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/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=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.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.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://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://blogcritics.org/politics/article/fbi-warns-that-americans-are-now1/

Citing three specific cases in three years and a trend of an increase in arrests of believers in individual sovereignty from 10 to 18 cases per year, mostly for non-violent crimes, the FBI declared law enforcement to be "inundated" with threats.The FBI is taking aim at a huge body of citizens who are increasingly angry about government abuse and irresponsibility and attempting to turn them into a movement of potential terrorists,though they provide no evidence of organized activity beyond just being angry with the government, a characteristic shared by about half the nation's population.

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/

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://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://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.”

Late last year, the Central Intelligence Agency explained to Judge Kessler of the US District Court in Washington DC that releasing the final volume of its three-decade-old history of the 1961 Bay of Pigs debacle would “confuse the public,” and should be withheld because it is a “predecisional” document.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29080

Russia and China Veto Syria Resolution."(t)he Security Council voted 13 to 2 in favor of a resolution backing an Arab League peace plan for Syria, but the measure was blocked by Russia and China (as a) potential violation of Syria's sovereignty."In fact, calling for "further measures" if Assad failed to comply gave Washington and rogue partners enormous wiggle room for military intervention. It also pointed fingers one way, absolving Western-backed insurgents. With major media support Obama plans regime change in Syria and Iran.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f04.shtml

The announcement this week by the Susan G. Komen Foundation that it would cut off funding to Planned Parenthood unleashed a popular backlash, with hundreds of thousands expressing their outrage via social networking sites. Komen abruptly reversed its decision on Friday, but not before the move had exposed the advocacy group’s capitulation to extreme-right, religious forces.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096488/Iran-moves-cut-oil-exports-countries-Europe.html

Iran has vowed to cut oil exports to some European countries in retaliation over the bloc's recent decision to ban oil imports from the Islamic Republic.
It has not named the countries which will be affected, but officials insist it is a decision made in response to the EU deciding to stop importing Iranian crude oil as of July 1.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30446.htm

War creates an enemy that must be extinguished by government force. The more broadly defined the enemy is, the bigger the government's role becomes in eradicating it. And when the government wages war against anything, it's a cycle that's nearly impossible to stop. The government creates new agencies, and staffs them with union jobs that depend on never actually winning the wars, but rather only perpetuating them.
There is no real enemy, but rather the inflated or imagined creations of the government/corporate power structures that benefit most from war.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29055

The British Royal Navy is planning to send the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless, a state-of-the-art warship, to the region on her maiden mission in a few months, a move interpreted by some experts as a provocation of war. “London is after issues of big media impact to hide the daily sufferings of Britain with its problems of unemployment, shrinking economy, social unrest by appealing to a very distant situation such is the South Atlantic Islands dispute.”

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f03.shtml

Germany leaked news that it was demanding an EU-appointed “budget commissioner” for Greece with the power to override Greek budget policy as a precondition for any further loans.It could not threaten its creditors with default and would have to accept whatever cuts financial authorities demanded of it, even if the banks withheld agreed-upon bailout payments.

Link: http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/are-american-politicians-really-this-stupid.html