US Uncut crashes Bank of America Conference

War Lobby Won $700 Billion Budget Boost, Wants MORE as Collapse Looms

Ex-CIA officer: Obama fools himself, Muslims see US bombing Libya.

State Dept Grilled About Bradley Manning.

Dagens Citat: David Letterman

"So now the CIA is arming the Libyan rebels. Great! You know what that means? In 10 years we'll be fighting them."

Libya, Syria and the Road to World War III - Paul Craig Roberts on The Corbett Report

Søren Pind Kontra Kendsgerningerne.

Søren Pind hævder i dag i Jyllandsposten, at angribskrigen mod Irak var startskuddet til det arabiske forår. Søren Pind er “helt sikker på, at demokratiet i Irak har inspireret under det arabiske forår.” Irak-krigen var iflg. Pind “bestemt en faktor for, at det [arabiske forår] kunne lade sig gøre,” hvilket foranlediger udviklingsministeren til at konkludere “at modstanderne af Irak-krigen får en sværere og sværere sag, som tiden går.” Det fortjener en kort gendrivelse, men så heller ikke mere:

* Der er ikke - og har ikke på noget tidspunkt været - et funktionelt demokrati i Irak, hvorfor påstanden om at "demokratiet i Irak" har virket som inspirationskilde for oprørerne i bl.a. Ægypten og Tunesien er svær at tage seriøs. For lidt over en måned siden fængslede den amerikansk støttede Nouri al-Maliki-regering 300 journalister, advokater og intellektuelle for at stoppe igangværende protester imod regeringen, mens op mod tredive mennesker blev dræbt. Disse kendsgerninger er vist ikke ligefrem et udtryk for en succesfuld demokratisering af landet!

* Uanset om der på et tidspunkt skulle komme til at ske en ændring af den nuværende situation hen imod en funktionel demokratisk orden så implicerer dette ikke, at krigsmodstanderne bliver nødt til at sluge nogle kameler, da angrebskrigen mod Irak blev solgt til befolkningerne i Danmark, Storbrittanien og USA som en sikkerhedspolitisk motiveret krig der havde med afvæbning af Saddam Hussein-regimets påståede masseødelæggelsesvåben at gøre. At dette var ren og skær svindel, løgn og bedrag er idag velkendt og det kommer næppe i nogen nær fremtid til at blive en god sag for krigsfortalerne.

* Søren Pind kommer ikke i artiklen nærmere ind på hvordan det mere præcist hænger sammen, når han påstår, at Irak-krigen gjorde det arabiske forår mulig, hvilket selvfølgelig gør det svært at gendrive. Det er imidlertid kendsgerninger, at mens Iraks vej mod en forhåbentlig bedre og mere demokratisk orden på sigt er sket oppefra, er oprørene i Ægypten og Tunesien - og mange andre steder i den arabiske del af verden - sket nedefra. Muligheden for modstand mod Saddam Husseins styre blev endvidere i høj grad begrænset af sanktionerne man påførte landet som forvoldte at landets befolkning blev så underernærede, at oprør gennem længere tid næppe overhovedet var en fysisk mulighed.

* Interessant er det da også i denne sammenhæng at fremhæve, at Pinds påståede demokratisering af Irak ikke kan siges at have skabt et positivere billede af USAs tilstedeværelse i regionen. Den amerikanske tænketank, The Brookings Institute, udgav i slutning af 2010 deres årlige 'Arab Public Opinion Poll'. Iflg. denne undersøgelse er man langt fra begejstret for den amerikanske tilstedeværelse i regionen.

Til spørgsmålet "What TWO steps by the United States would improve your views of the United States the most?" svarede 45% "Withdrawal from Iraq", mens 35% svarede "Withdrawal from Arabian Peninsula." Blot 13% mente at "Pushing more to spread democracy" ville gavne deres syn på USA.

Til spørgsmålet "Which TWO of the following factors do you believe are most important in driving American policy in the Middle East?" Svarede 49% "protecting Israel", 45% "controlling oil", 33% "weakening the muslim world", 33% "preserving regional and global dominance", 13% "preventing spread of nuclear weapons", 9% "promoting peace and stability". Det var kun 2% af de adspurgte som mente drivkraften bag den amerikanske udenrigspolitik i regionen var "Promoting democracy".

Til spørgsmålet "Name TWO countries that you think pose the biggest threat to you", svarede 88% "Israel", 77% "USA" og 10% "Iran".

Forsøget på at hvidvaske Irak-krigen er ikke Søren Pinds første forsøg på at omskrive historien til egen fordel. Check i forlængelse af dette indlæg min artikel fra den 7. Marts 'Skandaløs Hvidvaskning' på Kontradoxa. Suppler desuden ovenstående med mit blogindlæg 'Søren Pind om den aktivistiske udenrigspolitik' fra november 2010.

Eugenics

"Eugenics is the "applied science or the biosocial movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population," usually referring to human populations."

Wikipedia.

Government Advisory Panel: Test children's genes before they have sex.

Children should be encouraged to undergo genetic testing before they become sexually active to check whether they could pass on “hidden” abnormalities to their offspring, a government advisory group will say this week.

The Telegraph.

War Dollars Could Fill Deficit Gaps of All State Budgets.

In a commentary on Huffington Post yesterday William Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, estimated that the amount of money spent on the war in Afghanistan could fill the deficit gaps of all state budgets:

"...Those genuinely concerned about war costs need to go where the money is -- Afghanistan. The Pentagon has asked for $113 billion to fight the war there for this year, roughly two and one-half times what has been requested to support the United States' dwindling commitment in Iraq. That gap will only increase as troop numbers in Iraq continue to fall. To put this in some perspective, the entire Gross Domestic Product of Afghanistan is about $29 billion per year, which means that annual U.S. expenditures on the war are nearly four times the value of the entire Afghan economy. That number would obviously change if the drug economy were taken into account, but it is stunning nonetheless.

The tax dollars being spent on Afghanistan are enough to offset the $100 billion per year that House Republicans are seeking to cut from next year's budget, or enough to fill the projected budget gaps of the 44 states that expect to run deficits in 2012. In other words, if the Afghan war ended and the funds allocated for it were returned to the states, no state in America would run a deficit next year. This would save millions of jobs of teachers, police, firefighters and other public employees while holding the line on basic services like Medicaid and income support for families in poverty. This would in turn be good for the economy as a whole. Military spending creates fewer jobs than virtually any other form of expenditure, from education to housing to transportation. So shifting funds away from war spending will result in a net increase in jobs nationwide...."

Source: William Hartung, America's Costliest War, Huffington Post April 5. 2011.

New Noam Chomsky Interview.

CeasefireMagazine interviews Noam Chomsky from Frank Barat on Vimeo.

R. McChesney: Media and Politics in the United States Today.

Dagens Citat: Oscar Wilde.

»Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life a mimicry, their passions a quotation.«

- Oscar Wilde, DE PROFUNDIS, 1897.

Alfred McCoy - Surveillance State: The Making of the U.S. Internal Security Apparatus.

US Military and CIA interventions since World War II

Dokumentar: Fast Food, Fast Profits.

Cyberwar

Dagens Citat: George Bernard Shaw.

“The thief who is in prison is not necessarily more dishonest than his fellows at large, but mostly one who, through ignorance or stupidity [or, adds George Draffan, racism or poverty] steals in a way that is not customary. He snatches a loaf of bread from the baker's counter and is promptly run into jail. Another man snatches bread from the table of hundreds of widows and orphans and similar credulous souls who do not know the ways of company promoters; and, as likely as not, he is run into parliament.”

- George Bernard Shaw.

Dokumentar: "Kosovo: Can You Imagine."

Michael Parenti: The U.S. War on Yugoslavia.

Libya: The Plot Thickens!

The Telegraph: Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links.

Jerusalam Post: Al Qaida commander backs Libyan rebels in message.

The Telegraph: Libya: al-Qaeda among Libya rebels, Nato chief fears.

ICH: 2007 West Point Study Shows Benghazi-Darnah-Tobruk Area was a World Leader in Al Qaeda Suicide Bomber Recruitment.

McClatchy: Libyan Rebel Leader Spent Much of Past 20 Years in Langley Virginia

FDL: CIA, British Special Forces Swarm Through Libya.

Huffington Post: The CIA, the Libyan Rebellion, and the President.

ICH: The Euro-US War on Libya: Official Lies and Misconceptions of Critics