| Auschwitz Shifts From Memorializing to Teaching The New York Times  ... Now those in charge of passing along the legacy of this camp insist that Auschwitz needs an update. Its story needs to be retold, in a different way for a different age. Partly the change has to do with the simple passage of time, refurbishing an aging display. Partly it's about the pressures of tourism, and partly about the changing of generations. What is the most visited site and the biggest cemetery in Poland for Jews and non-Jews alike, needs to explain itself better, officials here contend. High Frequency Delousing Facilities at Auschwitz Mark Weber - Institute for Historical Review ... The authorities responsible for Germany's wartime concentration camp network carried out extensive measures at Auschwitz, and other camps, to save inmates' lives. Though for decades widely known among specialized historians, this remarkable story has been unknown to the wider public, and one extraordinary aspect of it has remained secret for decades. In 1944, during the final year of the war in Europe, the Germans installed and operated state-of-the-art high frequency facilities at Auschwitz to kill disease-bearing lice and other pests. ... Deployment of "microwave" delousing facilities was just one of many conscientious measures taken by the SS authorities to save inmates' lives. Origins and Functions of the Birkenau Camp Carlo Mattogno -- Inconvenient History ... From September 1942, Birkenau became the selection center for Jewish manpower for German industries, either already in existence or in the planning stage, within the territory of Auschwitz, while simultaneously serving as a transit camp for non-able-bodied Jews deported within the framework of the Ostwanderung [eastern migration]. Starting in May 1943, this function was accentuated as the result of a vast program of "special measures for the improvement of the hygienic installations" and plans for an enormous hospital camp to conserve and treat Jews engaged in forced labor. In May 1944, Birkenau also became a "transit camp" for the distribution of Jewish manpower into other concentration camps. In Texas, It's `Basically Over For Anglos,' Says Demographer Houston Chronicle (Texas)  Looking at population projections for Texas, demographer Steve Murdock concludes: "It's basically over for Anglos." Two of every three Texas children are now non-Anglo and the trend line will become even more pronounced in the future, said Murdock, former U.S. Census Bureau director and now director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University. Italy Anniversary Celebrations Highlight Divide After 150 Years The Telegraph (Britain)  Italy's plans to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its founding as a modern state have run into trouble before they have even started, with bitter resentment over the cost and threats by one region not to take part at all ... The biggest dampener on what is meant to be a joyous festival of national pride has come from the German-speaking, autonomous province of South Tyrol, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until it was ceded to Italy at the end of the First World War ... South Tyrol -- also known by its Italian name of Alto Adige -- remains distinctly Germanic in culture, temperament and architecture, with many German-speaking locals using English as their preferred second language rather than Italian. World War Two Fortified German Train Shelter is Tourist Attraction in Poland Tourism Review (Britain)  The town of Stepina in the south-eastern Poland hides one of the best preserved fortified shelters built by Germans during World War II. The concrete complex was supposed to protect Nazi trains as well as the special train of Adolf Hitler called 'Amerika'. Similar fortification can be also found in nearby Strzyzów where Hitler had one of his headquarters. Trains were one of the favourite means of transport for the Nazi commanders because they were fast and mobile. Since they were vulnerable however and had to be protected against air raids the wehrmacht had to build several shelters all around Europe including Poland. The concrete tunnel in Stepina near Frysztak is a popular attraction for tourists How `Curveball' Made Fools of Official Washington Eric Margolis The black comedy of the Iraqi defector codenamed "Curveball" that has just resurfaced tells us much about how the US has made such a mess in the Mideast and why Washington can't understand what is really going on in the Muslim world ... Nearly all the media's commentators, think tanks, and Mideast "experts" who beat the war drums over Iraq remain in place today, continuing to misinform Americans about the Muslim world. WikiLeaks showed US diplomats to be capable and often well informed, but handcuffed in their reporting by the party line set by Washington. The same applies to CIA, where heretical voices ... Americans, as with most people, like to be told only what they already believe. Free Pollard? Never Frank Anderson  In January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking for the early release of Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced to life in prison in 1987. The United States has steadfastly refused requests for Pollard's release; it has every reason to continue that policy ... The essential point is that any nation that steals American defense or intelligence secrets does serious damage to our nation. It might be our friend in many other important ways. In this, it is the enemy. Pollard's crime would not be less heinous had he committed it on behalf of Canada or Ireland. His betrayal would not be more serious had he acted for Russia or North Korea. The United States Stands Alone With Israel In UN Security Council Richard Falk  In what appears to be as close to a consensus as the world community can ever hope to achieve, the United States reluctantly stood its ground on behalf of Israel and on February 18, 2011, vetoed a resolution on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that was supported by all 14 of the other members of the UN Security Council. The resolution was also sponsored by 130 member countries before being presented to the Council ... Of course this American veto is not some idiosyncratic whim, but is an expression of the sorry pro-Israeli realities of domestic politics, suggesting that it is Israel that is the real holder of the veto in this situation, and the U.S. Congress and the Israeli Lobby are merely designated as the enforcers. The Israel Lobby: How Important Is It? Mark Weber ... For decades the US has, uniquely, provided the Zionist state with crucial military, diplomatic and financial backing, including more than $3 billion each year in aid. This unparalleled level of support for Israel is strikingly reflected in the United Nations. In the UN Security Council, the United States, time and time again, has vetoed resolutions critical of Israel's policies, resolutions that have support from nearly the entire world community. Likewise in the UN General Assembly, the United States and Israel have, time and time again, been on one side, and virtually the entire rest of the world has been on the other ... By supporting Israel and its policies, the United States betrays not only its own national interests, but the principles it claims to embody and defend. US vs UN on Israeli Settlements M. J. Rosenberg ... On Thursday, as the Egyptian revolution was culminating with the collapse of the Mubarak regime, the Obama administration announced that it intends to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution, sponsored by 122 nations, condemning Israeli settlement expansion ... The power of the lobby is the only reason we will veto the resolution. Try to come up with another one. After all, voting for the resolution (or, at least, abstaining on it) serves US interests in the Middle East at a critical moment and is consistent with US policy. But it would enrage the lobby and its friends who will threaten retribution in the 2012 election. Simply put, our Middle East policy is all about domestic politics. Turks See US, Israel As Top Threats, New Poll Shows AFP  The United States and Israel top the list of countries that Turks see as a threat, according to an opinion poll released Wednesday. The survey, conducted by the Ankara-based Metropoll research company last month, found that 42.6 percent saw the United States as "the greatest external threat," with another 23.7 percent singling out Israel ... In response to another question, 63.6 percent said relations with Israel should be frozen, as opposed to 27.9 percent who said ties should be improved. The figures mirrored a deep crisis between one-time allies Turkey and Israel since May 31 when Israeli forces killed nine Turks as they raided an activist ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. Anti-Semitism Flares in Greece Los Angeles Times  Greece, more than many European nations, continues to wrestle with strong anti-Jewish feelings. Such sentiments have been revived amid the angst and anger of the Greek economic crisis. / ... But since its dedication in May, synagogues have been targeted, Jewish cemeteries desecrated, Holocaust monuments elsewhere in Greece vandalized and the Jewish Museum of Greece, in the capital, defaced with swastikas. What's more, an alarming chunk of Athenians in November supported the election of a neo-Nazi candidate to the capital's city council. Where's the American Outrage Against U.S. Support of Dictatorships? Jacob G. Hornberger ... All this pro-democracy hoopla was designed to disguise the fact that the U.S. government has been the prime partner and enabler of this brutal dictatorship for the entire 30 years under which the Egyptian people have suffered. It has been the U.S. government that has been providing the $60 billion in U.S. taxpayer money to Mubarak and his henchmen in the Egyptian military and secret police. It has been the U.S. government that has been paying the salaries of Egypt's jailors and torturers for the past three decades. It is the U.S. military that has been training the Egyptian military. German Mass Grave in Croatia Sheds New Light On Close of World War Two DPA  Croatian police have completed the exhumation of remains from mass grave in a Zagreb suburb, on one of more than 200 known sites where thousands of Germans, both soldiers and civilians, were buried in the closing days of the Second World War. Yugoslav communist partisans carried out executions across the country as the Nazi regime crumbled and fell in 1945. So far the Croatian interior ministry has compiled a list of the sites more than 200 German mass graves. Yet just a handful of the sites have so far been investigated. One was discovered two years ago at Harmica, where an estimated 5,000 soldiers of the German Wehrmacht were shot and buried, including 500 officers. The Destruction of Ethnic Germans and German PoWs in Yugoslavia Tomislav Sunic ... The treatment of civilian ethnic Germans -- or Volksdeutsche -- in Yugoslavia may be regarded as a classic case of "ethnic cleansing" on a grand scale ... In addition to the "ethnic cleansing" of Danube German civilians and soldiers, some 70,000 Germans who had served in regular Wehrmacht forces perished in Yugoslav captivity ... The total number of German losses in Yugoslav captivity after the end of the war -- including ethnic "Danube German" civilians and soldiers, as well as "Reich" Germans -- may therefore be conservatively estimated at 120,000 killed, starved, worked to death, or missing. Simon Wiesenthal and the Ethics of History Deborah Lipstadt -- Jewish Review of Books  ... Wiesenthal's account of his experiences during the years of the Holocaust is clearly fabricated ... Wiesenthal's claims about tracking war criminals in the post-war years are likewise riddled with exaggerations, if not outright falsehoods ... Over the years, Wiesenthal repeatedly announced that he knew precisely where Mengele was. Most of these pronouncements, it seems, were mere guesses designed to win media attention. Simon Wiesenthal: Fraudulent `Nazi Hunter' Mark Weber ... Wiesenthal's reputation as a moral authority is undeserved. The man whom The Washington Post has called the "Holocaust's Avenging Angel" has a little known but well-documented record of reckless disregard for truth. He has lied about his own wartime experiences, misrepresented his postwar "Nazi-hunting" achievements, and has spread vile falsehoods about alleged German atrocities. Most US States Show Poor Grades on History Standards Education Week A majority of states received failing or near-failing grades on the quality of their standards for teaching history in K-12 schools, according to the latest review from the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute. In "The State of State U.S. History Standards 2011," the research and advocacy group says the average grade across all states was barely a D. The majority -- 28 states -- received scores of D or lower and only one state, South Carolina, earned a straight-A score ... The ratings come at a time when schools are allotting less time to history instruction, according to figures released by the National Center for Education Statistics, and some states do not require testing in that subject. Israeli Diplomat Quits, Says Israel's Foreign Policy is Wrong Ynet News (Israel)  A veteran diplomat says he has resigned from his post because he had a hard time defending the policies of Israel's current government, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday. Ilan Baruch says he quit because "Israel's foreign policy is wrong," pointing to the Palestinian issue. Should this trend continue, he warned, Israel will turn into a pariah state and face growing de-legitimization. Baruch told Israel TV Wednesday that Israel's standing was in danger because of its policies, which he said were "difficult to explain." Israel, The Bomb and Openness Micah Zenko -- Los Angeles Times  It's time for Israel to come out of the closet. After five decades of maintaining a nuclear weapons program without acknowledging its existence, Israel should proactively announce and provide information about its nuclear weapons status. Though Israel's bombs have long been an open secret, unprecedented international scrutiny in coming years will make this "nuclear opacity" increasingly untenable. Hungarians Honor World War II Defenders of Budapest Hungarian Ambiance Defying a ban by authorities, patriotic Hungarians honor German and Hungarian troops who heroically defended Budapest against Soviet forces during World War II. The rally makes the anniversary of the last, desperate attempt in February 1945 to break out of the encircled capital city, rather than surrender to Soviet forces. The commemoration meeting was held on private property in Újpest, in spite of police harassment. German and Hungarian Forces Defend Budapest Video (1945)  In Hungary, German and Hungarian troops fight furiously against massive Soviet assault forces. Many tanks are engaged in the large-scale combat. Civilians, including women, help in the defense of Budapest. From the German weekly newsreel, "Deutsche Wochenschau," of Feb. 10, 1945. With English subtitles. Runtime: 2:44 mins. SPLC Reports Rise Of `Hate' Groups: But What Is `Hate'? The Christian Science Monitor  Even as the Southern Poverty Law Center points out that the number of US hate groups has topped 1,000 for the first time, the civil rights organization is receiving flak from critics on the right who say an overbroad definition of "hate" vilifies innocent people and stifles vigorous debate about issues critical to America's future ... Neo-Nazi-like hate groups grew by nearly ten percent since 2009, to 1002; anti-immigration vigilante groups grew by trhee percent, to 319; and antigovernment "Patriot" groups -- defined as "conspiracy-minded organizations that see the federal government as their primary enemy" -- grew by 60 percent, to 824. The Southern Poverty Law Center: Profiting From Defamation The Social Contract (Michigan) This special issue of The Social Contract journal provides detailed, devastating analysis of the influential and misnamed "Southern Poverty Law Center." Contributors to this special issue review the sordid record and hidden agenda of this highly profitable engine of defamation. In Berlin, Canadian Tourist Arrested For Giving `Heil Hitler' Salute The Telegraph (Britain) A tourist who thought it was amusing to have himself photographed outside the Reichstag in Berlin giving the Heil Hitler! salute has been arrested. The 30-year-old Canadian was standing on the steps of the German parliament building with his right arm raised as his girlfriend, 29, photographed him in the forbidden pose. Police arrived within seconds, handcuffed him and took the memory card of the camera ... Any gestures of the old Nazi regime, or the displaying of any of its symbols, is a s serious crime in modern-day Germany. Three years ago a British businessman at Cologne airport gave the salute to a car hire official - and was arrested immediately. Modern Art Was CIA 'Weapon' The Independent (Britain) - 1995  For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years. Galliano To Face Criminal Trial in Paris Over Anti-Jewish Remarks The Associated Press Paris prosecutors on Wednesday ordered John Galliano to stand trial over alleged racial insults ... The trial could take place between April and June, and Galliano could face up to six months in prison and euro 22,500 ($31,000) in fines if convicted, the prosecutors office said in a statement. Capping a five-day whirlwind of scandal around the designer, the prosecutors said he will face allegations of "public insults based on the origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity" against three people. The news came shortly after the talented 50-year-old designer apologized for his behavior after top-tier house Christian Dior sacked him as creative director over anti-Semitic remarks. Defector Admits To WMD Lies That Triggered Iraq War The Guardian ( Britain )  The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war. Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks and clandestine factories in an attempt to bring down the Saddam Hussein regime, from which he had fled in 1995. Dresden Divided Over Blame for WWII Bombing Stephen Evan -- BBC News  Sixty-six years after the bombing of Dresden - one of the most controversial allied operations of World War II which killed around 25,000 civilians - a debate about who was to blame for the conflict still rages ... On one side in this contest over the past are the far-left, dressed very much like the far-right, all in black but waving the English flag - the Cross of St George - to symbolise I suppose their siding with Britain. On the other extreme, the neo-Nazi march, with its Elgar ... Germans as perpetrators, certainly, but Germans as victims? That is a locution with which not everyone is easy - Germans as victims too. Past and present can confuse in Dresden . US Vetoes UN Security Council Resolution on Israeli Settlements AFP  The United States has vetoed an Arab-sponsored UN resolution branding Israeli settlements illegal, prompting angry Palestinians to vow to re-evaluate the entire Middle East peace process ... The resolution, sponsored by 130 countries, reaffirmed "that the Israeli settlements established in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, are illegal and constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace."... Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution but the US veto effectively killed the move. ... The United States has traditionally used its veto power in the Security Council, a body Israel deems as deeply biased, to shield the Jewish state from censure. US Isolated in UN Debate Over Resolution on Illegal Israeli Settlements Phyllis Bennis ... The U.S. vetoed the resolution - the vote was 14 to 1, with no abstentions. On this issue once again, the U.S. stood absolutely isolated. And ironically, that was a victory too. Britain , Russia , Brazil and others spoke after the vote, expressing stronger than usual support for the anti-settlement resolution and referencing ( Britain most strongly) their recognition of a Palestinian state that may be declared in September. The unity of these countries shows the limits of U.S. control over the "peace process" and may lead to a far greater level of international engagement. The Veto and the Case for Impeaching President Obama Alan Hart Never before has an American President's fear of offending the Zionist lobby and its stooges in Congress been so exposed as it was by Obama's decision to veto the Security Council resolution condemning continued, illegal Israeli settlement activities on the occupied West Bank and demanding that Israel "immediately and completely cease" all such activities. In a different America - an informed America - some might think, I do, that Obama should be impeached. The charge? TREASON. U.S. Veto: Speaking With Forked-Tongue Jim Miles ... This can only be read as that the duplicity, lies, and dishonesty are consistent traits of all U.S. administrations. And even though Obama campaigned on "hope" and "change", and then made a sort of wonderfully conciliatory speech in Cairo (and the world knows what is happening their and elsewhere in the Arab world) he too has accepted as part of his worldview that speaking with a forked tongue works well in the world of U.S. diplomacy ... The U.S. plays loose and fancy with democracy, and again recent events in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, and Yemen among others demonstrates the lie of the U.S. rhetoric on democracy (with U.S. puppet regime of Saudi Arabia remaining silent). Federal, State and Local Debt Hits Post-WWII levels The Washington Post The daunting tower of national, state and local debt in the United States will reach a level this year unmatched just after World War II and already exceeds the size of the entire economy, according to government estimates. But any similarity between 1946 and now ends there. The U.S. debt levels tumbled in the years after World War II, but today they are still climbing and even deep cuts in spending won't completely change that for several years. The Civil War Concentration Camps Mark Weber -- Institute for Historical Review No aspect of the American Civil War left behind a greater legacy of bitterness and acrimony than the treatment of prisoners of war. " Andersonville " still conjures up images of horror unmatched in American History. And although Northern partisans still invoke the infamous Southern camp to defame the Confederacy, the Union had its share of equally horrific camps. Prison camps on both sides produced scenes of wretched, disease-ridden and emaciated prisoners as repulsive as any to come out of the Second World War. Update On Germar Rudolf, Revisionist and Recent Political Prisoner Germar Rudolf  ... Since my Mexican tourist visa waiver will expire end of February, I have to leave the country. I will temporarily live with friends in Central America . Should there be no silver lining at the horizon by the end of April/early May, I will return to Europe . Since I am prohibited to be a spouse to my wife and a father to my daughter, I will at least be a father to the children from my first marriage by temporarily returning to Germany . Historic Hitler-Mannerheim Meeting in Finland Deutsche Wochenschau -- Video  After a visit to the Eastern front in occupied Soviet territory, Hitler flies to Finland for a historic meeting on June 4, 1942, with Finland's great commander, Marshal Mannerheim, on his 75th birthday, and with Finnish president Ryti. Excerpt from the weekly German wartime newsreel, "Deutsche Wochenschau." With English subtitles. Runtime: 5:37 minutes. Will Multiculturalism End Europe ? Patrick J. Buchanan ... From Moscow to Marseilles , from Stockholm to Sicily , they see the Muslims pouring in and creating tiny nations within the nation, and being unwilling to embrace a new identity as Englishmen, French or German. And their fears are not unjustified ... Some 5 million to 8 million Arabs and Muslims are in France, their birth rate is higher, and more are on the way. The real questions: Whose idea was it to bring these people in? And what do France , Britain and Germany do if they say: This is a democracy, we will live as we wish to live, according to our beliefs, not yours. How does a liberal, permissive society that celebrates diversity impose its values on a militant immigrant minority that rejects them? Answer: It doesn't. All the rest is chatter. Living History John Toland -- Institute for Historical Review  I've been called everything from an extreme liberal to an ultra-conservative. I am neither. I have been labeled a "Nazi" because of my numerous interviews with Hitler's adjutants, secretaries, doctors, and military leaders, both SS and Wehrmacht ... I have tried to approach history as a non-partisan, ignoring nationality and ideology, and to portray the horrors of war through the sufferings of ordinary people as well as in the imaginations of the mighty. Throughout it all, I have tried to present living history, human history, with subjective objectivity, in my obsessive search for reality. Jews in 1930s Soviet Union Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - From Chapter of `Two Hundred Years Together'  ... Thus the Soviet Jews obtained a weighty share of state, industrial, and economic power at all levels of government in the USSR ... It can't be denied that History elevated many Soviet Jews into the ranks of the arbiters of the fate of all Russians ... From the astonishing disclosure in 1990 we learned that the famous mobile gas chambers were invented, as it turns out, not by Hitler during the World War II, but in the Soviet NKVD in 1937 by Isai Davidovich Berg, the head of the administrative and maintenance section of the NKVD of Moscow Oblast (sure, he was not alone in that enterprise, but he organized the whole business). The End of the Legends: Solzhenitsyn's Look at Russian-Jewish History Wolfgang Strauss It may be said without hesitation that Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Two Hundred Years Together. The Jews in the Soviet Union is one of the most important books on the Russian Revolution and the early Bolshevik period ever to appear. After publication of this work with its many revelations about the role of the Jews during the Leninist period, the history of the Bolshevik October putsch will have to be rewritten, if not completely, then with substantial additions. The book title might have been even more appropriately called "The End of the Legends." California Cities Top Most Miserable List Reuters If the saying "as goes California, so goes the nation" still rings true, then Americans are facing a depressing future, according to a list of the country's most miserable cities. Ravaged by falling house prices, high unemployment, a massive budget deficit, rampant crime and high state taxes, California filled four of the top five spots in the Forbes list of unhappy urban areas. Stockton, in the state's Central Valley, topped the list, followed by Miami, in Florida, Merced, Modesto and Sacramento -- all in California. US Seeks Permanent Military Bases in Afghanistan, Karzai Confirms AFP Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he was in talks with the United States about the possible establishment of permanent US military bases in his war-ravaged country. "From the statements made by US officials, US senators to the media and from what they have told us, yes, they have this desire," he said. "This is an issue that we're in talks with them about." But Karzai insisted that Afghanistan would have the final say on whether such bases would be allowed. In January, influential US senator Lindsey Graham reportedly suggested permanent US bases in Afghanistan. At that time, Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omer said the issue had not been discussed with the United States. The Taliban in Pakistan: We've Got a Bigger Problem Now VBS - CNN In a recent trip to Pakistan to report on the recent spike in the region's violence and bloodshed, I heard over and over the same sentiment from people on the ground; America's war on terror is falling flat on its face. The military conflict in neighboring Afghanistan, repeatedly cited by locals, sends a constant flood of guns, refugees, militants and heroin into Pakistan ... He emphasized that much of the resulting anti-Western sentiment in the country is because of anger directed at American foreign policy ... More precisely, I was told they are reacting to decades of interventionist and not-so-covert flip-flopping American policy dating back to the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan administrations. Egyptians Favor Democracy And Stoning For Adultery, New Poll Shows Reuters Egyptians reject radical Islamists, but want Islam to play a large role in politics and think democracy is the best political system, according to poll data collected in Muslim countries last year. The sample group of 1,000 was surveyed in face-to-face interviews in April and May of last year for the U.S.-based Pew Research Center. These results give an idea of Egyptian public opinion before the current protests there broke out ... 95%: Say it's good that Islam plays a large role in politics ... 82%: Believe adulterers should be stoned, 84%: Believe apostates from Islam should face the death penalty. Among Nation's Youngest, Analysis Finds Fewer Whites The New York Times Whites continued to decline as a share of the American population in 2009, and they now represent less than half of all three-year-olds, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of census data released Monday. The country's young population is more diverse than ever, with whites now in the minority in nursery schools, preschools and kindergartens in eight states -- Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas -- and the District of Columbia, according to William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings. That was up from six states in 2000. The Middle East Does Not Need Stability Gideon Levy -- Haaretz (Israel)  ... Egypt also suddenly dared to "disturb the peace." Its people, who have had enough of the country's corrupt government and the tyrannical silencing of their voices, have taken to the streets. Riots. The Western world, including Israel, has tensed in the face of this great danger - the stability in the Middle East is about to be undermined. Indeed, that stability should be undermined. The stability in the region, something which Westerners and Israeli have come to yearn, merely means perpetuating the status quo. That situation might be good for Israel and the West, but it is very bad for the millions of people who have had to pay the price. Republican Presidential Candidates Seek Jewish Backing In Israel Los Angeles Times  Though the U.S. presidential primaries are still a year from now, a different sort of contest is underway in Israel. Beginning Saturday, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will be the third potential GOP presidential candidate to visit the Jewish state since the first of the year, and the second during the protests in neighboring Egypt. Barbour will arrive on the heels of Mike Huckabee, who spent much of the week touring the country, and Mitt Romney, who swung through in January. And like Romney and Huckabee, Barbour is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tour some holy sites. Jewish Group Praises Catholics For Removing `Holocaust' From Bible JTA A Holocaust survivors' organization praised the Catholic Church for changing a new English translation of the Bible to eliminate the word "holocaust." A statement by Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, issued Monday responsed to the deletion of "holocaust," with a small h, and its replacement by "burnt offerings" in The New American Bible Revised Edition to be released on March 9. Jewish Leaders Slam Memorial Day for Expelled Germans JTA  Jewish leaders and political groups in Germany condemned a proposed national day of remembrance for the twelve million ethnic Germans expelled from Eastern Europe after World War II. The proposal was to be heard in parliament Thursday. Stephan Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told reporters that "One could almost call [the proposal] a kind of retaliation" against remembrance of the victims of German war crimes ... Opposition political leaders and a group of historians have condemned the proposal as revisionist and avoiding German guilt. Kramer said such a memorial day could have a "catastrophic effect" on Germany's image abroad. British Historian Details Mass Killings and Brutal Mistreatment of Germans at the End of World War Two Mark Weber  Germany's defeat in May 1945, and the end of World War II in Europe, did not bring an end to death and suffering for the vanquished German people. Instead the victorious Allies ushered in a horrible new era that, in many ways, was worse than the destruction wrought by war. In a sobering and courageous new book, After the Reich: The Brutal History of Allied Occupation, British historian Giles MacDonogh details how the ruined and prostrate Reich (including Austria) was systematically raped and robbed, and how many Germans who survived the war were either killed in cold blood or deliberately left to die of disease, cold, malnutrition or starvation. An Unknown Holocaust: Mass Killing, `Ethnic Cleansing' and Brutal Mistreatment of Germans by the Victorious Allies Mark Weber -- Worldwatch (Audio MP3 file) Weber reviews the little-known story of misery and death imposed by the victors on defeated Germany in the aftermath of World War II. The Allied powers imposed an "unknown holocaust" of destruction, looting, starvation, rape, "ethnic cleansing," and mass killing. More than 14 million Germans were expelled or forced to flee from eastern and central Europe. Some three million Germans died needlessly -- about two million civilians, mostly women, children and elderly, and one million prisoners of war. Weber also highlights the Allied double standard in putting German leaders to death for policies that the Allies themselves were carrying out, sometimes on a far greater scale. In Austria, Jews Seek Ban of `Anti-Semitic' Turkish Film DPA The Jewish Community in Vienna pressed charges Tuesday against cinema operators and a distributor on Tuesday, alleging that a Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves - Palestine, was anti-Semitic. Politicians and Jewish groups in Austria and Germany had criticized the action film ahead of its release on Thursday, which coincided with Holocaust Memorial Day. The film was guilty of incitement to religious hatred and insulting religious faiths, because it uses anti-Semitic stereotype, the Jewish Community's Secretary General Raimund Fastenbauer alleged. Third Reich 3D Films From 1936 Discovered The Guardian (Britain) Films depicting bratwursts on a barbecue and contemporary film stars thought to show Nazis beat Hollywood to 3D by 16 years. James Cameron and his team of minions may have produced the high watermark for three dimensional ltechnology in the 21st century, but it seems the Nazis got there first. The Australian film-maker Philippe Mora says he had discovered two 30-minute 3D films shot by propagandists for the Third Reich in 1936, a full 16 years before the format first became briefly popular in the US ... Mora believes the existence of the 35mm Nazi films confirms the Germans were decades ahead. Ideology vs. the National Interest Patrick J. Buchanan  ... In our Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made himself a dictator, closing newspapers, suspending habeas corpus, and locking up editors and legislators. Woodrow Wilson went to war to "to make the world safe for democracy" alongside five of the most rapacious empires on earth: the British, French, Russian, Italian and Japanese. During World War II, our ally that did most of the fighting and dying was the Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin ... If the advancement of our democratic ideals imperils what the U.S. government says are our vital interests, is there not something fundamentally wrong with our Middle East policy? The Blood of Dresden Kurt Vonnegut  ... In February 1945, American bombers reduced this treasure to crushed stone and embers; disembowelled her with high explosives and cremated her with incendiaries ... It is with some regret that I here besmirch the nobility of our airmen, but, boys, you killed an appalling lot of women and children. The shelter I have described and innumerable others like it were filled with them. We had to exhume their bodies and carry them to mass funeral pyres in the parks, so I know ... The "Get Tough America" policy, the spirit of revenge, the approbation of all destruction and killing, have earned us a name for obscene brutality. The Dresden Holocaust David Irving - Focal Point Publications Perspective, background and commentary on the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden, February 1945, compiled by British historian David Irving. Evidence that the death toll was much larger than the now "official" figure of about 25,000. Apocalypse at Dresden R. H. S. Crossman -- Esquire magazine (1963)  The long suppressed story of the worst massacre in the history of the world [the Feb. 1945 destruction of Dresden] / If the British Commonwealth and the United States last a thousand years, men may say that this was their darkest hour. Were all the crimes against humanity committed during World War II the work of Hitler's underlings? That was certainly the impression created by the fact that only Germans were brought to trial at Nuremburg ... What is less widely recognized ... is that the Western democracies were responsible for the most senseless single act of mass murder committed in the whole course of World War II. Abraham Lincoln Sought To Deport Slaves to British Colonies Daily Mail (Britain)  Abraham Lincoln's reputation as the great champion of America's slaves has taken a battering amid new evidence that the revered president wanted to send many of them to toil in British colonies in the Caribbean. Academics Phillip Magness and Sebastian Page claim that documents uncovered in British archives show that Lincoln was rather less enamoured by the prospect of a racially-united America than is often assumed. ... According to evidence from the British legation in Washington that has turned up at the National Archives in Kew, the president was deadly serious about black colonisation right up until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln Sought to Deport Freed Slaves The Washington Times The Great Emancipator was almost the Great Colonizer: Newly released documents show that to a greater degree than historians had previously known, President Lincoln laid the groundwork to ship freed slaves overseas to help prevent racial strife in the U.S. Just after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Lincoln authorized plans to pursue a freedmen's settlement in present-day Belize and another in Guyana, both colonial possessions of Great Britain at the time ... Abraham Lincoln and the Issue of Race Robert Morgan - Institute for Historical Review Many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, above all, as the president who freed the slaves. Immortalized as the "Great Emancipator," he is widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War to free the slaves. While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society. He rejected the notion of social equality of the races, and held to the view that blacks should be resettled abroad. Villa in the Jungle Uri Avnery (Israel)  ... As usual, nobody foresaw it. The much-feted Mossad was taken by surprise, as was the CIA and all the other celebrated services of this kind. Yet there should have been no surprise at all - except about the incredible force of the eruption ... But let there be no mistake: the underlying causes are far more profound. They can be summed up in one word: Palestine ... What every young Arab from Morocco to Oman saw daily was his leaders humiliating themselves, forsaking their Palestinian brothers in order to gain favor and money from America, collaborating with the Israeli occupation, cringing before the new colonizers. US Trade Deficit Widened by 33 Percent in 2010 BBC News The US trade deficit ballooned in 2010 by the largest amount seen in a decade, Commerce Department figures have shown. The trade deficit - the difference between imports and exports - hit $497.8 billion last year, up 32.8% on the year before, the biggest annual percentage gain since 2000. Imports from China hit record levels, totaling $364.9 billion for the year. For the month of December, the deficit widened by 5.9% to $40.6 billion, after a rise in the price for imported oil. The Palestinian People Betrayed: What Leaked Documents Reveal Saree Makdisi -- Los Angeles Times  A massive archive of documents leaked to Al Jazeera and Britain 's Guardian newspaper offers irrefutable proof that years of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians have been an empty sham ... The papers give the lie to Israel 's claim that it yearns for peace but lacks a Palestinian "partner." And they reinforce the sense that Israel has gone along with these negotiations only to buy time to expropriate more Palestinian land, demolish more Palestinian homes, expel more Palestinian families and build more colonies for the exclusive use of Jewish settlers in militarily occupied territory, thereby cementing new realities on the ground that would make a Palestinian state a geophysical impossibility. Things Have To Change In Order To Remain The Same Paul Craig Roberts  The hypocrisy of the US government is yet again demonstrated in full bore force. ... By "stability" Netanyahu means the unimpeded ability of Israel to continue oppressing the Palestinians and stealing their country. Mubarak has been for three decades the well-paid enforcer for the US and Israel , sealing off Gaza from the outside world and preventing aid flows across the Egyptian border ... The US government has long corrupted Arab governments by paying rulers installed by the US to represent US/Israeli interests rather than the interest of Arab peoples. Arabs put up with American-financed oppression for many years, but now are showing signs of rebellion. Creator of Neutron Bomb Leaves an Explosive Legacy Forward ( New York )  In the 20th century, Jews created bombs. Weapons of mass destruction. Most famously, there was J. Robert Oppenheimer who ran the Manhattan Project, which gave the world the atom bomb. After him came Edward Teller, the Hungarian Jew who engineered an incredibly destructive upgrade: the hydrogen bomb. And then there was Samuel T. Cohen, the lesser-known Jewish physicist who rounds off this troika but whose invention, the neutron bomb, has been relegated to ignominy ... His only regret, according to Cohen, was that the bomb hadn't been ready in time to be dropped on Germany . This was a feeling shared by many Jewish scientists, Cohen wrote. Shocking Facts About The Student Loan Scam End of the American Dream - Editorial  ... It is basically one huge party. Of the little "education" that actually does go on, so much of it is so dedicated to pushing various social engineering agendas that it makes the whole process virtually worthless. Most parents would be absolutely shocked if they could actually see the kind of "indoctrination" that goes on inside U.S. college classrooms today ... #7 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees. #8 The Project on Student Debt estimates that 206,000 Americans graduated from college with more than $40,000 in student loan debt during 2008. #9 In the United States today, 24.5 percent of all retail salespersons have a college degree. The College Diploma Fraud Robert Weissberg For more than a half-century, government has tried to close racial gaps in educational attainment. Sad to say, those gaps have proven intractable. Nevertheless, the impulse remains as heartfelt as ever (perhaps due to its financially lucrative character), but the emphasis is now shifting from actual learning to equality of graduation rates ... Specifically, contemporary "college graduates" are increasingly employed in positions once occupied by high school graduates ... Some exceptions aside, granting ever more college diplomas only signifies the power of today's universities to counterfeit genuine accomplishment. Nearly Eleven Percent of US Houses Are Empty CNBC  ... America 's home ownership rate, after holding steady for a while, took a pretty big plunge in Q4, from 66.9 percent to 66.5 percent. That's down from the 2004 peak of 69.2 percent and the lowest level since 1998. Homeownership is falling at an alarming pace ... There were 18.4 million vacant homes in the U.S. in Q4 '10 -- eleven percent of all housing units vacant all year round .. Germany Doubles Aid to Holocaust Survivors Globes ( Israel ) The German government will double aid to Holocaust survivors to 110 million euros in 2011, from 55 million euros, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) VP Shlomo Gur told the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Conference today. Gur said that the money was intended for social and nursing services for Holocaust survivors worldwide, whom he estimated at 520,000, half of who reside in Israel . How The Chinese Must See Us Patrick J. Buchanan  ... As America sinks economically and retreats strategically, while China grows at ten percent and bristles with confidence, we appear to be a nation of whiners. They are eating our lunch, and we sound like losers in a locker room. We demand that the Chinese be more open and tolerant of opposition and dissent. But when they look at the gridlock of American democracy, the pettiness of our politics and the failure of our policies, while they are on the move at home and all over the world, why should they want to be more like us? Has our American capitalism in this century performed as well as their autocratic capitalism? China's Winning Schools? Nicholas D. Kristof An international study published last month looked at how students in 65 countries performed in maths, science and reading. The winner was: Confucianism. At the very top of the charts, in all three fields and by a wide margin, was Shanghai . Three of the next top four performers were also societies with a Confucian legacy of reverence for education: Hong Kong , Singapore and South Korea . The only non-Confucian country in the mix was Finland . The US came in 15th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math. German 1944 `Panorama' Color Newsreel Video Portions of "Panorama" wartime German color newsreel, with English subtitles, apparently from Sept. 1944. Runtime: 6:26 mins. Includes footage of grape harvesting along the Rhine, combat in south-east Europe and in Italy , countering allied air attack on the western front, German air and naval combat missions, artillery against Soviet forces, and young men training for naval service. Lord Goldsmith's Warning To Blair That Iraq Invasion Illegal The Guardian ( Britain )  Tony Blair was warned by his government's chief law officer that an invasion of Iraq would be illegal the day before he privately assured President George Bush he would support US-led military action, documents released today by the Chilcot inquiry reveal. They provide an unprecedented insight into how Lord Goldsmith, then the attorney general, repeatedly warned the prime minister of the potential consequences of invading Iraq without fresh UN authority - much to Blair's irritation. President Carter Sued For His Book on Israel-Palestine Issue The Washington Post  More than four years after its publication, five disgruntled readers have filed a class-action lawsuit against President Jimmy Carter and his publisher, Simon & Schuster, alleging that his 2006 book "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid" contained "numerous false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author's agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised." The five plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are seeking at least $5 million in compensation. Uprising in Egypt : This Is How Regimes Fall Gywnne Dyer  ... The likely winner of a genuinely free Egyptian election, according to most opinion polls, would be the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brothers are not particularly radical as Islamists go, but the first thing they have promised to do if they win power is to hold a referendum on Egypt 's peace treaty with Israel . And most Egyptians, according to the same polls, would vote to cancel it. That would end the flow of official U.S. aid and private foreign investment that currently keeps the Egyptian economy more or less afloat, even though it would probably not lead to an actual war. And there is no reason to believe that an Islamic government could make the Egyptian economy grow any faster, although it would distribute the poverty more fairly. What Corruption and Force Have Wrought in Egypt Chris Hedges -- Tuthdig The uprising in Egypt , although united around the nearly universal desire to rid the country of the military dictator Hosni Mubarak, also presages the inevitable shift within the Arab world away from secular regimes toward an embrace of Islamic rule. Don't be fooled by the glib sloganeering about democracy or the facile reporting by Western reporters -- few of whom speak Arabic or have experience in the region. Egyptians are not Americans. They have their own culture, their own sets of grievances and their own history. And it is not ours. Winners and Losers From a Pharaoh's Fall Patrick J. Buchanan ... Why are the United States and Israel seemingly certain losers from the fall of Mubarak? Because in any free and fair election in the Middle East, a majority will vote for rulers who will distance the country from America and sever ties to Israel ... The United States is not hated across the region because of the freedoms we enjoy or even because of the lectures on democracy we do not cease to deliver. We are hated because we are perceived as hypocrites who say one thing and do another. The Egyptian Masses Won't Play Ally to Israel Gideon Levy -- Haaretz ( Israel )  ... It turned out that the Israeli intelligence estimates, which were recited ad nauseum by the court analysts, were again, shall we say, not the epitome of accuracy. The people of Egypt had their say, and had the nerve not to fall in line with Israeli wishes ... The hypocritical and sanctimonious division of countries by the U.S. and the West between the "axis of evil" on the one hand, and the "moderates" on the other, has collapsed. If there is an axis of evil, then it includes all the non-democratic regimes, including the "moderates" and the "stable" and the "pro-Western." Today Egypt , tomorrow Palestine . Yesterday Tunis , tomorrow Gaza . Churchill Didn't Say That: Misrepresentations in `The King's Speech' Christopher Hitchens  The King's Speech is an extremely well-made film with a seductive human interest plot, very prettily calculated to appeal to the smarter filmgoer and the latent Anglophile. But it perpetrates a gross falsification of history. One of the very few miscast actors -- Timothy Spall as a woefully thin pastiche of Winston Churchill -- is the exemplar of this bizarre rewriting ... You can see there how empty and bombastic Churchill's style can sound when he's barking up the wrong tree; never forget that he once described himself as the lone voice warning the British people against the twin menaces of Hitler and Gandhi! Churchill and U.S. Entry Into World War II David Irving  ... If I'm known for anything as a historian, apart from being a pain in the neck, it's because I uncover things. And uncovering things does not necessarily mean you go into the archives and see something and say: "Look at this, this is something quite extraordinary." If you go into the archives long enough, ten or twenty years, you become what I would call a "gap-ologist" I can spot gaps in archives and they're much more difficult to spot, because they've been papered over, and the files have been closed. ... Now what a scandalous statement that is! Here's the one country, Germany , trying to prevent a war and the other country -- Roosevelt , neutral -- trying to fan the flames of anti-German feeling to fuel the war. Yet it is the Germans who are called the criminals, and the Americans who do the prosecuting. Winston Churchill: An Unsettled Legacy Mark Weber The well-entrenched idealization of Churchill is part and parcel of a drastically misleading view of the Second World War that Americans have been fed for decades. One common deceit is to give the impression that Hitler sought war against Britain and France , and that Germany aggressively attacked those two countries... Churchill's enduringly stellar image is all the more remarkable considering that his views on a range of issues were, by today's standards, hopelessly backward and politically incorrect... Along with most Britons (and Americans) of his era, he was also an unabashed racist. Dutch Jews Call For Faster Punishment of Anti-Semitism The Associated Press Jewish groups in the Netherlands called Wednesday for swifter punishment for Holocaust deniers as parliament debated how to combat rising anti-Semitism. Among other measures, a Jewish umbrella organization said it wants Holocaust deniers punished under rules usually reserved for drunk drivers, shoplifters, and football hooligans. Under the "snelrecht," or "fast justice" policy, police and prosecutors offer offenders a choice immediately after their arrest between a fine or a court appearance within two months 'Holocaust Denial' Laws Are Disgraceful Mark Weber - Institute for Historical Review ... In Germany , France , Austria , Belgium , Switzerland and several other European countries, as well as in Israel , it is a crime publicly to dispute the official version of Holocaust history ... "Holocaust denial" laws violate ancient and universal standards of justice. They criminalize even factual or truthful statements that "play down" or "whitewash" the Holocaust. They are selective and one-sided. In countries where they are on the books, the Holocaust is the only chapter of history that cannot be freely discussed. They inhibit historical inquiry and restrict free speech. They are a disgrace, and should be repealed. SPLC's Poverty of Ethics The New American ( Wisconsin )  The Southern Poverty Law Center, which defines itself as "a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry," recently labeled family-values organizations as "hate groups" for championing faith-based moral views, including opposition to same-sex marriage and support for the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ... Nowadays the SPLC has become infamous for its commando-aggressive, slick campaigns against mainstream Americans who support constitutional government, the Second Amendment, sound money, traditional marriage, and legal immigration. Low-Wage Jobs Dominate Hiring So Far in Job Market Recovery CNN  There are two problems with the jobs recovery to date. Employers haven't added enough jobs. And those they have added aren't particularly good ones. The former has gotten a lot of attention. But the low-wage jobs that have been added are also a cause for concern. ... Bernhardt's analysis of the first seven months of 2010 found that 76% of jobs created were in low- to mid-wage industries -- those earning between $8.92 to $15 an hour, well below the national average hourly wage of $22.60. Egypt Protests Show American Foreign-Policy Folly Stephen Kinzer -- Newsweek  ... The U.S. keeps Mubarak in power -- it gave his regime $1.5 billion in aid last year -- mainly because he supports America's pro-Israel policies, especially by helping Israel maintain its stranglehold on Gaza ... Even if democratic regimes in the Middle East are not fundamentalist, however, they will firmly oppose U.S. policy toward Israel. The intimate U.S.-Israel relationship guarantees that many Muslims around the world will continue to see the U.S. as an enabler of evil ... Accepting that Arabs have the right to elect their own leaders means accepting the rise of governments that do not share America 's pro-Israel militancy. This is the dilemma Washington now faces. Never has it been clearer that the U.S. needs to reassess its long-term Middle East strategy. Without Egypt , Israel Will Be Left With No Friends in Mideast Aluf Benn - Haartetz ( Israel ) The fading power of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government leaves Israel in a state of strategic distress. Without Mubarak , Israel is left with almost no friends in the Middle East; last year, Israel saw its alliance with Turkey collapse. From now on, it will be hard for Israel to trust an Egyptian government torn apart by internal strife. Israel 's increasing isolation in the region, coupled with a weakening United States , will force the government to court new potential allies. Israel 's foreign policy has depended on regional alliances which have provided the country with strategic depth since the 1950s. Israel Shaken as Turbulence Rocks an Ally The New York Times The street revolt in Egypt has thrown the Israeli government and military into turmoil, with top officials closeted in round-the-clock strategy sessions aimed at rethinking their most significant regional relationship ... There has long been concern that popular sentiment in Egypt is anti-Israel. Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Cairo , wrote in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, "The only people in Egypt who are committed to peace are the people in Mubarak's inner circle, and if the next president is not one of them, we are going to be in trouble." ... If Mr. Mubarak were to go, Mr. Netanyahu could be left without an ally in the region. How A Major Web Filtering Company Smears the IHR And Unfairly Censors Its Website Mark Weber -- Institute for Historical Review Websense company, a major US supplier of web content filtering software, says that the Institute for Historical Review promotes "racism and hate," and blocks access to the IHR website, on the basis of an unfair standard that deceives the public and its own customers. In a letter to the IHR, Websense Senior Legal Counsel Eric Proul makes clear that the company has no objective basis for its claim that the IHR promotes "racism and hate." In an attempt to justify this claim, Proul cites three "Holocaust revisionism" items -- out of hundreds posted on the IHR website -- but he is unable to show any connection between these three items and "racism and hate." Senator Rand Paul Under Fire For Call to Halt Israel Aid Haaretz ( Israel ) U.S. Democrats and pro-Israel lobbies slammed on Thursday comments made by newly elected Republican Senator and Tea Party representative Rand Paul who suggested that the United States should halt all foreign aid including its financial aid to Israel ... Congresswoman Nita Lowey, Ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, called the initiative "shocking" ... publican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matthew Brooks issued a statement saying "we share Senator Paul's commitment to restraining the growth of federal spending, but we reject his misguided proposal to end U.S. assistance to our ally, Israel." A Survivor Recalls the 1945 `Wilhelm Gustloff' Sinking BBC World Service - Audio  Horst Woit was just ten years old when he and his mother boarded a ship in the hope of escaping Russian forces towards the end of WW2. He recalls the night 66 years ago when that ship - the Wilhelm Gustloff - went down with huge loss of life. History's Greatest Naval Disasters: The Wilhelm Gustloff, the General Steuben and the Goya John Ries -- Institute for Historical Review For many people, the image of a great maritime disaster calls to mind the well-known sinking of the Titanic, which went down in April 1912 after striking an iceberg, taking the lives of 1,503 men, women and children ... Dwarfed by the little-known sinkings of the Wilhelm Gustloff, the General Steuben and the Goya - converted German liners crowded with refugees and wounded soldiers that were sunk by Soviet submarines during the final months of the Second World War. In each case, more lives were lost than in the sinkings of either the Sultana, the Lusitania or the Titanic. Allied Attacks Killed Thousands of Camp Inmates : The 1945 `Cap Arcona' and `Thielbek' Sinkings Mark Weber -- Institute for Historical Review  All prisoners of German wartime concentration camps who perished while in German custody are routinely regarded as "victims of Nazism" -- even if they lost their lives as direct or indirect result of Allied policy ... Among the German concentration camp prisoners who perished at Allied hands were some 7,000 inmates who were killed during the war's final week as they were being evacuated in three large German ships that were attacked by British war planes. This little-known tragedy is one of history's greatest maritime disasters. The Media in America : Selling Views, Calling it News Prof. John Kozy ... In short, in the free press, the news is sold by slanting it in ways that make it appealing to the target audiences, and the slanting often takes up more time than telling the story does ... The consequence of all of this is that Americans have become mentally isolated. The world beyond America 's borders is an amorphous, unknown land. As Zbigniew Brzezinski has recently said, "most Americans are close to total ignorance about the world. They are ignorant." What people don't realize is how much of this ignorance is the result of the American "free" press' need to slant its reporting. Ukraine Plans to Turn Hitler's Wartime HQ Into Tourist Center RIA-Novosti ( Russia ) Authorities in Vinnytsia, central Ukraine , have unveiled a plan to turn the remains of Hitler's eastern front military headquarters into a tourist attraction. The museum is planned to be established by May 9, the anniversary of the Victory Day over Fascism. "It is time to make the Wehrwolf headquarters a tourist destination, a memorial to the victims of fascism," the head of the local administration, Mykola Djiga was quoted by UNIAN news agency. Militant Jewish Group Seeks to Block `American Renaissance' Meeting McClatchy Newspapers A militant Jewish group has been calling Charlotte hotels in an effort to block a planned February gathering by white supremacists, even as a coalition of anarchists and liberal groups plans its own protest. The Jewish Defense Organization is threatening to boycott any hotel that hosts American Renaissance magazine's Feb. 4-6 conference. A JDO spokesman said Monday it had called 40 hotels in search of the conference site. The JDO website describes American Renaissance as "a collection of Jew-Hating and racist neo-Nazi & KKK." Renaissance editor Jared Taylor, who hasn't announced the site, dismissed the criticism. Genghis Khan, the `Green Invader'? Daily Mail ( Britain )  Genghis Khan has been branded the greenest invader in history - after his murderous conquests killed so many people that huge swathes of cultivated land returned to forest. The Mongol leader, who established a vast empire between the 13th and 14th centuries, helped remove nearly 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere, claims a new study. The deaths of 40 million people meant that large areas of cultivated land grew thick once again with trees, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. And, although his methods may be difficult for environmentalists to accept, ecologists believe it may be the first ever case of successful manmade global cooling. Apple Removes Nazi Anthem From Online iTunes Store Daily Mail ( Britain ) Apple has been left red-faced in Germany after it emerged it was allowing music lovers to download a famous Third Reich anthem. The German press revealed the online giant was breaking the law by allowing iTunes customers to download the Horst Wessel Song. Germany forbids anything that is seen as glorifying Hitler's regime and it is still illegal there to publish the lyrics ... Horst Wessel Song is named after a brown-shirted storm trooper who joined the movement in 1926, seven years before Hitler became chancellor of Germany and was raised to martyrdom after his murder ... The song became immensely popular and still many Germans know the tune to this day. The Horst Wessel Song: `Die Fahne Hoch' Music video  The lyrics of the National Socialist anthem are from a poem written in 1929 by Horst Wessel, a 22-year-old law student in Bn Berlin who also led a local SA "storm troop" unit. He was murdered by a Communist in February 1930. After its first performance at Wessel's funeral, the song quickly became popular. Although it has been officially banned in Germany since 1945, the tune is still widely familiar. Runtime: 3:13 mins. Jewish Activist Denounces Honors for French Author Céline Bruce Crumley -- Time  Should a country celebrate the work of one of its most venerated writers of the 20th century, even if he was also notorious as a vociferous anti-Semite? That's the dilemma French officials struggled with Friday, as they readied to honor Journey To the End of Night author Louis-Ferdinand Céline amid objections they'd be paying tribute to an unrepentant Nazi supporter. Controversy erupted Thursday when French Holocaust historian Serge Klarsfeld went public with his hostility to an annual event celebrating figures from France 's cultural pantheon that, this year, includes Céline. U.N. Resolution on Israeli Settlements Puts Obama in Bind Tony Karon -- Time  ... Going ahead with the resolution, which was discussed on Wednesday at the Security Council and demands an immediate halt to all Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is, of course, a vote of no-confidence in U.S. peacemaking efforts. And it creates a headache for the Obama Administration over whether to invoke the U.S. veto - as Washington has traditionally done on Council resolutions critical of Israel. The twist this time: the substance of the resolution largely echoes the Administration's own stated positions. Bury Lenin, Say Most Russians In Online Poll BBC News  An online poll organised by Russia's ruling party suggests there is strong support for burying Lenin's body. Of more than 250,000 people who have voted in the poll, two-thirds so far say Lenin should now be buried. The revolutionary leader's embalmed body has been on display in a mausoleum in Red Square in Moscow since his death in 1924. The debate about what to with his body resurfaces with every anniversary of his death - on 21 January 1924. The Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Revolution and Russia's Early Soviet Regime Mark Weber  Jews played a highly disproportionate and probably decisive role in the infant Bolshevik regime, effectively dominating the Soviet government during its early years ... With the notable exception of Lenin, most of the leading Communists who took control of Russia in 1917-20 were Jews ... The US ambassador in Russia warned in a dispatch to Washington: "The Bolshevik leaders here, most of whom are Jews and 90 percent of whom are returned exiles, care little for Russia or any other country but are internationalists and they are trying to start a worldwide social revolution." US Budget Deficit To Hit $1.48 Trillion Reuters  The U.S. budget deficit this year will jump nearly 40 percent over prior forecasts, mostly due to the mammoth tax-cut package brokered by President Barack Obama and lawmakers last month, the Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday. The CBO said the fiscal 2011 deficit will hit $1.48 trillion, up from last August's $1.07 trillion estimate, which was crafted before Bush-era tax rates were extended at a cost of $858 billion over ten years ... The $1.48 trillion deficit, CBO said, would be about 9.8 percent of GDP, higher than the 8.9 percent of GDP in 2010, but below the 10 percent in 2009. Hitler's Last Bodyguard, Now 93, Gives Up Answering Fan Mail Reuters  More than 65 years after World War Two, Adolf Hitler's last surviving bodyguard says that he can no longer respond to the continuous deluge of fan mail he receives from around the world because of his advanced age. Rochus Misch is 93 and uses a walking frame to move around his apartment. He told the Berliner Kurier tabloid that, with most of the letters he receives asking for autographs, it was "no longer possible" to reply because of his age. "They (letters) come from Korea, from Knoxville, Tennessee, from Finland and Iceland -- and not one has a bad word to say," said Misch, who is believed to be the last man alive to have seen Hitler and other top-ranking Nazis in the flesh Blair Acknowledges He Ignored Warning That Iraq War Was Illegal Radio New Zealand  Former British prime minister Tony Blair has acknowledged that he ignored the warning of his then-Attorney General that attacking Iraq was illegal without United Nations approval. Mr Blair, who was summoned on Friday for a second time by the official inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war, said he believed the warning was provisional. During a four hour appearance, he said he thought the Attorney General would change his mind on whether a second UN resolution was necessary when he knew the full details of negotiations that had been taking place. Tony Blair 'Misled' Parliament Over Legal Advice on War in Iraq The Telegraph (Britain) Tony Blair misled Parliament by claiming that Britain could legally attack Iraq in the face of United Nations opposition despite being given clear advice to the contrary, new evidence suggests. In evidence to the Iraq inquiry, Lord Goldsmith, who at the time was the government's top legal adviser, disclosed that he was "uncomfortable" about statements made by the then-prime minister in the run up to the 2003 invasion. Two months before the war began, in a meeting at No 10, the former attorney general told Mr Blair that war would not be legal without a fresh mandate from the UN. In a statement to MPs the following day, however, the Labour prime minister said that there were "circumstances" in which an attack could be valid. Former European Leaders Say Israel Must Be Forced To Obey International law Haaretz (Israel) A group of 26 senior former European leaders who held power during the past decade are calling for strong measures against Israel in response to its settlement policy and refusal to abide by international law ... The sharply worded document joins a decision by the governments of South American countries, including Brazil and Argentina, to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. In addition, the European Union Council has decided to support the Palestinian Authority's decision to establish an independent state and put an end to the occupation. Serving Up Palestine One Slice at a Time Philip Giraldi  As of last week, 110 countries in the United Nations have extended diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine. All recognize Palestine as including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, essentially the borders as they existed prior to the June 1967 Six Day War ... Whether Obama or Palin is elected in 2012 almost seems irrelevant. Six more years of this and we will be finished as a nation, bankrupt and despised everywhere, our only legacy a network of seven hundred-plus military bases falling into ruin worldwide, meant to give us peace and prosperity but delivering on neither. Israel Can't Stop Palestinian Independence Aluf Benn - Haaretz (Israel) ... The world is gradually becoming accustomed to the idea that Palestine will join the family of nations this summer. That is what U.S. President Barack Obama promised in his address to the most recent United Nations General Assembly ... The "diplomatic holding action" that Israel is conducting against Palestinian recognition has enjoyed partial success: Both the U.S. Congress and the European Union expressed their opposition to a unilateral declaration of independence. But Israel's position is eroding with every new country that recognizes Palestine in the 1967 borders. Beauty and Brains Do Go Together: Study Claims Good-Looking Men and Women Have Higher IQs Daily Mail (Britain)  Handsome men and women often appear to be blessed with lucky lives. Now research has shown they are cleverer than most people as well. Studies in Britain and America have found they have IQs 14 points above average. The findings dispel the myth of the dumb blondes or good-looking men not being very bright. It appears that those already physically blessed attract partners who are not just good looking but brainy too, according to research by the London School of Economics. The children of these couples will tend to inherit both qualities, building a genetic link over successive generations between them. Holocaust Survivor Memoir Exposed as Fraud Mark Weber - Institute for Historical Review  A Holocaust survivor memoir that has received prestigious literary awards and lavish praise has been exposed as a hoax. In Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood, Binjamin Wilkomirski describes his ordeal as an infant in the Jewish ghetto of Riga (Latvia), where his earliest memory is of seeing his father being killed. Wilkomirski also tells how he survived the terrible rigors of wartime internment, at the age of three or four, in the German-run concentration camps of Majdanek and Auschwitz. Another False Holocaust Witness: Officially Sanctioned Fraud at Dachau Mark Weber - Institute for Historical Review  Each year many thousands of tourists visit the site of the notorious Dachau concentration camp in southern Germany, not far from Munich. They see the crematory, the memorial shrines, and the museum. And in recent years, as an almost daily fixture, they see Martin Zaidenstadt. This elderly Jewish man lectures visitors to Dachau on his experiences as a wartime prisoner there. He is particularly passionate about the horrors of the camp's gas chamber where, he explains, many prisoners were put to death with poison gas ... His story of Dachau internment is a fraud. He probably never visited the camp until the 1990s, says Ryback, and his tales of gas chamber killings are untrue. In Israel, Growing Intolerance Los Angeles Times  ... It was the latest, and most overtly violent, sign of what many here are calling a wave of intolerance toward people of different races, religions, orientations and viewpoints. From rabbinical prohibitions against renting homes to "non-Jews" to government crackdowns on left-wing activists, Israelis are grappling with their nation's identity and character. Across the political spectrum, some see the struggle as a threat to Israel's democratic ideals. ... More than one-third didn't want to live next to foreigners or the mentally ill, and nearly one in four said they wouldn't want to share a street with gays or the ultra-Orthodox. "A Time to Hate," was the headline in the newspaper Haaretz this month. The Zionist Dream is Becoming a Nightmare Jerome Slater -- Tikkun (2007) The Zionist dream is becoming a nightmare. There is no place in the world where the Jewish people are more insecure than in Israel, in part, of course, because of the continuation of anti-Semitism, especially in the Islamic world, but also because of the policies and behavior of the Jewish state. As for its role of moral exemplar, today defenders of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians don't even bother to claim a higher morality. Crisis in Alabama Averted, Thanks to the ADL David Samel -- Mondoweiss Interesting story out of Alabama. The new governor, Robert Bentley, on his very first day in office, shocked the civilized world, saying that he considered only Christians to be his "brothers and sisters." Imagine that. The leader of the state identifying so strongly with his religious affiliation that he makes other citizens uncomfortable. Thank goodness the ADL came to the rescue with a public rebuke ... So we can count on ADL, zealous guardians of the principle of equality, to protect everyone against the possibility that a government, especially one that describes itself as "democratic," might be in danger of conferring rights and privileges on some of its citizens to the detriment of others. Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay: Israel-US Cyber Warfare The New York Times  The Dimona complex in the Negev desert is famous as the heavily guarded heart of Israel's never-acknowledged nuclear arms program, where neat rows of factories make atomic fuel for the arsenal. Over the past two years, according to intelligence and military experts familiar with its operations, Dimona has taken on a new, equally secret role -- as a critical testing ground in a joint American and Israeli effort to undermine Iran's efforts to make a bomb of its own ... Though American and Israeli officials refuse to talk publicly about what goes on at Dimona, the operations there, as well as related efforts in the United States, are among the newest and strongest clues suggesting that the virus was designed as an American-Israeli project to sabotage the Iranian program. Israel Has Already Attacked Iran Yossi Melman -- Haaretz (Israel) Israel will not attack Iran. At least not in the next few years. It will not attack, first and foremost, because the United States opposes such a move ... According to foreign reports, Israeli intelligence, in cooperation with its American counterparts, has made such a strike redundant. For a few months now, experts around the world have been trying to understand why Iran's nuclear program has been delayed, delays which have primarily manifested themselves in the partial shutdown of centrifuges at the Natanz facility. How War Sapped Winston Churchill's Bulldog Spirit The Sunday Times -- The Australian  The toll of World War II on Winston Churchill's health has been revealed in notes compiled by the former British prime minister's physician. The previously confidential records show a leader whose work deteriorated and whose character suffered because of years of stress that left him with "an intolerance of criticism and bad temper." Churchill's decline was exacerbated because he "never nursed his physique" and failed to "listen to advice", according to Charles Moran, his doctor for 25 years ... The doctor states: "Work begins (to) deteriorate." He saw him as "always wilful, opinionated, undisciplined", adding: "When home not working, he would spend half the night talking, smoking and drinking." Churchill's Great Mistakes Eric Margolis ... In his powerful new book, Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War, veteran politician and author Pat Buchanan challenges many historic taboos by claiming that Winston Churchill plunged Britain and its empire, including Canada, into wars whose outcomes were disastrous for all concerned. Other writers, me included, have made the same point for decades, but Buchanan has marshalled a formidable array of facts and historians to support his case ... Buchanan's book strips away lingering war propaganda and shows the cynicism, lust for power and foolishness of the "saintly" Allied war leaders and their "good" war. Berlin's Hitler Exhibition Fails to Break New Ground David Crossland -- Der Spiegel (Germany) The exhibition on Hitler that opened in Berlin on Friday has merely tapped into existing fascination with the Führer rather than break new ground in exploring German history. It is a missed opportunity because Germany needs to find a new approach towards confronting its past ... The Führer is omnipresent in Germany today. It is big business for the media. TV channels broadcast documentaries about him, the Nazi era or World War II almost daily ... The Berlin exhibition, while laudable and no doubt illuminating for school groups, merely confirms that interest in the Nazi era is steadily increasing. Austria Joins the German Reich Video  This portrayal of the 1938 union ("Anschluss") of Austria with the German Reich, includes contemporary film footage with recent English-language voiceover commentary. Runtime: 4:14 mins. For decades US media and American history texts have portrayed the union of Austria with the Reich as an act of "aggression" or "rape." The truth is exactly the opposite. Rarely in history has a historical event taken place with broader and more joyful popular approval. American Anthropological Association Drops the Word `Science' The New York Times The battle of the anthropologists -- those who hew closely to scientific tradition versus those who take a more humanistic approach -- flared again Monday, as the organization that represents both sides tried to patch things up. The American Anthropological Association had caused a stir by dropping the word "science" from its long-range plan, angering the evidence-based anthropologists who worry about their field's growing too soft. All three mentions of the word "science" were excised, and two were replaced by the phrase "the public understanding of humankind." .... "We evolutionary anthropologists are outnumbered by the new cultural or social anthropologists, many but not all of whom are postmodern, which seems to translate into antiscience," Dr. Marlowe said. A Reagan Legacy: Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants NPR  As the nation's attention turns back to the fractured debate over immigration, it might be helpful to remember that in 1986, Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill into law. It was sold as a crackdown: There would be tighter security at the Mexican border, and employers would face strict penalties for hiring undocumented workers. But the bill also made any immigrant who'd entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty -- a word not usually associated with the father of modern conservatism ... Nowadays, conservative commentators like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh often invoke the former president as a champion of the conservative agenda. The Failed Amnesty Legislation of 1986 The New York Times (2006) Day in and day out, as the immigration debate boils, the halls of Congress are haunted by the specter of Senate Bill 1200, the failed amnesty legislation of 1986. President Ronald Reagan signed that bill into law with great fanfare amid promises that it would grant legal status to illegal immigrants, crack down on employers who hired illegal workers and secure the border once and for all. Instead, fraudulent applications tainted the process, many employers continued their illicit hiring practices, and illegal immigration surged. Peace Corps Gang Rape: Volunteer Says US Agency Ignored Warnings ABC News  More than 1,000 young American women have been raped or sexually assaulted in the last decade while serving as Peace Corps volunteers in foreign countries, an ABC News 20/20 investigation has found. In some cases, victims say, the Peace Corps has ignored safety concerns and later tried to blame the women who were raped for bringing on the attacks. Washington Is Trying To Stop UN Resolution Against Israeli Settlements The Telegraph (Britain)  Washington is desperately trying to head off a United Nations resolution condemning Jewish settlements in Jerusalem and the disputed West Bank territories that is presenting Barack Obama with one of the most acute dilemmas of his presidency ... The US, which has frequently wielded its veto at the Security Council in support of Israel, finds itself isolated in its opposition to the resolution, which would probably be supported by all other 14 members of the Security Council, including Britain and the other permanent members. New European Union School Calendar Omits Christian Holidays Catholic News Agency  A 2011-2012 school calendar published by the European Union has omitted Christian holidays, while continuing to note important Jewish and Muslim celebrations. The European Union has printed three million copies of the calendar which will be distributed free-of-charge to students who request them ... While Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter are missing from the calendar's pages, days commemorating "Sikh Baisakhi-Day, the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday, the Muslim holiday Aid-el-Kebir," remain in place ... JFK's Inaugural Speech: Six Secrets of His Success Max Atkinson -- BBC News  President John F Kennedy would have been delighted to know that his inaugural address [of Jan. 20, 1961] is still remembered and admired 50 years later. ... It was a model example of how to make the most of the main rhetorical techniques and figures of speech that have been at the heart of all great speaking for more than 2,000 years. Most important among these are: Recipe for Success: 1. Contrasts. 2. Three-part lists. 3. Contrasts combined with lists. 4. Alliteration. 5. Bold imagery. 6. Audience analysis. Who Were The First Terrorists in the Middle East? Press TV (Video)  The first terrorists in what is now modern Israel/ Palestine were Zionists, especially the militant groups "Irgun" and "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel" or "Stern Gang," which carried out bombings, murders and assassinations 1944-1948. They were condemned as terrorists by the United Nations and by the British authorities who controlled Palestine at the time. Prominent among the Zionist terrorists were two men who later served as prime minister of Israel: Menachem Begin, a prominent "Irgun" figure, and Yitzhak Shamir, a "Stern Gang" leader. Runtime: 10:05 mins. `Nazi' Smears on George VI Threatens Colin Firth's Oscar Hopes The Telegraph (Britain)  Colin Firth's hopes of Oscar glory for his portrayal of George VI [ in "The King's Speech"] are under threat from an apparent internet smear campaign alleging that the wartime monarch had Nazi sympathies. Firth, 50, has been named best actor at the Golden Globes ceremony in Los Angeles, which is recognised as a key indicator of likely success in the Academy Awards ... A significant number of members of the academy come from Jewish families that emigrated to America from Nazi-occupied Europe. One leading historian said yesterday that it was ludicrous to suggest that the Royal family was anti-Semitic and the King had just been mirroring government policy in 1939. The Crown and the Coals: Behind the Lebanon Crisis Uri Avnery (Israel) ... The Americans resemble - and even upstage - the Israelis in their arrogance and ignorance, which border on fatal irresponsibility. Their intervention this week, emanating from a frivolous contempt for the incredible complexity that is called Lebanon, may bring about a civil war and/or a conflagration that may involve Israel. All this would have been prevented, and 90 years of suffering might have been avoided, if the Christians had been satisfied with their part of the country. When they chose the option of "Greater Lebanon" - a clear parallel to "Greater Israel" - they condemned themselves and their country to 90 years of struggle and pain, without an end in sight. US 'Democratization' Initiative in the Middle East is Insincere Mark Weber ... In countries where popular sentiment has been able to express itself politically, the government is usually more anti-American. This is true not only in the Middle East, but also in Europe, Asia and Latin America ...To suppose that the United States, or any outside power, can impose its own notion of democracy or freedom on another country is both arrogant and stupid. Every nation naturally has its own concept of a just and free society. In the short run, the prospects for democratization in the Middle East are poor, because the U.S. will continue to carry out policies in the region that are motivated primarily by concern for Israel. In Canada, Ukrainian and German Groups Oppose Museum's Holocaust Exhibit Canadian Jewish News ... At issue is how the Holocaust will be presented in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a national museum now under construction in Winnipeg ... The UCCLA and its sister group, the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (UCC), are upset that a report published in September by a 17-member museum-content advisory committee granted permanent gallery space to only the Holocaust and Canada's aboriginal peoples. The Ukrainian groups' concern is shared by the German-Canadian Congress, which issued a statement last month noting its "alarm and concern about the museum's dedication of permanent galleries to Holocaust and Canadian aboriginal issues." Growing Support for `New Look' European Right AFP  Almost all in their 40s, a new generation of extreme-right political leaders are taking root across a fortress-Europe hunkering down to foreigner-phobia, analysts say ... "The new-look far-right is more than just a protest movement," said Magali Balent of the Robert Schuman Foundation. "It's developed an ethnically-based discourse about European identity that's in phase with social problems." Far-right parties currently are in government in Italy and backing minority cabinets in Denmark and the Netherlands. They also sit in the parliaments of Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia and Sweden. Ike Was Right All Along: Danger of the Military-Industrial Complex Rupert Cornwell -- The Independent (Britain)  Exactly 50 years ago, on January 17, 1961, President Eisenhower delivered one of the most celebrated farewell speeches in American history, whose fame has only increased over the decades, eclipsed not even by JFK's inspirational inaugural that followed three days later. Kennedy might have projected the dynamism of youth. But the old soldier won the prize for prescience. In his speech, Eisenhower warned about the growth of a 'military-industrial complex,' and the risks it could pose ... Adjusted for inflation, US national security spending has more than doubled since Eisenhower left office. The `Military Industrial Complex' Danger: A Presidential Warning Dwight Eisenhower - Video  In his farewell address, delivered to the American people on national television, Jan. 17, 1961, President Eisenhower spoke firmly, and in carefully chosen words, to warn against the dangers in the years to come of the great "military-industrial complex." Excerpt. Runtime: 1:54 mins. "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." Dangerous Presidential Distortions of History Mark Weber  ... Most Americans -- whether they call themselves conservative or liberal -- like to regard World War II as "the good war," a morally unambiguous conflict between Good and Evil ... The hubris of Clinton's portrayal of history is not merely an affront against historical truth, it is dangerous because it sanctions potentially even more calamitous military adventures in the future. After all, if the United States was as righteous and as successful as the President says it was in "saving the world" in two world wars, why would anyone oppose similar world-saving crusades in the future? What Chance a U.S. Default? Financial Times (Britain) It was the most startling of warnings. If the U.S. does not get its finances in order "we will have a European situation on our hands, and possibly worse", claimed Paul Ryan, the new Republican chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee. As it stands today, the U.S. borrows about 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Curbing the budget deficit has been the stated mission of Mr. Ryan, a rising Republican star, for several years. But such calls for action have multiplied in Washington in recent months, igniting what some say is the fiercest debate over fiscal and budgetary policy in decades. The risks are big. Geithner Says U.S. Insolvent Michael S. Rozeff  The U.S. government is insolvent. Who says so? Timothy F. Geithner, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner sent a letter to Congress on Jan. 6 asking for the debt limit to be raised. If it is not raised, he warned, the U.S. will default on its debt. In his words: "Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the debt limit when necessary. Failure to raise the limit would precipitate a default by the United States." He didn't say that the government will be inconvenienced. He didn't say that the government would be forced to muddle through by delaying payments, raising taxes, and cutting non-obligatory programs and services. He said the government will default. Shoah Backfires Gilad Atzmon For years Israelis and Zionists have been pumping 'Shoah' into our veins by using every possible propaganda outlet: media, education, Hollywood, music, literature, billboards and so on. Seemingly they have been very successful : We are all properly ' Holocausted '. We accept the suffering of the Jewish people -- and we have even managed to draw a universal message from it all ... The Jewish Chronicle is very disturbed by a UK-based pro Palestinian web site named shoah.org.uk. The site is obviously dedicated to the Palestinian Holocaust. The Jewish paper insists that the Shoah -- like Israel -- is a 'Jews only club'. In South Florida, 1,200 Zionist Activists Rally For Israel Miami Herald (Florida) More than 1,200 people flocked Sunday morning to Watson Island in Miami to hear how they can fight efforts by foreign nations, academics and the elements of the news media to condemn Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state and defend itself against attacks from its enemies. Michael B. Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, told the largely Jewish crowd at Jungle Island that the delegitimization of Israel is an existential threat to his country. He called on them to fight against a campaign to ``boycott, divest and sanction Israel,'' or BDS. Boycott, divest and sanction was one of several topics discussed during ``Combating the Campaign to Delegitimize Israel,'' sponsored by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. Hasbara Span Alert; Israel's Campaign For `Positive' Internet Spin Richard Silverstein -- The Guardian (Britain) With Israel's foreign ministry organising volunteers to flood news websites with pro-Israeli comments, Propaganda 2.0 is here / The hasbara brigade strikes again! You always hear about Israeli attempts at media manipulation. Everyone knows it's going on but usually the process happens through cyber insurgents like those involved with Giyus (and its media monitoring software, Megaphone). Now, we know that the Israeli foreign ministry itself is orchestrating propaganda efforts designed to flood news websites with pro-Israel arguments and information. Zionist Online Activists Promote Pro-Israel Wikipedia Image Arutz Sheva - Israel National News (Israel)  Wikipedia has become the new battleground for Israel's PR image. The Yisrael Sheli (My Israel) movement and the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, have joined together for a new public relations initiative. Together they will soon offer a special course for volunteers who wish to write and edit English entries on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Ayelet Shaked, who is heading the project, was interviewed on Monday on Arutz 7 Radio, and said that she was surprised at the large number of individuals who have gotten in touch with her so far and are interested in joining the course. In Israel, `Dangerous' Websites Blocked From Viewing at Airport Haaretz (Israel) Internet sites of [some] political organizations, both left-wing and right-wing, have been barred from viewing at Ben-Gurion Airport, Haaretz has learned. They are blocked by an information filtering company that classifies them as "dangerous." Barred sites include leftist organizations Breaking the Silence, Machsom Watch, Peace Now and Taayush and the rightist Legal Forum for the Land of Israel and World Headquarters to Save the People and Land of Israel. Sites operated by parties and other groups with political affiliations were easily accessed. Racism or Stupidity Walter E. Williams  A black or white person, now dead, who lived during the civil-rights struggles of the 1930s, '40s or '50s, might very well be appalled and disgusted by black behavior accepted today ... The pathology seen among a large segment of the black population is not likely to change, because it's not seen for what it is. It has little to do with slavery, poverty and racial discrimination. Let's look at it. Today's black illegitimacy rate is about 70 percent. US Banks Foreclosed on Record One Million Homes in 2010 BBC News  Banks repossessed a record one million US homes in 2010, and could surpass that number this year, figures show. Foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac said about five million homeowners were at least two months behind on their mortgage payments. Foreclosures are likely to remain numerous while unemployment remains stubbornly high, the group said. Among the worst hit states were Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California, once at the heart of the housing boom. Wage Drop Has Been Worst In Decades Huffington Post Wages for American workers have fallen dramatically since the financial crisis, in what will likely turn out to be the worst such plunge since the Great Depression, the Wall Street Journal reports. When hard times hit, employers typically are reluctant to reduce wages. But this downturn has been different ... Among people who are lucky enough to have work, living standards have been significantly downgraded. What's The Difference Between Nazi And Zionist War Criminals? Alan Hart Short answer: Great effort is made to hunt down and prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals, no effort is made to bring Zionist war criminals to justice. On 13 January, the BBC's World News web site had a lengthy story with the headline Global Nazi investigations rise for a second year ... If there was an institution working to bring Zionist war criminals to justice, it would have to award failing grades to every country on Planet Earth. As Efraim Zuroff said, it is a matter of political will, but President Obama's burial of the Goldstone Report is surely proof that it does not exist for calling and holding Israel's leaders (some of them) to account for their crimes. 'And No One Wants to Know': Israeli Soldiers on the Occupation David Shulman -- The New York Review of Books  The publication in Jerusalem of Occupation of the Territories: Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies 2000-2010 -- unprecedented first-hand accounts by over one hundred Israeli soldiers of their experiences while serving in the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] ... But apart from atrocities like that one, what most shocks the reader of these testimonies is the routine, daily terror and humiliation inflicted on an innocent civilian population ... Most painful of all is the inescapable realization that the events reported by the soldiers -- in straightforward, unpretentious, searing language -- are in no sense unusual. They describe the rule and the norm, the very stuff of the occupation, now forty-three-and-a-half years old and going strong. In the Struggle for Peace and Justice: Countering Jewish-Zionist Power Mark Weber ... By supporting Israel and its policies, the United States betrays not only its own national interests, but the principles it claims to embody and defend. The only country in the world that has a nuclear weapons arsenal, that occupies territory of its neighbors, and which is in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions - is Israel. In fact, if the United States were to hold Israel to the same standards that it has applied to Iraq, Serbia, and other countries, American bombers and missiles would be blasting Tel Aviv, and American troops would seize Israel's leaders and punish them for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Global Economy Cannot `Face Major New Shocks,' Says World Economic Forum BBC News The global economy is "in no position to face major new shocks", according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Its Global Risks 2011 report warns that economic imbalances, volatile commodity prices and currencies, and governments' budget shortfalls are "unsustainable". Rapid population growth is another risk, pushing up demand for food, water and energy by 30-50% by 2030. The WEF warns that there is no sign of governments agreeing on how to achieve sustainable economic growth worldwide. The German Red Cross During World War II Video  A brief 1944 German color film report on the wartime German Red Cross. With English subtitles. Runtime 2:35 mins. US Is Reaching `Point Of No Return,' Warns Former Budget Director Stockman Nathan Diebenow -- Raw Story  The Obama administration's $78 billion cut to US defense spending is a mere "pin-prick" to a behemoth military-industrial complex that must drastically shrink for the good of the republic, a former Reagan administration budget director recently told Raw Story. "It amounts to a failed opportunity to recognize that we are now at a historical inflection point at which the time has arrived for a classic post-war demobilization of the entire military establishment," David Stockman said in an exclusive interview. "The Cold War is long over," he continued. "The wars of occupation are almost over and were complete failures -- Afghanistan and Iraq. The American empire is done." Spinning Unemployment in a Collapsing Empire Paul Craig Roberts ... Today the United States has only 11,670,000 manufacturing jobs, less than 9% of total jobs. Yet, despite America's heavy dependence on foreign manufactures and foreign creditors, the idiots in Washington think that they are a superpower standing astride the world like a colossus ... The U.S. government, regardless of political party or president, is committed to American hegemony over the world. The Congress has just passed the largest military budget in history, and there is no indication that any of America's wars and military occupations are near an end ... A country that is the font of war and oppression, whose dominance rests on the weak reed of puppet states, and whose economy is collapsing will not long remain dominant. Stalin: `Chief Culprit' of World War II Victor Suvorov - C-Span - Video  Viktor Suvorov, a Russian historian and former Soviet military intelligence officer, explains why Stalin should be considered the "chief culprit" of World War II. In this lecture, based on research for several books including The Chief Culprit, he presents evidence to show that the German attack against the Soviet Union in June 1941 was a preventive strike to counter an imminent Soviet assault against Germany and Europe. This two-hour talk was given at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, Feb. 3, 2009. Suvorov also responds to questions from the audience. Examining Stalin's 1941 Plan to Attack Germany Daniel Michaels - Institute for Historical Review ... Free Russian and German historians are collaborating to ascertain the historical decisions and actions that led to that bloodiest of all conflicts. Wolfgang Strauss, a respected German Slavicist and political analyst, explains this clarifying historical process in "Operation Barbarossa and the Russian Historians' Dispute," ... He examines here the research of revisionist scholars in Russia and Germany on Stalin's role in igniting the German-Russian conflict and his efforts to expand the Soviet empire across Europe ... Strauss affirms the view of German historian Ernst Nolte that Hitler's militant anti-Communism was an understandable reaction to the looming Soviet threat to Europe and humanity. World War II, the Third Reich and Hitler: A Witness of History Remembers Otto Ernst Remer - Institute for Historical Review  ... The initial successes of our forces against the Soviets were due to the fact that the Russians were not stationed in defense positions, but were instead positioned right at the front for attack, which made it possible for us to quickly encircle large Soviet forces. Thus, in the first weeks of the war, we were able to capture more than three million prisoners of war as well as enormous quantities of war equipment, all of which was on the frontier, positioned for attack. That's the truth of the matter, which can be proven. Putting Down the `Valkyrie' Conspiracy: My Role in Berlin on July 20, 1944 Otto Ernst Remer ... About an hour and a half after the "Valkyrie" order was given [by the von Stauffenberg conspirators], my regiment, by then combat-ready, moved into the areas to be sealed off in accordance with its orders. The normal guard units, such as those at the War Memorial and the Bendlerblock, the headquarters of the Commander of the Replacement Army and of the Defense Production Office, remained at their posts ... Goebbels asked me to address the troops assembled there, which I did. Their outrage at the traitorous goings-on was so great that they would have torn every single conspirator to pieces, had they been there. Economists Foretell of US Decline, China's Ascension Reuters To hear a number of prominent economists tell it, it doesn't look good for the U.S. economy, not this year, not in ten years. Leading thinkers in the dismal science speaking at an annual convention offered varying visions of U.S. economic decline, in the short, medium and long term. This year, the recovery may bog down as government stimulus measures dry up. In the long run, the United States must face up to inevitably being overtaken by China as the world's largest economy. And it may have missed a chance to rein in its largest financial institutions, many of whom remain too big to fail and are getting bigger. Joseph Goebbels: `Casanova' of the Nazis The Telegraph (Britain)  A new biography of Joseph Goebbels, the limping Nazi propaganda chief, shows him to be a serial seducer who kept detailed notes of his affairs ... In his 912-page study, Joseph Goebbels: Biography, Peter Longerich, a German academic and history professor at the University of London, has delved into rarely-accessed material from his subject's diaries, which span 30 years, to paint a remarkable portrait of the man who became one of Hitler's most trusted lieutenants. Goebbels and the `Big Lie' Legend Mark Weber ...The popular image of this man, particularly in the United States, is a crude caricature... Contrary to popular belief, Goebbels was successful as a propagandist not because he was a master of the "Big Lie," but rather as a result of his fidelity to facts and truth. As biographer Heiber notes: "Goebbels was accordingly able to celebrate his information policy as being not only superior to the enemy's in its monolithic character, but also of a `seriousness and credibility' which `simply cannot be surpassed.' The boast could be made with some justification: Seen in the long view, Goebbels preached, the best propaganda is that which does no more than serve the truth." Israel's Orthodox Rabbis: 'Palestinians to the Ovens!' Richard Silverstein -- Tikun Olam Back in the days of the Shoah, one of the slogans of the Jew haters was: "Jews to the Ovens." Now, it causes me anguish to say, we have Israeli Orthodox rabbis saying the same about the Palestinians ... A shocking passage in an Israeli Orthodox "family magazine," Fountains of Salvation, which suggests that Israel will create death camps for Palestinians in order to wipe them out like Amalek. Bit By Bit, A Mexican Police Force Is Eradicated The New York Times ... It was an ominous punctuation mark on the wave of terror that has turned this cotton farming town near Texas into a frightened outpost of the drug war. Nearly half of its 9,000 residents have fled, local officials say, leaving block after block of scorched homes and businesses and, now, not one regular police officer. Far from big, infamous cities like Ciudad Juárez, one of the most violent places in the Americas, the war with organized crime can batter small towns just as hard, if with less notice. The cotton towns south of Juárez sit in territory disputed by at least two major drug trafficking groups, according to government and private security reports, leading to deadly power struggles. New Hitler Package Tour Causes Controversy The First Post (Britain) Historians are divided over plans for a luxury, eight-day package tour of sites relating to Adolf Hitler, with some saying it will turn into a "perverse pilgrimage".The trip, scheduled for June, will visit the Munich beer cellar where the future Fuhrer launched his ill-fated 1923 putsch, Berchtesgaden where Hitler had his 'Eagle's Nest' castle, and Berlin where he committed suicide. Basic Premises Charley Reese  What follows are a few of the basic premises on which I base my thinking. You might or might not agree with them, but may I suggest that you make a list of your own basic premises. It will help you clarify your thinking ... The universal franchise is a bad idea. The notion that the destiny of the nation should be put in the hands of ignoramuses, parasites, boobs, party hacks and idiots is absurd on its face. Public education in America is a failure and is so flawed it cannot be reformed. Not much has changed in the past 5,000 years of human history. New Book Exposes Zionist Occupation As Seen By Israeli Troops AFP  ... "The book exposes the operational methods of the Israeli military in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the impact of these methods on the people who live in the territories -- Palestinians, settlers and the soldiers themselves," reads the introduction in an advance copy obtained by AFP. The book targets ordinary Israelis and tries to show that, contrary to the army's claims that its actions are purely defensive, the policy on the ground is "an offensive one which includes expropriation of territory, tightening control over the civilian population and instilling fear." Former Israel Soldiers Testify Against Army Abuses The Independent (Britain)  Former Israeli soldiers who have testified against army abuses have for the first time given up their anonymity, to make their voices all the harder to ignore ... / For anyone who has covered Israel, the West Bank and Gaza over the past few years, reading Occupation of the Territories, the new book from the Israeli ex-soldiers organisation Breaking the Silence, can be an eerily evocative experience ... While Israeli forces have indeed had to deal with "concrete threats in the past decade, including terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens", their operations, especially in the West Bank, extend beyond the solely defensive and "systematically" lead to the "de facto annexation" of occupied territory "through the dispossession of Palestinian residents". Walking Santa, Talking Christ: Why Americans Claim to Be More Religious Than They Are Slate.com ... The results are surprising. Americans are hardly more religious than people living in other industrialized countries. Yet they consistently -- and more or less uniquely -- want others to believe they are more religious than they really are. Religion in America seems tied up with questions of identity in ways that are not the case in other industrialized countries. When you ask Americans about their religious beliefs, it's like asking them whether they are good people, or asking whether they are patriots. The Farce of a Secular and Democratic Jewish State Gideon Levy -- Haaretz (Israel) ... Ten times more significant is the question whether we happen to be living in the only country on earth where clerics determine the right to citizenship. No less important, how do we dare continue deceiving ourselves that this is a secular and democratic state? The rabbis are Israel's gatekeepers. What most of them believe became painfully evident recently when they published a ruling that prohibits renting apartments to Arabs and foreigners ... The time has come for normalcy, for joining the enlightened world, in which immigration laws are determined solely by civil criteria. Not entry for all - there's no such thing anywhere in the world - but criteria of a state and society, not of God and religious law. Secret 1970s Files Show Trident Strike `To Kill Ten Million Russians' The Guardian (Britain)  The British government opted for the Trident nuclear weapons system because it estimated it could kill up to ten million Russians and inflict "unacceptable damage" on the former Soviet Union, according to secret Whitehall documents written in the 1970s. The macabre calculations that underpinned the decision in 1980 to replace Polaris nuclear missiles with Trident have been revealed by a Ministry of Defence memo, marked "personal and top secret". In a nuclear war, Britain would have had to be prepared "to finish what we start", it said. Other MoD documents set out in chilling detail exactly how an attack on Moscow and St Petersburg could cause enough death and destruction "to bring about the breakdown of the city as a functioning community". In Egypt, Outrage Over Israeli Killing of Captured Prisoners Reuters (2007) Egypt summoned Israel's envoy to Cairo yesterday after Israeli media allegations that the Israeli Army may have killed 250 captured Egyptian soldiers at the end of the 1967 Middle East war. Two ruling party lawmakers demanded the ambassador's expulsion. Another called for a special parliamentary session for a declaration of war on the Jewish state. Egyptians were outraged by an Israeli documentary film which, according to media reports, alleged an army unit led by Benjamin Ben Eliezer, now Israel's infrastructure minister, may have killed 250 prisoners of war in the Sinai Peninsula rather than transferring them to POW camps. Author Called `Nazi' For Writing Guide to Dating Jews The Observer (Britain) Kristina Grish has been described as a "Nazi" and little better than a prostitute. Her crime: writing a light-hearted, non-Jewish woman's guide to understanding Jewish men. On Web sites and letters pages in Israel and the US, Jewish women have railed at Grish, an American Protestant, accusing her of making it harder for them to find a Jewish man and trying to destroy Judaism. On the surface, Boy Vey! The Shiksa's Guide to Dating Jewish Men, has little in common with Mein Kampf, but Grish has touched the insecurity of some Jews who feel that marrying outside their religion will lead to its gradual erosion. The title is a play on the Yiddish exclamation Oy vey, and shiksa is a Yiddish word for a non-Jewish woman. A Far From Happy New Year William Pfaff  The United States will begin 2011 waging one major war that is now ten years old and showing serious signs of being lost ... It also possesses by far the largest armed forces on Earth, which demand from a profoundly indebted nation still more sophisticated equipment and better recruits, since the Americans they are now enlisting, by standard U.S. military criteria of IQ and level of education, come from the bottom of the barrel of eligible men and women, so that it has become increasingly necessary to recruit from immigrant and foreign populations ... The inevitable result will simply be more aggression, war, reciprocal terrorism, defeat and failure. This promises a far from happy new year! Lindbergh's April 1941 New York Speech Charles A. Lindbergh  ... There is a policy open to this nation that will lead to success -- a policy that leaves us free to follow our own way of life, and to develop our own civilization. It is not a new and untried idea. It was advocated by Washington. It was incorporated in the Monroe Doctrine. Under its guidance, the United States became the greatest nation in the world. It is based upon the belief that the security of a nation lies in the strength and character of its own people ... The time has come when those of us who believe in an independent American destiny must band together, and organize for strength. We have been led toward war by a minority of our people. This minority has power. It has influence. It has a loud voice. But it does not represent the American people. Who Started World War II? Victor Suvorov - Video  In this lecture, Viktor Suvorov shows that Stalin should be considered the "chief culprit" of World War II. In his much-discussed book "Icebreaker," and in several follow-up works, the Russian historian presents extensive evidence to show that the German attack against the Soviet Union in June 1941 was a preventive strike because Stalin was preparing to launch a massive Soviet assault against Germany and Europe. This lecture by Suvorov was given at the US Naval Academy in Oct. 2009. This video presentation is in four parts. Runtime of this first part: 13 mins. Who Was Planning to Attack Whom in June 1941, Hitler or Stalin? Viktor Suvorov -- RUSI Journal (1985) ... Between August 1939 and April 1941, the number of armies on the Soviet Western border increased from zero to eleven. Three more joined them during May together with five airborne corps. If Hitler had not attacked first, Stalin would have had 23 armies and more than 20 independent corps facing him. This took place before general mobilization ... If all this is viewed in the context of the Zhukov doctrinal framework outlined earlier, then it becomes clear that the only credible military intention which Stalin could have had was to begin the war himself in the summer of 1941. Did Hitler Want War? Patrick J. Buchanan  .. . But if Hitler was out to conquer the world - Britain, Africa, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, South America, India, Asia, Australia - why did he spend three years building that hugely expensive Siegfried Line to protect Germany from France? Why did he start the war with no surface fleet, no troop transports and only 29 oceangoing submarines? ... Why did he offer the British peace, twice, after Poland fell, and again after France fell? Why, when Paris fell, did Hitler not demand the French fleet, as the Allies demanded and got the Kaiser's fleet? Why did he not demand bases in French-controlled Syria to attack Suez? Israel Deliberately Choked Gaza Economy, US Cable Reveals AFP Israel deliberately maintained the economy of the Gaza strip "on the brink of collapse" without "pushing it over the edge," a leaked US diplomatic cable from 2008 showed Wednesday. According to a cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv dated November 3, 2008 -- obtained by WikiLeaks and posted online by Norwegian daily Aftenposten -- Israeli officials told US diplomats of their intention to strangle the economy of Gaza. "As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed ... on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge," the secret cable, posted online in its original version, read. On Palestine, the US is a Rogue State John Whitbeck -- The Guardian (Britain)  ... Of the world's nine most populous states, eight (all except the US) recognise the state of Palestine. Of the world's 20 most populous states, 15 (all except the US, Japan, Mexico, Germany and Thailand) recognise the state of Palestine ... By its slavish subservience to Israel - as reflected yet again, both in the absence of a single brave voice raised against this new House resolution and in the Obama administration's recently rejected offer of a huge military and diplomatic bribe to Israel in reward for a mere 90-day suspension of its illegal colonisation programme - the United States has effectively excluded itself from the true international community (redefined to refer to the great majority of mankind) and become a true rogue state, acting in consistent and flagrant contempt of both international law and fundamental human rights. Furor Over Censored Edition of Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn' BBC News  A new edition of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is causing controversy because of the removal of a racially offensive word. Twain scholar Alan Gribben says the use of the word "nigger" had prompted many US schools to stop teaching the classic. In his edition, Professor Gribben replaces the word with "slave" and also changes "injun" to "Indian". But the publisher says hundreds of people have complained about the edits. First published in 1884, Huckleberry Finn is considered one of the great American novels. While telling the story of a boy's journey down the Mississippi River some time between 1835 and 1845, the novel satirises Southern attitudes on race and slavery. Hitler Mania: Popular Berlin Exhibition Is Extended Three Weeks Daily Mail (Britain) So many people have been flocking to Germany's first postwar exhibition devoted to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler that it has been extended by three weeks. Over the past three months, 'Hitler and the Germans' has attracted more than 170,000 visitors. The Berlin exhibition, which will now run until February 27, explores explores the links between German society and Hitler's rise to power in 1933, and how he managed not only to win power but to cling on to it even as total defeat loomed. In Croatia, Memorial Service For World War II Leader RDP B92 (Serbia)  A memorial service was held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zagreb on Tuesday evening for Ante Pavelic. The service also mentioned Jure Francetic, commander of the Ustasha Crna Legija (Black Legion). The service was held by priests Vjekoslav Lasic and Stanislav Kos, who in referred to Pavelic as a respectable man who made sacrifices for all of Croatia. Lasic, famous for his pro-Ustasha attitude and Pavelic-inspired sermons, called on the attendees to pray not only for Pavelic but also for Francetic, who, according to him, gave his life for Croatia. Mapping Ancient Germania: Researchers Crack the Ptolemy Code Der Spiegel (Germany) A second century map of Germania by the scholar Ptolemy has always stumped scholars, who were unable to relate the places depicted to known settlements. Now a team of researchers have cracked the code, revealing that half of Germany's cities are 1,000 years older than previously thought. Major Media Won't Publish Israel-Embarrassing Documents, Says Assange The Jerusalem Post (Israel)  Assange tells Al Jazeera newspapers hesitant to publish sensitive info on Israel, cites cables on Mossad's role in Dubai ... / Wikileaks will release cables concerning Israel, the Second Lebanon War and the Mabhouh assassination in the next six months, its founder Julian Assange said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday. Assange said only a small number of documents related to Israel have been published so far because newspapers in the West that had exclusive rights to publish the material were hesitant to publish sensitive information about Israel. Wikileaks: Israel Plans New War On Lebanon, Gaza Juan Cole  The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has summarized an Israeli military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi of a US congressional delegation a little over a year ago and concludes that "The memo on the talks between Ashkenazi and [Congressman Ike] Skelton, as well as numerous other documents from the same period of time, to which Aftenposten has gained access, leave a clear message: The Israeli military is forging ahead at full speed with preparations for a new war in the Middle East." The paper says that US cables quote Ashkenazi telling the US congressmen, "I'm preparing the Israeli army for a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite." How I Was Smeared As An Anti-Semite Christina Patterson -- The Independent (Britain)  ... The "Museum of Tolerance", by the way, is a "human rights laboratory and educational centre" funded by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre. There's one in New York and there's going to be one in Jerusalem, on the site of a Muslim cemetery, which the Muslims haven't regarded as all that tolerant, which the Muslims have, in fact, been quite upset by ... They [the Simon Wiesenthal Center] seem pretty damn serious that their support for "Jewish Rights in the World" translates into direct support of Israel, too. More British Are Choosing To Become Muslim Daily Mail (Britain)  The number of Muslim converts in Britain has passed 100,000, fuelled by a surge in young white women adopting the Islamic faith. The figure has almost doubled in ten years - with the average convert now a 27-year-old white woman fed up with British consumerism and immorality. The numbers, revealed in a study by multi-faith group Faith Matters, have led to claims that the country is undergoing a process of 'Islamification." The survey of converts revealed nearly two thirds were women, more than 70 per cent were white and the average age at conversion was just 27. Ancient Keltic Treasure Uncovered in Germany Der Spiegel (Germany)  German archeologists have unearthed a 2,600-year-old Keltic tomb containing a treasure of jewelry made of gold, amber and bronze. The subterranean chamber measuring four by five meters was uncovered near the prehistoric Heuneburg hill fort near the town of Herbertingen in southwestern Germany. Its contents, including the oak floor of the room, are unusually well preserved. The find is a "milestone for the reconstruction of the social history of the Kelts," archeologist Dirk Krausse, the director of the dig, said on Tuesday. Most Israelis Approve Racist Rabbis Rev. Ted Pike A recent poll in Israel showed a majority of Israelis (51%) support the racism of 50 top rabbis. Agreeing that "racism originates in the Torah," the rabbis signed a declaration banning Arabs from renting or buying real estate from Jews in Israel. A staggering 41% of secular Israelis, 64% of Orthodox, and 88% of Ultra-Orthodox agree with these rabbis Most "Israel-first" evangelicals have argued that the people of Israel are remarkably peace-loving and generous constituents of the Mideast's only democracy, even if their former leaders may have done violence to the Palestinians. But past and current events contradict this. A `Neo-Nazi' Village in Germany Der Spiegel (Germany) Hitler salutes in the street and firing practice in the forest: Neo-Nazis have taken over an entire village in Germany, and authorities appear to have given up efforts to combat the problem. The place has come to symbolize the far right's growing influence in parts of the former communist east. Will 2011 Become 1848? Philip Giraldi  ... How much different will 2011 be? The world's economies are in danger of sinking, dragged down by a US economy which is on the verge of insolvency. President Barack Obama and his cheerleaders boast of the Administration's successes, but apart from a badly needed START treaty with Russia, which was clearly in the national interest, there is little enough to show. The US is failing to produce jobs for its people, is awash with debt, and is mired down in two wars that it cannot and will not be able to finish with a third and larger conflict waiting in the wings. As in 1848, there is a clear division between the people and their leaders. The US Economy in 2011 Robert Reich What will happen to the US economy in 2011? If you're referring to profits of big corporations and Wall Street, next year is likely to be a good one. But if you're referring to average American workers, far from good ... Most Americans don't have the dough. They're still deep in debt, can't borrow against their homes, and have to start saving for retirement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is rising because of foreign sales. General Motors is now making more cars in China than in the US, and two-thirds of its total sales are coming from abroad. When it went public last month it boasted that soon almost half its cars will be made around the world where labor is less than $15 an hour. Israeli Rabbis Tell Jews Not To Rent or Sell to Non-Jews The Telegraph (Britain)  Fifty Israeli rabbis have signed an open letter warning Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews, saying those who do should be "ostracised". "In answer to the many questions, we say that it is forbidden in the Torah to sell a house or a field in the land of Israel to a foreigner," they wrote, referring to the Pentateuch - the first five books of the Bible. The letter, which was signed mostly by state-employed rabbis, warns that "he who sells or rents them a flat in an area where Jews live causes great harm to his neighbours." `The Darkness to Expel' Uri Avnery (Israel) ... The situation here is now moving in the opposite direction: the country is embracing the racist demon. After millennia as the victims of racism, it seems as if Jews here are happy to be able to do unto others what has been done to them. It is impossible to ignore the central role played by rabbis in this filthy mess. They ride the wave and assert that this is the spirit of Judaism. They quote the holy texts at length ... The most important Jewish rabbis were silent this week in face of the racist fire that was ignited by rabbis, or murmured something about "ways of peace" - referring to the rule forbidding the provocation of Goyim, because they might treat the Jews in their countries as the Jews treat the minorities in their own state. Olympian Runner and Hero of World War II is Honored Anew Fox News  A handshake and the words "The boy with the fast finish": That's how Nazi Chancellor Adolf Hitler, presiding over the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, congratulated Louie Zamperini of Torrance, Calif., when the 19-year-old track star from USC stunned the Fuhrer by making up 50 yards in the final lap of the Games' 5,000-meter event. For most Americans, competing in the Olympics and shaking Adolf Hitler's hand might mark the most historic events of their lives. But for Zamperini -- still mentally sharp and physically spry at 93, and living unassisted at his home in the Hollywood Hills -- those thrilling moments would prove mere precursors to a set of experiences that would test the very limits of humanity, and mark him for life as a survivor in a class by himself. Berlin 1936 Olympic Games: Opening Ceremonies Video Opening ceremonies of the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. The large, enthusiastic crowd welcomes the various national teams as they enter the stadium. Hitler formally announces the opening of the games. Excerpts from the Leni Riefenstahl film, "Olympia." Runtime: 6:09 mins. The United States, Israel and the Arabs The Economist (Britain) - Editorial No war, no peace, is the usual state of affairs between Israel and its neighbours in the Middle East. But every time an attempt at Arab-Israeli peacemaking fails, as Barack Obama's did shortly before Christmas, the peace becomes a little more fragile and the danger of war increases. Sadly, there is reason to believe that unless remedial action is taken, 2011 might see the most destructive such war for many years ... But giving up would be a tragic mistake, as bad for America and Israel as for the Palestinians. The instant the peace process ends, the war process begins, and wars in this energy-rich corner of the world usually suck in America, one way or another. Israel Never Really Wanted Peace Elie Podeh -- Haaretz (Israel) ... The time has come to recognize the fact that Israel uses the rhetoric of peace, but does very little on the practical level toward achieving it. Anyone still clinging to the axiom that "we'll leave no stone unturned" needs to take a good look in the mirror. Is Israel truly laboring with determination and persistence to reach peace? ... Israel's listless response to these proposals cannot be understood as coincidental or circumstantial; it is a pattern of behavior. And Israel has never proffered its own initiative that would indicate a desire for peace. This leads us to the unhappy conclusion that Israel - both its government and its people - are not really interested in peace; at most, they make the sounds of peace, but that is not enough. The US Needs to Get Tough With Israel Yousef Munayyer ... No legitimate Palestinian leader can negotiate with Israel while it continues to colonize Palestinian land ... The message this sent to Palestinians was that the United States was simply incapable of being an evenhanded broker. The U.S. never misses an opportunity to reward bad Israeli behavior, and Israel never misses an opportunity to squeeze its principal world ally ... The Obama administration should not expect the Israelis to do anything without pressure, and this pressure -- economic, diplomatic -- has to be real, tangible and biting. An Early Glimpse Of Hitler's Secret Plans to Seize Power David Irving In December 1922, a year before his ill-fated Munich putsch, Hitler laid out his secret plans to Eduard August Scharrer, a former diplomat and a wealthy donor. Hitler stressed his conviction that the attempt to seize power in Bavaria by force would succeed. Here is an English-language summary of a shorthand account, made by Scharrer's secretary, of the meeting and conversation. This will appear in David Irving's forthcoming biography of Heinrich Himmler. Israel Calls on US to Release Convicted Spy Pollard The Associated Press Israel's prime minister made a public appeal Tuesday for the freedom of an American who spied for Israel, asking in a letter to President Barack Obama for clemency after the spy has spent 25 years behind bars. The case of Jonathan Pollard "unites us all," Benjamin Netanyahu told his parliament, before reading the letter. The request comes at a low point in Israel-U.S. relations over stalemated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. A deal that would have given Israel advanced warplanes and political backing in exchange for an extension of a slowdown in settlement construction to restart peace talks, but it fell through. Italian Court Increases Sentences For 23 CIA Agents AFP  An Italian court upped the sentences for 23 CIA agents convicted in absentia of abducting an Egyptian imam in one of the biggest cases against the US "extraordinary rendition" programme. The 23 CIA agents, originally sentenced in November 2009 to five to eight years in prison, had their sentences increased to seven to nine years on appeal in what one of the defence lawyers described as a "shocking blow" for the US. They were also ordered to pay 1.5 million euros (two million dollars) in damages to the imam and his wife for the 2003 abduction. Washington has refused to extradite the agents, who all remain at liberty but now risk arrest if they travel to Europe. China to the US: Stop With the Monopoly Money Eric S. Margolis  ... Washington is flooding financial markets with $600 billion of worthless dollars, hoping a rising tide of Monopoly money will somehow lift America out of recession. The Fed's first QE effort was a fizzle. The US government is stoking worldwide inflation in order to lower its outstanding debt by repaying creditors with depreciated dollars. The rest of the world is boiling angry at Washington ... So it seems the US will stagger along under a mountain of unsustainable debt while the world economy suffers widening shocks and turmoil. More empires have been undone by financial collapse than invasion or battlefield defeats. The once mighty United States is staggering in this direction. Hajo Herrmann, Luftwaffe Hero and Postwar Freedom Fighter Revisionists.com  Hajo Herrmann (1913-2010) was an outstanding German Luftwaffe pilot who also distinguished himself during the Second World War as a courageous air force commander and innovative air defense tactician. After the war he built a new career as an attorney, and became known for his role in civil rights cases, defending patriots and "Holocaust deniers" accused of violating German laws against free speech. Until his recent death at the age of 97, he remained steadfastly loyal to his people, his heritage, and the ideals of his youth. In Slovenia, Hundreds of Mass Graves of Communist-Era Victims The Associated Press Below Slovenia's cornfields, ski slopes and school yards lie skulls, bones and teeth -- the remains of thousands of people whose fates have been lost for decades. In 1945, enraged anti-Nazi fighters slaughtered suspected collaborators, fascists and panicked civilians who tried to flee through the region to the West, leaving graves scattered from a spree of vengeance that turned the tiny country into what historians call the biggest post-WWII killing site in Europe. Slovenian officials have a list of about 600 suspected graves, at least one in each community, daunting in its sheer scope and amounting to perhaps 100,000 bodies. Israeli Town Gains Reputation as the Country's Most Racist The Washington Post ... The town rabbi, Shmuel Eliahu, who along with other area rabbis issued a religious ruling several months ago forbidding residents to rent apartments to Israeli Arab students from the local community college. The rabbi has warned that the Jewish character of Safed, long revered as sacred, is at risk and that intermarriages could follow if the students mingle with the locals. Last month, Eliahu called a public meeting to sound the alarm ... In a city park next to a college building on a recent afternoon, "Death to Arabs" was scrawled on a gatepost. The park is a hangout for the Arab students, who were scattered on benches during a break between classes. Britain Rejects Pardon For Executed Soldier Breaker Morant The Telegraph (Britain)  The British government has rejected pleas to grant a royal pardon to Boer War soldier Harry Breaker Morant ... In 1901 his unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers, killed 12 prisoners of war and one German witness. The men admitted the shooting but it was not clear whether they had been ordered to kill the prisoners or not. Commander Unkles said that a double standard was applied because soldiers of other nationalities had done the same thing without similar punishment. Morant's story was made into the film Breaker Morant in 1980 starring the late Edward Woodward. US Military Personnel Undergo Holocaust Indoctrination Fox News - LiveShots Blog ... The Mass Atrocity Prevention in Military Practice course is the brainchild of Fred Schwartz, founder of the Auschwitz Institute and its director Tibi Galis who felt strongly that military officers would benefit from participating in a genocide prevention course. They secured a congressional grant to develop this course, which they plan to offer for five years. Working with retired U.S. Army Col Charles Heller, a professor at the General Staff and Command College, they developed a curriculum around a week long trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Mafia Attacked French Liner in 1942 To Support US Politician, Mob Boss Luciano Said David Martin ... In February of 1942 it caught fire, officially as the result of a welding accident, sank, and was deemed unsalvageable. According to Luciano, in his 1974 memoir, The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, dictated to Martin A. Gosch and finished off by Richard Hammer after Gosch's 1973 death, the Normandie's sinking was pivotal to his release from prison after serving ten years, and the sinking was definitely not accidental. New Turkish Action Film Highlights Israeli Crimes The Associated Press  Cinemas across Turkey are showing a trailer for an upcoming Turkish action movie based on a true event: the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound, blockade-busting flotilla that killed nine activists in May. And if the trailer of the film is any indication, the movie, "The Valley of the Wolves - Palestine," could worsen tense relations between Turkey and Israel when it is released Jan. 28. The anti-Israel melodrama is a spinoff of the controversial but popular Turkish TV series "Valley of the Wolves," about a nationalist undercover agent -- Turkey's answer to James Bond and Rambo -- who takes on Turkey's enemies. The Valley of the Wolves: Palestine Trailer - Video  Trailer, with English subtitles, of forthcoming Turkish action film based in part on Israel's May 2010 attack on a humanitarian aid ship. "The Valley of the Wolves - Palestine," is set for release on Jan. 28, 2011. Latino Kids Now Majority In California Public Schools San Francisco Chronicle  Latinos now make up a majority of California's public school students, cracking the 50 percent barrier for the first time in the state's history, according to data released Friday by the state Department of Education. Almost 50.4 percent of the state's students in the 2009-10 school year identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino, up 1.36 percent from the previous year. In comparison, 27 percent of California's 6.2 million students identified themselves as white, 9 percent as Asian and 7 percent as black. Students calling themselves Filipino, Pacific Islander, Native American or other total almost 7 percent. US Taxpayers Help Fund Israel's West Bank Occupation Haaretz (Israel)  Travelers along the "original" West Bank roads, the ones enabling drivers to bypass Palestinian villages, can see signs declaring "USAID from the American People." The roads are one of the initiatives of the United States Agency for International Development for building infrastructure in underdeveloped countries ... According to a June 2010 fact sheet on the USAID Internet site, last year American taxpayers funded the paving of 63 kilometers of asphalt roads in the West Bank ... This is not the only occupation-perpetuating road funded by American money. Eric Cantor's Pledge of Allegiance Glenn Greenwald -- Salon  Soon-to-be GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor met on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- the same day when the actual U.S. Secretary of State met with Netanyahu -- and vowed that he and his GOP colleagues would protect and defend Israeli interests against his own Government. According to a statement proudly issued by Cantor's own office: Regarding the midterms, Cantor may have given Netanyahu some reason to stand firm against the American administration. "Eric stressed that the new Republican majority will serve as a check on the Administration and what has been, up until this point, one party rule in Washington," the readout continued. Israel Shahak Speaks on Zionism, Israel and Judaism Video  Interview with Israel Shahak, author of the book, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, published in 1994. Israel Shahak (1933-2001),was a Polish-born Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was also a Holocaust survivor. During World War II he was in the Warsaw ghetto, and was later a prisoner at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He was a critic of the Israeli government, and his writings on Judaism and Zionism have been controversial. Runtime: 59 mins. French National Railway Apologizes For Wartime Role in Jewish Deportations BBC News France's state rail company has for the first time publicly expressed regret for its role in transporting Jews to Nazi death camps in World War II. Until now, SNCF has said its workers were forced to assist in deportations by the occupying German army. The change of language is clearly linked to the lucrative market for high-speed rail contracts in the US. The company has been criticised in the US for failing to apologise for its involvement. French state-owned trains and state-paid rail workers were responsible for carrying some 76,000 Jews from France to Germany and the east in World War II. Only a few of them returned. Our Banana Republic Nicholas D. Kristof - The New York Times  ... The richest one percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. ... The United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana. C.E.O.'s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001 ... We've reached a banana republic point where our inequality has become both economically unhealthy and morally repugnant. Our Failed National Economy David Stockman  Tuesday night's election result was a victory for deep partisan stalemate, polarization, dysfunction, and acrimony throughout the halls of government ... It's now guaranteed that the hapless soul who succeeds to the White House in January 2013 will preside over a nation with $15 trillion of reported public debt, that is, debt at 100% of GDP and counting ... The fact is, the Social Security trust fund has $3 trillion of paper IOUs issued by the Treasury Department over the last 70 years, but not one dime of real money ... The world's leading central bank is now dispensing pure monetary heroin. And, ironically, that's likely to kill the patient before the fiscal question is even addressed. In California, Estimated State Budget Deficit Reaches $25.4 Billion Los Angeles Times  The economy, new restrictions approved by voters, phantom savings in the budget and the end of temporary taxes add to gloomy forecast by Legislative Analyst's Office for the next 18 months. / As Jerry Brown prepares to take over as governor, California faces a $25.4-billion deficit -- far larger than state officials were projecting only days ago -- the state's chief budget analyst said Wednesday ... The report shows $20-billion annual shortfalls in future years as well. "There is no good news," said Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor. Simply keeping K-12 public schools funded at their current level would expand the deficit, Taylor said. The US Is Not The Greatest Country Ever Michael Kinsley -- Politico  ... The theory that Americans are better than everybody else is endorsed by an overwhelming majority of U.S. voters and approximately 100 percent of all U.S. politicians, although there is less and less evidence to support it. A recent Yahoo poll (and I resist the obvious joke here) found that 75 percent of Americans believe that the United States is "the greatest country in the world." ... The 2010 elections, for all their passion and vitriol, are basically irrelevant. Some people are voting Tuesday for calorie-free chocolate cake, and some are voting for fat-free ice cream. Neither option is actually available. Neither party's candidates seriously addressed the national debt, except with proposals to make it even worse. Secrets by the Thousands: The Great US Theft of German Technology C. Lester Walker -- Harper's -- October 1946  ... Tens of thousands of tons of material are involved. It is estimated that over a million separate items must be handled, and that they are, very likely, practically all the scientific, industrial and military secrets of Nazi Germany. One Washington official has called it "the greatest single source of this type of material in the world, the first orderly exploitation of an entire country's brain-power." ... This one war secret alone, many American steel men believe, will revolutionize dozens of our metal fabrication industries. In textiles the war secrets collection has produced so many revelations that American textile men are a little dizzy ... Army Air Force experts declare publicly that in rocket power and guided missiles the Nazis were ahead of us by at least ten years. Sarrazin's Truths: In Germany, Political Correctness Stifles Debate Matthias Matussek - Der Spiegel (Germany)  German central banker Thilo Sarrazin is being pilloried over his polemic chastising of Muslims, but there are a few things his critics clearly fail to understand. You can't cast away what the man embodies: The anger of a German people who are tired of being cursed at when they offer to help foreigners to integrate. Nothing is as it used to be. In this season of public outrage, the case of Thilo Sarrazin has grown far bigger than Sarrazin. It's much bigger than the man or the Islam-critical book he wrote ... Germans are not only demographically working towards their own demise, but also that they are bidding farewell to their cultural and educational background. Israel High Court Approves Jews-Only Housing Haaretz (Israel)  The Supreme Court [of Israel] rejected an appeal on Sunday opposing the leasing of land in Jaffa's Ajami neighborhood for the exclusive use of members of the religious Zionist community. The appeal was brought by Jaffa residents along with human rights groups, in an effort to challenge a decision by the Israel Lands Administration and the Tel Aviv municipality to lease the land in question to B'Emuna, a company specializing in housing complexes for the religious Zionist community. The Tel Aviv District Court rejected the same appeal earlier this year. Israel Is Proud To Present: The Aggressor-Victim Gideon Levy - Haaretz (Israel)  ... We've always loved victimization, not only when we were real victims, as often was the case in our history, but also when we were the aggressors, occupiers and abusers. And we don't only cast ourselves as victims, but as the only victims. But observe our perception of our wrongdoing. It started with denial, then changed to suppression, then to shamelessness, then to dehumanization and demonization, until we arrived at the current stage: A pride parade. In Germany, Grave Robbers Targeting World War II Fallen For Memorabilia The Scotsman (Britain)  ... Thousands of German and Russian corpses recovered from the battlefields around Berlin have been stripped of medals, papers, rank badges, ID discs and other items to feed a worldwide multi-million pound military souvenir industry.... Nazi-era insignia and papers are much sought after. Medals, particularly Iron Crosses, are torn off to fetch up to £500 a time. In U.S., 14 Percent Rely on Food Stamps The Wall Street Journal  A huge number of American households are still relying on government assistance to buy food as the recession continues to batter families. Food stamp recipients ticked up in August, children consumed millions of free lunches and nearly five million low-income mothers tapped into a government nutrition program for women and young children. Some 42,389,619 Americans received food stamps in August, a 17% rise from the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which tracks the data. That number is up 58.5% from August 2007, before the recession began. By population, Washington, D.C. had the largest share of residents receiving food stamps. Proficiency of Black Students Is Far Lower Than Expected The New York Times  An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented -- a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another. But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known. Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys. Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty ... Hajo Herrmann, Luftwaffe Hero and Postwar Freedom Fighter, Is Dead  Hajo Hermann, a World War II Luftwaffe hero and a courageous postwar civil rights attorney, is dead. Aged 97, he died on Friday, Nov. 5. During World War II he flew 320 missions as a bomber pilot, and more than 50 night fighter missions. He played a major role in strengthening his homeland's wartime air defenses. In later years he was a defense attorney for such "thought criminals" as Otto Ernst Remer and David Irving. He addressed an IHR meeting in California on Nov. 8, 1998, where he provided fascinating details about his remarkable life, and insights into the climate of intellectual repression in Germany. History's Little Known Naval Disasters Institute for Historical Review  Many of those who view "Titanic," the blockbuster motion picture, may leave the movie theater believing that the April 15, 1912, sinking of the great British liner, with the loss of 1,523 men, women and children, was history's greatest maritime disaster ... But these disasters are dwarfed by the sinkings of the Wilhelm Gustloff, the General Steuben and the Goya, three German ships crowded with evacuated refugees and wounded soldiers that were struck by Soviet submarines during the final months of the Second World War. The Nobleman and the Horse: Israel and the US Elections Uri Avnery (Israel)  ... The big winner of the American election is none other than Binyamin Netanyahu ... As to the Congress: as far as Israel is concerned, there is no change. The senators and congressmen dance to the tune of the Israel lobby, and in this respect there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans. It "crosses party lines", as one of the leaders of the lobby recently boasted ... Both in the State Department and in the Pentagon, the experts know that the present Israeli policy is contrary to the American national interest. US Charges 17 With $42 Million Theft of Holocaust Funds BBC News  Seventeen people have been charged in the US with the theft of $42 million of Holocaust compensation funds provided by the German government. Prosecutors alleged the 17 fooled a non-profit-making group that distributes the funds into making 5,500 false payments. Six of those charged work for the group - the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The chairman of the group said it was "outraged" at the alleged thefts. It had detected the matter itself and contacted the FBI. If convicted, the defendants could face up to 20 years in jail. George Bush `Not Telling Truth.' Says Ex-Chancellor Schroeder The Telegraph (Britain)  ... Mr Schroeder responded to Mr Bush's claims, accusing him of "not telling the truth." In a statement, he confirmed that he had told Mr Bush he would "stand reliably on the side of the US" if it was confirmed that Iraq was sheltering those responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks. "But this link, as it became clear during 2002, was false and contrived..." .... "We noticed that the intellectual reach of the president of the most important nation at the time was exceptionally low," said Uwe-Karsten Heye, Mr Schroeder's spokesman at the time told German news channel N24. "For this reason it was difficult to communicate with him. He had no idea what was happening in the world. He was so fixated on being a Texan. I think he knew every longhorn in Texas." US Must Support Israel `Forever,' Says VP Biden The Jerusalem Post (Israel)  US Vice President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned speech in support of Israel at the Jewish Federations of North American's General Assembly in New Orleans on Sunday, saying whatever differences have recently existed between the White House and Jerusalem these were tactical rather than fundamental. ... "When it comes to Israel's security there can be no daylight - no daylight - between Israel and the US," he said. ... "All these years later I still feel that our support for Israel must continue forever." In Israel, Rabbis' Edict Bars Renting to Arabs Jonathan Cook ... In the past few weeks, Safed -- one of Judaism's four holy cities -- has been making headlines of a very different kind. Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, last week declared it "the most racist city in the country" The unflattering, and hotly contested, epithet follows an edict from Safed's senior rabbis ordering residents not to sell or rent homes to "non-Jews" - a reference to the country's Palestinian Arab citizens, who comprise a fifth of Israel's population. Was the Holocaust Inevitable? Patrick J. Buchanan  ... What of World War II? Surely, it was necessary to declare war to stop Adolf Hitler from conquering the world and conducting the Holocaust. Yet consider ... The Holocaust was not a cause of the war, but a consequence of the war. No war, no Holocaust. Britain went to war with Germany to save Poland. She did not save Poland. She did lose the empire. And Josef Stalin, whose victims outnumbered those of Hitler 1,000 to one as of September 1939, and who joined Hitler in the rape of Poland, wound up with all of Poland, and all the Christian nations from the Urals to the Elbe. A Superpower in Decline: Is the American Dream Over? Der Spiegel (Germany)  ... Americans have lived beyond their means for decades. It was a culture long defined by a mantra of entitlement, one that promised opportunities for all while ignoring the risks. Relentless and seemingly unstoppable upward mobility was the secular religion of the United States ... The country has always been a little paranoid, but now it's also despondent, hopeless and pessimistic. ... The naked fear of the undertow is palpable throughout the entire country, where people who once considered themselves part of the middle class, the solid center of the country, now feel threatened. Western Capitalism Is In Crisis: Deception, Delusion and Abuse Peter Morici From Berlin to Tokyo, governments struggle to instigate enough growth to pay their bills and gainfully employ workers. Meanwhile, China enjoys breakneck progress ... From Obama to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the system is suffering from delusions of grandeur, self-deception and old-fashioned abuse by leaders who address the world as Ivy League intellectuals think it should, rather than how the facts of physics, demography and economics define it. Prof. Nolte Tackles Taboos of Third Reich History Mark Weber  Decades after its dramatic demise, the Third Reich continues to fascinate millions and provoke heated discussion ... Consistent with the author's strong plea for a more thoughtful and objective look at the phenomenon of Hitler and National Socialism, Nolte presents his often highly unorthodox views without polemics, indeed with a certain reserve and tentativeness. Unlike those who incessantly insist that "we" must "never forget" the "lessons of the Holocaust," Nolte calls for an evaluation of the Hitler era as free as possible of strident, emotion-laden polemics and self-serving purposes. In France, Court Orders Mayor to Remove Portrait of Petain The Telegraph (Britain)  A court on Tuesday ordered a French mayor to take down a portrait of Philippe Petain, leader of France's wartime Vichy regime, from the wall of a town hall. The portrait of Petain, branded an anti-semitic Nazi collaborator, hung in a municipal marriage chamber in Gonneville-sur-Mer, near the Normandy landing beaches used in World War II by Allied forces. The court overruled a decision by Bernard Hoye, the town's independent mayor, to keep the portrait which he said had been hanging there for years. It had nevertheless been taken down pending Tuesday's decision. Large Crowds Cheer Marshal Pétain in Paris, April 1944 France-Actualités (1944) - newsreel Large crowds cheer French Head of State Pétain during his visit to Paris in April 1944. Parisians cry out "Vive Pétain" and sing the national anthem, "La Marseillaise." Pétain also attends a memorial service in the Notre Dame Cathedral for victims of Allied bombing. This visit, is just a few weeks before the D-Day landing of British and American troops at Normandy. Newsreel narration in French. Runtime: 7:28 mins. Philippe Petain, who was a revered military commander during the First World War, was named French Head of State in 1940 by overwhelming vote of the National Assembly. Virginia's Black Confederates Walter E. Williams  One tragedy of war is that its victors write its history and often do so with bias and dishonesty. That's true about our War of 1861, erroneously called a civil war. Civil wars, by the way, are when two or more parties attempt to take over the central government. Jefferson Davis no more wanted to take over Washington, D.C., than George Washington, in 1776, wanted to take over London. Both wars were wars of independence. Ferocious Battle of the Volga Lives In Russian Memory National Public Radio  Nowhere is the Volga River more hallowed than in the city named after it: Volgograd, better known to history as Stalingrad. During World War II, perhaps the bloodiest battle in history took place there. A total of two million people were lost on both sides in the fighting from the summer of 1942 to February 1943. Hitler's army, fighting to reach the Volga and seize the country's energy resources to the south in the oil-rich Caucasus, was met by the tenacious Soviet Red Army and a city that would not yield. The Relentless Cult of Novelty Alexandr Solzhenitsyn (1987)  ... This relentless cult of novelty, with its assertion that art need not be good or pure, just so long as it is new, newer, and newer still, conceals an unyielding and long-sustained attempt to undermine, ridicule and uproot all moral precepts ... To decorate public spaces we put up sculptures that aestheticize pure ugliness -- but we no longer register surprise. And if visitors from outer space were to pick up our music over the airwaves, how could they ever guess that earthlings once had a Bach, a Beethoven and a Schubert, now abandoned as out of date and obsolete? US Pro-Israel Group Claims Election Victory Foreign Policy  One prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington is already praising the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives as a net benefit for Israel. "While Democrats are likely to keep control of the U.S. Senate, Republicans will take over the U.S. House of Representatives following Tuesday's elections. This is likely to have implications for Israel-related issues such as Israel's relationship with the United States and the push for sanctions against Iran," said an e-mail blasted out by The Israel Project only minutes after news stations called the turnover of House control a certainty. You Want War? Pay For It Eric Margolis ... The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been ignored during the election race. After nine years of combat, 5,000 US dead and 35,000 seriously wounded soldiers, and expenditure of over $1 trillion - silence. These longest and second most expensive wars in US history have dropped off the radar. Not even the latest WikiLeaks shocker, which revealed the US condoning death squads, torture and mass human rights violations in Iraq, became a campaign issue ... Right-wing Republicans will press for more war, in more places - financed, of course, by the magic of credit. Few stop to think that this manic borrowing it wrecking America. The Phantom Left Chris Hedges  ... The celebrities from Comedy Central and the trash talk show hosts on Fox are in the same business. They are entertainers. They provide the empty, emotionally laden material that propels endless chatter back and forth on supposed left- and right-wing television programs. It is a national Punch and Judy show. But don't be fooled. It is not politics. It is entertainment. It is spectacle. All national debate on the airwaves is driven by the same empty gossip, the same absurd trivia, the same celebrity meltdowns and the same ridiculous posturing. It is presented with a different spin. But none of it is about ideas or truth. None of it is about being informed. It caters to emotions. It makes us confuse how we are made to feel with knowledge. A German Soldier's Photos of the Devastation of Dunkirk Daily Mail (Britain)  Rare photos taken by a German soldier of the devastated beaches of Dunkirk after the evacuation have been found 70 years on by the family of a British war veteran. The pictures were taken a few hours after 330,000 Allied soldiers were rescued from the beaches by an armada of little ships having been defeated by the Nazis. The remarkable album was later taken from a German house as a memento by British serviceman Corporal Frank Smith. It includes shots of the Germans surveying the wreckage of downed aircraft and scores of damaged trucks and tanks on the battle-scarred shores of Dunkirk. Hitler's Grand Error at Dunkirk: Why? Virtue magazine ... Why the nonsensical halt order [by Hitler], when the enemy was beaten, and with no chance of stopping the powerful German army? ... But on May 24th, 1940, while the campaign was still in progression, Hitler expressed a deeper, more political motive, to members of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt's staff ... "He then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its existence, and of the civilization that Britain had brought into the world ... He concluded by saying that his aim was to make peace with Britain on a basis that she would regard as compatible with her honor to accept." An incredible tale, and yet, it fits with the admiration Hitler expressed for Britain in Mein Kampf. Hitler offered peace to the British twice during World War Two ... Israel Protests British 'Universal Jurisdiction' Law JTA Israel reportedly postponed a strategic dialogue with Britain to protest a law that allows for the prosecution of Israeli officials for alleged war crimes. Strategic dialogue between Israel and Britain on defense and security issues occurs annually. This year's strategic dialogue meeting, scheduled for last month in Britain, did not take place, the French news agency AFP reported. The British law provides the country's courts with "universal jurisdiction" to issue arrest warrants for alleged war crimes, including to visiting foreign politicians. Israel Ranks Among Western World's Most Corrupt Countries Haaretz (Israel) and Reuters  Israel ranks among the most corrupt countries in the Western world, according to a study released by the International Transparency Organization on Tuesday ... The least corrupt countries were listed as Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore ... The United States, meanwhile, has dropped out of the "top 20" in a global league table of least corrupt nations, tarnished by financial scandals and the influence of money in politics. The U.S. fell to 22nd from 19th last year, with its CPI score dropping to 7.1 from 7.5. This was the lowest score awarded to the U.S. in the index's 15-year history and also the first time it had fallen out of the top 20. German Police Swoop on Neo-Nazi Internet Radio Station AFP German police staged dawn raids today against right-wing extremists accused of operating a neo-Nazi Internet radio station to whip up anti-foreigner sentiment among young supporters. Authorities swooped in 10 of Germany's 16 states on 22 homes with alleged links to "Radio Resistance", which features "racist and National Socialist" commentary and music from skinhead bands, the Federal Crime Office (BKA) said. "The 23 suspects aged between 20 and 37 from across the country are believed to have acted as administrators and hosts" of programs on the station, the BKA said in a statement. Anger As Germany Cuts Funding to Orthodox Jews The Telegraph (Britain)  The German government has ignited a row with the country's Orthodox Jews after it stopped funding the training of Orthodox rabbis. The authorities have been subsidising the training of rabbis for several years, but the interior ministry recently announced that it would only fund Liberal rabbis from now on. Thomas de Maziere, the interior minister, blamed "the budget situation" for the decision, the Times reports. However, the move has upset the Jewish community ... Since the Second World War, Germany has been trying to re-establish a Jewish presence in the country. There are now some 120,000 Jews living in Germany, and many are Orthodox. Dutch Authorities Recall Auto License Plates With `Nazi' Initials The Telegraph (Britain)  The Dutch authorities have urgently recalled "Nazi" number plates issued to drivers after a computer error. Over 100 car owners received licence plates with the letters "NSB" on them, a Dutch equivalent of the word Nazi. NSB is the notorious abbreviation for the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, the Dutch fascist party which collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War. Number plates displaying the offending letters were recalled by the Dutch Vehicle Authority on Monday after the first angry complaints by drivers. The Holocaust and the Myth of the Past as History Howard F. Stein  For the Jews, the term "Holocaust" does not simply denote a single catastrophic era in history, but is a grim metaphor for the meaning of Jewish history. The "Holocaust" lies at the heart of the Jewish experience of time itself. One is either anxiously awaiting persecution, experiencing persecution, recovering from it, or living in a period that is a temporary reprieve from it ... Thus the "reality" of the Holocaust is inextricably part of the myth in which it is woven -- and for which myth it serves as further confirmatory evidence for the timeless Jewish theme that the world is in conspiracy to annihilate them, one way or another, at least eventually. The Shaming of America Robert Fisk: -- The Independent (Britain)  As usual, the Arabs knew. They knew all about the mass torture, the promiscuous shooting of civilians, the outrageous use of air power against family homes, the vicious American and British mercenaries, the cemeteries of the innocent dead. All of Iraq knew. Because they were the victims. Only we could pretend we did not know. Only we in the West could counter every claim, every allegation against the Americans or British with some worthy general - the ghastly US military spokesman Mark Kimmitt and the awful chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Peter Pace, come to mind - to ring-fence us with lies. The Ten Smartest and Dumbest U.S. Cities Daily Beast -- Alternet  The second annual list of the nation's smartest and dumbest cities. What makes a city "smart" or "dumb," per this list? The education level of the city's citizens, for one, and also its "intellectual environment," as measured by nonfiction book sales and the prevalence of colleges and libraries. Draw your own conclusions about what the list means in terms of a city's desirability. But one thing that seems to be objectively true is that there's an economic element to the rankings: The continuing economic malaise just reinforces a perennial fact: A city's potential lies mostly with the ingenuity and brainpower of its citizens. Regions with intellectual vigor are more likely to bounce back; those without risk a stupor. British Legion's 1935 Visit to Third Reich Shown In Archive Photos BBC News  A delegation from the British Legion met Adolf Hitler in July 1935, recently uncovered photographs show. The 148 images were in a swastika-embossed album found by an employee. They show British veterans of World War I being saluted by Germans, and delegation leader Maj Francis Fetherston-Godley shaking hands with Hitler's deputy Rudolph Hess ... The five members of the Legion (now known as the Royal British Legion) met Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe. There were photos of German ex-servicemen in wheelchairs giving Nazi salutes as the delegation parade passed with the Union flag, and pictures of the delegation at Commonwealth war graves in Germany. In Russia, One of `World's Worst' History Textbooks Foreign Policy  Lesson plan: Buddy Stalin Subject matter: It can't be easy to put a positive spin on Stalin, under whose leadership more than 20 million Russians lost their lives. But that's what's being attempted in Russia today ... Aleksandr Filippov, the author of a new Kremlin-approved textbook told the Times, "It is wrong to write a textbook that will fill the children who learn from it with horror and disgust about their past and their people." His book devotes 83 pages to Joseph Stalin's industrialization plans, but only one paragraph to the Great Famine of 1932 to 1933 in which millions starved as a result of deeply flawed agricultural policy. In Germany, Berlin Police Fear Entering Immigrant `No Go' Areas ZDF Heute Journal (Germany) - Television video  German television news report on "no go" areas in Berlin, populated by immigrants from outside Europe. These areas are so crime-ridden and disorderly that even police sometimes cannot patrol them without being insulted, spit upon or physically attacked. Runtime: 4:07 mins. Dr. Siddique Stands By Anti-Israel and Anti-Zionist Statements The Philadelphia Inquirer A Lincoln University professor who drew criticism this week for anti-Israel statements he made at a recent rally said Thursday that he stood by those words and would not back down from detractors he said are out to "threaten academic freedom." Kaukab Siddique, 67, an associate professor of English and literature, said that he had the support of his faculty and students and that he would continue to speak his mind, despite pressure from those who have referred to him as an "anti-Semite." Sex Trafficking In Israel CNN  ... Over the past decade, about 10,000 women have been trafficked into Israel in what Keidar calls "modern slavery." The women are locked, beaten, raped, starved and forced to receive 15-30 men a day 365 days a year, according to the attorney. About three years ago, Israeli police greatly reduced women trafficking by pouring resources into the problem. Israel Sees Double Standard in Response to Wikileaks' Iraq Files The Christian Science Monitor The Wikileaks release of US military field reports from Iraq that detail tens of thousands of civilian casualties in seven years of fighting is being used by some Israels to argue that their country is a victim of an international double standard on human rights ... On Monday, Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben Ari said he filed a formal complaint with the UN, calling for war crimes investigations of senior American politicians and "international arrest warrants for US government leaders." In a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he wrote: "I call on the UN to condemn the behavior of the US and especially its attempts to hide the facts... We need to expose the hypocrisy of the West." Jewish Groups Launch New, Well-Funded Pro-Israel PR Campaign JTA The Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs are launching a multimillion-dollar joint initiative to combat anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns. The JFNA and the rest of the Jewish federation system have agreed to invest $6 million over the next three years in the new initiative, which is being called the Israel Action Network ... The network is expected to serve as a rapid-response team charged with countering the growing campaign to isolate Israel as a rogue state akin to apartheid-era South Africa - a campaign that the Israeli government and Jewish groups see as an existential threat to the Jewish state. Muslim Sect Sees Struggle Through Christian Lens: A Little-Known Jewish Massacre The New York Times Among the ruins on the edge of this ancient oasis city are deep trenches littered with bones. That, local people say, is all that remains of one of the great atrocities of antiquity, when thousands of Christians were herded into pits here and burned to death by a Jewish tyrant after they refused to renounce their faith. The massacre, which took place in about A.D. 523, is partly shadowed by myth and largely unknown to the outside world. But it has become central to the identity of the people now living here, who mostly belong to the minority Ismaili sect of Islam. Jews in US Sue Hungary Over World War II Railroad Role Haaretz (Israel) Hungarian survivors of the Holocaust and families of the victims sued the Republic of Hungary and its two rail companies in U.S. court on Thursday, accusing them of collaborating with the Nazis to exterminate Jews during World War Two. The lawsuit accused the Hungarian government and rail companies of confiscating property of Jews and transporting them to ghettos and concentration camps where hundreds of thousands perished in Nazi-occupied Poland and Ukraine. A New Book `Rehabilitates' Lindbergh, Says Salon Salon  The influential conservative publishing house Regnery has just released a book that argues, contrary to popular belief, that aviator and political leader Charles Lindbergh was neither anti-semitic nor pro-German, but rather was the victim of an unfounded smear campaign by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. According to promotional material, the book, "Lindbergh vs. Roosevelt: The Rivalry That Divided America" by James Duffy, argues that Lindbergh was the target of a "vicious personal vendetta by President Roosevelt" that "blighted his reputation forever." US Foreclosure Crisis Becomes More Widespread BBC News The foreclosure crisis in the US has spread across a wider area of the country, according to RealtyTrac, which monitors repossession activity. The organisation said foreclosure notices increased across a majority of large metropolitan areas, including Chicago and Seattle. Previously, these cities had seen relatively low levels of activity ... The trend is the latest sign that the US foreclosure crisis is worsening as homeowners -- facing high unemployment, slow job growth and uncertainty about house prices -- continue to fall behind on their mortgage payments ... Earlier in the week, data from rating agency Standard and Poor's showed that US house prices also began falling again in August, mainly in response to the expired tax credit. The Genocide Britain Hushed Up Daily Mail (Britain)  A new film tells the terrible story of Stalin's own Final Solution - and Churchill's shameful complicity / … This is the harrowing scene of a devastating new film, Katyn. It takes its name from the village in western Russia where the bodies of more than 4,000 Polish prisoners of war were dug up in 1943. But these bodies were by no means the only ones to be disinterred. Near the Soviet city of Kalinin, now known as Tver, another 6,000 bodies were unearthed. Near Kharkov in Ukraine there were 4,000. In all, more than 22,000 Poles -- roughly two-thirds of them officers and policemen, the rest political prisoners -- suffered the same appalling fate: to be executed, without trial or even warning, and thrown like carcasses into mass graves. Germar Rudolf Released from Prison in Germany Altermedia  Germar Rudolf, 44, a German chemist and intellectual dissident who had been serving a prison sentence for violating Germany's law against "Holocaust denial," was released from Mannheim prison on July 4 after three years and nine months behind bars. Upon his release, he was met by his American wife and four-year-old US-born daughter. In October 2005 he was arrested in Chicago, and deported to his homeland, where he was tried, sentenced, and imprisoned. David Irving Speaks in 17 US Cities in July  In a tour of the western US, David Irving is addressing meetings in 17 cities, including Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Costa Mesa, and Kansas City. His topic is "Hitler, Himmler and `Enigma': Re-writing World War II history using Nazi messages decoded by the British Secret Service." The best-selling British historian also has available copies of his prison memoir, which tells of his headline-making arrest and harrowing prison ordeal in Austria, 2005-06. Alarm in Baltic as Kremlin Seizes Control of Soviet Past The Independent (Britain)  In Russia it is not only the future that is unpredictable; often the past is equally in doubt … When authorities in Estonia removed a monument to Soviet soldiers from the centre of Tallinn two years ago, riots between police and ethnic Russian citizens of Estonia ensued, and the Kremlin made furious noises. With its new commission and law, Moscow is upping the stakes. Russia accuses the governments of Estonia and Latvia of glorifying partisan regiments which fought on the side of the Nazis. In recent years, relations between Latvia and Russia have normalised in many spheres, but the Second World War is still a thorny issue. Jewish Group Objects to Ukraine 'Great Famine' Case JTA  A Jewish group in Ukraine is objecting to a criminal case brought over the "Great Famine" committed in the 1930s. The nation's security service is pressing the case against a list of former Soviet officials accused of committing the Holodomor, which caused the deaths of millions in Ukraine in 1932-33. Most of the names on the list were Jewish. Holocaust Denial And Uncomfortable Truths Robin Davis  It has always been those few who can see through the political correctness and hypocrisy of popular attitudes who are considered dangerous. "Holocaust denial laws" are now in place in about a dozen countries. Defenders of these laws claim that the expression of unconventional views about the Jewish genocide is "hate speech" and "incitement to violence" and therefore must be suppressed. But history shows the greatest purveyors of lies, hatred and incitement to violence are those with the power to spread their poison by manipulating popular opinion via the control or complicity of the mass media. Jewish Leader: Obama May Be 'Most Hostile President to Israel' Ronald Kessler  President Barack Obama's refusal to take a stand on protests in Iran stands in sharp contrast to demands he has made on Israel, Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, says in a Newsmax interview … Klein says leaders of Jewish organizations are rethinking their support of Obama in light of his attitude toward Israel. "There are many leaders in the organized Jewish world who have privately discussed this issue with me, and say they are deeply concerned about Obama's actions and policies toward Israel, and now they're rethinking their support for Obama during the campaign and the election," says Klein … A `Virulent' New Anti-Semitism is Rife in Britain, Says Chief Rabbi The Times (Britain)  Britain is in the grip of a "virulent" new strain of anti-Semitism, according to the Chief Rabbi. Sir Jonathan Sacks told The Times in an interview that in January the number of anti-Semitic incidents reached the highest level since records began. Jews have been physically attacked, schools targeted and cemeteries desecrated … Although the new "mutation" was different from the anti-Semitism promoted by Hitler, it was dangerous because it was international, he said. "The internet means that we no longer have national cultures; we have global cultures and the new anti-Semitism is very much a phenomenon of the global culture." Whereas in the past, hatred was focused against Judaism as a religion or Jews as a race, the focus this time was on Jews as a nation. The Pentagon Spigot is Wide Open: How Obama Will Outspend Reagan on Defense Winslow T. Wheeler  … Not counting money projected for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the presidentially approved budget plan would continue increasing the Pentagon's budget: by another $8.1 billion in 2011 (up 1.5 percent), another $9 billion in 2012 (up 1.6 percent), and $10.4 billion in 2013 (up1.8 percent), and so on all the way out to 2019. If we add in the costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon budget for the current fiscal year - 2009 - exceeds any year since the end of World War II, including the spending peaks for the Korean and Vietnam wars. President Obama's plan is to increase that lead. Obama also will outspend Ronald Reagan on defense. The Language That Absolves Israel Saree Makdisi -- Los Angeles Times  … Reality can be so easily stood on its head when it comes to Israel because the misreading of Israeli declarations is a long-established practice among commentators and journalists in the United States. In fact, a special vocabulary has been developed for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the United States. It filters and structures the way in which developing stories are misread here, making it difficult for readers to fully grasp the nature of those stories -- and maybe even for journalists to think critically about what they write. The ultimate effect of this special vocabulary is to make it possible for Americans to accept and even endorse in Israel what they would reject out of hand in any other country. The U.S. Regime-Change Recipe for Iran Paul Craig Roberts  … In Iran's system, election fraud has no purpose, because a small select group of ruling mullahs select the candidates who are put on the ballot. If they don't like an aspiring candidate, they simply don't put him on the ballot. When the liberal reformer Khatami ran for president, he won with 70% of the vote and served from 1997-2005. If the mullahs didn't defraud Khatami of his win, it seems unlikely they would defraud an establishment figure like Mousavi, who was foreign minister in the most conservative government, and is backed by another establishment figure, Rafsanjani. Historian Says He's Found `Real' Reason for Hitler's Hatred of Jews Daily Mail (Britain)  Adolf Hitler's obsessive hatred for Jews was sparked by his experiences after World War One, according to a new book. Respected historian Ralf-George Reuth argues the dictator blamed them for both the Russian revolution and the collapse of the German economy. The claim is a stark contrast to previous theories … At the time almost half of all German private banks were Jewish owned, the stock exchange dominated by Jewish stockbrokers, almost half of the nation's newspapers were Jewish run as were 80 per cent of chain stores. It became fashionable to decry the loss of the war on Jewish financiers. But Hitler, according to Reuth, also blamed Jews for the Russian revolution … The Underworked American The Economist (Britain)  Americans like to think of themselves as martyrs to work. They delight in telling stories about their punishing hours, snatched holidays and ever-intrusive BlackBerrys … But when it comes to the young the situation is reversed. American children have it easier than most other children in the world, including the supposedly lazy Europeans. They have one of the shortest school years anywhere, a mere 180 days compared with an average of 195 for OECD countries and more than 200 for East Asian countries. German children spend 20 more days in school than American ones, and South Koreans over a month more. Canadian Politician Sues Jewish Groups JTA  An ex-candidate in Canada is suing the country's leading Jewish advocacy groups, alleging they ruined her political career. Lesley Hughes, who was dumped as a Liberal candidate in a Winnipeg-area electoral district, claims the Canadian Jewish Congress and B'nai Brith Canada made false and defamatory accusations that she is anti-Semitic. In a lawsuit filed June 16, Hughes alleges that as a result of the actions of the CJC and B'nai Brith, former federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion revoked her candidacy in last September's federal elections. Sharp Drop In US Support for Israel, New Poll Shows Mondoweiss  … The state-run radio station's Washington correspondent, Nathan Guttman, obtained data from a recent unpublished poll, conducted by the Israel Project, an organization that works to improve Israel's image in the United States. The Israel Project has been conducting a periodic running poll, asking American registered voters questions about Israel … There is a steep decline in the percentage of Americans who say that the U.S. should support Israel. That has dropped from 71% in March 2008 (at the time of the Annapolis process) to only 44% now. Israeli 'Settlements': Fictions on the Ground Tony Judt -- The New York Times  … Thus President Obama faces a choice. He can play along with the Israelis, pretending to believe their promises of good intentions and the significance of the distinctions they offer him. Such a pretense would buy him time and favor with Congress. But the Israelis would be playing him for a fool, and he would be seen as one in the Mideast and beyond. Alternatively, the president could break with two decades of American compliance, acknowledge publicly that the emperor is indeed naked, dismiss Mr. Netanyahu for the cynic he is and remind Israelis that all their settlements are hostage to American goodwill. He could also remind Israelis that the illegal communities have nothing to do with Israel's defense, much less its founding ideals of agrarian self-sufficiency and Jewish autonomy. The Risky Provocations of Mr. Netanyahu Leonard Fein -- Forward (New York)  … I sometimes fear there's a genetically inbred survival characteristic of the Jews that predisposes us to try to beat the system, to get away with things, a characteristic that came in very handy for all those many centuries during which the nerve and cleverness to beat the system enabled survival, but that has now become a dysfunctional anachronism. Be that as it may, Netanyahu's stance will likely turn out to be a serious miscalculation of Obama's intentions and abilities. Obama has no intention of endangering Israel, but when it comes to outsmarting a would-be outsmarter, he is not exactly a beginner. Netanyahu's Speech: When He Says Yes, What Does He Mean? Uri Avnery (Israel) U.S. Jewish Leaders Deeply Troubled by Obama Haaretz (Israel)  There is growing concern among the American Jewish community over Obama's Mideast initiatives, this according to the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein. "President Obama's strongest supporters among Jewish leaders are deeply troubled by his recent Middle East initiatives, and some are questioning what he really believes," Hoenlein, said in an interview published Monday. Carter Says Palestinians Treated 'Like Animals' AFP Holocaust Lawyer Edward Fagan is Disbarred For Misusing Victims' Funds The Star-Ledger (New Jersey)  Only a few years ago, Edward Fagan was a world-renowned lawyer for the underdog, brash and audacious enough to take on Swiss banks and even whole countries to win judgments for Holocaust survivors and victims of South African apartheid. This week, the Supreme Court announced he was barred from practicing law in New Jersey, completing one of the steepest falls from grace in the state's law community. The court found Fagan, 56, misappropriated nearly $400,000 of the money he won for the victims he so effectively championed. |
Peace.
Michael Santomauro
@ 917-974-6367
What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?
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