Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/09/u-s-military-loosens-rules-on-women-in-combat-units/

The US military opened up some dangerous jobs to female troops but stopped short of repealing a ban on women serving in combat, despite a decade of war where women fought and died on the battlefield.
The Pentagon announced incremental changes that will allow women to serve in more than 14,000 jobs, mostly in the Army and Marine Corps, that had previously been closed to female service members.

Link: http://theintelhub.com/2012/02/09/group-forces-congressional-hearing-on-big-sis-twitter-drudge-spying/

Among the documents were guidelines from DHS instructing outside contractors to monitor the web for media reports and comments that “reflect adversely” on the agency or the federal government.As Reuters reported last month, in early 2010 contractors were asked to spend 24 hours monitoring news media coverage on popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks, as well as news sites including the Huffington Post and The Drudge Report.

Link: http://theintelhub.com/2012/02/09/congress-approves-30000-spy-drones-over-america-as-us-police-state-tightens/

HR 658, the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, has just passed both the House and the Senate which authorizes the use of 30,000 spy drones over America by the year 2015.If you divide that by 50 states, that is 600 drones per state.If you speak out against the government for criminal activity, or for egregiously attacking our Constitution, you can legally be considered an extremist and a terrorist. Bad news for you, because now you can be hauled away and imprisoned for life, without a trial or your Habeas Corpus rights.Having more than seven days worth of food in your house makes you a terrorist suspect.

Link: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/news/2012/02/09/lemgthe-zionist-entityl-emg-judge-orders

The Israel military court has extended administrative detention for two months in addition to three months already detained for civil rights lawyer Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, a lecturer at An-Najah National University and the Cultural Coordinator for the Tanweer Palestinian Cultural Enlightenment Forum, currently detained in Ofer Prison near Ramallah. - This arbitrary administrative detention is legally incompatible with the most basic international standards of human rights, because it is without any specific charge against the prisoner,

Link: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/news/2012/02/09/government-may-sanction-incapacitating-c

Experts concluded that the Government may be preparing to exploit a loophole in the Chemical Weapons Convention allowing the use of incapacitating chemical agents for domestic law enforcement. -that would be banned in warfare under an international treaty .

Link: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/news/2012/02/09/british-qatari-troops-already-waging-sec

British and Qatari troops are directing rebel ammunition deliveries and tactics in the bloody battle for Homs, according to an Israeli website known for links to intelligence sources. - Four centers of operation have been established in the city with the troops on the ground paving the way for an undercover Turkish military incursion into Syria.

Link: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/news/2012/02/09/food-prices-soaring-in-iran-as-us-sancti

Every new round of sanctions takes a toll on the civilian economy of Iran and, increasingly, soaring food prices.Corn and rice shipments are down, This has fueled inflation, unemployment.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29183

The volatile situation in Syria generated by the Saudi-Qatar-funded Wahhabi armed group known as the Free Syrian Army and backed by the West is now an accident waiting to happen.To this end, the events in Syria must be so choreographed that they should lead to the overthrow of Assad regime and consequently "result in a strategic debacle for the Iranian government."

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6688

“Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force — military force — in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. As a result we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts. Finding a political settlement also becomes impossible. We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way.”-Vladimir Putin. China and Russia are well aware of the fact that they are targets of the Anglo-American alliance. Their mutual fears of encirclement have brought them together.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29196

Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin held a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels and, as quoted by Novosti, maintained that: “Russian intelligence had obtained information indicating that the Georgian military infrastructure could be used for logistical support of U.S. troops if they launched an attack on Iran.‘This is another reason why Washington values Saakashvili’s regime so highly,’ Rogozin said, adding that the United States had already started ‘active military preparations on Georgia’s territory’ for an invasion of Iran.‘Georgia’s president is ready to make his nation a virtual hostage of a risky military gamble,’ he said.”

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29169

On February 7 Argentine President Cristina Fernandez accused Britain of militarizing the South Atlantic Ocean by deploying a cutting-edge warship and a nuclear-powered submarine off the coast of the Falklands Islands, known to Argentina and the rest of Latin America as Las Malvinas. She pledged to seek assistance at the United Nations to remove British military forces from the region, warning that the heightened British military presence risks a potential clash between the two countries.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29188

On January 31, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security’s Behavioral Science Division pointed to the following as indicators of potential terrorism.Reverent of individual liberty”Anti-nuclear”“Believe in conspiracy theories”“A belief that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack” “Impose strict religious laws on society “Insert religion into the political sphere”“Those who seek to politicize religion”
“Anti-abortion”“Anti-Catholic”“Anti-global” “Suspicious of centralized federal authority” Fiercely nationalistic “A belief in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in … survivalism” Given that most Americans fall into one or more of these categories, the powers-that-be can brand virtually anyone they dislike as being a terrorist.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/syri-f09.shtml

The reality, however, is that to make the case for regime change in Syria, the League, currently chaired by Qatar and politically dominated by the US-aligned Gulf monarchies, had to terminate its own observer mission and squelch its report.The report was suppressed because the 166-member observer mission found that violence in Syria was abating, the Syrian government was complying with most of the Arab League’s requirements and the ruling Baathists were faced with an armed insurrection. Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia, played the instrumental role in burying the report, and cutting short the mission, because they are arming the opposition forces and arguing for direct military intervention to depose Assad.The United States, France and Britain, working in collusion with the Gulf States and Turkey, to fuel a civil war and prepare for the installation of a pro-Western Sunni government hostile to Iran.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f08.shtml

The Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution paving the way for intervention in Syria has provoked a furious reaction from the United States and its imperialist allies.They see the US posturing as the champion of democracy and human rights as a campaign of aggression aimed at transforming Iran and Syria—both key trading partners with Moscow and Beijing—into neo-colonial puppet states.The “principles” underlying the US initiative—that the major imperialist powers have the right to depose the governments of former colonial countries they deem guilty of violating human rights—stand in contradiction to international law.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29147

There are many ways for sovereigns to sell their bonds or roll over existing bonds, and one of those wrinkles we mentioned last week. We saw European banks buying US Treasuries and that is happening. These euro banks buy Treasuries and then put them up for collateral with the ECB and purchase the three-year 1% yield repos being offered by the ECB. This is really another form of quantitative easing. It may be debt but it is also an expansion of the money supply. This little game allows US Treasury financing and if something goes wrong the ECB, the public, gets caught holding the bag. Obviously this is another part of the Ponzi scheme that the elitists are using to keep the monetary system afloat.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29153

44 US military bases surrounding Iran... Washington has made tremendous preparations for a military assault on Iran. There is speculation that Washington has called off its two longest running wars--Iraq and Afghanistan--in order to deploy forces against Iran. Two of Washington’s fleets have been assigned to the Persian Gulf along with NATO warships. Missiles have been spread amongst Washington’s Oil Emirate and Middle Eastern puppet states. US troops have been deployed in Israel and Kuwait.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29161

The West has sped up efforts against Syria after the double veto by China and Russia over the UN Security Council resolution. Russia has sent its envoy to the country.Though China has a less direct stake in Syria than Russia, the collapse of Syria will result in the West further controlling the Middle East, and Iran taking direct strategic pressure from the West. If war broke out in Iran, China would have to rely more on Russia for energy, bringing new uncertainty to the Sino-Russian strategic partnership.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/gree-f08.shtml

Talks held Tuesday night between the three parties making up the Greek government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos failed to finalise the cuts demanded of it in return for a €130 billion rescue package.The coalition parties met in the midst of a nationwide one-day general strike, with tens of thousands protesting in Athens despite torrential rain.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29146

Two senior administration officials told CNN that “options are being prepared in the event President Barack Obama was to call for them.” Support for opposition groups and outright military strikes are among the options being looked at.This type of planning exercise is typical for the Pentagon, which would not want to be in the position of not having options for the president, if and when they are asked for, both officials told CNN. One of them called the effort a “scoping exercise,” with Pentagon looking into what capabilities are available given other US military commitments in the region.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/iran-f08.shtml

The danger of a US/Israeli attack on Iran was made clear in comments by US President Barack Obama to NBC News on Sunday. Obama not only repeated the mantra that “all options are on the table,” but added that the US was working with Israel “in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29149

According to an unconfirmed statement by a senior Iranian military official, reported by the Middle East and Israeli press, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard special forces (Quds) Kassam Salimani, was in Damascus on February 6 for top level consultations regarding military support as well as the possible dispatch of Quds Special Forces to Syria. e Russian and Iranian missions focussed on curbing the armed insurrection, the armed insurrection, which is covertly supported by foreign powers.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106686

"I can no longer stay here in Kano as it rains bombs. The gun battles rattle us... Kano is no longer safe," said pregnant Funke Nweke of her decision to flee Nigeria’s northern state with her five-year-old daughter.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/food/154041/i%27m_on_food_stamps%3A_my_shame_and_pride_in_signing_up_for_the_most_stigmatized_benefit_/

I call myself frayed white collar -- part of the privileged poor. I'm a semi-accomplished, mid-career journalist and writer, but now I'm hurtling precipitously toward poverty. “Mister Cook! Chris Cook? Mr. Cook! Window three!”

Link: http://www.silviacattori.net/article2791.html

A Greek choir of the "disgusted" and the "outraged" predictably greeted BRICS members Russia and China double veto to the United Nations Security Council resolution imposing regime change in Syria. The resolution was backed by that haven of democracy, the GCC League, the organization controlled by the six monarchies/emirates of the Gulf Cooperation Council formerly known as the Arab League.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/?id=776833&t=cops_caught_anti-pot_crusader_with_her_own_stash_--_then_let_her_off_the_hook

As if there weren't enough examples of the drug war's rampant hypocrisy and double standards, the director of Tennessee's Alcoholic Beverage Commission was caught with pot, but never charged.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29123

The officialUS/UK/French/Israeli line is that the “Arab Spring” has finally reached Syria. There are the legal authorities of Syria, and there are armed terrorist throngs taking advantage of genuine social grievances and unleashing violence throughout the country, which in turn triggers police repression.In Syria, such groups are in all likelihood profusely armed, trained, financed and abetted by foreign players.Russia and China are not ready to tolerate a re-run of Iraq and Libya.

Link: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia_nato_missile_system_united_states/24471877.html

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States and NATO of aiming an antimissile system being deployed in Europe at Russia despite assurances that it is intended to guard against attacks from rogue states. Putin added that "today there is no threat from Iran or North Korea" and said NATO is not offering any guarantees, written or otherwise, that the system is not targeting Russia.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29126

In late 2003, the year of the Iraq invasion, Matthew Jones, a Reader in International History, at London’s Royal Holloway College, discovered “frighteningly frank” documents:1957 plans between then UK Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, and then President, Dwight Eisenhower, endorsing: “a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion (of Syria) by Syria’s pro-western neighbours.” (ii) Syria was to be: “made to appear as sponsor of plots, sabotage and violence directed against neighbouring governments … the CIA and SIS [Her Majesty's Secret International Serivce, MI6] should use … capabilities in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.” frontier incidents and (staged) border clashes”, would “provide a pretext for intervention”, by Iraq and Jordan - then still under British mandate.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/kuci-f07.shtml

As for Kucinich’s remarks about “freedom,” he defends a president who has declared his right to imprison or assassinate US citizens without trial.In its manic drive for ever-greater profits, the American ruling class is putting into place the machinery of a police state to crush popular resistance to social inequality.The attempt to massively reduce the living conditions of the working class can only be re-imposed in the US through dictatorship.

Link: http://youtu.be/TNeknF82H_0

Hell-bent on war with Iran...

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30463.htm

"This Can't Be Happening. "... Equally disturbing are the president’s mutually contradictory statements that, on the one hand, he feels that “Any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us,” and that on the other, he will “make sure that we work in lockstep” with Israel in dealing with Iran and its nuclear program.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21660

OVER A million Iraqis are dead from America’s war. That sentence is a cognitive litmus test. Some people’s immediate reaction is, "That can’t be right," because the United States couldn’t do that. Or because crimes on that scale don’t still happen. Or because they do happen, but only in horrible places that the United States hasn’t rescued.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/07-7

January’s increase in hiring is good news, but it masks a bigger and more disturbing story – the continuing downward mobility of the American middle class. Most of the new jobs being created are in the lower-wage sectors of the economy – hospital orderlies and nursing aides, secretaries and temporary workers, retail and restaurant. Meanwhile, millions of Americans remain working only because they’ve agreed to cuts in wages and benefits. Others are settling for jobs that pay less than the jobs they’ve lost. Entry-level manufacturing jobs are paying half what entry-level manufacturing jobs paid six years ago.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/07-5

Monsanto ready to sell GM crops and weed-killing chemicals in Vietnam; Many outraged. Multinational agricultural biotech corporation Monsanto, known as the creator of chemical weapon Agent Orange, is attempting to infiltrate Vietnam once again -- this time as GMO dealer.

Link: http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/10-years-later-our-first-step-toward-torture

Our country’s embrace of torture after 9/11 may have seemed like a quick one: one day we didn’t torture, and the next we did, with the so-called “torture memos” to blame for the rapid shift. But the reality is that proponents of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (and other euphemistically titled cruelties) had to overcome substantial barriers in their efforts to justify torture... On February 7, 2002, President Bush signed a memorandum, Humane Treatment of Taliban and al Qaeda Detainees, that became his administration’s opening volley against the laws prohibiting abusive interrogations. In it, he concluded that the Geneva Conventions—which specify minimum standards of humane treatment for everyone in times of armed conflict—somehow did not protect al Qaeda members detained by the United States.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096799/Nicolas-Sarkozy-spends-10k-day-food-keeps-121-cars-palace.html

Nicolas Sarkozy has been promising to cut back on his presidential spending, but he’s actually splashing out £10,000 a day on food and keeps 121 cars under the Elysee Palace, according to a new book. Socialist MP Rene Dosiere, in L'argent de l'État (Money from the State), sets out what he sees as extraordinary excesses by the French President. In the explosive book, he accuses Sarkozy of ‘ignoring the most elementary principles of the separation between private and public accounts’.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9067332/Alcoholic-drinks-to-get-weaker-says-minister.html

Alcoholic drinks should be made weaker under in Britain under Government plans to tackle the "deadly problem” of binge-drinking, a health minister has said. ."In the strategy, ministers are expected to unveil measures to increase the price of alcoholic drinks according to how strong they are. This could be done through higher taxation per unit, minimum pricing per unit or simply higher levels of duty for strong drinks. Ministers will also encourage companies to produce weaker alcoholic drinks.

Link: http://www.infowars.com/shouting-cameras-bark-orders-at-residents-to-leave-their-own-property/

London Council says police state machines were activated by mistake.Residents of a block of flats in North London were outraged to discover cameras in their gardens barking out orders, telling them to leave the area immediately and that they were being monitored by the authorities.

Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106684

More than a decade ago, solar electricity changed the lives of several mountain communities in Cuba. Now this and other renewable power sources are emerging as the best options available to develop sustainable energy across the island.If the world's clean energy potential exceeds our consumption needs, why do we insist on using the polluting kind?"

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9062454/Iran-vows-to-hit-any-country-that-stages-attack.html

Iran will target any country where an attack against it is staged, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander warned on Sunday, the latest threat amid growing tensions over its nuclear programme and Western sanctions.