Link: http://www.alternet.org/media/145484/michael_douglas%27s_son_faces_more_time_than_a_murderer_or_a_rapist_for_a_nonviolent_drug_charge

The government is hell-bent on punishing Cameron Douglas for the crime of being an addict. Who benefits from Cameron Douglas getting at least 10 years in prison? No one. But the government is hell-bent on punishing him for the crime of being an addict. Cameron -- the son of Academy Award winner Michael Douglas -- took a guilty plea this week for dealing drugs that will land him in prison for at least 10 years to a maximum of life. This stems from a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation based on information from unidentified informants who were methamphetamine users and drug dealers.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24545.htm

The CIA sequence for a Predator strike ends with a missile but begins with a memo. Usually no more than two or three pages long, it bears the name of a suspected terrorist, the latest intelligence on his activities, and a case for why he should be added to a list of people the agency is trying to kill.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/iran-nuclear-us-missiles-gulf

Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran

Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32272.html

President Barack Obama’s new budget, to be released Monday, forecasts two consecutive years of near $160 billion in war funding, far more than he hoped when elected and only modestly less than the last years of the Bush Administration.

Link: http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m62791&hd=&size=1&l=e

In the richest of the Occupied lands, Israeli bureaucracy is driving Palestinians out of their homes. Robert Fisk reports from Jiftlik Area C doesn't sound very ominous. A land of stone-sprinkled grey hills and soft green valleys, it's part of the wreckage of the equally wrecked Oslo Agreement, accounting for 60 per cent of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that was eventually supposed to be handed over to its Palestinian inhabitants.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/31-5

The nuclear industry, once an environmental pariah, is recasting itself as green as it attempts to extend the life of many power plants and build new ones. But a leak of radioactive water at Vermont Yankee, along with similar incidents at more than 20 other US nuclear plants in recent years, has kindled doubts about the reliability, durability, and maintenance of the nation's aging nuclear installations.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/torture-memo-waterboarding

Report shows Bush administration lawyers showed poor judgment but will not face sanctions for professional misconduct

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/israel-war-crimes-un-report

Israel has delivered a report to the UN defending its actions in last year's Gaza war and insisting its troops did not violate international law, but has not agreed to hold an independent investigation as demanded. In the 46-page report, submitted on Friday and released late that night, Israeli authorities admitted some "operational lapses and errors in the exercise of discretion". But they strongly denied allegations of war crimes raised by international human rights groups and by two separate UN investigations.

Link: http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/a-day-with-an-evicted-family-in-occupied-east-jerusalem/

Despite the cold outside…. you can feel the inner warmth of these wonderful people. We spent the day in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem today. 28 Palestinian refugee families are at the threat of being evicted from their homes to become refugees again. Four families have already been evicted and thrown out on the streets of Sheikh Jarrah by Settlers with the support of the Israeli government – Police and Military involved.

Link: http://www.paltelegraph.com/columnists/peter-eyre/3897-blair-comes-out-clean-with-no-regrets

We, the public, expected more from this Iraq Inquiry especially on that special day when Tony Blair appeared before the panel. I am sure that we are all now totally devastated when we heard what appeared to be an array of well orchestrated question. As one would expect the response was as if Blair knew the questions to ...

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/30/AR2010013001411_pf.html

Bush administration lawyers who paved the way for sleep deprivation and waterboarding of terrorism suspects exercised poor judgment but will not be referred to authorities for possible sanctions, according to a forthcoming ethics report, a legal source confirmed.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/01/201013172334633535.html

China has given warning to the US about the severe consequences of its arms sales to Taiwan, saying the move will undermine Chinese-US co-operation. The country's foreign minister, defence ministry and top legislative body have condemned the sale since the US plan entered the final stages on Friday.

Link: http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1957743,00.html&ct=ga&cd=ZM12yBr20Nc&usg=AFQjCNGkWwXRSrLAz29jahNIYLLe1Rl36Q

The President on Wednesday may have reassured Americans that the state of the Union is "strong," but, just the week before, a group of Vermont secessionists declared their intention to seek political power in a quest to get their state to quit the Union altogether. On Jan. 15, in the state capital of Montpelier, nine candidates for statewide office gathered in a tiny room at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, to announce they wanted a divorce from the United States of America. "For the first time in over 150 years, secession and political independence from the U.S. will be front and center in a statewide New England political campaign," said Thomas Naylor, 73, one of the leaders of the campaign.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/blai-j30.shtml

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s testimony before the Chilcot inquiry into the 2003 Iraq war marks him down once more as a war criminal. His testimony made clear that he collaborated in preparing an illegal war of aggression, in line with the policy of pre-emptive war elaborated by the Bush administration in the United States. Time and again, he directly alluded to his belief that regime change was required in Iraq, even after it was apparent that Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. His most emotive passage defending his decision to go to war was also the most damning legally.