http://www.countercontempt.com/archives/1185
Peace.
Michael Santomauro
@ 917-974-6367
What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?
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Feb 15, 2011
CounterContempt EXCLUSIVE: Noam Chomsky’s Secret, Friendly Letters to a Holocaust Denier
Chomsky Calls Elie Wiesel “One of The Major Frauds of Our Time” | FrontPage Magazine
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/02/15/chomsky-calls-elie-wiesel-%e2%80%9cone-of-the-major-frauds-of-our-time%e2%80%9d/
Peace.
Michael Santomauro
@ 917-974-6367
What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?
__._,_.___
.
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Elie Wiesel on The Jewish Mafia
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Peace.
Michael Santomauro
@ 917-974-6367
What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?
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MARKETPLACE
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FW:
From: James Petras [mailto:jpetras@binghamton.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 11:05 AM
To: 'James Petras'
Subject:
James petras
The Limits of Social Movements
The mass movements which forced the removal of Mubarak reveal both the strength and weaknesses of spontaneous uprisings. On the one hand, the social movements demonstrated their capacity to mobilize hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in a successful sustained struggle culminating in the overthrow of the dictator in a way that pre-existent opposition parties and personalities were unable or unwilling to do.
On the other hand, lacking any national political leadership, the movements were not able to take political power and realize their demands, allowing the Mubarak military high command to seize power and define the “post-Mubarak” process, ensuring the continuation of
While the White House may tolerate or even promote social movements in ousting (“sacrificing”) dictatorships, they have every intention in preserving the state .In the case of Egypt the main strategic ally of US imperialism was not Mubarak, it is the military, with whom Washington was in constant collaboration before, during and after the ouster of Mubarak, ensuring that the “transition” to democracy (sic) guarantees the continued subordination of Egypt to US and Israeli Middle East policy and interests.
The Revolt of the People: The Failures of the CIA and MOSSAD
The Arab revolt demonstrates once again several strategic failures in the much vaunted secret police, special forces and intelligence agencies of the US and Israeli state apparatus none of which anticipated, let along intervened, to preclude successful mobilization and influence their government’s policy toward the client rulers under attack.
The image which most writers, academics and journalists project of the invincibility of the Israeli Mossad and of the omnipotent CIA have been severely tested by their admitted failure to recognize the scope, depth and intensity of the multi-million member movement to oust the Mubarak dictatorship. The Mossad, pride and joy of
Several theoretical observations are in order. The notion that highly repressive rulers receiving billions of dollars of US military aid and with close to a million police, military and paramilitary forces are the best guarantors of imperial hegemony has been demonstrated to be false. The assumption that large scale, long term links with such dictatorial rulers, safeguards US imperial interests has been disproven.
Israeli arrogance and presumption of Jewish organizational, strategic and political superiority over “the Arabs”, has been severely deflated. The Israeli state, its experts, undercover operatives and Ivy League academics were blind to the unfolding realities, ignorant of the depth of disaffection and impotent to prevent the mass opposition to their most valued client. Israel’s publicists in the US, who scarcely resist the opportunity to promote the “brilliance” of Israel’s security forces, whether it’s assassinating an Arab leader in Lebanon or Dubai, or bombing a military facility in Syria, were temporarily speechless.
The fall of Mubarak and the possible emergence of an independent and democratic government would mean that
The weakening of the principle pillar of US imperial and Israeli colonial power in North Africa and the
Both the CIA and the Mossad worked closely with the Egyptian intelligence agencies and relied on them for their information, confiding in their self-serving reports that “everything was under control”: the opposition parties were weak, decimated by repression ad infiltration, their militants languishing in jail, or suffering fatal “heart attacks” because of harsh “interrogation techniques”. The elections were rigged to elect US and Israeli clients – no democratic surprises in the immediate or medium term horizon.
Egyptian intelligence agencies are trained and financed by Israeli and US operatives and are amenable to pursuing their masters will. They were so compliant in turning in reports which pleased their mentors, that they ignored any accounts of growing popular unrest or of internet agitation. The CIA and Mossad were so embedded in Mubarak’s vast security apparatus that they were incapable of securing any other information from the grassroots, decentralized, burgeoning movements which were independent of the “controlled” traditional electoral opposition.
When the extra-parliamentary mass movements burst forward, the Mossad and the CIA counted on the Mubarak state apparatus to take control via the typical carrot and stick operation: transient token concessions and calling out the army, police and death squads. As the movement grew from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to millions, the Mossad and leading
The intelligence failure complicated
Ultimately the failure of the CIA and MOSSAD to detect and prevent the rise of the popular democratic movement reveals the precarious bases of imperial and colonial power. Over the long-run it is not arms, billions of dollars, secret police and torture chambers that decide history. Democratic revolutions occur when the vast majority of a people arise and say “enough”, take the streets, paralyze the economy, dismantle the authoritarian state and demand freedom and democratic institutions without imperial tutelage and colonial subservience
__._,_.___
.
__,_._,___
FW:
From: James Petras [mailto:jpetras@binghamton.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 11:05 AM
To: 'James Petras'
Subject:
James Petras
The Limits of Social Movements
The mass movements which forced the removal of Mubarak reveal both the strength and weaknesses of spontaneous uprisings. On the one hand, the social movements demonstrated their capacity to mobilize hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in a successful sustained struggle culminating in the overthrow of the dictator in a way that pre-existent opposition parties and personalities were unable or unwilling to do.
On the other hand, lacking any national political leadership, the movements were not able to take political power and realize their demands, allowing the Mubarak military high command to seize power and define the “post-Mubarak” process, ensuring the continuation of Egypt’s subordination to the
While the White House may tolerate or even promote social movements in ousting (“sacrificing”) dictatorships, they have every intention in preserving the state .In the case of Egypt the main strategic ally of US imperialism was not Mubarak, it is the military, with whom Washington was in constant collaboration before, during and after the ouster of Mubarak, ensuring that the “transition” to democracy (sic) guarantees the continued subordination of Egypt to US and Israeli Middle East policy and interests.
The Revolt of the People: The Failures of the CIA and MOSSAD
The Arab revolt demonstrates once again several strategic failures in the much vaunted secret police, special forces and intelligence agencies of the US and Israeli state apparatus none of which anticipated, let along intervened, to preclude successful mobilization and influence their government’s policy toward the client rulers under attack.
The image which most writers, academics and journalists project of the invincibility of the Israeli Mossad and of the omnipotent CIA have been severely tested by their admitted failure to recognize the scope, depth and intensity of the multi-million member movement to oust the Mubarak dictatorship. The Mossad, pride and joy of
Several theoretical observations are in order. The notion that highly repressive rulers receiving billions of dollars of US military aid and with close to a million police, military and paramilitary forces are the best guarantors of imperial hegemony has been demonstrated to be false. The assumption that large scale, long term links with such dictatorial rulers, safeguards US imperial interests has been disproven.
Israeli arrogance and presumption of Jewish organizational, strategic and political superiority over “the Arabs”, has been severely deflated. The Israeli state, its experts, undercover operatives and Ivy League academics were blind to the unfolding realities, ignorant of the depth of disaffection and impotent to prevent the mass opposition to their most valued client. Israel’s publicists in the US, who scarcely resist the opportunity to promote the “brilliance” of Israel’s security forces, whether it’s assassinating an Arab leader in Lebanon or Dubai, or bombing a military facility in Syria, were temporarily speechless.
The fall of Mubarak and the possible emergence of an independent and democratic government would mean that
The weakening of the principle pillar of US imperial and Israeli colonial power in North Africa and the
Both the CIA and the Mossad worked closely with the Egyptian intelligence agencies and relied on them for their information, confiding in their self-serving reports that “everything was under control”: the opposition parties were weak, decimated by repression ad infiltration, their militants languishing in jail, or suffering fatal “heart attacks” because of harsh “interrogation techniques”. The elections were rigged to elect US and Israeli clients – no democratic surprises in the immediate or medium term horizon.
Egyptian intelligence agencies are trained and financed by Israeli and US operatives and are amenable to pursuing their masters will. They were so compliant in turning in reports which pleased their mentors, that they ignored any accounts of growing popular unrest or of internet agitation. The CIA and Mossad were so embedded in Mubarak’s vast security apparatus that they were incapable of securing any other information from the grassroots, decentralized, burgeoning movements which were independent of the “controlled” traditional electoral opposition.
When the extra-parliamentary mass movements burst forward, the Mossad and the CIA counted on the Mubarak state apparatus to take control via the typical carrot and stick operation: transient token concessions and calling out the army, police and death squads. As the movement grew from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to millions, the Mossad and leading
The intelligence failure complicated
Ultimately the failure of the CIA and MOSSAD to detect and prevent the rise of the popular democratic movement reveals the precarious bases of imperial and colonial power. Over the long-run it is not arms, billions of dollars, secret police and torture chambers that decide history. Democratic revolutions occur when the vast majority of a people arise and say “enough”, take the streets, paralyze the economy, dismantle the authoritarian state and demand freedom and democratic institutions without imperial tutelage and colonial subservience
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.
__,_._,___
Is the first amendment anti-Semitic?
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.
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. +++
Peace.
Michael Santomauro
@ 917-974-6367
What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?
__._,_.___
.
__,_._,___
The Evening Standard article - Joel Hayward's Old Website
http://www.joelhayward.com/theeveningstandardarticle.htm
Peace.
Michael Santomauro
@ 917-974-6367
What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?
__._,_.___
.
__,_._,___
Over 101 news items
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.
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.
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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?--
Thank you and remember:
Peace is patriotic!
Michael Santomauro
253 W. 72nd Street
New York, NY 10023
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
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