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America and Germany: Longstanding Espionage Partners
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article discussed Stasi. It was East Germany's secret police. It was one of the most repressive state apparatuses in modern times.
Its infamous reputation speaks for itself. It's reincarnated in new form. Given today's state-of-the-art technology. It's worse now than then. The previous article said the following:
On July 7, Der Spiegel headlined "Snowden claims: NSA Ties Put German Intelligence in Tight Spot."
"They're in bed together," said Snowden. NSA partners with foreign intelligence in other countries. Its "Foreign Affairs Directorate (BND)" does so.
It's done in ways to "insulate their political leaders from the backlash." It's precautionary in case people learn "how grievously they're violating global privacy."
BND/NSA cooperation is far greater than previously known. At issue are serious violations of Germany's privacy laws. According to Der Spiegel, NSA provides "analysis tools."
Israeli/Palestinian Peace: Illusion Substitutes for Reality
by Stephen Lendman
Haaretz editors, correspondents, and contributors know better. Maybe not. Maybe they don't history.
Maybe they don't know it well enough. Maybe they forgot. Maybe they didn't check. Maybe they have other priorities. It shows in commentaries about announced Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. More on that below.
In his original Animal Farm preface, Orwell observed how media contributors suppress uncomfortable truths. Self-censorship works the same way as what's imposed top down.
"Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark," said Orwell.
"At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question."
Edward Snowden, True Hope for Change
by Nozomi Hayase
Amid shock waves from the revelations of mass global NSA spying, the US government reaction to leaker Edward Snowden took a dramatic turn. From media smearing to overcharging him with espionage, this followed the predictable pattern of Obama's war on whistleblowers; shooting the messengers by demonizing and discrediting them in order to kill the message or distract people from it.
This has occurred numerous times with the Obama administration with the aggressive attacks on WikiLeaks and its source Bradley Manning, as well as other NSA whistleblowers like Thomas Drake and imprisoned former CIA officer John Kiriakou.
The US government’s recent manhunt for Snowden went too far in that it tried to intimidate a number of sovereign countries who were defending the universal right to asylum. A prime example was seen in the recent ' jet aggression’ of stopping the Bolivian president Evo Morales’ plane, followed by the hacking of the emails of senior authorities in Bolivia. This desperate action showed the true colors of the Obama administration. It exposed to the world the real viciousness of this regime and their disdain for international law and basic human rights. Obama's 2008 campaign slogan 'Yes We Can' scammed the American people with the secret practice of Stasi 2.0, ‘Yes, We Scan’.
Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks: Dead on Arrival
by Stephen Lendman
So-called peace talks are fake. They're a sham. They've always been this way. Decades of talks were stillborn from inception. This time's no different.
Chances for a just peace are ZERO. Palestinians have no say. Believing otherwise defies reality.
Israel deplores peace. So does Washington. They're jointly running things. Both nations are longstanding imperial partners. They prioritize violence and instability. Peace defeats their agenda.
They don't negotiate. They demand. It bears repeating. Palestinians have no say whatever. They never did. They don't now.
Copperhead
By David Swanson
Copperhead was a name for Northern Democrats opposed to the Civil War. Now it's also the name of a remarkable new film: CopperheadTheMovie.com. This is not the first film about a family opposed to the Civil War. Many will probably recall the 1965 film Shenandoah starring Jimmy Stewart. But Copperhead is the one to see.
This is a war movie that neither sanitizes war nor pornographies it. This is a war movie set far away from the war, in upstate New York to be precise -- just as all of our wars today are far away from all 50 states. It's an unpredictable movie, an engaging movie, a personal drama that makes the Civil War and the politics surrounding it more comprehensible than a gazillion tours of battlefields or hours of PBS specials.
FUKUSHIMA DEADLY UPDATE / SILENCE REMAINS SUPREME
Allen L Roland
Fukushima is here, it is no longer a Japanese problem ~ it is a growing world problem which is still being ignored. Here's an update on my report of May 14,2013 where I demonstrated that a creeping and never ending deadly fog of radiation, invisible to the eye but not to the immune system, continues to blanket the West Coast while its human cost is barely being mentioned ~ mainly due to a worldwide media blackout
The Fukushima Genie that was released over two years ago is still spouting and leaking forth deadly radiation while silence remains supreme among the worldwide media.
EU Shamelessly Declares Hezbollah a Terrorist Organization
by Stephen Lendman
Hezbollah's no terrorist organization. It never was one. It's not one now. It's a legitimate political party. It maintains a military wing. It's for defense, not offense.
EU nations know it. They bowed to pressure. They claimed otherwise. They disgraced themselves in the process. It didn't surprise. It's not the first time. It won't be the last. Rogue states operate that way.
Hezbollah's one of two Lebanese parties representing Shia Muslims. It enjoys broad support. It's for good reason. More on that below.
It's one of the main March 8 Alliance partners. It's targeted for its independence. It's a formidable Israeli opponent.
In 1997, at Israel's behest, Clinton's State Department designated it a Foreign Terrorist Organization. It did so disgracefully.
Sabotaging the Egyptian Revolution
By Dr. Elias Akleh
The June 30th Egyptian revolution had been over-analyzed, scrutinized, criticized, mislabeled, and distorted by many writers, analysts, politicians, and governments. This was a national Intifada (uprising) through which Egyptians had expressed their will in purely democratic means. Despite the military interference, in response to popular calls, to preserve peace and to prevent bloodshed, calling this revolution a military coup, and accusing the American administration of orchestrating it, is a great distortion of facts and is an insult to the 37 million Egyptians who demonstrated in every city against the Muslim Brotherhood’s semi-dictatorial power grabbing rule.
Understanding this national Intifada requires an understanding of Egypt’s history, its political structure, the diversified mindsets of its people (urban and rural), their socio-economic structure, their diverse Christian and sub-Muslim groups, and a follow up of the country’s daily flow of events.
Aafia Siddiqui: Victim of US Injustice
by Stephen Lendman
She's one of thousands of US political prisoners. She's well known. She committed no crimes. She's been brutalized in captivity. Mercy isn't in America's vocabulary. Rogue states operate that way.
Washington's by far the worst. It reportedly agreed to Pakistan's extradition terms. Both sides will swap prisoners.
Previous articles discussed her 2003 abduction, detention, torture, false charges, prosecution, and conviction. More on that below.
On July 20, the Pakistan Observer headlined "US agrees on Aafia's Siddiqui's extradition," saying:
"In a major breakthrough, the US has offered Pakistan to sign prisoner swap agreement for the extradition of Dr Aafia Siddiqi, after which the Pakistani scientist will be allowed to serve the remaining part of her imprisonment in homeland."
America, the Powerful and the Powerless
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja
Hans Morgenthau (Politics Among Nations, 1948) defined the concept of power as condition related to the psychology of mind. In a nation state, leaders use their mind to transform the vested power into political acts. Late Professor Morgenthau offered proactive intuition and leadership in revitalizing the essence of real politics and search for peace and global relationships. Perhaps he never imagined that America, the most powerful in moral and intellectual history could be a nation devoid of basic precept and tenets in real world political affairs. The political realism envisaged by Morgenthau indoctrinated the American foreign policies and relations for several decades until George W. Bush and Barrack Obama assumed the political leadership. America is not what it used be in the idealistic moral, political and intellectual historical reference point.
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