They shoot journalists, don't they? by Pepe Escobar

Many uncomfortable, unanswered questions remain over the killing on March 4 of Italian secret intelligence agent Nicola Calipari by American soldiers near Baghdad airport, immediately after Calipari had negotiated the release of Giuliana Sgrena, the unembedded correspondent from Il Manifesto, a communist Italian daily, who had been held hostage for one month and was wounded in the US firing.

Syrian Presidential Palace No-Fly Zone for Israeli Jets�� Putin

The latest statement by Russia’s Vladimir Putin on the sale of missiles to Syria is likely to reignite a bitter political scandal with Israel. In an interview to Israeli television ahead of his visit there the Russian leader confirmed that Moscow had agreed with Damascus on deliveries of high-precision SA-18, or Igla tactical missile complexes.

The Myth of U.S. Cultural, Religious, Political, and Social Superiority by Kristina M. Gronquist

Believers in Manifest Destiny asserted that U.S. rulers were predestined to spread their proclaimed superior values near and far. Propaganda, armed interventions, occupations, and terror were used in various insidious combinations. Indigenous people whose country we reside in can best attest to the results of Manifest Destiny policy, as they survived centuries of unspeakable injustices and lost millions, but courageously, have survived.

A letter adressed to "the sheeple" from "The Globalist NWO"

Dearest Citizen of the World,

I believe the time has come to reveal to you some of the perplexities you have faced in recent decades. It is well for you to understand some of these things so that you might know how to behave in the New Order now taking shape on the earth. We want you to be able to become fully involved and integrated into our new society. After all, this is for your best interest if you will do.

Israel Boycotts Peace; Mainstream Media Mum on Meeting by Christopher Bollyn

Unreported in the corporate controlled press, the Israeli boycott of the recent international Middle East peace summit in London illustrates
why the Israel-Palestine conflict remains stuck in a quagmire after 57 years and who is ultimately responsible.

How Arabic text of WMD dossier was massaged by Downing St by Robert Fisk

Translation carried out for The Independent on Sunday reveals for the first time that several references to UN sanctions were cut from the Arabic text. On one page, the words "biological agents" were changed to read "nuclear agents". Arab journalists who reported on the dossier culled their information from the Arabic version - unaware that it was not the same as the English one.

Sharon vows to defy Bush over expansion of Israeli settlements by Donald Macintyre

But Mr Sharon underlined his determination to go ahead with it in defiance of US exhortations by pointing out that settlement growth had always gone ahead in the past despite formal expressions of US opposition to it. He said hundreds of homes were being built in two West Bank settlements, Ma'ale Adumim and Betar Illit.

Analysis: Putin heads to Israel by Joshua Brilliant

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due in Israel next week and it is not clear why is he coming now and what the visit will produce.

Sharon said he believed Putin may "want to spread his wings over the people who left Russia ... and tighten ties with them." Sella doubted Israel would welcome that.

IRAN: The next Paradigm of the Middle East by Pirouz Azadi, Ph.D.

Iran is once again preparing to hold a presidential election in June 2005. The populace has participated in several recent presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections with a massive turnout seeking fundamental reform. After this did not materialize, voter turnout plummeted at the parliamentary election last year; this in turn led to a far right conservative majority parliament. The public, disillusioned with lack of any substantive reform, feels marginalized, ostracized, disenfranchised, disillusioned and frustrated. People have concluded that these elections are simply make believe in nature and not substantive. Every indication shows an extremely low turnout is anticipated for the June election. That does not mean that the establishment, a parallel over-shadow government run by the Supreme Guardian Ali Khamenei, would not resort to the old tactic of stuffing ballot boxes by “millions” of fabricated votes.

Sharon's 92 Percent Solution by KATHLEEN CHRISTISON

The wall, Erlanger claims, relying on Makovsky’s “research,” puts a mere 8 percent of West Bank land and fewer than 10,000 Palestinians on the Israeli side, leaving 99.5 percent of Palestinians living in 92 percent of the West Bank. Yet this is what Erlanger and Makovsky leave out of the equation:

Unfolding Middle-East Quagmire: America is Buying Time by Ali Kadri

The US needs to control the region not solely for its oil reserves, but more importantly to uphold its global economic hegemony. Under this design, regional states have to be molded into weak sectarian sheikdoms with little or no sovereignty and, by implication, a dismal economic development agenda if any. Regional chaos thus favors a credo of Islamic fundamentalism, which in turn reinforces the process of US sponsored political and social disintegration:

The shadow Iraqi government by Pepe Escobar

The only way Jaafari's transitional government can garner any measure of popular credibility is to demand a firm deadline for total American withdrawal. This is what the Shi'ite masses voted for. Whatever the scale of mass protests though, Rumsfeld remains unfazed: he wants Saddam's Mukhabarat back in action and he wants the 14 military bases.

Soros says be patient by Hans Nichols

The Democracy Alliance will act as a clearinghouse and is expected to channel much of its money to new organizations and existing ones such as John Podesta’s Center for American Progress and David Brock’s Media Matters for America.

Australia's Light Brigade Charges Into Iraq by Joe Vialls

As most readers will have noticed, every nation on earth excluding America and Britain is withdrawing its illegal invasion forces from sovereign Iraq, and has refused all further support for Wall Street's criminal "Coalition of the Willing". Well, almost every other nation on earth except obsequious Australia. On 17 April 2005, at the behest of New York, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Government ordered an extra 500 Australian troops to travel to Iraq to join an illegal invasion they already knew had failed, thereby placing these men and women in clear and present danger on the orders of a foreign power.

The waxing of the Shi'ite crescent by Sami Moubayed

Or more specifically, the real victors are the Shi'ites of Iran and the Muslim world. They will enjoy the fruits of the post-Saddam order long after Bush's army leaves Iraq. This region, many fear, is now dominated by a "Shi'ite crescent" uniting the Shi'ites of Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and the Arab Gulf region.

Sticking by an unequivocal policy by Ramzy Baroud

The US president finds it "unrealistic‚ to dismantle the Jewish-only large population centres" in the West Bank and Occupied East Jerusalem.

This acknowledgment renders much of the anticipated peace talks irrelevant for it: sidelines international law, invalidates the US-own-claim of being an honest broker in the so-called peace process and unequivocally declares support for the Israeli position on the matter.

Unification the real Canadian Bilderberg agenda

The real Canadian Bilderberg agenda has nothing to do with health care, marriage or Charter Rights. The real hidden agenda is that Mssrs. Martin, Harper, Harris, Manning and Klein all agree on one thing: that Canada must integrate further with the USA, and this could be a bad thing. Several of these clowns have been the stars of a Canadian political drama that has been unfolding in recent weeks, and it's pretty clear that they are using social issues to distract us from economic ones.

Iraq Tony and the Truth

On the second anniversary of the Iraq war, Panorama reveals how several of the claims he made in public during the build up to the war - and afterwards - conflict with what we now know was going on behind the scenes, as evidenced for instance by government officials and documents. Real Video

Chorus for change in IMF and World Bank by Emad Mekay

The World Bank and the IMF each has 184 board members from developed and developing countries and 24 members who represent countries or groups of nations. That system has deprived more populous nations like India and China - which, combined, represent more than 2.3 billion people of the world's seven billion population - of an influential say while giving countries like Britain, France and the US greater clout.

Secret Agent: Rumsfeld Sneaks Off to Baku

But then, like the mysterious Mr. Arkadin, Rumsfeld left Iraq, flew to Baku for meetings, spent the night, and then sneaked out the next day—with no announcements from the Pentagon and (as a result) no notice from the U.S. press.

Plenty of Azeris, chafing under the Aliyev family's harsh rule and fearing war or other trouble from the oil-hungry U.S., freaked out, and there were stories in the Turkish and Russian press. But leave it to the excellent news service EurasiaNet to capture the not-meant-to-be-captured moment. In a story posted April 13, political analyst Alman Talyshli wrote from Baku:

Operation Iranian Freedom? by Leon Hadar

The same guys who convinced Americans to buy a broken camel from con man Chalabi are now trying to persuade them to purchase a used rug from Pahlavi. The heir to the Peacock Throne has been schmoozing around in Washington with the members of such outlets as the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (surprised to learn that Richard Perle, James Woolsey, and Michael Ledeen are on its board of directors?), the Hudson Institute, AEI, and, well, you can guess the rest.

The coming showdown in Iran

After watching destruction of Iraq the Iranians will be forced to respond

Because Iran is already at total war footing the attacks escalate out of control in a matter of days.

Israel hits Iran's nuclear facilities

Iran goes to Alert One

Israel hits a US Carrier and blames Iran

US hits Iran's navy in northern Persian Gulf

Iran attacks with all it's missiles

Iraq: 'The Gate of God Opens Wider' by Felicity Arbuthnot

The tragic folly of Iraq though, is a litany of ignorance of a 'far away place..' of which Washington knows nothing. Returning to London from Baghdad, days before the invasion, newspapers were awash with Ahmed Chalabi's assurances that the crusaders would be greeted with flowers and sweets. The certainties from a man who should be serving a lengthy jail term in Jordan for embezzlement, would be taken by inhabitants of planet earth with a hefty pinch of salt. Not apparently in Washington or Whitehall.

Sharon: Kleptomania in Palestine to Continue by Kur Nimmo

For more than fifty years the Palestinians have endured the duplicitous Zionists who have no intention of ever allowing them to form their own state. Ariel Sharon, the international war criminal—most notably for his actions resulting in the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon and more recently the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank—has told the world from Bush’s fake ranch in Texas the Israelis have no intention of ever giving an inch to the Palestinians.

India, China and Russia to create new alliance to challenge USA's supremacy

Details of the new document were not exposed, although it is known that the parties came to agreement on the issues of the long-standing border dispute, bilateral trade relations and the economic cooperation. Indian and Chinese prime ministers stated that the document would boost diplomatic and economic links between China and India and help the two states resist "global threats."

For the time being it is not known if Russia is going to have at least something to do with the "strategic partnership" of India and China. It is not ruled out, though, that Beijing and Delhi decided to do without Moscow's participation.

Future may see new world powers by NIRMALA GEORGE

India and China agreed Monday to form a "strategic partnership,'' creating a diplomatic bond between Asia's two emerging powers that would tie together nearly one-third of the world's population.

Negroponte and the CIA's eclipse by Tom Barry

The nomination of Negroponte as DNI comes at a time when new CIA chief Goss has signaled that he intends to rid the agency of those who do not fall into line with Bush administration policies in the Middle East and elsewhere, leading some high officials to leave the agency and sparking widespread morale problems. In the view of one former intelligence official, "The CIA is a wounded gazelle on the African plain. It's a pile of bleached bones."

Le Pen Calls for EU Constitution Rejection

The French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen launched an attack on the EU constitution Saturday, saying a 'yes' vote in the upcoming referendum would go against France's national interests.

What's behind the new Iraq by Pepe Escobar

Most Sunni Arabs can be expected to view the story as one of falling from total control of government and society in Iraq to the point of being represented in a dodgy parliament by a former exile with negligible local support and connections and who was discarded by his own political party. To compound the climate of untrustworthiness, the Kurds suspect Hasani of being a fundamentalist Sunni Arab from Kirkuk.

How a 'Non' from France could throw Europe's future into crisis by Alex Duval Smith

Once they were seen as the most loyal of all Europeans, but this week President Jacques Chirac faces one of the biggest battles of his political career as he launches a crusade to persuade the French to vote 'Oui' in next month's referendum on the EU constitution.

Criticize Israel? Why not? by Bruce S. Ticker

First, Jews in America have a right to question, criticize and comment on any Israeli policy they want. The First Amendment says so. Jews who try to bully the rest of us into silence probably forget that we have freedom of speech because, in their zeal to support Israel, there is no First Amendment in Israel. In fact, the Knesset has been waiting for a committee to formulate a constitution . . . since 1951.

America's New National Security Doctrine by Michel Chossudovsky

In mid-March, the Pentagon released a major document, entitled The National Defense Strategy of the United States of America

This document constitutes a departure from the doctrine of pre-emptive warfare, which has characterized most national security statements since 9/11.

Whereas the preemptive war doctrine envisages military action as a means of "self defense" against countries categorized as "hostile" to the US, the new Pentagon doctrine envisages the possibility of military intervention against countries which do not visibly constitute a threat to the security of the American homeland.

America's new circus diplomacy and Latin America by Ben Tanosborn

As we go further south, the foreign policy woes loom even larger. For over a century the US has advocated democracy for Latin America . . . while sub rosa helping install and/or maintain dictatorships in power. Now that democracy is beginning to take hold, Washington powers are in dismay at the outcome. Lula in Brazil, Kirchner in Argentina, Chavez in Venezuela, Vasquez in Uruguay, Lagos in Chile, Gutierrez in Ecuador—all represent an unwavering trend in South American politics clearly pointing center-left. Free market economies, yes; but with very profound political populism determined to improve the lot of the many, instead of the proverbial ruling few.

John Pilger rejects the Law of Silence

Pressure applied to the BBC by the Israel "lobby" has been so successful that, as a Glasgow University study revealed, many viewers of television news in Britain believe the Jewish "settlers", whose illegal and often violent squatting on Palestinian land has undermined hopes of real peace, are actually Palestinians. What is new is the extent to which insidious state propaganda has penetrated sections of the media whose independence has been, until recently, accepted by much of the public.

An existential struggle (The Palestinian/Israeli conflict) by Mazin Qumsiyeh

This basic injustice of political Zionism is the reason for continued instability in the Middle East. It is why a Zionist like Henry Kissinger would state that under his leadership, the policy was to get Iranians and Iraqis “to kill each other” (the Iran-Iraq war took one million lives and the US give aid to both parties!).

Kyrgyzstan: it's not about democracy but a clan war by LEON HADAR

American policymakers should recognise that these developments don't necessarily herald the rise of democracy, but could ignite civil wars and result in intervention by regional and foreign powers - a plain, old-fashioned war and one that has nothing to do with a shinning crusade to spread liberty - into which the United States would be drawn.

UNAJ calls for the thwarting of Israeli extremists plans on al-Aqsa Mosque

The Universal Network Acting for Jerusalem (UNAJ) has pleaded with Arab and Islamic nations to spare no effort in foiling Israeli plans aimed at the Judaisation of the holy city.

U.S. raises stakes for Europe on China ban by Graham Bowley

In one of the strongest warnings to date, the United States signaled Tuesday that the European Union risked seriously undermining the trans-Atlantic relationship if it lifted its embargo on selling arms to China and cautioned that Washington was likely to retaliate.
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Israel's Next War?

In "Israel's Next War?" airing Tuesday, April 5, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE goes deep inside the world of militant Jewish radicals who pose a grave new threat to Israeli security and, potentially, to the region. "The dream of these extremists"—to blow up the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, one of the most important holy sites in the Muslim world—"should give us sleepless nights," says former Israeli Security Chief Avi Dichter. "Jewish terror is liable to create a serious strategic threat that will turn the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a conflict between thirteen million Jews and a billion Muslims all over the world."

How to Say No to the New World Order by M. Sabeheddin

The key to resisting the combined forces of the Corporate One World Order is an alternative worldview. The agents of the global plutocracy are able to successfully promote their agenda because there is so little coherent, organised opposition. People are being purposefully programmed to accept mass consumer culture, the discrediting of genuine diversity, the deprivation of national sovereignty, and attacks on working people in the guise of privatisation. Strategies and ideologies critical of the globalist agenda are ridiculed, devalued in the eyes of the public, and neutralised. In the post-Cold War era, capitalist globalisation is presented as the "natural course of events" and the "only guarantee of freedom".

Pakistan approaches boiling point by Syed Saleem Shahzad and Masood Anwar

The country thus does not have the foreign-exchange reserves that would be needed should sanctions be imposed on the country - always a possibility should Pakistan suddenly fall out of favor with the US, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. (How Pakistan will meet the multibillion-dollar bill for promised F-16s from the United States is another matter.)

DISENGAGEMENT - POLITICAL FALLOUT & LIKUD MELTDOWN

Prime Minister Sharon’s ruling Likud party was battered from within this week; 27 of Likud’s 40 MKs in the 120 member House voted for the national referendum against the position of their own leader, Ariel Sharon. The Likud’s big guns lined up against Sharon: Finance Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Education Minister Limor Livnat.

The referendum gambit was widely viewed as a device for delaying and perhaps totally tordepoeing the evacuation, which is officially rejected the Likud although it’s their leader’s idea. So how long can this abnormal, perhaps absurd situation go in inside the country’s ruling party?

Mercenaries to Play Greater Role in Future U.S.-Led Drug Interdiction, Crop Eradication Missions

The U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) and the State Dept. are preparing to intensify and expand drug interdiction and aerial crop-eradication efforts in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Based on a review of recently distributed federal-procurement documents, the U.S. government is actively soliciting the help of mercenaries whose sole function will be to locate and rescue missing or captured Drug War personnel.

America's superpower status is about to end

Is the invasion of Iraq, and the whole project of resurrecting Pax Americana that lies behind it, just such an attempt to head off impending relative decline by putting the U.S. back in the global driving seat, as much the "leader of the free world'' as it was in the halcyon days of the Cold War? Very likely.

Will it work? Don't be silly. It never works: economics rules, and there is no way of stopping China and India from catching up with the current Lone Superpower short of nuking their entire economies.

Nuke the Holy Land - For World Peace by Douglas Herman

An exchange of nukes over the so-called Holy Land is a distinct but a growing possibility. Our American Herods--the unholy coalition of Christians and Jews who resemble the Biblical Herod's and command ALL aspects of US decision making power--make no pretense of friendly persuasion. Nor do they possess many diplomatic skills aside from Red Queen-style bluster. Indeed, their credo welcomes "a new Pearl Harbor" scenario of sneak attacks followed by counterattacks. What sort of provisions--or excuses--will they make once they've helped obliterate the birthplace of three major religions? Indeed, the nuclear fallout might be beyond even FEMA to repair.

The End of a Viable Palestinian State by Jeff Halper

The fatal flaw in most analyses of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the assumption that if the Palestinians can just get a state of their own, then all will be fine. A state on all the Occupied Territories (UN Resolution 242), on most of the Occupied Territories (Oslo and the Road Map to the Geneva Initiative), on even half the Occupied Territories (Sharon's notion)--it doesn't matter. Once there's a Palestinian state the conflict is over and we can all move on to the next item on the agenda.