DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Monday blasted General Motors over a snarky advertisement for GM trucks run during the Super Bowl broadcast, but stopped short of taking any kind of legal action. The ad, during what proved to be the most-watched US television broadcast in history, showed Chevrolet Silverado trucks and their drivers surviving a 21st century apocalypse.Where’s Dave?” asked one of the survivors. “Dave didn’t drive the longest-lasting, most dependable truck on the ro

Link: http://whatreallyhappened.com/

"In the 1980s capitalism triumphed over communism. In the l990s it triumphed over democracy."

Link: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/

Washington's longstanding policy is regime change in Iran and Syria. At issue is replacing independent regimes with client ones and securing unchallenged control of valued Middle East resources.

Link: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2012/02/06/after-russia-s-un-veto-us-talks-of-coali

The veto by Russia and China of a United Nations Security Council resolution will not halt ongoing preparations for Western-backed intervention against Syria. The discussion on the resolution was a political manoeuvre from the outset, designed either to force Moscow and Beijing into agreeing to a UN cover for a Libya-style operation against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, or justify a predetermined alternative route to regime-change. This goal has nothing to do with the humanitarian posturing of the US.The aim is to install a pro-Western government.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29108

Many hand-made signs pointed to Wall Street and the banks as the real danger, not Iran.The corporate media have been reporting for weeks that the Israeli regime is weighing an attack on Iran aimed at dismantling its nuclear program. Yet even former U.S. intelligence officers point out that Iran's nuclear development is entirely peaceful; it is not building any nuclear weapons.unsubstantiated claims to the contrary form the basis on which Israel, which itself has a large nuclear arsenal and has been armed and financed by the U.S., is now publicly claiming its right to launch a military attack on Iran.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29109

Americans have been detained in responder camps as a consequence of demonstrating with the Occupy Wall Street movement launched in New York City. Under the guise of protecting Americans from a largely contrived threat of violence, citizens have been denied the right of peaceful assembly and placed in detainment apparatuses, managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Documents have been released by the American Civil Liberties Union detailing the Pentagon’s monitoring of public demonstrations and targeting of individual activists under threat of national security. Co-authored by Senator Joe Lieberman, the Enemy Expatriation Act (HR 3166) gives the US government the power to detain nationals and revoke their American citizenship under suspicion of behavior perceived as terrorism.
This legislation becomes increasingly dangerous as citizens can be labeled extremists based on their personal political leanings.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/good-f06.shtml

The decision by the UK's Honours Forfeiture Committee to strip former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Fred Goodwin of his knighthood has led to howls of outrage from the corporate and political elite.Goodwin was awarded the knighthood in 2004 for his services to banking. The financial crisis revealed that Goodwin’s achievements were built on sand. With a loss of £24.1 billion, RBS was rescued from collapse with £45 billion of public funds, its debts nationalised— dumped onto tax payers.Goodwin walked away in 2009 with a £2.8 million tax-free pension .The former banker joins Soviet spy Anthony Blunt and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe in having his knighthood annulled.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/jobs-f06.shtml

The year 2012 has opened with an acceleration of job losses across Australia’s manufacturing, retail, mining and finance sectors, as corporate restructuring and cost-cutting that began last year with the destruction of thousands of jobs. The retail and services industries, which employ by far the biggest numbers of workers, especially young people, are experiencing a devastating slump

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/asio-f06.shtml

Alarmed by the “Arab Spring”—the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that last year ushered in a new period of class struggle internationally—Australia’s six civilian and military intelligence agencies are preparing for unpredictable political upheavals, abroad and at home.An official review of the “Australian Intelligence Community”, released last month, warned the Gillard government that the events of 2011 had revealed how difficult it was for intelligence agencies to anticipate the collapse of seemingly stable social and political orders. “With such fragility, it will be unknowable what exactly will tip the system over the edge

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f06.shtml

Washington and its imperialist allies in Europe are escalating preparations for a full-scale military intervention in Syria. Coming after last year’s NATO war against Libya and threats of a sudden Israeli attack on Iran, Syria’s main regional ally, it is clear that Washington aims to reshape the Middle East by forcibly installing pro-US regimes throughout the region.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/

Leaders of the political parties comprising the Greek coalition government will meet the premier, Lucas Papademos, later today to give him their reply to demands for sweeping austerity measures in return for a further €130 billion in bailout loans.The measures are believed to include a 25 percent cut in the minimum private sector wage and a 35 percent reduction in supplementary pensions. In addition, 100 state-controlled enterprises could be closed, leading to immediate jobs losses and the sacking of 150,000 public sector workers by 2015

Link: http://enenews.com/highest-level-radioactive-cesium-san-francisco-area-milk-august-2011-150-epas-maximum-contaminant-limit-chart

A new milk sample has been measured, this one with a best-by date of 2/16/2012. The results are posted to the milk sample page. Low levels of both Cs-134 and Cs-137 were still detected in the sample.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/776429/%E2%80%9Ceverything_goes_up_but_our_paychecks%22%3A_talking_to_real_people_who_live_on_the_minimum_wage/#paragraph6

Everything goes up but our paychecks. We have to live! Before there was middle, low, high class, now there’s either low or high. We have to keep up with the cost of living.”“I don’t make enough to support myself. At this point I’m living on beans and bread. If [the minimum wage] were raised I’d be able to eat better food, I’d be able to get health care, I could finally get glasses.”

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/06-0

Patenting seeds has led to a farming and food crisis - and huge profits for US biotechnology corporations.Corporations defined a problem - and for them the problem was farmers saving seeds. They offered a solution, and the solution was to make it illegal for farmers to save seed - by introducing patents and intellectual property rights [PDF] on those very seeds. As a result, acreage under GM corn, soya, canola, cotton has increased dramatically.

Link: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4185684,00.html

European diplomat based in Islamabad says Israeli strike would force Pakistan to support Iranian retaliation, while EU official says 'political and economic consequences of attack would be catastrophic for Europe'He said this could lead to "messy defaults" by countries like Greece and Italy, and possibly cause a collapse of the already-wobbly euro.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30452.htm

. Consider this revealing “thought” as expressed recently in Alert, the voice of AIPAC to its membership: “Some Americans believe if the Israelis strike Iran, the U.S. will pay the political costs anyway, so it would be better for the Americans to do the job and do it properly. Has it come to this, that unnamed Israeli spokespeople, voicing AIPAC’s policies, determine what nation the U.S. should invade without consultation with the representatives of the American people?

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/06/aclu-warns-congress-pushing-willy-nilly-toward-an-era-of-aerial-surveillance/

On Monday, the Senate passed H.R. 658, a bill that would make it easier for law enforcement agencies to obtain and use unmanned aerial vehicles. The bill was passed by the House on Friday Domestic drones are potentially extremely powerful surveillance tools, and that power — like all government power — needs to be subject to checks and balances,

Link: http://en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20120206/171166824.html

Russia may have to boost its nuclear potential in future amid emerging nuclear proliferation threats, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s deputy defense minister and a negotiator on the European missile shield, said on Monday.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/06/romania-prime-minister-resigns-spy-chief-takes-over/

BUCHAREST — Romania’s spy chief was appointed prime minister on Monday after the centre-right government resigned following wide protests over austerity cuts.The 43-year-old, who has a master’s degree from Oxford, was foreign minister between 2004 and 2007 speaks fluent English, French and German.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/world/middleeast/white-house-moves-to-tighten-sanctions-on-iran.html?_r=1

The White House moved to enforce tightened sanctions against Iran on Monday because of the country’s suspect nuclear program, freezing all property of the Central Bank of Iran, other Iranian financial institutions and the Iranian government in the United States. The administration has been trying to persuade Iran’s oil customers to shift to other suppliers,China and India,to keep buying Iranian oil.

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/02/american-border-officials-attempt-to.html

Hanna Jaeckel had made up her mind. After carefully considering the current economic and political situation in the United States, the sixty-seven-year-old Danish–born woman packed up her Chevrolet SUV and took off for the Mexican border.On approaching the border, she reports that she was detained by two American border guards, who told her to turn around and go back. “We can’t let you go,” they told her. She informed them she was intent on going. She states they then adopted an authoritarian manner with her, and began to demand more and more documents. She heard one of them informing the other, “I ran her and she is not on any of our lists.” Jaeckel wonders what lists those were.The United States has become a police state, she declares.
“If there is another 911-type event,“they may close the borders. I’m so glad I got out when I did.”