China Prepares for Lift-off With Mission to Land on the Moon

Source: The Independent
Clifford Coonan

China has released plans for a five-year space programme, including building a space station and manned missions.

Its ambitions reflect those of the US more than 40 decades ago, and have similar goals. Just as the US space programme came at a time of major economic expansion, so China's drive comes as it grows in economic power and global influence.

Details of the programme include building space labs and manned spaceships, launching high-tech satellites and space freighters as well as deep-space exploration.

"China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavour to make new contributions to the lofty cause of promoting world peace and development," a government white paper called China's Space Activities in 2011, says.

The US has barred China's participation in the 16-country International Space Programme because it is concerned about military espionage.

China is now looking to other partners to help meet its ultimate goal – putting a Chinese taikonaut, or astronaut, on the moon.

It is thought Beijing is keeping in close contact with their Russian counterparts on the Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter.

Satellites play a big part in China's space plans. It will build a space infrastructure composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, as well as navigation and positioning satellites.

It plans to complete 100 launch missions and send 100 satellites into space over the next five years.

Beijing is keen to ease fears that China is planning to expand its presence in space for military reasons. The white paper specifically states that it opposes any kind of arms race in space.

"The Chinese government has made the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy and adhered to the exploration and utilisation of outer space for peaceful purposes," the paper says.

In the next five years, the country plans to launch spacecraft that will make a soft landing on the moon.

They will then rove and survey to implement stage two of lunar exploration, before beginning the third-stage project of gathering samples of the moon's surface matter and getting those samples back to Earth.

10 New Year's Resolutions for Non-violent Activism

Source: Activist Post

As the United States edges closer to becoming a third world country; anger, frustration, and cynicism continue to mount in the minds of the American population.  Americans are no longer optimistic about the direction of their country.  This pessimism seems warranted as authentic political solutions appear to be in short supply in our corporate state.

The democratic political system is now clearly run by crony cartelism.  The multinational banks have hijacked the economy and are openly looting the public. Mounting and impossible-to-pay off debt is crippling local governments. The entire spectrum of our rights continues to degrade as the close of 2011 saw the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which declares America itself to be a war zone, and its citizens potential enemy combatants. Meanwhile, crimes that would land regular citizens in jail are now openly being committed by the elite and their organizations with no justice. Perhaps most telling, the power structure is establishing a control grid to eliminate Internet freedom, and even to use cyberspace in offensive acts of war.  Given the current situation, it can seem impossible to affect real change. However, the exact opposite is the case.

The only reason the system is maintained is because the majority still acquiesce to it. However, change won't come by electing new establishment politicians, because no matter how noble they may be they still must play the corrupt game. Change won't come through violent protests or offensive cyber hacktivism, as that only invites and justifies the creeping police state.  We must stop accepting and supporting the system, individually, in order to change it.

Because our representative democracy has become a fraud, and the media and courts are clearly shills for the oligarchs, our only action appears to be non-violent rebellion; one person and community at a time. We can expose the crimes and immorality of the corporate state through civil disobedience and conscientious objection. We can punish multinational companies who commit flagrant fouls on humanity and the environment by boycotting them. Additionally, we can peacefully regain our liberty by becoming less dependent on the system for our basic needs. 

Here are ten solutions through non-violent activism:

Celebrities For Ron Paul

Source: Adam Kokesh

New World Next Year - 2011/2012

Source: Corbett Report and Media Monarchy


Welcome to http://NewWorldNextWeek.com - the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:

Chossudovsky: West tries to discredit AL report on Syria

Source: Press TV
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Arab League monitors investigating the unrest in Syria say they have found nothing frightening during their initial visit to Homs, the epicenter of the unrest.

Interview with Professor Michel Chossudovsky, director of Center for Research on Globalization

Syria Update: U.S. Government Gives Green Light to Mainstream Media

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
Sibel Edmonds
 

MSM News, 6 Months Late: “Obama Secretly Preparing for Syria Intervention”

 

This morning I woke up to the following news headlines. Let me correct myself: This morning I found the US media and their quasi extension reporting on stale, at least 6-month old US operations on Syria. Now, that’s much better. I think it is safe to assume that the media has been given a ‘green light’ by the White House and Pentagon to report on long-ongoing war preparations, aka ‘intervention’ plans, on Syria while making it sound as fresh-new-recent. Let’s read together:

Obama Administration Secretly Preparing Options for Aiding the Syrian Opposition

As the violence in Syria spirals out of control, top officials in President Barack Obama‘s administration are quietly preparing options for how to assist the Syrian opposition, including gaming out the unlikely option of setting up a no-fly zone in Syria and preparing for another major diplomatic initiative.

…

And here is the almost comical egregious part:

After several weeks of having no top-level administration meetings to discuss the Syria crisis, the National Security Council (NSC) has begun an informal, quiet interagency process to create and collect options for aiding the Syrian opposition, two administration officials confirmed to The Cable.

…

Right! According to these ‘reporters’, up until now our imperialistic hawks have been sitting on their butts and doing absolutely nothing on Syria’s months-long prewar crisis! Just read the following by MSM’s favorite source WINEP, and please try not to laugh:

Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that the administration was caught off-guard by how the opposition became militarized so quickly. The administration’s message had been to urge the opposition to remain peaceful, but that ship has now sailed, he said.

Arab League in Syria: A Pre-Ordained Conclusion

Source: RT
James Corbett

The Syrian government has released 755 detainees as Arab League monitors continue their mission to stop nine months of violence that has killed thousands. However, doubts remain on both sides that the observers can provide a neutral verdict.

­The release of the detainees Wednesday follows the three-pronged Arab League plan that will see Damascus withdrawal government troops from residential areas, release prisoners and begin talks with the opposition.

The report comes as Sudanese General Mustafa Dabi, the head of the Arab League mission, said he saw "nothing frightening" in the city of Homs, the epicenter of the nine-months of the anti-government rising and the first stop on the month-long monitoring mission that kicked off Tuesday, Reuters reports.

"There were some places where the situation was not good," Dabi told Reuters by telephone on Wednesday. "But there wasn't anything frightening, at least while we were there. Things were calm and there were no clashes."

Meanwhile, some members of the opposition believe the Arab League will prove ineffective by concluding that the violence is being generated from both sides.

The opposition also says Dabi's military background disqualifies him from being a neutral witness, while the Arab League's mission is nothing more than a stalling tactic to put off a foreign military intervention.

However, political analyst James Corbett told RT that while the observer mission is in fact lacking in credibility, it is only because conclusions will unlikely be based on facts on the ground.

America Threatens China: What Lies Behind the U.S. "Return to Asia" Strategy?

Source: China Military Online
Lin Zhiyuan

What is behind US 'Return-to-Asia' strategy?
Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

-The American overall strategy toward China is giving the same priority to cooperation and prevention, but intensifying "security rebalancing" efforts on China, taking comprehensive measures to suppress China, and instigating its allies to pay, contribute and appear to restrain China.

-Some thinkers of the U.S. Navy are quite interested in the English geographer Halford Mackinder's "Heartland" theory. Mackinder said "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World Island (Eurasia)."

Mackinder's followers have applied this strategy to Asia, and believed that controlling South China Sea will make the U.S. air force and navy command East Asia, and consequently command the "World Island".

-Currently, the situation in Europe is under American control, and the situation in the Middle East is beneficial to the United States. The world's geographic center is transferring from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the Asia-Pacific region has become the world's political and economic center.

Recently, the PLA Daily interviewed Lin Zhiyuan, an expert on U.S. issues at the Department of World Military Research under the Academy of Military Sciences on the U.S. strategy to "return to Asia."

Reporter: While talking about Asia recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "The United States is back," making it clear that the United States has paid more attention to the Asian-Pacific region than ever, and it will shift its strategic focus to Asia in the future. What do you think of the move?

Lin Zhiyuan: It aims to fully restore U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States implements a global strategy, which has respective focuses on deployment.

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States started to shift its strategic focus to Asia. However, the American focus on Asia was always interrupted by some major events, such as Asia’s financial crisis and the war on terrorism. Especially over the past 10 years, the United States paid all attention to anti-terrorism and got entangled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but made slow progress in Asia.

The Federal Reserve Is Secretly Bailing Out Europe

Source: Washington's Blog

Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke told Congress that the Fed would not bail out Europe.

But he might have been less than forthcoming.

Former Vice President of the Federal Reserve bank of Dallas, Gerald ODriscoll, says that the Fed is secretly bailing out Europe:

O’Driscoll wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial:

America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its operation is largely unnoticed here.

The Fed is using what is termed a “temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement” with the European Central Bank (ECB). There are similar arrangements with the central banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and Japan.

Simply put, the Fed trades or “swaps” dollars for euros. The Fed is compensated by payment of an interest rate (currently 50 basis points, or one-half of 1%) above the overnight index swap rate. The ECB, which guarantees to return the dollars at an exchange rate fixed at the time the original swap is made, then lends the dollars to European banks of its choosing. 

***

The two central banks are engaging in this roundabout procedure because each needs a fig leaf. The Fed was embarrassed by the revelations of its prior largess with foreign banks. It does not want the debt of foreign banks on its books. A currency swap with the ECB is not technically a loan.

Preparing to Attack Iran with Nuclear Weapons: "No Option can be taken off the Table."

Source: Global Research
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

The World is at a Dangerous Crossroads. America is on a War Path. 

World War III is no longer an abstract concept.

The Pentagon’s global military design is one of world conquest. 

The military deployment of US-NATO forces is occurring in several regions of the world simultaneously. 

War pretexts and "justifications" abound.  Iran is heralded as a threat to Israel and the World.  

The war on Iran has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for more than eight years. In recent developments, a renewed set of threats and accusations directed against Tehran have been launched. 

A "war of stealth" has already commenced. Mossad intelligence operatives are on the ground. Covert paramilitary formations are being launched inside Iran, CIA drones are being deployed. 

Meanwhile, Washington. London, Brussels and Tel Aviv have launched specific destabilizing initiatives "to choke Iran diplomatically, financially and economically".

A stepped up economic sanctions regime has been formulated by the US Congress: 

"a bipartisan consensus has emerged in Washington in favor of strangling the Iranian economy."  The latter consists in implementing "an amendment to the 2012 defence authorisation bill, designed to "collapse the Iranian economy"... by making it virtually impossible for Tehran to sell its oil." (Tom Burghardt, Target Iran: Washington's Countdown to War, Global Research, December 2011). :  

This new wave of diplomatic hype coupled with the threat of economic sanctions has also contributed to triggering an aura of uncertainty in the market for crude oil, with potentially devastating consequences on the global economy. 

Meanwhile, the corporate media has embarked on a renewed propaganda stint pertaining to Iran's alleged nuclear program, pointing  to "activities related to possible weaponization." 

The March to War: Iran and the Strategic Encirclement of Syria and Lebanon

Source: Strategic Culture Foundation and Global Research
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

The encirclement of Syria and Lebanon has long been in the works. Since 2001, Washington and NATO have started the process of cordoning off Lebanon and Syria. The permanent NATO presence in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Syrian Accountability Act are part of this initiative. It appears that this roadmap is based on a 1996 Israeli document aimed at controlling Syria. The document’s name is A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm. 

The 1996 Israeli document, which included prominent U.S. policy figures as authors, calls for “rolling back Syria” in 2000 or afterward. The roadmap outlines pushing the Syrians out of Lebanon, diverting the attention of Damascus by using an anti-Syrian opposition in Lebanon, and then destabilizing Syria with the help of both Jordan and Turkey. This has all respectively occurred from 2005 to 2011. This is also why the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) were created in Lebanon.

As a first step towards all this the 1996 document even calls for the removal of President Saddam Hussein from power in Baghdad and even alludes to the balkanization of Iraq and forging a strategic regional alliance against Damascus that includes a Sunni Muslim Arab “Central Iraq.” The sectarian nature of this project is very obvious as are its ties to opposing a so-called “Shiite Crescent.” The roadmap seeks to foment sectarian divisions as a means of conquering Syria and creating a Shiite-Sunni rift that will oppose Iran and keep the Arab monarchs in power.

The U.S. has now initiated a naval build-up off the Syrian and Lebanese coasts. This is part of Washington’s standard scare tactics that it has used as a form of intimidation and psychological warfare against Iran, Syria, and the Resistance Bloc. While Washington is engaged in its naval build-up, the mainstream media networks controlled by the Saudis and Arab clients of the U.S. are focusing on the deployment of Russian naval vessels to Syria, which can be seen as a counter-move to NATO.

Al-Ramtha in Jordan is being used to launch attacks into Daraa and Syrian territory. The Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications, Rakan Al-Majali, has even publicly admitted this and dismissed it as weapons smuggling. For years, Jordanian forces have successfully prevented weapons from reaching the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank from Jordanian territory. In reality, Amman is sending weapons into Syria and working to destabilize Syria. Jordanian forces work as a frontline to protect Israel and the Jordanian intelligence services are an extension of the C.I.A. and Mossad.

According to the Turkish media, France has sent its military trainers into Turkey and Lebanon to prepare conscripts against Syria. The Lebanese media also suggests the same. The so-called Free Syrian Army and other NATO-GCC front organizations are also using Turkish and Jordanian territory to stage raids into Syria. Lebanon is also being used to smuggle weapon shipments into Syria. Many of these weapons were actually arms that the Pentagon had secretly re-directed into Lebanon from Anglo-American occupied Iraq during the George W. Bush Jr. presidency.

Media Monarchy Episode 244

Source: Media Monarchy
James Evan Pilato

"mystery is a source of leverage & power" on episode244 of media monarchy w/ last rites, korean war & a false dawn - payroll predictions, neti plots, saab stories & the work on christmas newspurge - pagan celebrations, solstice shrouds & abuse scandal updates on holy hexes - planets, patents & manning up on cyber/space\war - pecan thieves, salt babies & the fanta santa soda on food world order + seasonal sounds by harvey danger, caetano veloso, hawkdogg, sloan & so much more...

Corbett Report Radio - Don't Trust The Media

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

We often make the point on Corbett Report Radio that the corporate media is not to be trusted; they spin, lie, deceive, dissemble and confuse to further the political agenda of the powers that shouldn’t be. But that doesn’t mean that the alternative media is always right. Join us on tonight’s broadcast as we confront the corporate media lies about “Ron Paul’s Racist Newsletters” and correct a false alternative media report that missiles are raining down on Iran. We also go over the latest food, health and environment stories with regular guest James Evan Pilato of FoodWorldOrder.com and take your calls.

Works Cited:

US missiles hit Iranian village…in 2003
Rockets hit Iran!…in 2003
The Atlantic smears Ron Paul
Salon smears Ron Paul
CNN smears Ron Paul
Ron Paul’s only vote ever for something not authorized by the constitution: honouring Martin Luther King Jr.
US food aid for north korea would bring nuclear talks a step closer
Food for thought in North Korea
The good food news of 2011
food & beverage companies hedge fund managers love
Max Keiser on boycotting Coke
flame retardant chemical found in US soft drinks
how coca-cola shaped the modern-day santa

Military Buildup Across The Globe

Source: Corbett Report

The world's attention is increasingly focused on Syria and Iran as the region continues to move toward military confrontation. Less noticed, however, is that the pieces are being put into place for a truly global conflict, with military buildup taking place in every region and threatening to draw in all of the world's major powers.

Corporate-State Media Creating a Fool's Paradise

Source: Activist Post
William Bowles

Are we living in a fool’s paradise?

A question keeps nagging at me: Are all of us, including the left, reacting to an entirely engineered reality, fed to us via an all-embracing media? We get blown this way and that, all of it being determined by whatever ‘event’ the globalized media decides to feed us with. Then, just as ‘mysteriously’, the ‘event’ disappears to be replaced by yet another ‘event’.

The old Anarchist cry of ‘Do not adjust your mind, there’s a fault in reality’ takes on an entirely new kind of import given the power of the media to determine what’s ‘real’ for us.

What this means is that the media effectively acts as an agent provocateur for the state and big business as it decides for us what is actually going on in the world. In turn, progressives make decisions based not on what needs to be done, but as a reaction to the ‘news’ in a weird political version of the Heisenberg Effect.

Press coverage of the Summer Riots is a perfect example of this process in action whereby the media, by focusing solely on the violence and destruction, not only transformed it into a ‘riot without a cause’ but in doing so actually incited even more violence and destruction, just as ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) are worn as ‘badges of honour’ by alienated youth who actually go out of their way to get one (or two).

Aside from anything else it demonstrates just how out-of-touch the political elite is with the reality of life as it is really lived by a goodly chunk of the population; the so-called underclass.

Life as supplied to us is now an endless succession of ‘crises’ or public spectacles (the lines between the two often blur):

‘Ground-to-air missiles ‘may protect’ London 2012 games’ — BBC News, 14 November 2011.

In fact, the very nature of BBC’s headlines headlines betray the essence of how to report the ‘news’ as a succession of dramas to be played out, not in the real world that you and I live in but in the world created by a globalized, corporate media machine.

‘Crises’ are played out in the TV equivalent of ‘flaming’ (shooting off at the mouth without thinking). Dictators come and go… All but the dramatic essence is removed and along with it real meaning disappears. This is the triumph of television, the ability to be able to cut and paste reality in its entirety.

Upon Release of Martial Law Documents, The Plan For America's Destruction Becomes Apparent

Source: The Excavator
Saman Mohammadi

The top news story of 2011 is not the assassination of Osama Bin Laden (a CIA psyop), but the advancement of the Martial Law agenda in America under the public radar.

On Wednesday, December 21, Infowars.com published a brand new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) document dated November 18, 2011, that "that show military involvement in a FEMA-led takeover within the United States under partially-classified Continuity of Government (COG) plans," and designate "the American people as ‘enemies’ under a live military tracking system known as Blue Force Situational Awareness (BFSA)."

The FEMA document, appearing under the headline "National Continuity Programs (NCP) Program and Mission Support Services (PAMSS)," ask contractors to assist FEMA in national emergencies. But don't let the bureaucratic language fool you. This is really a Martial Law document. FEMA is not interested in emergency preparedness, but in establishing a military dictatorship in the United States.

Ordinary Americans are classified as the enemy in this FEMA document, and similar Martial Law documents, such as this one from Halliburton/KBR that Infowars.com published on Tuesday, December 6, 2011. The militaristic language that appears in these Martial Law documents, and in the draconian NDAA bill that the treacherous Congress passed last week, suggests that the hijacked U.S. government desires that there be insurgents and domestic terrorists in the United States.

The traitors in Washington need enemies, both foreign and domestic, in order for the politically and morally bankrupt National Security State to remain relevant and powerful in American society. This is a militarist and secret system that is led by the most evil personalities in the 21st century who create fake enemies (Al-Qaeda) and stage false flag terrorist attacks (9/11) just to remain in power. The word restraint does not exist in their vocabulary.

The day will come when the traitors in Washington, led by President Obama, will issue orders to the military and police to fire on Americans and enforce Martial Law. At that point, even the most blind and ignorant people will probably come to the obvious conclusion that it is not Al-Qaeda who desires the destruction of America, but the hijacked and treasonous U.S. government.

Unidentified Fallen Object Found In African Country of Namibia

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

A large metallic ball has fallen out of the sky on a remote grassland in Namibia, prompting baffled authorities to contact NASA and the European space agency.

The hollow ball with a circumference of 1.1 metres was found near a village in the north of the country some 750km from the capital, Windhoek, according to police forensics director Paul Ludik.

Locals had heard several small explosions a few days beforehand, he said.

With a diameter of 35cm, the ball has a rough surface and appears to consist of "two halves welded together".

It was made of a "metal alloy known to man" and weighed six kilograms, said Ludik.

It was found 18 metres from its landing spot, a hole 33 centimetres deep and 3.8 metres wide.

Several such balls have dropped in southern Africa, Australia and Latin America in the past 20 years, authorities found in an internet search.

The sphere was discovered mid-November, but authorities first did tests before announcing the find.

Police deputy inspector-general Vilho Hifindaka concluded the sphere did not pose any danger.

"It is not an explosive device, but rather hollow, but we had to investigate all this first," he said.

Cold War Style Confrontation: Russia Warns Anti-Missile Issue May Cause "Ice-Age" in Relations With U.S.

Source: Xinhau News Agency

The U.S.-led anti-missile defense shields in Europe may seriously damage relations between Russia and the United States if the two sides could not reach agreements on the issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday.

"We hope problems in the anti-missile defense shield will not escalate and cause our relations move backward to the ice age. We hope to avoid this," Ryabkov told the Voice of Russia radio in an interview.

Ryabkov said that Moscow did not rule out the possibility of withdrawing from the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) it signed with the U.S. in 2010, if no solution would be reached on the issue.

According to Ryabkov, these problems could be solved on the ground proposed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in November, when the president asked again legally-binding guarantees from the U.S. and NATO that the missile defense shield is not targeting Russia.

Medvedev also warned in November that Russia might station missile defense systems, including the Iskander, in western and southern sections of the country if there were any additional U.S. missile deployments in Europe.

Moscow has long opposed the deployment of U.S.-led NATO missile defense facilities near its borders and intends to seek legally- binding guarantees from the U.S. and NATO.

Korean War, Manning Up, Funding Terror - New World Next Week

Source: Corbett Report and Media Monarchy

Welcome to http://NewWorldNextWeek.com – the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:

Officials Warn of Weaponized H5N1 Bird Flu Pandemic Amid Debate

Source: Activist Post
Anthony Gucciardi

As predicted, government advisory board officials are warning of bioterrorist attacks that could result from the full release of a study detailing how virologist Ron Fouchier mutated the bird flu virus to potentially transmit quickly between humans.

If the findings are released, scientists are warning that the virus could mutate to mimic past pandemic flu outbreaks such as the Spanish flu of 1918-1919 which killed 50 million people.

Virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands seeks to publish his work in the journals Science and Nature, though United States government officials from the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity have asked the journals to exclude the specific details of the study that could lead to the replication of the experiments. So far the editor of Science has agreed to withhold some data under the circumstance that the government sets up a medium to provide the withheld data to scientists around the world who ‘need’ it. 

Sparking Bioterrorist Pandemic Attacks, Disregarding Public Health

Revealing the entirety of the study would allow for individuals to reproduce the results of the study – he heavy weaponization of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Rare in humans, the 5 mutations performed by Fouchier may allow for the deadly virus to transfer freely from human to human similar to the seasonal flu.

What is quite different than the seasonal flu, however, is the fact that since 1997 the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed more than 1 in every 2 people that it infected.

This is an extremely fatal virus that if weaponized and released on the public could create a major pandemic taking millions of lives.

Why are some scientists and organizations pushing for this mutated bird flu strain blueprint to be released to the public?

Amazingly, the very individual who released the bioweapon would not even be able to fully control the outcome. Paul Keim, chair of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, explained how volatile of a weapon the mutated bird flu could become:

'This is such a dangerous biological weapon, it would not be controllable. Whoever used it would doubtlessly decimate their own people as well,' Keim said.

Dr. Joseph Farrell's Thoughts on the US Drone that Crashed in Iran

Source: Giza Death Star
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell

Well, I depart from my usual practice of talking about a particular article or video today, to present some thoughts about the drone that recently “crashed” in Iran. Let’s back up to the story via the context. First we had the death of Osama Bin Laden, whose body, let us recall, was quickly buried at sea. That’s called tampering with the evidence. We are simply asked to take the government’s word for it, not to mention there were stories in the media long before that he may have died. Then there was the matter of the Iranian used car salesman plotting with the Iranian government to commit acts of terrorism. Well, that one was in my opinion designed to beat the war drums for a strike on Iran. Don’t get me wrong here. The government of Iran is nuts. What other country has as a component of its very national constitution the mandate to export jihad and to annihilate an entire nation? But the car salesman story was a non starter. It quickly fizzled in its utility for hyping the war fever.

Then came the drone, which let us recall was first reported as having crashed, until the Iranian government showed off its “crashed drone” which looked to be in pretty fine condition. Then we were fed the cock-and-bull story that it had a malfunction and “glided” to a landing.

Now, I am having difficulty with all this and I hope you are too. It seems silly to me that such advanced technology would not have some sort of self-destruct mechanism. Now maybe it doesn’t. I don’t know. The military has done stupid things before, and it wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe it does, and it “malfunctioned.”

But all this is merely prelude, for however the drone got there, the fact of the matter is that it is there, and there under circumstances that are all too suspicious, in my humble opinion. The question is, why, and who is behind it, for it seems to me that someone wanted Iran to have this drone. So, working with that hypothesis, the question is, who and why?

Corbett Report Radio - "Iron Man" and the OBL Cover Up wih Dr. Jeffrey Kaye

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

In the run-up to 9/11, a little-known military intelligence unit was tracking the movements and actions of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. In late 2000, the military brass called off that work, and later the DoD lied to Congress about the unit and its work. Find out more about this underreported piece of the 9/11 cover up puzzle on tonight’s edition of the broadcast with our special guest Dr. Jeffrey Kaye.

Works Cited:

Report: Intelligence Unit Told Before 9/11 to Stop Tracking Bin Laden
EXCLUSIVE: New Documents Claim Intelligence on Bin Laden, al-Qaeda Targets Withheld From Congress’ 9/11 Probe
New Documents Suggest DoD Watchdog Covered Up Intelligence Unit’s Work Tracking 9/11 Terrorists
Episode 199 – 35 Reasons to Question 9/11

Univision Promoting War With Iran?

Source: RT

Description: In Univision documentary it is being alleged that Iran, Venezuela and Cuba are joining forces to plan attacks on the United States. According to the documentary the three countries are meeting in Mexico to plan terrorist attacks greater than 9/11 on the US. Some right-wing US lawmakers are taking these allegations seriously, or is it all propaganda? Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, joins us to sort through the evidence.

Editor's Note: Univision's war propaganda piece is a throw back to a similar absurdity titled, "Iranium" and featured the same gaggle of corporate-fascist puppet politicians that foisted the fraudulent "War on Terror" onto the American public.

If Americans are truly worried about state-sponsors of terrorism, they need look no further than their own US State Department who is currently helping relocate Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK) in Iraq - a US State Department listed terrorist organization responsible for the death of both US troops and civilians, as well as a decades spanning campaign of terror against the people of Iran. Similar affiliations can be found throughout the US government including John McCain's consorting with Libyan terrorists on record having killed US troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Israel-US Largest-ever Missile Defense War Games

Source: Global Research
Yaakov Katz

US Navy commander in Israel to finalize missile drill  

Israel, US to hold largest ever missile defense exercise this spring; thousands of US soldiers will be deployed in Israel. Talkbacks (100) Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. 

Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel. 

The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East. 

The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel. 

The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome. 

Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division. 

He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation exercises. 

The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located there. 

The Defense Ministry has allocated a budget to manufacture an additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012. IAF operational requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen batteries along Israel’s northern and southern borders.

The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by mid-2012.

Who Leads The Attack On Ron Paul?

Source: Land Destroyer Report
Tony Cartalucci

Those with the most to lose: Warmongering corporate fascists.  

From the remorseless liars that brought America into the Iraq War, have kept the US mired in Afghanistan for now over a decade, oversaw the genocide in Libya wrought by NATO-backed Al Qaeda terrorists, and are attempting to incite war with both Syria and Iran, comes a frothing, if not entirely elementary attack against one of the few obstacles that stands in their way of perpetual war fought at America's expense but for their personal gain. That obstacle is Ron Paul and the Constitutional reawakening he has spurred.

Leading the charge is a slightly misfitting addition to the Neo-Conservative corporate-fascist propaganda machine, openly-homosexual warmongering "libertarian" James Kirchick. While Kirchick's sexual orientation really is a matter of his own personal business, the necessity of him making it a public issue and the fact that those he works for have used anti-homosexual rhetoric to manipulate the American political landscape for decades is already a display of undermining and astounding hypocrisy.

Photo: James Kirchick, of the Neo-Con corporate-fascist "Foundation for the Defense of Democracies" leads the attack on Ron Paul. Having previously worked for the US State Department funded Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL), he is no stranger to peddling propaganda.  

Kirchick's argument is based on the same tired, already addressed "newsletter" published in Ron Paul's name decades ago, and despite none of the articles cited by Kirchick actually even being written by Ron Paul, he still enjoys preceding each accusation with, "He says..." Kirchick's servile obedience to the Neo-Con agenda, which has cultivated and is directing Ron Paul's competition - Cain, Romney, Perry, and Gingrich - is fairly obvious to detect. However, it is now a matter of record that Kirchick literally sits, as a "fellow" within a Neo-Con corporate and US State Department-funded think-tank, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).

The FDD features as its "executive team," the likes of James Woolsey and Clifford May while its "leadership council" includes Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes, Max Kampelman, Bill Kristol, and Senator Joseph Lieberman. Richard Perle, Eric Cantor, Gary Bauer, and Charles Krauthammer sit on the FDD's "board of advisors," while Reuel Marc Gerecht, Bill Roggio, and James Kirchick himself sit as FDD "fellows." Truly exemplary of everything that is wrong with America, and everything Ron Paul and the ideals he promotes aim at fixing, the FDD is a weed that needs to be pulled from America's political landscape. (For further reading regarding these names, please see "NED & Freedom House are run by Warmongering Imperialists," "Neo-Cons for Human Rights?" and to see a good example of FDD's contrived propaganda exposed and in action, "Neo-Con Infomercial: Iranium.")

Of course, despite a "Democratic" president sitting in the White House, America's foreign and domestic policy has been drawn up and carried out by corporate-fascists who hold sway over both sides of America's political aisle. "Obama's" military adventure in Libya, for instance, was not only supported by what Americans might call "Neo-Conservatives," but the war itself was drawn up by them in the first place. This indicates an overarching agenda that transcends presidencies and the perceived political ideologies they supposedly adhere to. The necessity then, to keep puppets like Bush or Obama in place is realized, as any truly independent, principled president would expose and disrupt this long running charade.

NATO's Al Qaeda Goes To Syria

Source: Voltairenet.org
Thierry Meyssan

Free Syrian Army commanded by Military Governor of Tripoli

In the wake of the "Arab Spring" and NATO interventions, both official and secret, Qatar seeks to impose Islamist leaders wherever possible. This strategy has led it not only to fund the Muslim Brotherhood and to hand Al-Jazeera over to them, but also to support Al Qaeda mercenaries, who will henceforth oversee the Free Syrian Army. However, this new scenario raises serious concerns in Israel and among the supporters of the "clash of civilizations."

The UN Security Council members are at loggerheads over the interpretation of the events that are rocking Syria. On one hand, France, the United Kingdom and the United States claim that a revolution has swept the country, in the aftermath of the "Arab Spring", and suffering a bloody crackdown. On the other hand, Russia’s and China’s take is that Syria is having to cope with armed gangs from abroad, which it is fighting awkwardly thereby causing collateral victims among the civilian population it seeks to protect.

The on-the-spot investigation undertaken by Voltaire Network validated the latter interpretation [1]. We have collected eyewitness testimonies from those who survived an armed attack by a foreign gangs. They describe them as being Iraqis, Jordanians or Libyans, recognizable by their accent, as well as Pashtun.

In recent months, a certain number of Arab newspapers, favorable to the Al-Assad administration, discussed the infiltration into Syria of 600 to 1,500 fighters from the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya (IFGL), rebranded Al Qaeda in Libya since November 2007. In late November 2011, the Libyan press reported the attempt by the Zintan militia to detain Abdel Hakim Belhaj, companion of Osama Bin Laden [2] and historic leader of Al Qaeda in Libya, who became military governor of Tripoli by the grace of NATO [3]. The scene took place at Tripoli airport, as he was leaving for Turkey. Finally, Turkish newspapers mentioned Mr. Belhaj’s presence at the Turkish-Syrian.

Such reports have been met with disbelief on the part of all those who regard Al Qaeda and NATO are irreconcilable enemies between whom no cooperation is possible. Instead, they reinforce the thesis which I have defended since the attacks of September 11, 2001, that Al Qaeda fighters are mercenaries of the service of the CIA [4].

North Korea: The Broad Geopolitical Implications of the Death of Kim Jong-il

Source: Global Research
Stephen Gowans
 

There are a few facts to keep in mind to understand what’s going on in the wake of the death this week of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

#1. US foreign policy vis-a-vis North Korea has always sought to force the latter’s collapse to pave the way for its absorption into the US-dominated South [1] — and did so well before Pyongyang began to work on nuclear weapons. US hostility toward North Korea has never been about nuclear weapons. On the contrary, North Korea’s nuclear weapons are a consequence of US hostility. US hostility, now in its seventh decade, is about what it has always been about: putting an end to what Washington mistakenly calls North Korea’s Marxist-Leninist system (Marxism-Leninism has been replaced by Juche ideology—a home-grown doctrine of self-reliance), its non-market system, and its self-directed economic development [2]. None of these offer much latitude for US profit-making at North Korea’s expense, and hence are singled out for demolition.

#2. North Korea only began to seek nuclear weapons after the United States announced in 1993 that it was retargeting some of its strategic nuclear missiles from the former Soviet Union to North Korea. Since then the country has only been able to develop its nuclear capability to a kindergarten level. [3] The plutonium devices it tested in 2006 and 2009 produced only one-tenth the power of the Hiroshima blast. There is no evidence it has miniaturized a warhead to fit atop a missile. And its missile program is plagued by problems. [4]

#3. North Korea is a military pipsqueak, whose personnel are deployed in large numbers to agriculture. The military budgets and weapons’ sophistication of its adversaries, the United States, South Korea and Japan, tower over its own. If the Pentagon’s budget is represented by the 6’ 9” basketball player Magic Johnson, North Korea’s military budget is 1”, about the height of a small mouse. South Korea’s is 4.5” and Japan’s 3.9”, multiple times larger than the North’s. [5]

#4. North Korea has no more military heft to mount a provocation against the United States than a mouse has to beat Magic Johnson on the basketball court. Nor has it the capability to wage a civil war against its southern compatriots and expect to win. North Korea is not an aggressive threat. “In the Obama analysis,” writes New York Times reporter David Sanger, “the North is receding into what the president’s top strategists have repeatedly called a ‘defensive crouch,’ trying to stave off the world with a barrage of missile and nuclear tests…Constantly on the brink of starvation, its military so broke that it cannot train its pilots, it has no illusions about becoming a great power in Asia. Its main goal is survival.” [6]

Frito-Lay Sued For Labeling its GMO-Filled Snacks As "All Natural"

Source: Food Freedom
Rady Ananda

Less than a year after Frito-Lay announced plans to make half their products without “any artificial or synthetic ingredients,” the $13 billion company was sued last week in federal court for fraudulently marketing the snacks that contain genetically modified ingredients.

Somehow, “artificial” and “synthetic” doesn’t include “genetically modified” in Frito’s mind.

In its April 2011 “Seed-to-Shelf” disclosure campaign, Frito-Lay promised to inform consumers about each individual snack’s ingredients, even setting up an app for smartphone users to swipe the product’s barcode and read about it. Ann Mukherjee, Frito-Lay’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, gushed:

“What better way to share the story behind Frito-Lay snacks than by giving consumers a look inside our Flavor Kitchen to see first-hand the all natural ingredients and real foods that inspire the products we make?”

Real foods?  All natural?  Even Monsanto defines genetically modified organisms as unnatural, which the lawsuit quoted:

“Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) – Plants or animals that have had their genetic makeup altered to exhibit traits that are not naturally theirs.”

The World Health Organization agrees, defining GMOs as “organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally.”

The lawsuit names only one plaintiff, Julie Gengo of Richmond, California, but includes all those who purchased Frito’s products which bear the “ALL NATURAL” label.  Last August, the law firm Milberg LLP invited potential litigants to contact them.

Though Gengo holds a BS in Electrical Engineering, she earns a living as an independent marketer for such organizations as Berkeley Playhouse/Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Vital Systems, Bay Area Green Tours, Oxfam America and Slow Money Northern California. She describes herself as “an ongoing environmental, and healthy foods advocate.”

In early 2009, she wrote Genetically Modified (GM) Foods – Another Reason to Buy Organic, warning people that Frito-Lay uses GMOs.  According to the complaint, since 2007, she regularly bought the company’s Tostitos and Sun Chips believing they were “all natural” as indicated in advertising and on the package.

AFRICOM and the Recolonization of Africa - Cynthia McKinney on GRTV

Source: Corbett Report and GRTV

Established in 2007, the United States African Command (AFRICOM) has been at the heart of the US agenda to secure the continent and its resources America's supposed enemies. Now, many are questioning AFRICOM's role on the continent at all.

Find out more about the race for Africa's riches in this week's GRTV Feature Interview with former congresswoman and 2008 presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.

NASA To Annouce Alien Planet Discoveries

Source: The Daily Galaxy

Counting Kepler and the other ground- and space-based planet searches underway, scientists have discovered a total of more than 700 confirmed alien planets. They're still on the hunt for a Twin Earth in the habitable zone --roughly the right size and temperature to host life. Tuesday's press conference will begin at 1 p.m. EST and will be webcast on NASA's website. Speakers will include:

Nick Gautier, Kepler project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Francois Fressin, the lead scientist on the new discovery, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

David Charbonneau, professor of astronomy at Harvard University, Linda Elkins-Tanton, director of the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in Washington.

The public can listen in on the alien planet announcement using NASA's News Audio website.

The $600 million Kepler mission is slated to run until at least November 2012, though its science team is hoping for an extension of the mission until 2016 or so.

NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.

The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.

Arrested In My Underwear at a TSA Checkpoint

Source: Adam Kokesh


I know it's kind of silly, but sometimes you don't know how or when you're going to stand up to this bullshit, I just wish more Americans would do it more often.

Kim Jong-il is Dead

Source: Corbett Report and RT

Korean media is reporting that Kim Jong-il died earlier today, although there has been speculation that he has in fact been dead for some time. Whatever the case, this change in dictator/figureheads represents a moment of unease in East Asia as no one knows exactly how this nuclear-armed state will react. James Corbett joins RT to discuss the situation.

Defector: Rumors Circulating Kim Jong-il Assassinated

Source: Prison Planet
Paul Joseph Watson

Dictator’s death could have been result of internal power struggle with country’s military

A prominent North Korean defector and a South Korean politician are contradicting reports that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il died of a heart attack, pointing to rumors that he was assassinated as result of an internal power struggle between the ruling Communist Workers’ Party and the country’s military.

“A rumor is circulating that earlier a high-ranking North Korean official was shot dead. This has yet to be confirmed, but such talk is evidence that discontent was brewing among some people in the North,” political scientist An Chan-il told the Korea Times.

Noting that numerous military officers were dismissed shortly after the anointment of Kim Jung-un as the Stalinist state’s next leader, An said that growing resentment within the ranks could have led to an assassination plot carried out “by those harboring discontent with the way he ruled the country.”

“As their vested interests were hurt due to Kim Jong-il, I would not rule out the possibility that some military officers, who believed their clout and influence had been damaged, could have played a role in his death,” An said.

Rep Chun Yo-ok of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) also speculated that Kim Jong-Il’s death could have been an act of “homicide,” the result of an internal power struggle.

Although the dictator has been in bad health since he reportedly suffered a stroke in August 2008, recent public appearances suggest Kim Jon-Il’s health was improving.

Rumors have long circulated that not all of the country’s military units held the slavish devotion to their “dear leader” that was portrayed by the state-run media.