Whistleblower Who Linked "Taliban" Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated
Analysts claim enemy of slain tribal leader is protected, funded by CIA

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A whistleblower who defected from the Pakistani Taliban has been assassinated just days after he claimed that the group was working with US intelligence to destabilize the country.

Qari Zainuddin, a tribal leader of the South Waziristan region in Pakistan was shot dead on Tuesday by a gunman said to be loyal to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Analysts said that Mr Zainuddin's murder was a serious blow to the military campaign against the militants, as support of his faction was considered crucial, reports the London Times. "[It] is a warning to other pro government tribal commanders," said Mahmood Shah, a retired brigadier who had served as top official in the tribal region.

Zainuddin had rejected Mehsud's Taliban tribe, and shifted his allegiance to the Pakistani government, following a string of suicide bombings targeting mosques and civilians.

The Pakistani government also claims that Mehsud was responsible for the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

One of Qari Zainuddin's aides, who was also injured in the attack that killed the tribal leader, told the media that a lone gunman was able to enter Zainuddin's office and open fire, before escaping uninjured.

"It was definitely Baitullah's man who infiltrated our ranks, and he has done his job," Baz Mohammad told the Associated Press news agency.

Zainuddin had recently hit out at Mehsud in an interview with the AP. READ MORE

Following in Bush’s footsteps
Obama administration preparing order for indefinite detentions

By Tom Eley
29 June 2009

The Obama administration is drafting an executive order that would give the US president the power to arrest without charge, and imprison indefinitely without trial, foreign nationals it accuses of being terrorists, according to several senior government officials who spoke with the Washington Post and a reporter for non-profit news source ProPublica on condition of anonymity.

The order, should it be released, would likely reuse arguments made by the previous administration of George W. Bush that the laws of war allow the executive branch to disregard the established judicial system and domestic laws and rights, such as those guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Behind Obama’s turn toward indefinite detention is the quandary he faces over the prison camp at the US military naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Shortly after entering office in late January, Obama issued an executive order—to great media fanfare—calling for the closure of the Guantánamo prison by January 2010. But the debate that has ensued in Washington, while nominally focused on what to do with the remaining Guantánamo inmates, has developed into a discussion of the broader anti-democratic methods of the “war on terror.”

The Obama administration hopes an executive order will resolve the legal fate of the 229 remaining Guantánamo prisoners—as well as future prisoners in the “war on terror”—by allowing the president to incarcerate them indefinitely, likely at military installations in the US. READ MORE

Australian researchers find honey capable of fighting superbugs
Posted: 2009/06/22
From: MNN

It is well known that honey has anti-bacterial properties but scientists from the University of Sydney believe a particular type derived from native tea tree is especially potent.

SYDNEY, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers revealed on Wednesday they had identified a type of bacteria-blasting honey capable of taking on the superbugs that infected Australia's hospitals.

It is well known that honey has anti-bacterial properties but scientists from the University of Sydney believe a particular type derived from native tea tree is especially potent. READ MORE

"The Responsible Left:" Funding Obama's Expanding Wars $100 Billion a Vote

The cowardly Democrats who checked their spines at the door to Congress when they voted Tuesday try to defend their flip-flop on war funding. Frankly, it is embarrassing.

By Jeremy Scahill

Over the past few days, we reported on how the White House and Democratic Congressional Leadership waged a dirty campaign to scare up votes to support another $106 billion in funds for their wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now, several of the so-called anti-war Democrats who left their principles at the House coat check on their way in to vote Tuesday are trying to explain away their hypocritical votes.

New York Democrat Anthony Weiner, who voted against the war funding in May—when it didn’t matter—only to vote Tuesday with the pro-war Dems, sounded like an imbecile when he made this statement after the vote: “We are in the process of wrapping up the wars. The president needed our support.” What planet is Weiner living on? “Wrapping up the wars?” Last time I checked, there are 21,000 more US troops heading to Afghanistan alongside a surge in contractors there, including a 29% increase in armed contractors. Does Weiner think the $106 billion in war funding he voted for is going to pay for one way tickets home for the troops? What he voted for was certainly not the “Demolition of the 80 Football-field-size US Embassy in Baghdad Act of 2009.” To cap off this idiocy, Weiner basically admitted he is a fraud when he said the bill he voted in favor of “still sucks.” READ MORE

U.S. Troops Are Leaving Iraqi Cities Tomorrow? Think Again.
By Erik Leaver and Daniel Atzmon, Foreign Policy in Focus. Posted June 29, 2009.

Instead of sending soldiers stationed in cities home, the military has been expanding and building new bases in rural areas.

On November 17, 2008, when Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker signed an agreement for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, citizens from both countries applauded. While many were disappointed about the lengthy timeline for the withdrawal of the troops, it appeared that a roadmap was set to end the war and occupation. However, the first step -- withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 -- is full of loopholes, and tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain in the cities after the "deadline" passes.

The failure to fully comply with the withdrawal agreement indicates the United States is looking to withdraw from Iraq in name only, as it appears that up to 50,000 military personnel will remain after the deadline.

The United States claims it's adhering to the agreement, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), even with so many troops being left in the cities. But the United States is changing semantics instead of policy. For example, there are no plans to transfer the 3,000 American troops stationed within Baghdad at Forward Operating Base Falcon, because commanders have determined that despite its location, it's not within the city.

The original intent of moving troops out of the cities was to reduce the U.S. military role and send the message to Iraqis that the United States would be leaving the country soon. But troops that are no longer sleeping in the cities will still take part in operations within Iraqi cities; they will serve in "support" and "advisory" roles, rather than combat functions. Such "reclassification" of troops as military trainers is another example of how the United States is circumventing the terms of the SOFA agreement. READ MORE

Military contractors eye Africa again
Global Research, June 22, 2009
United Press International

European mercenaries, the notorious "Dogs of War," came to prominence in Africa in the 1960s when the mineral-rich continent was convulsed by wars and revolutions as Britain, France and Belgium relinquished their vast colonies.

Western soldiers of fortune like Britain's "Mad Mike" Hoare, Bob Denard of France and the Belgian, "Black Jack" Schramme, became household names as they fought for one African dictator or another to grab Africa's riches.

In the 1980s and '90s, the mercenaries metamorphosed into their modern incarnation of "private military companies," headed by outfits like Executive Outcomes and Sandline, hired to protect oil, diamond and copper interests for global conglomerates or to crush rebellions by power-hungry tribal tyrants.

International opprobrium and a slew of legislation by countries such as South Africa, once a haven for the mercenaries, severely curbed their activities. But these privateers, particularly U.S. companies such as Blackwater, DynCorp and Vinnell Corp., found themselves with a goldmine in Iraq and Afghanistan, where their combined strength often matched the U.S. military presence. Trigger-happy personnel and questionable financial dealings gave this new generation of mercenaries a black name as well.

Now, as the United States prepares to pull out most of its forces in Iraq, mercenaries are mustering for another move into Africa, courtesy of the new combat command established by the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. Africa Command, universally known as Africom.

Its main mission is to work with African militaries to improve security to counter encroachment by al-Qaida. But it is also designed to protect Africa's oil wealth, upon which the United States increasingly relies. But Africom is also charged with helping development programs -- and oddly enough, that's where the military contractors see the prospect of big bucks. READ MORE

Creating a 'Pollution Casino': Why the Energy Bill May End Up a Boon for Our Dirtiest Industries
By Dara Colwell, AlterNet. Posted June 24, 2009.

Let's take a look at why Waxman-Markey has the support of big polluters such as Shell Oil and Duke Energy, and not many environmental groups.

As the states move to establish quotas for renewable-energy production, the federal government -- for once -- hasn't lagged far behind.

At the end of May, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed "The American Clean Energy and Security Act," also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, which seeks to create a cap-and-trade system to forcibly lower carbon-dioxide emissions. The goal: to ease global warming and avert catastrophic climate change.

But Waxman-Markey, backed by big polluting industries such as Shell Oil and Duke Energy, hasn't garnered full support from environmental groups. Many oppose the bill, citing its incentives are too diluted to be effective and will actually sacrifice billions in revenue that should be invested in clean energy, while others critically support it, urging Congress, as it attempts a historic first by directly addressing climate change, to toughen it.

"There are serious flaws with this bill. The political process is pushing for expediency over strengthening the context, and we think that climate change is too important to get it wrong," says Tyson Slocum, research director at Public Citizen's energy program, from Capitol Hill. Public Citizen is a national nonprofit consumer advocacy organization.

The current drive to get the bill signed into law is twofold: First, the Environmental Protection Agency's March ruling that carbon dioxide threatens the public's health has put pressure on Congress to act, and second, the U.N. plans to hold a Climate Change Conference in December in Copenhagen, which many consider a last chance to create a global plan of action before the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. READ MORE

Neda Death Footage: Poster Child For A Million More Tragedies?
Establishment media falls over itself to broadcast footage showing death of young Iranian protester, yet completely refused to show victims of Iraq and Afghanistan wars

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, June 22, 2009

Western establishment media organs are tripping over themselves to broadcast tragic footage showing the death of a young Iranian woman allegedly at the hands of pro-Ahmadinejad forces in an effort to rally

international opinion against the government of Iran, a stark contrast to their complete and total refusal to broadcast footage of the hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children killed in Afghanistan and Iraq by U.S. and UK troops.

Neda Agha-Soltan has become a poster child for the CIA-sponsored color revolution in Iran after tragic and shocking scenes of her death were uploaded to You Tube the day after she was gunned down in Tehran on Saturday.

Soltan is being hailed as a “martyr” and “the face of the Iranian protests” by major western media outlets in emotional news reports such as the following CNN piece.

The hypocrisy is almost impossible to stomach. Hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children have been slaughtered in similar fashion by coalition forces during the bombardment and occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan, and many of these deaths have been caught on camera. And yet the establishment media has blindly refused to broadcast any of it. Indeed, it could be claimed that the footage of Neda’s death has already been broadcast more times by the corporate media than the thousands of victims whose deaths were caught on film in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last eight years. READ MORE

US House passes Obama administration’s carbon trading legislation
By Patrick O'Connor
29 June 2009

On Friday, the US House of Representatives narrowly approved Democratic-sponsored legislation for a national “cap and trade” carbon emissions trading scheme.

Hailed by President Barack Obama as an “extraordinary first step,” the proposed measures will do little to address climate change. While the working class will be hit with higher energy and fuel costs, the major corporate polluters will potentially reap enormous profits through the various subsidies contained in the legislation.

The 1,200-page “American Clean Energy and Security Act,” sponsored by Democrats Henry Waxman (California) and Ed Markey (Massachusetts), passed the House by 219 votes to 212. The vote was prepared by intensive lobbying of lawmakers by President Obama and other senior Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former vice president Al Gore. Those voting against nevertheless included 44 Democrats, while eight Republicans voted in favor of the bill. The legislation must be passed by the Senate, where its prospects are murky, before it can be signed into law by Obama.

The “cap and trade” scheme essentially involves making carbon dioxide pollution a tradable commodity. The cap refers to a goal of cutting total American emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 compared to their 2005 levels. The major corporate polluters are allocated a share of the total of carbon credits, or allowances. If they subsequently lower their emissions, they can sell their surplus carbon credits for a profit to those who need them.

Carbon trading represents an attempt to fashion a “free market” solution to the global warming crisis, despite the fact that the crisis is being driven by the anarchic operations of the capitalist market.

First promoted in the 1980s by the Reagan administration, pollution trading schemes have been seized upon as a means of evading regulatory or punitive measures against corporate polluters. Largely due to the insistence of the Clinton administration, carbon trading mechanisms were made a central part of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Several countries that ratified the treaty have their own national cap and trade schemes, with the largest covering the major European economies. In every instance, carbon trading has failed to meet the levels of emission reduction that scientists say are necessary. READ MORE

Bernanke Threatens Economic Collapse If Fed Audited
Aaron Dykes
Infowars
Friday, June 26, 2009

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke unleashed an alarming veiled threat of financial terrorism when he was questioned by Rep. Duncan on Thursday about his response to the fact that a majority of Congress co-sponsoring Ron Paul’s H.R. 1207 bill to audit the Federal Reserve.

Bernanke clearly regarded the bill’s intent as hostile to the institution he represents:
“My concern about the legislation is that if the GAO is auditing not only the operational aspects of the programs and the details of the programs but

making judgments about our policy decisions would effectively be a takeover of policy by the Congress and a repudiation of the Federal Reserve would be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the Dollar and our national economic situation.”

The brunt of Bernanke’s statement is as crystal clear as a threat from a common street thug– back off from the Fed, or the economy gets it.
The chairman clearly implies that any attempt to restore monetary powers constitutionally granted to the Congress would be seen as a “takeover” and that the defensive and “repudiated” Fed would respond destructively. READ MORE

Financial Dictatorship Spreads To Europe
Regulatory powers in all nations to be handed over to newly formed EU bodies in conjunction with the European Central Bank
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Friday, June 19, 2009

The European Union is set to mirror moves in the US to overhaul the economic regulatory oversight system, in a move that will see national regulators superceded by European supervisors.

“The proposals involve creating three pan-European watchdogs next year to ensure countries introduce new rules on supervision.” Reports the London Telegraph.

“Under the proposals, there is to be a European Banking Authority in London, an Insurance Authority in Frankfurt, and a Securities Authority in Paris. All European leaders agreed today to their creation.”
These three new bodies will have the authority to dictate and implement decisions on regulatory standards across the board in every member state.

Furthermore, the deal will see the creation of a European Systemic Risk Board, that would “monitor the build up of risks”, issue recommendations for action and oversee their implementation.
The chairmanship of this new body will be elected by members of the general council of the European Central Bank.

This mirrors plans in the US to hand the private Federal Reserve powers to simply seize and take over any company it defines as a risk to the economy.

Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised by the move given that, for the most part, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are run by the same private globalist banking corporations. READ MORE

The story is worse than just “Pres. Obama labored, and brought forth a mouse.” He is morphing into Joe Lieberman in reaching across the aisle for Republican support – and no doubt future campaign contributions from the financial sector. There also is a touch of Boris Yeltsin in sponsoring a financial “reform” disturbingly similar to what advisor Larry Summers backed in Russia – relinquishing government power to a banking elite (the notorious “Seven Bankers” in post-Soviet Russia). The Financial Regulatory Reform proposal promotes Wall Street’s “product,” debt creation, at the expense of the economy at large, and lets financial chieftains continue to self-regulate the debt industry – and by the way, to keep all their gains from the past decade’s worth of fraudulent lending, scot-free.

Confronting the wreckage of a debt crisis worse than any since the Great Depression, Mr. Obama has achieved what no Republican could have: rescuing the Bush Administration’s pro-creditor policies that fostered the Bubble Economy in the first place. “Most of the financial sector lobby community is happy with what has emerged,” the Financial Times summarized. A spokesman for the Financial Services Forum, a major Wall Street lobbying organization, called the proposals “careful and balanced.” With such endorsements, victims of predatory lending have good reason to worry. The Obama plan is just the opposite from reforming the financial system along lines that progressive Democrats and other critics have urged.

The plan’s six most fatal flaws are apparent in its preamble, which lays out a false diagnosis of the financial problem in a way that whitewashes Wall Street (in contrast to Mr. Obama’s nice televised populist speech giving verbal criticism to “culture of irresponsibility”). A false diagnosis must lead to wrong-headed cures – rarely by accident. There invariably is a financial beneficiary who gains from blind spots in a legal “reform” package.

1. Regulatory capture. Preparing the ground for future Alan Greenspan “free market” ideologues

The most serious problem is “regulatory capture”: control of the public regulatory process by the special interests being regulated. Mr. Obama’s speech introducing his reform was forthright in acknowledging that “some companies shop for the regulator of their choice … That is why, as part of these reforms, we will dismantle the Office of Thrift Supervision [OTS] and close loopholes that have allowed important institutions to cherry-pick among banking rules. We will offer only one federal banking charter, regulated by a strengthened federal supervisor.” It was the OTS, after all, that AIG and Washington Mutual chose as their regulator, as did GE Capital. The most incompetent, most ideologically opposed to serious regulation, its idea of a “free market” in practice was one free for fraud-ridden subprime lenders to do whatever they wanted. READ MORE