Planet Earth As Weapon and Target by LEUREN MORET

THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER AND ITS PERMANENT WAR ECONOMY

The 'permanent US war economy’ of the USA traces its roots in organisations and "a culture of death" back to the China opium wars, and through the current Iraq war. Samuel Russell, the primary American opium smuggler, acquired a vast fortune by launching the first clipper ship in 1823. Leading British and American families made vast fortunes with clippers smuggling opium from Turkey and India to China.

'Economic Brief: France, E.U.'

The big question now posed concerns the effects of this trend on the future of the European integration project. Whereas U.S. moves to protect Unocal were understandable to international decision makers and public opinion because of Sino-American competition, intra-European economic warfare is much more problematic.

The case for complacency in Iraq by Spengler

That is why Tehran's policy all along has been to support US efforts on behalf of constitutional government in Iraq to bring that country's Shi'ite majority into power by peaceful means (see A Syriajevo in the making?, October 25, 2005). Despite Iranian efforts to build up the capabilities of Shi'ite irregulars inside Iraq, the capabilities of the Sunni military caste remain formidable even after the dissolution of the Saddam Hussein regime, and the outcome of full-fledged civil war would be uncertain. Power within Iraq now is balanced the way the British intended it to be when they stitched together this Frankenstein monster of a country after World War I.

Iran's fate still in US hands by Kaveh L Afrasiabi

This week, the highly anticipated status report on Iran by Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will be released, ahead of a crucial IAEA meeting set for March 6, and all parties to the Iran nuclear crisis are involved in ferocious last-minute diplomacy.

Iran's Petropars in collaboration with a Venezuelan oil company is planning to develop an oil field in Venezuela.

Iran’s Petropars in collaboration with a Venezuelan oil company is planning to develop an oil field in Venezuela.

The formalities required for the presence and operation of the Petropars Oil Co. in Venezuela have been completed and a branch office of the company is already operating in that country, a report quoted Qolamreza Manuchehri, the managing director of Petropars Oil and Gas Co. as saying here on Sunday.

Russia and the 'war of civilizations' by Andrei Tsygankov

It also soon became apparent that Washington's strategy of changing regimes and expanding liberty is not limited to the Middle East. The so-called Rose Revolution in Georgia in November 2003 replaced the old regime by popular protest over a rigged parliamentary election and emboldened Washington to apply the strategy elsewhere in the former Soviet region. While the military option was excluded, the emphasis was still on providing opposition with relevant training and financial resources for challenging the old regimes in power.

Moscow has responded by building stronger ties with China, condemning the colored revolutions on its periphery, and taking domestic precautions against possible encroachments on national sovereignty. The Kremlin no longer views Russia-US cooperation in the region as primarily beneficial, and it thinks US presence there invites terrorism, rather than eradicating it.

Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust? by Michel Chossudovsky

An operational plan to wage aerial attacks on Iran has been in "a state of readiness" since June 2005. Essential military hardware to wage this operation has been deployed. (For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, Nuclear War against Iran, Jan 2006 ).

Vice President Dick Cheney has ordered USSTRATCOM to draft a "contingency plan", which "includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons." (Philip Giraldi, Attack on Iran: Pre-emptive Nuclear War , The American Conservative, 2 August 2005).

The Port Sell-Out and the Dismantling of America by Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson

It is a stated goal of the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and the CFR to promote what they call 'interdependence' and to lobby governments to sell off key infrastructure such as roads, lakes, ports, and highways to international corporations so that corporations can grow to be bigger in size than government.

Saudi Arabia Looks East: Woos China and India by Dr. Harsh V. Pant

The fact that China was the first destination on the king's list speaks volumes not only about the rising profile of China in global politics, but also about a growing intimacy between the two states. China has been working hard to improve its relations with Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter. It was in 2004 that the two countries decided to hold regular political consultations at the same time when China's state oil company, Sinopec, signed a deal to explore gas in Saudi Arabia's vast Empty Quarter. King Abdullah's visit followed Beijing's first formal talks with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (O.P.E.C.) in December 2005.

Is Iran Next? by William Norman Grigg

Military disengagement from the Middle East, coupled with a serious effort to achieve energy independence, would be the best alternative. Advocates of war with Iran focus on Ahmadinejad's hostile intentions toward Israel. But Israel is a regional superpower, boasting a nuclear arsenal and the most formidable conventional military in the Middle East; it is quite capable of protecting its own interests, as we should protect ours.

The Op-Ed Assassination Of Hugo Chavez by Justin Delacour

In assessing Latin American governments, U.S. columnists generally operate on the unspoken assumption that acquiescence to U.S. leadership of the hemisphere is a natural prerequisite to "democracy." By this definition, Venezuela's government--which frequently speaks out in opposition to U.S. meddling in the region--is considered "authoritarian." Gone is the elementary principle that majority rule and popular sovereignty serve as the basic foundations of democracy.

Having no basis to question the Chávez government's popular mandate, op-ed pages resort to casting the president as heavy-handed. Such negative portrayals of Venezuela's government were particularly common in the Miami Herald, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and L.A. Times, which accounted for more than 75 percent of commentaries about Venezuela.

War in Error by Andrew J. Bacevich

In depicting the attack on the World Trade Center as the opening volley of a global war—a reprise of Dec. 7, 1941—the Bush administration spun the awful events of that day in the wrong direction. The Islamists may nurse bizarre dreams of restoring the caliphate, but their existing claim to political legitimacy is marginal. Al-Qaeda is not the Wehrmacht or the Red Army; it is an international conspiracy, one that committed a singularly heinous crime. Osama bin Laden is not Hitler or Stalin —as a historical figure he comes nowhere near their baneful significance. He is a Mafioso.

Middle Eastern war to become eternal as Israel ends ties with Palestine

Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni stated on Sunday that Israel was not going to support the Palestinian economy financially. On February 19 Israel indefinitely suspended tax and customs payments to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian budget will thus lose up to $50 million every month because of this measure. Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip will be denied Israeli entry. To crown it all, the communication between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Jordan will be closed.

Jewish group: Try Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide by Amiram Barkat

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) is set to file a complaint in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide, EJC president Pierre Besnainou told Haaretz.

Besnainou, who was in Israel last week, said the complaint was an independent initiative of the EJC, but noted that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had been informed of the intention to file the complaint. The initiative is expected to pass by a large majority in the general assembly of the EJC, which convenes Sunday in Vienna.

Poland will not let Iran "research" Holocaust

Poland's Foreign Minister Stefan Meller on Friday ruled out allowing any Iranian researchers to examine the scale of the Holocaust committed by the German Nazis on Polish soil during World War Two.

Meller's remarks came after repeated denials of the Jewish Holocaust by Iranian officials and their suggestions that more research is needed to establish the truth about what happened to European Jews.

"Under no circumstances we should allow something like that to take place in Poland," Meller told Polish news agency PAP. "It goes beyond all imaginable norms to question, even discuss or negotiate the issue."

THE HUNT FOR SECRET GLOBAL MEETING IS ON by James P. Tucker Jr.

Some sources believe Bilderberg will meet near Innsbruck, Austria, as it did in 1988. Others think somewhere in North America, as Bilderberg has a number of times over the years. Adding weight to this theory is that it is North America’s “turn” to host Bilderberg.

Ahmadinejad on the warpath by Mahan Abedin

As the Iranian revolution enters its 28th year this month, the Islamic Republic stands at the most critical stage of its history. While power is being transferred to second-generation revolutionaries, the country is on a collision course with the United States over its controversial nuclear program.

At the center of this unfolding drama is the perplexing figure of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who has managed to isolate, enrage and frighten important domestic and external constituencies in the space of only six months.

The Provocateurs by Justin Raimondo

Somewhere, Osama bin Laden is smiling. He has good reason to be happy. In the last week or so, the West has given his program of a relentless jihad against America new credibility, and delivered thousands of new converts to his doorstep. The Muhammad cartoon controversy, new photos of the Abu Ghraib atrocities, and a video of Iraqi kids being brutally beaten by British soldiers after a protest demonstration have all provided similar – and, more importantly, very visual – confirmation of al-Qaeda's basic contention: that the U.S. and its Western allies are embarked on a crusade to humiliate and destroy the Muslim religion worldwide – and that nothing less than a merciless war against the infidels can stop them.

Who Do You Love?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won’t be receiving many Valentines this year. Russia and China don’t attract the secret admirers they once did. And Afghanistan has a crush on America. In a special Valentine’s Day Web exclusive, FP takes a look at who loves whom in the world community, with the help of a 33-country poll conducted for the BBC World Service by GlobeScan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

A Perfect Geopolitical Storm Taking Shape by Leon Hadar

To put all this in context: In the Persian Gulf and in Israel/Palestine, radical forces opposed to the American-Israeli axis are on the march. Indeed, from the perspectives of both Washington and Jerusalem, Iran is poised to achieve nuclear capability and head a "Shi'ite Crescent," and a resurgent anti-Israeli Hamas is serving as a model to Muslim Brotherhood groups in Egypt and other Arab-Sunni countries. A radical "Sunni Crescent" would be regarded as a strategic threat to common U.S. and Israeli interests in having a dominant U.S. in the region.

It is this complex regional reality that explains why both the Americans and the Israelis have concluded that they need to "do something" ASAP to prevent the war in Iraq and the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza from turning out to be the first stages in a losing strategic game for them.

Syria switches from dollars to euros

Syria has switched the primary hard currency it uses for foreign goods and services from the U.S. dollar to the euro in a bid to make it less vulnerable to pressure from Washington.

The decree signed by Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari on Monday ordered government bodies and public-sector companies to use euros to pay for foreign transactions, including payment for exports.

Transnational Corporations: The New World Order by Douglas V. Gnazzo

In today's world, companies that transact business in more than one nation are referred to as transnational corporations. These international conglomerates are the progenitors of globalization: the lust of want that roams the land in search of profit.

Globalization is the modern day's call to arms of all lords and nobles. As used within this paper, globalization refers to the ever-increasing sphere of collective processes that consciously span the world, seeking new markets for their overlords: all in the pursuit - of that which has yet to come.

A permanent basis for staying in Iraq by Tom Engelhardt

We're in a new period in the war in Iraq - one that brings to mind the Nixonian era of "Vietnamization": a president presiding over an increasingly unpopular war that won't end; an election bearing down; the need to placate a restive American public; and an army under so much strain that it seems to be running off the rails.

Israeli Ultimatums by SAREE MAKDISI

Israel's acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, declared last week that his country plans to "separate" from "most of the Palestinian population that lives in the West Bank.” He indicated that Israel will absorb the main settlement blocs in the West Bank and retain all of Jerusalem as well as control over the Jordan valley. "The direction is clear," Olmert concluded. "We are moving toward separation from the Palestinians, toward setting Israel's permanent border."

Russian Political Expert Predicts US Missile Attack on Iran in Early Summer

U.S. will launch a missile attack against Iran this summer, says Russian political expert Mikhail Delyagin.

“Lately the demand of U.S. military actions against Iran has become really obvious,” Delyagin was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday.

Delyagin said the current situation was in many ways similar to the situation in 1999 that preceded NATO attack on Yugoslavia, and that of 2003 before the Coalition forces invasion in Iraq.

Authoritarian Rule Britannia bt Steve Watson

Britain is currently teetering on the brink of a huge political shift. As far as the Blair era has gone in transforming this country into a paranoid, uncommunicative, culturally starved, spin controlled Orwellian style authoritarian state, things are about to be taken to a whole new level.

Yesterday was a brutal indicator of what Britons should expect politically over the next decade, with a crucial vote on ID legislation and a key speech by the next leader in waiting, Gordon Brown.

Intelligence Brief: Recognizing Hamas, Iran Welcomes Shi'a Control in Iraq

On February 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited the leaders of Hamas to Moscow, stating that the international community "must respect the choice of the Palestinian people." Putin also said that Moscow has "never considered Hamas a terrorist organization." In response to this statement, the French Foreign Ministry supported Moscow's invitation, saying that the invitation can "contribute toward advancing" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Iran plays Russian roulette by Kaveh L Afrasiabi

Also, Russia's nuclear transactions with Europe are instructive, in view of the strict stipulations for keeping aspects of technology "black-boxed" so that Russian firms' anxiety about patent control and re-export of technology by the recipient nation to third parties are addressed.

This alternative has the advantage of nuclear safety and likely acceptance by Iran, compared with the current Russian offer, which can be telescoped into a scientific feasibility study that would cover the issue of "objective guarantees" about non-diversion to illicit purposes.

This alternative has yet to be examined by either the IAEA, the US or the European governments, and yet the mere escalation of the nuclear standoff requires a broadening of their horizons to all peaceful options to put this genie back in the bottle.

Petrodollars and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: Understanding the Planned Assault on Iran by Michael Keefer

The coming attack on Iran has nothing whatsoever to do with concerns about the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Its primary motive, as oil analyst William Clark has argued, is rather a determination to ensure that the U.S. dollar remains the sole world currency for oil trading. Iran plans in March 2006 to open a Teheran Oil Bourse in which all trading will be carried out in Euros. This poses a direct threat to the status of the U.S. dollar as the principal world reserve currency—and hence also to a trading system in which massive U.S. trade deficits are paid for with paper money whose accepted value resides, as Krassimir Petrov notes, in its being the currency in which international oil trades are denominated. (U.S. dollars are effectively exchangeable for oil in somewhat the same way that, prior to 1971, they were at least in theory exchangeable for gold.)

Ahmadinejad: Israel 'will be removed'

He also referred to remarks by United States President George W. Bush who had said that the Iranian people were different from the Islamic government in Tehran, saying there was no distinction.

"Look, this is the third generation standing here and they are even more religious, more informed, more enthusiastic and more resistant (than the first generation) to defend the ideals of the revolution," Ahmadinejad said.

The president also referred to the cartoons and called it a "Zionist plot" against not only Muslims but also those genuinely committed to Christianity and Judaism.

Ex-U.N. Inspector: Decision Already Made To Attack Iran by Brandon Garcia

Ritter described how the U.S. government might justify war with Iran in a scenario similar to the buildup to the Iraq invasion. He also argued that Iran wants a nuclear energy program, and not nuclear weapons. But the Bush administration, he said, refuses to believe Iran is telling the truth.

He predicted the matter will wind up before the U.N. Security Council, which will determine there is no evidence of a weapons program. Then, he said, John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, "will deliver a speech that has already been written. It says America cannot allow Iran to threaten the United States and we must unilaterally defend ourselves."

Iran: the next war by John Pilger

At the same time, Iran has lived with the real threat of an Israeli attack, possibly with nuclear weapons, about which the "international community" has remained silent. Recently, one of Israel's leading military historians, Martin van Creveld, wrote: "Obviously, we don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons and I don't know if they're developing them, but if they're not developing them, they're crazy."

It is hardly surprising that the Tehran regime has drawn the "lesson" of how North Korea, which has nuclear weapons, has successfully seen off the American predator without firing a shot. During the cold war, British "nuclear deterrent" strategists argued the same justification for arming the nation with nuclear weapons; the Russians were coming, they said. As we are aware from declassified files, this was fiction, unlike the prospect of an American attack on Iran, which is very real and probably imminent.

CIA Patsy Gets Help in Prison Escape by Kurt Nimmo

Be afraid of Jamal al-Badawi, al-CIA-duh “mastermind” terrorist—or interchangeably, dim bulb Muslim patsy—who supposedly dug a tunnel out of “a heavily guarded” Yemeni prison and made his escape, thus posing a “clear and present danger to all countries.” As it turns out, al-Badawi received the equivalent of a cake with a metal file from Yemeni intelligence officers, according to the Associated Press.

China's energy insecurity and Iran's crisis by Kaveh L Afrasiabi

Nonetheless, the United States' drive to deprive Iran of nuclear-weapons potential is not easily reversible and, henceforth, China's policymakers must include in their calculations the worst-case scenario imperiling their energy ties to Iran (at least for a while).

Since China has scanty strategic oil reserves of about 30 days, the "nightmare scenario" itself is a powerful motivating force for China to play crisis-prevention, and yet, since it has limited influence on Iran and the other players in this dangerous crisis, it must also consider the option of sacrificing some of its shared interests with the US for the sake of safeguarding its cherished energy stakes in the Middle East.

Israel: Give Up Your Nukes

A report recently published by the distinguished U.S. Army War College has publicly targeted Israel’s controversial—but officially nonexistent—arsenal of nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

In the wake of a growing American media cacophony about Iran’s purported aims of building its own nuclear arsenal—“news” that has largely been stimulated by bellicose rhetoric in Israel itself—the Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College, which is a training ground for the “best and the brightest” among up-and-coming military officers, has taken quite a different approach.

Hawks have warplanes ready if the nuclear diplomacy fails

Lieutenant-Colonel Sam Gardiner, a former US Air Force officer, predicted that knocking out nuclear sites could be over in less than a week. But he gave warning that would only be the beginning.

Iran has threatened to defend itself if attacked. It could use medium-range missiles to hit Israel or US military targets in Iraq and the region. It could also use its missiles and submarines to attack shipping in the Gulf, the main export route for much of the world’s energy needs. “Once you have dealt with the nuclear sites you would have to expand the targets,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Gardiner. “There are another 125 to deal with including chemical plants, missile launchers, airfields and submarines.”

Russian Ultranationalist Leader Expects U.S. to Attack Iran in Late March

A senior Russian parliamentary official and leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Vladimir Zhirinovsky believes that a US attack on Iran is inevitable, he has told Ekho Moskvy radio station.

“The war is inevitable because the Americans want this war,” he said. “Any country claiming a leading position in the world will need to wage wars. Otherwise it will simply not be able to retain its leading position. The date for the strike is already known — it is the election day in Israel (March 28). It is also known how much that war will cost,” Zhirinovsky said.

Holohoax Cartoon: Satirizing Holocaustianity by Michael A. Hoffman II

==Click on the cartoon to view the image full-sized==

This cartoon satirizing fake relics and certain other absurdities of the religion of Holocaustianity, is published as an antidote to the anti-Muhammad cartoon circulated by the establishment media throughout the West, beginning in Denmark.

There should be freedom of the press for everyone, not just for Zionists and those opposed to Islam.

This cartoon is excerpted from Hoffman's 20-page illustrated magazine, "Tales of the Holohoax: A Journal of Satire."

The Meaning of Ethnic Differences by Ole Kreiberg

Only national solidarity is able to create the coherence which is the very foundation for our democracy. The immigration from Africa and Asia with the following unnatural biological mixing of fundamentally different peoples will dilute this coherence. History is not able to show just one example that something good can result from miscegenation. On the other hand there are plenty of examples that prove the contrary.

One just has to take a look on the political, social and economical conditions in the Latin American countries where the people are one big mixture of Europeans, Red Indians and sometimes also Africans. Political repression, chaos, poverty and bad social conditions are prevailing here and this could very well become that way in a future Denmark, if the immigration from Asia and Africa isn't checked and the immigrants from there already settled in Denmark sent back. To me the future of my country and the true interests of the Danish people are far more important than absurd and self-destructive internationalism or "globalism".

China's Strategy of Containing India by Dr. Mohan Malik

On the surface, relations between India and China are positive. India's economic ties with China are booming. China is set to emerge as India's leading trade partner in the near future, leaving its current number one partner, the United States, behind. Between 2000 and 2005, trade with China registered a hike of 521 percent, whereas India's trade with the U.S. increased by only 63 percent during the same period.

All of these negative developments indicate that India's so-called "healthy competition with China" is becoming one of rivalry. In fact, China's behavior toward India is not much different from that of the U.S.' behavior toward China for the simple reason that China is a status-quo power with respect to India while the U.S. is a status-quo power with regards to China.

DIANA CRASH 'CAUSED BY LASER BEAM'

The crash that killed DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES and her lover DODI FAYED was caused by a laser beam being flashed into the eyes of their driver, it has been claimed.

New witnesses have told British detectives, leading a fresh enquiry into the fatal August 1997 accident, they saw a motorcyclist point a laser into the eyes of chauffeur HENRI PAUL, causing the Mercedes to crash inside the Pont De L'Alma tunnel in Paris, France.

This Isn't Islam Versus Secularism by Robert Fisk

So now it's cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed with a bomb-shaped turban. Ambassadors are withdrawn from Denmark, Gulf nations clear their shelves of Danish produce, Gaza gunmen threaten the European Union. In Denmark, Fleming Rose, the "culture" editor of the pip-squeak newspaper which published these silly cartoons - last September, for heaven's sake - announces that we are witnessing a "clash of civilizations" between secular Western democracies and Islamic societies. This does prove, I suppose, that Danish journalists follow in the tradition of Hans Christian Anderson. Oh lordy, lordy. What we're witnessing is the childishness of civilizations.

George W Bush: Child Murderer by Chris Floyd

The misfired Hellfires were directed by unmanned CIA Predator drones, acting on the usual "credible intelligence" that al-Qaida honcho Ayman al-Zawahiri was in the village of Damadola, near the Afghan border. But in this kind of shell game, you can never know which coconut the evil ones might be hiding under -- so the CIA destroyed not one but three houses, just to be sure. Thus even if the intelligence had not been the usual half-chewed cud and Zawahiri really had been in Damadola (hugging Saddam's phantom WMD, perhaps), the scattershot attack on the residential area would have guaranteed civilian casualties in any case.

Bush just has to face it: he is wrong and Chirac is right by Jonathan Steele

George Bush's presidency still has three years to run, but this week's state of the union address had an unmistakably ebb-tide air. Its tone - "chastened, deferential, modest" in the words of the Los Angeles Times - suggested that the president felt the waves of power were flowing against him.

Evangelicals To Launch 'Christian AIPAC' by Ilan Chaim

A leading US evangelist is forming an umbrella organization under which all pro-Israel Christians in America can speak as one in support of the Jewish state.

Pastor John C. Hagee of San Antonio, Texas, is to launch Christians United for Israel (CUFI) at an invitation-only "Summit on Israel" next Tuesday at his Cornerstone Church.

"Think of CUFI as a Christian version of AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee]," Hagee told The Jerusalem Post. "We need to be able to respond instantly to Washington with our concerns about Israel. We must join forces to speak as one group and move as one body to [respond to] the crisis Israel will be facing in the near future."

Hamas's Electoral Victory Serves the Israeli Government by Shraga Elam

It is hard to assume that an Israeli government under present conditions would really voluntarily evacuate a substantial number of Jewish settlements from the West Bank. The present evacuation plan is obviously a hoax, as Israeli right wing activists persistently claim there is an agreement with the government that will allow them to return soon to the "evacuated" settlements. It seems, by the way, possible that a similar agreement was made as well with the settlers from Gaza, although no exact timetable was laid.

Cartoons and the clash of 'freedoms''by Ehsan Ahrari

The post-September 11 era, as with the preceding ones, has its own collection of heroes and villains. What seems to be notably different about the era after the terror attacks in 2001 is that no subject, and nothing, is sacred in the West, especially when it comes to Muslims and Islam. The escalating controversy about publishing a series of cartoons - first in some Scandinavian papers, and then in a number of newspapers from other countries of the European Union - of the Prophet Mohammed is the most recent example of that development.

Nick Griffin, The U.K. Government, And The U.S. Media Blackout by James Fulford

Nick Griffin is the head of the British National Party in England. The British National Party is small, but a real political party, with which elects local politicians, especially in places where immigrant rioting has occurred, like Bradford.

As a result of a BBC spy operation which was made into a program called The Secret Agent, Griffin was charged with "using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred" or, in the alternative, "using words or behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred."

Recognizing Israel No Must for Hamas Government: Official

A Palestinian Authority official denied Wednesday, February 1, news reports that the Palestinian resistance group Hamas would have to recognize Israel to join the next government as the group hints at renewing last year's expired ceasefire with Israel.

The Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity that formal recognition of Israel would not be a prerequisite for Hamas or any other Palestinian group joining the new government, Reuters reported.

Condoleezza Rice Completes Washingtons Geostrategic Shift by Dr. Michael A. Weinstein

Wrapped in the language of the Bush administration's campaign to encourage democracy around the world and explained under the rubric of "transformational diplomacy," Rice laid out plans to reposition diplomatic resources from Europe and Washington to emerging power centers in Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East, and to reorganize the administration of foreign aid by creating the post of director of foreign assistance, whose occupant would coordinate aid programs that are currently dispersed among several agencies and bring them into line with Washington's broad foreign policy goals.

Halliburton Detention Camps For Political Subversives by Paul Joseph Watson

In another shining example of modern day corporate fascism, it was announced recently that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root had been awarded a $385 million dollar contract by Homeland Security to construct detention and processing facilities in the event of a national emergency.

Discussions of federal concentration camps is no longer the rhetoric of paranoid Internet conspiracy theorists, it is mainstream news.

Biting the hand of friendship by Jim Lobe

Large majorities of Iraqis believe that the United States has no intention of ever withdrawing all its military forces from their country and that Washington's reconstruction efforts have been incompetent at best, according to a survey released here on Tuesday.

At the same time, however, only 35% of Iraqis - most of them Sunni Arabs - believe coalition forces should withdraw within six months, although if they did so, a majority said it would have a beneficial impact, as many prominent Democrats and other war critics in the US have argued.