Mahler's Prodigal Son

One might have thought - no, hoped! - that the media would have learned not to simply parrot the PR spewed out by Governments about the threat from various countries (think, Afghanistan and Iraq) and unquestionally support their country going to war.    The New York Times is a god example of showing unstinting support for the US attacking Iraq. "When Washington goes to war or threatens it, America’s media march in lockstep, cheerleading. Fiction substitutes for fact. News is carefully filtered, dissent marginalized, and supporting imperial belligerence substitutes for full and accurate disclosure. As a result, patriotism means going along with rogue policies. Never mind rule of law principles and democratic values. Free and open societies are risked. So is humanity if belligerents overstep. The IAEA Iranian nuclear program report stirred a hornet’s nest of inflammatory commentary, no matter the agency’s fabricated contents. Previous US intelligence assessments refuted ...

On the very day that the Security Council of the UN voted against Palestine becoming a member of the organisation - how predictable and probably a decision which will be rued in the future - an interesting analysis, here , of which countries voted for, against and abstained in the vote to admit Palestine to membership of UNESCO.

Credited to Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner

This makes for astounding reading.     Whilst Greece goes down the economic plug-hole in all manner of ways, other EU countries, notably France and Germany, rely on Greece to buy military hardware and munitions .   The US is also in for the chop.    "As Greece is forced by European leaders to abandon a referendum to allow the people the chance to vote on its latest bailout conditions, the country is preparing for yet another dose of austerity.   The conditions of the next €130bn rescue package will be severe, yet there is an elephant in the room: the extent to which the German but also the French military industries rely on Greece. The small, crisis-hit nation, whose prime minister, George Papandreou, narrowly survived a vote of confidence on Friday, buys more German weapons than any other country. Some Greeks want to know why it is that France and Germany are demanding cuts in pensions, salaries and public services, but the buying o...

J ust as a military trial - well, that is what it is called, but is anything but - is about to get underway at Gitmo, this piece on truthout on the deaths of 3 prisoners at the facility should be a matter of grave concern. "On June 10, 2006, three Guantánamo prisoners were found dead in their cells. Two days later, a Department of Defense (DoD) news release described these deaths as suicides. The news release quoted Camp Commander Harry Harris, who described these suicides as acts of asymmetric warfare meant to advance al-Qaeda's cause in the war on terror. The news release was categorical with regards to the self-inflicted nature of the deaths. And the camp commander was equally certain of their hostile intent. Yet the news release was curiously guarded about the manner of these deaths - the three "appear" to have hanged themselves with nooses made of bed sheets and clothing, it said. The deaths of these three individuals was the subject of an investigation ...

The naysayers keep on challenging conventional and proven scientific evidence but climate change is having an impact on our globe, weather, seas and eco-systems.      If this latest report is correct things are getting dire and in 5 years time climate change will be irreversible . "Unless there is a "bold change of policy direction," the world will lock itself into an insecure, inefficient and high-carbon energy system, the International Energy Agency warned at the launch of its 2011 World Energy Outlook today in London. The report says there is still time to act, but despite steps in the right direction the door of opportunity is closing. The agency's warning comes at a critical time in international climate change negotiations, as governments prepare for the annual UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa, from November 28. "If we do not have an international agreement whose effect is put in place by 2017, then the door will be closed forever," IEA Ch...

This piece by Glenn Greenwald on Salon speaks for itself. "In a New York Times Op-Ed yesterday, international human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith describes a meeting he had in Pakistan with residents from the Afghan-Pakistani border region that has been relentlessly bombed by American drones; if I had one political wish this week, it would be that everyone who supports (or acquiesces to) President Obama’s wildly accelerated drone attacks would read this: 'The meeting had been organized so that Pashtun tribal elders who lived along the Pakistani-Afghan frontier could meet with Westerners for the first time to offer their perspectives on the shadowy drone war being waged by the Central Intelligence Agency in their region. Twenty men came to air their views; some brought their young sons along to experience this rare interaction with Americans. In all, 60 villagers made the journey. . . . On the night before the meeting, we had a dinner, to break the ice. During the meal...