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Pathetic Qualifications Produce Pathetic Presidential Performance
Joel S. Hirschhorn
President (aka Barry) Obama is not, nor ever was a master politician, master diplomat, master bureaucrat, master lawyer or master anything. As a former professor who had to publish or perish, I was especially impressed that Obama lacked a hefty, impressive record of academic publications, actually nothing. As Ed Lasky summed up: “Notwithstanding an apparent eleven-year teaching career in constitutional law at a top-flight law school, not one single article, published talk, book review, or comment of any kind, appears anywhere in the professional legal literature, under Barack Obama's name.
Instead of actual accomplishment and performance, he simply took advantage of his color, personality, unusual political opportunities, and an innate talent for sometimes being able to give a great (but not necessarily honest) speech to become President. He took advantage of new national demographics to capture the necessary Electoral College votes to achieve victory, not once, but twice. His ability to enlist the critical assistance of brilliant masters at political fund raising and campaigning has never been matched by being able or willing to obtain similar high caliber people to run his White House and administration.
Junta-Style Transition in Egypt
by Stephen Lendman
Events remain fluid. They're fast-moving. Interim President Adly Mansour appointed Hazem Beblawi prime minister. He's a technocrat. He's an economics PhD. He and Mansour are pro-Western stooges.
From 1965 - 1980, Beblawi held academic positions at the University of Alexandria and elsewhere. From 1980 - 1983, he was an Industrial Bank of Kuwait manager.
From 1983 - 1995, he was Export Development Bank in Egypt chairman and CEO. From 1995 - 2000, he was UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) executive secretary.
Vilifying Alice Walker Irresponsibly
by Stephen Lendman
Walker's a Georgia sharecropper family daughter. She's the youngest of eight children. At Atlanta's Spellman College, she was one of Howard Zinn's students.
He taught her and others:
"You can't be neutral on a moving train."
"(E)vents are already moving in certain deadly directions, and to be neutral means to accept that."
Why the U.S. Government has such a hard-on for Edward Snowden
by chycho
It’s not the act of revealing secrets that has gotten Edward Snowden in trouble, after all, members of the Bush Administration did exactly that in the Plame affair as did members of the Obama Administration by leaking the drone memo. Leaking classified documents doesn’t always lead to prosecution, on the contrary, sometimes it leads to advancement of personal agendas:
“Does the rule of law demand that leaks of highly classified information be prosecuted? If so, John Brennan and many other current and former national-security officials had better be given orange jumpsuits. They weren't even leaking to alert Americans to behavior that they found immoral. Often times, the U.S. national security establishment leaks to exploit a political advantage.”
Targeting Iran
by Stephen Lendman
America targets Iran. It does so ruthlessly. It's done it since 1979. It wants its sovereignty destroyed.
It wants pro-Western puppet leadership instead. It wants its independent government replaced. It wants its oil and gas, stupid. It wants unchallenged regional control.
Hassan Rohani's election doesn't matter. He's Iran's President-Elect. He'll be inaugurated on August 3. He combines diplomacy, politics and scholarship. He's known as the "Diplomat Sheikh."
Obama offended him. He didn't congratulate him. He doesn't recognize his legitimacy. Failure to do so shows unprincipled contempt.
He urges peace and reconciliation. He pledged "constructive interaction with the world." He didn't just promise. He means it.
Washington Ousted Egypt's Morsi
by Stephen Lendman
Previous articles discussed it. So did The New York Times. More on that below.
Washington manipulates most regional events. It's dirty hands orchestrate them. Geopolitical ones matter most. In 2011, Obama officials choreographed Mubarak's ouster. They deposed Morsi in similar fashion.
Michel Chossudovsky said Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) "tows the line. (I)t takes orders from Washington, DC."
Syrian Opposition in Disarray
by Stephen Lendman
After 28 months of conflict, Assad defeated Washington's best laid plans. Its Syrian National Coalition (SNC) opposition lacks effective leadership. It lacks legitimacy.
It's an artificial construct. It operates extrajudicially. It resembles a gang that can't shoot straight. On July 8, another leader resigned.
After four months, self-styled prime minister Ghassan Hitto announced he won't "continue in (his) capacity as prime minister tasked with leading the interim government, though (he) emphasize(s he'll) 'continue working for the interests of the revolution and towards achieving its objectives."
Stasi's New Incarnation
by Stephen Lendman
Stasi was East Germany's secret police. It suppressed opposition to Stalinist power. It was one of the most repressive state apparatuses in modern times.
When East Germany collapsed in 1989, Stasi had over 90,000 full-time employees. Another 300,000 were paid informants. They spied on East German citizens. Thousands of West German collaborators did so on theirs.
Stasi infiltrated NATO headquarters. Legendary spymaster Markus (Mischa) Wolf ran things. He did so for 34 years. He had Jewish roots. In the early 1930s, his family fled Germany. It did so to escape nazi persecution.
Syrian War Hits Beirut
by FRANKLIN LAMB
This observer’s neighbors seemed to believe, especially over the past year, as most of us did, that the war in Syria would, in one form or another, spill into our neighborhood, Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut near the Shatila and Burj el Barajeh Palestinian refugee camps.
And now it has with a vengeance.
As this observer left his flat this morning and walked toward his motorbike on Abbas Mousawi Street en route to Shatila Palestinian Camp for a 10:30 a.m. appointment, at precisely 10:15 a.m. there was a tremendously loud blast. It seemed to shake our massive 12 story apartment building which had been rebuilt by the WAAD (“promise”) Hezbollah construction enterprise, from the mountain of rubble it was turned into in July of 2006. Leveled as most in the neighborhood were, by American weapons in the service of the Zionist regime still occupying Palestine.
Middle East Continues to Boil
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article called it the curse of oil and gas. Independent countries are targeted. Washington's war on Syria rages.
It's been ongoing for 28 months and counting. It continues because America, key NATO allies, Israel, and rogue Arab states pour arms into Syria. They do so lawlessly. They're responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.
Dozens more die daily. Conflict persists. Obama bears full responsibility. Imported death squads serve US interests. Media scoundrels don't explain.
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