Bush is the real threat by Tony Benn

Since then, the Americans have launched a programme that would allow them to use nuclear weapons in space, nuclear bunker-busting bombs are being developed, and depleted uranium has been used in Iraq - all of which are clear breaches of the NPT. Israel, which has a massive nuclear weapons programme, is accepted as a close ally of the US, which still arms and funds it.

Democracy or disintegration, Iraqis decide by Jim Lobe

If the constitution is defeated in the referendum, Fareed Zakaria, former foreign affairs managing editor and editor of Newsweek International, told ABC News' This Week Sunday, "Sunnis [will] have demonstrated that they have real power. And they'll be re-incorporated. That ... is the good news scenario.

"The bad case scenario," he went on, "they're not able to defeat it [the constitution] ... [then the Sunnis] retain all the alienation, all the antipathy, and forge ahead not defeating it peacefully, but defeating it the way they're trying now, which is violently and through civil war."

Building a new world order by David Gosset

Current issues are testing the triangulation. The US legitimately worries about nuclear proliferation in North Korea and in Iran. China's main goal is to achieve political integration of the Chinese world. The EU needs an international environment - rule of law, environmental standards, balance between economic efficiency and social fairness - which gives its post nation-state political construction chance to maintain itself.

Top Ten Reasons to �Undo� Iraq in Due Haste by Ivan Eland

Three years ago, in what passed for a “debate” about invading Iraq, I wrote a piece entitled, “Top 10 Reasons Not to ‘Do’ Iraq.” Now, after three years of war and many unnecessary deaths (both U.S. and Iraqi), I believe there are ten good reasons to partition Iraq, declare victory, and leave Iraq quickly:

Destined for the Shredder by Linda Heard

Like the Roman Emperor Nero who blamed the Christians for Rome’s destructive conflagration when he had lit the torch himself, is the US president. While Nero is said to have fiddled while Rome burned, Bush is currently biking and barbecuing while hurricane Katrina threatens to devastate New Orleans and Iraq is in deep crises over its higgledy-piggledy draft constitution.

The Lords of War by Mike Whitney

President Bush's latest milestone in the war on terror has been predictably ignored in the mainstream media. Bush, who is now in the fifth year of his presidency, has served 1727 days in office. With the death toll in Iraq currently at 1873 servicemen, Bush can now boast that at least one American has died for every day he's been in office; a sobering tribute to a man who wants to be remembered "a war president".

How to Escape the Oil Trap by Fareed Zakaria

If I could change one thing about American foreign policy, what would it be? The answer is easy, but it's not something most of us think of as foreign policy. I would adopt a serious national program geared toward energy efficiency and independence. Reducing our dependence on oil would be the single greatest multiplier of American power in the world.

(Don't) Mention the word J** by William Bowles

As some reportage has made plain, Gaza is now one big prison instead of four, yet what this means, what it says about Israeli policies toward the Palestinians is still ignored by the mainstream press, even as the words are uttered. There can only be one explanation for such a deliberate myopia and that is a racism so entrenched in Western news coverage that it can blatantly ignore the awful injustice of Israeli actions and policies. It points once more to something I will continue express ‘til I die, that the ideology of racism is a major stumbling block to opening peoples’ eyes to what is going on in the world and that until we face this reality, we cannot begin to deal with our rulers actions, let alone our own role in allowing the continuance of such an unjust world.

Assassination, as American as Apple Pie and Torture by Alexander Cockburn

Because Robertson's original loose-cannon remark gives us such clear insight into how things really work in this world. First of all, his proposal confirms that this precise thing has been done in the past: Allende, Mossadegh, ... [insert list of assassination targets here]­ despite Don Rumsfeld's pious denials. Secondly, he confirms our (the United States') implicit right to petroleum resources wherever they may be found, as shown by his comment about how offing Chavez probably wouldn't disrupt oil deliveries.

Pat Robertson Describes U.S. Foreign Policy by Jacob G. Hornberger

Pat Robertson has done the nation a service by bringing to the surface a reality of U.S. foreign policy that all too many Americans have preferred not to confront, a policy that has long relied on foreign bribes, interference with foreign democratic processes, coups and assassinations, and military invasions to extend the power and influence of the U.S. government overseas.

What to Do About Hugo? by Tom Barry

Chavez is right to evoke the politics of independence and unity heralded by Simon Bolivar. For centuries, the region has been mired in dependency and self-defeating nationalism. Whether his Bolivarian rhetoric is opportunistic or populist in the worst sense is not the issue. What Washington needs to understand is that this rhetoric resonates throughout the region because the time is right for a new approach—just as it was right in the early 1800s when Bolivar dreamed, fought, and agonized in his quest to bring political independence and unity to South America.

Can Palestine be Put Back into the Equation? by Kathleen Christison

Palestinians themselves will not disappear, despite Israel's best efforts, and they will not give up their struggle -- not now, after successfully fighting for sixty years against a concerted multinational attempt to make them disappear. But Israel's occupation of Palestinian land, this Israeli violence, is destroying any possibility of Palestinian nationhood, while the media ignore the occupation, politicians ignore Israeli violence, and western publics know and care little about any of it. Palestine and Palestinians are terrorized and murdered in darkness. No one helps them, few note their dying. They are helpless, facing the power of a massive Israeli military machine and a propaganda machine abetted by the major western media.

Venezuela: revolutionaries and a country on the edge by Johann Hari

The coup, the coup. Everybody here has their stories about the 2002 coup d'état, and the strange 47-hour Presidency of Pedro Carmona Estanga, the head of Venezuela's equivalent of the Confederation of British Industry. (Pat Robertson's call caused a cascade of memories to burst across the streets of Caracas.) That April, Chavez was kidnapped and removed from power in a decapitation of democracy orchestrated by the media, a few generals and the wealthy. Carmona dissolved the Supreme Court, the Constitution and the elected National Assembly and assumed control of the country. This was immediately welcomed by the Bush administration.

Killing the dollar in Iran by Toni Straka

Could the proposed Iranian oil bourse (IOB) become the catalyst for a significant blow to the influential position the US dollar enjoys? Manifold supply fears have driven the price of crude oil to its recent high of US$67.10 - only a notch below its highest price in inflation-adjusted dollar terms. With the world facing a daily bill of roughly $5.5 billion for crude oil at current price levels, it becomes apparent that sellers and purchasers of the black gold are looking into all ways that could lead to a financial improvement on their respective sides.

U.S. can't snooze on U.N. power grab by JOHN O'SULLIVAN

More dangerous than platitudes are commitments, since the governments signing onto them often have only the vaguest notion of what they imply. Now there are 158 provisions in this document, some of which contain 10 or 12 commitments. So the four commitments that follow offer merely a taste of a truly gargantuan meal. Still, here goes:

Chavez offers cheap gas to poor in U.S.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, popular with the poor at home, offered on Tuesday to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline.

"We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba.

Realism in Washington? Don't Hold Your Breath by Leon Hadar

Realism in the case of North Korea and Iran could be demonstrated by a willingness on the part of Washington to engage in direct negotiations with those two regimes and make diplomatic deals recognizing the interests of both Pyongyang and Tehran in diplomatic and economic links with the United States.

Gaza Evacuation Should Be Americans' Last Straw by Charley Reese

The illegal settlements in Gaza were put there despite America's opposition and in disregard of international law. Now, of course, the Israelis want the American taxpayers to pay $2.2 billion to correct their mistake made in defiance of U.S. policy. They expect us to pay for the transfer of the Israeli settlers.

If the U.S. government goes along with this outrageous request, that ought to be the last straw for every patriotic American.

Democracy is an Illusion by Henry Makow, Ph.D.

In other words, millions of idealists committed to human brotherhood and equality were (and are) duped into advancing a totalitarian scheme to concentrate the world's wealth and power into the hands of the superrich. More savvy Leftists, Communists, Feminists and Globalists continue to prosper while unctuously pretending to serve humanity.

US Nuclear Weapons Are Being - - Guarded - - By Israel by Michael Collins Piper

Magal's American outreach is expected to increase substantially, especially now that firm has set up a Washington, D.C. office which will promote its products to federal agencies and to the members of Congress who provide funding for federally-supervised security projects across the country at all levels: local, state and national.

The Washington Post and the Decline of the Superpower by Mike Whitney

American elites have pinned all their hopes on success in Iraq. As we can see from skyrocketing gas prices at the pump (which were predicted in the Bush administration’s own policy papers) the only tangible asset that can shore up the struggling greenback and, therefore, the American economy, is oil. The US would be signing its own economic death warrant if it leaves Iraq.

But America will leave Iraq; the battle is already being lost and the forces arrayed against the superpower are increasing by the day. The Bush administration has sown too much bad faith and, now, even long-time allies are backing away. Expect to see a slow decline in the next 5 years of American power; a wasting away that parallels the complete dissipation of America’s moral authority.

Deceive, divide, and devour by James Brooks

According to Weisglass, the essential "significance" of the "disengagement" plan is a deal with the Americans. The public contents of this deal had been revealed six months before in an exchange of letters between George W. Bush and Sharon. In his letter, Bush implicitly accepted Israel's demand to keep its largest West Bank settlements, approved the "apartheid wall," allowed Israel to retain military control over Gaza following the settlers' exit, and rejected the Palestinians' right to return.

Out of Gaza - and into Jerusalem by Lindsey Hilsum

The maps with this article tell the story. They show how a wall being built around a hugely expanded Jerusalem will thrust into the West Bank, almost dividing in two the main territory of any future Palestinian state. Palestinian neighbourhoods in Jerusalem are being surrounded by Jewish settlements, cutting them off from the West Bank and making it impossible for East Jerusalem to become a Palestinian capital. And while new Jewish settlements are under construction, some Palestinian houses in the heart of historic Arab East Jerusalem are threatened with demolition.

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Being "Guarded" by Israel

American supporters of Israel were delighted to learn that an Israeli company, Magal Security Systems—owned in part
by the government of Israel—is in charge of security for the most sensitive nuclear power and weapons storage
facilities in the United States.

Gaza Pullout Rules Out Future Peace Talks: Analysts

The Israeli pullout from Gaza Strip could rule out chances for any peace talks on the future of the occupied West Bank or dismantling more Jewish settlements for years, political analysts have expected.

The anniversary elegy by Yu Bin

When the "greatest generation", to borrow Tom Brokaw's phrase, finally fades away in East Asia's nations, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II - celebrated on August 15 to mark the day when Japan surrendered - may well be remembered as a turning point when the region did not move forward into the future but back toward the past, in both style and substance.

Slouching Toward Armageddon? - Paul Craig Roberts

Likudnik Israel is Bush's last remaining ally, or egger-on, in his war against "Islamic terrorism." Israel, which is loaded with nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to the nuclear pacts, is the accuser against Iran, asserting that Iran's nuclear energy program is just a veil behind which to produce weapons. Israel's Likud Party fears that Iranian weapons would be a check to its plans to complete the dispossession of the Palestinians and further expand Israel's borders.

America's new bogeyman by Ehsan Ahrari

Right now, public support for America's continued presence in Iraq is slipping. The only reason there has not yet been any outcry of "out of Iraq" is because the suicide attacks in London have shaken up the American public about the possibility of similar attacks in the US.

Then there is one more reality that should be weighing on Bush's mind. The bloodier America's presence becomes in Iraq, the lower the possibility would be that Iraq would emerge as a shining example of anything that Washington has been hoping when it insisted on introducing democracy in that country.

Gaza Pullout Rules Out Future Peace Talks: Analysts

The Israeli pullout from Gaza Strip could rule out chances for any peace talks on the future of the occupied West Bank or dismantling more Jewish settlements for years, political analysts have expected.

Clarifying Bush: I Will Kill Iranians by Kurt Nimmo

In Bushzarro world, when our potentate speaks, translation is often required. For instance, when Bush fielded questions from the corporate media at the faux cowboy ranch in Crawford, he responded to a question about Iran from an Israeli public television reporter as follows: “All options are on the table.” Of course, this means the Bushcons are considering bombing the dickens out of Iranian school kids and grandmothers. “The use of force is the last option for any president. You know we have used force in the recent past to secure our country.”

Who's wagging whom? by John Kaminski

But what may be the even more significant aspect of the question "Who's Wagging Whom?" is the growing notion that world politics is not really determined by its recognizable political entities. People are beginning to figure out that it's not a simple matter of the capitalists vs. communists, whites vs. blacks, or North vs. South. It's not simply the U.S. vs. Germany and Japan, U.S. vs. USSR, or the free world vs. the supposed Muslim terror menace.

Nuclear face-off by Tom Engelhardt

Israel and India, two nuclear weapons powers that have never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), are treated by the Bush administration with kid gloves - in the Indian case, Bush actually wants to turn over "peaceful" nuclear technology to its government (despite a prohibition against doing so in the NPT).

Backlash Builds Against Cheney's 'Guns of August' by Jeffrey Steinberg

In response to a question from EIR's White House correspondent Bill Jones, Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan let the cat out of the bag on July 28. Asked by Jones about the American Conservative report on the bombing contingencies, McClellan pointedly chose not to deny the charges, and instead, after telling Jones he "appreciated the question," went into a discussion of Iran's alleged secret nuclear program, threatening United Nations sanctions and other actions, should Iran fail to shut down its nuclear reprocessing efforts.

Bad Anti-Insurgent Strategy - Hit 'em Where They Were by Stan Moore

This war cannot be won by America. Those pathetic Iraqis just will not stand and fight toe to toe. For some strange reason, the Iraqis are fighting to win, not to meet American wishes and expectations. Every day that Americans are in Iraq fighting the insurgency is another day that George Bush is losing ground. Every death of an American soldier is a nail in the coffin of the American Empire.

Ron Jacobs: Rumsfeld''s Delusions by RON JACOBS

This scenario is more similar than different to the one that played itself out in Vietnam in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, just like it is more similar than different to the French experience in Algeria. There will be no real elections or peace in Iraq until the occupation forces leave completely. That means no bases of any kind, no CIA agents, no contracted mercenaries, no puppet army, and no crooked client rulers. In short, it means that Washington must leave now, not when it wants to. It is up to us to make this happen.

Bigger Than AIPAC by Robert Dreyfuss

It is an important story, arguably one that has greater implications for national security than the scandal involving the churlish outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. So far, at least, the media frenzy attending to the Plame affair is matched by nearly total silence about the Franklin-AIPAC affair? Can it be true that reporters are more courageous about pursuing a story that involves the White House than they are about plunging into a scandal that involves Israel, our No. 1 Middle East ally?

Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse by William R. Clark

Contemporary warfare has traditionally involved underlying conflicts regarding economics and resources. Today these intertwined conflicts also involve international currencies, and thus increased complexity. Current geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran extend beyond the publicly stated concerns regarding Iran's nuclear intentions, and likely include a proposed Iranian "petroeuro" system for oil trade. Similar to the Iraq war, military operations against Iran relate to the macroeconomics of 'petrodollar recycling' and the unpublicized but real challenge to U.S. dollar supremacy from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency.

'Jerusalem raped by foreigners' by Yaakov Lappin

"America is losing the war in Iraq, and even the Americans now admit it. Even the puppet ministers and regime in Baghdad know it. The former puppet minister (Iyad) Allawi admitted it three times in the last month... The resistance is getting stronger every day, and the will to remain as an occupier by Britain and America is getting weaker everyday. Therefore, it can be said, truly said, that the Iraqi resistance is not just defending Iraq. They are defending all the Arabs, and they are defending all the people of the world from American hegemony."

George Bush Knows Why They Hate Us by Jason Miller

Why do they hate us? President George Bush posed this question to the American public shortly after 9/11. It is a strong affirmation of the power of propaganda that some Americans still pose this as a serious question, and are legitimately dumb-founded that such antipathy exists toward the United States. Our government, media and schools start burnishing the false notion of American moral superiority into our brains at a very young age. However, beneath the thin veneer of their white-washed accounts of history and current events, abundant sources of information reveal the true malevolence of the moneyed elite who rule America . There is a great body of evidence which obliterates the inane notion that the United States is a benevolent world leader. Despite the ready availability of contrary evidence, many Americans remain blind to the truth about our despised nation, and choose to believe the fairy tale version of “truth, justice and the American Way ”. The sad reality is that America is an imperialistic, avaricious war machine ruled by the wealthy. Yes, much of the world despises this nation. Our leaders have virtually assured abhorrence of America, and what’s more, they do not care!

Why 'War on Terror' Was Re-Branded by George Lakoff

The "War on Terror" is no more. It has been replaced by the "global struggle against violent extremism." The phrase "War on Terror" was chosen with care. "War" is a crucial term. It evokes a war frame, and with it, the idea that the nation is under military attack -- an attack that can only be defended militarily, by use of armies, planes, bombs, and so on. The war frame includes special war powers for the president, who becomes commander in chief. It evokes unquestioned patriotism, and the idea that lack of support for the war effort is treasonous. It forces Congress to give unlimited powers to the President, lest detractors be called unpatriotic. And the war frame includes an end to the war -- winning the war, mission accomplished!

xymphora: All hail the 'excuse makers'!

We are slowly seeing a return to sanity in the intellectual debate over terrorism and its causes. The London bomb attacks emphasized the huge disconnect between the views of the average person and the views of the Anglo-American-Zionist extremists, exemplified in the person of Tony Blair, whose denials of the obvious connections between terrorism and actions of the British state have made him appear to be insane. It is absolutely clear to the average person in Britain, and slowing becoming clear to the (much stupider) average person in the United States, that Anglo-American neocolonialism - including its manifestations in the attack and occupation of Iraq, manipulation of politics in Middle Eastern countries, and the support for the worst Zionist excesses in Israel - is the real cause of terrorism.

US salvoes across South Asia by Kaushik Kapisthalam

Even as an authoritative report from an arm of the US government warned of a potential nuclear war in South Asia triggered by an "arms race" between India and Pakistan, the George W Bush administration is working hard to complete arms sales and transfers of astronomical proportions to the two nations.

Global Holocaust -Deniers Bill Passed In Knesset by Nina Gilbert

Legislation that would make Holocaust-denial committed overseas an offense under Israeli legal jurisdiction was approved unanimously in first reading by the Knesset on Tuesday.

The passage of the measure would enable Israel to demand the extradition of Holocaust-deniers for prosecution.

With Friends Like This by Justin Raimondo

What is needed is a U.S. policy reversal vis-à-vis Israel: the "special relationship" should be downgraded to a neutral stance, with the potential to become openly adversarial. What's needed, in short, is a good dose of foreign policy realism about Israel.

How Britain helped Israel get the bomb by Michael Crick

Documents uncovered by Newsnight in the British National Archives show how, in 1958, Britain agreed to sell Israel 20 tonnes of heavy water, a vital ingredient for the production of plutonium at Israel's top secret Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert.

Why is the U.S. building a gigantic military base on the West Bank border?

The sudden appearance south of Rosh Ha'ayin of a massive army "supply base," built by the U.S. army engineering corps for the IDF with Arab workers, has raised eyebrows and suspicions about the real purpose and intended users of the massive facility.

According to an IDF spokesman, the new base (dubbed "Nachshonim," after a nearby kibbutz) and located less than 10 minutes east of Ben Gurion airport, will be used as a storage facility for reservists' equipment, including beds, uniforms, etc.

Cheney's 'Guns of August' Threaten the World by Jeffrey Steinberg

LaRouche based his "Guns of August" alert on a series of factors, reported to him over the recent days, beginning with the qualified report, from a former U.S. intelligence official, published in the Aug. 1 issue of American Conservative magazine, that Dick Cheney ordered the Strategic Command (STRATCOM) to prepare contingency plans for a conventional and tactical nuclear strike against hundreds of targets in Iran, in the event of a "new 9/11-style attack" on the United States.

Will the U.S. ever leave Iraq? -

Under the current circumstances, the U.S. efforts to make Iraqis fight and die for the U.S.-run regime in Iraq will be even less successful than was "Vietnamization" in the 1970s. In fact, Iraqi forces appear to be falling apart faster than they can be mobilized.

Revisiting Hiroshima by Noam Chomskey

A high-level review of the "war on terror" two years after the invasion "focused on how to deal with the rise of a new generation of terrorists, schooled in Iraq over the past couple years," Susan B. Glasser reports in The Washington Post. "Top government officials are increasingly turning their attention to anticipate what one called ‘the bleed out’ of hundreds or thousands of Iraq-trained jihadists back to their home countries throughout the Middle East and Western Europe. ‘It’s a new piece of a new equation,’ a former senior Bush administration official said. ‘If you don’t know who they are in Iraq, how are you going to locate them in Istanbul or London?"’

WHO IS THE US CONGRESS LISTENING TO?

Well, Israel certainly wants war! But that is Israel. Why would the US Congress, which supposedly exists to serve the will of the AMERICAN people, be obeying the will of Israel?

Well, maybe because Israel's lobbying/spying organization, AIPAC, is PAYING THEM TO!

How To Save Europe From Its Life-or-Death Crisis by Helga Zepp-LaRouche

Through the Treaties of Maastricht (the Currency Union) and Amsterdam (the Stability Pact) Germany has given up its constitutionally guaranteed civil rights and sovereignty over its own economic and financial policy. And as long as Germany is bound by these treaties, the government can do absolutely nothing to eliminate the consequences of globalization, or the euro. Yes, there is a very solid connection between the euro, rising prices, unemployment, and the crisis of the social system.

London Bombings Mastermind is MI6 Asset

On FOX News Channel's Day Side, Terrorism Expert John Loftus revealed that Haroon Rashid Aswat, the suspect wanted by British Police for "masterminding" the July 7th London bombings and July 21st attempted bombings is in fact an asset of MI6, the British Secret Service. According to Loftus, Aswat has been under the protection of MI6 for many years.

London faces lockdown to thwart third terror strike by Daniel McGrory and Sean O’Neill

The new group is believed to be made up of British Muslims who were understood to be close to staging an attack on the Underground network last week. According to security sources the men are thought to be of Pakistani origin but born and brought up in this country. They have links with the Leeds-based terrorist cell that staged the July 7 attacks, in which 52 innocent people died.

Countdown: The coming UK Coup by Fintan Dunne

We present unambiguous political analysis showing there is a covert timeline to ensure that in October of this year, the U.K. will railroaded into becoming a Homeland Security State --using the same methodology which established the prototype in the United States.