Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89771&sectionid=351020403

Warning that the situation is "increasingly perilous", US President Barack Obama unveils a new strategy to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In an address at the executive office building in Washington on Friday, Obama said he would use all elements in his power to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the insurgency in the war-ridden country. "Attacks against our troops, our NATO allies, and the Afghan government have risen steadily. Most painfully, 2008 was the deadliest year of the war for American forces," Obama said. He reminded the American people [of the outrageous lie] that the US did not choose to invade Afghanistan but was forced to after the deadly 9/11 attacks carried out by al-Qaeda elements. #1: Israel & the US government did 9/11, not some "al-Qaeda elements". #2: There's no such thing as "al-Qaeda". The name of the organization comes from the Arabic noun qā'idah, which means foundation or basis and can also refer to a military base or database. (The initial al- is the Arabic definite article 'the', hence the base. In Arabic qa'idah bayanat is database where bayanat is data and qa'idah is base.) Now, what do we find in this database and whose database is it? It is made up of a ragtag army of locals, hooligans and professional hitmen recruited by American military intelligence & the CIA. (Even the late Osama bin Laden was one of their "al-Qaeda" agents. You can see him chat with his handler Zbigniew Brezinski HERE. Brezinski, incidentally, also used to be Barack Obama's handler.) #3: The threat of US attacks against Afghanistan was passed to the Taliban weeks before NY attack (Another link HERE.) -SO, the US wasn't "forced to" invade Afghanistan because of 9/11. Moreover, it definitely DID choose to do so, and had planned the invasion since (at least) the summer of 2001 and, together with Israel, 9/11 even earlier than this. (Probably years earlier). Curiously, trying to make the inherited Afghanistan war his "own", Obama follows in the footsteps of Bush & Cheney using the 9/11 as a pretext, blaming it on "al-Qaeda elements". Has Obama no sense of shame?

Link: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/133612/why_is_a_progressive_think_tank_telling_obama_to_escalate_the_war_in_afghanistan/

It is deeply disappointing that the Center for American Progress has issued a call for a 10-year war in Afghanistan. CAP takes no notice of the torture and detention without human rights protections at Kabul's Bagram prison, now undergoing massive expansion. Obama's team already says his anti-torture executive order does not cover the hundreds detained in Afghanistan, so it is likely that the American forces will launch a massive "preventive incarceration" campaign in the months ahead. CAP's silence on this matter is especially disturbing since the think tank expressed deep concern over the same policies in Iraq. AntiWar: Obama Plans Additional Afghan Escalation: In addition to the 17,000 troops President Obama has already committed to add to the war effort in Afghanistan, his new “comprehensive strategy” will reportedly include another 4,000 troops and hundreds of “civilian advisers,” bringing the US military presence in Afghanistan to nearly 60,000. The Guardian: Time running out on Afghanistan, US fears. + If this becomes Obama's war, it will poison his presidency.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89759&sectionid=351020504

Sudan says Israel has been 'most probably' behind two attacks on a truck convoy which killed up to 40 people in the country's north. "The first thought is that it was the Americans that did it. We contacted the Americans and they categorically denied [that] they were involved," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig said on Friday. "We are still trying to verify [the American's claim]. Most probably it involved Israel," he added.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89721&sectionid=351020406

Japan's government has officially authorized the shooting down of North Korean rockets or their debris if they threaten Japan's security. "I issued the necessary order after the (government) security council this morning decided to issue a destruction order in advance," Defense Minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said after meeting Prime Minister, Taro Aso, and other key cabinet ministers on Friday. Daily Telegraph: US deploys warships as North Korea prepares to launch missile.

Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=88491&sectionid=351020202

A study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel's survival beyond the next 20 years. The CIA report predicts "an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution, as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial Apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947/1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region." The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of two million Israeli - who would move to the US in the next fifteen years.

Link: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/03/27/a-letter-to-barack-obama-from-a-guantanamo-uighur/

There were once 22 Uighur prisoners in Guantánamo. Muslims from China’s oppressed Xinjiang province, they had all been swept up as human debris during “Operation Enduring Freedom,” the US-led invasion of Afghanistan that began in October 2001. The majority of these men were seized after fleeing to Pakistan from a run-down settlement in Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains, which had been hit in a US bombing raid. Initially welcomed by Pakistani villagers, they were then betrayed and sold to US forces, who were offering $5000 a head for “al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects.” None of the men had been in Afghanistan to support al-Qaeda or the Taliban, and none had raised arms against US forces.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89755&sectionid=351020401

At least 50 people have been killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in northwest Pakistan during Friday prayers. The bombing took place in the town of Jamrud in Khyber tribal region, killing 50 people and injuring more than 70 others, local officials and residents told Press TV's Nasir Kazmi. NYT: Suicide Bomber Kills 48 in Pakistan. Where do they come from, these suicide bombers? -Could it be that some of them come from the US Bagram base ouside Kabul, from Guantánamo and similar ghoulish places? Is this kind of suicidal and deadly behavior the intended result of the torture that innocent people are being subjected to at these ghastly camps? Could it be that what we're talking about is some kind of turbo charged Manchurian process? Are the true suicide bomber factories after all not the madrassas but Guantánamo and the Bagram base?

Link: http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/gaza-the-most-moral-army-in-the-world-oliphant-caryl-churchill-dont-you-see-people-hate-israel.html

"I should not be surprised by the cartoon or the reactions. Just this week I was reading TechCrunch (techcrunch.com) and a simple story on Israeli Venture Capitalists and tech investments. This site is read by literate techies, isn’t it? And what followed was over 300 comments, many about the evil genocidal Israelis who are great at fone technology but awful at humanity."

Link: http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/26-03-2009.htm

[Palestinians demonstrating in front of Rafah International Crossing Point at the Egyptian border demanding reopening the crossing point – 19 March 2009] Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and Continue to Impose a Total Siege on the Gaza Strip. ►Ten Palestinian civilians, including one child and two journalists, were injured by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. ►IOF warplanes bombarded targets in the Gaza Strip. ►IOF conducted 36 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. ►IOF arrested 26 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and nine fishermen in the Gaza Strip. ►IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. ►IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested one Palestinian civilian. ►IOF have continued to construct the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank. ►IOF continued to raze area of Palestinian land to the south of Qalqilya. ►IOF confiscated 30 donumms[1] of Palestinian land in Sho'fat refugee camp near Jerusalem to turn a military checkpoint into a crossing. ►IOF imposed additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian farmers on both sides of the Wall. ►IOF have continued measures aimed at creating a demographic Jewish majority in east Jerusalem. ►IOF took a series of arbitrary measures to prevent celebration of Jerusalem as a capital of Arab culture for 2009. ►IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. ►The Israeli government approved the construction of a new settlement in Hebron. ►The Israeli Defense Minister refused to issue an order to demolish nine settlement homes in "Oufa" settlement that had been built "without licenses."

Link: http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/03/25/gaza-war-crimes/

Civilians, medics and investigators talk to the Guardian about allegations of war crimes during Israel's 23-day campaign in Gaza. The first part focuses on the infamous Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles - the dreaded drones - which caused at least 48 deaths in Gaza during the 23-day offensive. The second part focuses on three teenage brothers who were taken as human shields by the Israelis and were made to kneel in front of tanks to deter Palestinian resistance attacks. The third and last part investigates the Israeli military attacks on Palestinian medical staff.

Link: http://www.prisonplanet.com/military-industrial-complex-prepares-mass-graves-for-us-citizens.html

An interview was conducted between my friend and a truck driver involved in this operation. After beating around the bush for ten minutes, the driver admitted “ I got paid a whole lot of money to speak good english.” Take it for what it’s worth but that sounds suspect. The truck driver also admitted “Each burial vault holds four caskets.” I took note that if caskets were not used you could fit 40 bodies or more in each one. You Tube: Is FEMA & DHS preparing for mass graves and martial law near Chicago? (Video)

Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dakota-flooding27-2009mar27,0,1456819.story

Reporting from Fargo, N.D., and Chicago -- As snow continued to fall Thursday across North Dakota's frozen plains, weary volunteers and frantic residents in Fargo scrambled to bolster the 12-mile-long man-made barrier that was holding back the Red River.

Officials in the city of 90,000 also were busy preparing a plan to evacuate major sections of Fargo -- which they acknowledged would be difficult given the number of roadways being blocked by the rising water. Mandatory evacuations were ordered as a precaution in one neighborhood Thursday night after cracks were found in an earthen levee, the Associated Press reported. With nearly all of North Dakota already affected by flooding or under flood warnings, President Obama declared 34 counties and two Native American reservations federal disaster areas. USA Today: Fargo flood rising above predecessors (Video). NYT: 60 Die as Dam Breaks Near Jakarta. The Guardian: Dam bursts in Indonesia killing at least 50. Al Jazeera: Homes washed away as flash flood hits Jakarta (Video).

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/mexi-m27.shtml

With the announcement of a new border security plan Monday and the two-day visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Mexico City and Monterrey which ended Thursday, Washington is launching a major intervention in Mexico in the name of combating drug trafficking and associated violence. Rather than responding to some sudden crisis, it appears that the Obama administration is executing plans drafted and developed under the Bush administration, and particularly the Pentagon and the US national intelligence apparatus. US money and arms play a decisive role in fueling the Mexican drug trade and violence and her repudiation of claims made in the media and by sections of the US military and foreign policy establishment that Mexico is on the verge of becoming a "failed state." WaPo: Clinton: The United States bears "shared responsibility" for the drug-fueled violence sweeping Mexico, which has claimed more than 7,000 lives since the beginning of 2008. DLD.com: Mena, CIA, and the Clintons.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127001.300-space-storm-alert-90-seconds-from-catastrophe.html?full=true&print=true

It is midnight on 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan are filled with a flickering curtain of colourful light. Few New Yorkers have seen the aurora this far south but their fascination is short-lived. Within a few seconds, electric bulbs dim and flicker, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment. Then all the lights in the state go out. Within 90 seconds, the entire eastern half of the US is without power.

A year later and millions of Americans are dead and the nation's infrastructure lies in tatters. The World Bank declares America a developing nation. Europe, Scandinavia, China and Japan are also struggling to recover from the same fateful event - a violent storm, 150 million kilometres away on the surface of the sun. It sounds ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn't create so profound a disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that.