kenya prepare to join Uganda in an offensive against the Somali resistance, to save America’s puppet mini-state in Mogadishu.U.S.-backed War in Somalia Comes to Uganda, Threatens to Set Whole Region AflameA Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford“The bombing in Kampala must be understood in the context of the planned expansion of the war in Somalia

Chavez Denounces US-Colombia Plan to Attack Venezuela and Vows to Cut Oil Shipments to US in Event of an Attack http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/golinger-chavez-denounces-us-colombia-plan-to-attack-venezuela-and-vows-to-cut-all-oil-shipments-to-us-in-the-event-of-an-attack/

Paramilitary terror ignored and promoted by the Colombian state http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_60742.shtml

Members of the Senate and Congress (mostly from the party of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe) were arrested for having links with paramilitary groups and cocaine smuggling. These groups, their intimidation of voters and proceeds from cocaine guaranteed the election of the para-politicans to their public offices.

NGO: US provided aid to 'false positive' culprits http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11003-ngo-us-provides-aid-to-false-positive-culprits.html

A U.S.-based NGO alleges that Colombian military units, which are implicated in cases of extrajudicial killings known as "false positives," received help from the U.S. government, in spite of a law which prohibits such assistance.

Water Rights = Rights for All http://mostlywater.org/water_rights_rights_all

Upon hearing that Canada had purposely destroyed the UN's attempt to get access to clean water recognized as a basic human right, perhaps it is time for a critical expansion in the left to see the issue of rights as not limited to us two-legged, but encompass all living things.

The Charge of the Media Brigade http://www.zcommunications.org/the-charge-of-the-media-brigade-by-john-pilger

The Pentagon...spends $4.7 billion on public relations: that is, winning the hearts and minds not of recalcitrant Afghan tribesmen but of Americans. This is known as “information dominance” and PR people are “information warriors”.

$10 Million Not Enough to Restore Justice and Dignity for Indigenous Women in Canada http://www.rabble.ca/news/2010/07/10-million-not-enough-restore-justice-and-dignity-indigenous-women-canada

Aboriginals are not asking for money and they need more than an apology. They are asking for justice, accountability, equality, social services, dignity, recognition of their culture, and healing.

WAR DRUMMING ALERT -Bush-era CIA director: Attack on Iran ‘seems inexorable’ http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0725/cia-director-attack-iran-seems-inexorable/

A former CIA director says military action against Iran now seems more likely because no matter what the U.S. does diplomatically, Tehran keeps pushing ahead with its suspected nuclear program.

McCain On The Iraq War: ‘We Already Won That One’ http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/26/mccain-iraq-already-won

When Geoff introduced himself as chairman of the board of Iraq Veterans against the War, McCain retorted, “You’re too late. We already won that one.”McCain is now the second U.S. official to declare “mission accomplished” in a war that continues to ravage the people and land of Iraq.

Israelis dump toxic waste over vital water supply for the region http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6780:israelis-dump-toxic-waste-over-vital-water-supply-for-the-region&catid=103:peter-eyre&Itemid=123

An Israeli company - The Ma'ale Adumim Planning and Development Company Ltd has been managing the Abu Dis landfill, near the neighborhood of Abu Dis, since 1998. The site receives waste from Jerusalem and the surrounding localities. The 430-dunam site receives huge amounts of waste every day, from Jerusalem, Ma'ale Adumim and the surrounding localities. This same company is also vigorously selling off industrial land development which also sits over the top of the water aquifers that are so vital to the region.

The combination of the landfill site and industrial development over such a precious resource will have devastating effects on the population. When both landfill waste and industrial run off are added together the toxic plumes that radiate out from such locations will not only contaminate the public water supply but will also eventually be picked up by submersible pumps that water vast tracts of agricultural land.

WikiLeaks founder: War crimes evident in released documents http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/news/war/15278-wikileaks-founder-war-crimes-evident-in-released-documents.html

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Monday he believes there is evidence of war crimes in the thousands of pages of leaked U.S. military documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. The remarks came after WikiLeaks, a whistle-blowing group, posted some 91,000 classified U.S. military records over the past six years about the war online, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings and covert operations against Taliban figures.The White House, Britain and Pakistan have all condemned the release of the documents, one of the largest unauthorized disclosures in military history.

Repubs Plot Israel-Iran Apocalypse and the Collapse of the US Economy http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26009.htm

'The move is reminiscent of the 1998 letter the Project for a New American Century signatories sent to President Clinton, putting pressure on him to initiate war on Iraq. They did maneuver him into pulling out UN weapons inspectors and bombing Iraq.

The US removal of the inspectors made the West blind as to the lack of Iraqi weapons programs, since their absence could no longer be certified. In turn, Iraq’s opaqueness as a result of the Clinton actions allowed the Bill Kristol crowd and the rest of the Israel, war industry and oil lobbies to propagandize America into the fruitless and ruinous Iraq War. Now they are repeating this pattern with regard to Iran.

Think about how weird it is. Nearly half of Republicans in the House are from the South, which has relatively few Jewish Americans. So this resolution is likely emanating from the Christian Zionists like John Hagee (who once said that God sent Hitler to punish the Jews for being outside Israel).

It is not impossible that the people behind this resolution are fervently hoping for the Judgment Day to come more quickly and look forward to a Middle East apocalypse as a step toward the Return of Christ and the end of that pesky but temporarily necessary Judaism. In other words, for these right wing Americans to call for Israel to go to war on behalf of America is just one more case of white Christians sacrificing Jews for their own interests and is a form of anti-Semitism.'

KGB Man: MI5 Agent Told Me That David Kelly Had Been ‘Exterminated' http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/kgb-man-mi5-agent-told-me-that?xg_source=shorten_twitter

"The mystery over the death of David Kelly took a further twist last night after a former KGB officer said he had evidence that the scientist did not commit suicide.Boris Karpichkov, who worked as a Russian spy for 15 years before fleeing to Britain, has sent a dossier to Attorney General Dominic Grieve in which he claims to relay information from an ‘MI5 agent’ that Dr Kelly had been ‘exterminated’.'

Archbishop: Theodosios Atallah Hanna: The Israeli occupation is the result of a promise given to the Israelis by Lord Balfour and not by God. http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/07/exclusive-intifada-interview-with-archbishop-theodosios-atallah-hanna/ Elias Harb: Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel has claimed in varies publications that Jews, Christians and Muslims are able to build their homes anywhere in Jerusalem and that only under Israeli sovereignty had freedom of worship for all religions been assured in the city. How do you respond to that?Archbishop Theodosios: The facts on the ground say exactly the opposite, more and more Muslims and Christians are having great difficulties in entering the city. We see thousands are denied the entry to their holiest sites.

French President Sarkozy: Israeli Spy!! http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2010/07/sarkozy-accused-of-working-for-israeli-intelligence/

Israel Hiding Behind The Iranian Threat http://mycatbirdseat.com/2010/07/israel-hiding-behind-the-iranian-threat/

With the recent formation of The Emergency Committee for Israel, the neoconservative and Likudnik characters on the American right have stepped up their anti-Iranian lobbying efforts. Among other things, they have again brought up how a nuclear Iran would pose an “imminent threat” that would tear the region apart.This renewed exaggeration of an Iranian threat to Israel comes at a time when Israel is clearly being shown to be a strategic liability to the U.S., a fact the Israel Lobby has so far concealed with great success.

Hamas Finds UN Collaborating with Israel http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136101&sectionid=351020202

'Hamas accuses the United Nations of collaborating with Israel over the world body's recent efforts to discourage aid convoys from sailing towards the Gaza Strip. The UN on Friday warned seaborne relief missions against setting sail, urging them to instead travel by land. The UN's warning came as both routes to the strip remain under the strict control of the Israeli military's armed surveillance units."The UN call to international organizations to use the over-land road to Gaza instead of the sea is unacceptable and illegal," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri was quoted by AFP as saying on Saturday.'

Afghan Conference Endorses Indefinite Occupation http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/afgh-j22.shtml

'The international foreign ministers conference held in Kabul Tuesday formally endorsed President Hamid Karzai's proposed 2014 target for Afghan forces to assume the lead responsibility for the country's security, while acknowledging that the foreign occupation will continue indefinitely.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed the conference, which lasted just five hours, a “turning point.” But there was little new presented at the gathering, and nothing to dispel the growing sense that after nearly nine years of occupation and war, the US-led project of installing a stable puppet regime and extending US hegemony in Central Asia is mired in crisis.The greatest achievement appeared to be holding the meeting in Kabul at all.'

Pentagon expands U.S. role in Africa Important issue for anti-war movement http://www.workers.org/2010/us/pentagon_in_africa_0729/

Today, neocolonialism is the principal mechanism used to perpetuate the exploitation and oppression of African people. Neocolonialism is a form of imperialism, controlling Africa’s economies through trade, investment and international finance as well as direct and indirect military intervention.Serious consideration must be given to the increasing role of U.S. imperialism in Africa. 

Neoliberalism - Forgotten Casualties of the Recession http://rete-eco.it/it/approfondimenti/europa-usa-etc/14751-forgotten-casualties-of-the-recession-.html

Structural racism – characterized by widespread residential and education segregation in the U.S. – is ignored in conservative and neoliberal propaganda against the poor. That poor school districts have been shown to systematically perform worse in academics than wealthier districts is ignored in conservative rhetoric, which claims that “throwing money at the problem” of underperforming schools “solves nothing.

” Historically racist practices such as redlining, which targets poor and minority residents of the inner city, have succeeded in keeping most of disadvantaged African Americans and Hispanics from moving into more prosperous urban and suburban communities, and from accessing school districts that benefit from greater resources, but are located in more affluent school districts.

Florida church sponsors 'International Burn A Koran Day' http://www.examiner.com/x-8947-LA-Atheism-Examiner~y2010m7d22-Florida-church-sponsors-International-Burn-A-Koran-Day?cid=email-this-article

The Dove World Outreach Center, a non-denominational church in Gainesville FL, is planning to mark this year's anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with a little bonfire of Korans, the holy book of Islam. They even have a Facebook page with a mission statement to justify their actions

comment- maybe they should concentrate on burning their old testament(not advocating it) since these israelis are burning their new testament...talk about unholy alliance''sigh''...(specifically referring to this zionist xian church,not most christians wich do not partake in such activities)

More Suffering For The People Of Fallujah And Why We Can't Gloss Over War Crimes http://www.countercurrents.org/dicekns230710.htm

But this needs to be pointed out, and remembered. The seige of Fallujah in 2004 was a horrendous war crime, and for the poor, wretched children being born there the horror of it is only just beginning. By glossing over who the perpetrators of this attrocity are, we are only adding insult to injury

Lawyers, Law Firms Maintain Support for Charlie Rangel Despite Ethics Accusations http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/07/-normal-0-lawyers-and.html

Lawyers and law firms are already on pace to surpass the $146,000 they donated to Rangel during the 2008 election cycle. The industry has have given more than $142,000 to the congressman's reelection campaign this cycle. The American Association of Justice -- the leading association of trial lawyers in the U.S. -- donated $10,000 to Rangel's campaign committee, tied for eighth among his biggest contributors....

 Lobbying By Obama Administration Foe U.S. Chamber of Commerce Grows To More Than $44 Million This Year http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/07/lobbying-by-obama-administration-fo.html

The lobbying powerhouse U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with its subsidiaries, spent a whopping $13.4 million on federal, state-level and grassroots lobbying during the second quarter, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of new reports filed this week.

Race to the Bottom to Continue for G20 Nations A critical analysis of the G20's Toronto Summit Declaration http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3553

Financial oversight will remain with elites—led by the IMF and other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs, such as the Inter American Development Bank and the African Development Bank)—and the declaration proposes these institutions should become "even stronger partners" in the future.

Language in the document about increasing "global output," creating tens of millions of jobs, and reducing global "imbalances" flies in the face of the document's own recommendations for countries with higher debt-loads to continue a regulatory race to the bottom by "maintaining open markets and enhancing export competitiveness"—an openness that has historically widened global gaps, put millions of people out of work (or forced them to migrate for work) and siphoned the resources of low-income countries into the bank accounts of corporations.

Raytheon: Hometown Hero http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/07/raytheon-hometown-hero/

Raytheon is an international company that makes missiles and outfits armies for slaughter. Not one person, however, who saw articles this week in the newspapers of my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, would know that.

Readers of the Journal Gazette and News Sentinel would see a profile of a charitable technology company that wants to help children learn. They would feel the compassion of a business that cares for humanity and wants to create jobs. They would understand that Raytheon only wants what is best for everyone, especially those in the great city of Fort Wayne.The newspapers tell you that, yes, …

comment- Raytheon means "light from the gods." The company is the maker of "Bunker Buster" bombs, Tomahawk and Patriot missiles, and manufactured the missile that killed 62 civilians in a Baghdad market in 2003 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=13

EDO Decommissioners Victorious http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3673

On January 17th 2009 six people broke into EDO MBM/ITT in Brighton and caused £189 000 worth of damage to computers, servers, lathes and other equipment. The activists, calling themselves the ‘decommissioners’, took their action in response to the Israeli assault on Gaza which had claimed 1400 lives by the 17th. EDO MBM/ITT manufactures the arming unit for the Israeli F16 bombrack.

Still doing Israel's Dirty Work: Veolia's Tovlan landfill in the Jordan Valley http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3675

As Corporate Watch hyperlink has previously reported, Veolia run the Tovlan landfill site in the occupied Jordan Valley as well as provide rubbish collection services to numerous settlements in the area. Whilst the company’s involvement in the East Jerusalem tram line project hyperlink has gained world wide infamy, their operations in the Jordan Valley have as yet not got them into as much trouble. However, their very direct support of the settlement infrastructure in one of the most vulnerable areas of Palestine prove that they are more than willing to profit from Israel’s brutal occupation as long as they can get away with it. In recent correspondence with critics of their conduct Veolia have downplayed their business in the Jordan Valley, claiming that their site there is no longer operating. On a recent trip there Corporate Watch decided to pay them another visit to see if we could prove them wrong…

Tell the US to Endorse the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights http://intercontinentalcry.org/tell-the-us-to-endorse-the-un-declaration-on-indigenous-rights/

Please take a moment to urge US President Obama to Endorse the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights!

Anger Rises Over U.S. Tax Dollars for Settlements http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52259

RAMALLAH - Anger has arisen in Palestinian areas over reports that millions of tax-exempt dollars from the U.S. are being funneled towards Israel's illegal settlement building in the Palestinian West Bank -- in flagrant violation of international law.  

Women in Iraq under imperialist siege http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=703

Furthermore, the surge has scarred Baghdad with barriers, checkpoints and walls. There are now around 1,400 checkpoints and over 50 areas divided by concrete walls in Baghdad alone. Every wall has one entry checkpoint and one exit, boxing closely linked communities into ghettos and gated communities.These walls are called “security walls,” from inside the Green Zone. However, most Iraqis call them the “occupation walls,” which have evoked comparisons to the apartheid wall built by the Israelis dividing Palestinians along the length of the West Bank.

'GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES': Interview with Norman G. Finkelstein, Part 2 http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/sw230710.html

What is the British government's role in the conflict? It is officially committed to the international consensus two-state settlement, but what has our record been in practice?

Latin America Pushes Forward with Regional Body to Rival the OAS http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2604-latin-america-pushes-forward-with-regional-body-to-rival-the-oas

The final declaration of the Unity Summit announced the agreement to create the CELAC and employed language rarely if ever seen in OAS documents: “the need to carry out efforts to advance towards… political, economic, social and cultural integration”, “we reaffirm our commitment to the defense of sovereignty and the right of each state to constitute its own political system, free of threats, aggressions and unilateral coercive measures”, “the need for a distinct regional space that consolidates and protects the Latin American and Caribbean identity.” The statement also included repeated references to “solidarity”, “social inclusion” “complementarity.” 

Colombia "Our lives are not for sale. BP supports the violence" http://gizzacroggy.blogspot.com/2010/06/closure-of-chapter-and-start-of-new-one.html

Don Alexander warns the others "when they wanted to build the water inlet pipe they arrived like a man who wants to conquest a women, they arrived with flowers and nice words. But just as a women doesn't know who the man really is until later, we didn't know what was behind the flowers until it was too late and the huge damage was done. They arrived with an army of machinery and rerouted the river in to a channel to fill the inlet pipe. We lost lots of land, 20 hectares. And they have never paid us for what we have lost, just as they have never paid for the water they have robbed."

On the Art of Stealing Human Rights http://bit.ly/cLIhxh

[Note: The following extracts are from a speech given by Gerry Gambill at a conference on Human Rights at Tobique Reserve in New Brunswick, in August, 1958. In this speech, he warned native people about how this society goes about taking away the human rights of native people...]The art of denying Indians their human rights has been refined to a science. The following list of commonly used techniques will be helpful in "burglar-proofing" your reserves, and your rights.

Extractive industries Despite warnings by European Parliament: cyanide will continue to be used in European mining http://www.radiomundoreal.fm/Are-you-sure

The European Commission rejected a European Parliament resolution requesting to ban cyanide mining technologies and not to support, either directly or indirectly, any mining projects that involve cyanide technology.

NATO pulls Pakistan into its Global Network by Rick Rozoff http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/76719

"NATO is in South and Central Asia to stay. In Afghanistan, in Pakistan and in the former Soviet republics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan following suit and India next in line....In November, NATO will endorse its new Strategic Concept, the first since it began its Eastern expansion at the fiftieth anniversary summit in Washington, D.C. in 1999. It is NATO's first 21st century, first avowedly expeditionary military doctrine. It is the blueprint for global NATO, with partners and operations on at least five continents."

U.S. War Crimes: Cancer Rate in Fallujah Worse than Hiroshima http://cryptogon.com/?p=16595

The Iraqi city of Fallujah continues to suffer the ghastly consequences of a US military onslaught in late 2004.According to the authors of a new study, “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009,” the people of Fallujah are experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, infant mortality, and sexual mutations than those recorded among survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the years after those Japanese cities were incinerated by US atomic bomb strikes in 1945.

AFN Chiefs Pledge To Help Defend Lands Against Proposed Prosperity Mine http://bit.ly/9xf023

“The message from the chiefs at the Annual General Assembly in Winnipeg this week should make it clear to government and industry that this environmentally and culturally unsupportable – and economically questionable – proposed mine is not the way forward for mining or for relationships with First Nations in BC or Canada,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, Tribal Chair, Tsilhqot’in National Government.   Chief Alphonse said: “First Nations across the country are backing us and making this a national fight because they know that if this can happen to us, it can happen to them. This project is not justifiable. The federal government must heed the findings of significant and irreparable harm to the environment and to our culture and rights that were reported in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency review of this project. It must reject the Prosperity proposal.”

US-Colombia military base deal unconstitutional: judge http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10975-colombian-judge-claims-us-bases-unconstitutional.html

A Colombian judge, delegated by the nation's Constitutional Court to study the agreement which allows U.S. presence at seven Colombian military bases, says the controversial pact is unconstitutional and needs to be reviewed.

comment-also see...Colombians Protest U.S. Military Presence http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/july/22/latinamerica10072202.htm  5,000 indigenous campesinos marched in downtown Bogotá to protest the pact giving US forces access to Colombian military bases http://ww4report.com/node/8862

Israel refuses to stop using internationally banned phosphorus bombs http://uruknet.com/?p=m68183&hd=&size=1&l=e

The Israeli government has refused to provide the United Nations assurance to discontinue its illegal usage of internationally banned white phosphorus bombs, which it used heavily in its latest war on the Gaza Strip, causing hundreds of Palestinian deaths, in addition to serious environmental damage.

Myth-debunking Snopes obscures Israel's role in 9/11 http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6146.shtml

Instead of attempting to debunk the well-documented claims that at least some Israelis were forewarned about the 9/11 attacks, Snopes peremptorily dismisses them, claiming they scarcely merit the dignity of a rebuttal. Yet, Haaretz reported that two employees of Odigo, the Israeli-owned instant messaging service, received messages two hours before the Twin Towers attack on September 11 predicting the attack would happen. Asked whether Israeli agents had advanced knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, Fox News reporter Carl Cameron quoted U.S. investigators who concluded, "How could they not have known?" And then there were those "dancing Israelis" who later claimed on an Israeli talk show that their "purpose was to document the event."

Netanyahu: I deceived US to destroy Oslo accords - video and transcript http://www.redress.cc/palestine/jcook20100724

Jonathan Cook considers the significance of a video that has surfaced showing Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu boasting about his ability to manipulate the United States and his success in destroying the Oslo accords with the Palestinians.

Israel’s friends at Westminster legislate to protect vilest criminals http://www.redress.cc/stooges/slittlewood20100724

Stuart Littlewood views the UK Conservative-led coalition government’s decision to make it harder to prosecute Israeli war criminals under universal jurisdiction.

The Hariri Assassination - Israel's Fingerprints Surface http://www.jnoubiyeh.com/2010/07/hariri-assassination-israels.html

Israel’s agents and operatives in Lebanon and its infiltration of a telecom network have been exposed. At the very least, the STL must recognize that evidence of alleged Hezbollah involvement in Hariri’s death (a group that historically enjoyed good ties with the late premier) is wholly tainted and likely doctored.The arrest of Qazzi and al-Raba’a in the breakup of Israeli spy rings should prompt the STL to shift its focus to the only regional player that has benefited from Hariri’s murder; one that will continue to do so if and when their designs to implicate Hezbollah are realized.It is time to look at Tel Aviv.

Spanish activists to sue Israel over deadly raid on Gaza flotilla http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/spanish-activists-to-sue-israel-over-deadly-raid-on-gaza-flotilla-1.303592

Three Spanish activists who were aboard a humanitarian aid convoy raided en route to the Gaza Strip will file a law suit against Israel on Friday for alleged crimes against humanity.The 83-page document takes aim at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his forum of top six cabinet ministers and the Israel Navy, whose commandos stormed the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara on May 31 and killed nine activists.

Obama's oil spill commission had web of BP and oil industry interests http://www.latimes.com/sns-ap-us-gulf-oil-spill-web-of-interests,0,1643444.story

Oil runs so deep in American life that when President Barack Obama formed an independent commission to investigate the Gulf spill, he ran into something of an oil patch of his own.Both commission chairmen had stock in BP as well as broader interests in the oil industry. Another commissioner, a university fundraiser, is chancellor at a school that received millions from BP. Another had substantial ties to Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and set off the spill.

Oil trader fined over toxic waste http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/07/2010723105319832919.html

A Dutch court has fined an oil trading company $1.28m for exporting toxic waste to the Ivory Coast, and concealing the dangerous nature of the material. The judge hearing the case at Amsterdam district court on Friday said Trafigura had carried out what European regulations aimed to prevent: "Namely the export of waste to the Third World and harming the environment".Frans Bauduin also convicted a Trafigura employee for his role in the 2006 incident and the Ukranian captain of the Probo Koala ship that carried the toxic waste.

House OK's Possible Israeli Raid on Iran http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136016&sectionid=351020101

'Republicans in the US House of Representatives have introduced a measure that would green-light a possible Israeli bombing campaign against Iran.Resolution 1553 provides explicit support for military strikes against Iran, stating that Congress backs Israel's use of 'all means necessary' against Iran, "including the use of military force," BBC Persian reported. The introduction of the measure coincides with a pattern of renewed calls for military strikes that have escalated since President Obama signed Congressional Iran sanctions into law.'

Lockerbie: Megrahi Was Framed – John Pilger http://dprogram.net/2010/07/23/lockerbie-megrahi-was-framed-john-pilger/

'No one in authority has had the guts to state the truth about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 above the Scottish village of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988 in which 270 people were killed. The governments in England and Scotland in effect blackmailed Megrahi into dropping his appeal as a condition of his immediate release. Of course there were oil and arms deals under way with Libya; but had Megrahi proceeded with his appeal, some 600 pages of new and deliberately suppressed evidence would have set the seal on his innocence and given us more than a glimpse of how and why he was stitched up for the benefit of “strategic interests.”

“The endgame came down to damage limitation,” said the former CIA officer Robert Baer, who took part in the original investigation, “because the evidence amassed by [Megrahi's] appeal is explosive and extremely damning to the system of justice.” New witnesses would show that it was impossible for Megrahi to have bought clothes that were found in the wreckage of the Pan Am aircraft – he was convicted on the word of a Maltese shopowner who claimed to have sold him the clothes, then gave a false description of him in 19 separate statements and even failed to recognize him in the courtroom.'

'What Was My Father's Crime?' Afghan Tells Story of His Father's Killing in a U.S. Night Raid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUvAFx31zCE&feature=player_embedded

"What was my father's crime? And what was the danger from him? He was 92 years old." On March 21, 2010, a joint U.S. and Afghan force, likely including U.S. special forces, killed a 92-year-old civilian, Abdul Ghani Khan, in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. In this exclusive interview obtained by Brave New Foundation's Rethink Afghanistan campaign, the slain man's son, Zaitullah Ghiasi Wardak, relates the family's account of the night his father died. 

Khan's death is the latest in a string of civilian killings by U.S. special forces in night raids. Earlier this year, special forces killed 3 women--two of them pregnant--along with two local Afghan government officials and then tried to cover it up. The U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan is expected to rely even more heavily on special forces in the future.

Johann Hari: Oil, Blood Money, and Blair's Last Scandal http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-oil-blood-money-and-blairs-last-scandal-2033114.html

'Is your life worth more to your government than a few pence added to BP's share price? At first, this will sound like a strange question. But sometimes there is a news story that lays out the priorities that drive our governments once the doors are closed and the cameras are switched off. The story of the attempt to trade the Lockerbie bomber for oil is one of those moments.'

Obama Is Preparing to Bomb Iran http://tarpley.net/2010/07/22/obama-preparing-to-bomb-iran/

'After about two and a half years during which the danger of war between the United States and Iran was at a relatively low level, this threat is now rapidly increasing. A pattern of political and diplomatic events, military deployments, and media chatter now indicates that Anglo-American ruling circles, acting through the troubled Obama administration, are currently gearing up for a campaign of bombing against Iran, combined with special forces incursions designed to stir up rebellions among the non-Persian nationalities of the Islamic Republic. Naturally, the probability of a new fake Gulf of Tonkin incident or false flag terror attack staged by the Anglo-American war party and attributed to Iran or its proxies is also growing rapidly.'

UK drones round-up: Afghan missions up; combat, hydrogen and solar powered UAVs unveiled http://neoconopticon.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/uk-drones-round-up-afghan-missions-up-combat-hydrogen-and-solar-powered-uavs-unveiled/

A month after a senior UN official condemned the CIA drone strike programme as creating a “PlayStation mentality” that could spread to other countries, Janes has reported that UK unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations in Afghanistan have reached a new high.

In the six months to May 2010, the British Army’s Elbit Systems Hermes 450 and Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk 3 flew “nearly 9,000 hours combined in just over 4,500 sorties”. UK forces have also reportedly launched attacks using armed drones over 80 times since May 2008, yet all requests for information on their use and resulting civilian casualty figures have so far been refused.

UK: Statewatch Analysis: The Misuse of Section 44 stop and search powers continues despite European Court ruling (pdf) by Max Rowlands http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-105-uk-section-44.pdf

and see Update: Section 44 anti-terrorism stop and search powers scrapped (pdf) by Max Rowlands http://www.statewatch.org/news/2010/jul/03uk-terr-powers.htm

US/INDONESIA Resumption of Special Forces Training Denounced http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52245

Thursday’s announcement in Jakarta that Washington will resume training for the Indonesian military’s controversial Special Forces unit (Kopassus) has been denounced by human rights groups and two key lawmakers here.

Israel Gets Brutal With Media http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52248

Occupied West Bank, Jul 23 - Palestinian activists are being jailed, Israeli activists are under surveillance, and the Israeli military is increasingly targeting journalists who cover West Bank protests.

AFRICOM, the kleptocratic state and under-class militancy http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66140

The ‘War on Terror’ has provided US-NATO commands in Stuttgart and Brussels with justification for securitising ‘dangerous’ West African Muslim states, writes Caroline Ifeka. But competing with China to control strategic resources from oil to subterranean water around the Sahara and Sahel, they’re also quietly manoeuvring leases to exploit resources vital to US and EU capital accumulation.

The principal cause of youth militancy around ethnicity and Islamic reformism in these regions, says Ifeka, is the ruling classes’ failure to share the rental incomes from – traditionally – community-owned resources. Community capacity building and restoration of a sense of agency and ownership rather than the militarisation of development, says Ifeka, is better strategy for diminishing discontent and building trust in democracy among the youth.

US foreign policy and Ethiopia http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66139

It seems the concern for the liberation of the oppressed injected into US foreign policy is merely a muted growl from a seemingly ‘toothless and clawless (paper) tiger’, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam. Mariam voices the frustrations of those in Ethiopia who lay witness to the empty human rights rhetoric of US foreign policy makers, and urges the US to back up its big human rights talk with big human rights action in the country so to avoid its descent as a silent witness to the crimes of dictatorship.