Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86637&sectionid=351020202

The Turkish Prime Minister says if Israel is looking for a lasting peace in the Middle East it should recognize Palestine and Hamas. Arguing that a two-state solution is the only way to resolve the conflict between Palestinians and Israel, Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to support the idea and recognize Palestine as a state. AGI News: PERES TO EUROPE: BREAK WITH HAMAS. VDare: America’s Shame: Why does Israel have a right to exist, but Palestine doesn’t?

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86612&sectionid=3510203

A Guantanamo Bay ex-inmate, Binyam Mohamed, tells Press TV of his experience under 'medieval' torture amid US efforts to paint a rosy picture of the prison. A confidential Defense Department review recently claimed that "torture" has no place in the Cuba-based military prison as Guantanamo detainees are treated "humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions ".

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/osum-f24.shtml

In advance of his address to Congress on Tuesday and the release of his federal budget on Thursday, President Barack Obama on Monday hosted a White House Federal Budget Summit to launch a campaign for "fiscal responsibility." While largely a public relations event, the gathering underscored the right-wing character of the new administration's policies. National Post: Obama to face down growing public anxiety in high-stakes speech. Global Research: Obama's economic agenda: a timely review.

Link: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/177021-Cutting-through-the-illusion-The-Grand-Chessboard

It may seem blindingly obvious, but I'm going to say it anyway as we often seem to forget, that clear communication is essential to mutual understanding. Without a common understanding of what we say to each other we find ourselves adrift in Babel-land. The risks to us all from a lack of common understanding cannot be overstated.

In the midst of the deluge of bailouts, rescues and stimulus packages there is no clear communication as to just why these measures are being taken and how they are meant to improve the lives of ordinary people. It is abundantly clear that this is deliberate. If we, the normal people of the planet, were to gain a common understanding of what is really happening, we would decide that we don't approve, we would agree on exactly why we don't approve and we would likely agree on what we wish to see happen instead. Those that control our world know this so they ensure that no common understanding is reached; they need the confusion. In fact, they create the confusion.

Link: http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/2009/02/good-war-theres-no-such-thing.html

Orwellian doublespeak at its finest. The media and government will repeat the words "the good war" until the majority actually believe it. The Afghan surge is a threat to escalate violence and move the 'never ending' wars into new areas.

Link: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/02/supreme-court-hears-indian-mining-lease.php

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in two cases. In United States v. Navajo Nation, the Court heard arguments on whether the Court's earlier decision in the case foreclosed a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the US federal government breached its fiduciary duties in connection with coal leases and is liable to the Navajo Nation for as much as $600 million.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090223/ts_alt_afp/ushistorynativecongress

The US House of Representatives on Monday approved by voice vote a measure honoring legendary Apache warrior Geronimo's bravery 100 years after his death. The nonbinding resolution honors his life, "his extraordinary bravery, and his commitment to the defense of his homeland, his people, and Apache ways of life." The lawmakers certainly didn't honor him when he was alive! -It took them 100 years to do so. Pathetic! More about Goyathlay (Geronimo) HERE.

Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/23/content_10877963.htm

Hamas on Monday rejected an Amnesty International report that accused the Palestinian Islamic movement, as well as Israel, of using weapons illegally during the recent Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. "Amnesty's demands are unbalanced and unfair; they make equal between the real criminal and the victim," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza. PFLP: PFLP calls upon Amnesty International to end false equation of occupier and occupied. The People's Voice: Amnesty’s scandalous obliquity.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86613&sectionid=3510203

The White House names controversial Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross as its special foreign policy adviser for Persian Gulf affairs. The US State Department announced the veteran US diplomat's appointment as special advisor on the Persian Gulf and southwest Asia to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday after weeks of speculation. "This is a region in which America is fighting two wars and facing challenges of ongoing conflict [true], terror, proliferation [false], access to energy, economic development [true] and strengthening democracy and the rule of law [false]," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement. For the record: The US is NOT fighting terror -the US is the #1 terrorist in the world, in a ligue of its own. The US' unwanted, military presence in the region never was about democracy. It was (and still is) about resources & hegemony (for Israel). Arch-Zionist and dual citizen Ross was about the last person this region needed now. He may be a Middle East "negotiator", alright, but not a peace negotiator, for the simple reason that Israel doesn't want peace but war. And land. Lots of it. World War III is looming.

Link: http://www.examiner.com/x-2134-DC-Ethical-Issues-Examiner~y2009m2d24-Mr-Roves-disdain-for-the-rule-of-law-must-be-addressed

Yesterday, I posted thoughts about Nigel Haskett, the young McDonald’s employee being penalized by McDonald’s for an act of courage. But worse than that—we expect such reprehensible behavior these days from American corporations—were some of the comments from readers of the news story about the incident. Ethics seems hardly to enter into a universe in which a corporation’s ludicrous instructions are exalted above an individual’s moral outrage supported by courage to act. And now we have Karl Rove, poster doughboy for everything bloated and insupportable about the previous administration.

Link: http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/02/elliot-abrams-confirms-his-new-cfr-role.html

Elliott Abrams just confirmed that he will be official mouthpiece of Bibi Netanyahu and his Likud Party at the Council on Foreign Relations and on the pages of The Weekly Standard (and probably in the Wall Street Journal, too).