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Police State Egypt
by Stephen Lendman
Bloody Wednesday revealed state-sponsored police state harshness. Egypt exhibits classic characteristics.
Wikipedia calls a police state one "in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic, and political life of the population."
"A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive."
Merrian-Webster's definition is "a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures."
The Oxford dictionary calls it "a totalitarian state controlled by a political police force that secretly supervises the citizens’ activities."
World Leaders Declare America and Israel Pariah States: A Fable
By Stephen Lendman
They're responsible for state-sponsored terrorism. They violate fundamental international law doing. It's no longer tolerated.
Victor Hugo once said, "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."
It's now. It arrived. It's here. It's real. August 17, 2013 won't be forgotten. It's a turning point in world history. It's hugely important. It's historic. It's long overdue. It's been long awaited. It finally arrived. It'll be long remembered.
UN Secretary-General Desmond Tutu will announce a momentous world body decision. He'll speak for many dozens of world leaders. They're united. They're committed like he is.
They represent most of Europe, Latin and Central America, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceana. They're forthright. They're explicit. They're straightforward. They're unambiguous. They're not backing down.
Spy on Me, I'm Innocent!
By David Swanson
You've heard people say they want to be spied on, as long as it means that other people will be spied on too. I know you've heard people say this, and which people it was, and how your face looked when you heard it, and what your next telephone call was. Or, rather, I could know all of that if I were one of the thousands and thousands of low-level snoops it will take for our government to accomplish its surveillance goals.
The logic is completely flawed, however. As FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley remarks, if you're looking for a needle in a haystack, adding more hay doesn't help. It makes you less likely to find the needle. A government that sucks up ever vaster quantities of useless information on innocent people actually hurts its own ability to investigate crimes. And the imagined intimidating effect of things like surveillance cameras in public spaces doesn't actually reduce crime; it merely makes us think of each other as potential criminals.
Targeting Hezbollah in Beirut
by FRANKLIN LAMB
Outside Makfouz Rouweiss store, Dahiyeh.
This observer was sitting with my friend Zuhair on my balcony in south Beirut, when at 6:20 pm on 8/15/13 erupted a huge blast that seemed to shake our 12 story concrete building even more so than the one just down the street did on July 9. We both leaned over the railing at the same time. I commented that I did not see any smoke, while he spoke only two words: “Bir Abed.”
He meant, as it turned out, that rather than two blocks east and one north of our building’s entrance, as was the case with the last blast, this one was three blocks east and three south. Though on the same road as the July bombing, today’s attack was about two hundred yards from the Hezbollah Media Relations office, run by my friend Dr. Ibrahim Mousawi, located at the end of our street.
EDITORIAL: Life and Death Issues Confronting Mankind At This Moment
by Jeff Steinberg
The fight for Glass-Steagall and the growing danger of world war emanating from the Middle East are the life and death issues confronting mankind at this moment. These battles are in midstream and remain unsettled. There have been significant developments over the past hours and days that are important to understand.
The fight for Glass-Steagall was center-stage on Wednesday and Thursday at the national convention of the NCSL in Atlanta. After hardcore hooligan tactics by Wall Street lobbyists drove Delaware State Senator Cloutier to withdraw the Glass-Steagall resolution she had presented, the LaRouchePAC team escalated the fight dramatically. On Wednesday morning, as delegates and lobbyists were boarding the buses taking them from their hotels to the convention site, they were all greeted by the LPAC team, distributing the statement on "Glass-Steagall or America is Doomed." [2] The Wall Street lobbyists were caught totally off guard and scrambled to attempt to get the police to remove us. They failed. As the result, the focus of the entire convention shifted to the Glass-Steagall fight. At receptions on Wednesday night, our organizers got detailed reports on the Wall Street thuggery and generated added support for Glass-Steagall.
Dispossessing East Jerusalem Palestinian Residents
by Stephen Lendman
Israel plans Judaizing Jerusalem entirely. It wants it exclusively Jewish. It's an international city. It's under a UN trusteeship. It doesn't matter.
Ethnic cleansing is official Israeli policy. Palestinian owned land is seized. Homes are demolished. Dispossessions follow.
Israel wants Arabs excluded. It wants Jerusalem at Israel's epicenter. It's a religiously important city for Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Zionists consider it Israel's historic capital. It's symbolic of Judaism's post-WW II revival and prominence. For Christians, it's where Jesus lived and died.
It's Islam's third holiest site. The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque rank after Mecca's Sacred Mosque and Madina's Mosque of the Prophet.
Egypt's Bloody Wednesday
by Stephen Lendman
On January 30, 1972, Northern Ireland's Bogside Massacre was called Bloody Sunday. UK soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilian protesters and bystanders. They did so in cold blood.
Fourteen deaths resulted. So did numerous injuries. Reports said five civilians were shot in the back of the head.
The incident occurred during a nonviolent Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march. Critics called what happened reckless.
Authorities largely cleared participating soldiers of blame. Controversy still resonates today. Everyone shot was unarmed. A belated 2010 Saville Inquiry said killings were "unjustified and unjustifiable."
Screaming in Bradley Manning's Trial
By David Swanson
http://warisacrime.org/content/screaming-bradley-mannings-trial
I sat in the courtroom all day on Wednesday as Bradley Manning's trial wound its way to a tragic and demoralizing conclusion. I wanted to hear Eugene Debs, and instead I was trapped there, watching Socrates reach for the hemlock and gulp it down. Just a few minutes in and I wanted to scream or shout.
I don't blame Bradley Manning for apologizing for his actions and effectively begging for the court's mercy. He's on trial in a system rigged against him. The commander in chief declared him guilty long ago. He's been convicted. The judge has been offered a promotion. The prosecution has been given a playing field slanted steeply in its favor. Why should Manning not follow the only advice anyone's ever given him and seek to minimize his sentence? Maybe he actually believes that what he did was wrong. But -- wow -- does it make for some perverse palaver in the courtroom.
Regardless of Screeching Media Banter, Whistleblowers are our Bravest Heroes
By Vincent L. Guarisco
"The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action." ~~ John Dewey
Earlier this month, I published an article about Edward Snowden, an NSA whistleblower who bravely spilled the beans about how the NSA and their affiliates are wiretapping the planet. Snowden is a wise man who made the right decision in not trusting the U.S. Justice system, who recently was granted temporary asylum in Russia. However, I want to focus on a different unique individual and give credit to whistleblowers in general.
Many of us will never truly understand the significance of giving oneself for a worthy cause... the selfless act of becoming a "whistleblower." To sacrifice everything you hold dear -- loved ones, freedom and sometimes... even your life -- in order to shed truth to a public that routinely is accustomed to wrongfully believing the unbelievable at face value.
Sham Peace Talks Resume
by Stephen Lendman
Why bother. Talks are doomed to fail. So did multiple previous rounds. Israel wants things its way. Demands masquerade as give and take.
According to one PLO official, "Israel will dodge, evade and propose unachievable demands to promote a conclusion that negotiations are futile, and so Israel will continue to steal lands as they are doing now."
It's hard imagining Palestinian officials agreeing to talks rigged to fail. Longtime Israeli collaborators do it willingly. It's for generous benefits they derive. Crime pays well. So does betrayal.
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