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Charlie Hebdo: A Convoluted World
By Dr. Elias Akleh
Charlie Hebdo Magazine tragedy and its consequential events are the perfect example of how convoluted our world is. Seventeen people were murdered in the attack including reporters, two police officers and a visitor. On Sunday; Jan. 11, two days later about four million people; the largest demonstration in French history, rallied across France carrying “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) banners protesting the terror attack. In Paris 40 world heads of states led a march of about one million protesters.
Watching the mass rallies on the TV I could not but marvel how much power the mass media has, being able in short time to create such social hysteria by its mass hypnotic broadcast robbing people of their logical thinking. This does not intend to belittle or to discredit the genuine feelings the marchers have, but to point out how easily these humanitarian sentiments could be manipulated by pictures and words broadcasted on a TV screen.
Prominent Rabbi Wants Jews Given Special Permission to Carry Guns
by Stephen Lendman
Conditions today in Western societies are deplorable. Peace is pure fantasy. US-led wars without end continue. New ones ahead are likely.
Police state laws erode fundamental freedoms. On the chopping block for elimination altogether.
On the pretext of protecting national security. Fighting nonexistent terrorist threats. The road to ruin isn't paved with good intentions.
Full-blown tyranny looms. In America. Israel. Across Europe. Guilt by accusation is official policy. Police states operate this way.
US-dominated NATO threatens humanity's survival. Most people are brainwashed to believe harmful government policies benefit them.
HL Mencken once said "(t)he whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
Perhaps Lincoln should have said "(y)ou can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time," but enough always on issues mattering most. People are their own worst enemies. Easily manipulated against their own self-interest. Duped to accept what demands rejection. Under conditions going from bad to worse.
Obama's Phony MIddle Class Tax Relief Plan
by Stephen Lendman
Obama is a corporate tool. A war profiteer's dream. Super-rich Americans never had it better during his tenure. Entirely reflecting anti-populist extremism. Policies hugely benefitting Wall Street. Other corporate favorites. Wealthy investors. America's privileged class.
At the expense of popular needs gone begging. Including so-called financial reform legislation written by Wall Street lawyers. Obamacare drafted by healthcare giants.
So-called "grand bargain" help for struggling middle America reflects total capitulation to America's aristocracy.
The nation's social contract threatened. Targeted for elimination altogether. Forced-fed austerity replacing it. During protracted Main Street Depression conditions.
Unprecedented wealth disparity unfairness. Growing millions impoverished. It doesn't matter.
Kiev Planning Full-Scale War on Donbas
by Stephen Lendman
What's ongoing should scare everyone. State-sponsored terror threatens Europe.
Initiated post-Paris killings. On the pretext of fighting nonexistent homegrown terrorism. At the same time, MSM ignore Kiev's ceasefire hoax.
Ongoing dirty war rages in Europe's heartland. Donbas residents attacked. Civilian neighborhoods shelled. Killing defenseless men, women and children in cold blood.
Kiev continues mobilizing for escalated conflict. On January 16, Itar Tass headlined "New spate of drafting to Ukrainian Armed Forces (for) full-scale war in Europe."
US/UK Special Relationship: Partners in High Crimes Against Humanity
by Stephen Lendman
Obama hosts British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House today. Focusing on mutual issues. Anti-populist ones. Imperial ones. Geopolitical ones. Sinister ones. Ongoing wars. Escalation plans. Choosing new targeted countries.
Stepped up cyber and other forms of surveillance. New police state crackdowns. Economic and financial issues benefitting monied interests alone.
Both countries represent an axis of pure evil and then some. Longstanding partners in global genocidal crimes.
Deconstructing Netanyahu in Paris
by Stephen Lendman
He gatecrashed Paris. French President Francois Hollande urged him to stay home. He wasn't wanted. He came anyway.
Couldn't bear not being among other leaders. An array of world rogues. As many as 50 showed up.
Participating in phony Charlie Hebdo homage. A disgusting hypocritical display. Netanyahu muscled his way to the front of the pack. Used his attendance for campaign purposes. Israeli elections are two months away. He outraged his host by urging French Jews to emigrate to Israel. Their "historic homeland," he said.
Who ever heard of a head of state urging citizens of another country to leave? Saying they'd be better off doing so.
New Geopolitical/Financial Bombshells
by Stephen Lendman
January began with a bang. Oil and other key commodity prices keep heading south. Suggesting economic weakness.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) provides "an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea. Measuring demand for shipping capacity v. the supply of bulk carriers."
Demand depends on amounts of cargo being shipped. Less demand, lower the index. From Thanksgiving to December 19, BDI fell 40%.
Zero Hedge called it the fastest ever post-Thanksgiving collapse. Declines continued into January. Down to 749 from a one-year 1,621 high. Reflecting economic weakness.
Yesterday, Switzerland's central bank (SNB) stunned markets. Scrapping a three-year euro/franc peg. Sending the Swiss currency soaring against the euro.
Escalated War on Islam
by Stephen Lendman
Post-9/11, America declared war on Islam. Injustice triumphed. So did hate and fear. Muslims are fair game.
US targets of choice. Britain, France, Germany and other Western partners march in lockstep against them.
Waging phony war on terror. Pretext for state terror. Against targeted Muslim counties, groups and individuals. After last week's Paris killings, Le Monde headlined "Le 11 Septembre Francais." Saying US history was "before (and) after 9/11."
For France it's "before (and) after 1/7." An accompanying article said anti-Islamic protests erupted in Paris, Dresden and other European cities.
Defiant Charlie Hebdo
by Stephen Lendman
The satirical French publication normally has a circulation of around 60,000. USA Today said its latest edition has a three million copy run.
Some reports said five million. Maybe more given heavy demand. Copies are being distributed worldwide, said AP. In 16 languages. Saying "readers in France mobbed newsstands…"
"…European newspapers reprinted (its) cartoons as a gesture of solidarity." Red Eye Chicago said local booksellers are scrambling for copies.
Almost impossible to find locally where this writer lives and perhaps elsewhere across America. Red Eye said limited numbers could arrive in America by Friday.
Controversy stalks the issue. The cover again features the Prophet Muhammad. Holding a sign saying Je Suis Charlie.
Muslim groups expressed anger. Insulting their religion again, they said. Especially at a sensitive time.
Many Muslims believe depicting the Prophet is forbidden. Others feared the new cover may trigger more violence.
The Paris March of hypocrisy
By Khalid Amayreh, Occupied Palestine
It is really hard to give a passing moral grade to Sunday's march in Paris, which came in the aftermath of the terrorist attack targeting an anti-Islam weekly magazine. But that is only if one is willing to be truly faithful to his or her moral conscience and rectitude
Indeed, there are so many legitimate reasons questioning the moral credibility of the huge march.
For example, one is prompted to ask why we don't witness such a march when far greater and more blatant crimes take place elsewhere.
Crimes against humanity, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, have recently taken and continue to take place in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan, Central Africa, and Myanmar, without the world raising its eyebrows, or indeed rallying to voice its revulsion at these blatant monstrosities.
In Syria, government warplanes have killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians, by way of dropping crude powder barrels on civilian neighborhoods throughout Syria.
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