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"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is the equivalent of a Cleveland garage band calling itself The Beatles in Ohio ("We’ve pledged allegiance to Paul and Ringo," says lead vocalist)."

-Jeff Huber

Eliot Spitzer and Toure roleplay the bailout

This video is very good.  Best part is when Eliot Spitzer calls the Federal Reserve a Ponzi Scheme.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Also, this is an Washing Post op-ed on predatory lending Eliot Spitzer wrote one month before he was forced to resign after it was leaked to the press that he was the one millionth politician to sleep with a hooker.

Dennis Ross

Right at the start of the Iranian election turmoil, Dennis Ross left his job at the State Department and joined the National Security Council.  This is his new job (from the Washington Independent):

Dennis Ross will become Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region with overall responsibility for the region.  He will work with Don Camp, Senior Director for South Asia, Lt. Gen. Doug Lute, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Adviser and Coordinator for Afghanistan-Pakistan, Dan Shapiro, Senior Director for Near East and North Africa, and Puneet Talwar, Senior Director for the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq.

Also, everyone should read William Polk's recent Counterpunch post, which reminded me of Dennis "Israel's Lawyer" Ross:

"In the White House, I think it would be hard to find a worse choice than the new Special Assistant to the President, Dennis Ross. Three examples of his skill: a) in the early negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, when he was supposedly the honest broker, he took a more disruptive position than even the Israelis, apparently shocking even them; b) in the build-up to the Iranian elections he sponsored and organized a program to "electronically invade" Iran with destabilizing messages trying, more subtly to be sure than the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup, to "regime change" it."

Sarah Palin Copyedited

This is funny.

AIG

Michael Lewis has a new piece out in Vanity Fair on how A.I.G. managed to end up insuring so many subprime mortgages.

The article is called "The Man Who Crashed the World," and it is definitely worth a read.

Also, if you haven't read it yet, Matt Taibbi's scathing Rolling Stone article on Goldman Sachs, "The Great American Bubble Machine" is a must.  (And his vampire squid image seems to be a lasting one). 

Tel Aviv Twitters

I found this Counterpunch article by Jonthan Cook last week, but forget to post it.  It's called "Israel's Internet War," and it details the new Israeli "internet warfare team" that was allocated $150,000 in the current government budget.

"Mr Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry’s hasbara department, admitted his team would be working undercover.“Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli foreign ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis,” he said. “They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed.”

"The new team is expected to increase the ministry’s close coordination with a private advocacy group, giyus.org (Give Israel Your United Support). About 50,000 activists are reported to have downloaded a programme called Megaphone that sends an alert to their computers when an article critical of Israel is published. They are then supposed to bombard the site with comments supporting Israel."

I bring up again my previous post "Twitters impact inside Iran is zero," where i brought up the analysis done by Chartingstocks.net on the original Twitter posts that sparked the media idea of a "twitter revolution" in Iran.  Chartingstocks.net found (through unscientific methods) that the Jerusalem Post was the first media outlet to use twitter posts as legitimate news on the election.

True Crimes: The Untold Story behind the devastation of Iraq

I found this Nation Institute forum from 2008.  Seymour Hersh, Jeremy Scahill, Chris Hedges, and Lailia al-Arian having a freewheeling discussion of Iraq and American policy in general.  1 hr. 36 min.  Very much worth watching.

Nazis and the Mufti

Apparently Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's far-right foreign minister, is throwing out all the stops in trying to distract the world as Israel tears down more Palestinian homes and builds Israeli homes in their place.

According to Haaretz, "Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered diplomats to use an old photograph of a former Palestinian religious leader meeting Adolf Hitler to counter world criticism of a Jewish building plan for East Jerusalem.  Israeli officials said on Wednesday that Lieberman told Israeli ambassadors to circulate the 1941 shot in Berlin of the Nazi leader seated next to Haj Amin al-Husseini, the late mufti or top Muslim religious leader in Jerusalem."   

Daniel Luban writes on Jim Lobe's Blog that the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a powerful Washington lobby, has taken Lieberman's advice  and in a recent statement included the Mufti's Nazi ties (which certainly do exist) as a "disturbing" reason  why there should be no opposition to further Israeli colonies being built in East Jerusalem.

Pushing Back the Withdrawal Date

It is being reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is starting to waver on the December 31st, 2011 withdrawal date for all American soldiers in Iraq.  The status of force agreement signed in the waning days of Bush has a renegotiation clause at the end, and advisors like General Jack Keane want the U.S. military to never, ever give up its imperial garrisons in Iraq.  

What will be interesting to watch is the multiple forces working on al-Maliki, one from Washington and Tampa trying to pull the puppet strings, and one from Iraq wanting the Americans out.

Karen Kwiatkowski on Russian News

Great Game 2.0

It seems that as the Obama administration's war policy matures, Southwest Asia is being turned inside out in the name of America's Overseas Contingency Operation (the official "new" term for the Global War on Terror).

My favorite frontline reporter, Syed Saleem Shahzad, has a new article out, "Pakistan-U.S. plan falls into place."  The article is worth reading multiple times, and perhaps printing out and saving, as it lays out the framework for what will be, in Shahzed's words "a struggle of unprecedented proportions."

  On one side of the struggle are the military politicians of the imperial states.  Shahzad writes "The seamless friendship between the chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani, has cemented the relationship between the military establishments of the two countries to levels not seen since the 1950s."  According to Shahzad, the "cemented relationship" will proceed along two path.

First, "Pakistan will launch a comprehensive battle against all Taliban groups in the country, irrespective of whether they are perceived as good or bad."  Second, "an initiative will be made by the Pakistani government, supported by the country's Western allies, for better relations with India, strongly mediated by the Pakistan army."

In order to understand this alliance, it must be understood that the U.S. is thoroughly engaged in a Great Game, meaning that the military is only a facade for underlying economic concerns.  

In Pakistan, the American's have been setting up quite a "civilian" task-force in Islamabad.  They currently have more than 500 advisors in the capital city, and earlier this year the White House asked Congress for $736 Million to build a new super-embassy in the capital city. (To put that price tag in perspective, when the U.S. built the world's largest embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone, it cost $740 million.)  And what have these "civilians" been advising the Pakistani government to do?  According to Shahzad, they have told the Pakistani Army to declare war westward, rather than eastward.  My asumption right now is that the U.S. is hoping to benefit itself, and not India, from a shift in Pakistani belligerence.  It was rumored that when Richard Holbrooke was put it charge of diplomacy for the region, his original title included Kashmir, but it was removed at India's request.

Across the Durand Line, in Afghanistan, all signs are pointing to a continuation of the neoliberal occupation of the state.   Zalmay Khalizad as CEO?  James Carville as campaign strategist?  Chances are that Afghanistan is still a pipeline war, or a surround Iran war, and Zbig has no plans to give up on his policy.  The recent American military operation, Operation Daggerthrust, sprawled 5,000 marines out over Helmand Province, where a new 443 acre military base, Camp Leatherneck, is being built (near both the Iran and Pakistan border).  The operational is out of style for General Stan McChrystal, who specializes in small Special Forces operations.  There has been, however, talk of Special Forces raids from Helmand province into Pakistani Baluchistan, which according to Pepe Escobar, is the greatest prize in Great Game 2.0.  Watch for the ultra-remote Nimruz province of Afghanistan to start cropping up in the news, as it will be the staging ground for any cross border operation.   

  As it stands, Pakistan lives off of an IMF lifeline, a fact that the military leaders of both America and Pakistan are fully aware of.  Therefore, if the U.S. military needs an allied army to join the fight for empire, Pakistan has no choice but to agree.  Washington has all the cards, and it seems that Richard Armitage's September 11th "with us or against us" ultimatum is still being adhered to.  All that is left to be seen is how hard the other side of the struggle, the Southwest Asian militants, will fight.  For that, read Shahzad's article.

Inevitable War

Is a coming attack on Iran a foregone conclusion in Washington and Tel Aviv?  Paul Craig Roberts thinks so.  Read his latest Counterpunch article "Threatening Iran."  The Times of London also thinks so (read my previous post "War with Iran.")

Also, props to someone else for pointing out the glaring possibility that Twitter manipulation is the easiest PSYOPS trick in the book.

Fuck You Tom Friedman

Does Thomas L. Friedman have no limits?  

In his Sunday op-ed (Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No.) Mr. Friedman writes of taking a "fun" helicopter ride with the Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and therefore the most powerful man in the U.S. military, in order to "cut the ribbon" on a secular all-girls school built by the American humanitarian Greg Mortenson.

Mr. Friedman then concludes:

 "But when you see two little Afgahn girls crouched on the front steps of their new school, clutching tightly with both arms the notebooks handed to them by a U.S. Admiral--as is they were their first dolls--it's hard to say: "Let's just walk away." Not Yet."

First of all Mr. Friedman, have you ever read a cynical book about the Vietnam War, one that mocks the journalists who go on helicopter trips with generals and report it as the truth?  Well you are now that journalist, falling for the military's PR, hook, line and sinker.  (and if you haven't read any of those books, maybe you should.  I recommend starting with Dispatches, by Michael Herr.)

Secondly, your concern for education is truly touching.  However, for some reason you conflate the military occupation with Mr. Mortenson's private efforts to open schools.  Does this mean that we should invade every country in which Mr. Mortenson works?  Moreover, perhaps you haven't noticed, but the U.S. military hopes to employ over 100,000 Afghans not as teachers, or doctors, or engineers, but as soldiers.  In the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Act, passed in June, the U.S. taxpayers spent close to four times as much money on fighting a war in Afghanistan as it did on civilian aid to Afghanistan.  You also seem to have it stuck in your head that when the U.S. military ends the Afghanistan War, anything related to the West will end with it.  Just maybe Mr. Mortenson's schools would not be blown up if his tax dollars were not blowing up wedding parties. 

Lastly, please don't ever writs this paragraph again (or alternately, go work for the Weekly Standard):

Mortenson's efforts remind us what the essence of the War on Terrorism is about.  It's about the war of ideas within Islam--a war between religous zealots who glorify martyrdom and want to keep Islam untouched by modernity and isolated by other faiths, with its women disempowered, and those who want to embrace modernity, open Islam to new ideas and empower Muslim women as much as men.

Syed Saleem Shahzad

In his latest column for the Asia Times, "Pakistan wields a double edged sword," Pakistan Bureau Chief Syed Saleem Shahza writes about the different factions that have emerged among the militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as the militants changing reaction to Operation Rah-e-Raast, the Pakistani Military Campaign against them that began earlier this year.

New Player in the (Great) Game:

Bin Yameem: After the military operation, emerged as new supreme commander of Swat Valley, "He is fiercely anti-army and insiders say that even if ceasefires agreements are made, he will ignore them and fight to his last man and last bullet...He [Bin Yameen] was the victim of the worst sort of torture by army personnel, right up to the time it became crystal clear that he was not involved in any activity against the army or Musharraf. He became full of venom against the army." 

Some other highlights:

"Contrary to the military's claims of hundreds of militants killed, the militants say they have lost only 50 of their men, with the remainder being civilians killed in crossfire or in aerial bombings. Of the 50, two commanders - one named only as Daud and the other as Shah Doran - have died."

"A few months ago, when the Malakand operation was in full swing, the Americans became so desperate that action should be taken against Pakistani militants who were due to go into Helmand that the Pakistani establishment believed they would take matters into their own hands and move into Pakistan. 
To pre-empt this, all possible tribal rivals of Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan were organized (all were Taliban) under the banner of the Pakistan army."

Jabbar had always opposed attacks on the Pakistani security forces as well as jihadi operations in Pakistan. Under US pressure (more than 500 Americans have arrived in Islamabad to observe developments) an operation was organized against militants in the southern Punjab and several high-profile commanders, including one named Farooq and other members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, were arrested. 
A top jihadi leader commented to Asia Times Online, "We never imagined such a reaction. We have not fought against the Pakistan army and we do not consider it right. But if the present arrests continue, what option will we have ... without going to Waziristan and doing what other people are doing there? 

(Image courtesy of BBC)

Torture Talk

Today, the Washington Post ran a nice piece, "Internal Rifts on Road to Torment," detailing the CIA's decisions on the interrogation of Abu Zubaida.  The story gives a good depiction of the chain of command, as well as the use of contractors in carrying out interrogations.  If people wish to know more about this episode, they should read Ron Suskind's excellent book, "The One Percent Doctrine."

Here is a video of the author, Joby Warrick, talking about his article to MSNBC's Chris Jansen.  

Breaking the Silence

Here is a full copy of the recent Breaking the Silence report that i wrote about this week.  Thanks to Phillip Weiss at Mondoweiss.com

Breaking the Silence

BreakingTheSilenceEnglishOperationCastLead -

War with Iran

The Times of London, Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper, seems to have figured out the geopolitics of Obama's Middle East.  In yesterdays article "Israeli Navy in Suez Canal Prepares for Potential Attack on Iran," author Sheera Frenkel concludes an informative piece on recent Israeli military exercises with these incredibly disturbing lines:

The exercises come at a time when Western diplomats are offering support for an Israeli strike on Iran in return for Israeli concessions on the formation of a Palestinian state.

If agreed it would make an Israeli strike on Iran realistic “within the year” said one British official.

Diplomats said that Israel had offered concessions on settlement policy, Palestinian land claims and issues with neighboring Arab states, to facilitate a possible strike on Iran.

“Israel has chosen to place the Iranian threat over its settlements,” said a senior European diplomat.

My hope is that these "Western Diplomats" are only trying to help News Corp spin the Atlantic political climate into a warlike state, but i would not be surprised for one moment if Rahm Emanuel and company in Washington struck this type of deal.  Israel has never been one to sit down and behave, and if another deceitful "peace process" is indeed underway, no doubt Israel will do everything it can to milk the diplomatic procedures to its benefit.

I've been to Manchester New Hampshire

"U.S. Shopper Charged $23 Quadrillion for Cigarettes"

Orders from above

Recently, IDF soldiers have put down some damning testimonies relating to Operation Cast Lead, Israel's brutal invasion of the Gaza strip over the New Year.  The testimonies, from about 30 soldiers, were gathered by Breaking the Silence, "an army veterans organisation that seeks to "expose the Israeli public to the routine situations of everyday life in the occupied territories."

As reported in The Independent, "Israeli Soldiers Reveal the Brutal Truth of Gaza Attack":

The first eye-witness accounts of the war by serving Israeli reservists and conscripts describes the Israeli use of Palestinian civilians as "human shields". They detail the killing of at least two civilians, the vandalism, looting and wholesale destruction of Palestinian houses, the use of deadly white phosphorus, bellicose religious advice from army rabbis and what another battalion commander described to his troops as "insane firepower with artillery and air force". 

Despite official accounts that homes were only destroyed for strictly "operational" reasons, one reservist, a veteran of the conflict in Gaza since before 2005, said "I never knew such fire power" used by tanks and helicopters for the "constant destruction" of houses. 

 Palestinian human shields – or "johnnies" as they were termed by soldiers on the ground – were suborned to enter surrounded houses ahead of troops, including houses known to contain armed militants.

One soldier said an army rabbi had "aimed at inspiring the men with courage, cruelty aggressiveness, expressions as 'no pity. God protects you. Everything you do is sanctified'... there were specific scenarios discussed... but from the context it was pretty obvious he came to tell us how aggressive and determined we need to be, that we must win because this is a holy war"

Wizards and Weed

Jamie Waylett, an actor in the recent Harry Potter movie was caught growing weed.  That's pretty funny.  

If my Harry Potter lore is correct (which I'm pretty sure it is) Waylett's character, Vincent Crabbe, could easily have grown weed in Hogwarts.  He was a Slytherin crony of Draco Malfoy, and was certainly not adverse to breaking the law.  In fact, JK Rowling could have taken a page from the U.S. Government and had the Slytherins sell weed to finance some type of evil plan, like resurrecting the Dark Lord Cheney (oops, Voldemort)