French-fried Europe by Pepe Escobar

The EU's disarray is caviar for its global competitors - the US, China and India. (The euro fell to a seven-month low against the dollar on Tuesday, breaking below key $1.2450 levels.) In the US, from conservatives to neo-conservatives, from "grand chessboard" proponents to preemptive war cheerleaders, all in favor of divide and rule are delighted.

The New World Order and Mulitlateral Approach

What is at debate is not about unilateralism vs. multilaterialism but the nature of the future multilateral approach. The constant complaint about the present Bush administration “unilateral” approach is simply wrong or mere demagoguery. During the second Gulf War, there were over 30 nations participating. So much for unilateralism. The Bush Administration has begun the process of redefining what a future multilateral alliance will look like and that is what the real debate is all about. The Bush administration is moving away from those past vehicles such as dependence upon the UN and reviewing our alliance with Europe. In its place, the United States is establishing new alliances. Maybe a place to start is to review how our European allies view diplomacy in the modern age and why it is inadequate to our needs.

Get Out of Putin�s Face by Patrick J. Buchanan

“The greatest geostrategic disaster of the 20th century,” Vladimir Putin has called the collapse of the Soviet Empire. His statement shook Western elites, for we see that collapse as miraculous deliverance, the welcome death of an evil empire built on the denial of God-given rights, an empire with the blood of scores of millions of innocents on its hands.

Do The People Of Iraq Have A right To Resist U.S. Occupation? by Jack Smith

Do the people of Iraq have the right to defend themselves against violent foreign invasion and occupation by any means at their disposal against an aggressive and rapacious enemy enjoying overwhelming military superiority?

This is a right Americans unquestionably would invoke were their country invaded and occupied by a foreign power. They would take whatever measures were necessary to defeat the enemy and force it to withdraw.

State of the State Secrets by Justin Raimondo

The circumstances surrounding the arrest of Pentagon analyst Lawrence A. Franklin for passing classified information to two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) would make a good thriller. Acted out against a backdrop of war and terrorism, it’s a cloak-and-dagger tale swathed in mystery, pregnant with political implications, and hinting at a subtext of hostility beneath the “special relationship” binding the U.S. to Israel. It has all the elements of good fiction—a strong plot, a fascinating set of characters, and a theme that will have the audience buzzing long after they leave the theater. Better yet, it looks like the dramatic climax will come in the form of a courtroom drama in a legal battle pitting the watchdogs of America’s vital secrets against a shadowy fifth column.

Media Disinformation and the Nature of the Iraqi Resistance by Ghali Hassan

Unfortunately, the common line among Western media, pundits and politicians alike is always the same: a consistent miscomprehension of Iraqi society and politics. There is also no mention of the roles of the Occupation forces, the CIA and Israeli Mossad agents in orchestrating the current violence against the Iraqi people.

AIPAC Wants You to Die in Iran by Kurt Nimmo

As a primary example how AIPAC runs the foreign policy of the United States, consider Dana Milbank’s AIPAC’s Big, Bigger, Biggest Moment, published in the Washington Post. Milbank tells us: at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, held in Washington recently, the pro-Israel “political action committee” (or rather a political bribery and intimidation, to say nothing of espionage, committee or more accurately racket) is “here to stay” (according to Howard Kohr, executive director), that is to say no niggling little investigation by the FBI will put a kink in the pressure camarilla’s operations. Getting busted stealing U.S. secrets, according to Kohr, is no big deal, although it is a “test of [AIPAC’s] collective resolve” in its effort to dominate U.S. foreign policy in the name of Israel.

French in disarray as they admit EU treaty vote is lost by Charles Bremner in Paris and Philip Webster

THE leader of France’s ruling party has privately admitted that Sunday’s referendum on the European constitution will result in a “no” vote, throwing Europe into turmoil.

“The thing is lost,” Nicolas Sarkozy told French ministers during an ill-tempered meeting. “It will be a little ‘no’ or a big ‘no’,” he was quoted as telling Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, whom he accused of leading a feeble campaign.

Bringing the Arab Street to Power by Patrick J. Buchanan

With no weapons of mass destruction found and nothing to tie Saddam to Sept. 11, the White House has justified the war as America's way to democratize Iraq and, through it, the Arab world.

Israel's 'Use' Of Its Nuclear Weapons Against US - Lili

One other purpose of Israeli nuclear weapons, not often stated, but obvious, is their "use" on the United States. America does not want Israel's nuclear profile raised.[144] They have been used in the past to ensure America does not desert Israel under increased Arab, or oil embargo, pressure and have forced the United States to support Israel diplomatically against the Soviet Union. Israel used their existence to guarantee a continuing supply of American conventional weapons, a policy likely to continue.

Dutch Voters Seen Losing Interest in EU by ARTHUR MAX

Are the Dutch tired of Europe? That will be the real question on June 1, when the Netherlands holds its referendum on the European constitution, just three days after a crucial vote on the charter in France.

Polls show voters who reject the constitution have the edge over those likely to vote "yes," and the gap is growing. But they also show a majority either won't vote or are confused by the paperback-sized document and haven't made up their minds.

Europe faces up to double rejection of treaty by Colin Randall in Paris and George Jones

French voters appear ready to deliver a humiliating rebuff to the European establishment by rejecting the proposed EU constitution, according to opinion polls last night.

They showed the No vote strengthening to an eight-point lead in the final days of campaigning before Sunday's referendum.

Mrs. Bush in Egypt: A foreign policy disaster by Andy Martin

Pretending Mubarek is a democrat will not make him one. When Mrs. Bush endorses democracy Mubarek-style, she insults the Egyptian people. Mrs. Bush insults the hopes of her own husband, who probably genuinely believes in democracy but has not a clue how to obtain it. Mrs. Bush makes a mockery of President Bush's claims that America is genuinely committed to genuine democracy. But maybe she is just telling the truth. Are they that cynical in the White House? Cynical or stupid, take your choice.

The Power of Logic vs. the Logic of Power by Carmela Armanios

After the AUT decision to boycott two Israeli universities for their complicity in sustaining the occupation and oppression, many published articles questioned: Is this a justified act? Is it counter-productive? What are the similarities and differences between the Apartheid regime in South Africa and the Israeli occupation of Palestine?

The Anti-War Movement and Iraq by Stephen R. Shalom

Likewise, a crucial task for the general anti-war movement is building and supporting an anti-war movement within the U.S. military. This is a complicated undertaking, for we have to express our support for soldiers as individuals, without supporting their mission; we have to make clear that what would support them most is their immediate withdrawal from Iraq. We have to point out how their inadequate armor shows the real concern that the Bush administration has for soldiers lives, but without joining jingoist calls to make the US occupation army a better-armored and more effective occupying force. With an appropriately sensitive approach, we can even explain why someone who takes up arms against an unjust occupation is not necessarily an evil person. But if we refuse to condemn those who attack mosques and marketplaces, our ability to convince soldiers of the justice of some resistance is likely to be small.

Rice Tells Mullahs That Democracy On the Way to Iran by ELI LAKE

Secretary of State Rice yesterday warned Iran's "unelected leaders" that the day will come when their people will demand the same rights and liberties recently sought by Iraqis and Lebanese.

Fabricating Intelligence as a Justification for War by Michel Chossudovsky

Phony intelligence was created and fed into the news chain with a view to justifying the invasion of Iraq.

The balance-sheet of lies and fabricated intelligence presented in this selection of articles provides detailed and overwhelming evidence.

We have included news reports dating back to 2002, background analysis, commentary, leaked intelligence documents and transcripts, secret memos and the reports by weapons inspectors.

Israel comes first, says US politician

A US senator has dispensed bitter pills to Arab leaders, pointing out that the United States is not ready to risk the prestige needed to create a Palestinian state.

'Undercover Mossad agents' in UN team

Labour's George Galloway, who has campaigned against air strikes on Iraq, named four people he alleged were agents of Mossad, the Israeli secret service, working under false names and papers with the Unscom team.

The lies that led to war by Juan Cole

Why has there not been more outrage in the United States at these revelations? Many Americans may have chosen to overlook the lies and deceptions the Bush administration used to justify the war because they still believe the Iraq war might have made them at least somewhat safer. When they realize that this hope, too, is unfounded, and that in fact the war has greatly increased the threat of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil, their wrath may be visited on the president and the political party that has brought America the biggest foreign-policy disaster since Vietnam.

U.S. weighs plan to make Iraq a federation of six states

The Council on Foreign Relations, which usually reflects State Department thinking, has recommended the restructuring of Iraq into six states under a single national government. The council, in a report entitled "Power-Sharing in Iraq," warned that even with elections an Iraq led by a strong central government might not be democratic.

Iran seeks incentives from EU to end nuclear standoff

A top Iranian negotiator told The New York Times on Thursday that Tehran is seeking significant incentives from the European Union, like a deal for 10 nuclear reactors, to break the nuclear stalemate, but it will never abandon its plans to enrich fuel uranium.

BILDERBERG EXPOSED by James P. Tucker Jr.

The White House and the departments of state, defense and treasury are always represented at Bilderberg, along with other high officials. They lie and say they are attending no such meeting. The ritzy resort that Bilderberg takes over, banishing all other guests, also lies and says no such meeting is taking place.

Speed Bumps on Democracy Boulevard by Patrick J. Buchanan

Among the reasons America lacks credibility among Islamic people is that we are perceived as the world's foremost practitioner of the double standard. We are indulgent toward Israel's violations of U.N. resolutions and its often-excessive use of force against the intifada, while coming down hard, with both feet, on Arabs and Palestinians.

Stop the Crime of the Century by David Michael Green

Several days before their election last week (May 5), a patriot within the highest circle of British government leaked to the Times of London a memo, which proves the degree of deceit to which both the Americans and British publics have been subjected on the subject of the Iraq war. You were never supposed to see this document (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html). It is headlined in bold with this warning: "This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents."

The Propaganda State by John Pilger

All this chimes in Washington, where Bush's drivel of "democracy and liberty on the march" is swallowed by leading journalists on both sides of the Atlantic. A vintage imperialist campaign is under way against strategic and resource-rich Arab nations: indeed, against all Muslim peoples. It is the "clash of civilisations" of Samuel Huntington's delusions. The Arabs being Semites, it is one of the west's greatest anti-Semitic crusades.

Israel Boycotts Peace Conference; 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.

Iraq: how we were duped by Gary Hughes

The world now knows that the path to war in Iraq was paved with untruths, distortions and errors. There were no hidden stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the mobile biological warfare laboratories didn't exist, Iraq was not operating hand-in-hand with al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's dream of developing a nuclear bomb was just that, a dream.

Fourth Estate Follies by Taki

And speaking of Uncle Joe, while FDR was president there was a very significant infiltration of the government by Soviet agents. A vast propaganda campaign by journalists like I.F. Stone—an idol of that other arch-phony Christopher Hitchens—managed to discredit a great American like Sen. Joe McCarthy and turn him into a figure of ridicule and hate. As the recent Time magazine cover girl Ann Coulter said, McCarthy was not only a patriot, he was a man of total integrity and of high intelligence. Yet his name is mud because of Soviet agents like Stone and others of his ilk that libel laws do not permit me to name. The New York Times and the Washington Post praised Stone to the skies.

FDR's Failure Not Forgotten by Arnold Beichman

Bush never mentioned the name of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But it was FDR who accepted the Soviet-dictated partition of the European continent and thus legitimized the enslavement of the peoples of East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. In agreeing to Stalin’s Bolshevik imperialism, FDR told William C. Bullitt, a confidante: “I think that if I give him [Stalin] everything I possibly can without demanding anything in return then, noblesse oblige, he will not attempt to annex anything and will work to build a peaceful and democratic world.”

Let's face it - the state has lost its mind by John Pilger

The monumental paranoia is almost beside the point. Bush was lowering the threshold. The American military can go anywhere, attack anything, use any kind of weapon in pursuit of its latest, most dangerous illusion: the "simmering resentment" and the "gathering violence". Unreported is the military coup that has taken place in America: the Pentagon and its civilian militarists now control "policy". Diplomacy is "finished . . . dead", as one of them put it. Andrew Bacevich, soldier, conservative and professor of American military strategy at Boston University, says that Bush has "committed the United States to waging an open-ended war on a global scale".

Is Intervention in the Gulf Still a Profitable Venture? by Ahmed Amr

A cost benefit analysis of the American imperial project in the Gulf should convince even the most jingoistic American that this is no longer a profitable project. While the “liberation” of Kuwait was basically a cost free proposition, our current entanglement in the Iraq has already cost $ 200 billion. Add to that the cost of Homeland Security and the economic losses sustained from the 9/11 attacks. And what is the dollar value of an American or an Iraqi life.

The Reality Gap by William S. Lind

Reality tells us that the same rules apply to all. When a country adopts a wildly adventurist military policy, as we have done since the Cold War ended, it gets beaten. The U.S. military will eventually get beaten, too. If, as seems more and more likely, we expand the war in Iraq by attacking Iran, our Rocroi may be found somewhere between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers.

US media and Iran's nuclear threat by Kaveh Afrasiabi

Such an approach may "sell the news" better and make the networks appear more "patriotic" in the current conservative political milieu in the United States, yet it hardly qualifies for the high standards of independent media self-priding as the "fourth branch" in the political system. On the contrary, as both the examples of Iraq, and increasingly, Iran demonstrate, the main, and mainstream, media in the US is better viewed as an appendage of the executive branch manipulating it, and its agenda, almost at will.

The deeper significance of our fight against Zionism by John Spritzler

The significance and the importance of our effort to expose Zionism and build opposition to it, is not only the immediate but modest changes that we might win and might lose again, as so often is the case. It is also significant and important in that it enables us to discuss with our friends and neighbors and colleagues the most important facts about the world in which we live - Facts which, when fully appreciated by millions of people, make it possible to really change the world in fundamental ways:

Bilderberg strikes again by Pepe Escobar

Bilderberg 2005 has - coincidentally? - merged with Bush's tour among his Baltic friends and the tense meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The containment of Russia was likely top of the agenda for Bilderberg. Russia is very much worried about its "near abroad" and sees no reason to remove its army from bases in Georgia or its navy from Sebastopol, in Ukrainian Crimea - no matter how many color-coded revolutions happen at its doorstep.

British Memo Indicates Bush Made Intelligence Fit Iraq Policy by Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott

A highly classified British memo, leaked in the midst of Britain's just-concluded election campaign, indicates that President Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by summer 2002 and was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy.

The document, which summarizes a July 23, 2002, meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair with his top security advisers, reports on a visit to Washington by the head of Britain's MI-6 intelligence service.

BILDERBERG SCARED by James P. Tucker Jr.

Polls in March showed that, after strongly backing the EC for months, French support dropped below 50 percent. The latest poll had supporters ahead by a slight margin. But Bilderberg is still concerned because one-fourth of the supporters could change their minds.

Boot the Imperialists by Charley Reese

It is stupid in the extreme for two nations to go to war, since war produces only death, taxes and debt. However, as long as they don't shoot at us, that, too, is none of our business. For decades, the proponents of empire have been ridiculing what they call an isolationist foreign policy, but that is the only sane, rational and moral policy to follow.

Continents Adrift? by Nico Wirtz

Europeans also should realize that there is more to meaningful reform of the United Nations then expanding the Security Council -- an issue which seems to have turned into an obsession in Europe, with Germany or the EU vying for a seat in an expanded Council. Other crucial areas of reform must be addressed: The recent scandals involving the Oil for Food program point to the need of addressing corruption inside the UN system which has been facilitated by the rigidity of the structures.

Governments Kill More People Than Wars by Eric Margolis

But just the figures cited above amount to almost 100 million deaths this century — deaths that were not caused by war or revolution, but by the conscious decision of tyrants, politicians, or bureaucrats to murder great numbers of their own people for reasons of ideology, religion, race or land.

Compare: 100 million people murdered by governments this century; 75% by communist regimes — to about 38 million killed in all wars and conflicts.

'Blairgate' Britain's Electoral Tsunami by Felicity Arbuthnot

'Blairgate', the political tsunami threatening to engulf Britain's Blair government over the Iraq war, dodgy dossiers, dodgy advice by Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, two 'whitewash' Enquiries - Chaired by Lord Hutton and Lord Butler - and allegations that the Prime Minister even lied about lying, has thrown up some charismatic and unlikely political opponents running in key constituencies.

FBI charges Pentagon analyst in AIPAC affair by Nathan Guttman

Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin was formally charged yesterday with passing classified military information about Iraq to two individuals, believed to be former officials of the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.

America's Mortal Secret by James Carroll

Today marks the formal installation of an Iraqi government in Baghdad, one more ''turning point" toward ultimate US vindication. Like the others -- the fall of Baghdad, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the handover of ''sovereignty," and so on -- this turning point, with its definitive alienation of the Sunni minority, promises further chaos and destruction. Civil war is in the offing. But that weighs little in Washington's calculation because a primal need is still being satisfied, as if our gunships are striking back for the simple fact of a new American insecurity.

Moving out of the superpower orbit by Tom Engelhardt

In all of this, the Cold War's "winner" has been highly successful in at least one aspect of its global imperial mission: penetrating previously off-limits regions of the former imperial foe, setting up its own military outposts there, and supporting whatever new Bush-friendly (or NATO-friendly) regimes emerged. Unsurprisingly, this has been especially true in regions capable of contributing to nailing down control over the Middle Eastern (and Caspian) oil heartlands of the planet.

Top-level North Korean Spy Smuggled Out by Lee Wha Rang

Few people know that it was Lee who had persuaded Hwang Jang-yup, North Korea's "father of Jucheism" and onetime No 2 man under Kim Il Sung, to defect to Seoul. Kim’s strategy is to turn North Korea's elite against Kim Jong Il – indeed turn Kim's own family and relatives against him. So far, Hwang Jang-yup is Lee's biggest catch. The full story of Hwang's defection is yet to be told (will be told in Lee's memoirs to be released in America soon).

How Bolton would reform the UN by Maggie Mitchell Salem

The White House's current state of political hubris leads to "overreaching" on policy goals. Compared with Bolton's confirmation, shutting down some Palestinian-related UN functions in the name of "reform" will meet with little resistance in Republican or Democratic political circles. After Bush's stand-off with Sharon on the issue of settlement expansion, Washington may seek to assuage right-wing American Jewish fears by calling for the consolidation (at the very least) of Palestinian agencies.

Rumsfeld to Free Saddam If He Stops Armed Insurrection

According to a news article based on Iraqi Baath sources in Jordan published in the London based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, Rumsfeld met with Saddam in his cell in Bagdat (Baghdad) and the US Secretary of Defense asked Saddam to end the insurgence. The paper claims that Rumsfeld asked him on a television broadcast to make a call for insurgents to end the resistence against US and multi-national forces as well as the Iraqi security forces.

Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran by Michel Chossudovsky

What is needed is to reveal the true face of the American Empire and the underlying criminalization of US foreign policy, which uses the "war on terrorism" and the threat of Al Qaeda to galvanize public opinion in support of a global war agenda.

Iraq's hostage cabinet by Pepe Escobar

The crucial Oil Ministry post is expected to go to a Shi'ite. But the conflicting factions within the election-winning United Iraqi Alliance simply could not reach an agreement. Alarm bells have been ringing all over the Green Zone on the news that the Sadrists of the Fadila Party badly want the Oil Ministry.

10,000 Demonstrate in NYC Against Israel

Over 10,000 Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews protested outside the Israeli Consulate, 2nd Ave and 42nd Streets, NYC on 28 April 2005.

Putin Pussyfoots in Palestine by KURT NIMMO

As always, the only viable solution in response to the madness currently wracking the Middle East -- and indeed the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is at the heart of that violent madness -- is a return to the 4 June 1967 borders, as mandated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. No doubt more than a few Palestinians would like to see a return to the 29 November 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine but that will never happen, not so long as the Zionists -- many whom consider the Palestinians on par with the biblical Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites -- pedal the influence they do, not only in the United States but Putin's Russia as well.

Iraq still isn't an election issue by Brendan O'Neill

Anyone who still buys the idea that challenging Tony Blair over the legality of the Iraq war is the same thing as challenging him over the war itself should have been at Hampstead Old Town Hall, north London, on Tuesday night.