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Anti-Syrian Blame Game
by Stephen Lendman
Washington, NATO allies, complicit regional partners, the UN, and media scoundrels wrongfully blame Syria for massacres, other killings, and atrocities committed by Western recruited death squads.
Washington features dirty tactics. They include blaming victims. Syria has been ravaged for months. Fingers point the wrong way. Assad is more victim than villain.
Massacres he's wrongfully blamed for are strategically timed. In June, Houla made headlines. Weeks later, Traymseh followed. Evidence pointing the right way was buried.
Killer gangs bore full responsibility.
Now another massacre made headlines. Mass media misinformation maliciousness again blames victims. Below is a sampling of headlines. They show why growing numbers of readers and viewers choose alternative sources to stay informed.
Getting Away with Torture in Israel
by Stephen Lendman
Torture is illegal at all times under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions. Israel's Supreme Court ruled both ways.
On the one hand, it banned torture. On the other, it permitted physical force in "ticking bomb" cases. At the time, Court President Aharon Barak claimed it saves lives. He authorized use of the "necessity defense" to get away with lawless practices.
He let Israel's attorney general determine guidelines. They constitute an a priori authorization to torture. International law is clear and unequivocal. The UN Convention against Torture calls it: "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain and suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity...."
America preparing for a post-Israel Middle East?
Franklin Lamb
Beirut
Illena Ros-Lehtinen
Congresswoman Illena Ros-Lehtinen will have her hands full as she makes the political and social rounds at this month’s Republican National Convention. Illena, is the only female committee chair in the House of Representatives and arguably Israel’s most ardent agent. She is a constant thorn in the Obama administration's side, regularly castigating the president for playing "political games with U.S. foreign policy” and being “soft on Iran” and undermining the legitimacy of Israel. Ros-Lehtinen is a congressional cheer leader also for her Jewish voters in Florida -- a key battleground in the rapidly approaching US presidential election. Most recently, Ros-Lehtinen helped shepherd through Congress yet another bill tightening sanctions against Iran while calling for US military action against the Assad regime in Syria.
Palestinians Living in Firing Zones
by Stephen Lendman
Life in Occupied Palestine is hard enough. Imagine how much worse in firing zones.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
(1) Israel designated about 18% of West Bank land closed military zones, aka firing zones. It's one among other ways Israel steals land.
(2) About 5,000 Palestinians in 38 communities are affected. Most are Bedouins. Land they've lived on for generations was theirs in peace until 1948. Everything changed when Israel began stealing it. It's now used for military and other purposes.
Washington Opposes Peace
by Stephen Lendman
America's history is blood-drenched. Permanent war is policy. Peace and stability are verboten.
One nation after another is targeted. Aggressive wars follow. Rule of law principles and democratic values are discarded. Wealth, power and unchallengeable dominance alone matter.
Scoundrel supporters glorify what they should condemn. More on them below. Syria is being ravaged and destroyed. Spurious accusations target Iran. Neither country threatens anyone. Malicious lies say otherwise.
Headlines claim Tehran keeps accelerating efforts to produce nuclear weapons. No evidence whatever is cited. On August 25, Reuters headlined "IAEA gets no deal with Iran on bomb research suspicions," saying:
So-called "concerns" about "suspected nuclear weapons research by Tehran" weren't resolved. IAEA chief inspector Herman Nackaerts said important differences remain. Agreement looks unlikely.
What happens when they start killing Christians?
Michael Collins
What really scandalizes us is that the Western world is encouraging this rise of sectarian violence just to topple the [al-Assad] regime. Mother Agnes Miriam, Syria
NATO and Saudi supported Free Syrian Army democracy warriors are attacking and killing Christians in Syria. Reports indicate that various Christian denominations are special targets for kidnapping, violence and intimidation. (Image) For example:
"Syrian rebel forces have trapped over 12,000 Greek Catholics in a village near the Lebanese border, causing shortages of food, medicine and other urgent supplies." CNA, August 25
The Greek Catholics in the village of Reblah may suffer the same fate as Christians in Qusair who were forced to seek refuge in Lebanon recently after their village lost supplies for days thanks to the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The residents were told to leave or face annihilation. They chose to leave.
Fixing the Mortgage Mess: The Game-changing Implications of Bain v. MERS
by Ellen Brown
Two landmark developments on August 16th give momentum to the growing interest of cities and counties in addressing the mortgage crisis using eminent domain:
(1) The Washington State Supreme Court held in Bain v. MERS, et al., that an electronic database called Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) is not a “beneficiary” entitled to foreclose under a deed of trust; and
(2) San Bernardino County, California, passed a resolution to consider plans to use eminent domain to address the glut of underwater borrowers by purchasing and refinancing their loans.
The Missing Option to Defuse Iran Threat
By Nicola Nasser
To keep “all options on the table” in the U.S. – Israel plans to change the incumbent Syrian and Iranian regimes and neutralize what both countries perceive as an imminent “threat” is a formula missing the only feasible option to defuse their perceived threat peacefully, which is obviously much cheaper in money and human souls.
On August 19, Israeli former head of the Operations Directorate of the Israeli military, Maj. Gen. (res.) Uri Saguy, wrote in Haaretz that late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak “Rabin strove to achieve agreements with our neighbors before the Iranians got a bomb. If we had peace accords today with the Arab countries and with the Palestinians, what exactly would the Iranians' conflict with us be about?”
Risking Nuclear Armageddon
by Stephen Lendman
Irresponsible leaders risk the unthinkable. Media scoundrels cheerlead mindlessly. So do neocon think tanks. Ordinary people are more concerned about mundane trivia than survival.
Nero didn't fiddle while Rome burned. The violin wasn't invented for another 1,500 years. Today's officials go where earlier ones wouldn't dare. They risk regional or global disaster. War on Syria and/or Iran may ignite more than leaders bargain for.
Imagine blowing up the world to control it. Imagine forces able to stop it staying sidelined. Imagine the unimaginable. Imagine it before it's too late to matter.
World War II weapons were toys compared to today's. Before war ended, tens of millions died. Estimates range from 50 - 70 million. No one knows for sure. Preventing war would have saved them. Hoped for never again became perpetual conflicts.
Obama replicates hardline neocon extremism. He did what supporters thought impossible. He surpassed the worst of Bush. Imagine what'll do in a second term.
Trillions Stashed in Tax Havens
by Stephen Lendman
A new Tax Justice Network (TJN) USA report reveals an estimated $21 - $32 trillion of hidden and stolen wealth stashed largely tax-free secretly.
Titled "The Price of Offshore Revisited," it explains what financial insiders know but won't discuss. Many of them have their own hidden wealth.
TJN describes a "subterranean" systemic "economic equivalent of an astrophysical black hole." The higher estimate above exceeds US GDP twofold.
It's mind-boggling. It's hard imagining a tiny percent of privileged elites control this much wealth secretly. It's worse knowing it's largely tax free. It's appalling that governments let them get away with it.
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